I just want to read two verses
to you. Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 and 7. I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you unto the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. which is not another, but there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from Him. When many stray from Zion's way,
alas what many do. It breaks our hearts when we
preach to people and they leave without any interest at all in
what we've got to say. Lord who hath believed our report."
But it's almost like tearing flesh from our bones when those
who have professed an interest in what we've got to say, and
they leave. Many of his disciples went back
and walked no more with him at all. They never walked with him
by faith. They never loved Him. They never
knew Him. But the Lord Jesus encouraged them to seek for that
bread which endeareth to life everlasting. Bestowed much labor
upon those men. And yet the end was they went
back and walked no more with Him at all. I wonder how He felt. He looked at His disciples and
said, will you also go away? I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him. There are many that hear the
gospel of the grace of Christ, but they don't hear in their
hearts. They don't come to God. They don't come to God by Christ.
There are many who profess to come, but evidence proves that
they haven't come at all and that they are not coming. There
are those that hear and they profess to come to Christ, and
you and I take them at their word. We receive them as brothers
and sisters. We don't doubt their profession,
at least openly. But sometimes we're made to stand
in doubt in our hearts. There are others who profess
to come to Christ, and their love and their faith and their
faithfulness gives clear evidence that they have. And it's a great
blessing when we find such brothers and sisters. And we say with
those that Apostle Paul said about, their names are written
in the book of life. I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him. I'm sure that free will Armenians,
they glance at this verse of Scripture here in verse 6, and
they conclude as they seemingly love to do, that they found proof
that a child of God can fall away from Christ, can leave Christ,
and finally be lost. And I think it's somewhat telling
on their part that they look at this verse, instead of being
heavy hearted for what this verse reports to us, they seem to rejoice
that they found the verse of Scripture that proves. that a
saint of God can leave Christ and be lost. It doesn't surprise
me when they run to these scriptures. They run to these scriptures
in an attempt to prove that a saint can fall away and be lost. They avoid those plain scriptures
that teach a saint cannot be lost. There are countless Scriptures
that teach that plainly, but Armenians think, at least most
of them do, that these plain Scriptures should have been left
out of the Bible. Can any free will look at verse
6 and say this proves that a child of God can leave Christ and fall
away and be lost? If they think they can prove
that by this verse of Scripture, then let me ask them this question. Did these men return to Christ? Paul said that he wrote this
letter to them to correct the error that they had fallen into. Was the error corrected? Did
they return to the Lord Jesus? Well, the Armenian says, we don't
know. Then you cannot prove by this
verse that they fell away, can you? A true believer may fall, and
for one grievous reason or another, may for a time even deny the
gospel. You say, Bruce, I can never believe
that. I wouldn't like to believe it either. But we have it recorded
in chapter 2, don't we? Look over here with me in verse
14. Peter was sitting there eating with these Gentiles. Some of
these Jews who were not fully converted from the ceremonial
law came down. And Peter saw them coming and
he ceased to eat meat, pork, with the Gentiles. Teaching that
the Gentiles had to be converted to the lifestyle of the Jews.
And look what the Apostle Paul said about him in verse 14. And
when I saw that they, Peter and Barnabas, walked not uprightly
according to the truth of the Gospel." This is a polite way
of saying that Peter and Barnabas left the Gospel. It's a polite
way of saying you've perverted the Gospel. You walk not uprightly
according to the truth of the Gospel. This epistle here to
the Galatians, brothers and sisters, is not written to prove the security
of the believer. It's not written to prove that
a believer can or cannot fall away. But this epistle is written
to us as it was to them to reaffirm the gospel that had been lost. And if we lose sight of that,
we lose sight of what the Apostle Paul was writing to teach us.
You and I have proven from other Scriptures to our own assurance
and peace of mind that a truly regenerated child of God can
never fall away and finally be lost. The decrees of God prove
that. Those He predestinated, He called. Those He called, He justified.
Those He justified, He glorified. We prove that from the Scriptures.
God has not appointed us to wrath, but He has appointed us, He has
chosen us, He has marked us out to obtain salvation through the
Lord Jesus Christ. The atonement of Christ proves
that a child of God cannot fall away. If when we were enemies
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Don't you wish that some of these
free-wheelers, these Armenians, don't you wish they would get
away from these if-verses sometimes and go to these shall-verses?
If we shall fall away, if we sin willfully, And they go to
those verses that good men, theologians, differ as to the interpretation
of. But why don't they go to these
shall verses? I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. He that believeth in Me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever believeth and liveth
in Me shall never die. Believest thou this? Yea, Lord,
I believe. I believe the atonement of Jesus Christ
secures the eternal salvation of every last believer, and the
abiding presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the heart
secures a believer from perishing. I will pray the Father, and he
will give you another He'll give you another teacher. He'll give
you a guide and an instructor. A revealer of secrets. And He
shall abide with you for how long? Forever. Forever. He's the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. Grieve not the Holy
Spirit whereby you are sealed until the day of redemption. When I read a passage like this
from some freewill commentator, it grieves my heart that they
go to scriptures like this to prove that a saint of God can
leave Christ and be lost forever. Well, we say this, when the eternal
decrees of God Almighty can fail, then we'll join the Armenians.
When the blood of Jesus Christ loses its power and the prayers
of Jesus Christ before His Father become ineffectual, then we'll
promote the doctrine of free will. When the Holy Ghost willingly
relinquishes His rightful place that He's occupied in the heart
of a believer and gives it over again to the devil, Then you
and I will believe that a regenerate man can fall away and be lost
forever. But until that happens, until
that happens, we're not going to believe it. Paul, being the gracious man
that he was here, he gives these Galatians the benefit of the
doubt. He says, you've been called unto the grace of Christ. And
look what he says in chapter 3 in verse 2. He gives them every benefit of
the doubt. In verse 2 of chapter 3, this is only what I learn
of you. Received ye the Spirit? Received
ye the Spirit? He gives them the benefit of
the doubt that they have. Look in chapter 4 and verse 9.
But now after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto
ye desire to be in bondage." You know God. You are known of
God. And he says here in verse 11,
look at this, he begins to imply that maybe he is wrong. Maybe he has given them the benefit
of the doubt in vain. I am afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed upon you labor in vain. I am afraid for you, and I am
afraid of you. And look what he says on in chapter
4 in verse 20. I desire to be present with you
now and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you. I say
that you've been called into the grace of Christ, now I stand
in doubt of you. I say that you've received the
Holy Spirit, now I have reason to stand in doubt of it. And
look what he says finally over in chapter 5. Look in verse 3. Look in verse
2. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. Whatever I've said about you
up until now, there's one thing for sure. If you're circumcised
to make yourself accepted with God, to add to the righteousness
which is in Jesus Christ, He'll profit you nothing. I testify
to every man that's circumcised, he's a debtor to do the whole
law. Christ has become of no effect unto you, of no effect. He will profit you nothing. Whosoever
of you are justified by the law, you've fallen from the whole
scheme, the whole doctrine of grace, the whole doctrine of
the grace of the gospel. Look at this, for we, we apostles,
we brethren that's here with me, we believers in the grace
of Christ, we through the Spirit, We wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. And Paul here closes this chapter. In chapter 6, in verse 4 and
5, he closes this book and he seems to say this, I've written
this epistle unto you. I've showed him this epistle.
The difference between Christ and Moses. The difference between
law and grace. And now you're going to have
to take this teaching, this doctrine, and prove yourself. Whether you're
in Christ or whether you're not. Whether you're justified by the
law or justified by Christ. He says here in verse 4 and verse
5, that prove your own work. Verse 5, every man shall bear
his own burden. And then he closes in verse 17
and says, from henceforth, don't any of you trouble me anymore.
Don't trouble me anymore. Were these men truly called of
the grace of Christ? I hope so. I hope so. But the apostle began to doubt
it. It's a dangerous thing. It's
a dangerous thing to leave the gospel, isn't it? It's a dangerous
thing to profess to know the gospel of the grace of Christ
and then leave it. especially for another gospel.
I want to make three comments upon this verse, especially verse
6 and verse 7, these three simple things this evening concerning
this verse. My first observation is this,
how difficult it is to maintain a gospel-believing church for
any length of time. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ.
Some dear man will come into a community. He'll come to an
Armenian church. He'll begin to preach the gospel
there. And he shows the plainness of it by Scripture. It seems
to prosper. It seems to be understood. It
seems to be believed. Then no sooner is he gone, no
sooner does he die, and what happens? The gospel seems to be lost.
How many times have we seen it? History bears this out. So many
gospel-believing churches haven't endeared a past one or two good
pastors. While he's there, week after
week, setting forth a clear gospel, All error is beat back. It's
held in check. But as soon as God removes him,
the gospel is diminished, or it's lost altogether. And how
do we remedy this? Have we ever found a way to remedy
this? This great apostle was right
in here to remedy this, but did he even do it? How soon is the
Gospel lost? It breaks our hearts, doesn't
it? The Apostle Paul had gone preaching with tears for three
years among those Ephesian churches. He called them up all there together
on the sea shore, and he says, you'll see my face no more. I
have not shunned to declaring you for three long years. the
whole counsel of God, even not only publicly, but I've come
to your houses, and I've preached the gospel of the grace of God
from house to house, and taught you this gospel. But he said,
I know this, as soon as I leave you, as soon as I leave you,
grievous wolves are going to come in here, not sparing the
flock. Even of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples
like to themselves." How soon the gospel is lost. And it's
not because the gospel is fragile. It's not because the gospel is
weak. The gospel is the power of God
to salvation. But it's the hearts that hold
this gospel. It's the faith of the congregation. Their faith grows weak, the understanding
grows darkened, the affections get cold, and they leave their
first love and they fall from their steadfastness. And then
they lose the gospel. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from Him that called you unto the grace of Christ. You and I have seen in our day
We personally experienced a falling of a church that we never dreamed
would lose the gospel. I marvel. And secondly, this
observation that I want to make is this. How quickly the gospel
of Christ can be perverted. Not only lost, but how quickly
it can be perverted. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ
and to another gospel which is not another, but there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ." You are
called into the grace of Christ and to a different gospel. A
different gospel. You know what Catholicism is. You know what Catholicism is
with all its superstition, with all its blasphemous doctrines
and practices. You know all Catholicism is.
It's an offshoot of Christianity. It's a perversion of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. You know what Jehovah Witness
is. You know what Mormonism is. It's
an offshoot. It's a perversion of the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They all talk about Jesus, do
they not? They all talk about the Gospel.
They all talk about the Spirit, but what is it? It's another
Gospel. It's another Jesus. It's a different
Spirit. It's a perversion of the Gospel.
This is why you and I must continually and prayerfully search the Scriptures
that we may know the gospel in its purest form. And when we've
learned it in its purest form, seek to promote it and maintain
it in the church as well as in the world. That's our duty, brothers
and sisters, to earnestly contend for the faith. And because the
gospel can be so easily perverted, even by good men, Peter was a
good man, but what did he do? I'd hate to think what would
have happened to this church and to the gospel itself in their
day if there hadn't been an Apostle Paul to stand up against the
Apostle Peter and said, wait, you perverted the gospel. It's
our duty, it's our blessing, it's our privilege. to prayerfully
and carefully search the Scriptures and find out what the gospel
of the grace of Christ is in its purest form, and then hold
it in our hearts and maintain it in the churches. Don't suffer
it to be perverted, not for the fear of man or the favor of man.
I would not condemn anybody if they told me that they did not
understand the Gospel to be particular redemption. I wouldn't say a
man was lost because that wasn't his understanding. If he could
say, Christ is my redemption. If he could say with the Apostle
Paul, he loved me and gave himself for me. But I would tell that
man these two things. If he says it's not my understanding
the Bible teaches particular redemption, I would tell him
this. You don't hold the gospel in its purest form. If you let go of particular redemption,
you have let go of the gospel in its purest form. And that's
what we're seeking after any. I'm seeking to know Christ. I'm
seeking to know the grace of Christ, the gospel of Christ
in its purest form as the Apostle Paul set it forth. And I would
also tell that man this. You've already taken the first
step in perverting the gospel of Christ. Some of us emphasize one aspect
of the gospel sometimes over others. Sometimes we emphasize
election. Sometimes we emphasize particular
redemption. Sometimes we emphasize irresistible
grace or the perseverance of the saints. We're not talking about different
emphasis. We're talking about a different
gospel. How much do we have to let go before we have a different
gospel? How much do we have to add to
before we have a different gospel? You and I look around us today
at our churches, And this little thing has been added to the gospel,
and this thing has been taken away from the gospel, and it's
not a matter of them just emphasizing different aspects of the gospel.
It's about a different gospel altogether, isn't it? And how can this happen? It was
long ago in our country, even among the Methodists, that the
gospel of the grace of Christ was preached. But now what do
we find? A perversion. A different gospel. And where did it come from? It
came from this book. It came from the gospel. But
it was twisted. This was taken out and that was
taken out. How soon, brothers and sisters,
that can happen. The Lord told His disciples,
while men slept, while men slept, how quickly the gospel can be
perverted. And thirdly and lastly is this. Consider this with me. I marvel
that you are so soon removed from Him that calls you unto
the grace of Christ. The grace of Christ. The gospel
of the grace of Christ. The gospel in its purest form. as Paul preached it. The pure
grace of Christ. The free grace of Christ. It's
so difficult to maintain in the hearts of those who truly believe. Is it not? Is it not? Everything this gospel does for
us, it does freely. It justifies the ungodly and
it justifies Him freely. It forgives all manner of sins
and blasphemies and forgives those sins daily and continually. It even tells us that sin has
been put away, that sin is no more. This gospel provides and gives
a perfect and everlasting righteousness. Not one that the sinner has worked
out, but one that has been given him freely through faith. It freely makes us the sons of
God. It gives us the spirit of adoption,
not by what we do, but simply by hearing it and believing it. It gives us free and continued
access unto the Father's presence. It gives us a good hope, a sure
and steadfast hope, and a promise of heaven when this life is over. And all of this and more through
the grace of Christ and for the sake of Jesus Christ. And it
all comes to us freely, not by our doing, but by our believing. The gospel of the grace of Christ.
Many things were written. But these are written. That you
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that
believing you might have life. And everything that pertains
to that life. Through the Lord Jesus Christ. through his merits, through his
work, through his intercessions, through his love, through his
goodness, through his faithfulness. These things you and I hear proclaimed
in the gospel, and they are exceeding great things. And it is difficult
for us to apprehend them in our hearts. And we find it difficult
to live in the reality of these things especially when they proclaim
to us. Who are we? Proclaiming life
to us? Freely giving us? Proclaiming
the forgiveness of all manner of our sins? Proclaiming us to
be children of God with access into His presence and heaven
at last to be with God and with Christ and with angels for all
eternity? And it proclaims these exceeding
great blessings to us lowly creatures that we are. We believe not for joy. Even
though we profess it, we find it exceeding hard to exercise
faith in the gospel. The gospel is called the exceeding
riches of God's grace. It's called the great love wherewith
He loved us. The Gospel is called the sure
mercies of David. The rich mercy. The tender mercy. The higher than heaven mercies
of God. The Gospel is called a glorious
rest. A soul rest. A rest that nothing
can disturb, not even death. The gospel is the peace of God,
a peace that passeth all knowledge, a peace that guards and keeps
the conscience in all quietness. The gospel is called the glorious
gospel of the blessed God. And it's because of the very
nature of this gospel, the freeness of it, the glory of it, the saving
nature of it, that makes it so difficult to maintain in our
hearts. We often lose the reality and
the joy of it in our souls, don't we? How many of us this evening
would have to quickly confess that almost on a daily basis,
all we get in our souls is a small degree of the reality of the
grace of Christ? Just a glimpse of it in our souls. And then, just as quickly, our
hearts and our faith fails and we fall into darkness and find
ourselves crying, Lord, help my unbelief. And why is it like
that? Why is this gospel of Christ's
grace so difficult to maintain in our hearts as to the reality
of it? It's because it's such a glorious
gospel. The nature of it is so glorious. Its benefits is so
glorious. Look at the things that it gives
us. Look at what it provides for us. And it does it for such
creatures as you and I are. Oh, wretched men and women that
we are. How often do we leave the Gospel? At first, the Gospel seems easy
to believe, but it's because we see Little of our sins are
the glorious nature of this gospel. But as we progress in grace and
knowledge, and as we increase in the knowledge of our own selves
and our corruption, and as we begin to see more and more these
glorious benefits of the gospel, we find ourselves asking the
question sometimes, can I possibly have an understanding? Can I
possibly have an interest? Can I, a poor lowly creature,
made of this earth, ready to perish in my own apprehension,
can I possibly have an interest in such a glorious gospel? Is
it not difficult to believe? Is it not difficult after you
believe it to maintain faith in it? It's because of the nature
of it. You and I have to persuade ourselves
constantly that this gospel that's preached to us in all its benefit
is real indeed. It is real. It's not a fiction. It's not a man's imagination.
It's real. This gospel is real. Nothing
else in the world is real. But this gospel is real, brothers
and sisters. And not only is it real, but
it's proclaimed to men and women just like you and just like I
am. And not only that, but it's proclaimed
to us right where we are in our present situation. It's offered
to us there. Believe it. Believe it. Lay hold upon it. Get it in your
heart. And ask God for grace to maintain
it. and live in the reality and in
the joy of it. Amen. Let's pray.