Sep 10, 2017
by: Jack Lash Series: God's Holy Book | Category: Scripture | Scripture: Galatians 1:6–9
- Introduction
A. This passage has been very foundational in my life.
1. My calling and gift: to fight for the truth of the gospel
B. Background
1. Paul had been sent out with Barnabas on his first missionary journey and had traveled to the area of Galatia in Asia Minor (present day Turkey). There they preached the gospel to Jews and Gentiles (Acts 13-14).
2. However, there were some Jewish Christians there who were offended by Paul’s invitation to Gentiles. This was the circumcision party (Phil.3:2-3; Gal.2:12; Acts 11:2; Titus 1:10), also called the Judaizers.
3. These folks were happy to welcome Gentiles into the church, as long as they first became Jews, through circumcision and adoption of the ceremonial law.
4. They strongly opposed Paul’s gospel of grace which invited Jews and Gentiles to come to salvation through faith alone, apart from any ceremonial procedure.
5. So the Judaizers opposed Paul and Barnabas, and in each city stirred up persecution against them.
6. And then, after Paul and Barnabas had left, the members of the circumcision party came into these cities in Galatia to “straighten out” the new converts: “Look here in the Bible: the promises of God are for the children of Abraham. You must be children of Abraham to qualify for them.”
7. And when Paul gets wind of this, he is furious. His persecutors have kidnaped his children!
8. And so he writes this very intense letter to the Galatian believers.
C. Galatians is the only epistle of Paul where he does not warmly commend his hearers in some way.
1. As soon as he’s done with his greeting, he launches into these powerful words in...
II. Galatians 1:6–9 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
A. There is more than one “gospel.” “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”
1. Gospel means good news. When a cancer patient is told that he is cancer-free, that is good news. But it is false good news if he still has cancer.
2. There are many false gospels which are distortions/counterfeits of the true gospel.
B. There is only one Gospel.
1. There are false gospels, but there is only one true gospel.
2. The true gospel is the gospel of grace. It's all about Jesus. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”
C. Why would someone want to distort the gospel? And why would anyone who received the true gospel leave it and turn to a false gospel?
1. Some of these counterfeits are very appealing. Some are more appealing than the true gospel.
a. E.g. God loves you so much that He doesn’t care whether or not you have sinned. He just counts it as a privilege to be able to serve you and help you and do you good. Or, you could put it this way, God loves you so much that He is willing to subordinate His will to yours. In essence, He says, “Your will, not Mine, be done.”
b. Or, how about this one: You don’t have to wait for your reward until later. You can have it now. All you have to do is claim it and it’s yours.
c. Or, here’s another appealing gospel: You don’t have to be saved through repentance and humility. You’re a good person. If you just do these things God commands, like get circumcised and refrain from eating certain kinds of food, and participate in these ceremonies.
d. Of course, it is not only pride which can make false gospels sound appealing. Some appeal to fear. You are going to hell if you touch this or handle that or eat that or get married.
(1) 1Timothy 4:1–5 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
D. “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.”
1. If Paul and Barnabas came back and preached a different gospel, don’t believe it.
2. Even if an angel came down from heaven and preached a different gospel than the one you heard and embraced, don’t believe it.
3. In fact, curse us or curse the angel.
III. Why is he so intense? Why so strong?
A. Many would be critical of Paul’s words here. Imagine if he spoke them today.
1. So judgmental! So intolerant!
2. And even many Christians would be offended!
B. Here’s a man who is falling all over himself trying to win people to Christ. He’s so kind and so gracious and so warm. But this epistle is so confrontational, so sharp-worded,
C. Gal.3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?
D. Galatians 5:12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
E. Is Paul getting carried away by his emotions?
F. News reporters speaking with people who won’t flee the approaching hurricane
G. Because the difference is life or death
H. Paul is getting carried away by his love.
I. There is only one escape, and so you much feel strongly about protecting that way of escape.
J. Why is Paul so upset? Because their souls are at stake. Because the gospel is at stake.
K. Being obsessive about the gospel
1. Telephone lines in our house story
IV. Discerning the true gospel
A. There are many who say it doesn’t matter which way you go.
B. But many claim there is only one gospel who are promoting different gospels.
C. How do we know which is the true gospel?
1. It was the gospel Jesus proclaimed and then gave to the apostles. It is recorded in the NT.
2. At its center the gospel is “the grace of Christ.”
a. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”
b. Salvation is all about the grace of Christ. It’s not about being good. It’s not about ceremonies. It’s about relying on Jesus alone for salvation as He is offered in the gospel.
D. Where can we find the original gospel?
1. The message they received from Paul was not the true gospel because Paul preached it, the message Paul preached was the true gospel because it was given to Paul by the risen Christ.
E. The issue isn’t oldness, it’s originalness.
1. Christianity is not conservatism. We’re all about Christ, not all about conserving the past.
2. We don’t believe in Christ because He came a long time ago. We don’t believe in the Bible because it is tried and tested. We don’t believe in the God of Israel because people have been worshiping Him for thousands of years.
3. We believe in Jesus, we believe in the Bible, we believe in the God of Israel because they are true, because they have been revealed, because they are what is ultimately real.
F. Some point us to the early Christian church for guidance. The post-apostolic church has a strong appeal to Christians in an age of uncertainty and divided opinions.
1. They lived in a similar culture
2. Many knew the languages
3. They sometimes even knew the apostles
4. How could the church have gone bad so quickly after the apostles died?
a. The apostles said they would go bad.
b. They went bad even in the days of the apostles!
c. The elementary things of the universe
G. Even we or an angel from heaven
1. If it was possible for Paul or an angel to preach a false gospel, why not the early church fathers?
H. This passage implies that people can grasp the true gospel and discern when something different is being preached to them.
1. The content of the gospel, not just the person proclaiming it
2. If we can’t understand the gospel, how can we discern between it and some new gospel?
I. In Gal.1:8-9 Paul says that the Galatians should condemn him if he changes his message and begins to preach a different gospel. The truth of the gospel does not rest in the apostle Paul but in Jesus Christ. Paul is not their lord, King Jesus is. And a proper relationship to, trust in, and submissiveness toward Him is what makes a person stand firm.
V. The gospel is a big deal — the big deal.
A. Hurricanes and earthquakes, wars and famines, climate change and terrorism, hunger and nuclear weapons — Christians are concerned about these things, but we often get criticized for caring about things like doctrine and ethics instead of just focusing on these other things.
B. For the world the planet is the most important thing. But not for the Christian. The Christian knows that this world is but a temporary place of preparation and that the real world is the world to come.
C. We understand that this truth is hidden from the world and so it sounds ridiculous to them.
D. But we believe that the gospel is the most important thing of all, because the gospel is the one and only thing which gives mankind hope beyond life in this world.
E. The Florida keys: there’s only one way out: Overseas Highway, Route 1. If that road isn’t intact, there’s no other way out. That’s the way Paul felt about the gospel.
F. It is not medicine that sets us free. It is not money which sets us free. It is not locking up or executing the bad guys which sets us free. It is not peace treaties which set us free. It is the truth which sets us free (John 8:32).