Cursed Are Those Who Bring a False Gospel

[0:00] Ephesians chapter 1. We dealt last time with the first four verses, but I'm going to read those first four verses.

[0:13] Galatians. Thank you. I looked right at it and said Ephesians. Galatians chapter 1. I'm going to read, starting in verse 1, down through verse 10.

[0:30] Amen. Follow along in your Bibles, please. Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brothers who are with me to the churches of Galatia.

[0:54] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be the glory forever and ever.

[1:10] Amen. 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.

[1:20] Not that there is another one, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 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.

[1:36] 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. For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?

[1:52] Or am I trying to please man? If I was still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Let's pray together. Father, all your word is written for a purpose and we acknowledge that and we know that this was written for a purpose and Lord, we recognize as we're beginning to go through this, as we begin to go through this, this was written for us.

[2:24] Lord, we face these trials and not just speaking about us in our particular day or our particular country. I'm speaking about human nature and even though there are waves of times when things like this get worse and maybe get less, what's here is in our hearts and I pray that you would be with us.

[2:49] Lord, teach us to be careful. Teach us to be correct. Lord, not correct so that we can hold it over someone. Being wrong in what we're going to begin to look at today is damning.

[3:03] So Lord, make us to be people who are careful. Make us to be people who see the seriousness of this situation just like Paul did and I pray that you would instruct us, that you would ground us, that we would be people who know your word, know the truth, know especially the gospel and stand on it.

[3:28] I pray that you would bless in Jesus' name. Amen. We talked last time as we began the book, the book of Galatians to get it right this time, that this was a church that Paul planted on his first missionary journey, had left that church and had gone back to the church that sent him out on that journey and had heard in whatever way that indeed something was going on and something he had heard about in other places and he was very burdened.

[4:00] And so he starts this epistle and begins things that we'll talk about more, not today, but next time, defending his apostleship right off the bat because he wasn't speaking as someone who had a good idea.

[4:14] He was speaking as someone who had a message from the Lord and they needed to hear that. They needed to hear that indeed what he was sharing was a message from the Lord. And so he writes to churches in Galatia and wishes them peace, gives glory to God for the way Christ was given to deliver us and called for God to be glorified in that.

[4:38] And we mentioned last time that there was something missing and that was, there was no, I praise you and give thanks for this and for that and for the other thing that's going on in Galatia.

[4:50] No, what happened instead was all of a sudden Paul just jumps right in and he says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you.

[5:00] And he does that because what is going on is at the very crux of a very important issue. They're meddling, these people who are coming in and influencing the Galatians, they were meddling with the gospel and the people in Galatia were beginning to pick that up and take it and taste it and thought, this might be something good.

[5:22] And so Paul just, aside with the niceties, guys, this is what you need. And he jumps right in. And I, through this whole book, I want you to see his heart.

[5:34] this word astonished, it's like, whew, you know, I can't believe this. But it's, it's the heart of a man who loves these people.

[5:45] It's the heart of a man who cares where they're going. And so he starts right out with this strong statement, he is astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called you.

[5:57] And so let's look at some of these things here. He, he's astonished at the quickness of their turning. And now that quickness probably took place in just a matter of a couple months. Paul was in, we mentioned four different cities.

[6:09] He was in those four different cities for a period of time, several months over the course of all of those cities, probably spent some good little bit of time in each one of these cities establishing them.

[6:20] You remember, we talked about how he went through the cities and got to the end one and went back through the cities and ordained elders. So he set up people who are to help them to know the truth and to stand for the truth.

[6:31] And so he's been there and he's moved on and he's made his way back to Jerusalem. It's probably been a couple of months, not Jerusalem, Antioch. And he may have even from Antioch moved on again in his second missionary journey.

[6:45] People debate whether this took place during the first or at the end of the first or in the second missionary journey. That doesn't matter. In the course of some time, not much long time, he hears back from these people that they're starting to go astray.

[7:01] And they're not just going astray on their end times thinking. They're not just going astray on the things about maybe how they do the baptism, whether they do it forwards or backwards or anything like that.

[7:14] They're going astray on the very heart of the matter. They're going astray on their understanding of the gospel. Now, they weren't going astray on their own. There were people who came along.

[7:26] We've mentioned them just a little bit. They're the Judaizers. There are people come along who have begun to introduce things. Now, I'm going to try not to talk much about what they introduce because at this point, Paul doesn't.

[7:38] I'm going to try to leave that. It's a big temptation to explain more and more, but we're going to try to leave that because he gets into exactly what they're getting into. And we'll leave that to the point where I want us to see this with fresh eyes and see as he's coming to them, he lays down.

[7:56] This is the important thing that you're starting to get messed up on and I need to deal with this. And he goes more on who's done it and why they're doing it and various things as we go through the book.

[8:10] But he's astonished. And if you put yourself thinking about this situation, what would you think if the Apostle Paul stayed here for, let's say, two months?

[8:26] If Paul himself, who'd received direct revelation from the Lord, was here in Hazleton and we allowed him to be our guest speaker for two months, you know, that's quite a way to say it, but the Apostle Paul spoke here for two months and a big part of the topic that he spent was getting the gospel right.

[8:49] This is the gospel and he spends those two months talking with us about the gospel and we're just rejoicing in what we've learned about the gospel, how it's all of grace and Christ has done it all and we're just, we're just, I mean, our singing time, we're just raising the rafters, we're just amazed at the grace of God and Paul walks away thinking, praise God, they're getting it.

[9:13] They're seeing that it's Christ only. Christ has done all the work, I don't do any of the work myself and he's walking away rejoicing and two months later we send him a letter and say, Paul, we've got some people who are starting to change the definition of the gospel.

[9:33] Can you imagine how he would feel? And as you think about that, you think, how could people be so gullible? And yet, it is in fact happened, had in fact happened and I'm convinced as I'm going through this, I'm convinced as I've learned stuff over the past few years that the drifting of the Galatians astonished Paul and I'm not saying he shouldn't have expected it, but it happens more than that, it's part of our nature to go that way and so we need to be careful to learn what he's putting out here so that we stand strong.

[10:12] So he's astonished that they're so quickly turning from what he had taught. So, how are they turning? He says in verse 6 that you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

[10:28] So you're turning from him who called you in the grace of Christ. They're turning from the work that Christ has done or from going, from depending on it only.

[10:41] Turning from him who called you in the grace of Christ. They're turning from God. Now, they would not say that they're turning from God. They would say, oh, we've got a guy, a couple of guys here who are teaching us and you know, they've mentioned something I never understood and I mean, it just fits in the puzzle and what they're saying is so important and again, so hard not to go into what they're getting into.

[11:10] But what they say makes such sense. I mean, look at the background of where the work of Christ came from. Look at the people that he came from and these people are coming in and talking about things and the Galatian people are saying, this is just amazing.

[11:26] Now, we've got the gospel in its fullest sense. I mean, we had it before Paul came by and he told us it was by grace but these guys have come by and they've said, you know, I just want to give you a fuller understanding, a better, and this will make you a better Christian, this will make you more secure in your salvation and they just accept it and Paul's saying, look, without getting into what they were getting into, look, you're not building a fuller understanding of the gospel, you're corrupting the gospel.

[11:59] In fact, you're just turning right away from it and in this day and age, in all day and ages, we need to be careful to remember that it's not something that changes over time.

[12:14] We don't find new things about the gospel. We stand on what Christ has shared. So, let me just change this.

[12:27] So, they had been turning and they were, many had trusted when Paul had preached there and they were gladly accepting what Paul had taught but not only these few months later, after Paul's departure, they were turning away.

[12:40] They weren't totally forsaking. The word is built in such a way, it's like they're in the process. They're in the process. I'm glad that God had Paul put that word there in that way because, you know, all of us grow and sometimes any one of us can get something in our mind that we begin to run with and if we ran with it all the way, we'd end up being apostates.

[13:12] Apostates. But, they were beginning in a direction that would have led them in an awful position. And so, he's saying, I'm astonished that you are, you're quickly turning.

[13:31] So, he says, they had turned from him who called you in the grace of Christ. They had been taught by Paul that Christ had paid for their sin.

[13:48] He had provided righteousness for them. Not paid for part of their sin but paid for all of their sin. Not provided a little bit of righteousness or a beginning righteousness but provided them a complete righteousness.

[14:03] Paul had shared with them that they had been made totally acceptable before God by means of the work that Christ has done and by means of, I'm speaking of him dying on the cross shedding his blood for our sins and by means of him living this perfect life of righteousness for us.

[14:22] He had done it all. And that's what they had been taught. Been taught that it was all done. I don't think they thought they were turning from that.

[14:35] I think they thought they were simply getting a fuller understanding of what they thought the gospel was. They were learning things that Paul didn't know. After all, Paul didn't travel with the twelve disciples, twelve apostles.

[14:50] These are people who are from Jerusalem said, oh, we've been with the twelve apostles. We know what they taught. So we're coming and we're going to tell you the things that Paul wouldn't know. They were learning things that Paul didn't know so they thought they were improving on their situation.

[15:08] This is where they were beginning to turn away. This is where they were beginning to desert him who had called them. They began adding things to the gospel. And Paul's saying, I want you to realize that this is not another good form of the gospel.

[15:28] He tells them you're turning to a different gospel. It's important for us to realize that if we corrupt the gospel, we don't have another form of the good gospel.

[15:42] We have another gospel. It's not another of the same kind. It's not like we're going from the Chevy version of the gospel to the Ford version of the gospel.

[15:53] They both can be pickups, they can both handle things, and they're both doable and agreeable to use. That's not what's going on here. For these people in Galatia to begin listening to these people who had come in and tried to add things to the gospel, it was not saying, okay, we had Paul's Ford version and now we're going with these people's Chevy version.

[16:15] What was happening was they had the gospel and these people were coming in and adding to it and they no longer had a version of the gospel. They had that which men would try to do to earn their own way to heaven.

[16:30] There are no other versions of the gospel. Adding any requirement to the gospel that God does not require destroys the gospel.

[16:46] That's important for us to remember. Adding any requirement to the gospel that God does not require destroys the gospel. we cannot have our own version of the gospel.

[17:00] It must be what God says it is and that's it. And that's what was happening to these Galatian people. They were beginning to have a different version of the gospel and Paul was astonished that they were moving in that direction and he's astonished because where they're going is a damnable heresy.

[17:21] It is that which will not save people. It is that which leads people to hell. And so he says I'm astonished that you've moved so quickly from there.

[17:34] He says he goes on to say in verse 7 that there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

[17:47] The tense of the verbs here indicate that the Galatians were in the process of changing the gospel as I mentioned. The churches hadn't given themselves over yet but they were in the process and Paul was saying these people are troubling you.

[18:00] He knew that they were outside influences. People with the wrong view of the gospel were trying to convince them what they should be doing to make the gospel better or more effective or even correct as they would see it.

[18:17] And a thing that's important to remember as Christians is that we should realize that the enemy always has those who try to distort the gospel. All through the centuries since Christ has come there have been heresies that have arisen where the gospel has been distorted and the churches had to say no this is what the Bible says about the gospel and we can't do this to add to the gospel and we can't take that away from the gospel.

[18:46] It has to be what Christ has preached what Christ has shared through his apostles. These people with the wrong view were trying to convince them. There are always people who are trying to convince Christians.

[19:00] You remember last week I mentioned how we are in this day and age open to so many things. We turn on the radio. We could even do it I say radio and now you guys are going radio?

[19:12] Who listens to radio? But my mind is still thinking in the 80s. We turn on the radio and we listen to a preacher and all of a sudden we are like wow that is something I have never heard.

[19:28] And if we are not careful and we are not thinking that thing might enter our thinking and we mow on it for a while. And it could be something good or it could be something awful. There is just so much influence all over the place.

[19:44] We should realize that there are people out there who are purposely trying to mess up Christians. Now they sound like Christians and they sound like they are sincere and they sound like they love you and they sound like they want to help you.

[20:03] Paul says I know there are people there that are trying to trouble you. And I am convinced these Judaizers I am sorry I went and said it that is where we are going we are going to talk about the Judaizers I am convinced these Judaizers in some sense thought they were helping the Galatians.

[20:19] Just like a lot of the people that you and I might listen to or might read are thinking that they are helping you. But if they don't have the truth of the gospel right they are bringing in error that is damnable.

[20:36] so if the enemy is trying to deceive us if there are people out there who want to influence us wrong we should be careful to hold to the truth of the gospel.

[20:52] The book of Galatians is built to show that very thing. Show what should not be part of the gospel and show what should be part of the gospel and then show us how we should live based on that.

[21:04] So we must be careful to hold to the truth of the gospel. Now I am not going to stand in front of you and share anything that has not been shared for decades here at Grace Fellowship Church.

[21:18] But as we look at this we need to remind ourselves of truths. And we need to be well established in those truths. We should ask ourselves do we know the truth of the gospel?

[21:30] Do you know what things might be added to the gospel that would make it no longer a gospel? Those are things we should know. Do you know what we need to be trusting now?

[21:44] Now you may say well I am a 10 year old and I don't know a lot about the Bible. We should be sharing we should be teaching we should be helping even a 10 year old to begin to know the basics of the gospel.

[21:56] But as we grow older as we mature as people I am speaking just in our age but also in our spiritual walk we should be people who can begin to discern hey that is not the gospel.

[22:11] That is the gospel. I need to be careful of that. We should be people who know the Bible. And you know in this day and age people hate the word doctrine.

[22:26] but it is so important to know the truths of scripture. And if you know the truths of scripture that is that little thing called doctrine.

[22:39] And when we know the truth it can protect us from those who are seeking to stir trouble amongst us. So we should be people who know doctrine.

[22:50] We should know the truths of scripture. We should be on guard against those who distort the truth of the gospel. We should be in the gospel know the gospel so much touch, feel, hear understand the gospel so much that when someone says something that is off in relation to the gospel we say that is not gospel.

[23:09] That is not for me. And that is getting down to what Paul is doing for these people. gospel. They hadn't learned to do it for themselves and they needed someone to step in and say wait a minute what these guys are teaching that is not gospel.

[23:29] And there are things that people can teach that we can let go. you know we some of you here are paedo-baptists believe in baptizing babies.

[23:47] I see where you get it. I don't agree but I see where you get it. I don't have a problem with fellowshipping with people like that. That's good. They're our brothers and sisters.

[23:58] Those are things we let go but when people start messing with the gospel those are things where we should get our hackles up like Paul did. I'm astonished. You can hear the intensity.

[24:09] You can hear the this is dangerous. We've got to deal with this. And this is one of the things we need to know. We need to understand the truths of scripture to be on guard against those who would distort the truth.

[24:24] As we move into verses 8 and 9 Paul warns us of the importance of preaching the right gospel. And by virtue of thinking of that on the other side warns us how careful it is to hear the right gospel.

[24:42] So Paul warns us the importance of preaching the right preaching of the gospel. He goes in verses 8 and 9 he says but even if I even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you in other words what they had already heard him saying let him be accursed.

[25:06] 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. So he's saying here even if we or an angel from heaven should preach that gospel that is not in line with what I have already told you let him be accursed.

[25:27] Christ. So this first phrase is a hypothetical situation. He doesn't feel that he would come back and preach the wrong gospel because he's been convinced of that gospel.

[25:39] Christ himself has taught him that gospel. But he says if we and he's talking about himself he's talking about the people that travel with him that would represent him says if we or an angel from heaven.

[25:52] now of course there are fallen angels God doesn't send the gospel by means of angels he calls us to share the gospel but for the sake of illustration Paul set this clause up so that it's it's pointing that possibility if we or if an angel from heaven were to preach a gospel different than what we preached to today or what he preached to them in the past.

[26:18] He says let them be accursed. Now that that clause is meant to say it's not likely but if it happened if it happened they should be accursed.

[26:30] So if Paul is traveling around and in one of those times he gets hit by a rock in the head when he's being stoned and it knocks sense out of him and he's a little bit not quite himself and he comes around and he starts preaching the gospel but he adds to it that which is not the gospel.

[26:50] Paul says if I start preaching that which is not the gospel I should be accursed. I should be accursed. If one of my friends who's traveled with me comes back one day and he starts adding to the gospel and telling you to do things that the gospel does not require that person's preaching should be accursed and if they if they maintain that position they should be accursed.

[27:16] It's not likely that they will but that's how important the gospel is. No one no one has the right to change the gospel not Paul not angels not your favorite preacher whoever he is.

[27:37] It has to be the true gospel. Paul's urgency here is he's saying do not abide anyone who preaches the gospel contrary to the gospel that Paul preached.

[27:50] Do not abide anyone who preaches the gospel different than what Paul had preached. Because what he had already preached to them was what he had received directly from the Lord Jesus Christ and he took it to many people but amongst them to the Galatians and it was the truth from Christ and if anything changes from that truth from Christ they should be accursed.

[28:17] No one has the right to change the gospel do not abide anyone who preaches the gospel contrary to the one that Paul preached. Now you could say it's for emphasis.

[28:30] Some say it's for emphasis but Paul says it again he says in verse 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.

[28:46] Now this clause assumes the situation is true. He's not speaking in hypothetical. He's saying and I think he's trying to get these people in Galatians to look around.

[28:57] He's not saying if someone comes someone has come. And he's saying if anyone preaches you a gospel contrary to the one you received let him be accursed. So he's saying to these people this is something that's happening.

[29:12] People have come to you and they're preaching the gospel that is contrary to what Christ has told me to tell you. And he's saying you Galatians you as you're sitting in your situation with people standing there around you looking at you and wanting to tell you something different.

[29:31] He's saying you in that situation if anyone preaches a different gospel you should look at them as accursed. You should separate from them. You should stay away from that gospel.

[29:46] It's heresy. Paul is saying that those people who are troubling the Galatians who are perverting the gospel should be accursed.

[29:56] That idea of a curse is to be under God's judgment. It kind of it carries the idea of being banished to hell for what they were doing. So they're under God's judgment. You should treat them as such.

[30:08] You should treat them as people who are accursed by God. Someone who comes in and messes up the gospel is someone you should treat as accursed by God. Repudiate their teaching have nothing to do with them.

[30:23] Verse 10. Verse 10 says, For now I'm, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man?

[30:34] And I'll stop there in the first part of the verse. He's asking this, am I seeking the approval of man or God? Am I trying to please man? And the answer is, Paul is not coming to them for his own sake.

[30:46] He's not grieved that now he's not the center of attention. He is not peeved that he's the most important person in Galatia. He's not coming for any of that. He's not coming because people now think he's second class, which the people had come to Galatia and tried to portray to the Galatians.

[31:03] Paul's a second class citizen. He never, he never walked to Christ. He did see Christ and Christ commissioned him, but they would say, Oh, well, he never walked to Christ. so he's a second class citizen.

[31:14] And so Paul's saying, I'm not here because of what they say. I'm not here trying to puff myself up. I'm not here trying to please you. I'm here trying to please God. His heart's desire was for those Galatians.

[31:27] They were going to be snookered into the wrong understanding of the gospel and they were going to follow damnable heresies if they continued in the direction. He's, he says, I'm not coming here for you.

[31:38] I'm here to please God. I'm here because I love you and I want you in the right place. And he goes on to say, if I was still trying to please man, I wouldn't be a servant of Christ.

[31:51] He was doing great as a Pharisee. Everybody in the Jewish nation loved him. So why would he have wanted, if he was looking for praise, if he's looking to be pleasing to people, why would he have ever become an apostle?

[32:07] Why would he have ever preached Christ? He had it good. He was preeminent. He may well have been the Pharisee, the teacher in just a few short years that everybody talked about like Gamaliel.

[32:22] It might've been, I sat under the feet of the, the rabbi Paul and that's where he was going. Everybody loved him. He wouldn't have done it. And so he's saying, I'm not here for myself. I'm here first of all, for the honor of Christ and for the right understanding of the gospel.

[32:39] Thirdly, I'm here because you folks are going to suffer because of what that's going on. He loved them. So as we've addressed that, and if we talked about things here, I've tried to explain to you what's going on.

[32:57] I want you to always be able to come back to scripture and see exactly what's here. I want you to have an understanding of what's here. But as we go on, I want to, I want you to ponder some things.

[33:11] I want you to see the wonder of God's protection. Did you notice Paul's boldness, his fierceness in this passage? the eternal destiny of God's people were at stake.

[33:24] God sees this, and God moves Paul to answer, and God gives Paul the right words to say, because God loves his people.

[33:36] Paul sees an error that could ruin everything. Paul realizes the seriousness of the situation, and lovingly, with boldness, just, boldness comes to that situation and deal with it to bring them back from deserting their faith.

[33:53] God, in his love and mercy, has set men to watch over the souls. God, in his loving mercy, set Paul to watch over these souls initially, and later he ordained elders, but God loved these people, he set Paul to watch over him.

[34:10] And the book of Galatians is an instance where Paul, in watching over these people, says, oh, there's something wrong here, we've got to deal with this. And God, in his love, set this man's heart on these people, and he set this, in a sense, lion, against these people who are seeking to destroy his people.

[34:31] So God's love and mercy is abundant here. He has given Paul, and the men that Paul raised up, and the men that have been raised up through the generations, these people, he's given them to watch over the souls of his people.

[34:48] And that's always pointing back to the love of the Father towards his people. God so loved the world that he gave his son. And he's also given apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers and evangelists to protect, to watch over, to see that they mature, the church that he has.

[35:10] God has a great love for his people. And we can't think of God like us in his emotions. But as we think about this, this shows that God cares.

[35:21] God is passionate about his people having that which is from him and that which is correct. We're going to see this more through the epistle, that God loves his people.

[35:36] But even here, we begin to see the completeness. This is changing gears a little bit, but we see the completeness of the salvation. And we're not going to flower it out all the way. Because I haven't given you the problem that's gone on.

[35:50] I hinted at it in the last message. I've tried not to get there. I will just mention, they're adding to the gospel. And they're perverting the gospel by adding it. But I want you to see that what is here is perfect.

[36:05] What Christ did to provide for our salvation is perfect. He lived a perfect life. And he died on our behalf.

[36:16] And he presents that to his church as the gospel and doesn't want anything messing it up. It's all by the grace of Christ.

[36:27] I don't have to do anything, nor can I do anything to earn it or to add to it. And that's exactly what these people were beginning to do. They were trying to earn it, and they were trying to add to it.

[36:41] And we can't do that. So what do we need to do? We need to be a church that guards and preaches the truth of the gospel. We need to be a church to be diligent to guard the proper teaching of the gospel.

[36:55] Watch me. Those who preach among you, make sure it's the word of Christ. Oh, be so careful with those you would listen to outside of the church.

[37:08] Some may have your best interest. Some only have their own interest. So be careful. We need to be diligent. That means you need to know the truth of the gospel. I would strongly encourage you to look at, don't look at the Bible as just good stories.

[37:25] Look at to understand what God has done. Look at it to understand what, what he's, how he's, he saved us through Christ. So we need to know the truth of the gospel. We need to know doctrine.

[37:37] Another thing is we need to watch for one another. Paul is a good example here. Yes, he was an apostle, but he was watching for them. you, in your life with others here in the church, hear things that the elders may never hear.

[37:55] You may be in a situation where you're talking with your friend and that friend says, did you, did you hear that preacher the other day on television? Did you hear what he said? That was amazing. And he goes on to talk about it and you go, wow, he's saying that you've got to do this along with trust Christ to be saved.

[38:15] And maybe the guy didn't even see it at first. You and I have a responsibility as individuals to watch. I have a responsibility to watch for you. But sometimes there are situations I don't hear about until way months later.

[38:30] Watch for one another. Be careful. Know the gospel and guard the gospel and encourage one another in them. Watch for one another in them. What do you need to do?

[38:48] Are you adding to the law? Or a law-like requirement? Are you adding that to your understanding of the gospel? Do you feel there's something you must do before you can be acceptable before God?

[39:03] Or before, that others must do before they're acceptable before God? We watched a video series two or three years ago. I think it was on the whole Christ and it was talking about this controversy that started out in Octor Arter, I said it right, Octor Arter, Scotland, and this controversy, what do you need to do before you can be saved?

[39:26] And there was quite a controversy, nothing. Christ did it all. And we need to be careful, people who don't add requirements, they, in that controversy, and I won't say which side it was, but they were trying to say, oh, you need to show that you are sorry enough before you can come to Christ.

[39:47] No, you don't. You come to Christ. Christ gives you the repentance. Christ gives all that. And so, don't be people who add requirements to your understanding of the gospel.

[40:01] I want you to think about this and remember this. Man wants to earn his way to God. That's the way we were built. Okay? God didn't make a mistake. When God put Adam in the garden, Adam was to obey.

[40:16] And that was Adam's desire. That's the way we were built. Okay? Satan deceived Adam, and Adam sinned.

[40:27] We can no longer come to God by wanting to do what's right. right. We never again, since Adam fell, even though it's built within us to want to please God, to do what's right, to obey God for the sake of doing the thing that pleases him in earning eternal life.

[40:47] We can never ever do that again, but it's there. And so, man is always wanting to earn his way to God. We can be gullible and even seek out false prophets or false gospels that fulfill our desire to earn our way to God.

[41:05] Before I came to Christ, I tried to do things to please God, to make it so that he'd want to save me. That does nothing. That's a damnable heresy.

[41:17] It's easy to have an underlying motive that says, if I've sinned, I need to do this before I can rebuild my relationship with God. God, I can't do anything to rebuild my relationship with God, to merit him, even forgiving when I have sinned as a Christian.

[41:35] I can only stand on the work of Christ. I don't wait until I've read my Bible enough. I don't wait until I've prayed enough. When I sin, I go to Christ.

[41:47] When I fail, I go to Christ. I don't have to earn anything back. Christ did it all. So, are you the kind of person who sets up rules that says you must keep this or do that before you can come to Christ or before you can come back to Christ?

[42:06] Those are false gospels. Christ did it all. Are there rules that you feel you need to keep to be a good Christian in the eyes of God or others?

[42:19] That's a false gospel. Now, because Christ saves us, we love Christ and we want to obey him and we want to love him and we want to serve him and we want to be a good testimony.

[42:33] But it's not to earn anything before God. It's because of what he's done. If you think there's anything you need to do to be pleasing to God before you come to him, that's not the gospel.

[42:49] that's like what the people here in Galatia were. Stop requiring law keeping or good works for yourself or others to be acceptable before God.

[43:02] Stand in the work of Christ alone. Don't listen to those who preach or teach that God requires law keeping or good works for salvation. don't listen to those who say well you have to feel sorry for your sin this long before you can come back to Christ as a Christian when you've sinned.

[43:22] None of that's true. None of that's the gospel. God provided a salvation that was built on the work of Christ alone. My sin was paid by his work alone.

[43:34] Sorry, Owen's having a seizure. My acceptance and my standing is paid by his work alone.

[43:45] Your acceptance and your standing doesn't depend on how sorry you are. It doesn't depend on this or that or the other thing. It depends on the work of Christ alone.

[43:58] I told you when I was a kid I tried to do things to make it so God would want to save me. Are you trying to do that? Are you trying to make yourself good enough for God to think about saving you?

[44:11] Have you been trying to obey God's love to help save you? You cannot make up for your sin. Your only hope is to trust in the work of the one who's done it all for you.

[44:22] It's not Christ plus whatever you can do. It is Christ alone. Let's pray. Father, pray that you would help us with these things.

[44:34] Help us to have a right understanding. Help us to be people who guard the gospel. Help us to trust in the work of Christ alone. Lord, if there's any here who don't know you and they, like all of us, at one point have tried to make ourselves pleasing before you, help us not to be people who try, but to trust, who come, who rest.

[44:57] The work of Christ is all. The work of Christ is sufficient. There's nothing to be added. Help us to rest there. I pray that you would be with us. Lord, we as Christians sometimes get hung up.

[45:10] I've done this wrong and I've got to read my Bible for a week before I can pray and even talk to God about it. That's wrong. Help us to trust only Christ in the work that he's done.

[45:21] I pray that you would be with us. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's sing hymn 461 as we close. 461.

[45:38] It's the idea that everything that I have, everything that I need, everything that is required has been done by Christ. I can't bring anything to that sacrifice.

[45:50] I can't add to it. I can't take away. Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.

[46:03] Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers or sighs or tears can bear the awful load. And the verses go on.

[46:15] It's only Christ. Let's stand and sing that together. 461. joy.

[46:30] Now, I am turned down and saved my empty soul.

[46:43] I love my joy in precious form in my spirit and whole. I love love and give peace with God.

[47:01] Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear the awful load. I work on all the night and eat this great of sin.

[47:19] My blood alone love O God can live in peace with him. My love to be O God a fire O Lord to me and with me of his heart compress and set my spirit free.

[47:46] My grace so O God to me can part and sleep. Thy power alone O Son of God will miss so long age break.

[48:03] The Lord will survive no other love will do. No strength and which is divine can bear me stay me through.

[48:20] I bless the Christ of God I bless all love divine and with the heart I call his Savior Iском forever God his Abraham champion posting three complementary I praise the God of praise, my trust is true and right.

[49:04] He taught me this, I call him thine, my God, my joy, my light. He sings with me, and freely for him gives.

[49:22] I love because he loveth me, I give because he lives. Amen.

[49:34] I pray that that's your standing today. Now receive this benediction. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

[49:50] To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forevermore.

[50:02] Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. We'll just speak through our announcements. Thank you.