Galatians 1:6-10 "Anathema"

Reformed Ex-mormon

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It's such a blessing to be here and see each one of us here today and Just in preparation in the way that we come to worship

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God It is just it is a blessing so we are going to be in Galatians chapter 1 6 through 10

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So start making your way there We're gonna go ahead and begin today with a prayer before we read or talk about this text

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So let us go ahead and pray Lord God, I do thank you so much for this

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Lord's Day to come here with those that were able to make it to this service today and to worship you in song, in preaching, in fellowship,

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Lord. God, I would ask that in the teaching and the preaching of your word today here in the book of Galatians that we would glorify you, that we would magnify you, that we would desire and seek after you,

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Lord. God, may you be worshipped today. May we fear you today.

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May we rely on your gospel today, Lord. God, we ask this in your name,

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Jesus the Christ. Amen. Brothers and sisters, we're going to be in Galatians chapter 1, 6 through 10 today.

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As you start making your way there, I do want to begin today's message by telling us a story of a woman that we undoubtedly all know in life.

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And this woman is, her name, let's call her name Jane. Jane was born into a church.

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She was baptized. She took communion. She was there at all the church functions.

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She volunteered. And throughout her life,

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Jane, you might have heard her at Bible studies say some particular things. Things like,

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I know I'm saved because of the way I live, because of baptism, because I go to Bible study, because I go to church.

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And because of the desire that you had with Jane in this relationship, you never questioned the things that she was saying.

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Well, Jane unfortunately dies at an old age, and she goes before God and his throne, and she begins to tell

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God all about her life. And God questions her to judge her.

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And she poses to God that the reason that she is saved, the reason that she should be in the preference of him, is because she was a good person.

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Because she was baptized. Because she went to Bible study. Because she did all the things that you and I would say are good things.

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And that was her reason why she should be in heaven. The words that I would say that God would say to such a woman like Jane is this.

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Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you.

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Today's message is anathema, accursed. And it is because of a word that we're going to see here in Galatians, anathema.

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Anything that is added to the gospel as a means to save us will ultimately condemn us before God.

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If we go to heaven thinking that it is through our baptism, it is through the works that we do, the life that we live that we are saved, it is anathema, it is accursed.

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We're going to be condemned before God. This is, Jane, that story is a hypothetical story, but it's a true story nonetheless.

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It's a story that undoubtedly we could think of in our lives and think about individuals that possess this kind of living.

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This kind of testimony. This kind of action in life. I know I'm saved because of all the things

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I do. And they might attach at the very end there a short message of Jesus.

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But today's message is anathema, which describes that dire state of Jane and those who proclaim a false gospel.

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And it's my true concern today, brothers and sisters, that we, you and I, could be convincing ourselves that we're in heaven based off of the works we do rather than the finished work of Christ.

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Anathema. Don't convince yourself of those things. The three principles, the three key points

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I hope that we cover today, is the false gospels that are in the world and the state of those who teach them.

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Number two, the true gospel. Let's remind ourselves of the true gospel today.

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And three, the approval of God rather than the approval of a man. So let's go ahead and read today's text.

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We're in verse 6 to 11 right here. So let's read this. It says, I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another.

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Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

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But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel which we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.

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As we have said before, so I say now again, if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed.

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For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am

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I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men,

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I would not be a slave, a servant of Christ.

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What is the context of these verses as we spoke of last week? Paul is sending a letter to the churches, plural, a multitude of churches in Galatia, who have been swayed and convinced of the teaching of Judaizers.

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These Judaizers were individuals who taught that in order to be a true

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Christian, in order to be saved, one must be circumcised and follow in its fullness the

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Mosaic law. And the argument in that first century would have been truly a convincing argument, though horrendous and false, it was convincing to the first century audience.

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We have to put ourselves in the first century shoes of those that are hearing this message.

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If you would like to turn with me to Acts 15, verses 1 -12, just to help us understand this

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Judaizers and kind of the reason why it comes about. Acts 15, verses 1 -12 says this,

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But some men came down from Judea who were teaching the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the customs of Moses, you cannot be saved.

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And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

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So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both, I cannot pronounce these words, so I apologize,

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Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.

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When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.

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But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.

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I want to pause here and let you know, this is the first seedling, this is the first idea of Judaizers starting to come about.

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It then says, The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

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And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, Brothers, you know that in the early days

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God made a choice, that by my mouth the

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Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the

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Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. And he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their heart by faith.

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Now therefore, why are you putting God to test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples, that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

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But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the

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Lord Jesus, just as they will. And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul, as they related what signs and wonders

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God had done through them among the Gentiles. It would appear that this desire to be justified by our own law -keeping persisted in the early church, and I would argue even still exists very prevalently today.

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That was the first seedlings of these Judaizers. Galatians 1, 6 -10 speaks directly to those who believed and promoted such teaching, circumcision, and law -keeping, which

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Peter himself says, we were unable to bear this yoke.

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Why are we trying to put this back upon people's necks? This doesn't save us.

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This doesn't reward us. The idea that circumcision and law -keeping brings about salvation is declared by Paul as a false gospel.

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And so let's go back to Galatians 1, 6 -10 and read here in verse 6 and consider these things.

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In verse 6 it says, Paul says, I am astonished. Paul is baffled at the idea that the church or Christians at large are deporting from the grace of Christ and His righteousness for their own supposed good.

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Think about a time in your life when someone you know committed the most ridiculous, nonsense life choice.

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Something that made you say, how stupid do you have to be? How idiotic do you have to behave to do this?

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How backwards do you have to go about in life? While thinking about this, thinking of an example in life that would be equatable to what

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Paul is saying, I marvel, I'm astonished at what you're doing. I was thinking about things, and yesterday there was an event that happened that I thought actually fit pretty well with the astonishment that one could have over stupidity.

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Yesterday while doing evangelism at the Pride Festival in Twin, we met a man who was catering the events, him and his wife were, and he said that he used to be a pastor.

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And that he totally disagreed with the events, and he agreed with the message that we were preaching there that day, yesterday.

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But, due to his wife's desires, he chose to still cater and bring presents at the

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Pride Festival. Rick, Leland, and I spent the rest of the time there in astonishment that this man could have a testimony of Jesus, preach

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Him, and then bow his knee to his wife and participate in a very evil event that boasted sin against God.

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I would believe that this is the level of astonishment and marvel over the stupidity that somebody could possess.

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And Paul is actually, I would argue, is even expressing a greater marvel than what we would experience, what we had experienced yesterday.

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Paul has been tirelessly proclaiming the gospel from city to city and planting churches upon churches, when suddenly, put yourself in the shoes of Paul, you've been doing this, you have been burdened by this, you have been advancing the kingdom of God, and all of a sudden, you receive word that there's churches in Galatia disregarding your teaching.

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They're resorting to the extreme measures of circumcising one another in a misguided attempt to attain salvation.

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And Paul, you would be baffled by their complete disregard for your own teachings, for the teachings of Paul, about salvation through Jesus alone.

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Put yourself in those shoes and think, would you not feel the same way? You would feel astonished, you would feel marveled, you'd be baffled.

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How dumb do you have to be, church of Galatia, these churches, how dumb do you have to be to go back upon the blood of Christ for a yoke?

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But listen, Paul, even though in this feeling of marveling and astonishment, of stupidity for these people, he still loves them enough to send this very clear letter of rebuke for allowing such doctrine to destroy these churches.

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He still loves these brothers and sisters in Christ. And therefore he says, deserting him, he says that I marvel so quickly that you're deserting him.

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This is the kind of behavior that Paul says, deserting of the grace of Christ, this idea of cutting off your own flesh and trying to obey the law of God to earn salvation.

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He says you're departing from the grace of Christ. This is the fear of mine.

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This is a huge fear of mine. To stand behind a pulpit and to proclaim the gospel,

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I would hate for anyone in any chair of any church that ever heard a message of mine to be preached to die and go to heaven and tell

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God, I'm saved based off of what I have done. I have failed as a preacher if any one of us die and go to God proclaiming such a message.

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You are going back to that story of Jane. You are the Jane of that story.

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Beloved friends, think about how all the world around us offers the means of happiness and satisfaction today.

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I would argue that we live in such a generation where sin, acceptance, and worldly desires outweighs every generation before us.

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Sin is no longer done in the closet, but publicly and boastfully.

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Acceptance is now more important than respect, honor, and holiness.

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Worldly desires are trampling on our doorstep everywhere we go, and all these things are bringing us to forsake

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Christ. We must ask ourselves, are we going to desert

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Christ today? Are we going to say, I am justified, I am made righteous through another means than Jesus?

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Paul says in here that you are deserting the grace. He says to the churches of Galatia, you are deserting the grace of Christ for a different gospel.

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Are we as a church, are we going to fall folly into these churches of Galatia by deserting the grace of Christ for a different gospel?

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The word gospel, if we don't know, means a good news, a good news. When we think about last week's message of the repackaging of the

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Judaizers today, and all those false religions teach a works -based salvation.

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Each one of those false religions seek to place a yoke of slavery upon our necks, upon our backs, under the guise of a distorted truth.

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But instead, they carry us down to the depths of hell. That's what

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Peter is arguing for in Acts chapter 15. If we think that grace isn't sufficient for us, and we have to do all these other things, brothers and sisters, there is no law keeping that will ever justify you.

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The law keeper, Jesus, is what justifies us. Paul then says, which is not really another, so in reference to this different gospel, this works -based gospel, these

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Judaizers, Paul says, it's not really another, only that there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ, meaning that there is only one gospel, there's only one good news that saves, there's only one good news, and that is the gospel of Christ.

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All others are not actually good news, and why are they not actually good news?

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Because they condemn, and they don't actually save us. These others distort the gospel of Christ, that is the means that save us, they distort that truth.

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As we discussed in our weekly Bible study this last Wednesday on the topic of evangelism, it is crucial for us to know with clarity the gospel that saves us.

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So that when we are presented with something that distorts the true gospel, it can be easily identified, and easily therefore rebuked.

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We must study the gospel to be able to authenticate another person's message.

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Why? Because there are people out there in this world who want to distort the gospel, changing it enough to make it not good news.

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For example, culturally, we might not ever encounter someone who, like the first century church, was hearing people say, yes,

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Jesus died for my sins, but here is this knife. Just remove a little bit of your flesh and you can be saved.

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That to us sounds like a very strange message that we would not hear in our church. I've never had somebody approach me with a knife and say, here, cut off some of your flesh and then

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I'll know you're a Christian. But this same type of distorting of the true gospel still exists in substance today.

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Someone might not ask us to remove our flesh, but instead they'll say something like this, Jesus died for my sins, but you have to be baptized in order to be saved.

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This too is a false gospel. Or perhaps, maybe you would hear someone say, yes,

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Jesus died for me, but you have to go to my priest in order to have a remission of sins.

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Again, false gospel. My point in saying all of this is that false gospels are all around us in the world.

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And we must be ready to authenticate a message from a person who is proclaiming to us a supposed good news, a supposed gospel.

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Because of this, as we always have and always will, we need to be reminded of what the true gospel is.

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And this is the true gospel, and we preach this daily to ourselves, you hear this behind the pulpit, every single week, because it's every single week that we need to be reminded, minute by minute, remind yourselves of the true gospel, that there is only one

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God whom you and I have sinned against. The one and only God humbled himself by becoming flesh,

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Jesus the Christ. He fulfilled every prophecy and promise as the foretold seed that would crush the head of the serpent and restore humanity from their fallen state.

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He lived a perfect life, yet we rejected and condemned him to death upon a cross where he,

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Jesus the Christ, who knew no sin, became sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God through him.

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For cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree, and it was there, the tree, the cross, where Jesus fully paid for our sin debt by satisfying the wrath of God for those who believe upon him.

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He was buried, and he rose on the third day, defeating death according to scriptures. That is the good news, that Jesus finished it, that Jesus fulfilled it, that Jesus saved me, period.

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This is what we preach daily to ourselves as our flesh, our pride.

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Everything inside of us desires to justify ourselves by another means other than Jesus.

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Be humbled. Come and see your salvation upon the cross of Jesus.

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God alone saves us. But if someone is sincere, what if somebody comes to us and is super sincere or poses to us some supposed authority and tells us that there's something more, there's something other than that gospel that first saved us, there's something other than that out there, what if somebody is so sincere in their message that it seems to be correct?

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Well, let's see what Paul says about that. He says, But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel which we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.

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I first want to address, I think it's important to first address and discuss what this word accursed means.

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In the Greek, this word anathema is what it is in Greek. It is a serious term that means to be cursed and cut off.

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I do not believe that Paul just happens to choose this word about those who are saying,

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You must cut something off. Paul then says, declaring to these churches,

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No, they must be cut off. They must be cursed.

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Those that are telling you to cut something off, you cut them off. A curse, anathema.

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This is a very serious word, brothers and sisters. The word that Paul uses here, anathema, is the equivalent of us today saying,

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Damn you. Damn you to hell. This is not an easy statement as it implies that we should cut off friends and family from having an influence over us in our own considerations of salvation through Jesus Christ.

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But if we understand the freedom of Christ, we should desire those who destroy the grace of God to be what?

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Damned. Accursed. Those that destroy the blood of Christ, what are they deserving of?

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To be accursed. To be damned. Listen, I want to point this out to us that there are many critics of the

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Bible or even supposed Christians who claim that the God of the

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Old Testament is not the same as the God of the New Testament. They say things that there are verses and chapters in the

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Old Testament that are just not fitting with the new and the grace and love that we see in the New Testament.

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They would cite a verse like Psalm 69, 27 -28. Let's read this.

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It says, Add iniquity to their iniquity, and may they not come.

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This is David saying this. Add iniquity to their iniquity, and may they not come into your righteousness.

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May they be blotted out of the book of life, and may they not be recorded with the righteous.

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These critics often see these Old Testament verses like what we've just read, and they think that it doesn't fit with the grace and love that we see in the

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New Testament. Oh, how I wish that these critics actually read the

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Bible, if they actually studied the New Testament. Why do I say that? Because all they would need to do is read

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Galatians 1, 6 -10, the text that we're looking at today, and see that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

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Paul in here uses a word that is actually so much more severe than what

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David uses there in Psalm 69. Paul says, not only should they not be written in the book of life, but may they go to hell forever and ever.

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May they be accursed. May they be damned. God speaks the same.

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He does not speak in contradiction from those verses of the Old Testament and those verses of the

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New Testament. And the reason I want us to bring this to our attention today is just as a way of reminder that God is the same yesterday.

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God is the same today. And God is and will be forever and ever the same.

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And Paul is so sure of God's punishment that is owed to those who reject Jesus, he then even says this, even we, even we,

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Paul says that if he, Paul, the apostle, the one that we look at and held as this mighty

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Christian, which he was, he says that if he, Paul, the apostle, or the other apostles, think of John and Peter, if they preach a message that is contrary to the one that they had previously preached to the people, which is that grace of God through the active and passive obedience of Christ, that they too should be cursed.

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That they too should go to hell. That they too should be damned for all eternity.

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Paul, Peter, John, if they preach a false gospel, let them go to hell is what Paul is saying in here.

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Paul does not exclude himself from this punishment. And this shows to us that Paul is adamant about the grace of Jesus.

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He's saying, I'd rather be damned than lead someone into hell. I would rather be cut off than point us away from the cross.

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I would rather be cursed than trample upon the blood of Christ. And this too needs to be our attitude about the importance and sanctity of the gospel message.

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But Paul does not say, Paul does not just say, we.

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He does not just stop at what the apostles, and the danger of what they could say.

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He then says, if we were an angel, Paul's so sure of the gospel that he is saying, church, if an angel were to appear before us in this very room, and think about this right here, right now.

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If an angel was to appear right here before us, and was to tell us a gospel that was contradictive of the gospel that Paul, and Peter, and John, and all the apostles preached, what should we do with that angel?

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This angel, in all of its glory, standing before us, what should we do to that angel? Be gone.

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Be cursed. Anathema, we will not listen to you, angel. No authority in heaven or on earth changes this truth of the gospel.

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And we are to reject those who teach otherwise. Again, I'm astonished, and according to verse six,

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I feel the same type of marveling that Paul does, that so many in today have fallen into the stupidity that was taught by a man in the 1800s.

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And I feel the need to address this, because the text says, if an angel comes to you and preaches a gospel that was not first proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.

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In the 1800s, we have a man named Joseph Smith, who reportedly received visions from angels and even

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God himself. And he claimed that these visions taught him about the true gospel, which had been lost, and that the true gospel consisted of our works, plus faith in Jesus, our spirit brother.

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All you would need to go and do, our spirit brother, let me pause here and just say, all you would need to do to see what the

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LDS teaches, go read Article of Faith 3 and 4, go on their website, look up what is the gospel, and guess what it will tell you?

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The gospel is all the laws and obedience necessary for us to be able to be saved.

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Articles of Faith 3 and 4 that we believe, these we believe statements that the

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LDS Church teaches, that man is saved through faith in Jesus and the laying on of hands and the baptism and repentance.

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Why would we want to go back to a yoke of slavery that could never save us?

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And not only this, but Joseph Smith said that Jesus was not God in flesh, that he was only our spirit brother.

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What is to be done with this? Accursed!

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Anathema! Damned! To be cut off! I'm sincerely marveled that there are so many genuine and smart people in the

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LDS religion who have been duped by something so idiotic and contrary to the gospel of Christ.

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They have been swayed into condemnation based off of subjective emotions which in my opinion is orchestrated by the devil himself.

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They are the modern day Judaizers but just repackaged with new branding and modern appeal.

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No supposed authority is to be accepted if it denies the gospel of Christ, Jesus God in flesh, his life, his death, and his resurrection.

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That it is his finished work alone that saves us, that it's by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone,

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Jesus our God and Lord alone. You would not take me seriously if I told you last night in my bedroom

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I received a vision from an angel who told me that in all the New Testament we had it wrong.

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You would say, get down from the pulpit Braden. Paul then says, as we have said before so I say now again, if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received let him be accursed.

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Paul now after addressing himself and the other apostles by saying we and then saying if even this angel from heaven, he then extends this curse to anyone who presents a false gospel.

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This spreads, this expands this curse outward to all people. This is important for Paul.

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This is so important for Paul that he essentially doubles back and restates what he already said. This truth again for us because of how vitally important it is.

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Think of all the churches in the world today that this message is completely contrary to. All those statements, all these missionary church statements that we see.

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Come as you are. All are welcomed. We don't judge. Think about all those things that we see on church websites.

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This is how Satan has infected the church by making her, the church, weak in doctrine.

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By leaving her front door open. By giving her pastors with no backbone. By desiring numbers of attendance over the sanctity of God's word.

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Paul says if you preach a false gospel don't come back. If you think and teach that works save you, you are not welcomed in our church.

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If you proclaim that Christ's work is not finished, you're already accursed.

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Damned is what Paul says. Is that what we see on people's websites for churches today?

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No. But that's in the very word of God and how Paul says we should be handling those that believe and teach a false gospel.

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Don't come in. Don't hurt us with your teaching. Don't influence our thinking about Christ.

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And then Paul then echoes this same sentiment in verse 10. He says, and brothers and sisters what

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I just said there, it sounds kind of crazy and counterintuitive to every message that we hear from churches around us.

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Every church around us wants numbers. Every church around us wants more and more to come in.

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But look at what Paul says. For am I now seeking the favor of men? Or of God?

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Or am I striving to please men? If I were trying to still please men, I would not be a slave of Christ.

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Is Paul seeking the favor of men by making such a harsh statement? Cut them off.

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Don't let them come back into the church. Is he seeking their favor? Paul does not act like so many other churches are prone to act in this manner.

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Paul does not just say, just let them stay around, forgive and forget. All we have is difference of opinions and relationships are more important than the truth.

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Paul does not say such a thing. Paul says, let them be damned. Let them be cursed.

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Is this an ear -tickling statement? One that will get people running through the front door?

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No, it's not. But this is the word of God and the seriousness of the centrality of our beliefs, which is the gospel itself.

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The gospel is so important that it's so important and so serious that I would ask you today, who are you letting talk in your ear?

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Who are you letting influence you? Who is proclaiming to you false gospels today?

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Cut them off. Paul says it's so serious to let them be accursed.

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It's that serious of an issue, brothers and sisters. Who do we seek approval from?

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God or man? Man may punish us. Man may socially ostracize us.

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They may lie about us. They may gossip about us. And maybe at worst, this does not happen in the

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United States like it does in other places, but at worst, they could kill us. But ultimately, they can do little to us.

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We must fear God and seek His approval. A verse that we read in Bible study this last

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Wednesday, it was from Matthew 10, 28. It says this, and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

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Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

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We seek the approval of God, not man. Paul says, if we are trying to please men,

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I would not be a servant of Christ. Why would Paul come to this conclusion?

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It is because true discipleship of Christ always comes with a cost.

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It is not profitable in the sense that the world likes to define the word prophet. I want to finish out by reading

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John 15, 18 -21 for us. This text is

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Jesus speaking known as the Upper Room Discourse. He says, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

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If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

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Remember the world that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master.

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If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they keep my word, they will also keep yours.

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But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

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To be a servant of Christ means that your life bears resemblance to him.

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The way that the world received him is the way that it will receive you. The world had received

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Christ by yelling out, Crucify! Crucify! Why would we assume that it would yell out our praises?

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I promise you, it won't and it shouldn't. And it's the grace of Christ, and this is the grace of Christ working within us.

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The grace that the world tries to mimic is stained with pride and hatred towards God.

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Do not try to please man. Do not try to live at peace with the doctrines of those that reject the finished work of Christ.

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Do not accept those who teach contrary to that which first pierced our hearts and opened our eyes and gave us sight,

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Jesus the lamb that was slain for us. Let all else be damned as we seek the approval of God and not man.

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For his gospel that saved us is the same gospel that keeps us. This is a serious text and one that has so many implications for us.

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There is only one gospel. There's not a multitude of gospels. All these other gospels are actually bad news that actually condemn us before God.

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And the way that we should treat them is the way that Paul tells us to treat them. Cut the accursed anathema.

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They will not save us. They do not bring us to God. They actually take us away and they put a yoke of slavery on our backs.

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Brothers and sisters, let us go ahead and pray as we consider these things. I hope in the back of your mind there's something that's gnawing at your mind of who am

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I letting influence me? Is there something that has been, maybe I've been the

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Jane in my life, this person who I thought and convinced myself

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I was saved through my own works? If that's the case, today is the day to look to Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

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If you have salvation in that, that's not an offensive message. That's the way we are saved.

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That's the means that we are saved today. That's the means we'll be saved tomorrow is that Christ alone has done it.

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Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for this morning to come and worship you.

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We thank you for what you've done on our behalf, Lord. God, I would ask that we would take the gospel message,

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Jesus dying and rising again, that we would take it so seriously, Lord, that anything that sounded, even remotely contrary to it, that we would be quick to authenticate the message, that we would be quick to cast that message away, and that we would rebuke those that are around us for believing and teaching such.

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Lord, I would ask that you would cause our minds to remember the grace that first saved us, the grace that is keeping us today, that we would not forsake this grace and turn back to that of the yoke of slavery.

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Lord, you are the law keeper. We have broken your law.

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God, no amount of law keeping done by us will ever bring us back into the grace and the graces in your eyes,

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Lord. It is only through Jesus Christ that we are saved, Lord. So God, it is upon the great name of Jesus Christ that we lift these things up and we say this in your name.