No Other Gospel

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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want to thank Pastor Owens for thinking of me for this afternoon. It's a joy to be here, to have heard the gospel proclaimed this morning by Pastor Calvin.

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I thought that that was so clear, and the importance, and the historicity, and the factuality of the resurrection.

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And God willing, I will, with equal clarity and edification and building up the Saints, declare the

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Word of God to you from the book of Galatians. Before I have you stand and read

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Galatians chapter 1 verses 1 through 10, 6 through 10 being my preaching text, there is one little correction.

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It's relatively important, though not terribly important, but just a little bit. The title that you have in your bulletin is incorrect.

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There were a couple of options that Collin and I were corresponding back and forth. He put the wrong one on the title there.

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The title of this message is No Other Gospel, and God willing, that'll make sense as we go through it.

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So if you please stand. The book of Galatians chapter 1, and again

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I'll read the first 10 verses. Verses 6 through 10 are the text for this afternoon. Paul, an

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Apostle, not from men nor through men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised

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Him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of Galatia. Grace to you and peace from God our

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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God the

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Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting

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Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

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But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one that we preached to you, let him be accursed.

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As we've 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.

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For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I now trying to please man?

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If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. God bless that reading.

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And now the proclamation of His Word. Please be seated. There's one

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God who by His mercy and grace calls us to His one Son, Jesus Christ, and gives us the gift of faith by His one

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Holy Spirit. The one God calls us to the one gospel which He designed for our salvation before the world or before anything else was made from nothing that had been before that.

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The gospel's design has been since eternity. Like the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it never was not.

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In the beginning was the Word, that's Jesus Christ, and the Word was with God, and the Word was, always was, always will be, can be nothing but God.

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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I would argue that nothing better represents

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God's nature, God's person, God's works, God's design, nothing better represents any of that than does the gospel.

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His Word vested in His Son, empowered by His Holy Spirit, is God Himself.

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When God spoke on the holy mountain, He said to the disciples, this is my beloved Son in whom

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I am well pleased. Listen to Him. He spoke of His one and only

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Son, that's Jesus. It is in Him, in Jesus, that the grace of God has appeared to all men, that's

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God's grace personified in the man Jesus Christ, the man Jesus Christ, who's the only mediator between man and God.

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He, Jesus, is the gospel of God, because the good news of God's reconciliation with mankind is

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His, Jesus's, it's His person and work. And herein lies the problem with other gospels, because what they add or purport to add, they would add to God.

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What they deny or purport to deny of the gospel, they deny of God. Where false gospels add or detract from God's gospel, they add or detract from God Himself.

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Simply put, false gospels imply that God is false, which of course is impossible because it's impossible for God to lie.

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But in another sense, they imply nothing. False gospels boast proudly, they boast boldly, they boast loudly.

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False gospels are really the nation's manifest rage against the Almighty, as we see in Psalm 2.

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Why do the nations rage? Well, let's ask it a little bit differently. How do they rage? They rage by perverting the gospel.

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They rage against God by adding something to or detracting something from this beautiful, clear, clarion -clear gospel that we have in Scripture.

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They imply that God is wrong, that the gospel we have in Scripture, the gospel

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Jesus proclaimed, the gospel for which He suffered and died, the gospel for which the apostles and countless others gave their lives, is wrong.

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It's false, deficient, that God is wrong. So with that, let us then join

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Paul's alarm at this headlong plunge the Galatian churches were heading for as they considered a gospel.

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There was really no gospel at all. Verse 6,

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I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you. Oh, how easily we lose the memory of the wonder of salvation, how quickly it slips away from us, how easy it is to become an

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Ephesian in Book of Revelation where they've forgotten their first love. And how quickly we can slip from that as we lose that childlike, wide -eyed wonder at the salvation that Jesus Christ brought and the salvation that this

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Holy Spirit opened our eyes and changed our heart to see and to believe. Do you remember that moment?

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Do you remember that time where it was just God was just so big you just felt like a little child looking up your father so tall you couldn't even catch the top of his head.

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It got out of perspective. He was so far above you. You see this beautiful image of God and you know what

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Jesus Christ has done for you and you know it was the Holy Spirit who gave you faith to believe and eyes to see and all of that.

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Do you remember that time? Yet the Ephesians in Revelation lost their first love and Jesus rebuked them for it.

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Well, Paul is in much the same situation here with the Galatian church. How quickly you're deserting

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Him who called you. And the word behind deserting, that word is scarcely used in the

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New Testament. It's here, it's two times in Hebrews, it's once in Jub, and it's once in Acts. It's metatithemi, which is the prefix meta meaning after, and tithemi, which means to stand.

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Metatithemi, to stand, to be put in place. More technically, the definition is to transpose something where one thing is put in place of another, to change one's loyalty or become apostate, transfer oneself, or, and this final nuance of this word

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I think fits best here, is passive, hear it, suffer oneself to be transferred.

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To suffer, to allow, to passively give in to yourself being transferred from one thing to another.

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And what is it here in Galatians? Clearly, from the gospel to another gospel, which is no gospel at all.

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That passive meaning really does fit better here. They were allowing themselves to be picked up and moved, transferred from one state of being to another, and this word is also a military term for desertion or treason.

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So the Galatians, should they give themselves to this other gospel, should they go along with it, should they finish the plunge, they would be traitors.

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You know, Jeremiah asked in Jeremiah 23 whether the Ethiopian can change his skin or a leopard changes spots.

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You see, the core nature, the gospel's work cannot be accomplished by human endeavor or can it be improved by human means.

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The Ethiopian skin, like the leopard's spot, is not really a moral issue, but the point there is what follows in Jeremiah, then also, in other words, if the

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Ethiopian can change his skin, if the leopard can change his spots, then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

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Well, I bring that point up and tie it to Galatians because the lesson is clear.

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Even if the outer man could be changed, even if you could do something about your skin color, about your hair color, what did

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Jesus say? You can't add one cubit to your life. You can't add a hair or stop a hair from falling if God says it's gonna fall out.

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There's nothing in the outer man, in your physical self, that you can change that is going to do you gospel good, that's going to change your moral position, that's going to change your heart, that's going to change you in God's perspective, in his eyes.

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No, even if you could do something to the outer man, the inner man remains the same. So what was the issue in Galatia?

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Well, it's circumcision, a modification of the outer physical man.

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Now Paul doesn't actually mention circumcision until chapter 5 and verse 12, but that's the issue.

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That's the issue, it's circumcision, not the act itself. Be clear on this, it's not the act itself.

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The purpose of the act is what's the issue. The purpose, why they were doing it, what it was being taught that it would accomplish for you.

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What they hoped to gain thereby, by changing the skin or removing their spots, by circumcision they were told, then and only then, and by that physical act in your physical flesh, then you're acceptable to God, unless you're circumcised, you cannot be saved, they taught.

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Now that's pretty clear that that's a gospel, but oftentimes in this world is much more subtle than that.

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The additions, the subtractions are very subtle, very hard sometimes to detect. That's why

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God gave us teachers, that's why God gave you a pastor like Conley, who has this discernment and proclaims to you the true and living

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God, the triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, as he is in Scripture. So you not be fooled by these things.

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So you don't give in to gospels that are not the true gospel. This whole thing was a rehash of Acts chapter 15.

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The church in Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas, when they went there, we found that some men came down from Judea, we're going to call them

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Judaizers, because that's what the Scripture calls them, they came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.

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It's incredible. Now this issue was brought by the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, to the elders and apostles in Jerusalem.

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And we won't go there in any detail, just to tell you that they, that Jerusalem Council as it's so often called, they soundly, they roundly, they convincingly, they firmly said, wrong!

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That's wrong. We will not impose that. Not just that we don't want to add something that's going to make you say, hey this is too much trouble for us, and maybe the church is going to shrink because of that and not be as popular.

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No, no, no. Wrong. Why? Because that's not the gospel.

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That is not the gospel, that you need to do something in order to be saved.

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Most especially, something like the ancient rite of circumcision. As I said, they're called

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Judaizers. They sought to bring the law of Moses to bear upon the Christians in Galatia. But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details.

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In this case, the fine print. Because that one simple act brought with it the entire freight of the entire law.

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This is what James says in his book, is it not? If you're going to rely on the law, and what do you rely on the law for?

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What's the issue at hand there? Relying on the law to provide for you what only

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Christ did provide, what only Christ can provide. Then you are a debtor to all of the law.

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The whole thing, the whole banana as we used to say. Now the history of the law has a very clear and very easy lesson for all of us to learn.

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If you go back to when the law was given, go back to Adam in the garden, you follow

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Israel's history and you follow our own history, your personal history. What do you learn about the law?

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I ask you, can you keep it? Now all of us can obey it here and there.

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All of us men can see an attractive woman and every now and then not lust. And all you women are capable of respecting and obeying your husband properly.

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Can we do it all the time? Can we do it as God's holiest and perfection requires?

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No, of course not. We can all obey it here and there but none of us can keep it now and always. And to quote

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James now instead of just allude to James, he says whoever keeps the law but fails at one point has become accountable for all of it.

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I'm not going to go into detail in James and his book except for that one principle because what I just said about all the law coming along with it, that one principle gathers up within its orb what

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Paul is warning the Galatians about. If you submit to this act, to this circumcision as a necessary entrance to salvation, notice how he said it, as a necessary entrance to salvation, if you sign on to that one point of the old law as law, you have first of all done what?

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You have replaced Christ's perfect fulfillment of the law with your own.

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Christ obeyed the law perfectly, not like us in a spotty kind of way, not like you and me when we wake up we just really feel good and spiritual today and by gum

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I'm gonna obey most of it today. No, Jesus with every breath, with every moment, with every thought, with every action, his whole being was in obedience to that law and that is what is needed to achieve the law.

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This is the whole point of Christ's perfect active obedience to God. What about us?

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Not one of us would claim we can do that. What do we do when we try? We fail. You can only fail.

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We have moments where we rise up above our normal, our desires that come from the flesh, but all you have to do is fail once, as James says.

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You fail, you can only fail, we can only fail, I can only fail, your pastor can only fail. Where Jesus did what only he could do, what only he did do.

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We're not capable. This is Paul's alarm, that they're taking something that we do, an act, something we do in the flesh and even if it wasn't that mark in the flesh, an actual surgery, if you will, even if it wasn't that, if it adds to what

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Christ did, if it replaces something Christ accomplished, if it's an exertion of your will, my will, it's not the gospel.

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That's the first thing, you've replaced Christ's perfect fulfillment of the law with your own. You're saying, okay,

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Lord set Christ aside, you look at me and my obedience, I'll take care of it for myself. Well that's obviously going to be a pretty rough argument to maintain.

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The second thing, as I said, you signed on to all of it. That's all. Very simple.

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All the law. Circumcision in the Old Testament represented being cut off from the rest and given over to God.

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But in the New Testament era, to engage this ancient right would actually do the reverse.

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It would cut them off from Christ and give them back to the world. And this is what he says later on in the letter, we're not going to get that far this afternoon.

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He says, you are cut off from Christ. I think the illusion there is clear, you're going to do a little cut off in the circumcision, no you're not going to cut that off, you're not going to bring yourself to God, you're going to cut yourself off from Christ himself.

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They're in the process of deserting God. But you know, you can't desert just God the

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Father. You can't desert God the Father and remain with God the Son. Jesus makes this very clear.

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He says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And the other way around is equally true, because Jesus says no one knows the

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Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. You can't desert

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God the Son and stay with God the Father, because as Jesus said, I and the Father are one.

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If we add the Holy Spirit into the mix, then what is gospel desertion? Well, it's triune treason.

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It's desertion of the Father who called you, the Son who redeemed you, and the Holy Spirit who remade you and gave you faith to believe.

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Well, let's move on. He called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

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God the Father in the grace of Christ called them, and you. By grace you've been saved.

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The ESV says you're turning to a different gospel, and Paul's writing is maybe a little bit more terse.

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He says, quickly turning from him who called you in or by grace into another gospel.

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Giving ear to another gospel is to turn away from the true gospel. But note that Paul makes this very personal.

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Did you notice that? He says you're deserting him, him who called you.

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You see, the gospel is more than a set of theological principles that we ponder and turn into precepts that we can understand about God.

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It's more than a set of rules to live by. The gospel is the personal call of God the

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Father. It's the ultimate revelation of His person, His glory, His very nature.

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Jesus said true worshipers will worship with the Father in spirit and truth. Why? Because God is spirit.

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Why truth? Because God is more than just true. He is the fountainhead of truth.

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He is simply true and right and correct in everything He says, not because it's correct.

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He said it. He doesn't say things because they're correct. They are correct because He said them. He doesn't say things because they're true.

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They're true because He said them. He's seeking those who will worship in spirit and truth because that's what

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He's like. For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. This gospel call, this gospel is going to be corrupted there in Galatia.

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This gospel that we need to protect in our own hearts and in our churches and in our lives.

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It's this perfect balance of God's sovereign call, His irresistible grace, by grace you've been saved, and if God wants you,

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He will have you because He predestined you. And His predestination of each believer and His personal care that comes to Him, He says, come to me, said

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Jesus, all who are weary and heavy -laden. And Jesus goes on and says, all that the Father gives me will come to me.

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The gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel that God the Father sent Him to bring, is that perfect balance between God's sovereign call and God's desire that you answer the call.

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Come to me, He said. All you are weary and heavy -laden, all that the Father gives me will come to me, said

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Jesus Christ. See here's Paul's alarm, and here's where we need to be ever so alert because our adversary is like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour.

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And how does he devour you? By taking away little chunks of the gospel from you, by making you believe that it's somehow deficient and that you need to add something to it.

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But this gospel, the Word of God, it's as if it is very person. To reject

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His Word in the gospel is to reject God Himself personally. And so it would follow then that to add anything to the gospel is to try to add something to God, which is of course impossible, ridiculous.

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It's to imply that God Himself is somehow incomplete, that His gospel does not accomplish what it purports unless we add something that is missing.

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So what is circumcision? Well, it's just a little snip. No, no, no. It's a denial of the very person and the very promise of God, a denial that the gospel stands able to do what

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God intended, a statement that Jesus' suffering was not enough, that He was mistaken when

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He cried out, it is finished. That's all implied when we give ear and give obedience to another gospel.

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It's very easy to sort this out in some ways, sometimes very subtle, sometimes very tricky, but in general you can ask, what do

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I add to what Jesus accomplished in accordance with His teaching that's being brought to me?

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And if it's anything, be it ever so small, it's another gospel. Reject it out of hand.

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No wonder Paul was so astonished, disappointed in the Galatians. Dr. Jeffrey Johnson wrote, once human effort is added to grace, it destroys it altogether.

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And we could simply substitute gospel for grace because once human effort is added to the gospel, it destroys it altogether.

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First part of verse 7, Paul makes sure that they understand, not that there is another one, as there is but one

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God, there is but one Savior who said, I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the

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Father except by me. The one and only way, the one and only truth, the one and only life, the one and only way to the

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Father, and such a God as ours would never confuse us with the many paths that are so often spoken of, there's just the one, it's just Jesus Christ, just a faith that He and He alone by His Spirit can give.

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Somehow the world takes comfort in their chaos. How many paths, how many ways to God, how many times they have to try and prove that God won't condemn anyone.

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He's just a nice fluffy God who's just gonna be so friendly and so glad to see you. Oh, it just gets ridiculous.

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Would God be the author of such confusion? All the different options, which one's right?

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Well, who knows? Which one's best? Which one's easiest? Which one fits me the best? Which one of these paths makes room for my career?

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And on it goes, this endless merry -go -round. As if God, who's a God of order, as if God who's a

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God of clarity, as if God who by His Spirit protected the scripture so we could read it in our own language, would be so confusing.

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It's like a bazaar, it's like going to a flea market. Is the cross too bloody for you? Well, you could be a

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Buddhist, just be a good one and God will be right happy with you. Is the resurrection too incredible for you?

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Hang on, the Wizard of Oz has all sorts of prizes in his bags and here's one for you. Here's the one with nothing so embarrassing as the resurrection.

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You get to reincarnate. Oh, not Jesus Christ, historically recorded, having risen from the dead.

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You get to come back a whole bunch of times. And don't ask how many, because when it comes down to it, no one knows.

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And don't ask when you know you've developed far enough through whatever you're developing through in order to stop coming back and coming back and coming back, because no one knows.

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God is not a God of such confusion. There's only one gospel. There's only one Jesus Christ who suffered for our sins, was buried, and on the third day was raised again.

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Romans 4 .25 says he was raised for our justification. Pastor Calvin this morning did such a nice job with the historicity and the necessity of the resurrection, and that people could believe some of these other belief systems.

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I'll leave it at that and say that those compare more logically than the resurrection, with all the evidences of it.

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It's mind -boggling. But in the end, if that gospel is added to or subtracted from, meaning our gospel, it's no gospel at all.

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Paul actually says it's the opposite of the gospel. And that's perhaps the most important letter or statement in this whole letter, and we're not going to go there very much because it's back out in chapter 5.

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He says, for freedom Christ has set us free. And what's the opposite of that freedom? Again, it's pretty much beyond our text for this afternoon, but chapter 4, verses 3 and 9, the opposite of that freedom for which

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Christ has set us free? When we were children, we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. How can you turn back again to those weak and worthless elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to be once more?

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There's no other gospel. And brethren, God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace, of good order.

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That's why church order is important, because it reflects God's orderliness, and by that orderliness,

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He allows for you to have a peaceful, orderly, and gospel -infused life in Christ.

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Our faith is really pretty simple, which is different than simplistic. Simple. The prophet says,

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He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? And there flows 95 chapters of precept upon precept, and subsets, and sub -paragraphs, and footnotes.

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No. What does the Lord require of you? But to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with the

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Lord your God. Is it even conceivable that such a God as ours would have a smorgasbord of paths to salvation?

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That He would leave the choice to us? If that were the case, then the gospel is a lie.

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We should eat, drink, for tomorrow we die. No. There's no

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God but one. There's no Savior but Christ. There's no path to God but faith in Jesus.

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No ability to gain that faith, no ability to believe this gospel, except that He, which is the

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Father, He saved us, not because of works of righteousness done by us, but according to His own mercy, by the washing and regeneration of the

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Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

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Is that simple enough? Is it understandable enough?

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It is. I love verses like that because it puts it in a nutshell, and it protects us.

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It protects us, because the false Gospels usually try to tear a little bit away from the resurrection, turn it into a metaphor, turn it into some fable.

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The resurrection is historicity, it's necessity, it's sole purveyor being

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Jesus Christ, His vicarious suffering, by which we mean

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He suffered on the cross for our sins, for our failures. It's just that easy.

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It's just that simple to hang on to, and yet we can't plumb the depths of it in a lifetime.

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No, God, one God, eternally three persons, one motive, which is His mercy, one way, the working of His Holy Spirit, the same

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Spirit who hovered over the confused creation and brought order and purpose, the same of whom

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Jesus said is like the wind going where he will, without our knowledge or understanding, or most importantly, without our approval.

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But there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. No, trouble means to throw into confusion.

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It's like the old saying, eschew obfuscation, obfuscation, I can't even say it.

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That's the old quip. To distort, to turn something into its opposite state is what the word means.

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Now think about that for a moment. Paul's saying that this gospel, this false gospel, this addition to the gospel that makes it a false gospel, there's no gospel at all, it's not a close gospel.

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It's like, well, you're 87 .3 % there. It's opposite.

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It's 180 degrees out of whack. It's no gospel at all. Now we can assume that these

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Judaizers, just like most false gospel purveyors today, they did not deny something like Jesus's virgin birth, though many do,

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His vicarious suffering, His resurrection, His return, and more. See, they don't deny the cardinal truth of the faith.

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There's no overt subtraction. It's an addition, which is ultimately a subtraction, because Paul says that you allow this addition, if you submit to circumcision as its necessary condition of accomplishing for yourself what

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Christ accomplished, then you place your trust in the opposite of the gospel. The addition of this single man -centered rite does more than subtract from the gospel through addition.

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It makes it the direct opposite, the opposite of the gospel, because the gospel is full reliance on Christ, 100%.

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I don't want to say 200 % or any of these other superlative numbers, just all.

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It's all reliance on Christ, and if there's any reliance on self, be it ever so small, be it ever so slight, the gospel doesn't become a 99 .9

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% gospel for you. It's no gospel at all, and this is his alarm at the

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Galatian Church. This is the reason we need to be ever so vigilant. This is why we come together on Sundays at our churches, to hear this gospel.

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So every time we leave the church, we know the gospel. We're affirmed in the gospel.

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The pastor has given us applications of the gospel, ways to live because of the gospel, things we must believe because of the gospel, some of the errors that are out there and how to refute them because the gospel, because the slightest change,

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Paul says makes it the opposite. It's like the hymns have it.

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Jesus paid it all, my sin not put apart by the whole is nailed to the cross, or long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night, thine eye diffused a quickening ray.

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I woke, the dungeon flamed with light, my chains fell off, my heart was free. Scripture says you're dead in your sins without Jesus, without the quickening of the

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Holy Spirit, and dead men cannot pay for their sins, dead men cannot acknowledge their sin, dead men cannot have faith to place on anyone or anything, much less

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Jesus in the gospel, because faith is a gift of God. I would argue that someone says you need to take your faith, that faith that you have, and place it in Jesus.

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That's coming pretty close to not being a gospel at all, because you have no faith unless the

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Holy Spirit regenerates you as I read from Titus, not by works of righteousness done by us, but according to his mercy, by the washing regeneration of the

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Holy Spirit, stop, that's it. By the Holy Spirit, him alone, you have no faith to give unless he gives it to you as a gift.

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This gospel is some ways beyond our grasp, and at the same time so beautifully simple that a child gets it.

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For example, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom

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I am the foremost. Or, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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Man -centered additions are strictly prohibited, absolutely unnecessary, profoundly harmful, and fundamentally opposed to Christ's gospel.

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Paul says in another letter, but when the goodness and loving -kindness of God our Savior appeared, now that's a person, that's

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Jesus Christ, when he, when God became man, he saved us, not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

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Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

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Now I'd love to hear how any act, any effort, any work done by you or me can add to that, because if you add anything, you've made a new gospel that's no gospel, you've rejected

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God who cannot lie or ever fail in his promises, and replaced him with your promises and your version of things.

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So don't be thrown into confusion by false gospels. Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me.

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Not that any of us has a perfect grasp of the gospel, but I do know that if you want to add any human act to provide what

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Jesus provides, you are being troubled, you are being tempted by a false gospel that's the opposite of God's gospel.

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The psalmist says, why are you cast down on my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my

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God. So be stirred up over your sin, be troubled by that, even while trusting that Jesus made a full answer for it to God.

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Strive personally, strive determinately for the holiness without which no one will see God, but don't be troubled, because your holiness before God depends on Christ and not you.

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And that, dear ones, that is why we strive to be as much like Jesus as we can in this life, and that's why we're never satisfied with how holy we become, because we'll never become as holy as him in this life.

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We strive for it without fear, we strive for it because we know we're not getting graded A, B, C, D, or F, because Christ accomplished it for you, and you're seen as holy by God because of Christ, and because of that and gratitude for that status, that imputed, conferred status, because of that, you can without fear strive and be all like Christ as much as you can.

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Know that we do this without fear because it is God who works in you to will and to do for his good pleasure, and he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ, not by circumcision, the prophet says, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the

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Lord. Verse 8, back to Galatians 1, but even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one preached to you, let him be accursed.

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As we have said before, so I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive, let him be accursed.

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Accursed, the word means to be devoted, it's used in the Greek translation in the

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Old Testament for something devoted to destruction, like the riches of Jericho, devoted by God for complete annihilation.

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Imagine for a minute what it'd be like to meet a real angel, say an angel appeared before you and you knew you had some factual basis, say this really is an angel, it'd be awesome, it'd be scary, but I'm sure it would be just so indescribably beautiful, and then this angel that's so awesome and so beautiful says to you, well you must be circumcised to be saved, or you must exercise your free will and believe in Jesus.

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Well that magnificent creature is, according to the Apostle Paul, accursed, cut off from God and consigned to destruction.

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On the more human plane, you know, it doesn't matter how good a preacher a man is. There's no concern for how well he grows the church or how many people are waiting outside because the church is packed to the gills.

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Add to or take from the gospel means that he preaches from the depths of hell and is cursed, and that will be his final abode, it is that serious.

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Now does that mean you can never be mistaken? Well we better hope not, for all our sakes. Paul's point in Galatians is additions to or subtractions from the gospel, intentional additions like high -handed sin.

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We must be alert for anyone who would add your human exertion as a substitute for anything that Christ accomplished for us by his life and by his cross.

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Any human exertion to gain what only God by the regeneration that only his Holy Spirit can provide to you.

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And the last verse for this afternoon, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am

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I trying to please man? If we're still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of God. This verse points two ways.

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It points up to verses 8 and 9. If I am the man pleased as they say I am, is what he's really saying here, if I'm the man pleased as these

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Judaizers say I am, let me be clear, let them be pleased with this. You are a curse.

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You with the false angels, you will go to hell. Verse 10 points downward also to verses 11 to 24, which obviously we're not going to go, but that's

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Paul's short biography of his conversion in his early ministry. Now while he did seem to consult with Peter and the others about the gospel he was preaching, it was not fear of man as he was being accused of.

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He was confirming for his own confidence and for the other apostles comfort that he was preaching the true and right gospel.

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You see, real man -pleasing people don't do that. They don't consult with others because they so much fear man, they dare not hold themselves up for any kind of review.

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Paul, because he feared God and not man, he was perfectly willing to compare his understanding of the gospel with Peter's.

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He says, I would not be a servant of Christ, that could be slave of Christ. But a servant, a slave, has but one master and that's

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Jesus. One duty to live and to proclaim that one gospel, one hope, eternal life, one faith, sealed by the one

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Holy Spirit and confirmed by the resurrection of Christ. Now we just love to be in charge, don't we?

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I want to be master of my own faith, I want to be captain of my own soul. It's our nature to want to be in control, to have the final say.

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Some contend that Jesus made salvation possible, but we must seal the deal. I brought the blessings of Christ and his cross upon myself.

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I got circumcised, I exercised my native natural -born faith, but it's all in our solas, in scripture alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, because of God's grace alone, for God's glory alone, and all that alone.

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The question is not so much whether there's more than one gospel, but whether the gospel is open to revision.

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And Paul says no. Any additions, any deductions is another gospel, which is no gospel at all.

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There's only this, from the beginning of this letter, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself according to, excuse me, gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of God the

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Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And that, brethren, is the gospel, and let us not add to it or detract from it.