Galatians 1:1-9

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Pastor John and Pastor Jeff teach the book of Galatians

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Lord, we are grateful for our opportunity to gather together, knowing that your word is given to us by our instruction to exhort us, to teach us the topic of grace, and grace instead of works.
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We thank you, Lord, for Paul emphasizing that in this letter to the Galatians, and we ask that as Jeff brings us this message, you would speak through him and into our hearts, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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The late, great R .C. Sproul. Who's familiar with R .C. Sproul? Not personally. Most of you.
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You don't know him? No, no. I never met him. Well, he is the late, great, so he has since gone to be with the
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Lord. He founded Ligonier Ministries, and also a church in Sanford, Florida, called
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St. Andrew's Chapel. He was part of the team that designed the building, and the architecture of that building speaks a very important message.
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If you were to go to St. Andrew's Chapel today, and you walked through the front door, you would notice that it's rather dark as you come in.
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It's intentionally dark in the narthex, or the vestibule, whatever you call it, the foyer, the opening area there.
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The entrance. The entrance. As you came in, you would notice that it's dark, and there in the center of, we'll call it the narthex, is an open scroll.
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It is the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. It's open to the law. I think it's open to the
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Ten Commandments within that scroll, underneath a glass case. So is that Sproul's scroll?
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Sproul's scroll, yes. It was one produced several hundred years ago, but yeah, that's
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Sproul's scroll. It presents the law in this darkness, and then as you go through the next opening doors, you find that the sanctuary is flooded with light.
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The imagery there, of course, is out of this darkness of the foreboding law, which would crush us, you come into the light of the gospel.
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The contrast between darkness and light is the contrast between law and gospel in this design.
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Now, also, the sanctuary is in cruciform. It's built in the shape of a cross, with two wings that kind of come out from the side, and the sanctuary is near the head,
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I mean, the pulpit is near the head. And so the gospel is preached from the pulpit, in the shape of the cross, and this is only understood, this good news is only understood by those who have first come through the law.
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Without law, you have no gospel. Now, the Reformed have long said that there are three functions of the law.
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What are the three functions of the law? Anybody know any of them?
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What is the purpose of the law? Conviction of sin. Yes. Schoolmaster.
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A schoolmaster, which, in the same way, brings you to Christ, it's a tutor that brings you to Christ.
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Social order. So, keeping the social order, that's the second function of the law, and also, as a schoolmaster, the third function is to teach morality to Christians, to conform us to the image of Christ.
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So the three functions of the law are, number one, a mirror that shows us how sinful we really are.
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It's a schoolmaster that teaches us the true condition of our soul, which we would delude ourselves and assume that we are good in the eyes of a righteous
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God, but the law brings conviction of sin. It teaches us that we are sinners.
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That's the first function. The second is it maintains the social order. It teaches the civil magistrate what is good and what is evil, and maintains a certain level of order in society by teaching right from wrong, so that there would be laws, there would be punishments for laws.
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Israel is the model of that for the nations then. And then the third is that Christians would learn from the law what is right and wrong.
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See, we have consciences that teach us right and wrong, but the problem is our minds can be deluded.
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It's what's called the noetic effects of sin, not related to Noah, N -O -A -H, noetic,
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N -O -E -T -I -C, how you know things. Sin has affected how we think, and so what happens is we justify ourselves, our consciences are seared, and we need the law of God to train our minds in righteousness, to make our consciences back to how they originally would have functioned before the fall of man.
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So the law, the Ten Commandments in particular, teach us right from wrong, and change us that way.
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The gospel of grace depends on a right understanding of law.
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Any person who comes to God thinking they can justify themselves by obedience to the law, whether God's law in His word or any man -made system, will break themselves against God, because unless a person is first taught their need for a savior, they can never understand the true gospel of grace.
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You need law to understand gospel. This first function of the law, to teach us our need, to show us how desperately sinful we are, is what opens the door to the gospel.
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Now in the history of the church, where the gospel has gone forward, bringing freedom and deliverance from sin, there is always in the wake of the genuine gospel preacher, false teachers that come, and what they inevitably do is reintroduce law.
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Now the law has always remained to teach the civil order, to teach the civil magistrate how to maintain right and wrong.
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It's always remained to teach the Christian how to do right. But the false teachers who come behind the gospel preachers will always introduce law as a means to be justified.
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In other words, they haven't learned from the law. Some people think that they take the law very seriously, requiring that you be circumcised in order to be saved, requiring that you keep the commandments in order to be saved, requiring that you meet a certain dietary restrictions or the ceremonial teachings of the law.
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Some will say, the Pharisee takes the law very seriously.
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And the truth is just the opposite. The Pharisee does not take the law seriously enough.
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The Judaizer of the gospel will come along and say, you must do the law in order to be saved.
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But they themselves do not practice what they preach. They tie up a heavy yoke that they themselves are not able to bear.
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Oh, Pharisee, do you murder? And Paul would have said, oh,
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I've never committed murder, but not taken seriously enough. The weighty matter of the law, which is that you shall not even have murder in your heart, anger and hatred towards a brother.
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But the Pharisee not taking the law seriously enough will assume that they are justified by the law because they never raised their hand like Cain against Abel.
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They don't take it seriously enough. Thou shalt not commit adultery and they think their hands are clean, yet their heart has often been polluted by sexual lust.
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And the one that slayed Paul, of course, was the 10th commandment in Romans 7. He talks about when he heard, thou shalt not covet.
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He realized that coveting isn't even an outward behavior, it's inward.
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It's the desire, the inordinate desire to have what somebody else has.
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It's this jealousy. It's a condition of the heart. And this law actually slew him.
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This is when he realized what a sinner he really was, when he took the law more seriously.
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So the Judaizer is the problem in the book of Galatians. Last week, John gave us a wonderful introduction, did an amazing job, brother.
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Thank you. Laying the cultural background, giving the overview, and the big picture here is that you have what are called
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Judaizers. Judaizers are claiming to be Christian, but they're reintroducing law.
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They're coming in and saying, you must do at least this one thing in order to be saved.
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Now the one thing in the book of Galatians is be circumcised. And by that they mean you really need to become a law keeper.
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But circumcision is the particular outward expression that they latch onto.
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Gentiles, if you'll at least be circumcised, you can be saved. Yes? Were the false teachers themselves circumcised?
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I would imagine so, yeah. They're probably Jewish believers, Jewish background believers, who are just unable to accept the fact that God is saving people by faith alone.
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It just amazes me that they're so founded in they can't even see how blind they are.
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That's hypocrisy. And that's their problem, I think. Their sins.
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Yeah, they're prideful. They're deluded by their own pride. They're seeing themselves as bringing something to the table.
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When we come to the Lord's table, one of the great pictures of salvation is that the bread and the cup are provided by the
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Lord. The provision is entirely His. But what I think we often fail to recognize is that we ourselves are brought to that table.
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It's the Lord who brings us to His table of salvation, to that banquet. It's Him who provides the meal, and He is the
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Savior. He saves us. So, listen. The gospel is of grace.
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That's the main lesson today. The gospel is of grace, and all of grace.
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What do you contribute to your salvation? When Jonah was sinking into the water, completely helpless, and about to take in water and breathe no more, he brought nothing to his salvation.
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But a great fish that God sent swallowed him up, rescued him, and spit him out on the shore.
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And by this, Jonah confesses. I think it's Jonah 2. I forget the verse. It's in the second chapter.
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He says, salvation belongs to the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2.
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That's a statement of grace. It was all God. His rescue.
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His work. Jonah brought nothing to the table but his own sin. Salvation and the gospel message is entirely of grace.
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It's all of grace. So, it must be kept that way without any addition of works.
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Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. As soon as you add works to the message of salvation, you've lost grace.
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Grace, by definition, is the work of God. It is His unmerited gracious gift.
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His pleasure to do good towards a wicked sinner. If there's something in that wicked sinner that merited this in any way, shape, or form, it's no longer grace.
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So, John, would you read for us Romans 11 .6? I'd like you to think of Galatians as a condensed version of the book of Romans.
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And particularly on this point of the gospel. In expressing that the gospel is grace.
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Romans 11 .6, John. And if by grace, then it is no more of works.
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Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace.
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Otherwise, work is no more work. The contrast here is between grace and what?
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Works. If there's any work contribution to your salvation, you've lost grace.
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It's either by grace or by works. You cannot have a mixture. And the problem here in the book of Galatians is the
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Judaizers have come in behind the true preaching of the gospel and tried to reintroduce works.
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And how serious is that? Well, we're going to find out. It couldn't be any more serious. He's going to pronounce an anathema.
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So we'll take the first nine verses of Galatians 1. Bob, would you be my first reader?
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We'll go one verse at a time. We'll go around the room. Galatians 1 .1.
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Paul and Apocrypha sent for a moving agency of men.
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Okay. Do you think it's intentional of Paul in this particular gospel, in this particular book,
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Galatians, to speak of his call as being unaided by men?
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How does that tie with the theme that we're talking about? Do you see a connection there? Authority.
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Okay. It doesn't come from anything.
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The guy met him on the road, so he's talking about the grace that God gave him. Yes. The idea here, and I think the reason that Paul brings this up to start his gospel, is to say, even his call, when he was called, it was unaided by men.
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It was entirely the work of God. What human contribution was made to Paul's call?
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There was no human contribution. It was direct from God, the call of God on his life, that knocked him down, that blinded him, and then opened his eyes, and opened his heart.
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This was entirely the work of God. There's a theological word that I'd like to introduce that some of you probably already know, and that is monergism.
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Monergism. In contrast to the word synergism, mono versus syn,
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S -Y -N, not S -I -N, mono is one. Synergy means that there's a cooperation.
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The second part of that word, energy, there's one energy, monergism, in salvation.
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A synergy would be a cooperation, that there's some human contribution being made, working in synergy with the divine, with the power of God in salvation.
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Paul's point in Galatians is that salvation is monergistic.
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There's one energy, one God, one mediator between God and man. This is entirely the work of God.
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Salvation is of the Lord. And here, as Paul introduces himself, an apostle, that's a sent one, apostolos, one sent by God with the authority of God, and then, parenthetically, he'll say, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the
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Father who raised him from the dead. I would love to have been at that congregational meeting when the church heard about Paul and they said, wait a minute, this is the dude that's been persecuting us.
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The synergy of him being called by that means would have been an interesting call.
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His was by the sovereignty of God. Right, amen. So was
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Paul called synergistically or monergistically? Monergistically. Monergistically.
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This is an explicitly not from men nor through man. Paul wants to begin his gospel with that point.
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This is not of human origin. This is entirely the work of God. Paul's heart was completely opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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He was on the road to Damascus. He was set against God. He's bringing nothing to the table here.
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And God entirely, by his grace, blinds him then to open his eyes to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ.
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He was veiled. The veil was lifted. God did this. It's not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ.
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Now, verse 2, Francie, would you mind reading just the first part? 2A.
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All the brethren who are with me to the churches of Galatians. Thank you. And that first phrase, and all the brothers who are with me.
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Now, it's interesting because when we say, who wrote the book of Galatians? Everybody quickly answers.
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Paul. Paul. But don't you love how gracious Paul is? It's him writing it, but he graciously includes those who are with him in the ministry.
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And all the brothers who are with me. Now, of course, this does come from Paul's pen.
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But he doesn't see himself as a lone ranger, as a superstar. He recognizes that he's part of this team that's at work, and he recognizes, graciously recognizes all the brothers who are with him.
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To the churches of Galatians. Now, John, was this book written to a church, like Ephesus or Philippi or Colossae?
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Well, if you consider a church the church of Christ, then yes. But if you mean local, no, it was many.
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Right. And so it says, to the churches, plural, of Galatians. And what that indicates,
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I think, is Paul's concern here doesn't apply uniquely to a situation at a local church.
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In Corinth, they have sexual immorality, they have division, they're abusing the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts run amok, and Paul is addressing particular things in Corinth.
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This is something, contra that, this is something that has spread regionally.
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So picture it like gangrene. Gangrene starts as dead tissue, which then gets infected.
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And the problem is, all the tissue adjoining to that dead tissue is susceptible to being infected as well.
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And so gangrene, when it gets in the skin, can begin to overtake the entire hand. And then before long, that can work its way up to the elbow and the arm and the body.
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And a person can die of gangrene. So the solution for the doctor is to amputate the finger if you can't contain it otherwise.
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And even to this day, doctors have to amputate because of gangrene. Because the problem is, gangrene spreads.
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A little leaven leavens the whole lump when Paul talks about false teaching. These Judaizers have gone from church to church.
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They've introduced destructive ideas that begin to spread. This is likewise the case in our day.
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Social justice teachers who introduced critical race theory into the church, it began in a few churches.
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Before long, it overtook the Gospel Coalition and the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission at the
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Southern Baptist Convention. And then it was in all the churches. All of a sudden, everybody's parroting the same lie.
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How does that happen? Because false teaching spreads like gangrene.
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It doesn't stay localized. And that's what Galatians is addressing. It is a false teaching that's begun to spread and overtake the churches.
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So it says here, to the churches of Galatians. Now, very often,
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Paul has salutatory information in the first couple verses of a book.
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Because that's how letters were written in the first century. You didn't just jump right in and then sign your name at the end.
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Rather, you'd introduce yourself. It actually is a bit more of a logical form than our cultural way of writing letters.
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Because you have to look at the bottom. Who wrote that? Yeah. But here, in the first century, you give your name.
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You tell who you're writing to. But then you say the first thing that you want to communicate comes out.
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And it is no coincidence that in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, again and again,
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Paul begins this way. Grace and peace to you.
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It's no coincidence that the great Bible teacher, John MacArthur, named his ministry
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Grace to You. He's getting that from Paul. Paul has one word that he wants to begin with.
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It's no coincidence that again and again, when he actually begins to say the first thing off of his lips, should be the first thing off of our lips again and again.
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And that word is? Grace. Grace. Verse 3. Peg, would you read that for us?
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, grace is the first word on his lips.
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And if there's a theme to the book of Galatians, it is the gospel of grace.
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This is a letter in defense of the gospel. And if there's one word to summarize the gospel, it is grace.
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Acts chapter 20, verse 24. Paul gives his life and everything he is to testify to the gospel of?
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Grace. The grace of God. Where in the New Testament is the gospel called the gospel of love?
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Crickets. Where in the New Testament is the gospel called the gospel of faith?
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Anywhere. Or anywhere. Yeah. Where in the
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Bible is the gospel called the gospel of hope? Now, all of these things are derivative, but the core of the gospel, as it's called in Acts 20, 24, is grace.
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Why would that be? Why is grace the summary of the gospel? It's the engine.
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I think it's the engine that drives the rest of the course.
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Beautiful. Well said. Yes. Because salvation is of the
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Lord. I missed that. That's a nice analogy. Yeah. You made it very clear to us.
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Yes. Yeah. So faith is instrumental in the gospel. A person must believe, and that instrument of faith within the person is what justifies.
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Romans chapters 3, 21 to 5, 21. Justification by faith.
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These are instrumental in the gospel, but the source of the gospel is
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God himself. It's the gospel of grace. It's his saving work. It was him, the father, who sent the son to live among us, to live a perfect life, to die, be buried, and rise from the dead.
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The gospel is the person of Jesus Christ, the work of Jesus Christ.
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It's according to God's scripture, his forgiveness of our sin and the gift of eternal life, and the repentance and faith that comes from him.
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So it's all a work of God, beginning to end. Yeah, Bob. I'm struggling with my brother's believing.
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This is something that struck me just a month ago. Believing comes first, then receiving.
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Hmm. It occurred to me that, of course, you have to have all the information in front of you.
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You need to be educated with that, and then the spirit.
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After that, because I've been trying to bang the Holy Spirit's job into my brother's soul.
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It's well said. It's up to the Holy Spirit. Unless there's the substance of the gospel. God sent his son.
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They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal, and forgive. Unless God does this in Christ, there's no gospel.
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There's nothing to believe. So that's why grace is the antecedent. It doesn't follow.
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It is what goes first. And the gospel itself is the message of God's salvation of sinners.
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It's him who sent Jesus. So this is Paul's point by beginning here in verse 3. Grace to you and peace.
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Because it makes peace with God. That's what follows grace. From God our Father and the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 4. If you will, Joe. Who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our
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God and Father. And you want to keep going, don't you? Finish that thought. I do.
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Do verse 5. Go ahead. To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. So, grace.
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It all comes from the heart of God. And Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for our sins.
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It's interesting. You can't have grace unless you have law.
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How do you know that you're a sinner? Unless you know the law. That God has given boundaries.
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That we are transgressors of the law. What is the definition of sin? Missing the mark, but...
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Disobedience. Sin is transgression. It's crossing the boundary that God has set.
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It's disobeying God. So, the point of the gospel is that there is forgiveness of sin.
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I like to summarize the gospel, and I just did it a minute ago, in five points.
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Five things that you need to say to an unbeliever in order for them to be saved.
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Number 1. The person of Christ. You have to tell them who he is.
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The Lord Jesus Christ, verse 3. Number 2.
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The work of Christ. Unless you've told them that Jesus lived a perfect life.
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Died the death that we deserve. Died on a cross. Was buried. And on the third day rose again.
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You haven't preached anything. You have to tell them what Christ has done. And here it's expressed as who gave himself.
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This is the sacrifice of Christ. Is dying on a cross. Unless you have Christ dying on the cross, you have no gospel.
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Unless you have him rising from the dead, you have no good news. Number 3.
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According to the scriptures. This is the ground for believing.
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This is how we preach Christ. How would they know that these things are so? Because God has said.
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Number 4. Forgiveness of sin and eternal life. What's the good news of the gospel?
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What's so good about this death, burial, and resurrection? Well, we are sinners condemned under the law.
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But God is not counting men's sins against them. He's willing to pass over.
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Even remove, expiate that sin. His wrath is satisfied.
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So he's propitiated the wrath against sinners. Against us. God is not counting men's sins against us.
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The forgiveness of sin is the good promise of the gospel. And with that then eternal life. The soul that sins must die.
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Forgiven sinners now live forever with God. We're granted even this principle of life.
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The spirit of life. The spirit comes to live in us. So point number 4.
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Is forgiveness of sin and eternal life. And then lastly, number 5.
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You need to preach repentance and faith. Which are two sides of the same coin.
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It's not something that you do. This too is the gift of God. That God grants repentance we're told.
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Repentance and faith. It is the response of the sinner. The sinner must repent of sin.
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Turn away from sin. And turn to Christ. Taking him. Believing the good news. And receiving as Bob said.
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John 1 12. All of this. From beginning to end.
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Is the work of God. That's why I like to talk about the doctrines of grace. The doctrines of grace flow out of this gospel.
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And that's a good way to express that salvation is all of God. And this is Paul's point. It's God who did this.
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It's all grace. And therefore. Dominic would you read verse 5? Joe already read it.
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But if this is true. Then we have sola. Gra. Sola. Well yeah.
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But what is to the glory of God alone? To whom be the glory forever and ever.
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Yes. Glory a day. There you go. Thank you. You're good at your Latin. Sola. Deo Gloria.
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To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. So now
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Paul has reminded us of the gospel. And the ultimate purpose of the gospel.
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Is the purpose of all of us. Everything exists for his glory.
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That's the chief end of man. It's the reason why he saves. It's all for his own glory.
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It's all of grace. Now. 6 through 9 is where Paul transitions. And everything's been so positive right?
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He's set the groundwork of gospel. Grace. It's all of God. And now that becomes.
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The foundation. For rebuking the false teacher. And why it's so bad.
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I mean is it really a big deal? I mean just adding one thing to the gospel. It's a very big deal.
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Considering. Last week we mentioned this. That there was a Jewish influence in the region.
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And the gospel for the most part Paul would go to synagogues. So it started in the synagogues.
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Your point. The aspect of faith. In my studies over the years.
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One of the things that I've found. That I like to go back to the proto -evangelical. Because in the garden.
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That was all grace. Because God took the animal. God slew the animal in front of Adam and Eve. He could have cursed them.
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But he didn't. He cursed the devil. So the war between God. The big warfare is between God.
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Those who are with. That fall into the camp of false doctrine. Or false religion.
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Or false works. Fall into doing what made the devil fall.
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Him saying I will exalt myself above God. So if God provided a sacrifice. Basically when he cursed man.
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He said you're just going to work the field. You're going to yield thistles and thorns. You're going to have pain and childbirth.
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But then he provided this salvation. Early on in the garden. And in a way they had to believe.
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Because they had to go back to the cherubim. That was blocked in the garden. And present sacrifices according to the way
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God taught them. And take Cain. I truly believe that Cain was old enough to know.
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He should have brought a sacrifice of an animal. But he probably said one day look.
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I've been busting my hump out here on the grass. The fields are. He'll take my fruit. And then did
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God say oh well you're damned. You're going to perdition. No he said to Cain. Go do what's right.
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Sin is crouching at the door. Thank you Don. I appreciate that. Bob we've got to move on to verse 6, 7, 8, and 9.
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We'll go 6, 7, 8, 9. Let's just read it right through. Because I want to hit the force of this.
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Go. No you do 6. And we'll move right down the line. So you have to. I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you.
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By the grace of Christ. And are turning to a different gospel. In him we have redemption through his blood.
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The forgiveness of sins. According to the riches of his grace. I think that's
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Ephesians. Galatians 1, 7. Galatians. That's a good verse.
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That is. They're awkward. Does it look like it? No. Does it look like a
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Dewey theme? Somebody needed to be reminded of that one.
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It was God's providence. Sorry. Which is not another. But there are some who trouble you.
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And want to. But even if we or an angel from heaven.
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Preach any other gospel to you. Than what we have preached to you. Let them be a curse. As we have already said.
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So now I say again. If anybody is preaching to you a gospel. Other than the one that you accepted. Let them be under your
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God's curse. Wow. Heavy. What a.
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You go from the light of gospel. All of a sudden there is this heavy darkness.
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Of let him. That means go to hell. Anathema. Let him be under the anathema.
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How did this just turn like that? Because. The Judaizer who's doing this.
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Is taking people out of the light. Into the damning darkness. Where there is no hope.
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Where there is no gospel. And so Paul is setting up this contrast. From the light of the gospel. And then boom.
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Verse six. I am astonished. That you are so quickly deserting him.
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Who called you in what? Grace. Of Christ. A different gospel.
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Is any departure from. The gospel of grace. Grace alone.
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Yes. Okay. About. How Satan. Came after.
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Mary. Again. Hmm. Which is. The same thing. That we're seeing here.
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They added. Yeah. And Satan's coming back in. Yeah. It's kind of.
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He never gives up. Does he? No. No. Until he's thrown in the lake of fire. In Revelation.
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And then he's done. Yeah. Forever. But as it is today. Satan is not.
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Stopping. He keeps coming back. With these false gospels. Any gospel.
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And here it's called. A different gospel. Any gospel. Any gospel. That preaches anything. Other than grace alone.
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Is a non gospel. It is as. As Sue read. A distorted gospel.
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A perverted gospel. Paul says verse seven. Not that there is another one. But there are some.
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Who trouble you. And want to distort. The gospel of grace. Verse eight.
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Conrad read for us. But even if we. Or an angel from heaven. Should preach to you a gospel.
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Contrary. To the one we preach to you. Let him be a curse. Isn't that interesting? Paul would include himself in that.
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If even he. So the highest authority. The authority of. Of this word.
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Is not really Paul himself. Paul's just instrumental. The gospel comes from heaven.
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It comes from God. And it is the gospel of. God. There's an interesting contrast there. Between.
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The Judaizers. And Paul himself. The Judaizers. Paul includes himself. In the potential for condemnation.
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Right. The Judaizers. Even though they're not following the law. And are more aware of it.
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Are not including themselves. In the group. Of condemnation.
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Right. Right. If. Even. I. Or. An angel from heaven.
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There are at least two. Major. Episodes. Where. Someone thought. They were receiving. A revelation.
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From an angel. In heaven. Muhammad. In the cave. Thought. He was.
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Entertaining. Gabriel. The angel. Well. At first. He thought he was tormented. By demons. But then his wife.
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Khadija said. No. No. This is an angel. You need to listen. Later on. Joseph Smith.
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In the 1820s. Claimed to be visited. By an angel. And even by Jesus. And the father.
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Themselves. Two separate persons. Not just persons. But personages. Because. It's tritheism.
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In Mormonism. If any angel comes. That you think is an angel.
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But preaches anything other than the gospel of grace. Let him be accursed. This is no angel.
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This is a demon. It's a fallen angel. And that's the case. With the
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Judaizers. They are not. Preaching the gospel of grace. They are preaching. Accursed.
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Non -saving. Distorted. Perverted. Non -gospel. In verse nine. He repeats.
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In case you missed the force. Of how. Serious this is. As we have said before.
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So now I say again. If anyone is preaching to you a gospel. Contrary to the one you received.
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Let him be. Accursed. Anathema. We get the word anathema.
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From that Greek word. Let him go to hell. This is how. Severe.
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The issue is. Yeah. Real quick. Dominic. Doesn't that tie into. To. Like I was saying. In Matthew. 22.
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Where the lawyer came. Because he. Stumped the Sadducees. So they brought the. You know. The Pharisees brought a lawyer.
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And asked about the law. So he answered. He just told them. You know. This is what you are supposed to do.
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But later. He came back. And he says. Well. What about Messiah? What about the Christ? Yeah. Somehow.
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This Judaizer. In my. What I see is. They. They were coming. In. Trying to get back in the church.
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To the very same thing. That Christ broke down. When he shattered the temple. When he went in. And spoke against the
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Pharisee. When the widow. Put her last rite in. And I believe John MacArthur. On that day. Christ just looked.
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And said. She. He took all her money. This is wrong. This whole system.
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Is coming down. Right after that woman. Gave the. The next thing you know. He left. He says. Not one stone will be left. Okay.
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Because they had this system. In place. Yeah. Yeah. I think. That is a good way to say. They are trying to rebuild.
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The law. Well the law does that to us. It builds us up in our minds. As well as. Institutional.
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Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. I think you are on to something there. Yeah. Like if I rebuild. What was torn down.
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That is prideful. Self justification. Kind of thing. Yeah. Well it was a Pharisee. So of course.
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If anybody is going to go back to. You bring some of the things in. It would be him. Yeah. Yeah.
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So the idea here. In the book of Galatians. Is the gospel. Is all of grace.
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If anybody adds anything. To the gospel. As a means to be saved.
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Let it be a curse. So let me ask you. If Paul says this about Judaizers.
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Who are. Trying to add. Circumcision. Just that.
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Just circumcision. If you. If you will just be circumcised. Then you can be saved. And Paul.
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Could not be. Strong enough. What can be said.
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About a Roman Catholic priest. Who says. You must.
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Maintain your justification. By the ordinances.
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The sacraments. Of the church. Penances. And then.
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After you die. You have to suffer. In purgatory.
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To atone. For what is left of it. Not only that.
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It's the sacerdotal system. Where you need a priest. You need this mediator.
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That you go through. To do these penances. And to administer. These things.
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Yeah. Well it does. And it's addressing it here. The addition.
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Yeah. You want to say it? Go for it. Go for it. You got this. To tell us. I would align drawn through it.
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Yeah. Yeah. So. The point of Galatians here.
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Would apply to Roman Catholicism. Now. Not every Roman Catholic. In. In the Catholic churches.
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Even know. The doctrine of their church. Some of them are saved by faith. Because they're naive.
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To what their church actually says. So. There are some Roman Catholics. Who are saved. But. The actual doctrine.
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Of the church. Is anathema. And remember.
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Which is ironic. Because in the Council of Trent. In 1545. They anathematized.
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Anyone who says. Faith alone. So. These two things.
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Cannot coexist. The Roman Catholic church. Is adding. Works. For salvation.
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And listen. Every false teacher. Who comes into the church. Will do this.
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They will always. Begin to reintroduce. Works. As a means. Of salvation.
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This is a mark. Of the false teacher. So. If it's Joseph Smith. In Mormonism. In second
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Nephi. 25. 23. It perverts. This doctrine of grace.
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And what does it say? You are saved. By grace. Through faith. Does that sound like.
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Ephesians 2. 8. 9. But then it says. After all that you can do. You must make your best contribution.
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You must try your hardest. Earn what you can. And grace will kick in. To meet the difference. That's anti -gospel.
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And then they have all these. Temple sealing ceremonies. Where you can make it. To the celestial kingdom. If you'll just go.
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And do the secret handshakes. And all of this. Masonic ritual. That they teach.
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All of this. Comes from the pit of hell. It is. This. Judaizing of the gospel. The introduction.
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Of some work. That you contribute. For your salvation. It's the same.
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With Roman Catholicism. As in Islam. Jehovah's Witnesses. Have door knocking.
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They have baptism. In a certain way. I have quoted for you.
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In your notes. The watchtower. March. 2016. Baptism. As a
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Jehovah's Witness. Witness. Is a vital step. Toward gaining salvation. You see what's happening there.
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You gain salvation. By doing this ritual baptism. In their well.
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Now. You've put. This baptism. As a work. In order to be saved.
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Rather than as a response. To the monogistic work of God. You cannot have both. If it's grace.
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It must be all of grace. As soon as you introduce. Even one thing. Circumcision.
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Or the ordinances. The sacraments. Or some
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Mormon. Made up. Masonic temple ritual. Whatever it is. As soon as you introduce works.
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It's no longer grace. John. Would you pray for us? Here we go.
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Dear God. We are. We are humbly. In your presence. Right now. If we.
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If we feel. That we have. Earned. Our place. In you. Lord. We've denied. Your grace.
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But we know. Lord. That by your love. You sent your son. To a world. That was dark.
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You also provide. Grace. To open our hearts. That we would. Respond. By faith.
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Not by works. To you. And. As with Galatian. Where they were. Besought. By the
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Judaizers. There is pressures. On us. To. Compromise. In some degree. Pray that this message.
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Just reaches. Our hearts. To remain. Steadfast. In belief. Of who you are.