Cross and Gospel 1 — Anton Bosch

So, you will have to listen carefully if you want to understand my version of English. If the tape guys can give me ten minutes and five minutes, I may not abide by that, but at least it warns us where we are.

It's been a privilege to be part of this conference and to be able to share in fellowship with those of like faith, as Pastor Marston has said. It's a privilege to be able to minister the Word of God to you and with you this morning and just to enjoy fellowship and just to be with another church that is like-minded.

I bring greetings to you from the Burbank Community Church in Los Angeles, where we are currently ministering. I thank God for their graciousness to release me to be able to travel, and also the church in Pietermaritzburg in South Africa, who still support me financially.

I'm effectively a missionary in America. Many people find that hard to accept, but that is the way it is. I thank God for them and for their continued support and for the fact that they have been able to release us to be able to just travel and preach elsewhere.

And so I trust that we'll be able just to focus on the Word this morning and you'll get past my accent and past my stern looks and just receive the Word of God. Amen. We're ready to start. So let's turn to the book of Galatians, chapter 1, verses 1 through 10.

Paul's Warning Against a Different Gospel

And will you stand with me as we read, again, simply so we can stretch our legs and wake up a little bit? I'm going to try and finish in 45 minutes, but there are no guarantees. I changed the subject from what I was going to speak on to speak about the gospel, because that is something that has come up many times in the last few days, and I felt it necessary for us to redefine, I'm careful of that word, but to define again the gospel.

We need to understand, because the gospel has been redefined to be something different to what the scriptures intended it to be. And that's not a new thing. Paul warned us about that in Galatians, chapter 1, and verse 1.

Amen. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema or accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed, for do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men?

For if I still pleased men, I would not be the bondservant of Christ. Father, as we stand before you, we pray that your spirit would make your word alive in our hearts. We pray, Lord, that we may not just be involved in an intellectual exercise this morning as we examine your scriptures and examine the teaching of your word.

We pray, Lord, that we may not be involved in a self-justification as we look at ourselves and we look at others and we say to you, I thank you, God, that I'm not like those out there. But, Father, that we may once again be brought back to the foot of the cross and that Jesus would be glorified and that we would bow before him again and acknowledge our allegiance to him.

And so we pray, Lord, minister to us through your word and through your spirit. In Jesus' name we ask it, amen. You may be seated. Very, very strong words. This is not the only time that Paul warned that there would be another gospel and there would be another Jesus.

The Danger of a Counterfeit Gospel

We live in this time of another gospel. The gospel which is being preached today in the world and on the television and in the churches is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is not something that we can be soft about and say, well, you know, that's your version, brother.

It's just a different perspective. Paul says such a one is to be anathema, accursed, because what they are doing is they are perverting men and women from the true Christ to one who is not the Christ and to another gospel which is not the true gospel.

Many of them are immunizing people by the millions against the true gospel. Now you know what happens when you get immunized, when you get shots. I recently traveled to Nigeria and I had to go and have, I think it was two shots in each arm and a whole list of tablets.

And what was in those shots and in those tablets was a little bit of the various diseases that float around in that part of Africa. So you get a little bit of the disease, just enough that when the real thing happens or comes to you, it looks at your body and it says, oh, but you have it already and you don't get the real disease.

And so people are immunized against the gospel by getting just a little bit of religion, just enough that they will never get the real thing, that when they come across the real thing and the real message, they say, well, I already have it.

I don't need it. And so it is vital that we just reestablish what the gospel really is. And you know, it's amazing how that over many, many years, I grew up in Pentecost, in the assemblies of God in South Africa.

My family have been preachers for four generations. My great grandfather was kicked out of the Salvation Army because he believed and practiced divine healing. And yet as I grew older, I understood how that I just saw how that the message of the gospel changed.

So that even if I asked you, and I praise God for this church, if I asked you for a definition of the gospel, I fear that I may not get the right definition. Now, that's no accusation against you. It's an illustration of how pervasive this teaching is.

Testing Preaching by Scripture

And so what is the definition of the gospel? What does the scriptures give us as the definition of the gospel? Well, it is found in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, and chapter 15. And as I said last night, I would love for you to turn with me to the scriptures.

And you need to be checking whether what I'm saying is true. And when you go home, you need to replay this message, not on the tape, but in your mind. That's one of the surest ways of checking whether what the preacher said is true.

You see, because preachers have gifts. And some of us have natural gifts. Natural ability and charisma to carry people along with the argument. And so I'm able to string you along and say that one plus one is two.

Two plus two is four. And you say, that's right, brother. And then I say two plus three is six. You see, but because I do it quickly and I just string you along, you don't pick it up. And then I build my message on the fact that two plus three equals six, which it doesn't.

Sometimes preachers take huge leaps in their logic. You don't pick it up because it's all happened so quickly. One of the tricks that preachers are very good at is using alliteration and synonyms. Now, if you use Word, Microsoft Word, you know that you can highlight a word and you can right-click on that and you can get the synonyms for that word.

A whole list of other words that mean more or less the same. Except they don't all mean exactly the same. They are shades different. And one of the things that preachers are very good at is they're able to begin with one word, black.

And then we say, well, charcoal, dark gray, light gray. Well, it's all the same thing, isn't it? And then we end up with white. We began with black, but we ended up with white. God said you shall not eat.

Oh, but God actually wants you to eat of that tree. It all happens very quickly. But when you go home and you replay the message in your mind, you'll pick up. But hang on. How did he get from this point to that point?

Paul's Definition of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15

And so I encourage you to listen carefully and go home and make your decision whether this is the truth. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you.

That's simple enough. Paul is saying, I'm telling you, this is the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand. This is the gospel you received. This is by which what you are standing.

Now, what is the gospel? We've all sinned. Jesus died. Believe on him and you'll be saved. Paul's definition is somewhat different. And I'll explain in a moment. Verse 3. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received.

Here's the definition. That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. That he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And that he was seen by Cephas or Peter and then by the twelve.

This is Paul's definition. Paul is saying, this is the gospel that I preached. This is by what you are standing. And he says, verse 2, this is by what you are saved. Again, he's emphasizing and he's saying, this is the gospel.

What is the gospel? That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. That he was buried. That he rose on the third day according to the scriptures. Now the first difference between that gospel and the four spiritual laws.

The Gospel Centered on Christ Rather Than Man

Or any other version of the gospel. Is that this gospel is centered around Jesus Christ. And not around man. Every other version of the gospel you'll hear has to do with me and I. And what I have done and what I can do and what I will get out of the deal.

But Paul's definition of the gospel has to do with Jesus. It's not about us. It's about him. And one of the deceptions of the time in which we are living. Is that the earth does not revolve around the sun.

But the sun revolves around the earth. What I mean by that. Is that for many years we believed that in fact. The earth was the center of the universe. And that everything revolved around the earth. And then we discovered that we're not that important after all.

That we revolve around the sun. And according to Paul.