Galatians 1:6-10 "False Gospels"

Praise to the Sovereign King and the Friend We Have in Jesus

Praise to the Sovereign King, hear His people sing, solely and wholly saving His own bride. There where the Lamb has died, hide the blood of that great High Priest.

What a friend we have in Jesus, is that not true? Amen. Let us begin with a word of prayer, and then we'll be looking in, as like I said, this is a topical message today, so we'll be in Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 through 10.

Let us begin with that word of prayer. Lord God, You are the Rock of Ages, Lord. God, let us be built upon You, let us hide ourselves in You, Lord. God, let us stand firm upon Your Gospel today, if we are not already yesterday, Lord.

And God, if we have been built upon Your Gospel, Lord, when anything comes to us, Lord, we have You. We have hope, we have peace, and Lord, I just guarantee, God, I just pray that You would just firm our guarantee of salvation today even more, Lord.

That we would just see You crucified and know our sin that has been paid for, if we place faith in You, God. Lord, let us, God, I just pray today, Lord, that Your Gospel would be recognized, Lord, and we'd be able to identify that which is false, that we would not add a single word to what Your Gospel has been declared, Lord.

Nor shall we take anything away from it, Lord. And God, we just lift these things up, knowing that Your will will be done, and we just want to come before You in mighty worship. And we say these things in Your holy name, Jesus Christ, amen.

The Context of Galatians and the Judaizers

So please turn with me to Galatians chapter 1, Galatians chapter 1. Galatians comes after the book of 2 Corinthians, if you don't have nice tabs in your Bible, and it comes before Ephesians. So if you're flipping through and you miss it, those are the books that are around it.

And so Galatians is a beautiful book, very beautiful book. It has some very telling details that Paul describes for us in there, and some very stern advice and exhortations for us. And so what we're going to do is we're going to read Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 through 10, and then we're going to pray again, and we're going to talk about what's going on in here, what's the context, and we're going to break down these verses.

And I hope that it's a blessing to each one of us today, and we'll talk a little bit why this has been a topical message for today. So verses 6 through 10 says this, I, and this is Paul speaking in here, writing to the churches of Galatia, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another, only that there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say now again, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you have received, let him be accursed.

For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God, or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Let's pray directly over this text. Lord God, I just pray, Lord, that we would be reformed and refined.

To what this text has to say, Lord.

God, I pray that this message, this exhortation that was penned by Paul, Lord, that is inspired by you, that it would touch each one of our hearts and we would have wide eyes, Lord, that we would have open ears, that we would be quick to discern that which is false and be quick to hold to that which is true, Lord.

God, let us identify those that want to distort your gospel. Let us identify that which is false, Lord. And God, let us once again fall upon your true gospel that was preached by every prophet, that was preached by yourself, and that was preached by every apostle, Lord, that it is through only you that we have salvation,.

And your death, burial, and resurrection.

God, let us once again, let us recognize your truth in here and glorify you today. And we say these things in your name, amen. Maybe it would be helpful first to talk about why this has been the selected text for today.

There's been several things throughout this week that have made me want to be able to preach on this. We had a membership class last night, which was an absolute blessing. And as we sat around this table with several different individuals from several different types of walks of life, guess what they all proclaimed?

The one gospel that saves. And so it's important for us to look at this text and understand what does it mean to have a false gospel? What does it mean to have another gospel that really isn't another?

I had a conversation with two men this week at my doorstep that had knocked on there, and they were LDS missionaries. And what they had done is they came to me and they told me a false gospel. And so I encourage us today that when we read this, we're gonna ask ourselves and we're gonna ask each other today, what is the gospel?

Because each one of us should know it. And if we don't know it, repent and believe in the gospel today and be saved. That's why we're doing this kind of a message today is that there's been several times throughout this week that I've seen the need of what is the gospel.

Let us remind ourselves today of what that is. So let us look here into verse six. And before we begin reading, I wanna give a little bit of context of what's going on in here. Paul most likely wrote this around 47 AD.

So very shortly after in a time span of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia at the time because what had happened is that there were these Gentiles and there were these Jews that both profess now to have faith in Jesus Christ.

And these Jews saw it as that they needed to keep the Old Testament law. They said, no, circumcision is still something that needs to take place. Obedience to the law still needs to take place. And when I say need, they were saying it has to be done in order to have salvation.

You have to be circumcised in order to be a Christian is what their claims were. These were what's called the Judaizers. And so what they would do is they would come into the Gentile households and they would say, no, you can't be a true Christian unless you're circumcised.

Church, we'll talk more in depth about this because there's modern day Judaizers of today and this applies to them as well. If any man comes to you and tells you, you need to do something in order that you can earn your salvation, it is a false gospel.

And those people are the modern day Judaizers. And so these Judaizers were coming in and they were influencing the churches of Galatia and it was throwing them all in this tailspin and this whirlwind of confusion because here they had these arguments from the Old Testament and here are the apostles that are saying, no, this is the gospel.

And so they had, let me read here. Galatians 3, verse one, it says, this is Paul. Anybody that says that you shouldn't use harsh word with your friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, that's not true.

Let's listen to what Paul says to the church of Galatia. In verse one of chapter three, he says, you foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

It was just years ago that Jesus Christ died, was buried and rose again. Why are you letting these men come in here and influence you in these ways? Last week, you knew what the gospel was and this week you're being influenced and swayed by these men's opinions.

You foolish Galatians. I hope this reminds us, if any of us have been swayed today, you are foolish. You have salvation in Jesus Christ alone. Do not look to any filthy rag of yours.

As a means of being saved.

That's foolish. We'll talk more about this in detail here in a little bit, but that is the context of why Paul is writing this whole letter. That's the whole reason that the book of Galatians is here for us today is because of that.

Grace Through Faith, Not Works

Let's go back to chapter one, verses six through 10. Paul starts off with his introduction in verses one through five and so we'll look here in verse six. Paul says, I am amazed.

I don't wanna pause there. I'm amazed.

Paul is here saying, look, church, last week you were saying that you had salvation in Jesus Christ and he's not saying that last week, but he's saying, look, I can't believe. This is unfathomable that here Christ has purchased you with his own blood and you're going back to that which does not save you.

I'm amazed by this.

I can't even fathom that. I can't even put that together in my own words. I'm amazed by this, that you are so quickly and what's the word in here? Deserting, leaving, distorting, not holding to that which has already saved you.

I'm deserting that master that has already purchased you. You're so quick to forsake the Christ that has bought you. I'm amazed at this is what Paul is saying. Here you were professing faith and here now you're looking to your own circumcisions.

As a means of salvation.

I'm amazed by this, who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel,.

For a different gospel.

What is this grace of Christ that is spoken of in here? What is this grace that we have that's spoken of? Because it says in here, who called you by the grace of Christ. I want to read here real fast with us, Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through nine.

We read this last week, actually,.

If I remember correctly. Ephesians chapter two, eight through nine. Let this be a reminder for anybody that says it's upon you that you earn your salvation. Ephesians chapter two, eight through nine says this, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves,.

It is the gift of God.

Not, let me say that word again, not as a result of works that no one should boast. Let me be clear in this today. If anyone says, I'm saved because I helped 10 ladies cross the road. I'm gonna help 11 ladies and I have something to boast of now in front of you.

If anybody says I am saved because of my baptism I had, no, that is not how you are saved. If anybody says I'm saved because of my circumcision I had, no, that is not how you are saved. It says in here, not as a result of your works.

How is one saved? It says it right there in the previous verse. By grace, you have been saved through faith. It is the gift of God that no one should boast this is all God's doing. There's not an ounce.

There's not a minute amount that you can add to it that you can save yourself. And we'll talk a little bit more about this here in a moment. Let's go back to verse seven in Galatians chapter one. Galatians chapter one.

Let's say, let's suppose in here that you are a Christian. You say that you're a Christian. You say you have faith in Jesus Christ, but you say you have to be baptized in order to be saved. Let's just say that one example, that's a very common one of today.

Let's just say somebody comes to your doorstep and says, you have to be baptized in order to be saved. Verse seven here and it says, which is not really another.

What does that mean?

Which is not really another. What does the word gospel mean itself? It means good news. So what Paul's saying in here is that this is a different gospel, which is actually really not a good news. It's not really another gospel because there's only one gospel is what Paul's argument is in here.

But you've gone after something else. You've distorted the truth of Christ. Let us read in the next chapter, verse 16 and 21 in here. And we'll read probably 16 several times throughout this because it's so important.

Galatians chapter two, verse 16 and 21. Verse 16 says this. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through what is the means of our salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Even we have belief. So even Paul, the apostles and all the disciples, how are they saved? Through faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in who?

In Christ.

And not that word that's so important in here and not by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Verse 21, open your ears for this. I do not nullify the grace. It says that word grace again.

What does that word grace mean? The unmerited favor of God. It is the favor of God. I do not nullify the favor of God. I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law,.

I want to pause here.

Person says you have to be baptized in order to be saved. You have to have circumcision in order to be saved. You have to endure to the end in order to be saved. You have to have obedience in order to be saved.

That is the teaching that obedience is coming through or grace is coming through the law. That righteousness is coming through your obedience to something. And this is what it says for those that believe that.

If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. If I say I have earned an ounce of righteousness,.

I've done it.

Christ died needlessly on my behalf. Let's go back to this next. This whole book of Galatians is set up to make it clear for us that there's one gospel. Do not add a single word to it. Do not take away from it.

Do not add the requirements of the law to it. It's only one way that we have salvation and it's through the way, the truth and life. Jesus Christ. Verse seven. Once again, it says, which is not really another.

Why is it not another? Why is it not another good news? Because if I say that righteousness comes through the law, what is the gospel? Well, I just nullified it. I just said Christ died needlessly because I'm saying righteousness has come through the law by me.

It's not another good news. It's a bad news. I'm back under slavery. I'm back under a bondage. I'm back under a yoke if I do those things. It says, which is really not another. Only there are some who are disturbing you.

Paul's writing this letter because he loves the church of Galatia.

He loves them.

He loves them enough to be honest and truthful with them. He's saying, look, I know that these Judaizers are coming into your house and your church and they're influencing you and they're making you go after another gospel because they're having these convincing arguments.

They're disturbing you. And Paul's writing this because he loves them enough to tell them the truth. And he's saying, if you are saying that your righteousness comes through the circumcision, through obedience, through following those things, it's not another gospel.

Christ died needlessly. It's a bad news. You do not have salvation is Paul's argument in this text. And it says this, disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. These next verses in here are so, so important, church.

I wanna read this. We're gonna take some notes here. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached, to you, let him be accursed. As we have said again before, so now say I again, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you have received, let him be accursed.

Paul in this text is excluding all possibilities of anybody that's allowed to preach a different gospel. He says, if we, so meaning himself and the disciples, if we preach a different gospel, we are to be accursed.

If an angel even comes from above and preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you've yet received, let him be accursed. If a man that you don't know comes to you and preaches to you a gospel that's contrary to the one that you've yet received, let him be accursed.

Who does this apply to?

Everyone.

If somebody comes and says, I have the authority to say something different than what's in the word of God,.

They are to be accursed.

This applies to me. This applies to any pastor that you have behind any pulpit. If you hear a man or a woman on the street, does not matter if they have a different gospel than the one that Paul has preached, the one that Jesus has preached, the one that everyone has been talking about, they are to be accursed.

It applies to everyone. There's no getting away from it.

The Gospel of Christ and the Curse on False Teachers

What is the gospel?

That's gonna be our question. What is the gospel? I want everyone in this room to ask themselves that. And we don't need to say it out loud to each other, but I want you to say, if somebody asks me today what the gospel is,.

What is the gospel?

Do I even know how to articulate it? Do I even know what it is? Well, Paul in this whole text is just talking gospel, gospel, gospel over and over and over again in all his letters, and especially here in the book of Galatia.

In the very next chapter in verse 20, I'll read it real quick here for us in chapter two, verse 20, it says, I have been crucified with Christ and is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh is I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me.

That's a summation of the gospel. First Corinthians chapter 15, this is to me, I think the most clearest articulation of a short summation of the gospel message. Every time I talk to anybody on the street about the gospel, this is always a Bible verse I always mentioned to them.

Chapter 15, verses one through four, it says, now I make known to you, this is Paul, the same author of Galatians that has written to the churches of Galatia. Here he's writing to the church of Corinth and he says here in 15, he says, now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel, which I preach to you, which also you received in which also you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast the word, which I preached to you unless you believed in vain.

And so the gospel message is coming here in verses three through four, defined by Paul himself. And he says that if you stand in these things, you're saved and if you don't have faith in them, you're not saved.

It's that simple. You either have faith in it, you're saved or you deny it and you're not. It's black and white, faith or not. Verse three, for I deliver to you as a first importance, which I also receive that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to scriptures.

That's the gospel message. Jesus's death, burial and resurrection according to scriptures. Was Christ ever sinful?

No.

It says he died for our sins.

What does that mean? What does that mean?

Chapter five of second Corinthians says this, of verse 21 says, he made him, speaking of Jesus, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Now, when it says in Galatians chapter two, verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. Now it's starting to make sense. Now the picture's coming together for in Romans chapter six, verse 23, it says for the wages of sin is death.

You go to work and you get a paycheck every single two weeks or however your monthly schedule goes, you get a paycheck for your work. What is the work? What is your paycheck from God for your unrighteous?

Your sin, what is it? Death. Christ never worked that kind of a wage. He never committed sin, but he suffered the death you and I deserve. He took the penalty of your sin for our behalf, on our behalf.

He was imputed that sin that you and I have committed and it was laid upon the very shoulders of Christ. And guess what church? Christ was taken down from that cross and he was buried and rose the third day.

But what stayed on that cross? There was something that stayed on the cross that did not come down.

Our sin.

My sin is still upon the cross fully paid for. My Lord and Savior won. He paid it all. He came down from that. He paid it fully on behalf of those that would have faith in him. There's not an ounce of it left.

There's not a penny of the debt that's left that I owe to him.

He paid it all.

The gospel message is that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life, the life that I can't live. And he died the death that I deserve and paid the wrath and debt that I owe. And he was buried and rose again on the third day.

That's the gospel message. Very short and sweet. It's pretty simple, is it not? Is there anything in there that says I have to do something in order to have salvation? I have to, tomorrow I need to do this, tomorrow the next day I need to do this, and the next day I need to do this.

No.

Do not let anyone distort those things before you. You want to see Jesus Christ? You want to know him?

Have faith in him today.

Do not let anyone sway you in what the Bible has said. Greg read it for us earlier. Do not let anyone add a single word to God's word. Paul is making the same argument. If anyone comes to you and preaches to you a gospel contrary to the one that you have yet received, let him be a curse.

And that applies to everyone. Doesn't matter if it's your son and daughter, doesn't matter if it's your mother and father, doesn't matter if it's your brother or your sister, it doesn't matter if it's your neighbor, it doesn't matter if it's the nicest people you've met on the world.

If they're preaching a false gospel, they are to be accursed. Let's go back to Galatians chapter one, verses eight through nine. But even though we, once again, he's applying that to himself. We, if I, Paul, start preaching to you a false gospel, what is supposed to happen to Paul?

He's to be accursed. If tomorrow I start preaching a false gospel to you, church, you vote me out from behind this pulpit. You get rid of me. You say, Brayden, you are to be accursed. Repent and believe in the gospel.

If anyone in this church does that, if any one of your friends do that, if anyone you know does that, they are to be accursed. It's black and white. Now, I don't know if you see in here, church, does it say anything about you praying to see if this is a true gospel?

Does it say anything in here about praying to see if your friend's message is the truth or not?

No, it doesn't.

I hope faith in Christ and the gospel comes with feelings. I really do. As I love God, I'm humble before Him. I have so many feelings towards God. Faith in God is not absence of feelings, but faith in God is not dependent on feelings.

Because I say this often, church, what is two plus two?

It's four.

It's four. It's pretty simple, right? Do you have to pray about it to see if it's really four? Does it change or validate it if you pray about it.

And you get a good feeling?

No, it's four. What happens if you pray about it and I say, I really think it's five and six and seven and eight? What does that mean? It doesn't matter. Your feelings are false. The Bible says, do not trust your heart for it is deceptive, it is wretched and evil and that no man can trust it.

Feelings cannot guide us. Feelings do not dictate truth. Truth is independent of how you feel about it. And the truth is this, that Christ died for us, was buried for us and rose again for us. That is truth.

And the truth of it is, is if you say baptism is needed to see Jesus, or circumcision is needed to see Jesus, or you giving 10 of your wage to a religious organization is needed to see Jesus, the truth is you are making Christ die needlessly.

It's a false gospel, period. End of story. Do not allow people to convince you of those kinds of thinkings. This would be called legalism in a lot of ways that you have to do X, Y, and Z in order to be saved.

This would be called any false religion that's not truly Christian. Brothers and sisters, there are people in this world that look very Christian. They live what I would say looks like a morally good life.

It looks like it to me. They wear suits and they wear ties. They look like they are morally good people. They're so nice. This is in every false religion. Why is it false? Because they have proclaimed a false gospel.

One that does not save, one that cannot save, and one that's making Christ die needlessly. It's so important that we know this. I wanna read 8 and 9 again. But even though we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one that you have yet received, that I preach to you, that we've already preached to you the gospel that we've given to you already.

If anyone does something other than what we've already preached to you, let him be accursed. And as we have said before, Paul reiterates his statement here because it's so important. He says, just as we have said before, now listen again.

If any man preaches to you gospel contrary to the one that you have yet received, let him be accursed. What does this word accursed mean? What does accursed mean? The Greek word is anathema. And it means to lay aside a thing devoted to God without hope of being redeemed.

That's harsh words, is it not? You are to view that person as not Christian. You are to put them away from you. You are to cut them off. Give it to God and how he's going to deal with them. But you are to see that person as not redeemed because they have proclaimed a false gospel.

Seeking the Favor of God, Not Men

Verse 10, let us look and see what verse 10 says now. And this is so important. For am I now seeking the favor of men? Church, would it not be enough a nice way to be able to get along with the entire world if we just said, oh yeah, truth is subjected to however you want to feel about it.

And I'm going to hold hands with you and wrap my arms around you and we can sing kumbaya, kuna matata with each other. And we can all proclaim different things. I say Buddha's true. I will have faith in Buddha.

I have faith in what Joseph Smith said. I have faith in what Mohammed said. They all told something different, but we can all be friends together. Am I seeking the favor of men at that point?

Yeah.

Says in here, who am I seeking my favor from? From man or from God? And I know we've talked about this so many times in the weeks prior, but Christ was sent to die upon a cross and just as he was sent, so he sends us.

We are not to have favor with men. The message of truth that this,.

That you have earned a debt,.

That your righteous deeds, if you say baptism was necessary, that that is actually nothing but a filthy rag in the eyes of the Lord. That you, your whole life have been blaspheming him. That you, your own life have been not righteous before him.

You, your own life has earned a debt against him. And since our God is eternal, he has an eternal punishment for each one of those debts that you've done against him. Is that a favorable message to men?

No, but is that the truth?

Yeah, it is.

And I seek God's favor, not man's favor. So I will tell man this, that debt that you have earned, that inscription that is to be above your head, if you turn today and have faith in Christ was placed above Jesus' head and he paid it all, worship him today.

You sinned against God and he paid the price. That is now a good news and I still seek God's favor and it's a loving message to want to plead with this unsaved world these kind of things. Everyone, brothers and sisters, everyone that distorts the gospel distorts Christ as well.

They distort the very one that has purchased us. The Jews crucified Christ for what reason? Because he being a man made himself out to be God. He being a man made himself out to be equal with God and he being a man made himself out to be the son of God.

They say this three times in the gospel of John. That's the only reason that they could crucify him is that Jesus Christ claimed to be the one and only God. And they rejected him for this. Every false religion today that adds works to your salvation, that adds works to the gospel message that is so clear in this text have distorted the character of Christ and said, nope, he's not God in flesh or he's one of many gods or he was just an angel or he was just a man or he really didn't resurrect.

They all do this. It's only the Christian, the believer in Christ that throws themselves upon the mercy seat of Christ that proclaim him as God in flesh, that proclaim him as he has described himself to be.

And these false religions will also say this. We believe the word of God, the Bible, as long as it's translated correctly. We believe the Bible, but it's been distorted. It's not actually true. Church, I know that you have read the Bible for many days and I have well as well.

I have yet to find one contradiction in it. This is God's preserved word for us and it is described only one time and it is described only one gospel. It is only described one God and it is only described one Jesus.

And if we fail to understand those things and we distort those things, we are to be accursed. Imagine the widespread that has been placed before you. If a brother in Christ says something other than what the true gospel is, he's to be accursed.

If the unbeliever outside world comes to you and tells you a false gospel other than the one that you have yet received, he is to be accursed. If any angelic being, it excludes any chance of anyone claiming authority before us.

If a king comes to you, if a servant comes to you, if a angel comes before you and it's a different gospel than what's right here,.

Accursed.

If there's somebody in your life today that's been doing these things and you've been disturbed by them,.

Foolish church.

It's Christ alone that has bought you. It's him alone that you and I are saved. It's a him alone that deserves all the glory. It's him alone that deserves all the worship. If you want to know and see Jesus today, if you want to see Jesus today, did you know you can see him?

Put your head down. He's here. He's described so thoroughly. You can know him by doing this. I want to read verse 20 again for us here. I want you to keep your eyes down right here. You want to see Jesus?

This is it. Look down and see Jesus in this text because they all talk about him. They all teach him. They all preach him. They all show him. Verse 20 in Galatians chapter two, you want to see Jesus?

It's right here.

We're going to read 16 through 21 here. Nevertheless, knowing a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ, not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

But if while I was seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found also sinners is Christ then a minister of sin may it never be. For if I rebuild what was already destroyed or once was destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

For through the law,.

I died to the law that I might live to God. This is where we see Jesus right here in verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me.