Christians Who Drift

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. If you're trusting in Jesus 50 in your own good works, 50 You say you're trusting in Jesus, you don't understand.

Grace Alone, Faith Alone, in Christ Alone

We're talking about faith alone, the true gospel. Jesus is it. Him alone. Well, 99 Jesus and 1 the sacraments. No, it's all or nothing. Grace alone, faith alone, in Christ alone. A-L-O-N-E. Look at Galatians 5 starting in verse 1 because what the Galatians had done, they still believed in all these facts.

They would have affirmed all this truth. Paul says, you've fallen from grace. He says, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. And do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And that is they're getting circumcised because they're trusting in that. Nothing wrong with being circumcised necessarily, but they were trusting in it.

Again, I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep what? The whole law. You have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.

Fallen, that brings that word to mind, apostasy. You've fallen away. So trusting in Jesus brings freedom. Trusting in Jesus and the true gospel brings liberty. Jesus did all the work. He paid the full penalty.

The sin on the cross. He offers salvation as a free gift. Say it with me. A free gift. How much does it cost? What do you have to do for it? It's a free gift. It's all. Yes, you accept it. That's all you have to do.

Here's the free gift. It's all by grace. You didn't deserve it. It's just freely given. You can do nothing to work for it. If a person tries to earn it, however, if a person tries to work for their salvation and trusting in what they're doing, Paul says you've fallen from grace.

And again, these church members in Galatia, like the Judaizers, they still say they believe in Jesus. They still would affirm a version of Christianity, a form of Christianity. But they just are not understanding.

They had been bewitched. They were believing some of the truth, but not the fullness of the truth. So with all of that said, what about us today? Do we only believe parts of the faith? Or do we believe the whole?

Are you trusting in Jesus 100 Or are you trusting even just a little bit in some other things or other people? There are many false messages out there. Many false gospels. Matter of fact, they're all false.

They're all false. Except the one that's true. Except the true message. They're all counterfeits. The Bible says there is no other name under heaven given among men by which you must be saved. Acts 4 verse 12.

Jesus said in John 14 verse 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father except through me. That's either true or it is not true. The buzz term today, and I don't know if they had buzz terms back then.

Circumcision, I guess. I don't know. But today, the buzz term is inclusive. Right? You've heard it. We want to be inclusive. And what they mean is, you know, we want to be open. That's good. You want to be open to some things.

Unfortunately, they want to bring in any belief, any lifestyle. They claim to be very tolerant. The problem is, the one thing they don't tolerate is the truth. Because if somebody comes in and that's not right, because the Bible says that's the one thing they don't tolerate.

The thing that truly matters. Matters most. The more time goes on, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The same issues the early church faced, we're facing right now. The details have changed.

But it's the same type of thing. The Bible is such a relevant book. The devil really doesn't have any new tricks. What the devil does, he just takes the same old things and repackages them for every new generation.

And you know why he does it? Because it works. It works. If you're listening, say amen. If you are not taught sound doctrine, if your heart doesn't remain tender, if you are not walking in and relying upon the Holy Spirit of God, you can be deceived also.

Again, some of the church members in Galatia that were deceived, some of them were saved. And Paul, I'm sure he rescued many of them. Anyone can be deceived. If you say, well, not me. I could never be deceived.

Well, your problem is obvious. Your problem is your own pride, right? Well, this could never happen to me. You're setting yourself up for failure. So let's finish up with Paul's questions, and then we will close.

Here's a few more. If you're not already in chapter three, go back there. Who has bewitched you? Okay, the Judaizers. Question number two, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

That's a rhetorical question, as they all are. Clearly, they received the Spirit by the hearing of faith. And what I like about Paul's question is it seems to be coming from a position of optimism. If you've ever read the Bible, someone once said that the Bible is two-thirds negative.

I don't know if that's true or not, but there's a lot of things that are kind of coming at it from that side of things. I see some optimism here. He acknowledges that they had received the Holy Spirit.

Again, he's speaking generally, but Paul knows many of these people are true believers. He believes that he can persuade them. He believes that he can bring many of them back. Paul is not willing to give up on them.

And notice, Paul is not ultimately judging their salvation. That's God's job, to judge a person's salvation. I was reading the Bible one time. It just occurred to me that it is very, very rare, if not almost completely non-existent, for Paul to single out a person and to say, hey, that guy isn't even saved.

I don't know. Maybe there is an occasion where he does that. I can't really think of one. Why? Paul's not the judge. God is the judge. Now, as someone once said, we are called to be—we're not called to be the judge.

We are called to be fruit inspectors, right? You've heard this. That's true. That's true. That's true. But Paul, as a faithful shepherd, he loves the people. He's not just looking for an opportunity to come down on them.

He's not just looking for an opportunity to criticize them. I know that Paul really didn't want to have to write this letter, right? That's his heart. He loved the people. He loved the churches. This was Paul's heart.

He loved them. He was a spiritual father to them. And as every good parent knows, children need discipline. Okay? Children need discipline. Children need to be told no. There needs to be consequences for bad behavior.

We need to be told no. We need boundaries. Paul was a spiritual father to them. He was establishing—this was all for their good. This is love. He loved them. If he didn't care, believe whatever you want.

I'm not going to waste my time. Just do whatever. Hey, go play in the street for all I care, right? Do it. I don't care. Just leave me alone. That wasn't Paul's heart. Okay, the next question he asked.

Verse 3. Are you so foolish? Well, apparently, yes. That's simple. The next question is really important. Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Is faith in the Lord just something that happens at first?

Okay, Lord, I got it. Thanks for saving me. I got it from here. God forbid. We need him every day. The scripture says in Acts 17, 28, in him we live and move and have our being. Jesus once said, without me, you can do nothing.

And that doesn't mean a little something. When Paul laid out the fullness of the gospel to the church at Rome, in chapter 1, he said, the just shall live by faith. That's ongoing your whole life. The just shall live by faith.

All right, two more questions, and then we will close. He says in verse 4, have you suffered so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain. And again, I like this. He doesn't say, well, clearly it was in vain.

You know, you guys are done. That's not what he says. Instead, he's challenging them. And I want to challenge you this morning. If your beliefs about the Lord, what he has done, if your beliefs about God's word have changed.

Or if you're having doubts, maybe the pressure of this world seems to be too much. And you're starting to abandon some of the things you once believed in the past to kind of just fit in better with the culture.

If that describes anyone listening, my question to you, have you lived your Christian life up until this point just to throw it all away? No, I'm not throwing it away. I still believe in Jesus, sort of the Galatians.

But they had fallen away from the truth. Have you lived your Christian life up until this point to change and to drift off in some other direction? Are you really willing to throw it all away? Because I'm here to tell you, God doesn't change.

The gospel doesn't change. His word doesn't change. Why would we change? And maybe this will apply to some and not to others. So if that doesn't apply to you, if you haven't changed, that's not an issue.

Maybe you can be that person to minister to someone else, to tell them, hey, stay with the Lord. Stay with the inerrancy of the Bible. You know, Christians used to believe in the inerrancy of the word of God.

Evangelicals used to believe that. From what I see out there, that's not as common today. You see all sorts of things. People bending and breaking. Again, Paul wasn't quick to say that they believed in vain.

Neither should we. We should have patience with people. We're not looking to judge or condemn, but we want to challenge. We want to encourage. And, you know, people need encouragement. People need to have someone come alongside of them and be their friend and say, hey, here's what the scripture says.

And you know that's true. I know we used to believe this. And you put your faith in the Lord back then. Stay with the Lord. That's what we need to tell people and encourage them. The final question, verse 5.

He says, therefore, he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law? Or by the hearing of faith? So it's all about faith. Faith in the Lord. Faith in his word.

Which doesn't change. The Galatians were starting to fall away. Paul was going, he wanted to bring them back. If there's anyone this morning that's starting to drift away, I want to bring you back. And if that's not you, you probably know someone who fits that description.

Go and try to bring them back. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just ask that through your word and through your spirit, you would encourage the weary, you would strengthen the weak. Pray that you would bind up the brokenhearted.

Lord, illuminate your word that we would read it and understand it and apply it to our lives. There are things, Lord, about us that need to change. Our beliefs in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and the inerrancy of your words.

It's not one of them. Lord, help us to do better. Help us to encourage those who need it. We pray that Christ would receive all the glory. We pray it in his name. Amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Loris Cornick Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, loriscornickchurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.