Deserting God for a Different Gospel

Transcript

GR 2078
03/12/2017
Deserting God for a Different Gospel
Galatians 1:6-7
Gil Rugh

We are going to the book of Galatians in your Bibles, Galatians chapter 1. We just have started into this letter and looked at the opening verses which have formed the introduction. The Apostle Paul is a major writer of our New Testament Epistles. He has written 13 of them. He obviously is the author of the book of Galatians, the letter to the Galatians and that doesn’t include the letter to the Hebrews. Some think Paul wrote the letter of Hebrews, others do not think so but even leaving Hebrews out of the count he still wrote 13 of the letters. So he was greatly used of God in the early history of the church and establishing the church has God’s plan in reaching out to the Gentiles with the Gospel. The impact of his life obviously continues because he was writing the Scriptures, the very Word of God to be passed down to us.

We have noted the similarity in some of Paul’s letters which you would expect. He is writing to churches, sometimes in close proximity like in Asia Minor he wrote a letter to the Ephesians and he wrote a letter to the Colossians and they are very similar in content.

It was the intention of the Spirit of God that both of those letters be part of our Bibles but you see something of the similarity and content, similarity of the issues being dealt with and we have noted the book of Galatians has many similarities to the book of Romans. Now they are not close in proximity since we have looked at the map and we see where Galatia is. It is further east of the letters like to Colossae and Ephesus in Asia Minor. We know where Rome is and the letter to the Romans but they are similar in content. We will see some of that as we are moving through the epistles. Romans obviously being much more extensive than Galatians but we will note some of the commonalities as we move through.

One writer wrote “The connection of Galatians with Romans is patent. It is not sufficiently understood how pervasive that connection is and into what manifold detail it extends.” And in his comments he goes on to show some of the comparisons but we will wait until we move through the book of Romans.

We noted the book of Galatians is probably Paul’s harshest letter. Many of his letters he had to deal with issues that required firmness. Sometimes almost to the point of what we would call harshness but always done in love and concern for God’s people for the truth that he is representing, for their well-being and growth.

Galatians is abrupt to say the least. For example Paul had a lot of problems to deal with in the church in Corinth. He spoke harshly to them or firmly. Maybe the word ‘harsh’ has connotations we wouldn’t want to give but he has to tell them, “You are still fleshly. I can’t write to you as mature, experienced people.” That is a pretty blunt way to address the Corinthians but yet he has some commending things to say to them as he begins the letter.

Come back to I Corinthians chapter 1 since you are well familiar with this letter of Paul and the problems he faced repeatedly in dealing with the Corinthian church but you note he addresses them in verse 2 of I Corinthians 1: “To the church of God which is at Corinth to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling.” And he joins them “with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It says in verse 4: “I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift” and verse 9, “God is faithful who called you;” warm and assuring words to start a letter that is going to have to deal with some major problems.

Come back to Galatians and you see the abruptness. He has introductory words, almost a normal introduction to that extent in the first two verses where he simply presented himself and his authority as an apostle and the message he presents but you come to verse 6: “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him.” No words of personal greeting in that sense, no words of commendation, no encouragement, no thanks to God for them, that doesn’t mean Paul is not thankful for them but you pick up verse 6 and we are right to the issue at hand.

I want to say and not lose sight of this as we hit right away this harsh stuff, blunt material, corrections that Paul does love these people. He does speak to them in family language. He calls them brethren repeatedly. Look down in verse 11 of Galatians 1, “For I would have you know brethren.” Come over to chapter 3, verse 15, “Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations.” Chapter 4, verse 12, “I beg of you brethren.” Then he will say at the end of the verse. “You have done me no wrong.” I am not trying to pile up guilt of how you have treated me or what has been done to me in this letter as he continues to call them brethren. He does it again down in verse 28, “And you brethren.” Down in chapter 5, verse 11, “But I brethren.” Chapter 6, verse 1, “Brethren.” Verse 18 as he closes the letter, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit brethren.” So, he is addressing them.

These are Gentiles churches remember. He is not just speaking to them like they are you know we are fellow Jews but he is dealing with them as God’s family members but sometimes it is like your children. They are growing up. Sometimes some of the things that they have done are of such serious nature you have to deal with it firmly and bluntly with a clarity that there is no allowance or room for this at all and sometimes you will hear, “Well you don’t love me.” That is a diversion as we have seen and talked about in the book of Proverbs where it says, “When you love your children you discipline them.” And that is what Paul is doing.

The letter has three major divisions just to have these fixed. Since we have come through the introduction which was the first five verses. Really the rest of chapters 1 and chapter 2 are Paul’s personal defense of himself, his apostleship. Then the next two chapters, chapter 3 and 4 will be Paul’s doctrinal challenge. It is more political. It is dealing with controversy. He is confronting the issues that are present in the Galatian churches and then chapters 5 and 6 will have his practical concerns and application to them in their walk with the Lord and then he will close out with the conclusion in chapter 6 verses 11-18.

So a simple letter, three major parts, two chapters each with an introduction at the beginning and a conclusion at the end. As we have noted in the first five verses in the introduction, Paul presented what are the two major themes in the letter. First his apostleship and he identified himself in verse 1 as an apostle and he reminded them that comes with the authority from God Himself who chose him to be an apostle and appointed him to that responsibility.

Then he talked about his Gospel. Verse 4, “Concerning Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us from this present evil age.” That is what he is going to develop, his apostleship and that responsibility of authority that he has because that’s connected to his message. Now we come to the Word of God and say, “Here is our authority, here is the message that we preach” but they didn’t have it. Paul is writing it. So if the opponents that have infiltrated the churches at Galatia could discredit Paul and his apostleship they will discredit his message. If they discredit his message they discredit his trustworthiness as an apostle. So this is not something personal with Paul in that sense that it is just a personal offense. This is the issue of the Gospel and the Word of God. It is a responsibility and an accountability to God as His representative, similar to the prophets of the Old Testament. It goes beyond them just personally. They are God’s personal representatives and what they say is God’s message.

Alright, let’s look at Galatians 1:6. Paul picks up, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different Gospel.” “I am amazed.” I am astonished. It denotes surprise, wonder. It is like you are caught off guard. This is unexpected. This turn of events I didn’t anticipate. You know it has taken me back because Paul was here, presented the Gospel, even appointed elders as he went back through the churches but now the shock. Word has come, they have already gotten off track. “I am amazed.”

One writer said that “Paul’s use of the word here is an expression of the genuine shock that the news of Galatia has had on him.” You know how it would be. You have gone back. You reported back home in Antioch of the great response to the Gospel and people saved and churches established and you are thrilled but now you get word they are already off track. So he said, “I am amazed that you were so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ,” so quickly.

They are relatively new believers and it hasn’t taken much. Paul leaves, the devil sends in false teachers and they are deserting. It is a strong word. It is a word that would be used in a military context of someone who went from one side in the battle to the other, deserted, went over to the enemy. They have transferred their allegiance from Christ and the truth concerning Him to something that is totally different – how Paul sees it.

This is an ongoing process. This is a present tense that “you are so quickly deserting Him.” This is not something that is finalized, not something that is a future possibility but the process is going on. This false gospel is taking hold in these Galatian churches. There are more than one. We looked at the cities Paul visited and evidently he found a hearing and a response and if this continues the work that Paul started and established in Galatia will be lost. They will go over to the enemy if you will. “I am amazed you are so quickly deserting Him.” Not deserting me, you are “deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different Gospel.” Paul right away cuts through.

Like I say, it is not a personal issue with him, it is just something personal. I thought we had a relationship established. I thought we had come together, much more serious even than that. You are deserting the God who called you. You are deserting God! Where can you go when you desert God? There is only one alternative. You go to the enemy. You go to the devil. That’s why I say right at the front end there is no massaging what Paul has to say here. I have to get right to the point. You were in the process of becoming deserters, abandoning your commitment to the living God. Where do you go? Well, you go to the god of the world, small ‘g’, the devil.

“You are so quickly deserting Him who called you.” Now Paul hasn’t abandoned his hope in them, in their salvation. He is shaken because any time this kind of situation is going on you begin to wonder. He will express that when we get over into chapter 3 and he will express his concern of where they are but right now he is confident that God has called them. The relationship that established by presenting the Gospel to them and having them respond in faith was a result of the call of God. This word ‘call’ it is used in the epistles only as what we call the effectual call, the call that is effective. This results in salvation. It is the word that emphasized God’s sovereignty, that God took the initiative in their salvation, in the work of redemption, conversion. How great was His grace and mercy and kindness to call you to Himself and now you are in the process of concerning deserting Him. The irrationality of it is something Paul has to confront.

Come back to Romans chapter 8. This word ‘to call’ it is used differently in the Gospels. In the Gospels it is used in a general call. “Many are called, few are chosen.” In the epistle the word ‘call’ is only used of those who are chosen, the elect. Romans chapter 8, look at verse 29: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” Now note the process, “Those whom He predestined He also called and those whom He called He also justified, declared righteous. Those whom He justified, he glorified.” You see the sovereignty of God is emphasized through the entire process so God chose in eternity past, developed like in Ephesians 1, but then in time the call goes out and it is directed specifically toward the elect. That is why Paul would write in another epistle. “I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they might come to the salvation in Christ.” That doesn’t mean we don’t offer the Gospel to all but God is sovereign in the process and we can be thankful for that because apart from His sovereign intervention the offering of the Gospel would still have no results because men are sinners, they consistently reject the offer of God.

So you have that choice that is made and then the call goes out and what we do, going out, sharing the Gospel, we desire, I don’t step into God’s position, I don’t know the identity of those that He has chosen and that He will call to Himself so our responsibility is to be faithful with the message. You see Paul going everywhere, telling everyone the Gospel but He understood God is sovereign in this process and it will impact in a saving way certain ones.

So that is what the call of God is and you see in the context if you are still in verse 30 of Romans 8, “Those that are predestined are called. Those that are called are justified.” That is why we say it is an effectual call because all who experience this call experience that supernatural work that moves their heart and mind so that they make a decision to place their faith in Christ. I see that decision as one that they make but as a result of the moving of God on their heart. That is the call of God.

In Chapter 9 of Romans, back up to verse 28 before you leave chapter 8 since we are here we will mention this verse. “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” There is that word ‘called’ in that same context. They are called according to His purpose. Those are the ones He causes all things to work together for good. He doesn’t say He will make everything work together for good to every person. He will cause everything to work together so as we sing and we see in the songs on the sovereignty of what we know even in our calamities we have the confidence in knowing, “Lord I can’t see any good out of this. I know You work this together in Your purpose for my good and maturing me and growing me kind of situation.”

Come over to chapter 9 of Romans, verse 11 and here is the distinction being made between the two twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. “For though the twins were not yet born, not had done anything good or bad so that God’s purpose according to His choice.” Literally, “According to election might stand,” “Not because of works but because of Him who calls.” So salvation is the result of the call of God on a life. Now the means that God uses is our presenting the Gospel because “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the message of Christ,” the Word concerning Christ as Romans 10 tells us.

If you haven’t read the newsletter, read the evangelism interview with Brad. He commented on the joy he had and the opportunity and that is our responsibility. God is pleased when we give off the fragrance of Christ, the end of 2 Corinthians 2, remember. “We are a fragrance of Christ to God both among those who are perishing and among those who are being saved.” So in my pleasing God, I please Him, not because I am so effective and I lead so many people to Christ. I am effective because I please God. He is pleased with my service to Him when I give off the knowledge of Christ but it is His call that causes that presentation of the Gospel in some lives to be effective. That is His sovereign work.

This is a reminder to these Galatians that they have been the beneficiaries of a God Who in great love has reached out to take hold of them in a special way, to bring them to Himself.

Come over to 2 Timothy chapter 1 and look at verse 9. Verse 8 for the sentence: “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, His prisoner. Join with me in suffering for the Gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to His own purpose in grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus for all eternity.” And the solution for trying to put together the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God is not to make a choice of one to reject the other, to choose both and acknowledge we don’t have full understanding of how it all works. We are completely responsible and God is completely sovereign.

And no one is ever saved unless God in His power supernaturally intervenes and you will note, calls us. It is emphasized we saw it in Romans, “Not according to our works.” It was true in chapter 9 when we talked about the children of Isaac and Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. Neither one had done anything so that God’s sovereignty in choosing but He is choosing from among fallen sinful, hell deserving people and remember we always remind ourselves God is not obligated to save anyone so we don’t want to claim fairness. He never provided salvation for angels who sinned. He wasn’t obligated to but He chose to provide salvation for human beings who sinned and He chooses to apply that according to His will. All that to say no one is ever excluded from salvation who wants to be saved if I can put it that way in human terms. The offer is there.

I don’t want any misunderstanding. We have talked about this. You say, “well if God hasn’t called, He didn’t chose me in eternity I guess I can’t be saved.” I guess not. Let me tell you. “If you want to be saved call upon the name of the Lord. He says ‘Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.’” If you believe in Him He will save you. So if you are hiding behind an excuse, if you want to be saved, here are the terms God offers. So no one who wants to be saved, I put it that way because people say well if somebody wants to be saved but they are not chosen, there aren’t any such people. That is the point. God intervenes. You didn’t want to be saved. I didn’t want to be saved but God in His grace intervened to work in such a way to draw me by the work of the Spirit and so move upon me so that I would place my faith in Christ. That was the result of the call of God.

There are many verses. You could check in a concordance and look at the uses of the word ‘call.’ Even in Paul’s letters he uses it often.

Come back to Galatians chapter 1. Paul will use it of himself in verse 15, this word ‘called.’ “But when God who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb.” You see this work of God goes back before. He had set me apart. I was in the womb. I wasn’t making these decisions yet. “He had set me apart and called me through His grace.” So he set me apart, then He called me. That is what happens in time. God is carrying out what He had determined and established in eternity past. He called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me. So that call is a grace call and that is where we are going to be up in verse 6.

Come over to chapter 5, verse 8 before we move along. In Galatians chapter 5, verse 7, Paul is talking about “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.” I mean you’ve gotten off track here. Now you are following a teaching that doesn’t come from the God who called you. You stay on course with God’s plan, God’s purpose. So this doesn’t come from the God who calls you.

Down in verse 13 of chapter 5. “You were called to freedom. Don’t use your freedom as an opportunity of the flesh but to serve one another.” That fits with how he taught in the opening of the chapter that it was for freedom that Christ set us free, this call of God. It includes the whole package of salvation which begins for us when we place our faith in Him but even in God’s grace He was working to bring us to that place. You can look back and see. Why did you come to the point of hearing and believing the Gospel? We delight in hearing testimonies of how God works and those testimonies could be going back to years before we came to a place of hearing, understanding and believing the Gospel. God was at work there in all of those situations and circumstances to bring us to that point. How terrible now we would desert Him. He reached out and took hold of us when we were His enemies, when we were lost and without hope. It is a desertion.

Back in chapter 1, verse 6, “From Him who called you.” Such grace, such love, such mercy bestowed upon us. Now we are going to desert, abandon Him. So he goes on in verse 6. “I am amazed that you were so quickly deserting Him who called you by (or in) the grace of Christ, for a different gospel.” The Gospel, the only true saving Gospel is a Gospel of grace, a grace manifested in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He did the ultimate of what we did not deserve, could not earn, could not merit. He left glory to come and suffer and die to be the Savior.

Come back to Acts 15 because this is the context. We mentioned this as we began our study of Galatians. Acts 15 is the Jerusalem Conference. The issue Paul will be dealing with in the letter to the Galatians is the Judaizing heresy as we call where they agree with the facts of the Gospel concerning the person and work of Christ but they add the Mosaic Law to that.

In chapter 15 there was a conference in Jerusalem that Paul attended where the other apostles are centered to deal with this. At that conference we have the instruction, the claim given “We have believed that we are saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus in the same way as they are,” verse 11. Now in the context here Peter is speaking regarding the contrast between Jews and Gentiles and we are not going to add the burden of the law on these Gentiles that are coming to Christ. We Jews couldn’t keep the law. We have to be saved by grace just as they have to be saved by grace. We are ruling out here any concept that law was involved ever in the salvation of the Jews. He made clear in verse 10 we weren’t able to bear that load of trying to fulfill the law. We couldn’t do it so you see the point. We are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. What did He do? He came and did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves, what we did not deserve.

Understand if God had not sent Christ to earth and He had not willingly come to be our sacrifice, we would be in the same category as fallen angels. Every single last one of us would be going to hell because every single last one of us has sinned. “All have sinned, there is none righteous.” We would be in the category of the fallen angels and it would be just demonstrating the justice of God but He has chosen to manifest His grace. That is why Ephesians says for all eternity we will be what? Trophies of God’s grace, evidences that God is not only a God of justice but He is a God of justice who shows grace because He had Christ come as he makes clear in the last part of Romans 3 to propitiate, be a propitiation for our sins, be the One who would satisfy the requirements of justice so God could be just and the justifier. So we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. That’s it. That is the clarity. That is the simplicity. God’s call of salvation is based on what He offers to us in grace, what He has done for us in grace.

Before you go back to Galatians stop at Romans, just after Acts, Romans chapter 11, a verse we have looked at in our previous study not too long ago and the end of verse 5 talks about a remnant in Israel, “According to God’s gracious choice,” which is literally according to the election of grace and then he says, “If it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace is no longer grace.” As emphasis, it pervades the New Testament. Right down to today people struggle with the issue of being saved. Do you believe in Jesus? Yes. How are you going to be saved? Well I try to keep the Ten Commandments. Protestants, Catholics, they’ve got a whole system of works, sacraments and so on that are required in addition to salvation. Here we are, it is by grace.

Just after Galatians come to Ephesians. Think how blessed we are. These churches in Galatia have been established by Paul on his first missionary journey. He leaves, the false teachers come in. They didn’t have a New Testament to take hold of. They get Paul’s letter, they’ve got a treasure, the letter to the Galatians. Something we can grab on to because now they are going to contend with people saying “we are genuine apostles.” “Paul didn’t bring you the genuine message.” That is why he has to spend time in the first two chapters defending his apostleship because they are trying to undermine his credibility. Then he will deal with the message that is preached that has to be maintained in its purity.

Now the same issue you are going to have in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8 and this is all about grace. And we didn’t deserve to be saved as he starts out because we were sinners just like everyone else. “We were by nature children of wrath,” verse 4 “but God be rich in mercy because of His great grace with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.” You don’t realize how serious our hopeless our condition was. We forget and we have to be honest, we do forget even us today. We look around the see other people doing sinful things and the practices and they are sinful. They are awful but somehow we have forgotten how that’s us. Remember, I want to remind you, Titus chapter 3, remind them that we were just like those people that they find so revolting, so repulsive and if we are not careful we begin to lose our appreciation of God’s grace shown to us. How could they do that? That is so disgusting. I can’t even imagine that people want to conduct themselves like that. Well la-te-da. And what were you like,sweetheart, before God reached in? Well I was never like that. Maybe we have some theology to work on. That is what he is telling the Ephesians. We are just like them. We all walked in this way. That’s what we were. Verse 3: “We too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh indulging our desires.” I didn’t do the same specific sin but as God looked at my inner condition I was just like every other sinner.

Then you come down – what God has done in grace. He not only paid the penalty, raised us up with Christ and there is the verse I referred to just a little bit ago, “So that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,” so never to be forgotten. There’s Gil, he’s here you know because of grace. He was a wretched, lost, hell deserving sinner just like the demons that are in hell and here he is. Can you believe that God showed such grace? We will be His trophies of grace. Grace in kindness what he has talked about in kindness, verse 4, “God being rich in mercy.” God’s grace, His kindness. It is like you know, I would pile up these words. I mean you know, just keep emphasizing it.

Verse 8, the verses that most of us have memorized: “For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.” Salvation is God’s work from beginning to end. It doesn’t remove our responsibility and accountability but it is His work. It is the gift of God. That’s what it has to be if it is by grace, if it is by mercy. You can give a testimony and talk about how God worked in my life and brought me to the point and you know I can say I wanted God to save me but it was the result of how I understand Him graciously moving on me, bringing the conviction of the Spirit to me in such a way that I saw myself that I didn’t see myself before that, that way. It is not a result of works. He has to keep bringing this in and yet 2,000 years later still Protestants, Catholics and every other religious system, salvation by works. These are the only two alternatives, salvation solely and completely by God’s grace and everything else. “It is not the result of works for we are His workmanship.” Where do works come in? “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.” They are the result of God’s transforming grace powerfully working in our lives to make us new. Now we can do what is pleasing to Him and even there in the enabling power He gives and He prepared these works beforehand because our salvation is a package.

That is why Paul could write to the Philippians: “He who has begun a good work in you will continue to bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,” that those that He predestined are ultimately glorified in Romans chapter 8 which we read. Interesting, each of those words including ‘glorified’ are in the past tense since it is usually used for the past because in God’s plan it is as good as done; so the work of God’s grace in salvation.

Come back to Galatians chapter 1. “You are deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different Gospel which is really not another.” And the amazing point in these here is there is no other Gospel. Like I say, there is the Gospel of God’s grace manifested in the provision of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished. That’s it! That is the only saving good news there is. There is no other Gospel.

So this claim that these are coming with a more complete, more fulfilling, more effective Gospel, there is no other Gospel. There is only one message of good news. It is the Gospel of God’s grace providing salvation in Jesus Christ, not of works but in the package of salvation there are works. This is where confusion comes but God opens our eyes to sort it out so we understand. Works are part of the package of salvation in that they are the result of God’s saving work in our lives. They had nothing to do with causing me to be born again, to be cleansed from my sin and be made new but now that that work of God has been done in grace, in grace He has provided an enablement for me that now I will live the new life that He has given me.

So many passages that we have been through on many occasions, “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things pass away, new things come.” “We died with Christ. We are raised with Christ. Now we live a life pleasing to Him” and so on.

So it is a different Gospel but it is not another Gospel. “Only there are some who are disturbing you who want to distort the Gospel of Christ.” “There are some who are disturbing you.” And these are those that we will see what they are teaching as we move through but the Judaizers, the Acts 15 issue. It comes up in the book of Romans, it comes up in Corinthians, it comes up in Colossians, it comes up, it comes up, it comes up. It was permeating because the devil worked quickly will say, well we don’t have that Jewish problem today. We have the same problem! There the devil was quick to jump on them. I’ve got these unbelieving Jews, I can have some of my servants profess faith in Christ and now they claim to believe the facts of the Gospel and they also believe you have to keep the Mosaic Law. Now I will push them into the churches and I will corrupt the Gospel in the beginning. It is faith in Christ plus your works that will result in salvation.

So we may not have the same issue but we have the same issue. In heart the devil still does the same thing that you have to be saved by your works. He doesn’t care if you add the Gospel to that because that Gospel is not powerful to save you because it is not a Gospel of God’s grace. It is just man’s ideas. There is no power in that. It is a brilliant move right here at the foundation, corrupted so he can work from within. The biggest threat to us is not the Muslims and their doctrine or the Hindus and their doctrine. The biggest threat comes to us from what? From those who claim to be joined with us in the Gospel but when we search it out it is not the same. It is not the Gospel. It is the Gospel plus the Ten Commandments. It’s the Gospel plus the sacraments. It’s the Gospel plus being the best person you can. All of a sudden it is not the Gospel.

“There are some who are disturbing you.” That is a strong word. It means to shake together, to stir up, unsettle, throw into confusion. This is the word you would use for those kinds of context. And these false teachers are throwing the churches in Galatia into confusion. You can understand because they come in, they are attacking Paul’s character and credibility as an apostle. They are talking about the adequacy of his message and it seems convincing and now you’ve got a mixture and then it is confusing. That is why he is calling them back.

The stability comes, we stay with the Word, we stay with the Word. It has not changed. Well we could include more people, we could be more effective. We could destroy the message. So it is unsettling. It is being effective. It is disturbing. Some people, some believers are getting unsettled. So it is not just unbelievers that get confused. Believers can get confused. You listen to things that are false, they have a way of getting down into your thinking and it is easier to get them into your thinking than it is to get them out. We have to be careful. It is persuasive. The churches are being unsettled.

These teachers want to distort the Gospel of Christ. That is what is going on. It is a ministry and message of distorting. They bring conflict, disorder, now the devil has got a foothold in here. There is confusion. The church is unsettled, unsure. It is all worked up.

Look over in chapter 5, verse 15, “If you bite and devour one another take care that you are not consumed by one another.” See what is going on now? We’ve got a battle going on in the church against each other because even now some believers who have gotten confused and caught up in this are opposing those who want to maintain the pure Gospel and you put the unbelievers in this mix and we can have chaos and now where does it go? Pretty soon you will have true believers getting discouraged and the devil is relentless. That’s why this is urgent with Paul. Pretty soon you will have the churches taken over. What do you have left, scattered believers. So you have to stop this and the false teachers will be false teachers. Paul will deal with those. His concern is these believers must sort this out and get their focus reestablished so that they can bring stability back into this confusion. The error has to be gotten out. The problem is once people get this going up, they get emotionally worked up. We have to bring it back and anchor it down. Nothing changes.

Martin Luther, I will read this to you before we are done here. Let me read you John Christophsum, John Christophsum, the golden voice man. He was an early expositor in the 4th century. He lived from 347 to 407 so early church history. You can read him in the church fathers. “They the Judaizers had in fact only introduced one or two commandments, circumcision, and the observance of days and so on but the Gospel was subverted in order to show that a slight adulteration vitiates the whole. Where then are those who charge us with being contentious and separating from heretics and say there is no real difference between us except what arises from our admission. Let them hear Paul’s assertion that those who had but slightly innovated, subverted the Gospel.” You see here he in the end of the 4th century, beginning of 5th century battles the same.

Martin Luther wrote concerning this in Galatians and you can get his commentary on Galatians if you want to read along. “The church is a tender plant. It must be watched. People hear a couple sermons, scan a few pages of holy writ and think they know it all. They are bold because they have never gone through any trials of faith, void of the Holy Spirit they teach what they please as long as it sounds good to the common people who are ever ready to join something new. We have to watch out for the devil lest he sows tares among the wheat while we sleep. No sooner had Paul turned his back on the churches in Galatia than the false apostles went to work. Therefore let us watch over ourselves and over the whole church.” Martin Luther the end of the 15th to the beginning of the 16th centuries. He died in 1546.

You see we can move down right to our day, it doesn’t change, the way the devil works. Undermines the purity of the Gospel, the message that is preached and do it with something that is similar. That is the confusing thing. That’s why believers get confused. The devil comes as an angel of light, masquerading as an angel of light. His workers come as true apostles and all of a sudden this mixture. That is why we have to be grounded in the Word, anchored in it. Our first response is to go to the Word. What does the Scriptures say? Not let our emotions sweep us along. We will deal with that a little further as we move into verse 8-10 in our next study together.

A reminder to us. We go over the foundational things repeatedly as Peter reminded his readers, “I know you know these things but as long as I am still alive I am going to keep reminding you.” So that when these issues come up we are not surprised and caught off guard and swept along with every wind of doctrine and trickery of men as Paul told the Ephesians.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for Your grace in providing salvation for us in Christ and providing Your Word written and preserved so that we do have that as an anchor. How blessed we are in our day Lord to have the Word in our own personal possession to keep it in our homes, to turn to it every day. May we be faithful in filling our hearts and minds with Your truth and submitting ourselves to the teaching to the truth, committing ourselves to living our this truth being faithful in the calm times in the stormy times. Lord our confidence is in You, the sovereign God who rules over all. In Your grace You have saved us. In Your grace You will preserve us. Use us in the days of the week before us that we might honor you, be a light wherever we are. We give You praise in Christ’s name amen.