No Other Gospel Part 1

0:00Lord, You are my strong tower. Yes, You are my hiding place. And all to graph you, in who You are. Because it's with You I find my place. Welcome to this edition of Back to Basics with Pastor Brian Broderson. Remember, the false teachers are not suggesting that the people return to the idols that dominated their culture. Or are they suggesting that they engage in sexual immorality or drunkenness or theft or slander. What they're doing is they are insisting that the Galatian Christians need to become religious. Today on Back to Basics, Pastor Brian continues to study in the book of Galatians.

1:07Join us as Pastor Brian begins his teaching on Galatians 1 verses 6 through 10 in a message titled, No Other Gospel. And now here's Pastor Brian. Paul having begun the letter with a brief greeting to the churches of Galatia. He jumps straight into the issues at hands pulling no punches. And as we're going to see all through this epistle, Paul hits them hard. And he does that because of the nature of their offense. And what their offense is is a forsaking of the true gospel for a, as Paul refers to it, a perverted gospel, which he says is actually no gospel at all.

2:09And so here in Galatians, Paul is contending for the truth of the gospel and he is rightfully and understandably intense. This is perhaps Paul at his most intense here in this letter to the Galatians. I mean, you can find some similar kinds of things in 2 Corinthians and maybe a little bit in 1 Corinthians as well. But you just sense as you read through this that there's just a real intensity on Paul's part. There's a real, he's very impassioned because of course the topic is the gospel. And for Paul, the gospel is everything. Now remember, I pointed this out previously that what had happened is Paul had brought the gospel to this region and to these people. And so these churches in Galatia were established. And the picture that we get that Paul even sort of, you can read between the lines in the letter and you see that their initial reception of the gospel was one of absolute joy and appreciation that resulted in just a beautiful, beautiful experience.

3:26But then suddenly everything changed. Everything changed not only among them, but what really changed was their attitude toward Paul. And they began to look at him as sort of an adversary rather than who he actually was, really their father in the faith. And that was all due to the influence of these false teachers. So Paul comes, he's well received, he brings the gospel, they receive the gospel, there's rejoicing, there's joy, there's freedom, there's love, there's all those things. And then after Paul's departure, the false teachers come in. But here's a point I want to make. Remember, the false teachers are not suggesting that the people return to the idols that dominated their culture. Or are they suggesting that they engage in sexual immorality or drunkenness or theft or slander.

4:30What they're doing is they are insisting that the Galatian Christians need to become religious. And this is where we sometimes we can kind of get thrown a bit of a curveball because we can oftentimes think that well, being religious is good. I mean, doesn't want, doesn't God want us to be more religious? And when I use the term religious, that's kind of a big term. You can define it in a lot of different ways. But what I'm talking about is like what you might describe as a religiosity. And that's actually a word, believe it or not. And you know, religiosity means that it's primarily an external thing and the focus is on all of the external types of things that you associate with religion. And that's what these false teachers are seeking to influence the Galatians toward.

5:31They're basically telling them that they need to engage in meticulous legalistic practices and perform ritualistic duties. And now listen, Paul says that this is a perversion of the gospel. This is a perversion of the gospel. Listen to what he says. He says, 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. When Paul refers to this as a perversion of the gospel, literally what he's saying is that it is a reversal of the gospel. And what that actually means is that they are destroying the gospel. That's why Paul so intense. That's why he's so deeply concerned about the situation because in doing what they're doing and suggesting that the Galatians need more than the gospel or they need something added to the gospel, they actually destroyed the gospel.

6:46You see, the gospel tells us that Jesus and His work on the cross was complete. It was absolutely thorough and there not only does it not need to have anything added to it. Actually, you can't add anything to it. And if you try to add something to it, then you pervert it. You destroy it. You reverse its intention. And so that's the issue here. And so Paul is here all the way through this epistle. He's bringing them back to the gospel. So here we are. We're talking about the gospel. Here's the first question. What is the gospel? Now, I think there's the assumption and understandably that we all know what the gospel is. We talk about the gospel.

7:47We use that word frequently. I think, of course, a lot of people I would imagine and hope that many of you, most of you, that you know what we're talking about when we say the gospel. But I think it's important that we always come back and make sure we're understanding what it is that we have the right definition. So let's do that right now. The gospel is this. The gospel is Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day. And all who put their trust in Him will be forever saved. That is kind of just the core essence of the gospel message. And it is the receiving of this simple message that gives us as a free gift eternal life. And the gift of eternal life includes the process of bringing us to glory.

8:48In other words, the gospel is you could kind of sum it up like this. Jesus paid it all all to Him. I owe sin had left to crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Jesus did everything on the cross and in his very last breath, he said it is finished, meaning it is completed. So the gospel, which of course, as we know, means good news. The good news is that Jesus did for us not only what we couldn't do for ourselves, but Jesus did for us everything that was needed to be done. And when we received the gospel, we received through the gospel, not just the immediate forgiveness of sins, not just the declaration that we are righteous now, but we also received the guarantee of our future glory. So what Paul is very passionate to get these Galatians to understand once again is that not only do you not need anything else, you can't include anything else into the gospel without losing the gospel.

10:05The gospel itself is the full message and in the gospel is everything that we need. So as we receive the gospel, it saves us. It saves us both now and forever. And Paul says this in numerous places. Let me quote to you from Romans chapter 8 verses 29 and 30. He says for whom he for new, he also predestined. Who may predestined these, he also called. Who may call these, he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. So here Paul tells us in this passage in Romans that the gospel is the full package. And those that he justified, the in justification is the declaration of righteousness that a person receives when they put their faith in Christ. And whom he justifies, he also glorifies. Now if you know anything about maybe more sort of theological terms or if you understand the way certain things, theologically fit together, there is something that is missing in this progression that Paul gives here.

11:20And it's not missing, it's actually assumed. And the thing that's just not written in is what we refer to as sanctification. Sanctification is not written in here because it's included in our justification. So Paul doesn't say whom he also justified, he's sanctified. He says whom he also justified, he skips all the way over to he also glorified. And he speaks of it in the past tense. Again telling us that the gospel saves us forever. And the simple receiving of that gospel is the means by which God eternally secures us. So this is the gospel and this is what Paul is set to contend for. Now that brings us to a second point and that is the centrality of the gospel.

12:24And when we say the centrality of the gospel, what we're talking about is that the gospel is the centerpiece of the whole Christian faith. That this is what the Christian faith is all about. Now again, this is something that I think we need to reconsider because it just sometimes in our thinking and sometimes in the way we communicate, we sort of look at the gospel as well, you know, the gospels, the thing that you give to unbelievers and they get saved and then you sort of move on from there. And Timothy Keller and his commentary on Galatians called Galatians for you, he puts it like this. He says it is very common in Christian circles to assume that the gospel is something mainly for non-Christians. We see it as a set of basic ABC doctrines that are the way in which someone enters the kingdom of God. We often assume that once we're converted, we don't need to hear study or understand the gospel. We need more advanced material.

13:26Here Paul, here in Galatians, Paul outlines, I like the way he puts this here, the bombshell truth that the gospel is the A to Z of the Christian life. It is not only the way we enter the kingdom, it is the way to live as part of the kingdom, it is the way Christ transforms people, churches and communities. What he says there is true. And this is what Paul said when he wrote to the church in Rome. When he said to them there, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also. Now I pointed this out in our first study that Romans and Galatians have a lot of overlap. They are very similar. Galatians is obviously a much shorter epistle than Romans is. But yet they are very similar and they are both taking us back to the centrality of the gospel.

14:26And remember how I pointed out that it was these two epistles that completely changed the world, brought a revolution, a world revolution in the 16th century. When it was through Romans and Galatians that this truth about the centrality of the gospel and the gospel being the free grace of God, when this was rediscovered. As I pointed out, for 1200 years that doctrine was in obscurity. But it was there in the 16th century that the doctrine was brought back into prominence through the work of the reformers and it was then that the world literally changed. Now, when Paul says to the church in Rome, now think about this. And I remember thinking about this myself years ago when I was teaching Romans. When Paul says to them, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also who are at Rome. I remember thinking, now Paul is not talking about going out on a street corner and preaching the gospel to the pagan Romans.

15:31Although he might have done that. But that's not what he's talking about. He's not writing to pagan Romans. He's writing to Christian Romans. Why does Paul say to Christian Romans that he wants to come and preach the gospel to them? Don't we just preach the gospel to the unbelievers? See, that's where we make our mistake. No, we don't. We have to preach the gospel to ourselves. We have to realize that the gospel in the gospel, it's everything that God has for us as His people. And so Paul is basically saying that he was anxious to share with them the implications of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. You see, when Paul says, I want to preach the gospel to you, what he's saying is, I want you to understand the full implication of what it means that Christ died for our sins, of what it means that Christ rose from the dead, of what it means that Christ ascended into heaven.

16:40Because when we understand the full implication of those things, that is what produces our sanctification. Our sanctification meaning our maturing in Christ's likeness or our progress in holiness. You see, it's all connected back to the gospel. Christ's death, His resurrection, and ascension. And we find that Paul in both Galatians and especially, again, in Romans, not exclusively there, but he drills down deep in these two epistles, that all of our lives as Christians are really wrapped up in and connected back to our understanding of the gospel. So I'm going to grow as a Christian, the more I understand the full implications of the gospel, the more I understand the full implication of what it means that Christ died. You see, because Christ didn't only die for Himself, He died for us, right?

17:45And He died for us that we who live should no longer live for ourselves. He died for us to destroy the power of sin over us so that sin no longer has dominion over us. And so since Christ died and we died with Him, we need to consider ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God. And you see, all of these things are the... These are the ways that we progress toward Christ's likeness. This is how we grow in sanctification, but you understand what I'm saying? It's all connected back to an understanding of the gospel. And that's the death of Christ, but then there's the resurrection of Christ. What does it mean? Well, Christ rose from the grave, and so we rise up to the newness of life because of what He did. And Christ ascended into heaven, and how does that apply to me? Well, remember when Christ ascended into heaven, He sent the Spirit. And the Spirit is vital for me and for you, for all of us, as God's people, the Spirit is vital for us to progress.

18:51So, all of this stuff is related. It's all connected back. And so, as we study Galatians, and as we're focusing on the centrality of the gospel, it's going to result in us more thoroughly understanding our justification, how it is that we're made right with God. But it is also going to be working sanctification in us. You see, because the mistaken notion that sometimes people have is that, well, Christ justifies me, but now I have the responsibility of sanctification. But no, the reality is the same grace that justified you is the grace that is going to operate in your life to bring about your sanctification. And that's one of the beautiful things that we're going to see here, and that's one of the liberating things. You see, because this is the heresy of the false teachers. The false teachers were saying, well, you know, it's fine that you've received Christ, but now you need more.

19:57It's good that you've believed in Jesus, but now you've got to do this, and you've got to do that. And you've also got to do this. And if you're not doing this, then, you know, you're not really saved. And we, Christians, 2000 years later, we sometimes can fall into the same way of thinking. I had somebody recently asked a question or pose a question or a scenario on the radio program that we do, Pastor's perspective. And they said, now, now look, you know, you seem to be telling people just to trust in Jesus, and you know, he's going to take care of everything. But you know, that's wrong, he said. He said, you know, Jesus forgives our sins, the sins that we committed up until the time that we accept him, but then, you know, once that happens, then we're responsible for the rest. And so I said, well, okay, wait a second. So Jesus, he takes care of our sins from the past, but we're responsible for the rest. What does that mean? Does that mean that everything that I did up until the moment I received Christ is forgiven, but after that, what does that mean?

21:00That either I'm not forgiven, or I have to do some sort of work to guarantee that I really am saved. See, this is the kind of confusion that sometimes can exist in our own minds. And this is the kind of thing that the Apostle is addressing here in Galatians. So the centrality of the gospel. But then thirdly, in our text here today, we see the gospel is unalterable. The gospel as it was revealed by Christ and preached by His apostles is forever fixed and cannot be changed. It cannot be changed. Now, there are those today. There always have been those, and we are reading about an example of them right here, who were seeking to alter the gospel.

22:03They were in this case wanting to add to the gospel. The gospel is good, but you got to put the law of Moses together with it in order to make it complete. That's what they were essentially sane. And yet, Paul insists here that the gospel is unalterable. He says in verse 8, but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you, then what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you, then what you have received, let him be accursed. It is forever fixed. It cannot be altered. And Paul says that even if we, he says, even if I just switched gears suddenly and said, you know what? These judisers are right. These guys are right. Yes, we do need. Paul said, let me be accursed.

23:09But beyond that, he said, you know, even if an angel were to come and say that this gospel is not complete, you need to add this to it or that to it, Paul said, let them be accursed. And the word accursed here, the word anathema means let them be under the divine judgment. So that's how serious this matter is. We'll continue tomorrow with more valuable insights from Pastor Brian as we study together in the book of Galatians. Thank you for listening to Back to Basics with Pastor Brian Broderson. You know, Back to Basics is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry. We couldn't do this without the prayers and financial support of friends like you. If today's message encouraged you, would you prayerfully consider supporting the ministry? You can also sign up for our newsletter to stay connected. Visit Back to Basics Radio.com. And now, back with a final thought for today, here's Pastor Brian.

24:16Now, someone would say, wow, Paul is just over the top here with this accursed thing. What is he talking about? I mean, you know, come on. But you see, this is God's gospel. It's not man's gospel. And it's not to be tampered with. We don't have the freedom to adjust it to fit with what we're thinking or what people are thinking around us. It is unalterable. I mean, we can try to adjust it. We can tamper with it if we want. People do that. But they're under a curse, those who do it. They're under the divine sentence if they do it. Because God will not tolerate that. And of course, they can tamper with it, but it doesn't change the fact that it is what it is. Now, this brings us to this question, how can we recognize the true gospel? So we've seen what the gospel is. We've seen the centrality of the gospel. We've seen the fact that it is unalterable. But how do we recognize the true gospel?

25:22Well, number one, we recognize the true gospel by its substance. Back to basics is the listener supported preaching and teaching ministry of Pastor Brian Broderson.