No Other Gospel (Galatians 1:6-10)
On occasion I see posts on Facebook or hear of something from people that I spent a lot of time with when they were students that abandoned the gospel. For sure, I see good things often from people that I once taught the Scriptures to. But I occasionally see someone that abandoned the faith altogether.
And it makes me incredibly sad. It frustrates me. It doesn’t give me happy thoughts.
I think every pastor goes through this to some extent. And I believe a version of this is what is happening to Paul when he so sternly warns the Galatian Christians about their desertion of the Gospel itself.
Remember, these are some of the first churches that Paul planted. And imagine yourself being in the room when someone read this letter that Paul wrote. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel”.
How would you feel in that moment?
What would you think as you heard these words?
And you may have felt the emotions that Paul describes here as he describes their desertion. You may have had this conversation with a person you know that left the faith. You may have been astonished yourself by their leaving.
As I read this, it seems very emotional. And Paul’s words carry a lot of weight. But it’s not just emotional. He declares a powerful message concerning the salvation found in Jesus Christ. And the message is simple salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other way to be united to Christ
We rebelled against God and earned His wrath and justice. That is what we were owed. But God made a way for us to be brought to God. He made a way for us to be saved from the wrath and justice we deserve. He sent His Son to accomplish our salvation. He did this by living a perfect life, dying on the cross, and rising from the grave. This is the message we proclaim. And this is the message that saves. We deserved an eternity in Hell and God provided a way of escape and it is only through the finished work of His Son.
Salvation through faith in Christ is the only way to have peace with God. Therefore, Paul was passionate when he spoke against the Galatian churches when they were falling away.
To Desert The Gospel Is To Desert Jesus (Galatians 1:6)
Paul was completely astonished that they would abandon the gospel. They had heard the gospel preached by Him. They knew that Jesus was the only way. And they should have known that they should never abandon the gospel.
It is very likely that they didn’t understand the decision that they were making. To be honest, most people do not. But when we add to the gospel, it is no small matter. To believe that we earn our own salvation is to abandon Jesus Christ.
I want to illustrate this in a few ways. The first is by looking a little at the Mormons.
In the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 25:23 it says,
“For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
There are lots of problems with Mormonism. This is definitely not the only one. But this one is at the root of most of them. Mormons do not understand that a person is saved by grace alone. They do not believe the gospel. They believe in the gospel + something else. In this case it is “all we can do”. They teach that, if you put forth maximum effort, then God can save you.
Let’s talk about Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to the best 144,000 will be with the Lord for all eternity. This means that you are in a competition to be one of the 144,000.
Let’s talk Roman Catholics for a moment as well. In the 1500’s when the Protestant Reformation was taking place and the Roman Catholics were responding, they held the Council of Trent. It is still considered official teaching that has not been nullified to this day. It is puzzling because the last few Popes have said that Protestants are Christians and will have eternal life, but they have never disregarded the Council of Trent. But in the Council of Trent we read,
“If anyone saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification and that is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.” (Council of Trent, Canon 9)
“If any one shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ’s sake, or that it is that confidence alone by which we are justified…let him me accursed.” (Council of Trent, Canon 12)
“If anyone saith, that man is truly absolved from sins and justified, because that he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema.” (Council of Trent, Canon 14)
“If anyone saith, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema.” (Council of Trent, Canon 24)
““If any one saith, that, after the grace of Justification has been received, to every penitent sinner the guilt is remitted, and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such wise, that there remains not any debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world or in the next in Purgatory, before the entrance to the kingdom of heaven can be opened (to him); let him be anathema.” (Council of Trent, Canon 30)
Rome itself, puts forward a works righteousness and proclaims it boldly in the Council of Trent. And, according to Paul, what are we to say to such a thing?
We are to understand that to follow these ways is to abandon Jesus. To add anything to the gospel is to lose the gospel and lose Jesus.
Grace and peace come through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
Jesus+anything means that you get nothing at all. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone by the finished work of Christ alone to the glory of God alone.
As the hymn, “Rock of Ages” so clearly states,
“Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace:
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior, or I die.”
We come to Christ as helpless, needy sinners with nothing to offer. We come as those that have earned God’s justice and wrath. We come as those with nothing to offer.
We come to Him by faith alone, apart from works of righteousness, apart from our personal law-keeping. We come to Christ by grace alone through faith alone.
There Is No Other Gospel (Galatians 1:7)
After speaking of those that proclaim another gospel, he clarifies and says “not that there is another”. There is no other gospel. There is no other good news. There is no other way to be brought to God. There is no other way for our sins to be forgiven.
The good news is that Christ has accomplished salvation for us.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)
That is the gospel. God the Son took on human flesh and accomplished our salvation for us. This is the gospel. This is the only gospel. There is no other way to have peace with God.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”” (Acts 4:12 ESV)
I know how this conversation goes. And you probably do as well.
What about all those people that don’t know Christ? What about all those people that are Muslim or Hindu? What about all those pagans that we now call Native Americans?
You hear the question and you know the answer. But there is a sinking feeling in your gut. You don’t want to answer that question because uttering the words makes you feel terrible.
The truth of the matter is that we have all offended God.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23 ESV)
And no matter how bad it makes you feel, you don’t get to decide what is right and wrong.
And that is the point that I want to drive home here. This is a pretty harsh way of addressing the Church at Galatia. But Paul is delivering the unadulterated truth so that they will turn from their desertion and trust the Savior.
You need to hear the unadulterated truth as well.
You cannot earn right standing with God. You were not brought into God’s family because you earned it. You have been brought into God’s Kingdom because Christ earned it for you apart from anything that you have done.
Don’t Believe Anyone That Tries To Convince You To Desert The Gospel (Galatians 1:8-9)
The command here is clear, even if it’s not directly stated. Do not believe anyone that tries to convince you to desert the gospel.
This is similar to when we describe the moral failings of someone that might try to convince our children to do evil. We speak of the evils of the person and the life they lead. We don’t have to say, “don’t go near them.” The point is clear whether we announce it or not.
It is the same here. Don’t believe anyone that tries to convince you to desert the gospel. And it doesn’t matter who it is. If Paul were to preach something, or an angel, anyone that preaches something that moves us away from Christ is not to be trusted.
The condemnation of false teachers is a call to reject them and their message completely.
Listen, we live in a time when you can get your hands on every kind of false teaching imaginable. Before the internet, it was a bit easier to limit how people could hear from these people. Now they can be found on a little device that we carry around in our pockets.
It would be easier for me to limit who you heard from if the internet did not exist. But that is not how things are. That is not the world that we live in. Ours is much different.
Just a few years ago a pastor could name the preachers to avoid on television and that would cover it. Now there’s a world of false teaching at your fingertips. And it’s not just there, with enough advertising dollars these false teachers will be forced in front of your eyes with their most appealing message.
There is something encouraging in this text though. You don’t have to know who every single false teacher is. You need to know what the Scriptures teach so that you can discern truth from error. You need to know the gospel so that you can discern when another gospel is being declared.
The gospel is the message of what Christ did for us. It is the message of grace and mercy that is found only in Jesus Christ. God the Son took on human flesh for our redemption, so that we could be made children of God. And when you hear a message that runs counter to that, the warning here is to flee.
When a man says that you are saved by Christ, but you must achieve in some way, shape, or form then be warned. Your radar should go off.
A woman that had been to church her whole life told someone I know that she couldn’t make it into heaven because her husband was not a Christian. What? Does she think that a person needs more than faith in Christ to enter into glory?
I have heard folk lore after folk lore that proclaims things such as these. I once heard a man say that his pastor told him a person couldn’t be saved that is mute because they couldn’t verbally call upon the Lord…as if a person has to be able to speak to trust in Christ.
And then there are the examples that I already gave above. If anyone tells you that something more than faith in Christ is necessary for your salvation, then you have the obligation to ignore what they have said or correct them.
Accursed Is The Person That Proclaims A Different Gospel (Galatians 1:9)
When a person proclaims faith a different gospel, then they are not just wrong. They are accursed and declaring an accursed message. The Greek word is “anathema” and it is to be delivered to God with no hope of being redeemed.
In Paul’s situation, there were people form out of town that proclaimed that different religious rites were necessary for salvation. Circumcision and law keeping are what Paul directly discussed with the churches of Galatia.
As I’ve described above, there are other different false teachers that would fall into these categories. I do want to be careful here, but I do also want to be faithful to give warnings for our situation today.
Do I believe that every Mormon is lost and going to Hell? I don’t see in Mormonism a strain of belief that is reliant upon Christ alone. I haven’t met a person yet that didn’t think their caffeine intake could keep them from salvation.
Do I believe that every Roman Catholic is lost and going to Hell? I have met Roman Catholics that believed in salvation through the work of Christ alone. I have met people that were once Protestant and, enticed by the smells and bells of Roman Catholicism, they went there and didn’t understand what was going on.
But I will tell you who cannot be let off the hook. And it is those who preach and teach.
A Different Gospel Is Pleasing To People, Not To God (Galatians 1:10)
The ending of our text today is part of Paul’s defense of his own calling. But it is also tied into our text today.
Apparently, and this is something we must read between the lines, they were saying that Paul was taught by people that didn’t preach the whole truth. Paul’s retort was to say that he was delivering a message that was not pleasing to people, but is pleasing to God. And next week we will see that this message came completely from God and not other people.
This message of God’s grace is one that is not pleasing to the ear of a lot of people. It is a message that tells people that they are sinful and there is nothing they can do in their lost condition. It is a message that proclaims the exclusivity of Christ and that all those that reject Christ are lost forever. It is a message that is offensive. And only people that want to please Christ above all others would proclaim it as their own.
And that is us.
We have seen our own unworthiness. And we proclaim salvation that is found through Christ alone.
Conclusion
There was once a king that had established a land. He had provided everything for the people that was necessary and even enjoyable. Life was good. But the people rebelled against the king anyway. They rioted against the king and his rule.
The king responded swiftly. He and his knights began to round up the people. He said to them, “Lay down your weapons, my son will pay your debt. If you do not do this, then you will die.”
What do you think would happen to everyone that looked at the king and said, “I’d like to make things right my own way?”
What do you think happens to every person that looks at God and says, “I’d like to do things my own way.”
R. Dwain Minor