A Different Gospel Series

INTRO.- Who said "Variety is the spice of life"? William Cowper, who was an English poet. Since variety is the spice of life, something different is good, CORRECT? Not necessarily. It depends on what you’re talking about.

ILL.- Something different was not necessarily a thing that my daddy approved of. How’s that? My first car was a 1954 Chevrolet with a six cylinder engine and I was always fooling around with it, trying to make it run faster, which was next to impossible. And my daddy would say, "If it’s running all right, leave it alone!"

In other words, "You don’t need to change a thing."

Likewise, I’ve seen churches change some things and sometimes it was a good change and sometimes, it wasn’t.

What’s that saying? "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." If it is broke then let’s do something about it. Let’s fix it.

ILL.- I tried something different back around 1972-73. What’s that? I went from a full-sized car to a small car, thinking about getting better gas mileage. I bought a 1973 Chevrolet Vega, 4 cylinder (no power whatsoever), 4 speed on the floor, two-door (no room), no AC, and lemon yellow color. BAD MOVE. It was a very poor car, with little power and the mileage wasn’t that great!

Different doesn’t always mean better! And different doesn’t always mean correct!

ILL.- For example, many people would like to change marriage from Adam and Eve to Adam and Steve. And I’m not in favor of this! IT’S NOT BIBLICAL! It’s against God’s Word, plain and simple.

If gay people want to live together, then they will do it no matter what most people think, but from the Biblical perspective it is not and never should be considered marriage! Not all changes are good changes!

In our text, Paul was saying that some people wanted to change something about the church and it was not for the better! In fact, it could possibly destroy the church. Some people wanted to change the gospel message! Actually, some people were advocating a different gospel...something different from what Paul was preaching.

PROP.- Paul tells what problems could happen; what will happen if people turn to a different gospel.

1- A different gospel is no gospel at all

2- A different gospel is a perversion of the true gospel

3- A different gospel will bring on condemnation

I. A DIFFERENT GOSPEL IS NO GOSPEL AT ALL

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all.

ILL.- "You call that a knife?" Jul 25, 2006 LONDON - With Australian outback hero Crocodile Dundee as her inspiration, an 80-year-old British pensioner foiled (baffled) a knife-wielding burglar with an even bigger blade of her own.

When woke by a masked man holding a knife, Winifred Whelan screamed and ran downstairs to the kitchen.

Grabbing a giant carving knife, she told the startled intruder "You call that a knife? This is a knife" in an echo of the famous scene in the Crocodile Dundee film when actor Paul Hogan confronted a New York mugger.

As she took on the intruder, her husband grappled with his accomplice. Recalling the incident on the day the burglars were jailed for the break-in, Whelan told The Liverpool Echo: "I said to the robber ’You call that a knife?’ His was around 10 inches long and I had a carving knife measuring around 14 inches. I pointed it at his belly and added ’This is a knife!’"

The moral of the story is don’t mess with 80 year old women with 14 inch knives!

There are many things being preached today in the name of religion that are not true at all. THEY ARE NOT THE GOSPEL AT ALL! We could easily say, "You call that Christian? That’s not the Christian gospel at all!"

That’s exactly how I feel about the Church of Scientology. It’s no gospel at all. It contains no gospel of Christ. After all, the word "gospel" means good news and in the context of the Bible, it’s the good news about Christ. Christ died for our sins. Christ was raised from the dead after the third day. THAT’S THE TRUE GOSPEL! That’s the real thing!

ILL.- Here is what the church of Scientology states: Scientology is the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life. The Scientology says: Man is an immortal, spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized — and those capabilities can be realized. He is able to not only solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also achieve new, higher states of awareness and ability.