Title: Will the real Gospel please stand up?
There seems to be a lot of confusion today about what the real Gospel is. The word gospel means good news. That’s something to be really happy about. But a lot of the gospels I hear about today don’t sound like good news to me.
One of the Gospels that I hear a lot about now-a-days is the one that says you have to prove yourself worthy of salvation. In other words you’ve got to try and earn it. But lets take a look at some people who are trying to "earn salvation" and lets see if what they are doing sounds like good news.
I grew up Catholic and I was taught by Benedictine monks, so let me start off by mentioning a few of the things that I am familiar with from my background. I’m sure you have all seen monks wearing their long robes and they also have a rope tied about their waists with knots in it. I don’t know if you realized it, but they don’t wear that rope for decoration. They actually use that rope to beat themselves! It is a practice called asceticism. This is something they do to try and make themselves better, to make themselves more acceptable to God. Now I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound like good news to me. I don’t think if we put a sign on the front of this church "come on in and get a free rope to beat yourself with" that many people would rush in for their free rope! That is just not something to be very happy about. There is a traditional Catholic order called Opus Dei. In one of the books written by the founder of this order Josemaria Escriva, he starts off by saying "O wonderful pain, glorious pain, etc." He said "to get to Heaven we have to suffer", He also practices asceticism. Is suffering and pain God’s path to earn salvation? I remember going to a shrine and watching people going up stone stairs on their bare knees in an attempt to earn something from God. You can see Catholics doing this at Fatima until their knees are bloody! But even this self inflicted suffering is still not enough to get a catholic into heaven. If you are Catholic you are taught that when you die you go to a place called purgatory and there you have to be burned in flames to pay for your sins. If that were true I can just imagine the shrieks of horror and pain as people would be dropped into the flames of purgatory. Does that sound like very good news to you?
I don’t want to just pick on the Catholics. Other religions have similar ideas. The Jehovah’s Witnesses make you go door to door witnessing to earn your salvation. If you don’t go witnessing their God drops you! The 7th Day Adventist follow the teachings of Ellen G. White, who wrote, "Jesus has purchased redemption for us. It is ours, BUT we are placed here on probation to see if we will prove worthy of eternal life." With them obtaining eternal life depends on proving your worthiness. In other words you have to "earn it"
In the movie "Saving Private Ryan," Tom Hanks portrays an Army captain whose unit is assigned to find a private named Ryan in the dangerous time right after the D-Day Invasion. Ryan’s brothers have both been killed in combat, and, he doesn’t know it, but he is his mother’s only surviving son. The mission involves the captain’s unit in brutal battles with the Germans. But Private Ryan is finally located and his life is saved by his captain who also dies in the process. As Private Ryan attends to his dying rescuer on a bridge, the captain speaks his last words in a hoarse whisper – he says "Earn this." The camera then changes from the young private’s face to the face of an old man, standing by a white cross in the cemetery at Normandy. It is Ryan many years later, near the end of his life. He kneels by his captain’s grave and says: "Every day of my life, I’ve thought about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I’ve done my best. I hope at least in your eyes that I’ve lived up to all you gave for me." Since the time Jesus was crucified on the cross. People have been looking at His sacrifice and many have tried to "earn this". But is that the good news of the Gospel? Do you have to try and "earn this"? Have you ever been confused about what the real Gospel is? Does God possibly have anything to say about this? Sometimes I want to say will the real Gospel please stand up? Today I want to challenge you to look into the Word of God to see which gospel God said is the real one.
The apostle Paul speaks about knowing the real Gospel in his epistle to the Galatians chapter 2, verse 16. If you have not found the passage yet, would you please turn to it as we will answer the question: What is the real Gospel?
When Christianity began it was entirely Jewish. Jesus was Jewish and all of His disciples were Jewish. In Old Testament times there were basically only two groups of people. Those who worshiped many Gods were called Gentiles, and then there were the Jews who worshiped the one true God. Now God wanted to protect His chosen people, the Jews, from worshiping all the false gods of the gentiles, so he forbade the Jews from marrying gentiles. The reason was that God knew that if a Jewish men married a gentile women that the gentile wife would teach her Jewish husband to worship her false gods. So to protect His people from idolatry, God forbade intermarriage. This commandment by God in effect erected a giant spiritual wall. It separated the people, with the Jews on one side and everyone else on the other side of the wall. Since the Church then was 100% Jewish when it began, that same wall of separation was carried into Christianity. No Gentiles were allowed in! If you had been alive back then and went to a church door, you might have found a sign that said something like Gentiles Stay Out! But God in his mercy intervened. In a vision to the apostle Peter, God showed Peter that He was extending His offer of salvation to the gentiles as well. But the admission of gentiles into Christianity created some questions in the minds of the Jewish Christians. The problem was that all these new Gentiles believers who came from the other side of the wall knew absolutely nothing about being a Jew. They didn’t know anything about the 613 commandments of the Jewish Law! These commandments included what we now call the 10 commandments. The big question was, is it necessary to keep all of these commandments to be saved and go to heaven? This is a very big question and an important question. The Law is basically a set of rules, a bunch of dos and don’ts. You can do this and you can’t do that. Those who said you have to keep the law were saying that you have to earn salvation by obeying all these rules. You have to prove you are worthy to go to heaven by being good enough. There was a disagreement over this among the first Jewish Christians. On one side you had those who said that keeping the Law was necessary for salvation. These people were called the Judaizers, because they wanted the gentiles to become like the Jews and keep all the Jewish laws and customs. On the other side of the argument were those who said salvation does not depend on keeping the law.
This brings us to the text we are studying today. The controversy had spilled over into the area we know today as Turkey. It was known then as Galatia. A group of Judaizers had arrived there and they were teaching the new gentile Christians that they had to keep the law to be saved. The apostle Paul wrote this letter, which we now call Galatians, to the church there to address the question "What is the real Gospel?". Over the years men have come up with all kinds of ideas about what the real gospel is, but let’s look and see what the Word of God has to say about this most important issue.
In verse 16 Paul says "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." So right away he gives us the answer to this controversy. He stated you can’t be justified by the works of the law...or in other words, you can’t earn salvation. He went on to say that you can only be saved is by faith in Jesus Christ. He declared that he knew this, therefore it was true. Well you may think that doesn’t sound like a very convincing argument. Just because someone thinks they know something, does not mean that it is true. You have to understand who is speaking here though. Paul was an apostle. The apostles were men that received their teaching directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Galatians 1:12 "For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ". Not only that, but God confirmed that the apostle’s teachings were from Him. How did he confirm it? He used them to heal the sick and even to raise-the-dead. Now, If I were to raise someone from the dead you’d sure be interested in what I had to say!...because you would also realize that there was a power much greater than Andrew at work. So when Paul says he knows, that is enough to make anyone stand up and take notice.
Paul used the word "justified" here in verse 16 and it is a very important word. If you are justified it means that you are right with God and on your way to heaven. It means that you are saved.
So the really big and important question is how do you become justified? There are only two possibilities. The first possibility is that you pay for your own sins and try to earn your way into heaven by being a good person and obeying God’s laws. That was the position of the Judaizers.. The other possibility we see in verse 16, is that you are justified by faith in Jesus Christ. When this question first arose about whether Justification was by keeping the law or by faith, the apostles held a meeting in Jerusalem to decide the issue. They unanimously agreed that since the Jews, in their long history, had never once been able to perfectly keep the Law it did not make sense to try to put that burden on us gentiles as well. Not one of the apostles agreed with the Judaizers on this issue. So when Paul said in verse 16 "we know" he meant that he and all the other apostles were in agreement that justification, or salvation, is by faith and not by trying to keep the law.
So why can’t you just obey God’s laws and go to heaven? We have all heard that there are good people and bad people right? Don’t all the "good" people go to heaven and all the “bad” people go to hell? Again in verse 16, Paul gave us the reason why salvation can only be by faith. He said "a man cannot be justified by the works of the law". He was saying it is just not possible for anyone to be good enough to earn their way into heaven! The problem with trying to earn salvation is that no-one has ever done it! God is absolutely perfect and He requires absolute perfection from anyone who wants to try to earn salvation. Have you ever in your life time told even the smallest lie…then you are not perfect. Have you ever had a bad thought…then you are not perfect. Have you ever failed to help someone who needed your help…then you are not perfect. The problem is there is no such thing as a perfect human being. Our sinful nature makes us incapable of perfectly obeying God’s laws. As a result salvation, by the perfect obedience to the law of God, is a path that is closed to us. I once heard the story of a pastor who was preaching the truth that no one is perfect. To prove his point he asked for anyone who was perfect to stand up. One man stood up in the middle of the congregation. The pastor asked, "Do you really think you are perfect?" The man replied, "Oh no! I’m not perfect. I’m standing up on behalf of my wife’s first husband!"
What is the total number of people who are going to heaven because they have perfectly kept God’s law? Zero! Paul stated that "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified". In this verse he explained that is why the apostles all believed in Jesus Christ and didn’t waste their time trying to earn salvation.
Okay, so we now have it on the authority of all the apostles that you can’t be good enough to earn your way to heaven. So, lets take a closer look at the only path of salvation that is open to us. Paul told us that if we put our faith in Jesus Christ we will be saved. Now, how can this be? How can faith possibly save you? Let me give you an example of how faith works in every day life. Suppose you attend a football game at the field right over here. One team is wearing red uniforms and the other team is wearing blue uniforms. If you were to watch the people who were cheering in the stands you would be able to tell right away which team they were cheering for. If the red team scored a goal their fans would get all exited and the fans for the blue team would be very quiet. If the blue team scored their fans would get all excited and the red team’s fans would be very quiet and sad. When the game was over if the blue team won their fans would go home happy and the red team’s fans would walk away disappointed. So what is the principle at work here? The principle is that when you cheer for a team it means that you have put your faith in them. It means that they have become your team. When you put your faith in a team, when that team scores a goal you get all excited because it is as if you scored a goal. Whatever your team does on the field affects you - just is as if you were the one that did it yourself. And if your team loses, it is as if you lost. This is the same way it works when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. When you identify with Jesus by putting your faith in Him, the perfect life He lived becomes your perfect life. When He was crucified on the cross in payment for the sins of the world, it is as if you were crucified there with Him. And when he paid for the sins of the world on that cross, your sins were paid for there as well. Because you put your faith in Jesus Christ, when He rose from the dead it means that you will also rise from the dead one day. Faith in Christ works exactly the same way as it does for the sports fan. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, everything He did, is just as though you did it yourself. You get to enjoy all the benefits of the salvation that He has won for you. You could never have won this victory yourself …you could never be good enough. As the Apostle Paul said here in this verse it can only be yours by faith.
Does it sound too good to be true/ Does it sound too easy? Did you know that when "Betty Crocker" first introduced her cake mix, women simply didn’t believe a dry mix, in a small box, at a reasonable price would make a cake. The company modified its claims and told women they must add an egg. They believe it and sales went crazy! When Parker Pen Company introduced the first ball-point pen, they asked just 29 cents for it. Sales were horrible. On the advice of a consultant they changed the price to over a dollar and sales shot up. A man once asked the apostle Paul "what must I do to be saved?" He answered "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved?" Many people cannot accept that the price for eternal salvation could be so cheap. The reason it is cheap for us is that we are not capable of paying for it. But it really isn’t cheap, It cost God a heavy price to purchase it for you, it cost Him the life of His only son.
There was a certain man who had worked all his life and was ready for a vacation. He wanted to go to a far away place he had never been to before. He thought to himself; you are a good person, you’ve helped the poor and took care of the needy. So you deserve this trip. He went to the airport and got in line to get on the plane. In his mind, he felt there was no need to buy a ticket because of all the great things he has done for people in his lifetime. He thought he had earned this trip. As the line got closer and closer to board the plane, he grew more and more anxious to start enjoying himself on his journey. It came his turn to pass his ticket in and to the amazement of the ticket collector; he told her he didn’t have a ticket, because he deserved the trip. He went on to explain what a good person he was and how he never hurt anyone or caused anyone any sort of pain. The ticket collector told him, "you still need a ticket sir!" He told her "I have never stolen from anyone, nor cheated anyone in all my life", but still she stood firm and insisted he could not board the plane unless a ticket was given to her. He said "I have given money to the poor and fed the needy", but still the ticket collector said
‘if you want to get on this plane you have to have a ticket. No exceptions." The man was shocked. He walked away with his head held down low and thought to himself, "I figured if I was a good person, who never hurt anyone and took care of other people, surely I would be able to get a ride on a plane, but I guess I was wrong".
Many, many people approach salvation exactly that way. They think that if they try to be good people and don’t hurt or cheat anyone or do other good things to make themselves worthy, that they can earn a ride into Heaven. But friends, as we have seen, that is not the good news of the real gospel. The Word of God clearly teaches that you can’t earn your way into heaven. You have to have a ticket and you can only get that ticket by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. The good news is that Jesus has purchased that ticket for you. He suffered a brutal death, on the cross, to pay for your sins. And then He rose from the dead. All he asks you to do to get your ticket for heaven is to put your trust in Him. It couldn’t be simpler and it couldn’t be easier. He has done His part by paying for your ticket. And now He is waiting for you to do your part by accepting His free offer. I could buy you a ticket and offer it to you by holding it out toward you, but until you reach out and take it out of my hand, it will never be yours. The same is true with God’s offer of salvation, He has paid for it and He is offering it to you but now He is waiting for you reach out and take the ticket to heaven by putting your trust in Jesus as your Savior. Will you accept His offer? Salvation will never be yours and you will never go to heaven until you place your trust in Jesus to save you. You can’t save yourself. For those of you who want to accept Jesus’ offer of salvation I am going to invite you to come up and just take a ticket out of my hand and then return to your seats as a symbolic act of faith. You are not telling me you are telling God that you are accepting Jesus’ offer of salvation this morning. You are saying “I am putting my faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection to save me”. And then we are going to pray and conclude the service. This offer is extended to anyone of you who wants to declare to God that you want Jesus and the salvation He offers. Come take your ticket as we sing...Softly and Tenderly...
