“DON’T DISTORT THE GOSPEL”
Galatians 1:1-10
CWBC – 7/7/19
Jon Daniels
INTRO – It takes amazing skill to be a military sniper. These are the soldiers who are able to take out enemy combatants w/ one shot from a high-powered rifle over incredibly long distances. The longest distance that a sniper has a confirmed kill on an enemy soldier is over 3800 yards. That’s a length of over 38 football fields. One sniper that I read about took out 2 enemy soldiers in the War in Afghanistan in 2009 w/ 2 consecutive shots, & it took nearly 5 seconds for the bullet to reach its target. Think about it: BANG! One one thousand, two one thousand…
To be a military sniper takes extensive, intensive training & practice. A sniper must have the ability to accurately estimate the various factors that influence the bullet’s trajectory & point of impact, such as the shooter's distance from the target, wind direction, wind speed, the density of the air, elevation factors, and even the making adjustments due to the rotation of the Earth. Mistakes in estimation compound over distance and can cause a shot to only injure, or to miss completely.
Why would I start a sermon by talking about snipers? B/c of the importance of aiming at a target. Snipers must be experts at aiming at their target.
We, as Christ-followers, must be experts at aiming at the target of the Gospel. And that’s what we will be considering today as we begin this new sermon series entitled, “True Freedom,” from the book of Galatians. Galatians 5:13 says, “You were called to freedom, brothers.” On this 1st Sun. after the 4th of July, It has been wonderful to celebrate our freedom in this great nation of ours. But, there is simply no freedom that compares to the freedom that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
So, let’s jump in!
EXPLANATION – Open your Bibles to Galatians 1:1-10 (p. 565 in pew Bibles).
Galatians most like 1st NT book written, & was written to a group of churches in the province of Galatia, not to just one congregation. And it’s a VERY important book!
- “Galatians is all about the Gospel. Written to professing Christians. In this letter, he is going to explain what the Gospel is & how it works.” (Keller)
- “Galatians is God’s strongest word against legalism.” (Wiersbe)
- “In one way or another, everything in the epistle is related to Paul’s defense of justification by faith alone.” (ESV Study Bible note, p. 2243)
- “Galatians has been called, ‘The Magna Charta of the Church.’ God has used its message to stir world revivals in former generations. The great spiritual awakening of Martin Luther & the Reformation was stirred as Luther studied its message. John Wesley received peace of heart – peace for which he had so long searched – when he heard a sermon preached from Galatians.” (The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible, p. 2)
- “…read & appreciate this book that was the catalyst for the Reformation. Read on & develop a deep fondness for the courageous apostle Paul, our freedom-fighting hero. This defense of the Gospel preserved grace for the Galatians & for us.” (Max Anders, Holman NT Commentary, p. 5)
APPLICATION – So let’s do as Anders encouraged us to do & look at this great apostle named Paul as we begin our study of the “True Freedom” that we find in Galatians.
THE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL – v. 1-2 – Quick snapshot of this life:
- Jew, born in Tarsus
- Roman citizen
- Very prominent, highly educated Jewish religious leader – a Pharisee
- A persecutor of the Church before he came to know Christ
- Dramatic conversion on the Damascus Road
- Took the Gospel primarily to the Gentiles
- Was a tireless missionary – went on 3, possibly 4, missionary journey, all of which were several years in length
- Imprisoned in Rome in AD 67 by Emperor Nero
- Died in AD 68, most likely beheaded by order of Nero
HIS CALLING – “Paul, an apostle…” – Paul was called to be an apostle. We say “the Apostle Paul” all the time. Do you know what we mean by “apostle”?
“apostle” – literally, “one who is sent on a mission; a messenger.” And Paul took this calling seriously! He knew what his mission was. He knew what his message was. He knew what his mandate was. And he lived it out consistently until the day he died.
The NT office of the apostle is not a role that is active in the Church today. Sometimes, you’ll hear a preacher refer to themselves as “Apostle ____.” That’s unbiblical & wrong. Someone claiming to occupy the office of an apostle in the sense of having the same authority as the original 12 Apostles is dangerous, unscriptural ground. While we are ALL called to be a messenger of the Gospel & are sent into our world w/ that message, there are specific characteristics of the NT apostles that cannot be duplicated today:
- They were personally called by Jesus & were w/ Him during His earthly ministry as eyewitnesses to hear & learn from Him.
- They were set aside & commissioned by Christ to lay the foundation of the early Church.
- They were given power to perform miracles & cast out demons as verification of their divine authority.
Even though Paul was not one of the original 12 apostles, He did see Jesus in a dramatic way in his conversion, & was personally commissioned by Jesus in Acts 9:15 to be His apostle to the Gentiles – “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles & their kings & before the people of Israel.”
Once the foundation of the Church was laid by the apostles, that office ceased to exist. There’s no need to lay a foundation twice. Other NT offices besides apostles would carry on the work of building the Church.
HIS CREDENTIALS – “…an apostle – not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ & God the Father, who raised Him from the dead…” – False teachers had raised doubts about Paul’s credibility as an apostle. That’s why you don’t see some of the more tender words of greeting in Galatians that you see in other letters – Paul wanted to quickly get to the issue at hand & address the false teachers.
Paul stressed that his credentials didn’t come from man, but directly from the Lord. It wasn’t secondhand, nor did he appoint himself (again – this is what folks who called themselves apostles in our day are doing!). There was no human involvement in his commissioning as an apostle at all. JESUS called Paul, set him apart before he ever had any contact w/ any other apostle, prepared him for his ministry, then sent him out to do his Gospel work among the Gentiles. Paul’s calling & credentials were all about JESUS, b/c the Gospel is all about JESUS! This is the message that he would preach to the Galatian churches, & to every other church he ministered to. In Gal. 1:1-5, we see Paul’s outline of the Gospel, & it’s all about Jesus!
Which brings us to the next point…
THE PURE GOSPEL – v. 3-5 – This pure Gospel is the beautiful work of God that we celebrate every time we gather as a Church! This pure Gospel is the Word of God that changes lives for all eternity! This pure Gospel is the wonder of God that stirs our hearts in worship of Him! It’s the pure Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ! Tim Keller: “Christians need the Gospel as much as non-Christians do! Our problems in the Christian life come b/c we often lose or forget the Gospel. And we progress in our faith only as we grasp & apply the Gospel in deeper ways.”
3 components of this pure Gospel that we see in these verses:
Jesus Gave – v. 4a – One of most amazing components of the Gospel is that Jesus gave HIMSELF for us!
- Matthew 20:28 – “…the son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, & to give His life as a ransom for many.”
This is what Paul was talking about when he said, “Grace & peace to you…” Jesus’ gift of HIMSELF for our sins is the ultimate expression of GRACE. He gave Himself for our sins, even though we would never deserve that or be able to earn that, so we could know the peace that passes all understanding. Nothing else will bring that PEACE into your life. It was while we were still sinners that Christ gave Himself for us & died for us. THAT is what we are singing about when we sing, “Amazing Grace!”
Jesus Delivered – “rescued” (NIV) – v. 4b – Firefighter – one of most important things we do is rescue. First priority when we arrive at a house fire – find out if anyone is trapped & needs to be rescued.
His giving of Himself accomplished something for us that we could never accomplish for ourselves. We could never deliver or rescue ourselves from our sins, so He did it for us!
- Col. 1:13-14 – “…He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness & brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (NIV)
Jesus Obeyed – v. 4c – “…according to the will of our God & Father…” – Jesus didn’t just arbitrarily decide to sacrifice Himself for our sins – it was the sovereign will of God that led Him to do it. “The source of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ is the sovereign, loving, compassionate, gracious will of our God & Father, who ‘so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life’” (MacArthur).
THAT’S how much God loves you!
THE PERVERTED GOSPEL – v. 6-7 – which is no gospel at all!
A group of teachers in Galatia called Judaizers had taught that Gentile Christians had to observe all the Jewish dietary laws & be circumcised for full acceptance & to be completely pleasing to God. And the believers in the churches of Galatia had readily accepted this perverted gospel. Paul was “astonished” at how quickly they had done this. They weren’t just being confused or weakened by this perverted gospel; they were actively deserting the pure Gospel & actively pursuing this legalistic false gospel.
Let’s be crystal clear about this: Christ + anything else = a perversion of the Gospel, which is no Gospel at all. Paul forcefully & unapologetically fought the “different gospel” b/c to lose your grip of the true gospel is a tragic & dangerous thing. MacArthur: “The most destructive dangers to church have never been atheism, pagan religions, or cults that openly deny Scripture, but rather supposedly Christian movements that accept so much biblical truth that their unscriptural doctrines seem relatively insignificant & harmless. But a single drop of poison in a large container can make all the water lethal. And a single false idea that in any way undercuts God’s grace poisons the whole system of belief.”
How do people pervert & “add to the gospel” in our day?
- Being good gets you to God
- Saved by faith, but keep your salvation by works
- Perform certain rituals (baptism, speaking in tongues, etc.), dress a certain way, have a particular view of dating, prosperity gospel
- Need to FEEL overwhelming love for Jesus to be truly saved
CONCLUSION – Back to sniper illustration at beginning. You & I need to make sure that we are aiming accurately @ the Gospel – the PURE Gospel.
- Know it
- Live it
- Share it – “Who’s Your 1?”
Maybe you need to respond today in faith to the pure Gospel & be saved. Jesus gave Himself for you to deliver you from your sins & rescue you from an eternity in hell.
