A. Here’s a little cooking humor to get us started: There’s a Hollywood recipe for chicken soup and the instructions begin: “First, bring four cups of Perrier water to a boil.”
1. One cook reported that they found a very easy cookie recipe that said to put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat it, so they did as they were instructed and put everything in a bowl and left, but when they came back nothing had changed – I guess the recipe was wrong.
2. Another cook found a recipe that is gluten free, fat free, dairy free, and contains no sugar, they said, “it’s a breath of fresh air!” – I guess air is all that would be in it if it was free of all those other things!
B. In his book, Future Shock, Alvin Toffler tells about a large American food company that released the perfect cake mix.
1. The only thing that needed to be added to the mix was water.
2. You didn’t have to add eggs, or sugar, or anything else, just add water to the powder, pop the pan in the oven, and presto a delicious cake!
3. Problem was – no one was buying the product.
4. This puzzled the manufacturer, and so they conducted surveys and were able to identify the reason for the poor sales.
5. The manufacturer then reissued the cake mix with a slight alteration.
6. The new mix required the cook to not only add water, but also add one egg.
7. Guess what happened? The sales of that cake mix skyrocketed.
C. What is it about human beings that we feel that we have to do something more?
1. What makes us want to add something to what is already complete?
2. The apostle Paul wondered the same thing when it came to salvation in Jesus Christ.
3. People puzzled him and angered him when they wanted to add something to Jesus’ finished work of redemption.
4. Of course, those people weren’t adding eggs to a recipe, but were adding requirements for salvation.
5. And what were they adding? For starters, they were requiring circumcision, and the rest of the law of Moses in some cases.
6. This was a problem that Paul had to address throughout his ministry – he had to battle against people who were taking the pure Gospel of Jesus and adding to it.
D. Let’s turn to Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia and see how he addressed this issue.
1. Paul wrote: 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! 9 As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him! (Gal. 1:6-9)
2. Paul’s astonishment came from the fact that the very believers that he personally taught were so quickly being led astray.
a. He had clearly taught them the truth and they had believed and received the Gospel.
b. They certainly knew better.
3. Paul used a provocative word in verse 6: “deserting.”
a. The word “deserting” is a military term that refers to a traitor, one who leaves the army of his own country and goes to work for the enemy.
4. At issue was the Gospel.
a. They were leaving the Gospel of Grace, for a different Gospel, which is actually no Gospel at all.
b. There is a little play on words here, since the term Gospel means good news.
c. The gospel they were turning to was not “good news” but was actually “bad news.”
5. This other gospel was a combination of the real Gospel plus the following of the Jewish law.
a. These false teachers were teaching Gentile Christians that, in addition to the Gospel, they were obligated to keep the Jewish Mosaic Law – the dietary laws, circumcision and the rest of the ceremonial law in order to be truly pleasing to God.
6. Paul wanted to make it clear that this other gospel was no gospel at all.
a. Paul preached a “Jesus only” Gospel.
b. A Gospel that is “a justification by faith alone apart from the works of the law.”
c. Paul taught a way of salvation that was “by grace alone, by faith alone, through Christ alone.”
d. The false teachers, sometimes called “Judaizers” taught a “Jesus plus” gospel, rather than a “Jesus only” gospel.
e. They taught that in order to be saved, you had to have Jesus plus circumcision, and Jesus plus the Jewish special days, and Jesus plus the Jewish dietary laws, and plus, plus, plus.
7. The difference has to do with being saved by “believing and receiving,” or by “believing and achieving.”
a. In the one way, salvation is a gift, and in the other it is a wage.
b. In the one way, it is a gift of grace to be received, in the other way it is a wage to be earned through achievement.
8. For Paul, the true Gospel was salvation by Christ alone, and anything else was no salvation at all.
9. In order to make this clear Paul added this strong condemnation of verses 8 and 9.
a. These are some of the strongest words in the New Testament.
b. The key phrase is: “a curse be on him” or “let him be eternally condemned.”
c. Some translations say “accursed.”
d. The Greek word is “anathema,” which comes from a Hebrew term that means “devoted to destruction.”
10. So ultimately, Paul declared that anyone (including himself) who preaches any other gospel than the real Gospel, will be condemned - sent to hell.
a. The perverting of the Gospel is serious business!
b. There are eternal ramifications for the false teacher and the one who follows the false teaching.
E. Let’s turn to Philippians and see how Paul addressed this same issue in chapter 3.
1. Paul wrote: 1 In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.
2 Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh— 4 although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.
7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. (Phil. 3:1-11)
2. That’s a long passage and Paul gives us a lot to think about in those verses, but let me highlight a few of the important truths that Paul proclaimed.
3. Paul wanted to make it clear that his confidence was not in the flesh (not in physical works), but his confidence was in faith in Jesus.
a. He mentioned that in terms of keeping the law and the important things of the Old Testament covenant, he had a lot of reason to put confidence in the flesh.
b. But Paul had seen in the truth of the new covenant, the Gospel, a freedom and blessing that was different and apart from a righteousness based on the flesh and good works of the old covenant.
c. Paul now proclaimed salvation in Christ by grace and through faith – no mixtures, no additives and no alterations.
4. And you probably noticed how harshly Paul addressed those who were adding something to the Gospel.
a. In verse 2, Paul identified them as “dogs,” “evil workers,” who “mutilate the flesh.”
b. He is referring to those who require Jesus “plus” circumcision and plus the law of Moses.
c. Other translations refer to them as those “who insist on cutting the body.” (GNT)
d. The Message calls them “the knife-happy circumcisers.”
5. In Galatians 5:12, Paul said of them: I just wish those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves (NLT).
a. The NIV says, “emasculate themselves.”
b. It is painful just to think about it!
c. Paul’s strong language heightens our awareness to how spiritually wrong and spiritually destructive is the perversion of the Gospel of Jesus.
F. A legalistic approach to salvation is a theology that is Jesus “plus” something.
1. They say you must trust in Jesus a lot, but not in Jesus alone.
2. In Paul’s day, they said you must trust in Jesus plus circumcision.
3. In our day, they might say that you must trust in Jesus plus all the right doctrine.
a. Or Jesus plus evangelism – how many people have you brought to Christ?
b. Or Jesus plus monetary contributions – how much money have you given to the Lord?
c. Or Jesus plus hospital visits, or helping widows and orphans, or other good works – how much have you done?
G. But the “Jesus plus” approach is not the true Gospel of Jesus.
1. Paul declared the true Gospel of Jesus in Ephesians 2, when he wrote: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!... 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. (Eph. 2:4-5, 8-10)
a. There it is stated clearly and concisely: God loves us, He is rich in mercy, and we are saved by grace through faith, and not by works so that no one can boast.
b. We notice in verse 10 that there is a place and a plan for works, but they are not done to earn salvation, but to show evidence of salvation and to bring glory to God.
2. Paul wrote a similar thing to Titus: 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:4-5)
a. Again it is stated clearly and concisely: God is loving and kind and saves us by His mercy (grace), and not by our works of righteousness.
H. Throughout this entire sermon series, we have been focusing on how it is all about God and not about us.
1. And when it comes to our salvation, it is the same – our salvation is all about God and not about us.
2. And it’s all about Him and not about us because the Gospel is a “done” verses “do” arrangement.
3. The false Gospel is spelled “D-O,” because it consists of the things people do to try to somehow gain God’s forgiveness and favor.
a. But the problem is that you never know when you’ve done enough.
b. It’s like being a salesman who knows he must meet a quota, but is never told what that quota is.
c. So you can never be sure that you have done enough.
d. Worse yet, the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that we never can do enough.
e. We will always fall short of God’s perfect standard.
4.. I remember visiting a sister in Christ who was near the end of her life, and was living in the hospice place called Francis House.
a. She said to me that she was afraid that she had not done enough to be saved.
b. I kind of shocked her a bit when I said, “I can tell you for sure that you have not done enough to be saved.”
c. But then I followed up by telling her that the good news is that we are saved by grace and not by works, and that we could never do enough to save ourselves.
5. I am so thankful that the true Gospel isn’t spelled “D-O,” but is spelled, “D-O-N-E.”
a. That which we could never do for ourselves, Christ has already done for us.
b. He lived the perfect life we could never live, and He willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty we owed for the wrongs we’ve done.
c. When we become a Christian, we humbly receive God’s gift of forgiveness and God adopts us into His family.
d. Thus begins our life-long adventure in Christ where we walk with Christ and follow His leadership and depend on His power.
I. Allow me to end with this illustration.
1. On August 12, 2000, a nuclear submarine called the Kursk, the pride of the Russian navy, was on its maiden voyage with 5 high-ranking naval officers on board to witness a demonstration of her strength.
a. But then came two explosions – they were enormous thundering booms that registered 1.5 and 3.5 on the Richter scale.
b. Something onboard that submarine had gone terribly wrong.
c. The 7-ton vessel immediately took on water and plunged 350 feet to the bottom of the Artic Ocean.
d. Most of the 118 crew members died instantly by the explosions, but there were a few others who were left to spend their last hours in freezing, horrid conditions.
2. Our spiritual condition before becoming a Christian was a lot like those sailors – helpless and hopeless.
a. Like them, we were submerged – not in salt water, but in sin.
b. We needed to be lifted up – not out of the ocean, but out of our sin and away from the judgment we deserve.
3. But suppose one of the submerged sailors thought of a solution and shared it with the others.
a. Supposed he said to his fellow crewmen: “I know what we can do to save ourselves, let’s all press our hands on the ceiling and lift ourselves and this submarine up to the surface.”
b. Can you imagine the looks the other sailors would give him?
c. Right, lift a 7-ton vessel up through 350 feet of water by pushing on the ceiling!
d. If anyone said anything in reply, it would have been for him to come to his senses.
e. Someone might say to him, “You don’t understand the gravity of the situation. We don’t have what it takes to save ourselves. We aren’t big enough or strong enough. We don’t need muscles; we need a miracle.”
4. And the same is true for us spiritually.
a. Separating us and God is not 350 feet of ocean water, but an insurmountable flood of sin.
b. We need a miracle, and that’s what God has given us – Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead for our salvation.
c. What Jesus accomplished for us is finished and complete.
d. Dare we question God’s crowning work of salvation?
e. Dare we think that heaven needs our help in saving us?
f. Can we earn our salvation? Not a chance, and we must not dishonor God by trying to.
g. Dare we boast about our salvation as if we had anything to do with it? By no means.
h. That’s why Paul wrote: “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:31)
J. Our salvation is all about Him.
1. It’s not about what we do; it’s all about what He has done.
2. We don’t need to add anything to God’s perfect recipe of salvation.
3. Let’s put our trust in Jesus alone.
4. The song “Rock of Ages” declares the truths of todays sermon so well.
Rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood, from thy riven side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure; Cleanse me from its guilt and power.
Not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands;
could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace;
Vile, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.
K. If you’re not yet a Christian, then know that God loves you and wants to save you through Christ alone.
1. Put your faith in Jesus and be united with Him in baptism, and receive God’s gift of salvation.
2. If you are a Christian already, then continue to put your trust in Christ alone.
a. God wants you to walk in faithfulness and fruitfulness – not to earn salvation, but to show evidence of your salvation and to bring glory to God.
3. If we can help you in your relationship with God, then come forward while we stand and sing.
Resources:
• It’s Not About Me, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2004.
• “Set Free,” Sermon by David Owens
• “Making the Message Clear,” Sermon by David Owens
