Islington Baptist Church October 9, 2005
Galatians Scripture reading: Acts 15
The way of salvation: Jesus, not Jesus plus
A. The book of Galatians: Cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation
I hope you read the book of Galatians this past week. It is a very special book for the church. For example the book of Galatians served as the cornerstone of what is called the Protestant Reformation.
In case you are wondering, our church, Baptist churches of all sorts, Pentecostal churches, Presbyterian churches, Lutheran churches, United churches, Brethren churches, Alliance churches, Methodist churches, Associated Gospel churches, Salvation army churches, and all other Bible churches that are not Roman Catholic are essentially the product of the Protestant Reformation.
While a number of people in various places in Europe contributed to the birth of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther is the Reformation’s most recognizable figure.
Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic priest who was disgusted with the abuses and corruption of the Roman Catholic church. In his day, the Popes, who ruled the church with an iron fist, were, as they say “bad to the bone”, investing themselves with vigor in every evil vice imaginable. i.e using church money for their own personal use, pedophilia, torture, harems, the buying and selling of political influence. In addition to this, Luther and a few others were very disturbed by the fact that much of what the Papacy taught as being from God, did not actually come from the Bible.
Hence, on October 31, 1517, the 31-year-old Martin Luther posted his 95 theses at Wittenberg Cathedral. In this document Luther attacked the Papal abuses, the sale of indulgences (which in essence concerned the buying of ones forgiveness and salvation), and declared, contrary to the churches teaching, what the Bible says, that one is justified by faith in Jesus alone/ one is saved by faith in Jesus alone and not by a Papal blessing, or the purchase of a piece of paper, or the prayers of your relatives after you are dead, or the ingestion of the communion bread and wine.
In case you are wondering, the Bible book that spurred Martin Luther on, was the book of Galatians- This was his favorite Bible book.
Today, I want to briefly survey the book of Galatians, drawing out for you one its main messages. The way of salvation is by faith in Jesus alone.
B. How the church at Galatia came to be 4:13-14- read
During the course of one of Paul’s 3 missionary journey’s he became sick and was forced to stop in the province of Galatia. While there he preached Jesus and the cross and His resurrection from the dead, for the forgiveness of sins, with the result that a brand new church was started.
C. The occasion for the book of Galatians 1:6-10-- read
Legalism, The desertion of Jesus! The proclaimed way of salvation going from Jesus, to Jesus plus.
For a while this church flourished and grew and served as a model church. However, just as Jesus warned when he was on earth, false teachers, wolves in sheep’s clothing, arrived on the scene (Matthew 7:15). As a result of their efforts, many of the Galatian believers turned away from the message of Jesus that Paul had brought them, substituting salvation and peace with God by faith and grace alone, for a variant doctrine: salvation by faith in Jesus plus strict adherence to the Mosaic code/the law and the various Jewish customs and practices
This, of course, bothered Paul greatly.
D. The core message of the book of Galatians: Salvation/peace with God/ right standing before Him is by faith in Jesus alone.
This message comes directly from Jesus.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Paul notes this in Galatians 1:11-12 “I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.”
This message of exclusivity is repeated throughout the New Testament
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
"We who are Jews by birth and not ’Gentile sinners’ 16know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:15-16
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5
The implications of right standing with God by faith in Jesus alone
1. All other declared ways to God are false
Contrary to what the people of our world say, there are not many paths to God. There is only 1 way.
This means that all other proclaimed ways of salvation/the way to Heaven are dead wrong. For example: Hinduism with its Yoga and cycle of reincarnation is not the way to God. Buddhism- which doesn’t really even have a belief in Heaven, with its 8 fold path totally misses the mark. Islam and its 5 pillars and profession that Mohammed was a prophet of God is false.
2. Those who add, or take away, from the way of salvation that Jesus declared, make themselves liable to eternal judgment. Read Galatians 1:9
A number of religions groups proclaim “Jesus plus” or Jesus minus.
a. Unfortunately Roman Catholicism teaches a “Jesus plus” doctrine of salvation. The Papacy teaches Papal authority, Purgatory, prayers for the dead, praying to Mary, the worship of Mary, confession to a priest, salvation and grace by the partaking the bread and wine constitute an addition to the way of salvation that the Bible teaches.
b. 7th Day Adventists are teach a “Jesus plus” doctrine of salvation.
On some levels today’s 7th Day Adventists come the closest to matching the people that Paul describes in the book of Galatians.
c. Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses teach Jesus minus doctrine of salvation
While Roman Catholics and 7th Day Adventists rightfully maintain the deity of Jesus Christ- which is essential to his person and our salvation. Mormon’s and Jehovah’s witnesses mess this up big time.
Mormons teach that Jesus is a god but that he was created. Mormons also teach that Jesus was a result of a bodily union between God the Father and Mary. In addition to this Mormonism teaches that the only way to Heaven is to convert to Mormonism- undergo Mormon baptism and become a Mormon member, and participate in Mormon Temple rituals.
Jehovah’s witnesses teach Jesus minus in that they deny that Jesus is God. While the Jehovah’s witnesses claim to follow the Bible what they have is a corruption of the Bible. The reason their “Bible” is corrupt is because the founders of the Jehovah’s witnesses went through the Bible and stripped out every single reference to the deity and Lordship of Jesus Christ, in addition to making other changes to suite their teachings.
d. The Church of Christ teaches a “Jesus plus” doctrine of salvation
For example they teach that you: Must be baptized in a Church of Christ to be saved. Every time you sin you are lost until you ask forgiveness. Musical instruments are unacceptable to God. You can never be sure that you are saved. The Lord’s Supper must be taken every Sunday. No reason is ever sufficient for missing church.
Our response: We need to be on our guard. In Acts 20:29-30 the Apostle Paul says “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them
E. We need to “cement in our heads” the core teaching of the book of Galatians- that one is justified by faith in Jesus alone- because we are so prone to adding to the way of salvation and turning away from Jesus
In Galatians 2:11-12 Paul writes “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.”
If Jesus’ right hand man, being Peter, could succumb to pressure to compromise the message of the gospel then the danger is real that we ourselves might fall.
We are prone to legalism
We susceptible to the thought that we can or should do something to try to merit or win God’s saving favor
We are open at times to falling for the line that faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross is not enough for us to be saved.
CONCLUSION
In Job 9:2, Job asks this question “But how can a mortal be righteous before God?”
What is the answer?
Salvation is by faith in Jesus, and what he did on the cross, alone. Salvation cannot be Jesus plus.
To be saved, if you are not, there is one needful thing for you to do: Turn in faith and repentance to Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” Acts 16:31
You cannot earn salvation – this is of course what makes the teachings of other religions so attractive. No amount of self effort will be do.
Your best efforts at trying to keep the 10 commandments, if that is where you are at, will not work. The Old Testament laws prove we are sinners but they are incapable of taking away our sins. What the Old Testaments law does is to lead us to Jesus. Galatians 3:23.
