ONLY ONE TRUTH SAVES
June 18, 2006 - PENTECOST 2 - Galatians 1:1-10
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Who is planning a trip this summer, who has recently gone a trip? I see today that some have already traveled from different places to be here. They will travel back home. As we go from one point to another, we know how important it is that we know how to get from that one point to the next point. We know that sometimes we have different options and different choices to travel from one place to another. But in the end, there is only one way that will get us to our destination. We follow that map carefully lest we get lost. This morning as we begin our study in the book of Galatians, God reminds us through the Apostle Paul there is only one truth that saves. Paul was emphasizing what Jesus told his disciples: "Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’" (John 14:6). That is the map we have as believers, from this physical point (earth) or a point of time – the present – to the next point (heaven) the future. Today’s text reminds us:
ONLY ONE TRUTH SAVES
I. This truth is not man’s message
II. This truth is God’s gospel alone
I. THIS TRUTH IS NOT MAN’S MESSAGE
We look at how Paul begins this letter reminding the believers of his authority. Paul reminds them he didn’t come on his own or didn’t come because someone else had sent him there. What does he say? Verse 1: "Paul, an apostle--sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father." Paul was writing to these believers, because God had told him to. Paul was writing to these believers because they needed to be directed back on the path of life. They needed to be directed back to the true gospel of God’s message. He gives us in a few verses later the reason he is writing. Paul writes: "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--which is no gospel at all." Paul was amazed that after they had heard the message and they believed, now they were turning away to a different gospel that was being spread. We have to remind ourselves of the setting. These believers didn’t have their own personal Bibles that they could sit down and study. It was by hearing that the Christian faith spread. Many times after Paul went to a place and the churches were started and he left, others came in and preached a different gospel. The people who were not paying close attention by listening, could be swayed by another gospel. Paul says, "I am astonished that you don’t believe now in the Gospel of Christ." We have to also remember this gospel--that Christ came and lived and died and rose again was new. This was the first generation of Christianity.
Paul describes the wickedness of believing what men might say rather than God. Our text: "Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ." Paul doesn’t name these people specifically. History tells us that the Judaizers, those who wanted to hold on to the Old Testament laws, were the ones that came and tried to pervert the gospel of Christ. They are saying, "Sure, Christ came, lived and died; but you still have to do something. You still have to observe the law, keep the law, then you can be saved." Paul came and preached God’s gospel, which says, "Christ lived and died and rose again. Your sins are forgiven."
To them who would preach a different gospel there are warnings. Paul writes: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" Let them be condemned whether it would be man or an angel. A different gospel is a wrong gospel. Man’s message is not the gospel of Christ. This warning is so important that he repeats it again: "As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" Paul gives a warning to those who try to pervert the gospel. Paul reminds these believers that there is a danger of turning away from that path--the way, the truth and the life--onto there own path or onto the path that someone else has designed
For us today, what happens? We find in our society of our day and age because we have a great freedom of religion. We can worship wherever we want, whatever we want, whatever kind of god we want. Therefore sometimes the true God isn’t the one worshiped or held up as the only true God. There are all kinds of gods placed above him. In our day and age it is hard to keep up with those who make up their gods to worship. We know that sometimes we fall into that when we worship our family or our things or our own ideas. Those easily become our false gods. The Lord reminds us as this world goes hurtling down the path and the road to the Last Day, it is not going to get any better. Paul wrote to Timothy: "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear" (2 Timothy 4:3). So we see what they call mega churches. Thousands upon thousands of people are members because they get to hear what they want to hear. They worship in big buildings with all kinds of worldly comforts surrounding them. Around the building they have coffee shops and libraries. Everybody feels like they are going to a shopping mall. Most people like that. They get to hear what their itching ears want to hear. The word of God then is turned into man’s message, and people can be led astray. This is nothing new as people try to pervert the gospel of Christ.
This same thing happened, as we heard a couple of weeks ago, with the Tower of Babel. The people wanted to do what they wanted to do. God confused their languages. Throughout history there are all kinds of things where man has interjected his own thinking. A few examples--The Lord says in the Lord’s Supper: "This is my body. This is my blood." We believe as Scripture says when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, it is the Lord’s body and blood, bread and wine. But some like to use human reasoning. They say that it can’t be. Jesus is in heaven, so in the Lord’s Supper there is only wine and bread because his body and blood can’t be here. That is man’s message. On the radio last week, at two different times and two different preachers was heard the same message. Both men proclaimed that a person couldn’t be saved unless he is baptized by being immersed in the water. If you go through every page in Scripture, you are not going to find that. That is man’s message. The Lord says, "Be baptized." So you see how very subtly the perversion of the gospel can creep in.
Then what happens is the power of the gospel is taken away. It happens because God’s gospel message doesn’t always agree with our human thinking, our human reason, or what we might desire for mankind. Our plan of salvation for mankind would be to have everybody step up and pay for their sins or suffer the consequences. God’s plan is that his Son pays for our sins. That is God’s wisdom. In 1 Corinthians: "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21). Paul re-emphasizes the power of hearing God’s word, even though the world might look at preaching as foolishness. We might even think the same wondering where the preacher is going from time to time. But the Lord says that from hearing that message the believer comes to faith and is saved.
Another warning that we have here and cannot overlook is when Paul says if he would preach anything wrong or even if an angel would preach anything wrong, they are to be accursed eternally. This warning reminds us of this very precious treasure we have in these jars of clay. This warning reminds us of the importance of knowing the law and gospel, of studying God’s Word so it becomes ever more clear to us. These verses from Revelation further explain this warning: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book" (Revelation 22:18,19).
There is only one truth that saves, and that truth is not man’s message; but thankfully, that truth is God’s gospel.
II. THIS TRUTH IS GOD’S GOSPEL ALONE
Paul begins these letters much like his other letters. Maybe as we do our Bible readings we scan over the greeting quickly which is four or five verses long and do not think much about it. In that greeting and the address to the churches Paul puts in a lot of theology. He says: "Paul, an apostle--sent not by men or not from men, but by the Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead." First of all we see Paul defines the word "apostle" which means "sent." Paul was sent because God and Christ divinely appointed him. Then he adds: "God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead, shows the absolute power of the Lord God Almighty".
Right after this he says: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." He offers them grace and peace, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." Here Paul defines grace and peace. According to the will of God the Father, all mankind would have their sins paid for. That is grace. Paul writes, "Grace to you the churches in Galatia because of God’s love for you." Peace that the world doesn’t give, but what Christ gives. Christ gave himself for our sins, to rescue us. That is God’s gospel. That is peace. Paul says that is God’s gospel and the only truth. Now this is not grace and peace combined with having to do something as the Judaizers were teaching. The only truth that saves is grace and peace that comes freely from God. We know that Paul is going to preach over and over and over again the fact that Christ did rise from the dead. This is the new or different gospel if you want to call it that. In every letter he wrote that’s his emphasis--Christ rose from the dead. In just about every chapter he mentions that saving truth over and over again. These new believers had to hear this message over and over.
The only conclusion Paul comes to, he says: "Am I trying to please God or men?" He says, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God?" "If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Paul had once tried to do that by trying to please himself and please those who were in authority by putting Christians in prison. But now Paul was called and sent by God. He could not do anything else, but do what God wanted. He says also: "To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." That was the purpose of Paul’s life--because of the gospel.
This gospel message isn’t something new. It isn’t something that is hidden and difficult. God’s gospel is laid out for everyone very simply, very clearly. Paul says: "Christ died for our sins to rescue us from the present age." That is God’s gospel. We also have to hear this same saving truth over and over. We have to hear it today as many try to pervert and confuse the gospel. Thankfully, we still have faithful proclaimers of God’s gospel truth. We are amazed that any of us are sitting here today. We ought to be amazed everyday that God has saved us by his grace. He provides for us in this life the peace of Christ. We are amazed because we did not go out of our way to find God, but he found us. We don’t deserve to have all of our sins wiped out, but God does that. We can’t pay the price, but God has done that. Already in the Old Testament the people looked forward to when the Savior would come. In those beautiful words of Isaiah: "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him; and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). Notice all the bad things that happened to the Savior and all the good things we receive. That is God’s gospel message, pure and simple.
God’s gospel message changes our lives. We are so used to being believers, because for most of us if not all of us we were baptized as infants. Whether we were sprinkled or immersed, it makes no difference. But as long as God’s word was used combined with the water baptism saves. This is God’s gospel. So we have grown up used to the grace and the love and mercy and peace of God. Our lives were dramatically changed. Year by year we grow in God’s grace. We grow in the knowledge of salvation, and we do things a lot differently because God’s love is in our hearts and in our lives. If we don’t think that makes a big difference, just walk around in this world and observe the people who don’t have faith and don’t care about their fellowman. If you don’t want to walk in the wickedness of the world (which is not the best advice), just turn on the news and listen to mankind’s inhumanity to humanity--murders, robberies, all sorts of things that we wouldn’t even mention--all because God is not in their lives. They don’t have grace and peace. They don’t understand that gospel message. Simply what does it say? "Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good" (Titus 2:14). When we are first born into this world, our sinful nature is not eager to do what is good. But by God’s grace and peace he has changed us. He makes us eager to do what is good. That is a most astonishing miracle, too.
We know how much God’s gospel changed Paul’s life. In reality that is how much our lives have been changed. You don’t have to go too far to find people who are not eager to do what is good. You don’t have to go too far to find people who are only looking out for themselves not caring about God or anyone else. God’s gospel says he died for our sins, and now our lives are changed. In 1 Peter: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Again, this verse shows us the power of God’s word. It is not the power of good preaching or the power of our faith; but it is the power of God’s word that produces faith in us. It is the power of God’s word that makes our faith grow strong. It is the power of God’s word that makes us realize we have been healed from sin.
God has given us his road map for this life. God has made sure we will get from this point to the next point, from earth to heaven, from here (the present) to eternity. The only truth that saves is that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. God reminds us to be careful that we don’t mix anything with God’s word. We are not to add anything whether we might humanly think is right or it sounds reasonably good. We do not want to let anyone else mix something in that they might think is right. Rather let Scripture interpret Scripture. Let God’s word speak to us and then through us to others. Only one truth saves, and this truth is not man’s message. The only saving truth is God’s gospel alone. The encouragement that we have is that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Paul writes in another letter later: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness" (Colossians 2:6,7). Continue in the way, the truth and the life; and be thankful God has shown you the light. God has shown you how to get from here to heaven. This is his gospel message, the only truth that saves us -- and -- others. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
Sunday radio broadcast @ 9:05am on KQNK 106.7FM or 1530AM + www.kqnk.com
Pentecost 2 readings: DEUTERONOMY 5:12-15; 2 CORINTHIANS 4:5-12; MARK 2:23-28
