THE GOSPEL OF GRACE, 2 of 3
(June 13, 2010)
KEY VERSE – It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Gal. 5:1) SECONDARY THEME VERSES: “A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16); “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” (Gal. 2:21).
THEME: Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone releases us from the yoke of the law, freeing us to live a life of love through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Legal (Imputed) Righteousness: We are justified by faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16). Imparted Righteousness: Immediate Moral Change at conversion (Gal. 6:15); Gradual Moral Change through the fruit-growing work of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) which requires our cooperation (Gal 5:16-17, 25, 6:8). We cooperate by using CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection, Confession/Thanksgiving. Foundational verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14)
REVIEW:
The Gospel is God’s Glad Tiding of salvation from sin and death by the death of His Son, a salvation of grace that is received by faith alone apart from any human effort.
Christians must never let their guard down, never assume that false teachers are not seeking to penetrate either from without or within the teaching ministry of the local church.
False gospels abound in every age. We need to be aware of the false gospels of our generation so that we can be on guard against them.
The false gospel of the Judaizers added the keeping of key elements of the Jewish law as necessary requirements in order to receive salvation as promised in the Gospel of Christ.
We will not be able to spot false Gospels unless we first become experts on the true Gospel of Christ as set forth in the Scriptures.
INTRODUCTION:
“The norm, the criterion, by which all systems and opinions (of the Gospel) are to be tested, is the primitive gospel, the gospel which the apostles preached and which is now recorded in the New Testament.” (Stott, 27)
Luther said we need to beat the Gospel into our head. The Apostle Peter said something very similar.
So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. (II Peter 1:12-15)
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 really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 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! 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! (Galatians 1:6-9)
THE GOSPEL OF GRACE
1. The Content of the Christian Gospel
2. The Ever Present Danger of False Gospels in the Church
3. The Key to Spotting a False Gospel
4. A Description of the False Teachers
5. Impact of the False Teachers
A. A Further Description of False Teachers
B. Perversion of the Gospel Causes Confusion & Desertion
6. Judgment on False Teachers – Anathema & Angels
7. Four Tests of the Gospel in My Life
I. THE CONTENT OF THE CHRISTIAN GOSPEL
The short version – We are saved by grace through faith in the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf on the cross.
The long version – Everything related to the incarnation, life, and vicarious sacrificial death of Christ and his resurrection that provides us with eternal life due to his bearing our punishment on the cross and the glorious fact that this salvation is received solely by an act of faith without works and self-effort on part. When we share the Gospel we preach the Lord Jesus Christ.
II. THE EVER PRESENT DANGER OF FALSE GOSPELS IN THE CHURCH
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:29-30)
“The church’s greatest danger is not the anti-gospel outside the church; it is the counterfeit gospel inside the church.” (Ryken, 21)
“The devil disturbs the church as much by error as by evil.” (Stott, 24)
III. THE KEY TO SPOTTING A FALSE GOSPEL
“The Statue That Didn’t Look Right” – the $10,000,000 kouros in the Getty Museum that only the experts, in a two second glance, discovered was a fake while the scientists and lawyers, after 14 months of research, concluded it to be the real deal.
We will not be able to spot false Gospels unless we first become experts on the true Gospel of Christ as set forth in the Scriptures.
IV. A DESCRIPTION OF THE FALSE TEACHERS
The false gospel of the Judaizers added the keeping of key elements of the Jewish law as necessary requirements in order to receive salvation as promised in the Gospel of Christ.
V. IMPACT OF THE FALSE TEACHERS
A FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE FALSE TEACHERS
The Judaizers are Jewish outsiders, Christian-Jewish evangelists that came into Galatia. They did not see themselves as false teachers. They were probably very sincere people who felt that they were reasserting the Gospel, cleaning up Paul’s false teaching and giving the Galatians the true version of the Gospel.
Their basic teaching based on evidence found in Galatians:
Circumcision required – Gal. 5:3, 5:6, 6:12, 15.
Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. (Acts 15:1-2)
Observe special days – Gal. 4:10
Perfection, attain your goal through human effort – Gal. 3:3
READING: The Law as the good news for Gentiles. For whom is the Law good news? In the Teachers’ (Judaizer’s) view the Law is good news for the whole of the world, and specifically for Gentiles. For that reason the Teacher’s evangelistic vision is, in its scope, no less universalistic that that of Paul. . . . In their own time and place the Teachers are embarked on an ecumenical mission. They are Christian Jews active in the Diaspora, who preach their nomistic (adherence to the law as the primary exercise of religion) gospel in Greek, quote he Law in Greek, and interpret the Law in ways understandable to Greek culture. Moreover, the teachers carry out their mission under genuine conviction …. That the Law of Moses is the cosmic Law, in the sense that it is the divine wisdom for all human beings. . . .They view God’s Christ in the light of God’s Law, rather than the Law in the light of Christ. This means that, in their Christology, Christ is secondary to the Law. . . . The Teachers are greatly concerned to correct what they see as the Law-less evangelism of Paul . . . Paul had left the Galatians without potent ethical guidance . . .” (J. Louis Martyn, 122, 124, 126)
Paul is being accused of adjusting the Gospel to make it easy for the Gentiles to come into the church. He is pandering to the Gentile’s dislike of circumcision. Their focus – To put some content into Paul’s “Gospel Lite.”
German Proverb: In God’s name beginneth all mischief.
SO WHAT: The false gospel of the Judaizers was universalistic but put Christ secondary to the Law. Thus they added key elements of the Jewish law as necessary requirements in order to receive salvation as promised in the Gospel of Christ.
PERVERSION OF THE GOSPEL
Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
“Pervert” means to “reverse” the Gospel. Other translations: twist, change, distort,
Basically these Judaizers are saying that Christ is not a good workman and his Gospel is incomplete. It needs to be completed with addition of the works of Moses.
Let Moses finish what Christ has begun. We say, “I must finish what Christ has begun. I must add my works to the work of Christ. Christ is a wonderful Savior but failed to provide a complete Gospel.”
The minute you add to the cross “. . . it is to imply that Christ’s work was in some way unsatisfactory, and that men needed to add to it and improve on it. It is, in effect, to declare the cross redundant: If righteousness could be gained through the law then Christ died for nothing. (Gal. 2:21) (Stott, 25)
“For, because they mingle the law and the gospel, they must needs be perverters of the gospel. For either Christ must remain, and the law perish, or the law must remain and Christ perish; for Christ and the law can by no means agree and reign together in the conscience.” (Luther, 24)
“Grace can be destroyed, but it cannot be modified.” (MacArthur)
There are really only two religions – one of works and the other of grace. If it is works it is not grace; if it is grace it is not works.
ILLUSTRATION: The Carrot and the King. A poor peasant with a small garden and large family lived in poverty. One day his garden grew a large carrot. He had a dream about giving a present to the king but the only thing he had of value was a large carrot. He took it to the king and the king was so impressed with the gift of the fine carrot that he deeded over two acres of prime farm land to the peasant. One of the kings nobles, who was very rich and had a find herd of horses saw what happened and thought to himself, “If one carrot is worth two acres, what would the gift of my best horse bring?” So the next day he brought his best horse to the king. The king thanked him and put the horse into the king’s stable. The king then turned to go. The noble was astounded and said, “You gave the peasant two acres of farmland for one carrot. Are not you going to give me anything for the gift of the horse?” The king responded, “The peasant gave the carrot to me, you gave the horse to yourself.”
QUESTION: What is the meaning of this story as it relates to the Gospel and the idea of grace?
The peasant gave out of love for the king, not hoping to receive anything. He was not trying to curry the king’s favor in order to get something. The noble was trying to earn a gift and therefore was giving to himself.
SO WHAT: Anytime you add anything to the Gospel that bases our eternal salvation on anything less that ‘grace alone’ you are perverting the Gospel.
CONFUSION
“Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion . . . “
“Confusion” is from the Greek word tarasso and means troubled, agitated, shaken. In 5:10 we again read “The one who is throwing you into confusion . . . “
The word indicates a deep emotional disturbance, an unsettled mind. When Zacharias saw the angel who informed him that his wife would give birth to John (the Baptist) the text says that Zacharias was “startled” which is the same word used here for “troubled.” (Luke 1:12)
The Jerusalem Council that I believe was held shortly after Paul wrote Galatians, wrote a further letter to the Galatians and said, “We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said.” (Acts 15:24)
You cannot change the Gospel without troubling, confusing the church.
There were troublemakers in the church. The devil disturbs the church by the insinuation of evil and error. In this case it was error.
SO WHAT: You cannot change the Gospel without troubling and confusing the church.
DESERTION
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—
“Deserting” (metatithēmi) is a military term and is used for traitors and turncoats, people who switched sides.
“Desertion” was a great stigma. Roman soldiers were actually branded so that they could be easily spotted if they deserted the army.
It is impossible to forsake the Gospel and not forsake God at the same time. No Gospel, No God.
“A ‘Galatian Gospel’ can bring only unsettlement, doubt, lack of inner harmony, because it strikes at the nerve-centre of the great NT doctrine of assurance of salvation, which alone brings peace.” (Cole 78)
“The irony and tragedy of the situation was in their pious pursuit of spiritual perfection, (3:3 “. . . are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”) they were actually turning away from God. The Galatian tragedy is a warning for us that not every quest for spirituality is in reality a quest for God.” (Hansen, 36-37)
VI. JUDGMENT ON THE FALSE TEACHERS
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! 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!
ANATHEMA
“Eternally condemned” (accursed, under the curse, anathema). Anathema refers to that which is devoted to destruction. Similar to the Hebrew word herem (Arabic and Indonesian haram?) which means under the wrath of God.
Fong says it means delivered up and devoted to the judicial wrath of God (Fong, 47).
ILLUSTRATION: The story of Achan. Before the Israelites attacked Jericho God said that all of the spoil and goods from Jericho was under His ban, were to be devoted to destruction, under the curse, anathema. But Achan stole and kept for himself what should have been destroyed. Achan and his whole family and all his property were put to death by stoning.
If you feel the story of Achan is too severe hear what our Lord Jesus Christ said: And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.” (Mk. 9:42)
John the Apostle said that we are not to listen to teachers that have come under the ban: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work. (II John 1:10-11)
ANGELS
In Jewish tradition angels played a significant role in proclaiming the glad tiding of the Law. Angels are considered to have played a role at Sinai in the giving of the Law. Muhammad probably picked up on this because he claims an angel revealed to him the Al-Quran.
The tradition may have been based on verses like Ps. 68:17, “… with …. Thousands upon thousands the Lord came from Sinai.” This seems to be a reference to an angelic host.
In Galatians 3:9 Paul writes, “The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.” Most commentators do not know what this sentence means.
In Revelation 14:6 we read that an angel will proclaim the eternal gospel to every nation, tribe, language and people.
Who should we listen to, angels or apostles?
ILLUSTRATION: If an angel came, revealed himself in this room with all his awesome power and brilliance until we were all thrown to the floor and demanded that we preach a different Gospel from the apostolic Gospel, the Gospel proclaimed in the NT, we would need to reject him!!!
The curse is:
Universal – Paul sets the curse on all: Men, Angels, himself.
Impartial – He is not excluding anyone, including himself.
Serious – He repeats the curse twice.
QUESTION: Why such a strong statement? Why is a curse necessary?
Some charge that Paul had a ‘temper tantrum’ and that his outburst was unworthy of the Gospel of Christ and inconsistent with the testimony of a man who claimed to be led by the Holy Spirit. Paul is acting like a little peevish, narrow-minded, and spoiled child. Why all the fuss?
To corrupt the Gospel is to destroy the way of salvation.
Thus the truth of the Gospel out-ranks anyone’s credentials. The Gospel sets in judgment on us and not us on the Gospel. We may not like the Gospel but we have no right or power to change it.
SO WHAT???
SO WHAT: The false gospel of the Judaizers was universalistic but put Christ secondary to the Law. Thus they added key elements of the Jewish law as necessary requirements in order to receive salvation as promised in the Gospel of Christ.
SO WHAT: Anytime you add anything to the Gospel that bases our eternal salvation on anything less that ‘grace alone’ you are perverting the Gospel.
SO WHAT: You cannot change the Gospel without troubling and confusing the church.
SO WHAT: The Bible sets a universal curse on all those who tamper with the Gospel, who seek to keep the Gospel of salvation from being anything but an offer of grace alone.