--> 
All right, well, if you would make your way back
--> 
to your seats.
--> 
Thank you for coming to worship with us this morning
--> 
at our a.m. service.
--> 
I see some new faces.
--> 
Welcome, this is our second official week
--> 
as Redemption Hill Church.
--> 
I hope you do feel welcomed.
--> 
Please do fill out a visitor card.
--> 
If you've got questions about our church,
--> 
I'd love to just meet you and shake your hand.
--> 
I'll be available after service
--> 
with some of our other pastors.
--> 
My name is Joe, by the way,
--> 
and I have the privilege of being one of the pastors here
--> 
and the privilege of participating
--> 
in the small group Olympics tonight
--> 
and defending my gold medal from last year.
--> 
So let's see if anyone is up to the challenge
--> 
of taking that away from Team Italy.
--> 
We'll see, we'll see.
--> 
I hope you guys are excited about that.
--> 
I am.
--> 
One thing before we get, well, two things.
--> 
Number one, we don't have a physical study guide
--> 
for our series in Galatians.
--> 
Some of you are new and we give study guides out.
--> 
We'd like to do that to just help you guys
--> 
understand God's word as we walk through
--> 
a book of the Bible together.
--> 
So we do have a digital study guide available.
--> 
So if you go to our website,
--> 
rhtccartersville.com slash Galatians,
--> 
you can find that study guide there
--> 
and some additional notes to help you
--> 
in your study of God's word.
--> 
We use them in our groups.
--> 
So that's a tool that we have for you.
--> 
I also wanna pray for our teachers.
--> 
We do every year, like to just pray a prayer of blessing
--> 
over our teachers.
--> 
So if you're a teacher, I'm gonna embarrass you
--> 
because I was once a teacher
--> 
and I know it is a thankless job.
--> 
I want you to stand up.
--> 
Whether you teach someone else's kids
--> 
or you teach your own kids,
--> 
you're still a teacher's mom, and maybe dad's.
--> 
So if you're a teacher, would you stand
--> 
homeschool, public school, private school, would you stand?
--> 
Yep, can we give them a round of applause?
--> 
They do a lot.
--> 
Thank you guys.
--> 
I wanna do this.
--> 
You can sit down.
--> 
I want us to pray for our teachers for this school year.
--> 
Can we do that?
--> 
Pray that they would be used as a means
--> 
by which God would build the minds and hearts of little ones
--> 
and they would be used as a vessel
--> 
and the instrument for the gospel.
--> 
They would be sustained and strengthened
--> 
throughout this school year.
--> 
And I'll pray for our kids too.
--> 
So let's do that.
--> 
Let's pray.
--> 
Heavenly Father, we lift up our teachers to you.
--> 
Moms, maybe dads, those that are parenting,
--> 
I'm sorry, those that are teaching,
--> 
and yes, parents as well.
--> 
Their own kids and maybe other kids,
--> 
what an opportunity they have
--> 
to display the good news of Jesus and declare it.
--> 
Lord, I pray that you would sustain them
--> 
and use them to communicate the truth
--> 
to the young minds that they will encounter.
--> 
Lord, I know it's a long school year,
--> 
but Lord, we pray your blessings and strength upon them.
--> 
We pray that you would sustain them.
--> 
We pray that you would use them mightily
--> 
so your kingdom would go forward.
--> 
We pray for the little ones,
--> 
those that would be receiving instruction this year.
--> 
We pray that they, maybe they're going to a public school.
--> 
They would be a light and a dark place.
--> 
They would not be influenced by the ideologies
--> 
that might come their way,
--> 
but they would stand firm in the truth.
--> 
We pray for our students that they would continue to grow,
--> 
that they would be nourished
--> 
and they would grow in the gospel.
--> 
Lord, we pray your blessings upon this school year
--> 
in Jesus' name, amen.
--> 
All right, now for Galatians.
--> 
This morning we're going to be in week two,
--> 
so my task is to preach to you
--> 
verses six through of chapter one.
--> 
And what we need to see is that instead of Paul giving
--> 
a typical word of encouragement or a prayer or a blessing,
--> 
as he so often does in his epistles to other churches,
--> 
to the churches of Galatia, he does not do that.
--> 
He gives a rebuke and a warning.
--> 
He wants them to know that embracing different gospels,
--> 
not that there is another gospel, as he'll say,
--> 
is dangerous.
--> 
If I could title my sermon this morning,
--> 
it would be this, the dangers of a different gospel.
--> 
Hear God's word written to the Galatians,
--> 
but it's also for us this morning, beginning in verse six.
--> 
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him
--> 
who called you in the grace of Christ
--> 
and are turning to a different gospel.
--> 
Not that there is another one,
--> 
but there are some who trouble you
--> 
and want to distort the gospel of Christ,
--> 
but even if we or an angel from heaven
--> 
should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one
--> 
we preach to you, let him be accursed.
--> 
As we have said before, so I say again,
--> 
if anyone is preaching to you a gospel
--> 
contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
--> 
For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?
--> 
Or am I trying to please man?
--> 
For still trying to please man,
--> 
I would not be a servant of Christ.
--> 
This is God's word, let's pray.
--> 
Father, we thank you for the gift of your word,
--> 
the gift of the gospel that we sang about this morning.
--> 
There is one gospel, and praise God that there is a gospel.
--> 
Lord, would your gospel radiate
--> 
this morning through this sermon?
--> 
Would you bless the preaching of your word?
--> 
Would you give your people ears to hear
--> 
and hearts to receive the warnings
--> 
that you provide in scripture, the correction needed,
--> 
and the comfort and the balm of the gospel?
--> 
Use me as but a messenger
--> 
so you would be glorified and honored,
--> 
and Jesus would be made big.
--> 
It's in his name we ask.
--> 
Amen.
--> 
Well, most of you know I am not an expert
--> 
in the field of chemistry.
--> 
Prior to me being a pastor, I was actually a math teacher.
--> 
But I do know a little bit about chemistry,
--> 
just a little bit, and I know that a water molecule
--> 
is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
--> 
We learned this very early in school, right, at HO.
--> 
And I also know if you add a single oxygen atom to HO,
--> 
you no longer have HO,
--> 
you have HO too.
--> 
That's not water.
--> 
Water is life giving and nourishing,
--> 
it's sustaining, it's thirst quenching, it's needed,
--> 
it's necessary for our human existence.
--> 
And if you swallow it, it's beneficial.
--> 
But if you swallow HO too, it's not beneficial.
--> 
It's deadly.
--> 
As anyone know what HO too is.
--> 
It's hydrogen peroxide.
--> 
It might cling cuts, but it won't quench your thirst.
--> 
Why did I say that?
--> 
One minute change.
--> 
Just adding a small atom to water
--> 
completely changes water into something
--> 
that is not pure, but something that can be
--> 
if swallowed poisonous.
--> 
The gospel is the same.
--> 
If you take the message of the gospel,
--> 
the life giving news that Jesus has come to die for sins,
--> 
that he has resurrected victoriously,
--> 
and that the gift of God's grace is ours
--> 
through simple, humble faith alone.
--> 
If you add any element to it, or take anything away from it,
--> 
you do not have something that will deliver you.
--> 
You do not have a gospel at all, Paul would say.
--> 
You have something very, very dangerous, deadly.
--> 
Now this is week two in our series.
--> 
If you were here last week,
--> 
you know why Paul wrote this book.
--> 
If you weren't, you can go watch the sermon from last week
--> 
or read the study guide.
--> 
Remember Paul planted these churches
--> 
and he's writing to a group of churches
--> 
in southern Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.
--> 
And he wrote back to these churches just a few months
--> 
after he had left these churches
--> 
on his first missionary journey.
--> 
And it's not long after he gets back,
--> 
I mean he hasn't even unpacked his bags.
--> 
He receives news that some false teachers
--> 
have snuck into the church
--> 
and they have begun to distort the gospel that he preached.
--> 
These Jews, Judaizers, teaching the Gentiles
--> 
that to perfect their faith, yes they need Jesus,
--> 
of course they need Jesus,
--> 
but they also need to look like a Jew.
--> 
They need circumcision and they need the law.
--> 
That will enhance their salvation.
--> 
That will really make them an upper echelon Christian.
--> 
And what both these teachers and these Gentile converts
--> 
are actually falling prey to,
--> 
is they're falling to prey to the understanding
--> 
or the false belief that Jesus' work on the cross
--> 
wasn't enough.
--> 
What they're failing to realize is that when Jesus rose
--> 
from the dead, a new era was ushered in.
--> 
We're no longer under the old covenant,
--> 
we're under the new covenant.
--> 
And they're failing to realize that circumcision
--> 
and adherence to the law do not have any play
--> 
in our right standing with God.
--> 
And honestly, we should know the Bible, they never did.
--> 
It's not like under the old covenant,
--> 
one was made right because they circumcised themselves.
--> 
It's not like under the old covenant,
--> 
one was made right because they obeyed the law.
--> 
No, it's always been by faith alone.
--> 
And so Paul's defending that gospel.
--> 
Paul's riding back because of that.
--> 
So this is really a letter of correction.
--> 
Really a letter of correction.
--> 
So, remember, Paul begins with this brief introduction
--> 
that we read last week.
--> 
He defended his apostleship.
--> 
He defended the sufficiency of the gospel
--> 
because as I mentioned last week, those are interconnected.
--> 
And he writes this warning and rebuke this week
--> 
in verses six through 
--> 
Remember, in every other letter that Paul wrote
--> 
to churches, epistles that he wrote specifically
--> 
to churches and to our knowledge,
--> 
there are at least nine of them.
--> 
We can argue about Hebrews later,
--> 
but at least nine, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
--> 
Colossians, both the letters to the Corinthians
--> 
and Thessalonians.
--> 
He writes, after the introduction,
--> 
a Thanksgiving, a prayer, a praise, but not here.
--> 
That's always his structure, but not here.
--> 
He writes a rebuke and a curse
--> 
because they're in danger of embracing a different gospel
--> 
that does not deliver but is deadly.
--> 
That's what Paul wants them to know.
--> 
That's what God wants us to know.
--> 
A different gospel brings danger, not deliverance.
--> 
And what we're going to see are dangers,
--> 
dangers that come with a different gospel.
--> 
And there are three of them.
--> 
They're in our text.
--> 
There are three of them.
--> 
The first is this, a different gospel deserts.
--> 
I don't mean like a desert you eat.
--> 
I mean, abandons us from Jesus.
--> 
Where did I get that from?
--> 
Well, look at what Paul says.
--> 
I am a astonished that you are so quickly
--> 
underlying this, deserting him,
--> 
who called you in the grace of Christ,
--> 
and you are turning to a different gospel.
--> 
Paul's astonished.
--> 
He's amazed, he's bewildered that these converts
--> 
who sat under his preaching have so quickly.
--> 
He's astonished at the brevity of time that has passed
--> 
since he visited them.
--> 
They embraced his gospel.
--> 
They were changed by the gospel that he preached.
--> 
Not because of him, obviously.
--> 
He was merely the messenger
--> 
and they have now turned to a counterfeit.
--> 
Now to understand why Paul would write with such language
--> 
because in chapter six, he actually says,
--> 
do you see with what big letters I'm writing?
--> 
I mean, if Paul were texting, this would be all caps.
--> 
It should be all caps.
--> 
You guys understand that?
--> 
Some of you older folks don't get that.
--> 
Some of you younger folks, this is all caps.
--> 
I don't mean that.
--> 
I'm getting old.
--> 
Sometimes I don't understand that.
--> 
Sometimes I'll do that to my daughter.
--> 
She's like, dad, are you mad at me?
--> 
No, I guess I just held down that arrow too long
--> 
and it made everything all caps.
--> 
He's writing in all caps.
--> 
Now to understand why he would be upset,
--> 
you need to understand what happened
--> 
on his first missionary journey.
--> 
So we're gonna do a brief, very brief skim through
--> 
of Acts and 
--> 
Last week I gave you homework to go read it.
--> 
Maybe you forgot to do your homework.
--> 
I'm a very gracious teacher.
--> 
Go read it this week.
--> 
Okay, there'll be a quiz next week, Acts and 
--> 
That's Paul's first missionary journey.
--> 
Look at what Paul witnessed when he was there in Galatia,
--> 
this territory in Southern Asia Minor.
--> 
Acts verse 
--> 
When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing
--> 
and glorifying the word of the Lord.
--> 
And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
--> 
And the word of the Lord was spreading
--> 
throughout the whole region.
--> 
Paul witnessed what we would call a revival.
--> 
Former idolaters embracing the one true savior,
--> 
turning from a life of idolatry and paganism
--> 
and embracing Jesus.
--> 
And then it just spread like wildfire
--> 
and it wasn't just Gentiles.
--> 
Look at chapter verse one, just drop down and look.
--> 
At Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue
--> 
and spoken such a way that a great number
--> 
of both Jews and Greeks believed.
--> 
So even the Jews who had placed the law
--> 
in this place of precedence,
--> 
understood that the law couldn't save them.
--> 
And even Jews were being converted to faith
--> 
through the preaching of the gospel,
--> 
seeing Jesus, beholding Jesus,
--> 
Acts verses and 
--> 
Look, when they had preached the gospel to that city
--> 
and had made many disciples,
--> 
they returned to Iconium and to Antioch,
--> 
strengthening the souls of the disciples
--> 
and encouraging them to continue in the faith.
--> 
Paul witnessed these Galatians
--> 
embracing the life-changing news of the gospel.
--> 
He saw it firsthand, right?
--> 
He had a front row seat to marriages being reconciled,
--> 
to addictions being shattered.
--> 
A front row seat to people understanding the law
--> 
can't save them coming to faith in Jesus.
--> 
And so quickly they deserted that message.
--> 
We need to stop just for a moment before we go any further
--> 
because some of us are thinking,
--> 
yeah, I'm with Paul, I'm astonished too.
--> 
It's just been a few months
--> 
and they so quickly forgot the gospel,
--> 
but let me tell you, if you're anything like me,
--> 
it doesn't take months,
--> 
it's just days is all it takes.
--> 
I mean, just think about that.
--> 
Today's Sunday, what's tomorrow?
--> 
Monday.
--> 
We're singing the songs of praise to our savior.
--> 
We're declaring what Jesus has done,
--> 
how he's condescended to serve us,
--> 
to die for us, to rise victoriously for us.
--> 
And then what are we gonna go do tomorrow?
--> 
Some of us are gonna forget all about that.
--> 
We're gonna go on pursuing our worldly ambitions,
--> 
vain self-glory, and that was just one day.
--> 
Sunday, we hear God's word preached,
--> 
the spirit convicts us.
--> 
We see the gospel through the sacraments,
--> 
we pray the gospel, we hear it by Thursday.
--> 
We forgot what even we wrote down in our notebook
--> 
because we're not gonna go back and look at that.
--> 
That was good for the moment,
--> 
but God's word's not good for me on Thursday.
--> 
I mean, it's Thursday.
--> 
We forget all about it.
--> 
So before we point our fingers at the Galatians,
--> 
let's just point our fingers at ourselves
--> 
and say I'm just as guilty.
--> 
Now, you can't see it in the English,
--> 
but the word quickly is to chaos, to chaos.
--> 
It's the same word used in the Septuagint
--> 
in Exodus verse eight.
--> 
If you don't know, Exodus is the story of the golden calf.
--> 
And what I think Paul is doing
--> 
is he's alluding to that incident.
--> 
Remember how quickly God's people abandoned God
--> 
and fashioned the golden calf?
--> 
They grew impatient, Moses was up on the mountain
--> 
receiving the law, and they so quickly abandoned
--> 
the one who had just rescued them from years
--> 
of slavery and fashioned this golden calf.
--> 
And said, here's the God that led us out of Egypt.
--> 
I don't want us to miss that because Paul's saying,
--> 
that's you guys.
--> 
And your golden calf, Judaizers is the law,
--> 
your golden calf is Moses.
--> 
I can't miss that.
--> 
So here's a question.
--> 
If Paul's so concerned that they're straying
--> 
to a different gospel, what is the gospel?
--> 
How do we know if we're abandoning the gospel
--> 
if we don't even know the gospel?
--> 
We should.
--> 
When we sing it every Lord's day, we declare it every Lord.
--> 
I mean, we talk about it a lot here,
--> 
but here, let me take you to a place
--> 
where Paul clearly tells us the gospel.
--> 
First Corinthians chapter if you'll turn there.
--> 
First Corinthians verses one through four.
--> 
Paul's writing to the church in Corinth
--> 
and says, I would remind you brothers of the gospel.
--> 
The good news that you and Galeon, the declaration,
--> 
the gospel is news, right?
--> 
It is news to be told.
--> 
This word got its roots in military battles.
--> 
When a war was over, the town's news person,
--> 
the town spokesman would come out
--> 
and he would declare the war's over.
--> 
The strife has ended.
--> 
Let's celebrate.
--> 
The victory has been won.
--> 
Here he says, here's the good news.
--> 
Here's the gospel.
--> 
I delivered it to you.
--> 
You're being saved by it.
--> 
You hold it fast.
--> 
Verse three, for I delivered to you
--> 
as a first importance what I also received
--> 
that Christ died for our sins
--> 
in accordance with the scriptures.
--> 
Verse four, that he was buried,
--> 
that he was raised on the third day
--> 
in accordance with the scriptures.
--> 
That's the gospel.
--> 
And that's the news that Paul declared to the Galatians.
--> 
That's the news that Paul declared everywhere he went.
--> 
The life-changing news of Jesus.
--> 
And it didn't take them long to forget it.
--> 
To fall for a counterfeit.
--> 
And now would argue they probably did
--> 
because they did not familiarize themselves with the gospel.
--> 
They did not.
--> 
So if we want to be a people that don't drift
--> 
from the gospel, we need to know
--> 
how to familiarize ourselves with the gospel.
--> 
I read an article this week,
--> 
not because I wanted to read it,
--> 
but because I was looking for an illustration.
--> 
So I'll just be honest.
--> 
The article was called,
--> 
How to Not Be Duped by a Fake Electronic Part.
--> 
It was about counterfeit electronic parts.
--> 
Listen to this.
--> 
It said last year nearly $million
--> 
of counterfeit goods traded hands.
--> 
This makes counterfeiting at least the th largest economy
--> 
in the world.
--> 
And as a result, million jobs have been lost.
--> 
All because of counterfeit electronic parts.
--> 
And then it goes on to tell five ways
--> 
to spot a counterfeit.
--> 
And I've used a similar illustration before,
--> 
but I was like, I can't use that same one.
--> 
So I gotta use a different one.
--> 
One way is this.
--> 
The parts don't pass the visual test.
--> 
And then the author goes on to say,
--> 
well, if you don't want to fall prey to a counterpart,
--> 
then one answer is just to know the real part.
--> 
Like look at it, inspect it.
--> 
Know where labels are, know the details and the nuances
--> 
so that the phony part won't fool you.
--> 
I can't help but think the reason why this church
--> 
drifted from the gospel is because they failed
--> 
to familiarize themselves with the gospel.
--> 
At least one reason why.
--> 
They failed on the front end to be proactive
--> 
and they were reactive.
--> 
So if we don't want to drift from the gospel,
--> 
there's a proactiveness about our faith.
--> 
You guys do understand that.
--> 
To familiarize yourself with the gospel.
--> 
Of course what we're doing now is one way we do that.
--> 
Like the gathering is intentional
--> 
because we rehearse the gospel.
--> 
I don't know if you knew this,
--> 
but when you see us take the sacraments together,
--> 
you get to see the gospel.
--> 
When we sing, we sing the gospel.
--> 
When I preach, I'm preaching the gospel.
--> 
When we pray, we pray the gospel.
--> 
And then you get the opportunity to rehearse it
--> 
to your own heart outside of Sundays
--> 
to discuss with your kids and your family,
--> 
your coworkers, wherever the Lord may send you
--> 
to talk about it in your groups.
--> 
Do you familiarize yourself with the gospel
--> 
so much you're able to spot a counterfeit?
--> 
But notice Paul also wants us to see the severity
--> 
of what's happened here.
--> 
They're deserting Christ.
--> 
Look at what he says.
--> 
You're deserting the one who called you.
--> 
Who called them?
--> 
This is how it works in theological terms.
--> 
We call this the effectual call.
--> 
When the gospel goes forth,
--> 
the spirit does a work in the hearts of the hearers
--> 
to soften their heart, to quicken their mind,
--> 
to remove the haze and the fog,
--> 
so we understand and embrace the gospel by faith.
--> 
God does that.
--> 
He calls sinners to himself
--> 
through the preaching of the gospel.
--> 
It's clear.
--> 
Everywhere in scripture, we see people coming to faith.
--> 
It's because the gospel went forth
--> 
and we know the spirit is doing a work.
--> 
So who are they deserting?
--> 
They're deserting God.
--> 
That's what Paul wants them to know.
--> 
When you turn to a different gospel,
--> 
you're turning your back on God.
--> 
And it's not just that you're walking off the field
--> 
and saying, I quit.
--> 
I don't wanna play this anymore.
--> 
That word, deserting, and I had you underline it,
--> 
actually means traitor.
--> 
It means turncoat.
--> 
So it's not just taking the jersey off
--> 
in the middle of the game and saying, I quit.
--> 
It's taking the jersey off, going to the other team,
--> 
putting their jersey on and getting back in the game.
--> 
That's how Satan works.
--> 
That's how Satan, if you could just add a little here,
--> 
add a little there so he can take your eyes off Jesus
--> 
and onto something else, let's say where.
--> 
And that is trading on God.
--> 
That's what Paul says.
--> 
And I know those are harsh words, but Paul knows this
--> 
and we need to know this.
--> 
Any distortion of the gospel is an affront to God's glory.
--> 
He said, why'd you say that?
--> 
I'd encourage you to go read this book.
--> 
It's called God is the Gospel by John Piper.
--> 
And what he argues is that God's glory
--> 
radiates the brightest through the gospel
--> 
because it's in the gospel that all of God's attributes
--> 
are clearly seen at the same time.
--> 
His holiness and his mercy, his love and his faithfulness,
--> 
his justice and his grace.
--> 
So when you turn to a different gospel
--> 
and start embracing false gospels,
--> 
or you start adding to the gospel,
--> 
you're abandoning, you're deserting God
--> 
and you're actually desecrating his glory.
--> 
I know that's harsh, but that's what scripture teaches.
--> 
So that's a danger, but there is another danger.
--> 
Not only do we desert God when we turn to a different gospel,
--> 
but different gospel or a different gospel distorts.
--> 
It distorts grace.
--> 
Look at what Paul says in verse seven.
--> 
He says, you're turning to a different gospel
--> 
and then he wants to be clear.
--> 
Well, wait a second.
--> 
It's not like there's another one.
--> 
See the exclusivity of the Christian faith right there.
--> 
And hear me, praise God that there is a way.
--> 
There doesn't have to be a way to the Father.
--> 
God would have been good to shut the door
--> 
after Genesis three and say, nope,
--> 
the way to me is closed forever.
--> 
That's justice.
--> 
But God is good and he provides a way.
--> 
But there is one way, the gospel.
--> 
There's not another gospel.
--> 
Hear what Paul is teaching us, okay?
--> 
If Jesus isn't the only way, there is no way.
--> 
If Christ crucified and resurrected alone
--> 
isn't sufficient enough to deal with sins
--> 
and make us right before God,
--> 
then nothing is sufficient to deal with sins
--> 
and make us right before God.
--> 
There is no other gospel.
--> 
There's one gospel.
--> 
And those of you that might not know your Bible
--> 
and you're like, did Jesus preach
--> 
a different gospel than Paul?
--> 
No, he didn't.
--> 
He didn't.
--> 
We talked about that last week.
--> 
You can go listen to that sermon.
--> 
You see, the teachers in Galatia are doing two things.
--> 
Notice what Paul says in verse seven, look at it.
--> 
There are some who trouble you
--> 
and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
--> 
They're troubling, that word is agitating.
--> 
They're stirring up trouble.
--> 
Like the bully on the bus.
--> 
Just stirring up trouble.
--> 
Now, you have to understand something.
--> 
When Paul is writing this letter,
--> 
there's kind of an overlap of redemptive history here.
--> 
In AD, the temple is destroyed,
--> 
but this letter, if our calculations are correct,
--> 
was written well before them.
--> 
So you have this kind of overlap of this Judaic period
--> 
and the new covenant that has already been inaugurated.
--> 
So you have these Judaizers, these Jewish men,
--> 
maybe women too, who are really clinging to their Jewishness.
--> 
After all, aren't the Jews God's chosen people?
--> 
After all, when the Gentiles were grafted into the family,
--> 
they were to be circumcised.
--> 
They were given the law, but what they're doing
--> 
is they're elevating those things
--> 
to the same level as God's grace.
--> 
And we, like think about it.
--> 
Okay, yes, so here, one thing I want us to see
--> 
is Paul's not correcting their understanding of Jesus.
--> 
He's correcting their understanding of grace.
--> 
Paul's not getting onto them.
--> 
I would say that these men and women probably align
--> 
with Paul on many theological areas.
--> 
I, Paul doesn't correct them regarding the resurrection.
--> 
Other epistles deal with that, that heresy.
--> 
Paul doesn't correct them regarding Jesus's deity.
--> 
They are not denying Jesus.
--> 
What they are saying though, where Paul would differ,
--> 
is that their Jewishness doesn't play a factor
--> 
in God's grace.
--> 
So what they're saying is great,
--> 
we're the chosen people of God.
--> 
So if you want to come into the family Gentiles,
--> 
just as you've always done, you need to look like us,
--> 
and you need to live like us.
--> 
And that will get you a closer seat.
--> 
That will enhance this salvation.
--> 
So yeah, faith in Jesus, but you also need circumcision,
--> 
and you gotta start obeying this thing we call the law.
--> 
Now, men in the room, just imagine you're
--> 
a year old convert, and that's what's you here.
--> 
Faith in Jesus and circumcision.
--> 
Now I'm not gonna go teach your kiddos about that,
--> 
you can do that, but I'm not signing up for that.
--> 
Right?
--> 
I mean think about that.
--> 
That's what they're teaching.
--> 
And Paul's saying that's a distortion of grace.
--> 
You have failed to see.
--> 
And first of all, we need to understand something,
--> 
even under the old covenant.
--> 
Those did not save the Jews.
--> 
It had always been faith.
--> 
Always had been faith in God's promises, in His grace.
--> 
And they're misunderstanding that.
--> 
So Paul says, you're troubling some.
--> 
And then he says, you're distorting.
--> 
Notice, not only do they trouble, but they distort.
--> 
That means to pervert.
--> 
They came into reverse.
--> 
They're perverting grace.
--> 
They're teaching that Christ gets us part of the way there,
--> 
and we gotta do our part and get us the rest of the way there.
--> 
If you believe that, that's wrong.
--> 
If Christ doesn't get us all the way there,
--> 
we're not getting there.
--> 
He gets us all the way there.
--> 
So I thought it might be helpful to,
--> 
cause here's the deal, we're not going to be tempted.
--> 
I hope not by circumcision and the law.
--> 
But you are tempted by other distorted gospels.
--> 
And we need to be aware.
--> 
We need to be aware.
--> 
If there's a major application to this section,
--> 
it is to discern what is the true gospel,
--> 
and what are perversions of the gospel.
--> 
So here's what I did.
--> 
There's four, I think, prevalent gospels in our society.
--> 
And I'm not gonna give you D's, I'm giving you P's here.
--> 
Then I think we see everywhere.
--> 
And we have to be able to discern this.
--> 
Okay, so if you'll put that slide up.
--> 
What are these modern distortions of the gospel?
--> 
Well, number one, there's the picture gospel.
--> 
The picture gospel.
--> 
The picture gospel is a liberal gospel.
--> 
The picture gospel does not understand the power of sin.
--> 
The picture gospel looks at the cross
--> 
and says Jesus' death on the cross
--> 
was an example of love to us.
--> 
And therefore, he's just showing us how we're to live.
--> 
So the picture gospel says you can be stirred
--> 
basically to act and look like Jesus
--> 
and follow his example.
--> 
You can be awakened from your spiritual selfishness
--> 
to be enlightened to live this life of justice selflessly.
--> 
Now, hear me.
--> 
Does Jesus teach us how to live?
--> 
Yeah, we're supposed to follow Jesus.
--> 
But if that's all you think about Jesus,
--> 
that he is just this great example to follow.
--> 
And if we can strive and look like him,
--> 
you know what you're doing?
--> 
You're placing a law on you
--> 
and you will never be able to bear it.
--> 
Because if the cross only says
--> 
that Jesus is just an example we follow,
--> 
we're all in trouble.
--> 
Because none of us, none of us will ever live
--> 
like Jesus lived.
--> 
None of us will love like Jesus loved.
--> 
None of us could do what Jesus could do.
--> 
So that is incorrect.
--> 
That is not correct.
--> 
That has a very low view of sin,
--> 
a very low view of God
--> 
and distorts the message of the cross.
--> 
The second is the prosperity gospel,
--> 
which believe it or not,
--> 
loves to sneak in there with the real gospel.
--> 
Because what prosperity gospel preaches is yes,
--> 
Jesus died for your sins.
--> 
But let's also make sure you understand,
--> 
Jesus also died so you could overcome
--> 
the trials of this world and have health and wealth
--> 
and prosperity.
--> 
So what the prosperity gospel does
--> 
is teaches that Jesus becomes our genie in a bottle.
--> 
And I'll say this, it has a very low view of sin
--> 
and the prosperity gospel has a very low view of eternity.
--> 
Because the prosperity gospel says,
--> 
well look, just live it up right now.
--> 
Find everything, like grasp for the world's goods,
--> 
grasp for the treasures of this earth
--> 
and you will be happy.
--> 
It promotes idolatry is what it does.
--> 
And it doesn't put in, into perspective,
--> 
the treasures that we already have in the gospel,
--> 
which are far greater than material treasures,
--> 
it doesn't put into understanding the sanctification
--> 
that God does when he takes the grip of our hands off
--> 
of those treasures, because it's good for us
--> 
and put in perspective that our ultimate treasure
--> 
is Jesus, not stuff, not health, not wealth, not prosperity.
--> 
And then on the flip, it condemns.
--> 
And here's how it condemns.
--> 
And I'll be honest, there was a season of my life,
--> 
we're like, I believe some of this.
--> 
So as your pastor, I've even been in some of those
--> 
for a season of my life.
--> 
It says this, the reason why you're not healthy,
--> 
the reason why you're living in poverty,
--> 
the reason why your kids sick is because
--> 
you don't have enough faith.
--> 
So God is now in our debt.
--> 
And that's a very low view of God.
--> 
It makes us God.
--> 
No church, no, he is not in our debt.
--> 
The Bible never, ever, ever, ever says the amount
--> 
of our faith dictates what God does.
--> 
No, that is incorrect.
--> 
And see, the problem with that is it puts a big weight
--> 
on that person and they feel like they can never get out.
--> 
And you will never get out.
--> 
You will never get out.
--> 
Because you don't understand what God is actually doing
--> 
is sanctifying you.
--> 
That's why you didn't get the promotion.
--> 
Suffering is actually for our good.
--> 
And the prosperity gospel can't answer suffering.
--> 
But the gospel can.
--> 
So the third gospel, the partial gospel.
--> 
This is the gospel many of us heard at the conference
--> 
when the preacher got up and said,
--> 
you don't want to go to hell do you?
--> 
Just repeat the prayer.
--> 
The partial gospel teaches that Jesus' death was good
--> 
to keep us out of hell, but does not have an answer
--> 
for the power of sin right now.
--> 
It's just a future benefit.
--> 
Who cares how you live right now?
--> 
It promotes licentiousness.
--> 
Again, a very low view of sin.
--> 
And then there's the performance gospel.
--> 
Which is what we see the church in Galatian
--> 
or the Galatian churches dealing with.
--> 
Thinking that Jesus' work on the cross
--> 
isn't quite sufficient enough.
--> 
There's something else that surely I have to do
--> 
either to keep me there or to get me there.
--> 
And we've all struggled with this.
--> 
But what does this gospel teach?
--> 
That your performance is the prerequisite for grace
--> 
instead of the product of grace.
--> 
It puts our performance before grace.
--> 
That's not grace.
--> 
You don't earn grace, we know that.
--> 
And their distortions galore of the performance gospel.
--> 
And legalistic churches that maybe you grew up in,
--> 
I grew up in those, right?
--> 
Don't drink, cuss, smoke or chew or date girls that do.
--> 
You guys know what I'm talking about?
--> 
That's the performance gospel.
--> 
Roman Catholicism is a performance gospel.
--> 
Now I'm not saying that they're not genuine believers
--> 
who attend Roman Catholic churches.
--> 
I'm not saying that.
--> 
Those that are saved are saved by grace alone
--> 
through faith alone and the work of Christ alone.
--> 
But what I am saying is they promote a distorted gospel.
--> 
You know, the book of Galatians is very, very important
--> 
when it came to the Protestant Reformation
--> 
and Martin Luther who sparked the Protestant Reformation,
--> 
his understanding of the gospel.
--> 
And one of the responses to the Protestant Reformation
--> 
was the Council of Trent.
--> 
If you don't know Catholicism,
--> 
that's really where we have the modern doctrines
--> 
of Catholicism came from that council.
--> 
Here is what Catholicism teaches.
--> 
It comes from their council.
--> 
Canon says this of the Council of Trent.
--> 
If anyone say that the justice received
--> 
is not preserved and also increased before God
--> 
through good works, but that the said works
--> 
are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained.
--> 
But not a cause, that's important,
--> 
of the increase thereof, let him be anathema.
--> 
We're gonna talk about anathema in a minute.
--> 
Let him be cursed.
--> 
That's what Catholicism teaches.
--> 
We need to know that.
--> 
And listen, there's even Protestant churches
--> 
that might not say that, but believe something similar
--> 
as if somehow the sacraments infused grace to us
--> 
and the more we partake of them,
--> 
the better we are in the sight of God.
--> 
They're professing Protestant churches that believe
--> 
unless you're baptized, you're not truly a believer.
--> 
That's not what baptism is.
--> 
That's adding the work.
--> 
That's not baptism.
--> 
It's called baptismal regeneration.
--> 
Unless you go under the water and come out,
--> 
you're not really made new.
--> 
No, it's a sign that you have been made new
--> 
by faith alone.
--> 
Checking with me.
--> 
So, it's a distortion of grace.
--> 
I wanna connect the two, the trouble and the distorting.
--> 
All of these distortions come from someone
--> 
who's had a troubled spirit.
--> 
Think about it.
--> 
Why do you fall prey to the performance gospel?
--> 
Perhaps, and I wanna say this lovingly,
--> 
you had a parent figure whose love for you was conditional
--> 
and it was based on your performance, sadly.
--> 
And we're connecting that to God
--> 
and we think that his love for us is conditional.
--> 
And so we fall into the trap of the performance gospel
--> 
or perhaps you grew up in a very poor family
--> 
and you've told yourself, my kids ain't gonna have it
--> 
like I had it.
--> 
No, we're gonna have the best stuff.
--> 
I'm gonna work, and what you're doing
--> 
is you don't realize this, but you're disappointed in God
--> 
when he doesn't give you what you want
--> 
and you're thinking he's your genie in a bottle
--> 
and you're really believing the prosperity gospel.
--> 
But I want us to understand this,
--> 
the troubling and the distortion go hand in hand.
--> 
So what might it be in your life that has troubled you
--> 
to perhaps fall for a different gospel?
--> 
Just think about that.
--> 
Let's keep going, there's one more danger.
--> 
A different gospel destroys the last few verses.
--> 
So I said it earlier where Paul typically pronounces
--> 
a blessing, a prayer of Thanksgiving.
--> 
I mean, think about this, even to the church in Corinth,
--> 
he gave them a Thanksgiving and a blessing
--> 
and a word of encouragement.
--> 
And if you know anything about that church,
--> 
that was a messed up church.
--> 
But notice, it's not a blessing,
--> 
it's a curse that he gives next.
--> 
Verse eight, but even if we, now who's the we?
--> 
It was Paul and his missionary team
--> 
that came and planted these churches.
--> 
That's who the we is.
--> 
If we or an angel from heaven should preach to you
--> 
a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you,
--> 
let him be accursed.
--> 
I'm not gonna water this down.
--> 
I was thinking about using a different D instead of destroy
--> 
and I'd argue that I would have been justified in doing so,
--> 
but I know there are little ears in here,
--> 
but that's what Paul's saying.
--> 
Let me be condemned, which is what that word means.
--> 
If I show up and I start preaching a different gospel,
--> 
one that doesn't align with the one that I preached to you,
--> 
when you were saved, when you embraced Jesus,
--> 
I should be accursed.
--> 
That word is anathema.
--> 
It means in the Bible, it's always something
--> 
that is devoted to destruction.
--> 
That's why I use the word destroy.
--> 
Consumed rightly by God's righteous anger toward sin
--> 
is justice.
--> 
If even me or if an angel,
--> 
I think he's using hyperbole as Paul often does.
--> 
Like if an angel were to come off of heaven's throne
--> 
and step all the way down here,
--> 
they would have just seen the splendor and majesty of God.
--> 
They would have witnessed the trinity with their eyes.
--> 
If they were to come down and give you a different gospel,
--> 
let that angel, that messenger, be accursed.
--> 
Now, isn't it funny?
--> 
Think about this, that many of the false religions
--> 
and courts of our day were started
--> 
because the founder claimed they had a revelation
--> 
from an angel that gave them a different gospel.
--> 
I hate that I even have to say this,
--> 
but if someone looks at you and says,
--> 
you know what, an angel told me,
--> 
he's got this revelation, you gotta listen to this guy.
--> 
He listened, you know.
--> 
And it doesn't line up with the gospel.
--> 
You guys do know not to listen to that person, right?
--> 
We do understand that.
--> 
And the devil, I mean, he's been deceiving people
--> 
since the fall, right?
--> 
He's still in it to deceive us.
--> 
If all, it's gotta add a little bit of this
--> 
and a little bit of that, just a small shift, a small change.
--> 
It was Muhammad in AD on a journey
--> 
that claims he was visited by the angel Gabriel.
--> 
And it's from there we have basically
--> 
the foundation of Islam, the gospel of Islam,
--> 
which is no gospel.
--> 
It was Joseph Smith, discontent.
--> 
We'll talk about that in a little bit.
--> 
With what was happening in the church.
--> 
He needed something different.
--> 
He goes off into the woods to try to get along with God.
--> 
He claims he was visited by some Italian angel,
--> 
I guess, Moroni, Moroni, I don't know.
--> 
I've never, that was a joke.
--> 
And we get the gospel of Mormonism, which is no gospel.
--> 
You guys do see that, right?
--> 
And then look at what Paul says in verse nine.
--> 
Don't miss what he's saying.
--> 
He changes the tense of the word.
--> 
If anyone right now, that's what he's saying.
--> 
That's the word in the Greek.
--> 
Is right now preaching a different gospel to you,
--> 
churches in Galatia, he should be accursed.
--> 
So he points his finger right at the false teachers
--> 
and says they should be accursed.
--> 
That's strong language.
--> 
You know, James and his letter writes,
--> 
not many of you should long to be a teacher.
--> 
It is very frightening for me to get up here every week.
--> 
And be so tempted to make something a little more palatable.
--> 
It'd be so easy if I could just pat it a little bit.
--> 
And I'd be lying to you, I'd be lying to you
--> 
if I said I've never thought about it.
--> 
I wouldn't be honest.
--> 
But praise God, he won't let me
--> 
and keep praying that he keeps not letting me.
--> 
So I was thinking about this.
--> 
Like there's application galore here.
--> 
Number one, there's application to all of you
--> 
that you should be diligent as members of this church
--> 
to preserve sound doctrine, to speak it to one another,
--> 
to humbly and gently, if you hear a brother or sister
--> 
straying in the way they're thinking or speaking,
--> 
and note there's a good way, there's a gracious way.
--> 
I'm not saying embarrass them.
--> 
And you're not the theological police,
--> 
but perhaps you set up a coffee with them.
--> 
Perhaps you set up a meeting, just a gracious meeting
--> 
to say hey, will you give me some clarity there?
--> 
Okay, we should be protecting the gospel.
--> 
You should be holding me accountable.
--> 
And I hope you hold all the pastors accountable
--> 
that preach to you.
--> 
We're holding one another accountable.
--> 
But you have to understand some of them,
--> 
because perhaps, I don't know,
--> 
perhaps there's some in this room that wish
--> 
I would just talk a little bit less about sin.
--> 
And maybe, maybe that's you, I don't know.
--> 
I'm not saying that anybody's, maybe I don't know.
--> 
Joe, if you could just spend some more time
--> 
on the anxiety thing.
--> 
How to parent your children better?
--> 
I mean, my children are really difficult right now.
--> 
How to spend my money well, and hear me.
--> 
Don't take this as like me saying
--> 
that that's not important, because it is.
--> 
Like God cares about how you parent,
--> 
He cares about your anxiety,
--> 
He cares about your kids, He cares about your,
--> 
He cares about those issues, He does.
--> 
I'd be lying if I said He doesn't,
--> 
because God became a man.
--> 
Jesus knows what it's like to not have money.
--> 
He knows what it's like for people to turn His back on Him.
--> 
So for me to look at you and say,
--> 
God doesn't care about that, I'm lying to you.
--> 
He does care about that.
--> 
But here's what I know, He's given us His word.
--> 
And when the time comes, if we walk through a text,
--> 
and the application, and light of the gospel,
--> 
as anxiety, we'll talk about anxiety.
--> 
We'll talk about spending your finances,
--> 
we'll talk about marriage.
--> 
But I'm not gonna make that the main thing
--> 
when we talk about it.
--> 
Why?
--> 
Because, and we all know this,
--> 
our main problem is not ignorance.
--> 
That is not your problem.
--> 
Our main problem is not like, we need Jesus,
--> 
okay, you've told us Jesus,
--> 
now spend the rest of your minutes,
--> 
and tell me how I need to be better.
--> 
Just give me some good advice.
--> 
Enlighten my mind a little.
--> 
We all understand this, that's not our main problem.
--> 
You know that.
--> 
I know that, we all know that.
--> 
What is our main problem?
--> 
Sin.
--> 
And all of our problems have to take that
--> 
into consideration.
--> 
Now I'm not saying all of your problems
--> 
are a result of your sin.
--> 
So don't hear that.
--> 
Some of them might be, let's be honest.
--> 
But we live in a fallen world,
--> 
and all of our problems are problems because of that.
--> 
So, we have to always understand that.
--> 
The pulpit is not therapy time.
--> 
It can't be therapy time.
--> 
Can it be application?
--> 
Yeah.
--> 
We're not studying the Bible rightly,
--> 
if it doesn't move us to apply the Bible.
--> 
But all of our problems have to take into consideration
--> 
of fallenness and sin,
--> 
and therefore the answer to our problems
--> 
has to always be found in light of the remedy for sin,
--> 
which is the gospel.
--> 
And if I don't give you the gospel,
--> 
right, I'm like a doctor who gives his patient poison
--> 
and causes medicine,
--> 
because a church is not a hotel for the healthy.
--> 
That's not what the church is.
--> 
So if you're here and you're broken and you're hurting
--> 
and you know you're a sinner, you're in good hands,
--> 
because the church is a hospital for sinners.
--> 
And the remedy, the remedy is not good advice.
--> 
The remedy is what?
--> 
The gospel, it's taking everything back to the gospel.
--> 
And if I stray from that,
--> 
so if I want to try to strung your hard strings
--> 
and talk a little more about anxiety,
--> 
guess what I'm gonna drift away from?
--> 
I'm gonna drift away from the gospel.
--> 
And over time, what am I gonna do?
--> 
I'm gonna start preaching a different gospel.
--> 
That's not good for you.
--> 
You'll start to think that you can live this Christian life
--> 
void of the cross,
--> 
that you can have a better marriage without Jesus,
--> 
that you can parent better without God's grace,
--> 
that you don't need to confess your sins.
--> 
You'll start thinking that you don't need,
--> 
and before you know it, you'll start drifting away too.
--> 
That's deadly.
--> 
There's implications for all of us.
--> 
I want you to know that.
--> 
So no, we're not gonna take the gospel out.
--> 
Every week you're gonna hear about sin,
--> 
but you're gonna hear about a savior
--> 
who has died for sin, who has resurrected for sin,
--> 
who has entweld his people with his Holy Spirit
--> 
to put sin to death, and who is coming back one day
--> 
so there will be no more sin.
--> 
And we're gonna get our eyes on him.
--> 
And then Paul says in verse 
--> 
if you ever question my motives, think about it.
--> 
Perhaps, look at what he says.
--> 
He says, am I seeking the approval of man or of God?
--> 
If I'm about pleasing man,
--> 
I wouldn't be a servant of Christ.
--> 
Perhaps Paul's motives have been questioned.
--> 
He's preaching a cheap gospel.
--> 
You know, people did that with Paul.
--> 
What do you mean?
--> 
You just gotta throw yourself on Jesus.
--> 
It's just God's grace, faith alone.
--> 
What are you talking about, Paul?
--> 
That's cheap.
--> 
You're just pleasing man.
--> 
Maybe that's been the case.
--> 
I really don't know.
--> 
Maybe Paul's taking a jab at the Judaizers,
--> 
who are man pleasers.
--> 
But why are they doing this in the first place?
--> 
To please the other Jews, who are saying,
--> 
man, these Gentiles just to get it,
--> 
they can get in here and they don't have to cut their body?
--> 
They don't have to worry about the law?
--> 
They don't have to worry about these riches.
--> 
They don't have to do that?
--> 
Oh no, they do.
--> 
Paul maybe's taking a jab at them,
--> 
but here's what I know Paul is saying.
--> 
My words might have stung, but my job is not to make this
--> 
more palatable and to please man.
--> 
Now what Paul's saying is that he doesn't,
--> 
he's not saying he doesn't love men,
--> 
and he's not saying he doesn't contextualize the gospel.
--> 
To a Jew, he becomes a Jew.
--> 
To a Gentile, he becomes a Gentile.
--> 
Sometimes he circumcises, sometimes he doesn't.
--> 
Timothy and Titus.
--> 
What Paul is saying is I'm not gonna try to please man
--> 
and please Jesus at the same time.
--> 
You can't have two masters.
--> 
You can't, you can't live your life trying to please man
--> 
and trying to please Jesus.
--> 
Jesus knows the propensity of the human heart
--> 
is to say man's gonna win.
--> 
Paul says my name's to please Jesus.
--> 
We'll talk more about that next week.
--> 
We'll talk more about that next week
--> 
because this is kind of a bridge to next week.
--> 
What is Paul saying?
--> 
There isn't another gospel.
--> 
And if you think there is, that's deadly.
--> 
That's deadly, that doesn't deliver you.
--> 
What does?
--> 
The gospel.
--> 
The news that God created the world,
--> 
he didn't have to, it's not like he needed to.
--> 
He had everything he could possibly need.
--> 
Father, Son, and Spirit, and perfect union
--> 
and communion with one another,
--> 
and that love spilled over into creation.
--> 
But what did we do?
--> 
We looked at God and said, I don't need you.
--> 
I'll be God.
--> 
That's what Adam and Eve did.
--> 
And the, like you guys get it,
--> 
like the Bible could have just shut.
--> 
We don't get the rest of the Bible after that.
--> 
But God's loving and he pursues the people.
--> 
And then God shows up, he condescends,
--> 
he makes the infinite journey from heaven's turn
--> 
all the way down to space and time, puts on flesh.
--> 
He suffers.
--> 
He knows what it's like to be a person,
--> 
fully God, fully man.
--> 
He experiences pain and rejection, temptation,
--> 
but he doesn't sin.
--> 
His motives are never faulty.
--> 
He lives for us, right?
--> 
That's the gospel, that's part of it at least.
--> 
He lives for us.
--> 
And then what does he do?
--> 
He doesn't just die for us, he dies instead of us.
--> 
Right?
--> 
He's the one that bears the anathema.
--> 
He bears the curse for sins.
--> 
He looks at the holy God and says,
--> 
pour your wrath out on me, not them.
--> 
And he shields sinners from God's wrath.
--> 
And we know that the Father accepted the payment
--> 
because Jesus didn't stay in the dirt.
--> 
He rose on the third day victoriously
--> 
and it gets even better.
--> 
He pours out his spirit and says,
--> 
I wanna be so much with you
--> 
that I'll dwell in you through my spirit.
--> 
And then we know the end.
--> 
As he's making us look like Jesus,
--> 
there's coming a day where he will dwell with us.
--> 
We'll see it.
--> 
That's the gospel.
--> 
How is this yours?
--> 
This is what delivers.
--> 
You receive it by faith.
--> 
That's the gospel.
--> 
Anything else will destroy.
--> 
It distorts and it will desert.
--> 
So three applications.
--> 
I've given you a lot of D's.
--> 
I might as well give you three more.
--> 
Discern, discern.
--> 
What?
--> 
What are you preaching to?
--> 
Like what books are you reading?
--> 
Like what books?
--> 
Who are you listening to?
--> 
I'm not telling you to be a legalist.
--> 
I'm just, I'm just, I'm trying to protect you.
--> 
What are you, are you discerning the,
--> 
are you discerning the gospel
--> 
that's being poured into your kids too?
--> 
Like discern.
--> 
Discern.
--> 
We should be able to discern.
--> 
Number two, discontent.
--> 
Discontentment.
--> 
Why do we fall prey to counterfeit gospels?
--> 
You know why?
--> 
Because you're not content with the gospel.
--> 
Surely there's gotta be something else.
--> 
Why do we have all these other false gospels?
--> 
Because Jesus wasn't enough.
--> 
Do you believe that Jesus is enough?
--> 
Are you gonna fight for the fact that he's enough?
--> 
If the band would come up, drifting.
--> 
So maybe you're like, Joe, all right, you convicted me.
--> 
I'm believing a different gospel.
--> 
Do you know, now you might read those verses
--> 
that I read earlier and you say, that's harsh.
--> 
I can't believe Paul would word it that way.
--> 
You know what it is?
--> 
It's actually grace.
--> 
Because they were not, if the Galatians
--> 
were not too far gone, then you aren't either.
--> 
You aren't either.
--> 
The story for the Galatians wasn't,
--> 
you know, Paul goes back and visits them.
--> 
They received it.
--> 
They repented of it and they embraced the gospel.
--> 
That's the invitation this morning.
--> 
Embrace, Jesus says, hey, come on, come back to me.
--> 
The unforgivable sin is not falling prey
--> 
to the prosperity gospel.
--> 
You guys do know that, right?
--> 
It's not falling prey to the performance gospel.
--> 
We all tend to do that.
--> 
We all go through these seasons where we need the gospel
--> 
to remind ourselves of the gospel.
--> 
So come back.
--> 
Jesus arms wide open.
--> 
Come to me.
--> 
Let's pray.
--> 
Thank you, Jesus, for the gospel.
--> 
You didn't leave us in our sins,
--> 
but you condescended and came to us.
--> 
May we embrace the gospel and see the danger
--> 
of a different gospel, but praise God
--> 
that there is a gospel.
--> 
May we find joy and contentment in the gospel.
--> 
In Jesus name, amen.