Scripture: Galatians 1:6-10
Sermon Series: Galatians – Set Free, Live Free – Sermon 02

Do you hate Osama Bin Laden (picture)? Do you think he should go to Hell? It’s Sunday morning, so let’s be honest…do you believe some people are so evil they should go to Hell? What about Adolph Hitler (picture)? Chairman Mao (picture)? Maybe Charles Manson (picture) whose cult murdered nine people or Ted Bundy (picture) who kidnapped and murdered dozens of young women?  What about Pennsylvania Coach and convicted child molester, Jerry Sandusky (picture)? Terrorist Timothy McVeigh (picture)? What about Bernie Madoff (picture)? He embezzled billions from 40,000 investors.

What about false teachers? Those who teach a lie and give false hope of heaven? Do you think that they should go to hell?

It’s not politically correct in our pluralistic day but it’s what the Bible teaches. Galatians 1 says they’re accursed. They’re Spiritual Terrorists. The Apostle Paul attacks them with the tenacity of a tiger. They’re soul murderers that God will hold accountable. Because grace is so important, because the gospel is everything, Paul literally tells them to “Go to Hell!”

We’re in the second week of our series on the New Testament book of Galatians, Set Free, Live Free. The Bible teaches that a false teacher, one who lies about what it takes to go to heaven is worse than a Ted Bundy because he only took human life. False teachers murder eternal life and they’re all around us, filling pulpits like ours. Please turn to Galatians 1:6-10 (p. 913). “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 preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now 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? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ”.

The British have an expression for outrage. Paul is “gob smacked.” It means to be completely shocked. Paul is outraged at what’s taking place among these baby Christians. The gospel means “good news,” but these liars are making the gospel bad news.

We live in one of the most truth confused, theologically chaotic times in the history of the Church. Many are teaching another gospel, one that will damn their teachers and followers to hell. It must break our hearts. You see, it doesn’t matter what we think  or what we believe – it’s what God’s Word teaches.

So that we’re crystal-clear let’s define, What is the gospel? The gospel is simply the message that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin when He died on the cross. All that we must do to be forgiven by God and have eternal life is to believe and trust that His sacrifice was enough.”

The gospel is a main theme in this letter. These Galatian believers weren’t swapping churches, they were abandoning the gospel, the very grace of God and reverting to depending on their good works for God’s forgiveness. God’s Word says that Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Scott, aren’t you being a little judgmental? Doesn’t the Bible say, Judge not that you be not judged (Matthew 7:1). After all the buzz word of today is tolerance. How tolerant are we supposed to be?

In the fall of 1982, 12-year-old Mary Kellerman (picture) from Elk Grove Village, a suburb of Chicago, complained to her parents of a sore throat and a runny nose. They gave her one extra-strength Tylenol capsule that, unbeknownst to them, had been laced with cyanide. Mary was dead by 7 a.m.

That same day, 27-year-old postal worker, Adam Janus (picture) of Arlington Heights died of what was thought to be a massive heart attack. It turned out to be cyanide poisoning too. His brother and sister-in-law, Stanley and Theresa (picture) rushed to his home to console their loved ones. Both experienced throbbing headaches, a common response to a death in the family. Each took a Tylenol capsule or two from the same bottle Adam had used earlier in the day. Stanley died that day and Theresa two days later.

They never caught who did it. It’s believed someone took Tylenol bottles off the shelves of stores in the Chicago area, laced capsules with cyanide, and then returned those bottles to the shelves to be purchased by unknowing victims.

How tolerant should we be? There can be no tolerance for poison added to Tylenol. There can be no tolerance for spiritual poison added to the gospel. Those who do it are Spiritual Terrorists. If you’re taking notes…

1. A false gospel abandons God

During World War II six Navy pilots left their aircraft carrier on a mission. After searching for enemy submarines, they tried to return to their ship shortly after dark. But the captain had ordered a blackout of all lights on the ship. Over and over the frantic pilots radioed, asking for just one light so they could see to land. They were told that the blackout couldn’t be lifted. They’d been abandoned by their ship. After several appeals and denials of their request, the ship’s operator turned off the switch to break radio contact. Those pilots were forced to ditch into the ocean. 

God didn’t abandon these Galatian believers; they were abandoning Him, the God who loved and rescued them from sin. 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 (Galatians 1:6). How do you do that?

Deserting is a good translation. The word was first used in a military context for traitors. How do you desert the God who gave His Son for you?

You buy into a lie. Have you ever met someone who’s abandoned their spouse? These Galatians were abandoning God because you can’t abandon the gospel without abandoning God. To turn from the gospel of grace is to turn from the God of grace. Today we’d say they were deconstructing from their faith. Those who once professed a biblical faith use deconstruction to describe their departure from Christianity.

It happened so quickly. Why? Satan loves to attack new believers. They’re not yet strong in their faith or mature spiritually. Many young believers have been disillusioned and abandoned their faith because they saw the dark side of what should have been more mature believers.

Have you ever met a bitter pastor’s kid? Oftentimes it’s because as kids they learned too much about the dark side of the church. Jane and I weren’t perfect parents, but we worked to not talk about church problems in front of our three. If one of us started, usually it was me, we had a code phrase – the garden is growing. We wanted our children to grow up believing our church family was a little bit of heaven. We need to take that approach with baby Christians.

Some Jews had come to Galatia. They were better taught than these new Christians and probably seemed more theologically astute. They were teaching that it was Jesus plus the Old Testament law.

There’s something in the human heart that resists “free.” We find that true here at church. We’re very outspoken that we’re “Grace Church.” You can’t pay us for the use of our building. So, someone who’s not part of our church uses the building for something like a birthday party and we’ll find an envelope with cash in it afterwards. It’s free and yet they feel they must pay. And we feel a bit like Paul. We’re astounded. Olaf Norlie (picture) in his translation of the New Testament renders that I am dumbfounded.

Working for grace, trying to pay off God is Satanic. Satan never gives anything away. He wants slaves and payback. Grace isn’t in his vocabulary.

You can’t mix grace and works. One excludes the other. Salvation is absolutely the free gift of God’s grace, purchased for us by Christ on the cross. To turn from grace and add the law as the Galatians were doing, or add good works as so many do, is to abandon the God who saves by His free grace.  

Abandoning God is to be a John Walker Lindh (picture). Remember him? He was an American Taliban member captured by U.S. forces as an enemy combatant during the invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001. 

The Galatians weren’t just abandoning God. They were going over the other side. Who crucified Jesus? The Jews who continually confronted Jesus for not obeying all the Law. Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, and the Jews crucified Him for it. The Galatians are joining the enemy.

This month I’m reading Exodus in my personal quiet time. Almost right after God rescued the Children of Israel from Egypt, while Moses is up on the mountain meeting with God, they make an idol, a golden calf to worship. The dust of Egypt is still on their feet, and they abandon the God who freed them and miraculously brought them through the Red Sea. Paul is as angry as Moses was. He doesn’t throw down stone tablets, but he sends them a steaming letter.

You’ll find that Christians usually will abandon the gospel under two situations. 

Soul Trouble. They go through a crisis. They face a disease, a financial setback, a family or marital breakdown and they abandon God.

Twisted Truth.God’s truth is attacked, and we begin to doubt. It happens to young people in college. They’re away from home and other believers. Professors, classmates and roommates mock the gospel, and they abandon it.

John Calvin (picture) said, “The devil sometimes uses apparently small, subtle issues to distance us from the gospel, without our even perceiving it.”  

To contaminate the gospel jeopardizes our spiritual well-being. Please notice, they were tempted, they’re not victims. They made a choice, and so do we when we walk away from God. We don’t know how powerful our sinful nature is and how prone we are to abandon God. We need grace, we need the gospel every moment. I love this poem. I can so relate it. Can you?

Dear Lord,
So far I’ve done all right.
I haven’t gossiped,
haven’t lost my temper,
haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.
I’m really glad about that.

But in a few minutes, God,
I’m going to get out of bed.
And from then on,
I’m going to need a lot more help.

We’re prone to wander. A false gospel abandons God.

2. A false gospel is a perversion of grace

I always liked Alex Trebek (picture) from Jeopardy. I was disappointed though when I read his autobiography, The Answer Is. As Trebek battled pancreatic cancer, he shared his view of death: “But when death happens, it happens…Am I a believer? Well, I believe we are all part of the Great Soul—what some call God. We are God, and God is us. We are one with our maker. How do I know this? It’s not that I know it. It’s that I feel it.” How sad that Trebek had so little understanding of any type of biblical truth. He believed a false gospel.

Verse 7, not that there is another [gospel], but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. The greatest perversion of the gospel is not some weird, out there belief system of an Alex Trebek – it’s adding to the gospel. These false teachers, who we know as Judaizers, are teaching that it’s grace plus going back under Old Testament Law. They’re teaching that you had to do some things to go to be forgiven, to go to heaven.

So, they were going to pay God the Father back for the sacrifice of His Son on the cross? It’s unbelievable. They’re trying to bring these young Christians back under Judaism. Someone noted, Judaism was the birthplace of Christianity, but it was also almost the cemetery of Christianity. Their beliefs would have destroyed Christianity.

If I sold you a $10,000.00 car for $1.00, you’d get a bargain. But it would still be a purchase, not a gift. The message of these false teachers is not the gospel of grace. They added works to God’s free gift.

This perversion of the gospel was troubling the Galatians. It’s the same word was used for the fear the disciples had when they were in a storm on the sea. Perverting the gospel always bring anxiety and insecurity.

Think about it. If salvation come from obeying the Law, how much of the Law? Few still teach that today. What’s taught in many churches is that to go to heaven, you must do good things? Okay, how many? Since we all do bad things, how do you know if the good you’ve done outweighs all the bad that you’ve done? It’s why those who are not trusting the gospel are “troubled.”

Is another gospel being a good spouse or parent? How many times have you blown that? Is it being baptized? What about churches who believe you need to be baptized three times? Maybe your once wasn’t enough? Other churches believe that to go to heaven, you have to be baptized in Jesus’ name? What if the pastor coughed when he took you under and didn’t get all the words out? Some believe you must be sprinkled as a baby to go to heaven. But what if the Greek Orthodox are right and you have to be immersed as a baby to go to heaven? If it’s good work, how many? Which ones?  

Vince Lombardi (picture), once yelled angrily at one of his players Leo Caffey, Caffey (picture), if you cheat in a practice session, you will cheat in a game. And if you cheat in a game, you will cheat for the rest of your life, and I will not have it. That’s Paul’s point. A lie about God becomes a lie about eternal life. One of the evilest things anyone can do is to lie about God, pervert the gospel and misrepresent God.  

It’s evil to tell people that God grades on the curve and everyone gets into heaven in the end. It’s wicked to tell people God is a mean taskmaster and enough is never enough. If we believe God is an angry tyrant, we’ll work to avoid Him. If we believe He’s some senile grandfather, we’ll live carelessly. It’s vile to tell a lie about God and the gospel because believing a lie will not just cost them a relationship with God but it will cost them eternity in heaven.

Paul’s opponents accuse him of making grace too easy. It’s not easy. It cost God the Father His Son. It’s not easy because it means surrendering the one thing, we all hold dear – ourselves. We love to be in the driver’s seat of our lives. Salvation means surrender so we can be free!

There are many substitutions and distortions of the gospel. 

These are substitutions for the gospel.That it’s 99% grace and 1% works, substitutes works. Others teach salvation is from indulgences, sacraments, penance and confession. Some say salvation is by good works, particularly social ones.

These are distortions of the gospel. They slyly take us from understanding that salvation is by grace through faith. They add that it’s trust Christ and walk an aisle. Trust Christ and raise your hand. Trust Christ and say a prayer.

These give the impression you must do something in the salvation process. Salvation is always by grace through faith plus nothing. We don’t do anything to be saved. We simply trust Christ and receive His free gift of salvation.

Another way of stating this is the illustration of a bridge. All human religions are the same story of man’s efforts to bridge the immense gulf separating sinful man from a holy God. Biblical Christianity is the story of God finding man by bridging that great gulf (picture) with the cross of Jesus Christ. As Max Lucado (picture) writes, “Grace is what sets Christianity apart from every religion in the world. God’s unearnable salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life offered, not as a reward, but as free gifts. Nothing—absolutely nothing—required on our part, except to believe. No fine print and no strings attached.”

There’s another huge problem with a perversion of the gospel. It discourages those who think they’re too bad or too big of sinners for God to love them.

Steve Brown (picture) shares that this of why his dad hesitated to come to Christ. His dad was a drunk. Steve writes: “There’s one other thing you should know about my father. He hardly ever went to church, talked about God, or had anything to do with Christianity. When my brother or I would “perform” at a church function, he would sit in the back and leave when we finished. But that was pretty much it. Do you know why he had so little to do with the church? It had nothing to do with “those hypocrites” or a lack of belief. It was because my father didn’t think he was good enough.

He missed the main message of the Christian faith and almost missed Jesus. I’m so thankful for the physician who said to my father, ‘Mr. Brown, you have about three months to live. We’re going to pray and then I’m going to tell you something more important than what I just told you.’ That man told my father about Jesus—the Jesus who came for the sick and sinful, not the good. My father heard, was surprised, and then “ran to Jesus.”

3. False-gospel propagators face Hell

Perverting the gospel is dangerous. “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 1:8-9).   

Paul uses a powerful word for “accursed,” anathema. It was used of animals doomed to die as a sacrifice. Paul is calling down a terrible curse. What they are doing is so horrible that Paul wants the judgment of God to fall on them. He even adds angels and himself to being judged by this curse if any of them pervert the gospel. This is serious.

Paul loved the Galatians and doesn’t want anyone to drive a wedge between them and the gospel. He doesn’t want them to go into a Christless eternity. Instead, he believed that if anyone should go there, it should be those who are misleading others about the gospel.

Today this sounds harsh. Yet, we seem to only think it’s harsh when it’s used in the context of religion. Would it sound harsh if accursed were used of a drunk surgeon who killed a patient? Would accursed sound harsh if it was used of a city treasurer who embezzled public funds?

If there was another way of salvation Paul might be harsh. He’s only echoing what Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). There is no other gospel. Paul’s bluntness is from a heart overflowing with love for the Galatians.

How would Paul feel about preachers today who never warn their congregation that they must believe the gospel? Would Paul tolerate the gospel being preached by even many evangelicals today? He wouldn’t! Why? Because souls are at stake. He’d be more concerned about preaching truth than filling churches with more people.

Larry King (picture), the famed talk-show host, had a Christian leader on his program and asked this question, “Do you believe that Jews will go to hell if they don’t accept Jesus?” This man responded, “It is not my duty to say who will go to hell. But I will turn to a Jew to answer your question. Jesus was a Jew. And Jesus said that no one could come to God, and to the heavenly home, without coming through Him, without coming through Christ.”  

Larry King pressed this Christian leader, trying to make him look hateful. We can’t expect any less from this world. But we must teach the truth. Eternity hangs in the balance. There’s only one way to heaven…through Christ alone.

4. We must choose: Be a people-pleaser or a Witness for Jesus

“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). It’s better to be right in God’s eyes than popular with people.

We all face it. We want to be liked. We don’t want people to whisper behind or backs or call us religious nuts. The bottom line is: Who am I trying to please? There’s freedom in living for an audience of One as Paul did.

Those who seek to please only God become invincible inside.It frees us from the fear of others. Our souls become like steel, firm in the love and acceptance of God. We become anchored in the gospel. How about you? Are you strong for Jesus or crumbling under the pressure of what others think?

Those who stop striving to please people are  no longer intimidated by them.There will always be those who pressure us. When our lives are centered on pleasing God rather than people, we’re able to stand strong when the heat is on. We must keep our eyes on Jesus, depending on the power of the Spirit.

Those who are true servants of Christ think and act independently.These words need to echo in our souls. If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ Sharing the gospel won’t make us popular. We must live to hear those words from Jesus when we get Home, Well done, good and faithful servant. (Matthew 25:21).

Jesus’ pleasers aren’t people pleasers. It’s why each of  us must choose. Most of us feel the pressure to water down biblical truth. I’m going to be honest, sharing a message like this sermon today is hard. You can’t be a people pleaser and also be a witness for Christ.

So, why don’t we share our faith? Sometimes we don’t know what to say. More often, it’s because we’re ashamed of being a Christian. We don’t want others to think we’re a religious nut. It’s why we try to help you at Grace when you become a member and record your testimony. Every believer has a gospel story. We need to grow comfortable sharing it. Jesus’ words are a warning to us. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33).

Recently, I was convicted as I read of a young man in a desolate area of Africa. Mack Stiles (picture) shares his story. Mack had shared the gospel in the same place at an earlier event, but this young man resisted the gospel. When Mack was back sharing the gospel, the young man approached him afterwards and trusted Christ. Mack asked him why he’d hesitated the first time. The young man said, “Because I knew that if I committed my life to Christ, when I got home my dad would beat me.” No one is beating me or you. What are we ashamed of? 

Conclusion

Have you personally believed the gospel? Can you explain it?

The most notorious cult of recent years was Jim Jones’ (picture) “People’s Temple.” Jones and his followers left the States and moved to Ghana. They cleared out an area in the jungle and built their community, called “Paradise” by members, but Jonestown to outsiders, where Jones was clearly the head poohbah. Jones convinced followers that he was the new Messiah, and that “Paradise” was heaven on earth. Reports of his sexual, physical and psychological abuse reached the FBI. In response, a Congressional delegation, accompanied by the FBI, flew to Jonestown in the summer of 1978. They found it was all true. But before they could get back to their jet and return to California, they were murdered by People’s Temple members. One, though, managed to get a message through to authorities in the states before he was killed. A second delegation was quickly assembled, this time armed, arriving a few days later.

But when that group arrived, they discovered a horrible sight: every person in “Paradise” was dead (picture). Letters left by some of the dead were found telling the horrifying story of how Jones and his church leaders persuaded every person to drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Mothers were instructed to first give it to their children and then drink it themselves. Their dead bodies were bloated and sun-bleached. Jones was found dead by a gunshot to the head.

The simplest warning we can give to anyone about false gospels is: “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!”

That scene of dead bodies is horrible. Something much more horrible though is teaching a false gospel that murders someone’s soul for eternity. If someone was considering following a Jim Jones, wouldn’t you warn them? Yet, we have those around us who believe a false gospel taught by false teachers, are we warning them?

Where does all of this leave us? One thing is clear in Galatians. Your relationship to Christ makes all the difference. Ultimately, nothing else will matter. We must run to the cross as our only hope of salvation. God is satisfied with what His Son did on the cross and we must commit our lives to Him.

Are you satisfied with what Jesus did? Or do you think you need to add something of your own to what He accomplished? Our own pride makes us believe that God needs our good works. Today I urge you to humble yourself, turn from your pride, and bow before the One who loved you enough to die in your place. Trust Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

This passage urges us to stand strong for the gospel. We live at a time when anyone who expresses a strong opinion on anything is liable to be ridiculed or canceled. So be it! As Christ-followers, let’s be as narrow as God’s truth is narrow and as broad as God’s grace is broad. 

Thank God for His warning about Spiritual Terrorists. It reveals the heart of the gospel and calls us to be faithful to the truth revealed in Scripture.

And thank God that the “finished work” of Christ is truly finished. Let’s join together with other believers, declaring the free grace of God. It’s the message our world desperately needs to hear. It’s the message our friends, neighbors and community needs to hear.

May God deliver us from the fear of people. My friend, never be ashamed of the gospel. If you believe it, please share it with someone else this week.