Galatians 1v1-11
Passion for the Gospel
500 years ago theChristian church in Europe was almost dead. They had forgotten what it means to be Christians. The great gospel message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone had almost been lost. Then a GermanMonk named Martin Lutherpicked up the book of Galatians. The message he discovered there was nothing new. It had simply been lost.
Up to this point, Martin Luther was striving to please God. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do enough. He couldn’t gain assurance of salvation. He dreaded the judgment of God.
And then he discovered this glorious truth: Justification by faith.
It teaches that sinful people are made righteous in God’s sight, not because of our acts of righteousness, but rather because of an alien righteousness, a righteousness outside of us, the righteousness of Jesus that gets credited to our account. Our sins get transferred to Him. His righteousness gets transferred to us.
In the words of Martin Luther; ‘When I discovered this truth I was born again of the Holy Spirit. And the doors of paradise swung open, and I walked through.’
This is the truth that sparked the Reformation.
You might not be aware, but this year is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The 29th of October is Reformation Sunday. So we thought it would be fitting as we celebrate the reformation to go back to this source document. The book of Galatians.
We are going to go back to this key truth: Justification by faith.
My aim is to fulfil the words of Martin Luther.
“Its most necessary that we should know this truth well, that we should teach it to others and that we shouldbeat it into their heads continually.”
That’s what we’ll be doing over the next few weeks.
Maybe you are someone who has never encountered this truth, never made this discovery. It’s so good to have you here. Please keep coming. And may God do for you what He did for Martin Luther.
Or maybe you are someone who already knows this doctrine. You know it so well. If I was to burst into your bedroom at two in the morning and shake you awake and ask; ‘How can sinful you be made righteous before God?’;you would immediately answer;‘Jesus. It’s not because of my righteousness. Its only through faith in Jesus.’ This truth has already been beaten into your head. I want to say that even for you, this series is crucial.
You see, according to Martin Luther, the default position of the human heart is self-righteousness. We want to rely on ourselves. And so we might know this truth in our heads, but we fail to apply it in our hearts. We keep going back to our performance. And we miss out on the freedom of the gospel.
That’s really the purpose of Galatians. That we might know the freedom of trusting in Christ.
The key verse is Galatians 5 verse 1:
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and don’t let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Now the letter of Galatians was written by Paul to a group of churches in Galatia. For those of you who enjoy geography, Galatia is modern day Turkey.
If youread Acts chapters 13 and 14 you’ll see how Paul and Barnabas take the gospel to Galatia. There’s a wonderful response. Especially amongst the Gentiles. Large numbers of people believe. And churches are established.
So whenPaul returns to hishome church in Antioch, he writes this letter to these churches. He’s heard a report about them. immediately we can see thatit’s not good.
One of the most striking aspects of this letter is the strong language Paul uses.
Paul’s normal pattern in his letters is to move straight from his greetings into praise and thanksgiving. Even in some of the worst churches like Corinth, he gives thanks to God for those he’s writing to. But not for the Galatians. Look at verse 6: (and this comes straight after the greetings.)
“I’m astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you…”
Basically he says:
“Dear Galatians. Grace and peace to you. Why are you being such idiots?”
In chapter 3 he will say: “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you!
He’s not mincing his words. Clearly, he’s angry.
And if he’s angry with the Galatians, he’s even more angry with those whomislead them.
You can see it in verses 8 and 9:“If anyone preaches a different gospel, let him be eternally condemned.” Literally the word is “cursed”. Let him be accursed, if he preaches a different gospel.
In chapter 5 verse 12, he’ll say: “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves.”
This raises the question: Why is Paul so emotional? Why does he use such strong language?
Well it’s because of his passion for the gospel. Paul’s completely and utterly sold out for the gospel.
In Romans 1 verse 1 he says: “I’m set apart for the gospel.”
Colossians 1 verse 23:“I’m a servant of the gospel.”
Paul is devoted to the gospel.
And that’s what makes him so angry.
According to Galatians 1 verse 7, there arethose who are perverting the gospel.
this morning I want us to consider our attitude to the gospel. Are we as passionate as Paul?
When we see people distorting the gospel, teaching a false gospel, a legalistic gospel or a prosperity gospel, are we as angered as Paul? Do we respond with the same amount of passion and emotion? Are we as convinced that our gospel is true? Are we as concerned to contend for the gospel?
What makes this hard for us is the cultural climate in which we live.
Many today say there’s no such thing as absolute truth. Except of course the statement that there is no absolute truth, which they claim is absolutely true.
They contradict their position.
But there is this scepticism towards those who promote their faith. Anyone who’s dogmatic or passionate about what they believe is viewed with suspicion.
We live in a time of religious tolerance. It doesn’t really matter what you believe. Just keep it to yourself and don’t offend others.
And so it’s a challenge for us. Will we be like Paul? Will we contend passionately for the gospel?
Here are 3 points that I hope will make us more committed to the gospel:
Firstly, the glorious content of the gospel. Secondly, the subtle perversion of the gospel. Thirdly, the ultimate authority of the gospel.
So firstly, the glorious content of the gospel.
In most of Paul’s letters he starts with the same greeting: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…” You find it in Romans, 1 Cor, 2 Cor, Eph. It’s his standard greeting at the start of his letters.
But this time he elaborates on this greeting. He gives us a summary of the gospel.
The first thing to noticeis the God-centredness of this message.
Verse 3 refers to the great blessings of the gospel:
Grace - that we can enjoy undeserved favourand acceptance with God.
Peace - that we can move from being God’s enemies to being His friend.
These are the great blessings of the gospel. And in verse 3 we are taken to the source. “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Some people think that God the Father is the angry One and Jesus is the gracious One, as if their purposes are opposed. But here we see that they are united. God the Father and Jesusare the source of grace and peace.
But He isn’t only the source of the gospel. He’s also the goal of the gospel. Look at verses 4 and 5. Why did Jesus die for our sins? It was “…according to the will of our God and Father to Whom be glory forever and ever.”
You see this is the great purposeof God’s grace and peace. It’s not just that we’ll be saved from hell. It’s that we’ll be so moved and transformed by His grace that we’ll give glory back to Him.
The source of the gospel is His grace. The goal of the gospel is His glory.This is a God- centered message.
And what is it that connects the grace that flows from God with the glory that belongs to God? Well it’s right at the heart of these verses: the death of Jesus for our sins. Verse 4: “Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.”
If you go to someone on the street and you ask them to please define a Christian, I reackon they would say something like this: A Christian is someone who follows the teachings of Jesus. Or, a Christian is someone who walks in the footsteps of Jesus.
And yes Jesus was a great moral teacher. He did set the highest moral example.
But isn’t it striking when Paul summarizes the heart of the Christian message, he doesn’t refer to these things?
What’s the great gift provided by Jesus according to verse 4? It’s not an example. It’s not a teaching. Rather it’s a rescue.
You see, if you notice a woman drowning in the sea you don’t throw her a teaching manual on how to swim. No, you throw her a rope.
She needs a rescue.
That’s what we so desperately need: not more self-help teaching. not more inspiring examples. We are drowning in our sins. There’s nothing we can do to save ourselves. What we need is a rescue!
And how does Jesus rescue us according to verse 4? By giving Himself “for our sins”.
That word “for” refers to “in the place of” or “on behalf of”. It’s talking about substitutionary sacrifice. When Jesus died for our sins He became our substitute. He diedin our placetaking our punishment on our behalf.
And if you’re a sinner like me, how do you respond?
Glory be to God!
This is the first reason why Paul’s so passionate for the gospel. It’s because he’s grasped this glorious message.
In 1 Timothy 1 verse 15 and 16 he says:
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.”
Are you aware of your sin this morning? Have you been brought to the end of yourself? Can you see your need for a rescue?
Then this is the offer of the gospel for you:Forgiveness and grace and peace that you don’t deserve.
Glory be to God for ever and ever, Amen.
So firstly, there’s a glorious content to the gospel. But secondly, there are also subtle perversions of the gospel.
As we already noticed, Paul breaks his normal pattern in verse 6. He doesn’t go from the greeting into thanksgiving for the Galatians. Instead he goes directly to the problem. We’ll learn more about this problem as we continue. But basically, some false teachers have entered these churches and they’re insisting that it’s not enough for these Gentiles simply to have Jesus. If they want to be fully accepted and fully pleasing to God then they also need to obey certain Jewish laws.
We get an example of their teaching in Acts chapter 15 verse 1. It should be on the screen.
“Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised, according to custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.’”
Verse 5 says: “Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said: “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
Notice verse 5 refers to them as believers.
So yes, believe in Jesus, but also… get circumcised
Believe in Jesus, but also … keep the Sabbath.
Believe in Jesus, but also… don’t eat pork.
Andso it’s important to emphasize that these false teachers aren’t explicitly denying the gospel. They still teach thatJesus is the Christ. They still claim to be followers of His.
All they are doing is adding a few laws.
So it might not seem too serious. Believe in Jesus. Obey Moses’ laws. Surely that’s a great combination in order to be saved.
But look at how Paul puts it in Galatians 1 verse 6:
“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.”
According to Paul if you add laws to the gospel you are not just adding, youare perverting.
The word for pervert is a strong word. It refers to a radical change. It’s a complete reversal.
As Tim Keller puts it: ‘the moment we revise the gospel, we reverse the gospel.’
But notice they’re not just perverting the gospel. They are losing the gospel.
At the end of verse 6Paul says thatthey are preaching a different gospel. But then immediately he qualifies it in verse 7 by saying it is actually no gospel.
In other words, the moment you change the gospel even in the slightest, you lose it so completely that you don’t have any gospel at all.
You see the gospel is like a vacuum, a space with zero air.
As soon as the smallest amount of air gets in you don’t say; “this is a 90 percent vacuum.” or “This is an air-enriched vacuum.” No, it’s not a vacuum any more.
It’s either a complete vacuum or it’s not a vacuum at all!
We can put it in terms of an equation, for those of us who enjoy math. This is how gospel math works:
The gospel + anything = nothing.
We cannot add to the gospel.
That’s why the repeated word in the reformation slogan is the word… “alone”.
“We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.” That word alone is so important.
As soon as you add anything you immediatelylose everything.
And it’s not just about losing some impersonal Christian truth. Notice how Paul puts it in verse 6: When you turn away from the gospel, what are you actually doing? “You are deserting the One who called you.”
You see, when you abandon gospel truth, you abandon the Person of Christ. This is personal rebellion.
We need to think about this for ourselves. How can we recognize gospel perversions today?
Well the most obvious example is if westart imposing legalistic rules on the church about what you eat and what you drink and what you wear? Some churches do this; if you want to be a true Christian, you may not eat certain foods. You need to observe certain festivals. You need to wear certain uniforms. If you really want to be spiritual and holy, there are all kinds of laws you need to obey.
That’s an obvious example. But even for us as areformed evangelical church, although we might know that we are saved by grace,even though we might emphasize salvation by grace in our teaching,
we might still imply that what really saves you is the level of your commitment or the intensity of your faith or the standard of your performance.
You see it’s very subtle.
We need to examine our motivations. Why do we obey God? Is it because we’ve alreadybeen accepted? Or is it to try and earn our acceptance?
One way we can test this is to think about our self-esteem.
Where do we find our sense of identity and our security and our sense of worth? Is it in our moral performance or is it in Christ?
Are we people who are constantly swinging between two poles?
If we have a good day, and are productive, living up to our moral standards, then we feel confident and proud and superior to others.
But if we have a bad day and fail to live up to our standards and sin, then we feel insecure and inadequate and inferior to others.
That’s a sign that we are not really trusting the gospel.
If our identity’s truly in Christ, thenwe know deep down,even though we are sinners in ourselves, weare simultaneously loved and accepted in Christ.
Martin Luther coined a Latin phrase to describe us as Christians:
“simul iustus et peccator”—
It means simultaneously sinful and yet righteous. That’s what we are as Christians.
We are sinners in ourselves, but at the same time we are saints in Christ. And sothat affects how we relate to people. We don’t look down on people. We relate to them with the humility of awicked sinner. But wealso don’t feel inferior to others. We relate to them with the confidence of a dearly loved saint.
That’s a signthat the gospel is being rooted in our hearts. But the point is that the perversion of the gospel is so subtle.We need to recognize its subtle perversions.
Then thirdly,if we want to contend for gospel, if we want to be passionate like Paul, then we need to be confident in the gospel. We need to be thoroughly convinced that our gospel is true.
If the gospel is so easily perverted, if there are so many different versions out there, how can we be sure that our gospel is true? Maybe we’ve just been told it’s true. Maybe we just think it’s true. Maybe it just feels true to us. How can we recognize the true gospel message?