As universal and pervasive as the desire to be in the right is the thought that we are justified according to good works. There’s something in all of us that tells us that we’re justified because of good works that we have done. You grab the average person on the street and ask him if he thinks he will go to heaven when he dies (i.e., because he has been justified by God), and he’ll answer according to his works, probably saying that he’s a pretty good person and hasn’t done too much bad. There’s a reason why every religion merely produced by man has individuals being justified on the basis of good works that they have done. There’s a reason why Jehovah’s Witnesses are willing to knock on countless doors and Muslims are willing to fly planes into buildings. No matter how different these two groups are, there is agreement with them in that they are convinced that if there is any hope for one being justified before God, then it must (at least in part) be because of ones good works.
And as I said last week concerning the universal desire to be in the right, so with this tendency to think that we are justified based on our good works, we are no exception. There’s a reason why we often think that all is okay between us and God when we’ve read our Bibles and prayed for the day and think that he has taken a stance against us when we’ve failed to do this. It’s because something within us screams that our justification before God must be based on our doing enough good things or avoiding enough bad things. Therefore, when we hear (as we will over the next several weeks) that we are declared righteous before God not based on any good work that we have done and that our good works contribute nothing to the righteousness in which we stand before God, we instantly are tempted to think that somehow that must be wrong. There’s something within our hearts that is simply bent away from that so that we hear that and think it’s an exaggeration. We think, “Surely, at least part of my justification is based on the good I’ve done.”
And because that is the state of our hearts – to be bent toward thinking we’re justified before God based on our good works – we are susceptible to false teaching that perverts and distorts the gospel of grace and are susceptible to abandoning the gospel altogether. Therefore, it is helpful for us to study the book of Galatians. It’s helpful because we get to stand as those eavesdropping on a conversation of sorts – or perhaps better, a monologue. We get to stand and listen, hear, read, and see a group of individuals who have bought into the thought that they are justified not only through faith in the crucified and risen Christ but also by obeying the law, being addressed and shown how and why they are wrong in this thinking. It is helpful for us because sometimes it is easier to see in others certain flaws than it is to identify those flaws in ourselves. So I don’t think we’ll read this book and hear it preached week after week and think, “O those foolish Galatians” because we will perhaps be too busy thinking how clearly they represent us and our own tendencies to look to our good works as our basis for justification before God.
Therefore, this morning, as we look at Galatians 1:6-10, I want to highlight the seriousness of the problem the Galatians were facing, show how their problem relates to us (as individuals and as a church), and show what we need to do to make sure that we do not head down the road the Galatians were heading down. But before doing that, let’s attempt to recreate a bit what was the setting in which Paul was writing.
Paul is writing to a group of churches who had heard the true gospel and had professed faith in Christ alone for their justification. However, sometime after Paul had left them, some had come to them and were troubling them by preaching a different gospel. They were perverting and distorting the message that Paul had delivered to them, and were preaching that something must be added to Paul’s gospel. We see that in our text this morning as Paul says in 1:7, “There are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” Specifically, they were being taught that what Paul had taught them was not sufficient but that if they wanted to be justified, they needed to keep the law of God. Thus, Paul writes in 5:4, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law.” And more specifically they were being taught that if they wanted to be justified before God that they needed to be circumcised. Thus, again, Paul notes in 6:12-13, “It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. . . . They desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.”
Therefore, Paul writes this letter to stop them from falling captive to this false teaching and to correct them in their thinking as to how one is justified before God. Paul writes this letter to rescue these individuals from denying the gospel and walking away from their only hope for justification – away from their only hope for eternal life.
This is why when Paul begins the main body of this letter (in the verses we’re looking at this morning), he does not do it in typical fashion. Often, in Paul’s letters, after his introduction, you’ll find him saying something like how thankful he is for those to whom he is writing. So, for example, even in a book like 1 Corinthians, where Paul deals with some very serious issues in regard to the Corinthians’ practice, he begins after his greeting, writing, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:4). However, in Galatians, after giving his introduction, he starts right into rebuke and addressing the severity of the situation. Therefore, seeing the seriousness of this situation that Paul is addressing, I want us to look closely into these five verses this morning. Specifically, I want us to see what the Galatians’ situation has to do with us and what Paul’s writing entails that we need to do to ensure we do not abandon the gospel.
Now, right off the bat, Paul writes, “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” (1:6). Paul does not begin this letter saying, “Of course, you crazy Galatians. I knew this was going to happen.” The Galatians weren’t like that individual who professes faith in Christ but always seems to be on the verge of abandoning that profession. Rather, Paul will write of them in 5:7, “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” This was a group that was running well, who had demonstrated a commitment to the gospel and a love for Christ. And now some had come and were troubling them, distorting the gospel by adding that they must obey the law in order to be justified before God, and some were turning from the gospel to this new teaching and abandoning Christ.
So, what do we then say to this? Do we look and say, “O those silly Galatians?” and express thanks that we have things in place (e.g., expositional preaching, godly pastors, a spiritually mature congregation, meaningful membership, church discipline, etc.) so that we most certainly will not go down this road? No. We must not respond that way. Rather, we must let this be a wake up call to all of us, reminding us that godly people and good churches can quickly go astray, even abandoning the gospel itself.
Every church discipline case I’ve been through and known of where someone has been removed from the church so that the church declares that they do not give evidence of knowing Christ, someone has said something along the lines of, “But I remember when their profession seemed so sincere and their commitment to Christ so steadfast.” Paul does not say to the Galatians, “I saw this coming. You all never really gave evidence of knowing Christ. You never really seemed to be really committed.” No, rather, he says, “You were running so well.”
So, as it is true of individuals, it is true of churches. Good churches can quickly go astray, even abandoning the gospel. And, yes, it is good and helpful to have certain things in place. It is good to have godly pastors, expositional preaching, church discipline, etc. But these things do not guarantee that a local church will not go astray, even abandoning the gospel. After all, Paul was an apostle who taught the Galatians quite clearly, and they were going astray.
And the reason is that there will always be temptations to deny the gospel and go astray. It may come in the form of false teachers who come in as Paul mentions in 1:7 and want to “trouble you and distort the gospel of Christ.” You see, such teachers do not come in saying, “Hey, who wants to go to hell?” Rather, they perhaps only add a bit to the gospel. Perhaps they are seemingly “good” people. Then, you combine that with our own tendencies that want to add to the gospel that we must might. After all, it doesn’t sound bad at first glance to say that you are justified by faith in Christ, and having a daily quiet time, going to Sunday school, or doing numerous other good things. But all these things are adding something to the gospel, and when you do that you distort the gospel so that it’s no longer the gospel at all.
Notice how Paul says that he’s astonished that the Galatians were turning to a different gospel and then adds, “Not that there is another one”? This is because the gospel is something that cannot be altered and things still be okay. I tried to come up with a great picture of this, but I struggled to find one, so here’s the best I can do. The gospel is not like vanilla ice cream but more like pure water in this way. If someone said your illness could be cured by eating vanilla ice cream, then you could add chocolate syrup on top and it wouldn’t matter; if you ate it, you’d still be eating vanilla ice cream. However, if someone said that your illness could be cured by drinking pure water and you added a little salt to the pure water, then you’ve destroyed the pure water. It’s not pure water with a little salt (like vanilla ice cream remains as it is only with a little chocolate syrup). It’s not impure water. And so it is with the gospel. The gospel is the good news that Christ lived a perfect life, died for our sins, and was raised from the dead so that if we repent and believe in him we have forgiveness of sins. If you add to that in any way some good works that we must do to be declared righteous or in any way trust in being good enough, you are no longer talking about the gospel. And, as I mentioned, because this is an easy tendency for all of us to fall prey to, we must not look at the Galatians as some silly and vulnerable group but acknowledge that godly people and good churches, like the Galatians, can quickly go astray, even distorting the gospel.
So, what then do we do as individuals and as a church to guard against this, to make sure that we hold fast to the gospel and do not fall prey to distorting the good news? There are a few things I want to highlight in these verses that I think help us in this. The first of these is that we must make see the gospel as our greatest treasure – not our name, this church, or any other agenda.
One of the chief ways that we ensure that we as individuals or as a church do not walk astray, distorting the gospel is by making the preservation and proclamation of the gospel an intentional priority. Now, that necessitates that all of us know the gospel. This is why in every membership interview one of the elders will ask a potential member to share the gospel, making sure the candidate has a clear understanding of the gospel. We want to know all our members know the gospel. We then sing the gospel again and again. We preach the gospel again and again. We come to the table every week, reminding ourselves of the gospel. My prayer is that people know of Cornerstone Community Church as a church full of people who know and love the gospel above all else.
But, you might ask where this comes from in the text. It comes from verse 8. In this verse, Paul shows that the preservation and proclamation of the gospel was his top priority. He writes, “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.” Paul says that if an angel from heaven were all of the sudden to appear in this room with lightning and flashing lights and thunder and speak in a thunderous voice saying, “You are justified by faith in the crucified and risen Christ and by obeying the works of the law” that we should say, “Let that angel be considered as an angel under the judgment and wrath of God. We will not hear what he has to say.” This is how important the gospel is to Paul.
Yet, even more than that, Paul says that even if he himself were to come preaching something other than what he had preached to them, that they should consider him accursed as well. Now, Paul knows that neither an angel from heaven nor he is going to come preaching a different gospel, but he’s expressing to them how important the preservation and proclamation of the gospel is. It’s more important than his name or any agenda he might have. Paul would rather suffer himself than that the gospel suffer distortion.
And we must make that our commitment as well. Because the gospel is our only hope of salvation, and if we no longer are bringing the gospel to others, then we are abandoning any hope others have of knowing Christ as well. Because a distorted gospel is no gospel at all, we must make the preservation and proclamation of the gospel our priority.
Yet, there is also another uncomfortable action we must be willing to take if we’re gong to guard ourselves and this church from going astray in distorting the gospel. It is this, we must recognize that those who trust in a distorted gospel and teach a distorted gospel stand condemned before God.
After using the example of himself or an angel preaching a false gospel, which the Galatians knew would not happen, Paul turns to something that can and does happen, others teaching a false gospel. He had obviously warned them about this when he first preached the gospel to them and they had first believed. Now, he reminds them again. He says in verse 9, “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.”
It’s easy for us to want to think that others are okay. We don’t necessarily like facing the reality that people are condemned. We especially do not like facing the reality that people are condemned who proclaim that Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead. Yet, those troubling the Galatians no doubt fit that category. They no doubt believed that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead, and that we must believe in him. Yet they added the necessity of obeying certain laws as well (especially circumcision) in order to be justified before God. They would have said probably something like this, “If you want to be justified before God, you must trust in Jesus, and you must be circumcised.” Paul says, “That is not the gospel. And people teaching that stand before the judgment of God.”
And in a world where we often think of pagans merely as those who do not profess to believe in Jesus or deny his resurrection, it’s hard to think of a people who confess that he was indeed raised from the dead as standing condemned before God. Yet, we must consider them so. Otherwise, we’re accepting something as good news that is not good news, something as the gospel that is not the gospel.
This is crucial for our own day because there is such a move toward thinking of those in Roman Catholicism as standing with us. After all, the Pope has fought against abortion and wants a number of things that are in accord with the gospel. The Pope would even say that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. But, and here’s the crucial detail, the Pope (and Roman Catholicism as a whole) teaches that you will stand justified before God both through faith in Christ and based on the merit of your good works. Paul would hear that and say, “Consider that man accursed.”
It seems harsh perhaps and unloving. But what is unloving is compromising the gospel and teaching others that it’s okay so that those trusting in a distorted gospel that is no gospel at all end up going to hell.
This leads me to one other thought before we look at verse 10. It’s a point I draw from our entire text this morning, simply as we acknowledge what Paul is doing here. And it’s another way that we fight to make sure we do not walk astray from the gospel. It is this: we must run after professing believers who are tempted to abandon the gospel.
The entire picture of these verses is not a man writing to a people saying, “You’ve done it. You’re too far gone.” No, this is a man saying, “Don’t give in to what these false teachers are teaching you.” Paul is fighting for the Galatians to hold fast to the gospel. And I wanted to point this out lest we misunderstand Paul’s words in verses 8-9. Therefore, Paul said, “If anyone preaches a different gospel, consider that man as standing under the condemnation of God.” From that, I think we can gather that Paul wants the Galatians to shut their ears to these false teachers and tell them to leave town. The Galatians need to recognize that there is a danger in letting these men continue on as if nothing is wrong. They need to consider them accursed.
However, this does not mean that if a professing believer says, “I think God declares me righteous because I read my Bible all the time” that we respond, “Shut your mouth; you stand condemned before God.” No, that’s not what Paul is doing in this text. He’s taking time to teach the Galatians that we’re not justified by our good works but by faith alone. He’s laboring to make sure they understand the gospel and trust in Christ and his work alone. He’s not abandoning them.
And so we must run after those who seems to be tempted to distort the gospel in our midst and teach them. I’ve done numerous membership interviews where I ask people to share the gospel with me and they’ll share that Jesus died to pay for our sins and we must believe in him to have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. I don’t respond by saying, “You didn’t mention the resurrection. Out of my office. And on the authority of God’s Word, I say, ‘You’re condemned to hell.’” No. Rather, I say something like, “Did Jesus stay dead?” Then, they say, “No, of course not, I just forgot to mention the resurrection. He was raised on the third day.” Then, I try to teach them why the resurrection is so important and why it is necessary to proclaim if we say that we’re proclaiming the gospel.
So, yes, there’s occasion for removing false teachers from among you, acknowledging that they stand condemned, as you guard the rest of the church from false teaching. Ray, Nathan, and I must be on watch for such teachers coming into our midst. And, there is also occasion, even as Paul is doing in this letter for patiently teaching, encouraging, and correcting our professing brothers and sisters who are being tempted to distort the gospel so that they might hold fast to the true gospel.
And then, there is one final thing I want to mention in our fight to hold fast to the gospel. We must recognize that perhaps the greatest threat to the gospel is our desire to please man.
Paul writes in verse 10, “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.” Paul sees a desire to please man and a desire to have the approval of man as a direct threat to walking as a servant of Christ.
If we’re going to be a people who fight for the preservation and proclamation of the gospel as individuals and as a church, then we must not be a people who are enslaved by a desire to please man. And the reason this is such a threat is because most everyone in the world thinks that the gospel is foolishness and that we need to acknowledge that people are going to be justified by other means than trusting in the crucified and risen Christ alone. And if you’re desire is to please them and have their approval, then you must compromise the gospel. Otherwise, many will despise you. They will say you’re unloving. They will say you’re narrow-minded.
And a desire to please man can be a constant temptation. Ask yourself, for example, why evangelizing is difficult. Is it because you’re afraid your neighbor or co-worker or family member will beat you. Perhaps there is such a threat, but I doubt many of us would say that’s why. The reason is most likely because we desire for them to think well of us. We desire their approval. We want to be pleasing to them. And we don’t want to make things odd by their thinking badly of us. In short, it’s because we are tempting to try to please man and have their approval. But if that’s the case in our lives, then we will not serve Christ.
I’ve examined my own life this week and am examining why I have done certain things and have not done others, and sadly I have realized more and more areas of my own life that are being controlled by a desire to please man and to have his approval. God forbid. And we should not see that desire to please man as something that would be nice to get rid of. We need to see it as a constant threat, tempting us at every turn to walk astray and to deny the gospel.
So, this morning, I want us to recognize that godly people and good churches can go astray quickly. Therefore, we must make the preservation and proclamation of the gospel a priority. We must consider accursed those false teachers who would distort the gospel. We must run after professing believers who are tempted to distort the gospel. And we must fight not to be people who are enslaved by a desire to please men and have their approval. And we must do all of these things because the gospel alone is our hope for salvation. It alone is the power of God for salvation to those who believe. Let us then delight in the gospel as we come to the table. Amen.