G3 2014 | “Why Preach the Intolerant Message of the Exclusive Gospel?” – Galatians 1 - Steven Lawson

well it is a privilege to be here with you tonight and to worship the Lord and to hear the word of God preached as we already have this evening a David Miller and it is a joy knowing that many of you have come from some distance to be a part of this conference and I'm very humbled by that to have some small way being able to to minister to you I commend you for your priorities and for seeking out a conference like this I'm very grateful for praise mill Baptist Church to host this and what a beginning this is and I think Pastor josh is onto something here and may God give it great success not only in our lives but far beyond our meeting here to those who will listen by livestream and by the tapes and really to lay a foundation for future years future conferences held here may God do that which he alone will receive glory and praise I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Galatians Galatians chapter one the topic that has been assigned to me is why preach the intolerant message of the exclusive gospel there are many texts to which I could draw our attention tonight we could do a survey of the entire Bible we could focus upon various key texts but my my heart is drawn to this text in Galatians chapter 1 beginning in verse 6 the Apostle Paul as he writes to the church churches of Galatia writes I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel which is really not another only there are some who are disturbing you and want to disturb the gospel of Christ but even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you he is to be accursed as we have said before so I say again now if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received he is to be accursed from I now seeking the favor of men or of God or am i striving to please men if our if I were still trying to please men I would not be a bondservant of Christ again the topic that has been assigned to me why preach the intolerant message of the exclusive gospel demands a clear and in Phatak answer and defense of the faith once and for all delivered to the Saints to be wrong here is to be wrong everywhere else that truly matters to be wrong here is to be wrong about the saving mission and sin-bearing work of Christ to be wrong here is to be wrong about the very nature of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior to be wrong here is to be entirely wrong about the way of salvation that leads to God to be wrong here is to pave the broad path that leads to eternal destruction and damnation we must be unwavering in our assertion that the gospel is the only way of salvation the entire Bible is staunchly and strictly assertive about this Cardinal truth from Genesis to Revelation the entire Bible speaks with one voice and that without stuttering or stammering that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and there is not one drop of saving grace outside of those three SOLAS not one the very essence of the gospel itself demands its exclusivity wants you to find the purity of the gospel you automatically establish its exclusivity the Bible lays down a zero-tolerance policy for any equivocation outside of this singular message that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to put it most succinctly the scripture is adamant that the gospel is the only way of salvation every other path is a path that leads to hell if the gospel is not the only way to heaven it is no way to heaven if the gospel is not the way of salvation it is not a way of salvation and we're not just dogmatic about this we are bull' dogmatic about this there are many passages to which we may turn to establish this Cardinal truth tonight we shall be in Galatians chapter 1 and with these opening verses we quickly discover that the book of Galatians is Paul's most passionate his most explosive letter that this book is a powder keg of spiritual dynamite ready to detonate Paul misses no words here he breathes holy fire in this letter Paul is so consumed with fiery zeal regarding the exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ that he abandons his normal practice of beginning by dictating the the letter to a secretary instead Paul grabs the pen in hand himself and he writes this letter with his own hand in letters so large that you could read them from the other side of the region he says in Galatians 6 verse 11 see with what large letters I'm writing to you with my own hand it is clear that Paul is highly emotionally charged and for very good reason and so what has Paul so riled up and what should have us so worked up the issue here is the gospel has come under siege the gospel of grace has been corrupted in Galatia it has been compromised it has been perverted it has been corrupted until it is no gospel at all a gospel of grace had come under attack by false teachers known as the Judaizers who had come into the church and mix grace and law works in faith and these defilers of the truth claim that salvation could be earned by keeping the law and that sanctification can be achieved by the flesh and these perverts of the gospel sought to change salvation from no longer being a gift for the guilty making it a reward for the righteous so the Apostle Paul must fight the good fight for the very heart and soul of the gospel of Jesus Christ and you and I are living in days in which the gospel has come under assault in and again and again and you and I must stand firm in Grace and we too must stand strong that the gospel is the only way of salvation I want us to look at this text I want you to note four things with me from this text I want you to note first Paul's amazement beginning in verse six Paul begins by expressing his astonishment over the Galatians he is shocked by the Galatians verse six he begins I am amazed this word for a maize is a very strong word it means to be astounded to be bewildered to be dumbfounded to be shocked to be perplexed Paul would say in the vernacular you blow my mind those of you there in Galatia he says I am amazed I'm shocked stunned that you are so quickly deserting him he is writing this to believers now that you are so quickly deserting him this word for deserting it is a military term for a soldier abandoning his position or post it means literally to go AWOL when you should be on guard when you should be on watch when you should be alert when you should be holding your ground when you should be looking for the enemy instead you are asleep and you are capitulating to the spirit of the age they were deserting their loyalty please note to God himself look at this I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him to desert the gospel is to desert God him self it's not just simply a system of theology but God Himself who is the author of this Theo oh gee he says you're turning your backs on God Almighty you are a spiritual turncoat you are defectors of of the worst kind as you have drifted away from the dock a sound doctrine you are so quickly deserting him the word quickly Paul was just there he had just told them to be on the alert so that this would not happen and Paul is saying I have no more left town after warning you that you have now so quickly deserted him I want to say this again to desert the gospel by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is to desert God himself as John Piper has said God is the gospel God in the gospel are one there is a solidarity between God and His gospel why is this because the greatest revelation of the glory of God has come shining forth to us through the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it is the glory of God that is at stake that was Calvin's whole approach when he was run out of Geneva and they called upon him to defend them against Rome after he had been run out by this very City and he enters into a controversy with sin diletto and his very pinpoint argument for justification by faith is you at Rome corrupt the gospel and the glory of God you desecrate the glory of God he saw himself as a defender of the glory of God you have taken on the blasphemy of the glory of God that is why Calvin was so worked up in the Reformation that is why the Apostle Paul is so worked up here because you are desecrating the glory of God every attribute of God is shining forth brighter than ten thousand suns in the sky beaming and pouring through the cross and through the gospel of Jesus Christ the greatest display of the holiness of God is in the gospel of Jesus Christ that God is separated from sinners and the only means by which unholy sinners may come to holy God is through the mediation of the gospel of Jesus Christ the wrath of God comes shining forth through the gospel that God poured out his wrath upon his own son upon Calvary's cross and only the damned in Hell can even begin to imagine what Jesus suffered under the righteous wrath of God upon that cross we see the grace of God shining forth as salvation is offered freely to sinners on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross every attribute of God the truth of God the immutability of God the eternality of God the righteousness of God the love of God the mercy of God the truth of God on and on and on every aspect of the greatness and the grandeur and the glory of God is put on fullest display in the gospel of Jesus Christ to equivocate on the gospel is to bring God under attack notice what he goes on to say in verse 6 I am amazed shocked stunned that you believers in Galatia are so quickly caving in and capitulating and deserting him God who called you by the grace of Christ God only calls sinners to himself through the gospel of Jesus Christ there is no call to salvation outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ the entirety of God's saving work and saving enterprise is contained within the purity of the gospel of Christ and there is no grace outside of the gospel and there is no call of God to himself outside of the gospel here the gospel is defined as the grace of Christ the free unmerited undeserved work of Christ upon Calvary's cross bearing the sins of his people suffering under the wrath of God becoming a curse for us upon Calvary's cross and their shedding his blood and pouring out his blood unto death to secure the eternal redemption and salvation of all those whom the father had entrusted to him he says your deserting God who called you by the gospel of Christ for a different gospel could there be a different saving gospel could there be a different redeeming gospel could it be that God has one plan of salvation in the New Testament and he had a different one in the Old Testament could it be that God has one plan for Gentiles but God has a different gospel for for Jews could it be that God has one gospel for those who hear of the gospel and receive Christ but a different way for those who who never hear Paul says I'm astonished I'm amazed that you have deserted him for a different gospel it's we're different do you see it there in your Bible heteros it denotes another of a totally different kind in other words there really are only two Gospels the true gospel and the false gospel of the saving gospel and the non saving gospel and he says to them you have equivocated with the true saving gospel in order to now be seduced by these false teachers for a different gospel and this different gospel Paul says and will tell us is no gospel at all it is a counterfeit gospel it is a sham salvation it is a fake message it is a ripoff religion it is a mangled message there is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the end of death notice at the beginning of verse 7 Paul continues with this astonishment he's dumbfounded that you have given up diamonds for dirt that you have given up the truth for a lie he says which is really not another Paul is saying it's not a saving gospel it is not a true gospel and by saying this Paul is absolute absolutely emphatically asserting that there is only one way of salvation that there is only one saving gospel he is asserting the exclusivity of salvation in Jesus Christ alone jesus said in John 14 verse 6 I am the way and the truth and the life positive assertion now negative denial no man comes unto the Father but through me Peter before the Sanhedrin said and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved the Apostle Paul would write there is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all the testimony born at the proper time no to desert this gospel is to read to be removed from standing in the truth what is the true gospel like a couple verses earlier just parenthetically for a moment at the end of verse 3 the Lord Jesus Christ verse 4 who personal pronoun who gave him self for our sins there is substitutionary penal atonement as Jesus vicariously died in the place of sinners and in so doing gave himself unto death upon Calvary's cross for on the behalf of our sins results so that he might rescue us deliver us save us from this present age this world is going to hell this world is under judgment this world is on a collision course with judgment on the last day and Jesus Christ by his death upon the cross has rescued sinners from great danger even as Paul was astonished and amazed in the first century and how easily Galatians were beguiled and seduced even so we should be bewildered in this hour and in this day when we see evangelicals signed the ECT document and pretend that there is no difference between the gospel of the scripture and the gospel of Rome we should be astonished and and amazed at those who would sign other documents who would cave in in order to put their arms around false teachers and false brethren as if there is no difference between what we believe and what they believe should be astonished as we have turned on television and so-called Christian leaders have gone on the Larry King show for example in the past here is your moment here is your hour here is your opportunity to to preach the gospel to the nation's and one program King said we've had ministers on our program who said you either believe in Christ or you don't if you believe in Christ you're good you are going to heaven and if you do not believe in Christ you're not going to heaven I'll tell you what minister said that John MacArthur Joel Osteen's answer yeah I don't know I'm reading the manuscript right here I don't know there's probably a balance I believe you have to know Christ but I but I think if you know Christ if you're a believer in God you're going to have some good works I think it's a cop-out to say I'm a Christian but I don't ever do anything that wasn't the question you were asked you were asked the question do you have to believe in Jesus Christ in order to go to heaven King wouldn't let it go Larry King said to Joel Olsteen what if you're Jewish now Larry King is Jewish or if you're a Muslim you don't have to accept Christ at all do you Olsteen you know I'm very careful about saying who would or who wouldn't go to heaven I don't know King if you believe you have to believe in Christ they're all wrong aren't they hosting I don't know I spent a lot of time in India with my father I don't know about all their religion but I know they love God no they don't their God haters I know they love God I don't know I've seen their sincerity I don't know our jaws should be on the ground although he's revealing himself to be what he truly is one who denies the very gospel of Jesus Christ in the exclusivity of his shed blood for the atonement of sin that's Paul's amazement and I trust that none of us here tonight have passed the point of continually being shocked and amazed at who punts on first down when this question is put forth second I want you to note Paul's adversaries as we continue to read verse seven not only Paul's amazement but Paul's adversaries he goes on to talk about only there are some who are disturbing you the some refer to the false teachers and it only takes some to create a big mess of the Judaizers are trying to bring their jewish legalism into the church and distort the gospel and whenever the gospel is distorted there is no place to stand you are you are greatly disturbed this word disturbed means to trouble to agitate to shake up the idea is they that this false gospel is shaking up their allegiance to the one true gospel and so doing they are troubling the church he says there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort do you see that want to distort this word distort means to change something into its very opposite it is a total reversal and he is saying they have totally reversed the gospel of grace into a gospel of works who want to distort the gospel the one and only gospel of Christ and in so doing they pervert it and tamper it and dilute it they were saying you have to keep the law and do your part in order to be righteous you are justified by faith and works you are sanctified by fleshly efforts they were saying you have to be circumcised to be saved you have to keep the Ten Commandments in order to be saved you have to observe the holy days you have to practice the ceremonial law you must become like Jewish proselyte and submit to the Mosaic law in order to earn your way to God there are many such adversaries of the gospel today they acknowledge a place for the cross but they deny the purity and the sufficiency in the finality and the exclusivity of the gospel as they claim the salvation is by faith and good works by faith and water baptism and by faith and church membership or by faith and speaking in tongues or faith and Hail Marys or faith and the mass faith and last rites faith and the Treasury of merit faith and buying indulgences and then there are other adversaries of the gospel of a different kind they are the cultists they deny the Trinity they deny the absolute deity of Christ they deny the lordship of Christ they deny the virgin birth a sinless life the substitutionary death a bodily resurrection the Second Coming they deny the eternality of Hell itself they deny forensic imputation of the perfect righteousness righteousness of Christ to those who believe these adversaries of the gospel claim that there are many ways a salvation many ways to God they preach tolerance of all religions as long as one is sincere and loving to all but they say peace peace where there is no peace they are blind leaders of the blind they are clouds without water trees without fruit wanderingstar first for whom black darkness has been reserved forever they are ear ticklers a strain at a gnat and swallow a camel they cleaned the outside of the cup but inside they are full of robbery they are whitewashed tombs who are dead men's bones on the inside so what will Paul say to this what is the mind of God that needs to be pronounced on such a corruption of the gospel look at verses 9 and 10 I want you to see third Paul's anatomist these false teachers the Judaizers is sought to undermine the saving mission of the Lord Jesus Christ Paul has some very strong words for them in verse 8 let these words sink deeply into our minds tonight and into our souls Paul begins in verse 8 by putting forth an extreme hypothetical situation in order to make his point so in verse 8 he says but even if we now this is hypothetical Paul will never abandon the gospel but he says even if we referring to himself are to Barnabas or to Timothy or to Luke even if we or an angel from heaven perhaps Michael or Gabriel or one of the chief angels at one of the Living Angels one of the guardian angels one of the Seraphim one of the cherubim any one of the elect angels should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you Paul says in his emotions now our are seething he says he is to be accursed he is to be damned he is to be condemned by God forever and this word accursed is the word anathema which means to be devoted destruction he has to be consigned to the flames of hell below he has to be damned to put it bluntly he is to go to hell before he can take anyone else with him Martin Luther put it this way in his commentary on the Galatians here Paul is breathing fire his zeal is so fervent that he almost begins to curse the angels themselves close quote there's no room for neutrality no room for passivity here this is a time for the man of God to step forward to pronounce the mind of God James Montgomery boys a great champion of the faith and of the gospel wrote years ago how can it be otherwise if the gospel Paul preaches is true then both the glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of men are at stake if men can be saved by works boys rights Christ has died in vain the cross is emptied of meaning if men are taught a false gospel they are being led from one thing that can save them and are being turned to destruction close quote now true these words spoken by boys those who corrupt the one saving gospel contribute to the damnation of lost souls who follow their message it was Jesus himself who said in Matthew 18 verse 6 whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea close quote as if Paul has not said enough he reloads in verse nine he backs off just to get a running start to harpoon this heresy yet again so notice what he says in verse nine he could have just said it one time in verse eight and moved on everything that Paul says is of extreme importance Paul now restates what he just said so that there would be no question about what you heard him say as you read this verse 9 as we have said before in other words I told you when I was there I told you there was only one way of salvation I told you Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of sinners I told you justification by faith alone is the way that God has saved I told you that's how he's saved in the Old Testament with Abraham I told you that's how he saved you now in the New Testament that there is only one gospel verse 9 as we have said before so I say again now in other words if you didn't get it the first time you're bound to get it now if any man verse 9 be he an apostle be he an angel be he is some self-appointed religious zealot if any man is preaching present-tense indicating this is an ongoing crisis in the church at Galatia right now if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one that you receive and you received it from me because God gave it directly to me and I gave it to you any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one that you received he is this this is shocking this is stunning what Paul says but it has to be this way he is to be accurst is where the curse speaks to the seriousness of entertaining any idea that there is a way of salvation outside of by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone Paul says such a false teacher should go to hell and we'll go to the hottest part of Hell that is reserved for false teachers who distort the gospel of Jesus Christ and poison the hearts in the minds of others I would remind all of us tonight that what Paul has to say here he is putting it on the front porch of this letter this is not chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5 he works his way into this argument and then pulls out the sledgehammer and makes this audacious statement Paul no Morris then signs his name to the opening salutation and makes a beeline what is in his heart comes spewing out like a an erupting volcano with white lava of truth spewing forth on the very at the very outset of this book where Paul would normally say something like I thank my God for you or you are in my every thought or I pray for you constantly or I thank God for your faith and your hope and your love there is none of this Paul is not thankful he is not thankful for what is going on in Galatia he is rightly filled with holy zeal because the high ground of the gospel has been forfeited and instead of his normal pastoral platitudes there is only this open public rebuke what further makes this so exasperated is that Paul had just been there and he had just told them this Paul's and a thermos continue to come down to this present day the Apostolic message continues to pronounce the heavy hand of divine judgment upon all who add to the gospel to all who subtract from the gospel to all who compromise the gospel to all who twist the gospel to all who delude the gospel jesus said beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are not sincere they are ravenous wolves and they are after you finally I want you to see Paul Zane in verse 10 was seen Paul's amazement we've seen his adversaries was seen as an anthem Asst I want you to see his aim and verse 10 and then we're finished Paul now comes down to the bottom line Paul is not finished he asked a soul-searching question that should sift every heart in the churches of Galatia he asked the question that should sift through every conscience and every heart here tonight he says in verse 10 for am I now seeking the favor of men or of God or am i striving to please men if Paul were seeking the favor of men he would certainly tone down his rhetoric would he not at this point but he is not courting the approval of men he desires his amens to come out of heaven yes certainly not courting the approval of the Judaizers nor anyone who is sympathetic to their corrupt message instead Paul is seriously seeking the approbation of God and God alone and he is saying there is no middle ground either we seek men or we seek God it can't be both ways Paul would put it this way if you please God it does not matter whom you displease but if you displease God it does not matter whom you please did you get that that is the ultimatum that is the fork in the road that is what Paul is pressing to the hearts of the Galatians and to our hearts here tonight and men pleasers our ear ticklers men pleasers broadened the road that is head for destruction but God please preachers God pre pleasing preachers preach the narrow gate they preach the narrow road they preach that few there be that find it they preach the necessity of repentance they preach the lordship of Jesus Christ and they say things like if any man shall come after me he must hate his own father and mother and brother and sister yes even his own life or he cannot cannot be my disciple If any man shall come after me he must deny himself take up a cross and follow after me that's what God pleasing preachers and elders and deacons and teachers and mamas and daddies and believers uphold if I were still trying to please men that's what Paul did before he was converted he said I would not I could not be a bondservant of Jesus Christ bottom line this is either or never both and this is mutually exclusive never mutually inclusive either we seek to please men and we therefore displease God or we seek to please God and in the process we will always be those who displease men who want an easy religion that will take them to hell Paul would say I was chosen by God I was called by God I was set apart by God I was saved by God redeemed by God commissioned by God instructed by God appointed by God why on earth would I now suddenly want to please men in the last day it will be before God that we will stand we will be judged by God and either rewarded or passed over for those rewards by God but it is God whom we must please we live in an hour not unlike the first century in which the gospel remains under constant assault from the cults from false religions from the Roman Catholic Church from new perspective on Paul from non lordship advocates from social gospel proponents from Universalists and from many others there are many attacks upon the gospel in this hour our feet must be firmly planted upon this solid ground that Jesus is the only way of salvation therefore we must take the gospel to the streets because there is no salvation apart from this gospel we must get on planes we must get on airplanes we must cross the Seas we must scale mountains we must cross deserts we must go to the ends of the earth and take this one saving gospel message to those who are perishing without Christ who have no salvation without Christ Jesus is the only way of salvation no one else has been born of a virgin and lived a sinless and perfect life no one else can give me his perfect righteousness no one else has died in my place bearing my sins and carried them far away no one else has suffered the wrath of God deserving me in my place no one else has appeased God's righteous anger towards me no one else has reconciled me to holy God no one else has redeemed me out of the slavery to sin and to Satan no one else has washed my sins away no one else has been raised for my justification no one else has seated me in heavenly places no one else has presented me faultless before the throne of God not Buddha not Allah not Mary not the Pope not some Unitarian being not Joseph Smith not Mary Baker Eddy there is only one who is the champion of our salvation it is the Lord Jesus Christ because we are jealous for his name and we are zealous for the honor the glory that belongs to him alone we will preach his eternal saving message til the end of the age and we are persuaded that there is salvation in no other name for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved have you come to believe upon Jesus Christ have you seen the emptiness of life without Christ do you understand that you're under the wrath of God without Christ do you understand that there is no hope for your soul without Christ do you understand that it's appointed unto man wants to die and after this the judgment do you understand that you'll stand before God and the books will be open and every I sinful thought sinful act sinful words it will all come dancing out like skeletons out of a closet let me tell you need an advocate you need one to undertake your case you need one who will save you from the wrath to come if you have never believed upon Jesus Christ I call you this moment this night to commit your very life to Jesus Christ to embrace him as Lord and Savior come and humble yourself before the king of kings in the Lord of towards turn away from your sin turn away from this world run to Christ flee to Christ he loves to take in sinners he died for sinners him who comes unto me I will in no wise cast out you will find a reception with him who is the friend of sinners run to Christ and be saved let us pray father set these words and that Paul has pinned deep deep into our souls let us earnestly contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the Saints let us be quite hot red-hot let us be worked up let us be passionate let us be zealous let us stand with Paul and proclaim the gospel and defend it against all her enemies father we pray that you would give us great grace in these dark days to be able to be the light the lampstand that you've called us to be to set forth the only message of salvation that there is under heaven that Jesus Christ has come into this world to save sinners of which we all are foremost and chief father we pray this in his blessed name amen

Channel: Truth Endures

Views: 30,974

Rating: 4.9092627 out of 5

Keywords: Steven Lawson, G3 Conference

Id: 72g2DIv4EvQ

Length: 51min 12sec (3072 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 26 2015