Nothing Changed But The Methods - When Different is Dangerous

Introduction - Dedicated to Destruction

Sometimes Different is Dangerous??? The issue with a different Gospel is it gives a familiar sound but false security. The enemy has always tricked us with that familiar sound of Gods word. Only to pull the rug from right under us.

A Different Gospel - What is the greatest challenge to us as Christians in the 21st century? Is it rampant immorality? Is it divisive social issues? Is it increasing hostility toward God? Those are dangers, for sure, but I would venture to say that our biggest threat is religion—religion that draws us away from the gospel. Gospel of Self Help , drew many away from the Gospel.

Many are/is desserting the faith because they are listening to a variaty of Gospels. I agree with Paul not that there is one, but some have heard good news from bad people. There are some who are really dedicated to destruction. Would come behind Paul and preach something different. Preach confusion.

2. Devoted to Divirsity

What a contrast between works and fruit! Fruit is the result of a living union; a machine may produce works, but it can never produce fruit. Even the Law produces works, but God calls them dead works (Heb. 6:1). The Law could never produce the gracious fruit described here. Read this list of “flesh works” in a modern version to get the full import of their meaning. What a terrible catalog of sins! How many of them are found even among Christians! Christian character comes from within, by the power of the Spirit. The Spirit seeks to transform us into Christ’s likeness (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29 and 12:1–2). We could meditate for hours on the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit! Note especially that love heads the list. Paul clearly states that no law could ever produce this kind of character. When will people learn that making resolutions will never sanctify them!

3.Devoted to Deliverance

What did the gospel do to deliver us?

What did the gospel deliever us from?

Gospel set us free… how? from what? what do freedom mean??

Freedom is the state that emerges after God has acted to remove all hindrances—social, spiritual (sin and death), economic, and institutional—that block our creational purpose. This purpose is to know, love, worship, and enjoy God forever. This is a freedom that has been won for us by the death and resurrection of the Messiah. By the power of the Spirit, the Christian seeks to live into this freedom and to join with God in freeing others, while we await freedom’s full realization at Christ’s second coming

v.7 Distort - To turn, to change, They were devoted to hinder deliverance. The Gospel changed and turned them from what God had delievered them from.

Paul admonishes us to stand fast in our Christian liberty. If we step back into legalism, we risk entanglement and bondage. How well the Jews of Paul’s day knew what legal bondage meant (Acts 15:10). Gospel delievered us from something we could never defeat. Christ Conqored what no one could. NO ONE!

Watchman Nee says, “Law means I must do something for God; grace means that God does something for me.” How wonderful it is for the Christian to enjoy the liberty of grace! This means moving out of the bondage described in Romans 7 into the glorious liberty of Romans 8! Romans 8 shares that nothing can seperate me from the love of God. Nothing can ruin my deliverance. Nothing or Nobody can destroy what Christ has done.

of Christian liberty does not encourage a wicked life; instead, it binds us closer to Christ, and Christ lives out His life through the believer. From slave to son. We are brought closer. As a son you see things slaves dont. As a son you experience things salves dont. You inherit things slaves dont.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1992). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament (p. 528). Victor Books.

This is Paul's fourth and final metaphorical description of the Law - notice that #'s 1-2 are the positive effects the Law as it leads us to believe in Christ and experience spiritual freedom. #'s 3-4 are both negative effects and describe the enslaving effect of the Law.

Tutor in Gal 3:24,

Guardian in Gal 4:2

Bondwoman in Gal 4:22ff

A yoke of slavery Gal 5:1

Scripture also speaks to deliverance from sin (Pss. 39:8; 79:9); the way of evil (Prov. 2:12); the power of evil (Matt. 6:13; Gal. 1:4; Col. 1:13); the law (Rom. 7:6); the body of death (Rom. 7:24); and the coming wrath of God (1 Thess. 1:10). God is the agent of deliverance in Col. 1:13 and Rom. 7:24–25. Christ is the agent in 1 Thess. 1:10 and Gal. 1:4, where He brings deliverance by giving Himself for sins

"Back in the nineteenth century our sixteenth president realized something radical must be done about slavery in our country. Unwilling to look the other way any longer, on September 22, 1862, he presented what came to be known as the Emancipation Proclamation, an official document condemning human slavery. Abraham Lincoln, realizing that slavery is completely against human dignity, officially abolished it from the United States on that day. Tragically, little changed in the daily life of our nation, even though the slaves were officially declared free. You know why; you’ve read the stories. The Civil War was still going on. The plantation owners never informed their slaves. The vast majority of the former slaves couldn’t read, so they had no idea what the news was carrying. There was no mass media then to announce those kinds of presidential pronouncements. And so for the longest time, slavery continued even though it had been officially brought to an end. The war ended in April 1865. Do you know when Lincoln’s declaration was officially enacted? When the people finally began to leave their enslaved lives and make their way toward freedom? December 18, 1865—more than three years after he first released his proclamation. Lincoln had been dead for months. The word traveled out of the streets of Washington and down into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, across the back roads of the Carolinas and into Georgia, then Alabama, then Mississippi, then Louisiana, then Texas, then Arkansas, announcing what had been true for more than a thousand days. Even then the word somehow either wasn’t believed or wasn’t acted upon. Those officially emancipated people, thinking slavery was the way they were condemned to exist, continued to live in bondage though they had been declared free men and women since the fall of 1862.

Grace invites and gives

The law condemns the sinnerGrace redeems the sinner.The law says DOGrace says IT IS DONE.The law says, Continue to be holyGrace says, It is finished.The law cursesGrace blessesThe law slays the sinnerGrace makes the sinner alive.The law shuts every mouth before GodGrace opens the mouth to praise God.The law condemns the best manGrace saves the worst man.The law says, pay what you oweGrace says, I freely forgive you all.The law says “the wages of sin is death”Grace says, “the gift of God is eternal life.”The law says, “the soul that sins shall die”Grace says, Believe and live.The law reveals sinGrace atones for sin.By the law is the knowledge of sinBy grace is redemption from sin.The law was given by MosesGrace and truth came by Jesus Christ.The law demands obedienceGrace bestows and gives power to obey.The law was written on stoneGrace is written on the tables of the heart.The law was done away in ChristGrace abides forever.The law puts us under bondageGrace sets us in the liberty of the sons of God.