I would have you know…
Would you desert The Gospel? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today we finish this series.
Have you been thinking about that question?
We have considered the movement gripping people and the church called “deconstruction.”
If deconstruction is simply rethinking what you believe, engaging your doubts, or asking hard questions, declaring war on it would be mean.
Tim Barnett; “Deconstruction is not about getting your theology right. It’s not about trying to make your views match reality. It’s about tearing down doctrines that are morally wrong to you to make them match your own internal conscience, true authentic self, or whatever else it’s being called these days.”
It is a movement that comes out of a philosophy called postmodernism.
In postmodernism everything is relative.
This now includes the gospel. Deconstruct to find a gospel that fits with what you think and feel.
Apostasy is not new to the church Paul dealt with it in his letters.
Carl Trueman wrote: “The church has been aware that there are those whose profession of Christianity, while often powerfully expressed in the moment, proves weak and transient in the long term.”
We will see this morning that the gospel is not relative, we don’t define, God does!
Chair Bible pg. 778.
11 For I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is not of human invention.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Are you ready for the message God has for us today?
Cool let’s dig in!
What does Paul want them to know?
What does Paul want them to know?
That word “know” in the first line of verse 11, Paul wants them to know about the reality of the gospel he preached.
More specifically that the gospel is real!
Also with this statement Paul wants not only the Galatians but anyone who should read this letter to know the real gospel!
What makes Paul’s gospel so real?
The reality is that the gospel preached by Paul is not of human invention.
There is another way to says this: Galatians 1:11
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.
The real gospel does not come by man, in fact man has nothing to do with it!
The gospel is not influenced by mere human considerations, as it would be if it were of human origin.
Does this not say a great deal about the gospel preached by those influenced by the worlds considerations and emotions?
It tells us the origin of their gospel!
Verse 11 serves as a certification of the gospel preached by Paul among them
How Paul was taught the Gospel
How Paul was taught the Gospel
In verse 12 Paul says that gospel he received came by “revelation”
“Revelation” means communication of knowledge to man by a divine agency. especially communications that proceed from God or Christ.
The gospel Paul preached to Galatia and in all his letters is about Jesus Christ as king!
Jesus who was descended from King David in His humanity and was enthroned as “Son of God” as part of His resurrection.
When Paul says “gospel” he has in mind the proclamation of Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, the risen Lord of the world
2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,
4 who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name,
This is why according Paul the gospel should not be tampered with!
The gospel is not about how I feel, or what I think, the gospel is about the grace of God through Jesus Christ!
Paul reminds them that he was taught this by Jesus himself, or more literally he came to know this because Jesus revealed Himself to Paul resurrected! Acts 9:3-6
This revelation completely changes the course of Paul’s life, why?
The gospel is about changing people’s lives!
Paul uses a triple negative to drive the point home to the churches of Galatia and us:
First negative “not of human invention” — a denial explained by the two following negatives
Second negative “…neither received it from man”
Third negative: “nor was I taught it”
Paul establishes the gospel of God’s grace does not have human origins, and this must be understood!
The false teachers in Galatia knew that if they could undermine Paul’s apostolic authority they could defeat his gospel message of God’s grace.
However, Paul responds to this by establishing the origins behind the gospel he preached to them.
No human mind apart from God’s revelation wold dream up a plan of salvation wholly dependent on God’s grace and the death of His Son!
How should we respond to all this?
How should we respond to all this?
We need to learn first of all the very real danger of neglecting the gospel: Hebrews 2:1-4
1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a just punishment,
3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
We need to understand just how important and urgent the gospel is to people!
The gospel deals with life and death.
For those who accept the good news and follow Christ: 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
54 But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.
55 Where, O death, is your victory? where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law;
57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Next we need to know the gospel so well, here is what God says the gospel is: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
Jesus died according to the scriptures
Jesus was buried and resurrected just as scripture said
Jesus was witnessed alive by many, Peter and all twelve apostles, in another instance by more than 500, last of all Paul
Let me ask an obvious question: what part of this has anything to do with what I think or feel?
A perverted gospel comes from a place of finding acceptance of desire and emotion. — 1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
17 The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.
The definition of the gospel is not from human minds, but comes directly from the mind of God and written down in the pages of scripture.
It does not need human help to understand what it means!
Conclusion:
We are witnessing the fastest seismic shift religiously in our country.
Roughly 40 million Americans have stopped attending church.
A part of this is people are deconstructing and dechurching.
There is no one church or religious group that are not touched by this movement!
We have to ask ourselves, “Would you desert the gospel?”
Let me ask it another way, are you ashamed of the gospel of Christ?
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Some seem to be ashamed of it and are willing to make compromises and changes so that the gospel is more appealing to society!
The world does not need a candy coated, watered down gospel!
The world needs the unadulterated truth of the gospel of God’s grace through Christ!
For only in that can one experience the meaning of the invitation of Christ:
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants.
26 Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in Your sight.
27 All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son determines to reveal Him.
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”
The gospel is about Jesus and the forgiveness of our sin by the grace of God by our repentance.