Galatians pt. 2

Ephesians 2:8 NIV

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

so two weeks ago we chose this verse because we began having a conversation about the church in Galatia. And we learned that the church in Galatia was forgetting that they were saved by grace. What does it mean to be saved by grace?

It means that Jesus put it all the work for our salvation and there is nothing we can do to earn it.

In other words, salvation is a gift. A gift from God. And this church was forgetting about it. Let’s read what Paul says to them next:

Galatians 1:6–10 NIV

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! 10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

I want you guys to finish this sentence:

I am amazed that some people who claim to believe in Jesus would.....

Do what? that they would be mean to people, that they would stop coming to church, that they would sin? I think it’s interesting that those things are surprising to us. You know what doesn’t surprise me?

When sinners saved by grace sin.

That is not surprising. Even you and I, who know Jesus sin. That doesn’t mean we should, But we do. And even Paul isn’t surprised that they have sinned: What does Paul say instead?

Galatians 1:6 NIV

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

What surprises Paul is that people who have been saved by Jesus, are now preaching a different type of salvation. In other words, he is surprised that they would turn away from Jesus’ message.

look at it like this, When I was a kid I used to have really bad acne. So in order to get rid of it, I used this thing called: Proactive. I don’t if it’s still used today but there used to be commercials for it everywhere. I used proactive for my pimples and do you guys think it worked? Yes it did! So when people saw that my face wasn’t covered with bumps anymore, people would ask me: Hey Luis, what are you using to get rid of your acne? Guess what I would say? I would say I used Proactive. But Imagine if when people asked me what I used to clean my face up instead of saying I used Proactive I would just say: I rubbed lemons all over my face?

Would I be telling the truth? No I wouldn’t. As a matter of fact, it would look like I was:

Ungrateful

Ashamed

So when Jesus comes into your life and He saves your life and you begin to live like Him, and people ask you what makes you different and instead of saying: Jesus saved me from my sins and now I live for Him

Instead you say: Hey man, I’ve been working on myself or you begin to preach a different Gospel it looks like you are Ungrateful for what Jesus has done for you and Ashamed of Him.

And that’s what was happening to the people of Galatia. They were Ungrateful and Ashamed of Jesus. But why do people preach a different Gospel sometimes?

Galatians 1:10 NIV

10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

People will turn and preach a different Gospel because their desire for other people’s approval is greater than their desire for God’s approval.

Can I be honest with you guys, I desire people’s approval. I do. I desire your approval, I desire my wife’s approval, I desire my families approval. But do you know what is much stronger than my desire or my feelings?

The truth of the Gospel

Have you ever heard the saying: The Gospel is powerful? It is guys. The Gospel is powerful enough to overcome our desires, it is powerful enough to overcome our feelings, it is powerful enough to defeat satan and death and provide eternal life for you and me. And if you and I can stick to the truth of Gospel, God will be pleased. Why don’t we help each other do that.