Untitled Sermon

Reformation Study

There are many passages we could look at, as we remember God's work in the Reformation this weekend.

At the heart of what God accomplished through those men, was nothing short of a recovery of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's what we will see in our passage this morning: we're going to see a clear presentation of the Gospel from Paul - not only how it is to be understood, but how a child of God responds to it.

The Gospel - what is it? : The news of God's gracious work to satisfy divine wrath through the death of His Son.

Some definitions:

"The good news of God's redemption of sinful humanity through the life, death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ."

"The joyous proclamation of God's redemptive activity in Christ Jesus on behalf of humans enslaved by sin."

v. 6: The Godly Response to the Gospel

F.F. Bruce: "In most of Paul’s letters the introductory salutation is followed by words of thanksgiving to God for some feature of the recipients’ life or faith, usually with εὐχαριστέω—’I (we) thank God …’ (; ; ; ; ; , ‘we are bound to thank God;’ ; cf. )—and twice with the verbal adjective εὐλογητός, ‘Blessed be God …’ (; ). Galatians is the solitary exception"

This makes sense, since the typical "thanksgiving" is always in a Gospel-reception context. P.T. O'Brien: "Because the Galatians have departed from the gospel of Christ there can be no thanksgiving; instead, a curse is pronounced on anyone who brings another message"

Ex's:

- "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world."

- he says that they believed the Gospel, and then 3 verses later (summing up all he's written thus far), he says in v. 16, "I do not cease giving thanks for you"

- "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now."

- "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,"

- "We give thanks to God always for all of you (2)... For we know... that he has chosen you (4), because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction (5)."

But here in Paul ISN'T thankful, he is astonished

θαυμάζω - "to be extraordinarily impressed or disturbed by something"

This is, over and over, what people did when they say Jesus work miracles (Mat. 15:31; )

This is what the disciples on the boat did after Jesus commanded the winds and the sea ()

What is he astonished about?

He's astonished that they are deserting God, who called them "in the grace of Christ"

He's astonished that it has happened so quickly.

We're not sure how quickly... but it's been quick.

This sort of turning can happen slowly, over time. It can be a long-term danger for a group of believers.

, The Ephesians have been a church long enough to "toil" and "persevere," they've learned to test people, have "endured"... but they have "left their first love."

What we're seeing here is an example here, not of the long-term dangers of apathy/lethargy, but of the dangers of immaturity.

The immature in the faith are fragile; they are weak, prone to being "turned this way and that" ().

(This is why an elder is not to be a new convert ()

(This is a context for you to think in as you listen this morning, if you're someone who, when you look at yourself, you feel like you are immature in your faith, in your walk with the Lord. This is more than just "not ok"; it's more than "an issue that you should address, sometime." You are in danger, my friend!

There's another element of this for us to dwell on a moment longer. We should take note of what sort of thing brings Paul to the level of being "extraordinarily disturbed."

Paul is "extraordinarily disturbed" when he hears of those who received the gospel of the grace of Christ choosing something else instead. That's what disturbs/shocks him.

It's interesting: do you know what θαυμάζω'd the pharisees?

Not the miracles of Jesus

Turn to - when Jesus neglected to ceremonially wash his hands before a meal.

The experiences that evoke astonishment and reaction reveal things about us:

Whose honor am I concerned about?

We can tell that's in play in ; after all, whose laws are these that are being violated? The law being violated was in the Mishnah, the oral traditions, not the law of Moses. And here's one of those religious leaders, the guardians of that man-made law ( 'teaching as doctrine the precepts of men'). What this pharisee marvels at, is that Jesus would not behave like he wanted Jesus to behave.

No such marveling after witnessing the miraculous. In fact in mark 3, after witnessing such a miracle, they immediately go out and begin plotting his murder. Why? He had challenged the authority of their rules.

Oh, those Pharisees. How their causes for amazement and disturbance betray them.

Good thing it's not like that for us, huh?

We are constantly amazed at God's good and faithful works; we never struggle with anger when God doesn't DO what we think He should DO; we're never consumed by thoughts of our own honor, or rights, or what's "fair"; we consistently seek God's kingdom first, don't we? Is that what your week was like last week?

We are very much like the Pharisees, because:

They were just sinful human beings, behaving as was natural for them.

Our default is NOT to marvel at the suffiiency, the beauty, the perfections of the Son of God, or the Word of God.

"By nature children of wrath" ()

But when I've claimed the name of Christ, it is INDEED disturbing to find myself in those places, because a Christian has a new nature at work within them

v. 6: The Proper Description of the Gospel

Notice the ultimatum: Paul says that they "have deserted Him who called [them] in the grace of Christ (Who is that? God), by turning to a different gospel.

What's that tell you? Do you hear the inseparable connection between the Gospel of Christ and an identification with God?

Our ability to identify with God hangs (it would seem!) on our response to the Gospel!

Yes, it is true that we are saved NOT by our belief, but by a PERSON - the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's a way to overstate that, that winds up minimizing the fact that the Gospel is a Statement. It is a claim. It's something that can be preached (v. 8) and contradicted (v. 8-9).

When I'm faced with the Gospel, I'm faced with an Accusation from someone claiming to be the God of all the universe, and an offer of salvation, with stipulations: repent, and put all your chips on the table for this one. Put your entire trust on someone else's work to save you.

What the Bible tells me is that I have NO identification with God, if I have not consciously identified with HIS Gospel - the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (as it's put here).

What this tells me: I'd better be sure I'm giving this an appropriate amount of my thought-life, if it's this important.

...

[ex.: last month we closed on a house; took up quite a bit of my thoughts during that time - and appropriate, because it was important. Is there any comparison w/ the level of importance that my eternal destination holds?]

Given that level of importance, I would think that God, and his implications, should at least be at play in the background of my thinking every moment of the day.

Jerry Bridges defines Godliness and Ungodliness in that way...

This is one of the greatest casualties of our crazy-busy lifestyles; in losing the precious moments of quiet, interruption-free, "boring" time, we lose opportunities to reflect on things of this magnitude.

So let's look a bit more carefully now, at how Paul describes this gospel:

"...who called you in the grace of Christ..."

Paul means this here as a summary statement of "the Gospel" - the true Gospel, as opposed to the "other" one (6) that "is no true Gospel" (7).

This is how God called them: by announcing to them "the grace of Christ."

A very Reformation-connected idea - "Sola Gratia"

It's what Paul called it in , "the gospel of the grace of God.'

John Stott: "It is good news of a God who is gracious to undeserving sinners. In grace He gave His Son to die for us. In grace He calls us to Himself. In grace He justifies us when we believe. ‘All is from God’, as Paul wrote in , meaning that ‘all is of grace’. Nothing is due to our efforts, merits or works; everything in salvation is due to the grace of God."

These are the claims of the Gospel...

We must reckon with the notion that THIS IS THE WAY GOD CALLS A PERSON: He declares the finished work of Christ, calls us to turn to it in repentance, to come to Him pleading only that work of Christ.

The Galatians had seemed to receive this gift; but there are those among them that seem to be, now, deserting it - deserting the Gospel claim of Christ's sufficiency, turning to a Gospel of works-righteousness; and as they desert that Gospel, they desert GOD - the one who called them to the Gospel of the Grace of Christ!

There are only those two options: Trust in Christ's work alone, or trust in your own ability to earn the favor of a perfectly holy God.

Macarthur writes about the false teachers, who were bringing the false Gospel into Galatia - just read ch. 3 and you can tell what they're doing - they're arguing that our own obedience to the Law is a part of our justification. Listen to what he writes: "They did not purport to overtly deny the gospel but to improve it by adding the requirements, ceremonies, and standards of the Old Covenant to the New. But anything added to grace destroys it just as surely as does anything taken from it. When law - even God's own law - is added to His grace, His grace ceases to be grace... Law does not moderately pollute grace but reverses and destroys it. As a means of salvation, the two are diametrically opposite and cannot coexist."

"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace."

d

If we understand that, then what Paul says next only makes sense to us. The world balks at what Paul says next; but it's because the world does not know the Gospel of the Grace of Christ...

v. 7: The Exclusive Nature of the Gospel

(read vv. 6-7) "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— (7) not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ."

What is the statement there that is so controversial? "Not that there is another one..."

Not that there are no other versions (he talks about that in the next verse!)

There isn't anything else that DOES what the biblical Gospel DOES!

No alternatives. If we don't come to God through the work of Christ, freely given to us in grace, we don't come to God at all.

"No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also."

But Paul is being even more specific than John was: it's not enough that your case before God include the Son; if Jesus is not YOUR WHOLE case before God, you will be cast out of His presence forever.

The rest of v. 7 gives us better insight into the Galatians' situation: they seem to be in the midst of this conflict - they are being "troubled" by these false teachers, who are trying to pretend they have the same Gospel, but are distorting it."

As we come to v. 8, Paul removes any doubt as to the claim he is making about "competing Gospels."

vv. 8-9: The Curse of the Gospel

"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. 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."

What matters is not the messenger; what matters is the message - the PURE message of the grace of God in Christ.

While this is true in general, it seems that Paul points this out because his opponents were trying to discredit Paul's Gospel by discrediting HIM personally! The rest of this chapter, and the next one, he has to devote to defending himself. He even ends the letter that way (6:17, "From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.")

The word for 'accursed' here is the word "anathema." it's important to mention that word, on this weekend of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It reminds us of something that many in Protestant circles are forgetting today: the deep chasm that separates the biblical Gospel from the official gospel of the Roman Catholic Church.

The false teaching of the Judaizers is important to keep in mind here... who did not reject the grace of Christ, but added to it.

Consider the declarations set forth in the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church Council convened in response to the Reformation:

"If anyone says that man is justified before God by his own works, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema."

If anyone says without the inspiration and help of the Holy Ghost man can believe, hope, love, or be penitent as he ought, let him be anathema."

"If anyone says that by faith alone the impious are justified, let him be anathema."

Yes, this is "Trent;" yes, there was another council (Vatican II) since then, in the mid-1960s, that has no mention of "anathemas;" but none of the Catholic doctrine of justification has been altered - nor can it be.

Sproul: "The indisputable fact is that Rome made a number of strong, clear theological affirmations at the Council of Trent. Because Trent was an ecumenical council, it had all the weight of the infallibility of the church behind it. So, there is a sense in which Rome, in order to maintain her triumphant view of the authority of the church and of tradition, cannot repeal the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent. As recently as the Catechism of the Catholic Church at the end of the twentieth century, it made clear, unambiguous reaffirmations of Trent’s teachings. So, those who argue that these teachings on justification are no longer relevant to the debate between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism are simply ignoring what the church itself teaches. Yes, there are some Roman Catholic priests and scholars who dispute some of the teachings of their communion, but as far as the Roman hierarchy is concerned, the Council of Trent stands immutable on its teaching regarding justification. We cannot ignore what Trent said in evaluating where we stand in relation to the Roman Catholic Church and the ongoing relevance of the Reformation."

Is the Roman Catholic Church the only example of a group presenting a false Gospel today? Of course not! ANYONE who seeks to come to the Father by any means other than the grace of Christ alone, is representing a "distortion."

Application:

What results from a knowledge of the true Gospel? or, As a Christian, how does the knowledge of the true Gospel impact us?

It determines my view of God

God cannot be small, He must be big

Now I see that God is Sovereign: He is not prone to manipulation; He sets the terms.

Now I see that God is kind, if He calls us by this gracious Gospel

Eph. 2:7

Now I see that God is accessible

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

It determines my view of myself

True "maturity" involves a genuine humility, as I heartily agree to come to God with empty hands.

- God "loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace"

It determines my view of every relationship

His grace is how I'm brought into relationship with Him; and now every relationship is seen through the lense of that reality.

I parent as a recipient of the grace of Christ

still tough - God is utterly gracious to us - is God ever tough on us? OF COURSE! Lewis: "What do people mean when they say, 'I am not afraid of God because I know that He is good? Have they never even been to a dentist?"

But I parent as one who knows the extent of love, and patience, and forgiveness, and self-sacrifice, that has been required for me to be called "a child of God."

My marriage must be lived out of the knowledge that every good thing about me is explained by grace!

I'll bear with you, because He has borne with me

I'll love you even when it COSTS me, because He loved me at the cost of His own Son's life.

My marriage must be lived out as a recipient of God's grace.

In every relationship, the reality of God's grace will be such that I will find satisfaction IN IT. Parents will fail us, kids will disappoint us, spouses will fall short; but if ALL of those happen to me, the knowledge of God's grace in Christ is so weighty that it will be enough. It becomes the centerpiece of my life. If I have nothing else, and I have Him, I have enough. I can rest there; my cup is overflowing.

In most of … words of remonstrance.

Galatians 1:6 ESV

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—