Apostolic Judgement

Shane Sowers

Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

0 ratings

· 45 views

Notes

Transcript

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Galatians 1:8–10 NLT

Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

How can we avoid this problem?

I. Tenacity

- The quality or fact of being able to grip something firmly; grip.

Hold on to Scripture

Heed its Warnings

A. You have got to hold on firmly to what we have been taught no matter what comes our way. Hold on. Example? When the Apostle Paul tells you to not listen to him and even to ignore an angel, you know he’s calling for tenacity.

B. We have the gospel that was once and for all delivered to the saints and have been for 2000 years now… why is it so easy to walk away from it and turn to something different? We are not committed enough to it or maybe we do not know it. Or can we not handle the pressure of a person or persons?

When the Apostle Paul tells you to not listen to him and even to ignore an angel, you know he’s calling for tenacity.

Preaching the Word: Galatians—Gospel-Rooted Living How to Avoid Apostasy

Charles Spurgeon had the right advice: “Cling tightly with both your hands; when they fail, catch hold with your teeth; and if they give way, hang on by your eyelashes!” Don’t let go of the gospel! That’s the kind of tenacity we all need if we’re going to stay the course and finish the race.

Charles Spurgeon: “Cling tightly with both your hands; when they fail, catch hold with your teeth; and if they give way, hang on by your eyelashes!”

Preaching the Word: Galatians—Gospel-Rooted Living How to Avoid Apostasy

Wilson, T. (2013). Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p. 31). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

Preaching the Word: Galatians—Gospel-Rooted Living How to Avoid Apostasy

“Cling tightly with both your hands; when they fail, catch hold with your teeth; and if they give way, hang on by your eyelashes!” Don’t

Wilson, T. (2013). Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p. 31). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

C. It does not matter who they are.

Galatians 1:8 NLT

Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you.

D. Man do we have a problem with this today… I can give warning after warning regarding this. And still things are always judged in light of a person. In our day and age, successful people are hard to ignore. Even when we know that what they have to say is probably suspect, we just cannot ignore the fact that they are successful so they know.

E. Why do we care when Lebron James who did not go to college gives us advice about foreign policy. Why are we listening to Bono who is surrounded by drugs and groupies, when he is trying to enlighten us of morality of a country he is not a citizen. Why do we listen to actors and actresses lost in the horrid of Hollywood simply discuss the complexities of moral standards in a land grappling with standards. We want to hear principles of living from people who make a living pretending to be something they are not? Why do we listen to Jonathan Cain, guitar player for journey, give marriage and parenting advice to women at Christian women’s conferences. It is because he spent time studying the topic? No… because he married Paula White. So that makes him not an expert on Christian living? Success.

F. You feel it inside and many of us don’t know why. Many elder boards filled with men who are not biblically qualified, but yet are leading the church because they are successful in life. Many times people will even judge what I have to say against me with someone with a more successful ministry. How many of you would give me the benefit of the doubt if it was with Billy Graham or Charles Stanley. Success not qualification runs our society. It is who you are, not what you know. One of my friends was counseling one friend to stop taking a medication that they were given by their Doctor because of someone they saw on TV. Success runs our country.

G. No matter what you do, many times even the wrongs we do are covered when there is success. Success seems to justify wrong. I should not have done it, but we are successful now so all is well. Water for Elephants - “Only really authentic miracle is success. It washes away old sins.” In our time and culture success is really our hope and our salvation… it really washes away sins. I have worked for mega churches… it is like this in our Pastors meetings. It makes you wonder … lots of these people are good people they are just caught in the pattern of this world.

H. The pattern of this world… pragmatism mixed with emotivism. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics—such as the nature of knowledge, language, concepts, meaning, belief, and science—are all best viewed in terms of their practical uses and successes. The philosophy of pragmatism "emphasizes the practical application of ideas by acting on them to actually test them in human experiences". If it succeeds then it is good. Emotivism - is a meta-ethical view that claims that ethical sentences do not express propositions but emotional attitudes. If it makes you feel good then it is right, if it makes you feel bad then it is wrong. This is the way of our world and unfortunately the way of Christianity.

I. This is why many false doctrines and other gospels are spreading like wild fire in the winds. Success validates its truthfulness and morality and emotivism validates it morality and its truthfulness. It does not have to be both… storm hunters are defeated. They have lost to all hurricanes in the last 2 years. So pragmatically this is wrong. But it makes a person feel empowered to believe that they have power over the greatest force in the world. Emotivistically sound. If feels good so it is good.

J. This is why when I say things like TD Jakes is a modalist, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Copland, Jesse Duplantis and EW Keyon are Nestorians, Benny Hinn is a exaggerated monophysite maybe. The writer of the Shack is all over the place and many of the Emergent Church movement distorts and falsely teach about Christ. Christine Caine has manichean teaching. But because they are popular and their teachings make people feel good. They are supported. Encouraged in a sense ...Wishing them well…speaking well of them.

2 John 10 NLT

If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement.

Paula White and her husband are Blasphemers,

2 John 10–11 NLT

If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.

We have the other end of the spectrum… false teachers that preach another gospel. Paula White and her husband preach another gospel. Joel Osteen does, Brian Maclaren does, Tony Campolo does, many emergent church does, Rob Bell does, Brian Houston does, tons of ministries do. And when shown what the Bible has to say… “Their success washes away sins, it is always said that these ministries make them feel a certain way.” We are absolutely run by pragmatism and emotivism in our society. This is not to say that success and feeling good is always wrong, but it is wrongly used as the measuring stick for right and wrong.

Acts 8:9–10 NLT

A man named Simon had been a sorcerer there for many years, amazing the people of Samaria and claiming to be someone great. Everyone, from the least to the greatest, often spoke of him as “the Great One—the Power of God.”

K. But did you notice that Paul even discussed and angel. I mean if an angel does it, we need to be tenacious enough to hold on to the pure gospel. But its an angel Shane. Do you see how hard this is. And Apostle, Paul Himself and and Angel… if they preach another gospel then you do not listen to them. We are not to listen no matter what! TV, big conference, radio, face shining on one dressed in white with wings. You do not listen.

L. If an angel appears to you while you are praying and asking God what you are supposed to do in life. And he then tells you about a book that has the story of Christ preaching the gospel to Americans and are written on golden plates and tells you about the return of Elijah who will restore the priesthood and families will be safe in the temple with a future everlasting life on a planet just for you. You do not listen. If the person who had this experience with the angel tells you that salvation is for us to return to being like God instead of being reconciled to God then we do not listen. If the person tells you that an angel told them that salvation by grace alone is a farce, then we are not to listen to them… if you do then it could spread.

2 Corinthians 11:14 NLT

But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

M. If I as the pastor of this church were to preach another gospel then you should not nor cannot listen to me. I like anyone who does this will be condemned. This is why it is important to know what we believe and why we believe it and to be tenacious about it. Spurgeon: If you meet with a system of theology which magnifies man, flee from it as far as you can.

N. We have got to hold on to the scriptures no matter what is coming our way… we have to be tenacious.

This queen [the Bible] must rule, and everyone must obey, and be subject to, her. The pope, Luther, Augustine, Paul, an angel from heaven—these should not be masters, judges, or arbiters but only witnesses, disciples, and confessors of Scripture. Nor should any doctrine be taught or heard in the church except the pure Word of God. Otherwise, let the teachers and the hearers be accursed along with their doctrine. - Martin Luther

Preaching the Word: Galatians—Gospel-Rooted Living How to Avoid Apostasy

Wilson, T. (2013). Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p. 31). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

II. Heed the Warnings

- Not only to we need to HOLD on to the Scriptures, but we need to HEED the warnings.

Galatians 1:9 NLT

I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

A. He not only wrote it once… He wrote it twice. Anytime anyone writes something twice they are emphasizing something very very important. It is eternal condemnation kind of warning. Nowhere do we see anything more harsh written in the NT more emphatic than this. This is not a slap on the wrist for preaching a false gospel.

B. No one likes to be warned. We often feel like we’re being talked down to. Thus our own pride and sense of self-sufficiency strongly resists warnings, even when the warning is the best thing for us. Human beings don’t like warnings, whether it’s a warning from our parents or a warning in the Bible. But the reality is this: warnings save lives.

No one likes to be warned. We often feel like we’re being talked down to. Thus our own pride and sense of self-sufficiency strongly resists warnings, even when the warning is the best thing for us. Human beings don’t like warnings, whether it’s a warning from our parents or a warning in the Bible.

But the reality is this: warnings save lives.

C. Let them be cursed… anathema - person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction. This is the strongest possible judgement that could be given. It cannot be any worse than to hear this Greek word pronounced on you. This word was used in the OT with the septuagint in regard to Jericho. The anathema of God was to come upon the city… nothing about this city was to be preserved… nothing about it should be left to remind people of anything. Walls gone, people gone, all of their property was to be destroyed. Clean sweep. If you saved anything from them it would contaminate them and whoever does this was to be executed.

Wilson, T. (2013). Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p. 32). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

D. We are to be free from all of this … clean. This is why we cannot be encouraging or supportive of any of this. Nothing left. Nothing. Total destruction and annihilation. This is the seriousness of the judgement given by the Apostle Paul. Let this happen to the person who preaches another gospel.

E. Do we do this today? More for immoral behavior will someone be removed. Paul did not declare this kind of judgement on one who committed adultery with his Fathers wife in Corinth. False gospel teachers get this kind of judgement.