Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

On August 30, 2005 Coast Guard Lieutenant Iain McConnell was ordered to fly his H46 helicopter to New Orleans and to keep that machine flying around the clock for what would turn out to be a heroic rescue effort.

None of his crew were prepared for what they were about to see.

They were ahead of every news crew in the nation.

The entire city of New Orleans was under water.

On their first three missions that day they saved 89 people, three dogs and two cats.

On the fourth mission, despite twelve different flights to New Orleans, he and his crew were able to save no one.

None!

They all refused to board the helicopter.

Instead they told the Coast Guard to bring them food and water.

Yet they were warned that this was extremely dangerous.

The waters were not going to go away soon.

Sadly, many of those people perished because of their refusal to be rescued.

The true Gospel message is a saving life line to all who are perishing spiritually because of their sin nature.

One major issue is that many people refuse to be rescued so what happens is that the true biblical gospel is changed in order to make it more appealing to more people.

I don’t have to tell you this morning how wrong that is..

GOSPEL SUMMARY

So before we get started this morning lets just sum up what the Gospel is.

What is the Good News about Jesus and how does that effect us? Now I thought about share briefly with you the verses in Romans that will take you down a road of discovery about OUR SIN - OUR SEPARATION - GOD’S GIFT - THE GREAT SUBSTITUTION.

But instead I decided to just show you a 1:12 sec video that explains the Gospel in a nutshell.

SHOW VIDEO

That is the Gospel in a nutshell, and its this Gospel that Paul is defending here when he writes this letter to the Galatians.

Because here is the problem that is going on in the Galatian church and the reason why Paul writes this letter in the first place.

Why did Paul write the letter to the Galatians?

• False teachers were claiming that justification is by faith PLUS WORKS.

• Paul wrote to explain that justification is by faith ALONE.

ANOTHER GOSPEL?

Paul presents two convictions we should have about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

1.

There is ONLY ONE gospel!

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all (vv.6-7a).

Paul doesn’t beat around the bush.

He gets straight to the point.

He says, “I am astonished.”

He’s amazed, shocked, stunned.

Why?

Because

(1) the Galatians are “so quickly deserting the one who called [them].”

Who was that?

God! “Deserting” is a military term used for traitors.

And (2) they are “turning to a different gospel” —not a gospel of grace, but a gospel of grace mixed with law.

The word “gospel” means “good news.”

When a little law is mixed with grace, the message is no longer good news; it’s bad news.

(Optional) SHOW HEE HAW THAT’S GOOD NO THAT’S BAD SKIT

You know no matter how funny that skit can be, there is nothing funny about changing the Gospel the Good News to Bad News when you add or take away from it.

You know, for pastors, ministry can be a series of good news and bad news.

Listen to these scenarios:

Good news: You baptized seven people today in the river.

Bad news: You lost two of them in the swift current.

Good news: The Women’s ministry voted to send you a get-well card.

Bad news: The vote passed 21-20.

Good news: The Deacons accepted your job description the way you wrote it.

Bad news: They were so inspired by it, they formed a search committee to find somebody capable of filling the position.

Good news: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.

Bad news: You were on vacation.

Good news: Your deacons want to send you to Holy Land.

Bad news: They are stalling until the next war.

So Paul continues in v.7

other translations may put it this way,

Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ (v.

7b).

The false teachers (Judaizers) were

(1) confusing the Galatians and

(2) perverting the gospel.

Two implications:

(1) We need to be very clear on what the gospel really is.

The most effective way to detect error is to know the truth.

(Be on guard because many false teachers use our terminology but mean something very different.)

(2) pluralism is wrong.

Pluralism is the belief that all religions are equally valid (different paths, same destination).

So the first conviction we should have is that...

1.

There is ONLY ONE gospel!

The second one is

2.

There is nothing more IMPORTANT than the gospel!

How important is the gospel to Paul? It’s so important to him that he says preaching a false gospel should result in a person being “eternally condemned”!

Some english translations will translate the greek word “Anathema to “eternally condemned” The KJV and NKJV translates the greek word as “accursed.”

It means “doomed to destruction.”

This is a very strong word that Paul is using here.

To put it bluntly, Paul is saying, “If anybody is preaching to you a false gospel, let him be damned,” or, “Let him go to hell.”

This is not something Paul can tolerate.

Nor should we! (Notice that Paul includes himself: “even if we.”)

Why does Paul use such strong (unloving?)

language?

Because he understood that souls were at stake.

Imagine you are in an airport and you overhear someone talking about blowing up an airplane.

What would you do?

Would you remain quiet and let people believe they were safe?

Should we be quiet and let people trust in a false gospel?

Paul calls the Judaizers “false brothers” in 2:4.

They were teaching their false gospel inside the church.

The church’s greatest danger is not the ANTI-gospel OUTSIDE the church; it is the COUNTERFEIT gospel INSIDE the church.

Paul goes on to say, in v.10

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?

Or am I trying to please men?

If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ (v.

10).

Paul was not a man pleaser, but a bondservant of Christ.

His message had not changed and would not change to accommodate men.

As the servant of Christ, he preached the truth revealed to him by Christ.

His objective in life was to do the will of Another, to live his life in service to his King.

This prohibited him from changing his message or adapting it to suit others.

A professional violinist was giving a concert.