Hear, Believe, Receive

I am excited to resume our study of Galatians. Paul wrote this letter to the Christians gathered in the church in Galatia. Several weeks ago, when we looked at chapter 1, we observed that this letter is different than other letters that Paul wrote.

Paul wrote letters to many churches addressing questions, problems, issues, challenges, providing clarification, instruction, wisdom, reminding them what they’d been taught to believe, and how to live in faith. Most of his letters contain a form of thansgiving and encouragement. But not this letter. We might think that the church in Corinth deserved similar treatment, they did not. Here’s why.

The church in Corinth, while not living faithfully, nevertheless, was faithful to the truth, to the true gospel. Out of the true gospel, would come true living, so Paul encouraged them and offered correction for true living.

But not so in the church in Galatia. They were in perilous danger of abandoning the true gospel, for a syncretistic gospel, a hybrid combination of Jesus plus works righteousness. If you abandon the truth, or water it down, or combine it with falsehood, or self-salvation, the only response is to strongly speak against that idea, and reinforce what is true. That’s exactly what we see in this letter.

Look at verse 1 of chapter 3: “You foolish Galatians.” When you hear the word “fool” what passage comes to mind? Psalms 14:1 and 53:1 both begin with “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” By stating, “you foolish Galatians,” Paul is saying that they are walking on the edge of exchanging truth for a lie. They were in danger of rejecting God all together.

That’s what’s at stake if we get the gospel wrong. We are in danger of exchanging truth for a lie, of exchanging the true God for a false God. Every generation has to deal with false teachers, just like the Galatians had to deal with the false teachers. Paul’s warning to us, is no different.

There will always be people who will come along and who will try to promote a new thing. It will sound fresh, and good, and wonderful. But when we compare it to the true gospel, we see that is is nothing more than a form of works righteousness disguised in new packaging.

Remember what Paul said in chapter 1:8-9 “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. 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.” Those who are preaching something other than the same Gospel preached by Paul are not from God. They are liars, who are following their father, the father of lies, Satan. Be on guard against them.

Studies by the Pew Research Foundation, Barna research show that Biblical literacy is at an all time low. If the church in North America doesn’t know the Bible, how can it identify false teaching? And if the false teachers use similar phrases and key words, but mean something different, how can we tell the difference? Like those who identify counterfeit money, they do so by studying the real money, not the fake stuff. We counter false teaching, by knowing the true teaching, by knowing this book!

People are easily captivated by false teaching. False teaching makes much of ourselves. Beware of false teachers like Joseph Smith and the Mormons, Charles Taze Russel of the Jehovah’s witnesses, Bill Johnson of Bethel Church, Tony Campolo, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Jen Hatmaker, Steven Furtick. These are all examples of people who are proclaiming a false gospel (https://www.monergism.com/modern-day-false-teachers). Paul’s instructions to us today would be the same as his instruction to the church in Galatia: “if anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than the one you received, let him be accursed.” Have nothing to do with their teaching. If you do, it will lead you and others away from God, away from salvation. Is your eternal life worth that?

Now we don’t need to learn what all the false teachers are teaching, we need to know the truth, the gospel:

Tim Keller summarises the gospel in this way: “Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever.”

Now, having heard the gospel, how do we respond? We hear, believe, receive.

Paul reminded the Galatians, and he reminds us today that we receive the Spirit by hearing with faith. Faith, Paul tells us in Ephesians is a gift of God. God gives us His Spirit, and he also gives us the means of receiving the Spirit. When the true gospel is proclaimed, by the Spirit, we hear it, and we believe it by faith. We don’t receive the gospel by works. We do not come to Jesus and say to him, “I have done this, that and the other thing, so give me salvation. That’s what the so-called super apostles were trying to convince the Galatians to do.

That’s not the gospel. Paul says, that Abraham heard God. God spoke to him. God speaks to us through His word, the Bible. We hear the truth of this book, the Bible. We believe it.

That’s the second point. Abraham believed the Lord, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Upon hearing the Lord, he believed. His belief is seen in his actions. He was willing to sacrifice is son, his only son, because he believed God would fulfil his promise, no matter what. Likewise we see faith in action in King David, who refused to kill Saul—though he had means, motive, and opportunity—because he believed it was sin to kill the Lord’s anointed.

Mary is another example of belief turned into action. She believed the words of the angel and became the mother of Jesus, the Son of God.

Jesus, the eternal Son of God took on human flesh, lived a perfect life according to the commandments, fulfilled them all, all the law, so that he could offer his life in our place, as an atoning sacrifice for all the sin of humanity. He offered his perfect life for you. Do you believe it?

That’s what we believe.

Now, we receive. We receive God’s promise, given to Abraham, given to us. The promise came before the law. So we cannot, as the super apostles were trying to say, receive life through observing the law, the law came after the promise, long after the promise. The law teaches us God’s character, his heart, his love, his holiness, his purity. The law is not contrary to the promises, it was the guardian until Christ came. Now that Christ is come, we are kept for God in Christ.

We receive Christ, we accept all his works on our behalf. We accept his promise of salvation, of never leaving us nor forsaking us. A promise, like a gift is simply received. If a promise is earned, it is no longer a gift, it is a wage.

Now the promise God gives us in Christ is this: “we who were baptised into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no make and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

What does an heir do to receive his inheritance? Absolutely nothing. Do not fall victim to any teaching that says you must do something in order to be saved. Do not listen to anything that makes much of you. That’s what modern, progressive Christianity is teaching. Make no mistake, it is a false gospel. Instead, listen to those who make much of Jesus Christ.

The true gospel is a promise, by grace you have been saved by faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Hear, believe, receive. Amen.

Our Father in Heaven, you have revealed your true Gospel—the true good news in your Holy Bible. Holy Spirit, by your presence here this morning, help us to hear it, believe it and receive it. If anyone present in this building, or watching online has never responded in faith, by your grace may they do so now. Holy Spirit, cut through all the chatter, the false teachings, the half-truths, and shine brightly the light of Christ, so that all may hear, believe and receive Jesus today. In his name we pray, Amen.