The Abuse of Spiritual Gifts (Galatians 1:6-12)

Announcements

Right after this service, we do have a brief quarterly business meeting—members, please plan on being here for that meeting; non-members, you’re welcome to stay as all our business meetings are open to the public. It should take no longer than 20-30 minutes.

Next week on Sunday, please be prepared to partake in the Lord’s Supper together.

Don’t forget that we desperately need help with outreach events this summer (particularly in the month of July. There is one outreach event planned for tomorrow and one planned on Saturday. Tomorrow’s is a simple outreach in which we’ll just pass out flyers during the Osceola Mills Fireman’s Parade, but on Saturday, we desperately need some help manning some of the carnival games at Madera’s Family Day. There are a few more outreach events in your worship guides, if you’re able to help with any of them, please sign up for them at the front of the room.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 55:1-8)

Our Call to Worship this morning is Psalm 55:1-8. Psalm 55 is a psalm of David in which he records an experience of persecution through the betrayal of a friend. It is a little bit longer of a psalm, so we’ll break it into three parts, with us reading through vv. 1-8 together this morning. Please join me in reading Psalm 55:1-8—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 55:title–8 ESV

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. 1 Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! 2 Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan, 3 because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me. 4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 5 Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. 6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; 7 yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah 8 I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”

Congregational Singing

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (143)

Before the Throne of God Above (187)

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery (184)

Scripture Reading (Rom 5:1-11)

Our Scripture Reading is from Romans 5:1-11, which was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Rome. In it, he speaks briefly about some of the different results of our salvation and justification by faith in Jesus Christ alone. He reminds us of Jesus’ death for us, which justifies us and reconciles us to God. Deane can you read Romans 5:1-11 for us?

Romans 5:1–11 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Sermon (Galatians 1:6-12)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Galatians 1:6-12.

This morning’s sermon continues in the topic of spiritual gifts, but I will warn you that the bulk of the message might sound as if we’ve abandoned the topic of spiritual gifts. The reason for this is simple, the text itself isn’t actually about spiritual gifts themselves, but I think you’ll realize pretty quick why we’re working through this text. This morning’s sermon is about the abuse of spiritual gifts and the discussion centers around those who propagate the appearance of spiritual gifts for their own benefit.

They claim to be using these gifts—whether they’re sign gifts (like spontaneous healing, speaking in tongues, etc.) or they just happen to be eloquent in speech so they sound as if they’re spiritually gifted with teaching and preaching. The reality is that not everyone who can do something seemingly miraculous and not everyone who is eloquent in speech is spiritually gifted, rather they’re abusing the concept of spiritual gifts for their own gain.

And what Galatians 1:6-12 shows us is a sure-fire way of telling when someone isn’t empowered by the Holy Spirit, when someone uses the appearance of spiritual gifts, but they aren’t actually spiritually gifted.

It does this by getting down to the root of the problem.

Let’s read Galatians 1:6-12.

Galatians 1:6–12 ESV

6 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. 8 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. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break the text into two parts, but the sermon will have a sub-part to it as well, attached to the second part of the text.: (1) The Desertion of the True Gospel (6-9) and (2) The Origin of the True Gospel (10-12). In this passage, Paul confronts the issue of the churches in Galatia essentially abandoning the truth for what tickles their ears. He confronts their desertion of truth and reminds them that if anyone teaches something contrary to what is Scripture, that the false teacher ought to be accursed. He reminds them that the Gospel that they received from Him was something that was to be received because it came from Jesus Himself. In addition to these two parts, we’ll take a few moments for that sub-part (2b) What is the Gospel and how does this relate to Spiritual Gifts? before our application this morning. This sermon will remind us of the Gospel—what it is, where it came from, and what its purpose is. And we will be confronted with the need to know the Gospel in order to reject those who would subvert it or teach contrary to it.

Prayer for Illumination

The Desertion of the True Gospel (6-9)

The text of Galatians 1:6-12 starts with Paul writing about the desertion of the Gospel by those in Galatia. He writes that he is astonished that they would desert “him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”

Of course, the “him who called you in the grace of Christ” is very much Jesus himself. We know this from passages such as 1 John 4:19 “19 We love, because He first loved us” and 2 Timothy 1:9 “9 [that he] saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”

It is God who calls us to Jesus through the Holy Spirit’s prompting within us and this is the gospel that Paul is so surprised that they’re quickly deserting.

They’ve abandoned the truth of the Gospel in such a way that Paul only describes as quick and they’re abandoning the truth of the Gospel for what Paul calls “a different gospel,” but here’s the issue, there isn’t a different gospel.

This is the truth that Paul emphasizes in v. 7. He confronts them for quickly deserting the truth of the gospel and turning to a different gospel and in v 7, he says “not that there is another [gospel], but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”

This is really the key to the issue at hand and it might cause you to consider or ask yourself, “who would want to distort the truth of the gospel?”

The answer is simple—false teachers and false prophets and the New Testament is littered with warning after warning against those who teach false things.

John writes in 1 John 4:1 “1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Check to make sure that what they’re saying is genuinely true.

Paul in 2 Corinthians who is confronting the issue of false teaching writes in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 “13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” There will be people who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ for the purpose of deceiving the people; just like Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light.

Jesus Himself warns to Matthew 7:15 “15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

And there are literally dozens of other warnings against false teachers in the Scriptures. Some theologians claim that if you move systematically through the New Testament in particular, there is a higher emphasis against false teaching and false doctrine than even love and unity, which is understandable because love and unity really doesn’t mean anything if you’re unified on falsehood and your love allows people to continue living in sin and lies. Unity for unity’s sake is unbiblical, we’re to be unified on the truths of the Gospel.

Why does Paul express such astonishment about those who have deserted the truth in Galatia? Because there is no other truth—there is no other gospel, there is no other Christ, to reject the Gospel according to Jesus Christ is to reject God completely. And yet, there are false teachers who distort the truth, which might bring up another question, “why would someone want to distort the truth?”

The answer to this is actually found in 1 Timothy 6:3-5 “3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a sick craving for controversial questions and disputes about words, from which come envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction between people of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.”

First off, the description of false teachers in 1 Timothy 6 is that they teach something different than true doctrine that agrees with Jesus Christ. They teach something that doesn’t help the individual conform to godliness.

Secondly, they’re described as conceited, prideful, or boastful with no genuine knowledge of the truth. He’s someone who has a desire for controversies and infighting. He thrives in the constant friction between people because of his depraved mind, which by the way, not every false teacher wants to cause great friction; many, particularly in the ecumenical movement, simply want everyone to get along.

Why? Because they “suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” This is the true motive of every false teacher and every false prophet.

For many, there is financial gain in telling people what they want to hear—this is why you have megachurches particularly in the US, South Africa, and even South Korea that have thousands and thousands of members, but all the preacher ever preaches about is prosperity, wealth, and health.

For some, their motive is power, authority, and reputation.

For every false teacher, it’s all about their own personal pride, ego, and desire—and note, that not every pastor of a large church is a false teacher, but not every pastor of a small church is a biblical teacher. You can have large churches like Grace Community in LA and Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis in which their pastors are biblically-minded and godly, and you can have small churches in rural communities that don’t preach the whole counsel of God and subvert the Gospel in the name of unity, love, power, or authority.

And in Galatia, they’ve fallen for the lies of false teaching and they’ve fallen into a false gospel that was distorted by false teachers. They’ve deserted the truth for what they wanted to hear.

Now often, when this happens it’s because the false teacher has some semblance of spiritual giftedness.

People like Benny Hinn claim a false gospel on their ability to trick people into thinking that they can heal them spontaneously. He uses what appears to be a spiritual gift for his own personal gain (ask his nephew Costi Hinn).

In the same line of thinking are people like Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and Creflo Dollar, who preach a false gospel for their own financial gain.

There are others, that are a little more subtle, where they teach a false doctrine or teaching, but since they don’t claim to heal spontaneously and they don’t claim to speak in tongues, they aren’t as noticeable. People like Steven Furtick who has preached heresy from the pulpit multiple times and churches like Bethel Church preach a false teaching that seems good until you take the time to compare what they say to Scripture.

People fall for their false teaching because they’re eloquent in speech, or they’re gifted musically—they play on a semblance of spiritual giftedness that tricks people into thinking that they’re telling the truth.

I’ve even heard so-called preachers state that they can do whatever they want in their churches—they can tell people what to do and its their way or the highway simply because “they can preach” and their people know “they can preach.”

This is the very definition of abusing what seems to be spiritual giftedness for the benefit of the preacher rather than the congregation.

But here’s the issue, look at vv. 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.” Vv. 8-9 makes is abundantly clear that even if someone appears to have significant spiritual gifts, if what they teach and what they preach doesn’t align with what Jesus said and what the apostles spoke, they are to be cursed.

It really doesn’t matter if they seem spiritually gifted—if they can do miraculous events, they can speak in tongues, or spontaneously heal. It doesn’t matter if they’re more eloquent than any other person that you’ve ever heard in your lifetime. It doesn’t even matter if an angel comes and preaches to you.

If what the person says doesn’t line up with what Jesus and the apostles taught, they’re false teachers, they’re to be cursed.

This goes the exact opposite way as well—even if the person is an average person who might not be the most eloquent speaker and they don’t necessarily try to do miraculous events or speak in tongues or spontaneously heal. Even if you’ve known this person for 20-30 years or you’ve known them since kindergarten. Even if they’re the nicest person that you’ve ever met and they would bend over backwards to help you—if what they teach doesn’t line up with what Scripture teaches, they’re false teachers.

In fact, I would argue, that for most of us, when we think of false teachers, we think of televangelists who have amassed millions of followers and who are blatant with their love for money and disregard for doctrinal purity.

When the reality is, most of the false teachers are your average people in charge of small congregations in rural areas; they’re the most unassuming preachers who you’ve known forever and you trust without double-checking what they’re teaching. How do I know? Because of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:15-16 “15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?”

Jesus Himself says that the false prophets come in and they look just like the sheep. They look like you and me.

But the beauty of this is, that it really isn’t difficult to determine whether what someone preaches and teaches lines up with what Jesus and the apostles taught, because we have the Word of God, which tells us what Jesus and the apostles taught.

Even in situations in which the person is someone you’ve known for decades and they look just like you, all you need to do is check their fruit and check what they’re saying with what Jesus and the apostles taught in the Word of God.

In fact, the proper response to hearing anyone teach what they claim to be truth is to always double-check what they’re saying with what the Scriptures teach—all of what the Scriptures teach.

Consider Acts 17:10-15. Paul and Silas go to preach in Berea and they go to the Jewish synagogue and preach the Gospel to the Jews. The Bible says that “they received the word with all eagerness, [but then they examined] the Scripture daily to see if these things were so.”

They heard what Paul and Silas were saying, but instead of just accepting it, they went and studied the Scriptures for themselves before believing in v. 12, “many of them therefore believed.”

Not just because Paul said it, but because Paul said it and they confirmed it through Scripture.

They heard the apostle Paul and went and double-checked him before believing what he said. And the Bible says that “these Jews were more noble” because they went and double-checked what Paul said.

If anyone could’ve said that he had a right to speak and for people to just accept him, it would’ve been Paul, who authored quite a few of the New Testament books and yet, the Bereans were commended because they went and double-checked him.

Likewise, Christians today ought to double-check what they’re hearing with the Word of God and those who teach falsely ought to be rejected to the extent that 2 John 1:10 says that “10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting;”

If anyone comes to you and doesn’t teach what accords with sound doctrine according to Scripture, you aren’t even to receive him—don’t bring him into your house, don’t greet him, don’t be friends with him, don’t extend the right hand of fellowship with him.

Don’t even pretend to be friends with them, if they’re teaching something that doesn’t adhere to the Gospel, they are to be accursed—even if they seem extremely spiritually gifted, even if they’re the most eloquent person on the planet, even if you’ve known them for decades and you were friends up to the point that they started teaching false doctrine.

“If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one received in Scripture, let him be accursed.” Compare everything that you hear people preach and teach to the Gospel according to Jesus. If what they say doesn’t line up with the whole counsel of God according to God’s Word, then reject them even if they seem to perform miracles, speak in tongues, or are extremely eloquent. If what they say doesn’t line up with the whole counsel of God according to God’s Word, even if they’ve been your friend forever and you enjoy their company, they are to be rejected because they’re a false teacher or false prophet teaching what doesn’t accord with the truth of God’s Word and Jesus’ Gospel.

Now that might bring us to ask a question, how do we know what is the truth? It’s all about where the information came from. Read with me vv. 10-12.

The Origin of the True Gospel (10-12)

Galatians 1:10–12 ESV

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul gives three sentences that are somewhat transitional in nature. He poses two questions, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

In chs. 1-2 of Galatians, Paul presents an argument for his apostolic authority in contrast to those who teach false things. And in v. 10, there’s actually a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

He’s almost saying something along the lines of, “guys, I’m not trying to flatter you, I’m not trying to win your approval, and I’m not trying to please you. I’m just preaching and teaching what Jesus has taught—that’s what makes me a servant of Christ.”

If he were trying to win the approval of man, then he wouldn’t be serving Jesus the way that he ought to be serving Him.

Which places him in direct contrast to those who do preach and teach false things with the motives that we’ve already discussed.

Again, from what Paul writes to Timothy, we’re reminded that all false teachers and false prophets are teaching false things to enrich themselves—whether that’s for more money, more power, authority, or influence.

But Paul isn’t like this. He isn’t preaching and teaching for the approval of man, he’s preaching and teaching for what we could call an audience of One.

He’s not in it for his own money, power, authority, or influence—he’s in it because he is a servant of Jesus and that’s what Jesus has called him to do.

This is evident in what he preaches and what he teaches. V. 11-12, “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

If Paul was in his profession merely for his own personal welfare, then what he preaches and teaches would be completely different.

No one who is utilizing Christianity for their own personal gain preaches the whole counsel of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You might be curious as to why and the reason is actually very simple. The whole counsel of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive to anyone who wants to remain in their sins.

Why would Paul offend people if he only wanted them to approve him or if he was in it for his own personal gain?

In fact, if Paul was in it for his own personal gain, why wouldn’t he have just stayed a Pharisee?

He was a Pharisee, in line to be someone extraordinarily important in the party of Pharisees—and I don’t know if you’ve picked up on this, but the Pharisees were known for their wealth, authority, power, and influence.

If Paul was in it it for his own gain, he would’ve simply stayed a Pharisee, where he had plenty of power, authority, wealth, and influence.

But when he was confronted by the truth of the Gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ, he repented, turned to Jesus, and started preaching Christ and Him crucified.

What Paul preached and what Paul taught is the exact opposite of what someone who is in it just for themselves would preach and teach.

Because the Gospel of Jesus, the Word of God, divides between those who want to believe in God and those who don’t; it divides between those who want to follow Jesus and those who want to follow the world.

If he was preaching for his own benefit, wouldn’t he focus on unifying those that are religious? Wouldn’t he want everyone to just get along? Wouldn’t he desire for the masses to build him up and support him in power, authority, wealth, and influence.

Instead of telling them that they were wrong, that they were in sin, and that they needed to repent and believe in Jesus Christ?

If he was doing this all for himself, wouldn’t he preach and teach a message that accepted the people in their sin, called them to be unified regardless of what they believed, and simply stressed how they needed to love one another regardless of whether they were right in the sight of God?

Wouldn’t he preach a message that would be acceptable to all regardless of if they believed in Jesus or not?

The premise of Paul’s argument is that the reason they can trust him is because the message that he’s preaching is not his message—it’s God’s message that has been entrusted to him.

The true Gospel starts by dividing unbelievers from believers and it starts by changing the way people think and believe and act to conform into the image of Jesus.

The true Gospel preaches and teaches repentance of sin and transformation in the mind—it requires a putting away of self and putting on of Jesus; it doesn’t accept sin, it only accepts what is right.

The true Gospel requires repentance and belief and rejecting the world and following God.

Anything short of this isn’t the Gospel—even if the person teaching it claims that it is; even if the person preaching is eloquent; even if they can perform something that looks like miracles; even if they speak in tongues; even if they are an angel. IF they preach something that doesn’t accord with Scripture and doesn’t proclaim the Gospel, they are false teachers, they are false prophets, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Even if you’ve known them for ten-twenty years, even if at one time you were best friends, even if they were there for you when your life was hectic and crazy—if they don’t teach the whole counsel of God and they don’t proclaim the Gospel of Jesus how Jesus and the apostles did, they are to be rejected. Don’t be friends with them, don’t welcome them into your house, don’t support them, they are accursed.

Which brings us to our sub-point of the morning, What is the Gospel and how does this Relate to Spiritual Gifts?

Typically, when we talk about the Gospel, we focus primarily on Jesus, which is right, but just to speak of Jesus when speaking about the Gospel is a very narrow focus of the Gospel.

At its broadest or widest sense, the Gospel is all of Scripture—all of Scripture is the Gospel. If, when we think of the Gospel, we only think of the thirty-three years of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, you’ve gotten part of the Gospel, but you’re missing where the Gospel actually starts.

You’ve gotten to the good news of the Gospel without explaining what went wrong to cause us to need Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection. You must start at the very beginning.

The Gospel is the redemptive story-line of Scripture—meaning, it starts at the very beginning; and Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection is just past the middle of the whole storyline.

The Gospel starts in the Garden of Eden, in which God created Adam and Eve in a paradise that they were to cultivate and live in. The Gospel starts by showing us what God originally intended for humans.

But the bad news is that man succumbed to the temptation to sin and that sin affects every aspect of human life. It caused sin to be passed down genetically person-to-person through generation after generation; and sin caused pain, suffering, thorns and thistles, sin caused death.

Throughout the Old Testament, you see God working with the Israelites to help them see their sin and draw them to repentance and you see them continuously botch up how they were supposed to worship, what the sacrifices meant, and what they were supposed to do to cover their sins.

And we see that the shedding of blood is required for the remission of sin, but the blood of bulls and goats and other sacrifices weren’t effective enough.

By the time you get to the New Testament, you’ve seen approximately six thousand years of God trying to get their attention—and you see this continuous cycle:

Occasionally, the Israelites get it and they repent of their sins and follow God.

But before long, they get distracted by false idols and sin, they fall and they enter into a period of judgment for their sins.

Eventually, God gets their attention again, they repent and they follow God.

But the issue is, through this whole process, they still do not have a permanent sacrificial, substitutionary atonement for their sins—in fact, nothing that they could offer or do is sufficient for the forgiveness of their sins.

So, God sends Jesus to do what no ordinary human could do. Jesus as God incarnate—fully human and fully God, lives the perfect, sinless life, dies for the sins of the world, and is resurrected.

And the majority of the New Testament, with the exception of the Gospels and Revelation are then spent explaining what it means that Jesus died for your sins and how you ought to live in light of this truth.

Salvation is purely by faith through Jesus alone because of the grace of God alone. This is what is revealed in Scripture by God’s glory.

But salvation from sin to God doesn’t end your religious requirements, the New Testament spends a significant amount of time explaining that genuine belief results in good works, genuine belief results in changed life, and genuine belief results in you no longer living for yourself, but for God.

The Gospel continues by explaining how salvation places you on a path of sanctification through the rest of your life. That as you live on this side of eternity, you are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

And the Gospel ends after the book of Revelation by placing mankind back into paradise—a garden in which man can dwell in the presence of Almighty God.

The Gospel includes the entire redemptive history of Scripture—it includes what life was supposed to be like and why it is the way that it is today.

The Gospel includes the need for individuals to repent from sin, to cry out to Jesus, to believe and to follow Him.

The Gospel includes genuine belief that results in good works, a changed life, and living for Jesus.

The Gospel includes the process of progressive sanctification in the life of those who genuinely believe.

The Gospel includes the future new heaven and new earth—it includes the glorification of the saints, it includes life being remade into the paradise that it was originally—a garden in which you can dwell in the presence of Almighty God.

If the preacher never preaches against sin; if the teacher never teaches the need of genuine belief that results in good works, a changed life, and living for God; if the person never speaks about progressive sanctification, the glorious future, and the ability to dwell in the presence of God as a result of our salvation in Jesus Christ, they are not proclaiming the Gospel and they are not teaching the whole counsel of God.

Now, what does this have to do with spiritual gifts?

There are plenty of people who claim that they are speaking on behalf of God and they use the appearance of spiritual gifts to validate their claim:

They claim that they can speak in tongues, they can spontaneously heal, they can do miracles so you just need to believe what they say even if that’s not what Scripture teaches.

They claim that they have the right and authority to lead however they want because they have the spiritual gift of preaching. So, just do what they want or leave.

But Paul teaches that even if “an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one [taught by Jesus and the apostles] let him be [cursed].”

They’re abusing the appearance of spiritual gifts for their own profit and gain.

Which brings us to our application for this morning. How do we apply a passage such as Galatians 1:6-12? And the answer to that question is really two-fold and it starts with the second portion of the text and extends back to the first portion—so we’ll take the application in reverse:

In the second section, The Origin of the Gospel (10-12), we see Paul making the argument that he isn’t seeking man’s approval, he’s not trying to build up his own power, authority, or wealth, or influence—he’s simply preaching the Gospel that was given to him directly from Jesus. He didn’t get it from other people, he got it directly from Jesus Himself. In this section, we spent some time discussing what the Gospel actually is and we did that by taking a quick overview of the redemptive history of Scripture. Our application for the first section is this:

You need to know what the Gospel is and you need to become familiar with the whole counsel of God.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying that you need to have the Bible memorized and you need to have all the different ins-and-outs of the Gospel, its implications, and really all of God’s Word ironed out, but I’m saying that you need to at least know the basics.

You need to know that there is a fundamental issue within every person because of sin, that nothing that a person does apart from believing in Jesus and repenting from sin can save them, and that Jesus is the substitutionary atonement for our sins. You need to know that there is hope in Him not just for this life, but for the next because of His sacrifice on the cross. Every Christian should be able to articulate this effectively.

You need to know the basics of Christian doctrine—you need to know what Christians believe about the Bible, about God, about Jesus; you ought to know what Christians believe about sin, mankind, and salvation. You should know what it means to live in such a way that brings glory and honor to Jesus’ name. This is part of what it means to be familiar with the whole counsel of God.

Again, you don’t need to know all the ins and outs of every detail, you don’t need to know 2,000 years of church history, but you need to know the basics, which I can help you with if you’re uncertain about it.

Knowing the basics—what the Gospel is, where it came from, how it influences our lives, and what the rest of Scripture is for, will set you up in such a way that when someone comes and teaches false doctrine to you, you ought to recognize that something isn’t quite right.

You should know the basics so well, that when someone speaks something contrary to these basics, you know that it’s false and you can prove why it’s false.

And the only way that you can really do this is by soaking in the Word of God as often as possible. Read it, study it, delight in it and grow in it. When you run into something that you’re unfamiliar with or uncertain about, ask for help from someone that you know to be spiritually mature and takes God’s Word seriously.

You need to know the Gospel and you need to become familiar with the whole counsel of God.

In the first section, The Desertion of the Gospel (6-9), we see Paul expressing astonishment that they would abandon the true Gospel to follow those who would distort the truth. He tells them that those who distort the Gospel should be accursed. Our application for the first section is two-fold:

Don’t be tricked into believing false teaching—this part of the application I’m not going to focus too much on, because we just did. The idea of knowing the Gospel and being familiar with the whole counsel of God fits this. You’re going to fall for all sorts of false teaching unless you know the Gospel and you’re familiar with the basics. Take it seriously.

Concerning the rejection of false teachers—this is to be done at the church level, but it’s also to be done on the personal level. Often, we put up with false teachers in the name of unity and love, which is why the ecumenical movement is so popular.

We overlook doctrinal and theological error because we think unity is more important and that overlooking error is loving, but what does Paul teach?

Galatians 1:9, “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

1 Timothy 6:3-5, “If someone spreads false teachings . . . he is conceited and understands nothing.”

Peter says to not even let them in your house.

We are to remove them, reject their teaching, and push them from out of our midst—even if they claim to perform miracles, even if they speak in tongues, even if they can supposedly heal the sick.

We are to remove them, reject their teaching, and push them from out of our midst—even if they’re nice, even if they’re polite, even if they were your best friend since childhood.

You need to be firm with your rejection of false teaching because the moment you allow any of it to creep into your life is the moment that you start sliding into false teaching as well.

Put simply, be weary of those who subvert the Gospel and teach and preach either lies or teach and preach less than the whole counsel of God. Even if they supposedly can perform miracles, even if they can speak in tongues; even if they’re nice and polite. Even if they are an angel—reject them for their false teaching; they’re abusing the idea of spiritual gifts for their own gain.

Learn what the Gospel is, be familiar with the whole counsel of God, so that when someone tries to trick you with lies and false teachings, you know to reject the false teaching and the false teacher.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

In Christ Alone (177)