I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our text for today's message is taken from Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 to 9. Allow me to read for you Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 to 9, beginning with verse 6:
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the gospel of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again: If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
The Lord blessed the reading of His holy and sacred word.
There are some occupations that are extremely vital and serious because they are directly involved in saving lives. For example, the policeman who has to protect the citizens from violent criminals, the fireman who has to rescue the residents from a burning house, or the surgeon who has to operate and save the patient. But if you have an irresponsible policeman, a reckless fireman, or a careless surgeon, it would be most disastrous, right? Because they are dealing with the lives of men.
But have you ever thought of the pastor and preacher who is dealing with the souls of men? What if he deceives the people? What if he tells them something that is not true or leads them to the wrong place? That would be eternally disastrous. This is what we want to learn from today's passage: the danger of preaching another gospel. The true gospel is able to save the soul of a man. Jesus said, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" The gospel is able to transport the sinner out from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's marvelous light.
But here, Paul was speaking of another gospel which cannot save. So today we are going to learn what this "another gospel" is, what it can do to us, and how we should respond to it.
Our first point is the defection of the believers. Let us begin with verse 6: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." The word "marvel" means to be amazed, shocked, or bewildered. While the Apostle Paul was in Galatia, he had carefully preached and taught the Galatians the true gospel, so he could hardly believe that the Galatians were forsaking his teaching and accepting the false teaching so quickly. He would have expected them to at least offer some resistance towards the false teachings, but it appears as if they had given in without any fight at all. So he marvelled, was amazed, and was bewildered.
Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps the Apostle Paul was the greatest Bible teacher the world has ever known, and the Galatians had this privilege to be taught by him. Yet they were forsaking the truth they had learned from him so quickly. My friends, through the years, we have seen many longtime believers and church members being drawn away from Biblical truth to false doctrines. Some had attended our church for many years, completed our basic Bible knowledge classes, were baptised, and even served as ushers, Sunday school teachers, in the refreshment teams, and in the different fellowship groups. And all of a sudden, they left to attend charismatic churches, Pentecostal churches, new evangelical churches, and even the Roman Catholic Church. Are you amazed or bewildered? Sunday school teachers, please do not be surprised that the children you are teaching today, before you know it, they may depart from your faithful teaching to false and strange doctrines. If it can happen to the Galatians, how much more can it happen to our church, our families, and our children?
The word "removed" means to desert from something or someone to another. The grace of Christ is a reference to the gospel. God had used Paul to preach the gospel to the Galatians, and when they moved away from the pure gospel to another gospel, essentially they were moving away from God who had called them. Here, Paul was not talking about losing salvation. If the Galatians were true believers, they would never lose their salvation. Jesus said, "No man can pluck you out of my hands." If you are a true believer, you will never lose your salvation—once saved, always saved. That is the reason why Paul used the word "removed," which is in the present tense, middle voice, meaning the Galatians were in the process of allowing themselves to be swayed from the pure gospel that had saved them to another gospel. They had not totally departed, but they were in the process of moving away.
You see, the gospel is called the grace of Christ because we are not only saved by grace, we are also to live by grace. Grace is the foundation of our Christian life. Grace gives us the strength to be victorious, to overcome sin and temptation. Grace enables us to suffer without complaining. Grace allows us to persevere and press on in the most challenging moments and even to use those sufferings and challenging moments to glorify God. We need God's grace at every moment of our lives. But when a believer, despite being saved, turns away from God's grace, he will start to depend on his own strength rather than God's. When that happens, he will be living a life without God's power, without God's resources, without God's empowerment, and it will lead to vanity, futility, failure, and disappointment. Paul did not want the Galatians to be living such a life; therefore, he felt this urgency to deal with this matter immediately. That is the reason why, in the last message we preached, we said, notice in this book, there were no commendations, no long talks. Paul immediately dived into the issue, and this is the issue: the Galatians were moving, in the process of moving, to another gospel.
Let us move to our second point: the deception of the false teachers. Paul was amazed and shocked that the Galatians were moving so quickly away from the pure gospel to another gospel propagated by the false teachers. The word "another," as in "another gospel," is a very interesting word. Allow me to explain. Sometimes the Bible uses a word for "another" as in "another of the same kind." For example, our Lord Jesus said to the disciples, "I will pray to the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever" (John 14:16). That "another comforter" is another of the same kind—the Holy Spirit, who is the third person in the Triune God, different from Jesus, the second person. Though He is different, He is another of the same kind.
But here, Paul uses a different word for “another”, ie. "another gospel," which means another of a different kind, a completely different kind. The false teachers were preaching another gospel, a different gospel. They were adding the requirements, the ceremonies, the standards of the Mosaic law to the gospel of grace. In other words, it was grace plus something else. The moment you add something onto grace, it is no longer grace. The moment you add something to grace, you are perverting the gospel, which is the grace of Christ.
My friends, the greatest danger in the church is not atheism, it is not some pagan religions or some cultic groups because all these people openly deny God and His word. The greatest danger is the Christian movements that outwardly appear to be the same as you and I—relatively harmless people who profess to believe in the Bible, but in reality, they are preaching another gospel of a different kind—a gospel that cannot save. That is the greatest danger today.
Do we have people preaching another gospel? Most certainly. Those who teach salvation is by grace plus good works, salvation is by Jesus Christ plus Mary or plus the apostles—that is another gospel, a different gospel from the Bible. Because the gospel in the Bible is only by faith, only by grace, only by Christ, only by the Scriptures, and to the glory of God alone.
Take a moment and consider the number of ways in which we can fall into the sin of preaching another gospel. Let me give you some examples. We preach another gospel when we weaken the message, when we downplay the depravity of man and the seriousness of sin. When we don't talk about sin, judgment, and Hell, but we just talk about love, forgiveness, and blessings, that is a one-sided, perverted gospel. We preach another gospel when we dilute the message. We try to make the gospel acceptable, palatable. We try to make the cross less offensive. Once, after the worship service there was a visitor in our church, and he said to me, "You cannot preach like this; you must make the gospel, the word of God, more acceptable.” And he used this word I will always remember—”you must be accommodating.” He used the word "accommodating," but if I accommodate, then I would be diluting the message.
We preach another gospel when we blend the message, trying to fit the gospel into other religions. We tell people that we are all the same, that everything is the same, the essence is the same, and it is only the form that is a little bit different. That is a terrible lie. Jesus said, "I am the only way; no man can come to the Father but by me." Exclusively, He is the only way.
We preach another gospel when we poison the message. How do we poison the message? When we attack the word of God. That is why it is so important for us to believe in the inspiration and preservation of Scriptures. It is so important that we do not deny the person of Christ and His works. The moment we do that, we are poisoning the message, we are undermining the message. We say the Bible has mistakes, and then we preach a gospel. What about the mistakes in the gospel? If the Bible has mistakes, then wouldn’t the gospel have mistakes? We are undermining and poisoning the message.
We preach another gospel when we deflect from the message. We preach our own ideas, our own opinions rather than what the Bible says.
So you can see that there are many ways in which we can fall into the sin of preaching another gospel. Pastors and preachers are always tempted to give in to please the people, which we are going to learn about in our next message. We will please God, not men. So you must pray for the preachers that they would not fall into the sin of preaching another gospel.
Paul went on to say in verse 7: "Which is not another." Now, this word "another" means another of the same kind. In other words, please do not consider, or please do not mistake the so-called gospel that they preach as the same as a gospel of the same kind. No, it is not. It is completely different; it is totally contrary. It cannot save you.
There's no doubt that the false teachers would preach that Jesus was the Son of God, no doubt that they would preach that He was the promised Messiah predicted in the Old Testament. He was a miracle worker, He taught wonderful doctrines, He was crucified and resurrected, and one must believe in Him for salvation. But they would also teach that in order to be right with God and to maintain the salvation, you must also conform to all the requirements, ceremonies, traditions, and the Mosaic law. In other words, they are adding works to salvation. So very subtly but completely, they had perverted the gospel of Christ.
The second part of verse 7 says: "But there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." To pervert means to distort, to turn something into the opposite. The gospel of Christ was the good news, but now they had turned it into the opposite. It has become the bad news because no man can ever be saved by self-effort. No man can ever be saved by good works.
You and I, as believers, will produce good works, there’s no question about that, because of God's saving power working in us. Ephesians 2:10 says this: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." So, you and I, as believers, God has ordained for us to produce good works, but we are not saved by good works. We are saved by faith, by grace, by Christ, by the Scriptures alone, and all to the glory of God alone.
But after we are saved, we will produce good works in our lives. So it is not for salvation; it is not to maintain our salvation. Good works come after we have been saved. The false teachers had infiltrated into the churches to trouble the believers with this perverted gospel. To trouble means to shake. They were shaking the believers' faith.
Remember, Jesus said in John 14:1, "Let not your hearts be troubled." The same word which means "let not your hearts be shaken," "let not your faith be shaken." At that point in time, Jesus would soon be arrested and crucified. Our Lord is omniscient; He knew that the moment He was arrested, the disciples would be very discouraged. They would be troubled; they would be shaken. That was the reason why Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled, be shaken." And then He went on to say, "Because ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, ye may be also."
Think about this: Anything other than grace will surely trouble us greatly. Why? Because if it is not grace, you will always be looking at yourself. You will always be troubled, thinking, "Have I done enough to be saved? Have I done enough good works? What if I have not done enough good works? Have I been prayerful enough? Have I been worshipful enough? Have I been giving enough? Will I ever go to heaven, or will I miss the mark?" You will be troubled; you'll be shaken in your faith.
Recently, when I visited Sister Molly in the hospital, I could see that she was at peace and she’s ready to go and meet her Creator in Heaven. In fact, when I said to her, "Molly, I will come and see you tomorrow," she said to me, "I do not hope to see you—not because I do not like to see you, but I want to see my Lord." How is she able to say that? Because she has trusted in the gospel, the grace of Christ. That is why she is not troubled. That is why she is not shaken. That is why she is at peace.
This is what faith in the true gospel can do to us. We must never let our people hear this “another gospel”, because their faith will be troubled, their faith will be shaken. That is why we must do everything we can to protect our people so that they will not be moved onto another gospel.
Our final point is the destruction of the violators. Look at verse 8: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Do you know what makes false teachers so dangerous and why people would accept them so willingly? Firstly, most false teachers have very appealing personalities—eloquent, articulate, full of charisma to charm the people. Some are popular because they appear to be so loving, warm, pleasant, and calm. Others appear to be godly, righteous, and holy, but it is only an outward show, as 2 Timothy 3:5 tells us, "Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." Outwardly, they look very godly, but inwardly, they have no power because they do not have the Holy Spirit.
The vast majority of false teachers come to us with a sense of authority, like the false teachers in Galatia. If you can turn with me to Acts 15:22-24, allow me to read for you so you better understand the situation at Galatia. Acts 15:22: "Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren." And they wrote letters by them after this manner: "The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentile nations in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia." Why did the apostles and elders send Paul, Barnabas, Barsabas, and Silas to Galatia and the other regions? Well, because verse 24 says, "Forasmuch as we have heard that certain men which went out from us have troubled you with words"—the same word, troubled—"have shaken you with words, subverting your souls turning their souls upside down into confusion, saying, Ye must be circumcised and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandments." The apostles and elders did not give such commandments. In other words, the false teachers had claimed to be sent by the apostles and elders in the Jerusalem church. They claimed to be authorised religious leaders and they were telling the Gentiles that you must first be Jewish before you can be Christians. So, you must be circumcised and keep the Mosaic law so you can be saved; otherwise, you cannot be saved.
You can imagine, when these people who are eloquent, full of charisma, people who appear to be godly outwardly, authoritative—surely those Galatians would listen to them, right? The vast majority would listen. When you have someone who has such credentials, and they’re authoritative, people will listen. That was the reason why Paul said to the Galatians, it does not matter who they are, including ourselves. Even if we have changed our teaching and deviated from the pure gospel, [CHECK AT 30:40] or even if an angel he was referring to the good angels because the bad angels were already cast out of Heaven, there were no bad angels in Heaven even if a good angel were to preach the gospel to you which is another gospel of a different kind you must reject it and treat it as heretical. Obviously, Paul was speaking hypothetically; he would not have changed his teaching. The good angel will not teach something contrary to God's word. The point is that no pastor, no preacher, no messenger, no matter how seemingly good and sincere they may seem to be, should be accepted if their teaching does not square up with God's word. The moment their teaching does not square up with God's word, you must reject it.
What does that teach us? Do not evaluate the preacher by who he is. Do not just look at his credentials, his personality, or even his authority, but evaluate him on the basis of what he says. This is the big problem because oftentimes we judge a person by who he is—how many degrees he has, how he is dressed, how big his church is, how he carries himself. We are easily swayed by these things, but we forget that what is important is not who he is but what he says.
Another important thing is that we must take note: A preacher may have been faithful in the past, but that does not mean he will always be faithful. You still have to evaluate on the basis of what he says. Past faithfulness does not guarantee present and future faithfulness. So, my friends, that means the onus is on us. It is our responsibility to listen carefully, to evaluate the message. Is he faithfully preaching the gospel? Is he faithfully expounding from the word of God? If he is, praise the Lord. If he is not, what must we do? Verse 9: "As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
Previously, Paul had spent some significant time in Galatia. He had warned them again and again of this imminent gospel perversion and repeatedly told them anyone—no matter who the person is—who perverts the gospel, let him be accursed. Now, that is a very strong word, "anathema," let him be accursed [CHECK ARD 34:45], which means, "let him be dedicated to destruction." In our modern language, we would probably say, "Let him be damned" or "Let him go to hell."
Well, some of us may be thinking, "But that appears to be very unkind; that is perhaps not the right thing to say to someone." Well, in verse 8, Paul included himself: "If I, or any good angel were to preach another gospel, let him be accursed." And he reiterated this warning again in verse 9, he says: "If any man preach another gospel, let him be accursed." In other words, the emphasis is not on the person. It could be Paul, it could be a good angel, it could be any person, it could be the pastor, the elder, the Sunday school teacher, the fellowship leader, or your best friend. It doesn't matter who that person is, as long as that person perverts the gospel and preaches another gospel of a different kind, let him be accursed. Because our ultimate faithfulness is to God and His word.
The "another gospel" is a fake gospel. It is a gospel that cannot save. It is a gospel that deceives, making people think that they are saved when in reality they are not. It is a gospel that will not lead to heaven but to hell. The "another gospel" will trouble and shake the faith of the believers. So, when you and I think of how the false teachers would trouble the faith of our people—our moms and dads, our grandparents, our children, our friends—when we see our loved ones lying on their deathbeds, being so troubled and shaken, crying out, "Have I done enough? Have I been holy enough? Have I been good enough? Can my good works measure up? Will I go to heaven?"—crying out, shaking—how can we not be affected?
When we think about millions and millions of lost souls out there being deceived by this fake gospel, how can we still have fellowship with these false teachers? How can we associate with them, eat with them, befriend them? How can we attend their church services? How can we read their books? How can we hear their sermon audios? And worse still, how can we support their ministries? God forbids! We will be like Paul, who says, "Let him be accursed." And this is also a warning to us that: There is only one gospel that can save, and that is the gospel according to the scriptures. Any other gospel that departs from the word of God is another gospel of a different kind. And if you and I preach not the gospel, then we would also be accursed. So, this is a reminder to all of us too, and we pray that God will protect our point, God will protect our Sunday school, God will protect our fellowship groups, and God will protect our families. That every one of us—pastors, elders, preachers, Sunday school teachers, parents—will always preach nothing but the pure gospel, that is, the grace of Jesus Christ. May the Lord have mercy on us.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for this opportunity for us to consider this portion of Scriptures. And even as we study through the book of Galatians, teach us, help us to understand and also to apply it to our lives. Indeed, Thy word is what we need, especially in perilous times like this. We are living in an age and time whereby people will not tolerate the gospel; they will attempt to accommodate, to blend, to dilute, to distort the message. God forbids! Thou hast taught us today, "Let him be accursed," the one who preaches another gospel. Let him be accursed.
And we also want to be careful that we will protect our people, that we will remind them always to be careful not to be swayed away by this other gospel. We give Thee thanks, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.