Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. To add something to the Gospel, that he says, we must not give in to not one inch.
There's so much at stake. When the purity of the Gospel is at stake, Paul will stake his life right there. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Galatians, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina.
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Here is Alan Wright. He was going to be going with Paul and mixing in with Jewish circles of people. And those Jewish circles, and in the synagogue, he wouldn't even be allowed to mix with them if he was considered a Gentile because of his Greek father. Then he wouldn't be allowed to interact with those Jews. And so, Paul is just saying, it's expedient. It makes sense. That in order for you to help me preach the Gospel to these Jews, you might as well be circumcised. Because it doesn't really matter.
Circumcision or no circumcision. He said, this is just a cultural matter now for you to be able to mix in with them. You know, it makes me think, when I go and I travel and speak in somebody else's pulpit, and because I've been a pastor for 25 years, and when we go and we do a conference somewhere, or I preach there, I'm going there not for a platform, but to strengthen that local church. Because you know, when you're a pastor, you just love pastors, and you love churches, and you wouldn't ever want to do anything that would undermine what the work of the Lord is that's there. And so, I always wanted to let them know, I'm here to come alongside of you and help you in this ministry.
So, one of the things that I always wanted to ask is just a little thing that I like to ask. I'll ask the pastor, or ask a leader there, what does the pastor wear when he preaches on Sunday morning? Because if he wears a coat and a tie, and it's kind of formal, then I want to come in in a coat and tie. I don't want to come in in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops when it's his custom to preach in a coat and a tie. But if they say, well he preaches in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops, then I'd probably go in in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops.
Why? Because do I need to have on a coat and a tie in order to preach the gospel? Absolutely not. Do I need to have a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops on in order to preach the gospel? Absolutely not. But you know what would happen?
This is the way people are. If I went in in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops into a church where a pastor normally wore a coat and a tie, and I preached in that Hawaiian shirt and those flip flops, and the Holy Spirit fell on that church and people's lives were blessed, somebody would be saying afterwards, pastor, why don't you wear a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops like that guest preacher did? Then the Holy Spirit would really move.
You see, he's kind of silly thinking like that. So I'm not going to ever want to undermine, I want to be able to come in and relate. As Paul says, I want to be all things to all people so that by all means I could win some to the Lord. But if somebody told me you can come and you can preach in our pulpit, but here's what we believe. We believe that the gospel is that Jesus has saved us through the cross, plus you must wear a coat and tie. Because the Holy Spirit will only move if you wear a coat and tie.
If somebody told me that, I'd probably show up in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops. Later in Galatians Paul just puts it point blank and he just says, circumcision or uncircumcision, chapter six verse 15. Circumcision, neither circumcision or uncircumcision means anything.
What counts is a new creation. But in the case of Titus, they were saying he's not fully Christian. And Paul's saying he is Christian.
I like what Driscoll said about this. He said, if you got a book of the Bible named for you, you're probably a pretty good Christian. Timothy also was a good Christian.
He had a book of the Bible named for him too. So we got an uncircumcised guy and a circumcised guy and both of them got New Testament books named for them. It's not circumcision or uncircumcision, it is the power of the gospel that is at stake. And what was at stake was the absolute purity of that gospel. And beloved, I'm with Paul on this. When you get your life transformed by the purity and simplicity of the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation and healing and deliverance and wholeness, you'll want to stake your life right here. Don't add anything and don't take anything away from the precious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's so much at stake. I want to explain some of this by, as I was remembering, a rather painful little season in which I had to come against some false teaching that had emerged in our community. And I believe, this was many years ago, it was in the middle of a year and a half of preaching on the kingdom of God.
And in the middle, really towards the end of that year and a half, this heretical teacher began coming into our city and holding a Bible study and some of our people were going to it. And at first, of course, you want to not have to address something like this, but it became painfully obvious that I was going to have to address it because a very dear lady in our church came to tell me why she wasn't coming to church on Sunday anymore. And what this man who called himself a Jewish scholar, what he was teaching was not just that, yes, Jesus Christ himself was Jewish in his lineage, and not just that you could see in Jesus the fulfillment of so many rich and varied and wonderful Old Testament prophecies, nor was he teaching just that you could see by studying the shadows in the old covenant of matters of Sabbath and festival, you could see how this is fulfilled in Jesus he was beginning to teach that you actually need to observe Old Testament laws like Sabbath or festivals in addition to all he was teaching about Jesus.
And here's why this problem, which was just as clear as any of the ancient Judaizing messages that Paul faced, here's where I realized how important this was. This very dear lady that I loved very much who had a wonderful Christian character and a missionary heart, and she came to meet with me very peaceably and she said, I love Reynolda, I love you, but I just need to let you know I just can't in good conscience come to worship on Sunday anymore since it's not the actual Sabbath. She said, I need to worship on Saturday, the actual Sabbath.
And I turned to Colossians and I said, but see here where Paul says, let no one tell you that you must keep a new moon, a Sabbath or a festival. And I said, how do you explain that? And she said, I don't know, but I'm sure that the teacher could look into the original language and tell me what this really means. And she quit coming to church here and got separated from the fellowship that she loves. And when I realized that this was so subtly at work was I was later meeting with another woman who had also, from our flock, who had been in that same Bible study that this man was holding in the community. And she said to me, yeah, I don't think that's right, we can come to church on Sunday. And we were talking about this and I'm like, good, I'm glad you've not been bewitched. And then she added this comment, she said, but a few of us ladies, we got together a couple Saturdays ago on the Sabbath and we worshiped.
And she said, boy, it was special. She said, the Holy Spirit moved in a special way because it was the real Sabbath, is what she was saying. Let me tell you what's at stake. As soon as that little thought crept in there, it's Jesus plus worship at the right time in the right place on the right day.
Here's what's at stake. The power of the gospel of grace. Because as soon as you introduce the idea that you could be more blessed if you worship in a certain style, in a certain way, in a certain place, or do it in just this way that the Holy Spirit will like it more and will move more, have you not just introduced an unlimited potential for the accuser to come to you and tell you the reason you're not full of the Holy Spirit, the reason you're not blessed is you're not doing it in exactly the right way. All the spy voice wants is a little inroad to start undermining the grace of God that is at work in you. To not let any spy rob you of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The other thing that's at stake is the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Well, just 1% of law is enough to spoil grace. The tiniest bit of law can introduce an unlimited capacity for fear. What if I don't measure up?
When might I be rejected? When the Judaizers infiltrated the Galatian church, the Apostle Paul was outraged and wrote a letter that describes the essence of the gospel of grace and why it must not be mixed with any form of law. Alan Wright's 12-message audio series trumpets the power of the gospel in order to set you free and empower you with pure grace. It's called Galatians, and that's the gospel.
Discover the purity and power of the grace of God. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. The reason I was to stand up against a spy that would infiltrate and start letting one of my flock think that she could not be as anointed on a Sunday or a Wednesday or a Friday as she could be on a Saturday as you were talking about robbing someone of the power of the Holy Spirit. When you accepted Christ, He came and abided in you forevermore. You are the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
What more could you add to that? God, the Most High God, lives inside of you. He lives in you on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday in the morning and the afternoon and in the late evening.
And even while you sleep, He abides in you. Don't come against our gospel telling us the Holy Spirit can't move because you're not doing it right. Don't let anybody tell you you can't be healed, you can't be filled, you can't be delivered, or you can't be blessed because you're not doing it right.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is at stake, Paul said. Hallelujah. See, the devil wants you to be waiting and worrying about something else that you need to do so that every time something bad happens in your life, you go, oh man, I must not worship on the right day. Must not have said the prayer the right way. Must not have held my mouth right, you know?
No. Jesus has made the way and the curtain, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies was rent asunder. It's nothing you need other than the blood of Jesus. And what's at stake, beloved, and this was central also to Paul's concern, was the unity of the church of Jesus Christ. At this moment in history, the church could have become divided between the circumcised and the uncircumcised.
That's what the devil wanted to do. He wanted to develop it so that there would be a division that would come between the Gentiles and the Jews and maybe let there be lip service to the fact that they're both Christian. But once there was a division that separated that these are the real Christians over against these, the potential for division from that point was limitless. And what's at stake is the unity of the body of Christ. My, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity, the psalmist says.
It is as though the oil has been poured out upon the head, down upon Aaron's beard, upon the collars of his robe. It is when there's a unity as though the oil of the Holy Spirit touches the whole body, flowing so freely, anointing and filling all with an aroma of God's goodness. It is, the psalm says, as if the dews of Mount Hermon have come to Zion.
The place that seems arid is refreshed by the dews and the melting snows of beautiful Mount Hermon. Such is the blessedness we have when there is unity and life ever more. I love the unity of the church, Paul said. And what unites us is not, he said, Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised. What unites us is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't let anybody rob you of the power of grace, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the power of unity by telling you that you need to add something to the gospel.
He's looking at my two hands and there for a moment I thought this hand is pale, it might fall off. But then I realized, I jammed my finger, my hand wasn't going to fall off. I realized a little piece of truth carries you a long, long way. Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you.
Jesus saved you. Receive Him, accept Him, believe in Him, live with Him forevermore, be filled with His Spirit, and let no one contaminate that message for that is the gospel. Father we thank you today for the incredible power and glory of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. A wonderful power beyond our understanding. Good news.
Powerful liberating news. God I pray right now that you would by divine revelation and assurances of the Holy Spirit that you would show every Christian in this place and under the sound of my voice, the true character of the voice of the Holy Spirit pointing to Jesus. And we come against in the mighty and the holy and all powerful name of the Lord Jesus every voice and every spirit that would undermine, counteract, infect or poison that message. Every voice that is tempting, alluring, taunting or mocking or shaming as if problems in your life or a lack of blessing is in your life or that God is somehow waiting for you to get something right that you don't currently have right. Right now I invite you with me reject that voice in the name of the Lord Jesus. Those are the voices of the spies.
We will call the spies what they are. Enemies in the camp, the voices of the tempter we reject in the name of Jesus. And we in this moment oh Lord our God, we accept afresh the power and place of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of His sufficiency of what He has done for us on the cross.
Paying a price we could never pay. Living a righteous life that we could have never have lived and making it all ours to receive by faith and nothing else. Maybe today is the day in which the gospel has been opened up to you and if you feel your heart beating, if you feel there's something inside of you that is drawn towards this gospel, something that maybe says it sounds too good to be true then good. That's the Holy Spirit at work in you right now opening up your eyes. Agree with God for the saving work of Jesus in your life. He's calling you.
Say yes to Him today. You can accept Christ. It may be this moment in your life. This is the beginning which the scripture says you become a new creature and all of the forgiveness that was paid for by Jesus becomes yours and all of His righteousness is reckoned unto you and put into your account.
What a glorious moment. Say yes to Jesus today. I want to invite you to stand. Our prayer teams are here up front and they're going to pray with you. Maybe today you're making a step to receive the gift, the free gift of Jesus Christ.
You come and let somebody pray. Maybe today there's something that you're facing and I think there's a lot of faith in this room. You know when the gospel is proclaimed what happens, what just happens is the fruit of that is faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God and it's a time, it's a moment sometimes in which you just say yes, I believe and let us come and pray with you whatever need you might be facing in your life according to the riches of God's mercy.
Alan Wright. There's freedom there. That is the gospel. It's Galatians.
It is our series right now and our teaching, Spies, Lies and Alibis. And Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and our final word today. Talk the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.
It's free and just a click away at PastorAlan.org. Imagine for 99 days in a row someone tells you, I love you, I'll never forsake you. Wouldn't you feel cherished? But what would happen if on the 100th day that same person said, I'm not sure you're good enough for me. If you don't measure up, I don't think I'll love you anymore.
Wouldn't that one day contaminate the meaning of the other 99 days? Wouldn't 1% of conditional love poison the other 99%? Well, just 1% of law is enough to spoil grace. The tiniest bit of law can introduce an unlimited capacity for fear. What if I don't measure up?
When might I be rejected? When the Judaizers infiltrated the Galatian church, the Apostle Paul was outraged and wrote a letter that describes the essence of the gospel of grace and why it must not be mixed with any form of law. Alan Wright's 12 message audio series trumpets the power of the gospel in order to set you free and empower you with pure grace. It's called Galatians and that's the gospel. Discover the purity and power of the grace of God. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages in an attractive CD album or through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Call us at 877-544-4860.
That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Alan, the book of Galatians is filled, just soaked with the gospel message, gospel of grace. Absolutely. Through and through. And that's what we've been learning today, Daniel, that even just a little lie can infect the gospel in such a way that the whole thing then gets poisoned. And it's like the story of my hand, you know, I mean, you get one little thing that you're seeing incorrectly and unlimited fear, but then one little piece of truth and it can change everything. And that's what's so powerful all throughout this journey that we're taking through Galatians just to say to our listeners, open up your heart to this amazing truth of the gospel in all of its purity and all of its simplicity. And it will be sometimes for some listeners, it could be like, I've never really heard it like this before. But if you open up your heart and you begin to see what Paul is saying, it can absolutely change not only your perspective, but change your whole way of living. It is a letter that is soaked with grace and is pure grace. And it's important that we make sure that we're dealing with the true gospel and we're not, we're not changing even like you say a little bit. Even from the very first century, what we see is that it's like there's a conspiracy of hell, not necessarily to try to completely wipe the gospel off the face of the earth, that's not going to happen, but to infiltrate, to bring little bits of untruth to mix in with the gospel. That's why Galatians is about getting rid of that mixture and purifying the gospel because only then does the gospel have its power. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.
