Galatians - The Exclusivity of the Gospel

Isn't it interesting how much we love systems? We want the five steps to a cleaner home, a more well-behaved child, or a better life. We want to know what we have to do. But what happens when we let that love creep into the bedrock of our faith in Christ? It is ever so easy to do.

The Apostle Paul recognized it in the Church of Galatia. In chapter 1, verses 6-10, Paul calls the people out for exchanging the gospel for another gospel. one based in a moral code. Many religions are built on systems of moral code, a list of things to do and not to do. But not Christianity.

Christianity is not based in a system. but in a person. the person of Jesus Christ, our beloved Savior. Everything within our Christian walk flows out from that relationship with Him. Let's listen to this message titled, The Exclusivity of the Gospel.

First preached at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem on February 23rd. 2025. The scripture reading for today is in Galatians. Chapter 1. Verses 6 through 10.

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. Not that there is another one. But there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 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 was 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. 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. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for what you've entrusted to us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a concept. Or an idea.

or philosophy. Lord, it is truth, it is reality. The way to forgiveness transform thoughts and desires and communing with you. Lord, we thank you for choosing to reveal the gospel to us in such a clear and powerful way. Help us, Lord, to be attentive to what your word has to say today.

I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Wade. As you have your copy of the scriptures open to. Paul's letter to the Galatian churches.

We continue now in our series as we began last Sunday. And this letter. In these verses today, this paragraph today, I've titled this message, The Exclusivity of the Gospel. Not a popular concept today. Let me be clear, the gospel was not intended to be popular.

The gospel makes very high demands. And this is something that Paul is making absolutely clear. Yeah. This is somewhat of a polemic, this paragraph, all right? And so there's a lot of negative in it.

Paul is astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called you. He's passionate about this, but it's because he's passionate about the gospel.

So, I want to present the gospel this morning, and we will in this message. But As we are listening to this, here we are so far removed from this context that Paul was, in which Paul was writing this letter. These are new believers, a church that he had planted. And he gave them the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. And here we are.

So far removed from that, how does this apply to us?

So, as we read Paul's words to the Galatian church, I want us to be challenged in three ways this morning. And those are the three main points of the sermon. It's three calls, three calls that we have. First of all, is the call to be rooted. Firmly rooted.

Just talked with Nate Carmichael this morning. He's an arborist. And he says he loves it when storms come through. He has his kids praying for storms. That's job security.

Right? And with the ground as saturated as it was, It was a lot easier for trees when the wind comes and blows, it's easier for trees to topple over. And the Bible has a lot to say about roots. What roots do we have? What is the role of roots?

Not only is that where the tree finds its nourishment, but it provides stability for the tree. And listen as this morning, as the people of God, may you listen with a call to be rooted. in the gospel. Because You can count on this. There is a battle for your allegiance.

There is war for your affection. And we are called to be rooted in the gospel of grace. Is why Paul says in verse 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, not that there is another. But there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

So quickly deserting the idea of being swiftly deserting in others, it didn't take much for them to be toppled over, to be uprooted from the gospel of grace. The idea here is similar to what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:4. He says, You put up with readily. These other teachers come in, and it didn't take much for you to just say, oh, yeah, okay, whatever you say. Yeah.

That's the idea of so quickly. Right? The lack of being rooted. Which hurt Paul because he's the planter of this church. He's the Apostle Paul, and he taught them.

And What disturbed him Is that they weren't just switching philosophies as Wade prayed, the tr Faith is the it is philosophy. It's not just a mere philosophy though. They are deserting the person for a system. That's what got him. They were deserting the person for a system.

Now be warned about this because there's all kinds of systems of theology and frameworks of theology. And you might be really good in a theological framework. It doesn't mean you're rooted in the person. There's a difference there. And so this is what Paul.

Is passionate about. He says, it's like you have become severed from Christ. Severed from Christ, he uses that term in chapter 5, verse 4. In other words, there were these plants and Paul planted the seed and up grows this flowering bush. And he says, You know what you've done?

You've cut off the flowers and planted them in the ground as if you expect them to grow with no root. You've cut yourself off from Christ. That cut flower has no way of getting nourishment. It will die. Guys, it's going to revolutionize how you give flowers to your wife from now on, isn't it?

You give them cut flowers, why do you you're these flowers are dying. I'm just kidding. But what he's saying here is the opposite lip I think it's on the screen, Romans chapter 7, verse 6. But now we are released from the law. Having died to that which held us captive.

Isn't that good news?

so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. Throughout this book, Paul is going to make a distinction between living and serving in the spirit versus living and serving according to the written code. Like I said at the end of last Sunday's service, if you believe your Christian walk of faith is simply adhering to a moral code, you are missing the point and the power of the gospel. This is how Paul is challenging us in this letter.

So you quickly deserting him. who called you in the grace of Christ. He called you by name. He knows your name. He called you to be reconciled to God.

Think about that. And it is the grace of Christ that called you. And here it is, the gospel, his perfect life that he lived, perfectly fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law, his death, In your place, absorbing the wrath of God in your place. His resurrection. coming back to life.

victory over death, certifying. That the debt has been paid. And then giving you his righteousness by faith. That's the gospel. All of that done for you, which is what we will remember and celebrate tonight.

as the Lord invites us to His table.

So important that we remember that. on a regular basis. And that's he who called you. And he says you're turning to a different gospel. You're turning away from the person to another system, a system that is not the gospel.

And he says, not that there is another one. Notice how he says that. You're turning to another gospel. Not that there actually is another gospel. Let me make this clear.

The gospel of grace in Christ is not one option among many. There is only one gospel. It is an exclusive gospel. If you add or take away anything from what the Bible declares of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, You declaw the gospel. You ruin it.

Paul says I'm not going to stand by and let you do that. He says, There are some who trouble you.

So Paul planted the church, discipled the people in the church, moved on to plant other churches, and then some come in. Yeah. Some who trouble you. And the word trouble here is to stir up, to unsettle, to agitate. And we see a corollary to this in Acts chapter 15.

Acts chapter 15 records the historic Jerusalem Council, where this issue had come up. And the issue was this, because the church started out entirely Jewish, right? The church started out entirely Jewish. But the Lord made it clear through the scriptures, made very clear in the Romans class this morning that Pastor Adam taught. The gospel is for all people.

Christ died for all nations. It's not just a Jewish thing. And yet, those who were Jewish and initial believers in Christ, they were saying, Hey, we can't just get rid of Moses. If you're going to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, you have to follow the customs of Moses. In other words, you have to keep the law.

Paul says no. That is not the gospel. Not at all. And so it is so many today. And there might be many of you in this room today who think Christianity is a particular moral code.

Listen to me. No, it's not. No, it's not. He became sin for us. That we might be made what?

the righteousness of God in him. How's that for truth? That's the gospel. So These teachers would come in and they would twist, they would disfigure, they would add to. The character and the purpose of Christ.

Who is Christ? What is He? What is His work? Is His work finished? Is His work complete?

Is it sufficient? And they were taking that away from the gospel. And that's what all false teaching does. Any false teaching that claims to be Christian or religious or spiritual truth will ultimately distort the character and the purpose of Christ, distort it from what God has revealed. in his self-disclosure.

This is our authority. And so a distorted gospel. is no gospel at all. It's like a bait and switch. You just imagine the Gundy people.

Nate and Laura Clanch are going to the Gundy people and they're going to give them, they're going to translate the scriptures so that they can read the scriptures for themselves. And they're going to present the gospel from the scriptures, the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. And let's anticipate and pray that many of those people will come to faith in Jesus Christ and receive his righteousness so that they know where their souls will spend eternity. And then all of a sudden What if they were to give them and say, okay, but here's the law of Moses?

Now, you need to keep the law of Moses if you're truly a follower of Jesus. And that wouldn't make a lick of sense, would it? And I know there's probably not any of you in here who are struggling to try to keep the law of Moses. But I would guess that there may be some among you here who think Christianity is just a particular moral code. And that's the same thing.

You are missing the point. And the power. of the gospel. This is why Paul wrote. The book of Galatians.

This letter to the Galatians. It's like the parable that Jesus gave as he as he says, I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called the soil. Remember the parable of the soils? The seed is the word of God. The planter goes out, the sower goes out, and he sows seed, and some of it falls on hard ground.

The adversary comes and snatches it away. It falls on rocky ground. It doesn't grow very deep. And when the sun comes up, it scorches it. Or some of it falls on thorny in thorny bushes and the thorns choke it out.

with the cares and concerns of the world. And he says, This, maybe this is what's happened in Galatia. In the churches in Galatia. Really? The gospel of grace in Jesus, I planted the seed of truth, and all of a sudden you're uprooted.

And the heat. Of persecution against Christians has maybe turned you into, well, maybe we just ought to be more Jewish and they'll leave us alone. That could be a part of it. of the motivation. And if they're not rooted, if they don't have deep roots, listen, please.

is the call to be rooted. If you're not rooted, you are vulnerable. Know that. If you're not rooted, you're vulnerable. to deception.

It's like the sea waves. Tossed to and fro. You don't want to be this skiff without any power that's just tossed to and fro at the mercy of the sea waves. It's like Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 14, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. And it could be that some of this was because of the opinions of others.

And it could be that we. That we might be governed by secular opinions of the gospel. Whatever they think the gospel is, whatever they think Christianity is. And so we try to make it so that They think well of us. And the thinking of the majority of the Of the secular society today is it's better to be nice.

And they use the word loving. It's better to be nice And they mean loving than to be confident and convincing. If you're confident in your faith, To many people, you're considered a bigot.

Now that doesn't mean that being confidential. and being loving are mutually exclusive. That is a false dichotomy. We ought to be loving. But to love does not mean to love the things that God hates.

We have to be clear with the gospel. of grace in Christ Jesus. The gospel is not subject. to public opinion. Let me say that again.

The gospel is not subject to public opinion. The gospel does not shift and change based on the popular opinions of the day. Let's be thankful for that. It is a rock. Jesus said, whoever takes these words of mine and hears them and does them, he will be like a man who builds his house on a rock instead of the shifting sands that get washed away by the waves.

Paul's afraid that that's what's happening with the Galatians. because there were some pressures coming on them. But as he said to the church at Colossi, Colossians chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. Read this together with me, please. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him.

and established in the faith. just as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Do that. Hmm. That's not a suggestion.

It's a call. To be rooted and grounded and established. in the faith. Here's the second call. from the text this morning.

And we're going to take it from verses 8 and 9. Let's read that for just a second. He says, but even if we or an angel, and it's a we, that's a First person plural.

So Paul and his team of associates, right? They traveled together. Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach 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. First of all, we know.

Bible study, why is something repeated? It's a form of. Emphasis. Right? So He's emphasizing this very, very strongly here, and he's using very strong language.

And this is a call to discernment. A call to discernment. If you are rooted, you cannot be truly discerning if you are not thoroughly rooted in the gospel of grace.

So, this is a call to discernment. I want you to notice something here. He says, But even if we, and he's speaking with apostolic authority, even if I as an apostle, Or an angel comes and preaches to you another gospel. I'm going to be accursed. How's that for confidence?

Some people today might say, well, that's just flat out arrogant. No, it's not. Because Paul Knew that the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, watch this, was objective truth. It was not simply and merely some subjective experience, it was objective truth. Truth.

An apostle Means sent one. An angel means messenger. And what he's saying here, even if any person. Who is an agent of divine communication comes to you saying, I have a word from God. If it is contrary to the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, It needs to be under the judgment of God.

That's the word anathema. He said, have nothing to do with it. Similar what John said in 2 John verses 10 and 11. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

So, have nothing to do with it. And with the understanding that there might be those who call themselves apostles, or there might be those who say, I have received a message from angels. But know that the adversary is a master at making counterfeits.

So this objective truth From history He says You know it. Don't depart from it. Let's talk about objective truth for a minute. Four elements. four elements that are brought out in objective truth that make it objective.

Okay? We mean by objective, it's truth that comes from outside of me. It is true to everyone. All the time.

Okay. That's what objective truth means. For example, We we have ball fields. Right. And on the football field, for example, there are line markers, there are side boundaries, and there is the end zone.

A running back carrying the ball runs 15 yards down to the 35-yard lines. He says, You know, I just kind of feel like I made a touchdown. Doesn't work, does it? He's got to get into the end zone. That's objective truth.

Subjective reality.

Now, let's talk about this. Four points. That makes this truth objective. Number one, it is anchored in history. The gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

The Son of God who came, He died on a cross, He rose again, He ascended back to the Father. It is anchored in history.

So his life. His perfect life, his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Paul says chapter 3 verse 1, it was before your eyes. that Jesus did all this. This is not NIF.

This is historic reality.

So it's anchored in history. Number two, it's asserted by prophecy. It's asserted by prophecy. As much as 1500 years earlier, I mean this morning we talked we talked about the prophecies of Well, Moses was 1,400 years before Christ, and then David, a thousand years before Christ, and then Isaiah, 700 years before Christ. And all of those prophecies, over 300 of them, specifically fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, some of which a person would have no control.

For example, where he was born. Who has control over where they're born? Right? Jesus was born in the place the prophecy said he would be born. His family line.

He is, you know, what person has a choice of what family they're born into. And yet Jesus perfectly fulfilled that prophecy.

Okay, so many times it's repeated in Scripture that it might be fulfilled. This is talking about what makes truth objective.

Okay, so it's anchored in history. Secondly, it's asserted by a prophecy. We're talking specifically about biblical objective truth. asserted by prophecy. Yeah.

Thirdly, it's affirmed by miracles. Undeniable, okay? And even the chief detractors of Jesus said. A notable miracle has been done. And of the apostles, a notable miracle has been done.

We cannot deny it. People who were standing there, John chapter 11, Jesus calls to Lazarus, Lazarus, come out. And Lazarus comes out. And some of the people went and they told the Pharisees and they said, What are we going to do? It's not like you can deny this.

So they tried to kill Lazarus. That's what human pride can do. That's what a closed mind can do. And so it's affirmed by miracles. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 4 says, God.

Bore witness by signs and wonders, many attesting signs, another translation says. Where God performs miracles, it's because He's giving more self-disclosure. He says, I want you to know this is me talking. And then, fourthly, and here comes the subjective part, but it's also very objective. Because I can look around this room today and I can see so many living pictures of God's transforming grace.

This Richard is one of them, and that Richard is another one of them. Pictures of God's transforming grace. A life that is radically changed. Because Christ has come and now I have his righteousness. He has reconciled me to the Father.

and His Holy Spirit indwells me.

So many of you could give testimony to the fact that you are a living picture of God's transforming grace. That's why we do living pictures here. And in our care group, we're taking turns, everyone sharing of your testimony of coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Because it's so encouraging to hear what God has done in a life. And so, actualized in lives, that is, you say, Rich, that's subjective yes and no.

Because truth came to me from outside. It's not something that I conjured up from within myself. But God changed my life. To follow Jesus, and he is transforming me into, here it is, the image of Jesus Christ. That's not my ambition.

That's God's work in me. It is no longer I who live. But Christ who lives in me.

So Consider those things. This is what makes the truth of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ objective truth, which is why Paul was so utterly confident with it that he could say, if anyone comes to you claiming to be an agent of divine communication and they preach anything other than the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, have nothing to do with it. Because it's not the gospel. And so they're called to be discerning. What does it mean that we are called to be discerning?

It means this. It means to be alert to distinguish truth from error. Truth from counterfeit. It also means that we are aware of the schemes of the adversary. We are aware of the schemes of the adversary.

Listen to this. It is intuitive, humanly, it is intuitive. to have to earn God's favor. Your enemy knows that. The adversary of your soul knows that, and so he's going to try to hammer that idea into your mind to keep it there, because the gospel of grace says, no, that is not true.

Under the gospel of grace, you cannot earn God's favor. But Jesus Christ has has for you. Why would you give that up? The tactic of the adversary, the tactic of these false teachers, is to say that what God has provided. is not enough.

Stop and think now. This is a moment for personal assessment. Is there anything you believe, is there anything you hold on to in your practice of faith, in your walk of faith, that would indicate to you that you don't actually believe that God is enough? That the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ is enough. You have to do something for God to be happy with you.

For God to be pleased with you. For God to love you. May God rescue us from that. Through the gospel of grace. The enemy's tactics are counterfeits, lies mixed with just enough truth.

to make them look like they're right.

Something we have to understand today because there's a lot of people claiming to be spiritual, even Christian leaders. And a lot of Christian leaders or teaching a false gospel. Let me say this all that glitters is what? Do you know that? You're attract listen, you are attracted to what glitters.

You are naturally. You are attracted to what glitters.

Something gets your attention. It might get your attention emotionally, it might get your attention with some of the senses. All that is Christian or spiritual. Is not of the Spirit of Christ. We are called to be discerning.

You can't be discerning unless you're well-rooted. We're called to be rooted. We're called to be discerning. An author from a while back. He's an expositor.

He said This is an important statement, particularly for us today. as Americans. The outward person of the messenger does not validate His message. The outward person of the messenger does not validate his message. Rather, The nature of the message validates.

The messenger.

Now, this is so good for us as Americans because, as Americans, we're all about what? Image. who are the most credible people today. Hopefully not for you. I'm sure this doesn't mean, I'm sure this is not true for you, but celebrities are the most credible people today.

Because if you're a celebrity of any kind, you are, and you're, and who are the people that show up on the movie screens, right? It's the handsomest people on the face of this earth. And we tend to give them an authority that they do not deserve. We make them experts in whatever field they're passionate about. just because they're passionate about it and they look good.

And everybody knows their name. They're an authority. Celebrity. And some spiritual leaders count on that.

Some spiritual leaders count on that. I don't have to worry about that. The outward person of the messenger does not validate his message. Rather, the nature of the message validates the messenger. Paul said to this to the Philippian church: It is my prayer.

This is how he prayed for the church. This is how I encourage you to pray for each other. In your Care groups. in your personal worship at home. As you pray for me, as you pray for each other.

Pray this. It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more. with knowledge and all discernment. Love Genuine pure. Pure love is exercised with knowledge and discernment.

If you divorce knowledge and discernment from love, It ceases to be love. That's a hard truth. for us, particularly in today's environment, isn't it? It is not love if you love something that God hates. And by hate, I don't mean Wrath, indignation, it's like, no, stay away from that.

It's not good for you. Knowledge and discernment. God's self-disclosure and the call for us to be alert to distinguish truth from error. You can't be discerning if you're not rooted.

So the challenge is: be rooted. Do what it takes to be well-rooted in the gospel of grace. And that will develop in you a discernment to which you and I are called. And then lastly. We are called to be All in.

We're called to be all in. Verse 10, for am I now seeking the approval of man 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. Paul made it very clear.

He lived and served and worked for the opinion of one. And if you want to know if he was genuine or not, you can look at in your home, not now. For your homework, if you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and look at what he endured. Because when he was called, remember what he was doing when he was called by Christ? He was persecuting the very people who propagated this gospel of grace in Jesus Christ.

He was beating them. He was dragging them off to jail. He was taking them to the execution chamber. And then he encountered Christ. And now he's one of the chief champions for the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ.

And it was the Lord who said, I must show him. how much he must suffer for my name. How's that for a call? That's kind of at a different level than. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

It's true, it's true, but his calling was: the Lord is going to show you how much you must suffer for my name. And he did. Read 2 Corinthians 11. You and I will never, ever even come close to that. And yet Paul lived with abandon.

Finish this for me. For me to live. To die is gain. Because he knew to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is. Two words.

Far better. Paul lived that. He didn't just say it as a platitude. He believed it and he lived it. which meant he lived with abandon.

He did not fear what other humans could do to him. He did not fear what they could think about him. He did not fear what they could do to him. He was so Confident in the objective truth of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ, he lived for the opinion of one. Which explains verse 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 serving Christ.

Now, what were the accusations coming against Paul? It could be that some were saying, hey, you know, um He's telling us you don't need to follow the law. Because he did say, I become all things to all people.

So, what he's doing is he's dumbing down the truth of God and the requirements of God's holiness so that. This message of religion of faith in God will be more palpable for a lot more people. It'll be more broadly accepted.

Now, people do tend to do that today. There are those who do dumb down the gospel so that more people will accept it. That's not what Paul's doing. He is simply proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ with confidence, authority, and clarity. And we should do the same.

And if we are ever guilty of dumbing down the gospel so that someone else might be more readily to accept it, we have failed them. massively. Why would he be serving man?

Well, he's not dumbing down the gospel, he's not dumbing down the truth of Scripture. It could be, as he says in chapter 2, verse 2, that he was fearing the circumcision. And what's that talking about? That's people who are committed to the customs of Moses, Jews. And they were committed to the customs of Moses, saying that if you are going to be a true follower of Messiah, yeah, we believe Jesus is Messiah, but if you're going to be a true follower of Messiah, you still have to follow the customs of Moses.

In other words, here's this moral code. You've got to keep it. Why did Jesus die then?

So, fearing the circumcision, the legalist faction of early Christianity. And some people were genuinely afraid of them. You know who was afraid of them? Chapter 2. Peter.

And Paul had to confront him. That's mind-blowing, isn't it? Peter, of all people. Mr. Bold Man, type A personality, stick your foot in your mouth, talk before you think.

He was a master at that. and yet he was afraid of the Circumcision Party. And Paul had to challenge him on that, and he did so publicly. That's where this verse comes from right there. It's amazing.

We're going to get into that. when we get there someday. Yeah. Here's another reason why Some might have thought Yeah. He was pleasing people is because People are being persecuted for the cross.

It says that in chapter 6, verse 5. being persecuted for the cross. Yeah. Did you know that in the ancient Roman world, Christianity was considered a strange religion? It was considered threatening to the Roman state.

They had decided to get along okay with Judaism. But Christianity We don't know what to do with this thing. Nijay Gupta wrote a really good book called Strange Religion. He says, Christians had no temples, no priests, no cult statues. They met quietly and privately in homes.

They honored a crucified small-town Jewish deviant. They had no sacred legends or texts of their own. In the first century, the Jewish scriptures were the original scriptures that started Christianity. And they called each other They had rituals of kissing. They had rituals of kissing and called each other brother and sister.

They went out and intentionally tried to spread their religious practices far and wide, and they naturally brought them, and this naturally brought them under suspicion because they were propagating their. their religious message. One of the unique dynamics of early Christianity was that this group of people was not an identified ethnic group. That made them. extra suspicious.

A slippery group with no mother, no father, no beginning, no where. like they belong in a particular place. A sect professing a new and mischievous superstition. That's how they were viewed by the Roman populace. of the day.

See, they could get along with Judaism. They had their temple they had their texts, right? They had their rituals. They belonged in Israel. That's kind of pretty much where they, you know.

That was their hub, their center.

So they could get along with that. But this Christianity thing, this is scary. It's a scary superstition, so the Romans thought. And that brought on persecution. And pleasing man would be, yeah, we just don't want to deal with that, so we're just going to look a little more Jewish so people will leave us alone.

Yeah. Some of all of these could be involved. But Paul makes it clear here. Look what he says: if I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. You cannot serve two masters.

You cannot. Jesus made that abundantly clear. You can To please man. Versus being a servant of Christ. You can't be a man pleaser and a servant of Christ at the same time.

You can't be doing both at the same time. Christians, listen to this, okay? You can't be doing both at the same time. And you've got man's opinion. What's going to, what are you going to be devoted to?

What's going to rule your life? Is it going to be the opinions of other people, or is it going to be Christ's calling? Those two callings are mutually exclusive. You cannot do both.

So, this is a call to be all in for the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. And Paul says, listen, I'm all in. You know it. And I'm calling you to be all in too. I want you to know this.

When people are big In your life, when people are big, in other words, You want them to think well of you. And I mean, who doesn't, right? But when you let that control, Your attitudes and your behaviors and your desires. When people are big, God is what? Yeah.

And when God is small, You've made him in your image and you're worshiping yourself. But when God is big. People are small. as they should be. And so, with confidence.

Incarnate the gospel of grace. That's our calling this morning. With confidence, incarnate the gospel of grace. The whole rest of the letter is going to be dealing with this. But I want us to be receiving this message from God today that we are called to be.

rooted We are called to be discerning. We are called to be all in. For the gospel of grace in Jesus. Live for the opinion of one. This is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

We make it our aim. And that word aim means to love the honor of. I love the honor of Pleasing him. We make it our aim to please him. Why?

Because as Peter confessed, Jesus said, Are you going to leave me too? And Peter says, Well, to whom shall we go? What did he say? You have the words of eternal life. There is no other message that can match.

The gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. There is no other.

So let's be rooted in it. Let's be discerning with it. And let's be All in. Would you stand with me, please? Father, we are challenged by your word this morning.

Father, the bold and confident and cutting words of the Apostle Paul, they are cutting as a surgeon's scalpel, Father. And we pray, Lord, that you would search our hearts this morning, that you would rescue us. from any attempt of being governed by the opinions of others? in a way that would cloud The beauty and the simplicity of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. Father, find us.

With the resolve to be rooted, deeply rooted in the gospel. that your word will dwell in us richly. Father that we would be discerning as we Walk in the steps of Christ and we walk in step with the Spirit, find us to be a discerning people. And Father, we We know that Jesus Christ was a master at weeding out fair weather followers. Father, find us to be all in.

committed wholeheartedly. to Jesus Christ living with abandon. the opinion of one. Thank you, Father, for the joy that it is to know you, to know that we can be reconciled to you. Through the finished and sufficient work of Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Father, for all that you have done and for what you will do. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're so glad you joined us as Pastor Rich shared God's heart from Galatians 1:6 through 10. from the series titled Our Freedom in Christ.

Find the next messages in this series on Mondays. Here at www.delightingrace.com.