BEWARE THE FAKE GOSPEL
DANGER
GALATIANS 1 YOU’VE BEEN
DUPED!
You have adopted a false gospel message
THE BIG STATEMENTS SO FAR
GALATIANS 1:6-‐11
I am totally amazed…. So quickly….. Desert the one who called you…. Turn to a ‘different’ gospel..
THE BIG STATEMENTS SO FAR
They had adopted a new message as if it was the gospel. But it was….
NOT THE GOSPEL !
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
I am totally amazed that you could so quickly desert the one who called you into the grace of Christ and turn to a different gospel
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
I am totally amazed that you could so quickly desert the one who called you into the grace of Christ and turn to a different gospel
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
Which is not the same as the gospel message you originally received. There really is no “other” gospel message.
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
Certain people have been causing trouble among you and their aim is to pervert the genuine gospel of Christ.
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
Certain people have been causing trouble among you and their aim is to pervert the genuine gospel of Christ.
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
Even if we or an angel from heaven should come and proclaim a different gospel from the one you received he should be considered accursed.
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
When I speak to you this way do you think I am trying to please people or God? If I was ever found to be trying to please people I would not be a genuine servant of Christ.
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
1. It doesn’t make sense when compared to the genuine gospel.
2. It draws you away from a relaPonship with God without you being aware of it.
3. It is a different message, not an addiPon or an improvement.
4. It comes from people who cause trouble even though they seem totally plausible and sincere.
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
5. It comes from people whose undisclosed intenPon is to change the message.
6. N.B. It is different from the message that got you saved.
7. It makes pleasing people more important than truth.
YOU COULD SET THESE SEVEN FEATURES UP AS QUESTIONS TO TEST ANY MESSAGE THAT IS PREACHED:
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
1. Is this message consistent with the message that brought me to Christ?
2. Does this message make me more dependent on a relaPonship with God?
3. It this message the same as the message that brought me to Christ?
4. Are the people proclaiming this message wanPng me to become closer to Christ or closer to them?
FEATURES OF THE NON-GOSPEL GOSPEL
5. Are these people wanPng to make me more a part of their movement or a part of the kingdom of God?
6. N.B. Warning! Warning! Is this the same message or a different one?
7. Are the people who preach this message trying to please people or serve God?
THE SECOND “BIG TICKET” STATEMENT
GalaPans 1:11-‐24
FIRST, SUMMARIZING THE INFORMATION
GalaPans 1:11-‐24
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel message I proclaimed to you was not humanly created; 12 I didn’t receive it and was not taught it in a human way. It was given to me by direct revelaPon from Jesus Christ..
1. It is important that you hear the tesPmony about how I got the message in the first place.
2. The message I preached was not craaed by any individual person or group.
3. The message was given to me as a direct revelaPon from Jesus
13 I know you have heard about my previous involvement in Judaism. I was so zealous that I persecuted the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism far more than many of my contemporaries because of my deep passion to preserve the ancestral tradiPons.
4. I used to be involved in tradiPonal Judaism.
5. I was so commibed to it that I tried to destroy the church.
6. I was on the way up the insPtuPonal ladder because I wanted to defend tradiPonal Judaism.
15 But then the God who separated me from my mother’s womb graciously 16 made his Son known to me. He called me by his grace to proclaim his Son Jesus among the genPle peoples of the world. At that Pme I did not confer with any human person, 17 nor did I go to Jerusalem to learn from those who were apostles before me. Instead I went away to Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
7. I met Jesus and realized who he was.
8. Jesus called me to proclaim the gospel to the GenPles
9. From the very beginning I didn’t have any contact with anyone in the ChrisPan church.
10. Aaer I was saved I went straight to Arabia for three years on my own.
18 Aaer three years had passed I did go up to Jerusalem to meet with Peter and stayed with him for fiaeen days. 19 But at that Pme I saw none of the other apostles except James, the brother of Jesus. 20 What I am wriPng to you now is the absolute truth; God knows I am not lying to you. 21 Aaer that I went and lived in the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
11. I did go to Jerusalem aaer three years in Arabia.
12. I stayed with Peter 13. I didn’t meet with all of the other
apostles. 14. I did meet with James, the brother
of Jesus. 15. I am telling you the absolute truth. 16. Aaer that visit to Jerusalem I lived
in Syria and Cilicia
22 I was not known personally to the churches in Judea who are in Christ. 23 They did hear about me. What they heard was that the one who used to persecute the believers was now proclaiming the gospel he formerly tried to destroy. 24 Because of that they were glorifying God for what he had done in me.
17. No one in Judea knew me personally, but they did hear about me.
18. They heard that I was preaching the very message I formerly tried to oppose.
19. This news made them give praise to God.
THE SECOND “BIG TICKET” STATEMENT
GalaPans 1:11-‐24
THE REAL GOSPEL WILL BE KNOWN BY ITS VERIFIABLE ESTABLISHED ORIGIN
– FROM GOD
TAKING MY CONCLUSION FOR A TEST DRIVE
GalaPans 1:11-‐24
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel message I proclaimed to you was not humanly created; 12 I didn’t receive it and was not taught it in a human way. It was given to me by direct revelaPon from Jesus Christ..
13 I know you have heard about my previous involvement in Judaism. I was so zealous that I persecuted the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism far more than many of my contemporaries because of my deep passion to preserve the ancestral tradiPons.
15 But then the God who separated me from my mother’s womb graciously 16 made his Son known to me. He called me by his grace to proclaim his Son Jesus among the genPle peoples of the world. At that Pme I did not confer with any human person, 17 nor did I go to Jerusalem to learn from those who were apostles before me. Instead I went away to Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
18 Aaer three years had passed I did go up to Jerusalem to meet with Peter and stayed with him for fiaeen days. 19 But at that Pme I saw none of the other apostles except James, the brother of Jesus. 20 What I am wriPng to you now is the absolute truth; God knows I am not lying to you. 21 Aaer that I went and lived in the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22 I was not known personally to the churches in Judea who are in Christ. 23 They did hear about me. What they heard was that the one who used to persecute the believers was now proclaiming the gospel he formerly tried to destroy. 24 Because of that they were glorifying God for what he had done in me.
AND PUTTING THAT INTO MY SPACE
GalaPans 1:11-‐24
• Into the lifestyle space
• Did the gospel I first received come from God -‐ verifiable tesPmony.
• The gospel you receive AFTER THE GOSPEL -‐
• Does your lifestyle tell the story of a tesPmony of something that is from heaven.
• Does the latest message have the same tesPmony as the first message?
BEWARE THE FAKE GOSPEL