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e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome to everyone it's good to be back in the house of our God you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 65 for our call to worship this evening Psalm 6 5 I'll begin reading in verse one to the chief musician a Psalm of David a song Praise is awaiting you oh God in Zion and to you the vow shall be performed oh you who hear prayer to you all flesh will come iniquities Prevail against me as for our transgressions you will provide atonement for them bless blessed is the man you choose and cause to approach you that he may dwell in your courts we shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house of your Holy Temple by awesome deeds in righteousness you will answer us oh god of our Salvation you who are the the confidence of all the ends of the Earth and of the far off Seas who established the mountains by his strength being clothed with power you who still the noise of the Seas the noise of the way of their waves and the tumult of the peoples they also who dwell in the farthest parts are afraid of your signs you make the outgoings of the morning and evening Rejoice you visit the earth and water it you greatly enrich it the river of God is full of water you provide their grain for so you have prepared it you water its ridges abundantly you settle its furrows you make it soft with showers you bless its growth you Crown the year with your goodness and your paths drip with abundance they drop on the pastures of the Wilderness and the little Hills Rejoice on every side the pastures are clothed with flocks The Valleys also are covered with grain they shout for Joy they also sing amen will please turn in your hym books to Psalm 22 Psalm 22d as in delta we'll stand as we sing together [Music] all Earth shall and turn the GL all the Earth sh and worship [Music] to where all king of K is the king the of he the by his all to all the Lord of Lord all to all the king of [Music] king of and shall worship on and sh the Glorious to all his the Lord of king of [Music] King my all gener shall shall what wonderous wordsy where all the Lord of [Music] K let us pray our blessed God and Holy Father we gather together again on this Lord's Day evening and we confess that you are indeed the most high you are glorious and wondrous and all the things that your hand has made we thank you for your Sovereign Providence wherein you govern all your creatures and all their actions and we rejoice in your Redemption of Sinners we thank you for the sending of the son of Your Love who took on our Humanity who lived for us who died for us and who was raised again that third day for us we bless you that upon his resurrection he ascended on high where he led captivity captive and he gives gifts to men we thank you for his current session and we look forward to his return again in glory to judge the living and The Dead We bless you as well that he ever lives to make intercession for us and that he is our Advocate with the father even Jesus Christ the righteous we acknowledge your goodness in the gospel of free and Sovereign Grace we thank you for your your glorious power displayed in the in the salvation of Sinners and we ask tonight that as we sing as we pray as we consider the Holy Scripture that Christ would be all in all in this place we ask that you would invoke in us or produ produce in us that fear and trembling in the presence of a great and awesome God that we would approach you in a manner that is consistent with what we find in Holy Scripture and may it be mingled with joy with gratitude with Thanksgiving knowing that you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus we can confess our sin to you now we are mindful of your Holiness and of your righteousness we're mindful as well of our own inclination that proness to wander and proness to leave the god that we love do forgive us and cleanse Us in the Precious Blood of the Lamb we know God we are called to live in a manner that is consistent with our with the gospel of our Salvation And yet we have that remaining corruption We Trust in that advocacy We Trust in that Blessed Redeemer and his merits and his blood so even now do forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and God for any and all who've come here tonight that are dead in their trespasses and sins we pray that you would awaken them that through the gospel preached you would show them their own sin show them their own misery before a great God and show them in the gospel the joy of Jesus Christ The Salvation that he alone has accomplished and we pray the spirit would apply it effectually to sinners in need we ask that you would bless our local church in the various needs that we experience here we know there are many struggling on with ongoing uh difficulties in terms of the Physical Realm as well God for all of us we pray for for growth and Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior that we would resist temptation that we would put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust may we shine as lights in this crooked and perverse generation and may we have that boldness and courage that we saw in Steven this morning to hold forth that word of Truth and God we praise you and thank you that we're not alone in our community we pray for the other churches that are Faithfully proclaiming the truth we pray that you would bless them richly you would add to their number such as should be saved and cause those congregations to continue to grow in the things of the Lord God Almighty we pray for our Brethren and sui and pray for pastor Kirk Patrick that you would bless his preaching of the word use him for your glory in that part of the world as well we pray for pastor malar and Armstrong and for the faithful Saints there you would continue to encourage them you would continue to bless and and and comfort them and Grant them all the things that they stand in need of and be with our brethren in Northern Ontario we thank you for their recent update we pray God that they would be able to find a better meeting place that you would continue to bring visitors there and that the the word of God would go forth forth from that place for the Salvation of Sinners thank you as well for the churches that are that are associating together we pray for the brethren in pinoa we pray for the Saints in Regina we pray for the the the congregation there in in medicon hat and thank you Lord God for what you are doing we pray that it would be a blessing to all of the churches involved that we would cooperate in the things of Christ in terms of church planting and missions and God willing one day theological training and education of young men for Ministry Lord we pray that your blessing would be upon it we don't want to run unsent we know that ultimately the mind of a man plans his way but you direct his steps so God direct us for your glory and for your honor and Lord we pray again for the situation in Myanmar we pray for our brother Peter that you would protect him physically that you would encourage him spiritually you would watch over this brother and return him soon back to his his family back to the responsibilities that are that are manifold in terms of caring for the the orphans there we pray for a ceasefire in that land we pray for some degree of stability that the gospel could go forth in that Nation conquering into to conquer God be merciful throughout this Earth we know that there are many that suffer for the gospel they suffer for the true and living God and so we commend them to you into the word of your grace and pray that you would protect them and as the psalmist says even as the the the mountains surround Jerusalem so the Lord surrounds and protects his people we have great confidence in that fact thank you that we are part of a much larger whole thank you that you've not left your church alone in this present evil age thank you that Christ is the head that he is present with us so that we are not orphans by the spirit and we rejoice in all of the things that you are doing and we have every confidence going forward that you'll continue to conquer many sinners from every tribe tongue people people and nation and may you do this for your glory for your honor and for your praise we pray for our brother cam tonight that you'd bless him as he brings the word may you open his heart with reference to the the Holy Spirit and the truth of scripture and open our hearts to receive these things and may it be the balm of Gilead may it be a great help to us and may it be that which further stabilizes us in our faith and we ask these things through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well you can turn again with me in your hym books to 458 458 we'll stand as we sing together [Music] GL glor [Music] you [Music] oh GL [Music] my [Music] s [Music] you turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of Joshua Joshua chapter 14 we're in the portion where they are dividing the land remember the conquest under Joshua they enter the land according to chapters 1: 4 they take the land according to Chapters 5 to2 they divide it in chapters 13 to 21 and then the latter half or the latter section rather in chapters 22 to 24 the emphasis is on retaining the land keeping what God has given in terms of being faithful in their Covenant obligations so beginning in Joshua 14 at verse one these are the areas which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan which El AR the priest Joshua the son of nun and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel distributed as an inheritance to them their inheritance was by lot as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine tribes and the halbe for Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the halbe on the other side of the Jordan but to the Levites he had given no inheritance among them for the children of Joseph were two tribes Manasseh and ephra and they gave no part to the Levites in the land except cities to dwell in with their common lands for their livestock and their property as the Lord had commanded Moses so the children of Israel did and they divided the land then the children of Judah came to Joshua in gilgal and Caleb the son of jeffan the kazite said to him you know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Bara I was 40 years old old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Bara to send uh spy out the land and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt but I holy follow the Lord my God so Moses swore on that day saying surely the land where your foot has trotten shall be your inheritance and your children's forever because you have wholly followed the Lord my God and now behold the Lord has kept me alive as he said these 45 years ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in all the Wilderness and how and now here I am this day 85 years old as yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me just as my strength was then so now is my strength for war both for going out and for coming in now therefore give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day for you heard in that day how the anakim were there and that the cities were great and fortified it may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said and Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of jeffan as an inheritance Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of jeffina the kazite to this day because he holy followed the Lord God of Israel and the name of Hebron formerly was kirjath arba arba was the greatest man among the anak then the land had rest from war amen well Caleb as I've mentioned over the last couple of weeks and as we have seen in our Wednesday night bible studies going through the Book of Numbers Caleb and Joshua were among the 12 Spies that were sent out by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan and so they went on a reconnaissance mission basically to survey the land to make sure it was a fruitful land that it would sustain life and as well to do a threat assessment to see what kind of inhabitants were in the land and so they go out the 12 Spies and 10 of the spies basically say it's a good land ah there are some difficult people there in that land however and then Caleb stands up and says let us go up at once God is on our side he has made this promise let's go take the land for the Lord and then of course the 10 spies revise their report they then go on to say it's not a good land and it's filled with giants it's filled with anakim it's filled with Nephilim it's filled with all kinds of threats that we cannot surmount so Caleb expressed the word of God or confidence in the word of God the very section is marked off by the reiteration of the promise of God to give that land to his people so Caleb is simply acting in faith relative to the promise of God and then those 10 men those 10 other Scouts are spies and these are these are leaders of tribes these are these are you know not the the the low level of society they hold sway among the hearts of the congregation so those 10 spies operate as sort of anti-prop they say no we can't do what God's commanded us Noe God's promise isn't going to see us through nope if we go into that land we will be destroyed and so Caleb here evidences that mindset not just when he was a younger man but even into old age in other words perseverance trusting in the promises of God being confident in what the Lord has spoken causes one to age well if we want to age well we want to persevere correctly We Trust God's holy word the emphasis falls upon that statement I holy followed the Lord my God verse 8 I wholly followed the Lord my God verse verse 9 the reference to the word of God as he said the Lord spoke this word verse 12 the Lord spoke in that day the Lord said according to verse 12 again and then in verse 14 holy followed the Lord God of Israel and intriguingly the portion of land that Jo uh that Caleb wants to inherit is that occupied by the anak they were not a threat to Caleb because he knew that God was on his side he knew that God had promised and if God promises then he will Vanquish our enemies the psalmist will later say in Psalm 60:12 through God we shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our enemies and certainly Caleb walked by faith in those promises of the living and true God so my encouragement is that we dare to be a Caleb instead of those 10 anti-prop that discounted the word of God and that let fear per paralyze their Advance well let us pray Our Father in heaven we thank you for these good examples of Faithful Men that we find throughout scripture we know ultimately the hero of scripture is our Lord Jesus Christ that New Covenant Joshua that leads his people into that promised rest of an eternal Canaan we thank you for the life death and resurrection of Our Lord we thank you for what he has brought to us in terms of Salvation And every Grace necessary we ask again that you would bless our brother give us eager ears and hearts to receive your word and we pray in jesus' name amen we can turn with me again to 378 378 will stand as we sing together [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] ior [Music] Angel Jesus in the SE morning [Music] s [Music] [Music] [Music] Jesus is the [Music] [Music] we [Music] good evening to everyone you can turn your Bibles with me to the book of Galatians Galatians 1 we're continuing an exposition through the the book of Galatians on uh occasional evenings scattered throughout the future months to be determined but tonight we're we're back in Galatians 1 and I'm going to read again from verse 1 through verse 10 and then the the portion of scripture this evening evening will be verses 6-1 so this is Galatians 1 beginning at verse one the word of God Paul an apostle not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the Brethren who are with me to the churches of galatia grace to you and peace from God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might Deliver Us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory forever and ever amen I Marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel which is not another but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you let him be ACC cursed as we have said before so now I say again if anyone preaches to you any other go uh preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received let him be a cursed for do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I still pleased men I would not be a bonder servant of Christ amen well let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your word we rejoice in the word of truth and how it discloses salvation by the perfect and finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you you for our savior for that righteousness that comes from you through him uh for that forgiveness of sins that we have by virtue of his shed blood we thank you for Amazing Grace and we pray as we work uh through this through this letter that argues for the Perfection of the work of Christ that that argues for justification by faith alone we pray that you would help us along uh in this that you would give us that measure of the spirit that our hearts would be opened up to the glories of Christ and we pray in his precious name amen well just a a brief reminder you'll you'll remember last time we introduced The Book of Galatians uh a little bit we we talked about the timing of its writing and its connection to the book of Acts It Was Written uh around the year 49 uh ad uh ad 49 um probably not after that and perhaps just a wee bit before that but somewhere in an around 48 and 49 um and it was written shortly after Paul had first gone through galatia the region of galatia he goes uh they sail from Cyprus up through pamilia into the region of galatia and they go to Antioch and paidia they go to Iconium they go to lisra and they go to Derby preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and that a man is not justified by the law of Moses but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ having gone up that way they're perhaps hindered from going to Northern galatia we don't know for certain but they do come back down through e e e amazed at something and he's amazed obviously at the fact that they're turning away so soon from the Glorious Gospel of our blessed God this this language of marveling is used sort of positively or negatively uh in the Bible that is someone can be astonished at glorious things or someone can be astonished at significantly discouraging things for example the Lord Jesus Christ in uh in the gospel accounts the Lord Jesus Christ Marvels at the faith of a gentile a Roman Centurion man who expresses such faith that the Lord Jesus Christ could could heal his servant Our Savior our incarnate Christ Marvels at the faith of a Roman Centurion uh in the same breath though or by comparison the Lord Jesus Christ Marvels or is astonished or is amazed at the unbelief of his own countrymen in Nazareth who uh who reject him him and who reject the truth of the kingdom of God and so here Paul Marvels and as Ed says he says something like um rebuke hides under or lurks under this marveling this isn't simply an amazement but it's an amazement that that conceals if you will a a strong measure of rebuke because Paul while he does launch immediately into the the sum and substance of the letter without any glowing report at all about the Galatians nevertheless it is still a very gracious response by the Apostle Paul to these Galatians who were being turned away to a perverted gospel but we have this astonishment this marveling this amazement on the part of the Apostle Paul and I I think we can see here that there's a there's a a threefold character to the astonishment and the first of these is that the the astonishment relative to time the language here is is clear I Marvel that you are turning away so soon so the astonishment relative to time he had he had only within you know within at least a year or at least within the the last two years depending on the timing within the last two years he had gone on his first missionary journey first up through the churches in galatia proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ and the Perfection of his saving work he had then come back down through those same regions checking in on those same churches and seeing how they were doing in their confession of the reigning Christ and so we can see why he would be so why he would be so astonished so amazed because I I was just there I had just preached to you the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ and the reports from the book of Acts are positive ones in fact let's just turn back there to see this this astonishment relative to time you can turn to acts 13 we can enter into Paul's astonishment here his marveling notice first that at acts 13 beginning at verse 38 this is the message that he's preaching notice therefore let it be known to you Brethren that through this man that is Christ is preached to you the Forgiveness of sins and by him everyone who believes is uh everyone who believes is Justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses so he preaches the gospel to them and and this will be important as we move through the book of Galatians because Paul clearly preaches here that everyone who believes is Justified and by contrast no one is justified by the law of Moses well what were these who were perverting the gospel doing they were saying that in order to be truly saved you must adhere to the law of Moses so the clarity of the Gospel the glory of the Gospel against any competitor is clearly given here and then notice the reception of this gospel in the context first at verse 48 now when the Gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed notice verse 49 and the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all all the region 52 and the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit look also at acts 14 and verse 23 so when they had appointed Elders in every church and prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed and then finally verse 26 from there they sailed to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed now when they had come and gathered the church together they reported all that God had done with them and that he had opened the door of Faith to the Gentiles so they stayed there a long time with the disciples so finding our way then back to the book of Galatians we can enter into the Apostle Paul's mindset here in his astonishment that he just returns from his voyage uh he's resting in in Antioch there a good measure of time with the disciples and he hears this report that these Galatians that he had just visited are entertaining a perverted gospel which is no gospel at all we also have the astonishment relative to Divine calling so we have Paul's astonishment in light of the the proximity to the conversion of of the Galatians but notice also the astonishment relative to Divine calling I Marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ so the marveling at this point is is marveling that these would turn away from the very Divine calling that they were the blessed and undeserved recipients of the the astonishment in the marveling that they are in essence entertaining a message uh a perversion of truth that really casts God down from his High Throne that that steals away from the power and the exclusive Divine glory in bringing forth dead sinners from that deadness to life in Christ it was a message that was stealing these away from the very God of effectual calling so this astonishment relative to to Divine calling is not only an astonishment because of the calling that they are turning from but also the the very one who has called them a turning away from the gospel is a turning away from God a turning away from Divine calling is a turning away from God and and look what they're turning away from this this calling by Grace the the Apostle Paul the same Apostle uses the language in Ephesians 1 uh that Christians are the recipients of every spiritual blessing in in the Heavenly places in Christ a a a summary that that we if we were to if we were to examine every every angle of that blessed Gem of spiritual blessings we we would be here a long time but but we've already named one effectual calling Amazing Grace that they were brought forth that they were born again that they were made alive they were dead in their sins and the god of Amazing Grace brought them forth from that place of object wickedness we could think of justification which is at the very heart and center of the letter to the Galatians having not deserved any having not deserved anything but condemnation the one who called them has also declared rendered this this absolute and legal declaration that they are not guilty by virtue of their Union with Christ that because of Christ the Perfection of his life and the Perfection of his death they can enjoy the Peace of justification that it is not by Deeds of righteousness which we have done but much rather according to the Perfection of the Deeds of Christ uh adoption sanctification the gifts of faith and repentance the the Blessed hope the Blessed expectation of life everm more with the Triune god with our blessed Christ the the spiritual blessings all of those spiritual blessings in the heaven places in Christ Paul is astonished that they are turning away from so great a blessing and and thirdly with regards to this marveling the astonishment relative to the gospel's content I Marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel he is astonished because they're turning from that one who is the sum and substance of gospel truth truth even Christ Jesus himself the one who came into this world Sinners to save they're turning from that perfect one it comes to a it comes to a piercing head at verse 21 remember of Galatians 2 where we read I do not set aside the grace of God which these Heretics were doing what these were being stolen away from this grace of God I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law then Christ died in vain your turning away again this is in process they had not yet turned but they some had but these Believers True Believers were being were being affected they were being troubled by this error and so he wants to hit them at in the heart of the gospel and say that if you do finally turn away which of course True Believers can't but the warning comes and it is is heavy if you do turn away recipient of this letter you are calling Christ vanity you are rendering his person as Inglorious and you are rendering his work as empty and so Paul is rightly marveling he is rightly astonished now look secondly at the abhorrence this simply means it it could refer to that which is aboring or it could refer to one who is abhor by that thing and notice what we have here in the language of verse 7 so this gospel is not another but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ this is the abhorrence these who want to pervert the gospel of Christ and this this language of pervert it's an interesting word you uh you've heard of the word most of us have heard of the word catastrophe um we hear that word in a number of different contexts we can sort of bring the the the word down to low things and you know Save On Foods is out of ketchup chips that's a catastrophe uh or something like that you know insert your favorite food here it it it's rightly reserved properly for those things that are that that end in a great tragedy and the language behind it is something good that changes and then ends in a tragedy that's a that's a catastrophe it has the language of it the Turning of a thing you know the beautiful weather turns to a storm and it ends in in catastrophe well the word used here by the the Apostle Paul is a metrop so we have a catastrophe and we have a metastroke and that word um we could see here the Apostle Paul saying that they want to metast the gospel of Christ they want to twist it they want to turn it in such a way that it is in fact its opposite it is such a twisting it is such a turning that it is set in opposition to the very Gospel of Truth so this is a metastroke the the New Testament uses this language in fact the Bible doesn't use it a lot the New Testament uses it I think one of the only other places is Acts 20 excuse me Acts 2 verse 20 where um where Peter is preaching and citing the prophet Joel and connecting it to the events that that were obtaining at their particular time and he says that God was going will turn the sun to Darkness he will metast the sun Into Darkness the and and it's used uh by the prophet Amos to speak of divine judgment that would be forthcoming um where he speaks of God turning their feasts into mourning and so here it's used with respect to a turning or a twisting a perversion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and speaking to the gravity of this abhorrence Gil writes it is no gospel no joyful sound no good news and glad TI uh and no good excuse me no good news and no Glad Tidings the doctrine which attributes justification to the works of the law or mixes grace and works in the business of salvation Salvation which was the doctrine of these false teachers is no gospel not truly so however it may be called nor does it bring any Solid peace and joy to distressed Minds there is but one pure Gospel of the grace of God and Christ and his Apostles there is not one and another there is but one Faith one Doctrine and scheme of Faith the gospel is single and uniform all of a piece has no yay and nay or contradiction in it this trumpet gives no uncertain sound nor any Dreadful but a joyful one what blessed words here and this this this language of peace and joy the gospel being proclaimed the which is no gospel not even a different one no gospel at all the one being preached by these who were perverting the true gospel is no gospel of peace and joy it brings no peace and joy to the mind you if you reflect upon your sin if you reflect that Christians here right now if you reflect upon the fact that you were once dead in your trespasses and and in your sins sins and you can reflect this side of Grace on the sins that you do commit within your remaining corruption none of you can say or none of you can find peace and joy in anything other than the finished work of Christ would would any of would any of us reflect and say you know what I I did good last week I I can I can hitch a little bit of peace and joy to the Good Deeds that I did last week I I can hitch a little bit of my Christian Joy to the fact that I you know I helped my neighbor I helped my family I you know I I helped set up the tables in the fellowship luncheon Hall thank you for those who did that by the way but it it is the spirit who gives life the flesh profits nothing if we had a if we had a proverb of Christ that we could connect to the book of Galatians it would be that one in John 6 it is the spirit that gives life it is the flesh that profits nothing we find no peace and no joy in the scheme of Salvation connected to our flesh but only connected to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ the son of God who took flesh to himself for our Redemption what are the implications speaking of the gravity of this abhorrence what are the implications of this perverted gospel well first the first implication is that God then is not as holy as he says he is if it is true that God can look upon a sinner and to some measure approve him based upon his deeds wrought by the flesh then God is not as holy as he says he is speaking of God the prophet says you are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness what is the only thing that he can look on with respect to Salvation it's upon the perfect and the finished work of Jesus Christ to say that God can look upon the Deeds Done by a man in his flesh by the cuting of circumcision by the mutilations of the knife by adherence to law is to bring God down from the Splendor of his holiness secondly the implication a second a second implication is that man is then holier than God says he is or to put it negatively man is not as sinful as God says he is again another prophet Isaiah but your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear are are we to suppose that by our Deeds then God will hear that that by our Deeds God will see and he will consider and he will accept us of course not but these false teachers perverting the Gospel of Jesus Christ the implications of such a perversion were that thirdly Christ is made then to be in glorious we we've already noted this that Christ in his person is glorious and Christ then in his work is valueless if this gospel which is not another is true these are really talk about metast these have turned the good news into bad news Christ is rendered in glorious by this perversion of the Gospel his work rendered valueless and and fourthly with respect to the gravity of this abhorrence the work of Christ is made imperfect and and it's useless even if we're to say not an outright mixing of law with gospel um or not not an outright salvation by works rather but but that yes you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the most part and for a a good portion of that which God values for salvation but you just have to go that little last extra mile by the Deeds of your flesh in in order to Merit salvation it's great it's great to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 99.5% of the way that last 5% though you have to adhere to the Deeds of the law you have to observe the law of Moses in order truly to be saved even with all of that Christ is rendered and glorious in his work useless it is justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone or there is no justification before the god of Heaven and Earth the the the metastroke in view the per perversion in view the changing of good news to bad news is the judaizing that we mentioned last week that word was in Chapter 2 at verse 14 where we read near the end if you being a Jew live in the manner of Gentiles and not as Jews why do you compel Gentiles literally to judaize to live as a Jew to force the law of Moses circumcision at the core but also other precepts no doubt in order to be saved Gregory of naanis describes what this perversion was by stating why do you mutilate the gospel speaking as if he's speaking to these judaizers why do you mutilate the gospel why do you seek to mix what is new and old Grace and the law the light and the shadow the perfect and the imperfect John Gil the doctrine of justification by his righteousness which they the Juda judaizers sought to change to throw into a different shape and form to adulterate by mixing it with the works of the law and so if possible to destroy it and just a third and Final witness Augustine the Apostle warned the Galatians not to accept circumcision not because it was a sin to receive it it but because they were forced to believe that they could not be justified unless they received it for if they believed that they would perish by holding a distorted view of Christ and the language goes on here with regards to the abhorrence notice which is not another but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ these perversions of the Gospel are agitators to the people of God the peace the Comfort the joy of the Gospel is destroyed thirdly we have the anathema the the language is doubled in verses 8 and N it's it's repeated in in verses 8 and N so we have this anathema or this cursing that the Apostle Paul gives here he calls these accursed who are teaching this perverted gospel notice verses 8 and N but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you let him be accursed as we have said before so now I say again if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received let him be ACC cursed now this language is is very strong as you've heard Pastor Butler mentioned before it has to do with God setting aside a thing to destruction you can turn back we opened up with a a reading from The Book of Joshua you can turn to Joshua 6 for a moment this has to do with the destruction of Jericho as Pastor Butler mentioned in this narrative concerning the taking of the land we have a report with regards to the destruction of Jericho uh a narrative concerning the taking of Jericho and notice what we have as we as we move sort of to the center of it notice uh let's see we'll start at verse 15 but it came to pass on the seventh day this is 6:15 that they Rose early about the dawning of the day and marched around the city seven times in the same manner on that day only uh on that day only they marched around the city seven times and the seventh time it happened when the priests blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people shout for the Lord has given you the city now the city shall be anathema ized it and all who are in it to the Lord we could read it that way now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction it and all who are in it this language of being doomed to destruction the the Apostle Paul picks up in in Galatians 1 18 and9 and it's no mistake the Apostle Paul was familiar with the Old Testament and Joshua um Joshua 6 is is really the nation of Israel under Joshua being obedient to the stuff of Deuteronomy 13 where God commands those who would preach another message to be cast off to be doomed to destruction to be ACC cursed and so the Apostle Paul rightly picking up that same Old Testament language says that even if we that is even if the Apostle Paul or the Brethren who are with him or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you let him be a curse let him be an athema let him be doomed to destruction and Christians in the early church picked this up and they use the same language the the the Christians at NAA the theologians the Bishops at NAA wrote this this is Contra arianism as Pastor Butler mentioned that this morning those who deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ one flavor being modern day Jehovah's Witnesses the Council of NAA wrote this but those who say there was a time when the son was not and he was not before he was made and he was made out of nothing or he is of another substance or Essence or the Son of God is created or changeable or alterable they are condemned by the Holy Catholic and Apostolic church and anathematized they are doomed to destruction they are accursed the the third Council of Constantinople and I want to say here this is why christology the doctrine of Christ is so important to the heart and soul of Christianity and to the heart and soul of the Christian the third Council of Constantinople is countering the idea that Christ had only one will and one power that somehow in the Incarnation both deity and Humanity were admixed such that there was only one will and one power they said we Proclaim in him that is Christ two natural volitions and two natural operations indivisibly inconvertible inseparably unconfused we similarly anathematize those who divide or confuse the natures or who accept only one natural will or one natural operation now all of that big language to come back to this is that with the Apostle Paul the Christian church does and should take seriously the truth of Christ the the very truth of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ is at stake when these enemies of the Gospel seek to Proclaim their wicked perversions the force of the Declaration is seen in this language of doomed to destruction or anathematized or a cursed Gil writes the doctrine of justification by his righteousness which they the Heretics sought to change to throw into a different shape and form to adulterate by mixing it with the works of the law and so if possible to destroy it we see here as this is repeated the surpassing importance of the truth the Apostle Paul throws himself and his Brethren and the angels um under this curse if they are though that would be impossible but if they were to preach any other gospel than what was preached this language in verse 9 as we have said before so now I say again that could mean that he had just said it in verse 8 and we do have that that is the case he did just say it in verse 8 but this language could also carry the weight of we were just there a year ago you know we were just there within the last 2 years as we have said before so now I say again this message was preached before this message of the purity of the Gospel through Jesus Christ Alone was preached to you before this language of justification solely and alone by the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing else was preached to you before negatively speaking if anyone preaches any other gospel let him be accursed so now he doubles up and he doubles he he repeats the the cursing the anathematizing if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what we have preached let him be accursed and hopefully none of us see this as that's kind of strong language it you know the Apostle Paul man he should have should have lightened up a little bit what's that stake here remember the glory of God what's at at stake here remember the glory of Christ and the Perfection of his finished work what's at stake here the exaltation of man that he can by the Deeds of his flesh Merit everlasting life there are so many things at stake here when the truth is at stake the very integrity and nature of God is at stake the Perfection of Christ is at stake in the glory of Amazing Grace we want to close then with the allegiance Paul's aim here is not to seek the favor of men but but to serve Christ notice the language here for I for do I now persuade man or God this is verse 10 for do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men for if I still pleased men I would not be a bond servant of Christ this this persuading and pleasing he probably it does most likely hold two different meanings here persuading men would be the altering of the truth truth to make it more acel uh acceptable more palatable or to make it appeal to the Flesh and so directly in the crosshairs of the Apostle Paul are those who were perverting this gospel these judaizers who were perverting the gospel and adding the the the law of Moses in order to be accepted before God adding Deeds of the Flesh in order to be accepted before God these are those who are seeking to persuade men they are those who are altering the truth in order to make it more acceptable more palatable or appeal to the Flesh and and let's be honest here that's truly what it is when you know when people in our own time when when unbelievers when when non-christians oppose the gospel and when they say thing even those who would perhaps fly the banner of of Christianity when they say Well it can't can't be that easy that you're saved solely and alone by Jesus Christ this this Clarion call of the Gospel believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved that's it the the Simplicity of the Gospel is hated by the gospel haters is hated by the god haters it's hated by those outside of Christ because they love the flesh they love the Deeds of the flesh there there has to be something in me that avails with God there has to be something about me about what I do and don't do that avails with God God comes Christ comes the nature of man comes and the gospel comes and it says there is nothing you can do Christ has done it all there is nothing you for you to do the god of Amazing Grace condescends and saves Sinners for his glory Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved comes with the weight of the glory of God it comes with the weight of the finished work of Christ it comes with the Glorious weight of Amazing Grace and the promise that all who believe will have everlasting life and a justification not their own a righteousness not their own but that which is imputed to them and received by faith alone this persuading men then again is altering the truth to make it more palatable this pleasing of men is the process or desire to seek human approval over gods for do I now persuade man or God or do I seek to please men for if I still pleased men I would not be a bond servant of Christ now notice this language here just briefly and and we'll close wi within a matter of minutes but notice this language for if I still pleased men the Apostle Paul will after this launch into an extended autobiographical uh account of his former conduct followed by his conduct after having been brought forth by Amazing Grace but this language of for if I still pleased men touches upon the fact that this is what he was doing prior to being saved he sought to please men rather than God for if I still pleased men so when he was this Hebrew of the Hebrews when he was this one of the Tribe of Benjamin when you know concerning the law um he was righteous and blameless before God when you know concerning the righteousness which comes from the law he was blameless concerning Zeal he's persecuting the church he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews and in so doing he was not though pleasing God but he was pleasing man for if I still pleased men I would not be a bond servant of Christ but now being brought into the the the the Blessed religion of the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and being commissioned as an apostle to go to the Gentiles to Proclaim justification by faith alone in the glories of Christ he sure was a bond servant of Christ imagine IM just imagine this marveling of the Apostle Paul for a moment remember that it was it was um before churches in galatia that he stood with those those bruises and beatings and brand marks of the Lord Jesus Christ he he hobbles to to Derby a stoned man he hobbles he hobbles to that church in galatia a man who who you could see had received opposition and persecution what were were those the evidences of having sought to please men no those were the the the marks of one who was commissioned to please God who by The Sovereign God was put into the army of God in order to bring forth many sons to Glory him not bringing them forth truly Christ through his ministry bringing them forth by the proclaimed message joined by the spirit of power he comes to them and he hobbles to them and imagine imagine the marveling probably not the Apostle Paul because because he's he's holier than most he probably didn't say man you know he did you know he didn't scratch off did you guys not see how I was and how I was beaten up for the cause of of Christ and truth and then he scratched it off and no send this to to the churches in galatia that's that that's probably not what happened but you know think about it about all that Paul had gone through for the gospel of Christ and for these to say that he's pleasing men that his apostleship is after men and not God it it and to this Marvel too you know with respect to the with respect to the the the nature of it and the timing of it let's bring this down for a moment just to to perhaps see the the weightiness of Paul's marveling that they're turning away to another another gospel imagine imagine you you know you come into a lot of money and um abbottford Alder Grove Langley Suri um they're they're starving they they don't have anything to eat they don't have any food they're they're they're they're dying and you buy a bunch of choice meat you buy a bunch of choice vegetables you buy a bunch of choice fruits and Grains and nuts and you drive through abbottford and Alder grov and Langley and Su and you feed them with these blessed things this this meat and and this fruit and these vegetables and these grains and nuts and you stop something happens can't go to Vancouver so you come back through these cities Vancouver is fine they're not they're not starving you come back through these cities and you check in to see how they're doing they're enjoying their steaks they're enjoying their bacon wrapped asparagi uh they're they're enjoying their broccoli and their cauliflower their grains their fruits and their nuts and this is great you come you come back to chillak and you rest for a while and you rejoice in the goodness of God but then these letters come in a year later and and you're hearing that they're they're eating pig slop with the pigs in the backyard and they're not enjoying the food that is still available for them in their dining rooms and in their living rooms what what an astonishment that would be I was just there we we gave you the Blessed things to Feast upon and now you're feasting upon the garbage which is no food at all Paul is has this great measure of allegiance to the god of his profession because he is also the God of this glorious gospel and he wants these Galatians to not be stolen away unto perversions of the gospel of Christ but he wants to hold Christ up before them and to show them that if you follow after these judaizers you are casting this this Christ into the mud of ing gloriousness you're casting this Christ from the fullness of glory to the vanity of Salvation by the Deeds of the flesh so brethren in closing by application we're to be diligent in protecting the purity of the gospel and to respond with Pauline urgency when it's compromised as we'll as we'll look more when we get to Galatians Chapter 2 particularly around uh verses 16- 21 we we'll make a note uh of of not only historical but also also contemporary departures from the doctrine of justification by faith alone and we need to be such as who realize that this wasn't a first century issue this is an issue that has abided in the church wherever the the Hydra of the devil has sought to oppose Christ's people also we are to be prepared to stand firmly against distortions of the Gospel even if it brings conflict very often it is the case that the church in conflict is all the more strengthened to defend her Christ and the truth whatever may come we are to be prepared to stand firmly against such perversions of the gospel and lastly we are Bond Servants of Christ Above All Else and are to be about God's approval and not man's as we as we believe in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ we're not believing in man's gospel but God's gospel we're on the side of the Triune God Of Heaven and Earth the Glorious Christ not the Inglorious Christ but the Glorious Christ of saving Perfection who brings a multitude of Sinners to Glory so Saints Rejoice this evening in your Christ and in the true Gospel of Saving Grace and sinner believe this gospel don't follow off after the the so-called perverse gospel uh of unbelief that Reigns in this day and don't follow after any pseudo-christian version of the true gospel we're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the praise of the Triune god let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your truth we rejoice in your word to us we praise you for what you've given to us in Jesus Christ Our Savior we thank you for the Perfection of his work and we thank you for the truth as you have declared it to us and we do pray that you'd help us in this lower world to feed upon the Blessed truths of the Gospel to rejoice in the truth to sing the Praises of our God and to reflect with great reflection upon Christ Our Savior do go with us as we go into the remainder of this day and into the forthcoming week we thank you for this sabbath we pray that you'd help us throughout the week to reflect upon you and to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it's in his name we pray amen we'll have a brief time of prayer when the piano's finished you're dismissed e e e e [Music]