226 – OTHER GOSPELSMARCH 26,1961
HENRY F. KULP
Galatians 1: 1 - 9 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
This morning we want to continue our study in the book of Galatians. It is a marvelous book, and I found out since last week that many folks told me they took me up on my thought that you could sit down and in one sitting, in one half hour read the book of Galatians, and they were amazed to find that this is true. But you can read it in just one sitting, and I am sure it would prove of real spiritual benefit to you if you do read it and re-read it.
1/ The book of Galatians, of course, is God’s answer to legalism. Man loves legalism, but God hates legalism. God has to deal with man in grace, and man does not want to be dealt with by the grace of God.
2/ Galatia was a very special place to Paul. I believe he wrote this epistle with more feeling than any other epistle that he wrote. We told you last week he wrote this with his own hand, he didn’t dictate it. It was at Galatia that he was stoned to death and dragged outside the city.
You remember, Acts 14 when he went to the city of Lystra, he was stoned.
And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Paul tasted death in the province of Galatia, and was raised from the dead, so you can see that was a very special place to him.
3/ And it was somewhere in Galatia that Paul suffered his affliction, his thorn in the flesh. It was a disease of the eyes.
Galatians 4: 13 - 15 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
II Corinthians 12: 7 - 9 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
So it was at Galatia that he prayed thrice—three times—that this affliction might be removed, and God said, no, His grace was sufficient for him. So you can see, he died in Galatia, and also he received this thorn in the flesh from God in Galatia, so this is a portion of land that will always mean something special to him.
4/ Last week we told you that these Judizing teachers, legalizing teachers came into the province of Galatia and attempted to turn the people away from the Gospel that Paul preached, and then secondly from Paul himself, for they said Paul does not have authority, Paul is not commissioned to preach, and by casting doubt upon the man, they, of course, cast doubt upon that which he was teaching.
5/ Notice the way this epistle opens. It opens with the name, Paul. That is what you call divine boldness in the face of the fact that his name has been discredited, despised, here he writes to these churches and he first of all speaks his name. In other words, Paul was making no backward step, he said, I am the Apostle who came with the truth to you people.
6/ Last week we told you what an Apostle is. An Apostle is someone who is sent forth as a messenger with a commission with proper credentials to represent another. And Paul said I represent God, I have divine credentials from Him. Do you know the three offices that God gave Paul?
II Timothy 1: 11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
Notice, first he was a preacher, then second he was an Apostle, and third he was a teacher. Preacher first of all, comes from Greek word,
KAY’—ROOX and it means an advanced herald—that is one who announces something new ahead of others. This goes with the protose of
I Timothy 1: 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Paul was announcing something new—something brand new. Were it not for Paul we would know nothing of the body of Christ. No other writer mentions the body of Christ. There is something new, then you take many of the main doctrines, the great doctrines, such as propitiation, reconciliation, identification, justification, redemption, sanctification you would not find the exact meaning to these doctrines, except you turn to the Apostle Paul. He is the herald of something new. He announces it ahead of others.
7/ Then as Apostle, he is one who is sent forth with authority to preach these new things. Then thirdly he is a teacher—that is one who instructs the saints in the things of God. We have this same order given to us in
I Timothy 2: 7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
Oh, that we would appreciate the Apostle Paul.
8/ Galatians 1: 2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:
Now notice, in all the brethren which are with me unto the churches at Galatia. They had been led to the Lord through the gospel that Paul preached, but they had strayed away, and Paul now gets a bit sarcastic as he reminds them of the brethren that are with him. They have remained steadfast to the Gospel that he preached. So we ask the question; Why does Paul in Verse 2 include all the brethren that are with me?
9/ Galatians 1: 4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Who gave Himself for our sins. No one else could do this. Then notice, He gave Himself that He might deliver us from this present evil world or age. This is a very serious part of a wonderful verse. I have read this verse many times, and it seems every time I want it to say He gave Himself to deliver us from Satan but it doesn’t say Satan, it says evil age. Yet this age that is evil is very alluring and beautiful and captivating, but He wants to deliver us from this age, from its pleasures and fashions, its fame and fortune. God is not the author of the world of sports, nor the world of fashion, nor is He the author of worldly wisdom. Someone has very quaintly said, if you see a crowd going one way, go the other and you will be safe. In case you think it is too strong to say that this world or this age is altogether evil, all you have to do is turn to I John 2: 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Where it says, All that is in the world is not of the Father. It is not of God – all that is in the world, and you will notice something else, that all this will be condemned. People say we are radical, they say we are fanatical, but how wonderful it is to realize that Christ Jesus died to deliver us from this present society, present world. Actually we need to be delivered out of this world in the same manner that Noah was delivered out of the then world of his day, and Christ is the means whereby we are delivered out of this world.
10/ Galatians 1: 5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Then notice, why does Paul say, to Whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Here again is a bit of spiritual irony. These Galatians were certainly not giving God the Glory through Christ Jesus, they wanted to take some of the glory by keeping the law, being circumcised, observing special days and special seasons.
Do you realize you are nothing, you are not able to help yourself one bit, you should receive no glory. For when we compare this with Ephesians 2: 8 - 9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Where it says not of works less anyone should boast or glory—The glory belongs to God, but how men hate the charity of God. For that is what grace is, God’s charity.
11/ Galatians 1: 6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
These Galatians turned aside to their own works and they did not know that God was to have all the glory.
12/ Then Paul marvels that so quickly they were removed from the Gospel that he preached to them, and pronounces Anathema among those who preach any other Gospel.
Notice the last four words of Verses 8, 9 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Let him be accursed. I can hear some of our modern day religionists saying, Paul you are all worked up—Paul you are losing your temper. You know, if you become very fervent for the truth, folks say you are losing your temper. If you say strong things in the defense of the truth, they will declare that you are unkind. But men can use very fervent speech about politics and about other things, and yet no one questions as to whether they have lost their temper. But, you know, we are supposed to be calm when men tear the Bible to shreds. But I believe Paul was calm, he was just being forceful, because this is a very serious thing to preach other than the Gospel that Paul had presented.
13/ It is necessary to see that some people can be very sincere when they present these other Gospels. We are not questioning the sincerity of someone who brings a wrong doctrine. They may be very sincere in what they present.
In New York City in a hospital there, a man died very suddenly and, of course, there was an autopsy to see what had happened to this man—they had not expected him to die, they had expected him to get well. He had died when he was being prepared for a minor operation.
14/ As he was being prepared for this operation, a controlled mixture of oxygen and gas were bring administered to him when the tank of oxygen became exhausted and a new tank labeled oxygen was substituted. Almost immediately, according to the police report, the patient died. And so an autopsy was performed and it was found that he died of carbon-dioxide poisoning, and upon examination the oxygen tank was found to contain carbon dioxide. The tank had been mislabeled before it reached the hospital. The manufacture was sincere, the hospital authorities were sincere, and the one administering the carbon dioxide that was thought to be oxygen was sincere, and the surgeon was sincere, and certainly the patient was sincere. No one wanted the tragedy to happen, but they were all mistaken about the oxygen—sincerity is not enough, and I am sure that the manufacturer from that time on was very careful to make sure that tanks of carbon dioxide were not labeled oxygen. But, if we become all excited when it comes to temporal things, how much more excited we should be about spiritual things. This is not just a matter of physical death, it is a matter of hell for all eternity.
15/ Those who want to add something to the Gospel, to the good news as presented by Paul, and how they like to turn to the book of James and add James to Paul are preaching another Gospel and how sad it is, for they destroy souls. They come under this condemnation—anathema is to be pronounced upon them.
16/ Galatians 1: 6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
The word, soon, would be quickly, and in other words their mistake was that they quickly received this evil teaching and they did not check into it. And the verb, remove, used here suggests that they were only in the act of turning. Their decision was yet in progress, they were turning, they were not yet completely turned away. In other words, they had failed to sit down and diligently study the facts on both sides. No sooner had Paul left them than the Galatians allowed themselves to be seduced by Judazing legalizers.
17/ An example of this is given us in the Old Testament. A hasty decision, lacking discernment led the children of Israel to turn to the animal worship of ancient Egypt.
For notice, Exodus 32: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I have commanded. In other words they got excited. Moses had gone into the holy mount, and he didn’t come back, so they quickly turned back without analyzing and thinking how God had led them so miraculously since the time they left the land of Egypt. And many believers can do just that. Someone comes along who is very persuasive and he says something that sounds very interesting, and it is just what the flesh would believe, and so they turn to it, and are led astray.
18/ Then notice, Paul says, let them be anathema. That is strong language, but it is God-breathed. It is a double curse, because he repeats it. It is necessary to see that this is not an utterance of profanity, but rather it is, let the curse of God be upon him.
Paul used this same word in I Corinthians 16: 22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
Here he says, Those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ are to be judged and cast out at His coming.
How much greater is the anathema upon false teachers who have muddled the minds of those who believe not. It is a serious thing to be a teacher and to teach that which is not true. God says let anathema be upon those who are not preaching the Gospel which Paul revealed.
19/ Now it is well for us to notice what is the Gospel that Paul preached?
I Corinthians 15: 1 - 8 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
Notice, carefully that the Gospel begins with Christ’s death, not with His early life. This is the message that the sinner needs, it is at the cross the sinner finds his Saviour.
AMEN
Ref: 03/26/1961/ 226 - OTHER GOSPELS / 02/28/2021
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