Alter God’s Word and Be Accursed

Transcript

GR 1138
11-22-98
Alter God’s Word and Be Accursed
Galatians 1:8-10
Gil Rugh

Turn in your Bibles, if you would to the book of Galatians and the first chapter. We live in a day in which it has become a widespread conviction that there is no such thing as objective truth. There is no standard outside of the individual which is a standard of truth, right and wrong, good and evil. The idea that there is a standard apart from the individuals own conviction is an idea that is strongly opposed and resisted by many. The idea that people want to believe and do as they please is not new or novel. But the idea that we should be able to have our own convictions and do as we please and not be criticized or no one should tell us we are wrong is a rather unique and novel idea. In other words, you can hold whatever you want to hold as truth; you can believe whatever you want to believe. But the cardinal sin of our day is telling someone else that they are wrong—that their beliefs are not true. So we end up with a position that everything and anything can be considered true. And it’s nobody else’s business.

This kind of atmosphere and thinking begins to infect the world. We recently talked about not allowing ourselves to be conformed to the world, as Romans 12:2 says, being shaped by the world’s thinking. And we, as believers, we, as the church of Jesus Christ, do not like to be thought of as old fashioned, bigoted, narrow, opinionated. And so it can become a temptation for us to adjust our teaching and emphasis in the scriptures to fit more of the climate of the day. In other words, people want to be positive. They don’t want to hear the negative. They don’t want to be told they are wrong. So we should emphasize those things that speak of God’s love, that speak of goodness and blessing and avoid those things which are, uh, negative, that deal with sin, that speak of condemnation and judgment.

But in it all we must keep before ourselves that I Timothy 3:15 says, “The church is the pillar and support of the truth.” And the church of Jesus Christ exists in the world today to be a truth center, to be a place where the truth that God has revealed is proclaimed and declared in its purity. Jesus declared in John 17:17 in His prayer to His Father, “Your word is truth.” And there is truth. The word of God is true. It is truth. It is a standard by which all and everything can be measured. This bring us into conflict with the thinking of the day: that everyone creates their own truth, and everyone’s ideas and thoughts have just as much right to be considered true as anybody else’s. Scripture declares that God has spoken and what He says is the measure by which everything else is considered.
Now, it becomes very important, and this leads us where we are going to be in our study in Galatians, to understand that God, when He speaks, declares truth, reveals His very character. And the scripture is very clear that any alteration or change in what God has said by man, places that individual under the danger of eternal damnation. This becomes a very serious matter and one we must have in proper perspective.

Turn to the end of your New Testament to the book of Revelation and the last chapter in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 22. Jesus is giving His final word, which completes the revelation of God to man and what we have as our Bibles. What He says, particularly pertains to the book of Revelation, but it does reveal and reflect God’s attitude toward His word which is said in similar words in a number of other places in the Bible as well. But note verse 18 of Revelation 22. “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues, which are written in this Book.” And that includes being placed under eternal condemnation. “If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” Which is another way of saying they will have eternal condemnation. They will not be part of heaven. They will not be part of the eternal kingdom that God will establish on this earth. They will not have the eternal life that God has promised to those who love Him. They will have no part in the heavenly Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem, which ultimately will be the center of all through eternity.

And you note, if a person adds anything to what God has said or takes away anything from what God has said they will be eternally separated from God, eternally condemned. This is a serious matter. This is not a matter of your opinion verses my opinion. This is a matter of the eternally sovereign God speaking and declaring, “If you make any changes, add anything or take anything away, I will condemn you to Hell.” You say, “Well, I think that is awful.”

I think it is awful, too! I think it is a frightening thing. I think we need to take it very seriously. Back up to 2 Peter chapter 3. The apostle Peter writing his final letter in the shadow of his impending martyrdom and he speaks of the apostle Paul. We are going to be looking at Paul’s letter to the Galatians. And he says, concerning Paul, in verse 16 of 2 Peter 3, “as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, (the things that Peter’s been talking about) in which are some things which are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort. (They alter it, they change it. That’s what they do with Paul’s writings.) Just like they do the rest of the Scriptures, (note this) to their own destruction.”
To their own destruction. Same thing as Jesus said at the end of Revelation. They distort, they twist, they change, they add to, take away from the scriptures and that brings about their destruction. God is very serious about His word. I think that we need to consider carefully: Are we as the church of Jesus Christ just as serious about the word of God as He is. Heaven and hell are the issues at stake.
Come to the book of Galatians, chapter 1. I wanted that little background because we come to one of the harshest portions of the entire scripture. I’m not saying it is the harshest but it would have to be classified as one of the sternest portions of scripture. Here, the apostle Paul is about to pronounce damnation on any teacher who teaches anything contrary to or different to what he taught.

Paul began the body of this letter after an introduction in verse 6 and he immediately confronts us with the seriousness of the subject matter. And what he’s going to do in these opening verses of the body, verses 6 to 10 in particular, is establish the seriousness of the subject matter. Then through the rest of the letter, he’ll unfold the details and develop the argument. But the danger always is this letter would be delivered to the Galatian churches and they would get together and perhaps on a Sunday morning they’d gather together and it’d be read to them. And some of the people would be tired. They’d had a late night. Some of the people would have other things on their mind. Some of the people might not think this is any big deal. So immediately Paul draws their attention to the fact, I am talking to you about your eternal destiny. I am talking to you about a matter upon which there can be no disagreement. And if you disagree you’re going to hell. Now that I have your attention, Paul says, we’ll look at the details.

And so, in verse 6 he says, “I am amazed.” And remember that word amazed, I’m shocked, I’m astonished. You get something of the seriousness of the matter. Uh, “you’re deserting Him who called you.” Deserting, abandoning God. Now wait a minute. If we received a letter from Paul today and he started out and says, “I am shocked that you are abandoning God.” We’d say, “What do you mean? This is the church.”
But that’s the way he starts his letter here. “There are those who are disturbing you,” he says in verse 7. That word disturbing is another strong word. It means to throw into confusion, to create turmoil, agitation. The church has been impacted by this false teaching that is going around. And the believers in Galatia are in turmoil, confusion, some disarray. These people, at the end of verse 7, are distorting the gospel of Christ. And remember that word distort means to change it into something else. Now they’re doing it under the guise of being in agreement, basically. And from the inside they are attempting to destroy the gospel. They are presenting a different gospel as we had at the end of verse 6. The word different meaning it’s something of a different kind altogether. Paul says it’s not related to my gospel at all.

These false teachers were Judaizers, remember who claim to believe all the facts of the gospel, as far as we can tell. That Jesus Christ the Son of God was the Messiah of Israel who died, was buried, was raised from the dead for the forgiveness of sins. But Acts 15 verse 1 says, in addition to that they said you must also be circumcised to be saved. Now, I want you to keep in mind these are those who are declaring. The church today would say, “Well, wow! Wonderful! As long as we agree on the facts of the gospel the other things are not important.”

But Paul is saying they are of eternal significance. Because you agree with all the facts of the gospel but you say it’s also necessary to be circumcised. You’re on your way to hell. And so in verses 8 to 10 Paul’s going to declare that anyone who alters his gospel in any way will spend eternity in hell. And he’ll further declare that he is demonstrated to be a servant of Christ and faithful to the gospel by continuing to present the same message and by opposing and condemning those who differ. Very important issue.
Look at verse 8. “But even if we,” and the “but” there draws a contrast to what he’s been saying in verses 6 and 7. Those who were claiming to present a variation of the gospel, a fuller gospel, a more complete gospel, all the truth of Christ but an understanding that the law is necessary for our complete salvation and development as God’s people as well.

Well Paul says, “But,” contrast to that kind of thinking. And he creates first a hypothetical situation in verse 8. “Even if we, or an angel out of heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is accursed.”
Even if we, Paul referring to himself, and those who would have been with him in establishing the churches in Galatia, in following up on the second missionary journey and the third missionary journey. Men like Barnabas and Silas and Timothy.
“Even if we preach another gospel, we are accursed.” God gave the revelation of the gospel through the apostle Paul, however, we must understand that the message is greater than the messenger. And even Paul, the human mouthpiece that God used to give the gospel, did not have authority over the gospel, but had to be submissive to the gospel. This is an important issue.

I mentioned somewhere along the line in one of our studies, the Roman Catholic Church uses the argument that the church gave us the Bible, so the church has ultimate authority. There’s two flaws in that: number one, the church did not give us the Bible, the apostles and prophets gave us the Bible. There was no church when the prophets unfolded the truth of the Old Testament by the inspiration of God. There was no church until Jesus Christ died and was raised and the truth of God was communicated toward the building of the church and so on. Secondly, even the messenger of the truth lives under the authority of the truth not over the truth. Even the apostle Paul who gave the gospel was himself under the authority of the gospel and did not have any right or license to make any alterations. And if he did he would go to hell. It’s what he says. “Even if we should preach a gospel contrary to what we preached, we would be accursed.” It’s a serious matter. “Or an angel from heaven.” If an angel will all the glory that would be associated with such a spirit being would stand in this platform and declare that you must believe all the facts of the gospel and also keep the law to be saved we would pronounce him damned, condemned to hell. Because even if an angel from heaven, an angel out of heaven. Now note, here, that’s why I say it’s hypothetical. Paul’s not saying he, as an apostle would preach another gospel. In fact, he’ll declare just the opposite. He’s not saying an angel from heaven would. But he is showing even if such a thing would happen that spokesman would be under the condemnation of God. He may have selected an angel here because in the Judaizers’ angels were important. Angels had been instruments God used in giving the law to Moses at Sinai.

Turn over to chapter 3 of Galatians, verse 19. “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions,” (note this), “having been ordained through angels.” So even though the Old Testament doesn’t record it, the New Testament does under the inspiration of scripture and it was part of Jewish history as well not recorded in our Old Testament, that angels had been used by God in communicating the revelation He gave to Moses, the Law and so on.

Turn over to Hebrews, chapter 2, one other passage on that. Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 2, referring to the Mosaic Law, Hebrews 2:2, where again the problem is similar to Galatians with those who wanted to go back to law and so on. “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable,” they’re referring to the Mosaic Law. So we read in the Old Testament God gave the Law to Moses on the mountain. Now we find out that in the giving of that Law God used angels to communicate that law to Moses. Now the Judaizers could argue, “You have human instruments that are giving revelation today. That’s fine. But we must be very careful that we do not discard that revelation that was so important that God used supernatural instruments to communicate it—angels.”
Well, let’s understand. Any alteration in God’s word by man or angel results in that person’s eternal condemnation. God’s word has authority over everyone and everything. I am here as a preacher of God’s word, but I do not have authority over this word. This word must have authority over me. And I must be held accountable to its teachings and am by God.

Come back to Galatians 1. “And even if we or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached.” In other words, the standard is the gospel that was revealed through Paul. God was speaking through Paul. Now there could be no alteration in that. He’ll work through that gospel later in the letter; he summarizes it concisely in verse 4 of chapter 1. It’s contained in chapter 13 of Acts where you have his ministry recorded to the Galatian churches in Acts 13 and 14. And in Acts 13 beginning in verse 28 he unfolds the gospel, and down through verse 39, that this is God’s way of salvation. Paul does not have any authority to make any changes in that gospel. He may get further revelation from God that will add to it and further develop it, but there will be no changes.

He is to be accursed. The Greek word for accursed here is anathema, and we’ve carried that over into English and it becomes a rather common word. Anathema, under a curse, comes from a Hebrew word in the Old Testament that refers to something that was devoted to God for destruction. Talk about it was under the ban, it was either and item or a person that was set apart to be destroyed by God. So you come to the New Testament anathema is used to refer in the spiritual sense for those who will be eternally destroyed by God. Anathema. First Corinthians chapter 16, verse 22, “If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed.” That word—anathema. If anyone does not love the Lord, he is anathema. To get the sense of this word, and I don’t want to do it just to jar our propriety, but damned carries the kind of jarring impact, damned to hell is the significance of the word. If anyone does not love the Lord, he’s damned to hell. That’s what Paul’s saying. This is a serious matter. You know, we become so sensitive to people’s feelings and thought patterns today. One thing we don’t want to do is have any friends come and sit and be told that if they don’t love the Lord they’re damned to hell. “I don’t go to church to be told that. I go to church to be lifted up. I go to church to feel better. There’s enough discouraging things in the world.”
But the church is the pillar and support of the truth. That’s what we’re talking about when we’re saying they’re anathema.

Romans chapter 9, verse 3, Paul says, concerning Israel, he himself being a Jew, “For I could wish that I myself were anathema, accursed, from Christ.” We had the word separated in the New American Standard Bible. It gives you the idea. Literally accursed from Christ. Anathema from Christ. I would be willing to do that if it would bring about the salvation of my people Israel. But I can’t and won’t.

Now that concept, of being away from Christ, keep your finger in Romans and go over to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 9. And at the end of verse 8 he’s talking about those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Note: that’s the context, same thing we’re talking about in Galatians. They do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
“These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction,” now that’s not our word anathema, but eternal destruction lays it out for you pretty clearly. Note what eternal destruction is: “away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power.” Now that’s the same thing as anathema from Christ in Romans 9:3. Anathema from Christ is eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord. We’re talking about eternal hell.

Come back to Galatians, chapter 1. Now verse 8 was hypothetical in the sense that he’s saying even if we, even including me as an apostle or an angel from heaven would preach any other gospel than I’ve preached, he’s eternally condemned to hell. But he’s not saying that he would do that or that an angel would do that, but it shows you. The message supersedes the messenger. And we are all, every one of us under the authority of God’s truth. Now in verse 9 he draws it to the situation that is actually taking place at Galatia.

“As we have said before, so I say again now.” Now he says, “As we have said before.” I don’t think he’s primarily referring to what he said in verse 8. Because you note he says, “we, as have said before, so I say again now.” So the contrast here, “as we said before,” I take it he’s referring to when he was personally present with them in Galatia on one of his visits, his first, second or third missionary journey. When we, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, those traveling with me, “we said before, so I say again now. I’m repeating now what I told you, what we told you when we were there.”

It becomes important because Paul was accused of duplicity. He was accused of preaching one thing when he was personally present but teaching another thing when he was away. You know, there are people who adjust what they say to whoever they are with. And some teachers are that way with the word of God but those who truly are God’s servants do not handle the word of God that way.

Before we go on with this, back up to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 10 is where we’re going. Look at verse 1. Again, the problem that Paul was dealing with at Corinth was the Judaizers; those who wanted to mix the Law and grace. Chapter 10, verse 1 of 2 Corinthians, “Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!” A little bit of sarcasm there, picking up on what he’s been accused of. You know, “I’m writing to you meekly and gently, you know I’m the guy, who when he’s with you is very meek and gentle, but when I’m away I really write bombastic letters.”

Look down in verse 10. “For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive, and his speech contemptible.’ Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.” I just want you to know, the severity you’re getting in this letter is the severity you’ll get when I get there. I only have one message.

But it’s that kind of issue, back to Galatians chapter 1, he’s dealing with. As we said before, when we were with you, so now I am telling you in this letter, “if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what he received, he is accursed.” And we noted, verse 8 was a hypothetical situation, “even if we apostles or an angel from heaven would do this, we’d still be accursed.” Now in verse 9 he speaks to an actual situation. The condition in verse 9, “if any man is preaching to you a gospel,” is a form in Greek, which assumes that it is so. It’d be like if I said to you this morning, in English we have to do it by the context, in Greek they have a different form of grammatical construction, “If you are here this morning, you will hear the word of God.” Well, “if you are here,” assumes the reality. You are here. That would be called a first class condition. It’s a form of speaking but assumes the factualness of it. So when Paul said, “if any man is preaching to you,” the form of it assumes that is taking place.

“If any man is preaching to you, and he is, they are, a gospel contrary to what you received, he is damned to hell.” You get the impact of what Paul would have said to the church. “Anathema!” He’s devoted to the destruction of God, destruction at the hands of God. Now this becomes very personal, because these were teachers who were in the churches at Galatia and they had come from Jerusalem and so on, but were now teaching in the churches at Galatia. My lands! These people knew who these teachers are and were. He’s talking about so and so. He’s talking about so and so. Can you imagine? The impact, if I stood up here, and identified certain teachers and certain churches and you knew who they were and I said, “They’re damned to hell!” We as the church have lost any sense of the seriousness of the issues at hand. He’s accursed, doomed to hell.
Why so? Two things that are involved here: Number one, any alteration of the gospel of grace is an attack on the sufficiency of the finished work of Christ. To say that we believe everything you believe about Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection, person and work, but you also must be circumcised to be saved is to attack the finished work of Christ and to say it’s not necessary.

Turn over to chapter 2, verse 21, “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” See why Paul is so worked up in chapter 1? At the bottom line, these false teachers who seem so much like us have a message that says, “Christ didn’t need to die.” You say, “Oh, I don’t think that’s what they mean. Oh, no, I know them. They’re sincere.” You see why he had to talk about even apostles or angels? Immediately it becomes personal—you know these people. The people in Galatia knew these teachers. They were there. “Oh, no! You shouldn’t say that about them. They’re really sincere. I know them. They really have a heart for God.”

First and foremost, we have to focus on the message and the purity of the message. I can’t tell you what’s in their heart ultimately. God can. I can’t tell you whether they’re sincere. Paul said, “I’ll bear testimony for Israel that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They’re ignorantly zealous!” Quickly, in these kind of discussions and debates and conflicts, the issue becomes personal. “Oh, no, I know him. No, he’s my friend.” And we lose sight of what the issues are.

We have seen this go in other realms as well. We have it going before our country, even the leaders of our country, in political positions in our congress and so on, can’t focus on what are the issues that have to be dealt with. Everything becomes personal. Well, it happens in the church. We wanted to do a battle over doctrine, the first thing people want to do is make it an issue of personalities, the way you handle things. We don’t disagree about doctrine; we just disagree with your approach. Serious matter, it’s an attack on the sufficiency of the finished work of Christ.

Secondly, any alteration of the gospel keeps others from the only hope of salvation. Any alteration of the gospel keeps others from any hope of salvation. Look at verse 16 of chapter 2, “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law,” the end of verse 16, “for by the works of the Law, no flesh shall be justified.” And when you bring the law together with grace, no one will be justified. Serious issue.

Come back to chapter 1. And I say, “Well, who has the right to judge? Only God does!” And in John’s gospel, chapter 3, verse 18 we are told that the one who does not believe in the Son of God has been judged already. Paul is not, in and of himself, exercising judgment in condemning these people to hell, he is declaring the ruling of the Eternal Judge! The verdict has already been rendered. Examine your doctrine, I will tell you whether you are going to heaven or hell. Doesn’t mean I can discern every situation, but that’s what Paul’s saying. They’re teaching contrary to the gospel. They’re going to hell. Some people today would say, “We should not judge. We should just present the truth and let God do what He does.” You cannot be a faithful servant of Jesus Christ and do that. That’s where we’re coming to in verse 10.

Let me read you what John Stott, the Anglican clergyman said, he’s retired now. “Of course, we live in an age in which it is considered very narrow minded and intolerant to have any clear and strong opinions of one’s own, let alone to disagree sharply with anybody else. As for actually desiring false teachers to fall under the curse of God and be treated as such by the church, the very idea is to many inconceivable. But I venture to say, that if we cared more for the glory of Christ and for the good of the souls of men, we too, would not be able to bear the corruption of the gospel of grace.”

Could it be that the church of Jesus Christ today does not care very much about the glory of Christ? Does not care about the salvation of the lost and so they are not very passionate about the purity of the truth. Serious matters.

Come back to Galatians, chapter 1, verse 10. Twice he has declared that such teachers will be accursed, whoever they might be, they are accursed. “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”

This verse seems to clearly indicate that the false teachers had accused Paul of adjusting his message. “When he’s with you he says and does one thing, teaches one thing. When he’s away from you he teaches another. He’s a man pleaser.” And you know that’s always a danger, when you’re handling the word of God.

I come here, I know there are things you like to hear and things you don’t like to hear. There are things I like to preach and things I don’t like to preach. I know if I speak about damned to hell and eternal condemnation and judgment on anyone who disagrees with the word of God, “Golly, we don’t necessarily disagree with that, but do we always have to be hammering away on that? Can’t we speak of God’s love? Can’t we be positive? Can’t we be encouraging people? Can’t we be lifting them up instead of always beating them down?” And so, the pressure comes. You know, I ought to concentrate more on the positive. And we could even go through the books of the Bible and I’d just spend, you know, just sort of cover over the things that are the negative you don’t want to hear and really drive home the points that might be more appreciated and positive. But if I do that am I being faithful to the word of God? Is a teacher being faithful to the truth if he makes those kind of adjustments? Not really!

You know, Paul could be accused of some inconsistencies. We don’t have time, and we’ll talk about this more fully in chapter 2, because in chapter 2, verse 3 Paul will talk about why he didn’t have Titus circumcised. But in Acts chapter 16, Paul picked up Timothy and Timothy was from one of the, uh, churches in Galatia, I’m not sure because they mention Lystra and Derbe and Timothy was from this region. And before Paul had him join his travels he had him circumcised because his father was a Gentile. Now, true, the Judaizers could say, “You remember when Paul was here on his second missionary journey and picked up Timothy? Paul was preaching the gospel of grace, right? And what did he do with Timothy? He circumcised him. But now Paul’s not here, and what’s he do? He writes you this letter attacking us, condemning us to hell because we say in addition to the gospel you must be circumcised. Same thing Paul did when he was here, right? You see Paul just tries to please people wherever he is.”

And be sure the people of Galatia were saying, “You know I’m not sure you can always trust Paul. There are other things in his life and you know other people have raised accusations.” And all the sudden the message is lost. There are other reasons why Timothy was circumcised and Titus was not. We’ll get into those in chapter 2, but it had nothing to do with an alteration in the message. And Paul says the message was and never can be that circumcision is necessary for salvation. So if I circumcise someone it could have not be because it was necessary for his salvation.

“For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God?” The now refers to the comments he’s just made in 8 and 9. You know if you’re really trying to butter up your opponent, you don’t tell him he’s condemned to hell. So really, am I now, in what I’m saying that they are anathema, devoted to destruction by God, am I trying to please men? Am I trying to smooth the waters and be popular? Or am I trying to please God? And you note the contrast here between pleasing men and pleasing God. You cannot do both. I need to be reminded of that. I need to be held to the standard. You know you sit there with your Bible; we go through a passage. You note, boy, you know it seems Gil doesn’t deal with the hard stuff anymore. Gil’s really become soft on the negative. Why don’t we explain what anathema was? Why did we talk about that? Why does he just highlight that and really get to. . . . You know you need to watch out for me. I have a deceitful heart. But the measure will be does he handle the truth properly? Not do I like his personality? I don’t like my personality either. So? What’s the issue here? Well, I prefer the teddy bear style of pastor. Well, I like this kind, I like that kind. Well, let’s get to the truth.

Am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? You decide. And isn’t this the same thing we said when we were with you, that anyone preaching a contrary gospel is accursed? Is that not why I’m writing to you now? Now where in this have I made the adjustment to butter up and be a man pleaser?

In I Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 3 and 4, just jot it down, we won’t turn there for time, Paul writes, “For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts.”

I have to always, and I’m not saying I do this always, but I am obligated and required before God to consider carefully, am I teaching this truth in a way that is pleasing to Him? When all is said and done, and I’ve shared with you before in my thinking, if Christ sits bodily on the front row this morning, when I’m done will He say, “You faithfully explained that passage,” or not. That is the bottom line and we need to know that in our churches we’re losing our way and personalities become dominant and all that goes with, uh, the people emphasis. And the truth of God is seen as somewhere in the background.
“Oh, yes, of course we do believe the truth. Of course we do.” Am I now striving to please men? Is that the goal?

“If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” “If I were still trying to please men,” and I take it that marks off the time before his conversion. Before his conversion he was a man-pleaser, religious zealot, but a man-pleaser. He says if I were still a man-pleaser I could not be the slave of Christ. It is one of his favorite terms, one of the favorite terms in the New Testament for believers. I think he’s drawn a clear contrast here. If I were still seeking to please men I would not belong to Christ.

And this is a serious matter, very serious matter, folks. It means the there have been teachers accepted in the evangelical church today, their teaching is not only tolerated but welcomed, who are not the servants of Christ. And the alterations being made in the truth that’s being given forth to please men demonstrates them to be under condemnation. This is a serious matter.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 verse 24, “No man can serve two masters.” So what Paul says here is not new material. A slave, a servant is devoted to pleasing his master. That’s what a slave is, one who is obligated to serve and please his master. Jesus said you can’t serve two masters. You can’t serve me and riches. Paul would say, says if I was still trying to please men I could not be the slave of Christ. Very serious issue. Note here what’s involved. The proclamation of the gospel, but Paul also ties it to what he is now doing: the opposing of false teachers and false teaching. That means I cannot be a faithful of Christ, and say I’m not going to deny any of the facts of the word of God, but my ministry will focus more on the positive and the uplifting things. The very fact that Paul is a servant of Christ and not a man-pleaser is demonstrated in the purity of the message he preached and in his opposition to those who taught otherwise. One of the tests of a ministry is do they preach the pure truth of God? Second test of the ministry is, do they strongly and adamantly oppose any and all who alter the purity of the truth of God? That’s what Paul offers as a test in verse 10.

All right, let me go back and walk through some of the points that we’ve covered in these three verses. And you’ll note we have stepped up our pace. Instead of doing two verses we have moved to three.
Number one: Our focus must be on the message. Our focus must be on the message. The prime concern is not do you think they’re a believer? Do they seem to be sincere? Do they do miracles? Are they supernatural? Are they a friend? Do you like them? Number one, the focus must be on the message.

Number two: Any teachers who alter the scriptures are condemned to hell. Any teachers who alter the scriptures are condemned to hell. Paul here is speaking of his gospel. Second Peter 3: 16 talks about those who twisted the writings of Paul and the rest of scripture to their own destruction. Revelation chapter 22 verses 18 and 19 spoke of those who add to or take away from the revelation God has given. And we can multiply to that other passages. Any teachers who alter the scriptures are condemned to hell. This doesn’t mean that I cannot miss-speak, that I do not misunderstand a portion. But I must be held accountable to the scriptures. We cannot play loose with the scripture. I think their intentions are good. I think he meant well. Well, he’s not very learned in theology. Well, then, “Let not many of you be teachers for they shall have the greater condemnation,” James says. There’s no excuse of any kind for being loose and free with the word of God in that sense. And God holds us accountable.

Number three: Our ultimate goal in teaching must always be to please God not men. And in that context we noted, pleasing God is not only about only the proclamation of the truth but the opposition to those who taught otherwise. Any idea that you can avoid being negative and still serve Christ is a lie from the pit of hell.

Let me read you from Christ’s statement in Matthew chapter 4, don’t turn there, just listen. Matthew 5 verse 10, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way that they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” And you remember, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so they did of the false prophets.”

You know, Jesus did not say, “You shall be loved of all men for My sake.” What did He say? “You shall be hated of all men.” Now I’m not saying we should develop a martyr complex and go out seeing if we can’t offend someone. However, you know the church is not the place of no offense because “the preaching of the cross is offensive to those who are perishing,” Paul wrote to the Corinthians.

So this is a place to bring your friends either to be saved or offended. And I don’t know, only God knows what He’s doing in a heart. I’m going to bring my unbelieving . . . you fill in the blank. You think you’re going to say anything to offend them? I hope so. Because what offends them will also bring salvation to them by the grace of God, right? And if they do not respond in faith to the preaching of the cross they will be offended. You don’t want a church where you can take your unbelieving friends to not be offended. It’s a place where the truth is not preached and people cannot be saved.

Number four: Number three was our ultimate goal in teaching must be always to please God not men. Number four: The truth of the gospel is of eternal importance. The truth of the gospel is of eternal importance. We must be completely, passionately committed to its proclamation and defense. We must have nothing to do with those who alter it in anyway. Second John verses 10 and 11, just jot them down, you don’t need to turn there, second John, 10 and 11, John says, “If anyone come bringing any other kind of teaching, don’t have them in your house, don’t give him a word of greeting; have nothing to do with him.” Remember, “Evil companions corrupt good conduct,” Paul said to the Corinthians. One of the defenses we have as believers is we have nothing to do with those who are involved in error. We understand we are dealing with something of eternal importance and significance. People think I’m narrow. I am! Now I realize the church has sometimes gotten off track and it’s preaching a lot of things and demanding a lot of things that have nothing to do with the scripture. We’re called to preach the truth and we’d better be every bit as narrow as the truth and every bit as broad as the truth. Meaning we have added nothing, we have taken nothing away. People will say we are very opinionated. Yes, we are! I am of the opinion that God is always right and never wrong. I am of the settled conviction that this is truth and anything that opposes it is error. And so are you. And so is everyone who is genuinely been born again.

Let me close with a quote from J. Gresham Machen. J. Gresham Machen was a leader in the first part of this century in the battle between liberalism and uh, fundamentalism. He was involved in the split of Princeton seminary in the late 20’s when all the Bible-believing professors exited basically. And in a book he wrote in about, in sometime in the 1920’s I believe, on Christianity and liberalism, “It never occurred to Paul that the gospel might be true for one man and not for another. The blight of pragmatism had never fallen upon his soul. Paul was convinced of the objective truth of the gospel message and devotion to that truth was the great passion of his life. Christianity for Paul was not only a life but also a doctrine, and logically the doctrine being first.”

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for the beauty of the message of Christ. Thank you that the gospel is Your power for salvation to everyone who believes. Lord, I pray for those who are here, for many who may have believed a corrupted or altered gospel and Lord, they have been deluded and deceived into thinking they are saved and they are under eternal condemnation. By your grace, open blinded eyes that they might see and believe the gospel of grace. Lord, I pray that this church might be passionately committed to the truth of the gospel, passionately committed to the purity of Your word, passionately opposed to anyone and everyone who alters it in any way. May I, may our love for You and Your word supersede our love for friends and family, for approval and worldly honor? May we indeed be a church that is a pillar and support of the truth? And we ask it in Christ’s name. Amen.