The Amish Voice 2
1. GOD’S GOSPEL IS THE ONLY MESSAGE (v.6).
God’s gospel had just been clearly stated by Paul.
“[Christ] gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us
from this present evil world, according to the will of God and
our Father” (Ga.1:4).
The message of the gospel is that Christ died to rescue us from this
present evil world, that is, from this world’s sin:
Christ died that we might be delivered from sin and death to live
eternally with God in a new heavens and earth.
Very practically, what happens is this: when a person looks at Jesus
Christ and truly believes that Christ took his sins upon Himself and
died for them, God counts it so. God credits it as a fact. God sees
Christ bearing the person’s sin, and He looks upon the person as being
sinless and perfect, that is, completely free of sin. Therefore, the per-
son becomes acceptable to God. God sees him in Christ who is without
sin, completely righteous and perfect. But note a critical fact: the per-
son is not sinless; no person is without sin; no person is perfectly right-
eous. But God counts the person as sinless, as perfectly righteous.
Why does God do such a wonderful and marvelous thing? Because
He loves us that much; He loves us with an eternal, unlimited love.
This is the message of the glorious gospel. We cannot earn the ac-
ceptance of God, for we are unrighteous and imperfect, and only right-
eousness and perfection can live in the presence of God. But God loves
us so much that He has provided the way for us to become righteous
and acceptable to him. This is what is meant by justification and the
wonderful grace of Christ. This is the glorious message of the gospel.
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and
saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world!” (Jn.1:29).
ILLUSTRATION:
Why is it so important to protect the gospel from falsehood? Dave
Bass shares this shocking story:
Every day, striking incidents are accumulating in the experience of
overseas missionaries and North American Christians alike:
The candidate for elder in an independent suburban church in the
Midwest sat with the board for his interview. From all the church‟s
appearances—doctrinal statement, sermons, worship, teaching—he
had no reason to doubt
that this was a solid, biblical church. In discussing his qualifications,
however, he discovered that he was chosen partly because his astro-
logical sign was in harmony with those of the board members. They
urged him to pray for a “spirit guide” who would give him wisdom in
his new office. They said he could expect to benefit from „deep‟ teach-
ings from the elders themselves. Now the man understood why a friend
had earlier declined the position and had been reluctant to discuss it.
(Selected from Christianity Today. Carol Stream, IL, April 29, 1991,
p.14.)
QUESTIONS:
1. How confident are you in your grasp of the essential doctrines
of Christianity? What areas need strengthening?
2. What caused Paul to marvel at the Galatians? Are you some-
times guilty of the same thing as the Galatians?
3. What other “gospels” tempt believers? What kinds are a temp-
tation to you?
2. SOME INDIVIDUALS TURNED TO FALSE GOSPELS (vv.6-7).
This is the subject of The book of Galatians, the very reason Paul
wrote to the churches of Galatia. Some false teachers had joined the
church, false teachers who did not believe in the gospel as proclaimed
by Paul and the apostles. They were adding to and taking away from
the gospel of the Scriptures and attacking the minister. As a result,
some believers were following the false teachers and turning to their
false gospels. Paul warned the believers of the churches, and his warn-
ing was direct and forceful.
1. The believers were deserting God, removing themselves from
God. The word remove means to turn away, to change places, to
transfer elsewhere. The tense of the verb is present which means
the Galatians were in the process of turning; they had not yet fully
turned. There was still hope for them to repent and return to God.
Note three striking facts.
a. A person who turns away from the gospel is not turning
away from a set of beliefs or principles nor from a church.
The person is turning away from God Himself. It is God who
loves us and saves us, not a set of beliefs. It is God who per-
sonally calls us into the grace of Christ, not a message or a
preacher. Therefore, to turn away is to desert God Himself,
the Person who has loved us enough to save us and to give
us eternal life in His Son, Jesus Christ.
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W
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lawlessness
unrighteousness
corruption
aging
deterioration
death
judgment
condemnation
doom