[Music] Good afternoon, everyone. Yes, today we are starting a new series on the book of Galatians, and it is a very short book with only six chapters, so we won't be using many years to finish these books as we have done with the book of Genesis and Exodus. I think we used a couple of years to finish the whole book of Genesis and also Exodus, and since we have spent such a long time studying the Old Testament, I think it's about time that we move on to the New Testament. And why is Galatians a good book to start? Because in the New Testament, actually, there are two books that present the essence of the Gospel most clearly, and these two books are the book of Romans and the other one is the book of Galatians. And for those of you who are aware of our Chinese service, we are having a Bible study series on the book of Romans every Thursday. And that's why for English service, I think it's good that we study the book that is very

clear on the gospel. And that is Galatians. And furthermore, you know, as we go through the book of Galatians, you will notice that this book of Galatians actually links the New Testament quite a lot to the Old Testament stories and themes that we have covered in Genesis and in Exodus. For example, they will talk about Abraham, they talk about Sarah, and they will also talk about the relationship between law and faith. And so, this epistle. Now, epistle just means letter. Or this book of Galatians is something like a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In other words, between believers of the past and us today, modern-day believers, modern-day Christians. And once more, what's so interesting about the book of Galatians? Why is it so significant to us? Because this book of Galatians is in fact very significant to the Reformation movement. Why? Because Martin Luther, he understood the very important doctrine of justification by faith alone as he read the verses in Galatians. And in fact

Martin Luther actually wrote a whole commentary on the book of Galatians, and so for us to be more rooted in reform theology, it is useful for us to study the book of Galatians. And so first, when we look at this um today, is the first um sermon on Galatians. So let's uh look at it broadly and consider what are some main theological themes we can observe in the book of Galatians. And I would say four key themes can be observed as we look through this whole book of Galatians. And these four themes, as you can see, uh justification by justification by faith in Christ, Freedom, unity, and equality, and also life in the Holy Spirit. And as we go through the whole book, and as we go through the whole book, you will see some of this theme repeated. So for example, on the first one, justification by faith in Christ, one of the key verses is Galatians chap 2:1 16, and that is know that a person is not justified by The Works of the law but by

faith in Jesus Christ. And so, we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the Works of the law. Because by the works of the law, no one will be justified. Just this one verse, you realize there's a lot of repetition, not just the underlying portion, but actually all the other lines after that is repeating the same idea. The Works of the law doesn't help. We need the grace of Jesus, and we need to claim it by faith. Next theme is on freedom, and Galatians chapter 5 verse 1, we are quite familiar with this. It is for Freedom. We all love freedom. It is for Freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. And the third theme is unity and equality in the church, because we also see in Galatians chapter 3 over there, Paul mentioned neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are one in

Christ Jesus. And of course, it must be from faith. From salvation, it must lead to holiness. So life in the Holy Spirit. We read in Galatians chapter 5. Over there, it tells us that we, so I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And 23 and 2 uh verse 23 to 22 to 23, we are very familiar on the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And against such things, there is no law. So yes, Galatians is a very short book, but it has a very big message. And so let's first understand why did Paul write this letter. In fact, all the Epistles, all the letters of Paul, were written for a purpose because certain issues arose in the various churches. And that's why there's a need for Paul to address those issues. And so Paul, over here, we see later we'll read that Paul actually addressed this uh letter of

Galatians to a group of churches in Galatia, which is present-day Turkey. The Book of Galatians is, in fact, one of the earliest letters of Paul, and it is taught that this book was written somewhere between AD 48, so very shortly after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, AD 48 to AD 55. So now, why did Paul write this letter? What was the problem in Galatia that Paul was trying to address? In fact, as we read on the Book of Galatians, you will notice that the Book of Galatians was actually written, meant for believers who think they know the gospel when, in fact, they are confused about the gospel. And so that's why, because they're not clear about the gospel, they are easily misled by false and wrong teachings. Now, in our Chinese service, for those of you who are aware, we are going through the Book of Acts, and in fact, Acts chapter 13-6 provides helpful background for our

book of Galatians. And we read in Acts chapter 15. And just now we read also in responsive reading Acts chapter 15. Over there, what were we told verse it was said that certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the Believers unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses you cannot be saved. And later on in Acts chapter 16, it was recorded that Paul actually visited Galatia. So what this group of Jews were saying in Acts chapter 15 were in fact they were just teaching the Believers that it is not enough to believe in Jesus Christ. A person must be like a Jew and practice Jewish Customs then he can be accepted because why after all remember God made a covenant with Abraham. Now for those of you who have been with us since we started Genesis in Genesis chapter 17. Over there when God made a covenant with Abraham, God specifically instructed Abraham to do what that he must be circumcised all the males in his

household must also be circumcised, and that is a sign that Abraham and those who are circumcised belong to God. So with this background, it makes sense for these Judas, no sometimes I use Jews, sometime I use Judaism. Judaism refers to people, the Jews, who believe that you must practice Jewish custom in order to be accepted. So with this background in Genesis chapter 17 when God made the Covenant with Abraham that you must be circumcised, so the Judaist of course they think it makes perfect sense for the Gentile Believers to all Al be circumcised so that they are also fully Justified. Now that's why we sometimes need to pause and we need to be very careful even when we are hearing very logical sounding teachings, and especially when those are also Beed by the Bible because we must not forget that even when the devil tempted Jesus he also quot God's words. And so that's why over here in Galatian Paul very fiercely defended the gospel. Why? Because

God's pure and true gospel is at the risk of being distorted. In fact, before all these Jews were teaching all these false teachings, Paul had already preached the true and right gospel to the Galatians. It's just that now they have forgotten because they are shaken by what the Judaizers were telling them. Now also, just I mentioned the book of Galatians is meant for people who think they know the gospel but actually they are not so clear. So I don't know about you, would you consider yourself as someone who understands who knows the gospel well? Those of you who have been in church for the longest time, those of you who grew up in the Christian family, you're second gen, third gen, fourth gen Christians. Do you think you know the gospel very well? And now if you think you know and understand the gospel, it's very simple. Now I want to quiz you. So if I ask you, what is central to the gospel, what will your answer be? The baptism class is coming soon.

don't know whether I should quiz this question to all my future baptism students so because to understand the gospel is the most basic thing about being a Christian. So if ask if I were to ask you what is Central if the answer is not there right okay what is Central to the gospel what would your answer be. I think W I hear some mumblings too bad you cannot come up and answer but your answer should tie in with the Central message of the book of Galatians and the central message of the book of Galatians is found in Galatians chap 2:1-16. We read just now but the short version of it is a person is not justified by works of the law but true faith in Jesus Christ and as his bro when he talk about this his whole series on Galatians. He also mentioned that in the book of Galatians Paul argued very clearly that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. So this is the broad background the central message of

Galatians is that we cannot be justified by works of the law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, with this broad introduction, we just shared the four theological themes and the central message. With this broad introduction, let's start to read the book of Galatians. And today, we're just looking at nine verses, nine short verses. So, Galatians chapter 1, verse 1: I, Paul, an apostle, sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. Now, even this first verse is very important. Why? Because Paul had to highlight that he was not sent by humans, but he was sent by God. And why is this so important? Because, you know, people may be looking at Paul and wondering that he is very different from the rest of Jesus' 12 disciples. Because for the Jesus' 12 disciples, they, in fact, they grew up with Jesus by their side, and they were personally coached by Jesus Christ. But Paul wants to highlight that he was also called by God himself, because Paul, he

had a very personal and vivid encounter with Jesus Christ where on the road to Damascus. And so Paul wanted to uh nail down this truth and let people know what authority is he carrying. But on the contrary, we must look at the other side. Paul is now contending with who now Paul is trying to assert that he has the authority to speak the word of God. On the other hand, Paul's opponents are the Judaists, the Judes. They try to imply, you know, that they come with the authority of the Apostles and the Jerusalem Church. They didn't say it directly, but they imply, you know, they come with the authority of the Jerusalem Jews. But later on, when you go back and refer to Acts chapter 15, over there, Acts chap 15: 24, the apostles from the Jerusalem Church, they say that we have heard that some went out from us, meaning the US is the apostles, without our authorization, and they have disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they say. So this Judaa, the opponents of Paul, they

imply that they have authority, but in fact, the Jerusalem Church never sent them. So now Paul is defending his uh Apostle Authority, not so much because he cares a lot for his own self-esteem, but why? Because it is so important for people to recognize his authority so that they can take his word seriously. Not just take his word seriously, but they can be confident that what I hear from Paul, in fact, was what God intended for me to hear. So that's why God, uh, that's why Paul have to defend his authority, not for his own ego, but so that people of God can take God's word seriously. And next verse here, and because, and by the way, when Paul asserts his authority, it's not just for the benefit of his readers in Galatian, Galatia, it's also for us because for us in the New Testament, you look at the New Testament, so many books were written by Paul. So if we ourselves, we are not sure of Paul's Authority when we read the New Testament, we will not be fully assured.

also so this is also important this vers first uh first verse, and then second verse, and all the brothers and sisters with me. Now this is a short verse, but it tells a lot also because if you notice in Paul's Epistles, in Paul's letters, he always associate himself with people and Brethren with him. Know when he send greetings, when he write his greetings in the various Epistles, he also he always say, you know, I write this to you with who and who with me. And this tells us that no matter how successful a person's Ministry were, at least for Paul, he we see that he's a very successful missionary, but he was very well aware of the truth that what that he could not be alone. And so he needed his Brethren around him. And so likewise for us, no one, none of us can be a Lone Ranger when we serve God, when we follow God. No matter how gifted, no matter how learned each and every one of us are, we cannot be alone. And so Paul uh with all the

brothers and sisters. With him, he said he's writing to the churches in Galatia. So, so this is the audience, his target audience. He's writing to the churches in Galatian Galatia. Now, in the theological world, there have been a lot of debates, long, long debates. I spent a lot of time um reading through all these debates, but there debates about what, about who these churches in Galatia are referring to. So, some people were saying, are they referring to, you know, the ethnic Galatians, uh, in this Northern Galatia, uh, in the northern Galatia, or are they referring to a mixed group of, uh, Jews and Gentiles in the southern Galatian city that is in the Roman province. I mean, I shall share you the torture of knowing the confusion of all these debates because this does not alter the central message of the book of Galatian. But if these churches in Galatia, if this group of churches is referring to the southern Galatian city.

then we hear a lot of their background from the book of Acts because the southern Galatia will refers to places like what we read in Acts chapter 13 and 14. So now you see there's this link between Chinese and uh English service. Also, for those of you who are bilingual, the Chinese service have already touched on Acts chapter 13 and 14. Over there, there were places mentioned such as Pidan, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derby. So all these places belongs to the southern Galatian portion. And so here the target audience is to the churches in Galatia, but these churches includes Gentile. Now verse three, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So notice, Grace come first. Grace must rightly come first. After that, then we can enjoy, we can taste the peace that come from God. God must first give his grace, then we can enjoy the peace. Verse four, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and

Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. So, in verse 3 to 5, this very short portion, we actually saw the gospel in brief because Paul briefly spoke about what the gospel is. And in the later part of the book of Galatians, this gospel will be further expounded on. So now, I mentioned just now that Galatians was written for those who thought they know the gospel but they actually are not very clear, right? So, test time or quiz time. The question I want to ask all of us is why? Why did Jesus save us? Why did Jesus save you or save me too? Too bad we are not in baptism class so I cannot ask question and ask people to answer. So just those who just graduated, you should know the answer. I don't know whether you know but why this is a simple question. Why for adult and children, why did Jesus save us so that we can go to heaven, so that we can avoid hell, so that we can be reconciled to God. Is it, is it correct? Of course, all these are included so that we can go to

heaven. We can avoid hell. We can be reconciled to God. What else? Why did Jesus save us? Don't look at me, look at your Bible. Look at verse four. What did verse four tell us? Why? Why did Jesus save us? Verse four. So, the answer is found in verse four. Verse four says Jesus gave himself for our sin to what? To rescue us from what? From your unhappiness, from your illness, from your, from your whatever issues. The Bible says very clearly to rescue us from the present evil age. And then in Second Peter, Apostle Peter said similar thing. Second Peter verse 1:4. Over there, it was written so that through them, through what? Through God's promises, you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desire. So, it tells us that one of God's purpose, yes, no doubt Jesus saved us to give us eternal life so that we can be reconciled with God, but he also saves us from sin and evil. God's aim, God's

purpose is so that his people can love holiness and hate sin. That is God's purpose. Also, God save us, yes, God save us, but God save us. After that, what? Yeah, we are safe. After that, what happens? God save us so that we will no longer walk in the evil ways of the corrupted world, but we will follow God in obedience and we can be set apart from the world as God's holy people. And when we talk, and we, when we mentioned that God saved us from evil, I'm not just talking about outright obvious evils and sin that we know, all the murder, all the spaling, and whatever, but it's also the evil of what, the evil of ignoring and rebelling against God's will, and exalting human self-will and pride. So we must understand what does the gospel first and foremost deal with, the gospel first and foremost deal with our sin, the problem of our sin, because if our problem of sin is left unresolved, it will lead us to eternal damnation. So Jesus died. Jesus

resurrected not first to satisfy our desire for happiness. A lot of people think, Oh, God must make me happy. I believe in God because I want to be happy. God's duty is to make me happy. Yes, happiness is the natural outcome. Joy is the natural outcome of our relationship with God. But the first thing that God must deal with when we talk about the gospel, the first thing that the gospel must deal with, is to resolve the problem of our sin. Because if our problem of sin is not taken care of, even if we are very happy now, we will perish in the future. So that's why when Paul talks about the gospel, he said Jesus Christ gave himself for what? For our sin. He didn't say, I mean, of course, we will get joy, we'll get peace from God. But here, first of all, Jesus gave himself for our sin. And Jesus cleansed us from our sins. And in other words, he saved us from the reign of sin. You know, some a lot of times we thought Jesus save us from sin means or Jesus

save us from the penalty punishment of sin. But saving us from sin is saving us from the reign of sin, so that we break free from the bondage of sin and so that we can also be able to not just obey God, but obey God gladly with a happy, sincere heart. So here, when we read this verse, Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, this tells us that being Christian is not just about being free from sin completely only in the future in heaven. It also talks about being free from the mastery of sin even in this present life. So here, Paul talks about both the final and our ongoing sanctification. Yes, in Christ, he'll be faithful. He will justify us. He will sanctify us perfectly. We will finally be saved. But Paul also talks about when, because you notice the verse did not just say Jesus rescued us from evil, but he says Jesus rescued us from the present, present evil age. So it's about ongoing sanctification also. So no doubt the

gospel gives us freedom, but we must be very aware that the freedom we get from the gospel is a freedom from sin, not a freedom to sin. And so, even when we talk about Freedom later on in the series, we have to be very careful because the same word Freedom means different things for different people. Okay, so this is about what Jesus has done to save us and to bring about our sanctification. Then Paul also mentioned in verse three, grace and peace, which are brought by the gospel. Now, when Paul talk about Grace and peace, what is the important part in What is the important part in verse three? Everybody love Grace, everybody love peace, and everybody try their means to seek peace, get peace from different. Some do meditation, some go for, some yoga, or whatever. People use different different means to get peace, but here when we read the Bible, the important the important characteristics of Grace and peace is one, they come from who. The Bible tells us Grace and peace to you from who, from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. In this short verse, it

tells us that one can only taste peace when God is really your father. He's not just a God in the textbook. He's not just a God of your parent. He's not just a God somewhere else in the universe. But when this God, the only God, becomes your father, has a relationship with you. When we claim and we acknowledge that Jesus is our Lord, we can cast all our anxieties unto him. When that happens, then you get peace. Otherwise, the peace doesn't come. So Grace and peace are brought to us when God is our father, when Jesus is our Lord. And so here Jesus is the main character of the gospel because by Jesus substitutionary atonement, that is the basis for our real peace. And why did I say that Jesus is the main character of the gospel? Because the beautiful thing about Jesus Redemption is Jesus not just made salvation possible, but he made salvation effective. There's no use in missing in making salvation possible just a possibility, but Jesus make salvation effective for anyone who will be willing.

to trust him and so on. The basis of Jesus' finished work on the cross, anyone who trusts in Jesus can be saved now. Just now I ask, why did Jesus save us? For what purpose, right? To rescue us from the present evil age. Now I ask, what did Jesus do? What did Christ do to save us? So just not is why he saved us for what. Now, what did Jesus do to save us? What did the Bible say? He gave himself. He gave himself to what extent? He gave himself to the even to the point of giving up his last piece of garment. He lay almost naked on the cross. Jesus gave himself to the last drop of his blood. So see that what does him? What does he gave himself mean? He gave his all. Now Jesus does not just give some, you know, uh, I give up some cities, I give up some angels, I give up some money, you know, in order to save us. No, but Jesus gave himself, his very life, his all to save us, to save sinners who despise him, to save sinners who don't deserve his.

sacrifice. Now, let's pause for a moment to think about what Jesus has given and then turn around and reflect upon ourselves. Often, we complain, we struggle when we are not even giving Jesus our all. We are just giving here a little bit of our time, a little bit of our money, a little bit of our freedom, a little bit of our efforts. And then we start to complain. And then it's not just that Jesus gave himself to undeserving sinners who despise him, but we are giving to God the most glorious, loving, honorable God, gracious God, righteous God, holy God. And somehow, when we give to Jesus, right actually we are giving to enjoy him. No, we give our time to come to church so that we can sit in the air, enjoy the worship, enjoy being fed by God in our spirit. We are giving ourselves to God to receive something very good for ourselves. But Jesus, when he gave himself for us, he gave himself to suffer for someone who doesn't

appreciate him when he doesn't need to do that so you see there's a lot of contrast between how Jesus gave himself and how we when we are to give God a little bit we struggle. We complain so what reasons do we have in resisting in complaining to give to our lord Jesus and if here Jesus um I mean the B the Bible the verses clearly mention that if Jesus save us to Deliver Us from the corrupted world then do we now after being Sav willfully subject ourself to the bondage and influence of this Fallen World again. I mean God forbids that so Jesus he gave himself for our deliverance and finally what do we read in verse five just now say all glory be glory May GL glory be to God forever right so yes ultimately what does the gospel tells us the gospel brings all glory back to God in the end because of the gospel because of God's Redemption plan God will be glorified for what for his grace for how God Saves undeserving and helpless sinners. God will also be

glorified through the gospel for what for his righteousness because God punishes sin justly. God didn't say, Okay, I want to forgive you, no price need to paid, need to be paid for sin, my son Jesus will pay the price for sin. So God will be praised that he didn't just love blindly, he didn't just uh abolish all the laws and Holiness. He punishes sin justly. It's just that for the case of gospel, Jesus take our sin, take the punishment of our sins on our behalf, and through the gospel, the Bible tells us the gospel is what the wisdom of God. So God will be glorified for his wisdom because just think about it, the devil, our sin, in fact death, they may think, Oh, they will surely win over God. You know the devil be thinking, Oh, I'm surely I will surely win over God. Why? Because God cannot be untrue to himself, he's holy God, he must punish sin. So even if God loves Sinners, he must put Sinners to death. So sin, death, and the devil think.

that they will win. But who can imagine that God actually sent his own son to die on behalf of sinners and to save everyone who believes in him. So that is God's wisdom, and God will be praised for that. And God is also glorified for what? Through the gospel, God is glorified for his power, the power to even conquer death, the power to even triumph over the bondage of sin and death. So that's the gospel in brief. I mean later on throughout the Book of Galatians, we will expound more on other details of the gospel, but in short, Jesus came to save us from evil by the will of God, for the glory of God, for our peace, and for our sanctification. That's the gospel in summary. Now, after this brief on the gospel, Paul quickly moved very fast to the issue that he wanted to address. And you notice in this letter, there's something unusual. In this letter, I mean, I don't know how many letters do you pay attention when you read Paul's letters. Usually in a letter

there is this section that is one well those you who attended uh CJ's. I don't know whether CJ teach this but I was telling here a bit scared to share Galatians because all of you learn how to interpret Epistles after the training on Friday. I don't know whether you all pay attention but but you notice in Paul's letter there's this comment section where he will always commend and encourage his hearer. He'll say something nice you know when you start a letter you'll say oh I miss you I thank God for you you know but Paul he has no time for pleasantries with this galatian he just move very fast you know. He talk about the gospel in brief then he suddenly in verse six he jumps straight into his issue. Why because the issue at hand is so pressing so serious so urgent that there's no time for nice sounding word you know when you see someone about to fall into a hole you have no time to formulate nice nothing words how do I tell him nicely so that he will not be

offended. You just shout at him and say, Hey, watch out! You know you're falling into the hole. So for Paul here, he has no time for polite words, so he quickly jumps into verse six. And what is his message in verse six? He says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. What would strike you? Maybe many, but the word quickly struck me. It's that quickly because a lot of the time I realize we, even today, we turn away from God so quickly. We are very fickle, just like the Galatians. And by quickly, this word just, I mentioned Galatians is one of the earliest letters that Paul has written. So from this word quickly, we can infer, you know, that Paul has just recently preached the gospel to them and then so quickly they now turn away from the pure gospel. And that's why this book of Galatians is one of the earliest.

letters of Paul. Now, here, what is something else that you notice in verse six? The different gospel is contrasted with what you look at verse six. Uh, you just read yourself, okay, turning to a different gospel. So when you, when Paul talk about different gospel before that, he contrasted different gospel to what, to the grace of Christ. You are deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of. So, in other words, from here, what can we invoke? How will the alternative gospel look like? How will the different gospel look like? The different gospel, and in other words, the alternative gospel, is a gospel that is not grounded on the full perfect Grace of Christ, as we will discover later in the book of Galatians, because you will realize that believers, they are turning away from salvation by the grace of Christ alone to a reliance on human works, on circumcision, and other things. So, verse seven, Paul says you are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are

trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let them be under God's curse. As we have already said, so I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse. Now, the harshness of Paul's words gives you a sense of how severe, how grave this mistake, this problem was. So, teaching a false gospel is no small matter, but it's a serious sin deserving of God's fiercest condemnation. Now, for the hearer of the false gospel, we can still give the person the benefit of doubt. Maybe this hearer of the false gospel, they're just ignorant, they're just unwittingly being led into false teachings. But the one who willfully teaches or spreads this false gospel, he cannot escape his guilt. So, this is a very serious matter. Now, let's think through as we read through this passage.

let us think true what might make the Galatians desert the pure gospel so quickly. Now it's not just W accusing the Galatians. Now we always have fun to pinpoint people for, Hey, why do you think he go the wrong way? Hey, why do you think he made this mistake? But in fact, we need to think true. Are we quick to turn away also? And if we are quick to turn away from God, what are some common reasons? Now we may be also having. We may also have experienced certain high, you know, as we, uh, get to know God. Initially, when we get to know God, maybe we are very happy. Oh, God, I finally found the way to peace. Oh, God, I finally found a way out of hell. I don't need be scared of death anymore. So initially, you know, when we get to first know the gospel, we also may have this high, this excitement, this joy, this happiness. But we don't know why, you know, slowly and gradually, the temptations of the world catch up with us again, and then we are led astray.

so we should also heed the warning in this book of Galatians, because the book of Galatians is giving us this warning that even if you have known the gospel, even if you have you have known Jesus, even if you have heard the gospel, there is a high chance that we can very quickly turn away from God and the pure gospel. Now, when you think about how a person is to turn away from the gospel, I don't think it happened abruptly, no, so suddenly, but usually just think how did people drift away from God. It's not so, it's not so abrupt. Usually, it's, you know, the perversions come a little bit by a little bit. We are persuaded a little bit by a little bit. So, that's why the failure to detect subtle distortions of the Gospel can cause us to be easily misled, and so we must look out for little traps, even all the very logical-sounding reasonable teachings that resemble the gospel but are actually not the gospel, because we also need to be

mindful that the devil Satan. He can use what is good and right, as much as what is bad and wrong. Because some people say, oh, the devil only do evil things. But who says that the devil only use bad things and evil things to deceive us? Now, what is another characteristic of the devil? Yes, he's evil, but the Bible tells us the devil is also what cunning. He's very wise. Now, if he's a very wise deceiver, he will surely use things that looks very okay to make ask for. So we must be very careful. Take for the example of the uh of Galatians circumcision. Is circumcision a sin? Now, if I ask you, is circumcision a sin? Is it bad? Isn't this um instructed by God, commanded by God at one time? Time. So you see, this sounds very harmless. It sounds very all right. But then, why is Paul so against the idea of the Gentiles going for circumcision? Why? Because if you think about it, if a person gets Assurance from circumcision, that means the true gospel.

of Christ is distorted. Why? Because if we add anything to the Redemption work of Christ, that tells us what? That tells us this very scary message that Christ is not enough. And that is the greatest heresy. Christ is not enough is the greatest heresy. And so Paul fiercely defended the gospel. And so we must be very mindful of little, uh, subtle distortions from the true and pure gospel. So we must always cross-check with the Bible. And if you say, He, yeah, I read the Bible also, I don't understand. So yes. Some people say, I cross-check the Bible, but I check the more I check, the more confused I am. So yes, you cross-check the Bible, you also cross-check with very reliable Bible interpreter, you know, especially those who are of sound Doctrine, sound Faith, make references to how they read the Bible to cross-check whether your understanding of the Bible aligns with those who are credible. So this is one reason, they, one, one reason why the Galatians turn away so quickly because they fail to detect subtle

Distortion and next, a very um, very real factor also is what there is this desire to escape persecution. Why do I say that? Because when you read the Bible in the early church period, strangely, most of the persecution of Christians comes not from the Romans, but from the Jews. If you read the book of Acts, you will, you'll notice that, you know, in a few places, it was mentioned that Christians, they were persecuted by the Jews themselves, people of God. So the Galatians may be intimidated by Jewish expectations and thought, Oh, maybe we can save some trouble. The Jews wouldn't come after us if we just appease them and oblige them to practice some of the Jewish customs. Now, is that similar to us today? Today, when we follow God, when we claim that we are Christian, for similar reasons of wanting to escape persecutions, maybe from our non-believing family members or from our peers, we don't want to be laughed at by our non-believing friends. We may compromise the gospel because we

don't want to strain relationship with our non-believing family members or because we want to avoid tensions with people around us, so we don't say so much. We keep quiet, we don't express our Christian views, and we don't even, uh, tell people. We don't, we don't, uh, share the good news with people because we don't want to create any tensions. So this is one possible reason. Another reason that make the Galatians and maybe us waiver so quickly is because of this common human tendency of, of what to rely on self-efforts. In other words, it sounds more logical to the human minds to do something to earn our salvation than to receive it freely and humbly. Now humans, uh, the thing about humans is we rather trust our efforts than trust grace. Sometimes, no, I trust grace a lot, no. But you think, but we trust because we like control. If there's something I can do, I'd rather trust my effort than trust, uh, someone else. So we rather trust our effort than we trust grace. We rather proudly proclaim, I can do it, than to say

I'm so weak. I'm so useless. I'm so powerless that I need help from someone else. Not prideful humans. They like to say, I can do it myself. I don't need your help, thank you very much. But it takes a lot for the humans to say to acknowledge that I really cannot. I need God's grace. I need God's help. So prideful humans find it very difficult to accept that we cannot do anything about our situation. And there is this human tendency to boast in our flesh. What does boasting in our flesh mean? To boast in what our flesh, what we can do. And that's why later on in Galatians chapter 6, um, we read when Paul talk about circumcision. Paul said, Those who advocated circumcision merely wanted to boast in their flesh. Because those who did circumcision, they merely want to impress people with their by means of their flesh. So there's this human tendency to trust to do it our way, our effort. And as then when we talk about turning away from the

pure gospel into external practices. Now, what is another reason why Christians, instead of holding on to the pure faith of the Gospel, they turn to outward rituals to demonstrate their faith? Why usually people turn to outward rituals? Christians, I'm talking about Christians, turn to outward rituals for two reasons. What do you think one is to make themselves feel less accused and feel better? You know, God, I may still be lying, lazy, I still be sinning, but God, you know, at least I go to church. Or God, at least I attended this Jewish Festival. Or God, you know, I'm not very good, but at least I'm circumcised. Actually, having the circumcision is easier than obeying God in everything, you know. So, some people, they just feel the power of sin is too great for them to overcome. So, in order to make them feel better, make themselves feel better, soothe their conscience, give themselves this assurance that God is still pleased with me, so they go through

the outward rituals in order to find false security. So that's one reason they turn from the pure gospel, and then they turn to get confidence. I'm not saying that, by the way. I'm not saying coming to church is wrong, but they gain confidence from outward rituals. They didn't care about what they truly believe. They didn't deal with their sin. They just turn to their outward rituals to get confidence that God still has favor on me. And so that's one reason the F better less accused. What's the second reason always there, okay, second reason. Some people, you know, they just cannot overpower the appeal of sin. And so they say w this gospel is so good, the gospel of the grace and gospel of God give us freedom. How many of you people are very scared of freedom? So there's a group of Christian who are so scared of freedom. Say, wow, I cannot do with freedom. The Gospel made me so free. Everything also can do, everything also can be forgiven by God. W so scary. I don't know what I will do with all this freedom.

they say, never mind, I will subject myself to stricter rules, to stricter laws, so that all these laws can safeguard me, you know, so they, even though there are certain laws that they don't have to be bound if they're not Jews, they say, never mind, it's okay, I embrace all these stricter Jewish laws, even though I'm not a Jew, so that these laws safeguard me to live right before God, also some of them, they try to find confidence from outward rituals, that's why they turn away, they may be thinking this Paul, maybe this Paul is too simplistic, he's not smart enough, why did Paul tell us Grace is Enough, why did Paul tell us, uh, Jesus' work is enough, maybe Paul is mistaken, and so they try to find assurance themselves through outward think, so this one reason, okay, another reason why the Galatians might turn away from the pure gospel, and that can apply to us also, is this thing that this reason that there is this misunderstanding or an

overemphasis of one aspect of the biblical truth over another aspect. I think this is something that we are very prone to commit. Also, that means all are gospel truth, but we just overemphasize one aspect of the gospel truth more than the other one. For example, Christianity talks both about Grace and good works, right? A Christian not just about it's not just talking about Grace, right? A Christian should have both. We receive the grace of God, we should also have good works in our life. But when the Judes, when they overemphasize the Deeds of the flesh or overemphasize the Jewish customs more than when they emphasize this more than Jesus Christ Grace in effecting the god salvation, then they start to develop their own theology. Oh, a person must be circumcised, then he can be justified. So modern Believers also now, for those modern believers who are quick to embrace, for example, Prosperity Gospel, they also have this same mistake. They overemphasize one aspect of the biblical

truth over another. For example, those who embrace Prosperity Gospel, they prefer to emphasize on God's grace, God's love, and God's ability to give us earthly blessings, but they fail to remember that God is also a holy God who demands our obedience, even when our obedience makes us uncomfortable, sometimes unhappy in our flesh, right? But God knows when we obey Him, He makes us uncomfortable in the flesh, but He still demands obedience because He's a holy God. And so, when someone overemphasizes, Yes, God can give us prosperity, God can give us blessings, but God can also work through trials, not just prosperity. So when we have an overemphasis on one but not the other, that's where we will be misled. And so, that could be what's happening to the Galatians. They overemphasize the deeds of the flesh more than the grace of Christ. Now, because the Galatians have wavered from the gospel that Paul has preached to them. So what do you think is Paul's

purpose in this book. Paul's purpose in this book of Galatians is very simple. Paul in this book of Galatians he's not trying to introduce new ideas, new things, new spiritual truth to the Galatians. Paul in his letter he just simply wanted to remind the Galatians once again what is the pure gospel, what is the true gospel which they should know very well. And that's why Paul said and Paul stress here that there is no other gospel. In fact, this term, I mean, in fact, there's no such thing as a different gospel or another gospel. If it is anything different, then it is no longer the gospel. So there is only one true gospel, and we cannot add to or subtract from the gospel. Even if you think, Oh yeah, I'm just slightly twist it, no twist it a little bit, even a minor twist, it is a major danger. So Paul will not allow that because if you just alter, if we just alter the gospel a little bit, it will affect our Eternal, our Eternal

Faith, you know, if we just, if we just think our salvation is based on works and not on Christ, you just change a little bit, everything changes. And so throughout the Book of Galatians, we will see that Paul aims at debunking this wrong gospel. And so we too, as we responded to the message in the book of Galatians, what God wants us to do is also to guard the purity of the Gospel so that we don't allow that to be adulterated. Now, when we say we got the gospel doctrine, of course, that refers to the doctrine, to the teachings. We must guard it, we must share the right contents of the Gospel. But not just guarding the pure Doctrine, we must also look at our practice, our practice. How we live must be aligned with the gospel we believe. That's how we got the gospel right, because if we live in a way that's not fitting with the gospel, people be confused and you say salvation is by Grace and Faith In Christ Alone, why are you acting this way? For example, the

Galatian believers, if they claim that they believe that salvation is by faith in Christ alone, and then the Gentiles go and do circumcision, what does it what's the message that they are sending sending now? I always say circumcision seems like a harmless thing. I mean, what's wrong with circumcision? Is something harmless what? But then when the Galatians, if they are, if they are not Jews and they are just Gentile, and they go and practice circumcision, they are indirectly telling people, Christ Is Never Enough. Christ is never you need to you need to add on to Christ's work. And so today, we may not be struggling with circumcision. I don't think any one of you have been circumcised, right? Or thinking of circumcision, or have the pressure to be circumcised. No, I don't think so, right? So we don't have the issue of, or the struggle is circumcision, but we need to think if we claim that we are guarding the pure gospel in the way that we are.

living our life now. Are we practicing or doing anything that is contrary to the gospel Truth? For example, if we say we believe that we should be god-Centric, everything we depend on God for everything, but then in the way we live, we are self-centric, we are human-Centric, then we are not protecting this gospel truth. So, we need to understand when we want to protect and guard the gospel, it's through the teaching and the practice. Pursuing a different gospel is not just a problem during Paul's time, during the Galatians' time, but it's also very much a problem of our time. So, we need to recognize we are in a similar danger as the Galatians, and the worst thing is a lot of people are in this danger, but they don't even realize they are in it, and they didn't even realize the devastating consequences. So, I pray that God help us to guard ourselves. And how do we know that we are really holding on to the pure gospel? Don't worry, I know it's

4:30. I will start a new question and start a new answer again. So, how do you know you are holding on to the pure gospel? That is what we're going to discuss for the rest of the Galatian series. So please pray for this Galatian series messages moving forward. After CJ finishes his seven churches message, he and I, when we are preaching, we will both share on the book of Galatians. And so you have this continuity. So pray for the whole series that we will have the heart, the interest to know the gospel well, and know the gospel well. Not just for our own personal edification, but pray that we have the interest to know the gospel well so that we can also defend the gospel well, just like how Paul did. So may God help us in understanding his truth, his grace, and his gospel. Let's go to God in prayer. Dear Lord Jesus, we want to thank you for your important message from the book of Galatians. Lord, even though it may

seem to us that we know the gospel. We know what is justification by faith in Christ alone, but God, there's a lot of, uh, subtle things that may try to, um, deviate us from the right understanding of you. So, God, even though we are living in a time and culture that is different from the New Testament Galatian Church, but God, we pray that we are also wary of similar traps that could, uh, make us go astray from you. So, God, we pray for the right heart to study your word as we continue this series on Galatians. We pray that you will, uh, draw us closer to you, give us clearer understanding of the gospel, and not just knowing it but being able to explain it to people around us. So, God, we thank you, and we pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

No Other Gospel (Galatians 1:1-9)

No Other Gospel (Galatians 1:1-9)