The Unchanging Gospel

Appreciate Justin for leading our songs this morning and we’re glad that you’re here with us today on our first Sunday of the month and first Sunday of the month this year, we’re going to be talking about the authentic, authentic Christianity and the authentic gospel. And that’s what we’ll be doing this morning and thinking about the unchanging gospel from Galatians chapter 1 and verses 6 through 10. Let’s just remind ourselves of this topic again.

Why do we want to talk about authentic Christianity? And the reason is, is because there’s so much today in this world that is broken, and there’s so many religious bodies that are broken, and there’s so many people that are broken religiously. Well, how do we restore what is broken?

Well, we’ve got to get back to the authentic first principles of things. When it comes to broken-down buildings and broken-down houses, what do you do? You go back to the plan. You go back to those blueprints. You go back to the architect’s notes and try to figure out, well, how can we bring this building back to its original structure, its original of the intended being?

Well, when it comes to people, when it comes to the church, what do we need to do? We need to go back to the Bible and let the Bible satisfy us. And I love that song that Justin just led and I appreciate the lyrics of that song. You alone are the things that we’re looking for. God alone. The Lord alone. We don’t need anything else. Just God and just His Word and just what He has revealed to us.

And so we need to let that satisfy us when it comes to being authentic. Now there’s such a push today in this world about being authentic one way or another. And a lot of times what people mean by being authentic is just simply going with my feelings and being authentic to myself. But that’s not what we want.

The Bible teaches that God created man and that God knows what is best for man. And that in order for us to be authentic human beings, we’ve got to do what God wants us to do. Go back to the beginning when God created Adam and Eve in His image. And today, God presents His image to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

And by following Jesus Christ within our lives, we can be authentic human beings. We can be authentic Christians. And so that’s what we want to do. We want to go with what God originally set forward. Now the world is broken. Mankind is broken.

So many things are dilapidated, morally speaking and spiritually speaking, in this world around us. And so we can’t go with what people feel or what people think because there’s so much brokenness out there. We’ve got to go back to the Bible and hear what God has to say about these things.

And in that vein, in that spirit, Paul wrote the book of Galatians to let us know about authentic Christianity. And here in Galatians chapter 1 and verses 6 through 10, we read these words, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another.

Verse 5, verse 5. Now remember, the book of Galatians was written regarding the churches of Galatia who were being troubled. They were being troubled by some who wanted to pervert the gospel of Christ. They were Pharisees, Acts chapter 15 and verse 5 tells us, who were teaching that it was necessary to circumcise Gentiles and to command them to keep the law of Moses. But of course, that was not part of the message of the gospel.

And so Paul writes to let them know that the gospel must not be changed. It must not be changed by adding to it the provisions and the commandments of the Old Testament, nor must it be changed by taking away from it anything that is necessary within it.

And I would say probably today we have more of the latter problem than the former problem. But the point that Paul is making is this, we must not change the gospel. The gospel is unchanging. And so as we’re thinking about authentic Christianity, authentic Christianity is based upon the unchanging gospel.

So let’s think about the unchanging gospel this morning, and specifically about some who want to change the gospel. Secondly, why the gospel must not change and must not be changed. And then finally, what pleases God versus what pleases men.

Well, first of all, some want to change the gospel, unfortunately. And we live in a world today where people want to change the gospel in many, many different ways. The Apostle Paul, writing to the churches of Galatia, said, There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. They wanted to change it.

They wanted to pervert it, to make it in their image instead of the image of Jesus Christ. Well, who wants to change the gospel? Well, first of all, the devil wants to change the gospel. In John 8 and verse 44, Jesus said to some of the Jews who were listening to His teaching and who were rejecting Him, He said this, “‘You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in Him.

When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. The devil wants to change the gospel because he is a liar and he speaks from his own resources. That is, he doesn’t speak from God, he doesn’t speak from Jesus Christ, he speaks out of his own inventions.

And so many people today follow this course. Well, they don’t like what’s in the Bible and so they’ll just change it. And they speak lies. They speak out of their own resources, out of their own desires, as opposed to out of the desires of God and out of the desires of Jesus Christ.

Who wants to change the gospel? The devil wants to change the gospel. Who wants to change the gospel? Proud people want to change the gospel. So many have a pride problem. And with a pride problem, they are not content with simply letting the gospel speak, hearing what the gospel says, and following that teaching.

Paul had to deal with such men in his time. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, in verses 3 through 5, he says this, If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, He is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men, of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such, withdraw yourself.

And so prideful people want to change the gospel. Proud people will change the gospel into what they want it to be, not into what God wants it to be. And they do that to satisfy their own arrogance and their own desires.

Who wants to change the gospel? Unbelieving people want to change the gospel. In Romans 3 and verses 3 through 4, the Apostle Paul said this, For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not.

Indeed, let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and may be overcome when you are judged, or may overcome when you are judged. Unbelieving people want to change the gospel. But remember what Paul said, let God be true, but every man a liar.

Unbelieving people are not going to change God. They’re not going to change the gospel. It will remain what it is. It will remain what God wanted it to be. And it must not change. And so disbelieving people sometimes want to change the gospel. But attempts to change the gospel one way or another are simply attempts to establish one’s own righteousness away from the righteousness of Christ.

And that’s what Jesus Christ tells us. Think about Matthew chapter 5 and verse 20. Jesus said, “…For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Well, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was the righteousness of their own devising. It was a righteousness that they invented, just like so many people in the religious world today invent things to add to the gospel of Christ.

When that happens, they’re not elevating Christ, they’re only elevating themselves as the scribes and Pharisees did. Paul wrote in Romans 10, verse 3, Verse 3, “…for they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” And there’s the problem right there. Men want to establish their own righteousness. They want to say, I’m right, as opposed to saying, God is right.

And because they want to say, I’m right, they will go to all kinds of lengths in order to justify that, in order to prove that. And ultimately, they will not have submitted to the righteousness of God. Paul wrote in Romans 1, 16 and 17, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

For in it, that is in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith unto faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And that’s the difference between those who are seeking to follow God, to submit to God. They will live by faith. But the proud will try to justify himself.

The righteousness of God today is contained within the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that’s where we need to understand and get our righteousness from, not from man’s inventions, not by changing the gospel. But nevertheless, some want to change the gospel.

But when we read Paul’s words here in Galatians chapter 1, we understand this. The gospel must not be changed. It must not be changed for you. It must not be changed for me. It must not be changed for any man, regardless of who that person is, how much power they have, what position of authority they wield, How close of a friend they are to us, the gospel must not be changed. And there is a serious, serious condemnation placed upon those who would change the gospel.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

What a serious and stern warning the Apostle Paul gives to those who might change the gospel in any way. Even an angel from heaven is not to be believed if that angel from heaven is allegedly seeking to preach another gospel.

And so, the gospel must not be changed. Let’s think about that for a minute. Why is that? Well, first of all, because changing the gospel undermines the goals of the gospel. Jesus said, the seed is the Word of God, Luke chapter 8 and verse 11. And what happens if you change the seed? You get something different. For example, on the one hand, you may have wheat seed. On the other hand, you may have some other kind of seed, corn perhaps, or maize, or oats, or something.

Well, what happens if you change the seed? You get a different plant. What does God want out of His Word? Exactly what He put into it. And that means that if we change the Word, we’re going to get something out of it that God didn’t put into it.

Changing the Gospel means undermining the goals of the Gospel. And what does it undermine? First of all, it undermines salvation, because it is by the Word of God that we get salvation, James chapter 1 and verse 21. If we change the gospel, that undermines what it means to be born again. In 1 Peter 1, in verse 23, Peter wrote, Having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever.

If we change the Word of God, we undermine the new birth. What about 1 Peter 2 and verse 2? As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. If we change the gospel, we undermine Christian growth and maturity. And so the gospel must not be changed because it undermines so many things that affect what it means to be a Christian, that affect what it means to have authentic Christianity.

Jesus Christ does not change, but is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And because He’s the same yesterday, today, forever, this admonition is given. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. Hebrews 3, verses 8 and 9.

Jesus said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. Matthew 24, verse 35. Now there’s one of the greatest prophecies that was ever uttered. And we see it fulfilled even today because guess what? We still have the words of Jesus Christ with us right here.

His words will by no means pass away. And why is that? Because we need His words to be authentic Christians. The gospel must not be changed. In Acts 17, verses 30 and 31, the Bible says, Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained.

He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. The gospel must not be changed because we’re going to be judged by it one day. We need to stand up for the gospel. We need to stand up for Jesus Christ.

We need to stand up for what is right. We must not please men, but we must please God. And that’s Paul’s final point here in Galatians 1. He says, “…for do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”

Now think about what he says here. He says, do we persuade men to change or do we persuade God to change? What are we doing when we take the gospel to others and we preach that message of repentance? We are persuading men to change, to order their lives after the gospel, to repent Do we go out with the Gospel and say to men, what have you done? Oh, I’ve done this and this and this. Well, it’s okay. I’ll change God so that you can keep doing those things. No, absolutely not. We persuade men, not God.

Do I seek to please men? For if I still please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. As Christians, we want to be pleasing to God, not to man. First of all, because you simply can’t please men. They are fickle. One day they want one thing, the next day they want something entirely different.

There’s no idea to know what will please one person or another. And even if you think you have pleased them, they may decide that, well, you just haven’t and change their mind. People are fickle. They’re like the waves of the sea driven and tossed by the wind, James tells us in James 1, verse 6.

They judge based on appearances, Jesus said in John 7, verse 24. They’re self-righteous. They trust in themselves and despise others, Luke 18, verse 9 says. But can we please God? Can we please God? Yes. The Bible says we can please God.

Now look at 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 4. Paul writes, “…but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.” If we will not change the gospel, and we must not, then we’ll go out and preach that gospel.

It may not please men, but it’s going to please God. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 1. Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God.

When we listen to the Word of God, and we abound in the Word of God, and we walk in the Word of God, we can please God. Think about Colossians 1 and verse 10, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Paul wouldn’t write this as some kind of insult to the intelligence of the people, saying something like, well, you can be fully pleasing to God, but not really. There’s so many in the religious world today who say, well, you can’t please God. There’s no way you can do that. Well, that’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says you can be pleasing to Him, and Paul even said you can walk in a way in such a way that you are fully pleasing to Him. Now, either that was possible or it was impossible. Which one is it? If it was impossible, why would God expect the impossible of us? You can walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.

In 1 John 3, verse 22, we find out how. John writes, “…and whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” Well, that makes it very easy, you see. God has certain commandments He wants us to follow. And when we follow those commandments, we will be pleasing to Him.

Changing the gospel seeks to please men, but it does not please God. Let’s uphold the unchanging gospel, recognizing that while some want to change the gospel, we must not, understanding that we must not and must never change the gospel, and that finally, in proclaiming In the unchanging gospel, we seek to please God and not men. And in this way, we can have authentic Christianity. You see, that’s what Paul starts with here in the book of Galatians. The unchanging gospel. Some were seeking to pervert it. Some were seeking to change it. But the gospel does not change regardless of what men do.

What about you this morning? What is your relationship with the unchanging gospel? Are you in need of one who needs to repent under the message of the unchanging gospel? Or are you one who’s trying to change the gospel to accommodate you?

We would urge you this morning that before it’s too late to submit yourself to Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, to obey that unchanging gospel and so change your life because the scriptures say, let God be true and every man a liar. Would you be found a liar before the throne of God? I hope not.

And there’s one way to do that. By keeping His commandments and pleasing Him. Why not submit to His holy will this morning to hear His word and believe it? Repent of your sins. Confess Jesus is Lord and be baptized for the forgiveness of sin. Oh, there’s many who had changed the gospel in that area of life. But we must not change the gospel.

Why not become an authentic Christian this morning? While together we stand and while we sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!