Hello and welcome to our program. We continue in Galatians chapter 1. We're looking at the subject of influence. Those people there, Galatia, had been influenced to go astray. We're going to look at that. Stay tuned. We saw in our previous broadcast that Paul was writing to these people at Galatia, and he said, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. He's saying you so soon have been influenced to go astray. He said, there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. And then he went on to say, though we or an angel or anyone take and influence you away from the simple plan of salvation. He said, let him be accursed. That's pretty strong language. What does he mean by that? We're going to have a look at that in a minute. But make this your prayer before we get into this because it's a very important subject. Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me. Open my eyes that I may see Glimpses of truth thou hast for me Place in my hands the wonderful key That shall unclasp and set me free Silently now I wait for Thee, Ready, my God, Thy will to see. Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine. you you You. you Open my mouth and let me bear Gladly the warm truth everywhere Open my heart and let me prepare Love with thy children thus to share Silently now I wait for Thee, Ready, my God, Thy will to see. Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine. Well, the subject at hand here in this portion of Scripture is a very important issue because it has to do with God's plan of salvation. Now, concerning the plan of salvation, it is very, very clear. As we said in our last program, the Word of God is preached. The Holy Spirit convicts. We will either repent or reject the Lord at that point. We'll either repent of our sins or we'll reject the whole thing. If we repent, the Bible says there's a change, old things pass away and all things become new. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. That's what Jesus said. Concerning the very clear teaching of the Word of God concerning the subject of salvation, The Bible says if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Now some things are not clear. For instance, We can talk about standards. We can talk about dress standards, and they are very important. We can talk about music standards, and they are very important. However, the Bible is not really clear on where the standard for dress is. Some would say that concerning haircuts, some would say, now the Bible does say, if it does not nature itself teach you, If a man has long hair, it's a shame unto him. That's pretty simple. But when it comes to dress, for instance, should a woman wear pants? I don't think so. I don't think that God wants women to wear pants. He should not wear that which pertains unto a man. That's pretty simple, too. However, the standards When it comes to dress, the standards, when it comes to music, where is the line there? The Bible says concerning days, for instance, in Romans chapter 14, verse number 5, it says, one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. so he said now you've got to decide for yourself whether you're going to be uh for instance is it really really seriously wrong to go into a variety store and buy some milk on a sunday if you need some milk uh you know some would say yeah that's really bad some would say no i don't think there's anything wrong with that well the bible says let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind Now, if you take the dress standards and the music standards, we need to be fully persuaded in our own mind where the line is. But the Bible also says in 1 Corinthians 8 and 9, take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block. It may not necessarily be wrong, but it might be a stumbling block, and that would be wrong if we do something that would offend another brother. One thing we need to keep in mind is Romans chapter 14 and verse number 12 says, so then every one of us will give an account of himself to God. So be persuaded in your own mind, but understand this, every one of us, Romans 14, 12, every one of us shall give an account of himself to God. So make sure your standards of music, make sure your standards of dress and whatever else, make sure that you're in line with God. But here we're talking about the subject of salvation, and it is very clear. I want to read these verses again. It says here in Galatians 1 and verse number 6 and 7, Paul said, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. Now that's very interesting, another which is not another. There are two different words here in the Greek. He said, God has called you unto another that's one of a different kind, but he said what they're teaching here is not another, it's not one of the same kind. They're talking about some other plan of salvation which is not of the same kind. But there be some that trouble you, they would influence you, they would pervert the gospel of Christ now he said very plainly let me read it but though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." In case we didn't get it, he said it again. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received let him be accursed now what does it mean to be accursed let him go to hell no that is not what this is saying the word is anathema and it was used in the old testament in the temple era as a situation where someone who was going against the laws of god he was going to be turned over to god for judgment they would put this sign up about him and they would hang it on the walls or the columns of the temple saying that this person has been put out of the temple because of what he is doing and how he is living and he is going against the laws of God. It was an Old Testament type of New Testament church discipline. Church discipline is something that's gone by the wayside and needs to come back, because if we don't have church discipline, we're going to have apostasy, and it's one of the reasons why we have so much apostasy today. When someone is disciplined out of the church, he's put outside the protection of the local church, and he has no protection out there from Satan's darts. We have an example of that in 1 Timothy 1, verse number 18. Paul said, this charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, that was the pastor of the church at Ephesus, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou mightest war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck. what did Paul do with those that turned away from the word and made shipwreck and went against the laws of the of the word of God he said of whom was hymenaeus and alexander well he named them whom i have delivered unto satan that they may learn not to blaspheme that is they have been put out of the church they they are out there they have no protection of the local church they are going to be learning not to blaspheme as they're put out in what is called church discipline. And so, there's a reason to be put out, and the reason is very plain here. There's other reasons than this, but this one is very plain. That which would come up with another gospel, another plan of salvation. We have another gospel that's very prevalent today. We call it soul winning. I'm not really anxious about that subject, that title. I don't like that title at all. Soul winning. What is the soul? It is the mind, the will, and the emotions. That's very plain in the scriptures. The Bible says the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. It's nothing to do with our soul being one. It's something to do with our spirit listening to the Holy Spirit, which in turn will dictate to our soul. But today we have what I call an incentive salvation. Jack Hiles, some years ago, came out with his soul-winning course, which is something that should be burned and thrown away. And in number 18 in his course, he said, when you're talking to someone, ask them, if you died now, do you know that you would go to heaven? And they would usually say no. Then you would ask, now, if I can show you from the Bible how you can know for sure you can go to heaven, would you be willing to do what the Bible says to do in order to have that assurance? Well, most people are going to say yes. Then he said, well, let me ask you this. If I could take this Bible and explain to you how you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you could know right now, and you could see it, and you could understand it. Would you believe it? Would you do what the Bible says? And that sounds really interesting, doesn't it? They call that being born again. Now, the problem with this whole approach is we're offering an incentive in order to get saved. What is the incentive? The incentive is heaven heaven now if i was arguing with my wife and my wife was arguing with me and i went to her and said look if i give you ten thousand dollars would you admit you were wrong she probably would well you say to someone if you just pray this little prayer and admit to god that you're wrong uh and you can go to heaven if i give you heaven will you admit your sinner well sure because heaven's worth more than ten thousand dollars Now, we need to get it into our thick heads that being born again has nothing to do with going to heaven. No, now don't get excited. Listen until I finish what I'm going to say. Jesus said, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Heaven is a tremendous byproduct of trusting Christ as our personal Savior, but we have offended God and we need to repent. If there were no heaven, and there is, but if there were no heaven, we still need to repent. The Bible says, whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. It doesn't say repent so you can go to heaven. It says repent because that glorifies God. Well, I've been kicking around this old world for a while, and back in when I was born, back in the 40s, if the evangelicals were out there preaching, they were fundamental in 1945. But then the evangelicals, they decided to turn away from the truth. So from that, the fundamentalists decided, well, we can't be part of that. We have to turn from the evangelicals, but now the fundamentalists are turning away from the truth, and they're presenting another gospel. And this was presented, first of all, by Jack Isles, and he came up with this book that repentance, as it's been taught for the last 2,000 years, and as it's been taught by Jesus himself, the repentance is the enemy of soul winning. Now, that's just heresy. As a matter of fact, it's a damnable heresy. We got the idea that as we pray some little forgiveness prayer, we're going to go to heaven. Well, you know, we'll say that doesn't work for Catholics, but If you happen to call yourself a fundamental independent Baptist, it's going to work. No, it's not going to work. What the Bible says is, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. And so it's plain, and it is simple. What Hiles is talking about is another gospel. What Hudson, who was in charge of the Sword of the Lord at that time, when he came out with a pamphlet entitled Repentance by Dr. Curtis Hudson to support his buddy Jack Hiles in this damnable heresy. And by the way, by the way, that track is still available. I checked it yesterday. It's still available at The Sword of the Lord. You should be writing them and saying, get that trash out of there because the Bible says, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. This is another gospel. It's heresy. You know, it's so interesting that we'll say, well, if someone's going to preach against the virgin birth, we're going to separate from those people. And if someone's got that CCM music, we're going to separate from them, and we should. And if someone's preaching Calvinism, that's a heresy that Jesus sent some people into the world for no other reason. They go to hell. That's heresy. It's not a damnable heresy like dump and repentance is. And so, we look at these subjects, we look at, well, what about parachurch movements? Should we separate from them? That's an important subject, a separation issue. And yet, we come to the plan of salvation, the plan of salvation, and we say, oh, well, let's not worry about that. Let's just get along with all our fundamental buddies. Well, we better wake up before it's too late. If there ever has been a time when we need to pray, teach me thy will, O Lord, teach me thy way, it's today. Teach me thy will, O Lord, teach me thy way. Teach me to know thy word, Teach me to pray What there seems best to thee That be my earnest plea So that Thou drawest me Closer each day Teach me thy wondrous grace, boundless and free. Lord, let thy blessed face shine upon me. Heal thou sins every sort, Dwell Thou within my heart, Grant that I never part, Savior, from Thee. Teach me by pain thy power, teach me by love. Teach me to know each hour thou art above. Teach me as seemest best, In thee to find sweet rest, Leaning upon thy breast, All doubts remove. Teach Thou my lips to sing, my heart to praise. Be Thou my Lord and King through all my days. Teach thou my soul to cry, Be thou dear Savior nigh, Teach me to live, to die, Saved by thy grace.