When the Babylonian captivity came to an end, the Jews who had been held captive in Babylon for about 70 years were finally free to go home. Ezra and Nehemiah were two of the men who led some of the first groups of people who decided to go back to begin to repair the city and the walls of Jerusalem that had been long destroyed. The book of Nehemiah gives details about the rebuilding of the city walls, which was needed because if it was going to be an inhabited city again, they would need to be able to protect themselves from future enemy attacks. Work began. Progress was being made until some semi-locals who had gotten used to the Jews not being around heard about what was happening over there in Jerusalem. And they decided to try to stop it. Now, the first way that they did that was by ridiculing the people and their work, saying that they were wasting their time, their work was shabby, and the whole thing would probably fall down if just a little fox jumped on it. Well, that discouraged the people, and work slowed down for a while. Nehemiah was able to encourage them, some prayer and some encouragement from God, and work went on. The opposing neighbors decided they'd try something else. If that didn't work to stop them, they were going to attack Jerusalem and stop what they were doing before they could make the city defendable, before they could have a wall for defense. Well, somehow their plan became known to Nehemiah. So with some prayer, some wise planning, they became prepared for whatever might come and they continued the work. Now Nehemiah's plan was for half the people to stand guard while the other half carried on the work. The ones who did the work carried their loads and held their tools with one hand and held a weapon in the other hand so that they were prepared to build and they were prepared for battle. The plan worked. The construction, reconstruction of the wall went on until it was completed. Well, back in the mid 1800s, Charles Spurgeon popularized the idea of the sword and the trowel being the equipment of the Christian. In one hand, we wield the trowel, which symbolizes the work that we've been given to do during our time on this earth, to spread the gospel, to make disciples, to build up the church. In the other hand, we wield the sword, which symbolizes being prepared for the battles of spiritual warfare and to guard and to protect what is being built. As Spurgeon introduced a magazine that would be produced and distributed by his ministry called Sword and Trowel, He said this of their hopes and desires for that publication. He said, our chief aim will be to arouse believers to action and to suggest to them plans by which the kingdom of Jesus may be extended. To widen the bounds of Zion and gather together the outcasts of Israel is our heart's desire. We would sound the trumpet and lead our comrades to the fight. We would ply the trowel with untiring hand for the building up of Jerusalem's dilapidated walls and wield the sword with vigor and valor against the enemies of the truth. I think that's a pretty good illustration of God's expectations and commands for his church. We are his laborers and we are his soldiers. And we have been given the equipment that is needed for both. Now, as that relates to the scriptures we're looking at this morning in Galatians, how do we know when it's time for the sword? And how is it to be used? Now, there are times when some Christians can be quick with the sword. You could say have an itchy sword finger if we mix our metaphors. And for what reason? Well, often it's someone has disagreed with me and my opinions. Or someone has different preferences than I have. Prepare to die. There are other times It may be some of the same Christians or other Christians who lean on the handle of their sword as if it were a government-issued shovel in the hands of a government employee with a very important government job to watch someone else do. Their sword remains at rest while the real enemy causes real damage sometimes without much opposition. So this morning in Galatians chapter one, verses six through nine, we are going to be training our sword wielding skills. When is it to be used? How is it to be used? Over the past two Sundays, we began in Galatians. We've looked at the return address of this letter in verse one, Paul, an apostle, not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. We've looked at the mailing address of this letter in verse two, to the churches of Galatia. We looked at the greeting last Sunday, verses three through five, which included Paul's desire for these churches to have grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw there in that greeting a reminder of the gospel that had been preached there in those cities of Galatia, this gospel that would bring grace and peace. And there is nothing else, there is no other way for them to have grace and peace that they needed, but through this gospel that Paul preached as he went to those cities and planted churches in those cities of Galatia. Now, as I mentioned last week, what would normally come next after the greeting, as is the case in almost all of Paul's other letters, is a statement of thanksgiving. There's something about the church, about the individuals who are being written to, that caused Paul to thank God every time they crossed his mind. But not here. Not in this letter. to the churches of Galatia. There's not thanksgiving, but amazement. Verse six, Paul says, I am amazed that you, stop there for just a little bit. I am amazed that you, now think about who's saying that. When you think about the Apostle Paul, you think about the places he's been, the things he's done, the things he has seen. Now, granted, this was pretty early in his ministry as an apostle, so he's going to be seeing a lot more as time goes on, but still, just considering his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, the amazing change that God worked in him from a devout Pharisee who was foaming at the mouth in rage against the church to now, an apostle, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, a missionary taking the gospel where it had never been before and planting churches. Now that's amazing. Paul had already done some pretty amazing things. It seems like it would take a lot to amaze Paul. He says this does. I am amazed that you are so quickly Deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel It amazed him Now what was happening there And apparently all the churches in Galatia He doesn't differentiate. He's not saying this is happening in this one, but not this one. It's all the churches in Galatia with at least a good portion of those who had professed faith in Christ and What had happened there had happened pretty quickly. That amazed Paul. Now I don't think we know exactly how long it took, but it hadn't been long since Paul had been there in those cities, preached the gospel that they had enthusiastically responded to, professed faith in Christ for the forgiveness of the sins that they had committed, rescue from this present evil age. That all just happened not very long ago. The only number I came across was somebody said three years. I don't know where they got that number. I kind of don't think it was even that long. It happened quickly. We also don't know how long Paul had been with them in each of those cities when he planted all those churches. But it was long enough. They had been established in the faith, and Paul knew that they knew enough to know better. This shouldn't have happened. Yet, it didn't take long for them to begin to desert the gospel. desert the God who brought that gospel to them. Notice Paul says they are deserting him. That's in the present tense, which means it was still in the process of happening, which means it hadn't reached its conclusion yet, which means there was still some hope. They were in the process of deserting God and the gospel that God brought to them. Now it seems that Paul was confident that this letter would be effective to get them back on the right track. Partly because it seems Paul was confident that they had actually been saved through the gospel that he preached. Now if some of them did become apostates, meaning that they would completely turn their backs on God, fully reject the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's when 1 John 2, verse 19 would come into view, which says, they went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out. So it would be shown that they're not all of us. If someone apostatizes, completely turn their backs on Christ, according to 1 John 2.19 and other scripture, would show us they never really were saved. These professing believers in Galatia weren't there yet, but Paul was very concerned. And think about the gospel of grace. the grace that God had shown these people in these cities in Galatia. These individuals had been living as pagans. Largely, there were a few Jews mixed in there, but even those Jews who had become part of these churches had most likely been trusting in their ability to keep the law in order for them to be okay with God, because that's the way the thinking generally was in the first century among Jews. But most of them who were receiving this letter from Paul had been living deep in this present evil age, doing whatever their flesh and the devil wanted them to do. They were lost. They were without hope, separated from God. But God separated out Paul and Barnabas and sent them, we saw that in Acts, The Holy Spirit called Paul and Barnabas to go out as missionaries. God sent them to those cities in Galatia, where the gospel had never been heard before. There were a lot of other places in the world where the gospel had also never been heard. But God sent Paul and Barnabas there, to those cities in Galatia, to preach the gospel that is the power of God for salvation, according to Romans 1.16. the only hope that there is, the only way to have a relationship with God, through that gospel, to call them to Himself by the grace of Christ. It was amazing grace that God had shown to them. So much grace, so much unmerited favor that God had shown to those people in those cities in Galatia. But now, they are making the decision And that's something that Paul is emphasizing here. They are making the decision. There were others involved that we're going to get to, but this deserting is on them. Paul isn't treating them as victims. This is on them. They didn't have to do this. They're deserting all of that grace for a different gospel. where most translations have the word different in verse six. If you're reading a King James, you see it has the word another, another gospel. Now the Greek word that is there can be translated as another. On verse seven, you see another, another. It's two different Greek words. The one in verse six means another of a completely different kind. So it's kind of like the comparison between apples and oranges. They both might be kind of roundish, but they're completely different fruit. They're not the same. And that's why he says in verse seven then, which is really not another. It's a different gospel. It's really not another gospel. Here in verse seven, the Greek word that's translated another is another of the same kind. So like for instance, if you eat an apple and you ask for another apple, you expect to get another apple, not an orange. It's another of the same kind. And what Paul means is that what they are turning to is really not another gospel. It really was not good news because it could not save. It's completely different. It's not another of the same kind. It's another completely different message. Now, they may have thought when they heard this other message, well, it's just a variation of what Paul taught. Maybe it really doesn't make that much difference. It's really close. This new message, it seems a little fuller. There's a little more meat on it and it gives us a little more to hold on to. I kind of like that. That doesn't seem so bad. It's not taken away, it's just given a little more. Paul says, no, this is not to some other kind of similar gospel. This is completely different. You look at the rest of verse seven. He says, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Now who's doing that? He says there are some. Who are these some? That was the Judaizers. We've been talking about them last couple of weeks. We read a little about them in Acts chapter 15 a couple weeks ago. These were Jews who had been with the believers at the church in Jerusalem. Acts 15, 24 tells us that. They went out from us. They were here. These individuals took it upon themselves to go out and tried to correct the message that had been preached by Paul to the Gentiles. Now they claimed that they were followers of Christ too. They may have claimed that they had been sent by the real apostles in Jerusalem. probably saying things like, we came here from Jerusalem. We were a part of the church in Jerusalem. We were there with the real apostles who had served alongside of Jesus. We know them. Paul, he wasn't there. He's not a real apostle. You should listen to us rather than Paul. So it was their intent as they went out wherever Paul had been to add to What these people had heard from Paul, thinking they were correcting what Paul had left out. And what that was, what they added, was that you must be circumcised, and you must keep at least some of the ceremonial observances of the law. There's at least parts of the law you must keep to be saved. Now, they really could have made that sound like it's really not that much of a change. There are people who go around preaching their gospel who would try to make Christians, believers, think, well, what we're telling is really not that different. It's very similar. We believe almost the same things. There's just this little other thing, this added thing that you should believe, too. Paul just left out a little bit They could have made this sound really convincing. You do know Jesus was circumcised, right? You're not going to say that that was a bad thing, are you? Jesus was. Jesus observed the feast days of the law. I've heard people try to put that on Christians. How can you claim to be a Christian and not do what Jesus did? He celebrated the Passover, so you better celebrate the Passover too. That sounds really Christian-y, doesn't it? It almost sounds logical. It would be so easy to manipulate people. How can you disagree with what Jesus did? Well, Paul didn't believe that this was a little issue. He didn't believe this was a minor difference. This is a place where Paul held out his sword, and he says, this stops here. You look at verse eight. He says, but even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. Here in verse eight, he begins with the hypothetical. In verse nine, he's gonna move on to the real situation, but hypothetically, he takes it to the extreme. Just suppose, even if Barnabas and I came back and we said to you, okay, we're gonna make a little bit of an edit, just a little change from what we told you before. And he takes that even further then. even if it was an angel from heaven. Now just suppose, and bring that into our context, so all of a sudden, this room got really bright. It's already kind of bright. We don't have a fog machine, so we keep the lights on here. I hope that's okay with everybody. But suppose it got really bright, and just all of a sudden, instantly, There were dozens of angels on each side up here and on down the hallway, filling in all of the empty space. They're floating off of the floor. And they say to us, we have been sent with a message from God. And God has changed his mind. And now in addition to believing in Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection, he wants you to wear this little pin on your shirt everywhere you go, to identify you as one of his, so everybody can know who you are, so God knows who you are, for you to be saved, believe in Jesus, keep doing that, but wear this little pin. And that's it. That's not hard, is it? There's nothing difficult about that. What should our response be? Angels, okay, remember they're angels, floating off the floor, bright and shiny. Our response should be to assume they're demons. Hold out your sword and get out of here. Maybe set the building on fire, I'm not sure about that. I don't think this is actually going to happen, so I don't think we have to come up with a specific plan, but you don't mess with that. You don't go along with that. Paul says, if anything like that were to happen, even if it was an angel from heaven, they preach to you a gospel that's even just a little bit different than the one that Paul preached, he's to be accursed. What does that mean? Well, it means if someone preaches a different message than the one Paul preached, they're not to be cooperated with, They're not to be compromised with, no matter what other desirable attributes they may have, how much other stuff they may agree with us about. We are not to think of them as, well, they're pretty good otherwise. We're not to have fellowship with them. We're not to partner with them. We are to consider them as on their way to hell, and we have nothing in common. Not talking about angels now, but if it's a person, ideally we could preach the gospel to them and they would be converted and that would be great. That's what we would want. But other than that, they are false teachers and we are to wield our swords, warn the church, and keep their influence away. If Paul says this is an issue, it stops here and goes no further. We don't compromise with that. Well, how could Paul be so confident of the message that he preached that he could put his message up against an angel from heaven? Sounds a little arrogant, doesn't it? Sounds a little exclusive of Paul. How can he think his message is the right one? Well, you just go back to the first words of verse one, Paul an apostle. An apostle is someone who is sent with a message and given authority to deliver that message on behalf of the one who sent them. So who sent Paul and who gave him this message to deliver? We read the rest of verse 1. Not sent from men nor through the agency of man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Paul says Jesus Christ And God the Father gave him this message and sent him to preach it. And that is why Paul would draw his sword and was willing to fight to the death for that message. And that's how he knew that if anyone preached a different message, he was accursed. He was lost. He was without Christ and condemned to hell. if they did not repent. The message Paul preached was the message from God. Verse 9 takes us from the hypothetical to the actual. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. The if of verse 8 is an if that carries a lot of doubt. Like this probably isn't going to happen. But even if, Barnabas and I are an angel from heaven. The if of verse 9 is an if of certainty. More like since. Since this is happening. This was happening. There was a man or some men preaching to them a gospel contrary to what they had received. He says, as we have said before, so I say again now, apparently Paul had warned them about this when he was there. That this very thing could happen. You've heard this before. They should have been prepared. They should have had their swords in their hands. They should have been testing everything they heard against the Word of God, against the Lord's proven messenger, the Apostle Paul. Whatever did not line up with their swords drawn should have been deflected, defeated, defended against, battled out of the church. And the fact of the matter was, what Paul warned them could happen, did happen. Some people did come. They preached just a little variation of what Paul preached. But surely they loved Jesus. They talked about Jesus. They came telling us they believed in Jesus. They probably knew more about him than we did since they came from the apostles in Jerusalem. Who are we to judge someone else who loves Jesus? We hear that sometimes, don't we? Sometimes we will hear the gospel reduced to that. Just love Jesus and nothing else matters. Just love Jesus. This may sound harsh. The Bible doesn't agree with that. That's wrong. According to God's word and what we see here in Galatians and throughout scripture, we must draw our symbolic sword. I want to be clear about that. We're not talking about actually physical violence. We have supernatural weapons and arguments. It's the Word of God. We wield our sword and we ask, which Jesus? Which Jesus are you talking about? Which Jesus are you saying you love? The Jesus of the Bible is God the Son, eternal, perfect, born of a virgin. Not everybody believes in that Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible finished all the work that needed to be done to pay for the sins when He died on the cross. Not everybody believes in that Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Him, according to John 14.6. The Jesus of the Bible is the only name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved according to Acts chapter 4 verse 12. The message of the Bible is that salvation can only be had by grace alone through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Any other Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible, is not a Jesus who can save. Any other message, any message that adds any human work, human merit to the finished work of Christ is not a message of grace. It is a message of works. It is not a message from the Bible. And it will not save. And Paul was not willing to give any ground on that. His sword was drawn. And it was unwavering on this. If any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, meaning the gospel that he preached, he is to be accursed. Consider them on their way to hell. You don't follow them. You don't have anything in common with them. They're accursed. According to Paul, in places like Romans chapter 14, which is what I like to call the mind your own business chapter. There can be a lot of things that are matters of conscience that Christians can disagree on, but should not judge each other and should still have fellowship and just get along because we belong to and represent Jesus Christ. There are a lot of things. They're just not that important. Now I'm not talking about clear doctrines of scripture. I'm talking about things of preference, personal opinion, and convictions. These are the things over which many professing Christians will draw their swords and start hacking the body of Christ to pieces, and Satan loves that. How dare you disagree with my opinions? How dare you disagree or cross my preferences? How dare you not have the same convictions I have? It is so often the position of so many professing Christians. When there is a real threat to the purity of the gospel of grace, That's when swords should be drawn. And we give no ground. That is the hill to die on. Yet many professing Christians are afraid of being judgmental about that. Let's let it go. That's not that big of a deal. It's not that much of a difference. Satan loves that. Because it deceives. It leads astray. It damages the church. To align with the book of Galatians, which is God's word and our final authority, we need to turn those around. Draw the sword when the gospel is being compromised. Leave the sword in the sheath when someone has a different opinion about something that really doesn't matter. When it comes to the gospel, we're not dealing with horseshoes or hand grenades. Close doesn't count. There is only one gospel that saves. We've been given trowels to build up, strengthen the church, to proclaim the gospel, encourage believers in the truth. We've been given swords to defend the gospel and the work that has been done. We need to be sure that we're not confusing the two. Remember which hand is which. The trowel to build up, to encourage, to strengthen, the sword to defend the gospel and the work that is being done. These are the tools given to the Christian by our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's use them, use them appropriately, use them for His glory.