Would you take your Bibles once again, please, and open to the book of Galatians chapter one. Galatians chapter one. With the Lord's help, we'll be examining verses six through 10 this morning. We began our study of Galatians by surveying the history that led up to Paul writing this letter. And the concluding portion of that history was Paul's first missionary journey, where he traveled through the region of Galatia, preaching the gospel and establishing local churches. And at the end of that first missionary journey, Paul returned back to his sending church in Antioch and reported to the congregation there all that God had done with them and how God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And as you'll remember, it was a very short time after Paul had given this report to the church at Antioch that he received a report of his own. The Galatian churches had been infiltrated. Specifically, they had been infiltrated by a group of professing Jewish Christians who had come to them from Jerusalem. And that group was known as the Judaizers or the Circumcision Party. And they did not come to Galatia alone. They brought with them a false gospel, a gospel that demanded Gentile Christians conform to the Old Covenant ceremonial law in order to be saved. Now this report greatly alarmed Paul and triggered him to write this letter to the Galatian churches in which he defends both his apostolic calling and authority and the purity of the gospel that he preached amongst the Galatians. Now, last time I preached to you, we examined Paul's greeting in verses 1 through 5, and we noticed that the greeting in Galatians is unlike any of Paul's other letters. It's gracious, certainly, but it's notoriously short. It's the bare minimum that we would expect in a letter like this from an apostle. And Paul simply cannot afford to waste any time getting to the heart of the issue. He gets right to the point. And that point will be made in our verses today. Paul will introduce the problem, the crisis that has prompted this letter to the churches in Galatia. Let us go to the Lord in prayer, and then we will read our text. Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let us read Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 through 10. Hear the word of God. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Amen. Well, the title of this sermon is Gospel Treason. And the word treason means to betray, to rebel, to be disloyal. And that's exactly what is happening in the churches of Galatia. Paul is alarmed at the gospel treason amongst these churches that he has planted. And he rebukes both the Judaizers who are preaching a false gospel and also the Galatians who are receiving that false gospel. And he makes it clear that there are specific consequences, there are natural outcomes for anyone who would turn from the true gospel, for anyone who would commit gospel treason. And I want us to see from our text this morning these three outcomes of gospel treason to the end that we might commit ourselves more fully to the defense of the one true saving gospel of Jesus Christ. And these three outcomes of gospel treason will serve as our three headings. Firstly, where there is gospel treason, there is the deserting of God. Second, where there is gospel treason, there is the damning of traitors. And third and finally, where there is gospel treason, there is the disordering of allegiances. Once again, we have the deserting of God, the damning of traitors and the disordering of allegiances. Beginning first with the deserting of God. Look with me once again to verse six. Paul speaking to the Galatian churches says this, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Now, we've acknowledged this before, but it's worth mentioning again here. Note the lack of pleasantries that mark Paul's other letters. It's not found here in Galatians. Paul's traditional warm greeting of thanksgiving, prayer, and commendation is nowhere to be found in this letter. Instead, it's replaced with a sharp rebuke. Instead of the apostles' approval, the Galatians find him amazed. Instead of the apostles' praise, the Galatians find him perplexed. Instead of the apostles' commendation, the Galatians find him confounded. Paul is astonished. at the Galatians. And this is a present tense verb. It's as if Paul is writing this letter. As he's doing that, he is astonished. He is marveling. He is amazed. You get the picture that Paul's just shaking his head in bewilderment and disbelief with each stroke of his pen. And why is the apostle astonished? Why is he marveling? Why is he in a state of wonder at the Galatians? Well, certainly one of the reasons for Paul's astonishment is the alarming speed at which all of this is happening. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ. And the sense of this word quickly is promptly, with little or no delay, in haste, And although we don't know the exact time frame, many commentators suggest that after returning to Antioch from his first missionary journey, the missionary journey, by the way, that saw him plant these churches in Galatia, that Paul remained at Antioch for about a year until he was sent to the Jerusalem council. Now, if that is the case, it took less than 12 months for the Galatians to begin deserting him who had called them in the grace of Christ. It took less than a year for them to begin turning to a different gospel. No sooner did Paul issue the benediction to them and say, amen, did theological conflict regarding the truth of the gospel begin to brew. Now, Pastor Jerry says this often, and it is true, when the Holy Spirit is at work, unholy spirits are never far behind. And friends, the devil wastes no time in seeking to disrupt the adoption and propagation of the gospel. Peter, in his letter, warns us to be sober-minded, to be watchful. Why? because our adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Now Peter goes on and he says, resist him, be firm in your faith. We have to be firm in our faith. We have to know the gospel, we have to believe the gospel and we have to defend the gospel. Friends, do not be outwitted by Satan. Do not be ignorant of his designs. And one of his greatest designs, one of his most effective tactics is to use false teachers as instruments of his evil. And we must be aware of this. We must be able to identify false teachers and guard against the error that they would seek to mingle with the truth. Brothers and sisters, I would encourage you, know the non-negotiables of the faith. Set firm boundaries around those things. There are documents like our confession of faith and our doctrines and distinctives here at the church. They can help you with this. But whatever you do, identify the foundational pillars of Christian truth and do not give an inch on them. Consider Martin Luther's exhortation here. Quote, Paul teaches us that congregations which are won by great labor are easily and soon overthrown. Therefore, we ought to watch against the devil ranging everywhere, lest he come while we sleep and sow tares among the wheat. For though the shepherds be ever so watchful and diligent, yet is the Christian flock in danger of Satan. Therefore, let us watch diligently, first, every one of himself, secondly, all teachers, not only for themselves, but also for the whole church, that we may not enter into temptation." Brothers and sisters, we have to be watchful over our doctrine. We'll notice next what it is the Galatians are so quickly doing. Verse six again, I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him. Please understand, to commit gospel treason is to desert God. To abandon the one true gospel is to abandon the one true God. To abandon the gospel of grace is to abandon the God of grace. Theology is not theoretical. Theology has very practical consequences. God the Father had called the Galatians in the grace of Christ, the grace of Christ here being a reference to the work of Christ that's described in verse four. And we read of that here, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. God the Father had called the Galatians in the grace of Christ, and yet some of them were in the act of deserting him. And this word deserting means to turn away from. It carries the sense of giving up on an agreement or a relationship. And Paul writes this in the present tense. This means the Galatians are currently in the process of deserting God. They are in the process of turning away from God. Their apostasy was not yet complete, but it was looming. It was near. Now, if you wake up early enough one morning, you can go outside and you can watch the sunrise. But if you do that, you'll notice that the sky does not turn from black to gold in an instant. It doesn't happen instantaneously. There is a progression. The black lightens to blue, the blue morphs to various shades of red, and then as the sun emerges over the horizon, the red gives way to these bright golden rays. There is a progression. And this, in some measure, describes what is happening in Galatia. They had begun to turn from God, yet their turn was not fully complete. They had begun to backslide, but they had not yet fully apostatized. And friends, you need to recognize here that Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul has a theological category for apostasy, for the reality that there are professing Christians who leave the faith, proving to all that they were never in the faith to begin with. Now, Paul is not your typical evangelical. Notice what he's not saying to the Galatians. Paul is not saying this. I know you've received these Judaizers and you're imbibing their false gospel, but I'm not worried about that. I mean, after all, you walked the aisle when Barnabas and I were there with you. We signed the inside of your Bible and we noted that you had made a decision for Christ. You're good, once saved, always saved. That's not Paul's attitude here. He is gravely concerned. gravely concerned that those who have been enlightened by the preaching of his gospel, those who have tasted the heavenly gift, those who in some measure have shared in the Holy Spirit, he is concerned that they might be lost eternally. Looking forward to chapter five, Paul gives this warning to the Galatians. starting in verse two. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, if you fully turn to this false gospel of the Judaizers, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify to every man who accepts circumcision that he's obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ. You who be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace. This is a grave matter. The status of these Galatian Christians is not a joke to Paul. It's not a secondary issue to Paul. They are in a life and death situation as they are in the process of deserting him who called them in the grace of Christ. And what are they turning to? Look back to the end of verse six. I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Now, translators of the ESV have added the words here, and are turning. And they've added these words to more clearly express in English Paul's original intention. Now, when someone turns from God, they are necessarily turning to something else. Think about conversion. We talk about conversion as turning, what, away from your sin and to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this turn of phrase here, and our turning to a different gospel, it shows how inseparable God is from the gospel. There's not some middle ground. It's not like there's some theological Switzerland or gospel Switzerland where you can just kind of sit safely between the God of the universe and eternal damnation. That place doesn't exist. You are either a child of God or you are under the wrath of God. Any movement from God and from his gospel is a movement toward a different gospel and the logical outcome of that different gospel. Now the word different here means unlike in nature, quality, form, or degree. It's as if the Galatians are in the process of exchanging their precious gold for fool's gold. They had swapped out the genuine article for a cheap imitation. And at the end of this transaction is eternal damnation. Again, to desert the gospel is to desert the God of the gospel. It's to make yourself an enemy of God. Well, Paul doesn't even stop to pick up his pen here. He rebukes them for turning to a different gospel and then responds, not that there is another one, Friends, there is the one true saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the good news that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again for sinners who are justified freely by faith in Him. There is this gospel, and then there is every other man-made route to heaven. And it's been rightly said before, Christianity is the religion of divine accomplishment. Every other religion is a system of human achievement. And Jesus Christ said this in no uncertain terms, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Likewise, filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostle Peter declares this in Acts chapter four, there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved. The Apostle Paul will say this later in Galatians. We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified. So friends, who are you going to believe? Are you going to believe Paul? Are you going to believe Peter? Are you going to believe the Lord Jesus Christ? Or are you going to believe the countless false teachers who would try to convince you that you can and must work to earn salvation from God? False teachers who would seek to bring you once again into a yoke of slavery. Friends, there is no other gospel besides the true saving gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of God, the gospel preserved in the scriptures, the gospel that Paul preached, the gospel that all of the other apostles preached, the gospel that every true minister has preached since the days of the apostles, the gospel that says this, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Friends, there is no other gospel besides this. Jesus did what you and I could never do. He obeyed the law of God perfectly, the law that you and I have transgressed countless times. He voluntarily offered himself as a spotless sacrifice to God, taking upon himself the penalty for laws that he did not break. And after suffering and dying, he was buried. And on the third day, God raised him from the dead. He ascended to the right hand of God where he ever lives to make intercession for his people, his people. Who are his people? for sinners who come to him with empty hands to receive from him all of his fullness by faith alone. There is no other gospel besides this. Any other gospel is no gospel at all. And to receive any gospel besides this is to desert God. To abandon, again, to abandon the one gospel is to abandon the one God. As we've seen under this heading, this is the exact process that the Galatians are in. By receiving a false gospel, they're in the process of committing gospel treason and are therefore in the process of deserting God. As we move to our next heading, we see that where there is gospel treason, not only is God deserted, we see also that traitors are damned. Look with me to the second half of verse seven. But there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. Well, Paul now addresses the Judaizers for the first time in this letter, but he doesn't give them the honor of calling them out by name. But despite not naming these men directly, Paul is clear that they are troubling the Galatians with their desire to distort the gospel of Christ. And this word troubling, once again, is in the present tense. Paul is addressing an active situation in Galatia. And the sense of this word is to disturb in mind, or make uneasy, or cause to be worried or alarmed. And it's the same verb that we find in Acts chapter 15, where the Jerusalem council would address the work of these same Judaizers. saying that they had unsettled the minds of certain Gentile Christians. The Galatians were being thrown into confusion by the Judaizers. They were being shaken, they were being stirred up, they were being agitated. And notice also that Paul says in verse seven that the Judaizers wanted to distort the gospel of Christ. There are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. The Judaizers know what they are doing. It isn't a case of well-intentioned error. They mean well, but they're making a mistake. They want to distort the gospel of Christ. My friends, we are commanded to believe all things, to hope all things, but God does not command us to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that a false teacher, someone who is distorting the gospel of Christ, an enemy of God and of never dying souls, God does not command us to pretend that that person has good intentions. And we're certainly not to conclude that because they have good intentions, we should just leave them be and tolerate their distortion of the gospel. Think of the many false teachers in our day and the damage that they do to God's reputation, the damage they do to never dying souls, whether it be the prosperity preachers who distort the gospel with material wealth and physical wellbeing, or the social gospel preachers who distort the gospel with social and political activism, or the legalistic preachers, whether it be the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Christ, who distort the gospel with a system of meritorious works, or the hyper-grace preachers, the antinomians who have an appearance of godliness but deny its power, who distort the gospel with freedom to sin, Now we could go on and on and on. There's the cults, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Think of how many times false teachers from these different factions have been warned, have been rebuked, yet they continue to distort the gospel of Christ. Friends, can we just say that the reason they continue in error is because they want to? Can we say that? For one reason or another—personal gain, malice, envy, whatever—they want to distort the pure, saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Despite their outward appearance, inwardly they are ravenous wolves. And like their father, the devil, who disguises himself as an angel of light, those who want to distort the gospel work hard to look the part. They work hard to gain the trust of unsuspecting people. And once they have gained their trust, they begin to trouble them. They begin to unsettle their minds by distorting the gospel of Christ. So friends, when you are confronted with false teaching, be loving. but be loving in the way that Paul is loving here, giving no audience, no shelter to those who would seek to distort the gospel of Christ. Well, this word distort means to cause to change or to turn into something different, to assume new characteristics. That is a dangerous definition when we're talking about theology. Assume new characteristics, red flag. Other translations render this word pervert. There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. And so how were the Judaizers perverting the gospel? How were they distorting the gospel of Christ? Well, they were mingling the law with the gospel. They were mixing faith and works to create this Frankenstein system of salvation. They were adding works of the ceremonial law, in particular circumcision and the observance of holy days, things which Paul will later refer to as weak and worthless elementary principles of the world. They were adding these things to the finished work of Christ to set up a sub-biblical standard for salvation. And let me be crystal clear here, the Judaizers are not simply demanding that Christians live holy lives because God has saved them. We would give our hearty amen to that sort of exhortation if that is what they were saying. We would acknowledge that to reject God's 10 commandments, to reject his moral law as the rule of our lives, that in and of itself is a distortion of the gospel. But the Judaizers are not encouraging the Galatians to walk in obedience to God out of gratitude for the free salvation given to them in Christ. Rather, they're saying that to be saved by God, you first have to live a holy life in accordance with the law. They wanted to stand up once more the dividing wall of hostility that Christ himself had torn down once for all. They were essentially saying to the Gentile Christians in Galatia, if you really wanna be saved, you have to become a Jew first. You have to live like an old covenant Jew. Now this may not seem like a big deal to some, but to mix law and grace only serves to diminish grace. To mix law and works together with the finished work of Christ, it only serves to make Christ's work of no effect for you. Now, I'm sure you've heard of the concept of addition by subtraction, where we make something better because we take away the weakest component of something, and the whole becomes better because of that subtraction. Well, what the Judaizers were doing is the reverse of that. We could call it subtraction by addition. By adding works to grace, the power of the gospel to save was rendered impotent. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Adding any amount of works to the finished work of Christ will corrupt the gospel, just like a drop of poison will corrupt an otherwise pure and refreshing glass of water. Now, I would remind you here of the historical context of this letter. And Pastor Jerry touched on this several weeks ago. This letter was written during the transition period between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. And it's understandable that the Jews who had lived their whole lives according to the ceremonial law would be hesitant to give it up. Yet friends, there is a difference between first century Jewish Christians who under the Lordship of Christ choose to maintain certain Jewish cultural practices in their own lives. There is a world of difference between that, which is a legitimate exercise of Christian liberty, and forcing those same practices upon others as requirements for salvation. Now, of all people, Paul, the Hebrew of Hebrews, he understood what it was like to live in strict observance to the ceremonial law of God, and yet Paul, he's unyielding here. He doesn't care that it's the transition period. He will not allow the gospel to be compromised. Paul knows what is at stake here. He knows the glory of God, the eternal destinies of men and women hang in the balance in Galatia. And therefore he does not hold back here as he issues this apostolic anathema upon the heads of anyone who would distort the gospel of Christ. Look with me to verse eight. But even if we, or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. This is one of the most sobering statements in the entire New Testament. If anyone preaches a false gospel, they are to be accursed. They're to be damned. Let's unpack this a bit. Paul begins here with a bit of an extreme statement to prove his point. Even if we, Paul or any of his missionary assistants, even if we preach to you a false gospel, we ourselves are to be accursed. And this is the same Paul who had demonstrated his faithfulness over years. The same Paul whom Christ had called and appointed to be an apostle. The same Paul who would be used by God to author 13 of our New Testament books. This Paul says, Galatians, if I show up at your doorstep and bring with me a different gospel, do not receive me. Throw me out. May God's curse be upon me. And Paul is not exempting himself from this warning. It applies to every person who would assume a position of authority and teach others the word of God. And as extreme as this statement sounds, it is a principle that would uphold Paul's entire ministry. Consider what Paul would later say to the Corinthians, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Notice the condition. Only imitate me in as much as I imitate Christ. Don't follow me if I veer off the old paths. Only follow me in as much as I walk in lockstep with the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul himself is not exempt from this curse if he were to ever preach a false gospel. But it's not only Paul. It's not only other human beings who are to be accursed for preaching a false gospel. It's also the angels. Now, the Bible is replete with examples of God sending his angels to deliver messages to his people, and perhaps the most well-known angel is Gabriel. Remember, he brought the news of John the Baptist to Zechariah, brought the news of Christ to Mary. And Paul's saying here, even if Gabriel himself shows up at your doorstep with a different gospel, do not receive him, throw him out, may God's curse be upon him. It matters not to Paul who the messenger is. If the message is not pure, if it is not true, then the messenger is not from God. That's the litmus test. You judge a tree by its fruits. If anyone comes to the Galatians with a gospel that is contrary to, that is different from, that is other than the gospel preached to them by Paul, if anyone comes to them with a gospel besides the message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, then the preacher of that message is to be accursed. There are no exceptions to this. And friends, we have to remember God has not revoked this curse. It is active to the very day. And although we live in a day and age where God has afforded us many creature comforts, many material blessings, we must never allow these things to dull our spiritual senses. We can never forget that to deviate from the gospel of Christ is to be accursed. Now looking at this word, accursed, this is one of those translations that carries with it the definition of the underlying Greek word. You've probably heard the word anathema. That's the Greek word that underlies the translation here, accursed. Other translations would render this as cursed or under God's curse. What's interesting is the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it uses this same word when describing the spoils of war that Israel was to destroy. Remember, those spoils of war were to be devoted to destruction. So much in the same way, the purveyors of a false gospel are to be destroyed. They're to be handed over to God for destruction. William Hendrickson puts it this way. Here the storm is unleashed in all its fury. Paul's let him be anathema is not a mere wish, but an effective invocation. Paul is unmistakable. If anyone preaches a gospel contrary to the one true and saving gospel, let him be damned. Let him be sunk to the lowest hell. Friends, false teachers not only destroy their own souls, they destroy the souls of their followers. Now to be clear, the Galatians are not innocent in this. They are responsible for being deceived. And if they continue in this distorted, legalistic gospel of the Judaizers, Paul is direct. We read from it earlier, Christ will be of no benefit to them. They will have brought themselves under the obligation to keep the entire law. But although the Galatians are not innocent, the Judaizers carry a greater weight of responsibility for the theological crisis in Galatia. The Judaizers were the ones who distorted the gospel. They were the ones teaching that salvation was only obtained through a mixture of faith and works, and they must and they will bear the punishment for this sin. And this is why Paul's curse here in verse eight is directed at the ones who would preach, the ones who would bring or teach or promote a gospel contrary to the one true gospel. A point of application here. This will not apply to everyone in the room, but it will apply to some of us. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. There is a special responsibility that the teacher, the preacher, the Bible study leader, there is a greater responsibility that we bear before the Lord. And for those of you who desire to become teachers, this responsibility must be weighed. It must be factored into the equation as you consider before the Lord, your desire to pursue a teaching role. Well, moving on now, Paul is not content with a single warning, so he rewinds and he presses play once again. Verse nine, as we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Well, if we miss the seriousness of the warning in verse eight, let us not do so again here in verse nine. like other areas of scripture, where there is repetition, there is significance, there is extreme importance, and that is certainly the case here. Notice also that Paul expands the warning here in verse nine. He moved from saying, if we, again, Paul or any of his missionary partners or an angel from heaven should preach a false gospel, let us be accursed. Now he expands that out and he says, if anyone preaches a false gospel, it doesn't matter who, it matters not what their reputation is. It matters not what their social status is. It matters not what their personal relationship to you is. If anyone compromises the truth of the gospel, the truth that sinners are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, if anyone teaches anything contrary to that, let them be accursed, let them be devoted to destruction. And remember also that after they preached the gospel in Galatia on their first missionary journey, it's kind of like they came to a dead end and they turned around and they went back through the same cities. And as they were working their way back through those churches, Acts chapter 14 tells us that they stopped at each of those churches, the ones in Galatia, and they encouraged them to continue in the faith. They warned them. that through many tribulations they must enter the kingdom of God. So it is quite possible, even likely, that the churches in Galatia had already heard this warning from Paul. They had already heard that wolves would come into their ranks seeking to draw the disciples after themselves. They had been warned before that if anyone were to come to them preaching a gospel contrary to the one they received, that person was to be under the curse of God. And this can also account for some of Paul's astonishment at the beginning of the letter. We just talked about this. So friends, let us learn from this that we can never be too diligent in our defense and our protection and our safeguarding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so we've seen that where there is gospel treason, not only is God deserted, but the traitors are damned. Moving now to our final heading, we see that where there is gospel treason, allegiances are disordered. Well, after issuing a curse on anyone who would preach a false gospel, Paul anticipates the reaction that some of his hearers might have to this. Paul, why do you gotta be so hard on these guys? You know they're not that bad, they mean well. Why can't you just be nicer, Paul? Why do you have to be so harsh? Well, Paul gets to the heart of these unspoken questions by asking a couple of questions of his own. Look with me to verse 10. For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? The false gospel that was being spread amongst the Galatians was a message that exalted man. It was a message that tickled men's ears. It was man-centered. It was a message that proclaimed to them, you are righteous, you are holy, you are good, And this message did and still does cause men and women to boast in themselves, to take pride in their own goodness, in their own works and abilities. And when this happens, there is an inversion of affections. Allegiances become disordered, particularly for the one who is preaching. the man who is supposed to be a servant of God, a messenger of God, he begins to crave and thrive on the approval of men and women. With his allegiances having become disordered, his priority now being to please man rather than to please God, he has no reason to tell men and women that they are by virtue of their sinful nature and sinful actions at enmity with God. He has no reason to tell men and women that their will is in bondage to their sinful nature, that they have no moral ability to do good. He has no reason to tell men and women that their supposed acts of righteousness are but filthy rags in God's sight. He has no reason to tell men and women that nothing in them can ever earn God's favor and that they must throw themselves completely upon his free grace and mercy for forgiveness. He has no reason to speak these truths because this type of preaching will not earn the praise and approval of man. This type of preaching, apart from the awakening work of the Holy Spirit, will never draw a crowd. It won't fill his bank account to overflowing. But what the false teacher has either forgotten or ignored is that Bible preaching, true gospel preaching, setting forth the truth of the gospel clearly, the truth that there is good news for sinners, that despite your many sins and transgressions, there is good news for you. And the good news is that Jesus Christ gave Himself for sinners, that He stands ready to receive any sinner who would come to Him in repentance and faith, that if you would but turn from your sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be healed, you will be forgiven, you will be made a child of God, you will be made an heir with Christ. the setting forth of this good news, the preaching of the one true saving gospel of Jesus Christ, this is what pleases God. This is what wins the approval of God. And it makes perfect sense, doesn't it? What a magnificent display of God's mercy and grace. What a magnificent display of God's power to save and to cleanse. And this is what the false teacher has either forgotten or ignored. But the Apostle Paul is clear about himself. His allegiances are no longer disordered. His concern is pleasing God. Look with me again to verse 10. For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Please note, Paul was once a servant of man. He was once a man pleaser. He was once consumed with the fear of man. Think about Paul when he stood and approved of Stephen's execution, when he ravaged the church in Jerusalem, when he bound Christian men and women and dragged them off to prison, when he went to the high priest and said, hey, can I get letters? Cause I'm going to go to Damascus and do the same thing there. All of these things Paul did from a desire to please men, his former persecutions of the church were simply in line with his disordered allegiances. It makes perfect sense. But when the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ met him on the road to Damascus, his whole life was turned upside down. No longer did Paul strive to curry favor with the Jewish religious leaders, the Roman government officials. He wasn't even concerned with pleasing himself. Instead, he was transformed. He was given a new heart, a heart that desired to please God above all. Friends, if you don't please God, it doesn't matter who you please. And if you please God, it doesn't matter who you displease. Can you say this? Can you say with Paul that your primary concern is pleasing God? Can you say with Paul that your primary concern is serving Christ? Friends, for a moment, think about this. Think about the last time in your life that you were put in a position to choose between man's approval and God's approval. What did you do? How did you respond? What was the motivating factor behind your response? We need to honestly consider these things before the Lord, remembering, remembering that Paul was made a servant of Christ. If you were unconverted, you must be made a servant of Christ. The power of the gospel must get a hold of you. The truth of the gospel must transform you. And if you are converted, Paul's question here in verse 10 should be ever before you as you walk the difficult path of discipleship. Are you seeking the approval of man or of God? Do you fear God or do you fear men? But brothers and sisters, as you consider those questions, walking on that difficult path of discipleship, I want to remind you of one of the blessings of the new covenant given to us in Jeremiah 32, beginning at verse 38. God says this, and they shall be my people and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever. for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me. Brothers and sisters, may we live in such a way as to reflect this reality. May we be governed by a reverent fear of God and not a carnal fear of man. May we remember that God has put the fear of himself into our hearts that we may not turn from him. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself spoke to disordered allegiances in no uncertain terms. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Saints, let us be careful to ensure that our allegiances are ordered properly. God above every man, God above all. So we've seen the three outcomes of gospel treason, of abandoning the one true saving gospel of Jesus Christ. God is deserted, the traitors are damned, and allegiances are disordered. May God give us grace to commit ourselves more fully to the defense of the one true saving gospel of Jesus Christ. And this leads to our conclusion. One final application. Contrary to the gospel treason of the Judaizers and of the Galatians who had received their message, our call is to be loyal to God and to his gospel. We are not to be gospel traitors, we are to be gospel loyalists, if you will. And to do this by God's grace, at least three things must be true of you. Firstly, you must understand the gospel intellectually. You must understand the gospel in your mind. You are a sinner. You've broken God's commandments. You deserve God's anger and judgment. Yet God so loved the world, he sent his only begotten son. Jesus Christ entered into his creation, taking on flesh, being born as a man, the law that you broke countless times, Jesus obeyed it perfectly. He always loved God with his whole heart, soul, strength, and mind. He always loved others as himself. Think of that. I can hardly imagine that. And then this. He laid his life down voluntarily on the cross as an offering to satisfy the anger and judgment of God that sinners like you deserve. God accepted his sacrifice and three days later raised him from the dead. And until this same Jesus returns to judge the world, any sinner who puts their hope and trust in him will be freely forgiven and made a child of God. So I'll ask you this morning, do you understand what I just explained to you? Children, do you understand what I just explained to you? Does it make sense to you? Do you understand the gospel? If you do, the second thing that you must do is believe the gospel. It's not enough just to understand the facts of the gospel in your mind. You must actually believe that those facts are true. You must believe that you're a sinner. You must believe that God is holy. You must believe that Christ entered into his creation and died for sinners. You must believe that he will forgive any sinner who puts their hope and trust in him. So, a second question. Do you believe that the gospel is true? Children, if you answered yes to my first question, that you understand the gospel, What's the answer to my second question? Do you believe that the gospel is true? Yes or no? Well, if you say yes to that, third and finally, you must obey the gospel. Motivated by a loving God who freely extends mercy and grace to you, you must, here it is again, turn from your sin, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting and resting entirely in Him to save you. Like the prodigal son who came to his senses. Do you remember this story, Luke 15? The prodigal son who demanded his inheritance from his most loving father, ran off and squandered everything. found himself feeding the pigs and desiring to be fed with the food that he was feeding the pigs. The Bible says he came to his senses and he remembered something. Specifically, he remembered something about his father. He said, my father is full of love. He's full of mercy. Surely he would welcome me if I returned to him. Likewise, you must see God as your Father, full of love, full of mercy, willing to receive you. Not willing to receive some random sinner or some other person in this room, but willing to receive you if you would but turn to Christ. So I'll ask you this morning, have you obeyed the gospel? If you understand the gospel, If you believe the gospel, have you obeyed the gospel? Have you turned from your sin and turned to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith? Are you resting entirely upon Christ alone to save you? And if you haven't, I urge you to do so this very day. Why remain an enemy of God when he offers you such favorable terms? If you delay, if you wait, and you put it off, I promise you, you will never, if you live to be as old as Methuselah, you will never find more agreeable terms. But if you wait, you may find that you run out of time. You may find, you know what? I'm not as interested today in salvation as I was the other day when that man was preaching to me. You may find out all sorts of things like that, but I promise you, you will never find a better offer. You will never find a more generous offer than the one that is being set before you this very morning. Turn to Christ and live. Let us pray. Father, bless your word to us, we pray. Teach us who are your children to love your gospel more and more every day. Teach us to defend it, to stand firm upon it. Lord, for those who are outside of Christ, would you show them in the way that only you can that you are a loving and gracious God? Would you make Jesus Christ so irresistibly beautiful to every sinner here that the one thing they desire above anything in this world is to be united to him. Would you regenerate the heart of every sinner in this room? Would you grant them the gifts of repentance and faith? And would you grant them the grace to exercise those gifts? Lord, your word says, that when one sinner repents, heaven rejoices. May this be a day where there is much rejoicing in heaven. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.