Galatians Chapter 1:1-5

Galatians Chapter 1:6

Sermon #3 ~ The Nature of our Faith

Introduction

Two weeks ago we had the privilege of starting the book of Galatians
We have begun to look into this letter and we have seen that it is not a friendly letter that he sends to them
Today we will begin to see in detail why he was so stern in his address to the churches of Galatia
Now the temptation is when we see someone getting a scolding is to watch because it is something like a train wreck; it isn’t pretty but we still stand there just to see what will happen next
Do not allow yourself to be an idle watcher of the events of this book but become a participant; become a Galatian and allow the words of Paul to sink down into your soul as if he were writing directly to you.
Be on guard in your thinking as we study this book; remember you need to allow yourself to be teachable by the Holy Spirit
As I warned you in the last two messages from this series; if it happened to the churches of Galatia, and last week we saw by extension it happened to the nation of Israel, then most assuredly it can happen to us at Grace Church here in Ventura
Let me take that last statement and go just a bit farther; let’s not stop by saying it can happen and we need to be on guard; it most assuredly has already happened – it has crept in unannounced and disguised itself as the most righteous of reasons
So now I have stepped on your toes, now you are asking: “What are the false teachings you think I believe?” That is your next question isn’t it?
As the preacher it is not my job to convict you of sin, that is the job of the Holy Spirit according to John 16:8; my job is to proclaim the truth
If you are of truth, and the truth is in you then the Spirit of truth will lead you to walk in truth; I won’t have to
So if you are offended that I would say you have believed false teachers then know that as I look out at all of you I know within my spirit that I too must daily do as 1 John 4:1 says: and “…test the spirits to see whether they are from God…”
So as we turn to look at Paul’s writings let’s humbly ask God together to lead us into all truth and make us teachable as we study his word

1:6 ”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”

Paul begins the body of his letter by stating his astonishment, his wonder, his marvel at the behavior of the Galatians
Within this one sentence Paul is going to lay out the reason for his profound astonishment so allow us to examine that and then I think it will become apparent why Paul is so astonished
Allow me to say this, that it is a common element in Paul’s writings to lay out his case by stating what God has done for us and then he uses that favorite connector of his, the word “therefore” to then go on and explain what is required of us
Remember the book of Romans, Paul labors for 11 chapters to explain the riches and glory of our salvation and then in chapter 12 and verse 1 he says “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
What Paul says here in verse 6 is essentially his astonishment that the opposite has happened
The correct response to the love that God has shown is service to the King
The word Paul chooses to use here that in my Bible is translated deserting is a military term referring to a solider who is a deserter
It indicates a willful and wanton desire to abandon your post and what you were called to do
As I look at this verse I see two really key words here that I want to be our focus for the time we have together this morning
I think these two words capture the essence of why Paul was so astonished that the Galatians had deserted or abandoned their faith
The two key words are called and gospel so today I want to look at the nature of being called and the nature of the gospel

Nature of being called

The word called here in the text could legitimately be translated as “called once and for all”
This word called here refers to the effectual call to salvation
Now I had to promise some of you that I would refrain from using big words and I know that I just tossed one out when I used the word effectual in a sentence so let me define what is meant by effectual
Effectual is actually a simple word to understand because it comes from the root word of effect and we all know about cause and effect right? Well simply put the word effectual means that it can produce the desired outcome or the desired effect
When we speak of the effectual call of God we mean that it has the desired effect of drawing sinners to their Savior
This is different from the external call of the gospel which we will look at in a moment
So I am betting that I have confused about half of you with all this talk about effectual call and external call so let me try and make my point this way
If after the service I am standing here talking with one of you and I see my 3 and a half year old, Emma, doing something I don’t really want her doing and I call her name and ask her to come stand by me, that was an external call because it was made with my mouth.
But the real question is, was it an effectual call, meaning will it produce the desired effect
Unfortunately, and much to my dismay, it is not an effectual call because probably 8 times out of 10 she will keep right on doing what she was doing before
Now if when I call her name I add to my request an explanation of the discipline she will receive if she doesn’t comply with my request my odds of that call effecting the desired results goes up statistically quite a bit but it is still not 100% effectual
On the contrary God has promised that his call of salvation to his elect will always produce the desired effect
We see this promise most clearly in Romans 8:30, you may want to turn there; I will begin reading in verse 28 and:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Verses 29 & 30 are known as the golden chain because it takes us step by step, link by link, through the process of our salvation; from God foreknowing us, to predestining us, to calling us, to justifying us and then to the end of the salvation experience when we are in heaven – to glorifying us.
You have heard the expression “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”
The beautiful thing about these two verses and the chain they form is that each link in the chain is equally as strong as the previous link.
Notice the language in verse 29 whom God foreknew he predestined; was there any of those whom God foreknew before time even began that were lost when he predestined?
The answer is clearly “No” because it says whom God foreknew he predestined; it is the same group of people that are both foreknown of God and are also predestined of God
Now notice the same language in verse 30, whom he predestined he also called; again there is no shrinking in the size of the group taking place between the links in this chain; we are still talking about the same group of people
So far everyone that God foreknew has been not only predestined but also called; lets continue down the chain
Still in verse 30, whom he called he also justified; again the chain has taken us from the foreknowledge of God in eternity past to the point where God saves a sinner and declares him just or to use the language of this verse he justifies him
We just saw the call of God being effectual in its nature; it absolutely produced the intended effect in that those who are called are justified and ultimately glorified
And while our purpose today is to look at the nature of the call since that is what Paul focused on in Galatians 1:6 let us also note that verse 30 of Romans 8 is crystal clear about the issue of assurance of salvation
You see if you read on what does it say but that whom he justified them he also glorified
100% of the people whom God foreknew have absolute certainty of making it to heaven, being glorified and having the opportunity to bow around the throne to praise our great God and Savior Jesus Christ!
When Paul says to the Galatians I am astonished that you have deserted him who called you he is using called to refer to the entire golden chain because as we have already seen you cannot have one link in the chain without the others
The entire chain must be intact or you have no chain at all, and while I doubt any here would argue there could be glorification apart from justification likewise here is no justification apart from calling, and no calling apart from predestination and no predestination apart from the foreknowledge of God
So I ask you to now be a Galatian; these are the words of Paul written directly to you. God knew you in eternity past he chose to love you and he called you unto himself by the power of the Holy Spirit how is it you can so quickly desert that kind of love?
In human terms whenever we hear of a divorce what does our minds do? We begin to analyze the marriage don’t we?
Supposing a lady has left her husband behind what are the thoughts we have? We begin to think of what would cause her to want to leave, so in order to do that we begin to question the character of the man.
We ask ourselves questions like was he faithful, was he a good provider – a hard worker, was he loving and kind, was he good with the children, etc.
These are normal thoughts that enter into our brain and questions we try to answer so we can understand what has just happened in the midst of one of the partners abandoning the marriage
Sometimes we have an opportunity to sit down with a spouse that is estranged from their life partner and we ask questions and sometimes we even point out that the estranged partner had all of these positive qualities
The apostle Paul is thinking the same thing; what could possibly be the reason that the Galatians would have abandoned Christ; so he begins by reminding them (as he chastises them) of the loveliness and the desirability of Christ over any other

Nature of the Gospel

Paul continues this line of reasoning when he makes mention of the gospel; and it is the Nature of the Gospel which is the 2^nd point I would like to examine today
We have no reason to believe that the false teachers had denied any of the great truths taught by the Apostle Paul
They had not denied the Virgin birth of Christ, his sinless life, his equality with God, his death on the cross and his resurrection and his ascension to the right hand of God
None of what appear to be the essential things we need to believe about God has been harmed
If you were in Equipping the Saints 5 years ago when we took a look at various cults and their beliefs we had a system to identify a theological cult.
We discussed how they believed in a different Jesus, they appealed to a book other than Bible as an authority, they denied the person and deity of the Holy Spirit those were three key things that we found in every cult we looked at
So at first blush what we see here does not immediately sound like there is a cult of Christianity springing up in the church does it? They haven’t denied Christ, the Bible or the Holy Spirit
As I look at what Paul is addressing I am reminded of the temptation of Christ recorded for us in Luke 4 and elsewhere
And if you recall Satan quotes Scripture to Jesus to make his points but he distorts the testimony of Scripture in the process
What he said did come from the Bible but it did not have biblical foundation as Christ made clear
These false teachers were cunning and instead of attacking everything the apostles said they agreed but added to it
Most of this in room either have an automobile or at least know the very basics of how an engine works
So suppose you go out a buy a new car and your dealer tells you that your new car is a higher performance car and you can’t put 87 octane fuel in it you must 89 or above; and then suppose you read through your owners manual and it confirms this and also states that you must use 89 octane or above
Then along I come and I see your new car and you are telling me all about your new car; how it can do this and that and how it has GPS navigation and the headlights come on all by themselves and in the process of our talking you tell me that you must use 89 or higher octane fuel
Now then suppose when you tell me this I get all excited and tell you about how that is true you must use 89 or higher but you also need to put water in your gas tank too
I tell you all about my friend who 6 cars and all of them use 89 or higher and they all mix their gasoline 50/50 with tap water
So envision how the conversation goes; you as a new car owner look at your “friend” with skepticism and ask why if this is so important didn’t the dealer tell you this or why isn’t it in the manual
But then this wolf-in-sheep’s clothing tells you it is because it is so obvious that they didn’t assume they needed to, everyone knows that water keeps things clean and you want a clean engine don’t you?
He explains that in history when people rode horses they had to water the horses and when cars came along people just knew they needed to water their cars fuel tank as well
Well before long this simpleton car owner is going to have a real problem on his hands if he listens to this guy isn’t he?
His new car isn’t going to run at all if he is mixing his gasoline 50/50 with tap water and he will have to abandon or desert it on the side of the road won’t he
The instructions in the manual were simple, just pump 89 octane into the tank but this “friend” burdened our simple minded car owner with a lot of extra work and in the end he ended up having to abandon his new car
If you worked for the dealership what do you think your words would be to your customer?
I bet they would sound like a paraphrase of Paul in Galatians 1:6
I am astonished that your are walking and have so quickly deserted the car you just bought
The problem with this false teachers were they were pointing people back to Judaism and saying that observance of the law was also necessary for salvation
To borrow Paul’s language in Colossians 2:17 they were pointing to the shadow instead of the substance which is Christ
You see the nature of the gospel was simple just like 89 octane gas was simple. The message of the gospel has always been Christ plus nothing else
Believers in the Old Testament looked forward to the coming of a Messiah who would bear the penalty for sin; they looked forward in faith and God justified them
Believers in the Church Era (which was ushered in at Pentecost with Peter’s great sermon) are saved by looking back to the cross; we have the benefit of a much clearer picture of the Messiah than the OT believers did but still we are both saved by looking to him in faith
Again one of the key points to see about any theological cult is they will teach that man must do something
The simplicity of the gospel (and what also makes it so difficult to believe and accept) is that God did everything from start to finish in our salvation
Salvation is a God-honoring, man-abasing truth; our natural inclination is to say we brought something to this and God fashioned it into something usable
But just like in the creation of the universe, God started with essentially nothing, hard-hearted man and made something to glorify him
Did man have anything to do with the changing of his heart?
No and Ezekiel wrote about it in 11:19 “I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
The people in Ezekiel’s day were not able to keep God’s commandments, they couldn’t walk in his statues and they couldn’t say that they belonged to God; the reason they couldn’t say this was because of their hearts
But who does it say changed their hearts, it certainly wasn’t the people but rather it was God who was pleased to in his own time and in his own way to remove the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh
Remember back to the golden chain in Romans 8, it always spoke of whom God foreknew he predestined and whom he predestined he called and so on.
It never mentions the whom as doing anything, never in the text does it say they do anything to effect their own salvation
So as we look at the nature of the gospel that Paul writes about here in Galatians 1:6 I know some of you are thinking but what about faith, repentance, confession of Christ with your mouth, being born again, etc.
And you are all correct, these things are all present in the New Testament and in Paul’s writings in particular
Since our time is brief we cannot look in detail at repentance, confessing Christ with your mouth, being born again, etc. however let me say that in the NT all these things are seen as flowing from faith
I believe if we address the true nature of saving faith the others will answer themselves
First let’s define faith; faith comes in 3 phases

Mental: the mind understands the gospel and the truth about Christ
Emotional: a person embraces the truthfulness of the facts that their mind knew in phase one and responds in joy over God’s mercy towards sinners and simultaneously in sorrow over sin
Volitional: This is the action phase where the sinner submits his will to Christ’s and trusts him and him alone as the only hope of salvation

So let us examine the true nature of faith; turn to Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
This is an often quoted verse in support of being saved by faith and not works and I am sure many of you are very familiar with it
But look at the language again more closely. The verse could just as well read you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing and still make the Apostle’s point
The expression this is not your own doing refers to the entire previous statement that means not only the grace is not of yourselves but neither is the faith
Be honest with yourself, if I said “For by grace you have been saved, and this is not your own doing” would that make any logical sense?
That would be like a pilot saying as people deplane from a jet “By the power of the engines on this airplane we flew; and it this was not by your doing.”
No passenger getting off a plane assumes that by something they did they made the plane take off, fly straight and level, or land without incident
Paul would have had no reason to insert the phrase “and this is not your own doing” if he hadn’t believed that someone either was or would in the future teach that the source of saving faith is somehow deep inside a human being
Remember here in Ephesians 2 Paul started the chapter by stating that we were spiritually dead; meaning we couldn’t even want God.
In fact when we were spiritually dead we were the enemy of God; we certainly weren’t out looking for God.
Even the righteous desire to seek God starts with God because man himself is unrighteous; he can’t on his own decide to seek God out; hear what the Scripture says about this
Psalm 10:4 “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts”
Romans 3:10-12 “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
The nature of the gospel then is this:
Man is dead in his sin
God in his sovereignty planned a way to draw sinners to himself
When Jesus came that was the final revelation of the covenant with sinful man
The Holy Spirit changes the sinners heart so that it is able to see what it was blind to before
Once the heart has been changed by the Spirit, faith, repentance and submission to Christ are produced in the life as a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
I again go back to my analogy of the couple divorcing; Paul has reminded them of what he taught them on the nature of the gospel
They are being called to remember all the wonder that is their salvation
And to this back drop he wonders “How is it that you have so quickly deserted him”

Conclusion

That is my question to you; you have seen or been reminded of the gospel. Have you deserted it, have you mingled the water of the flesh with the gasoline of the spirit?
Is your spiritual car trying to run on half your power and half the power of the spirit?
You see if God did all this work to save you he doesn’t cut you lose and expect you to make it through the Christian life on your own