Galatians 1:6-10 NKJV
“6I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”
The Gospel Taught to Them/Us
Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self,
take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we
hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But
if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to
our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God.
For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the
one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our
own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ
to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as
slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no
longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires.
For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is
what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with
God (see Romans 6:1-23).
For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training
us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For it is not the one
who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has
denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to
our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the
hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven (see Titus 2:11-14; 1
John 1-3).
The Different Gospel
The different gospel taught to them then, and to us today,
is anything which contradicts the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles
on what constitutes genuine salvation from sin and eternal life with God. So
the “other gospel” is just a perversion, a twisting, and an altering of what
the true gospel of Christ teaches. And the reason so many are perverting the
gospel of Christ is that they want to please people instead of desiring to
please God. They want to attract the ungodly to their worldly gatherings.
I would say that the primary perversion of the gospel being
taught and largely accepted today is a very diluted message which is intended
to attract the ungodly and to appease human flesh. So what they are teaching is
that faith in Jesus Christ is a mere verbal confession of Christ as Lord and an
acknowledgment of Jesus’ death and resurrection. No death to sin, and no
obedience to God and to his commands required. For they call that “works
salvation,” which they teach is not of God and contrary to the Scriptures.
Secondary to that is where they still teach that we can be
saved from our sins and on our way to heaven just by “praying the prayer to
receive Christ.” They may or may not teach that we must repent of (turn from)
our sins and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, but if they do, they
often will teach repentance and obedience as something we “should do” but is
not required of God for salvation from sin and for eternal life with God. So
they still teach that we can be saved by lip service only, nothing else
required.
A Bondservant of Christ
But if we are genuine believers in Christ who are his
followers, we will obey his teachings and those of his New Testament apostles
on the subject of the gospel of our salvation. But we need to study the
Scriptures in their appropriate biblical context, comparing Scripture with
Scripture, for many lies are being taught from Scriptures removed from their
true context and then twisted to say what they do not say if taught in the
correct biblical context. So context is critical to correct biblical
interpretation.
And in sharing the truth of the gospel with other people, we
are never to soften the truth of what Jesus and his apostles taught in order
that we do not offend other humans or turn them away from “the church.” We are
not to hold back the truth we know offends just so people will like us and so
they will not reject us, for that is utterly selfish, thinking only of
ourselves without genuine regard for the salvation of other human lives. We are
not here to be people pleasers but those who seek to please God with our lives
always.
So, don’t rely on other humans to tell you the truth. Do not
rely on “Gospel Tracts” in order to present the gospel message, either. For so
many of them cut corners and teach Scriptures out of context and leave out some
of the most essential elements of the gospel message. For Jesus did not die
just to forgive us our sins so we can go on living in sin without guilt. He
gave his life up for us in order to deliver us out of our addiction to sin so
we will now serve him with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands
always.
[Matthew 5:13-16;
Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 9:23-26; John 4:31-38; John 10:27-30;
John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14;
Romans 10:14-15; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians
5:3-14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9,21,24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1
John 3:4-10]
Should I Not Preach Jesus
Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13
An Original Work /
July 4, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Woe to me should I
not preach Jesus.
I’m compelled to
preach the full gospel.
I make myself a
slave to ev’ryone
To win their hearts
to Christ.
All this I do for my
Lord Jesus,
And for the sake of
His Name;
Do it for the sake
of His gospel,
So that I, its
blessings gain.
Scripture notates
the sins of others;
Written down for us
as examples
To keep us from
setting our hearts
On evil as did those
of old.
Do not worship other
gods of man;
Do not give your
hearts to them;
Not partake in
immorality.
Do not test your
Lord and King.
So, be careful if
you think you are
Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.
God has given his
word to warn us,
So through faith we
will not fall.
No temptation has
o’ertaken you
Except what is
commonplace.
God is faithful to
not let you be
Tempted past what
you can bear.
He gives the way of
escape.
Should We Seek to Please People?
No comments:
Post a Comment