Not Man’s Gospel
Not Man’s Gospel
May 20, 2007
“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” Galatians 1:10
1. What the world wants is more people pleasers and that is exactly what we are not to be.
2. Do you seek the approval of man or of God? Do you try to be a friend of the world?
3. Paul was accused of preaching a easy form of the gospel - one requiring neither circumcision, nor obedience to the Sabbath laws and dietary restrictions. (V.10)
4. The Gospel He preached was not “after man” He did not receive it from any man nor was he taught it but instead received it by revelation of Jesus Christ. (V. 11-12)
5. Paul’s persecution of the church was well know to the early Christians. Paul himself was ashamed of it but looked at it as evidence that God’s grace can overcome the most rebellious of sinners. (V. 13-14; 1 Tim 1:13-14; Phil 3:6; 1 Cor 15:10)
“though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 1:13-14)
6. Paul pointed out that being a jew, even a zealous one, is not sufficient for salvation. Paul considered his own experience proof that zeal for the law would not save. (Rom 9:30 - 10:4; 2 Cor 11:22; Phil 3:4-6)
“What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom 9:30-10:4)
7. Man’s gospel is never pleasing to God. It is always a works based or greasy grace type message. It never challenges a person’s lifestyle and/or brings true repentance of sin and a turning away from it.
Discipleship
Does it not fill our hearts with a thrilling excitement to think that the costly disciplines and lonely agonies that make up our earthly discipleship may at any moment, and without any warning, be transformed into everlasting splendors the like of which we can scarcely conceive, let alone understand?
James Phillip
Conversion
“When the wheels of a clock move within, the hands on the dial will move without. When the heart of a man is sound in conversion, then the life will be fair in profession.”
William Secker
Worship
“There is more healing joy in five minutes of worship than there is in five nights of revelry.”
A.W. Tozer
Youth
“I believe young people are indifferent to the church today, not because the church has required too much of them, but because it has demanded so little.”
Mort Crim
GracePointe Baptist Church
2209 N Post Road
Oklahoma City, OK 73141
Phone: (405) 769-5050