PROVISION FOR PROTECTION "Another Gospel" and "another Jesus!" That is precisely the point developed to the Galatians, who were abandoning the real Gospel in favor of a law-centered message. In great solemnity, they were told, "I marvel that ye are so soon REMOVED FROM HIM that called you into the grace of Christ unto ANOTHER GOSPEL: Which is NOT another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ . . . I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then CHRIST IS DEAD IN VAIN. . . Christ is become of NO EFFECT unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are FALLEN FROM GRACE" (Gal 1:6-7; 2:21; 5:4). They had allowed false teachers to remove the real Gospel from their thinking. In so doing, they themselves were "removed from" Christ and from His grace. This emphasizes the necessity of what we have heard from the beginning REMAINING in us. -- Tomorrow:
"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things . . . But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him." (1 John 2:20,27-29
Devotion 21 of 30
Let it be clear: the Galatians had not abandoned "Christianity" for some wholly heathen religion. They had not returned to the worship of brazen images, embraced the occult, or some Grecian philosophy. They still considered themselves "Christians." The doctrine they had embraced made room for Jesus, but it was not the preeminent room! It was still called a "Gospel," and it carried the claim of having to do with Christ Jesus, the remission of sins, and the reception of the Holy Spirit. However, it was NOT the Gospel, had NOTHING to do with the Lord Jesus, did NOT offer the Holy Spirit, and was NOT EVEN REMOTELY ASSOCIATED with the remission of sins or justification. The Gospel they were embracing – "another Gospel" – is still being preached, and is again being embraced by some churches.
After all was said and done, here are the effects that everyone embracing and living by that Gospel realized.
1. They were now removed from God.
2. They were no longer in the proximity of Christ's grace.
3. God's grace was "frustrated."
4. Christ was "dead in vain."
5. Christ now had "no effect" upon them.
6. They were "fallen from grace."
Such people were back "in the flesh." They no longer were in right standing with the Lord. They were occupying a realm into which grace did not reach. They were in a domain where Jesus did not work, and where His death wrought none of the things fallen men so sorely require. Although the grace of God is most capable, it was impotent so far as they were concerned, for they had frustrated it.
Is there anyone who thinks that what is preached is of no consequence? Are there poor souls who are so naive that they think every message that is called "gospel" and mentions Christ dying for our sins is really genuine? Do such gospels really bring the grace of God to the people? Do they really chronicle a death that effectively deals with sin? Does Jesus really work through such Gospels? The passage is too clear to require that such foolish questions should be given so much as a single brief answer!
I will wax bold and affirm that a spurious gospel is the cause for much of the deficiency of the modern church. The absence of the Gospel accounts for the unchanged lives, the frequent outbreaks of immorality, the rise of divorce, the prevalence of spiritual ignorance, and the insistence on brief and infrequent exposure to the Word of God. There is no way that such things can grow from Jesus, the "TRUE Vine." There is not so much as a syllable of the Gospel of Christ that encourages or allows for the outbreak of iniquity. Such things are the fruit of what the people have believed, and what they have believed is what they have heard declared!
CHRIST AND THE GOSPEL
At no point is Christ divorced from the Gospel, which is the sole means of affiliation with Him. We are made "partakers of His (God's) promise in Christ BY THE GOSPEL" (Gal 3:6). This is not limited to our initial entrance into Him, but remains true as we abide in Him. That Gospel contains a message of unparalleled hope. As it is written, " . . . the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel" (Col 1:5). If we allow ourselves to be "moved away from the hope of the gospel which [we] heard" (Col 1:23), there will be no further place for us in the Son and in the Father.
If both life and immortality have been "brought to light through the Gospel" (2 Tim 1:10), both of them move beyond our grasp if the Gospel is forgotten, or no longer abides in us. There is no point at which that Gospel ceases to be "the power of God" (Rom 1:16). The Lord has even given us a table where this memory is effectively stirred within us. As it is written, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (1 Cor 11:26). Spiritual stability is realized in "the Gospel," wherein we "stand" (1 Cor 15:3). It is the means by which we "are saved," if we "keep it in memory," otherwise, we "have believed in vain" (1 Cor 15:3, NIV).
No one can afford to lose their grip on the Gospel they heard in the "beginning" of their spiritual life – the Gospel that was "the power of God unto salvation" and wrought a change in their character, thoughts, and objectives. It remains God's appointed power "unto salvation." At no point can it be neglected with impunity. The very nature of salvation demands that we give it constant and focused attention.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, grant me grace and insight to detect and avoid any and every message that is devoid of Your power!