GALATIANS 1
9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
NO OTHER GOSPEL
Paul is reading the riot act to the Galatian church, they have left the gospel and have become trapped in legalism and false teaching.
He sets out his stall here, he states what his calling was and how he has shared the gospel.
He tells the Galatian church that if any person preaches any other gospel that he has preached they should be accursed.. strong words you may think, but it is so important because if you get the gospel wrong, then you get your whole christian life wrong..
So how can we tell the true gospel.. first of all
It does not seek to please men, it seeks to Please God.
This is one of the reasons, we can tell the true gospel and true ministers. Those who were preaching the false gospel always preach Jesus plus something, when in reality , the gospel is Jesus only.
The second reason is that those who preach the gospel are under the Lordship of Christ. They seek to serve Christ, they are not serving their own pockets etc.
The third reason is that the person who preaches it, acknowledges that it doesn’t come from him/her, but comes from God.
Grace is nothing to do with man and everything to do with God.
Paul puts it so beautifully in ! Corinthians 15
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures:
This is the true gospel, it doesnt come from man, it is not grace + something else, it is grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone.
God bless you
Keith
Hebrews 5
12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
MEAT OR MILK?
The wonderful book of Hebrews gets really tough here, it poses one of the most important questions in the whole of the bible.
This question is this: What are you eating/drinking?
So many in the church are like the people in verse 12, they should be teachers, but they need to be taught.
If you have a baby you feed him/her milk.. YES, but do you feed a 20 year old milk constantly.. NO, they graduate onto meat. so why are so many believers still on milk when they should be eating meat.
Believers nowadays like comfort and they like to hear what they enjoy. An example, how many times do you hear the books of Ezekiel or Leviticus preached in churches. How many Christians read their favourite bible chapters time and time again?
Have you graduated from milk to meat yet?
You should be a teacher, but you still need to be taught.
Vs13-14 make it clear that those who are still babes are unskilled in the work of righteousness, they cannot use the word of God properly.
Why is this, because they are skilled in the use of the word of God. Remember the word of God is a sword, and you don’t put a sword into the hands of a child.
Remember Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 2
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Are you eating meat or drinking milk?
So how can you move from milk to meat?
You have to study, that means you have to dig into the word of God. You have to dig deep to get anything, babes scratch the surface, but mature christians dig deep.
Are you able to handle strong meat?
God bless you
kk