The $3 Bill Gospel

I have a friend who I used to trick on every single quiz and test in geometry in tenth grade. Every time I’d tell him the answer was 18. He looked. Every. Single. Time. I offered him something and he always got mad when he found out it wasn’t there.

We’re looking in Galatians tonight at a similar situation. The Christians in Galatia were being told they needed to do something, but what they would eventually find out, one way or another, was that it was no good. There was really nothing there.

They were being pitched a fake gospel and Paul is writing to tell them it’s no good and can’t save them. And we need to hear it because it’s a message the world gives to us. That there are other things in addition to Jesus or instead of Jesus that can save us.

There is only one version of the Gospel that saves and we must live in its freedom.

Read

The true Gospel

There is a movie that came out when I was younger than y’all, I was like 10 years old when it came out, it’s called Braveheart. The movie is about this guy named William Wallace. He was a Scottish man and he lived in the time when England was taking places over, and they were trying to take Scotland over.

Tell the rest of the story.

At the end of the movie William Wallace is capture and there is this famous scene where he’s going to be put to death but they want to humiliate him and demoralize Scotland before they do it. They give him the chance to speak and they want him to ask for mercy and they think he’s about to do it, but instead he gets al the strength he has left and yells, “FREEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOM!!!”

That’s kind of Paul’s message in this book, freedom with Jesus. It’s not his life on the line though, it’s the church in Galatia. Some people came in and started teaching a false gospel. Paul tells them there is only one Gospel and it’s Jesus’. He has set us free so that we can live as we were meant to, in his power!

Paul starts off here, reminding them of the true Gospel, that they, and we, must live in. And it’s not really a happy start.

You ever get a phone call from your mom and you know from the very beginning that you’re in trouble? “Hi, this is your mother! Who gave birth to you! Who nursed you! Who raised you!” Usually it’s followed with a question like, “Do you have anything to say for yourself?!” If you’re like me then you probably just say, “uuuuuuummmmmm?” Then you just grab on to something and hunker down for the storm.

Paul starts off the letter kind of like your angry mom in verse one. They know right from the start he’s not writing to chit chat.

Acts 4:12 HCSB

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.”

The false gospel

Have you ever bought some name brand product that you thought was a really good deal but then you found out it was just a fake?

v6; they are turning from God Himself, not just their doctrine

v7; There is no other Gospel besides the true Gospel, no other way to be saved

v8; There were people saying Jesus + our works.

Jesus + anything is not the Gospel.

This doesn’t mean we dismiss Jesus’ commands. It changes our motivation.

We could think of it with a football metaphor. Think about a football player jumping into the end zone. What are reasons he would do this?

v9; there are still so many “gospels” telling us Jesus isn’t enough. We need money, popularity, power, skill, that girl friend or boy friend. And when we listen to these things we find ourselves hurting. We find ourselves still incomplete.

Basically it comes to two reasons: he's jumping trying to get into the end zone and avoid another player or make a catch, or he's jumping in celebration because he's already beat all the players on the other team. It's the same action with two very different motivations.

We need money, popularity, power, skill, that girl friend or boy friend. And when we listen to these things we find ourselves hurting. We find ourselves still incomplete.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Ephesians 2:8–10 HCSB

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

We could think of it with a football metaphor. Think about a football player jumping into the end zone. What are reasons he would do this? Basically it comes to two reasons: he's jumping trying to get into the end zone and avoid another player or make a catch, or he's jumping in celebration because he's already beat all the players on the other team. It's the same action with two very different motivations.

You need to aspire to something greater than being cool. Aspire to being faithful. –Tony Merida

Related Media

Related Sermons