Coconut
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- Feb 17, 2005
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Who we Are: Contenders or Pretenders of the Faith?
- by Justin Halbersma
Galatians 1: 6 "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!"
10 "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ:
There is nothing more saddening than a confessing Christian who thinks they can do things their way.
When Paul wrote his epistle to the Galatian churches, he was confronting this very thing. The church in Galatia was new, it was thriving…and it was under attack. It was under attack by the same forces that attack the church today.
You see, perverse people had infected the churches in Galatia, spreading a false gospel. They claimed it was okay to believe in Jesus, yes…but the new believers still had to succumb to the requirements of the Law of Moses. It was a case of “Jesus and…” syndrome. Jesus AND circumcision, Jesus AND doing good works, Jesus AND…and the list went on. Paul was writing to defend the true Gospel of Jesus Christ against the thieves of God’s glory. God led him to defend and contend for the Gospel of Christ, not the man-made trash that permeated the world then…and still does today.
Even today, we’re told that it’s okay to believe in Jesus Christ, as long as we never claim He is the only Way to God. We might be labeled “extreme.” In this day and age of “tolerance”, this world must never accuse us of being “intolerant.” The church was bombarded with this falsehood, and we are today.
Today, we’re taught to live our own lives even as Christians, with no regard to God. In this day and age, we are taught that even though Jesus said all authority is His, and we are bound by that authority, it’s still all about us. Christians get upset at accountability. They think that they are “good people” on their own. We read it in Facebook quizzes…the question “Are you a good person?” pops up constantly. Facebook statuses repeatedly shout defiance at our God, “I’m not living life according to YOUR rules.” MSN names state we are doing things our own way. We don’t even need computers…all we need to think is it’s our life. And these falsehoods are trumpeted by confessing Christians who state they are living for God and running to Him?
If you are one of these reading this, my question is, “Who has deceived you?” There is no possible way a Christian who has claimed to have tasted and seen that the Lord is good could ever be happy living life their own way. This is pagan thinking! This is the way of the world! Proverbs 14: 12 states that the ways that seem right to our own thinking only lead to destruction. We cannot even trust our own feelings, for our hearts are deceitful and wicked, and until we behold the Lord in glory, we will always have to discern what is of God, and what is not. A hedonist way of thinking is never of God. We can tell this by who agrees with us. No Christian worth salt in this world will ever agree to such a horrific and hellbound ideology. Only those destined to hell will agree with a hellish gospel…the gospel of man, the gospel of living without God. If unbelievers like and agree with our lifeviews and how we live…as Christians, it is time to re-evaluate. The world hates our Lord, and if what we do agrees with the world, we are siding with Christ’s enemies. How can someone who loves God with their mouth and heart and soul be satisfied with allowing His enemies the joy of watching us fall into the patterns of the world?
The ways of the world take great delight in watching us fall. The children of the devil should never be in agreement with the way the children of God live. They are mutually exclusive. Light cannot co-exist with darkness…it will always shine in it. Evil cannot accept good. Righteousness and unrighteousness by their very natures are at odds with each other. How can a child of God and a child of Satan agree on the same ways of living?
Don’t get me wrong. Believers and unbelievers do need to co-exist on this world on the surface level. We need to be able to get along with them in matters of government and everyday living. But it must never be said that a Christian’s lifestyle matches those of the world! We are called to live separately than they. In matters of morality, we know as Christians the ways of the world are at odds with the ways of Christ.
But the false gospels of the world state otherwise. They state that as long as we keep our beliefs private, don’t express them, and don’t live in a way different than the world, we’re good people. False gospels teach that we are good enough as we are. False gospels love to keep us chained to a dead and dying world. Satan is the designer of these false gospels.
Paul continues with very harsh words. He states that all people who proclaim a false gospel are perverts and that everyone who preaches a false gospel should be eternally condemned. Harsh words indeed, but words that show the fire of the true Gospel within him. Do we have this fire? Even the most struggling Christian, if they are truly reborn, should have some hint of this fire within them. When God regenerates us through the Holy Spirit, He gives us this fire for the faith. If we are trying to sustain this faith on our own, it will go out. Paul’s words echo true today…if anyone preaches a man-centric gospel (Live YOUR way, not by anyone else, Jesus isn’t enough, etc), may they be eternally condemned!
There is no room for self-centric living in the true Christian’s heart. Our hearts belong 100% to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is Him crucified who deserves our attention, loyalty, gratitude, love, and obedience. It does no good to claim to love Christ, and live as though His church, people, and commands have no bearing or importance. Let me say it again…it does no good to claim to love Christ, and live as though His church, people, and commands have no bearing or importance. Sin if we must, sin as we will…but let us be honest with ourselves and call it what it is…rebellion. Wicked rebellion against the King of kings and Lord of lords. Rebellion that deserves the fires of hell with none to deliver. May it never be said that God’s people may live as they want. Matthew 28 says that all authority has been given to Jesus Christ. If we try to live, as Christians, apart from Him, we will find life meaningless, dry, shallow, and difficult. We will live apart from God’s people. A heart isolated from God will hide in a life away from His church and His people. A heart that follows a false gospel will hide from the truth. If we claim to be a Christian, yet follow a false gospel, our relationships with other Christians will be strained, as the true Gospel is revealed to our souls. The darkness tries to hide from the light.
Some will disagree. Oh, how the disagreements will fly. But we know and believe that Christ is our Sustainer and the Living Water. If our relationship with Christ is strained, our lives will feel miserable.
The root of every human problem is sin. Before sin entered the world, there was perfection. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has dealt with our wickedness by bearing the punishment for us as our Substitute before God for all of our sins. If we are God’s elect, and we persist in spiritually starving ourselves by following a gospel of lies and separating ourselves from the Living Water and Bread of Life we will feel miserable. Misery is a spiritual problem. Misery came about when the Fall in the Garden of Eden came about. Misery and hardships come as a result of sin. We may blame people, circumstances…but all the deception in the world won’t change the root cause. If we feel separated from any meaning, we must examine what gospel we are following. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings life and light. All other gospels bring misery and destruction and death. It’s no wonder Paul pronounced eternal damnation to all who would preach a false gospel that is not Christ-centric. These false teachings are destroying the church from the inside out, and making many people lose joy in the Christian faith. The false gospels do not preach Christ alone, through faith alone, by grace alone. The false gospels are the door to hell, and all preachers of falsehood must either repent, or be eternally condemned.
No matter how the world reshapes it, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ never changes. Jesus Christ ALONE is our Salvation. It has pleased God to save His elect through Christ, and that plan of salvation is outlined in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no strength to be found in ourselves. There is no salvation in living life our own way. There is no comfort in separating ourselves from Christ’s sustaining grace and love. There is no fellowship with those whose father is the devil. How do we walk hand in hand with a spiritually decaying corpse? Life supports life. Death decays with death. False gospels give birth to death. Living our own way gives birth to wickedness. Wickedness leads to unrighteousness. Unrighteousness leads to separation from God. We are all born unrighteous. Paul declares in Romans 3 that there is none righteous, NOT EVEN ONE. There is no one who seeks God, because unrighteousness flees from righteousness. Without God’s saving grace, we couldn’t even begin to comprehend one aspect of our sinfulness and separation from God, let alone understand how unrighteous we are. Only the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, only the faithful preaching of Christ crucified, can save souls.
But we will suffer for proclaiming this true Gospel. People will insult us. They will tell us we don’t know what we are talking about. They will persecute us…and even those who claim to be true Christians but who are following a false gospel will join in this persecution. They will claim the Gospel is not the answer to their misery. My friends, the world will hate us because it hates Christ.
Which brings me to the final point of this sermon: Whose approval do we want? Paul asks the Galatian churches whose approval he’s seeking. He brings up the fact that if he was merely trying to win the approval of man, he would not be preaching Christ crucified.
He, of anyone, would know this fact. He once persecuted the Christian faith. He was a Pharisee, a religious leader who claimed Christ was a lie. But after his conversion on the road to Damascus, he began a champion for the faith. His life didn’t get easier…shipwrecks, trials, jail-time, and his eventual death for the faith is proof of that. But he never separated himself from the cross of Christ. He worked to advance the kingdom of God, not for man’s approval.
Let us take note of this. We cannot be true Christians and please men. The cross is an offense to men in their natural state. We cannot cozy up to Satan’s world and be strong in faith. Paul didn’t work to please God. His faith alone made him pleasing to God’s eyes. We cannot please God by working, we can only please Him by faith. Paul knew this, and knew that he would not and could not please men by preaching Christ crucified…yet he did it anyway, for he knew…he KNEW…that Christ was his only hope. He disregarded the approval of men as nothing, and sought to live his faith for the Lord.
We would do well to take note of this. Too often we live as though we are part of the world, not merely in the world. Too often we act as though our faith is separate. Too often we act as though we haven’t been changed by Christ at all. We are all guilty of this. Every single one of us. There are no exceptions, apart from Christ…we have all acted as though our faith is common. We have lived for the approval of men, forgetting our status as servants of Jesus Christ.
Do we read that word? “Servants.” Paul said it rightly. We cannot live for men’s approval and serve Christ. Let’s be honest; the Gospel of Christ is offensive to wicked men. And all men in their original state of condemnation are wicked. There may be many degrees of wickedness, but the end result is constant…without Christ, all men are wicked. Apart from Christ, we are only evil all the time. We cannot stand in God’s sight as natural men. Christ must remake us into a new creation, replacing our wickedness with His righteousness and making us acceptable to God.
Do we live for men, or for God? It’s a crucial question. We will either be a blessing or a mockery to God. Do we shame Him by seeking men’s approval…or do we live in a way fitting of the title, “Children of God”? It is the Lord Christ whom we serve.
Now let us fall before the majesty of our great God, acknowledging our sins, and asking that He would make us increasingly conscious of them, that we may detest them. May we spend our lives seeking and striving to honour and serve Him in strict obedience. And since we cannot free ourselves owing to our great infirmity, may He bear us up until He has freed us from all the defilements of the flesh, and clothed us in His righteousness. Indeed, He has begun this work in us now and affords us solid ground of assurance that what He has begun, He will complete. Amen.
- by Justin Halbersma
Galatians 1: 6 "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!"
10 "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ:
There is nothing more saddening than a confessing Christian who thinks they can do things their way.
When Paul wrote his epistle to the Galatian churches, he was confronting this very thing. The church in Galatia was new, it was thriving…and it was under attack. It was under attack by the same forces that attack the church today.
You see, perverse people had infected the churches in Galatia, spreading a false gospel. They claimed it was okay to believe in Jesus, yes…but the new believers still had to succumb to the requirements of the Law of Moses. It was a case of “Jesus and…” syndrome. Jesus AND circumcision, Jesus AND doing good works, Jesus AND…and the list went on. Paul was writing to defend the true Gospel of Jesus Christ against the thieves of God’s glory. God led him to defend and contend for the Gospel of Christ, not the man-made trash that permeated the world then…and still does today.
Even today, we’re told that it’s okay to believe in Jesus Christ, as long as we never claim He is the only Way to God. We might be labeled “extreme.” In this day and age of “tolerance”, this world must never accuse us of being “intolerant.” The church was bombarded with this falsehood, and we are today.
Today, we’re taught to live our own lives even as Christians, with no regard to God. In this day and age, we are taught that even though Jesus said all authority is His, and we are bound by that authority, it’s still all about us. Christians get upset at accountability. They think that they are “good people” on their own. We read it in Facebook quizzes…the question “Are you a good person?” pops up constantly. Facebook statuses repeatedly shout defiance at our God, “I’m not living life according to YOUR rules.” MSN names state we are doing things our own way. We don’t even need computers…all we need to think is it’s our life. And these falsehoods are trumpeted by confessing Christians who state they are living for God and running to Him?
If you are one of these reading this, my question is, “Who has deceived you?” There is no possible way a Christian who has claimed to have tasted and seen that the Lord is good could ever be happy living life their own way. This is pagan thinking! This is the way of the world! Proverbs 14: 12 states that the ways that seem right to our own thinking only lead to destruction. We cannot even trust our own feelings, for our hearts are deceitful and wicked, and until we behold the Lord in glory, we will always have to discern what is of God, and what is not. A hedonist way of thinking is never of God. We can tell this by who agrees with us. No Christian worth salt in this world will ever agree to such a horrific and hellbound ideology. Only those destined to hell will agree with a hellish gospel…the gospel of man, the gospel of living without God. If unbelievers like and agree with our lifeviews and how we live…as Christians, it is time to re-evaluate. The world hates our Lord, and if what we do agrees with the world, we are siding with Christ’s enemies. How can someone who loves God with their mouth and heart and soul be satisfied with allowing His enemies the joy of watching us fall into the patterns of the world?
The ways of the world take great delight in watching us fall. The children of the devil should never be in agreement with the way the children of God live. They are mutually exclusive. Light cannot co-exist with darkness…it will always shine in it. Evil cannot accept good. Righteousness and unrighteousness by their very natures are at odds with each other. How can a child of God and a child of Satan agree on the same ways of living?
Don’t get me wrong. Believers and unbelievers do need to co-exist on this world on the surface level. We need to be able to get along with them in matters of government and everyday living. But it must never be said that a Christian’s lifestyle matches those of the world! We are called to live separately than they. In matters of morality, we know as Christians the ways of the world are at odds with the ways of Christ.
But the false gospels of the world state otherwise. They state that as long as we keep our beliefs private, don’t express them, and don’t live in a way different than the world, we’re good people. False gospels teach that we are good enough as we are. False gospels love to keep us chained to a dead and dying world. Satan is the designer of these false gospels.
Paul continues with very harsh words. He states that all people who proclaim a false gospel are perverts and that everyone who preaches a false gospel should be eternally condemned. Harsh words indeed, but words that show the fire of the true Gospel within him. Do we have this fire? Even the most struggling Christian, if they are truly reborn, should have some hint of this fire within them. When God regenerates us through the Holy Spirit, He gives us this fire for the faith. If we are trying to sustain this faith on our own, it will go out. Paul’s words echo true today…if anyone preaches a man-centric gospel (Live YOUR way, not by anyone else, Jesus isn’t enough, etc), may they be eternally condemned!
There is no room for self-centric living in the true Christian’s heart. Our hearts belong 100% to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is Him crucified who deserves our attention, loyalty, gratitude, love, and obedience. It does no good to claim to love Christ, and live as though His church, people, and commands have no bearing or importance. Let me say it again…it does no good to claim to love Christ, and live as though His church, people, and commands have no bearing or importance. Sin if we must, sin as we will…but let us be honest with ourselves and call it what it is…rebellion. Wicked rebellion against the King of kings and Lord of lords. Rebellion that deserves the fires of hell with none to deliver. May it never be said that God’s people may live as they want. Matthew 28 says that all authority has been given to Jesus Christ. If we try to live, as Christians, apart from Him, we will find life meaningless, dry, shallow, and difficult. We will live apart from God’s people. A heart isolated from God will hide in a life away from His church and His people. A heart that follows a false gospel will hide from the truth. If we claim to be a Christian, yet follow a false gospel, our relationships with other Christians will be strained, as the true Gospel is revealed to our souls. The darkness tries to hide from the light.
Some will disagree. Oh, how the disagreements will fly. But we know and believe that Christ is our Sustainer and the Living Water. If our relationship with Christ is strained, our lives will feel miserable.
The root of every human problem is sin. Before sin entered the world, there was perfection. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has dealt with our wickedness by bearing the punishment for us as our Substitute before God for all of our sins. If we are God’s elect, and we persist in spiritually starving ourselves by following a gospel of lies and separating ourselves from the Living Water and Bread of Life we will feel miserable. Misery is a spiritual problem. Misery came about when the Fall in the Garden of Eden came about. Misery and hardships come as a result of sin. We may blame people, circumstances…but all the deception in the world won’t change the root cause. If we feel separated from any meaning, we must examine what gospel we are following. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings life and light. All other gospels bring misery and destruction and death. It’s no wonder Paul pronounced eternal damnation to all who would preach a false gospel that is not Christ-centric. These false teachings are destroying the church from the inside out, and making many people lose joy in the Christian faith. The false gospels do not preach Christ alone, through faith alone, by grace alone. The false gospels are the door to hell, and all preachers of falsehood must either repent, or be eternally condemned.
No matter how the world reshapes it, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ never changes. Jesus Christ ALONE is our Salvation. It has pleased God to save His elect through Christ, and that plan of salvation is outlined in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no strength to be found in ourselves. There is no salvation in living life our own way. There is no comfort in separating ourselves from Christ’s sustaining grace and love. There is no fellowship with those whose father is the devil. How do we walk hand in hand with a spiritually decaying corpse? Life supports life. Death decays with death. False gospels give birth to death. Living our own way gives birth to wickedness. Wickedness leads to unrighteousness. Unrighteousness leads to separation from God. We are all born unrighteous. Paul declares in Romans 3 that there is none righteous, NOT EVEN ONE. There is no one who seeks God, because unrighteousness flees from righteousness. Without God’s saving grace, we couldn’t even begin to comprehend one aspect of our sinfulness and separation from God, let alone understand how unrighteous we are. Only the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, only the faithful preaching of Christ crucified, can save souls.
But we will suffer for proclaiming this true Gospel. People will insult us. They will tell us we don’t know what we are talking about. They will persecute us…and even those who claim to be true Christians but who are following a false gospel will join in this persecution. They will claim the Gospel is not the answer to their misery. My friends, the world will hate us because it hates Christ.
Which brings me to the final point of this sermon: Whose approval do we want? Paul asks the Galatian churches whose approval he’s seeking. He brings up the fact that if he was merely trying to win the approval of man, he would not be preaching Christ crucified.
He, of anyone, would know this fact. He once persecuted the Christian faith. He was a Pharisee, a religious leader who claimed Christ was a lie. But after his conversion on the road to Damascus, he began a champion for the faith. His life didn’t get easier…shipwrecks, trials, jail-time, and his eventual death for the faith is proof of that. But he never separated himself from the cross of Christ. He worked to advance the kingdom of God, not for man’s approval.
Let us take note of this. We cannot be true Christians and please men. The cross is an offense to men in their natural state. We cannot cozy up to Satan’s world and be strong in faith. Paul didn’t work to please God. His faith alone made him pleasing to God’s eyes. We cannot please God by working, we can only please Him by faith. Paul knew this, and knew that he would not and could not please men by preaching Christ crucified…yet he did it anyway, for he knew…he KNEW…that Christ was his only hope. He disregarded the approval of men as nothing, and sought to live his faith for the Lord.
We would do well to take note of this. Too often we live as though we are part of the world, not merely in the world. Too often we act as though our faith is separate. Too often we act as though we haven’t been changed by Christ at all. We are all guilty of this. Every single one of us. There are no exceptions, apart from Christ…we have all acted as though our faith is common. We have lived for the approval of men, forgetting our status as servants of Jesus Christ.
Do we read that word? “Servants.” Paul said it rightly. We cannot live for men’s approval and serve Christ. Let’s be honest; the Gospel of Christ is offensive to wicked men. And all men in their original state of condemnation are wicked. There may be many degrees of wickedness, but the end result is constant…without Christ, all men are wicked. Apart from Christ, we are only evil all the time. We cannot stand in God’s sight as natural men. Christ must remake us into a new creation, replacing our wickedness with His righteousness and making us acceptable to God.
Do we live for men, or for God? It’s a crucial question. We will either be a blessing or a mockery to God. Do we shame Him by seeking men’s approval…or do we live in a way fitting of the title, “Children of God”? It is the Lord Christ whom we serve.
Now let us fall before the majesty of our great God, acknowledging our sins, and asking that He would make us increasingly conscious of them, that we may detest them. May we spend our lives seeking and striving to honour and serve Him in strict obedience. And since we cannot free ourselves owing to our great infirmity, may He bear us up until He has freed us from all the defilements of the flesh, and clothed us in His righteousness. Indeed, He has begun this work in us now and affords us solid ground of assurance that what He has begun, He will complete. Amen.
