This week, we are looking at the opening sections of a letter in the Bible called the book of Galatians. Wednesday, we saw a man named Paul reveal for us the timeless reason that we are to vote no on religion because religion is opposed to the gospel. Whether it is the religion of legalism or the religion of license, religion and the message of the gospel are diametrically opposed to one another.
The religion of legalism is opposed to the message of the gospel because legalism calls us to a life and a lifestyle that is based on our performance for God that will always fall short of being able to rescue us from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. The religion of license is opposed to the message of the gospel because licentiousness calls us to a life and a lifestyle that embraces the very selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God.
Today, as Paul continues in the opening sections of this letter, we see his response to those who were proclaiming the false gospel of religion in verses 8-9:
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
To fully understand the significance of Paul’s word’s here, we first need to understand what Paul means when he uses the phrase “he is to be accursed”. The word accursed, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to be devoted to destruction. This word was used to describe the offerings that were made to God in the Jewish sacrificial system as a result of selfishness and sin. In other words, Paul is saying any the person who proclaims a message about how to be right with God that is contrary to the claims of Christ and message of the gospel that he had preached was to be viewed as under a curse and facing eternity separated from God in Hell.
Even if Paul Himself, or other close followers of Jesus that were called Apostles, were to later come back and change or distort the message of the gospel into the message of religion, they were deserving to be cursed to experience God’s right and just response of eternal separation from God in Hell for the selfishness and rebellion that led them to change and distort the message of the gospel.
Even if an angel from Heaven should appear in a forest to someone and direct them to golden tablets that were buried in the ground that proclaimed a message that was contrary to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, they were deserving to be cursed to experience God’s right and just response of eternal separation from God in Hell. You see, I don’t doubt that Joseph Smith saw what he saw; I believe His story. I believe he saw someone disguised as an angel of light, who gave to him a message of the religion of legalism that calls us to a life and a lifestyle that is based on our performance for God that will always fall short of being able to rescue us from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. But that is not Paul’s point.
Paul’s point is that whether it is Joseph Smith and Mormonism, or Mohammad and Islam, or Buddha and Hinduism, or any other human or angelic being that proclaims a message that is contrary to the message of the gospel and promotes the religion of legalism or license, they will receive God’s just and right response of eternal separation from God in Hell for the selfishness and rebellion that led them to change and distort the message of the gospel.
And those who choose to embrace and place their allegiance in another message that promotes religion over the gospel is in fact still separated from God as a result of selfishness and rebellion that places themselves in opposition to the gospel and God. Paul then concludes the opening section of his letter to the churches of Galatia by defending his confrontation and condemnation of those who were embracing and proclaiming religion in verse 10:
For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
Now this verse, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Do you think that I am trying to persuade and appeal to men by condemning those who proclaim the gospel of religion and who promote a religion centered lifestyle? Do you think that I am trying to flatter people by proclaiming the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel? I mean how well is that going to work for me? Oh, hi let me introduce myself. I’m Paul, and I just want to flatter you by telling you that there is nothing that you can do to rescue yourself from your selfishness. There is absolutely nothing that you can do for God to make yourself right with God. So do you feel flattered? Do you feel persuaded that you are a good person now that I have shared that with you? Are we buds now? Can I come over and hang out at you place now that I have let you know that you are in desperate need of a rescuer? Will you be friends with me on Facebook now?
You see, the message of the gospel is not flattering to humanity, is it? No, it is not flattering to us. It is not flattering to us because there is something within us that thinks that there must be something that we can do to earn spiritual brownie points with God. The message of the gospel is not flattering to us because there is something within us that thinks we can manage our selfishness and rebellion through religious activity. The message of the gospel is not flattering to us because there is something within us that wants to make God like a therapist that gives us some good counseling and therapy so that our self esteem can improve and so our performance for God can make us right with God. The message of the gospel is not flattering to us because there is something within us that thinks that God will somehow be o.k. with a life and a lifestyle that embraces the very selfishness and rebellion that separated us from God in the first place because we have read in the Bible that God gives grace.
And that something within us is our selfishness and rebellious nature apart from Christ attempting to lead us to live religious-centered lives instead of gospel-centered lives. But whether it is the religion of legalism or the religion of license, religion and the message of the gospel are diametrically opposed to one another.
The religion of legalism is opposed to the message of the gospel because legalism calls us to a life and a lifestyle that is based on our performance for God that will always fall short of being able to rescue us from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. The religion of license is opposed to the message of the gospel because licentiousness calls us to a life and a lifestyle that embraces the very selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God. And as followers of Jesus, we are called to vote no on religion because religion is opposed to the gospel.
So how are you voting? Are you casting a ballot to vote to live your life as a religious-centered person? Or are you casting a ballot to live your life as a gospel-centered person?
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