September 4, 2025 • 60 mins
Buckle UP People!!! We're taking a wrecking ball called "The Gospel" to every lie, every stronghold, and every subtle twist of the truth that has kept you in bondage. Your mission, should you choose to squabble up, is to get free and get clear from all distorted Gospels!
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If this message touched your heart or challenged you in any way, we're asking you to pass it along. Share it with someone in your life who needs to hear it. Your willingness to share doesn't just help us it extends God's Kingdom. It plants seeds. It opens doors. It points people back to Christ. That's the real mission. So don't keep it to yourself. Let it travel. Let it matter in someone else's life. Love & Need Ya!!!
🎧 New episodes drop every Friday | Available on: Spreaker, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio
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Pastor TIm: pastortim@kingdomchicago.org
Brothers In The Word - Facebook
Brothers In The Word - YouTube
New Episode drops every Thursday on: Spreaker, Spotify, Amazon Music & iHeart Radio
Follow: Brothers in The Word
If this message touched your heart or challenged you in any way, we're asking you to pass it along. Share it with someone in your life who needs to hear it. Your willingness to share doesn't just help us it extends God's Kingdom. It plants seeds. It opens doors. It points people back to Christ. That's the real mission. So don't keep it to yourself. Let it travel. Let it matter in someone else's life. Love & Need Ya!!!
🎧 New episodes drop every Friday | Available on: Spreaker, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio
👉 Like, Subscribe, and Share
Pastor TIm: pastortim@kingdomchicago.org
Brothers In The Word - Facebook
Brothers In The Word - YouTube
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, family, Welcome to brotherident the Word. My
name is Tim Smith. I am so glad you decided
to pull up with us and get into this word.
I'm blessed to be with you because today is not
just any other day. Our session for today is entitled
these Walls of Gospel Distortion, These Walls of Gospel Distortion,
(00:24):
And I want to get you started with a power
word for this lesson. If you're taking those please write
this down. The power word for this lesson is clarity.
Clarity is the high definition truth of God that shatters
change and set captives free. See the thing you have
to understand about distortion. Distortion manufactures confusion. Clarity deals confidence.
(00:47):
Distortion will enslave you, Clarity will empower you. And so
today we are on a mission, holy quest for clarity.
As we look at the couple of verses of scripture,
let's get into the text. You have your Bible handy,
please grab your sword. We're in Galatians chapter one. We're
gonna be looking at verses six and seven. Galatians chapter one,
(01:08):
Verse six and seven. And let me tell you right now,
right here, the center of this letter to the Saints
in Galatia is none other than the apostle, Paul, and
I need to let you in on just a little
bit of information. He is not in a good mood.
I need you to understand the tone of this letter.
(01:29):
He is not in a good mood. He is not
sending pleasantries. He's not warming up the crowd, because gospel
distortion has the apostle kicking the door off the hinges.
So we're gonna jump in and we're gonna go to work,
and we're gonna unpack this. Galatians, Chapter one, verse six
and seven. Paul writes these words, I am astonished that
(01:51):
you Christians are so quickly deserting him who called you
into the grace of Christ and a turn into a
different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there
are some who trouble you and want to distort the
Gospel of Christ. I want you to let that land
in your spirit. See, whenever you read the epistles, you're
(02:14):
reading letters that are being written to churches, And a
lot of times these letters are being written to bring correction.
See there's no such thing as a perfect church. And
the Church of Galatial Glacia was a region, and there
were churches in this region, and the Apostle Paul planted
these churches. You have to understand who Paul is. There
(02:36):
are thirteen letters in the New Testament that bears the
Apostle's name. The church doesn't even know how to be
the church without the writings of the Apostle Paul. So
Paul got word that there were some people coming in
behind him and they were undermining, undermining the work that
he had done, the work of preaching salvation by grace
(02:59):
alon So these people, known as Judaizers, they were coming
in to tell the saints, hey, not only do you
have to adhere to grace, but you also have to
adhere to the law. So there was this mixture, there
was a distortion that they were trying to set in place.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And so when Paul is writing this letter, he's stunned.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
He's stunned that this is happening because the original Greek
language it paints the picture of a man whose.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Jaw is on the floor.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Paul is utterly bewildered. And this isn't a disappointment that
he's having. This is a spiritual Have you lost your mind?
That's the essence of what Paul is saying. The very
people who had a front row seat to the miracle
of grace are actively trading it in for a cheap,
poisonous imitation. And Paul is pulling the fire alarm. This
(03:54):
is a man who's smelling smoke. This is a man
who sees flames licking at the door. So now we
have to break this down and we have to see
the architecture of distortion, because if you don't see and
understand what distortion is, you might being You might end
up believing a distorted gospel. And so what I want
(04:14):
to do is I want to examine this wall by wall.
We got four walls that we need to take a
look at, and I want us to.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Touch these walls. I want us to look at these walls.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I want us to ask ourselves, is this a wall
that I am encountering right now in my life? Wall
number one, the wall of drifting devotion, The wall of
drifting devotion. I pray everybody is taking notes, and you
know how I am. You must take detailed notes. I
need detailed notes out of you. Okay, So let's look
(04:44):
at the first haymaker that Paul throws, and it's found
right there in verse six, Verse six. I am astonished
that you are so quickly deserting him. And again I
need to impress upon you. He's writing to Christian. So
now let's tell that phrase apart, because the word deserting
is actually a military term. It's not a casual stroll.
(05:08):
It's not a lazy drift. The way in which Paul
is using this word, it's the picture of a soldier
who's in the heat of the battle. He rips off
the insignia of the king, and he throws down his.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Weapon, and he defects to the other side.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
He goes to the other side to now fight against you.
It's a wilful act of treason against the king who
is listing him or listed them.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
In his army.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
And so when Paul gets word gets noticed that this
is happening, he is stunned. And what he's stunned by
looking the verse, he's saying that this is happening so quickly.
So this isn't a casual desertion. This is a quick desertion.
This was happening in real time even as Paul is
(05:57):
pinning this letter. It's like they heard the gospel on
Sunday God saved and by Wednesday they were already downloading
the enemy's battle plans. And here's the absolute care of
the issue that Paul is dealing with. I want you
to notice who they are deserting. Words matter when you're
(06:18):
reading scripture. Always keep that in mind. Words matter, and
I want you to notice who they are deserting. But
I also want you to know who they're not deserting.
Paul doesn't say that they are deserting a gospel, I
mean a doctrine. He doesn't say that they are deserting
a church. He doesn't say that they are deserting a
set of rules or denomination. He says, you are deserting him.
(06:41):
You are deserting him who called you. This is personal,
this is relational. They are deserting Jesus. They're not deserting Paul.
They're deserting Jesus. Because when you desert the gospel, when
you turn your back on the gospel, turning your back
on Jesus. I want you to write this down, file
(07:04):
us away gospel. Gospel distortion and it's embryonic stage, always
begins with a relational disconnect from.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
The person of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Gospel distortion and it's embryonic stage, it always begins with
a relational disconnection from the person of Jesus. And this
is what I mean by that, before you ever trade
the truth for a lie, you first.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Trade intimacy with the king for lesser affection.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Remember the children of Israel, they told God we need
a king. See God was the one taking care of them.
But Israel started looking around at the other nations, and
they told God, we want a king like them. What
am I saying? They no longer had any affection for God.
They got bored. And here with the saints in Galatia,
(08:02):
they also got bored. They got bored with the king
of kings. And so when you get bored, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
What you do. You start looking for something new.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
What's the latest, what's happening in the culture, what's happening
right now?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And let me make it playing for you. Imagine a.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
World class jazz trio. And at the center of all
of this music is the pianist. He is the very
soul of the sound. He is the very heartbeat of
the sound. He doesn't just play the notes. He gives
the music its breath. He shapes the feeling of it.
(08:41):
He shapes the rhythm of it, the bassis and the
drummer are so locked in with the pianists that it's
as if they can feel where he's going even before
he's even before he plays.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
They are in rhythm, they are in.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Sync, and they make What they make is more than
just music. What they're making is a deep conversation. It's
a connection of spirits, and they're in perfect harmony. But
then let's say a new drummer joins the group. He's
a brilliant player, But this drummer plays for himself.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
His beat is just.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
The fraction off from the timing of the pianist. It's
a little too busy, it's a little too loud. Now
let's focus on the basis. Because only three of them,
the bassis. He has a choice. Will he stay connected
to the pianist, the true heart of the music, or.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Will he begin to drift?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Will he begin to follow the flashy, conflicting rhythm of
the new drummer. And let me tell you this, the
moment he chooses the drummer, he has deserted his leader.
But now this is the part that I want you
to really understand. This is the tragedy, the quiet tragedy.
(10:10):
The basis hasn't left the stage. When I said he
deserted the pianists for the drummer, he hasn't left the stage.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
He's still holding his instrument, he's still playing.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
But what he's done he has abandoned the relationship that created.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
The truth music.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So he traded the essential for the impressive. He has
deserted the pianist quickly. And this is the point I
need you to get. You don't have to leave a
church to desert Jesus. You can lead Jesus. You can
desert him while you're sitting in the few. You can
(10:54):
desert him while you're singing in the choir. You can
desert jesus Us while you're serving at church. This is
the wall of drifting devotion. It's when we stopped listening
to the heartbeat of Jesus and we start tapping our
feet to the beat of the world. We start tapping
(11:15):
our feet to the beat of religion. We start tapping
our feet to the beat of church, rules, to the
beat of denomination, to the beat of self. And this
is the very heart of everything. Your calling was not
a job application. You did not impress God with your resume.
Your calling was a rescue mission that God launched while
(11:41):
you were still an enemy. I believe that's Dan. I'm sorry, Yes,
Romas chapter five, verse eight. While we were sinners. Christ
died for the ungodly. So there's nothing that you brought
to the table. There's nothing that I brought to the table.
Running over to Tecon Timody chapter one, verse nine, I
believe Paul All says that God saved us and called
(12:03):
us with holy calling. He saved us, and he called
us with a holy calling, and it was according to
his purpose, and it was according to his grace, and
he gave this to us in Christ Jesus, Paul said,
before the world even began. So grace is not just
(12:24):
a pardon for your sins. Grace is not a get
out of free jail card. Paul says. Over in Roman
Shops six, verse one, he says, shall we continue in
sin that grace may abound me?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
He said, God forbid.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Grace is the very atmosphere of Heaven that you breathe
right here on earth. Grace is the divine operating system
for every Christian. In the Book of Galatians, you have
these false teachers, these judaizers, these spiritual hackers.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
They came in after Paul left.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
He established these churches, and when he left, they came
in to try and install a virus. And the virus
that they tried to install was called the law. They said, hey, listen,
grace is a good starting point, but you also need
our religious software update. You need to be circumcised, You
(13:26):
need to observe these days. You need to add performance
to your to Christ's perfection. And let me tell you
something right here, right now, the moment you begin to
add a quote unquote but to the grace of Christ,
you've already deserted it. You've left it grace plus your works.
(13:47):
It's not grace. That's a deal. And God doesn't make
deals for salvation. He gives gifts.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
And this is.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The thesis statement of our entire faith. And Paul makes
it crystal clear. If you run over the Ephesians chapter two,
verse eight to nine, you will you will find nowhere
else in scripture the truest definition of what.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Grace is and what grace has wrought in our lives.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Ephesians chapter two, birth eighty nine. For by grace you
have been saved through faith. Let me know when you
when you come into this and this is not of
your own doing. It is the gift of God, not
a result of works. Why so that no one may boast.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Let's tell this gift open for a second.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Paul says, for by grace you have been saved. Grace
is the source, Grace is the engine. Grace is the
divine initiative. Grace is God's unmerited, unearned, undeserved, favored. Pour
it out directly on you. Practically. What this means is this,
(15:03):
You didn't do anything to start the process of your salvation.
You were dead and san If you don't believe me,
just run straight up to Ephesians chapter two, verse one,
and you will see it. Ephesian chapter two, verse one
through three gives the most deplorable description of who we
were before we get before we get to but God,
(15:27):
because I believe that's how verse four begins. But God,
who was rich in mercy, he took the first step.
We didn't take the first step. God took the first step.
Grace is God moving towards you when you were moving
away from him. I remember when I felt the pull
of God on my life. I was trying to run.
(15:49):
I was trying to outrun it. I didn't want it.
I didn't want to deal with it. I don't want
nothing to do with it. But I could sense it,
I can feel it. I'd be at the club trying
to get my party on, and next thing you know,
I'm upen to club talking to people about Jesus and
they looking at me like, man, will you please die
my friend? They can tell you right now, like Tim,
come on, bro, We're not doing this again tonight. Why
(16:12):
I could sense and I could feel something was telling me, Ay,
there's more to life than this. This isn't your destiny
and this isn't who God created you to be. So
Paul says that this grace came to us through faith.
Faith is the channel. Faith is not why you're saved.
(16:35):
It's how you receive the salvation that grace offers. Faith
is simply this Faith is then empty open hand that
receives the gift.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
It's not the muscle that earns the prize.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Think of a man who's starving and he's been offered
something to eat. His reaching out to take the plate
doesn't earned the plate. The plate is simply a pure
gift from the one who's offering it to the man.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
His reaching for the plate is just the way he receives.
The gift.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Faith is just simply you reaching out and receiving the
gift of salvation that God is holding out to you.
Paul goes on to say, he says, and this is
not your own doing, It is the gift of God.
Paul puts a giant spotlight on this statement because he
(17:33):
doesn't want anybody to miss this. The whole package, the
grace that saves, the faith that receives, it's all a gift.
You didn't generate it, you didn't earn it. You can't
claim any credit for it. This means this family, on
your very best day, when you feel holy, when you
(17:56):
feel righteous, your salvation is a gift. This means on
your very worst day, when you feel like a complete failure,
your salvation is a gift.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It was never dependent on you to begin with.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Not a result of works, Paul says, so that no
one can brag, no one can boast, no one can
pop their collar, no one can say, look at me,
look at what I did. That's the knock got punched
to all religious pride. God designed salvation to specifically demolish
all human boasting. Because you know, we has a propensity,
(18:38):
We have a propensity to allow pride to get inside
of us. If you could be saved by your good works,
if I could be saved by my good works, then
guess what. We'd have something to brag about. We have
something to compete with each other about. Heaven would be
full of people comparing spiritual resumes.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So you know what God did. God designed salvation to
all of that noise. He put all of that noise
to bed.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
If you go in your gospel, and if you stand
at the foot of the cross, that ground at the
foot of the cross is perfectly level. The ceo, the janitor,
the past, the prostitute, all come with empty hands. It's
not about your resume. It's not about your degrees. God's
(19:27):
silences the prideful, and he gives a radical hope to
those that are humble. Here's your call to action. Let
me give your first call to action for this session.
Your call to action is this. I need you to
re anchor yourself to your calling.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And this is what I mean.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Go back to that moment when you first understood unequivocally
that God loved you, That he loved you not because
you were good, but because He loves you because who
He is remember John three sixteen. For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son. God
(20:07):
so loved the world. It wasn't enough for him to
love the world. He so loved the world.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
I believe.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Over in John fifteen nine, Jesus says, as a father
has loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in
my love. He was speaking to his disciples, I believe.
In First John, chapter four and verse sixteen, John writes
these words. He says, when we have known and believed
the love of God has to us. God is love,
(20:34):
and he that dwells in love dwells in God and
God in him. The love of God, it just bounces
off of us. It bounces off of us, and it
bounces right back to him. And it bounces off of
us and it bounces right back to him. Wall number two,
the wall of dangerous diversion, the wall of dangerous diversion.
(20:58):
Lit your eyes kind of skim over the verse six.
At the end of verse six, Paul says this and
are turning to a different gospel. The people in the
church were turning to a quote unquote different gospel that
should shock and alarm all of us, because there's a
(21:19):
progression here. You don't just desert something, you always desert
to something else. If you are not actively, passionately and
intentionally filled with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, you
will by default be filled with a false one. There
are only two families on this earth. Jesus told the
(21:42):
group over in John chapter eight, group of religious leaders.
He said, you are of your father, the death. There's
a family of God and as the family of the Death.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
That's it. There is no third family. So if you're
not filled with.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
The true gospel, by default, by nature of your falling nature,
you will default to a false doctrine. Paul's language here,
I think is so critical and I want to take
our time with this.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
That word different.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Understand that different means different in kind. It's not just
another flavor of the same thing. That's not what he's
talking about, like choosing between two brands of the same car. No,
that's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about
is the difference between a car and a coffin.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
That's what Paul's talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's the difference between life giving food and lethal poison.
It's something else entirely masquerading as the real thing. If
this wall could talk, it would sound reasonable. It would
tell you, you know what, a slight detour can lead
to a fatal destination. But hey, the scenery is so
(23:03):
much better on this route. I have literally heard people
say this, I'm not worried about going to Hell because
I'll have some company down there and we're going to
have a party.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Think about how ignorant that sounds. And I want you to.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I want you to understand how subtle and how deadly
this can be. I want you to think about one
of the most foundational scriptures of all in John chapter one,
verse one.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
And as an aside, if you.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Go back to Genesis chapter three, the very first description
that we get of Satan in the garden is that
he's subtle. Remember that, and I want you to see
this subtle diversion, this subtle distortion. So John chapter one,
verse one, one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible.
(23:54):
That's an emphatic statement that John is writing about Jesus,
and the Gospels are different. The Gospels give you a
four D image of Jesus and Matthew, you're.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Going to see him as the king.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
In Mark, you're going to see him as the servant,
and Luke, you're going to see him as the man.
And when I say man, I mean a natural man.
And in John's gospel, you're going to see him as God.
That's the difference. Same Jesus, but you're going to see
a different aspect. And so in John chapter one, verse one,
(24:31):
John doesn't begin with a genealogy the way Matthew when
Luke does, because those genealogies trace Jesus back to human descendants,
the humanity of Jesus. So in John chapter one, verse one,
John says, the bar so high, it's the ego of
these four gospels. In John chapter one, verse one, and
(24:51):
in every credible bible you will ever pick up, it
simply says this. In the beginning was the Word, and
the word was with God, and the word was God.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Simple. Right now, you.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Look at your bible. If your bible doesn't say was God,
I'm gonna need you to throw that bible away. It
says was a God. Yeah, we're gonna have to get
that Bible up out of there. And so when John
writes this, he's declaring the full, uncompromised, eternal deity of
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Jesus is not a creation.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Jesus did not come into being into existence in a manger.
If you go all the way back to Genesis chapter one,
verse one, you'll find Jesus in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
God created the heavens and the earth.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
You got to take that word God, you got to
flip it over, and in the Hebrew you will see
that that word God has plurality in it. God, the Father, God,
the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. They're all right there
in Genesis chapter one, verse one. I'm sorry, yeah, in
Genesis chapter one, verse one. But if you only read
it on the surface and you don't do any studying,
that's all you will see. I believe Paul writes over
(26:00):
in Colossian chapter two, verse nine that in Christ dwote
the fullness of the Godhead bodied me. That's why Jesus
could tell Philip Philip, when you've seen me, Because Philip,
you know, he got a little tired in Jesus.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
He said, Jesus, show us the Father and will be satisfied.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
And Jesus looked at Philip kind of sighed eye and said, Philip,
when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. So Jesus
is not a creation.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
He is the creator. He is God now.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
A group like the Jehovah's witnesses in their own translation.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Of the Bible. I grew up as a Jehovah witness,
so I noticed.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
They made a very tiny remember the word I said earlier, subtle,
almost undetectable change to that very verse. They inserted just
one small letter. Their version reads, and the word was
a god small g that's the distortion. With one letter,
(27:10):
they demote the king of kings to a subordinate. They
turn the one true, Almighty God into just one powerful.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Being among others.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
This is a different gospel because it fundamentally changes who
Jesus is. If Jesus is just a god, then our
salvation is destroyed. As Paul told the Saints over and corrective.
If Christ be not risen from the grave, we're all
men most miserable. Why because anything can be a God.
(27:47):
That's why you can't line Jesus up to be a god.
Anything can be a god. Money can be a god,
power can be a god, your ego can be a god.
If Jesus is just another option on the pantheon of
little g gods, then he has no power to save.
Only God himself, the infinite Holy Creator can pay an
(28:10):
infinite price, an infinite ransom for sin. If the one
who died on the cross was anything less than fully God,
then his sacrifice is insufficient. And guess what if his
sacrifice was insufficient, you know what that means. Then that
means that we are still dead and our trespasses and sins.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
So look at Ephesians chapter two, verse one.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
That one little word eight is a detour, and it's
a fatal detour. It's a different gospel, that's my point.
It's a different gospel that leads to a different destination.
The destination that it leads you to is eternal separation
from the one true God. Jesus' family is not a God.
(29:00):
Jesus is God. And this is something that Paul was
even warning Timothy about. Paul warrened Timothy and two Timothy
that there's a time. He said that there will be
a time coming when the saints will have what's known
as itching ears. He said, they will accumulate for themselves teachers, pastors, prophets, bishops,
(29:24):
elders who will teach a gospel to suit their own passions,
turning away from the truth of God and wandering off
into myths, there are many itching ears in the modern church.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
There are many.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That are desperate for a gospel that doesn't convict.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Them or call out their sins.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Let me give you a figure with these gospels that
are circulating right now in the modern church.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Again, this isn't about the world.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Paul is writing to christ or so called Christians, even
as they were deserting from the gospel.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
There's a gospel of self improvement. Have you heard of it.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
There's a gospel of self improvement that says God helped.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Those who help themselves.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
And that sounds like a verse subscription, but it's not.
That's a lie from the pit of Hell dressed up in.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
A business suit.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
The Bible says God helps the helpless. There's a gospel
of positive thinking, the Gospel of Name It and Claim it,
and it turns faith into a metaphysical tool to bend
reality to your will. So instead of a humble trust
in a sovereign God who truly knows what you truly need.
(30:45):
Then there's the big one, the one that has so
many people in the Choco right now, and that's the
Gospel of prosperity, or the prosperity Gospel.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
And this has been around for a long time.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
This gospel has shipwrecked a lot of people's lives. The
prosperity gospel teaching says that God's primary will for you
is to be healthy, wealthy, and successful by worldly standards.
And it reduces Jesus, remember the creator of the universe.
(31:20):
It reduces Jesus to a cosmic vending machine. It replaces
the cross with a credit card. It tells you to
seek the gifts instead of the giver. And it's a
dangerous diversion that so many people have felt. So many
Christians have felled victim to and then guess what they
(31:45):
got angry with God when the promised check didn't come
into mail. There's a new kid on the block. This
gospel is called the Gospel of therapeutic affirmation. This gospel
turns Jesus into a divine therapist and his only job
(32:10):
is to affirm your every feeling, You're every desire and identity.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
And what this gospel does, it.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Removes all talk of sin, It removes repentance, it removes judgment.
It preaches a God who is all love and no holiness,
a God who would never really challenge you, only cuddle you.
It creates people who are It creates so called Christians
who are emotionally fragile and theologically illiterate, who fall apart
(32:44):
at the first sign of trials because they were promised
a life of perpetual affirmation.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
So those are just four gospels.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
There are many other gospels out there, but they are
different in kind. Even though they're called gospels, they're poison.
So here's your call to action. As we stand by
this wall. You must audit your spiritual diet. Who are
(33:13):
you allowing to speak into your life? Because if the
message that they're speaking is not unapologetically and exclusively centered
on salvation by grace and grace alone through faith alone,
in Christ alone, then I need you to leave them alone.
You have to walk away from that. You got to
(33:34):
put up your proverbial finger and walk away. Why Because
your eternal destination is at stake. There are people that
are connected to you. Your obedience is connected to their deliverance.
So Paul identifies this desertion from Christ and the diversion
(33:55):
to a lie.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
But then he does something I think that is so brilliant.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
He exposes this distortion for what it really is, and
it takes us to our third walk Wald number three,
the wall.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Of deceptive duplication. Look at verse seven.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
I want you to look and see how Paul pivots
in the first part of that verse. Just want to
deal with the first part and then we'll deal with
the second half of it. He says, not that there.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Is another one.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
For me, this is a masterclass in communication, because you
know why Paul just said they're turning to a different gospel,
and now he says he says, not that there is
another one. So the question that we have to ask ourselves,
that is he contradicting himself. No, he's exposing the counterfeit
gospel for what it is. The word for another means
(34:47):
another of the same kind. It's like having one dollar
bill and then another dollar bill. They're both the same
kind of currency. And so Paul is making a profound
theological point. He says, you're turning to a gospel that
is differently kind poison. But don't be fool for a
(35:08):
second thinking that this poison is a legitimate alternative, another
of the same kind as the true one. There is
no other gospel family, There is no other gospel of
the same kind as the true gospel. There is only
one mona Lisa, and there are infinite forgeries.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
There is the authentic Gospel of Christ.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
And then there are infinite cheap, deceptive duplications of that.
And if this walk could talk, it would smile at
you and say, I look like the real thing, I
feel like the real thing, But I'm a spiritual counterfeit
designed to siff you like we I think counterfeiting money
(35:54):
has been around ever since money has been around, and
right now, the most effective counterfeit money. It isn't the
stuff that's printed on cheap paper that a child could spot.
The most dangerous counterfeits are what's called the supernotes. These
are bills that are so expertly crafted they feel right,
(36:16):
they have the watermarks, and they even pass some tests.
The purpose of these supernotes is to deceive not just
the public, but also the experts. It's the subtlety that
makes them so deadly to an economy.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
And this is exactly what.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Jesus condemned in Matthew chapter twenty three when Jesus called
the Pharisees white washed tombs. It's such a powerful contrasting words.
White washed tombs. Outwardly they appeared beautiful. Outwardly, they appeared clean. Outwardly,
(36:58):
they appeared righteous. They looked the part, but He's saying
within them, they were full of death and corruption. The
most dangerous spiritual frauds don't look like villains. They don't
have red horns and pitchforks. They look like heroes. They
have the right vocabulary. They have a polished presentation, they
(37:22):
have a beautiful brand. They have a massive following. They
have mastered the performance of righteousness. But behind the whitewash,
their message leads to death if you just jump over.
The Galatians chapter three, verse one. This is another indication
of how frustrated Paul is with the Saints in Galatia.
(37:43):
In Galatians three to one, he cries out. He says, oh,
foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? When I was growing
up as a kid, we used to watch the show
called Bewitched. I believe it started in They would show
a lot of Remonds in the saturning. Me and my
brother would run home from school because we wanted to
(38:04):
watch the Witch.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
But I want you to let that word sink in
because what was the sitcom about. It was a comedy.
What it was about magic, and it was about cantations.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It's about spells, it's about witches, it's about warlocks. And
this is the word that Paul is using to Christians.
It doesn't mean that they were tricked of food. That's
not what Paul is saying. What Paul is saying is
that someone has cast a spell on them. Someone has
(38:35):
charmed them, Someone has fascinated them with an evil eye
so that their judgment is clouded and they can no
longer see what's real. To be bewitched is a spiritual enchantment.
Paul is upset with them because they saw the truth.
They saw the truth of the gospel. They were saved
by the gospel to crucified Christ was preached before their
(38:59):
very eyes. But then somebody came along and they cast
a spell on them. They cast a spell of glamor,
they cast a spell of prosperity. They cast a spell
that made them look away from the Cross and fixate
their eyes on something else.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
And that's what these gospels of distortion do. They are
a spell. They are a bewitching spell.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
They bewitch you into staring at yourself, staring at your potential,
staring at your wallet, staring at your desires, staring at
your political tribe, and they make you forget the one
thing that really matters to crucified Christ, who is the
source of all life and all righteousness.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
I have seen.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
With my very own eyes my brothers and sisters false
fall spell bound to these kind of bewitching doctors.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
I've seen it. I've talked to him.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
They're chasing a promise of earthly gain while losing intimate
community with Jesus.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
They're not even trying to have communion with Jesus.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Because they become so focused on the quote unquote blessings
that they lose sight of the blesser again Esian chapter one,
verse three. God has blessed you past tense with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. So now here's your call
of attention for this walk. I'm gonna need you to
(40:34):
break the spell. Break the spell, and this will help
you as you did that spiritual audit. And this is
how you're going to break the spell. You break it
by deliberately, forcefully fixing your eyes back on Jesus. Look
at the cross, see the price that was paid for you.
(40:55):
I believe the church over in Ephesus and Revelation, Remember
when John had the right to the seven churches of
Asia Minor. In these seven individual churches, God had some
things against these churches, and he was calling them on
the carpet. I believe the Church of Philadelphia brotherly Love,
they were okay. But one of those churches was church
(41:15):
called Ephesus. That's where we get our letter Ephesians. I
believe Paul was with this church for two or three years.
By the time that first century saints getting ready to
leave the scene, that church at Ephesus had lost their
first love.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
And that was the commendation that.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
John had the right to them, you have lost your
first love, and told them to turn and repent. When
we get distracted, we lose our love for God. You
did run well. The scripture said, who hindered you? Who
cut in the middle, Who cut you off from God?
Speaker 2 (41:55):
You were running?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
So you were running well. You were doing so good.
But then all of a sudden some distracted you. There
was a gospel that you heard that promised you some
things that you weren't seeing in your Bible. So when
we find ourselves and these kinds of situations, we have
(42:16):
to look at the cross. We need to take a
field trip and go back to the cross. See the
love that held him there on that cross, See the
wrath that he absorbed for you. When you are truly
captivated by the love of Christ, all of these little
cheap charms and promises and empty spells or false gospels,
(42:38):
they lose all of their power.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
You'll have a spiritual miss me.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
With that, Jesus said, My sheep know my voice, and
a stranger's voice.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
They won't follow. And so now this brings us to
our last wall.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
And I believe this wall is the most sinister of
the four walls that we're looking at, and this one
reveals the enemy's true into wall them before. If you're
taking notes the wall of deliberate distortion, let's read the
end of verse seven.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Seven B.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
But there are some who trouble you and want to
distort the Gospel of Christ. There it is gospel of distortion.
The curtain is pulled back. This is the aim, this
is the goal. This isn't an accident, This isn't a
simple misunderstanding among well meaning people.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
No, this is a.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Deliberate, malicious act of sabotage by specific people with a
specific predatory agenda. Paul says, there are some who trouble you.
He talked about Satan. He talking about some people in
there with the spirit of Satan, he says, And this
isn't when you think about it, it's an interesting word
(43:55):
and it's a dangerous word that Paul is using.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Trouble. Get that.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
I want you to just underline that in your spirit,
there are some who trouble you. That's the word I
want you to focus on. The word trouble means to
stir up. The word trouble means to agitate. The word
trouble means to cause inner turmoil. Have you ever felt
that way before? And this is the part that really
(44:24):
set this thing really in motion. It helps me to
see it even clearer. That's the same word use to
describe King Herod. Have you ever heard of King Herod?
The Bible says that King Herod was troubled when he
heard of Jesus' birth.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
That's kind of odd.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Why would the king get troubled because he heard of
the birth of Jesus. And I want you to understand
what that trouble inside of him, what it caused him
to do.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
That fanatical king was so troubled hear me at the.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
News of Jesus being born, that he put out a
decree to kill all the male children in Bethlehem and
in all of that region who are two years old
or under dam I believe you'll find out in Matthew chapter.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Two, verse three and Matthew Chapter two, verse sixteen. He
was troubled. So this word is a word.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Associated with deep seated fear, confusion, and anxiety. Because here's
why we know this gospel is so distorted. All you
have to do is just put these two gospels on
a scale. The true Gospel of Christ, when it is received,
you know what it does.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
It brings peace Romes five to one.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
The true Gospel quiet your soul. The true Gospel ends striving.
The true Gospel silences the accuser of the brethren. Say
any denomination, any doctrine, any teaching, any sermon that leaves
(46:26):
you feeling more anxious, more fearful, more insecure in your
relationship with God. That's not the gospel. That's trouble.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
If a church or a pastor makes you constantly question
your salvation, constantly worry, if you've done enough, constantly feel
like you're one mistake away from being disqualified. You're not
listening to a shepherd, No, you're not. You are listening
(47:02):
to a troublemaker. The feeling of being on a spiritual
treadmill where you have to perform. You have to perform.
You can't miss a service. You miss a service, gonna
get called out. All of this is so that you
can stay in God's good graces.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
That's not from the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
That's the anxiety produced by a troublemaker who is profiting
from your insecurity and its spiritual abuse. If this wall
could talk, it would growl at you and say, my
purpose is to make you anxious, not assured. My goal
is to make you a slave, not a child of God.
(47:45):
And here's their motive in doing this. They want to
distort the gospel. This is their desire, this is their will,
and this is their method.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
The original word means to.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Turn something to the opposite, to corrupt it tot If
you read this over and the King James says a
perverted gospel, twist it to the point that the gospel
looks unrecognizable. It's taking the good news that you're saved
by grace and twisting it into the bad news that
you must work to be saved. You must give and
(48:20):
pay tithes to be saved. You must speak in tongues
to be saved. You must come to my church to
be saved. You must turn your back on your unsaved
family to be saved. And family, please hear you. I'm
not telling you what i've heard. I'm telling you what
I've experienced for myself. These troublemakers are spiritual predators. How
(48:44):
do we know that? Over in Acts chapter twenty, Paul
has been with the saints in Ephicus, I said earlier,
either two or three years, and he's about to leave them.
He's about to get on the boat. So they're on
the shore. He's about to get on the boat and
go out to see But before he leaves, these men
are hugging on him. They're loving on him, and they're
in tears.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
But Paul wants them with this. He says, fierce.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
Wolves come in among you, not sparing the flock, and
that from among your own selves will arise men speaking
twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
That's the goal. I want to draw you to me.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Jesus said, come unto me. Are you that labor and
the heavy laby? And I'll give you rest? But no, no,
no no. These distorers of the Gospel, they want you
to look to them.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
It's always about them.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
It's always about building their kingdom, their father, their brand,
their agenda, their budget, their service control. And they use
the name of Jesus to make a name for themselves.
This isn't just error, it's ego. It's a hostile take
over of the Gospel for personal gain. Please hear me,
(50:06):
Please hear me. Here's your call to action. You must
develop a holy intolerance for distortion. We become too nice,
and that's why I told you when we first started this,
Paul ain't trying to be spiritually correct politically correct, because
too much is at stake. He called them foolish. Over
(50:28):
the third chapter. We become too nice, too tolerant of
different perspectives when it comes to the non negotiable core
of our faith.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Ephesians Chapter two, verse eight nine.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
Non negotiable, Jesus says, I am the Way, the Truth,
and the life.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
No man comes to the Father but by me. Non negotiable.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
When you hear a message that adds to the finished work,
of Christ.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
Your spirit should start moonwalking. When you see a leader
using guilt.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
And fear to control people, you should be outraged because
this isn't about being judgmental. No, it's about being a
guardian of the truth that sets you free. And that's
what Paul is doing for this entire letter. So take
a breath, because we have toured the architecture of a
spiritual prison. I'm seeing too many of my brothers and
(51:22):
sisters locked up inside of these kinds of prison cells,
locked behind walls such as these that we've talked about.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
We saw Wal number one, the wall of drifting devotion.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
That's where a relational disconnection from Jesus causes us to
cut our lifeline. We saw Wal number two, the wall
of dangerous diversion, that's where we follow a shifted doctrine
that leads to shipwreck.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
We looked at Wall number three, the wall.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
Of deceptive duplication, understanding that false gospels are like supernote counterfeits,
and these supernote counterfeits are designed.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
To witch us and to bankrub our souls.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
And finally, we looked at Wall number four, the wall
of deliberate distortion. That's where spiritual predators intentionally twist the
truth to trouble people and gain control. This is the
blueprint of the enemy. This is the gain book of
(52:23):
the enemy. But now now we got to put on
our hard hats, and now we have to start a
demolition project. The good news of the Gospel, it's not
just that we can identify the walls. The true power
of the gospel is that you and I have been
given the power to tear them down. Look at what
(52:45):
Paul says in Sect Corinthians, chapter ten, verse four and five.
He's going to show you how to deal with these
distorted gospels. He says, for the weapons of our warfare
are not of the flesh, but have the divine.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
Power to destroy strongholds.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
We destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God. Here it is, and take every thought
captive to obey Christ. Every one of these walls is
a stronghold, is an argument, is a lofty opinion raised
(53:24):
against the true knowledge of God. And you right now
you have been given divine power to demolish all of them.
The whole purpose of wanting to teach this lesson is
to liberate some people. Is to show you your spiritual
emancipation proclamation. Right now, I want you to have a
(53:51):
holy boldness to stand flat footed and know who you
are and who you are.
Speaker 2 (53:58):
Listen. There is so much religious based performance.
Speaker 1 (54:03):
Kind of things that are happening now in churches, and
the purpose of these performance religious based gospels is because
it wants to tell you that you're not enough, that
you have to do more. You have to do more
than just what the gospel says in Ephesians chapter two.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
Verse eight and nine. No, there's more you have to do.
You have to do.
Speaker 1 (54:28):
And the purpose of that, again is that you're not enough.
God is not going to accept you. You made a mistake,
you slip, you fail, You're not enough. Can I tell
you something? You are never supposed to be enough. Jesus
is enough for you. That's the gospel, and that's the
(54:48):
only message that can tear down these walls of gospel distortion.
Your salvation, my salvation was purchased with an infinite price,
and I don't want any of us to sell it
for a cheap human approval of religious security. You must
live like you are free, Jesus said, he who the
(55:10):
Son says free is free. Indeed, let's give you these
called actions. Call the action number one. I want you
to conduct a gospel audit this week. I will challenge
you to do a fear of the spiritual inventory. I
want you to write down your gospel presentation. Is it
the pure gospel? If you had to explain the gospel
(55:31):
to someone, if you had to win a soul for Christ,
could you do it? Could you do it? Have you
allowed some distortion to make your understanding of the gospel crooked?
So you're going to have to purify your understanding of
the gospel. And here's how you can do it. Go
over there and spend some time studying and reading Ephesians
(55:51):
Chapter two, verse eight, and nine, and you see just
how simple God has made this. It's not complicated. We complicated,
but it's not complicated at all. Two too, you're gonna
have to sever soul ties with distortion. If you have
identified any person, any influence that is a source of
(56:12):
gospel distortion in your life, you have.
Speaker 2 (56:15):
To make a clean break. And this is not a negotiation.
Speaker 1 (56:19):
Paul was not writing these people to negotiate with these
spiritual terrorists. You do not negotiate with spiritual terrorists. You're
gonna have to unfollow you're gonna have to unsubscribe.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
You're gonna have to change the channel. You're gonna have
to delete the number.
Speaker 1 (56:33):
You cannot demolish the walls in your life if you
keep inviting the builders over for dinner, you can't. You
have to make a break from this, and you have
to be okay, be okay with being in the minority,
Be okay with just not having to bow to that.
Speaker 2 (56:53):
Always tell people, if you stand with God, you're in
the majority.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
Jesus said, having done all the stand, Paul said over
in the fijis haven't done all the stand. Therefore, Jesus said,
his word will stand forever. And since his word is
going to stand forever, then just go stand.
Speaker 2 (57:10):
By the word. That's all you got to do.
Speaker 1 (57:12):
Number three, I want you to become a gospel messenger.
I'm not waiting for a church class or whatever. No,
I want you to become a gospel messenger. The Bible
says that we are living epistles to be read by men.
The best way to keep the Gospel clear in your
own heart is to give it away.
Speaker 2 (57:31):
Find one person this week, share the good news.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
You can do it in a very subtle kind of week,
and you can do it in a very loving kind
of way. Some people you have to kind of just
have a conversation with them. Don't share your opinion, don't
share your church rules. Don't tell them you got to
come heal my pastor. No, you shared a simple, powerful,
life changing message of what Jesus has done for you
(57:56):
on the cross and what He has also done for
them on the cross. Be cleared, be bold, and trust
God with the results.
Speaker 2 (58:04):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (58:05):
If this teaching has disrupted a wall in your life,
I need you to do me a favor and do
the brother as a favor.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
Share it Facebook family. We love you guys.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
Please like, comment, share tag some people who need this clarity.
Podcast listeners those that are on a spreaker, Spotify, Amazon,
i Heeart, drop a rating, forward it text the link.
If you don't follow Brothers in the Word yet, I
am inclined to believe you are a hater.
Speaker 2 (58:33):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (58:34):
New podcasts are going to drop every Thursday. Every Thursday,
new podcasts are going to drop this prayer so we
can turn it over with Brother Daniel. God, in the
name of Jesus, thank you for this word. Thank you
for the gospel that sets us free. Father we declare
war on distortion. We repent for every time that we've drifted,
(58:59):
time we've been diverted, every time we've been bewitched by
a duplication of your truth. So God, we ask for clarity.
Give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear.
Help us God to be fiercely loyal to the pure
gospel of grace. Empower us by your spirit to demolish
(59:21):
every crooked wall and to walk into freedom that you
have provided for us.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
You die to give us this freedom of God.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
So we challenge ourselves right now by your power to
live liberated, free, honest, loving lives. We bless you God
for what your word is going to do in our lives.
Forgive us for where we fall short. We repent, we
(59:52):
get up, we turn again unto you. And so Father,
we honor you, We.
Speaker 2 (59:58):
Bless you and you. And that's in Jesus name that
we do pray a man. Remember, family, always get into
the word of God, and the word of God will
get into you.
Ladies and gentlemen, family, Welcome to brotherident the Word. My
name is Tim Smith. I am so glad you decided
to pull up with us and get into this word.
I'm blessed to be with you because today is not
just any other day. Our session for today is entitled
these Walls of Gospel Distortion, These Walls of Gospel Distortion,
(00:24):
And I want to get you started with a power
word for this lesson. If you're taking those please write
this down. The power word for this lesson is clarity.
Clarity is the high definition truth of God that shatters
change and set captives free. See the thing you have
to understand about distortion. Distortion manufactures confusion. Clarity deals confidence.
(00:47):
Distortion will enslave you, Clarity will empower you. And so
today we are on a mission, holy quest for clarity.
As we look at the couple of verses of scripture,
let's get into the text. You have your Bible handy,
please grab your sword. We're in Galatians chapter one. We're
gonna be looking at verses six and seven. Galatians chapter one,
(01:08):
Verse six and seven. And let me tell you right now,
right here, the center of this letter to the Saints
in Galatia is none other than the apostle, Paul, and
I need to let you in on just a little
bit of information. He is not in a good mood.
I need you to understand the tone of this letter.
(01:29):
He is not in a good mood. He is not
sending pleasantries. He's not warming up the crowd, because gospel
distortion has the apostle kicking the door off the hinges.
So we're gonna jump in and we're gonna go to work,
and we're gonna unpack this. Galatians, Chapter one, verse six
and seven. Paul writes these words, I am astonished that
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you Christians are so quickly deserting him who called you
into the grace of Christ and a turn into a
different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there
are some who trouble you and want to distort the
Gospel of Christ. I want you to let that land
in your spirit. See, whenever you read the epistles, you're
(02:14):
reading letters that are being written to churches, And a
lot of times these letters are being written to bring correction.
See there's no such thing as a perfect church. And
the Church of Galatial Glacia was a region, and there
were churches in this region, and the Apostle Paul planted
these churches. You have to understand who Paul is. There
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are thirteen letters in the New Testament that bears the
Apostle's name. The church doesn't even know how to be
the church without the writings of the Apostle Paul. So
Paul got word that there were some people coming in
behind him and they were undermining, undermining the work that
he had done, the work of preaching salvation by grace
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alon So these people, known as Judaizers, they were coming
in to tell the saints, hey, not only do you
have to adhere to grace, but you also have to
adhere to the law. So there was this mixture, there
was a distortion that they were trying to set in place.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And so when Paul is writing this letter, he's stunned.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
He's stunned that this is happening because the original Greek
language it paints the picture of a man whose.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Jaw is on the floor.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Paul is utterly bewildered. And this isn't a disappointment that
he's having. This is a spiritual Have you lost your mind?
That's the essence of what Paul is saying. The very
people who had a front row seat to the miracle
of grace are actively trading it in for a cheap,
poisonous imitation. And Paul is pulling the fire alarm. This
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is a man who's smelling smoke. This is a man
who sees flames licking at the door. So now we
have to break this down and we have to see
the architecture of distortion, because if you don't see and
understand what distortion is, you might being You might end
up believing a distorted gospel. And so what I want
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to do is I want to examine this wall by wall.
We got four walls that we need to take a
look at, and I want us to.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Touch these walls. I want us to look at these walls.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I want us to ask ourselves, is this a wall
that I am encountering right now in my life? Wall
number one, the wall of drifting devotion, The wall of
drifting devotion. I pray everybody is taking notes, and you
know how I am. You must take detailed notes. I
need detailed notes out of you. Okay, So let's look
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at the first haymaker that Paul throws, and it's found
right there in verse six, Verse six. I am astonished
that you are so quickly deserting him. And again I
need to impress upon you. He's writing to Christian. So
now let's tell that phrase apart, because the word deserting
is actually a military term. It's not a casual stroll.
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It's not a lazy drift. The way in which Paul
is using this word, it's the picture of a soldier
who's in the heat of the battle. He rips off
the insignia of the king, and he throws down his.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Weapon, and he defects to the other side.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
He goes to the other side to now fight against you.
It's a wilful act of treason against the king who
is listing him or listed them.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
In his army.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
And so when Paul gets word gets noticed that this
is happening, he is stunned. And what he's stunned by
looking the verse, he's saying that this is happening so quickly.
So this isn't a casual desertion. This is a quick desertion.
This was happening in real time even as Paul is
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pinning this letter. It's like they heard the gospel on
Sunday God saved and by Wednesday they were already downloading
the enemy's battle plans. And here's the absolute care of
the issue that Paul is dealing with. I want you
to notice who they are deserting. Words matter when you're
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reading scripture. Always keep that in mind. Words matter, and
I want you to notice who they are deserting. But
I also want you to know who they're not deserting.
Paul doesn't say that they are deserting a gospel, I
mean a doctrine. He doesn't say that they are deserting
a church. He doesn't say that they are deserting a
set of rules or denomination. He says, you are deserting him.
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You are deserting him who called you. This is personal,
this is relational. They are deserting Jesus. They're not deserting Paul.
They're deserting Jesus. Because when you desert the gospel, when
you turn your back on the gospel, turning your back
on Jesus. I want you to write this down, file
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us away gospel. Gospel distortion and it's embryonic stage, always
begins with a relational disconnect from.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
The person of Jesus.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Gospel distortion and it's embryonic stage, it always begins with
a relational disconnection from the person of Jesus. And this
is what I mean by that, before you ever trade
the truth for a lie, you first.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Trade intimacy with the king for lesser affection.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Remember the children of Israel, they told God we need
a king. See God was the one taking care of them.
But Israel started looking around at the other nations, and
they told God, we want a king like them. What
am I saying? They no longer had any affection for God.
They got bored. And here with the saints in Galatia,
(08:02):
they also got bored. They got bored with the king
of kings. And so when you get bored, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
What you do. You start looking for something new.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
What's the latest, what's happening in the culture, what's happening
right now?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And let me make it playing for you. Imagine a.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
World class jazz trio. And at the center of all
of this music is the pianist. He is the very
soul of the sound. He is the very heartbeat of
the sound. He doesn't just play the notes. He gives
the music its breath. He shapes the feeling of it.
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He shapes the rhythm of it, the bassis and the
drummer are so locked in with the pianists that it's
as if they can feel where he's going even before
he's even before he plays.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
They are in rhythm, they are in.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Sync, and they make What they make is more than
just music. What they're making is a deep conversation. It's
a connection of spirits, and they're in perfect harmony. But
then let's say a new drummer joins the group. He's
a brilliant player, But this drummer plays for himself.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
His beat is just.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
The fraction off from the timing of the pianist. It's
a little too busy, it's a little too loud. Now
let's focus on the basis. Because only three of them,
the bassis. He has a choice. Will he stay connected
to the pianist, the true heart of the music, or.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Will he begin to drift?
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Will he begin to follow the flashy, conflicting rhythm of
the new drummer. And let me tell you this, the
moment he chooses the drummer, he has deserted his leader.
But now this is the part that I want you
to really understand. This is the tragedy, the quiet tragedy.
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The basis hasn't left the stage. When I said he
deserted the pianists for the drummer, he hasn't left the stage.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
He's still holding his instrument, he's still playing.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
But what he's done he has abandoned the relationship that created.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
The truth music.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So he traded the essential for the impressive. He has
deserted the pianist quickly. And this is the point I
need you to get. You don't have to leave a
church to desert Jesus. You can lead Jesus. You can
desert him while you're sitting in the few. You can
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desert him while you're singing in the choir. You can
desert jesus Us while you're serving at church. This is
the wall of drifting devotion. It's when we stopped listening
to the heartbeat of Jesus and we start tapping our
feet to the beat of the world. We start tapping
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our feet to the beat of religion. We start tapping
our feet to the beat of church, rules, to the
beat of denomination, to the beat of self. And this
is the very heart of everything. Your calling was not
a job application. You did not impress God with your resume.
Your calling was a rescue mission that God launched while
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you were still an enemy. I believe that's Dan. I'm sorry, Yes,
Romas chapter five, verse eight. While we were sinners. Christ
died for the ungodly. So there's nothing that you brought
to the table. There's nothing that I brought to the table.
Running over to Tecon Timody chapter one, verse nine, I
believe Paul All says that God saved us and called
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us with holy calling. He saved us, and he called
us with a holy calling, and it was according to
his purpose, and it was according to his grace, and
he gave this to us in Christ Jesus, Paul said,
before the world even began. So grace is not just
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a pardon for your sins. Grace is not a get
out of free jail card. Paul says. Over in Roman
Shops six, verse one, he says, shall we continue in
sin that grace may abound me?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
He said, God forbid.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Grace is the very atmosphere of Heaven that you breathe
right here on earth. Grace is the divine operating system
for every Christian. In the Book of Galatians, you have
these false teachers, these judaizers, these spiritual hackers.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
They came in after Paul left.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
He established these churches, and when he left, they came
in to try and install a virus. And the virus
that they tried to install was called the law. They said, hey, listen,
grace is a good starting point, but you also need
our religious software update. You need to be circumcised, You
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need to observe these days. You need to add performance
to your to Christ's perfection. And let me tell you
something right here, right now, the moment you begin to
add a quote unquote but to the grace of Christ,
you've already deserted it. You've left it grace plus your works.
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It's not grace. That's a deal. And God doesn't make
deals for salvation. He gives gifts.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
And this is.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
The thesis statement of our entire faith. And Paul makes
it crystal clear. If you run over the Ephesians chapter two,
verse eight to nine, you will you will find nowhere
else in scripture the truest definition of what.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Grace is and what grace has wrought in our lives.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Ephesians chapter two, birth eighty nine. For by grace you
have been saved through faith. Let me know when you
when you come into this and this is not of
your own doing. It is the gift of God, not
a result of works. Why so that no one may boast.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Let's tell this gift open for a second.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Paul says, for by grace you have been saved. Grace
is the source, Grace is the engine. Grace is the
divine initiative. Grace is God's unmerited, unearned, undeserved, favored. Pour
it out directly on you. Practically. What this means is this,
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You didn't do anything to start the process of your salvation.
You were dead and san If you don't believe me,
just run straight up to Ephesians chapter two, verse one,
and you will see it. Ephesian chapter two, verse one
through three gives the most deplorable description of who we
were before we get before we get to but God,
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because I believe that's how verse four begins. But God,
who was rich in mercy, he took the first step.
We didn't take the first step. God took the first step.
Grace is God moving towards you when you were moving
away from him. I remember when I felt the pull
of God on my life. I was trying to run.
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I was trying to outrun it. I didn't want it.
I didn't want to deal with it. I don't want
nothing to do with it. But I could sense it,
I can feel it. I'd be at the club trying
to get my party on, and next thing you know,
I'm upen to club talking to people about Jesus and
they looking at me like, man, will you please die
my friend? They can tell you right now, like Tim,
come on, bro, We're not doing this again tonight. Why
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I could sense and I could feel something was telling me, Ay,
there's more to life than this. This isn't your destiny
and this isn't who God created you to be. So
Paul says that this grace came to us through faith.
Faith is the channel. Faith is not why you're saved.
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It's how you receive the salvation that grace offers. Faith
is simply this Faith is then empty open hand that
receives the gift.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
It's not the muscle that earns the prize.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Think of a man who's starving and he's been offered
something to eat. His reaching out to take the plate
doesn't earned the plate. The plate is simply a pure
gift from the one who's offering it to the man.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
His reaching for the plate is just the way he receives.
The gift.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Faith is just simply you reaching out and receiving the
gift of salvation that God is holding out to you.
Paul goes on to say, he says, and this is
not your own doing, It is the gift of God.
Paul puts a giant spotlight on this statement because he
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doesn't want anybody to miss this. The whole package, the
grace that saves, the faith that receives, it's all a gift.
You didn't generate it, you didn't earn it. You can't
claim any credit for it. This means this family, on
your very best day, when you feel holy, when you
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feel righteous, your salvation is a gift. This means on
your very worst day, when you feel like a complete failure,
your salvation is a gift.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
It was never dependent on you to begin with.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Not a result of works, Paul says, so that no
one can brag, no one can boast, no one can
pop their collar, no one can say, look at me,
look at what I did. That's the knock got punched
to all religious pride. God designed salvation to specifically demolish
all human boasting. Because you know, we has a propensity,
(18:38):
We have a propensity to allow pride to get inside
of us. If you could be saved by your good works,
if I could be saved by my good works, then
guess what. We'd have something to brag about. We have
something to compete with each other about. Heaven would be
full of people comparing spiritual resumes.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So you know what God did. God designed salvation to
all of that noise. He put all of that noise
to bed.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
If you go in your gospel, and if you stand
at the foot of the cross, that ground at the
foot of the cross is perfectly level. The ceo, the janitor,
the past, the prostitute, all come with empty hands. It's
not about your resume. It's not about your degrees. God's
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silences the prideful, and he gives a radical hope to
those that are humble. Here's your call to action. Let
me give your first call to action for this session.
Your call to action is this. I need you to
re anchor yourself to your calling.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And this is what I mean.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Go back to that moment when you first understood unequivocally
that God loved you, That he loved you not because
you were good, but because He loves you because who
He is remember John three sixteen. For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son. God
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so loved the world. It wasn't enough for him to
love the world. He so loved the world.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
I believe.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Over in John fifteen nine, Jesus says, as a father
has loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in
my love. He was speaking to his disciples, I believe.
In First John, chapter four and verse sixteen, John writes
these words. He says, when we have known and believed
the love of God has to us. God is love,
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and he that dwells in love dwells in God and
God in him. The love of God, it just bounces
off of us. It bounces off of us, and it
bounces right back to him. And it bounces off of
us and it bounces right back to him. Wall number two,
the wall of dangerous diversion, the wall of dangerous diversion.
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Lit your eyes kind of skim over the verse six.
At the end of verse six, Paul says this and
are turning to a different gospel. The people in the
church were turning to a quote unquote different gospel that
should shock and alarm all of us, because there's a
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progression here. You don't just desert something, you always desert
to something else. If you are not actively, passionately and
intentionally filled with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, you
will by default be filled with a false one. There
are only two families on this earth. Jesus told the
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group over in John chapter eight, group of religious leaders.
He said, you are of your father, the death. There's
a family of God and as the family of the Death.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
That's it. There is no third family. So if you're
not filled with.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
The true gospel, by default, by nature of your falling nature,
you will default to a false doctrine. Paul's language here,
I think is so critical and I want to take
our time with this.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
That word different.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Understand that different means different in kind. It's not just
another flavor of the same thing. That's not what he's
talking about, like choosing between two brands of the same car. No,
that's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about
is the difference between a car and a coffin.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
That's what Paul's talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
It's the difference between life giving food and lethal poison.
It's something else entirely masquerading as the real thing. If
this wall could talk, it would sound reasonable. It would
tell you, you know what, a slight detour can lead
to a fatal destination. But hey, the scenery is so
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much better on this route. I have literally heard people
say this, I'm not worried about going to Hell because
I'll have some company down there and we're going to
have a party.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Think about how ignorant that sounds. And I want you to.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I want you to understand how subtle and how deadly
this can be. I want you to think about one
of the most foundational scriptures of all in John chapter one,
verse one.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
And as an aside, if you.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Go back to Genesis chapter three, the very first description
that we get of Satan in the garden is that
he's subtle. Remember that, and I want you to see
this subtle diversion, this subtle distortion. So John chapter one,
verse one, one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible.
(23:54):
That's an emphatic statement that John is writing about Jesus,
and the Gospels are different. The Gospels give you a
four D image of Jesus and Matthew, you're.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Going to see him as the king.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
In Mark, you're going to see him as the servant,
and Luke, you're going to see him as the man.
And when I say man, I mean a natural man.
And in John's gospel, you're going to see him as God.
That's the difference. Same Jesus, but you're going to see
a different aspect. And so in John chapter one, verse one,
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John doesn't begin with a genealogy the way Matthew when
Luke does, because those genealogies trace Jesus back to human descendants,
the humanity of Jesus. So in John chapter one, verse one,
John says, the bar so high, it's the ego of
these four gospels. In John chapter one, verse one, and
(24:51):
in every credible bible you will ever pick up, it
simply says this. In the beginning was the Word, and
the word was with God, and the word was God.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Simple. Right now, you.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Look at your bible. If your bible doesn't say was God,
I'm gonna need you to throw that bible away. It
says was a God. Yeah, we're gonna have to get
that Bible up out of there. And so when John
writes this, he's declaring the full, uncompromised, eternal deity of
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Jesus is not a creation.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Jesus did not come into being into existence in a manger.
If you go all the way back to Genesis chapter one,
verse one, you'll find Jesus in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
God created the heavens and the earth.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
You got to take that word God, you got to
flip it over, and in the Hebrew you will see
that that word God has plurality in it. God, the Father, God,
the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. They're all right there
in Genesis chapter one, verse one. I'm sorry, yeah, in
Genesis chapter one, verse one. But if you only read
it on the surface and you don't do any studying,
that's all you will see. I believe Paul writes over
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in Colossian chapter two, verse nine that in Christ dwote
the fullness of the Godhead bodied me. That's why Jesus
could tell Philip Philip, when you've seen me, Because Philip,
you know, he got a little tired in Jesus.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
He said, Jesus, show us the Father and will be satisfied.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
And Jesus looked at Philip kind of sighed eye and said, Philip,
when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. So Jesus
is not a creation.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
He is the creator. He is God now.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
A group like the Jehovah's witnesses in their own translation.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Of the Bible. I grew up as a Jehovah witness,
so I noticed.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
They made a very tiny remember the word I said earlier, subtle,
almost undetectable change to that very verse. They inserted just
one small letter. Their version reads, and the word was
a god small g that's the distortion. With one letter,
(27:10):
they demote the king of kings to a subordinate. They
turn the one true, Almighty God into just one powerful.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Being among others.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
This is a different gospel because it fundamentally changes who
Jesus is. If Jesus is just a god, then our
salvation is destroyed. As Paul told the Saints over and corrective.
If Christ be not risen from the grave, we're all
men most miserable. Why because anything can be a God.
(27:47):
That's why you can't line Jesus up to be a god.
Anything can be a god. Money can be a god,
power can be a god, your ego can be a god.
If Jesus is just another option on the pantheon of
little g gods, then he has no power to save.
Only God himself, the infinite Holy Creator can pay an
(28:10):
infinite price, an infinite ransom for sin. If the one
who died on the cross was anything less than fully God,
then his sacrifice is insufficient. And guess what if his
sacrifice was insufficient, you know what that means. Then that
means that we are still dead and our trespasses and sins.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
So look at Ephesians chapter two, verse one.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
That one little word eight is a detour, and it's
a fatal detour. It's a different gospel, that's my point.
It's a different gospel that leads to a different destination.
The destination that it leads you to is eternal separation
from the one true God. Jesus' family is not a God.
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Jesus is God. And this is something that Paul was
even warning Timothy about. Paul warrened Timothy and two Timothy
that there's a time. He said that there will be
a time coming when the saints will have what's known
as itching ears. He said, they will accumulate for themselves teachers, pastors, prophets, bishops,
(29:24):
elders who will teach a gospel to suit their own passions,
turning away from the truth of God and wandering off
into myths, there are many itching ears in the modern church.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
There are many.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
That are desperate for a gospel that doesn't convict.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Them or call out their sins.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Let me give you a figure with these gospels that
are circulating right now in the modern church.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Again, this isn't about the world.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Paul is writing to christ or so called Christians, even
as they were deserting from the gospel.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
There's a gospel of self improvement. Have you heard of it.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
There's a gospel of self improvement that says God helped.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Those who help themselves.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
And that sounds like a verse subscription, but it's not.
That's a lie from the pit of Hell dressed up in.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
A business suit.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
The Bible says God helps the helpless. There's a gospel
of positive thinking, the Gospel of Name It and Claim it,
and it turns faith into a metaphysical tool to bend
reality to your will. So instead of a humble trust
in a sovereign God who truly knows what you truly need.
(30:45):
Then there's the big one, the one that has so
many people in the Choco right now, and that's the
Gospel of prosperity, or the prosperity Gospel.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
And this has been around for a long time.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
This gospel has shipwrecked a lot of people's lives. The
prosperity gospel teaching says that God's primary will for you
is to be healthy, wealthy, and successful by worldly standards.
And it reduces Jesus, remember the creator of the universe.
(31:20):
It reduces Jesus to a cosmic vending machine. It replaces
the cross with a credit card. It tells you to
seek the gifts instead of the giver. And it's a
dangerous diversion that so many people have felt. So many
Christians have felled victim to and then guess what they
(31:45):
got angry with God when the promised check didn't come
into mail. There's a new kid on the block. This
gospel is called the Gospel of therapeutic affirmation. This gospel
turns Jesus into a divine therapist and his only job
(32:10):
is to affirm your every feeling, You're every desire and identity.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
And what this gospel does, it.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Removes all talk of sin, It removes repentance, it removes judgment.
It preaches a God who is all love and no holiness,
a God who would never really challenge you, only cuddle you.
It creates people who are It creates so called Christians
who are emotionally fragile and theologically illiterate, who fall apart
(32:44):
at the first sign of trials because they were promised
a life of perpetual affirmation.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
So those are just four gospels.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
There are many other gospels out there, but they are
different in kind. Even though they're called gospels, they're poison.
So here's your call to action. As we stand by
this wall. You must audit your spiritual diet. Who are
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you allowing to speak into your life? Because if the
message that they're speaking is not unapologetically and exclusively centered
on salvation by grace and grace alone through faith alone,
in Christ alone, then I need you to leave them alone.
You have to walk away from that. You got to
(33:34):
put up your proverbial finger and walk away. Why Because
your eternal destination is at stake. There are people that
are connected to you. Your obedience is connected to their deliverance.
So Paul identifies this desertion from Christ and the diversion
(33:55):
to a lie.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
But then he does something I think that is so brilliant.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
He exposes this distortion for what it really is, and
it takes us to our third walk Wald number three,
the wall.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Of deceptive duplication. Look at verse seven.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
I want you to look and see how Paul pivots
in the first part of that verse. Just want to
deal with the first part and then we'll deal with
the second half of it. He says, not that there.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Is another one.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
For me, this is a masterclass in communication, because you
know why Paul just said they're turning to a different gospel,
and now he says he says, not that there is
another one. So the question that we have to ask ourselves,
that is he contradicting himself. No, he's exposing the counterfeit
gospel for what it is. The word for another means
(34:47):
another of the same kind. It's like having one dollar
bill and then another dollar bill. They're both the same
kind of currency. And so Paul is making a profound
theological point. He says, you're turning to a gospel that
is differently kind poison. But don't be fool for a
(35:08):
second thinking that this poison is a legitimate alternative, another
of the same kind as the true one. There is
no other gospel family, There is no other gospel of
the same kind as the true gospel. There is only
one mona Lisa, and there are infinite forgeries.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
There is the authentic Gospel of Christ.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
And then there are infinite cheap, deceptive duplications of that.
And if this walk could talk, it would smile at
you and say, I look like the real thing, I
feel like the real thing, But I'm a spiritual counterfeit
designed to siff you like we I think counterfeiting money
(35:54):
has been around ever since money has been around, and
right now, the most effective counterfeit money. It isn't the
stuff that's printed on cheap paper that a child could spot.
The most dangerous counterfeits are what's called the supernotes. These
are bills that are so expertly crafted they feel right,
(36:16):
they have the watermarks, and they even pass some tests.
The purpose of these supernotes is to deceive not just
the public, but also the experts. It's the subtlety that
makes them so deadly to an economy.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
And this is exactly what.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Jesus condemned in Matthew chapter twenty three when Jesus called
the Pharisees white washed tombs. It's such a powerful contrasting words.
White washed tombs. Outwardly they appeared beautiful. Outwardly, they appeared clean. Outwardly,
(36:58):
they appeared righteous. They looked the part, but He's saying
within them, they were full of death and corruption. The
most dangerous spiritual frauds don't look like villains. They don't
have red horns and pitchforks. They look like heroes. They
have the right vocabulary. They have a polished presentation, they
(37:22):
have a beautiful brand. They have a massive following. They
have mastered the performance of righteousness. But behind the whitewash,
their message leads to death if you just jump over.
The Galatians chapter three, verse one. This is another indication
of how frustrated Paul is with the Saints in Galatia.
(37:43):
In Galatians three to one, he cries out. He says, oh,
foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? When I was growing
up as a kid, we used to watch the show
called Bewitched. I believe it started in They would show
a lot of Remonds in the saturning. Me and my
brother would run home from school because we wanted to
(38:04):
watch the Witch.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
But I want you to let that word sink in
because what was the sitcom about. It was a comedy.
What it was about magic, and it was about cantations.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It's about spells, it's about witches, it's about warlocks. And
this is the word that Paul is using to Christians.
It doesn't mean that they were tricked of food. That's
not what Paul is saying. What Paul is saying is
that someone has cast a spell on them. Someone has
(38:35):
charmed them, Someone has fascinated them with an evil eye
so that their judgment is clouded and they can no
longer see what's real. To be bewitched is a spiritual enchantment.
Paul is upset with them because they saw the truth.
They saw the truth of the gospel. They were saved
by the gospel to crucified Christ was preached before their
(38:59):
very eyes. But then somebody came along and they cast
a spell on them. They cast a spell of glamor,
they cast a spell of prosperity. They cast a spell
that made them look away from the Cross and fixate
their eyes on something else.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
And that's what these gospels of distortion do. They are
a spell. They are a bewitching spell.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
They bewitch you into staring at yourself, staring at your potential,
staring at your wallet, staring at your desires, staring at
your political tribe, and they make you forget the one
thing that really matters to crucified Christ, who is the
source of all life and all righteousness.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
I have seen.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
With my very own eyes my brothers and sisters false
fall spell bound to these kind of bewitching doctors.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
I've seen it. I've talked to him.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
They're chasing a promise of earthly gain while losing intimate
community with Jesus.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
They're not even trying to have communion with Jesus.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Because they become so focused on the quote unquote blessings
that they lose sight of the blesser again Esian chapter one,
verse three. God has blessed you past tense with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. So now here's your call
of attention for this walk. I'm gonna need you to
(40:34):
break the spell. Break the spell, and this will help
you as you did that spiritual audit. And this is
how you're going to break the spell. You break it
by deliberately, forcefully fixing your eyes back on Jesus. Look
at the cross, see the price that was paid for you.
(40:55):
I believe the church over in Ephesus and Revelation, Remember
when John had the right to the seven churches of
Asia Minor. In these seven individual churches, God had some
things against these churches, and he was calling them on
the carpet. I believe the Church of Philadelphia brotherly Love,
they were okay. But one of those churches was church
(41:15):
called Ephesus. That's where we get our letter Ephesians. I
believe Paul was with this church for two or three years.
By the time that first century saints getting ready to
leave the scene, that church at Ephesus had lost their
first love.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
And that was the commendation that.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
John had the right to them, you have lost your
first love, and told them to turn and repent. When
we get distracted, we lose our love for God. You
did run well. The scripture said, who hindered you? Who
cut in the middle, Who cut you off from God?
Speaker 2 (41:55):
You were running?
Speaker 1 (41:55):
So you were running well. You were doing so good.
But then all of a sudden some distracted you. There
was a gospel that you heard that promised you some
things that you weren't seeing in your Bible. So when
we find ourselves and these kinds of situations, we have
(42:16):
to look at the cross. We need to take a
field trip and go back to the cross. See the
love that held him there on that cross, See the
wrath that he absorbed for you. When you are truly
captivated by the love of Christ, all of these little
cheap charms and promises and empty spells or false gospels,
(42:38):
they lose all of their power.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
You'll have a spiritual miss me.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
With that, Jesus said, My sheep know my voice, and
a stranger's voice.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
They won't follow. And so now this brings us to
our last wall.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
And I believe this wall is the most sinister of
the four walls that we're looking at, and this one
reveals the enemy's true into wall them before. If you're
taking notes the wall of deliberate distortion, let's read the
end of verse seven.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Seven B.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
But there are some who trouble you and want to
distort the Gospel of Christ. There it is gospel of distortion.
The curtain is pulled back. This is the aim, this
is the goal. This isn't an accident, This isn't a
simple misunderstanding among well meaning people.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
No, this is a.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Deliberate, malicious act of sabotage by specific people with a
specific predatory agenda. Paul says, there are some who trouble you.
He talked about Satan. He talking about some people in
there with the spirit of Satan, he says, And this
isn't when you think about it, it's an interesting word
(43:55):
and it's a dangerous word that Paul is using.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Trouble. Get that.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
I want you to just underline that in your spirit,
there are some who trouble you. That's the word I
want you to focus on. The word trouble means to
stir up. The word trouble means to agitate. The word
trouble means to cause inner turmoil. Have you ever felt
that way before? And this is the part that really
(44:24):
set this thing really in motion. It helps me to
see it even clearer. That's the same word use to
describe King Herod. Have you ever heard of King Herod?
The Bible says that King Herod was troubled when he
heard of Jesus' birth.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
That's kind of odd.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Why would the king get troubled because he heard of
the birth of Jesus. And I want you to understand
what that trouble inside of him, what it caused him
to do.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
That fanatical king was so troubled hear me at the.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
News of Jesus being born, that he put out a
decree to kill all the male children in Bethlehem and
in all of that region who are two years old
or under dam I believe you'll find out in Matthew chapter.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
Two, verse three and Matthew Chapter two, verse sixteen. He
was troubled. So this word is a word.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
Associated with deep seated fear, confusion, and anxiety. Because here's
why we know this gospel is so distorted. All you
have to do is just put these two gospels on
a scale. The true Gospel of Christ, when it is received,
you know what it does.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
It brings peace Romes five to one.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
The true Gospel quiet your soul. The true Gospel ends striving.
The true Gospel silences the accuser of the brethren. Say
any denomination, any doctrine, any teaching, any sermon that leaves
(46:26):
you feeling more anxious, more fearful, more insecure in your
relationship with God. That's not the gospel. That's trouble.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
If a church or a pastor makes you constantly question
your salvation, constantly worry, if you've done enough, constantly feel
like you're one mistake away from being disqualified. You're not
listening to a shepherd, No, you're not. You are listening
(47:02):
to a troublemaker. The feeling of being on a spiritual
treadmill where you have to perform. You have to perform.
You can't miss a service. You miss a service, gonna
get called out. All of this is so that you
can stay in God's good graces.
Speaker 2 (47:20):
That's not from the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
That's the anxiety produced by a troublemaker who is profiting
from your insecurity and its spiritual abuse. If this wall
could talk, it would growl at you and say, my
purpose is to make you anxious, not assured. My goal
is to make you a slave, not a child of God.
(47:45):
And here's their motive in doing this. They want to
distort the gospel. This is their desire, this is their will,
and this is their method.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
The original word means to.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
Turn something to the opposite, to corrupt it tot If
you read this over and the King James says a
perverted gospel, twist it to the point that the gospel
looks unrecognizable. It's taking the good news that you're saved
by grace and twisting it into the bad news that
you must work to be saved. You must give and
(48:20):
pay tithes to be saved. You must speak in tongues
to be saved. You must come to my church to
be saved. You must turn your back on your unsaved
family to be saved. And family, please hear you. I'm
not telling you what i've heard. I'm telling you what
I've experienced for myself. These troublemakers are spiritual predators. How
(48:44):
do we know that? Over in Acts chapter twenty, Paul
has been with the saints in Ephicus, I said earlier,
either two or three years, and he's about to leave them.
He's about to get on the boat. So they're on
the shore. He's about to get on the boat and
go out to see But before he leaves, these men
are hugging on him. They're loving on him, and they're
in tears.
Speaker 2 (49:03):
But Paul wants them with this. He says, fierce.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
Wolves come in among you, not sparing the flock, and
that from among your own selves will arise men speaking
twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
That's the goal. I want to draw you to me.
Speaker 1 (49:30):
Jesus said, come unto me. Are you that labor and
the heavy laby? And I'll give you rest? But no, no,
no no. These distorers of the Gospel, they want you
to look to them.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
It's always about them.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
It's always about building their kingdom, their father, their brand,
their agenda, their budget, their service control. And they use
the name of Jesus to make a name for themselves.
This isn't just error, it's ego. It's a hostile take
over of the Gospel for personal gain. Please hear me,
(50:06):
Please hear me. Here's your call to action. You must
develop a holy intolerance for distortion. We become too nice,
and that's why I told you when we first started this,
Paul ain't trying to be spiritually correct politically correct, because
too much is at stake. He called them foolish. Over
(50:28):
the third chapter. We become too nice, too tolerant of
different perspectives when it comes to the non negotiable core
of our faith.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Ephesians Chapter two, verse eight nine.
Speaker 1 (50:40):
Non negotiable, Jesus says, I am the Way, the Truth,
and the life.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
No man comes to the Father but by me. Non negotiable.
Speaker 1 (50:49):
When you hear a message that adds to the finished work,
of Christ.
Speaker 2 (50:53):
Your spirit should start moonwalking. When you see a leader
using guilt.
Speaker 1 (50:58):
And fear to control people, you should be outraged because
this isn't about being judgmental. No, it's about being a
guardian of the truth that sets you free. And that's
what Paul is doing for this entire letter. So take
a breath, because we have toured the architecture of a
spiritual prison. I'm seeing too many of my brothers and
(51:22):
sisters locked up inside of these kinds of prison cells,
locked behind walls such as these that we've talked about.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
We saw Wal number one, the wall of drifting devotion.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
That's where a relational disconnection from Jesus causes us to
cut our lifeline. We saw Wal number two, the wall
of dangerous diversion, that's where we follow a shifted doctrine
that leads to shipwreck.
Speaker 2 (51:47):
We looked at Wall number three, the wall.
Speaker 1 (51:49):
Of deceptive duplication, understanding that false gospels are like supernote counterfeits,
and these supernote counterfeits are designed.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
To witch us and to bankrub our souls.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
And finally, we looked at Wall number four, the wall
of deliberate distortion. That's where spiritual predators intentionally twist the
truth to trouble people and gain control. This is the
blueprint of the enemy. This is the gain book of
(52:23):
the enemy. But now now we got to put on
our hard hats, and now we have to start a
demolition project. The good news of the Gospel, it's not
just that we can identify the walls. The true power
of the gospel is that you and I have been
given the power to tear them down. Look at what
(52:45):
Paul says in Sect Corinthians, chapter ten, verse four and five.
He's going to show you how to deal with these
distorted gospels. He says, for the weapons of our warfare
are not of the flesh, but have the divine.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
Power to destroy strongholds.
Speaker 1 (53:03):
We destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the
knowledge of God. Here it is, and take every thought
captive to obey Christ. Every one of these walls is
a stronghold, is an argument, is a lofty opinion raised
(53:24):
against the true knowledge of God. And you right now
you have been given divine power to demolish all of them.
The whole purpose of wanting to teach this lesson is
to liberate some people. Is to show you your spiritual
emancipation proclamation. Right now, I want you to have a
(53:51):
holy boldness to stand flat footed and know who you
are and who you are.
Speaker 2 (53:58):
Listen. There is so much religious based performance.
Speaker 1 (54:03):
Kind of things that are happening now in churches, and
the purpose of these performance religious based gospels is because
it wants to tell you that you're not enough, that
you have to do more. You have to do more
than just what the gospel says in Ephesians chapter two.
Speaker 2 (54:24):
Verse eight and nine. No, there's more you have to do.
You have to do.
Speaker 1 (54:28):
And the purpose of that, again is that you're not enough.
God is not going to accept you. You made a mistake,
you slip, you fail, You're not enough. Can I tell
you something? You are never supposed to be enough. Jesus
is enough for you. That's the gospel, and that's the
(54:48):
only message that can tear down these walls of gospel distortion.
Your salvation, my salvation was purchased with an infinite price,
and I don't want any of us to sell it
for a cheap human approval of religious security. You must
live like you are free, Jesus said, he who the
(55:10):
Son says free is free. Indeed, let's give you these
called actions. Call the action number one. I want you
to conduct a gospel audit this week. I will challenge
you to do a fear of the spiritual inventory. I
want you to write down your gospel presentation. Is it
the pure gospel? If you had to explain the gospel
(55:31):
to someone, if you had to win a soul for Christ,
could you do it? Could you do it? Have you
allowed some distortion to make your understanding of the gospel crooked?
So you're going to have to purify your understanding of
the gospel. And here's how you can do it. Go
over there and spend some time studying and reading Ephesians
(55:51):
Chapter two, verse eight, and nine, and you see just
how simple God has made this. It's not complicated. We complicated,
but it's not complicated at all. Two too, you're gonna
have to sever soul ties with distortion. If you have
identified any person, any influence that is a source of
(56:12):
gospel distortion in your life, you have.
Speaker 2 (56:15):
To make a clean break. And this is not a negotiation.
Speaker 1 (56:19):
Paul was not writing these people to negotiate with these
spiritual terrorists. You do not negotiate with spiritual terrorists. You're
gonna have to unfollow you're gonna have to unsubscribe.
Speaker 2 (56:29):
You're gonna have to change the channel. You're gonna have
to delete the number.
Speaker 1 (56:33):
You cannot demolish the walls in your life if you
keep inviting the builders over for dinner, you can't. You
have to make a break from this, and you have
to be okay, be okay with being in the minority,
Be okay with just not having to bow to that.
Speaker 2 (56:53):
Always tell people, if you stand with God, you're in
the majority.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
Jesus said, having done all the stand, Paul said over
in the fijis haven't done all the stand. Therefore, Jesus said,
his word will stand forever. And since his word is
going to stand forever, then just go stand.
Speaker 2 (57:10):
By the word. That's all you got to do.
Speaker 1 (57:12):
Number three, I want you to become a gospel messenger.
I'm not waiting for a church class or whatever. No,
I want you to become a gospel messenger. The Bible
says that we are living epistles to be read by men.
The best way to keep the Gospel clear in your
own heart is to give it away.
Speaker 2 (57:31):
Find one person this week, share the good news.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
You can do it in a very subtle kind of week,
and you can do it in a very loving kind
of way. Some people you have to kind of just
have a conversation with them. Don't share your opinion, don't
share your church rules. Don't tell them you got to
come heal my pastor. No, you shared a simple, powerful,
life changing message of what Jesus has done for you
(57:56):
on the cross and what He has also done for
them on the cross. Be cleared, be bold, and trust
God with the results.
Speaker 2 (58:04):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (58:05):
If this teaching has disrupted a wall in your life,
I need you to do me a favor and do
the brother as a favor.
Speaker 2 (58:12):
Share it Facebook family. We love you guys.
Speaker 1 (58:16):
Please like, comment, share tag some people who need this clarity.
Podcast listeners those that are on a spreaker, Spotify, Amazon,
i Heeart, drop a rating, forward it text the link.
If you don't follow Brothers in the Word yet, I
am inclined to believe you are a hater.
Speaker 2 (58:33):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (58:34):
New podcasts are going to drop every Thursday. Every Thursday,
new podcasts are going to drop this prayer so we
can turn it over with Brother Daniel. God, in the
name of Jesus, thank you for this word. Thank you
for the gospel that sets us free. Father we declare
war on distortion. We repent for every time that we've drifted,
(58:59):
time we've been diverted, every time we've been bewitched by
a duplication of your truth. So God, we ask for clarity.
Give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear.
Help us God to be fiercely loyal to the pure
gospel of grace. Empower us by your spirit to demolish
(59:21):
every crooked wall and to walk into freedom that you
have provided for us.
Speaker 2 (59:27):
You die to give us this freedom of God.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
So we challenge ourselves right now by your power to
live liberated, free, honest, loving lives. We bless you God
for what your word is going to do in our lives.
Forgive us for where we fall short. We repent, we
(59:52):
get up, we turn again unto you. And so Father,
we honor you, We.
Speaker 2 (59:58):
Bless you and you. And that's in Jesus name that
we do pray a man. Remember, family, always get into
the word of God, and the word of God will
get into you.
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