All right, everybody, thank you so much for joining us here yet again at the Everlasting Truth broadcast, where we give you everlasting truth in an ever-changing world. I want to tell you thank you for stopping by today. Thank you for those who listen routinely, and we praise God for you, and we thank God that we're able to hopefully be a help to you and share with you the Word of God in such a way that is effectual. And we wanted to make a difference, but anyways if you would take your Bible, and I want you to open up to the book of Galatians I want to pick up in light of where we were yesterday and yesterday we began dealing with what we called and what is most certainly the most important subject in your Bible and that subject is that of the gospel and the gospel. There's nothing more important, there's nothing more primary, there is nothing more rudimentary, there is nothing more necessary than our understanding and our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can be wrong in your eschatology, You can be wrong about the pre-tribulational rapture. You can be wrong about the doctrine of tongues. You can be wrong about some things, still make it to heaven when you die. Can't be wrong about the gospel though, because it is the gospel of God that is the power of God unto salvation. It is that gospel, it is what Christ has done for us. And we talked about what that gospel was yesterday. It is the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ according to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse number 1 through 4. But I want to talk about a little bit different perspective of that today. And what I mean by that is we declared the gospel yesterday. We preached it, we emphasized it, we clarified it. But I want to talk about today what the devil tries to do with the gospel. What the devil wants to do with the gospel is he knows the gospel is central to salvation. He knows that the gospel is the determining factor on the damnation of the souls of men. He knows the gospel is the most important thing that God has crafted for mankind, and therefore he wants to pervert it. He wants to distort it, because if the devil can make a false gospel, and he has, he's got a bunch of them, But if he can make a false gospel, and there's only one gospel that saves, then that means he can effectively damn people to a devil's hell. And the Bible says that's what he likes doing. Jesus said this in John 10, And so the devil would just absolutely love if he could distort and pervert and change the gospel of Jesus Christ in the ears, hearts, and minds of other people so that they do not come to Christ, they're not saved, not forgiven of their sin. There's a whole lot of people out there today that are holding on to all kinds of religion. that are nothing more than false gospels. And that's hard for some people to stomach the fact that people can be religious as they want to be. And yet if they miss the truth of the gospel they will die and they will go to hell. And a lot of people cannot wrestle with that. And they say, oh, well, as long as they're sincere about what they believe, then God will see to it that, you know, even if they're wrong about the gospel, he'll make sure they're okay. So, you know, they can be a Jehovah's Witness. They can be Mormons. They can do all those things. And as long as they're devout in their belief, it's okay. Well, Paul said the Jews were really devout about what they believed. He says, but they're still not righteous before God. He said this in Romans 10 verse number one, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, Paul is praying and asking God, Lord, I want to see you save Israel. Then don't that mean that they're not saved at that point? And then listen to what he says. He says, verse two of Romans 10, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. So they have zeal. They're zealous. They're sincere. They're serious about what they believe, but their belief isn't right. And he says this, verse three, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. He says, and he summarizes in Romans 10 what every false gospel does, is it does not submit itself to the righteousness of God, and it goes about to establish its own righteousness. And this is essentially what every cult and every false gospel does, is it It drops the righteousness of God to a level in which man is able to attain to, and then it tells man to pursue his own righteousness to meet that level that God demands of him, and if he does this and he does that, then he can reach it. But what the Bible says is that we could never attain to God's level of righteousness, because Jesus said, Be ye therefore perfect. even as your father which is in heaven is perfect. And then he said that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so God's righteousness and his demand is perfection and none of us can live up to it. And therefore, we cannot establish our own righteousness. We need a foreign righteousness because we don't have any. We need somebody to give us some righteousness that is not of ourselves because we have failed in righteousness. And that's where the true gospel comes in. We believe that Jesus was righteous. He died for us. He expunged our debt. He expelled our sin. And therefore, He gives us His righteousness when we place our faith in Him. And we're declared right with God because of the gospel, because of what Christ did. But what every false gospel does is it tries to change that message and distort it to where man is pursuing his own righteousness. Anything that gives man the ability to in any way, shape, form merit his own righteousness before God and his own salvation is a false gospel. Anything you add to faith in the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, anything you add to that, you have now perverted the gospel. I want you to look at what Paul says here. He warns us that the devil would like to do that. And we know that in the church at Galatia, that's exactly what happened. You see, there were Judaizers came in, and these Judaizers were very, very zealous. And by the way, if people are zealous and that somehow replaces their doctrinal error and still allows them in heaven just because they're zeal, then why did Jesus give the Pharisees such a hard time? You mean to tell me they weren't zealous? They were extremely zealous, and Jesus still said that they made their converts. Matthew 23, he said, your converts are two-fold the children of hell that you are. He said, you can be zealous and your converts can be zealous and you're going to bust hell wide open because you're going to die in your sins because you reject that I am He. You reject that I'm the Messiah. Hmm. Zeal doesn't cover for a false gospel and man trying to get his own way to heaven. And here at the church in Galatia, that's what's happened. These Judaizers have come in and they have preached another gospel. And here's what I want you to understand. Another gospel is always very close to the real gospel. You see, the devil counterfeits. And a counterfeit is when you take the original and you make something that looks very much like the original, but it's not the original. And it assimilates, it looks right, it's very similar, but it's not the same. And that's exactly what these Judaizers were doing here in Galatia. They had come in, and we know that if we read Acts 15, 16, we find out what was happening. They were saying that except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. They said, oh yes, we believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again for our sins. We believe that that's necessary for us to go to heaven, but There's something we got to add to that. You got to be circumcised, which was a part of the Mosaic law. Essentially what they were saying is that Jesus does part of it, but we got to do the other part. Jesus pays for our sin, but we got to do something to kind of earn that. Got to be circumcised, which was a sign of being in the Mosaic Covenant. The New Covenant and Jesus' work, Jesus' gospel is not enough. It is a great deal of it, but it's not enough, so we have to do our part to add to it. And this is how they're changing the gospel in Galatia, and this is what the cults are still doing today. The Mormon will tell you, oh, yes, we are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. But then the Book of Mormon says in second Nephi that we are saved by grace after all that we can do. In other words, what they say is, oh, yes, we are saved by grace. But that grace only makes up what we fail in when we do our best in what we can do. So you do the best you can. And if you try as absolute hard as you can, then you get grace to make up the flawed areas. Can I tell you that's a perversion of grace? The Bible said in Romans four, that it's either grace or it's works. And if you have to work for it, it's no more grace. See, grace is a gift. And if you have to work whatsoever for a gift, it's no longer a gift, it's a debt, something you've earned. And salvation, of course, we cannot earn. The Bible declares emphatically, for by grace, grace, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Let's read the text very quickly. Galatians chapter 1 verse number 6. The Bible said, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." What a statement. Verse 9, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. Notice in verse number six, the changing of the gospel. This is what the devil wants to do. And Paul said that this is what they were doing in Galatia. These Judaizers were changing the gospel. Now they weren't handcrafting a whole new gospel. They weren't excluding the main core parts of the gospel. They're still talking about Jesus. They're still talking about his death, his resurrection, but it wasn't exclusive to that. They were adding to it. And listen to what Paul said happens when you add to the gospel. Anytime you try to make an addition to the gospel, you don't make an addition, you make another gospel altogether. Which he goes down in verse number seven and he said, there really is not another gospel. But verse six, he said, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Listen to what he said there. The Galatians, some of them had listened to the Judaizers, and they had removed themselves from the truth of the gospel of Christ into another gospel, a different message. And notice what it is that they were removed from. He said, you were removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. And immediately, that's another indication of what another gospel is. Another gospel is always going to exist when somebody tries to remove grace from it. Anytime somebody says you have to do something in order to be saved, you have to earn in any way, shape, form, or fashion, you are looking at another gospel. Now, the Jehovah's Witnesses have their things they have to do in their gospel in order to be saved, and the Mormons have the same things they need to do. But we got some stuff running around in the church today that people are claiming are gospel that's not gospel. Hey, if it's no longer just simple faith in the grace of God, in the person of Jesus, in his death, burial, and resurrection, it's another gospel. And we got people running around saying, oh, well, it's the gospel plus baptism. It's faith plus baptism. That's another gospel. That ain't what the Bible said. Paul said, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. You see, Paul said, I didn't come to baptize. I came to preach the gospel, which tells us in and of itself. Number one, Paul, if he was trying to get people to Christ, he wouldn't be saying, thank God I baptized none of you save Crispus and Gaius. This is first Corinthians one. And secondarily, Paul wouldn't be separating baptism from preaching the gospel. If baptism was a part of the gospel, you can find this in first Corinthians one 17, by the way. And so when we start adding baptism, we are changing the gospel. We're saying it's no longer about grace, but it's something that we do. We got to get in that water. And if we don't. then we're not saved. That's another gospel. And there's plenty more passages we could go through to debunk that, but I don't necessarily have time for that right now. But I want you to understand what I'm saying. Anytime you look at something that removes grace out of the picture, you're looking at another gospel. And then notice what Paul said in verse number six. He said, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ. Who is it that calls us into the grace of Christ? It's God himself, right? Jesus said, no man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw him. And I'll raise him up again at the last day, John 6, 44. So it is God himself that calls us unto the grace of Christ. And the Bible says that when we remove from a gospel of grace in verse number six, that we are removed from him that calls us into the gospel of grace. When we walk away from the gospel of grace, we are walking away from God completely, verse 6 says. So what that tells me, any religion or cult that tries to change the grace of God does not have God. They are removed from Him. They are separated from Him. They are not saved. Anybody who mars the grace of God. Paul said this in Galatians 2. He said, I do not frustrate the grace of God. He said, because if salvation comes by the law, then is Christ dead in vain. If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Anytime somebody frustrates and changes the grace of God, they're saying that Jesus died in vain. That's a false gospel. So there's the changing of the gospel in Galatians 1.6. I want you to notice in Galatians 1.7 now, the troubling of the people. Verse 7, he says, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Paul says there, verse six, they're removing you into another gospel. And then he says in verse number seven, it's not really another gospel. He says they're perverting the gospel of Christ. So there's only one gospel, and then there are many, many, many, many perversions of that gospel. Anytime there's two things that clearly deny the gospel, and every cult does this. Number one, they downplay grace, which is what we just talked about, and they will always mar the deity of Christ. Both of those will send you to hell. The Bible said in 2 John, he that abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. So when we get the deity of Jesus Christ wrong and we don't have the doctrine of who Christ is right, we don't have God. And when we mar grace, we don't have God. Isn't it interesting? that the Jehovah's Witnesses do both of those things. They do not believe that Jesus is God. They believe that he is the first and greatest creation of Jehovah. And they also do not believe that we're saved by grace. They believe that we're saved by doing and keeping all these rules and commandments. Mormons, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, says the same thing. Jesus is not God. And they say that we are saved after we do all these works. This is troubling. This is a problem. The Catholic Church, while they do believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, They also idolize and worship Mary above Christ. If you'll notice in the Catholic paintings, Mary is the one with a crown on her head, not Jesus. There's a problem with that picture. But on top of that, they mar the grace of God. They preach a false gospel. Catholicism is not Christianity because they changed the grace of God. And when you change the gospel, you no longer have Christianity. They do not believe that we're saved by grace and by grace through faith. alone. They believe that we must partake of mass, and we could talk about the doctrine of that, but we don't have time for it. They believe that we must go through confirmation of the church. They believe that we must be baptized. They believe all these different things we must do besides simply believing the gospel. And the Bible said in 1 Corinthians 15 that it's by the gospel we're saved, as long as we don't believe in vain. if we keep in memory what Paul had preached unto us, lest we have bleed in vain. So as long as we believe the gospel, this is what salvation is. Why would the devil want to make another gospel? Why would he want to change the gospel? Because verse number seven says, there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. He wants to trouble people. He wants to damn souls to hell. That's what he wants to do. He wants to cause trouble for people and he wants to trouble their souls and he wants to put them in trouble for the rest of eternity. And therefore he perverts the gospel of Christ. And then notice the charge of the preachers. Verse number eight and nine. What about those that preach a false gospel? He says in verse number eight, but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, listen now, let him be accursed. So when the Catholic church stands up and they add to the gospel and they say, it's not by grace alone. You have to do this and you have to do this and you have to do this. The Bible said they're accursed. When the Mormon and the Jehovah's Witness propagates this message, that Jesus isn't God, and you have to do X, Y, and Z to be saved, the Bible said, they're cursed. And also notice something interesting here. Verse number eight says, but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you. He said, it could seem like there is an angel speaking unto you, giving you this divine revelation. And he said, I don't care if an angel comes, whoever comes, don't believe them if they bring another gospel. And what's interesting about that is Joseph Smith, the father of Mormonism, claimed that an angel from heaven gave him the message that he preaches and records in the Book of Mormon. Mohammed got the message of Allah from Islam from an angel, supposedly. You can trace this back. And it's interesting that Paul knew those things would happen, it seemed, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. He said, because I don't care if an angel does say it. If they preach it, doesn't matter who it is, they are accursed. Look back at what he says here in second Corinthians chapter number 11 and verse number, um, four, second Corinthians 11, verse four, he said for, if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, Paul recognized the fact that there would be some people who would talk about Jesus, but they're talking about another Jesus. It's a different Jesus, a Jesus. That's not God. He said, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit. People would have a different take on the Holy Ghost. Jehovah's Witnesses reject the Trinity, so not only do they not believe that Jesus is God, they don't believe the Holy Ghost is God. They claim that he is some type of physical force emanating from God, some kind of power, but he's not a person of the Godhead himself. When the Bible refers to him as a person and gives him personal pronouns. But then he says in verse number four, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. Paul warned us. that some people would come and preach another Jesus, talk about another spirit, and they would bring another gospel. And then if you slide down a little bit in verse number 13 of 2 Corinthians 11, he says this, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. They look like they're God's people. They transform themselves into God's appearing to be God's servants. He said in no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. It is. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Paul said, it's going to look real. It's going to look spiritual. He said, that's what the devil does. He transforms himself. But he warned us, he said, anybody who tries to remove you from the grace of Christ, let them be accursed. Anything that tries to mar the picture of grace, the fact that man is helpless and hopeless without the grace of God shown in the person of Jesus Christ, it's nothing we could do for ourself. Christ paid it all. Any other message beside that the Bible says is a cursed message and those that preach that message are accursed. We need to contend for the faith. We need to know the faith and we need to stand for the truth of the gospel. even when it offends people who may call themselves Christians. But the Bible made it clear, there's only one gospel, there's not another one, but there are those that would trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Let's make sure we're holding to the truth of God's Word. God bless you, friend. See you next time.