Are you preaching another gospel?

Jerry Parries:
Are you preaching another gospel? Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Steve invited our friend Jerry Q. Parries to do the teaching this week. Jerry is a pastor, an author, and has served the ministry for more than 35 years.

Jerry Parries:
Thank you Matthew. Hey Jeremy. Good to have you, man, working with me today. Listen, if you tuned in expecting the man with all the wisdom, Dr. Steve Brown. Well, he’s allowed me to sit in for him this week. I am tremendously grateful for this amazing opportunity. I am Pastor Jerry Q. Parries, I am one of the voices of Key Life. And I pray that we have a wonderful and exciting week, or should I say, call somebody and tell them to tune in for such an amazing teaching that I am going to attempt to do this week. This week I am teaching on the Book of Galatians. Galatians is one of the amazing books that I love about grace. The theme this week is It’s All About Grace, man, it is all about grace. I don’t know about you, but I can’t live without God’s grace. I can’t move without God’s grace. I need God’s grace in every aspect aspedt of my life. Grace is everything. And if you ever read and open up your heart and mind to the book of Galatians, the revelation of the gospel will open up to you like never before. Paul makes this message of grace so clear in the Book of Galatians. And so, I hope this bless you. I hope this bless you. So, I want to start teaching starting from chapter one: verse one from the New Living Translation. Listen to what it says.

This letter is from Paul, an apostle. He says, I am not appointed by any group of people or any human authority. But by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.

Paul starts off by telling you, saying, Hey, What I’m getting ready to tell you, I did not get it from any human authority. I got it directly from the revelation of Jesus Christ and from God himself. He says.

All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia.

And then he goes onto verse three, he says.

May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

And that is my prayer for you that are listening to me today, that the God of grace and the God of peace, will give you grace and peace.

Jesus gave his life

listen to verse 4

Jesus gave his life for our sins.

And I’m so happy he did that. Just as God our Father planned in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.

All glory to God forever and ever. Amen.

That’s the way he opens up the book of Galatians and he begins to share. And let me give you some background here for a few minutes that he had been preaching to this church in Galatians and they had been freed from the gospel of grace, they have walked free from living under the law of Moses and they were being able to receive all that God has done for them in the finished work of the cross. But in verse six, he comes to let us know that there’s somebody who have crept in preaching another gospel. And that’s what I want to ask today. Are you preaching another gospel? Even to yourself. Listen to what verse six says. He says.

I’m amazed, I’m marveled that you are so soon turned away from him who called you into the grace of God, or to the grace of Christ into teaching a different gospel.

He says.

Which is not another, there is no other gospel than the gospel of grace.

And I want you to know that if you teach any other gospel than grace, you are teaching another gospel. He says.

But there’ll be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

You know what the Bible told me, or what the Holy Spirit revealed to me that perverting the gospel of Christ is? It is preaching law and grace together. When you tell people that if you do this, then God’s going to do that. Or if you do this, then God’s going to save you. And if you do this, it’s called performance based religion. When you start performing, trying to get God’s approval, that is not the gospel. The gospel is that God died for you, God saved you, and you have to receive that as the finished work of the cross for your life. He says.

Listen, which there’ll be some that trouble you and will pervert the gospel of Christ.

Anytime that you share with other people that you can’t be saved unless you perform for God, you are teaching a different gospel. And this is what verse eight says.

But even if we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed as we have said before now. So now, I say again, if anyone preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed.

Man, this the only gospel that God will accept that Jesus died for our sins and rose again. That’s the only thing that pleases the Lord. God is 100 percent pleased with Jesus. And when you have accepted Jesus into your life, he is a 100 percent pleased with you. And I want you to know that you have been forgiven of your past, your present, and your future sin. Somebody’s listening to me today, you have guilt and you have shame. You have to let that go because the gospel says that you have been forgiven of your past, your present, and your future sins. What do you say pastor Jerry? That God has forgiven me of that. Yes, he has. God has forgiven me of the evil I did and when I said that? Yes, he has. You have been forgiven. You have been set free. And listen. Well, let’s jump down to verse 11. It says.

Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that this gospel message of grace I preach

this is Paul

is not based on human reasoning.

And that’s what sometimes we think about our reason and our way we think and how we see things. It’s not based upon human reasoning. Why did Jesus love me so much? Why would Jesus die for a wretch like me? Why would Jesus pay for all of my sins? I don’t know? It’s because he loves me that much. And it’s not based on human reasoning because for human reasoning, for me, If you did me wrong, I may not forgive you. But Jesus, in spite of us, in spite of, but while we were still sinners, he died for us. That’s the gospel of grace. That’s the good news. The gospel is Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as our Father planned. Your sins have been washed away, your past, your present, and your future sins. And if you mix anything with it, if you add anything with the cross, the cross alone is enough to save you. If you add anything with that, you are preaching another gospel. What is happening in the church of Galatians? They received the message of grace gladly. Then other teachers start saying to them, they had to keep the law in order to please God. And if you’re not careful, you will start saying, man, God’s not pleased with me because I didn’t, I didn’t keep the Ten Commandments today. God’s not pleased with me because I didn’t cross every I and dot every T and then you start feeling bad. You start feeling guilty. You start feeling all these different feelings in your life, but you have to know that God is a hundred percent pleased with you because of Jesus Christ. God looks at you and he has, one of my favorite Scriptures is in Colossians, where the Bible says.

That you are holy, blameless, without a single fault.

That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, I want you to know that the cross alone is enough to save you. You have to receive his grace and don’t go back to trying to earn it. Oh, man, you could be miserable trying to earn God’s favor because you never earn it, it is never, you can’t do enough stuff. You can’t, you can’t, man, you’ll wear yourself out trying to please God with your lifestyle. I don’t know about you, but man, every day I get up, I make mistakes, I fall, I fumble, I fall down, but I get up knowing that God is pleased with me because his grace covers me. I’m reminded of the Scripture that says.

Where sin abounds grace does much more abound.

And it’s the grace of God that you can rest in Him, knowing that it is His grace. It’s all about grace. It’s all about grace. Grace is not a topic. Grace is the gospel. Grace is the good news of Jesus Christ. And you have to rest knowing that God has done it all for you. And people of God, when you know that God has forgiven you of your past, when you know that God is not mad with you because of something you’ve done in your past, you know that you can rest in him knowing that he has done it all for you. Listen, Jesus paid it all, he paid the cost so that you don’t have to. Why not rest in that? Why not just believe him? Why not receive this good news that he has given us? Are you preaching another gospel to yourself? I hope you don’t. I hope you just receive the grace that God has given unto you. And if you receive it, you can rest in him. As Dr. Steve Brown say, you think about that.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Jerry. That was our dear friend, Jerry Q. Parries is teaching us from the book of Galatians. And introducing our topic for this week, It’s All About Grace. And we will be blessed to have Jerry with us through Thursday this week, so do be sure to join us. It’s going to be great. Well, I want to tell you about one of Steve’s classic messages called When Believing is Hard and Pretending Doesn’t Work. It’s a fantastic sermon, but here’s the thing. If you never waver in your faith or have seasons of doubt, it’s probably not for you. But if you do experience dark and lonely times, I think the sermon is really going to speak to you. Get it on CD for free right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. To mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD called, When Believing is Hard and Pretending Doesn’t Work. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 and then follow the instructions. And, hey, listen, if you can’t give, or maybe you’re not supposed to right now, all good. But if you think about it, please do pray for us, would you? Always needed. Always appreciated. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And as always, Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.