Gal 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Gal 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8 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.
How sad. How predictable. How very human.
They were preached the Gospel of Christ and converted by it and soon it was perverted among them.
Paul marvels that another "gospel" turned them away so fast, yet it was no "gospel" just a new teaching by false shepherds that they were listening to.
Called into Grace by Christ, as are we, turned from the true Gospel, the True Word of God as are we, called, justified, glorified in Christ and turned away in a short time by "teachers" who preached their own "gospel.
Yes I know there are a lot of quotation marks in what I just said, but it is true even of us today. We cherry pick, keep what we want to hear and throw the rest away.
Paul says twice if any whether it be angel, prophet, pastor, or devil that preaches anything other than Christ crucified run away they should be accursed.
Christ and Him crucified is the Gospel that man needs, that God gave, that is the very basis for all that every true Christian should aspire too. Never is the lost man to be held to the standards of Christ for they can not understand it, they are of the natural man. Only Christians can read and understand the mystery of God and that is only because God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us to understand, not of our own wisdom, not of our own worthiness, but of Christ's Worth.
Paul ,in the ensuing verses, states very clearly those who preach anything other than the True Gospel of Christ are no servants of God but are pleasers of men and are to be accursed.
Gal 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Called. We have been called to preach the Gospel. The Gospel of Christ and Him crucified. The Gospel, The Word of God.
If there is anything other than the infallible scripture preached or taught then you are not called of God but of man. To be called of man is to preach the gospel of man, to be called of God is to live the life as a Man of God, preaching the Gospel of God, aspiring to call men to God through Christ that they might be saved.
Eph_4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Called. A hand has separated you from all others that you might serve the One True Living God in a world that is dark. To bring light through His Word to a darkness filled, sin filled world. To bring to man the Hope that is in Christ Jesus, all other words you may proclaim are useless, vainglorious and false. It is God and God only whose Word must be taught. It is God and God only whose standard must be met. His standard is simple: to live as an example of and servant to all mankind and for the love of Christ who died for them.
1Th_2:12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
Called. To walk worthy of Christ who died for you and God who called you forth out of your former estate. God has called us, set us aside to be a people unto Him, not under the Law as were the Jews but under Grace that God extended to all men by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Some of us were called even further than just to be a people of God, some of us were called to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. In that calling we must walk true and faithful to the God who called us. For it is by the Grace of God that any of us were called out of the pit of mire we call the natural man in a sin state. It is by the Mercy of God that He gave us more than one chance to come to Him. It is by the sacrifice of Christ that we are given an escape from death and destruction in Hell. How can we not glorify Him, stay true to Him, and walk worthy that we might please Him who gave all for us?
2Ti_1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began
Heb 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
No man takes this honor unto himself, how very true that is. Man can honor man, but only God can truly give the Word unto man to proclaim. Man can honor man, man can pat the other on the back, listen and praise the man, but only God can verify through His Spirit and His Word who is called of Him. No man called of God, truly called by the hand of God on Him, can speak other than the Truth in the scriptures. This is how you may know them. For only the true Spirit filled, Spirit called can proclaim the Word of God in truth and in deed. When you are listening to man proclaim the Word, please keep the Word open so that you may know whether what you hear is of God or of man,
To listen to someone called of man and not of God may be your very undoing. For their words flatter and please, their message soothes and calms, they uplift unjustly by telling you how good you are and you deserve only good things, it does not provoke the Spirit in you, it does not prick the conscience, it does not draw you closer to God.If the Word you hear does not provoke thought, does not move the Spirit, does not tell you how it is only through Christ that you are worthy then walk away.
Man is evil and deceitful and unworthy. The people who proclaim anything else are false, wolves devouring the flock of God, leading them astray down a path of destruction. They are to be accursed, reviled, and cast out.
Called. Stay true to the call of God on you and preach the Gospel of Christ and Him crucified.
Called. A true blessing to be called of God, but a true life of misery. For the Word of God forces man to see themselves as they are, not what they want to think of themselves.
Called. God calls all men unto Him, stay true to the Gospel that called you
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