The gospel of Christ is amazing. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. We are saved by grace, through faith and the gift of faith
that God gives us, is accounted to us for righteousness. We are forgiven and
justified by faith in the sinless life, sacrificial death, and victorious
resurrection of Jesus Christ. All my sins are forgiven. I’m no longer
condemned since I’m in Christ Jesus. I am free from the condemnation of God’s
law, born again, and an adopted Son of God, a joint-heir with Christ Jesus. I
didn’t have to do a thing in this world to earn God's love. Freely, by God’s
grace, He saved me from my sins, delivered me from the just punishment of Hell,
and delivered from this present evil world.
Paul was amazed by grace. But he was also amazed at the Galatians.
It is rather astonishing the Galatians could know God and receive the news that
God saves sinners and reconciles sinners to himself by free grace, and then
thumb their nose at this glorious gospel, turn their back on God and
follow after another gospel (Galatians 1:6-7). The
Almighty God called sinners into the grace of Christ. The Lamb of God came and
bled and died for them and freely gave them all things. The Eternal Son, shed
his life’s blood to give them life. God imputed the righteousness of Christ to
their account and then called them to this gospel, and they left and turned
their back on God.
It’s amazing they had forsaken the gospel, but also amazing they
had done it so quickly! Not much time has passed since the "hour they
first believed” and it didn’t take too many dangers, toils, and snares to trap
them in a dangerous heresy. New converts are delicious to ravening wolves. In
these churches men, with prestige and experience, had come to help these
poor ignorant Galatians see the “truth” and rescue them from that intolerant
Paul.
It’s amazing they had forsaken God and his Christ, and had done it
so easily! What a priceless treasure we have in Jesus. There are unsearchable
riches in Christ. There are unfathomable depths to his love. Untrackable glories
in his death. I truly believe we will spend eternity gazing into the glories of
the gospel of Christ. And yet, how amazing one could so quickly leave Christ.
How telling that wretched sinners, who beheld the Son of God through faith and
have tasted of his grace, could leave and go looking for pasture away from
their shepherd. How weak and frail we are, and how dependent we are on the Holy
Spirit to keep us.
It’s amazing they went from Christ to another gospel. When you think
of apostasy in these terms, it is a marvel that people will leave the gospel
for anything else, because everything is inferior. Because grace is so amazing,
it's astonishing we can be tempted to look for another way for peace with God.
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