Reading Gal. 1:6-18:
Beginning at verse 6, we see the first of seven important things necessary to receiving the revelation of Jesus Christ. First you must see a contrast between two kinds of Gospels.
"I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel."
Now, what has happened here is that the Galatians have not progressed. They have not continued being led of the Spirit into the fullness of the in-Christ position.
Consequently, they have been removed from Christ. After people are born again, and especially after they are Spirit-filled, Jesus is in the center of their love affair.
They love Him, they talk about Him and they are given to expressing the reality of Jesus. The center of their whole conversation and life is Jesus. But the Galatians, after having had this testimony of Christ-centeredness, have removed Him from the center. Your first step in going deeper with God is to analyze your own life.
You must consider, "am I still in that vibrant stage of first love that I had when I first met Jesus?" It is not likely that you are because, since you first met Jesus, too many other aspects of the gospel have entered in and you have not retained the vibrancy of love.
As you continue to walk with the Lord God you are going to continue to pick up new truth.
A person may be very Christ-centered when he is first saved.
But after a while he begins to concentrate on these new truths he picks up. It may be divine Healing, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, or a great move of God.
If you watch new converts, this is a consistent pattern. They become taken up with one of these things. For instance, I often tell our denominational friends who come into understanding that they ultimately will go through a state of demonology.
It just seems to be a pattern. They are baptized in the Holy Spirit, and they go a little while trying to test God in every area, but before you know it, they see demons in everything.
They gravitate to the ministries of rebuking and casting out devils. Of course, that is important, but it needs to be placed in the proper perspective.
I have ministered to some people who could not talk about Jesus at all because they were so devil-conscience. Their speech was all of Satan.
What does Paul say about these stages of truth? He says they are not another gospel because they are an intricate part of the gospel, but to concentrate on only one issue is to pervert the gospel.
See verse 7, "which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."
Perversion will be Satan's greatest tool in the last days. The last day church will be motivated by the doctrines of Baalam and the sins of Jezebel, which are the sins of (spiritual) fornication-perversion.
What do we mean by that? The church will not turn against Jesus, it will not forsake or quit Jesus, but it will substitute something else, something He can do, something He did, or something He is going to do for, who He is.
Paul says that is another gospel, a perversion of the believers love affair with Jesus Christ, the sins of jezebel.
She is the spirit in these last days that causes the church member to fall in love with something else besides Jesus himself and commit spiritual adultery.
So the first step toward the revelation of Jesus Christ is realizing and admitting that this is taking place, that your first love is gone. I believe that everyone who follows the Lord over a period of time, your first love will begin to depart unless the true gospel is preached to you.
Beginning at verse 6, we see the first of seven important things necessary to receiving the revelation of Jesus Christ. First you must see a contrast between two kinds of Gospels.
"I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel."
Now, what has happened here is that the Galatians have not progressed. They have not continued being led of the Spirit into the fullness of the in-Christ position.
Consequently, they have been removed from Christ. After people are born again, and especially after they are Spirit-filled, Jesus is in the center of their love affair.
They love Him, they talk about Him and they are given to expressing the reality of Jesus. The center of their whole conversation and life is Jesus. But the Galatians, after having had this testimony of Christ-centeredness, have removed Him from the center. Your first step in going deeper with God is to analyze your own life.
You must consider, "am I still in that vibrant stage of first love that I had when I first met Jesus?" It is not likely that you are because, since you first met Jesus, too many other aspects of the gospel have entered in and you have not retained the vibrancy of love.
As you continue to walk with the Lord God you are going to continue to pick up new truth.
A person may be very Christ-centered when he is first saved.
But after a while he begins to concentrate on these new truths he picks up. It may be divine Healing, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, or a great move of God.
If you watch new converts, this is a consistent pattern. They become taken up with one of these things. For instance, I often tell our denominational friends who come into understanding that they ultimately will go through a state of demonology.
It just seems to be a pattern. They are baptized in the Holy Spirit, and they go a little while trying to test God in every area, but before you know it, they see demons in everything.
They gravitate to the ministries of rebuking and casting out devils. Of course, that is important, but it needs to be placed in the proper perspective.
I have ministered to some people who could not talk about Jesus at all because they were so devil-conscience. Their speech was all of Satan.
What does Paul say about these stages of truth? He says they are not another gospel because they are an intricate part of the gospel, but to concentrate on only one issue is to pervert the gospel.
See verse 7, "which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."
Perversion will be Satan's greatest tool in the last days. The last day church will be motivated by the doctrines of Baalam and the sins of Jezebel, which are the sins of (spiritual) fornication-perversion.
What do we mean by that? The church will not turn against Jesus, it will not forsake or quit Jesus, but it will substitute something else, something He can do, something He did, or something He is going to do for, who He is.
Paul says that is another gospel, a perversion of the believers love affair with Jesus Christ, the sins of jezebel.
She is the spirit in these last days that causes the church member to fall in love with something else besides Jesus himself and commit spiritual adultery.
So the first step toward the revelation of Jesus Christ is realizing and admitting that this is taking place, that your first love is gone. I believe that everyone who follows the Lord over a period of time, your first love will begin to depart unless the true gospel is preached to you.
