Focus on the gospel

Last night in Roselle we looked at Galatians 1:6,7 

 "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ."

The definition of distort is to"pull or twist out of shape."  What Paul is showing here is that the gospel has parameters.  It can be pulled or twisted out of shape- which is exactly what the false teachers in Galatia were doing.  Paul hammers on the nail of the gospel throughout Galatians, showing that there is but ONE gospel. (1:9)

Notice the ways the gospel can be distorted:

1.  The gospel is distorted when it is a man-made gospel. (1:11)

2.  The gospel is distorted when freedom in christ is taken away and substituted with man-made regulations and rules. (2:4,5)

3.  The gospel is distorted when people do not conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the gospel. (2:14)

4.  The gospel is distorted when justification by faith is minimized or added to. (2:15,16; 19-21; 3:10-14)

5.  The gospel is distorted when the role of the Spirit in regeneration and sanctification is ignored. (3:1-5; 14)

Let us, like Paul, not allow the gospel to be distorted in our minds or in our church and yield in submission to those who would want to make little of this wonderful truth. (Gal 2:5)  "Let us pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it." (Hebrews 2:1)