Distorted Gospel, Distorted Life | Galatians 1:1-10

So open up to, uh, the Book of Galatians and just for a plug for our mid,

our midweek study, we are going, uh, through the Book of Galatians as well.

So, uh, the people that go there on Wednesdays are well-versed in

Galatians, and if you have any questions, they can answer them all.

We've been in chapter one for, like, two weeks, and I said we're gonna be

in chapter one for two more weeks.

So we'll definitely know chapter one, uh, I think.

I don't know.

It, it seems like every time you read God's Word, you discover

something new or you miss something.

And so that's, that's a great thing about God's Word.

Um, not only are his mercies new every morning, but his Word seems

new, uh, every morning as well.

Well, the Book of Galatians, what is it about?

Let's, let's start there with a little bit of a background, um,

as we go through this letter.

So Paul wrote this letter, it's believed, uh, just after

his first missionary journey.

There are in-house debates, so I'm not gonna be dogmatic about that, about

when it was written and exactly, uh, what area of Galatia it was written to.

I'll just go with what I think, um, i- is helpful to know, uh, just to get an idea.

So that means he probably wrote it around sometime after 40 AD, right?

So not too long after the resurrection, uh, and after he

had went through Southern Galatia.

Uh, Southern Galatia would be the region of modern-day Turkey from the Black

Sea down to the Mediterranean Sea.

So if you could picture a map, that's the area that the Apostle Paul on

his first missionary journey went through, you know, uh, visiting, uh,

synagogues and starting new churches.

And so he's writing to them sometime after he had visited them.

And this letter that we're gonna go through is really, uh, it's,

it's just, like, one argument.

So there's not a bunch of different things that he's addressing.

It's gonna be one contin- continuous argument about a major

concern that he has in the church.

As we'll see, there are, there are people that have entered into the

church, and it's believed that they are, um, of Jewish, uh, ancestry.

They've come from Jerusalem, so they're, they're loosely affiliated

or they're claiming affiliation with the council at Jerusalem.

If you remember when we were going through the Book of Acts, that's

where the apostles were stationed.

And so obviously, if anybody comes from that area, they're like,

"Well, they have some authority."

So these men, uh, we assume they're men, have come into the, to the Galatian

churches and have been teaching what Paul calls, and we'll see, is a different

gospel Now, unfortunately, we don't have the exact what were they teaching, 'cause

we don't have their side of the argument.

We are seeing Paul address the church against the things

that they are being taught.

So we can infer a few different things as we go along, uh, through

the Go- through, uh, the Book of Galatians that they are teaching.

'Cause we, again, we don't have their doctrines or their practices.

But as I said, we can infer a few different things.

And what we will infer from the text as we go through it is that they

are teaching a different gospel in the sense is that they are claiming

it seems like that you have…

You will be justified in your faith if you adhere to the Law of Moses.

Now, if you were here when we went through the Book of Acts, you remember

Paul was battling a lot of that, right?

People were saying, "Oh, you have to be circumcised to be saved," or,

"You have to follow these certain food laws or these festivals,

holy days in order to be saved."

Now, they're not denying, uh, Jesus's, uh, authority or Jesus's, uh, uh,

sa- sacrifice on the cross, but they are adding to it as if saying, "In

order to have, uh, to be justified and have that applied to your life,

you must meet a certain criteria."

And the question will be, is this the true gospel?

Is that what the gospel says?

Another question, well, how important is it to get the gospel right?

These are questions Paul will address in this letter.

This letter is, is so important in the history of the church.

If you remember the Christian reformer Martin Luther, who challenged the

Catholic Church's doctrines on a, a number of things, directly correlates

his understanding of salvation by faith, uh, salvation by grace alone through

faith alone to the Book of Galatians.

He has a commentary that he wrote on Galatians, which are really all his

lectures to his students at college.

So it's an important book in the history of the Protestant church

and Christianity in general.

So there's a lot more that can be said about the background of Galatians, but

I hope that gives you an understanding of what we're diving into this morning.

So with that said, let's go ahead.

I'm gonna read the entire chapter, but we're gonna focus on just

probably the first 10 verses.

So here's what the apostle wrote.

It says, "Paul, an apostle, not sent from men nor," excuse me, "nor through the

agency of man, but through Jesus Christ."

Excuse me.

Let's start again.

Paul, an apostle, not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through

Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead And all the brethren who

are with me to the churches of Galatia, grace to you and peace from God our

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins that He might

deliver us not of this present evil age…

Excuse me, out of this present evil age, according to the will

of God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever, amen.

So it's a almost a standard opening for the Apostle Paul, letting

you know who he's writing to, and he's giving them a greeting,

and then he goes into right away.

You'll notice in most of the Apostle Paul's letters, he

usually commends the church.

"I hear so much good about you, that you're doing this

and I'm praying for you."

But look at how he starts this letter to the churches.

Verse six, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you

by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, which is really not another; only

there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a

gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to

you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

For I am, for am I now seeking the favor of man or of God?

Or am I striving to please man?

If I was striving to please man, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached

by me is not according to man.

For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it

through a revelation of Christ Jesus.

For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to

persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.

And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my

countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.

But when He who set me apart even from my mother's womb, and called me through

His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to me, that I might preach Him among the

Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up

to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia,

and returned once more to Damascus.

Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with

Cephas, and stayed with him 15 days.

But I did not see any other apostles except James, the Lord's brother."

Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.

Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still

unknown by the sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.

But only, they kept hearing, "He who once persecuted us is now preaching

the faith which is once tried, which he once tried to destroy."

And they were glorifying God because of me.

You see, it takes a tone of like he's a little bit angry, you think.

He's defending himself.

He's trying to prove a point to those who would come in and distort the gospel.

So as I mentioned, um, let's go back to the beginning.

We're just gonna cover the first 10 verses.

I wanna, uh, focus on a few different things here.

First, let's focus on Paul's opening.

Although I said it was a very common opening, if you read some of his other

letters, it's very common for him to say he's writing and he, he greets them with

a bunch of his, his, uh, people that are on the missionary journey with him, right?

That's why he says, "All the brother who are with me," you know,

"They're greeting you as well."

At the very beginning, he kinda states, "Hey, I'm an apostle."

And it's in, if in your Bibles, mine's in parentheses, it says, "Not sent from

men, nor through the agency of men, but through Christ Jesus and God the

Father, who raised him from the dead."

It's like he's telling them, "Hey…"

He's kinda defending himself or, or kinda giving them his credentials.

"I'm called an apostle not by men.

Men didn't give me this authority.

Men didn't commission me and send me to you, but God himself did."

God has set him apart.

As a matter of fact, if you remember in verses 15 and 16, he said that, that God

set him apart even from my mother's womb.

He has a sense of, of destiny, of certainty in his calling, that

God has prepared him to go out and preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

It's as if they might be questioning his authority.

Again, this is, can be inferred.

It's not stated that way, but it is curious that he would right at the

very beginning say that he is not sent from men, nor through the agency of men

Why?

Why this defense?

Well, again, I, I think they're trying to undermine his credibility

to the churches that he started.

Right?

One of the ways that people are discredited is through their

discrediting their character, right?

Like, "Don't listen to them.

Who are they?"

Or, "They, they did this," or, "They did that, so you don't

have to listen to what they say."

And maybe that is what is going on here.

Maybe they're trying to minimize the Apostle Paul's authority, and

so he, he has to state from the outset that, "I am sent not by men

or from men, but from God alone."

And we will see this being d- done in Galatia by those who come in the

church throughout the, this book.

If you remember in the Book of Acts, didn't this happen often, where Paul was

always having to defend his character, his status, the things that he did?

If you remember in the Book of Acts, Acts 23:1, when he was on trial, he

Acts 23:1

said, "Paul looked intently at the Council and said, 'Brethren, I have

lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.'"

Right?

Because he was being accused of not living the right way

And then again in Acts 24:16, it's recorded, "In view of this,

Acts 24:16

I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience,

both before God and before men."

So he's like, "Hey, I'm living right before God and I'm living right before you

guys, and you're trying to question me."

And you remember the Book of Acts, they could never find anything against him.

See, Paul understood that the character of the messenger matters to the

credibility of the message, right?

So these people who are coming to the churches of Galatia are maybe trying

to put some doubt in the churches.

Like, "Hey, you don't have to listen to this guy.

You know, he, maybe he's done this or he's done that or he's not as great

as us," whatever the case may be.

But it's a reminder to us as, as believers, and this will be a, a point of

application for us, that we are to live in such a way that our character defends us

and is a witness to the gospel of Christ.

Right?

We're called to live that way.

That's why in 1 Peter chapter 2,

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

in 1 Peter 2:12, he, he writes this in speaking to the churches.

1 Peter 2:12

He says, "Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles."

Why?

"So that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they

may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify

God in the day of visitation."

He's saying what Paul's saying, right?

Have a excellent conduct among Gentiles.

Right?

So even when they slander you, obviously people are gonna know, know that's

not true about them and, and they can glorify God because of your behavior.

Again, let your character defend you and let your character be the witness to

the gospel that you proclaim to believe.

Peter later says in 1 Peter 3:16, again, he says, "And keep a good conscience

1 Peter 3:16

so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good

behavior in Christ will be put to shame."

Again, we see the example of the Apostle Paul over and over again having such a

good character and living above reproach that nothing, the accusations never stuck.

They weren't true.

And as believers, we're to live in such a way, again, not just so that

we could, you know, be vindicated, but more importantly so that we can

be a witness to the gospel of Christ.

And so I think that's important to note from the beginning.

One more thing I wanna point out in the greeting is verse four

Verse four, look at what he says here.

This is something we in our, our study on Wednesday has, had spent a lot of time on

It says, speaking of Jesus, "Who gave himself for our sins, that

he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to

the will of our God and Father."

And what I wanna note about this section, and what I think is so is,

and so important, and it can be easily missed, is that it kinda gives us…

And that doesn't kind of, it gives us God's ultimate

purpose of salvation for us.

Look at it again with that in mind.

That he might, he, he gave himself for our sins for what reason?

That he might deliver us out of this present evil age.

God desires to deliver us out of this present evil age.

And that brings up a lot of questions, doesn't it?

What is this evil age?

How does he deliver us?

When will he do it?

Again, that's for future studies for yourselves, but I wanna just highlight

a couple things here in this section because God delivers us in two ways.

He delivers us ultimately, right, when we are with Him for all

eternity in the eternal state.

That's one way God delivers us from this present evil age.

This present evil age being the, the, uh, the time where

Satan rules the world, right?

From the fall of creation until the return of Christ.

This present evil age which you and I now live in, God

desires to deliver us from that

And Paul's saying he, he's, he's did that by Jesus coming and dying for us.

So ultimately, each and every one of us who believes on the Lord Christ will be

delivered from this present evil age.

But there's another sense in which that is true, is that we are delivered

right now presently from this evil age

What do I mean by that?

Well, right now, each and every one of us who believes on

Christ is now has eternal life.

Right?

We are now filled and sealed by the Holy Spirit who keeps

us until the day of redemption.

So we are delivered in one sense from this evil age.

Let me give you a couple examples of, of what I'm talking about here.

Right?

So because even though we live in this present evil age, in one sense

we are not part of it, are we?

We've been delivered from it.

We are to live like citizens of the kingdom.

In the book of Titus-

Paul writes, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men."

So we're already saved

Salvation to all men instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly

desires, and to live sensibly, righteously and godly when?

In this present age.

Even in this evil age, we are delivered in one sense spiritually.

We no longer live for this present evil age

I think this is said perfectly, obviously, by Jesus himself.

Turn with me to the Gospel of John, looking at, uh, starting

in chapter 17, verse 14.

Probably the…

one of the, uh, most important sections about being in this

world and not of it, right?

Being in this present age and not of it, as believers, would

be a better way to say it.

In chapter 17, look at verse 14, when Jesus is speaking to his

disciples, or about his disciples.

This is, uh, Jesus, uh, what's called Jesus' high priestly prayer.

So he's praying to the Father, and he says this: "I have given them thy

word; and the world has hated them because they are not of this world,

even as I am not of this world."

Or you can say this present evil age.

"I did not ask…"

And look at what he says, "I do not ask thee to take them out of this world,

but to keep them from the evil one."

So that is the sense I'm saying is we're delivered of this present age now

because we're kept from the evil one.

Look at verse 16, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth."

Jesus is saying, again, his followers are not in this world.

They're not in this present evil age.

He's delivered us.

He's called us out from this present evil age and asked us to

live as citizens of the kingdom

And he says he's, that we've, he's done this by giving us the word of truth.

Jesus says the truth of God's word is, is what will set us apart from the

rest of this world in verse 17, right?

"Sanctify them in the truth for thy word is true."

Sanctify, set apart.

We're set apart by God's word.

Again, Jesus doesn't ask for us to be taken out of this present evil age, right?

We all wanna be taken out of this present evil age.

I understand that.

Like, why doesn't the Lord just take us now?

Let's get out of here.

But Jesus said back then, "I don't ask that you take them out of this

present evil age, but I ask that you protect them from the evil one, the one

who temporarily rules this evil age."

So God's ultimate desire is, yes, to take us out of this evil age,

but in the meantime, He's preserving us and keeping us from the evil

one in this present evil age.

That's how we are delivered now and in the end.

I think it's important to know.

So the question for us is form of application.

Okay, if that's the case, then how do we live in this present evil age?

How do we succeed?

How can we be successful in the Christian life?

Well, if you look a couple books back at Romans chapter 12

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Here's the pr- here's how you do it.

Here's your how do I do it?

Now, I'm not saying it's easy, but it's like working out.

Well, how do you get healthy?

Well, eat better, work out.

Okay, you know that.

It's harder to do, especially with Christmas coming

But what does Romans, Romans 12 say?

Look at what Paul says in Romans 12:1-2.

Romans 12:1–2

He says, "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to

present your bodies a living sac- and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which

is your reasonable service of worship.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing

of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which

is good and acceptable and perfect."

I think this verse holds the key for us on how we are to live in this

present age, but not be a part of it.

Number one is this: dedicate yourself to the service of God, right?

He says, "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God," to do what?

"To present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God."

That's number one, to give ourselves to the Lord.

Then in verse two he says what?

"Do not be conformed to this world," to this present evil age.

Don't be conformed or molded into the ways of this present evil age.

Again, we've been delivered from it, to not act like the rest of the world.

We're in it, but not of it.

So don't be conformed or molded into the ways of this present evil age.

And thirdly, be transformed by God's Word, which will renew our mind,

our way of thinking, our desires.

That's what he says, right?

"Do not be conformed to the world," but be what?

"Transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may

prove what the will of God is."

He's saying let God's Word…

Remember Jesus said, "My Word is truth.

Sanctify them in your truth."

And here Paul is agreeing, saying, "Let God's Word transform you.

Let God's Word be, help you be successful in following

God in this present evil age."

All of these things prove that the importance of God's Word.

God's Word is the key here, and this is the reason why the Apostle Paul,

going back to Galatian, emphasizes to not let God's Word be distorted in

any way, which brings us to the next section in verse six of Galatians 1.

Are you…

So I hope you saw the importance of God's Word, right?

Of not, that this is the key to following God.

This is the key to being successful in this present evil world.

And so that's why the Apostle Paul says, "Hey, I am a- amazed that you

are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ," for what?

"A different gospel."

Something different, he goes on to say, "than what we have been preaching

to you, which is the Word of God."

It is so important that God's Word is not distorted in our lives

Right?

When the truth of the gospel is distorted, then godly living

is inevitably compromised.

Right?

When, when God's word is improperly n- uh, n- being used in our life or

understood, then there is the chance that we may live in an ungodly way.

Paul, here, it's not so much a g- a different and godly way that he's upset

about, but he's saying, "Hey, you're having a totally different gospel

This is the heart of the entire text here in verses six through 10, is changing

the gospel or adding to the gospel.

It's not just that you misunderstand it in a certain way, and I'll

show you what I mean in a moment

But it, it has to deal with salvation.

It's not, it's not the fact that, well, you know what?

We do infant baptism or we do believer's baptism.

That's not, that's not what he's talking about.

You know, we do, uh, we sing out of a hymnal or we only sing to psalter

or we do modern worship songs.

Or we wear ties to church or we dress down at church.

That's not what he's talking about.

He's talking about the Gospel in such a way, he says, "You have a different

gospel and you are leaving Christ."

He says, "I'm amazed that you are quickly deserting God."

So they're deserting God.

They're deserting, deserting God in such a way that they're leaving Him.

They're about to apostatize.

Right, again, it has nothing to do with secondary issues.

It's a gospel issue.

And he says he's amazed that they're so quickly doing it, that somebody's

distorting the gospel, which he says it's not even a, a gospel.

It's not really a gospel.

And notice what he says in verse seven.

I like this.

He says, "Which is really not another, another, only there are

some who are disturbing you."

That word disturbing means to agitate or to cause an inward commotion, to take away

the calmness, a peace of mind that you have, and your assurance of the gospel.

It's like they're disrupting that.

They're making you doubt.

They're making you question.

So these people are coming in and doing that, and that- that's

why Paul's so upset with them.

He's, he's me- they're messing with the church.

They're perverting it, he says.

They're corrupting the gospel.

They're distorting it

And notice at the end of verse seven, it's not that they're

doing by ac- doing it by accident.

He says, "And they want to distort the gospel of Christ."

It shows intent.

So don't think, "Well, I, I accidentally misunderstood the gospel," right?

'Cause Jared and I up here can accidentally say something that might seem

heretical or teach something incorrectly.

That's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about intentionally doing it.

Church leaders, church authorities who intentionally and willingly

and knowingly distort the gospel.

They're bad actors.

That's why the Apostle Paul says, "Let them be a curse," which

means to be destroyed or condemned

See, and that's how bad it is.

If they're willingly distorting the gospel and misleading people.

That's why Jesus, you remember what he said, uh, if you dis- if you, uh,

mislead one of these children, let them put a millstone around their

neck and be tossed into the sea.

That's how bad it is.

It's distorting the gospel, a primary issue.

And the Apostle Paul, notice he emphasizes that it's not the messenger

that matters, it's the message itself.

Because he even throws himself in this.

He says, "Even if we," him and his companions, "an angel from heaven

should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one which we have

preached to you, let him be accursed."

And then in verse nine he says this, "Any man is preaching to you a

gospel contrary to that which you've received, let him be accursed."

He says, "It doesn't matter if it's me, if it's my buddy Luke here that is

traveling with you, or even an angel.

If they're preaching something different than what has been handed

down from God, let them be accursed."

Again, it's not the messenger that matters, it's what it says.

Right?

Doesn't matter how popular the person is, how famous the person is, if

they're preaching something different than what has been handed down,

he says, "Let them be accursed."

I mean, that goes for us nowadays, right?

We can be, um, enamored by, you know, "Hey, well, that pastor has

the biggest church in the world.

They must be preaching the gospel, right?"

Or, "This person has a million followers on Instagram."

It doesn't mean anything.

Apostle Paul said it could be an angel, a spiritual being.

If they're teaching something different, let them be cursed, cast out.

This begs a few questions for us, though.

What is the gospel?

How do we know we have the right one?

Could you answer that?

How do you know what you've been taught is right?

I think we're gonna focus on that a little more the next, next week.

But let me just say this, what is the gospel?

Right?

And, and this is, this is what the Apostle Paul will be talking about

the en- the entire book of Galatians.

But let me put it down in this way for you, taken obviously from scripture.

The gospel is this: that God saves sinners by grace through faith in Jesus Christ,

who gave himself for our sins to redeem us from the curse of the law so that we might

be justified and become children of God.

That's the simple gospel

Again, let's read it again.

God saves sinners by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who gave himself

for our sins to redeem us from the curse of the law, so that we might be

justified and become children of God.

Again, Paul will develop this throughout his letter, and this is what the

other people are coming up against.

They're not denying that Jesus died for their sins.

But they're saying, "In order for you to apply that to your life, you're

going to need to do some things to be prepared to receive it, like adhere

to the Law of Moses, be circumcised."

Right?

We'll see that as we go through the Book of Galatians.

So they distort it.

How is that distorting it?

Well, what they're doing is they're adding human effort to the work of God.

They're adding human effort to the work of God.

Paul's saying, "It's all God.

It's God alone."

But they're saying, "No, you need to do something too."

Right?

Don't sometimes you feel like, "I should do…

I, I feel like I have to do something to earn God's favor."

Right?

I think that's just our human nature.

But Go- but it is a free gift, is it not?

Salvation is a free gift from God.

We just have to believe it and receive it.

You know, we don't have to, "Well, I have to go to church four times this month and

sing every worship song or read my Bible."

Those are all good things, but those add nothing to your salvation.

You're not gonna be more saved because you listened to me and sat through

the whole service, or you read your Bible, or you were baptized, right?

Or you were dedicated as a baby.

That would mean you're adding to the work of Christ.

And Paul's saying, "You cannot do that.

It's all God.

God did it all."

We did nothing to earn it or deserve it

And so these people are coming into Galatia and to the churches and

are teaching those types of things that, "Hey, well, it's great that

Christ died and we believe it, but you also need to be circumcised.

You also need to be adhere to the law of Moses so that that

salvation can be applied to you

So the distorting God's free gift.

So the question for us in our final application this morning

is, how can we keep from being led away by a distorted gospel?

Again, I ask the question, how do you know the gospel?

How do you know you have the right gospel?

How do you know what I'm teaching is correct, or any pastor or

teaching that you hear is correct?

Well, I'll give you four ways.

Number one is to know the true gospel.

That's, that's first of all.

Right, the Apostle Paul is saying, "Hey, you guys have

heard me preach you the gospel.

It's been handed down to you, so you know it.

So if you hear something different, then that should, you know, raise a red

flag that, hey, this is not the gospel."

So you need to ask yourself, do you know the true gospel?

Do you know, again, that you are saved by grace through faith, right?

I like to say grace alone, through faith alone, by Christ

alone, meaning it's only that.

Nothing is added to it

That was the mantra of the reformers, right?

It's like, it's only this.

You add nothing to your salvation.

Do you know the true gospel?

So first of all, in order to not be led astray, you need to know what it is that

you're not gonna be led astray from.

That's why the Apostle Paul, he's like, "I'm amazed.

I mean, you guys know this, and you're so easily being led astray.

I'm amazed at it."

Secondly, how do you keep from being led astray by a distorted gospel is to

measure every teaching by scripture.

You have to have a measuring, you know, tool, rod.

H- how do you measure what a person says is true or not?

Measure it, every teaching, by scripture.

Right?

I hope you don't just take our word for things here, or who- whenever

you're listening to scripture, that you're actively listening.

Are they teaching scripture?

Are they going out of scripture and adding something to scripture?

So make sure whatever you hear is from scripture

That it can be backed up by scripture, right?

I'm sure Jared could attest to this.

We have people that we come off, you know, where you guys, and not maybe you

directly, but somebody in here is like, "Hey, I don't think that's in the Bible.

I don't agree with you."

And that's fine.

We can debate on scripture.

Again, it's a secondary issue, right?

When we went through the Book of Revelation, that

happened all the time, right?

There's people who had a different view of Revelation than I did, and so we went

through scripture and we'd talk about it.

We might not come to agreement, but it's a secondary issue.

It wasn't a gospel issue.

But at least they're looking, at least they're checking.

Hopefully you don't just blindly say, "Well, he's the pastor.

He, he must know.

He studies all the time."

Again, or I listen to that person because they have a large church

Measure every teacher teaching by scripture.

As we'll see, when these people came into the churches of Galatia, they were

claiming some affiliation with the, you know, the mother church back in Jerusalem.

And so they're, "Hey, they came from Jerusalem, they must be right."

Thirdly, don't compromise your belief to gain approval of men.

The Apostle Paul in verse 10 says, "For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God?

Or am I striving to please men?

If I sh- if I were still trying to please men, I would not

be a bond servant of Christ."

Sometimes, and what I mean by that is sometimes we allow the gospel

to be distorted because, you know, we don't wanna offend anybody.

W- we, we compromise a little bit to get the approval of society, and

there are churches that do that.

They compromise their beliefs in certain ways and say,

"Well, that was for back then."

You know, we need to adjust scripture to meet the modern times because

we don't wanna offend anybody.

We don't wanna be looked as Neanderthals or outcasts.

They're ready to compromise their beliefs to gain the approval of

men, and that's a slippery slope

Uh, fourthly and lastly, stand firm, stand firmly in the gospel of grace

Meaning, here, the gospel is like Christ saved you, right?

As I read earlier, God saves by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Stand firmly on that.

Do not be moved from that.

Do not let anybody distort or disturb you.

Stand firmly in the gospel of grace because it comes from God, which we'll

talk about more next week, right?

Again, Apostle Paul said-

Sta- you know, he tells them to, like, "Hey, this was delivered to you.

Don't move away from it.

You guys have already heard this.

Stand firm in it."

Even at the very end, uh, or second to last chapter in the book of Galatians,

and I'll end on this, Galatians 5:1.

Galatians 5:1

It's kind of like after he's made his argument and he goes into some

application in, in the, the letter.

He says this.

This kinda sums it up.

"It was for freedom that Christ set you free," meaning

freedom from the law, right?

He says, "Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject

again to a yoke of slavery."

It's like, don't go back to what you used to hold onto.

Don't let people take you back and away from, but stand firm.

Stand firm in the gospel of grace.

And if we are doing these things, then by the power of God and His Spirit we will

not be led astray by a distorted gospel.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you, uh, once again for your word

We thank you, Lord God, that you have delivered it to us, and Lord, that

we have the ability to understand it by the power of your Holy Spirit.

And I pray this morning that each and every one of us would know that we are

saved by grace alone, through faith alone, by Christ alone, and there's

nothing we can do to add to that.

And we so thank you for that, Lord God, and I pray that we would

truly understand what that means.

And Lord, every time when somebody tries to distort the gospel in some

way, that we would be quick to, to realize it and be quick to refute it.

And so Lord, give us, uh, minds that are conformed into your

image, the image of your Son.

Give us minds that are, uh, transformed by your Word.

Help us, Lord God, to be dedicated to knowing your truth so that we

might stand firm in this evil age.

And Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.