There are some people in our society who believe in something called ‘channeling’ the spirits of departed people. I would be afraid to do that with the spirit of the Apostle Paul, especially on a passage like this one.
One of the lost skills in modern America(cooking of food, talking on a phone rather than texting, reading newspapers and books, playing outdoors) is driving a manual transmission car.
Summer of 1976 I learned to drive a stick shift. I had an idea of how because I had driven a motorcycle for two years.(license at 14 to drive most dangerous vehicle on highway).
After senior year and before going to college worked at place to made fire sprinkler systems. First week I swept, then I stocked pipes and connectors, then I cut and threaded pipe. Summer in Oklahoma with no AC and finally someone offered the chance to deliver to a job site. I quickly said yes, helped load the truck and jumped in only to look down at a stick shift. Two choices: get out and go back in that building or learn how to drive a stick shift on the streets of Tulsa Oklahoma in a truck filled with pipe.
I LEARNED BECAUSE I SAW HOW ESSENTIAL IT WAS FOR MY FUTURE. Paul told the Galatians they needed to shift from LAW TO GRACE and maybe some of you need to also. To shift from PERFORMANCE TO DEPENDENCE
You foolish Galatians,.. - not on the top of the list of SERMON STARTERS. Right up there with John the Baptist’s first words to the Pharisees, ‘you brood of snakes’ or Jesus’ to His disciples when He came back down the mountain of Transfiguration to find them struggling with a demon possessed boy, ‘You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?’
Whatever happened to ‘Hi’ or ‘How ya doing’ or ‘How is the weather in Galatia?’
POLICALLY CORRECTS WAYS TO SAY SOMEONE IS STUPID
A few clowns short of a circus. A few fries short of a happy meal.
The wheel's spinning, but the hamster's dead. His cheese has slid off his cracker.
Couldn't pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel.
In the pinball game of life, his flippers are too far apart.
The Amplified Version, "O you poor and silly, thoughtless, unreflecting and senseless Galatians." The Philips translation. The chapter begins, "You dear idiots".
An idiot doesn’t know what he should do but a fool doesn’t do what he knows
Sometimes we need to be shaken up, woken up from our mistaken take on what the Christian life is really all about. Some might question whether the Christian life is all that they thought it would be but the truth is that it is much more than any of us can imagine but we are stuck in the WRONG GEAR.
a) You ever try to drive 60 MPH in 2cnd gear? It will burn up the motor and some of you are close to burning out while others are still on automatic and going nowhere.
b) Living by the Law is much the same like a car in the wrong gear: It makes a lot of noise, keeps the car from moving faster and makes the engine work too hard. We need to get out of the LAW GEAR and into GRACE.
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain -if indeed it was in vain?
5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
This morning we are going to look at 4 QUESTIONS Paul asks these churches to help them to understand where they are and how to get into the right gear in their journey with Christ.
HOW DID YOU GET ON THE WRONG TRACK? WHO BEWITCHED YOU?
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
Bewitched – idea of being ‘charmed’ into something that is evil for you.
Con-artist named "George C. Parker". Not long after the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, on a whim, Parker decided to try and sell it to an unsuspecting tourist. It was so easy, he tried it again. Before long he had abandoned all his other cons and was selling the Brooklyn Bridge exclusively. Over the years Parker sold the bridge for as little as $50, and as much as $50,000.
Over and over the police were called in to stop new owners from erecting toll booths they were promised would make them rich. Parker did so well selling the Bridge he eventually branched out and started marketing Madison Square Garden, Grant's Tomb, and even the Statute of Liberty. The police finally shut him down in 1928 and sent him to prison.
P.T Barnum is famous for saying, ‘A sucker is born every minute’ which he supposedly denied. The question for us is whether there is a sucker sitting in every pew?
That seemed to be Paul’s assessment of the churches of Galatia.
THEY HAD BOUGHT THE WRONG BRIDGE! - not the bridge George Parker was selling but the bridge between man and God. Was it built of Law or Faith?
Paul said they had been Bewitched – idea of being seduced by a spell –
A group of Jewish legalists were shaking the finger of condemnation at the gentile believers in Galatia. –Must Follow the Law to be Righteous . These Galatians were seduced into thinking that their blessings from God were dependent upon their performance for God
But we can be guilty of doing the same thing by keeping a list of rules, regulations, rituals and expectations and then putting the receipt in God’s face demanding He pay up.:
We're trying to buy a bridge that's not for sale.
The bridge between man and God is a cross and not a list of rules to keep.
His righteousness and blessings are not a matter of our Performance but they come thru grace/ received by faith
God isn't extending the bony finger of Condemnation & judgment. But God is reaching out to us with an open hand. His fist is not clenched but His palm is open and Scarred.
They thought God was sitting at the judges' bench in heaven handing down punishment, but Paul says God was on the cross handing out forgiveness.
Question for some this morning is ‘Who is misleading you? Who is distorting the wonderful truth that Jesus did it all for us on the cross and that our service to Him is out of surrender and love and not to earn His love or gain favors.
Every cult built off of Christianity is a detour in this direction. Believers were ‘charmed or bewitched’ by Joseph Smith or Charles Russell or Mary Baker Eddy.
STATISTICS VERSES SBC
Total Members: 14,131,467 - 16,600,000 Churches: 28,660 - 44,000 Missionaries: 52,483 - 9,400 Seminary: 369,373 - 7,782 GROWTH: MORMONISM 1 million every three years SBC decline over last three years of 150,000(no mandate requiring removal of inactive like with Methodists, Presbyterians or Lutherans)
Worship attendance: 38% 6,138,776 Sunday School/Bible Study attendance: 26% 4,154,270
A highly successful American-grown religion.
JosephSmith says he was directed to gold tablets under a rock on a New York hill.
Translated, the tablets into the Book of Mormon.
Story of Jesus appearing to white Indians in America two thousand years ago. Not one scrap of archaeological evidence that such a society existed? Recently a 19th century novel resurfaced that was written before the plates of the Book of Mormon were discovered. This novel contains the same essential story, often word-for-word.
The Book of Mormon also quotes long sections of the King James Bible, which was translated in 1611,1600 years after the trip Smith said Jesus took to America. For some people this proves that Jesus and the Apostle spoke King James English.
But Mormanism is experiencing a great period of growth worldwide mainly because it carries a message that people want to hear about family and morals and so they don’t ask the bigger questions about whether it is true or not.
If I could personally choose my own religion then Mormonism would be near the top. Why wouldn’t I want to embrace a belief that would mean that someday I would be a god. I have my own world to be deity over. That our God was once a man like us.
Great for us guys.
Speaking to a young man who just graduated from a local high school I asked him where he was going to college. He told me he was going on a two year mission first.
Mormans send their kids out for two years to reinforce their faith while most Baptists send their kids, at an impressionable age, to sit under teams of skeptics at the local university to spend four years attacking their faith.
Read an article about all the statistics on various denominations where all stated the same concern of that kids leaving the church after high school. It stated that 2/3 to ¾ would never come back and that the ones that did would mostly do so for one of two reasons. It is good for the kids or it was how they were raised. The point is they are not strong and passionate in their faith.
If you took a poll of people leaving most churches today and especially those started in the last 15 years and asked, ‘When was the last time you heard here what you really believed?’ Blood of Jesus, the cross, sin and righteousness, heaven and hell?
The QUESTION we need to ask is, ‘HAVE WE BECOMETHE LAZIEST GENERATION SPIRITUALLY THERE HAS EVER BEEN?’
Do you know what happens to the LAZIEST GAZELLE? Lunch! Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour and this generation has become easy prey.
When God designed predator-prey system he made it so that the predator could only catch the prey that was either weak, sick or unsuspecting(we kill the strongest with biggest antlers). I think satan wore himself out trying to run down Spurgeon or Moody or Hudson Taylor or Billy Graham but now his belly is fat and he couldn’t be happier with a prey today that doesn’t even know how to run away.
HOW DID YOUR GET SAVED? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
Paul reminds them of how things all began. Key word is RECEIVE How did God work in their lives at that time? Has God changed?
When we came to Jesus Christ it was not based upon things we did or stopped doing.
It was because we understood that when Jesus died on the cross that He paid for all the things we had done or not done. It was based upon faith in Him.
Nothing changes when we walk away from an altar.
We can often allow the messages of this world to trump the truths of heaven. Your teachers said, "make the grades". Your coach yelled, "no pain no gain".
Your parents told you, "make us proud". Your boss tells you, "do you want to get paid?". Everywhere we turn we hear people saying its up to us to perform.
God says it is not your Performance that matters it is the performance of my Son His is the only acceptable Performance
The Galatians had forgotten what the Scripture says about our good works. Isaiah 64:6 tells us quite graphically, "all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags..
Hebrew word translated "filthy rags", literally means, "used menstrual clothes". Means that a life will not come from this womb during this cycle. It offers no life.
That's what God thinks of our righteous deeds.
They had forgotten how they were saved – so Paul takes them back to the simplicity of their Conversion did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
HOW DO YOU LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain -if indeed it was in vain?
One of the major DETOURS that can cause a believer to get off track in their life is works.
To begin to do things for the purpose of earning favor with God or others.
To not do things out of a relationship of a surrendered life before God.
a) How can I tell I am doing this? I expect praise from others for what I do.
If I am not enough recognition or praise then I will stop doing what I do.
b) Jesus told the Pharisees they were wrong to do things for the sake of being ‘seen of men’.
Just like Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler his problem was ‘covetousness’ and he needed to give away his wealth He also tells the Pharisees that they need to address their problems by doing everything in secret where others cannot see them.
Paul wants them to realize that the same way they were saved is the same way they are going to grow.
Col 2:6-7 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, [By grace thru faith] so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
God wants us to Grow but only by His means & His way. The way God saved you is the way He intends to treat you for the rest of eternity - by grace through faith!
If you've ever tried to drive a stick shift you know that the toughest transition is from neutral to first gear – especially if you're sitting on a hill.
In Christianity first gear is often the hardest as well. To admit we can’t do it on our own.
It is tough to look at the cross and realize we put Jesus there. We want to make up for what we did with what we do.
CLARIFICATION: This truth does not mean that the Christian life is not about doing things for God. It is better understood and God doing things thru our surrendered lives to Him.
His power in us working to perform that which He directs us to do and not just the religious expectations of others. The end result should be doing more just like the end result of NT giving and serving should be more than anything mandated in the OT.
Some of you are still in first gear and you don’t know how to get out of it.
Life is a long journey in first gear. It takes all the fun out of the trip.
We stumble into sin, we mess up, we realize we aren’t what we should be and we get angry and ashamed and want to give up or maybe just try even harder. God says,
‘Who bewitched you?” ‘When did it become about you and your abilities instead of being about My son?’ ‘Where is His power in your life?’ ‘Where is My will being done?’
‘Of course you are failing in your own strength and will…are you now ready to get out of first gear?
But God I am ashamed of myself? YOU SHOULD BE
But God I don’t feel worthy YOU AREN’T
You'll stop backsliding downhill when you learn to shift it into the grace gear! When God treats me with grace He gives me what I don’t deserve because of His Son.
HOW DOES GOD WORK IN OUR LIVES? 5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
God wants us to be made complete, wants us to grow and doesn’t want us to struggle in sin
God wants us to become complete in Him The question is how is it going to happen?
Thru our FLESH OR by HIS SPIRIT?
The Galatians had started by trusting in the work of God but now they were trying to finish in the flesh!
At what point did the world stop hearing from us a message about how wonderful God is and how Jesus is working in our lives? Many of us have a primary message about the great things we do because we are Baptists and different from the world.
a) We go to church…we don’t do this thing or that
Remember how wonderful it was to be saved. To place all our guilt and shame and sins upon Jesus and be totally forgiven by the simple act of faith in Him and what He did for us on the cross. Finally free of condemnation and failure. All put at the foot of the cross.
Somewhere along the way the Galatians had picked those things back up: guilt, shame, condemnation failures. Paul says they did this because they had been ‘bewitched’.
Get out from under that spell and live each day like you did that one moment that saved you.
THE REAL PROBLEM IS FOUND BACK IN VERSE 1
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
Lit. ‘Who took your eyes off of the cross?’ How did they go back to the Law?
One thing Paul never failed to make clear was the power of the cross of Jesus.
Did you start believing somewhere along the way that the cross was no longer sufficient?
Was what Jesus did there no longer enough? Was it only enough to save you and did not provide the power to live by?
Actor Kevin Bacon said when his 6-year-old son saw Footloose for the first time he said, "Hey, Dad, you know that thing in the movie where you swing from the rafters of that building? "Well, I didn't do that part--it was a stunt man." "What's a stunt man?" "That's someone who dresses like me and does things I can't do." "A little later he said, "Dad, you know that thing in the movie where you spin around on that gym bar and land on your feet? How did you do that?" "Well, I didn't do that. It was a gymnastics double." "What's a gymnastics double?" "That's a guy who dresses in my clothes and does things I can't do." There was silence from my son, then he asked in a concerned voice, "Dad, what did you do?" "I got all the glory,"
Had Kevin Bacon done all those stunts himself it would have been a whole different movie.
When we try to live the Christian life it is completely different than when we let Jesus do it for us.
Zechariah was called to a discouraged people and their leader "Zerubbabel". Israel had returned to their land, but rebuilding the Temple had been ignored. Zerubbabel tried for two decades and failed.
Zechariah 4:6, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit... Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"
Two decades of failure would now be followed by the song of GRACE.
Some of you need learn again to sing that song.
