“DON’T BE LED ASTRAY” Galatians 3:1-14
INTRO – Our purpose as a church is to “Develop Devoted Disciples.” This must be the driving motivation for everything we do in every area of our church:
- In every age-group: preschool ministry, children’s ministry, youth & college ministry, ministry to adults of all ages.
- DDD must be the thing that drives every Life Group leader to reach, teach, & minster.
- It must be the thing that drives our music ministry as they help in our corporate worship gatherings.
- It must be thing that drives our deacons as they serve & minister to our church FAMILY.
- DDD must be the thing that drives what we do in our missions ministry – locally through Mission Byram & Lunch 4 Christ; regionally through our Delta missions & in our support of Matthew Delaughter at Immanuel Church in New Orleans; internationally in our support of Stephanie Crawford in Peru, Abbey Irwin as she leaves soon for her 2-year Journeyman appointment, & others we support around the world.
- DDD must be the thing that drives our ongoing, faithfulness in our financial support of the church through our tithes & offerings.
It’s who we are. It’s what we do. It’s why we exist. It’s our lifeblood, our DNA, our marching orders. And the way we accomplish it as a church FAMILY is for each of us as individual Christ-followers to strive to develop devoted disciples in our own lives.
- Each of us individually must BE a devoted disciple of Jesus ourselves, living a life that brings honor & glory to Him alone.
- And each of us must reach out to those around us who are lost, share the Gospel w/ them, & help them develop into a devoted disciple of Jesus, too.
o It starts in our home w/ our spouses, our kids, our grandkids. DISCIPLESHIP BEGINS AT HOME!
o It expands to those in our circles of influence & relationships. “Who’s Your 1?”
In order for us to accomplish this purpose in our lives & in our church, we must strive hard to not be led astray in our faith. And today, we are going to talk about that.
EXPLANATION – Open your Bibles to Galatians 3:1-14 (page 566 in pew Bible).
Paul is continuing his discourse on the foundational truths of the Gospel. His deep concern for the spiritual health & welfare of the Galatian believers is on full display here. Like any good pastor, his desire for his brothers & sisters in Christ is that they know Christ, & that their feet are firmly planted on the unchanging, life-changing truths of the Gospel. That’s certainly what I desire for you as the under-shepherd of this church FAMILY. As Albert Mohler said: “When pastors measure whether or not they are successful, it must be by this criterion, namely, are we seeing the saints growing to completeness in Jesus Christ?”
Paul was concerned for the Galatian believers b/c he saw that they were being led astray by the false teachings of the Judaizers. Just to put it bluntly, Paul said they were idiots for letting that happen! “O foolish Galatians!” – Phillips translation: “O you dear idiots!” Other translations use words like “irrational,” “witless,” “stupid,” & “crazy.” One writer suggested that the word could be translated, “numbskulls.” I probably wouldn’t go that far in describing those who are members of the church I pastor & are not walking w/ the Lord. But the truth is that, if you’re letting Satan & the world deceive, distract, & lead you astray, that’s a pretty foolish, irrational, witless, stupid, crazy thing to do!
APPLICATION – But all of us are vulnerable to being led astray. We need to recognize that & arm ourselves against it. So how do we battle against being led astray in our faith? Here are 3 factors we see in these verses:
We see these questions for consideration – v. 1-5
There are 6 questions in these verses. Look @ them. Some of them have the same answer, & all of them will help us guard against being led astray in our faith.
Question #1: “Who has bewitched you?” v. 1 – When I hear the word, “bewitched,” I think of that TV sitcom by the same name from my childhood that featured the sorceress named Samantha who was married to her mortal husband, Darrin. She was always twitching her nose to cast a spell over him or cause something to happen.
That’s exactly what the word “bewitched” means. It means to deceive or cast a spell. It comes from a word that is associated w/ black magic or an “evil eye.” And in Paul’s mind, it is so inconceivable that these Christians would revert back to the slavery of the law after being set free by Christ, he says that they must have drunk a magic potion or had a spell cast over them. There’s no other good reason why they would have turned back to the captivity & weight of the Law.
Question #2: “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing w/ faith?” – v. 2 – Think about the salvation experience. When does a person receive the Holy Spirit into their lives? At the moment of salvation. Paul taught this truth in 3 other places:
- 1 Cor. 12:13 – “Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” (NLT)
- Romans 8:9 – “You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ living in him, he is not a Christian at all.)” (TLB)
- Eph. 1:13-14 – “And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” (NLT)
Question #3: “Are you so foolish?” – v. 3a – Paul continues to drive home the point of the lunacy of their present spiritual condition.
Question #4: “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” – v. 3b – The answer is NO. You will NOT be perfected by the flesh. AMP: “Are you so foolish and senseless? Having begun [your new life by faith] with the Spirit, are you now being perfected and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh [that is, by your own works and efforts to keep the Law]?”
Paul had talked about their salvation. Now he is talking to them about the process of spiritual maturity. This is a place where we may stumble, too. Lots of folks have the idea that we are saved by faith, & then work hard to stay saved. But Paul makes it clear that we receive the Spirit by faith when we are saved, & that we continue to live & walk in faith to mature in our relationship w/ the Lord. Nobody can be perfected by the flesh. Nobody can grow in their walk w/ Christ by focusing on their efforts, their hard work, & their good deeds. We grow as we focus on the Lord & all that He’s done for us & in us.
Maybe you’re thinking, “But what about all the hard work of prayer, Bible study, & serving the Lord?” You’re right that it is hard work. But we need to understand that it’s a matter of focus & desire. We do these things not because we HAVE to do them to keep our relationship w/ Jesus, but we GET to do them b/c we DO have a relationship w/ Jesus!
Question #5: “Did you suffer so many things in vain – if indeed it was in vain?” – v. 4 – The Galatians had suffered ridicule, abuse, isolation, & persecution when they came to know Christ. All of that suffering would have been in vain if they had turned away from the pure Gospel to a perverted gospel of faith+works. Jesus is worth suffering for, so why forsake Him & turn to some false teaching?
Question #6: “Does He who supplies the Spirit to you & works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing w/ faith…? – v. 5 – The Galatians had seen God do miraculous healings in their midst. But the healing didn’t happen b/c of their good works or their observance of the law. The miracles weren’t due to them, but due to God! They simply heard about Jesus – “heard w/ faith” – trusted in Him & His power to change lives, & then they experienced that power at work right before their very eyes.
What a lesson for us! To hear w/ faith the glorious message of Christ & His power, & then to experience that power!
- Lady healed Wednesday night at Mission Byram
We see these blessings to claim – v. 6-9 – Remember the kids’ song, “Father Abraham”? Ever wonder what that song is talking about? Here it is in a nutshell: The Scriptures have always pointed to the truth that God’s blessings come through faith, not works. Paul flatly says that “it is those of FAITH who are the sons of Abraham.” This was a direct shot at the Judaizers who would have considered Abraham to be the father of the Jewish people – those who adhere to the law.
To be a “son” of someone is to have that person’s traits. To be the “Son of God” is to have God’s traits. To be a “son of Abraham” is to display a character quality of Abraham, namely, faith. Everyone who clearly has faith is showing himself to be like Abraham in the sense that Abraham, too, had faith. Abraham wasn’t saved b/c he was circumcised, or b/c he kept the law. Gen. 15:6 – “Abram believed the Lord, & the Lord counted him righteous b/c of his faith.” And that same blessing is passed down through all the generations to those of us who are his spiritual descendent b/c of our faith in the Lord. God had promised Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen. 12:3) One way this prophecy is fulfilled is through the salvation that God grants to us, by grace through faith.
When we place our faith in Christ, we claim incredible blessings!
- Blessing of eternal life
- Blessing of an eternal home
- Blessing of abundant life
- Blessing of serving Jesus
We see our redemption by Christ – v. 10-14 - Verse 10 explains why keeping the law can never save us. First, the law demands performance: You must do what the law commands. Second, the law demands complete performance: You must do all that the law commands. Third, the law demands continual performance: You must continue to do all that the law commands. Living by the law isn’t a buffet where you pick and choose the laws you want to obey. Either you keep all the law all the time or you’ll never get to heaven by keeping the law. God doesn’t grade on the curve. It’s a simple Pass/Fail. Keep the law perfectly 100% of the time and you go to heaven. Mess up just once and you go to hell. That doesn’t leave a big margin for error.
Swimming to Hawaii
Illus: Suppose an eccentric rich man offers $1 million to any person who can swim from San Diego, CA to Honolulu, HI. The rules are simple. You have get in the water in San Diego and you can’t get out until you reach the beach in Honolulu. And you can’t stop or rest or have anyone assist you in any way. You can’t use any mechanical or electronic devices to help you. You have to swim straight through without stopping. If you do, you win $1 million. If you don’t make it or if you don’t follow the rules, you get nothing. On the appointed day, no one shows up because the challenge is impossible to meet. So the rich man raises the prize to $10 million. Still no takers. Finally, he raises the total to $100 million. On the appointed day 10,000 people show up because that’s a lot of money, and even if you can’t do it, you never know what might happen. The gun sounds and everyone hits the water at once. A few people turn back after 200 yards because they can’t swim and just wanted the money. A few others drop out after five miles because they’ve been bitten by sharks. Still others get tangled in seaweed and have to stop. By the 20-mile mark only 150 swimmers are left. By the 50-mile mark only ten are left. Five others drop out in the next 30 miles. At the 100-mile mark two swimmers are in still in the water. Then only one is left—a woman who won two Olympic medals for distance swimming. Finally she gives out after swimming an amazing 215 miles. When she is pulled into the boat, she tells the rich man that she deserves the money because she lasted longer than anyone else. When he refuses, she says he should give her a portion of the money representing the distance she swam. He refuses again, citing the rules of the contest. It was all or nothing. It matters not to him if she dropped out 100 yards from the Honolulu beach. In this case, missing by a little is the same as missing by a lot. The only way to win $100 million is to swim all the way from San Diego to Honolulu. There is no partial payment. (https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/two-ways-to-go-to-heaven-make-sure-you-choose-the-right-one/)
There is no partial payment for our redemption, but there is One who made the total payment for us – v. 13.
CONCLUSION – The Galatian believers had become foolish numbskulls b/c they had allowed themselves to be drawn away from the truth to a lie. The same thing can happen to us today, too. Let’s commit or renew our commitment to staying focused & faithful to the ONLY One who paid the total payment for our salvation – the Lord Jesus Christ!
