INTRO: These next two chapters are going to be a little complicated. The 60 verses that make up Galatians 3 and 4 are said to be some of the strongest writing that Paul ever penned. His opponents, the Judaizers, were using every possible means to enslave the believers in Galatia, and Paul was not going to fight them half-heartedly. After these opening 5 verses we consider today, it’s going to become a history lesson through the Old Testament.
Remember the situation: False teachers were saying that in order to become a Christian, you needed to follow laws and traditions in addition to believing in Christ. As Paul continues to defend doctrine, he asks the Galatians 6 rapid-fire questions in 5 verses. I boiled them down to 5. The interrogation – the questions that Paul asks them here – comes after he offers his bold and harsh assessment of their condition. You can tell the intensity gets ramped up a bit.
I. Where did you get skewed? (1)
– The questions begin with name-calling! What is ironic here is that ancient Greek philosophers described the Galatians as being very intelligent people. It must have been a real slap in the face for Paul to call them foolish.
– The best way to interpret foolish is that he is accusing them of being blind or brainless. The way the word is used here indicates with strong emotion that they are without understanding or thought specifically as it related to Scripture. They had stopped thinking rationally about the effectual work of Christ on the cross. They were allowing false teachers to lead them astray into some new gospel. Paul says that he can’t believe what they have started to believe. They have a brain but they choose not to use it – just like middleschoolers!
– Paul is amazed that they have been led away from truth. It didn’t take long. Even today, it doesn’t take long for some to be blinded and sold a bill of goods and then in a short time, they are brainless. We all have people we know in life from our past or from Bible college and we wonder, “When did you start to think like that?” “When did you start getting tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine?” Every ism, schism, whim, and experience must be carefully measured up against the teaching of the Bible. If you do not take a stand for grace, you will fall for any teaching that tries to magnify man’s works.
– Next, he says they are bewitched. The word “bewitched” refers to an evil and emotional captivation and fascination. When you put your brain on hold, you are gullible. It’s easy for someone to charm or fascinate you away into a wrong way of thinking. Have you ever watched some of the preachers on TV? Some of these men and women are like slick usedcar salesmen. No offense to honest used-car salesmen out there. You wonder, how in the world would anyone in their right mind send money to these people? I want to be kind here, but they are bewitched. Their mind is on hold and their emotions are gullible.
– Why? It all appeals to pride, and my flesh, and my effort. I can do it, I can earn it, just send money in and you’ll be okay. God will take care of you. You just do this and God will do this for you. It’s all based on works and that appeals to my ego because I want to say I earned my way to heaven. It flatters me because I am responsible for my own salvation and I am duped into thinking I can save myself.
– Paul says the truth is that Jesus died on the cross according to the Scriptures. We’ll come back to that as we close today. But one quick application: we never want it to be the case in our lives or at our church that we are without understanding or thought as it relates to the Word of God. This is truth!
– What happened to the Galatians is still Satan’s goal today. He wants to seduce believers to follow false doctrine. Every believer here has a responsibility to maintain personal alertness. Be shrewd and wise and discern sound doctrine and pure grace teaching.
II. How were you saved? (2)
– This is really the peak question right here. All the others are asked in support of this question. One theologian said, “The answer to this single question should settle the whole debate.” Here’s the point: How were you saved? How did you get the Holy Spirit in your life?
– When you got saved, you got the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 7:39 that all those that believe will receive the Spirit. No one would have to beg or plead or work for this, but all who believe would receive the Holy Spirit.
– Those of you that are saved and have the Holy Spirit inside you, how did it get there? Did you get the Holy Spirit inside you because you whooped it up or worked for it? Did you buy it at the church bookstore? Does anyone’s testimony ever go like this: “I remember when I completed that 10-step program, I woke up the next morning with the Holy Spirit in my life.”
– You say, that’s ridiculous. Well, Paul only lays out two possibilities. Either you got the Holy Spirit by the works of the law or you got it by faith. Of course, it wasn’t obedience to any laws or any good works that you did to have the third member of the trinity invade your life from the inside. You believed and you received!
– Legalists and those that stress a works-based acceptance with God never talk about the Holy Spirit. But Paul is not afraid to. The Holy Spirit is mentioned eighteen times in this letter and plays an important part in Paul's defense of the grace gospel.
III. How are you sanctified? (3)
– After we are saved, there are still some rough edges that need to be knocked off and some work that needs to be done. But it happens by the Spirit, not by your grit and determination. Have you ever willed yourself to quit doing some sin only to find yourself doing it again in 3 days?
– Legalism is not merely trying to attain salvation through rules; it is also trying to attain sanctification through rules. All legalism does is cage the animal. Only the Spirit of God can kill the animal.
– I hope you are beginning to understand Paul’s angle on these questions and how simple it is. Ok, this salvation thing started with the Holy Spirit, so how do you think it is going to continue? Do you grow complete in your own spiritual life by works of the law or by the hearing of the Word of God that produces faith? Paul asks do you develop by a dependency on the Spirit of God or a dependency on your own flesh? The noun “flesh” refers to our old sin nature and flesh desires. How is that going to work for you?!
– There is nothing you can do in the “flesh” that will enhance the grace work of God. God has given us His Spirit and His Word and that is what we need for daily cleansing and continual growth. We do not need OT law or men’s traditions or religious legalism. We don’t grow by the flesh, we grow by faith.
IV. Why have you suffered? (4)
– Have you suffered or sustained more when you were trying to keep the Law or since you have come to faith in Jesus Christ? Ever since Paul came to faith, he was verbally abused, he was run out of towns, he was stoned, and he was jailed.
– None of those things happened to him when he was dedicated to the OT law. The moment you believe in Jesus Christ is the moment things can become a little tense. When you believe on Jesus Christ, you will soon discover you are at war with your flesh, with the world, and with the Devil.
– Prior to trusting Jesus Christ, you may have gotten along just fine with people of this world. You fit in with them. But the moment you trusted Christ, that all changed. He reminded them that they had paid a price for receiving the gospel. Was it all going to be in vain, without a purpose?
– You have suffered for simply believing. Don’t let it be in vain.
– The word “suffered” carries the idea of experiences and passions, and it usually has the idea of pain or suffering mixed in. We know that Paul suffered, but I will tell you that the context doesn’t really talk about suffering so maybe the better question to ask in the context goes like this: “Have you had all these wonderful spiritual experiences, all for no purpose?” Paul wondered if all they had endured or enjoyed would amount to no lasting value because they tried to walk by the law, not by faith.
V. Have you seen the supernatural? (5)
– Miracles had occurred in their lives. Paul and the other apostles had their messages verified by miracles and sign gifts. Jews and Gentiles alike observed miracles. The undeniable miracles that occurred among the Gentiles who were not observing the laws of Moses must have been an electric shock to the Jews who thought the Holy Spirit only worked in those who kept the law. And not to mention the miracle of the new birth that had happened in their hearts. Every time a sinner is saved, a miracle occurs! “You ask me how I know Jesus lives, He lives within my heart!”
– How did all those supernatural things happen? By the law or by faith? The answer is clear! Miracles come by faith, not by law-keeping.
– That’s why the cross of Jesus Christ settles all this. Go back to verse 1. They had seen and heard about what Jesus did on the cross. The cross of Jesus had been evidently set forth. They had not seen it themselves because Jesus was not crucified in the regions of Galatia but in Jerusalem. But Paul had painted the picture for them and portrayed in his writings and his teachings that Jesus Christ was spit upon, stripped, whipped, beard ripped, mocked, hung on a cross where He bled and died and they learned that salvation did not come by their works or by keeping the law. That’s why “When I survey the wondrous cross, upon which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride” about my good works and my keeping of the law. I know it’s not my effort that brought about all this, but Christ’s evident work of being crucified on the cross. The answer to all the questions in this interrogation is faith. Faith is the answer.
– Illus: Moody Monthly published a heartbreaking story about an event that occurred in the life of one of Chicago's most well-known surgeons. Dr. Leo Winters was awakened one morning around one o'clock. There had been an accident and a young boy was in the hospital, and not expected to live. He needed emergency surgery if we was going to survive. Dr. Winters was called and asked to get to the hospital as fast as he could.
Without any hesitation, Dr. Winters rushed out of bed, threw on his clothes, grabbed his keys, and ran to his car. As he made his way in downtown Chicago, he took a shortcut through a dangerous area known for its rough gangs. The risk was worth it to him, for he knew that only precious minutes stood between the injured boy and death.
But something happened. As he sat at a stoplight waiting for it to change, a man wearing an old flannel shirt and a gray hat suddenly rushed from the shadows. He opened the car door, grabbed the doctor and threw him out, screaming, "I've got to have your car."
Dr. Winters tried to plead his situation but the man was gone before he could utter two words. This was before the days of cell phones, and it took at least forty-five minutes to find a pay phone and call a taxi. By the time he arrived at the hospital, more than an hour had passed.
The nurses on the floor shook their heads and said, "You're too late, Dr. Winters; the boy died thirty minutes ago. You'll find the father down the hall in the chapel. He's awfully confused – he can't understand why you didn't come."
Without taking time to explain to the staff, Dr. Winters hurried down the hallway and opened the chapel door. There, sitting in the front row, was the weeping father, wearing an old flannel shirt and clutching a gray hat. In his desperation to get to the hospital, he had pushed from the car the man who could have saved his son's life.
Do you want a picture of humanity? Here it is: rushing after life; racing after satisfaction and fulfillment; hungering for meaningful relationships and lasting commitments; hoping for peace and relief from guilt and sin – yet, at the same time, pushing away the only One capable of saving their lives.
Every time people try to work their way to heaven by their own efforts, they throw the
Great Physician out of the way.
– If you ask these questions, you’ll find that the only answer is by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
