Those who have come from churches that taught legalism all their life have a greater appreciation for the book of Galatians than those who have been taught salvation by grace all their life.
• Those who have been raised in the church all their life and came to know the Lord at an a age, do not always appreciate this gospel of grace like some who have been saved from the gutters of sin. I am not saying that only those who have been in the gutters of sin can appreciate the gospel of grace, but they seem to have a deeper appreciation for the gospel of grace because that marvelous grace reached down into the gutters of sin to lift them out.
• Those who have come from legalistic churches seem to have a greater fondness for the gospel of grace than those who have been taught the gospel of grace all their life. They know the bondage of trying to live a perfect life but being totally incapable of doing so!
Illus: Martin Luther, the reformer, came out of the legalistic Roman Catholic Church. All his life he was taught that salvation is in Christ but also in the many dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.
But once the Lord showed him that the JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH, he became a new man, and God used him to bring about the Protestant movement.
He later said of the book of Galatians, that it was “My own little epistle; it is my Katie Von Bora.” (Luther’s wife).
He deeply loved this book, as he compared his love for this book to the love he had for dear wife Katie.
WHAT DOES THE BOOK OF GALATIANS TEACH US? It teaches us that we can not earn the love of Christ.
Illus: This is difficult for mortals to understand, because we know in this life we have to work at earning love from others. For example:
• Some children have to earn the love of their parents by doing all kinds of things.
• Some young people feel they have to earn the love of the opposite sex by doing all kinds of things.
• Some feel they must do all kinds of things on their jobs to win the favor of their boss and get a promotion.
However, Galatians shows us that there is nothing we can do to make God love us any MORE or any LESS!
The reason that Martin Luther loved the Book of Galatians is because it teaches GOD LOVES us already with a perfect love, and there is nothing we can do to earn His love.
Also, before Paul was converted to Christianity he was dedicated to legalism. He did all kinds of things to try and earn God’s love. He believed so strongly that this was how to acquire salvation, that he TORTURED those who taught contrary to what Judaism taught.
What a glorious day in his life on that Damascus road, when he came to realize that we are saved by grace.
In the Book of Galatians, he is writing to these Galatians who were saved by grace but now were falling back into the false teaching that in order to be saved you must obey the law.
Let’s look at some things he had to say to them in chapter three. Here, Paul becomes a lawyer, proving his case that his gospel is superior to what these false teachers were teaching them. He used four arguments to prove his case.
First, let’s look at-
I. HIS APPEAL
Look at verses 1-5, we read, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”
Paul, in these five verses, APPEALS to them by asking them five questions.
Questions are asked for two reasons:
• Questions are asked to see how much we know. This is why school teachers give students tests, to find how much they know on a given subject.
• Questions are asked to teach us things.
So often people go through life without thinking. They need someone to ask them some QUESTIONS that will make them think about what they are doing.
Paul asks these questions to teach them some things about the spiritual life. He wants these Christians, who have been gloriously saved by the grace of God, to think about what he is asking them and he hopes they will reach the right answers.
Look at these five questions individually:
(1) Look at verse 1, we read, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”
Notice, Paul was not very diplomatic. He said they were FOOLISH and BEWITCHED. That is strong language. If you fellows do not think so, go home and tell your wife she is FOOLISH and BEWITCHED and then ask her for goodnight kiss!
Illus: Paul was not like the husband who always knew the right thing to say at the right time. He had forgotten his wife’s birthday, and he said to her, “How do you expect me to remember your birthday when you never look any older?”
Paul’s diplomacy seems to fall short. He seems to say whatever is on his mind regardless of how tough it may be to swallow.
Illus: Isaac Goldberg said, “Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest ways.”
Illus: Someone else said “Diplomacy is saying "nice doggie" long enough to find a big rock.”
Paul didn’t bother to say “nice doggie,” he found a big rock and he threw it at them.
• The word “foolish” is “Anoetos” (pronounced “An-o'-ay-tos”) which means unintelligent or unwise.
• The word “bewitched” is “baskaino” (pronounced “Bas-kah'ee-no”) which means to malign, or fascinate.
Both these words, “malign” and “fascinate”, seem to be what Paul had in mind here.
For example, the word “malign” is where we get our word “malignant” from. As you know, a “malignancy” is an adjective that describes something that is harmful. Paul wants to know why such a dangerous teaching would fascinate them!
Paul wrote this epistle because of the harmful teachings that these false teachers were spreading.
Paul starts this passage of scripture off by saying they were FOOLISH and BEWITCHED! (Hmmm!)
But look at the next four questions he wanted them to respond to, hoping they might come to their senses.
(2) “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”
(3) “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”
(4) “Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.”
(5) “He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”
The obvious answer to all these questions is that none of these things came about in their life through obeying the Law. THEY ALL CAME THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST!
They once knew the answers to these questions, but now since they have been “Bewitched” they seem to be as confused as a termite in a yo-yo.
This "new" teaching they were being taught went against everything they had personally experienced in the past. These Galatians knew from personal experience that they came to know the Lord by hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and by believing in Him in faith.
Many today will claim it starts with GRACE, but then WORKS MOVE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL! This is nonsense!
Paul was asking if, having begun in the Spirit, they would now insult the grace of God by resorting to trying to finish the job in their own human, fleshly ability and strength.
He was saying that we START WITH GRACE and we FINISH WITH GRACE!
Illus: What these false teachers were teaching would be as FOOLISH as a race car driver starting a race using HIGH OCTANE FUEL, but once he enters the race he switches over to WATER!
• From start to finish, it is all by grace.
• From start to finish, it is by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.
• From start to finish, it does not depend upon how good we are.
• From start to finish, it does not depend on how strong we are.
• From start to finish, it does not depend on how disciplined we are.
• From start to finish, it does not depend on how well-trained we might be.
It all depends on HIM!
Our works will not:
• SAVE US
• KEEP US
• PERFECT US
• CAUSE US TO LOSE OUR SALVATION
The Spirit of God sustains and upholds us by His might!
When you preach salvation by grace alone, people of Paul’s day and people today say that to teach salvation by grace alone, GIVES PEOPLE A LICENSE TO SIN!
They fail to understand that the Word of God says that when we become born into the family of God we become a “NEW CREATURE” and the “OLD CREATURE” is passed away.
Look at 2 Cor. 5:17, we read, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
To prove their case they can not go to the scriptures, so they turn to someone who claims to be saved and say, “I know someone that believes in salvation by grace alone and they live like a crook!”
Well, all that proves is that they are not saved. God’s Word says if they are saved they become a NEW CREATURE! Now either you believe that or you do not. But for those who truly believe the Word of God, they have become “NEW CREATURES in CHRIST”, and that NEW CREATURE will never be happy living the way the OLD CREATURE lived!
By the time we get to chapter three, Paul has mentioned three times that any salvation other than salvation through grace makes the death of Christ vain. I can assure you that Christ did not die in VAIN!
Look at Galatians 2:2, we read, “And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.”
Look at Galatians 2:21, we read, “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
Look at Galatians 3:4, we read, “Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.”
NO ONE HAS EVER RECEIVED JUSTIFICATION THROUGH WORKS. Works are for our ETERNAL REWARDS, not our ETERNAL LIFE!
In verses 1-5 we have looked at HIS APPEAL, but now let’s look at -
II. HIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Look at Galatians 3:6-9, we read, “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”
In these verses Paul establishes another argument. We have to come to God the way all mankind has come to God.
Some folks have the mistaken idea that the Old Testament Saints were saved by the sacrifices they offered.
• Listen, if the sacrifices they offered would save them, there would be no need for Christ to die for their sins
• If they could be saved by their sacrifices, then we could be saved by our sacrifices
Those false teachers were saying that the father of their faith, Abraham, was justified in his standing with God because of his circumcision, or his adherence to the Law.
Paul tackles this nonsense head on. He shows them that:
• Prior to the Law ..
• Prior to Abraham's circumcision ..
Abraham was declared to be righteous by God because he believed God.
Look at Galatians 3:6-7, we read, “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.”
Paul told these Galatians who had been “bewitched” that if they are going to use Abraham as an example of salvation by circumcision and the law, they need to get another example, because he was justified in the sight of God before he was circumcised.
We have looked at HIS APPEAL and HIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT. But also let’s look at-
III. HIS AUTHORITY
His AUTHORITY is the Word of God.
Look at Galatians 3:10-13, we read, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
Paul said, not only does your PERSONAL EXPERIENCE and the LIFE OF ABRAHAM prove that what they are teaching is false, SO DO THE SCRIPTURES. To prove this, he quotes FOUR SCRIPTURES.
• Look at verse 10, we read, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”
• Look at verse 11, we read, “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.”
• Look at verse 12, we read, “And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.” (That is, if you practice the law, you better make sure you live by all of it.)
• Look at verse 13, we read, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (The curse of those who fail to keep the law falls upon Him who hangs on a tree.)
Paul points out that the law condemns us and puts us under the curse of God. There is nothing wrong with the law but this, IT IS PERFECT AND WE ARE NOT!
If we are going to try to get to heaven by obeying the letter of the law, we have to consider this: WE WOULD HAVE TO OBEY EVERY JOT AND TITTLE OF THE LAW.
We can not be selective and choose what part we want to obey or not obey. If we are going this route, we must obey every law. This is something we mortals CANNOT DO, and the only ONE who could do this was Christ, who came and fulfilled the law.
Remember he told us He did not come to DESTROY THE LAW BUT TO FULFILL IT! We have looked at HIS APPEAL, HIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT, and HIS AUTHORITY, but also let’s look at-
IV. HIS AFFIRMATION
Paul AFFIRMS that everything we APPROPRIATE in this spiritual life is from Christ.
Look at Galatians 3:14, we read, “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Jesus Christ is the only way to come to have right standing with God. It is only when we place our faith in His sacrificial death that we are justified. In so doing, Jesus accomplished two glorious things in our life.
(1) In Him, the blessing God gave to Abraham could be received even by the Gentiles to whom the free gift was offered graciously in His name. Look at verse 14, we read, “…That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;”
(2) In Him, all who believe and put their faith in Him will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, who will dwell within their hearts. Look at verse 14, again, we read, “…That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Conclusion:
Paul said that any one who hangs on a tree is cursed. Christ took that curse for us and He hung on the tree in our place.
I. HIS APPEAL
II. HIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT
III. HIS AUTHORITY
IV. HIS AFFIRMATION
