In Jesus Holy Name January 29, 2023
Text: Galatians 3:1,7-8,11 Redeemer
“Galatians: Only One Way to Heaven”
Paul has arrived back in Antioch from his first missionary journey after eighteen months on the road. While there, he received a report that the churches he had started in Galatia had fallen into theological error. A group of Judaizers—Pharisees who had claimed to become followers of Jesus still wanted Gentiles to obey laws of Moses as a requirement of Christian faith and salvation.
Paul wrote this letter in Antioch a few months before he attended the Jerusalem Council in AD 49. At this meeting with James and the elders in Jerusalem the apostles would take up this very topic regarding what Jewish rules applied to Gentiles who have placed their eternal destiny on the promises of Jesus. The story is in (Acts 15:1–30).
In chapter 3 Paul continues to defend the “gospel”, that salvation by faith in Jesus is the only way to heaven, even using Abraham as an illustration of faith.
Leonard Sweet, one of my favorite authors, is a professor at Drew University in the School of religion. He has written over 70 books. In a recent interview with Mike Morrel he said: “When I was 17, I de-converted from Christianity and became an atheist. After college I decided to go into academe and study the history of religions from a scientific, critical perspective. ….It suddenly hit me that there were two choices I was facing in my spiritual journey: the worship of the Big Bang Theory or worship the Savior, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Jesus.
Three things can never be separated. Jesus, His words written in the Scriptures and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings Jesus to life, and the scriptures point us to Jesus. Separate one from the other and you will miss heaven. Jesus is the Creator of the cosmos, the Christ of Eternity, the Alpha and Omega as well as the very Christ who lived on this earth as the quintessential human, the Second Adam, the Last Adam who then died, rose again and was glorified and ascended into heaven, and now lives in His people through the Holy Spirit. (interview with Mike Morrel on the Jesus Manifesto. June 2010)
Jesus and Jesus alone is the key to peace with God. Jesus and Jesus alone is the key to heaven. According to Galatians 2, Paul tells us that Peter forgot that truth. His actions in the Antioch church when he and others refused to eat with the Gentile members, meant that his actions agreed with the Pharisees that Jesus was not enough. The controversy arose because a party of Pharisees had come to Antioch and demanded that Gentiles needed to obey Jewish customs and rules in order to be saved. For them Jesus was not enough.
Paul could not bear the thought that these new Christians in the churches of Galatia were slipping back into slavery, by being chained to Jewish feasts, rules and regulations. O foolish Galatians you must see that submitting to the Jewish rules of circumcision and other religious duties, trying to keep the Law makes the cross of Jesus worth nothing.
Paul was frustrated. He writes: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?” Why are you again trusting in your good works to complete your salvation?
This controversy over grace verses works for salvation is why Luke tells us in Acts 15 that Paul and Barnabas travel to Jerusalem for the 1st Christian Council.
(Read Acts 15:1-9) At Jerusalem there was a great welcome. They told what God had done to create new Christians in a faraway land. After several days of formal discussion, James the brother of Jesus and the leader of the Church in Jerusalem gave the general conclusion. Acts 15:19-21
In Galatians 3:15-22 Paul reviewed 2,000 years of Old Testament history, from Abraham through Moses to Christ. This argument, using Abraham, was a master piece because the Judaizers would have considered Abraham the father of the Jewish people. Paul’s point in verse 6 is that Abraham was saved by faith when he believed God and his faith was counted as righteousness.
“Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ (enough said) (Galatians 3:6-9).
The function of the law was not to bestow salvation, but to convince we human beings that we cannot keep it perfectly. To quote Andrew Jukes, ‘Satan would have us to prove ourselves holy by (keeping ) the law, which God gave to prove that we are sinners.’ God gave to Abraham a promise, and to Moses the commandments, and through Jesus, God fulfilled the promise of forgiveness. For the law condemned the sinner to death, while Jesus offers the sinner justification and eternal life. Hebrews 2:14
This was the very discussion that Jesus had with Nicodemus, recorded for us in the Bible in John chapter 3. Nicodemus was a very good Pharisee, a brilliant Jewish scholar, but he believed that it was his blood heritage, Jewish blood running through his veins, that gave him favor with God. He believed that his ancestry.com connection to Abraham was the key that opened heaven’s door.
Jesus said, No Abraham is not the key. Your Jewish blood is not the key. It is my blood which will be shed on the cross that is the key to eternal forgiveness.
(key illustration… key notches are made for one door only…don’t change the notch…if you do the door will not open.)
God has only one plan of salvation—not two or three or four. It’s always by grace, always through faith, and always apart from human efforts, or good works to attain righteousness. “salvation is found in on one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) So, don’t be foolish, O Galatians, quit trusting in your works, trust the works of Jesus at the cross.
How is it that God can give us salvation on the basis of simple faith in Jesus Christ? The answer is in verse 13. Christ became a curse for us.
When Christ died, he took upon himself the curse intended for us.
He took the pain. He took the shame. He drank the cup of God’s wrath.
He bore the punishment meant for us. He stood in our place.
He suffered for our sin. He paid a debt he did not owe.
He took the curse of death so that God’s wrath against broken commandments might be lifted from us.
John Murray put it: “The question isn’t how can God, being who he is, send us to hell, but rather, how can God, being who He is, not send us to hell?” Someone must pay the price. Jesus did. That’s way Paul would later write the Corinthian congregation: “ God made Jesus who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become righteous before God.” II Corinthians 5:21 This is the greatest transfer in all of history.
When a big diesel truck and trailer pull up to a loading dock they expect a transfer of goods from the truck to the dock. The transfer empties the truck. So on the cross of Jesus God transfers and “nails” all our broken commandments and leaves them there. (Colossians 2:14)
The cross is the true dividing line of history. It is the “hinge” of history, the most important event since the creation of the universe. We must never minimize the cross or speak of it in light terms.
We are helpless sinners, there is nothing, there is not a single good deed
we can do that would earn a blue ribbon from God. In his definition to the 2nd article of the Apostle’s Creed Martin Luther wrote: “He as redeemed us not with gold or silver but with His holy and precious blood. In the 3rd article he writes: “I cannot, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him…”
Christianity is the religion which confesses, “I cannot”. It is the only religion which says, “We cannot”. Of the thousands of belief systems and religions through out the world, you will find that Christianity stands alone. Every other religion demands, “You must try”. You must find your way back to God. You must pay for all you’ve have done wrong. You must find a way to make God smile. But…. You will never know, never know, never know for sure.
Christianity and Christianity alone, stands for this eternal truth: Jesus, the sinless Son of God came down from heaven. True Man and True God. Jesus lived the perfect life. Jesus never broke a commandment nor had a false thought. He rejected every temptation of Satan. He became our Substitute, took our punishment. In His body he took the “wrath” of God, died our death and three days later rose from death and the grave. (illustration from sermon by Rev. Ken Klaas)
Deep inside, our human nature wants to believe that if we just try harder, things will work out between God and us. It isn’t true, of course, but we still believe it anyway. This is the dilemma Paul finds in the Christians in Galatia. This is our human dilemma.
Paul’s argument in the book of Galatians goes like this: Why go back to the old life when God has given us so many blessings in Christ? It doesn’t make sense to go back to the law, for the law only convicts.
Let me illustrate. Let’s suppose you are walking down a street when you see a sign on a park bench that says, “Wet Paint. Do Not Touch.” If you are like most people, when you see that sign, you will have an almost irresistible urge to reach out and touch the bench. I’ve done it myself many times.
If the sign had not been there, it never would have occurred to you to touch the park bench, but something about that sign awakens a desire within you and even though it says, “Do No Touch,” you want to reach out and touch it. The sticky paint on your fingers is proof that you are a sinner.
The law convicts us of sin but it cannot change us on the inside. That my friends is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit changes our heart. That is why Martin Luther can finish his definition to the third article of the Apostle’s Creed….in this Christian Church the Holy Spirit Sanctifies me and keeps me in the true faith…
The key to heaven does not include our good deeds. The key to heaven is God’s grace… we cannot and should not add anything to Jesus’ death as our substitute, and resurrection from the grave that overcomes the fear of facing an eternity with a righteous Creator.
One final question: “If you died tonight can you be sure you would wake up in heaven.” I’m not going you ask you to raise your hand…or nod your head… but if you are unsure…please read Galatians again…do not miss God’s grace.
