GETTING THE JEWISH THING RIGHT
Galatians 3:6-14
S: Faith and Law (Legalism)
Th: Grace-Full Living
Pr: WE ARE TO LIVE IN GRACE BY FAITH.
?: How? How is it observed?
KW: Testimony
TS: We will find in our study of Galatians 3:6-14 three testimonies that tell us we are to live in grace by faith.
The _____ testimony that tells us we are to live in grace by faith is…
I. ABRAHAM’S EXAMPLE (6-9)
II. BIBLICAL APPLICATION (10-13)
III. CHRIST’S PROMISE (14)
RMBC 6/11/00 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Notebook: Urgent (tales with a twist)
While in Korea, Gov. Mile Leavitt of Utah was relaxing in the VIP lounge of Seoul airport, awaiting his flight to Japan. At the same moment, his press secretary, Vicki Varela, was being told at the ticket counter that she had no ticket. After insisting she had to make the flight because she was with a U.S. governor, an American embassy aide intervened. Varela got a standby ticket and boarded just before takeoff. Regaining her composure, Varela went to the front of the plane to tell Leavitt of her adventure. He was not there. She later found out that the governor was told that he had been bumped by an urgent standby passenger. It was Varela.
1. Have you ever made matters worse?
Sometimes we are so anxious about matters that we do make things worse.
2. Often, we need to step back and get the bigger picture.
We need to get a better perspective.
TRANSITION:
This is the very thing that Paul is attempting to do with the Judaizers.
He wants them to have a historical and biblical perspective that is absolutely right.
As we have been studying Galatians, we can see that…
1. The Judaizers thought that the works of the law were an urgent matter.
They had made a point to contradict Paul’s teaching by saying that circumcision and keeping the dietary laws were essential to do in order to be a Christian that is growing in the faith.
In last week’s section, Paul spoke of the personal experience of the Galatians.
His argument was that their own personal testimony stood against the new doctrine they had become so willing to embrace and promote.
Neither they nor anyone else had experienced justification by works of the law.
So why would they turn to something that is so utterly worthless and away from that which is so perfectly priceless?
After talking with some folks after last week’s message, I want to make sure that I am being as clear as possible when I speak of the differences of living by grace and living by law.
Paul, in actuality, is not saying that law, and more specifically, the moral law is wrong.
But what he is speaking of is our approach to them.
We have been using the word legalism to describe it, but Paul had no such word to use since there is no Greek word for legalism.
Instead, what we find Paul saying to make the point is the phrases “observation of the law” or “works of law” to get across this negative, legalistic meaning.
And he does not want us to miss this point, that…
2. We can make matters worse by adding requirements to salvation and sanctification (spiritual growth).
John Piper describes to us why the message of Galatians is so essential for us today…
“The reason the book of Galatians has such a radical, life-changing message is that it pronounces a curse from God not on atheistic or agnostic outsiders but on professing Christians who try to serve God in a way that diminishes his grace and cultivates their own pride.”
That is powerful, isn’t it?
We are not to be caught diminishing grace!
A distinction I began to make last week and I would like to better explain is between the “law-oriented” person and the “grace-oriented” person.
I think this will help us understand this essential difference.
3. The “law-oriented” person is motivated into action because they have to.
The person who lives by law keeps the rules because they feel they must.
And whether it is because of fear or pride or something else, they do it because they have to.
On the other hand…
4. The “grace-oriented” person is motivated into action because they want to.
The person who lives by grace, follows the rules because they desire to do so.
They love God.
They worship God.
And they want to keep His standards because they have the confidence that it is the best way to live for all involved.
This is why we come to the same proposition as last week.
5. WE ARE TO LIVE IN GRACE BY FAITH.
Now, I am not offering the same proposition because I am lazy, or because I lack creativity, but because this is still the argument that Paul is making in this chapter.
So…
6. We will find in our study of Galatians 3:6-14 three testimonies that tell us we are to live in grace by faith.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first testimony that tells us we are to live in grace by faith is ABRAHAM’S EXAMPLE (6-9).
(6) Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (7) Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. (8) The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” (9) So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
ILL Notebook: Consistent (fur v. leather)
Consider this… “People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it’s safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.”
Now that doesn’t sound very consistent, does it?
Well, the Judaizers accused Paul of not being consistent.
They had argued that we all have to come the way God had called His people to come in ages past.
So they appealed to the father of their faith, Abraham.
But they should have paid more attention to what Jesus had said.
For Paul proves that…
1. God’s way of grace and faith has been consistent (John 8:39).
“Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did.”
Paul makes quick work of their nonsense.
Abraham did not become a believer because he was circumcised.
He was already a believer when he was circumcised.
You see…
2. We are declared righteous by belief (Genesis 15:6).
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
The Judaizers needed to get their facts straight!
If they were going to do what Abraham did, they need to simply believe.
What did Abraham do?
He believed God.
And as a result, many years later, God commanded Abraham to be circumcised.
God had reckoned Abraham righteous because Abraham believed in Him.
The Judaizers had completely reversed the relationship of circumcision and salvation.
Circumcision was only a mark, not the means, of salvation.
It carried no spiritual power.
Which leads us to this important conclusion:
Those who are saved are saved because of their faith.
And those who are lost are lost because of their unbelief.
ILL Notebook: Blessings (just lucky)
Chet Anderson, a prospective juror, was being grilled by the defense attorney. The lawyer asked a series of questions about personal brushes with the law, everything from arrests to minor violations, and Chet’s answer to each question was, "No." "You mean to tell me," scoffed the lawyer, “that you’ve never even had a traffic ticket? In other words, you consider yourself an exemplary citizen?" "No" Chet replied coolly, "just lucky."
Now, I know that “lucky” is not a very biblical word.
But, I think this little story illustrates well the fact that even though we are guilty, we are blessed anyway.
Consider this…
3. We receive the astounding value of the blessing promised to Abraham’s children.
Paul is making the point that sonship does not depend on physical descent.
This has wonderful implications for us, doesn’t it?
It means that white Anglo-Saxon Protestants can become sons of Abraham.
Hispanics and Laotians and Cambodians can become sons of Abraham.
Black African Muslims can become sons of Abraham.
Even, anti-Semitic, redneck Nazi vigilantes can become sons of Abraham.
Wait a second, them too?
Yes, them too!
Here is where the Jewish people of that time were caught off guard.
According to God’s words to Abraham, the Jewish nation was created to be a blessing to the world.
They would serve all the nations by bringing the message of grace.
But historically, they kept getting it wrong.
They kept bringing law.
It was, according to them, “us against them.”
The Jews against the Gentiles…
Even when Christ pointed out this need, these early Christians missed it.
Peter got it, but wavered at times.
|t was Paul that got it right and kept it right.
And in these verses here, he uses Abraham to prove the point.
This brings us to…
II. The second testimony that tells us we are to live in grace by faith is BIBLICAL APPLICATION (10-13).
ILL Notebook: Bad Day (lucky day)
One cold night Candace Prestwich’s furnace died, so she went to her parents’ house. In the morning, a neighbor called to tell her that her water pipes had burst and flooded both their townhouses. She raced home, and on the way got a speeding ticket. Then the furnace repairman arrived and told her he didn’t think he had the proper fuse but would check in his truck. Meanwhile, the plumber cut holes in her bathroom wall to locate the leak. When the furnace repairman returned, he held aloft a fuse. “I had the right one,” he said triumphantly. “This must be your lucky day!”
Well, if Candace thought she was having a bad day then, this next set of verses may not sound like good news to her either…
(10) All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” (11) Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” (12) The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” (13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
In this section, Paul shows what the works of the law, which the Judaizers were emphasizing, cannot do.
According to Scripture…
1. We are to keep the law perfectly.
The language here is tough and sobering.
If you do not keep it perfectly, you are cursed.
A curse is a divine judgment that brings the sentence of condemnation.
The point of Paul’s quote of Deuteronomy is to show that those who trust in the works of the law are obligated to keep all things in the law.
When we fail in that, we inevitably fall under the curse.
In fact, no one avoids the curse, for no one has the ability to abide by everything the law demands.
Meaning…
2. If we fail to keep it perfectly, death is the sure result.
The problem with the Judaizers is not their failure to follow the detailed statutes of the law.
If they felt they ought to do it, fine.
And if they did it out of love for the Lord, fine.
But they were missing the point of the law.
If we are dependent on the law, it is the way of death.
But the law is profitable if we are willing to look for the larger lesson of the law that is consistently missed.
Namely, that without a new heart (Deuteronomy 30:6-7) and without the enablement of God (Deuteronomy 4:30-31; 5:29; 29:4) and without faith (Exodus 14:31; Numbers. 14:11; 20:21; Deuteronomy 1:32) all efforts to obey the law would simply be legalistic strivings of the flesh.
And you would fail to please God.
But there is good news in all of this…
3. The impossibility of absolute obedience points to a better way.
The familiar passage from Habakkuk proves justification comes by faith.
And it also shows that the ways of law and faith are mutually exclusive.
For if you live by law, it is to live by self-effort and lead inevitable to failure, condemnation and death.
But if you live by faith, it is a response to God’s grace and it leads to justification and eternal life.
The way of death does not have to be our way.
There is a better way.
Which brings us to…
III. The third testimony that tells us we are to live in grace by faith is CHRIST’S PROMISE (14).
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
1. We have right standing because we have been redeemed (II Corinthians 5:21).
Note this familiar verse from II Corinthians:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Paul uses the word “redeemed” in the Galatians passage.
The word redeemed is a word that was commonly used of buying a slave’s freedom.
And Paul wishes us to understand that meaning.
We have been bought back.
We were a slave to sin.
Now we are free to live for Christ.
But we must realize that the redemption was dearly paid.
ILL Notebook: Blood (Cessna)
Dennis Fulton, former pilot with the Wings of Caring ministry in Zaire, tells of landing a newly purchased Cessna 402 at one of his regular stops in the backcountry. As always, the villagers excitedly gath-ered around the plane, but this time, two men car-rying a live chicken approached Dennis. One had the bird by the feet, and the other had it by the head, and before either the chicken or Den-nis knew what was hap-pening, the fowl’s head and body parted company. The man with the flopping chicken corpse began swinging it over his head, round and round, with predictable results. Dressed in a freshly pressed white shirt, Dennis was splattered with chicken blood, as were the plane and the villagers. When Dennis asked what that meant, a native explained that for genera-tions, the splattered blood had signified an end to suf-fering. To the people of Zaire, the Cessna prom-ised hope and help of all kinds. In a graphic way, the splattered blood of that chicken, signifying the end of suffering, was a fitting reminder of the blood Christ shed to end the suf-fering of a world caught in the grip of sin.
Jesus has bought our freedom through His blood shed on the cross.
2. As a result, we receive the blessing of Abraham.
We become a child of God.
We are granted the blessing of sonship.
In spite of all your sins, God reckons you to be righteous, just as He did for Abraham.
What a blessing!
If you are a child of Abraham all the things you have done wrong or ever will do wrong are forgiven because of Christ.
God does not hold your sins against you.
And…
3. We receive the inheritance, the Holy Spirit, who seals us for eternal life.
We are absolutely secure in our salvation.
We have received God’s stamp of approval with the reception of the Holy Spirit.
There is no greater blessing!
APPLICATION:
When we come to the letter to Galatians, we need to recognize that the continental divide is not between church people and non-church people.
Neither is it between those who call Jesus “Lord” and those who don’t.
It is between those, on the one hand, who have been crucified with Christ and now in poverty live in continuing reliance on the living Christ, and those, on the other hand, who have never really died to self-reliance and whose religious activity, though “moral” and intense, is all an exercise in self-reformation.
The one group glories only in the cross of Christ by which they died to all but God.
The other group extols the powers and potentials of the self and diminishes the grace of God (2:21) and the cross of Christ (5:11).
So, we must understand that we cannot be found following the way of the curse.
For…
1. We can follow the way of the curse and be “law-oriented.”
Or…
2. We can follow the way of blessing and be “grace-oriented.”
[repeat]
If we are to get this Jewish thing right, if we are going to be true sons and daughters of Abraham, then we must seek out the way of blessing.
We are to be a blessing!
Again, what we must understand at this point is that what sets you under the one or under the other is not so much what you do as the spirit in which you do it.
It is not the act, but the motivation.
So, you can do a lot of good things and have the wrong motivation and be condemned.
For example, circumcision may be a “work of law” or an act of love, which flows from faith.
Subjecting yourself to certain dietary restrictions may be a “work of law” or a free act of love, which comes from faith.
Sunday School teaching, preaching, sharing food with the poor, helping at City Mission, being involved in missions—all these “good things” could be “works of law” which we do in our strength, to move God’s favor our way.
Or they may be done in humble reliance on the strength which God freely supplies so that in everything He may get the glory.
The decision to be a curse or a blessing hangs on what motivates you to obey and who gets the credit.
When we live by grace, we are motivated by our love for God and our desire to please Him.
So…live in grace by faith.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are
Live in grace…be a believer and receive the blessing of Abraham;
Live in grace…rejoice that the righteous live by faith and not by works, for the latter is absolutely destined to failure;
Live in grace…receive the gracious work of Christ in your behalf, who has redeemed you by becoming sin for you.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
