STARTING RIGHT, FINISHING WRONG
Galatians 3:1-5
S: Legalism
Th: Grace-Full Living
Pr: We are to live in grace.
?: Why?
KW: Assertions
TS: We will find in Galatians 3:1-5, two assertions that explain why we are to live in grace.
The ____ assertion that explains why we are to live in grace is…
I. Acceptance of Jesus’ death comes by grace (1).
II. Reception of the Spirit comes by grace (2-5)
RMBC 6/4/00 AM
INTRODUCTION:
1. Have you ever had an experience that has stayed with you?
Let me share with you three experiences that I have had that have stayed with me.
The first was when I was a sophomore at Nyack.
I was walking back to the dorm after having worked at the car wash, when I stopped at the playing field and noticed that the sophomore team was playing the Junior team in intramural football.
One of the team members saw me standing there, and yelled, “Paul, we need you, we are a man short.”
I didn’t even have my sneakers on, just an old pair of shoes, but I ran onto the field.
I got to the huddle and they said, “You’re the runningback---sweep right.”
So they handed the ball off to me, the guard pulled, I followed his block, and then I ran as fast as I could—for fifty yards for a touchdown.
If I remember correctly, I did that three more times that day.
That was a fun game!
The second experience is when I was 22 years old.
It was in August of 1981 and I was standing in the front of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Indiana, PA, facing a good size congregation.
The organ was playing, and then, the doors in the back opened up, and up the aisle came my soon-to-be father-in-law and my beautiful bride.
And I remember thinking, “I can’t believe it! She actually showed up to marry me!” She actually came!”
And now she has been stuck with me ever since.
The third experience was in July 1990.
I was at my seminary’s graduation service.
I was going to graduate the following year, but I had come to see some of my friends graduate.
That year, Steve Green was there to sing.
And did he ever sing!
The song, though, that broke through to my heart though, was “Embrace the Cross.”
I will never forget the experience.
I was sitting there and it felt like my hair (I had more then) was being blown back just by his singing.
The Lord used that moment to move me back to the cross as the center of my life.
These are just three experiences that have changed and shaped my life.
Some are fun.
Some are serious.
But all of them are powerful!
You know…
2. Our experiences demonstrate to us that our faith involves our whole person.
Sometimes, we make the mistake that faith is just believing certain truths.
We think that if we just get the facts right, we’ll be OK.
But faith is more than just the intellect.
Faith involves our mind, emotions and will.
This means that our experiences are vital to our understanding of our own faith.
TRANSITION:
We have been studying the letter of the apostle Paul to the Galatians.
1. When we come to chapter 3, the nature of the letter shifts to a theological argument.
This shift actually began at the end of chapter 2 which we covered last week.
We come now to a very significant turning point.
For here, Paul in his quest to establish the significance of grace and faith alone, turns from a historical perspective to a doctrinal one.
In our text today…
2. Through a series of rhetorical questions, Paul proves the senselessness of their actions.
Rhetorical questions are questions that are not really questions because their answers are obvious, so obvious they are not answered.
It is the answer that matters, not the question.
Paul uses these questions to demonstrate the senselessness of their activity after he left.
ILL Notebook: Stupidity (selected “Complete Idiots”)
You remember the phrase from Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Listen to these wonderful examples:
Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two $16 bills.
Here is another one:
When two service station attendants in Ionia, Michigan, refused to hand over the cash to an intoxicated robber, the man threatened to call the police. They still refused, so the robber called the police and was arrested.
While we may shake our heads at these situations, we need to note that Paul is doing the same thing here.
He is shaking his head.
In very strong language, Paul calls the Galatians foolish.
He says,
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?
The word foolish here has the meaning of being thoughtless, unreflective, and lacking spiritual discernment.
The word bewitched is one that points to witchcraft, the casting of an evil eye.
Paul’s language is hard and stunning.
It is the language of one who is “putting it on the line.”
He is at battle, and the gospel is at stake.
3. Paul’s theological battle is against those who have mingled faith and works.
We have been calling them Judaizers.
These were a “party” within Christianity that demanded that Gentiles had to be circumcised, and follow the law.
They did not believe in Paul’s teaching about grace alone, and they underhandedly tried to destroy it.
Their method was consistent, for after Paul left an established church, they would move in and contradict his teaching.
Galatians is Paul’s first taste of what was going to happen consistently with his other churches.
The Judaizers stand implied that the belief of the Gentile Christians was defective in comparison to Jewish Christians.
These Gentiles needed to become more Jewish.
Paul’s conclusion was, “Don’t be foolish!”
“Don’t be bewitched and deceived!”
“They are not preaching the gospel.”
The church today falls for the same thing.
Some fall prey to a system of legalism and works righteousness that promises more but produces less.
Some fall prey to formalism, substituting external ceremonies for the internal reality of Jesus.
Some fall prey to legalistic systems of dos and don’ts, hoping to improve their standing before God.
Some fall prey to looking for a second blessing, such as speaking in tongues, as if that will gain them a higher plane of spirituality.
Some fall prey to a replacement of the gospel with a social agenda, such as racism, or politicism.
The fundamental-evangelical type church continues to fall prey to these things in various forms.
Certainly, even Randall has.
Certainly, you have.
Now, I know that sounds personal, but the problem of Galatians is the problem of every one of us.
You see, every time we add an obligation out of its context, or that has no basis in Scripture and institutionalize it, we take the truth of God and twist it.
And we are all guilty.
We all do it.
Why do we do it?
We do it because it is easier to measure.
It is easier to know who is a Christian and who is not.
I am calling this message, “Starting Right, Finishing Wrong,” for this is Paul’s concern for the Galatians.
They have had the best beginning that could be had, but now they were turning away from it.
It reminds me of an old golf saying about those who can drive the ball, but not chip or putt:
4. “It’s not how you drive, it’s how you arrive!”
You see, a lot of people start right, but they still finish wrong.
Paul gave us help in this area in last week’s section.
He says (2:20):
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
When I read this, I come to one important conclusion:
5. WE MUST LIVE IN GRACE.
Since we are absolutely dependent on grace, our lives are to be characterized by grace.
Our salvation comes by grace through faith.
And so does our Christian growth (our sanctification).
Neither our salvation nor our sanctification comes by keeping rules, doing good works and observing religious rituals.
Do you know what the opposite of our proposition is today?
The opposite of living in grace is legalism.
And its result is a Christian life that goes backwards.
Its effect is that it nullifies the grace of God.
Therefore, Christ might as well not have died.
That is a serious conclusion, isn’t it?
So we must be aware that legalism creeps into our fellowship all of the time.
But there is a way out.
It is the way of grace.
So…
6. We will find in Galatians 3:1-5, two assertions that explain why we are to live in grace.
(1) You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. (2) I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? (3) Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? (4) Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? (5) Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
OUR STUDY:
I. The first assertion that explains why we are to live in grace is ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS’ DEATH COMES BY FAITH (1).
1. We are to be intelligent about our experience.
God has given the experience of salvation to the Galatians because it is a powerful tool to confirm in us the truth.
Though Paul’s language is very strong here, it is not the same word that Christ said not to use.
The word foolish here is used of one who can think but fails to use his/her powers of perception.
In other words, they were being mentally lazy.
They failed to use their spiritual intelligence.
They were like ones who were bewitched, under a mysterious spell.
So Paul’s conclusion is that they are going backwards.
They are backsliding from grace and to do that is illogical.
Paul testifies that Jesus was clearly portrayed.
They beheld the truth of Christ.
He was an open display for them to examine, to accept and believe, or reject.
The Galatians had been very clear on the meaning of the cross.
But as they started moving backwards and believing the message of the Judaizers, they were contradicting their salvation experience.
They learned what we need to acknowledge…
2. We need to acknowledge that the death of Christ shows how hopelessly lost we are.
Again, hear this: we cannot make any contribution to our salvation.
The atonement in which God made in Christ for our sin is utterly sufficient.
And the death of Christ is the death knell to our pride.
As John MacArthur has stated:
“The cross keeps moving powerfully and relentlessly through history, and it will stand forever as living proof that men cannot redeem themselves.”
The implication, we receive from Paul, was they had accepted this truth.
But now they believed more.
They had fallen prey to the message of the Judaizers, that Christ must be supplemented with Moses.
But Paul would not hear of it.
For then, Christ was not needed and grace was not needed.
Works then becomes the basis of the Christian life, and not faith.
There is to be only one stumblingblock that is to offend man.
It is the cross.
II. The second assertion that explains why we are to live in grace is RECEPTION OF THE SPIRIT COMES BY FAITH (2-5).
First, we need to be reminded that…
1. When Christ lives in us, we receive the Spirit.
When we receive Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit.
Becoming a Christian always involves the coming of Christ’s Spirit to dwell and work in the believer.
As we noted in 2:20 before, the old self dies with Christ and in its place the risen Christ comes to live.
As a Christian you are no longer your own, you have been bought by Christ and are possessed by the Spirit.
Paul’s rhetorical question goes like this.
“Are you able to receive the Spirit by observing the law?”
In other words, did they earn the Spirit by working hard enough?
The answer is an obvious “no.”
For…
2. We are sealed and completed by the Spirit.
Paul is setting up a contrast between beginning by the Spirit and then trying to be completed by the flesh.
The NIV translates the word for flesh here with the phrase “by human effort.”
The flesh is that autonomous self that is so in love with its personal power of self-determination that it does not and cannot submit to God’s absolute authority.
So, Paul’s question is, what makes you a Christian?
Is it the Spirit, or your flesh?
Are you completed by the Spirit, or is it done by your effort?
The testimony of Scripture is that the Spirit is active in us throughout salvation:
He convicts of sin (John 16:8).
He regenerates us (John 3:6-8).
He baptizes us into the body (I Corinthians 12:13).
He indwells us (John. 14:17).
He seals us (Ephesians 1:13).
He fills us (Ephesians 5:18).
And He does all of this without our help.
No works are involved.
Can anything be added?
We cannot receive more of the Spirit.
We have all we need.
We are to live in grace, and the Spirit will help us to do so.
Paul continues this questioning with a question about their suffering.
And His point is that…
3. We are not to suffer persecution for no reason.
Had their experiences been without value?
Did they experience so many things in vain?
They had been taunted and belittled, and Paul had told them it was proof of the veracity of what they believed.
The Galatians had come to know that these things were true in their experience, their lives, and now they were told it was wrong.
And they were falling for it.
Finally…
4. We are to recognize the source of the supernatural work in our life.
We often need to open up our eyes and recognize God ’s powerful workings in our midst.
And when He does, Paul’s point is, we dare not take credit.
If He performs the miracle of salvation, it is not because of us.
If He performs a miracle of healing, it is not because of us.
If He gives us spiritual gifts, it is not because of us.
We did not earn them.
We cannot work for them.
The Judaizers were wrong.
A return back to circumcision and law is a return to the realm of the flesh, not the Spirit.
God works in our midst because of believing, not achieving.
You are not saved by grace and then sanctified by keeping the Law.
We live in grace, all of the time.
APPLICATION:
ILL Notebook: Pharisee (Swindoll—take a number)
Robert Henry walked up to the counter at a department store in search of a pair of binoculars. Behind the counter were two salespersons. One was so preoccupied talking to “Mama” on the telephone that she refused to acknowledge that Robert was there. At the other end of the counter, a second salesperson was unloading inventory from a box onto shelves. Growing impatient, Robert walked down to her end of the counter and just stood there. Finally, she looked up at Robert and said, “You got a number?” “I got a what?” asked Robert, trying to control his astonishment at such an absurdity. “You got a number? You gotta have a number.” Robert replied, “Lady, I’m the only customer in the store! I don’t need a number. Can’t you see how ridiculous this is?” But she failed to see the absurdity and insisted that Robert take a number before agreeing to wait on him. By now, it was obvious to Robert that she was more interested in following procedures than helping the customer. So, he went to the take-a-number machine, pulled number 37 and walked back to the salesperson. With that, she promptly went to her number counter, which revealed that the last customer waited on tad been holding number 34. So she screamed out “35!…35!…36!…36!…37!” “I’m number 37,” said Robert. “May I help you?” she asked, without cracking a smile. “No,” replied Robert, and he turned around and walked out.
When we become more focused on the rules than the person, we are a legalist, like the Judaizers.
So…
1. Why do we fall back into legalism?
First, we must recognize that it is extremely easy to do.
We do it…
1.1 Because legalism is taught and practiced at home and in church.
It is easy for us as an individual to become legalistic.
It is extremely easy for a church to become legalistic.
And it happens because we teach wrong concepts about God.
We picture God as a “Traffic Cop,” ready to catch you making the slightest mistake.
We picture God as the “Record Keeper” who never misses anything.
It is all recorded.
We picture God as the “Dominating Parent” who doesn’t trust you at any point.
So since we serve a God like this, we need a list of what we do and don’t do.
John Fischer has written this interesting comment in Real Christians Don’t Dance:
“...it’s the legalist who destroys the Law...The legalist always reduces the requirements of the Law. He has no choice but to shrink it to something that he can maintain so that when he compares himself to another, he will always win. He counts on God to grade on a curve."
The second reason that we fall back into legalism is…
1.2 Because legalism can look so spiritual.
Have you ever met a Christian that just seemed so spiritual to you?
They were so disciplined about their relationship with God.
They were uncompromising in their ethical conduct.
And they were alert to anyone’s deviation from the law.
If they didn’t have it right, no one did.
Or did they have it right?
If someone asked you to give an example of a backslider, wouldn’t you have thought of someone who once set a shining example of Christian behavior, but now no longer attends church regularly.
Now they hit the nightclubs, swear a little, and they have a tall, cold one now and then?
But consider this…
What about the person who, having experienced the grace of God in salvation, backslides into legalistic heart attitudes?
His list of 99 things he doesn’t do (and doesn’t want anyone else to do) and the 9 he does do (and insists that everyone else do), makes him look like a saint.
But the fact is, he may be worse off spiritually than the first guy because of self-righteousness, a sin highlighted by Christ probably more than any other.
Are you a law-oriented person or a grace-oriented person?
The legalist "does or doesn’t do" in order to earn God’s acceptance, or to earn other people’s acceptance, or to exalt himself.
The grace-oriented person, on the other hand, does or does not do out of love for Christ, out of concern for his testimony, and for the sake of his health and happiness.
We need to ask ourselves a significant question:
Are we being foolish too?
Are we somehow bewitched?
Have we fallen in the same trap as the Galatians?
If we don’t ask that, this study is in vain!
Are we being foolish legalists about…
Which version you must use?
Which churches we can associate with?.
What kind of music is worshipful and what isn’t.?
We can make rules that say…
Every time the church door is opened you are to be attending that meeting.
Worship is only worship if it’s quiet.
Worship is only worship if it’s exciting.
Don’t show your emotions.
Don’t clap.
Only wear your best clothes to church.
Don’t go to R rated movies, or PG-13, or PG, or any of them for that matter.
Don’t let your kids play with Pokemon or Barbies.
And the list can go on and on…
But set those aside.
Those issues are at best secondary issues.
Most are really no issue at all.
For…
2. We need to remember these three simple facts in conclusion…
2.1 God’s grace is what saves us.
We are saved by grace through faith.
No more.
No less.
And it is enough.
2.2 God’s grace is what we grow by.
We are to grow in God’s grace.
We are to know Him better and be more like Him.
But we do it, not solely by our efforts, but because the Spirit resides in us.
Finally…
2.3 God’s grace is what we need to extend to others.
Since God has been so gracious to us, we need to show that grace to others as well.
We are to be people that not only live in grace, but be people of grace as well.
COMMUNION:
Have you ever been so sick that you thought you’d have to get better to die? Bruce Cummins of Bullhead City, Arizona, had just the opposite problem: he had to die in order to get better.
When Bruce checked into the hospital complaining of a severe headache, doctors discovered a cherry-sized aneurysm bulging near the base of his brain. An aneurysm is a sort of bubble in an artery. Eventually, that bubble ruptures. In Bruce’s case, because the circulatory time bomb was so large and so close to the thinktank, its grenade-like effect would have meant instant death.
After consultation, the doctors opted for a radical proce-dure: they killed the patient—temporarily, of course. They chilled his body temperature from its normal 98.6 degrees to about 62, stopping heart and brain activity. For ten minutes or so, Bruce Cummins lay legally dead on an operating table. The aneurysm was snipped off, doctors jump-started his heart, and Cummins was brought back to life-and health.
I think this provides a vivid picture of what Paul is talking about in Galatians. You and I have a sin problem of which the evident headaches are only symptoms. The aspirin of religion provides little relief and no cure. We have only one live option-to cease our struggles, lie beside Jesus in the tomb, and be declared dead. Only when we lie passive does the blood of Christ become active and raise us to eternal life. The symptoms of sin may linger for a while, but the source has been removed, “For he who has died is freed from sin."
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
We come to this table because we are testifying that grace has brought us here.
We come because God is active in our life, filling us with grace, continually favoring us with His blessing.
And we come together, because we share this grace together.
God’s grace is what saves us.
God’s grace is what we grow by.
God’s grace is what we need to extend to others.
We are united together because of the work of Jesus.
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
Being led in prayer by _______________________, let us take a moment and thank Him for favoring us with his mercy, love and kindness.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
____________________ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Live in grace…for we have been saved by grace through faith, not of works so no one can boast.
Live in grace…for we grow in grace as Christ lives in us, filling is with love for God and for one another.
Live in grace…for this grace that we experience is to be extended to others, so that a world that God loves, will experience that love by the grace we show.
Now…May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
