True Or False - Two Ways To Heaven”

In Jesus Holy Name March 8, 2020

Text: Galatians Series Galatians 3:10-11 Redeemer

“True or False - Two Ways to Heaven”

We have arrived at Galatians Chapter 3. With this sermon we turn a corner in our journey through Galatians. This short letter has three parts:

The Personal Section: Chapters 1-2 Paul’s defense of his apostleship and a strong warning against prejudice.

The Doctrinal Section: Chapters 3-4 Paul defends the “gospel” salvation by faith in Jesus, even using Abraham as an illustration of faith.

The Practical Section: Chapters 5-6 He concludes his letter with practical behavior which is a response to the grace we have received.

Paul returns again and again and again to one central question: Are we saved by what we do or by what Christ has done for us? It’s faith versus works; Grace versus the Law of Moses. The very heart of the gospel is at stake in this letter.

J. B. Phillips begins his translation of verse 1 with the words: “O dear idiots!” Why are you leaving grace to return to the obeying the law as your key that opens the door to heaven. You Galatians are ignoring the cross of Christ. Paul is saying: Continue in the Christian life the same way you started, by grace, not personal performance. Anything else would be ridiculous.

Paul was frustrated because the Galatians were being tricked into relying on the works of the law for their faith: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?”

Why would they again want to trust in their good works to complete their salvation? It is human nature. Even we, if we are not careful, can think our good deeds must earn some favor from God. Our American work ethic, “pulling ourselves up by our own “boot straps”, can easily slip into our theology destroy the theological truth of grace alone. Our human nature wants us to add something to what God has already accomplished.

So let me begin with a simple theological quiz. Here’s a multiple-choice question: How good do you have to be to go to heaven?

A) Pretty good

B) Really Good

C) Better than Uncle Joe

D) Perfect

The answer is D. If you want to go to heaven, you have to be perfect.

And I don’t mean “sort of” perfect, “mostly” perfect, or 80% perfect. Being 80% perfect is like being 80% pregnant. Either you’re pregnant or you’re not. Either you’re perfect or you’re not. The kicker in all this is that 99.9% of the world believes the answer is either A or B or C. Most people would say it’s A. If I’m pretty good on the relative scale of goodness, surely I’ll go to heaven. This is false understanding of how one enters heaven is unfortunately very common in our American Culture. God does not grade on a curve, nor does everyone get a trophy for participation in life.

Most people are quick to compare themselves to Uncle Joe or Aunt Jane. That’s always an easy comparison because we usually only compare ourselves to someone who isn’t as good as we are. But that’s not what God does. God compares us to Jesus.

Paul’s second argument is from Abraham.

“Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 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.’ So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:6-9).

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. In Paul’s mind, spiritual descent is more important than physical descent. Thus, there are physical descendants of Abraham who are not spiritual descendants because they don’t believe the gospel. And there are Gentiles who are true sons and daughters of Abraham because they do believe the gospel.

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 the my blood which will be shed on the cross that is the key to eternal forgiveness.