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Don Filcek; Galatians 3:1-14 Back to the Start

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Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan where you can grow in faith community and service
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We're currently studying Galatians in a series called off the chain finding freedom in Galatians.
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Here's Pastor Don Filsack This morning.
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We're gonna come to the heart of the book of Galatians Like really Paul's gonna just let us have basically his his basic premise his basic thesis as we go through and he's going to do
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It in a little bit of a creative way He's going to appeal to do different things to defend the gospel of grace that is
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He went through and he planted these this cluster of churches in south -central Turkey During his life and just an amazing journey.
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You can read about that back in Acts 13 and Acts 14 So if you're taking notes You can jot that down and go back and I'd encourage you to read that see about his experience in Galatia when he was actually
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There but Paul's gonna appeal to two different things to defend that gospel He's gonna appeal to the experience of those
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Christians in Galatia He's gonna say I came and I lived among you for a short period of time He wasn't able to be there long but he's gonna appeal to the experience that they jointly held together while he was with them some things that transpired during that time and Equally at the later part of our text.
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He's gonna appeal to the Old Testament scriptures Now if you're anything like me appealing to scriptures on the for for the way that you think about God that that kind of makes
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Sense, right? Okay. That's the way that I was raised I mean you go to Scripture to find out who God is anybody with me on that like that's but how many of you it may
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It feels a little bit dicey to appeal to people's experiences Is anybody with me on that?
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I go to raise your hand if you're with me three of you agree with me, but are you understand what
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I'm saying because how many of you know that we have a Vast variety of experiences in our lives, right?
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And some I'm gonna you've ever experienced a a kind of false Experience like in a sense you experienced it
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So it's true like in a sense it really happened But it didn't really reflect well on God Like when you really thought about it or didn't really reflect
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Reality very well the way that things were meant to be the things that were are you getting what I'm saying? So experience is kind of a could be a faulty guide, right?
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How many of you know like have you had that experience within your family where you experience an argument with somebody else in your family? Different than they experienced it and you're talking about it a week later and you're like, no, no
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That's not what you said and it's like your experiences were different, right? So that's what I mean when I say it can be a little dicey and yet if we're all honest experience is a powerful spiritual force in our lives isn't it the way that we experience a relationship with God is valuable and as far as people coming into Galatia and Disagreeing with Paul's message now again, he had gone there.
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He had planted these churches. He had to leave He was basically forced out of the district by Jews who were seeking to kill him
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So under duress he leaves Galatia and now some Jews come in after him and begin to say
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Paul was Paul was wrong He was wrong. And so it makes sense That he appeals in a letter to the
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Galatians to the things that he saw Transpire when he was there with them the things that they jointly experienced together in that short time that they were together
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And so as we come to worship this morning and we come to this text this morning I'm gonna ask you to answer the question that Paul is gonna ask rhetorically to the
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Galatians So here's one of the questions the primary question. He's gonna pose to them. Did you receive the
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Spirit of God by works? Did you earn God's favor by works by doing good things?
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And so you did such a good job You've done such a good job up to this point in your life that now God has given you his spirit because you know what?
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You have really got God's attention You have just behaved so well that God was like I'm gonna send my spirit down on them because I You you're keeping the law.
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You're you're getting it done or Did you receive God's Spirit his indwelling power and presence with you?
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by faith Which was it? And that's what he's gonna ask the Galatians appealing to their experience which one which way did how did it come to you?
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How did the Spirit actually how did God save you how did you get into this family of God? was it by law and keeping rules and regulations
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Or was it by faith? Has a miraculous change come about in your life through law or through grace?
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The God of truth is the God who has brought us into this family Has brought us together through grace and by the end of this text
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We will see that all of Paul's Arguments in this text culminate in the promise of his
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Holy Spirit in us and that is the definition of full life We're gonna get down to what the definition of real good living looks like and that is a life lived in the power of his indwelling spirit
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Now Paul's gonna take us through part of the Old Testament also in this text and the first song that we're gonna sing I'm gonna
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I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of introduce the song then I'm gonna read the text and then the bands gonna come up and We're gonna sing it and it's a little bit of a unique song.
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We used to sing it a lot here It's been a while since we sang it's called take me in have any of you heard of it I'm actually a band called
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Cutlass sings it and every once in a while It's on the radio, but it can be a little confusing because there's a lot of words about the
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Old Testament in there there's words like the Holy of Holies and it appeals to or or reminds us of a passage of scripture in Isaiah 6 where Isaiah Actually is taken up and stands before the throne of God actually falls on his face before the throne of God And he says
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I'll woe is me. I'm undone because he experiences God and There's a lot of allusions to the
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Old Testament system in this song and I drew that out with intention because in in reality
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If you were to go back in the Old Testament if we were to go back to living under law Do you realize how just radically different our lives would have to look?
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We would not be here in a church. My prayers would be on your behalf I would be a priest and you would have all brought lambs and goats and oxen and birds to sacrifice
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There was a lot of hoops to jump through in order to even get connection with God There were intermediaries called priests and there were laws to be kept and all of us.
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Are you understanding? I'm saying there was distance in the Old Testament covenant between us and God and yet what this tech what the text of the song is going to tell us is
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Take me into the Holy of Holies take me in by the blood of the Lamb, the
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Lamb is Jesus Christ He has cut through that Old Testament code and has brought us near to God By his shed blood for us and that's something that I it gives me chills
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I mean part of it maybe is just the amount of knowledge that you have about the Old Testament Creates awe in that God in Christ has brought us near that we can pray and I mean honestly
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I mean Kyle and I were praying together this morning and I was confessing God. I don't pray enough to you
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I haven't got this vision enough yet Because we have access to the throne room of the creator of the universe through Jesus Christ That gives me chills at the thought and all of the all the hoops that had to be jumped through in the
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Old Testament Are just a sign how much more holy he is than us, but we've been brought near through Christ So I want you to open your
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Bibles place to Galatians chapter 3 And that's page 833 If you take the
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Bible in the seat back in front of you take that out and turn to page 8 3 8 3 3 that's easy To find if you don't own a
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Bible, please take that one with you If you don't own an English Standard Version of the Bible, it's not that that one's magical But that's the one
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I preach from and you can take that one with you If you don't own that version just to have a copy that you can read at home
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But let's dive into Galatians 3 1 through 4 and be ready
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Paul's going to let the Galatians have it Oh foolish Galatians Who has bewitched you?
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It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified
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Let me ask you only this did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
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Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit. Are you now being perfected by this flesh?
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Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the
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Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
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Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness so then
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That it is those of faith who are the sons no, no than this that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham and The scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the
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Gentiles by faith preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham Saying in you shall all the nations be blessed
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So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith for all
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Who rely on works of the law are under a curse? for it is written cursed to be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them and Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law for the righteous shall live by faith
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But the law is not a faith rather the one who does them shall live by them Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written
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Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree so then in Christ Jesus The blessing of Abraham might come to the
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Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith
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Let's pray father.
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I'm I'm in all of your grace As I hear Paul just tenaciously in almost vehemently
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Opposing the notion that we can be righteous enough in and of ourselves Father that even in our lives that our primary mode of operating is one of law it
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Misunderstands the awesome righteousness. It must misunderstands the concept of justification That uh that not only have we not only has our sin been forgiven and our account brought to zero
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But it's it's been brought up to the righteousness of Christ that you've credited our account with his righteousness
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There's nothing we can add to that So father, I ask that you would produce in us lives of gratitude
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For the one who loved us and gave himself for us That we would we would we would come to a place of a higher moral understanding a higher ethical life
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Higher than laws higher than rules higher than regulations, but one that is driven by love and Joy and delight in your awesome sacrifice for us, and I ask this in Jesus name
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Amen in our text this week Paul comes out of his corner swinging Did you get that in the way that I kind of inflected my voice there a little bit when
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I was reading? He's gonna let him have it I mean, that's that's really what's going on in the text and those of you who are visiting
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I'm not always like a hellfire and brimstone kind of preacher. So I mean, I just want to let you know that everything up to this point
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In the book of Galatians has been kind of somewhat of a personal defense And in those things
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Paul has been relatively tame now to say Paul is tame is you know overstating the case?
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He's never quite tame But now he comes to the heart of his defense and it's no longer a defense of his personal ministry
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It's no longer a defense of his own personal calling to ministry But now he comes to the defense of the good news of the gospel itself and the gloves come off He's gonna let them have it.
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Oh foolish Galatians. He says see that right there in verse 3. I'm not making this up Exclamation point the
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Greek lets you put exclamation points in there for the way that I mean The words are used in a very emphatic way in Greek if he was writing an email, this would be in all caps
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Okay, and then he's gonna go on to say Oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you Whenever you think that that's a little bit of inflammatory language like is he is he letting him have it you think so Although it's inflammatory
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Paul is doing this to drive his point home, and it's something that we can grasp here sitting hundreds of years removed from this situation
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We can grasp the the emotion that he's experiencing here He's driving a point home and that is that in Paul's estimation
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He knew these people that he's writing to and he says in essence You should know better you're acting foolishly you should know better.
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I know you I know the things we experienced I lived life with you. Even if it was a short period of time. I was there.
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I was on the ground We prayed together. We saw faith together. We saw God do miraculous things while I was there
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This is just foolhardy that you are that you are basically pushing aside the gospel reminding them then of the awesome experience and the glorious life change that they experienced while he was with them and Paul can think of nothing shy of a hex or a curse or that they've been bewitched
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That would make them second -guess the good news that they experienced Do you see that that's what he's getting at by that rhetorical question who's bewitched you?
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He doesn't think that somebody's literally put a hex on them or some witches come through and cast a spell on them
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But what he's saying is that just something crazy has happened in your mind to move you to this place
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Where you're questioning the gospel of grace? In verse one, it's clear that they heard teaching that vividly
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Picturesquely impressed on their mind's eye the crucifixion of Christ. Do you see that? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified that phrase publicly portrayed
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It's not like they were play acting it That's a word that's used for literally published and like staked it on the on the on the bulletin board in the community center
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So it's like it was the crucifixion of Christ was was was pinned up for you to see
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You you you you you saw this it through his teaching It's obvious that Paul's message when he was with them focused on the crucifixion
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Now, I don't know how graphic he got about the crucifixion and I'm not suggesting that you have to go to the extent of explaining
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How long the nails were or how long the thorns were or how much blood there was? I'm not convinced that you need to get into like to what depth of detail
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But Paul's message focused on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and so should ours
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We should focus on that as well If we think we're proclaiming the gospel and the cross barely makes a cameo appearance appearance.
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We are not proclaiming the gospel The cross is the centerpiece of our faith.
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It is the point It is the culmination of all of this ancient history moving down God working in human history to bring about the ultimate sacrifice that we might be saved
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Now it's funny that Paul is going to use some rhetorical questions in rapid -fire succession to get his main point across and so that's what we're
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Going to see really in the first few verses of chapter 3 all these rhetorical questions Who has bewitched you all of these things?
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But the central question is found in verse 2 and you know that it's a central question because he says let me ask you only this
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So what comes next is his main point all of the other questions? It's not like he says let me let me ask you only this and then he forgets that he said that and he asked some five questions
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He says let me only ask you this and then all of the other questions serve to support the one primary question
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He wants them to answer in their minds Again appealing to their experience
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Paul asks and here's the central question Did you receive the Spirit of God by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
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How did you? Get into this whole thing this whole Christian thing. It's clear by the follow -up question in verse 3
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Are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? It's clear that he's talking about he basically equates
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Receiving the Spirit with salvation those two are a joint venture those two things happen in tandem in succession
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So if you are in Christ, you've accepted Christ by faith. You are you have received the
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Spirit Are you seeing what I'm saying? Those two are parallel in this text So he says you've given your life to Christ You've received the
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Spirit if you've received the Spirit you're in with Christ So are you seeing what I'm saying? those two are are tied together and that's that's really important as we move forward and Particularly as we as we contemplate and consider our own
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Walk with Christ that those who are in Christ those who have trusted him by faith have the Spirit of God in them
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Dwelling in them and we're gonna get there at the end of the passage But in essence he's asking the
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Galatians then I was with you I preached the gospel some of you believed and how did you get into the whole
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Christian life thing? How in the in the first place? What was your initiation into it like? Anyone who hears the truth and responds with trust or faith or belief
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You know, the problem is the word faith is a word that can be misunderstood in English language
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And we really need three words to understand the Greek word trust faith or belief
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Because we have an intellect a will and emotions, right? So because we have this kind of this this kind of set up in our minds of our understanding of what does it mean?
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to be a person that we have a will that enacts and does stuff that we have Emotions that feel things and then we have a mind that takes in knowledge
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Faith is an exercise of all three of those things Do you understand what I'm saying? Your will is exercised in in making a decision for Christ Your knowledge is enacted in understanding what
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Christ has done for you Your emotions are engaged in recognizing love the love of God to you
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Are you getting what I'm saying? So when we talk about coming in by faith that's what we're talking about and anyone who hears the truth and responds with that kind of faith is justified before God and receives the
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Spirit of God and Throughout the remainder of this book We are going to see that this reception of the
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Holy Spirit is the key to how we move forward in our life with Jesus So really what
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Paul is issuing in in in verse 2 is a 50 -50 question It's like a multiple -choice question with only two answers.
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So it might as well be true or false So you're kind of hoping you get this one, right? I'm hoping you get this one, right? You got a 50 % chance of getting it, right?
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How did you get into the Christian life? Was it by works of the law? Was it by obedience and doing a bunch of good things or was it by hearing?
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With faith so you heard the message and you believed it and trusted in it. How did you get in?
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Well, obviously the right answer is hearing with faith. I hope did you get it, right? I Hope you
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I hope you got it, right? If you didn't please come and see me afterwards I'd like to I'd like to talk with you But let me camp here for a minute because the phrase hearing because this phrase hearing with faith is as I wrote in my
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I Wrote in my notes. It's right there my notes I didn't change it and I and Kyle and I were Interacting over my sermon and he said
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I don't think you can use the word unreasonably important I don't think you can put those two together. I was like, okay, it's just crazy important.
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It's radically important This phrase hearing with faith Because it stands in the text is the one thing required to receive the
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Holy Spirit, which we said is equated with salvation, right? So what do you think that's an important phrase?
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Like like you'd like to get down to the bottom of that because that's what gets you in the kingdom of God, right? Hearing with faith.
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So it's like anybody want to raise your hand and say that sounds like an important phrase to me I kind of want to understand what that means because that's the difference between in with God and not with God Not works of the law
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But hearing with faith in other places Paul is going to expand on that notion so I kind of turned to some other texts and some other passages to expand out and kind of blow up this notion of Hearing with faith
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Romans 10 17 is an example of that where Paul writes faith comes by hearing
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Hearing with faith faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ word of Christ can be translated word about Christ So what we have here is the word of hearing the message about Jesus and believing it as true and Trusting trusting in it for salvation is the way to salvation you hear it you hear the truth
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You hear the good news about Jesus Christ and you express faith towards what you know You you put your weight on it.
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You sit on it. You you trust it that it's not that it's gonna hold your weight Are you getting what
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I'm saying? That's hearing with faith in other words no hearing about Jesus no salvation
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No trust or faith in Jesus. I mean, you know, you can hear about Jesus and not trust him, right?
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So no hearing no salvation, but no trusting in what you've heard no salvation
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Are you getting what I'm saying and that might produce some questions in your mind, and I'd love to talk with you I don't have time to get into the the guy the
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Aborigine out in the jungle or whatever hearing about Jesus or not hearing About Jesus, but if you have questions about that, I would love to talk with you
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I know Kyle would probably love to talk with you about those things, too But understanding like what does a person need to know in order to be saved?
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Have any of you ever asked those questions before how much does a person need to know in order to be saved? What do you need to trust and we're gonna talk about even what
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Abraham understood that was reckoned to him as faith I think that sometimes we dumb down how much a person needs to know
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Well, you just trust in God and you'll get in or something like that. There's there's more to it than that There's a content faith.
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The faith that saves is not because we express faith. It's the object of our faith that saves us It's Jesus Christ that saves us.
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It's not just that we have faith and therefore we are saved. Are you getting what I'm saying? You can have faith in a lot.
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You can express faith in a lot of different things, right? It's not that you have faith that saves you. It's that you have faith in Jesus the one who can save you is that making sense you guys tracking with that?
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I think that that's very vital. And so in follow -up to this initial question Paul assumes that they got it, right and Again pointing to their foolishness.
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He's really digging in. Are you so foolish verse 3? So he appeals to their foolishness again
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Asks if they who began this Christian life by the Spirit are now seeking to be perfected by the flesh
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That's not talking about this this material, you know muscles in and skin and bones and things like that That's not that's not what he's talking about when he says flesh.
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There's something else that is going on In in that are you now being perfected by the flesh?
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The question is pretty straightforward. He says if the Spirit is the one who brought you into the kingdom of God He was the one who initiated this whole thing.
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He brought you in Are you now going back to that old man that was crucified with Christ if you look back just to just take a glance back
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I don't know if you have to turn the page to verse 20. I've been crucified with Christ It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me in chapter 2
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Do you remember I was talking about that a couple weeks or last week? Are you bringing back that old weak self?
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That's under the law and asking him to make you righteous in this walk with God Are you are you reviving that old self again?
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the one who was crucified with Christ By even posing the question in this way
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Paul is saying it is foolish to have tasted the freedom of the Spirit and then return back to seeking righteousness or Perfection through the old man under the law
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He's saying that's foolish To have to have actually been set free from the law and then to go back to it as though you are now a slave
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And a servant under the law So what about us? Have you
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Started strong in the Lord. Have you expressed faith in God? That's something that each one of us I'd encourage everybody here to wrestle with that.
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Have you expressed a saving faith in Jesus Christ saying I trust you To set me free from the sin that so easily entangles my life
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I'm asking you to forgive me and to give me your righteousness Justification by the way is not just bringing you to zero
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It's not like God has just merely forgiven the wrong that you've done and now your account balances at zero
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And I think some people live the Christian life like that. It's a misunderstanding of the word justification So I've been forgiven now my accounts at zero.
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So now I better get busy and get good works added to my account I better fill my account with a lot of good stuff, right?
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Have you have you have you maybe thought that way or heard it preached that way or taught that way? Justification is a in much more radical understanding.
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Yes your account your balance has been taken care of There your sin is gone wiped clean and the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself is now credited to your account.
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That's what justification says Justification means that you have a balance in your account account
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What kind of balance do you have in your account the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself? If you are justified
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God looks at you and says purchased by my son righteous free and clear in Jesus Praise God.
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I Just yeah That's so unreasonable that God would say that of me that he would look at me and say righteous my child my son
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Whoo That's intense. So what about us?
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Have you started strong in the Lord and then taking your eyes off of him and begun to look to yourself How many of you know that the law drives us inwardly the draw the law drives us to look and overanalyze our own lives
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Have you been to that place in life? We're gonna kind of explain this out here a little bit You see I find crazy bouts of discouragement when my eyes are focused on me
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Anybody relate to that you look at your own life you how many of you know that it doesn't take long to look at your own life and you see
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Sin Anybody a little discouraged that like I'm going
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I'm I'm 39 years old. I'm gonna be 40 next year. Yeah, and and I'm looking at it.
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I'm going Shouldn't I be further along in my walk with God by now? Can anybody relate to this statement?
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But shouldn't I be more mature than I am now and I'm guessing that I'll be 50 and I'll say shouldn't
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I be more mature? Than I am now and I'll be 60 and I'll say shouldn't I be more mature and I'll be 70 if I live that long 80 whatever 90 and I'll be like Just take me home and finish this
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Do you know what? Do you know what I'm saying? But isn't that kind of what our lives are really like? It's it's it's looking inside and I mean that's
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So think about the way that you approach your internal life the way you talk to yourself the way you think about things
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Is it man? I want to get my act together. I Wish I could get my act together or God.
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I want to bring you more glory Do you hear the difference?
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Do you hear the difference of focus is the focus on me? I want to get my acts together or God start with God God.
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I want my life to glorify you. Do you hear the difference in those two statements?
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Think about where your focus is. Where are your eyes eyes here or eyes there?
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That's what the book of Galatians in a nutshell is about. Where are your eyes? They focused upward at the glory of God and his righteousness that he has declared to you
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Or is it down here in the mud in the mire of just trying to slug it out on your own?
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But there I have been seasons in my life where I've been able to let Jesus Let the great love of Christ let
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Jesus is great sacrifice. Let his power to save Consume my vision. Have you been there?
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Well, that's a glorious place. That's an exciting place when you actually have your eyes transfixed on the
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Savior and his sacrifice for you and You're able to focus on him.
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Those are times that I find growth despite my circumstances All different kinds of things can be swirling around in life
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But if your eyes are fixed on Jesus Christ You can grow and you find sustenance you find encouragement and strength to carry on Because you're looking to the right place
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Not looking here, but looking there Looking to ourselves as a surefire pathway to discouragement
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And not just discouragement, but I'm convinced that looking at ourselves and over analyzing ourselves is also a pathway to deadness
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In our spiritual walk but the law The law always drives us to focus on ourselves.
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The law always drives us to focus on our own performance But faith in the cross of Christ will draw us deeper into love and gratitude
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And that's why that works by the way keeping the cross in your eye Drives you to gratitude drives you to thankfulness
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Drives you to desire to do things not out of law -keeping not out of hoop jumping But because you recognize his great sacrifice and you're motivated by love
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Love for your Savior Love for the awesome sacrifice that he made for you
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Well still appealing to experience Paul now in verse 4 you can look down at your text Turns to their persecution and suffering did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain
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We know that Paul brought the gospel to them and suffered greatly for it Personally physically suffered in the process of taking the gospel to the
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Galatians was stoned was left for dead So it seems to make sense that those who believed in his message also suffered greatly for the cause of Christ Wouldn't you think that those who came to faith in Christ under his ministry while he's being persecuted
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Would themselves then in turn be persecuted even after he left maybe even more so And he doesn't want their suffering to have been for nothing to have been empty the word vain there
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In verse 5 Paul turns to the miraculous things that they experienced at the beginning in Lystra one of these several
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There's there's there's five cities that are mentioned in Galatia when Paul goes through in Acts 13 Lystra being one of them that stands out prominently
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He gets up in front of a group of people Proclaims the gospel in the front row is a man who has been born and his legs have never worked
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Everybody in the community knew him. He's there in the gathering. He's probably had to be carried in there to sit in the front row and God miraculously gives
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Paul the ability to heal this man and he gets up and walks out of that meeting together How many of you just be like whoa?
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Massive things happening here the power of the Spirit coming on them They can see it
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They can see his power working through Paul and Then equally
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Paul himself was stoned as they're leaving Lystra Paul was stoned and left for dead outside of the same town and yet he rose walked into town the next day
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He's gonna take a 60 -mile journey to the next town miraculous They thought he was dead
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He gets up dusts himself off walks into town next day Marches 60 miles to the next village and proclaimed the gospel there
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They saw the works of the Spirit and Paul asked did those miracles happen because you obeyed the law or did they come to you by faith?
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Was it because you got it God's attention so much Galatians you people in Lystra? Was it because you were such good law -abiding individuals that God was like man.
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We got to give them a miracle Look at them. Look at them. They deserve it. They've earned it or was it by faith?
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Was it a gift from God? That's what he's saying. And he's still appealing to their experiences The miracles, of course came by faith in God and not by works of the law
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That's what he's pointing to And notice briefly the two titles that are given to God in verse 5.
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He is called he who supplies the Spirit Speaking of the Father he who supplies the
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Spirit and he who works miracles The Spirit again is so central That it's reasonable for believers to rejoice in the
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Father as the one who supplies the Spirit That's a noble title for God the one who gives us the
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Spirit I'm convinced that in many evangelical churches Baptist churches many many denominations that we
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Here have come from or been involved in Really sidelined the
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Spirit of God because we're afraid of maybe a little bit of speaking in tongues thing or some of the things that we've seen in the past or whatever and The Spirit is the key to the
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Christian life. We've missed it. Are you hearing what I'm saying? And we'll and that's what's going to go forward in the book of Galatians here after the end of our text
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He is the key to our walk with God in this fallen world But equally in the text
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God is defined as the one who works miracles and and I have seen miracles I've seen more miracles since we started recast in this past three years than my former 35 years of life
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There is nothing more amazing than seeing people's lives Being changed that's what
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I'm talking about when I say miracles To see those who oppose God now on fire for him
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Miracles are not limited to walking on water or parting Red Seas Some of the most amazing miracles are the melting of hardened and cynical hearts.
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I've seen it happen And I give glory to God. Have you seen miracles? Have you seen
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God transforming hearts and changing lives? glory to him and Now in verse 6
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Paul stops appealing to experience and now proceeds further to further his defense through the Old Testament scriptures and what we get here is nothing less than a walk through the
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Old Testament by a Jewish scholar Explaining the gospel only using
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Old Testament passages This is like a treasure trove verses 6 through 14 is an awesome amazing experience
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And again, I think the more that you understand the Old Testament the more that you understand the Old Covenant The more this kind of just comes alive is this notion because you can see how valuable this would have been for the
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Galatians They have Jewish people telling them that they have the gospel wrong and they need to follow the
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Old Testament And so Paul says you want the Old Testament? I'm gonna give you the Old Testament, and I don't want me gonna give you the
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Old Testament But I'm gonna give you the gospel because the gospel is presented in the Old Testament This is not like God wasn't doing something continuous through history and up.
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Oh the Old Testament didn't work I got to come up with a new one It's been a plan all the way through It's been one one even flow although there's changes between the covenants
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It's all been part of the plan of God next week's even gonna make it more clear Or in a couple weeks when we get back together and talk about Galatians He's just gonna weave these things together and explain how they connect
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But for the purposes of the text today He's gonna go to Abraham the father of the Jewish nation.
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He's gonna say you want to talk Old Testament Let's get back to your roots. Let's get back to Abraham himself.
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You're the one you call father In verse 6 Paul essentially says that if you receive the
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Spirit by hearing with faith If if that's how you receive the Spirit, then you are being just like Abraham You're expressing a faith like Abraham who believed
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God and it was counted to him as righteousness. He's quoting from Genesis 15 6
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Now how many of you know that Abraham preceded the giving of the law by centuries actually 430 years and we're see that I mean
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Paul's gonna literally say that number next week, but 430 years God made a promise to Abraham 430 years later the law comes
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How could Abraham have been declared righteous based on the law? Do you understand that argumentation?
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It just doesn't make sense Abraham didn't even wasn't even given a law. It's 430 years between him and Moses So he wasn't righteous because he was a law abider.
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He had no law to follow He only had the law that God had written on the human heart I mean, you know, everybody has some inkling or understanding of the law
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I mean, you know that you can find some of the deepest darkest tribes and murder is still Looked down upon adultery is still looked down upon.
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There's still general rules and laws that people recognize in their hearts, right? Regardless of where you go.
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There's still a standard that is out there now There might be some differences and how that's applied or what's understood about it
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But there's still that general understanding So he only had the law on his heart
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And so the logical question is what did Abraham believe that counted to him as righteousness?
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Have you ever wondered that? What was the faith of Abraham? Because he he was declared righteous because he had some kind of faith
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I believe that Abraham had a much more specific faith than we might at first give him credit for You see he had been promised that he had some promises given to him
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He had some experiences that God brought him through some things that I think he was able to connect some dots
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So he had been promised to be made a great nation He was promised a great land back in Genesis 12
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And he was promised that one of his offspring would be a blessing to all nations That's from Genesis 12 3 and it's quoted in verse 8 if you look down at verse 8
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So he clearly knew that God was going to send a Messiah That one of his offspring was going to be the one who would bless all nations all nations meaning even the
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Gentiles It's not just his line Not just the Jews that would be blessed through his offspring, but one would come of him who would bless all people
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Ultimately to Abraham the gospel was first revealed and it actually says that look at verse 8 and the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the
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Gentiles by faith Preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham. What did
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Abraham understand? nothing less than The gospel it says that Abraham had an understanding of the gospel does it not say that in the text
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He preached the gospel to him beforehand you see Abraham also according to the book of Hebrews believed in resurrection
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Through that whole incident where he was told to offer up Isaac And it says it's as though he received his son back by resurrection of a technical sort
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He had the knife in his hand and was ready to plunge that knife when God stopped his hand but he believed even unto the belief that if his
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Hand had to fall and slay his own son that God would bring him back because God had promised
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That Isaac was the one who the promise would come through So he even believed that if he had to kill his own son,
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God would bring him back in resurrection That's what the book of Hebrews says. He had an understanding of that I believe he also had an understanding of substitutionary atonement because a ram was provided in the place of his son there on that altar
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When God stopped his hand he said no, I'm gonna let someone else I'm gonna let something else stand in the place for your son
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See the ram caught in the thicket and they sacrificed the ram. He had an understanding of the concept
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Are you getting what I'm saying here? There's a lot of content to the faith of Abraham It wasn't just that he believed
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God exists and that was enough for him And I just yeah, yeah God's up there and he talked with me one day one day so I'm good
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I'm good with him It's I've heard people say that by the way, I've heard Americans say that I've heard people in our community say that, you know
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Yeah, I believe in God. I believe in God as a matter of fact I was almost in a car accident one day and just something miraculous happened
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And I don't know what am I the car swerved, you know, and I didn't understand and all of a sudden I was saved
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So I believe in God and so I'm okay and he saved me saved me from a car accident, right?
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Have any of you ever heard those kinds of stories or something like that? That's just kind of like yeah, I just have a general generic belief in God. I don't think that it was
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Abraham I believe God graciously gave Abraham the ability to connect the dots between these different things and He had faith in God who would choose one of his offspring to bless all the nations through a substitutionary sacrifice
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I believe that is the case. I don't think it's a stretch Paul says directly that the gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham.
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I believe the text And so Abraham is shown by Paul to be the father of faith not just the father of the
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Jewish nation But the one who first understood by faith that we are made right with God through faith
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So still appealing to scripture Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27 26 Which says curse be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them
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You see all who rely on works of the law are under a curse You see that in the text
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But in what way does the law bring a curse? Like how does the law bring a curse to us?
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Well, it's because partly our flesh is weak by the fall. We can't keep up with God's standards you experience that in life
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It's like like that that whole hamster wheel You know and you're not really getting anywhere
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But you're just churning any of you ever owned a hamster. It's fun to watch I mean those those legs move fast don't they they keep that thing churning and Squeak squeak squeak in the middle of the night
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You drive you nuts. Um We don't have a hamster anymore Anyways, I don't know where any of this is going
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But you know what? I'm saying? I mean, it's that it's that constant churning constant working constantly But getting nowhere not making any advances not moving anywhere, but just keep working at it because our flesh is weak
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We can't keep up with the standard of God So the law serves like a diagnostic tool
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I've mentioned that before but let me illustrate that a little bit more for you I've said it a few times. So it's like an
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MRI The diagnosis like I like it like a torn ACL. Okay, so I say
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I've got a torn ACL I go in and I get an MRI and what does the MRI do for me? the MRI Diagnoses whether or not
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I have a torn ACL, right? Has anybody ever been healed by an
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MRI? Anybody ever gone in with a torn I got a torn ACL I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna go get an
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MRI and that's gonna take care of the problem But you guys can be like what I'm sorry miss that. I don't think what you need is an
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MRI I think you need something else just kind of guessing here I'm not I'm not a doctor, but I'm thinking you need something more than just another
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MRI Do you get what I'm saying? The MRI has never repaired an
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ACL. It's just there to show what is and isn't healthy It's gonna tell you whether or not it's torn, right?
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That's the goal of it. And so it do we do we disparage MRI machines and be like MRI machines are worthless
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That's horrible who needs MRIs because all they do is this is tell bad news Do you see you see what
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I'm saying? But is that not the purpose of an MRI machine? Isn't it ultimately because things are broken and things are messed up in the world that we have an
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MRI machine If there's no fall, there's no broken ACLs. There's nothing that you know, we're all good.
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We don't need that But it's there because of brokenness and does an
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MRI generally is it not built to bring bad news? Yeah, you're not gonna be able to play basketball anymore this summer.
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You're not gonna be able to run this summer You're gonna have a hard time walking It's gonna hurt for a while until we can get some surgery in there and get this thing fixed
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The law is an awesome tool. The MRI machine is an awesome tool But it doesn't solve the problems.
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Are you getting what I'm saying here? Its primary role is to reveal bad news and in that sense the law brings a curse
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The law brings bad news to us. It reveals what is true of us us
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That we are broken that we are sinful So part of that curse is clear through what
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Paul believes is obvious. He actually says it's obvious He uses the word evident or obvious now in verse 11
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Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law and here
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Paul quotes the Prophet Habakkuk He's going old -school now. He's quoting Habakkuk. Okay, that's the significant
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Habakkuk 2 4 the righteous shall live by faith If you've been justified that is if you've been declared righteous if you have the righteousness of Christ credited to your account
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Then you will live by faith. There are two systems of life that Paul is holding out here He says there's a system of life that walks by law
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Sets up rules sets up regulations tries to please God based on laws And then there's another system a system of faith that looks to the cross and then moves forward in life now
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I'm not talking about stagnation some of us might not misunderstand that when I talk about grace It's just sitting back and kind of floating with life now
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There's movement but the movement is based on gratitude. The movement is based on a look to Christ and it's out of Gratitude and thankfulness.
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Are you getting what I'm saying? It's about motivation and where your eyes are fixed If your eyes are fixed here
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You're probably more likely living by laws and rules and regulations if your eyes are fixed on Christ You're gonna be moving forward by grace by an understanding of the awesome sacrifice that he's made for you
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You'd be moving forward in gratitude and thankfulness and love is going to be your motivation There's two systems law and faith and in verse 12 right at the get -go he says but law is not a faith rather laws not a faith and that and then he's gonna quote from Leviticus 18 5
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But what he's saying here is law is not a faith. He's basically saying these are two mutually exclusive systems law faith you have a choice and Don't and what he goes on to say is the one who does them that is works of the law will live by them
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Leviticus 18 5 now that anybody can be confused by that statement the one who does them will live by them
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Does that make complete sense to you guys or it's a little bit confusing? It was a little bit confusing to me
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But what does it what this quotation from Leviticus 18 5? Implies is that if you are in the business of keeping the law if you are the one who does them
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Your life will be consumed by law abiding You'll live that way if you're a law keeper you will live according to the law the one whose hope for improvement rests in the law will live a law abiders life and A life of law is all -consuming and that's what he's getting in here
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Have you ever experienced that all -consuming this like I'm talking about the the hamster wheel that Constantly trying to come up with new laws and rules and regulations
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If you choose the system of law over the system of faith, you will spend all of your days making new laws revising old laws making laws to help you follow your other laws and It becomes difficult to pay attention to God when you're juggling all the rules and regulations
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Suddenly, it's kind of like God whole can you can you can I put you on hold for a second? I'm trying to follow your laws here
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Do you know you understand? I mean just just give me some just give me a second here I maybe I'll get to you next year But right now I've got a lot of laws that I'm just I'm struggling with down here and I'm trying to keep this
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I'm trying to do it for you God. I'm doing I'm working for you and there's no rest There's no joy, there's no love there's no passion
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Because God is God is held at arm's length because God can you cut me some slack here? I got a lot of work to do.
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I'm busy for you You see what I'm saying? That's what that's what this ends up looking like if you live according to the system of law
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And so then here it comes in verse 13, and this is the centerpiece Christ redeemed us from that curse that the hamster wheel of law
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He bought us back from that curse by becoming a curse for us for it is written in Deuteronomy 21 23
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Cursed is everyone who who is hanged on a tree? I think we all know somebody who was hanged on a tree for us word tree spike
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It's a it's a Greek word that can be translated both ways Someone when challenged to summarize the
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Christian faith in one word chose the word Substitution that's the unique thing that Christianity brings to the table of religious understanding substitution or grace
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And I'm struggling to find a better answer to that question. What's the one word that summarizes
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Christianity? substitution We were cursed and he took our curse
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We were sinners and he became sin for us We broke the law and he came and lived a sinless life fulfilling and completing the law even down to the law of sacrifice
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He exchanges our crud for his righteousness Jesus became a curse look at the text
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Jesus became a curse in verse 13 for what?
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For us Stood in our place. He became a curse for us and so now the place of blessing is
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Jesus Christ in Christ the blessing of Abraham comes to us the Gentiles and the final result of that blessing
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In Jesus Christ is the culmination of this salvation in verse 14 the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith
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That the Holy Spirit now resides in us dwells with us If you're in Christ, you receive the
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Holy Spirit through faith the text says and in this discussion of works Versus faith law versus grace the reception of the
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Holy Spirit in our lives is the central operating factor for our lives in The place of an external law that's out there trying to change us from the outside in we now have the indwelling of God himself in the
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Holy Spirit in us Sound different the law outside of us condemning us the spirit inside us changing us.
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Which one do you want to sign up for? Which way do you want to live? the law outside or the spirit inside To illustrate this ask yourself, which seems better if you have malaria
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Let's just say, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you have malaria. Would you rather have a test for malaria?
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Or would you rather have the antibiotics already flowing in your system? Where would you want to be a test that okay,
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I'm gonna take some blood. I got malaria Great. Now, I know I've got it Can I get some medicine for this thing?
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Or have the antibiotics already in your system working to heal you from the inside out, which do you want?
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I hope it's obvious in the illustration the The test is the law. It's the diagnostic tool
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Good tool a good thing that identifies accurately what is wrong with us
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Where we fall short what our problem is. What is our issue? But Salvation by grace as the solution is the cross
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It is grace and it is the spirit living within us who have been purchased by him
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You getting what I'm saying you get the illustration One final question to land this thing
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Are you in love with God? Don't don't answer that up. You know, don't raise a hand. Are you are you in love with God or Do you love the law at the expense of loving the giver of the law
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And that's a serious question If your life is primarily defined by law you have chosen for yourself a very difficult road
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You will find decreased room for joy You will find decreased room for love for God in a life that it will be
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Consistently more and more defined by laws and rules and regulations the law will increasingly consume you more to do more to avoid more hoops to jump to more to confess and It's a slippery slope between keeping laws and becoming a person who defines their relationship to God based on rules and regulations and laws
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So let's not be like the foolish Galatians who had forgotten how they first were acceptable to God Who forgot the great things
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God had done in them and through them by faith? And let's not be dissuaded from the simple gospel by so many confusing arguments out there
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That would seek to define our relationship with God based on our own performance And you'll you can find plenty of preachers
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You can find plenty of teachers who will tell you that your relationship with God is based upon your performance
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And it's not it is based on the blood of Jesus Christ or you're in trouble and That's why he says
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Oh foolish Galatians. I pray that he's not talking to us if you're in Christ If you're in Christ God smiles at you
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He loves you. You are his daughter. You are his son And he sees you through the lens of Jesus Christ.
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You might say Don you don't understand but wait a minute You weren't with me last night. You don't know what I did yesterday
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God loves you and If you have been purchased by his blood I'm not saying go out and live any way that you want
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I'm saying that God's grace should be constraining you if you if you had a rough night last night You're here with a hangover this morning.
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You're not quite sure what you did last night. Let me encourage you to look to Christ Put your eyes on him and let that sacrifice that he made for your last night
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Change you from the inside out But far be it from me to tell you to go pull yourself up and change your last night
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So that next Saturday night isn't as bad. Are you getting what
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I'm saying? It's grace. Keep your eyes fixed on Christ Let's not forget and be foolish, but let's remember and find joy
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Let's remember that the one who loved us and gave himself for us is none other than Jesus Christ the
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Son of God himself And so a life lived by faith is a life lived by gratitude at the foot of the cross and as we come to take
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Communion this morning. Let this be the starting point of a week of remembrance for all of us If we correctly thought of God's love
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If we correctly thought of his sacrifice the sacrifice of Jesus every moment of the day would that impact your sin?
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I Think it would I think it would have a dramatic impact on all of us If we if we had Christ before our eyes as the as the crucified sacrifice for us who would stray and Therefore, I believe that forgetfulness is one of our biggest problems one of the greatest enemies in our lives is that we can go a day without praying and what
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I mean by praying is I'm Not talking about just taking a timeout. I'm talking about a prayerfulness to life Recognizing that God is with us every moment of the day and some of you that's a scary thought, right?
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Like you've been it's been so ingrained in your mind that it's been abused Like when somebody says God is with you be careful and be careful what you do.
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God is with you I'm not talking about like that. I'm talking about for power for joy for living for love
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Are you getting what I'm saying by that God is with you and guess what? He likes you
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Some people need to hear that. All right, he likes you He's glad over you.
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He dances over you He rejoices over you and he is excited enthusiastic about the day that you stand before him righteous
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Glorified and perfect in his presence and he says my son bought this one purchased by my son.
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Oh The glory of that day when we will stand righteous in his presence Long for that day
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Do you long for that day? So we come to communion and we take this cracker and we drink this juice
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It's not just juice. It's not just a cracker. It's a remembrance Let this be the seed of remembrance throughout our week that we are purchased by God That he who deserved no curse became the curse for us
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Let's pray Father I rejoice in your grace
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So unworthy and yet you like me. I Confess I have our time liking myself sometimes
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Confident my family has a hard time liking me sometimes I'm guessing sometimes this congregation has a hard time liking me
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But you love me so much that you sent your son to die for me Praise you for that and I ask that you would work on every heart here.
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Some people need encouragement They need to hear and feel and sense your love and I asked for that for them
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And then there are others here who I know full well are abusing your grace Who are like I'm saved and so I can live however
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I want and father I ask that you bring the cross right up into their grill Father that you would not let them free to abuse your name, but that you would let the cross
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Challenge them to a higher life And that your spirit would convict.
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I Pray that nobody in this room is convicted by me But they are convicted by your spirit and that they move out from this day
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Rejoicing that salvation is in you and that new life is available and that we can walk in you this week