One Gospel (Part 3)

The Gospel

Galatians 3:10-14

Scripture

Galatians 3:10-14

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Pray

God help us to hear the Gospel fresh

Story 1

How many of you have had a birthday recently?

What was the best birthday present you received? Did you earn your present?

Application 1

1. We can’t conquer sin.

Paul starts off strong. This is why I like Paul. He has a heart for one thing: the gospel. He called the people in the Galatian church foolish. He is not trying to make friends. He is correcting a false teaching. He points out that they saw Jesus crucified, and even that couldn’t keep them from falling into this false gospel.

He explains how their “new” belief system doesn’t make sense. But the tragedy is that some Christians still have that belief. They think they can conquer sin. They think if they have enough will power, they can “do the right things.”

What they miss is that we are not perfected by the flesh. Believing this put the Galatians on a spiritual treadmill because it had them working for something that they couldn’t attain. If we could be perfected by what we do then, like we talked about two weeks ago, Jesus didn’t need to die!

we see that again. Over and over in Scripture, we see this. God does the cleaning up, not us! We can’t conquer sin. This alone has just made a relationship with God a step more attainable, because when we realize this, we get off the spiritual treadmill that will never get us to Him. Paul continues to explain what makes it even more attainable.

2. Jesus has already done this.

Paul points to who is the source for all authority. He asks a simple but powerful question: “Of all of the miracles and things you have seen and done, why did Christ do them? Was it because you were just so great, or because of your faith and surrender to Him?"

He even caught the Jews in Galatia by surprise. When we think of Jewish customs, we understand that their whole focus was the Law. Paul starts digging at that foundation to point out that the foundation of the Jewish faith was based on Abraham's faith in God. Paul points out that the foundation of everything in Christianity and Judaism is faith, not the Law.

Why is that significant? Because not only can we not conquer sin, but Christ has actually conquered it for us!

Jesus conquered sin by first stepping into our world on our level. He dealt with what you deal with, He dealt with what I deal with, and He broke it all down. He did that to give us a way out.

There is a sin that, according to all the statistics, you will have been exposed to by the age of 11. It is something that can will consume you. And that's pornography.

I say that as someone who has been there. I don’t know if there is a sin that you have ever tried to white knuckle your way through, but it will crush you if you attempt to do that apart from Christ. This is why Paul writes this to the Galatians. Self-help has no place in Christianity, and Paul points to who is our help.

Story 2

Making our friend play decoy and sacrifice himself so we could flank and win the paintball game

Supporting Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Application 2

3. Our faith in Him, and His completed work is what conquers sin in our lives.

Paul points out that in faith, we receive the power of Christ. That is what has the power to conquer sin in our lives—not us. It is our relationship with the Father and access to the Holy Spirit ,through the sacrifice of the Son, that can conquer those things that we struggle with, are ashamed of, or that completely control us.

When we rely on the Law, we return power to sin that was conquered in Christ. Why would we do that? Remember, the Law points to a need for Christ. It is the X-ray, not the cast. Paul continues describing Christ’s accomplishment in verses 10-14.

4. Christ took on the curse of sin for us.

Paul explains that Christ conquered sin by taking the curse of sin meant for us. He took on our sins so that we would not have to remain bound to them. He did this so we could gain access to God. Without Christ, we would have had a much more difficult road to God. But the Spirit that we receive and the sacrifice of Christ point us to seeking the righteousness of Christ.

Because of Christ’s sacrifice, the gospel is attainable. It's a gift. The gospel says that sanctification comes from God, through His Spirit, after accepting the sacrifice of Christ. My prayer is that this renews your view of the gospel and your desire to live it out, because the gospel is attainable.

Conclusion

Do you demonstrate this life—a relationship by grace through faith that was given freely and in genuine love?

Pray

Jesus help us to see we can’t do it alone, but we need You cause only You can free us