Galatians Chap 3
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
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You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
We ended our study of Galatians two weeks ago by briefing diving into the teaching of Justification by faith vs works of law. Justification by faith is one of the central tenants when it comes to following Jesus. This morning we are going to look at this teaching in much greater detail
The first example to look at is the Holy Spirit. How is that we receive the Holy Spirit?
First Let’s look at a definition out of the Lexham Bible Dictionary
The Holy Spirit (or Spirit of God) transforms and empowers God’s people
And let us look at a further definition from Paul
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
Now here in his letter to Timothy Paul reinforces the teaching. It is not anything at all that we can do but what God gives us because of our belief in Jesus. The Holy Spirit allows you to have this power of transformation, it empowers you, it allows you to live the life that God has laid out for you. This is the grace, the further gift of grace that God gives us every day. There are many functions of the Holy Spirit but the fact that we have the Holy Spirit every single day in our lives as believers of Jesus is further proof of the enormity that is the Grace of God. The Holy Spirit isn’t a merit badge that you can earn, it is given to us from the Creator of all things
I want to take a minute and look closer at this verse
Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
This is what can happen to some many of us as Christians. We are start off so well, so full of the spirit. Then the world starts to creep back into our lives. The enemy starts to creep back into our lives. In the case of the Galatians it was false teachers, in our times it can very much be false teachers. This is why all of the disciples and Paul talk so much about standing guard in our lives. This is why Biblical teacher and teacher talk about being careful by what we allow into our lives. Life can be a very long race, the spiritual journey is a long twisting race. It does not take much to take us off that narrow path.
I want to share a quick passage out of the Screw Tape Letters by C.S. Lewis, in which a demon is mentoring a younger demon
“My dear Wormwood, I note with grave displeasure that your patient has become a Christian. Do not indulge the hope that you will escape the usual penalties;indeed, in your better moments, I trust you would hardly even wish to do so. In the meantime we must make the best of the situation. There is no need to despair, hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the Enemy’s camp and are now with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favour.”
How we start, run and finish the race matters but must do it within the Holy Spirit.
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 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 rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Paul chooses Abraham for two very important reasons. The first is that it proves the Greatness and the Goodness of God. For God made a covenant with Abraham and that covenant is still in progress to this very day. All over the world people are still coming to Christ every single day. The nations are truly blessed through Abraham because, he had faith. This is why the Old Testament is so important. It shows all the various covenants that God made with people and then of course we have the covenant we are under with Jesus. Every single covenant on the side of God builds upon the next one. God has kept every single covenant. It was man that failed to uphold our end of the covenant. So through Abraham we get the blessings that we have today.
The second main reason why Paul chooses Abraham to speak about is because Abraham predates the 10 commandments and the Mosiac law. In terms of a debate or Theological argument. This shows how smart Paul was. If you can through the law become righteous before the eyes of God. Then Abraham would have failed to do that because he never had those commands. Now is anyone going to argue that Abraham wasn’t a man of God? Of course not, he was very clearly a man of God. So through Abraham’s faith in God;he was awarded righteousness.
Of course that begs the question then, why do we have the law at all?
Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
The law was given because of our sin. It was a means for understanding what sin is and how to avoid it. God was giving people a list of transgressions which would incur His wrath. This was to instruct people until the Messiah came. The law was given to angels and to Moses and down his line of leaders of Israel.
The law doesn’t negate the promises of God. The law is a mirror to show us where sin lies in our lives.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
He fulfills the law because anyone that cannot uphold the law was under a curse
However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:
Jesus takes the curse of sin, and the consequences of those sins for us. By faith we are granted righteousness in front of God, another testament to his Grace towards us.
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
This is what we need to start understanding especially when it comes to the Old Testament and the New Testament. The two books are not opposed to each other. There isn’t a different God in the Old and a new God in the New. It is all one narrative of God and how Jesus saves us all and how God redeems this world. That is what the entire book is about. The entire world , whether or not they know it is trapped underneath the domain of sin, the curse of sin.
Scripture and the law which is including in that gives us a picture of how to live in a world dominated by sin. The law points you in the direction of a way to live a Godly life but you cannot keep that law in perfection. It is through Jesus in which salvation is given. The promises of God are given to those who have faith
Let us pray.
