Let's get back to the Gospel basics! An overview of Galatians

Order Of Service

Preface (in Korean)/Welcome

-explain why i’m preaching (Pastor JK on holiday, guest preacher can’t do 9.30am service).

Preaching and service will be in English. The translation for the sermon is provided.

Sermon will be different to the guest preacher, but will be highly relevant for our next series, which is Galatians. Goal is to provide overview of Galatians.

Notices

Apostle’s Creed

전능하사 천지를 만드신 하나님 아버지를

내가 믿사오며,

그 외아들 우리 주 예수 그리스도를 믿사오니,

이는 성령으로 잉태하사 동정녀 마리아에게 나시고,

본디오 빌라도에게 고난을 받으사,

십자가에 못 박혀 죽으시고,

장사한 지 사흘 만에 죽은 자 가운데서

다시 살아나시며,하늘에 오르사,

전능하신 하나님 우편에 앉아 계시다가,

저리로서 산 자와 죽은 자를 심판하러 오시리라.

성령을 믿사오며,거룩한 공회와,

성도가 서로 교통하는 것과,

죄를 사하여 주시는 것과,몸이 다시 사는 것과,

영원히 사는 것을 믿사옵나이다.

아멘.

Praise - 구주 예수 의지함 (새찬송가 542장)

1. 구주 예수 의지함이

심히 기쁜 일일세

영생 허락 받았으니

의심 아주 없도다

예수 예수 믿는 것은

받은 증거 많도다

예수 예수 귀한 예수

믿음 더욱 주소서

2. 구주 예수 의지함이

심히 기쁜 일일세

주를 믿는 나의 마음

그의 피에 적시네

예수 예수 믿는 것은

받은 증거 많도다

예수 예수 귀한 예수

믿음 더욱 주소서

3. 구주 예수 의지하여

죄악 벗어 버리네

안위 받고 영생함을

주께 모두 얻었네

예수 예수 믿는 것은

받은 증거 많도다

예수 예수 귀한 예수

믿음 더욱 주소서

4. 구주 예수 의지하여

구원함을 얻었네

영원무궁 지나도록

주여 함께 하소서

예수 예수 믿는 것은

받은 증거 많도다

예수 예수 귀한 예수

믿음 더욱 주소서(아멘)

Prayer

Catechism 교리문답

Question 47: Does the LORD’s supper add anything to Christ’s atoning work?

Answer: No, Christ died once for all. The Lord’s supper is a covenant meal celebrating Christ’s atoning work; as it is also a means of strengtening our faith as we look to him, and a foretaste of the future feast. But those who take part with unrepentant hearts eat and drink judgement on themselves.

This is something that is actually quite relevant to today’s sermon. The question is what is the LORD’s supper, and does it actually add anything to Christ’s work on the cross? In another words, does the LORD’s supper contribute to our salvation in any way?

And the answer is very clearly no. The LORD’s supper can’t save you. Only Christ can save you. Participating in the bread and the wine doesn’t change your salvation, because what saves you is Christ’s work on the cross, and that is already done, completed, it cannot be changed.

So then what is the LORD’s supper? Is there any point in doing the LORD’s supper? Well the LORD’s supper is important because it is something that Jesus taught us to do himself. Firstly, we do it because it reminds us of what Christ has done for us: his sacrifice on the cross. But the LORD’s supper is not just symbolic and it is not just for remembrance. Although the LORD’s supper is not what saves us, what it does do is that it strengthens our faith, because through the LORD’s supper, Christ actually has fellowship with us and communes with us. It is not that the bread and the wine is physically Christ’s body, and it is not that the bread and wine is somehow transformed into Christ’s body. But Christ is present spiritually in the LORD’s supper, through the Holy Spirit. And it is one of the ways that God shows his grace to us, and gives us the benefits of the gospel. The LORD’s supper is a wonderful gift from God.

Bible reading (English & Korean): Galatians 2:15–21

“15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

15우리는 본디 유대 사람이요, 이방인 출신의 죄인이 아닙니다. 16그러나 사람이, 율법을 행하는 행위로 의롭게 되는 것이 아니라, 예수 그리스도를 믿는 믿음으로 의롭게 되는 것임을 알고, 우리도 그리스도 예수를 믿은 것입니다. 그것은, 우리가 율법을 행하는 행위로가 아니라, 그리스도를 믿는 믿음으로 의롭다고 하심을 받고자 했던 것입니다. 율법을 행하는 행위로는, 아무도 의롭게 될 수 없기 때문입니다. 17우리가 그리스도 안에서 의롭다고 하심을 받으려고 하다가, 우리가 죄인으로 드러난다면, 그리스도는 우리로 하여금 죄를 짓게 하시는 분이라는 말입니까? 그럴 수 없습니다. 18내가 헐어 버린 것을 다시 세우면, 나는 나 스스로를 범법자로 만드는 것입니다. 19나는 율법과의 관계에서는 율법으로 말미암아 죽어버렸습니다. 그것은 내가 하나님과의 관계 안에서 살려고 하는 것입니다. 20나는 그리스도와 함께 십자가에 못박혔습니다. 이제 살고 있는 것은 내가 아닙니다. 그리스도께서 내 안에서 살고 계십니다. 내가 지금 육신 안에서 살고 있는 삶은, 나를 사랑하셔서 나를 위하여 자기 몸을 내어주신 하나님의 아들을 믿는 믿음 안에서 살아가는 것입니다. 21나는 하나님의 은혜를 헛되게 하지 않습니다. 의롭다고 하여 주시는 것이 율법으로 되는 것이라면, 그리스도께서는 헛되이 죽으신 것이 됩니다.

Introduction

So we have finished our sermon series on Genesis, and we are beginning a new series on a wonderful New Testament book, Galatians, written by the Apostle Paul. And today’s sermon is just a overview - I just want to take a broad look over the book of Galatians and its key points. And after today, I hope everyone is able to go back and read Galatians for themselves. It’s only 6 chapters long, and you can read the entire thing in less than 1 hour. And after today, my hope is that when you go back and read the book, you’ll be able to see the key points that Paul is trying to address.

But before we dive into the general overview of Galatians, I want to talk a little bit about church history - especially focusing on a person named Martin Luther. Now I’m sure many of us who have been to church for a while have heard of the name. Some of you may know him even better than me, and others may not have heard of him. To give you a brief overview, the reason why Martin Luther is important, is because Christianity, this faith and this church that we belong to, has much of its beginnings with Martin Luther. Our church and our beliefs, began with what we call the Protestant Reformation - it’s called ‘Protestant’ because it was a protest. A protest against the main church of those days - the Roman Catholic church - which had twisted and changed many of the beliefs and practices of the original early church that began in the time of Jesus. And this protest led to the establishment of a new church, the Protestant church, which we belong to today. And it wasn’t really the establishment of a new church, but it was a going back to the original beliefs and practices of the church of Jesus, as the Bible tells us. And this movement to go back began with Martin Luther.

And what triggered Luther to begin this protest and the Reformation that led to our church today? Does everyone know the massive church in the Vatican called St. Petersburg? It is famous for being one of the grandest and most beautiful churches in the world. It was designed by the famous artist and architect Michelangelo. But do you know how it was funded? It was funded by selling what was known as indulgences. Indulgences were pieces of paper that the Roman Catholic church essentially sold to people, and they claimed that buying indulgences somehow reduced your sin, somehow reduced the amount of punishment you deserve from God. They were essentially saying you can buy your way into heaven. They were not only completely twisting the message of the gospel, but they were taking advantage of it for financial gain.

Seeing this, Martin Luther couldn’t sit still, and he famously wrote a huge critique called the ‘ninety-five theses’ - a criticism and a complete rejection of the indulgences of the Roman Catholic church - and he nailed to the door of a huge church so that church authorities would see it. Martin Luther was standing up for the truth of the gospel, even if it put his life in danger.

And this is what Galatians is. Galatians is the apostle Paul standing up and defending the basic truths of the gospel, against all attacks and against all lies. It’s no wonder that Luther loved and had a special relationship with Galatians. Just like how Luther fought against the false teachings of the Roman Catholic church, Paul in Galatians fights against false teachings about the gospel. So Luther actually called Galatians “my Katie” - his wife’s name was ‘Katie’. He was saying that he loved Galatians so much, that he was pretty much married to it.

And just as Galatians was important and precious to Luther, it’s also precious to us. Because through Galatians, Paul makes us go back to the basics. Pauls forces us to really look in our hearts, and see if we are truly believing in the true gospel. Paul really makes to zone in, concentrate on, and clarify, exactly what it is, that we believe in.

So let’s dive into this wonderful book of Galatians, and see what it is that Paul is trying to tell us about the gospel.

1. What’s going on in Galatians?

So firstly, to really understand what Paul is saying in Galatians, we need to understand the context. What’s going on in this book? Galatians is letter - Paul is writing a letter to the churches in Galatia, the churches he established on his first missionary journey in this region of Galatia. And usually when you write a letter, there’s a reason and background for the letter. And usually letters are two-way communications: letters are sent not only from one person, but also the other person sends letters back. But unfortunately, in this case, we don’t have the other letters - we only have Paul’s letter to the Galatians churches. So when you read Galatians, what you need to do, is to try and reconstruct what was going on, the context, what was happening, that made Paul write this letter to the Galatians. This is called mirror-reading. It’s like listening to someone talking on the phone over there, you can’t hear the other person on the phone, but based on what the person in front of you is saying, you can guess in your mind what the other person on the other end of the phone is saying, and the context of what’s going. So when we apply this ‘mirror-reading’ to Galatians, what can we determine?

We can determine that Paul wrote Galatians to fight against a false teaching that had entered into the Galatian churches. These were people who came into the churches of Galatia, and they claimed to be fellow Christians, but they were teaching something very sinister. And by applying ‘mirror-reading’ to Galatians, we can determine some of things that they were saying and teaching:

Firstly, they were attacking and undermining the apostleship of Paul. Read Galatians 1:1 “1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—”. Paul here, really stresses (quite unusually), the fact that he is an apostle not by the authority of any man, but he is an apostle because God had appointed him as an apostle. And Paul stresses this because these false teachers were trying to discredit and undermine Paul, saying that he is not a real apostle, God didn’t actually appoint him. They were trying to entice the Galatians believers away from Paul, saying that Paul doesn’t know what he’s talking about, saying that Paul is confused about his message. And that’s why if you read chapter 1 and 2, you’ll see that Paul really stresses how his apostleship is from Jesus himself, not from any mere man. And he also emphasises how he’s been accepted by the other apostles. And not only is he accepted by the other apostles, but his teachings are the same, proving his apostleship and teachings are genuine.

Secondly, what else were these false teachers saying? Listen and read carefully, because this is exactly what Paul is attacking in this letter, and the entire reason why he wrote Galatians. These false teachers were telling the Galatian believers, that to be saved, you not only need to have faith in Jesus Christ, but you need to obey the law. Let’s read some verses that show us this:

Galatians 5:2 “2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.” These false teachers were trying to enforce circumcision on the Gentile believers of Galatia. They were trying to say, if you are not circumcised, you cannot be saved.

Galatians 4:10 “10 You observe days and months and seasons and years!” Here, Paul is angry at the Galatian church for trying to follow all the festivals and religious events of the Jewish calender, because they fell for the false teaching that you need to observe these in order to be saved.

And perhaps most importantly - Galatians 2:16 “16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Here, Paul is clearly saying that you cannot saved by obeying the Old Testament laws. And he is saying this, because these false teachers were trying to convince the Galatian church that faith in Christ is not enough. They were teaching that you not only need faith, but you need circumcision, the Jewish festivals, and all the other Jewish laws in order to truly be saved. They were attacking the very heart of the gospel. It’s not that different to what the Roman Catholics were saying in Martin Luther’s time. In both cases, faith in Jesus Christ is not enough, and you need something else: in Luther’s time, you needed to buy indulgences; in this Galatian church, you needed to obey the law.

This may seem obvious to us, but this false understanding of the gospel, I think still exists in many of us today. We all know that we need to believe in Christ to be saved. But so often we add something extra to it, and we may not even realise it. Yes, you need to believe, but you also need to go to church every Sunday. Yes, you need to believe, but you also need to tithe really well. Yes, you need to believe, but you also need to do a lot of good works, you need to be a good person, you need to do a lot of stuff at church. All these things are adding something to Jesus Christ, which is the same as saying, Christ is not enough. Is this what you are saying in your heart today? Because if so, you are saying that Christ died for nothing - Galatians 2:21 “21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

2. Paul’s response

So then we come to 2nd point, which is Paul’s response. How does Paul respond to this false teaching and the false teachers that had entered the Galatian church?

Firstly, he responds with intense passion. If you read Galatians, it is an unusually angry letter. Now it’s obvious that Paul is quite a passionate person - even before he became a Christian, he was so passionate about Judaism that he would chase Christians across different cities to persecute them and kill them. But Galatians is even more angry and scathing than his usual self. It’s really charged with emotions, and you can really see this in the writing.

Galatians 1:6 “6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—”. You can feel the disappointment through the pages!

Galatians 3:1 “1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” He calls them foolish. He’s saying “Are you stupid? You saw Jesus Christ crucified right in front of you, so why are you falling for this false teaching?”.

Galatians 4:11 “11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.” Paul is so incredibly disappointed!

And perhaps a verse which is quite funny and comical, but clearly shows Paul’s intense reaction, is Galatians 6:11 “11 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” Paul usually dictated his letters, and someone else wrote it down for him. But here we can see that Paul is so angry and upset that he is writing it himself and to show how angry he is, he is writing it in large letters, kind of like how we use all capital letters in English to show how angry or excited we are.

But this is not an anger out of hatred for the Galatian church. This is a fatherly, loving anger. It is a loving rebuke, because he deeply loves and cares for the Galatian believers, and only wants the best for them. Just like how a parent disciplines their child, this is Paul lovingly disciplining the Galatian church. We can see this in Galatians 4:19–20 “19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.”

So then what about you? Is the gospel, and the truth of the gospel, the others knowing this truth correctly, something you are this passionate about? Or is the gospel just a set of facts in your head, that you don’t really have an emotional attachment to, or something that is just nice to have on the side of your life? For Paul, the gospel is completely life transforming, turning not only his life upside down, but turning the lives of others upside down, starting numerous new churches, and completely transforming entire regions and even countries. For Paul, the gospel was life and death, it was the singular greatest truth in all the universe, so no wonder he was so passionate and zealous for Christ. I challenge you to examine your heart honestly today, to see what the gospel means to you.

Now, another aspect of Paul’s response, was that he didn’t only just respond with passion, but he had a key message. And the key message of Galatians is salvation by faith alone. This was one of the reasons Luther loved Galatians so much, because out of Paul’s letters, Galatians is one of the clearest in communciating this message. It’s likely that Luther’s famous doctrine of ‘justification by faith alone’ was highly influenced by Paul’s letter to the Galatians. And we don’t have time to go into all the verses today, but what Paul telling us is that there is nothing we can do to contribute to our salvation. Let’s just read two verses:

Galatians 2:16 “16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Galatians 3:10 “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.””

These verses show us that no matter what good works we do, no matter how well we obey the law, no matter how much money we pay, if we try to obtain salvation by anything that comes out of our selves, we will not only fail to be saved, but we will be cursed. Salvation doesn’t begin with something good that we do. Salvation begins with the realisation of our complete inability, our complete emptiness, our complete hopelessness, our total sinfulness and evil. And it is only when we realise this complete spiritual bankruptcy of ourselves, that we are able to turn to something outside of ourselves to save us, and that is the cross of Jesus Christ. It is only by believing and having faith in the saving work of Christ on the cross, that we are truly saved.

And remember that even faith itself, is not something positive that you have - otherwise that becomes your own good work. Even faith itself, is the helpless desperation, of turning to, and trusting in, and desperately clinging to something outside of ourselves, because we painfully realise that there is nothing you can do, and there is something Christ can do to save you. It is only by this kind of faith in Jesus Christ, that Paul is saying brings us true salvation.

This key message of Paul is everywhere in the book of Galatians, so as you read the book, look out for this message, and really ask yourself, is Christ truly the only thing that I depend on for my salvation?

3. Our response

And lastly, Paul doesn’t just teach dry doctrine. He doesn’t just focus on the theory. Paul is very practical. In all his letters, including Galatians, Paul gives practical and ethical instructions about actually living the Christian life. What’s important to realise is the two always go together: the doctrine/theory & the practical instructions. You can never isolate one from the other; you can never divorce the two. The doctrine without the practical instruction, just leaves us with a mystical idea, something nice to think about, without any practical change in your life. The practical instruction, without the underlying doctrine, just becomes moralism: just how to be a good and nice person, no different to a self-help book or any other religion in the world. But you can’t do that with Paul - the doctrine/theory, and the practical instruction, are inseparably linked like husband and wife. And the practical instruction always flows out of the doctrine.

So the key doctrine of Galatians, justification by faith alone, what does that practically mean for our lives? How does it change your life and how you live, now that you are saved by the cross of Christ alone? This is the focus of chapters 5 and 6.

We don’t have time to go into all the verses and details. But one of the questions that people raised to Paul was that if we cannot be saved and justified by the law, and we are justified by Christ alone, does that mean we can just throw the law away? Can’t we just ignore all of God’s laws, because we can’t be saved by them anyway? Aren’t we free from the law?

Let’s read Galatians 5:13–14 “13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””

Paul is saying that we are now free. But when Paul says we are ‘free’, what he is saying, is that we are now free from the judgement and condemnation that the law brings. We were unable to keep the law, so we could not become righteous and we could not be saved through the law, because all we were capable of was breaking the law and coming under its judgement. But Paul is saying, now, because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are now free from that judgement of the law.

But what we are not free from, is the law itself. Christian freedom is not unlimited freedom, giving us license to sin. Christian freedom actually has boundaries set up by the law, almost like fences to ensure our safety. The law is the demonstration of God’s very own holy character, and the law shows us how we should live as Christians, as those saved by the cross of Jesus. We are free from the law’s judgement, but we still need to keep the law, not to save ourselves by obtaining righteousness through obedience, but rather the obedience to the law is what characterises those who have been saved by faith Christ in alone. As a new creation, as those saved, Christ gives us the Holy Spirit, who writes the law on our hearts, so that we are now able to love God, and actually keep his commandments. And with the coming of Christ, all the complex systems of the Old Testament laws are summarised by this: ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

So Christian freedom is characterised by obedience to the law. And that obedience to the law, is characterised by love. So if anything, the message of salvation by faith in Christ alone, doesn’t actually remove the need for the law, but upholds it even higher - because now, the law is no longer a means to be saved, but has become something that is engraved into your hearts when you are saved by the gift of faith, and now you can’t help but love God, love his commandments, and love obeying him by loving others. The Christian life, Christian freedom, is characterised by obedience, expressed through love: complete other-person centred, self-sacrificial love. Because this is because this is the kind of love that Christ showed us on the cross.

So as you read all the different practical instructions in Galatians, always think about, how does this relate to the ultimate commandment of love? And how does this relate to what Christ has done for you?

Conclusion

As we come to a close, I just want come back to Luther. Before Luther came to truly understand the gospel, he was actually terrified of God. He was a monk who did everything in his power to try and earn righteousness and the favour of God, because he was terrified of God’s judgement and hell. He believed he had to make himself good and worthy of God’s grace, blessings, and heaven. But when Luther discovered the true message of the Bible, that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, this is what he said: “Now I felt as if I had been born again: the gates had been opened and I had entered Paradise itself.”

Luther had the burden of the law lifted off his shoulders. He experienced true freedom. And for the first time in his life, he tasted the endless depths and the infinite breadth of the joy and happiness of the true gospel message. There was nothing more joyful and satisfying to Luther, than the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So I hope and pray that as you read through Galatians, you also experience this wonderful joy and satisfaction. Because if you truly know the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is nothing else in life, or even in church, that is more satisfying or precious. You will no longer seek salvation or satisfaction in other things. And you will find it perfectly, and be satisfied, and be saved, in Christ alone.

Praise - 그 크신 하나님의 사랑 (새찬송가 304장)

(1)그 크신 하나님의 사랑 말로다 형용 못하네

저 높고 높은 별을 넘어 이 낮고 낮은 땅 위에

죄범한 영혼 구하려 그 아들 보내사

화목 제물 삼으시고 죄 용서 하셨네

후렴:하나님 크신 사랑은 측량 다 못하네

영원히 변치 않는 사랑 성도여 찬양하세

(2)괴로운 시절 지나가고 땅 위의 영화 쇠할 때

주 믿지 않던 영혼들은 큰 소리 외쳐 울어도

주 믿는 성도들에게 큰 사랑 베푸사

우리의 죄 사했으니 그 은혜 잊을까

후렴:하나님 크신 사랑은 측량 다 못하네

영원히 변치 않는 사랑 성도여 찬양하세

(3)하늘은 두루마리 삼고 바다를 먹물 삼아도

한 없는 하나님의 사랑 다 기록 할 수 없겠네

하나님의 크신 사랑 그 어찌 다 쓸까

저 하늘 높이 쌓아도 채우지 못하리

후렴:하나님 크신 사랑은 측량 다 못하네

영원히 변치 않는 사랑 성도여 찬양하세

Prayer

Benediction

-Now may the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ, and the love of Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all now and forever.

Ending

복음으로 하나됩시다

세상 가운데 빛을 비춥시다

Thank you everyone for coming to service today.