Can you buy your way to heaven? An overview of Galatians

Opening song: Christ is enough

Introduction

Welcome back to Team 3 everyone!

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.

Short book, can read in under 1hr

As you read for yourself, hope today’s message will help you understand the book and its key message.

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 Martin Luther is really important - he is one of the reasons our church exists today.

What Luther is famous for, is that he protested against the Roman Catholic church.

The reason he protested is because the Roman Catholic church at the time was doing something really ridiculous and crazy.

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 Bible, but they were taking advantage of it to make money

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 about the Paul standing up and defending what the Bible is about, what the gospel is about, against all attacks and against all lies.

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, we need to ask the question, what is Paul defending the gospel from? If Luther was defending the Bible from the crazy beliefs of buying salvation of the Roman Catholics, what is Paul defending the Bible from?

Well if you read Galatians, you will see that there is very clearly an enemy that he is writing against. There was a false teaching, by false teachers, that had entered the churches in Galatia - that’s why this book is called ‘Galatians’, because it is a letter written to the churches in Galatia. And Paul is telling the believers in the Galatian churches ‘don’t believe what these false teachers are telling you!’.

So what was it that these false teachers were spreading in the Galatian churches??

Well they were saying a lot of different incorect things, but lets look at the worst one. Read 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.”

Paul is saying this because clearly, these false teachers were saying that if you want to be saved, you don’t just need faith in Jesus Christ, but you also need to obey the law. Christ is not enough, you need to obey the law, do good things, be a good person, to be saved. That’s why if you read Galatians carefully, not just here, but everywhere, Paul keeps on going about how the law cannot save you, and only faith in Jesus Christ saves you - he says this again and again.

These false teachers, were attacking the very heart of the gospel. Just like how the Roman Catholics were saying that you can buy your way into heaven, these false teachers in the Galatian church were saying that you need to do good works and need to obey the law to be saved. So no wonder Paul was so angry.

And we can see how angry Paul is by some of the things he says in this letter. Read 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?”.

And in another 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.

2. How does Paul respond?

So then how does Paul respond? This is where we find the key message of Galatians. And the key message of Galatians is that you can only be saved 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. In fact, Luther called Galatians ‘My Katie’ - his wife’s name was Katie, so he was saying he loved Galatians as much as his wife!

Let’s look at some examples of Paul’s key message.

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 ourselves, 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 helplessness and hopelessness. Because of our sin and our evil, there is nothing in us that can save ourselves. And it is only when we realise that trying to be saved from something within us is completely hopeless, 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. This is the key message of Paul in Galatians. Galatians is actually quite simple! And 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?

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 infinite 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.

Ending song: In Christ Alone