Galatians 3
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Good morning church fam! Today we are continuing our current series through the book of Galatians. We have been learning that Jesus plus nothing equals true freedom.
Helio’s message last week about taking the truth, the truth about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The truth of redemption through the blood shed of Jesus and His resurrection is a message that we as Christians must share with those that we come into contact with.
This message of truth however, cannot and must not be diluted in any way shape or form. Anytime you add or take away from the Gospel that is shared in this book, it becomes another gospel. A false gospel. A gospel that brings bondage instead of freedom.
One can see how simple the Gospel message is when you look at the trial of Jesus and the releasing of Barabbas.
Barabbas was not a minor offender.
The Gospels describe him as a "notorious prisoner" (Matthew 27:16),
a rebel involved in an insurrection against Rome, and a murderer (Mark 15:7, Luke 23:19).
When Pilate presented Jesus and Barabbas to the crowd, the religious authorities incited the people to demand Barabbas’s release and Jesus’s crucifixion.
26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
This is the Gospel of Christ in a courtroom. Simple. Barabbas who deserved punishment was set free. Jesus took His place.
It is for this simplicity that Paul was fighting for all through Galatians. We too were rebels against God. We too were the “notorious” criminal in the eyes of God. When the Law called for our punishment, Jesus stepped up and His voice rose above the crowds and said, “Crucify me! Crucify me!”.
Plain and simple church. The Gospel of Jesus equals salvation. The Gospel of Jesus equals direct access to the Father. The Gospel of Jesus equals freedom!
Foolishness
Foolishness
If you had not already picked up the tone of Paul…it is not a good one. It is one of frustration and this righteous anger. If there is one thing to be angry about church it should the be the tampering with the Gospel of Jesus.
Listen to his words.
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
Twice Paul calls them foolish. When words are repeated in Scripture it is not by accident. Every word, every jot and tittle, is placed divinely.
Foolish = not understanding or unintelligible
When someone is unintelligible, it often refers to sounds that are too garbled, mumbled, or distorted to be made out.
Paul came to Galatia to preach a simple Gospel. A Gospel that a child could understand. But then it got muddled. It got distorted.
I was in Starbucks yesterday and ran into someone I haven’t seen in awhile. They seen I had my bible out and my laptop open and said, “It look like your prepping for a sermon!” I told them I was and they asked what I was preaching on.
I shared with them that we are going through the book of Galatians and how Paul was writing a strong letter to Galatia in response to those who were coming in after he taught that it is about belief in Jesus and the redemptive work on the cross that saves.
I shared how Paul was frustrated with the Galatians because they had taken something simple and life-giving made it complicated. They started with Jesus, crucified, and raised from the dead, then those came along and said you need Jesus plus this and add a little of that.
We still do this today don’t we?
Imagine a newborn baby. We have some new borns with us today.
If you asked that baby what it needs to survive, the list would be very short: food, water, and shelter. That’s it. It doesn’t need a college degree. It doesn’t need a retirement account. It doesn’t need a driver’s license or a social media profile. Give that child food, water, and shelter, and it will live.
As that child grows older, life becomes more complicated. We add schedules, careers, responsibilities, bills, expectations, and endless requirements. Before long, we can hardly imagine life being simple anymore.
Spiritually, we often do the same thing.
Jesus came preaching a simple gospel: repent, believe, and follow Me. Salvation comes by grace through faith in Christ. A child can understand that. A child can believe that Jesus loves them, died for them, and rose again.
But somewhere along the way, adults start adding things.
We say, “Well, yes, you need Jesus, but you also need to look a certain way, dress a certain way, know all the right theological terms, have all the answers, perform perfectly, and never struggle.”
Soon the gospel becomes a long checklist instead of a relationship with Christ.
That’s exactly what was happening in Galatia. The false teachers weren’t rejecting Jesus. They were simply adding to Jesus. They were saying, “Faith in Christ is good, but you also need circumcision. You also need the law. You also need these extra requirements.”
Paul’s response was essentially, “Why are you making this harder than God did?”
The gospel is not Jesus plus something. It’s Jesus.
Just as a child survives on the simple essentials, the Christian life begins and continues with the simple essentials of God’s grace. We are saved by faith in Christ. We grow by faith in Christ. We stand by faith in Christ.
The moment we start adding requirements to earn God’s acceptance, we’ve moved away from the simplicity of the gospel and back into slavery.
The gospel is profound enough to challenge the greatest scholar, yet simple enough for a child to understand. And sometimes the adults in the room need to become like children again and simply trust Jesus.
Turn to your neighbor and look them straight in the eyes. Now tell them:
Jesus is enough.
Let’s not be foolish and muddy the waters of the simplicity of the Gospel.
Cursed Then
Cursed Then
Here is what we need to understand. We not only hurt others when we add to the Gospel, but we hurt ourselves.
Listen to what Paul says.
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”
Paul is saying that if you try to keep the law, you are placed under a curse. Not a curse as we think today. Today we think a curse is a hex, voodoo doll, or some kind of witch craft. That’s not what Paul is saying. In fact it is much deeper than that.
Curse = to fall under the active judicial wrath of God
When you try to keep the law…which no one can or could…you fall under the judicial wrath of God for failing to meet His perfect standard of righteousness.
When you rely on the law for righteousness, Paul is warning the Galatians and us today that we will fall under a curse.
What does this mean? Let’s look at what it meant to them in biblical times and how it applies to us today.
The word curse in the Greek denotes being devoted to destruction or cut off from God’s blessings. It is the legal penalty of covenant.
Think about it.
God is perfectly holy, and His Law demands absolute, continuous perfection. Because humanity is fallen and incapable of this perfection, the Law can only do one thing to a lawbreaker: condemn them. The curse is the inescapable verdict of guilty, resulting in spiritual death and separation from God.
To really understand the weight and intensity of Paul’s language, we need to understand what it meant when he said.
Paul is quoting from the Torah (the first 5 books).
26 ‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Moses who recieved the Law from God laid out the covenant sanctions for the Children of Israel:
Blessings for perfect obedience & curses for disobedience
These curses held significant weight and did not only impact the individuals who were in disobedience to the Law, but it impacted entire nations.
Crop failure
Disease
Defeat by enemies
Famine
Ultimately exiled from the Promised Land
To be cursed meant to be stripped from the protection of God and cast out from His sanctuary…think of Adam and Eve when they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
Throughout Scripture you will find that Israel could not keep the Law. They failed miserably and the Deuteronomic curses fell on them forcing them into Babylonian exile.
Fast forward to the first Century in Paul’s time. Judaizers were coming in and telling the people of God, specifically the Gentile Christians that they needed to add to their faith in Jesus by adopting the Mosaic Law. More specifically in order to be “really saved” they needed to be circumcised and follow a strict dietary plan in order to be justified.
This was a catastrophic theological error and Paul seen it and wasn’t having it. Being yoked to the Torah (the Law) for justification was going to place them under a curse.
The Law wasn’t designed and some sort of ladder to climb to get to heaven. It was designed more like a mirror to reveal our true sinful nature. - Unknown
To try and keep the Law was a grueling relentless tasks that only led to failure, shame, and kept you in bondage. It was a trap. You couldn’t just obey one, for if you obeyed one Law, you had to obey them all. The Law didn’t just demand you obey some things, the Law demanded you obey ALL THINGS.
Cursed Today
Cursed Today
What does this look like today? Are those who try to sprinkle the Law onto the Gospel today cursed?
While we may not experience some of the curses we read about in Scripture such as the agricultural famine or national exile, the spiritual ramifications of the curse are just as potent.
One thing I realized is that before Christ it was a physical posture the people of God had to hold. The moment Jesus stepped on the scene, it went from a physical posture to a spiritual one.
29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
Here is the reality of this curse…while it may not be the same physcially…it is the same in the spiritual sense.
Standing before the judgement seat of God with nothing but your flawed resume.
Anyone today who believes they can earn God’s favor by what they do:
Going to church more
Moral behavior
Political activism (I have heard people say “You aren’t saved if you don’t vote this way or that way or speak out on this issue or that issue”)
Or anything else you add to the simple Gospel of Jesus plus nothing
You my friend remain under the wrath of God.
36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Wait a minute pastor? Is it about belief or obedience?
Belief and obedience are not two ways to be saved, they actually go hand in hand.
What John is explaining here is that our belief in Jesus is not merely a casual intellectual agreement. It is a submission to Jesus and His lordship over my life.
My obedience to Christ as LORD of my life is a bi-product of my salvation. Not the other way around. My obedience to Christ doesn’t lead to salvation. My belief, submission to His Lordship, does.
The way we disobey Christ is not believing in Him as Lord. Obedience is not salvation. Belief in Christ as Lord is.
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
When we begin to tell people they need to add something to be saved, it is then we are cursed.
What does this look like?
Spiritual Anxiety and Burnout
This is when the crushing weight of feeling God’s love is contingent on your daily performance. You are never quite sure you prayed enough. Read enough. Served enough. Repented enough.
Let me help you this morning.
Jesus is ENOUGH
There is also:
The Twin Demons of Moralism
Moralism is when you think you are succeeding in righteousness by keeping the “modern rules”. Even to the point where they question there own and others salvation if they don’t follow said rules.
For example…how you say the name of Jesus. I have met spiritually religious people who will out right scold you if you don’t call Jesus Yeshua. Which is Hebrew and Aramaic. It means salvation. Which is true.
He may be Yeshua only to you…but let me educate you a little bit. I do know Him as Yeshua, but I also know Him as:
Messiah / Christ (The Anointed One)
Immanuel (God with us)
Wonderful Counselor
Prince of Peace
Root of Jesse
Branch of Righteousness
Lion of the Tribe of Judah
Root of David
King of Kings and Lord of Lords
Faithful and True
Bright Morning Star
Lord (Kyrios)
Savior
High Priest
Mediator of the New Covenant
Head of the Church
Firstborn of all creation
The Second Adam
Image of the invisible God
Author and Perfecter of our faith
KING OF kings
LORD OF lords!
SOON COMING KING!
His name is JESUS!!!
I don’t care which one of these names you choose to call Him….as long as you call Him! There is only ONE name by which man can be saved…Jesus!
The other part of this moralism is:
Joyless Duty
This is where worship and obedience become transactional chores rather than a joyful response to who Jesus is.
Any of these sound familiar to you? Do you feel these? You may be unaware that you added to the saving simplicity of the Gospel and living under a curse.
Cultural Reality
Cultural Reality
Outside the church, the secular world has created its own versions of the Law, and they carry their own curses.
Hustle culture, cancel culture, and the relentless demand for moral and aesthetic perfection on social media operate on the exact same principle as the Judaizers: perform perfectly, or be destroyed.
The modern world curses those who fail to meet its shifting, impossible standards, leading to an epidemic of anxiety, depression, and exhaustion. The world offers no savior and no atonement, only the endless demand for more.
But here is the good news church. There is a resolution. There is a cure.
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—
The cross of Christ is the cure for any curse. Jesus did not merely dodge the curse…He absorbed it fully for you, me, and all of humanity.
He took the full measure of God’s judgement, wrath, while He hung on that tree. The punishment that we deserved…Jesus took upon Himself so we can be free.
Jesus plus nothing equals freedom
Stand with me this morning.
Closing
Closing
If you are here this morning and you fall under the category of adding to the Gospel…whether it is unintentionally or intentionally, repentance is necessary to be free. In fact it is a two fold repentance.
First we must repent of our self-righteousness. Believing that we can justify ourselves before God by our own moral performance is believing we can save ourselves by our works.
Second, we must not use this as an excuse to live a life of lawlessness.
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
True freedom in Christ doesn’t mean that we go on living our lives without obedience. It means that my obedience isn’t driven by the terror of a curse, but rather as gratitude of the immeasurable amount of grace that God has shown towards me.
It’s time to step off the spiritual performance treadmill, not to live in laziness, but to keep in step with the Holy Spirit, bearing fruit that glorifies God.
The altars are open. If you need to confess I encourage you to come forth. If you never entered into a relationship with Jesus, I encourage you to come to the altar and meet the man who wants to set you free.
