Sermon Tone Analysis

Don't Go Backward to Legalism

Introduction

We often feel like we have to earn God’s love or do something that makes us deserve what Jesus went through on the cross.

Yet these feelings contradict the clear teaching of the Bible that God’s love is unconditional and that our salvation is free.

But we sure struggle with that, don’t we?

The apostle Paul penned his letter to the churches in Galatia to correct their misunderstanding of grace.

A group of Jewish Christians whom Paul refers to as the “circumcision group” (2:12 NIV) has somehow convinced the Gentile Christians in Galatia that they have to both believe in Christ and practice Jewish laws and traditions in order for God to be happy with them.

So Paul writes to them a stern letter of rebuke not to accept any other gospel than that which he has preached to them, because any other gospel is no gospel at all (1:6–7 NIV).

What makes salvation good news is that it is free.

Herein lies the Big Idea that runs throughout the book of Galatians: God’s love is unconditional, and salvation is a free gift from God that can only be received by faith and responded to with love.

But that truth is a tough pill to swallow, even for us today, because we have been so conditioned to believe that nothing is free.

We have to do something, we have to perform in some way and earn what we get.

Phillip Yancey says: As early as preschool and kindergarten we are tested and evaluated before being slotted into an “advanced, normal, or slow academic track.”

From then on we receive grades denoting our performance in math, science, reading and even social skills and citizenship.

Test papers come back with errors in red, not correct answers highlighted.

All this helps prepare us for the real world with its relentless ranking.

(What’s So Amazing About Grace, 36) The truth is that God’s grace and love being free and unconditional seems just too good to be true.

Because of our conditioning, we feel compelled to do something to earn them.

There are no spiritual hoops to jump through, no list of rules and regulations that need to be obeyed, no amount of biblical knowledge or helping the poor or going on some crusade for a righteous cause—there is nothing you can do to earn salvation or to make God love you any more than He does right this minute.

His salvation is free, and His love is unconditional.

But still, with all that being said, there is something inside us as human beings that makes us reluctant to accept God’s love as it is freely given.

For centuries people have tried to make themselves deserving of God’s love.

Even today we find Christian groups sending the message to new believers, “Great!

Now that you believe in Christ and are saved, here’s a list of things you need to start doing to make God (and us) happy.

Dress this way

Don’t do this

Do that

even though we may not tie it to salvation we connect it to Christianity it becomes a burden.

through, no list of rules and regulations that need to be obeyed, no amount of biblical knowledge or helping the poor or going on some crusade for a righteous cause—there is nothing you can do to earn salvation or to make God love you any more than He does right this minute.

His salvation is free, and His love is unconditional.

But still, with all that being said, there is something inside us as human beings that makes us reluctant to accept God’s love as it is freely given.

For centuries people have tried to make themselves deserving of God’s love.

Even today we find Christian groups sending the message to new believers, “Great!

Now that you believe in Christ and are saved, here’s a list of things you need to start doing to make God (and us) happy.

And here’s another list of things you need to stop doing in order to be acceptable in our fellowship.”

It seems like trying to earn God’s favor is a persistent struggle for God’s people.

And here’s another list of things you need to stop doing in order to be acceptable in our fellowship.”

It seems like trying to earn God’s favor is a persistent struggle for God’s people.

True salvation is free of works and totally dependent upon God’s grace.

And once you get this, once you allow the truth of the real gospel to penetrate your heart, you begin to live in freedom.

Freedom from fear of losing God’s love, freedom from guilt, shame, and condemnation when you do something that doesn’t measure up, freedom from the frantic urge to perform for God so He will love you more.

The gospel is the good news, and the good news is that God is for you, not against you, that God loves you right now as much as He will ever love you, and that salvation is a free gift that He makes available to anyone who will receive it by faith.

Galatians is a dangerous book.

It exposes the most popular substitute for spiritual living that we have in our churches today—legalism.

Millions of believers think they are “spiritual” because of what they don’t do—or because of the leader they follow—or because of the group they belong to.

The Lord shows us in Galatians how wrong we are—and how right we can be if only we would let the Holy Spirit take over.

When the Holy Spirit does take over, there will be liberty, not bondage—cooperation, not competition—glory to God, not praise to man.

The world will see true Christianity, and sinners will come to know the Savior.

There is an old-fashioned word for this: revival.

I Paul Explains His Authority

He has three sources of authority.

(1) His ministry (vv.

1–2).

“Paul, an apostle.”

In the early days of the church, God called special men to do special tasks.

Among them were the apostles.

The word means “one who is sent with a commission.”

While He was ministering on earth, Jesus had many disciples (“learners”), and from these He selected twelve apostles ().

Later, one of the requirements for an apostle was that he had to have witnessed the resurrection (; ; ).

Of course, Paul himself was neither a disciple nor an apostle during Christ’s earthly ministry, but he had seen the risen Lord and been commissioned by Him (; ).

Paul’s miraculous conversion and call to apostleship created some problems.

From the very beginning, he was apart from the original apostles.

His enemies said that he was not a true apostle for this reason.

Paul is careful to point out that he had been made an apostle by Jesus Christ just as much as had the original Twelve.

His apostleship was not from human selection and approval, but by divine appointment.

Therefore, he had the authority to deal with the problems in the Galatian churches.

Paul had a second basis for authority: He had founded the churches in Galatia.

He was not writing to them as a stranger, but as the one who had brought them the message of life in the beginning!

This letter reveals Paul’s affection for these believers (see ).

gal 4.12-19

When Paul heard that false teachers had begun to capture his converts and lead them astray, he was greatly concerned—and rightly so.

After all, teaching new Christians how to live for Christ is as much a part of Christ’s commission as winning them ().

Sad to say, many of the Galatian Christians had turned away from Paul, their “spiritual father” in the Lord, and were now following legalistic teachers who were mixing Old Testament law with the gospel of God’s grace.

(We call these false teachers “Judaizers” because they were trying to entice Christians back into the Jewish religious system.)

So, Paul had a ministry as an apostle and specifically as the founder of the Galatian churches.

As such, he had the authority to deal with the problems in the churches.

But there was a second source of authority.

(2) His message (vv.

3–4).

gal 1.

From the very beginning, Paul clearly stated the message of the gospel because it was this message that the Judaizers were changing.

The gospel centers in a Person—Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This Person paid a price—He gave Himself to die on the cross.

(You will discover that the cross is important in the Galatian letter, see 2:19–21; 3:1, 13; 4:5; 5:11, 24; 6:12–14.)

Martian Loyd Jones - preached an entire year on the cross from Galatians

Christ paid the price that He might achieve a purpose—delivering sinners from bondage.

“Liberty in Christ” is the dominant theme of Galatians.

(Check the word bondage in 2:4; 4:3, 9, 24–25; 5:1.)

The Judaizers wanted to lead the Christians out of the liberty of grace and into the bondage of law.

Paul knew that bondage was not a part of the message of the gospel, for Christ had died to set men free.

Paul’s ministry and message were sources of spiritual authority.

(3) His motive (v.

5).

(3) His motive (v.

5).

“To whom be glory forever and ever!”

The false teachers were not ministering for the glory of Christ, but for their own glory (see ).

Like false teachers today, the Judaizers were not busy winning lost people to Christ.

Rather, they were stealing other men’s converts and bragging about their statistics.

But Paul’s motive was pure and godly: He wanted to glorify Jesus Christ (see ; ).

Paul has now explained his authority.

He is ready for a second step as he begins this battle for the liberty of the Christian.

“To whom be glory forever and ever!”

The false teachers were not ministering for the glory of Christ, but for their own glory (see ).