Galatians 3 & 4
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Galatians 3 & 4
Galatians 3 & 4
Good morning church! Glad to be with you guys this morning, continuing on in our study through the book of Galatians. It is in my top 66 favorite books in the Bible! I say that because I feel like I often say, this or that in one of my favorites, and it’s true. It just seems that very often where we are is just so timely in my own life, that those Scriptures become near and dear to me once again.
I remember a time in my life, from the outside looking into the church, before I was a Christian. Where Church just seemed like a bunch of rules and regulations being enforced by a bunch of nerds that had no power anywhere else in their lives, so they were staunch legalists where they could be.
It wasn’t the whole hypocrisy excuse that many people use, I’d met enough people in my life by that time that I realized very few people are exactly what they present themselves to be. It just bugged me that the message of the church was that you could be free in Jesus, as long as you put yourself in bondage to a whole bunch of rules. Well Galatians is a book that lets us know that the God of the Bible is not into legalism either!
We started last week and moved pretty quickly through the first two chapters, because Paul doesn’t waste a lot of time with a big introduction.. Part of the reason for that is unlike his other letters written to the churches there is no thanks written to them, or praise for how they are doing. Even to the Corinthians which was a corrective letter Paul gives a pat on the back before the kick in the butt, not to the Galatians. He wasn’t happy, and gets right down to business.
He reminds them of his own conversion, then how the gospel came to him by revelation from Jesus, he talked about how they had received the gospel, and had begun to turn away to another gospel. And Paul makes the argument and continues with it this morning, that there is no other gospel, the good news is salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.
He tells of a time when Peter was in Antioch, how he would eat with the Gentile believers under grace, didn’t worry about the kosher rules under the law, but then suddenly when some Jews came from the church in Jerusalem, apparently from James, suddenly, he no longer sat with the Gentiles for meals, but fearing the judgement of the Judaizers, suddenly became kosher again, and was in agreement with these guys at least on the surface in appearance, and they were telling everyone of the gentiles (when I say that, it just meant non-Jews) so most of us would be gentiles. These guys were saying, look Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, so if you want to become a Christian, you first have to become a Jew, get circumcised, no more bacon, or cheese on your burgers, follow the law, then you can become a Christian.
And you can probably understand, these gentile believers had been forgiven of every sin they had ever committed, they were now free, had the promise of eternity. Last week they were worshiping at some pagan temple and now they were saved. These guys are coming from Jerusalem, they must know what they are talking about, if there’s more that I can do, or more that I should do, then I’ll do it. We read in fact that Peter wasn’t the only one, Paul wrote in chapter two"And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy." - Galatians 2:13 NKJV
Now in chapter 3 Paul makes the argument, or provides the doctrine and practice application for us, and why we can be free from the law. God will produce righteousness in our lives, but it won’t be through legalism, or our own pride, or our own efforts. It will come through being led by the spirit of God, walking in the Spirit of God, who will then produce the Fruit of the Spirit of God in our lives. So let’s begin…
Gal 3:1
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
Strong start Paul, zero sugar added. Paul says you guys are fools! Who has tricked you by witchcraft? It must have been some kind of evil magic trick because Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified, you know how I know that, because that is what I preached, Jesus Christ and Him crucified, risen, and coming again.
Gal 3:2
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
How did you guys get saved? Was it the law that saved you? NO! It was by hearing and receiving grace by faith! You were saved, and then in your simple faith, you told your friends and they got saved! And something awesome was happening and it was spreading.
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Tell me this isn’t true!?! You began in the Spirit, and have now decided you’re going to do it on your own strength, you’re going to follow the law, that you never could follow in the first place, what is wrong with you guys. I’m going to read you a couple of other translations so you can get the sense of the harshness with which Paul is trying to get their attention with. When he calls them fools some translate the word void of understanding, empty-headed, like you airheads. But I think some of these others better capture what Paul is trying to convey.
The Common English Version says: You stupid Galatians! I told you exactly how Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross. Has someone now put an evil spell on you? I want to know only one thing. How were you given God's Spirit? Was it by obeying the Law of Moses or by hearing about Christ and having faith in him? How can you be so stupid? Do you think that by yourself you can complete what God's Spirit started in you?
The Classic Amplified version which always lives up to its name reads: 1 O YOU poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians!
OR a favorite that is often quoted here is the J.B. Phillips version which reads: O you dear idiots of Galatia, who saw Jesus Christ the crucified so plainly, who has been casting a spell over you? I will ask you one simple question: did you receive the Spirit of God by trying to keep the Law or by believing the message of the Gospel? Surely you can’t be so idiotic as to think that a man begins his spiritual life in the Spirit and then completes it by reverting to outward observances?
We should probably pray....Lord give us understanding of your heart in these matters, that we wouldn’t be like the Judaizers or those in Galatia and think that we are enlightened or have a better way that the simplicity that is in Christ, the good news that we see throughout your book, of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.
Ok, verse 4
4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Who supplies the Spirit and gifts and miracles among in the church? Is that an outpouring from the law? No! If you need more ask God for more, remember Jesus said you who are evil know how to give good gifts, how much more will your Heavenly Father pour out His Spirit upon those who ask Him! So if you want to see gifts and miracles being poured in the church, or you want to have more Spiritual gifts, ask Him, Lord, I need more of the Fruit of the Spirit in my life, I need more love, peace, joy, longsuffering, kindness, God I’m in need of self control, God I need more boldness, what do you do? Ask Him, pray in faith and ask Him, then guess what? He’ll pour out His Spirit. God wants to pour out His Spirit upon you guys! And when He does, He gets the credit. When people see the working of the Spirit in our lives don’t try to complicate it and tell them why God does it for you and how you deserve it because you do this or that, or you don’t place cards or dance, it’s not of you, it’s by His Spirit.
Please don’t hear me wrong here, but we can do this by striving in our own flesh. God, I’m going to give up this or that, or I’m going to pray for an hour every day, well a half hour, or what seems like a half hour, or I’m going to fast for x number of days, again, don’t hear this the wrong way, we are supposed to pray, Jesus says when you fast, there is an expectation that we are going to do these things, but not in a religious sense thinking that we are somehow going to twist God’s arm into submitting to us. Like God wasn’t going to do something before, but now He sees what you’re doing, and says oh, well, I guess now I have too. Or we think we’re earning the next level with God, that’s the bondage of law all over again. Let’s look at verse 6 this is where the argument begins.
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
This is key, this is a big deal. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. But when? When was it accounted to him for righteousness? Lets look at it. In my Bible there is a little note at the bottom of the page that this linked to this verse and that note takes me to Genesis 15:6
6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Now up to this point in time in Genesis, God has called Abraham and tells him to go to the land that He will show him. In chapter 14 Lot gets himself in trouble by living in the dooryard of Sodom and constantly flirting with sin. Abraham meets Melchizedek and that is an interesting exchange and then in chapter 15 of Genesis it starts…out.
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
Abraham’s name hasn’t been changed yet by God, but God has told him that he was going to be a nation, but he doesn’t have any kids at this point, but God gives him this awesome promise here I AM your shield, I AM your exceedingly great reward.
2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
Vs 2 Reminding God that he has not yet had a child of his own...
Vs 4 The promise of a son…then in verse 5 and this is huge...
5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Now this is the one place where the New King James Version really bums me out because they get it wrong. And by a mile in my opinion, so does the ESV, and the NASB In most spots those translations are right on, that is what I like about them it that they are translations, meaning they take the original languages and they just translate it to English, here however, for whatever reason, rather than a translation, they’ve given us an interpretation, and they got it wrong. The word that is translated descendants here should not be plural, in the Hebrew it is Zeh-ra and it is a singular masculine noun that should be translated singular as SEED.
So God brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and look at the multitude that is coming through you by a Seed singular that will come through you, and Abram, remember his name is not even Abraham yet, Abram believes in that Seed and is given righteousness. Right then, he believes in the Seed that will come through him, Gen 15:6
6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
Who is that Seed? Jesus, Abram’s name has not yet been changed, he hasn’t had his son Isaac yet, hasn’t received the promise of Isaac yet, he hasn’t been circumcised yet, Issac hasn’t been circumcised, he’s not yet under the law because God doesn’t doesn’t even give the law until over 400 years later. Now there are other places where the Bible talks about the descendants of Abraham and the emphasis in upon the nations, the multitudes and Israel, but here in the very beginning, before all that, it is about the Seed singular, and individual that would come through his line, Abram believes and right here, right now, he has righteousness.
I want you guys to understand the magnitude of this, because it is the bulk of Paul’s argument, against the Judaizers, or the legalists that would say, first you must do this, or first you have to complete that, do you guys remember where Abraham was from? I’ll show you, so you know it’s true then we need to get out of Genesis or we won’t finish on time…Gen 15:7
7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”
So at the point that Abraham is given righteousness, the father of the nation, the Father of the Jews, still wasn’t Jewish. He was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans…if you follow the history they become the Babylonians…SO before God changes his name, before the law is given, before his is circumcised, before he gives birth to the nations, as an uncircumcised Chaldean on track to be a Babylonian, God gives a promise, gives him the gospel, or good news, that a Seed will come through him and he believes, places his faith in that, and by grace God counts him righteous. Not by anything other than faith in the One to come. Back to Galatians...
And think how important this was to those churches in Galatia where these Jews were coming in saying they were the sons of Abraham, who was the friend of God, the Father of the Jewish nation. Abraham was circumcised, his son was circumcised, don’t you want to be like them? Don’t you want to be the friend of God? Are you willing to man up and be a good religious man, and do the things we do... Well…I think so?
This is a great place to take you Jewish friends to, or your legalistic friends to. AND please do! We want to confront legalism because it spreads worse than the worse pandemic of all time! I don’t know why but it seems to be highly contagious like wildfire. Take them right back here and show them that Abram was righteous before there was a Jewish nation, before the Exodus, before the first Sader meal was ever served or the passover celebrated, before Moses. Before any Jewish festivles and feasts were ever celebrated. Show them Abram believed and God accounted it to him for righteousness. Now Jewish feast and holidays are not sinful, some Jewish converts still celebrate those things as an expression of their faith and the freedom that they have in Jesus. Those are ok, but they don’t make them better than you if you don’t do those this. By grace you are saved through faith, not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
only those who are of faith…that was mind-blowing to these guys. So not because you’re Jewish, not because God chose a people. God did chose a people and He made promises to Israel, and God will still fulfill those promises. That area of land is so critical and so important to the Jewish people, its important to the Palestinian people, the Arab people in that area, the Islamic people in that area, but God has made promises concerning that land that He is going to fulfill, no matter what man does, no matter who the United States supports on any particular day, God is faithful. But you’re not saved because your family tree can be traced back to Abraham or because you have his physical blood running through your veins and your father’s veins and your grandfather’s veins, Paul is saying if you want to be saved, you have to be saved the same why Abraham was, by faith. Verse 8...
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
Now that is an interesting verse, Paul says God preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, when did that happen? I would suggest the passage in Genesis 15 that we just talked about. God took him outside and told him that One was coming through whom all would be blessed and Abram believed, there is only one that I know of that belief in produces righteousness and that is Jesus.
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
Habakkuk 2:4 several years, several hundred years after the law is given the prophets were teaching a consistent message.
12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
13 Christ has 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”),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Why is Jesus cursed? TO rescue us! Who are cursed under the law. You are saved by faith, or condemned under the law.
15 Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.
16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
What you agree to is the covenant. If you sign a lease agreement, neither party can change it later. So if salvation is by faith, and Abraham was justified by faith, why do we have the law? Great question, I would have put it on your Growth Group homework, but Paul anticipates it here...
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
The law was given because of transgressions. If there was no speed limit sign on the Bradly road, how fast would people drive on that road?
20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,
2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Galatians 4:5–31 (NKJV)
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.
9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?
10 You observe days and months and seasons and years.
11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.
13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.
14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.
18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.
19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,
20 I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,
24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—
25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—
26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband.”
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
Galatians 4:30–31 (NKJV)
30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
Insecurity - Issac or Ishmael?