INTRO.- People often do dumb things or foolish things.
ILL.- June 16, 2009, BRUSSELS - A Belgian teenager told police how she came from a tattoo parlor with 56 stars over one side of her face, rather than the three she had asked for.
"I said this part, the top, is ok, but not the rest," Kimberley Vlaeminck. The 18-year-old said she fell asleep during the procedure, and woke up in pain when her nose was being tattooed. Later it was revealed that she lied! Foolish girl!
ILL.- June 19, 2009. - JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — A southern Indiana lawyer says he's embarrassed and has apologized after being found asleep headfirst in neighbor's trash can after a night of drinking. Well, I guess so! Foolish lawyer!
ILL.- New York: As a female shopper exited a convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the purse snatcher. Within minutes, the police had apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the cruiser and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes Officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from." Foolish thief.
People also get dumb ideas about God or perhaps from God's Word.
Here, for example, are some things that people think about God and/or the Christian life, which are not exactly accurate!
- Forgiving means forgetting. We humans can forget some stuff but not everything. We don't have the ability to forget like God who said, "I will remember their sins no more." Heb. 8:12
- God has a blueprint for my life. Not exactly. God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (I Tim. 2:4) but this doesn't mean they will. Even we who know the Lord don't do everything the Lord wants in life. His blueprint for all people is in scripture but we are free will agents. Free to choose our way in life. And we don't always choose His way.
- Let your conscience be your guide. No way! Not unless your conscience has been instructed by the Word of God. People often do whatever they feel like doing and they end up in trouble. The Word of God should be our guide in life.
Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
Many people do evil because this seems to be right for them, but it's not according to God's thinking in scripture.
- God brings good luck. That may sound good to some people but it's not Biblical. It's not in the Bible! It is true, however, that when we seek the Lord and do His will, He will bless his children.
I Peter 3:10-12 "For, Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." God blesses us with His grace, not good luck.
There are many other dumb ideas that people have about God, Christ and the Bible. And there is only one good cure for such ignorance! We must study to show ourselves approved to God, rightly handling the Word of truth!
PROP. - In our text, the apostle Paul is trying to straighten out the thinking of the Galatians. There are some matters in their thinking and faith that need to be cleared up.
1- The matter of receiving God's Spirit
2- The matter of faith and righteousness
3- The matter of redemption in Christ
I. THE MATTER OF RECEIVING GOD'S SPIRIT
1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish?
Did you receive God's Spirit by observing the law? In the first place, many Christians may not even realize that God's Spirit lives within them! That's a big revelation to some people.
I Cor. 6:19 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own."
ILL.- Recently, I heard that a preacher from a rather large church even denied the working of God's Spirit, saying that the Spirit was nothing more than Christ in us, giving the indication that the Holy Spirit was not a person. Huh?
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. Remember? We are to be baptized (Matthew 28:19) in what names?
ILL.- An American with an English gentleman was viewing the Niagara whirlpool rapids, when he said to his friend: “Come, and I’ll show you the greatest unused power in the world.” And taking him to the foot of Niagara Falls, “There,” he said, “is the greatest unused power in the world!”
“Ah, no, my brother, not so!” was the reply. “The greatest unused power in the world is the Holy Spirit of the living God.”
IS THIS TRUE? In the first place, we don't "use" the Holy Spirit. He is supposed to use us.
ILL.- D. L. Moody was to have a campaign in England. An elderly pastor protested, "Why do we need this 'Mr. Moody'? He's uneducated, inexperienced, etc. Who does he think he is anyway? Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit?" Another but wiser pastor said, "No, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on Mr. Moody." AND SO IT SHOULD BE WITH US.
He lives within us and can empower us if we will let Him.
Eph. 3:16 "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being."
Apparently, we can pray for God to strengthen in our inner being or our spirit by the Holy Spirit. It always pays to ask of God! Especially, when it's about something good. And the Holy Spirit is a spirit of power!
The problem that the Galatians had was this: They thought everything revolved around the O.T. law. They thought they got their goodness, holiness and the Holy Spirit from the law. WRONG! It's the idea that many people still have today that their eternal salvation depends on their goodness, NOT GOD'S GRACE!
It's all because of God's grace in Jesus that we have the Holy Spirit with us today.
John 14:26 "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
John 15:26 "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me."
John 16:7-8 "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment..."
John 16:12-13 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."
Faith in Jesus is our link to God's Holy Spirit. Not goodness. Not living by the letter of the law.
II. THE MATTER OF FAITH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
ILL.- A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation took place:
"Is anyone up there?"
"I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer."
"That's all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause, then: "Is anyone else up there?"
That's the kind of faith most of us have. We want to believe God but we are not too sure about some of things He's told us to do. We're not sure we can "let go and let God" and let Him handle whatever it is we're faced with in life.
6Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 7Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." 9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
We are not made righteous in God's eye through obedience to the law. We are made righteous through faith. Abraham was a man who believed God and trusted Him fully. God said, "Go and I'll make of you a great nation." Abraham went and God did. God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and Abraham prepared to do that very thing, believing God could raise his son from the dead.
Hebrews 11:17-19 "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death."
Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
This matter of faith is hard for some people to grasp. Do you believe, for example, that God exists? Do you believe that He's watching over you right now? Do you believe that He'll give you eternal life when you die because you have put your faith and trust in Jesus?
Many people can't answer these questions positively.
ILL.- Two little girls, friends, who were counting over their pennies.
One said, “I have five pennies.”
The other said, “I have ten.”
“No,” said the first little girl, “You have just five cents, the same as I have.”
“But,” the second child quickly replied, “my father said that when he came home tonight, he would give me five cents, and so I have ten cents.”
That little girl had more faith in her father than we often do in our Heavenly Father! Do you believe your Father's promise of provision for this life? Do you believe in His promise for the next life?
III. THE MATTER OF REDEMPTION IN CHRIST
11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them."13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
No person can be saved by keeping the law because no one can keep the law. No person can obey the law or fulfill the letter of the law perfectly.
ILL.- Elaine and I were visiting my twin sister and her husband in Arlington, TX, one time when the door bell rang. It was a neighbor lady who came to thank sister Sharon for some kind deed she did. And she also said something like, "Your sister is the best person I have ever known."
Well, I would say... she's pretty good and she's far better than her twin brother, BUT SHE'S STILL NOT PERFECT IN THE SIGHT OF GOD.
I've met some mighty good people in my time but no human person can keep the total law. No one does everything right.
Christ is our redemption. He redeemed us from the curse of trying to fulfill the law. Our redemption or salvation is in Christ.
ILL.- June 20, 2009 - OKLAHOMA CITY — A man in Oklahoma City said he was attacked for his bologna and cheese sandwich. Police say 24-year-old Roger Hamilton told them he was sitting on a bus station bench, about to put mayonnaise on his sandwich, when another man began staring at him.
Hamilton told police that the man then punched him in the mouth and grabbed his sandwich and took off. Police said Hamilton has a swollen lip and his face was covered in blood. The police report listed the value of the sandwich at 76 cents.
Have you ever stolen anyone's sandwich? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever even thought about stealing something? Have you ever lusted after something that someone else had? Be it physical, material or otherwise? IF SO, THEN YOU ARE GUILTY.
We're all guilty. We're all guilty sinners! Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Since we're all guilty, we need help. We need salvation. We need forgiveness. We need to hear those words, "I forgive you." We need to know those words are sure and true. We need to be redeemed from our sin. We need to be released from our guilt. And there's only ONE WAY!
ILL.- Helen Keller never went to church during her early childhood. Deaf and dumb and blind, she did not learn the story of the love of God in Christ until she was taken to Phillips Brooks for religious instruction. The great preacher told her, in the simplest possible language, how God had sent Jesus to teach us His will, show us His love, and make Himself known to humanity.
The face of Miss Keller lighted up as she spelled into the hands of her interpreter, “I knew all the time there must be One like that, but I didn’t know His Name.”
Praise God that we know His name and we have accepted Him as our Savior! Since we could not bear our own sins, we trust that He did this for us!
CONCLUSION--------------
1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? The Galatians were foolish people. They misunderstood many things about God's plan for mankind. And many people no different today.
And there is only one cure for the foolish thinking of this world.
I Cor. 1:20-24 "20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
We must seek to know Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life and the wisdom of God. We must seek to find salvation in Him and Him alone.
