Introduction
A. The story is told of a Sunday School teacher who was trying to help her kindergarten students learn about what saves us.
1. She asked the class, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into heaven?” The kindergarten class answered, “NO!”
2. The teacher then asked, “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into heaven?” Once more they answered, “NO!”
3. She asked them again, “Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children and loved my husband, would that get me into heaven?” Again they all answered, “NO!”
4. “Well,” the teacher asked, “Then how can I get into heaven?”
5. A five-year-old boy answered, “Before you get into heaven, first, you gotta be dead.”
B. That’s true in more than one way – Before you can get into heaven, you gotta be dead (in body and to self).
1. But let’s think about this question: How good do you have to be to go to heaven?
a. Pretty good
b. Really Good
c. Better than Uncle Joe
d. Perfect
2. The correct answer is D.
a. If you want to go to heaven, you have to be perfect.
b. And I don’t mean “sort of” perfect, “mostly” perfect, or 80% perfect.
c. Being 80% perfect is like being 80% pregnant - either you’re pregnant or you’re not.
d. Either you’re perfect or you’re not.
3. The kicker in all this is that 99.9% of the world believes the right answer is either A or B or C.
a. Most people would say it’s A. If I’m pretty good on the relative scale of goodness, surely I’ll go to heaven.
b. And most people are quick to compare themselves to Uncle Joe or Aunt Jane or those bad people down the street.
c. That’s always an easy comparison because we usually only compare ourselves to someone who isn’t as good as we are.
4. But that’s not what God does.
a. When God makes a comparison, he compares us to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
b. We all fall short of his divine glory (Romans 3:23).
c. If none of us are perfect, then how can we be saved?
d. We will answer that question as we move through this sermon.
C. Today we are continuing our sermon series – Set Free – A Study of the Book of Galatians.
1. As we arrive at today’s sermon, we turn a corner in our journey through Galatians.
2. The letter to the Galatians divides nicely into three parts:
a. The Personal Section: Chapters 1-2
b. The Doctrinal Section: Chapters 3-4
c. The Practical Section: Chapters 5-6
D. Today, as we begin the doctrinal section of the book, I need to tell you that there are some verses that are fairly intricate and some arguments that are hard for us to understand.
1. We will be doing some deep plowing in this section, but that is good for us.
2. But the main point of the entire letter is very clear.
a. Paul returns, again and again, to one central question: Are we saved by what we do or by what Christ has done for us?
b. Just keep that in mind as we work through this middle section of the book.
3. Every verse and every argument ultimately makes its way back to that core question.
a. It’s faith versus works. And Grace versus the Law of Moses.
4. The very heart of the gospel is at stake, as we have discussed in previous sermons.
E. In the first 14 verses of Galatians 3, Paul puts forward three arguments that lead us back to the key question: How are we saved—by grace through faith or by works?
1. Paul’s answer is that human experience, the example of Abraham, and the curse of the law all lead us to the same conclusion that we are saved only by grace that comes to us through faith in Jesus.
2. Let’s see how Paul develops these thoughts.
I. The Argument From Experience (3:1-5)
A. The Bible says: O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by 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? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith -
1. J. B. Phillips begins his translation of verse 1 with the words: “O dear idiots!”
a. In the Message, Peterson’s paraphrase says, “You crazy Galatians.”
b. One writer suggests the word “numbskulls.”
2. Paul wants to know who “bewitched” them.
a. This is a Greek word that comes from the realm of black magic and refers to a spell or a hex or an “evil eye.”
3. In Paul’s mind, it is so inconceivable that the Galatians would turn back to lawkeeping after having come to Christ by faith that he thinks they have been “bewitched.”
4. How else do you explain leaving the freedom of grace for the slavery of the law?
B. Paul then discussed four consequences of this grave error:
1. First, by leaving grace to return to the law, the Galatians were ignoring the cross of Christ (verse 1).
a. They had forgotten how clearly Christ had been portrayed or placarded or visualized by Paul’s preaching.
b. So powerful was Paul’s preaching of the cross that the Galatians had felt they had been there when he died.
c. To leave grace was to abandon the Christ who died for them.
2. Second, by leaving grace they were contradicting their own experience (verses 2-3).
a. Paul reminded them that they had been saved by grace through faith.
b. Would they now conclude that God saves by faith, but now they must somehow continue it by their good works?
c. Will they go to heaven because “God helps those who help themselves?” The very thought was absurd.
3. Third, by leaving grace they rendered their suffering meaningless (verse 4).
a. No doubt these young believers had suffered much at the hands of their former friends in the pagan religions.
b. Surely some had laughed at them, others had ridiculed, and perhaps some had been cast out of their homes for the sake of Christ.
c. Will they now count that as meaningless by going back to the law as the means of salvation?
4. Fourth, by leaving grace they were denying the work of the Spirit in their midst (verse 5).
a. God had worked miracles among them and in them personally.
b. They had seen the power of God both internally and externally.
c. Prayers had been answered, lives had been changed, old habits broken, the lost saved, and sins forgiven.
d. And all this by the grace of God at work through the Spirit of God who came to them as a result of their faith in Christ.
e. Would they give this up and deny it all? That’s the choice they were making.
C. Paul’s point in these opening verses was to remind them of all the wonderful things God had done for them in their conversion and in the days since then.
1. All this had come by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; not by following the law. Had they forgotten all this?
2. They were saved by faith in Christ and they now lived by the power of the Spirit.
3. How could going back to the Law possibly improve their experience or their position?
II. The Argument From Abraham (3:6-9)
A. Galatians 3 continues: 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
B. For his second argument, Paul used the example of Abraham.
1. This was a masterstroke because the Judaizers would have considered Abraham the father of the Jewish people, and Abraham surely was a hero of the Judaizers.
2. Paul’s point in verse 6 is that Abraham was saved by faith when he believed God and his faith was counted as righteousness.
3. This happened in Genesis 15 - The chronology is important because Abraham was circumcised in Genesis 17 and the Law was given to Moses 430 years later.
4. That means Abraham was saved by faith before the Law and before he was circumcised.
5. Paul then expanded the point in verse 7 by pointing out that anyone who believes the gospel is a true child of Abraham.
6. In Paul’s mind, spiritual descent is more important than physical descent.
7. Thus, there are physical descendants of Abraham who are not spiritual descendants because they don’t believe the gospel.
8. And there are Gentiles who are true sons and daughters of Abraham because they do believe the gospel.
9. When our children sing, “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. And I am one of them and so are you, so let’s just praise the Lord,” they are expressing the essence of this truth.
C. This thought is expanded further in verses 8-9 where Paul declared that God’s plan, from the beginning, was to justify all people, including the Gentiles by faith.
1. When God first called Abraham in Genesis 12:3, God announced the gospel in advance.
2. God declared to Abraham that “all nations will be blessed through you.”
3. In what sense was that the gospel?
4. God’s original call of Abraham had three parts:
a. The promise of a land for Abraham.
b. The promise of a great nation that would come from his descendants.
c. And the promise of a blessing that would come to all nations through Abraham.
5. If you fast-forward 2,000 years, you come to the very first verse of the New Testament, which reads “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).
6. Jesus was a true “son of Abraham” in the literal sense that he descended from the line of Abraham.
7. And before he ascended to heaven, Jesus told his disciples to go and preach the gospel to every nation (Matthew 28:19-20).
8. That Great Commission joins the call of Abraham with the Christian gospel.
9. It was always God’s intention that the Gentiles should be justified by faith.
D. We can draw several important truths from this.
1. First, the plan of salvation in every age is always by grace through faith.
a. Even when God’s people were under the Law of Moses, it was still by grace through faith, because the only reason that animal sacrifices took away their sins was by God’s grace.
b. Salvation is always by grace, always through faith, and never by human merit or personal righteousness.
2. Second, God’s plan to include the nations means there is no room for racism, bigotry or prejudice in the church of Jesus Christ.
a. There is no room for excluding people on the basis of racial heritage, ethnic origin, language, appearance, skin color, or any other secondary issue.
b. God has always intended to save people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
c. God wants his bride to be multicultural and multi-hued.
d. I love the fact that our congregation is multi-hued and multi-cultured. Our congregation is made up of Americans, African Americans, Canadians, Cubans, Nigerians, Indians, and people from Napal and Ghana.
e. God loves and wants to save all people, so we should love and want all people to be saved.
3. Third, this is the foundation for world missions.
a. God always intended to draw people from every nation.
b. And that’s why the church sends missionaries around the world.
c. The Gospel is not just for one nation or one kind of people. No the Gospel is for everyone.
d. Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
III. Argument from the Curse (3:10-14)
A. Galatians 3 continues: 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.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
B. Verse 10 explains why keeping the law can never save us.
1. First, the law demands performance: You must do what the law commands.
2. Second, the law demands complete performance: You must do all that the law commands.
3. Third, the law demands continual, complete performance: You must continue to do all that the law commands.
4. Living by the law isn’t a cafeteria buffet where you pick and choose the laws you want to obey.
5. Either you keep all the law all the time or you’ll never get to heaven by keeping the law.
6. When it comes to being saved by the law, God doesn’t grade on the curve - It’s a simple Pass/Fail.
7. Keep the law perfectly 100% of the time and you go to heaven. Mess up just once and you go to hell. That doesn’t leave much of a margin for error.
C. Perhaps an illustration will make things clearer – Being saved by keeping the law is like trying to swim from California to Hawaii – it’s impossible.
1. Let’s suppose an eccentric rich man offers $1 million to any person who can swim from San Diego, California to Honolulu, Hawaii (that’s 2560 miles).
2. The rules are simple. You have get in the water in San Diego and you can’t get out until you reach the beach in Honolulu.
a. And you can’t stop or rest or have anyone assist you in any way.
b. You can’t use any mechanical or electronic devices to help you.
c. You have to swim straight through without stopping.
3. If you do, you win $1 million. If you don’t make it or if you don’t follow the rules, you get nothing.
4. Unfortunately, on the appointed day for the event, no one showed up because the challenge was impossible.
a. So the rich man raised the prize to $10 million - Still no takers.
b. Finally, he raised the total to $100 million.
5. With the prize that high, 10,000 people showed up on the appointed day.
a. The gun sounded and everyone hit the water at once.
b. A few people turned back after 200 yards because they couldn’t even swim but they wanted the money.
c. Others dropped out after five miles because they encountered sharks.
d. By the 20-mile mark only 150 swimmers were left.
e. By the 50-mile mark only ten were left.
f. At the 100-mile mark two swimmers were in still in the water.
g. Finally the only one still swimming gave up amazingly at the 215 mile mark – she had won two Olympic medals for distance swimming.
h. When she was pulled into the boat, she told the rich man that she deserved the money because she lasted longer than anyone else.
i. When he refused, she said that he should give her a portion of the money representing the distance she swam.
j. He refused again, citing the rules of the contest.
k. It was all or nothing. It matters not if she dropped out 100 yards from the Honolulu beach.
l. In this case, missing by a little is the same as missing by a lot.
D. The same is true in the spiritual realm if we are trying to be saved by works of the law.
1. While it’s true that some sinners are relatively better than other sinners, that doesn’t make any difference.
2. Perfect obedience to the law is necessary to be saved by the law.
3. Suppose a person could somehow be good enough to end up six inches from heaven when he dies.
4. Close counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. It doesn’t count at all when it comes to going to heaven by following the law.
E. Paul used a strong word to describe the situation of those who try to achieve salvation by keeping the law – he said that they are “cursed.”
1. That means they are under a divine sentence of death.
2. They are rejected, judged, condemned, and sentenced to eternal death.
3. That applies to everyone without exception.
4. The whole human race is under a curse because of our failure to keep the law perfectly.
5. Apart from divine grace, because of sin we are all spiritually dead, lost, separated from God, and condemned.
6. We are in a truly hopeless, impossible situation.
7. This is the end result of trying to go to heaven on your own merit.
F. But praise God that His way to salvation is the way of faith: “The just shall live by faith.”
1. And by faith we receive the promises of the Holy Spirit.
2. How is it that God can give us salvation on the basis of simple faith in Jesus Christ?
3. The answer is in verse 13 - Christ became a curse for us.
4. The last part of verse 13 quotes Deuteronomy 21:23, which says that anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.
a. In the Old Testament criminals were often put to death by stoning.
b. After being stoned to death, the dead body was hung on a tree as a visible sign of their rejection.
5. When Christ died, He took upon himself the curse intended for us.
a. He took the pain and the shame.
b. He drank the cup of God’s wrath.
c. He bore the punishment meant for us.
d. He suffered for our sin.
e. He paid a debt he did not owe.
G. The cross is the true dividing line of history.
1. It is the “hinge” of history, the most important event since the creation of the universe.
2. We must never minimize the cross or speak of it in light terms.
3. All that God has done to save us comes to fruition in the cross of Jesus Christ.
4. The cross is God’s gift of salvation for us.
5. Ultimately, we are saved because of what Christ did for us, and not what we do for him.
6. We must trust in Christ alone to save us – Jesus took our punishment upon himself, so that He could give us His righteousness – we are perfect in God’s sight because we are given Jesus’ perfection.
H. I want to end with the old story of the man who died and stood outside the gates of heaven.
1. Saint Peter met him at the pearly gates and explained, “Here’s how it works: You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in.”
2. “Okay,” the man says, “I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, not even in my heart.”
a. “That’s wonderful,” said Peter, “that’s worth one point!”
3. “Wow, only one point,” Said the man, “Okay, well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service.”
a. “Terrific!” said Peter, “that’s certainly worth another point.”
4. “Only one point for all of that? Okay, how about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans? How much is that worth?”
a. “That’s good for two more points,” Peter said.
5. “TWO POINTS!!” the man cried out, “At this rate the only way I will get into heaven is by the grace of God!”
6. Peter said, “Exactly. The grace of God is worth 100 points. Come on in!”
I. D. L. Moody used to say he was glad we are not saved by our good works, because he didn’t want to sit in heaven listening to people brag about how they got there.
1. We must run to the cross and cling to the cross, because that’s the only way to go to heaven.
2. We are saved by grace through faith, and not by works, so that no one can boast – to think otherwise is to be hoodwinked!
3. Let’s not be foolish and bewitched like the Galatians.
4. Let’s not be led astray thinking we can save ourselves by our good works.
5. Salvation is a gift – have you received it?
Resources:
Two Ways to Go to Heaven: Make Sure You Choose the Right One, Sermon by Ray Pritchard, www.keepbelieving.com
