Notes – We’ve All Seen It

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Galatians 3:1-6 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— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

Here’s the dilemma. When we get saved it is because we are drawn by the Spirit of God. There are no thoughts like, “How can I earn an e ticket to heaven? How can I perform up to a standard of holiness that will secure me a spot in God’s neighborhood?” No, what happens is we are made aware by the Holy Spirit of our depravity and we are shown a picture of Christ on the cross paying the price for our sin and we cry out to be saved. We are astounded by the grace of God and we run smack dab into His mercy and the result is we stricken absolutely grateful. Our response to that gift and the expression of our gratitude comes out in the form of a hunger to please God in any way we can and a desperate need to be obedient to His Word. The operating emotion, or maybe rather mind set, is passion. Unfortunately even though it doesn’t have to be this can be just a season. What started out as coming to church early to set up or volunteering to clean the toilets or work with the kids, while these things started out as things we did because we were so on fire we couldn’t not do them, they eventually became mundane. Eventually we began to either measure our holiness by the amount of work we were doing and rules and regulations we either set up for ourselves or someone set up for us took the place of the passion that was originally born out of our gratitude. We begin to compare our works to the works of others and either feel superior and then resentful calling those doing less slothful. Or we compare ourselves to those doing more and get angry and accuse them of being self promoters. What was happening in the churches in Galatia was that people were forcing a works based salvation on the congregation. Let’s go back and look at this from verse 1.

Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

Paul is using some very strong language here, “Oh foolish Galatians!” The word foolish here is a little more than just acting stupid or making a bad decision it is the Greek word, ANOETOS, which actually means being unwilling or too lazy to use the mental capabilities the Lord has given to discern the truth. This is why Paul goes on to ask, “Who has bewitched you?” It is as if they have fallen under the spell of a pied piper and have danced off down the road with him to the land of bad doctrine. This is why we focus so much around here on the reading of the Word and the teaching of proper doctrine.

Romans 16:17-18 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

If I am not pounding you guys with the Word and with sound doctrine then I am not doing my job but I do do my job because I love this truth that we believe, I love God and I love you and I will not have your hearts being deceived on my watch. But it is not entirely on me, you have a part in it also and your part is to take this thing seriously and study the Word as much as you study sports statistics or style trends or the stock market, whatever blows your hair back. I know it is difficult; I was tempted to pull a sermon out of the archives and then just watch the Volcom Pipeline Pro all day. But right after Paul asks them whose spell they have fallen under he hits them with the truth of the matter and it was a sledge-hammer.

Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

Boo yah! It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Paul wrote this letter between A.D. 48 and 55. Not many people would have been around who had actually seen the crucifixion especially given that Galatia is now Turkey and that is a long way from Jerusalem. And yet Paul says that it was before your eyes that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. The answer to this mystery lies in the words, “publicly portrayed.” You see I can say the same thing to you and any preacher should be able to say the same thing. Because if we are accurately preaching the gospel it will consistently include the portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ. If we are not talking about the cross, if we are not talking about the blood of a sinless Savior, if we are not talking about the sin in all of us and the consequences of that sin apart from the Cross and the God who hung on it then we are not preaching we are blowing wind and nothing more. Sound doctrine from the pages of scripture pointing to the possibility of the sin of man being paid for by the death of Christ and the will of God that it be just so is what defines preaching. All of the supporting data from which we derive our model for living, our instruction for the sanctification of our souls must always point back to the cross. It must always point back to our impotence and failure and His supreme and supernatural intervention. If it does not and instead points to the performance of a man attempting to keep a set of rules then the doctrine, the concept, and the understanding of grace are lost. Well here we always point to the cross which is why I titled this message, “WE’VE ALL SEEN IT!” We have all seen Jesus the Christ publicly portrayed as crucified and if we keep that forever at the forefront of our minds eye and in the very center of our hearts then we will not fall under the sway of any nonsense. But Paul next begins to ask them some questions that require them to do some soul searching, some self-examination.

Galatians 3:2-6 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— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

He first asks them, “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” Today we might pose this question a little differently, “Was it all the rules and regulations, all the things you were told you would have to change that attracted you to Jesus or was it the beauty of His voice calling to your heart?” “Was it a religious system that attracted you or was it that the Holy Spirit gave you a glimpse of the mercy and grace, the love and the compassion that was in the cross of Christ?” It is so funny to me, not funny ha ha but funny like unusual that before I was saved I viewed the Bible and Christianity as filled with rules and regulations. After I was saved my perception completely changed and I now view the Bible and Christianity as establishing boundaries for me that make me feel comfort and joy and safety and when I am following the path that the scriptures outline I am pleasing God and that gives me great pleasure. Paul then asks this question.

Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

In my introduction I spoke about losing the passion of our salvation and then just continuing on our Christian journey as if we were walking it out alone, under our own steam. Maybe with a hope of heaven but very little hope of supernatural support in this life. Just measuring ourselves and our holiness by our performance and measuring others by their performance or lack of it. That my friends is religion. If we started with a raw and wild love for the things of God then how is it that we forget that passion and allow ourselves to settle into complacency? Paul asks, “Are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Well the answer to that is a resounding no and no! We need to remember what Paul says in Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.

If in our flesh nothing good dwells then obviously we can never be perfected by the flesh. How do we stay stirred up in the Spirit and stay passionate? Prayer, the Word and service. I have an electric beard trimmer but it only runs fast and powerfully for so long then it needs to be plugged in to the charger. We are the same way, we need to be recharged and that recharging can only come from prayer, the Word and service. There is not one element of this trio that can be excluded.

Let’s look at the closing two verses of this passage.

Galatians 3:5-6 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— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

Turn over to Genesis 15.

Genesis 15:5-6 “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

This is a clear definition of faith and what God and what God considers the foundation of righteousness. And what is that? It is trusting and believing God no matter what circumstances look like from our point of view. Abraham and Sarah were childless and ninety years old when God made this promise to Abraham.