[Prayer]
Today’s message is from Galatians 3:1-9. The HCSB translators (the translators of the Bible translation we have been using) gave this passage the title Justification through Faith. Does it sound familiar? That’s what the book of Galatians is all about. The Galatians had been going away from faith that God would save them, that he would make them right in his eyes, and had begun to try to earn their salvation.
“Justification” means being made right. We talk about justifying ourselves and generally use the expression to mean trying to make an excuse for our actions: “Well, it wasn’t my fault. This happened or that happened. I couldn’t help it.” If someone starts making excuses, you say he’s trying to justify himself.
Well, “justification” in the Bible means being made right before God. It refers to the way God views you. It means that he considers you innocent of sin. He considers you as having kept all of his laws and commands—that’s all of his laws and commands. God considers you as having obeyed everything perfectly (and we know that nobody has).
Now let’s read the passage. Remember, as always, as we read the passage, that we are reading the word of God. It’s God speaking to us through what he led the apostle Paul to write.
Also, as always, I encourage you to read and study your Bibles every day. It sustains your life.
Let’s read the passage—Galatians 3:1-9:
1You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified? 2I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh? 4Did you suffer so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? 5So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?
6Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, 7so understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons. 8Now the Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed in you. 9So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith. (Galatians~3:1-9)
At the end of last week’s passage, the Apostle Paul said, “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” (Gal.~2:21) Christ died for the whole world, not just for those who accept God’s salvation. It says so in 1 John 2:2. Christ died for our sin so that we could be justified before God. He paid what we owed and could not and cannot pay ourselves. If you say you can save yourself by your own good works, by earning your salvation... If you say that you can be justified by your own diligence and hard work, you are calling God a fool, you are calling Jesus a fool. You are saying, “You fool. You died for nothing. I can save myself. I’m going to prove it.” I talked about these things last week.
OK, let’s look at the first verse in today’s passage: “You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified?” “Who hypnotized you?” Well, someone had led the Galatians away from the truth. Someone had hypnotized them. Someone had bewitched them or put them under an evil spell, to use the terms that some of the other Bible translations use. I think this may be a little sarcasm on the apostle Paul’s part. But, really, there is an evil supernatural spirit who wants to destroy us. It’s Satan, the devil. The people who had “hypnotized” the Galatians were the ones who had been telling them that they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved—that they had to do something to earn their salvation. Satan, the devil, was evidently working through these people to destroy the Galatian Christians.
Verse 1 says, “You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified?” We know that Jesus was crucified. The false teachers that had been teaching the Galatians that they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses didn’t deny that Jesus had been crucified. What’s Paul’s point in emphasizing that he had taught the Galatians that Jesus had been crucified? The point is that when Jesus died on the cross, he paid the entire penalty—that’s the entire penalty—for all of our sins—and not just for our sins, but for the sins of the entire world.
You know, we can say, “Yes, I know that Jesus died for our sins,” and not really appreciate just what that means. Jesus was crucified. That’s not something that’s done today—certainly not in this country, anyway. You can read about some of the horrendous execution’s that Saddam Hussein carried out and about the torturing of Christians in North Korea and other places, but I don’t think any of us has seen anything remotely close to these things first hand. But crucifixions were carried out publicly by the Roman government to make examples of the criminals. It’s likely that at least some of the Galatians had seen crucifixions. But there’s more to it than just knowing how horrible a punishment crucifixion was—how horrible was the death that Jesus suffered to save us. Let’s look at verses 2 and 3.
Verses 2 and 3 say, “I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh?” It’s the work of the Holy Spirit to make it plain that you are a sinner without hope of salvation. Paul says the Galatians had started out with the Spirit. That’s the only way you can start out. Jesus told the crowd he was talking to (in John~6:44), “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Jesus told his disciples, “When He [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment: (John~16:8) It’s the work of the Holy Spirit to make it plain that you are a sinner without hope of salvation—that you need God to rescue you from judgment and eternal punishment. And it’s also the work of the Holy Spirit to make it plain (I believe) just how great God’s gift of his Son and of forgiveness of sins and salvation really is. It’s the Holy Spirit who causes you to rejoice at God’s salvation. The apostle Paul asked the question, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?” You don’t receive the Holy Spirit by hard work. You receive the Holy Spirit by believing—and that’s also the gift of God, the work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at verse 3 again.
Verse 3 says, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh?” To be made complete means to be perfected or to become mature. (Some of the translations say “perfected”.) The Galatians had been deceived into giving up being led by the Spirit and were instead following the flesh in order to become “perfected”. (So, as I’ve said before, you can say, “I’m Holier than thou. I did it myself. I’m better than you.” It has to do with pride.)
And by the way, just what does it mean to be perfected or made complete by the flesh (“are you now going to be made complete by the flesh”)? Well, generally, it means to do it by human effort. By the flesh means by human effort. But there’s more to it than that. If you look at the NIV translation, in the many places where the apostle Paul says “the flesh” the NIV translators translate it as “the sinful nature” (and they place a footnote that says, “Or the flesh”). Here’s the question: Is it better to follow the Holy Spirit, without whom you would not even have thought of salvation, or to follow the flesh, the “sinful nature”?
The apostle Paul talks about the “fruit of the Spirit” in chapter 5 (which we will hopefully get to in a few weeks): “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith [or faithfulness], gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Gal.~5:22, 23) The apostle Paul also talks about the “fruit” of the flesh in chapter 5. Except he doesn’t call it “fruit”, he calls it “works”. And there’s a vast difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh. It’s like night and day. You’ll see when we get there in chapter 5. (If you want to see now, you can look at chapter 5, verses 19-21. And if you read you Bible regularly, you’ll probably have a pretty good idea already. Anyway, the “fruit of the flesh” is not a good thing. If you have the fruit of the flesh, you won’t have the fruit of the Spirit. They are opposites.)
Let’s look at verse 4. Verse 4 says, “Did you suffer so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing?” What had the Galatians suffered because of their faith? The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy (in 2 Tim. 3:12), “...all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” And Jesus told his disciples, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” We all can expect persecution for our faith at some time. Apparently the Galatians had endured some persecution because of their faith in Jesus. But now they were in danger of giving up their faith in favor of attempting to be made complete by the flesh. “You foolish Galatians!”
Let’s look at verse 5: “So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?” When the Galatians first heard the message of the gospel and believed it, there was obvious evidence that God had supplied them with the Holy Spirit. Paul doesn’t say what that evidence was, but I imagine at least that they were freely praising and thanking God. There were also miraculous signs—probably healings and demons being cast out. (God still does these things here today, but more in place where the gospel has never been preached than in the United States.)
Now let’s look at verses 6 and 7: “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, so understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons.” Abraham is our example of faith. The writer of Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise.” (Heb.~11:8, 9)
The Lord called Abraham and Abraham obeyed the Lord. Abraham trusted the Lord and obeyed him. He obeyed by faith. Here’s what the Lord said to Abraham: “Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Gen.~12:1-3) Abraham didn’t know where he was going. He had to trust the Lord to guide him to...he didn’t know where. He had to trust the Lord to leave his home and family and go to a place where he would never have a permanent home. He lived as a foreigner in the land the Lord led him to. Abraham did not live a perfect life just as none of us live perfect lives, but when the Lord told him to go, he went. He took only his wife Sarah with him and his nephew Lot. They lived in the land of Canaan. Abraham and Sarah had no children.
After a while, Abraham and Lot separated. Lot lived in Sodom with his wife and family (which he had evidently acquired somewhere along the way).
There was a war and Lot and his family were carried off as captives. When Abraham heard about it, he assembled an army and went and fought against the captors and rescued Lot.
After this (and I’m leaving out quite a few details—you can read about it in Genesis chapter 14)... After this, the Lord spoke to Abraham. (It says, “The word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision.”) Here’s what the word of the Lord said: “Do not be afraid, Abram (Abram was Abraham’s name before the Lord changed it to Abraham)... Do not be afraid. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.” (Gen.~15:1) The Lord certainly was trying to encourage Abraham. But Abraham was lamenting because he had no children. He said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.” (Gen 15:2, 3) (And think about what the Lord can give us.)
The word of the Lord came to Abraham: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” The Lord took Abraham outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them. Your offspring will be that numerous.” (Gen. 15:4, 5) Genesis 15:6 says, “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Later, the Lord told Abraham that his son would be named Isaac and that it would be through him and his offspring that his covenant would be confirmed.
Isaac was born. When Isaac was grown up, the Lord told Abraham to take him up to a place that he would show him and sacrifice him. He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” (Gen.~22:2) Abraham obeyed the Lord and took Isaac to be sacrificed. While they were on the way, Isaac asked his father Abraham where the sacrifice was. There was the wood for the fire and the knife, but no lamb for the sacrifice. Abraham told his son, “God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.”
When Abraham and Isaac reached the place of the sacrifice and Abraham raised the knife to slaughter Isaac, the Angel of the Lord (maybe actually Jesus) called out from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” Abraham replied, “Hear I am.” The Angel of the Lord said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.” (Gen.~22:12) Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket and sacrificed it. The Lord provided the sacrifice.
I quoted the writer of Hebrews a couple of minutes ago about Abraham leaving his home to go to the land of Canaan. Let’s look at what the writer of Hebrews has to say about Abraham’s taking Isaac to be sacrificed. This is from Hebrews 11:17-19: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; he who had received the promises was offering up his unique son, about whom it had been said, In Isaac your seed will be called. He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, from which he also got him back as an illustration.” The Lord had promised Abraham that his promises would be confirmed through Isaac, so Abraham knew that even if Isaac did die, God would raise him from the dead. (And, back in Genesis when he left to take Isaac, he told the people he was with, “The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” Abraham expected both of them to come back.
The writer of Hebrews say that Abraham got Isaac back as an illustration. (“He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, from which he also got him back as an illustration.”) As an illustration of what? When you go home, read the account of Abraham’s offering Isaac in Genesis chapter 22 and see how many parallels there are to God’s offering his one and only Son Jesus, the Lamb of God, as a sacrifice for our sin. John 3:16 says, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” The writer of Hebrews says that Abraham offered his unique son. But the word “unique” in Hebrews and the phrase “one and only” in John 3:16 are the exact same word in the original language (which, by the way, is Greek). The Lord told Abraham, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and offer him as a burnt offering.” God offered his one and only son, whom he loved, as a sacrifice for our sin. Take a look at Genesis 22 and see how many other parallels you can find.
Genesis 15:6, “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness,” is the key verse that shows justification by faith—that shows that the Lord counts faith as righteousness. For us to trust him is the main thing that God wants. How many times Jesus told people that their faith had healed them. It wasn’t their faith that had healed them; it was God who had healed them. He healed them because they believed Jesus could heal them. But when Jesus came to his hometown and taught and preached, the people knew him. They had probably seen him grow up. They knew his family—his mother and brothers and sisters. So they were amazed at his wisdom and teaching. But they didn’t believe who he really was. But how much trouble would we have believing the neighbor’s kid, whom we had watched growing up and whose family we knew, was a prophet who could do miracles let alone be the Son of God who came in the flesh? He looked like a very ordinary man. He could not do many miracles in his hometown, only lay his hands on a few of the sick and heal them. What God wants to see in us more than anything else is faith.
Now I’m going to quote just a couple more things from Hebrews 11: “By faith he [Abraham] stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Heb~11:9, 10) And also, “These all (Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob) died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. (Heb.~11:13) How do we view our live on this earth? What promises are we looking forward to?
Now let’s look at verses 8 and 9 in today’s passage: “Now the Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed in you.” (Do you remember that I read that from Genesis chapter 12 a few minutes ago?) “So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.” Verses 6 and 7 say, “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, so understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons.” To be counted as Abraham’s sons means that we are counted as God’s chosen people. We are looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (If you are not looking forward to that city, do something about it right away.) We can look forward to that city because of Jesus. Praise Jesus! (If you are not looking forward to that city, do something about it right away.)
[Prayer]