Lord, It's easy to sing and worship you in song and to raise our voices and to have the truths of those songs just pass over our heads. And Lord, it's possible to do that and not, not sing from our hearts and not be affected by that truth of who you are for us in Jesus. And Lord, it's possible to read now from your word and not sit in awe that you condescended to reveal yourself to us. It's possible, Lord, to sit and hear your word preached and not have our hearts and our ears and our minds inclined towards learning and being changed and being edified and encouraged and built up in all that you have for us in the preaching of your word. That's the way our heart is inclined, that's the weakness of our flesh. So Lord, we ask, Lord, that you would come now and you would overcome all those weaknesses, that you would overcome all distractions, God, that you would overcome any inclination to not turn our hearts towards you fully right now, Jesus. And so, Lord, I ask that you would send your Spirit, that you would be with us in the reading of your word and the hearing of your word preached. Lord, I pray that you'd protect me from error, Lord, that your word would be held up, that we would all joyfully submit to its authority, sit joyfully under your word, Lord, that you would change us by it this morning. That we would leave here different than we came. And we pray all this for the glory of Your name. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Well, if you remember, we said the first 2 chapters in our series in Galatians, the first 2 chapters of the book, Paul is working his way through and he's facing these challenges in this area of Asia Minor, right? And he's in Asia Minor and he's been there prior and he's heard reports of what is going on, that there's this warped theology, this dysfunctional gospel that's taking root in the churches in Galatia. But more than that, there's been an attack on Paul. There's been really a character assassination. They've come against the Apostle Paul and they've really said, you know, he's not really an apostle. He's not really an authentic apostle. He's gotten the message wrong. And really, he's just a secondhand, second-rate apostle.
So the first 2 chapters of Galatians, Paul has spent time building a foundation to protect his own ministry. He has some really crucial things to say to this church and to us this morning. Before he can go there, he had to establish and defend who he was, who he had received his message from, and what it was about. So remember, that's what he did in chapters 1 to 2.
Now last week, we looked at verses 15 to 21, and that is really one of the crucial passages of this entire book. The book turns. And in those passages, we see the thesis for this letter: that justification— peace with God, being made right with God, being declared innocent and righteous by God— that happens not by works, but by faith. Now, if you've ever written a paper or had to put together a thesis sentence, a research paper doesn't consist of an introduction and the thesis and a conclusion, right? You have to defend that thesis. So Paul has written his thesis. He spelled it out for us in verses 15 to 21. This is what we're going to see and look at in this letter. But now he's got to substantiate it. He's got to bring the evidence to bear that proves his point, that shows that he is correct and that his opponents, his detractors, are wrong. And so that's what we begin to see this morning. Paul begins to bring forth the evidence, to call forward the witnesses.
So with that in mind, let's read in chapter 3, beginning at verse 1. Paul begins this way: O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 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?
Maybe turn my mic down just a little bit back there. Well, that's the question and the beginning of the defense of Paul's thesis in this letter.
6 · Announces the sermon's first major claim: self-justification by works is both seductive and satanic in origin
And the first thing he's showing us this morning, our first point, is that self-justification— in other words, seeking to justify ourselves by works of the law— self-justification is a seductive thing. And it's a satanic seduction.
7 · Explains the jarring rhetorical shift from the end of chapter 2 to the opening of chapter 3, where Paul abruptly calls the Galatians foolish and bewitched
That's what he says here. He says in verse 1, "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?" Now, the transition from thesis to evidence is startling, right? If we're reading from last week, "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? That's kind of sudden. If there wasn't this chapter divider sitting smack in the middle of our Bible and you were just reading through the book, it would kind of startle you. Without skipping a beat, Paul is calling his entire audience here, all of these churches in Asia Minor, essentially bewitched idiots. That's what he's saying. That's what those words mean. That's what this idea of fool— I mean, you're acting like a fool. You're acting like an imbecile. You're bewitched. What's going on?
8 · Defines the word 'bewitched' as a seduction or spell that makes a person spellbound by something, using the analogy of a moth fascinated by light
Now, this word bewitch implies that they've been seduced, that they've been beguiled. It means it's as if someone has cast a spell over them. That's what it means to be bewitched in the way that he's talking. It's a way of saying that a person has become so fascinated by something that they are in a sense almost spellbound by it. It's attracted to something almost like a moth gets attracted to light. The moth just is fascinated and just begins circling around light and is just bewitched and spellbound by what it sees in the light.
9 · Asserts that false gospels that add to Jesus function as a demonic seduction that, when combined with human self-righteousness, clouds out Christ
Well, that, Paul says, is what this Jesus-plus gospel does. These false gospels that want to add and affix things to Jesus. That's what happens. It beguiles you. It bewitches you. It convinces you. It's a demonic seduction. And it's a demonic seduction which, when it coalesces with human self-righteousness, is a deadly combo. It's deadly because what it does, Paul says, is it seduces us, and in the seduction, it clouds out Christ.
10 · Explains that the bewitchment by works and circumcision has created a fog over Christ and the cross, obscuring their significance in the Galatian church
Ultimately, works and self-justification obscures Jesus. That's what he says in verse 1, "O foolish Galatians!" Who has bewitched you? Who's made you so spellbound? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. The spell of circumcision and works has created a fog in the Galatian church where Christ and the significance of the cross is being lost.
11 · Makes the theological claim that adding anything to the gospel is 'subtraction by addition'—it necessarily subtracts from Christ's sufficiency and ultimately obscures Him entirely
Now, this is what happens the second we add something to the gospel. It's intrinsically subtraction by addition. If you add circumcision or any other work of merit to the equation, you necessarily subtract from the sufficiency and the significance of what Christ accomplished at Calvary. That's what happens. You add that and then you have to take away from Jesus. And Paul says when you do that, you are implicitly clouding out Jesus. There's a fog that comes. You become spellbound by what you think you're adding. It's not just that you subtract some of Jesus. Really, practically, the way that you're living now is that you've put your hand over all of Jesus and you don't see any of it. That's what's happening here. That's why it's so deadly.
12 · Introduces the second element of Paul's argument in verse 1: the preaching of Christ to the Galatians was so vivid that it was as if they had witnessed the crucifixion themselves
But there's something else at play as well. You see, what Paul says is there's this seduction, this Seducing this fog that begins to cover Jesus. But what does he say about Jesus? What does he say about what they've seen in Jesus? Well, Paul says that the preaching of Christ was so intentional and so vivid to the Galatians that it was as if Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified.
13 · Explains that the Galatians 'publicly saw' Christ crucified not because they were physically present at Calvary, but because Paul's cross-centered preaching made it vivid to them
Now, that's an interesting phrase. It'd be one thing if Paul was writing this to the church in Jerusalem, where there would likely be members of that church who had seen the crucifixion. They could say, "You publicly saw Jesus crucified. How can you be giving away the gospel?" That's not the case for the Galatian church. They weren't there. They didn't see it. So how can Paul say, "You publicly saw Him crucified"? Well, he can say that because in his mind, they might as well have been present. And the reason for that is because they've sat under the faithful public proclamation. They've seen him publicly portrayed. The code word here is that he's saying you've sat under cross-centered preaching. You sat under preaching that was geared and founded in the Word of God.
14 · Defines the Greek word 'portrayed' as something like large public placards or billboards, clarifying that Paul is not referring to literal visual aids but to the vividness of preaching
Now, that's what he's saying. This language of portrayed, this word portrayed, it speaks to this Greek idea of advertising, of announcing something through large public placards. Does that make sense? Think massive billboards publicly celebrating the cross. Paul isn't saying though that he used clip art or flannel graphs or visual aids in his preaching. That's not what he's saying. He hasn't hired some marketing consultant to go into Galatia and brand Jesus. That's not what he's done.
15 · Makes the theological claim that faithful preaching of the word creates a vivid vision of the crucifixion in the hearts and minds of listeners, as if they were eyewitnesses
He's saying, now listen, he's saying, When Christ is proclaimed through the preaching of the word, a gospel canvas stretches across the horizon of our minds and hearts. When Christ is faithfully preached, he's portrayed before you as if you're actually seeing the crucifixion itself.
16 · Addresses the congregation directly about the lack of physical crosses in the church building, acknowledging it as a good observation and something to consider
Now, someone mentioned to me recently, we don't have any crosses at Providence, and that's just strange, you know, we're a church. So intentionally cross-centered. It was a good observation. I think it's something to think of, like, where can we— we've tried to replace the flagpole with a cross, and Lenexa said no. But that's something to think of as we even redecorate the church. Where can we put a cross to give us a visual reminder of Christ and Him crucified?
17 · Claims that the cross is present at Providence through the preaching of the word, supported by a Calvin quotation arguing that vivid preaching of Christ crucified eliminates the need for physical images
But here's the thing: there is a cross in Providence. Each Sunday when the Word is read and when Christ is preached, the cross is being portrayed. It's being displayed, and it is being planted in our midst. That's what Paul is saying here in Galatians. I love how Calvin comments on this passage. He says, let those who want to discharge the ministry of the gospel aright— so in other words, preachers— let them learn not only to speak and to claim, but also to penetrate into consciences, so that men may see Christ crucified and that his blood may flow. When the Church has such painters as these, she no longer needs wood and stone, that is, dead images. She no longer requires any pictures. That's what happens. That's how we see the cross each Sunday at Providence.
18 · Asserts the stunning theological claim that hearing faithful preaching of the word gives believers as vivid a view of the cross as if they had stood at Calvary with John and Mary
Here's Paul's point, the same point that Calvin's pulling out of the text. You have as good a view of the cross sitting in your seats on Sunday, hearing the word preached and hearing Christ proclaimed, as you would have had if you had been next to John and Mary at the foot of the cross. That's a stunning thing that Paul is saying in this letter. You Galatians who were nowhere near Jerusalem, had no idea that this man Jesus, this God-man, was being put to death, it was completely off your radar screen, you've seen him publicly portrayed. There's no way he can say that unless he has a massive theological understanding of the significance of the word publicly read. And publicly proclaimed. It's an amazing thing.
19 · States Calvin's (and Paul's) argument that faithful preaching of Christ crucified should move the listener as much as witnessing the crucifixion itself
Calvin argues with Paul that the actual sight of Christ's death shouldn't move you more than the preaching that proclaims Christ crucified.
20 · Explains that the bewitchment is a combination of satanic attack and the Galatians' own self-righteousness, and warns that this can happen to any Christian because we remain dependent on God for spiritual strength
Now, Paul asks this rhetorical question, "Who has bewitched you? I was in your presence. You had that kind of preaching when I was there," Paul says. Jesus was made that clear in front of your eyes. Who's bewitched you? Who's obscured that? Who's put a fog in front of that? Ultimately, he says, it's a satanic attack and spiritual self-righteousness that have infected them. There's been this mingling of bewitching, demonic influence obscuring Jesus, and The Galatians' own flesh rising up to self-justify. And this can happen, as it happens for the Galatians, to any of us. Whether you're a pastor or a seasoned Christian or a new believer, we are children of God. We are children before God. We're dependent upon Him for spiritual strength. And for sustenance, which means we're not spiritually strong or great in and of ourselves.
21 · Argues that self-righteousness causes us to forget the cross and our own sin—keeping the cross central through preaching is the antidote, and the Spirit is how preaching cuts through satanic fog
But now, in the seduction of self-righteousness, we begin to lose focus and we begin to forget the cross. And to forget the cross is to forget your own sin. And the two have to go hand in hand, right? To really become deluded and entranced by this vision that I can add things to my own merit. I can add things to the case to be made for our own salvation. You have to lose sight of your own sin, right? Because if you really had a sight of the cross and you really had a sight and an understanding that it was that bad that Jesus had to die in that way, there's no way you can then begin to say, well, good and fine, and here's the things that I want to add to it. It's not possible to do that. Now, to keep sight of that, to hear and to learn and to savor, to consider the proclamation of the cross and to keep it in its rightful place, that's our source of hope. But if Satan can create a fog that incites works and pulls out that just natural inclination towards self-righteousness and false gospels that obscures Jesus. How does preaching cut through that kind of demonic clutter? How does it break its way through? Well, the answer Paul goes to is simple: the Spirit.
22 · Signals the shift to the second major movement of the sermon: the Spirit as evidence that believers start by faith
That's the second point here. The Spirit proves that we start by faith. The Spirit is the evidence that we start by faith. That's our second point as we go forward this morning.
23 · Explains Paul's rhetorical strategy in verses 2-5: hammering the Galatians with questions about how they received the Spirit—by works or by faith—questions to which Paul knows the answer
The Galatians are fools, Paul says, because they've become seduced into buying a theology that demeans the cross of Christ. But that's not the only reason Paul says they're idiots. They're fools. They're idiots. They're morons. Because this theology doesn't even stand up to their own experience. Paul basically says, "You're a fool! You're completely out to lunch because you know, you've experienced it in a different way than this." He starts hammering them with this series of rhetorical questions, right? And these are questions that Paul asks in this rhetorical manner because he's absolutely confident in what the answers are. "How did you get the Spirit?" he says. "Was it by the law?" Or by faith? How'd the Spirit come to you? Did you do a bunch of good things, and then all of a sudden one day, "Oh, I have the Holy Spirit!" Or was it by faith? In verse 5, he repeats it in a different way. 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? Is the Spirit present among you? Do miracles happen? Do incredible things that are supernatural and can only be attributed to God, do those happen because you've been doing a bunch of holy things all week and so all of a sudden God appears? Or do they happen because you believe? Consider that.
24 · Makes the theological claim that having the Spirit is the sine qua non of being a Christian—throughout the New Testament, to be a Christian is to have the Spirit, supported by Peter's encounter with Cornelius and Romans 8:9
This is a very strategic question for Paul to ask. When the Spirit is first applied to you at conversion, did it come by rule keeping? Or did it come by faith? Well, here's the real, here's the deal. Paul can speak in this way. He can ask this question. And it's a strategic question. He can point us to it because receiving the Spirit, this idea that you now have the Spirit, It's the sine qua non of being a Christian. It's the essential condition to being a Christian. If you are a Christian, the Spirit is absolutely essential. If you don't have the Spirit, then you are not a Christian. Throughout the New Testament, that is the baseline. A Christian is synonymous with someone who has the Spirit. If they've got the Spirit, then they must be a Christian. It's the conviction that Peter takes back from his encounter with Cornelius, right? The gospel has to have gone to the Gentiles. They've received the Spirit in the same way we did, right? Romans 8:9, Paul says, "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. That's a massive statement. To be a Christian is to have the Spirit. No two ways about it. No fudging that. Absolute clarity. And the Spirit is the power that regenerates a believer. It opens the road to conversion.
25 · Explains that Paul's question about receiving the Spirit is really asking how they became Christians, and the answer is obvious: by faith through hearing the gospel, not by works
Paul can be positive about this connection because if there is no Spirit, then there's no faith, right? So Paul asked them, how did they receive the Spirit? Which is just another way of saying, how did you become a Christian, right? If a Christian is fundamentally someone we can equate with being someone who has the Spirit, and if someone who has the Spirit has to be a Christian, when Paul says, how did you receive the Spirit? He's really saying, how did you become a Christian? Did it happen through works? Or did it happen through faith? Well, faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the message of Christ. They became believers when they heard the gospel, when they responded with faith and trust. That's how they became believers. That's how we became believers. It's so basic, it's almost pathetic that he has to ask them such questions. But that's how foolish they've become.
26 · Argues that if the Galatians go back to circumcision after receiving the Spirit, they are denying that they were ever Christians—circumcision was the old covenant entryway, which the Spirit has now replaced
Now here's the bigger point. If you go to circumcision and the law, if you go back to those things, you are denying that you are Christian. Because circumcision functioned as the entryway into the people of God for Jews. You get circumcised as the entryway into saying, I'm part of the covenant. If the Galatians, after having already received the Spirit, go back and get circumcised, Paul says, "You're essentially saying you were never a Christian to begin with." If you go back and get circumcised, you're in essence saying, "Now I'm a Christian. I wasn't before. Now I've gotten circumcised so that I can be part of the people of God." That's a pretty scary thing. That's what's going on here. It's essentially saying, "You listened to the wrong message and you've forgotten the right message." That's what Paul is saying to them.
27 · Explains that Paul underscores his argument by pointing to the Spirit's activity among the Galatians—miracles, healings, prophecy—all proof that the Spirit is actively at work
The reality that all Christians must start with the Spirit and that it is received by faith is huge evidence in Paul's favor. He underscores it by noting what the Spirit does. What does he say the Spirit does in the text? He's in your midst. He's performing miraculous things. He's doing supernatural works. The fact that he's in the church doing these sorts of things is proof positive that the Spirit is in play. Divine healing occurs when the Spirit is active. People speak prophetic utterances because the Spirit moves them.
28 · Tells the story of the centurion whose servant was healed at a distance by Jesus' word alone, demonstrating the centurion's extraordinary faith—greater, Jesus said, than any in Israel
Now, nothing proves this more incredibly, I think, than the story of the centurion. And the story of the centurion is not unique in the New Testament. You remember how the story goes? Centurion is a Roman officer, so he's in charge of 100 Roman soldiers. That's where the term comes from. He's an experienced soldier. He's also a Gentile. He's not a Jew. He's not part of the covenant people of God. But this centurion, Matthew says, approaches Jesus because he has a dear servant who's paralyzed, and he says in extreme pain. He asks Jesus to heal him, and Jesus agrees. Remember, Jesus says, "I'll come with you. I'll heal your servant." This is how the centurion replies: "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word." 'and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, "Go," and he goes, and to another, "Come," and he comes, and to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.' In other words, saying to Jesus, 'You don't even have to walk a mile with me. You can stand right here, and your authority is such you can command paralysis to leave my servant.' And without even being in the same room, without even touching him, it's gone. And listen to how Jesus responds. When Jesus heard this, he marveled, he was amazed, and said to those following him, truly I say to you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And to the centurion Jesus said, go, let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment.
29 · Applies the centurion story to the sermon's argument: the Spirit worked through faith (not works, not circumcision), and Jesus scandalously said the uncircumcised Gentile had more faith than all Israel—a pattern repeated throughout the Gospels
Now, that's an incredible incidence. That incredible incident intersects with our passage at several points. First, Jesus does not perform the miracle. He doesn't. And when he performs a miracle, the Spirit's active, right? We can understand the Trinitarian things that are at play there. The Spirit is the power that's at work in the signs and wonders that Jesus performs. Well, when he performs that miracle, he doesn't do it because the centurion said 20 Hail Marys, right? He's not doing it because the centurion fasted for a week. He can't be doing it because the centurion is circumcised, because he's a Gentile. He performs the miracle. The Spirit works because of faith. But equally as stunning is the fact that Jesus says this Gentile, this uncircumcised one, has displayed more faith than all of the circumcised. That's a scandalous statement for Jesus to make. He's basically saying some guy off the street has walked into providence and has done something that shows more faith than anybody put together in Providence has ever shown. That's the kind of scandal that's running through their minds right now. Then He gets even crazier. He says, this centurion, this man who represents all the non-Jews, he will come and recline with the patriarchs in heaven, while many of the sons of the kingdom, in other words, many Jews, would go to hell. Why? Because the uncircumcised one had faith and the circumcised didn't. The example isn't an anomaly. Time and again in the Gospels, miracles happen. Jesus does something, and the reason it happens, the reason the Spirit moves supernaturally, Jesus says, is because faith was involved. Time and again, people who are the dregs of society, prostitutes and tax collectors, just code word for saying the sinners of the sinners, the people who have no works to bring to Jesus, come before Him and He moves miraculously because they believe. The Spirit works in our midst by faith.
30 · Applies the principle to modern contexts: when we define 'real Christians' by specific behaviors or convictions, we're functionally saying people weren't Christians before those actions—the same error as the Galatians
Now here's the issue. When we make statements along the lines of, A real Christian votes a certain way, or a real Christian eats certain foods, or abstains from certain things. A real Christian wouldn't have debt. We're fundamentally saying, when we say those things, you weren't a Christian prior to these convictions. Or you weren't a Christian prior to those actions. Now, we're usually a little more subtle than that, right? We usually don't say, "A real Christian would this or that." But if we parse out the subtleties of our language and our actions, we can see those mentalities at work, can't we? Now, the convictions might be good things. I'm not saying those convictions are necessarily wrong. A lot of those things come from a good place. But that isn't the reason someone's a Christian.
31 · Tells a personal story from childhood about his cousin telling him he couldn't go to heaven because he didn't attend the Christian school, illustrating how subtle works-righteousness infects our thinking
Here's an illustration. Where I grew up, there were basically two kinds of churches, essentially. There were hardly any other kinds. There was kissing cousin denominations, the Reformed Church and the Christian Reformed Church. My mom grew up in the Reformed Church, my dad grew up in the Christian Reformed Church. There's not much difference between the two, but one of the differences that's very visible is the Christian Reformed Church believes wholeheartedly you send your kids to the Christian school. Now, I distinctly remember riding in the backseat with my cousin Sarah, who was a year older than me. We were going, and you know, she's— I was probably 6, she was probably 7, and she asked me where I went to school, and I said, Hospers Elementary. And she had this look on her face, I mean, just horror. And she looked at me and said, "You don't go to the Christian school?" And I just, "No, I go to Hospers." You know, not thinking anything about it. And I'll never forget what she said. She said, "Then you can't go to heaven." Whoa, right? Whoa! You go to the wrong school. Keep in mind, this is Hospers Elementary School in Bible Belt Iowa, where most of my teachers were believers. And she says this, and my dad grips my mom's knee in the front seat, I guess I was told afterwards, just saying, "Don't engage in this. We'll talk about it later." Now, her parents wouldn't have said it that explicitly. But where does a 7-year-old figure out that mentality? Right? She figures it out because she's learning from the adults around her. These are the things you do to be a real Christian. And if you don't do these things, then you're not a real Christian. You won't have favor with God. You have to live in fear of hell because you're a little pagan 6-year-old going to the public elementary school and not the Christian school. What were you thinking? Now, that's a humorous example. But we can extend that to a million places in our lives.
32 · Argues that the Galatian error (and ours) isn't outright denial of faith but adding works to it—starting by the Spirit and finishing by the flesh—which Paul condemns in verse 3
The issue in Galatia probably isn't the outright denial of faith. Both the Reformed Church and the Christian Reformed Church in the part of Iowa I came from would have absolutely planted their flag on the hill of justification by faith. They would have articulated faith is absolutely necessary. The issue is that you're adding something to it. The call to go and get circumcised wasn't necessarily denying you started with faith. What it was was a call to finish by your own works. It was an action that stated, "We started out by trusting in what Christ has done for us, but we will finish by what we can do for Christ." To which Paul responds, "Are you so foolish?" in verse 3. "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?" It's our final point this morning. The Spirit proves we start by faith, but the Spirit, Paul says, also proves We finish by faith.
33 · Pastoral encouragement: Paul is addressing believers tempted toward a flesh-empowered existence after conversion, and he's saying they don't have to live that exhausting way
Verse 3 is actually really encouraging. He might be calling them fools, but it's an encouraging thing for us to see. It isn't being addressed to those who are about to become Christians. Paul isn't talking to people who are on the cusp of entering into Christianity. He's addressing people who have already come to Christ. But people who have come to Christ and are tempted to think that after first believing They've now entered into a flesh-empowered, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps existence. Because God helps those who help themselves, don't you know? That's what Paul is addressing here. But he's also saying you don't have to live that kind of flesh-resolved, exhausting existence.
34 · Makes the central theological claim: believers never move beyond the beginning—we start by the Spirit and faith, and we are sanctified by the Spirit and faith
Essentially, you never leave the beginning, Paul says. You will never move beyond the beginning. You began with receiving the Spirit and faith. That's where you started. How do you continue the Christian life? By the Spirit and faith. You begin by trusting, and you will continue by trusting. You were justified by faith, and Paul is saying you will be sanctified by faith. Faith is as much an agent of that as the latter. He's saying your justification happens solely because of faith, but don't then go on thinking that all of a sudden you've left faith behind and now it's just raw works. Now you're going to do holy things to make yourself perfect. No, Paul says, how do you think you're going to be perfected? By the Spirit. By faith. Now you'll play a part in this, a part that you didn't play in your first conversion, a part that you didn't play in your justification, but faith and the Spirit are still absolutely essential. Sanctification is not what we contribute by our works. All our works are what we contribute. By faith. That distinction make sense? Sanctification isn't about what I now bring to the table. Sanctification is not about all the merit that I now produce. You know, I was justified by faith and now I get perfect, I get more like Jesus because I do all this stuff. No, Paul says all your works, all the stuff, is what you now contribute by faith. By still believing in all that you first understood about Christ.
35 · Asserts (via Piper) that disobedience flows from lack of faith and obedience flows from faith—perfection happens the same way as justification, by faith from start to finish
Piper's book Future Grace is correct. All our disobedience flows from a lack of faith. Obedience, on the other hand, always flows from faith. You are perfected in the same way you're justified, by believing into Jesus. It's faith from start to finish.
36 · Introduces the issue of assurance as central to the passage—how do we know God still loves us? Cites Luther's struggle as a monk, unable to do enough to feel assured of God's love
Now, part of the issue that's at stake here is an issue of assurance. Assurance just means, how do I go about my life still putting my head down at night and resting peacefully thinking, God still loves me? Assurance was a huge deal for Luther, right? Remember the story? Part of the reason Luther first grasps the reality of the gospel and justification by faith is because, as a monk, He's tormented by assurance. He could never do enough good things to really feel assured that God loved him. Luther's not an anomaly. We know what it's like to struggle with assurance, right? To struggle with, "Did I do enough good today that God still loves me? Oh, I had a bad day. I sinned in some flagrant ways today. God must not love me." Those are assurance issues. Well, where does assurance come from? Does it come from faith or from the flesh? Faith, right?
37 · Explains the Old Testament significance of circumcision as the covenant sign marking God's people, citing Joshua 5 where the entire wilderness generation had to be circumcised before entering the Promised Land
Circumcision is a significant sign. It's the sign of the covenant. It marked the person as being a member of God's people. Now, in the Old Testament, in Old Testament theology, circumcision is absolutely essential. In Joshua 5, remember the wilderness generation? They're about to enter into the Promised Land, but they've been in the wilderness and none of them are circumcised. And so the whole procession stops and they have to get circumcised before they can enter the Promised Land, because God is saying, you've got to cut your flesh to show that you're my people before you enter this land. This is a massive thing in the Jewish mindset. You don't just sweep circumcision under the rug. Paul is pushing against centuries of tradition here.
38 · Explains how circumcision functioned in the Jewish mindset as the tangible source of assurance—'I'm circumcised, therefore I'm part of the covenant, therefore God loves me
How do I know I'm right with God? It's a big question. How do I— I've been a Christian for 15 years. How do I still know God loves me? How do I still know God's for me? I've been a Christian for 2 weeks. How do I still know? Well, the Jewish mindset, circumcision was the answer. Literally cutting your flesh. It marked you as one of God's people. Faith is still necessary, and Paul will show that later in Galatians. Rightly understood, the Old Testament saw that, but Jews have lost sight of that. Circumcision is now the evidence that you're part of the covenant community. So in other words, if I'm part of the covenant community, I'm good with God. Struggling with assurance? Oh, still circumcised, I'm good. That's literally how you're thinking.
39 · Identifies the core problem: if justification is by faith and not circumcision, how do believers have assurance? Works are tempting because they're tangible—you can touch, feel, and see them
Now, If Paul's right and justification is by faith, not by works of the law, not by things like circumcision, then how does a person know now that they're right with God? How do you know? The issue this morning is figuring out how justification by faith can still provide real assurance. You know what makes the flesh Why is faith so tempting and works so tempting? It's tangible. Right? I need assurance. And if I look to the flesh, and if I look to works for assurance, there's a tangible thing I can touch, I can feel. I have my devotions this morning, so God loves me. There's something I did and I know, and it's right there. I came to church on Sunday, so God loves me more. I did it. There was something tangible. I can feel it. I can see it. For a Jew, assurance is literally found by checking the flesh.
40 · Explains the impulse behind the Galatian error: circumcision would provide tangible assurance
So in a sense, there's an impulse here to get these Galatians circumcised, because if these Galatians don't get circumcised, how are they going to have any assurance going forward? They're going to have no assurance of their faith. They're going to have no assurance they're with Jesus, that they're right with God, that they're part of the community of faith. Get them circumcised so they can have some assurance. Now, this is a scary thing for people. It is totally natural to live in periods of anxious struggle over the question of whether we are right with God. That's not something that's abnormal to the Christian life, right? It's why people recommit their life to Christ for the 15th time. You know? It's why summer camp, I mean, you can't find room at the altar when they put out the altar call because, "I sinned against my sister last week. I was angry at her. Jesus doesn't love me. I gotta recommit." That's where that mentality comes from. Altar call after altar call. I have assurance because, man, I got like 1,300 altar calls under my belt. I'm a pro at the altar call. I can lead the altar call and be part of the altar call myself. That's how we operate and seek for assurance. They're all representations of a struggle. Am I still right with God?
41 · Argues that modern believers devise their own forms of circumcision—tangible acts or convictions that function as sources of assurance instead of faith
Now, a Jew looks to circumcision, and these Jews are tempted to make these Gentiles now go back to circumcision. But what about us? Where's our assurance? Well, the natural tendency is to devise our own form of circumcision. Where I grew up, some people made Christian education their circumcision. You know how I'm right with God? I send my kids to the correct school. And that's how I know they're right with God. There's different ways that we think up What does circumcision look like for us? How can I know that I'm still going to be accepted by God? And man, we are so creative. Thousands of examples, as unique as we are individually, ways that we're devising our own little circumcisions, our own little ways of being tangibly able to show and rest at night, God still loves me because of X, Y, or Z.
42 · Gives concrete examples of modern 'circumcisions'—not dancing, not smoking, reading a certain Bible version—before applying Paul's rebuke from Galatians 3:3-5
And I went to a Baptist college where a form of circumcision was you don't dance. I know I'm right with God. I don't dance. I don't smoke. I'm good. We can take things like the version of the Bible that I read as a form of assurance. Well, I read the Authorized Version, so I have assurance. We laugh, and there's whole denominations that operate that way. Make it a little more close to home. I read the ESV. I know I'm a good Christian, right? All of which Paul looks at and responds by saying, are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 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.
43 · Creates a hypothetical believer named Jamie who illustrates the functional theology of performance-based Christianity—believing obedience controls God's love and ensures salvation
Give you a hypothetical example. Jamie's a Christian. Jamie's believed in Jesus for salvation. Notice Jamie's a nice gender-neutral name, or Pat. But Jamie— sorry, but Jamie isn't seeking to please God. By trusting in God. Jamie is still performing, but now Jamie is performing for the father. Jamie's hoping to get a good grade, and rather than accepting what is pleasing to God, the works of the son, Jamie tries to please the father by raw obedience. For example, Jamie feels more spiritual by going to church. Jamie believes activity for God gets more of God. Jamie feels more spiritual when the flesh is doing. Jamie has a functional theology that says, "I can control and increase God's pleasure and God's love for me." By what I do, not by what Jesus did. I do equals God loves me more. I don't do, God must love me less. Jesus saves, but obedience, that ensures that Jesus still saves.
44 · Makes the theological claim that obedience only pleases God when born from faith, and that assurance comes not from works but from the Spirit testifying in our hearts, citing Galatians 4:6
Now, obedience does please. God is pleased when we obey, when we do the things he calls us to, but only, only obedience born out of faith. The Spirit is the mark that signifies someone belonging to the people of God. The Spirit is the agent that empowers our perfection, that empowers our growth in godliness. And the Spirit is the source of our assurance before God. We don't have circumcision, and we can make up all million little different versions of circumcision for ourselves. But what Paul points us to in Galatians 4:6 is, you know where assurance comes from. You know why Jamie should be confident in the Father's love? Because Galatians 4:6, you are sons, and God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father."
45 · Declares that there's no such thing as performance-based Christianity, and that pleasing God is about believing in the one who truly pleased the Father—Jesus—not our own obedience
There's no such thing as performance-based Christianity. The recovering Pharisee in all of us wants to measure up like Jesus. We started with faith, but now I'm gonna return to the flesh. Because it's just so doggone tangible. But Galatians reminds us, you never move beyond the gospel. It's not the ABCs of Christianity, it's the A to Z of the Christian faith. A Christian who's living by faith in the works of the Son, a Christian who's living by faith in all that Jesus has done for them, is pleasing to God. Pleasing God is not ultimately about what we do, but about believing in the one who could authentically please the Father. That's what faith is. It's saying, I put my trust, I put my hope, I put my assurance in the fact that Jesus, the only one who could actually be obedient enough, was perfectly obedient. And that He's given me access to that obedience by His death in my place.
46 · Asserts that even our best works don't make us acceptable to God—only Jesus was acceptable, and we are perfected by the Spirit through faith from start to finish
Even on our best day, with our best works, we're not acceptable to God, but Jesus was. We aren't accepted by the flesh, and we're not perfected by the flesh. We're perfected by the Spirit, and the Spirit's initial and perfecting work both produces and increases and relies on faith. You start by the Spirit and faith, and you will finish in the same way.
47 · Concludes the sermon's argument with a doxological vision of the Spirit's ministry: whispering assurance into believers' hearts that the Father loves them, sees them in Christ's righteousness, and that their faith—though weak—was a gift that will never go out
And the Spirit— listen to this— the Spirit loves nothing more than to whisper in our hearts, do you know how the Father regards you? He loves you as his precious child. And the Spirit loves to whisper, "Do you know how the Father sees you? He sees you covered with all the purity and holiness and perfection and obedience of Jesus. Do you know why, child?" the Spirit says. "For no other reason than your faith in Jesus." No matter how small or weak it might "that faith was my gift to you. And I promise," Spirit whispers, "it will never go out. Now rest in Jesus, child. Believe in him, in his life, his death, his resurrection. And know the Father's pleasure and his peace." because of Jesus.
48 · Closing prayer asking God to attune the congregation's ears to the Spirit's testimony, to give faith to trust the Spirit's voice rather than works, and to clothe them in an unshakable sense of God's love for them through Jesus alone
Would you bow your heads? Lord, I pray that you would attune our ears to the testimony of the Spirit. Your Spirit speaks into our hearts. Your Spirit cries on our behalf, "Abba, Father." Your Spirit testifies. Your Spirit, your Spirit who works completely in perfect concert with your will, Father, your Spirit testifies that we are your children, that we are partakers of grace, that we are partakers and recipients of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places because of Jesus, because we have trusted in Jesus, because your Spirit pulled the scales from our eyes. Your Spirit testifies to our hearts about these things. So, Lord, I pray that you would help us to hear. God, would you give us the faith by the power of your Spirit to trust in the voice of your Spirit, not to put our hope in tangible, fleshy things like works, and whenever we would make circumstances decision to be Father. Lord, I pray that you would just clothe all your children here this morning in an abiding, unshakable sense that you are for them, and you are for them, and you love them without holding any affection back, and that you withhold no good thing from them. Only and solely and for no other reason than Jesus and our faith in Him. Give us the eyes of faith, Lord. Strengthen us by Your Spirit to believe and throw ourselves upon the mercy of Jesus. And from that, from that faith, create