Nov. 26, 2023

“THE ROAD TO FREEDOM”

“FAITH OR WORKS?”

GALATIANS 3:1-14

The Christian begins life by faith, and it is continued by faith. So many Christians believe that although they are saved by grace, they maintain their walk with God by doing good works that commend themselves to the Lord, but that is not how it works.

In chapters three and four of Galatians Paul gives us six different  arguments to prove that God saves sinners through faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. We will look at two of those arguments today.

1.    The Personal Argument- Galatians 3:1-5 

In legalistic justification and sanctification, the focus is on self. We depend on our own strength rather than God’s power either to save us or to mature us in the Christian life.

A key word we need to see is “suffered” vs.4, which can be translated experienced. Paul asks, have you experienced so many things in vain?

Paul reminds them that they had truly experienced a meeting with God:

*They Saw The Son of God.

Galatians 3:1 “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?”

“Foolish”-means mindless, thoughtless, spiritually dull.

What caused the believers to backslide so foolishly into legalism?

• They Received God the Holy Spirit

Galatians 3:2-3 “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”

The Holy Spirit is mentioned eighteen times in the book of Galatians and plays an important part in Paul’s defense of the Gospel of the grace of God. 

In the conversion experience, the believers in Galatia had received the Spirit by faith and not by the works of the law. 

Galatians 3:4 “Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

You have begun in the Spirit, Paul say. Nothing needs to be added! Walk in the Spirit and you will grow in the Lord.

*They Experienced Miracles From God the Father

Galatians 3:5 “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

“He” refers to God the Father as the One who ministers the Spirit and “works miracles among you.”

Colossians 2:19 “And not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.”

Ephesians 4:16 “From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

2.   The Scriptural Argument- Galatians 3:6-14 

Paul will now prove that salvation is by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. 

*Abrahams Was Saved By Faith

Galatians 3:6-7 “Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.”

Paul begins by quoting Moses to show that God’s righteousness was placed to Abraham’s account only because he believed God’s promise.

Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

The word “accounted” vs.6- means to put on one’s account or impute.

Matthew 3:9 “And do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

• This Salvation is for the Gentiles

Galatians 3:8-9 “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”

Sinners are justified through faith and not by keeping the law. The logic here is evident: if God promised to save the Gentiles by faith, then the Judaizers were wrong in wanting to take the Gentiles believers back into the law. All “those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”

• Salvation is by Faith, not the Law.

Salvation could never come by obedience to law because the law brings a curse, not a blessing.

Galatians 3:10-12 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”

Deuteronomy 27:26 “Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!”

Law demands obedience, and this means obedience in “all” things.

Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”

The just shall live by faith, nobody could ever live by the law because the law kills and shows the sinner he is guilty before God. 

Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Law says, “do and live,” but grace says, “believe and live!”

• Salvation Comes Through Christ

Galatians 3:13-14 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Deuteronomy 21:23 “His body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.”

“Tree” vs13 relates to the cross on which Jesus died. 

Acts 5:30 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.”

The blessing of Abraham, justification by faith and the gift of the Spirit, is now ours through faith in Jesus Christ.”

We have been “redeemed” vs.13- it means to purchase a slave for the purpose of setting them free. The road to freedom.

Applications:

*Salvation Is A Free Gift, Don’t Try To Earn It.

*Legalism Is An Aggressive Enemy, Don’t Make Friends With It.

*Backsliding Is Temporary Insanity, Don’t Attempt To Reason With It.