Galatians chapter three, and
we'll read from verse one. O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you,
Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun
in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye
suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain? He therefore
that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you,
doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness, Knowing ye, therefore,
that they which are of faith the same are the children of
Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. What a blessing it is to us,
brothers and sisters in the Lord, to have Jesus Christ evidently
set forth among us. Evidently set forth. is how the Apostle Paul describes
the preaching of the gospel of sovereign grace amongst these
Galatians. He says, you Galatians before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified
among you, it is a rare and a precious privilege to have Jesus Christ
evidently set forth among us and that crucified. I mean the glory of the divine
person, his uniqueness as our mediator, his worthiness as our
Saviour, His goodness and His gentleness and His grace. And I mean the full, brutal,
bloody cost of our redemption. To have the Lord Jesus Christ
evidently set forth, crucified among you, is a rare and precious
privilege. To have Christ crucified, preached
clearly to us, that we feel ourselves to be present on the hill. Party to the crime. privy to the most intimate details
and elements of his suffering, such that we might reach out
our hands and touch him, stretch out our finger and place it into
the very nail prints in the palms of his hands to touch him. so evidently set forth amongst
us that it feels as if we are there and he is here. Paul preached Christ and he preached
Christ crucified. He preached him with such energy,
such urgency, such intimacy, that it almost felt to these
Galatians that Christ was crucified amongst them. Not amongst the
Jews, not in faraway Jerusalem, But there, in their congregation,
in their town, in their village, there in Galatia, there in Turkey,
that Christ was so real, so present, when the Apostle Paul set him
evidently before them, that it seemed as if they were transported
into the very presence of Christ himself. Now, if we are blessed, so blessed,
to have Christ evidently set before us in power, in clarity,
in evident conversion, in deliverance from sin, in liberty of soul
and spirit, what could possibly tempt us to forgo those blessings
and turn our back on the Saviour. What bewitching argument would
cause us to turn around? What sorcery, what enchantments
might be played out that we might turn away from the evidence setting
forth of Christ crucified amongst us? and go back to the beggarly,
sordid, dirty, inadequate efforts of our own flesh to please God
and gain His pleasure. Paul says, foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you? Who's cast a spell on you that
you would do such a thing? And that's the foolishness of
the Galatians. Someone had indeed bewitched
them. They had slipped up and they
had fallen for a lie. And such is the potency and the
deceptiveness of works religion. I am so pleased. I am so glad. What do I say, that I want to
see a brother and sister in trouble in their soul? No. But I'm so
glad that the example of these Galatians is here for us in Scripture,
because it tells me to be careful for my soul. And it tells me
to be careful for the souls of those around about me. that there
is such a deceptiveness of works religion that it will take us
away easily. Even these people who had heard
that the great apostle preach amongst them, who had seen the
way in which that man had come and literally spent his life
giving them everything he could possibly give, setting Christ
before them. with such a first-hand intimate
account that they thought Christ was amongst them. And yet, so
soon afterwards, they're wandering off. They're slipping up. They're
heading in a different direction. Such is the deceptiveness. They
appeal to our flesh, so much so that even the Lord's true
people are subject to temptation at this level. Mark chapter 13
and verse 22 says, false Christs and false prophets shall rise
and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible,
even the elect. Such is the potency of the tempter. That one who came in the garden
and said, has God really said this? Let us not imagine that had we
been Eve in the garden that we would have been able to withstand
the tempter's attractiveness and wiles. Such is the nature
of our flesh. In the first half of this book,
or this chapter of Galatians, The Apostle Paul is reasoning
with these people that he is writing to, these Galatian brothers
and sisters. He's reasoning with them. And
I think that we can see in the passage that we've read together
a number of arguments. In fact, I'm going to draw your
attention to what I perceive as five arguments that the Apostle
is making here. And I think he is making these
arguments because he is countering the challenges that have been
made by the enemies of the gospel and the enemies of Paul, these
Judaizers that had come to the churches in Galatia that Paul
had previously ministered at and endeavored to obstruct his
ministry and gain supporters for their own religious perversions. So these men were capable men,
they were purposeful men, they were men who came with design,
and they came explicitly to cause deviation and alteration in the
peace of the churches that Paul had established. So he argues
against their arguments. And I think the interesting point
is that the arguments of these Judaizers, these workmongers,
are actually just the same arguments that are used today in order
to distract the Lord's people from looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ in faith. Here, what I'm doing is I'm looking
at Paul's arguments, his defense, and I'm saying, well, what was
he arguing against? Here are the five arguments that
I think these Judaizers were placing before the Galatians. First, they were saying, Paul's
not telling you the whole story. Paul's not telling you the whole
story. He's confusing justification
and sanctification. He's telling you about justification,
but there's more to it than that. Law and gospel, they can work
together. The flesh and the spirit, they
complement each other. They're not exclusive, they work
together. Faith enables good works. And good works, they decorate
true faith. God is pleased with both. Good argument. We've heard that,
haven't we? And don't forget, they said,
secondly, there's value in tradition. There's
a usefulness in ritual. It teaches us how we should act,
how we should live, how we should get on with one another. After
all, look at all these people, look at all these Old Testament
saints. Over all these years, are you
telling us that they're all wrong? Is everybody wrong except you? Also, you'll enjoy this religion. You'll find that your religion
is fulfilling and rewarding. Furthermore, we can support our
position from the Bible. So you can be confident. God
is pleased with your good works and he will reward them. And I think that the Apostle
Paul's defense of the gospel that we have in these verses
is as valid today as it was then. The Apostle cannot stay quiet
when the honour of God, when the well-being of the souls of
these Galatian brothers and sisters is in jeopardy. He says, I withstood
Peter on this matter, face to face, because he was to be blamed.
I had to confront Barnabas, my good friend and companion. I had to confront him and show
him that he was wrong in this matter. And I'm going to answer
you too. I'm going to tell you the truth
of the gospel. And then you're going to have
to decide who you're going to follow. These Judaizers with
their watch religion are that message of gospel truth which
speaks of Christ alone as the only way of salvation and peace
with God. So what is it then that the faithful
apostle has to say? The first argument that these
Judaizers brought was that Paul was not telling the whole story,
that he was confusing justification and sanctification, and that
law and gospel could work together. The flesh and the spirit complement
each other, and it's a popular argument today. But what does
the apostle say? Well, he asks the Galatians a
question. Look at verse two. Verse two
of chapter three. He says, this only would I learn
of you. I just want you to answer me
one thing, just one thing. Received ye the spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith? The spirit that God gave you,
did you earn it? or was it given to you as a gift? Did it come by grace? Just answer
me that question. The spirit that you've got. Now,
if you've got the spirit of God, let's get this clear as well.
If you have the spirit of God, you know Christ. If you know
Christ, then you're one of God's people. You're born again. You're
set apart. You possess faith. You've been
adopted into the family of God. God calls you his children. That means as a child of God
by adoption, you are an heir of all things in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That means that you have the
earnest of the Spirit, the promise of future glory. If you have
the Spirit of God, you've got everything. Everything spiritual,
everything blessed, everything that God gives as an inheritance
to his people, you are a possessor and an heir of it. Now, if you've
got everything, did you get it by the gift of grace, by the
gift of the Spirit, or did you earn it? That's all Paul wants
to know. Not by works, he said. You know
better than that. You didn't get everything of
a spiritual nature, everything that is blessed. You didn't get
that by your works, you got it by the grace of God. Now he says,
having begun in the spirit, are you going to be perfected by
works? What more are these works going
to give you than you've already received? What are you going
to get by these things that you haven't already been given by
grant and promise? If our fitness for glory comes
by faith, and it does, what extra holiness, what extra preparedness
is the law going to supply to you? Verse five, he says, God blesses
his people by grace and by the gospel, not by works. Well, say the Judaizers, there's
still value in tradition. And all these people over all
these years, Paul, all these people, Abraham, and David, and
Moses, and Samson, and all of these great heroes of the faith,
they can't all be wrong. This is how they lived. This
is how they were taught to live. These Judaizers, they believed
that they were the children of Abraham. And as the children
of Abraham by natural, fleshy reproduction, they believed they
were heirs of all the promises and the blessings that Abraham
received from God. The Jews felt themselves better
than others because they were the natural seed. They had been
given the law. They had been given the profits.
They had been given all the benefits and the blessings. There was
a discrimination in their mind. They were elitists. They thought
themselves better than everyone else. And the apostle says, you're
wrong. You're wrong. He just blatantly contradicts
them. No, says Paul. The covenant promises
did not come to Abraham for his works sake, they came to him
through faith. God justified Abraham in Christ
by faith and he gave Abraham the very faith which allowed
him to receive that blessed righteousness. Look at verse six. Even as Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, know
ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the
children of Abraham. Now who is he writing to? He's
writing to Galatians. These are Gentiles. And these
Gentiles are being courted. by the Judaizers. The Judaizers
are saying, we're the children of Abraham. We're the heirs of
the promise. We've got the law. This tells
us how we are to serve God and honour God and how our obedience
pleases God. Now, if you will become children
of Abraham like us, then you need to come under the law and
you need to come under the works responsibilities that we will
show you to do. Paul says, no. These aren't the
children of Abraham. They might have some genetic,
they might have some natural claim to it, although that's
questionable. But they certainly are not the
children of Abraham by faith. That comes as the gift of God. So it is by the hearing of faith,
even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. These are the children of Abraham. It is believers who are the heirs
of the promises of God. And all those spiritual promises
and all of that rich inheritance, it doesn't come by obedience
or works or law. It comes by grace, God's gift. You know, it's a valid question.
Why would we ever want to deny God the pleasure of giving good
gifts to his children. We love to give gifts. We love
to see those gifts being received by our children. I have a little
bit of an issue sometimes with all the gifts that children are
given. I think children have got so much these days that they
actually don't know how to handle a gift. They don't know what
to do with a gift. God gives good gifts to his people. Why are we running around thinking
we've got to earn these things? Galatians 3, verse 7 says, Know
ye therefore that they which are of faith, they that are the
blessed of God, the same are the children of Abraham. Well, what about this third argument
that the Judaizers came up with? After all, they were offering
a rewarding religion here. They were ordering something
that would give these people fulfillment and pleasure out
of their religious activities. And I think that sometimes we
who have grasped something of sovereign grace, the free grace
of God in Christ, fail to see just how attractive this argument
is. Why are there so many people
in works religion churches? Because they want to be there.
Because that's where they get fulfilment. That's where they get stroked. That's where they get patted
on the back. That's where they get their pleasure
and their satisfaction and their fulfilment in their religious
activities. It's good for the flesh to be
blessed like that. And that's what they want out
of their faith. This argument of these Judaizers
is as widespread in the world today as religion is. and it
doesn't have to be Christian religion. We have a high opinion
of ourselves. And are we going to find fulfilment
in works? Some, some, but it is impossible
to please God. You can please yourself, You
can please your minister, you can please your church hierarchy,
you can please your friends and neighbours, and you can boost
your own reputation and standing in the community, but you can't
please God. God's pleasure comes to his people
through and exclusively by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's all. You've got a
problem with that, then it's because you've fallen for the
lie of these Judaizers in your faith. Galatians 3, verse 10
says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things, written in the
book of the law to do them. Now Paul's language here is pretty
emphatic. He says, Cursed is everyone in
all things. You see that? Cursed in all things. Cursed in everything they do. Cursed and everything. And that's
the reality. We like to think that, you know,
there's a lot of good people out there. There's a lot of people
with their good works and their morality and, you know, God's
going to take that into account. God's going to do something with
that. Paul says they are cursed presently. and they will be cursed eternally
in all that they do. The very best work that we can
do still emanates out of a corrupt flesh. The only standing we have
is being in Christ. It's being possessors of the
righteousness that comes not from man, not from flesh, not
from obedience, not from doing, but from God and Christ alone. The holiness that we seek with
God comes through Christ. That warm, self-righteous applause
of men that is so attractive and so desirable, it doesn't
cut it when it comes to God. Either you are free from the
law in Christ, or you are presently under the curse of law and of
works. But what about the fact that
we can support our arguments from the Bible? Well, you can
support it from the Bible, you can support it from your systematic
theology, you can support it from your church creeds and confessions,
you can support it from whatever it is you like. That's your argument. And yes, you've got your colleges
and your universities. You've got your doctors of divinity
and your chairs of theology. You've got your college degrees,
your DDs and your PhDs. But what does Paul say? Look at verse 11. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. You know, There's hardly a word
in there that's more than two syllables big. And yet we have a whole raft
of theological libraries that have been written and pontificated
upon as to how we should live and how we should act and how
we should conduct ourselves. Paul says, no man is justified,
no man is peace with God, no man is right with God by the
law in the sight of God. The just shall live by faith,
and the law is not of faith. but the man that doeth them shall
live in them. You go to the law, that's how
you've got to live. That's what he's saying there
at the end of the verse. If you go to the law, then you've got
to find a way of living under the law. But it won't be the
life of God. It won't be peace with God. It
won't be that which justifies. Righteousness, holiness, happiness,
blessedness comes by faith. Everything we have from God,
every promise in the Lord Jesus Christ comes to us by the free
gift and grace of God. It is received by faith. Our justification, our sanctification,
our holiness is not of our doing, but it is of believing, trusting
in the fullness and completeness of the work of Christ. Now these
Jewish troublemakers that had come to Galatia, as they travelled
around the whole of that Mediterranean area and sought to do damage,
this is all happening in the lifetime of the Apostle Paul.
This is not something that takes hundreds and thousands of years
to percolate up. Immediately the gospel was being
preached like Satan in the garden. Immediately it happened. There
is opposition and there are detractors to the truth. And these Jewish
troublemakers in Galatia, they brought all these arguments in
order to contradict Paul, in order to confuse the church.
but they were rebutted by the apostle. He took the time to
sit and to write a letter back to these people saying, blow
by blow by blow, these arguments, these propositions are wrong. But they had one more. And it's an all-pervasive argument. I dare say that there is not
a nominal believer in God anywhere in the world would disagree with
this argument. God is pleased with your good
works, they said. God is pleased with your good
works and he'll reward them. Now that gives you something
to do. I love it. That means that your pride will
be enhanced. I love that too. It offers rewards
for your efforts above the efforts of your neighbor. I love that
too. I want the applause of men. I
want the applause of my minister, of my church deacons, of all
the people that are around about me. That's what gets me through
the day, those good feelings. But it makes God indebted to
us and not us to him. It is so contrary to the truth
of the gospel that you would imagine that anybody with any
understanding of the gospel would see the fallacy in it and run
a hundred miles from it. But the truth is that there are
Reformed denominations all over the world. who build their people's
hopes and pleasures and blessings upon their obedience to the law. And they tell us that there will
be rewards in heaven and that there will be castles to inherit,
there will be crowns to wear, there will be brightness and
glory that will vary from person to person. depending on how good
we have been in this world, how much we have contributed to the
glory of God, how our works have been received in heaven and in
glory. It's the foundation stone of
every religious denomination and organization. It's a free will proposal And
it teaches us to draw self-righteousness from our works. And the truth
of the matter is we're all mercenaries at heart. We're working for what
we can get. And that's why there has to be
a conversion. There has to be a change. There
has to be an alteration. There has to be an awareness
of what true grace is. and what true mercy from God
includes. What does Paul say? In answer
to this, he says, Christ was cursed under the law as our substitute. He was cursed to satisfy and
fulfil the terms of the covenant of grace. so that we might receive
the benefits of that covenant, the blessings of that covenant,
through faith in Him. That's it. That's all it amounts
to. You can make a religion, you
can form a denomination, you can have your rules, your regulations,
you can establish your tradition and your history and your rituals,
and it doesn't amount to anything with God. Miss this, you've missed
everything. Christ fulfilled every obligation
that God had for his church and people. Christ fulfilled it.
It's a done deal. And we receive the benefits of
that by simple faith in Christ. Not all this paraphernalia that's
added on top to make religious people good in their own sight. How do you receive the righteousness
of God? By faith. How do we inherit the
promises of God? By faith. How do we enjoy new life in Christ,
the love of the Father, the fellowship and fruit of God the Holy Spirit
indwelling us? by faith. How shall we live in
this world and for eternity? By faith. And how do we get faith? It's
God's free gift. He grants it, he gifts it to
all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for a full forgiveness
of sin. All who seek peace with God upon
the merits of the death of Jesus Christ. If you're tired of trying,
if you're tired and weary of working, The Lord
Jesus Christ says to you this morning, come unto me, all you
that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Amen.