GALATIANS 3
2 Outlines
Galatians 3:1-9
UNDERSTANDING GOD'S
BLESSINGS
I have often acted
foolishly because I failed to think things through.
I've spent money I didn't
have to spend because I failed to think.
I once road in a
helicopter next to an open door without wearing a seat belt.
That certainly wasn't
thinking.
And when I was a layman
I once sided with someone on a key issue, without talking to my pastor first. That wasn't thinking either.
In verses 1 and 3 of our
text Paul calls the Galatians "foolish".
By foolish, he did not
mean they were stupid, or dumb, or mentally deficient. He meant they weren't thinking. Because they
weren't thinking they were being fooled by false teachers.
The false teachers were
instructing these new believers that they had to keep Old Testament Law as well
as believe on Christ in order to have eternal life. Specifically the Galatians were being wrongly
taught that they had to practice the Jewish rite of circumcision in order to be
saved.
Today we as Christians
try often foolishly try to do the same thing. We believe on Christ, and God,
through His Spirit, does a wonderful work in our lives. Then we try to live the
Christian Life without God's power at work within us. We try to be holy, Godly,
and a good witness in our own self-effort. This is foolish. We are not thinking.
We need to understand
God's blessing. God has blessed us so we can live a Christian life that pleases
Him after we are saved. The Galatians were foolish because they did not
understand the blessing of God. We are equally foolish if we do not understand
the blessing of God. In our text Paul
shows us three things about God's blessing that we need to understand.
WE ARE BLESSED WITH THE
SPIRIT
Vs. 2 - These Galatians
were truly saved. They had received the
Holy Spirit of God in their
lives.
Anyone who is saved is
born of the spirit. (John 3:1-8)
Anyone who is truly
saved has received the Holy Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20,
Vs. 5 - The one who
ministers or supplies the Spirit is God.
God supplies His spirit
so that we might be filled with the Spirit and produce the fruit of the
Spirit. Ephesians 5:18-21, Galatians 5:22-23
WE ARE BLESSED BY FAITH
Vs. 2 - Paul asks an
important question.
He wants to know if the
Galatians first received the Spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith? The obvious answer is that they were blessed by the
hearing of faith.
Vs. 3 - Paul shows how
illogical and foolish these Galatians were. They received the Spirit of God as
a result of faith. They began their Christian walk with the Holy Spirit. Now,
they were trying to perfect the Christian life by the keeping of the Old Testament
Law. They should have been living the
Christian Life by simple faith in the power of God's Spirit.
Vs. 5 - The great things
accomplished by the Spirit of God are not by keeping Old Testament Law or any
self-effort without the power of God.
The great things of the Spirit of God accomplishes in our lives are a
result of our faith or reliance, or trust in God.
We are not suggesting
that we are to be lazy. We are suggesting that all that we do should be done by
faith.
WE ARE BLESSED WITH
ABRAHAM
Vs. 6 - Abraham was a
great patriarch, a great hero in Jewish history. God made him a promise. He
promised him a son. He promised him descendents as numerous as the stars.
Abraham believed that promise. God declared him righteous.
Vs. 7 - Those in this
age, which trust Christ as Savior are true children of
Abraham. Those who live the Christian life by faith by faith after being saved
are acting as true children of Abraham.
Vs. 8 - The Gentiles are
justified through faith in Abraham's descendent, Christ. In Abraham all nations
are blessed.
Vs. 9 - Those who are of
faith are blessed with faithful, or believing Abraham.
If you are saved you were blessed with Abraham at the point of salvation. And
every time you trust God by faith as a Christian, you are again blessed with
Abraham.
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Galatians 3:10-14
IT'S SO SIMPLE! DON'T MISS IT!
Introduce your message with an example of someone who
took something simple and made it difficult.
This might include giving travel instructions or working on some sort of
project.
The Gospel itself is really very simple (1 Corinthians
15:3-4, Ephesians 2:8-9), but there are folks who try to add to the
Gospel. This was the problem facing the
Galatians. The Galatians were trying to
live the Christian Life by keeping the Old Testament Law. They were taking something simple, and making
it complicated.
THE CURSE Vs. 10
Trying to be righteous by law keeping (The Ten
Commandments, or any other law.) just doesn't work. The curse is that a person would have to keep
the law perfectly in order to get into Heaven.
Nobody but the Lord Jesus has ever done that. Romans
3:10, 23, James 2:10
THE CONFLICT Vss. 11-12
There are two principles that contradict each other
mentioned here.
The law principle, says, "I will try to be
declared righteous before God based on my ability to keep law, my own
self-effort."
The grace principle says, "I will trust God to do
for me and in me what I cannot do for myself."
THE CURE Vs. 13-14
The cure for those who have not lived righteous lives
according to the law (That's all of us.) is the fact that Christ died for our
sins, becoming a curse for us. When a person receives Christ as Savior, he or
she receive the cure for their sins, and is blessed. They receive the
"promise of the Spirit through faith", which enables them to live
Godly lives.
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