Galatians 5:1-6 [1] For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. [2] Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [3] I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [4] You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5] For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [6] For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Galatians: Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
Freedom from Spiritual Slavery
Galatians 4:8-11
Introduction: I did some reading on addiction this past week in preparation for this lesson. One of the things I was reminded of is that addiction or being enslaved to something is a really scary thing, mainly because it preys on our humanness, especially as it was negatively affected by the Fall.
Galatians: Sonship and the Kiss of God
Galatians 3:25-4:7
Introduction: There is a great little book, which I have not finished reading yet, written by George MacDonald called Phantastes, which has some great material for illustrating various problems and struggles within the human condition. The book is about a young man who essentially stumbles into Fairyland where he experiences a bigger than life adventure. He meets all kinds of unimaginable creatures. Some are terrifying. Others are kind and generous. One of the more terrifying creatures that he meets is an ogre in the form of an Ash tree. His first encounter with this creature is in the dark of night as he is walking through the enchanted forest. As he was walking he began to sense a presence looming somewhere near him that left him full of anxiety and fear. But all he could see was an eerie shadow following him that was much darker than the night sky. He becomes desperate to discover its identity.
Galatians: The Power of Promise
The Power of Promise
(For Spiritual Life < Renewal)
Galatians 3:15-25
Introduction: There is a frustration that I have heard verbalized many times by many people over the past two decades with regard to spiritual life and renewal. It has to do with an ongoing sense of personal spiritual renewal. When I taught high school Bible the frustration was stated like this: “Why is it that the seniors return from their senior trip with their hearts enflamed with spiritual passion, but within a month the flames return to their pre-trip flickering selves? Why does it seem that the experience of spiritual renewal is never an ongoing thing? Why is spiritual renewal so often a once-a-year-at-camp occurrence and that’s it? Is it even possible for the believer to enjoy renewal as a way of life?”
Galatians: Living Knowing You are Blessed
Living Knowing You are Blessed
(Versus Living as if You are Cursed)
Galatians 3:10-14
Introduction: Before I read our text for today I want us to remember why Paul is writing what he is writing here in chapter three. The Galatians were living the Christian life by striving to complete or perfect themselves. The problem is not that they were in need of completion and were not aware of it. No, they were well aware of their profound lack as fallen human beings. Rather, their problem was that they were trying to complete themselves through their own effort. We see this in verse 3.
Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Galatians: The Gospel of Blessing
Galatians 3:6-9
Introduction: As I read Galatians 3:6-9, I want you to give special notice to the word “blessed,” and then I want to speak to it’s 21st century relevance.
Galatians: Sanctification by Faith, Alone?
Galatians 3:1-6
Introduction: Many Christians carry two proverbial books on their shelves: (1) an evangelism book which walks them through the gospel, and (2) a discipleship book which sets out all the things that we have to do in order to grow in Christ. So if they are witnessing to an unbeliever, they pull out the evangelism book. If they are discipling a believer or just trying to grow themselves, they pull out the discipleship book. The thinking kind of goes like this: “You enter the Christian life through the power of the Gospel, and you grow in the Christian life through doing what the Bible commands.” Another way of putting this kind of thinking is: “We are justified by faith alone, but we are not sanctified by faith alone. Rather, we are sanctified by faith and committed obedience.”
Galatians: Entering and Continuing
Galatians 3:1-5
Introduction: We need to remember that the main thing that Paul is seeking to do here for the Galatians is to re-establish them in the Gospel. Do you remember Paul’s words to the Galatians found in Acts 13:43?
Acts 13:43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
This is precisely where the Galatians were beginning to fail, namely, in continuing in the grace of the Gospel. So Paul writes the letter of Galatians to re-establish them in the Gospel because their grip on it was beginning to slip.
Galatians: Facing Your Justification
We tend to have one main difficulty with the doctrine of justification as I see it. If you recall from our previous lessons, when Paul refers to “the truth of the gospel” in Galatians (2:5, 14), he primarily has the doctrine of justification through faith in Christ in mind. This means that when Paul says that Peter’s conduct was not in line with “the truth of the gospel”, he is saying that his conduct was not in line with the great doctrine of justification through faith in Christ.
Galatians 2:17-21
Galatians: Walking in Step
The title of our Galatians’ series is Decisive Rescue – Profound Freedom. This happens to be our sixth lesson in the series and I hope a couple of things are happening at this point. I hope that you are beginning to see from Galatians (1) the decisive rescue that God provides through the Gospel, and (2) the profound freedom that is enjoyed in the Gospel. One of the things from which we are rescued is the fear of man. This is a major theme in these first couple chapters as we have seen and it continues through our text for today.
