“Trust the Spirit, the Promise in Truth”

Scripture: Galatians 3:1-14

The churches in Galatia had been suffering from an age old malady that continued to hobble the people throughout the centuries and into the present age. It had been one of my own personal favorites for many years, and one that limited me in faith during all that time. It is most easily defined by the words “I can do it all by myself, thank you very much!”
The world would say that personal independence is strength, but Paul would have us know differently – he would call it weakness, and it is the very thing that prevents the people of earth from giving their lives to the Lord, and it is the same attitude that limits the growth in faith that the Church seems to be experiencing today. It is society’s cry to the masses – “Even if there is a God, you don’t need religion – be strong, take your own stand, be who you are and not who the church thinks you should be!!”
It’s nothing less than an all consuming and fatal mistake that will condemn anyone who believes it. That is why Paul was so intentional in writing this letter to the 1st century Church, and it is why the Church of 2013 must also read this warning with their eyes and ears and hearts wide open.

Read Galatians 3:1-5

“You fool!” Most of us hear that expression all the time. It means that we have made a decision that someone else doesn’t care much for. It’s not so much a condemnation as it is an expression of disagreement. The implication is that we are less than intelligent.
But less intelligent by what standard? The truth is that the comment is based on beliefs of the person who has declared our act to be foolish, an arbitrary standard at best. There is no universal truth in the declaration, only a personal attitude, an opinion.

But Paul’s declaration that the Galatians were foolish had a much greater ring of truth within it; it was far more than a simple disagreement in principle; it was a truth that was grounded in scripture:

Psalm 53:1 – “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.”
Proverbs 10:14 – “Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.”
Proverbs 14:7 – “Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips”
Matthew 7:26 – (Jesus’ words) “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”

And I found about 150 more references to the foolish person, many of them in Psalms and Proverbs, so this list could have gone on for quite some time. The bottom line is that calling someone foolish is not a compliment, and it is not a joke, and has nothing to do with a disagreement between two people!
A fool is one who denies God. A fool has no wisdom. A fool will always do his own will and will never seek God’s. This is what Paul is comparing the people to when he pronounced “You foolish Galatians!”

He reminds them that they have heard the word of God; that they have heard, with their own ears, that Jesus died for them; that by grace they have been saved; and yet they ignore the teaching and by their own decision, their own actions, they will be condemned. Where has their faith gone? Why have they turned away from the Lord’s mercy? Why do they think that they can do so much better all on their own, and why is the Christ’s gift so despised? Paul is furious that they are putting so little store in God’s endowment, and so much in their own abilities. He accuses them of beginning in the Spirit, but continuing in the flesh.

In 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, he wrote about the gifts of the Spirit. He said “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.” And the people of Galatia were living as though they could attain a perfect existence all on their own!
Certainly, Scripture does talk about becoming perfect, and even John Wesley made the comment that we are “going on to perfection”, but none of these references are about becoming perfect in the body – it means that we are to strive to become perfect in faith, not in our actions, because our actions are governed by the law, and our faith by the Spirit. And neither the Galatians nor anyone else can ever live life perfect in law.
They were going to fail.

Read Galatians 3:6-9

And Paul asks the question “Is righteousness received by faith or the law”? “Will the Gentiles be justified in God’s eyes by faith or by their own good works?” There are many in Israel’s history that would never have been blessed if it depended on their own goodness! Abraham, David, Sampson, Daniel, not to mention Peter and Paul. If the chosen people of Israel needed grace, how much more would the Gentiles need it if they were to inherit the blessings of Abraham?
God had made a promise - to Abraham and all the earth - “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.” (Genesis 22:17), and “This is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations.” (Genesis 17:4) – not a singular mighty nation, but nations, plural. Abraham hadn’t earned this distinction, and he wouldn’t even benefit from the covenant – by his righteousness, he would be the blessing for countless others. And he trusted the word of God that had been given to him.

Abraham put his trust in God. Galatia needed to trust in God. We have to trust in God. Not in our selves, not in Abraham, not in the disciples, not in the saints, but in the Lord alone. We listen and we learn from the witness of those who came before and we learn that the power of the Spirit has been leading and nudging and nurturing people ever since the days of creation. And the Spirit continues to lead and guide today. But do we follow?

Read Galatians 3:10-14

Now we read that not only can’t the law do us any good, but that if we look to the law as a means to righteousness, we will be cursed! The law can’t do a single thing for us except condemn us through our inability to live it. And people still think they can be “good enough”?

The prophet Ezekiel wrote (Ezekiel 33:13) said “If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his own righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered”. We can never be perfect in the law, we can never be good enough, we can never be justified in our own goodness, and we can never escape the curse that has been placed on us. It’s true that the law provides for forgiveness through sacrifice, but the sacrifice of cattle and birds must become a continuous thing – it never ends - and we can never be sure that we have sacrificed enough. True and complete righteousness can only come by faith in the One who redeemed us through his one and only sacrifice. Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh, went to Calvary, to take on the curse, the condemnation, that was rightly ours, and he took that curse to the grave and left it there.

So what are we going to do about it – this “promise of the Spirit”? To paraphrase Paul’s question to Galatia, “Do you receive your identity from the law, or from the Spirit of God?” If we truly seek to identify ourselves with Christ, then the exchange that Jesus offers – his righteousness for our sinfulness – is made. It is Jesus who frees us from our slavery, it is Jesus who is our way from this life into the next, it is Jesus who is the reconciling image of God for our lives, and it is the Spirit of Almighty God who leads us, and encourages us, and enables us, and changes us, and blesses us, with all of the gifts of God.

It has been promised, it has been guaranteed, and the Spirit of the Living Lord points the way for us. Receive the Spirit; Receive Christ; Receive the blessing of the Father. It can never get any better or any easier or any more truthful than that!