Have you suffered so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain?

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INTRODUCTION:

• Chapters 3 and 4 are Paul’s doctrinal defense of the gospel of justification by faith apart from works of the law

• The Judaizers were influencing the Galatians towards legalism and they used the argument that Paul wasn’t teaching the full counsel of God

• He left out the parts involving the Covenant made with Abraham where God institutes circumcision as a sign of the Covenant

• The gospel Paul was preaching was simply grace through faith in Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead

• The Judaizers believed it was required that Gentiles observe the law in order to be saved

So Paul begins…

Galatians 3:1–4 (NKJV)

3 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? ²This 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?

4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

• Literally Paul is saying… who has influenced away from the gospel?

• Did you receive the Spirit (which is what happens when you are born again), by obeying the law or because or believing what you heard?

• There are those who believe grace is a good place to start

• But once you’re saved, they tell you it will take self-effort and discipline in order to grow into maturity

• It’s free to get in, but it will cost you to stay… you must deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Jesus… with the emphasis on what YOU must do… but my flesh is weak and my power runs out and I fail

• Thus I end up falling back into sin… I slide back into the world

• So we say… that person is backslidden… he slid back into sin

• Let me suggest to you that a backslidden Christian is someone who mixes grace with the law and they believe that by discipline and self- effort they become mature believers in Christ…

• They are attempting to perfect in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit

• They’ve fallen from grace by adding the law to grace

• Contrast that to the good news… Jesus is working in me, maturing me, perfecting me by the power of the Holy Spirit… that’s the grace of God

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• Not by my power, but by His power at work in me Galatians 3:5–9 (NKJV)

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? ⁶just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

8 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.

• Paul is probably referring to his own ministry among them

• The power of the Spirit working through Paul’s life… is it by works of the law or by faith?

• Was Abraham declared right with God because he was circumcised or what he declared right with God because he believed God

• Paul says Abraham believed God and it was accounted for righteousness

• So if you believe as Abraham believed, you’re one of his sons

• Now this was an offensive statement to the Jews because they

considered themselves Abraham’s sons by birth and by circumcision Galatians 3:10–12 (NKJV)

10 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.”

12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”

Here we see the problem with the law

• If you are attempting to be justified by keeping the law, you have to obey everything that is written in the book of the law (Torah) perfectly

• Because if you break one law, you are guilty of breaking the whole law

• The man who attempts to be justified by the law must live by the law and the law demands perfect obedience

• But let’s say you succeed and obey all 613 commandments

• You still won’t be justified because God’s standard for justification is faith

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• It doesn’t require faith to be justified by the law

• If you are trying to be good enough for God through self-effort, you can be the most perfect person in the world and still not please God because the Bible says without faith it’s impossible to please God

• So you loose on 2 fronts…

• You loose because you can’t keep the law perfectly

• You also loose because even if you do, God honors faith so you’re cursed… now this is a loose, loose situation for man

What did God do?

13 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”),

14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

What does it mean to be redeemed?

• Paul says God’s solution for man’s dilemma was Christ redeeming us from the curse of the law… what does it mean to be redeemed?

• In Exodus 13:2, God declares the firstborn sons belong to God

• This meant the firstborn male was to be sacrificed to God, which is okay for a firstborn male goat, but not a firstborn male child

• So Exodus 34:19-20 God commands them to redeem every firstborn son

• They redeemed the firstborn son by replacing it with a sacrificial lamb that would die in the son’s place

• What did Jesus do?

• He redeemed us from the curse of the law, by dying on the cross in our place and taking upon Himself the curse of the law… which is death

• He did this so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit (speaking of being born again) through faith

15 Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. ¹⁶Now to

Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. ¹⁷And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later,

cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that

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it should make the promise of no effect. ¹⁸For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

• Vs. 15 Paul is saying when men make covenants we expect them to live up to them

• God made a covenant of unconditional grace to Abraham 430 years before the law was given through Moses

• When God made the Covenant with Abraham, He also promised to be Abraham’s God and the God of Abraham’s descendants

• Paul was the promise was made to Abraham and his Seed (singular) not seeds (plural) speaking of the nation

• What is the promise given to Abraham and his Seed?

• I will be your God and you will be My people (speaking of salvation)

• This promise has given before the law and received by faith

• Now a promise is not an inheritance

• An inheritance is a right that is guaranteed under the law

• A promise must be received

• Paul is using God’s Covenant to Abraham to illustrate a point

• If salvation could be inherited, then it’s not a promise, it’s a right

• But because it is a promise, it must be received by faith apart from the law… which brings up another question

• If faith invalidates the law, why did God give the law?

19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made;

and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. ²⁰Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

• Paul wrote to the Romans through the law we became conscious of sin (Romans 3:20)

• He also writes where there is no law there is no transgression (Romans 4:15)

• The word transgression that Paul uses means to break the law

• Through the law man becomes aware of the charges God has against man and it also makes man aware of his need for a mediator (an attorney) to represent him before God

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• Moses was a mediator between God and the people… through Moses came the law

• Jesus is the mediator between the people and God… through Jesus came redemption from the curse of the law

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness

would have been by the law. ²²But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who

believe. ²³But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. ²⁴Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

• Paul answers the question… does the law invalidate God’s promises?

• The answer is no.

• If man could be saved by obeying the law, Jesus didn’t have to die

• But the law pointed out man’s need for forgiveness by making man aware of all the ways he breaks God’s law

• So the law is a tutor, an instructor, that exposed man’s need for salvation and protected man from destroying himself

• But after faith has come… after man receives Christ, the law is no longer needed because we are now governed by the Spirit

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

• The things that men have used as barriers to separate us from each other, Christ has torn them down

• There are no ethnic barriers, cultural barriers, sexual barriers

• We are all ONE in Christ Galatians 4:1–5 (NKJV)

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4 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, ²but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. ³Even so we, when we were

children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. ⁴But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

• In Judaism, a boy passed from adolescence into manhood after his 12^th birthday… this is called a Bar Mitzvah

• At that time, he became a “son of the law” and is fully responsible before God for all his actions

• For the Greeks, this happened at 18 during a ceremony known as the festival of Apatouria where the child passes from the care of his father to the care of the state and is fully responsible for their actions as an adult

• Under Roman law, the father determined the time of his son’s maturity, thus many scholars believe Paul is referring to Roman law – “until the time set by his father”

• A Roman child became an adult at the family festival known as Liberalia – the day of freedom

• As a minor, the status of a child was no different than a slave, even though he was the future heir of his father’s wealth

• He could make no decisions and he had no freedom

• However, at a time set by his father, the child entered into his responsibility and freedom

• The child was formally adopted by the father and acknowledged as his son and heir

• He would also exchange his old toga for a new toga - the toga virilis

• Paul uses this moving analogy to describe how we were under bondage to the elements of the world

• But at the appointed time, the Father sent Jesus, born of a woman under law to redeem us who were under law that we might receive the

adoption as sons…

• On our day of freedom, our liberation day, He set us free from bondage to the world

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6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” ⁷Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

• As adopted sons and daughters, God acknowledges us as children of promise and heirs to the Kingdoms

• How does He acknowledge us? By giving us His Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit into our hearts

• And the results in our lives is we identify God as our Abba Father

• Abba is a term of endearment, like saying daddy and it implies this intimate love relationship that we now have with God

• To take it a step further… we exchange our old clothes representing our old nature with new clothes… a robe of righteousness

8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. ⁹But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly

elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? ¹⁰You observe days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹I am afraid for you, lest I have

labored for you in vain.

• This is the 3^rd time Paul brings up the former enslaved state of the Galatians… when you did not know God

• You served gods who were not gods

• The false gods of this world are not gods at all… they are demons and demons are created beings

• Demons have no knowledge of the future… they cannot read your thoughts

• They are not omnipresent, but there are so many of them they are present everywhere and they see everything… and they share information

• Paul says… that’s who you served before… you were in bondage to the laws of the demonic powers of this age… ignorant of God

• But then you were introduced to God and you are both known by God and you know God and God set you free

• The question Paul asks is… having known God by grace through faith, why would you exchange this intimate relationship of love with a cold, powerless relationship of law

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• Why go back to what you had before where you were ignorant of God?

• Why go back to a weak, empty way of living?

• Now I’m sure the Judaizers were not intentionally trying to enslave the Galatians by teaching them to observe the law

• And it’s equally true that the Galatians did not see their drift towards legalism as a return to slavery, but Paul says that’s exactly the case

• You think by observing the Jewish holidays you’ll get closer to God when you are actually going back into bondage

• There are segments of the church that believe this today

• Hence, my Messianic friend who owns Inspired Travel would often say…

I visit Messianic congregations in America and most of them are not Jewish… they are Gentiles pretending to be Jewish

• And he doesn’t understand it, because Yeshua HaMashiach (Messiah) has liberated him as a Jew from the law… he doesn’t understand why Gentiles want to be placed under the law when they are free

12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. ¹³You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. ¹⁴And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. ¹⁵What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

• This phrase… become like me… is better translated “be honest with me like I’ve been with you… it won’t offend me

• Another way is to say… put yourself in my place because I’ve put myself in yours

• Paul reminds them of how gracious they were in receiving him

• They treated him as if he was an angel from God

• They even cared for him because when he arrived he was sick

• Some have conjectured that he had malaria, some think it was an injury from being physically tortured and beaten at Lystra (Acts 14)

• Others use this text as an explanation of Paul’s thorn in the flesh (2 Cor.

12:7) because he specifically mentions his eyes

• It was believed Paul had an eye disorder

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• Regardless of what it was, the Galatians were willing to do anything for Paul and now they are rejecting Paul’s message

17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. ¹⁸But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁹My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, ²⁰I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

• I’ve experienced this where someone from another church will zealously court someone in our church… but for no good

• The Judaizers were courting the Galatians to get them to break fellowship with Paul, to discredit Paul’s ministry

• Their interest wasn’t so see Christ formed in them, their interest is simply to add numbers to their group

• Often that is what I see as the case today Galatians 4:21–26 (NKJV)

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—²⁵for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—²⁶but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

• Now Paul is asking… do you really understand what you’re getting yourself into by placing yourself under the law?

• Paul uses an allegory from the Old Testament… Sarah and Hagar

• Sarah gives birth to Issac, the son of promise and Hagar gives birth to Ishmael, who represents the efforts of the flesh

• This is an allegory describing the 2 covenants God made with Israel

• The first covenant is the law and it came through Moses, the flesh

• The second covenant is based on the blood of Jesus that was poured out and the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, the promised One

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Galatians 4:27 (NKJV)

27 For it is written (Isaiah 54:1): “Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear!

Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband.”

• Who are the desolate? Those who are poor in spirit, who know they are bankrupt, poor and needy in terms of righteousness

• Who is she who has a husband? The one who is married to the law…

as we covered in Romans

• So here Isaiah is prophesying that the Gentiles would be brought into this glorious relationship with God through Jesus Christ and not through the law

28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. ³⁰Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” ³¹So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

• Ishmael took advantage of his 13 plus years of seniority over his brother and took every opportunity to give him a hard time

• So it is today… those who are under the law are the meanest and most condemning people I know and they like to take every opportunity to pick on those who are under grace

• But Paul says… we are of Issac… we are children of promise

• Cast out the bondwoman, the law, because the law cannot bring you into this relationship with God through which you become an heir to the Kingdom of God

• Only Jesus Christ can bring you into this position as an adult son

• If you are under the law, you are a slave to the law and not an heir

• You are under the law’s tutelage as a schoolmaster

• It’s only through Jesus that we are made heirs of God

• So we are no longer children of the bondwoman, the law…

• We are children of the free, the promise… so walk in freedom