“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?
This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?” – Galatians 3:1-4 NKJV
Shots fired – bang bang!! Yesterday, we ended that Grace is getting used to ‘earning’ things you don’t deserve because Christ gave them to you!
Dear friend, even though disciplines (eg Bible study and prayer) and service help us grow in God, they must not take the place of the Holy Spirit and become ends in themselves. Like, “if I do these, then God will accept me.” Nooo!!
Apostle Paul was asking the Galatians these hard questions, hoping to get them to focus again on Christ alone as the foundation of their faith. Because they had turned away from the Good News to the ideas of the newest teachers in town.
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?— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
- Dear friend, the Holy Spirit gives us great power to live for God.
- Often, the Holy Spirit’s greatest help comes from teaching us to persist, to keep on doing what God wants even when it no longer seems interesting or exciting.
- For instance: Abraham had to keep believing God for a long time; all through His life. May you and I persevere in faith to the end!
So far we’ve seen that the law cannot impart the Spirit, it cannot make us perfect and it cannot work miracles in our lives! Trying to be right with God (justified) by our own effort doesn’t work (v10-11). Good intentions such as “I’ll do better next time or I’ll never do that again” will usually end in failure.
- If you want to keep the law, you have to keep all of it o (the commandments, the feasts, the rituals, sacrifices, every single one of the over 600 instructions). Ei can you… we can’t! (We cannot can!) You’ll crash!
- The just shall live by faith!! By believing in God’s provision for our sins and living each day under his direction and in his power— we can break any cycle of failure and live the new life He promises (Habakkuk 2:4).
v22. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
- The confinement of sin, weights, and addictions is a reality for all people.
- Before faith in Christ delivered most of us, we were imprisoned by sin (like I was with pornography, lust, deception, etc), beaten down by past mistakes, and bound up by desires that we know are wrong.
- God knew we were sin’s prisoners, and He provided a way of escape—faith in Jesus Christ.
Without Christ, sin holds everyone in its grasp, but those who place their faith in Christ break out of these chains. If you are in a similar position like I was, please look to Christ—He is reaching out to set you free.
Let’s conclude for today. When we are joined with Jesus in baptism, we put on His righteousness like new clothes. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).
"That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)
- This simply means that we take up a new identity and a new nature. So a good question for us today is this: have you updated your closet or wardrobe?
- To put on Christ means to be clothed with Him; to assume His person and character.
- You and I have to now live or act out the character of Christ in our daily lives.
To profess Christianity means we take on the life and works of Christ, we follow in His steps, and we do His works! (John 14:12-15).
Reflection for today: “Am I living like Christ?” May the Holy Spirit help us live like Jesus!
Hey, you're blessed and highly favoured and dearly loved!
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