Galatians 3 vs 5-9

· This is such a practical statement! How’d you, each of you, receive

the indwelling Spirit of God? Did God send His Spirit as a result of

you keeping the law? Think about how you became a Christian. Think

about how you became right with God. Did God take a look at you and

impressed with you keeping all of the laws of righteousness decided...,

here you go…! In truth, that was none of us…

· If we went one by one through everyone who today is a Spirit-filled,

citizen of heaven Christian, the only ones that would say they were

saved by good works are the people that aren’t actually saved

because in truth, no one is saved by personal achievement of

righteousness! It’s not even a possibility because to be saved by

achievement has little to do with what you do right and far more to do

with undoing what you have done wrong, which NONE of us can do!

· Paul also brings miracles into this mix! God works miracles. God

heals. God saves. Salvation itself is a miracle. The simple definition of

a miracle is an occurrence of the divine… That’s not us… That is

only God! And so, without going into a long teaching on this, no one

has the gift of healing, the gift of healing is imparted to them for the

occurrence of the divine. No one has/possesses the gift of tongues,

words of knowledge… These are all as the Bible calls them,

“Manifestations of the Spirit.” Let me show you…

· 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do

not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried

away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore, I make

known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus

accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy

Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are

differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities

of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the

manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another

the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the

same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another

the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of

spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the

interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these

things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”

· Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water though because we

should covet these manifestations of the Spirit! We should welcome

them, and we should recognize what they are… A work of the Spirit

and not any person. Paul even said in 1 Corinthians 12:31, “Earnestly

desire the best gifts…”

· So let me show you what gifts are imparted to us for us to possess…

The Bible calls that our specific and personal design of function. Our

body part in the body of Christ, if you will. Romans 12:3-8, “For I

say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not

to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think

soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we

have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the

same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and

individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing

according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy,

let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in

our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in

exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with

diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

· The explication here and the truth is unless you understand that these

are YOUR functions you will always be blaming others for not being

designed like you… and you won’t teach to exhort, you’ll teach to

correct. You won’t give with liberality, you’ll give begrudgingly. You

won’t lead with diligence, you’ll become uninspired. And you won’t

extend mercy cheerfully, you’ll do it blaming them for needing it in

the first place!

Galatians Chapter 3 Verse 6

· Case in point, Paul calls to witness the most important figure in the

history of the Jews, father Abraham. And he quotes from Genesis 15

and that belief that Abraham placed in the God was astronomical,

literally! Genesis 15:5-6, “Then He brought him outside and said,

“Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to

number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for

righteousness.”

· As awesome as this is, it shows that Abraham himself placed his belief

in God, (specifically the word of God) and righteousness was

accounted to him for that belief! It was not, (couldn’t have been),

because he kept the law because the law was not yet given… (430

years later…)

Galatians Chapter 3 Verses 7 – 9

· This is a circumstance where it is essential to take a verse (or a verse

set) in context of the point being made AND to really know the

scriptures because to get at what Paul is trying to say here, (which is

actually quite simple), you need to know a good amount from other

places in the Bible. The simple point that Paul is making here, IN

CONTEXT, is that the blessing of God flows through faith and cannot,

does not, flow through the law. (Faith - believing God, living and

acting and behaving like God is telling the truth – subjecting yourself

to the Word and integrity of God primarily in your life, even above

your emotions or carnal senses…).

· Sons of Abraham was a title claimed proudly by the Jews and

rightfully so… God pronounced an intense astronomical promise on

Abraham. It was a covenantal promise, not based on anything else

other than the integrity of God. AND, Paul introduces that the

Abrahamic covenant was one pointing not to biology but to belief!

“Abraham believed God…”

· Here’s the complexity, and I won’t be able to develop this completely

because this is definitely the deep end of the pool, AND, we will get to

this in the next chapter as Paul returns to this illustration! There were

two specific nations that came from Abraham. The nation of promise,

the line of the free woman (Sarah), and the nation of bondage, the

line of the bondwoman (Hagar). Sarah had Issac but the first son was

by Hagar, Ishmael.

· Interestingly, Ishmael is the son of bondage and therefore a picture of

the law… conceived as a result of the works of men… while Issac is

the son of the free woman and therefore a picture of faith… conceived

as a result of the word of God… And those two war even unto today…

· So, Paul says “all the nations shall be blessed,” because any nation of

people, race, creed, or culture can come to God by faith… And this

also has a double meaning (at least) that whatever nation, I’m going to

go as far as say family, workplace, marketplace, neighborhood,

whatever nation contains these believers is blessed! What’s that

mean? Christians…. WE SHOULD BE A BLESSING to the people

around us!!!!!! Basic Jesus shining right there!

· The crazy part of all of this, and we will have to revisit next chapter

because Paul does as well, is that we get to choose our family! This is

odd, weird, backwards and yet its certainly the case! We can choose to

report to the bondwoman or the freewoman. Report to bondage or

report to freedom! Because of Jesus choosing us, the choice is now

ours! And listen, EVERYONE does choose because it is appointed for

each man to die once and then comes the judgment. Each person will

either be judged based on grace or based on works and the choice is

made in FAITH.

· One last statement. Faith is definitely effort… It’s not bondage.

Bondage is forced. Faith is discipline. Discipline is a personal choice

with GREAT reward. Bondage is no choice with no reward… chose.