Are You Foolish? | Galatians (Ep. 2)

I'm hosting this event in Michigan and I find out while I'm there that they've added a hypnotist to the event. Now, I've seen the movie Get Out, and there's one thing I'm not going to do is get hypnotized in the middle of nowhere in Michigan. So what do I do? I introduce the guy, give it up for this guy, and I bail out of the room as fast as I can. I'm sitting in the lobby, phone ready in case things get wild, right? So I peek into the room and this dude in the middle of his set, he's got like 12 people on stage in chairs, and they're all acting like they're falling in an elevator or being scared by a bear or whatever, right? And then it ends and everything's fine, I don't end up in the dark abyss or anything like that. I find out later as I'm asking one of the people, what was that experience like? What's it like being hypnotized? Did you see anything weird? Did you feel anything weird? They look me dead in my eye, and they say, I wasn't hypnotized, I was acting the whole time. What? I was like, yeah, I just didn't want that guy to feel like an idiot. You were faking to protect his feelings? Interesting approach. This is the exact opposite approach of Paul when he's writing to the Galatians. Paul cares deeply about the church in Galatia, and he's not playing games with them. He is keeping it 100% real, and he's going to tell them the truth. And in fact, he opens up chapter three with, and I quote, Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly betrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Stop there for a second. He's saying, look, it was the spirit of God through Jesus Christ that saved you. Do you think that you can go back to the flesh, to your rules and your regulations to continue to be perfected, to continue to become more like Jesus? He says, you're foolish if you believe that. Continues in verse 10. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. Now, this is where it gets a little bit, a little bit heavy. Okay? Have you ever been in a spot where the pleasantries are over, like the time for kind and the time for like patient and the time has ended, like you have hit your wall, you've hit your limit and you're like, look, no more talking around the point. We're getting right to the point. Paul has hit this spot with the Galatians. There's a big problem that they've got to solve and he's trying to help them do that. He's setting up this philosophical problem for them and he's making this argument, right? That if you only have rules and you rely on rules to save you, you can obey all of them perfectly. But if you fail even once, even just a smidge, if you're just slightly off, that all of those rules become your condemnation and they're making a big deal of the rules or a subset of the people are making a big deal of the rules and they're misleading the Galatians into thinking that that's the point of the Christian faith. And Paul knows, Paul knows this, rules will never solve the ultimate problem that we have. So Paul goes on here as he continues and he dropped some bombs on the readers by referencing

Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. Let's pick it up in Galatians 3 verse 12, but the law is not a faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. The law put a spotlight on the gap between us and God's standard. And Jesus came in and filled that gap with himself. And Paul is writing, mentioning Abraham here to let the readers know, listen, he is not just flippantly talking about this. This isn't just kind of his opinion. This is something he has seen through the story of God in the nation of Israel, that Abraham, even Abraham, who was called by God and had a covenant with God, he was imperfect. So that means that all of the people after him were imperfect. And Jesus came in. and he fills that gap that's created between our mistakes and God's standard with himself. Too many people think the law and the faith clash with each other though, right? Because on this side you have like, well, we're all rules, and you get this, and we're like, we're all faith, and and there's not like a little a lot of middle ground, and we think that like they're pulling apart when in fact Paul makes it very clear here that the law and faith actually go together. Here's what he says in Galatians 3 21. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would be indeed by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus might be given to those who believe. The relationship of the law and of the promise of God is not competition but need and fulfillment. The law was not designed by God to give eternal life and righteousness. Rather, the law showed humanity's need for the promise of life through faith in Jesus. Having confined all people under sin, Jesus Christ would be the one that would free us all from sin. So we're all confined under this law

so that Jesus could free us all from it. Galatians 3 23. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. Stop right there. That's important. The law serves an important purpose in guarding us and keeping us until Jesus can set us absolutely free through faith. So if you accept and receive the work of Jesus through faith, you are free. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. So what does this mean? What does this mean in like a nutshell? Break it down in very plain language. If you think that the law is what makes you right before God, you are going to fail for a number of reasons. One, you're not gonna be able to do it all. You're not gonna be able to keep all of the law. Two, you have already messed something up. And three, you're never gonna have a full relationship with God through the law. But if you think that the law needs to be thrown away completely, you are also missing the point. See, Jesus has come to fulfill the law and to give us faith, and he actually elevates the game for us. Because what he does is he sets us free. So if you accept the works of Jesus, that makes you free. Galatians 3.28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. There is no male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus, and if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. You are free, and the playing field is equal. There's no elect and non-elect. There are no specific people groups that have more access to God based on the rules that they keep. No. Jesus levels the playing field, and you don't have to keep that exact checklist to be right with God. Because you are not under that law anymore. Now you're free. You are heirs now. You are not prisoners. So what is a fool, right? He calls these people fools. What is a fool? A fool is someone who has been set free, but still lives like a prisoner. Are you set free? Are you set free from the rules of perfection? Hmm. Be honest with yourself. Are you set free from the expectations of what a good Christian life is supposed to look like? Are you set free from being imprisoned

by looking at your age and thinking, man, I'm supposed to be in a different stage of life right now? Where are the rules, the law, keeping you imprisoned, and where does Jesus need to set you free? Don't be foolish. Don't be foolish in thinking that the do's and the don'ts get you right with God. They don't, and they will leave you wanting more. Paul's prayer to the Galatians, Paul's challenge to them, is to accept Christ and let Christ set them free. Keep in mind, Paul is writing to the Galatian church. He has already been there. He's already told them about the power of Jesus to set them free, and then after he leaves, many of them turn around and go back underneath the rules and regulations that are being brought. Like, that sounds ridiculous. Imagine if you were in prison, and someone comes and sets you free. You walk out of the prison, and a couple days later, you just have to turn around and come back in and live in the prison. It doesn't make any sense, but so many of us do that in our lives right now. People think that the rules and the do's and the don'ts are the things that God wants from us. No, God wants relationship with you. God wants freedom for you. God has leveled a playing field through Jesus. So as you read Galatians 3, as you read the rest of this book, keep in mind, many people are still under some sort of bondage, are prisoners of some sort of rules and regulations and missed opportunities and regret and all of those other things. And Jesus has come to set us free. That's the story in the book of Galatians. That's the point of this letter, is that you and I, we can be absolutely free. And if Jesus has set us free, we're free.

We don't have to be prisoners anymore.