The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

 

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

Galatians 3:10-14

 

Galatians 3:10-12

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.” But the law is not faith, rather, “The one who does them shall live by them.”

 

Paul makes three points about living by faith in Jesus as opposed to living based on the law.

 

First, if we are going to live depending on the law to make us right with God then we must obey all the law all the time. James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” If we fail to obey even one part of the law, we are guilty of disobeying all the law.

 

Second, the righteous shall live by faith. We as disciples of Jesus are to live by faith, not by following rules.

 

Third, the law is not faith. Faith is trusting in what you cannot see & trusting in what you do not possession yet but know you will, based on who God is & what God has promised. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith we can please God. So, since the law is not faith, then we cannot please God by trying to keep the law.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about living by faith, not the law, & trusting that faith in Jesus as Savior & Lord makes us righteous.

 

Galatians 3:13-14

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree,” – so that Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

 

In this passage Paul makes it clear that everything comes through Jesus.

 

Since the law has put us under a curse, it is Jesus who redeems or frees us from that curse. He did it by becoming a curse for us by being crucified on a cross.

 

We are recipients of the promise that God gave Abraham, that through him all the families of the earth will be blessed through Jesus. Even if we are Gentiles & not physical descendants of Abraham, through faith in Jesus we have become spiritual descendants of Abraham & heirs of God’s promises.

 

We receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit through Jesus. It is when we surrender our lives to Jesus that we receive the Holy Spirit & are sealed in Jesus for eternity.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting Jesus to redeem us from the curse of the law & make us spiritual descendants of Abraham who receive God’s promises & are filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

Being a disciple of Jesus is not about by following a list of rules. Being a disciple of Jesus is about having a faith relationship with Jesus where He is your Savior & Lord & trusting Him with every part of your life.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

By Faith or By the Law

 

By Faith or By the Law

 

In Galatians 3:1-6 Paul asks a series of questions that should cause us to think about how we are saved & how we are made into the people God created us to be.

 

Galatians 3:1

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

 

Paul is asking who deceived the Galatian Christians into denying that Jesus was crucified for our sins. The beginning of depending on anything other than Jesus for our salvation is when we deny that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We deny that Jesus’ death in the only source of salvation.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about depending on Jesus’ death to pay the cost of our sin.

 

Galatians 3:2

Let me ask you only this; did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

 

Paul is asking the Galatian Christians if they are filled with the Spirit by working to keep all the law or by faith in Jesus as Savior & Lord. The law can tell us when we have sinned, but it cannot empower us to not sin. Only the Spirit can give us power over sin & we receive the Spirit by placing our faith in Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about putting our faith In Jesus as Savior & Lord & receiving the filling of the Holy Spirit to overcome sin.

 

Galatians 3:3

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

 

Paul now turns to sharing about our sanctification. We are saved through faith in Jesus & we are conformed to be like Jesus by the Holy Spirit working in our lives. We are not conformed to the image of Christ by our own human efforts, but only by the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being conformed to the image of Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

 

Galatians 3:4

Did you suffer so many things in vain – if indeed it was in vain?

 

The Galatian Christians along with Paul had been persecuted because of their faith in Jesus. Was that all in vain now? Paul is saying to these believers, have you had such wonderful spiritual experiences, all to no purpose? The Galatian Christians had seen God do awesome works through the Spirit & now they were turning away from faith in Jesus to the law. Does that mean that all the work of the Spirit was for nothing?

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting the work of God the Spirit in our lives as proof that it is about faith in Jesus, not the law that saves & sanctifies us.

 

Galatians 3:5-6

Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by heating with faith – just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

 

How did the Spirit come to indwelling the Galatian Christians & how were miracles done among them: by the law our by faith? It was by faith. Paul uses the example of Abraham. Abraham believed God & he was declared righteous. This occurred many years before the law was even given to Israel. So, just as Abraham was declared righteous through his faith, so we are declared righteous because of our faith.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being declared righteous because of our faith in Jesus.

 

We are saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, made into the image of Christ, & declared righteous all through placing our faith in Jesus as Savior & Lord.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe

Justified by Faith

 

Justified by Faith

 

Justification is the gracious & judicial act of God whereby a person is granted complete absolution from all guilt & a full release from the penalty of sin. The question: By what are we justified? Paul answers this question in Galatians 2:15-21.

 

Verses 15-16 Justified by Faith

This passage makes it very clear that we are justified by faith in Jesus, not by works of the law. In Ephesians 2:8-9 we are told that we are saved by grace through faith. If justification came through acts of the law, it would not be by grace through faith & we could take credit for our own salvation.  

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being justified by faith in Jesus & not works of the law.

 

Verses 17-18: Freedom from the Law

The argument is made here that since we are justified by faith & not works then by turning from faith in Jesus to again embrace the law for justification, we are saying that it is Jesus who made us sin. We are also saying that Jesus’ death on the cross is not enough & that we are still under the burden of having to keep the law to be saved. In James 2:10 we are told that if we fail to keep the whole law, we are lawbreakers & guilty of disobeying all the law.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being freed from the burden of keeping the whole law because we are incapable of keeping the whole law.

 

Verses 19-20: Dying to Sin & the Law

We die to the law so we can find our life in God. We are to identity so much with Jesus that we are spiritually crucified so that it is no longer we who are living but Jesus living in & through us. We live life in our bodies by faith in Jesus because He loved us & died for our sins. We are dead to the law & dead to sin.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about been dead to the law & sin so that we are alive in & through Jesus. People are to see Jesus in us.

 

Verse 21: The Grace of God

If we depend on works of the law or keeping all the law to bring us justification, then we nullify God’s grace & we will never be righteous. Righteousness only comes through God’ grace that allows God to declare us righteous when we surrender our lives to Jesus as Savior & Lord. If righteousness could come through works of the law, then Jesus died for no purpose.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about depending on God’s grace through the death of Jesus for our justification.

 

The law was given to us to make us aware of our sin & our inability to obey the law & thus our need for a Savior. Our trying to obey the law cannot bring us justification because we cannot obey the law fully. Jesus did & that is why He is our perfect sacrifice for sin.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe

Avoiding Hypocrisy

 

Avoiding Hypocrisy

 

In Galatians 2:11-14 Paul confronts Peter over Peter’s hypocrisy. Peter had been fellowshipping with the Gentile Christians in Galatia, but when some Jewish Christians come, Peter withdraws & stops fellowship with the Gentile Christians. Peter’s hypocrisy led other Jewish Christians to withdraw from fellowshipping with Gentile Christians & even Barabas was led astray.

 

How do we apply what Paul did in confronting Peter’s hypocrisy with how we are to confront hypocrisy?

 

We follow Paul’s example by confronting hypocrisy in the church, not in the world. The world is fallen & has no ability to be anything but fallen. The church is not fallen. We are people that God has transformed from sinner to saint. We are to live differently than the world. Paul is confronting Peter, knowing that this is not how Jesus desires His people to relate to each other & knowing that Peter, through the Holy Spirit, had the power to change.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about speaking the truth in love to confront hypocrisy in the church.

 

We must see all followers of Jesus as our brothers & sisters. We cannot put labels on other believers & create human-based divisions. Paul says in Colossians 3:11, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all, and in all.”

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about seeing all Christians as our brothers & sisters regardless of race or gender or language or nation.

 

We must reach out to others & when they come into the church by accepting them. In John 4 Jesus reaches out to an immoral Samaritan women & then to a whole Samaritan village & she & many in the village came to faith in Jesus. In James 2, James warns the church not to treat people differently based on wealth. We are not to welcome the wealthy & reject the poor; all are welcomed in God’s church.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about reaching out to all people to help them to come to faith in Jesus.

 

In Matthew 9 Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him & he does. Matthew then throws a party & invites his friends, tax collectors & sinners to meet Jesus. The religious leaders, the Pharisees got offended because Jesus was eating with sinners. Jesus told them that He had not come for those who saw themselves as righteous with no need for a savior, but He came for sinners who knew they needed a Savior. The church is not a club for the self-sanctified, but a healing place for the sinner.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about loving those who are sinners because that is who we were when Jesus saved us.

 

When people look at the church, they don’t need to see perfect people, but they do need to see people who love differently than the world. When the world sees a transformed church then they will start to listen to what the church says.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

Revelation & Acceptance

 

Revelation & Acceptance

Galatians 2:1-10

 

In Galatians 1:1-2 Paul goes to Jerusalem. He goes because of a revelation from God because of his calling to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul listened to the Holy Spirit & let Him direct his life. In John 5:19 Jesus says that He can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. Paul obeys the revelation from God & Jesus, God in the flesh, and does what the Father is doing.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about doing what God directs us to do & not doing what we want to do & asking God to bless it.

 

In Galatians 2:3 Paul says that Titus who was a Gentile was not made to be circumcised. We as disciples of Jesus are not called by God to make people conform to outward human-based rules or rituals. We have been called to proclaim the gospel & make disciples of all people. In John 17:3 Jesus said that eternal life is knowing the only true God & Jesus who He had sent. It is about relationship, not religion.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about knowing God & living out our relationship with him every day.

 

In Galatians 2:4-5 Paul says that they stood their ground based in the truth in relationship to those who came to spread lies & disunity. We face a world that has been deceived by Satan. The world’s values are based on lies not truth, & in the church we have false teachings. God has called us not to be angry & fight, but to stand our ground in love & live out truth.   

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about speaking the truth in love & then living that truth & love out to show others Jesus.

 

Galatians 2:6 Paul says that he went to those who were leaders in the church & they did not put restrictions on what he was doing. Paul mentioned that, though they were leaders, they we not favored by God over others because God does not show partiality. In Romans 2:11 it says that God shows no partiality. God does not love any of us more or less than any other person. He loves us & desires a relationship with all people.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about knowing God loves His human creation all the same & that we can rest in His love for us.

 

In Galatians 2:7-9 Paul says that the leaders of the church saw that God had called Paul to proclaim the gospel to the Gentile just as He had called James & Peter & John to proclaim the gospel to the Jews. The same grace that had been given to James & Peter & John to minister to the Jews has been given to Paul to minister to the Gentiles. We as disciples of Jesus have specific callings & all those callings come from God & are all necessary for God to build His kingdom.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about following God’s specific callings for our lives & recognizing that all callings from God are valuable.

 

Galatians 2:10 tells us that in all our God given callings we are to remember & serve the marginalized people. In Matthew 25 Jesus makes it clear that we as His disciples are to serve those who are hurting, those who are outcast, & those who are materially & emotionally & spiritually oppressed.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about serving those who have needs.

 

We who are following Jesus must accept others who are following Him even if their following does not look exactly like ours.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

Called by God

 

Called By God

Galatians 1:11-24

 

In Galatians 1:11-12 Paul tells us about the source of the gospel that he is proclaiming.

 

Paul says that the gospel that he preached was not human based but the gospel that God had given him. This is true of all of God’s word. 2 Peter 1:19-21 says, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed; to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shinning in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Bible is God’s word & it comes from God, not humans.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting that the Bible is God’s word & it comes from God, not humans.

 

In verses 13-14 Paul shares about his former life where he persecuted the church & advanced up the ladder of religious authority in Judaism because of his zealous persecution of the church. A person can be religious & be sincerely devoted to following religious beliefs & still miss experiencing God in their lives. John 17:3 tells us that eternal life is knowing the only true God & Jesus Christ who was sent by God the Father. It is about a relationship with God, not a religious devotion to God, that He wants.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about experiencing the reality of the one true God in our lives every day.

 

In verses 15-17 Paul shares his transformation. Paul was set apart through God’s grace before he was born to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. This being set apart came through His encounter with Jesus. Paul spends three years with Jesus being discipled to prepare him to fulfill God’s calling in his life. God desires for each of us is to be transformed & set apart to follow God’s call through following Jesus as His disciple.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about allowing God to transform us & set us apart to follow Jesus as His disciples.

 

In verses 18-23 Paul shares about the beginning of his ministry. He went to Jerusalem & met with Peter. He then went to Syria and Cilicia. The disciples there did not know him personally, but they knew that the man who had once persecuted the church was now proclaiming his faith in Jesus. Just as Paul’s transformation from persecutor of churches to planter of churches, we need to be transformed from one who rejected Jesus to one who has surrendered their lives to Jesus as Lord.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about allowing the world to see the difference Jesus has made & is making in our lives.

 

Galatians 1:24 says, “And they gloried God because of me.” God had called & set Paul apart to proclaim the gospel & Paul had responded in obedience & the result was that God was glorified by people coming to surrender their lives to Jesus as their Lord. God has called & set apart each of us to serve Him & when we do, it will result in His being glorified & drawing people to Jesus to be their Lord.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about obeying God so that He can be glorified.

 

God had a plan for Paul’s life & He has a plan for each of our lives. When we obey God & follow His plan, it will always lead to His glory & our good.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

No Other Gospel

 

No Other Gospel

 

Galatians 1:6-7 says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel – not there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”

 

There is one gospel. The gospel is the good news that Jesus was God in the flesh who came & died for our sins on the cross & rose from the dead showing that He had victory of over death, sin, & Satan & that He will return & put everything under His loving reign for eternity. The one gospel of Christ is based in God’s grace. It is through God’s grace that we enter into the Christian life which is a living relationship with God through Jesus. We do not become a Christian by agreeing to a set of doctrines or values, but by surrendering our lives to Jesus as our Savior & Lord.   

 

So, what happens when we desert this one true gospel?

 

We experience trouble. The trouble here means perplexity, confusion, & unrest. The true gospel that is based in God’s grace brings clarity, stability, & peace. 1 Corinthians 14:33 tells us that God is a God of peace, not confusion. The true gospel of Christ brings peace. All other so-called gospels bring confusion.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about have the true gospel of Christ & it leading us to experience God’s peace.

 

We experience distortion or perversion in our knowledge of the truth. This word means to change into an opposite character. This perverted gospel was changing the nature of the Christian from grace to legalism. It was changing the very nature of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about living out our relationship with Jesus based on God’s grace, not trying to legalistically follow rules & rituals & traditions.

 

Paul is pointing to the truth that everything in our relationship with Jesus is based in grace.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches us that we are saved by grace.

1 Corinthians 15:10 teaches us that we live every day by grace.

Romans 5:1-2 teaches us that we stand in grace daily which leads to experiencing hope.

2 Timothy 2:1 teaches us that we are strengthened daily by grace.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 teaches us that grace empowers us to withstand suffering without complaining.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about letting the grace of God enable us to know God & walk each day in an intimate relationship with Him through Jesus.

 

In Galatians 1:8-10 we get a very strong warning that even if an angel should preach to us anything that is contrary to the true gospel of Christ, we are not to believe it or follow it.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about not trusting any spiritual being other than Jesus & no other spiritual truth other that what God gives us in the Bible.

 

When we believe anything other than the gospel of Christ, we are not serving Jesus.

 

God in His grace has given us the gospel of Christ to provide salvation, to give us peace, to give us hope, to strengthen us, & to give us the empowering to deal with the suffering we will face living in a fallen world. We simply need to believe & obey Him.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe