Justification Sola Fide

Justification Sola Fide

Theme: Study of Galatians

Text: Galatians 2:20 - 3:7

Title: Justification Sola Fide

 

Same Context as last week

  • Judaizers
  • Circumcision
  • Old Testament laws
 

What we talked about last week.

  • The two confrontations Paul had.
  • Jerusalem, and Antioch with Peter
  • We can’t tolerate false teachings
  • We must be accountable to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ
  • At the heart of it all, he was defending and trying to proclaim truth of the gospel
  • Jesus plus nothing. It was through faith alone, Justification Sola Fide
 

Galatians 2:20 - 3:7

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Faith or Works of the Law
3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.
 

The heart of it all is Gal 2:20

Galatians 2:20 - “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”
Galatians 3 explores that a bit further.
 

Galatians 3:1-6

What Paul is doing in these verses, well obviously just yelling at the galatians.
Paul is calling the Galatians fools, idiots. He cannot comprehend that people who profess Jesus Christ as saviour, would fall under the trap and lies of the judaizers. They believed in Jesus, and at that moment, they were justified, because they believed by faith. But then they continued to live by the law and measure their salvation with the law.
 

Contradict the Work of Christ

Their actions, the way they live, contradicts the work of Christ on the cross, it nullifies the grace of God. Galatians 2:21 - I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
  • By putting emphasis on the Old Testament, circumscision, and old tradition, they are basically saying Christ is not enough. Jesus dying is not enough.
  • By adding Christ with the mosaic law, they cancel each other out
  • Examples: Think of it like working out, and running, trying to get fit, You do great workouts, but at home and outside the gym you like eat garbage. Fastfood everyday, eat way too much junk food. And no veggies. Both of these actions contradict each other. The fast-food nullifies the workouts.
 

The work of the Spirit

  • Their actions not only contradict the work of Jesus, but it also contradicts the work of the Spirit
  • Galatians 3:2 - Did you receive the spirit through works of law or believing what you heard [faith]?
  • Through Paul’s question here, Paul is saying when we are justified by faith, that is when we receive the spirit. This is Galatians 2:20.
  • When we are crucified with Christ, when we are justified by Christ, we receive Christ. He now lives in us. We receive his Spirit. We receive the Holy Spirit.
  • Receiving the Spirit is key when being justified, when being saved. Its the mark of a Christian. We now have the Spirit who guides and leads us in this world. That’s what differentiates us from the world. We have the Spirit.
  • Galations 2:20 - When we are justified, Christ’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit enters us.
  • Romans 8:9 - If you don’t have the Spirit, you are not of Christ
  • They go hand in hand. Being justified by Christ, being one of Christ’s, we need to have the Spirit. You cannot have one without the other
 

But here’s a question we all are probably having

2) How do we know we have the Spirit?

Throughout Galatians Paul gives us 3 marks that help us know we have the Spirit

  1. Miracles - Galatians 5 - Does God give his Spirit and work miracles among you by works of the Law, or by your believing? - The Galatians were seeing miracles happening! Healings and so on. and they were all works of the Spirit in their lives.
    • Today God and the Spirit work in the same way. We see miracles everyday
    • God’s provision in your life is a miracle, God’s blessing and protection is a miracle. We don’t have to search far and wide for miracles. And that’s proof that the Spirit is moving in your life.
  2. We know we have the Spirit because we have an assurance deeply felt within the heart
    • Galatians 4:6 - 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
    • When we have the Spirit, we know we are children of God. We know we have a father who provides, who will protect and bless his people. This assurance, this cry of Abba Father is evidence of the Spirit in your life
    • That’s the proof when we know it in our hearts we are children of God
  3. The final proof is a changed life. Galatians 5:22 - 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
    • The Fruit of the Spirit are the mark of the spirit in our lives. We need to see these fruits manifest in our lives. Remember How i said the Spirit is what separates us from the world. Its because its the Spirit who change how we act, how we react, how we respond, how we work. All those fruits can be applied to everything in life. Marriage, work, family, friends, strangers, neighbours, Driving.
    • Wanna see a difference in a specific part of your life, add the Holy Spirit. It will add joy , love and faithfulness to your marriage. It will add patience to your workplace, The Spirit will give you love and kindness in your relationships. We need the Spirit to transform us, and mould us.

3) How do we receive the Spirit?

This answer is simple… Its Faith

Galatians 3:2 - Did you receive the Spirit through works of law or through hearing and believing? Obviously is through hearing and believing. Its faith.

Faith like Abraham

Paul then brings up Abraham. Its faith!

Galatians 3:6-9

6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Abraham was not justified, was not righteous because of his actions, but righteousness was given to him because he believed God. He received the Spirit through faith. through believing, through faith.

What can we learn from Abraham’s faith?

I talked about this in my last few preaching, but its so important.
Abraham’s faith had a strong foundation. That foundation was God’s promise. - All nations would be blessed through him
  • Faith is not measured in the amount of faith we have, but in what we have our faith in. With Abraham it wasn’t about the amount of faith, but that fact that he had faith in the God’s promises. That God will pull through. That God would deliver. Moses had that same faith. Joseph had that same faith.
  • Today Our faith has the same firm, strong foundation of God’s promise. We are the nations that were blessed through Abraham. We receive that same blessing of justification because we believed in faith. And through us God will bless many more nations. That’s the promise that our faith is bound in, and we can have full assurance that God will deliver on that promise

Contradicting the Work of the Spirit / The Galatian Heresy and modern Heresy

Remember how I said the Galatians were contradicting the work of Christ on the cross, they were also contradicting the work of the Spirit!
Galatians 3:2 - After beginning in the Spirit, you try and continue in reliance on the flesh.
By bringing in the Law into the picture, they are putting responsibility on themselves to become holy and set apart. It becomes about trying to follow the law, it becomes about trying to please God
But we know apart from God we can do nothing, that also includes being holy and set apart

The Galatian Heresy is they are justified by faith, but they are not sanctified by the Spirit through faith

This is no longer a matter of justification, but now its a matter of sanctification
Sanctification- When God mould you, breaks you, mends you, He builds you up into the man and woman of God called you to be. That’s the process of becoming Holy and Set apart
Not only are they contradicting the work of Jesus, they are contradicting the work of the Spirit - sanctification
Basically the Galatians are trying to sanctify themselves
 

We too have to watch out for that same heresy in our church today.

  • If you ever heard or said to someone “God helps those who helps themselves” - That is the Galatian heresy in modern language.
  • I’ve heard it many times. And there is well meaning behind it. its meant to encourage people to keep trying and waiting in their struggles and waiting
  • BUT With that statement - It’s no longer about the power and strength of Christ, but it becomes about our own efforts. God just becomes the final push, the cherry on top.The garnish. But who here believes that God doesn’t want to garnish your life, but he wants all of you and he’s giving all of Him to you
  • This idea of sanctifying, doing things in our own efforts does not go in line with Galatians 2:20 - When we are crucified with Christ, our old self dies. Our old self would try to do things on our own. But now we have Christ not just living through us but he lives FOR us. He died for us, he rose again for us so that we did not have to.
Remember how I said The mark of a Christian, is the Spirit, and when you have the Spirit, the Spirit sanctifies us daily. I’m being sanctified, your being sanctified. Slowly but surely.
Sanctification is not about how far you are in your process of becoming new, but its about what you are relying on in your sanctification. We must rely on the Spirit alone for a transformed life, for the spirit to manifest its fruits i our lives
But dude… how do I know I’m being sanctified by the Spirit and not by my own efforts? Do I just stop trying and let the Spirit go? I can’t just stop trying to be a better person, because then nothing will happen… but if I try then I’m relying on my own efforts? So its gets confusing.
John Piper gives a great little guide actually to help us in our daily lives. This will help ensure we are opening ourselves to the Spirit, and allow the Spirit to do his work in our lives - APTAT
Acknowledge - that apart from Christ I can do nothing - in my weakness, Christ Power is made perfect
Pray - That God will transform my life, that God will grow fruits of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of my life. You gotta pray and and ask for it.
Trust - Galatians 3:5 - God supplies us with the Spirit because we hear with faith! Its all about trust
Take the promises of God and pray that you will trust each promise. Pray those promises in your life and believe it!
Act - Take action now! - You may question well I thought it was about not taking things into our own hands? The difference now is the first three things have happened already. You acknowledged, prayed and trust. Its a difference between work of the flesh and a fruit of the Spirit. Your actions will naturally be shaped by the fruits of the Spirit
Thank - Thank God. Give God glory, not yourself. We start by knowing it can only be done through Spirit of God, and we end it off with thanking God working through his Spirit.

Conclusion

To conclude here, its not just about Justification, but sanctification is so important to.
Now that we are justified, we must be sanctified, put through the fire, refined! Let us do so in faith and in the SPIRIT. We started in the Spirit, let us continue to grow in the Spirit! Not like the Galatians, they started in the Spirit, but they continued in the flesh. We cannot just leave it at justification! We need to continue to be sanctified by the Spirit daily. Open up ourselves to the Spirit
I’ll leave you with this, Paul fights for the truth of the gospel in Galatians 2 and 3. If there is anything I want you to remember its this-the truth of the Gospel that Paul is trying to teach here.

The truth of the Gospel is this:

  • The gospel does not tell me try and be holier. It instead tells me to come as I am to the throne of grace
  • Its not about me, but its about the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in my life.
  • its the paradox of being a new creation in Christ, but also being made new everyday by the Spirit