I'd ask that you turn with me to the book of Galatians in chapter five, or sorry, chapter three. We're in Galatians chapter three. We finished Galatians two last week. And this morning we're in the first three verses of Galatians chapter three. Let us hear the reading of the word of God. Oh 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? May God bless this, the reading of his word. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you and we praise you for your grace, for your mercy, and for your love. We thank you for gathering us here that we might praise you, that we might hear your word proclaimed. Lord, we have come to you that we might hear your word read, that we might hear you speak through it to our hearts. We have come that we might sing your praises. And Lord, now as we come to the preaching of your word, we ask that you would pour your Holy Spirit out upon this place and make yourself known to those who are here in such a way that all would know that they have heard from the living God and that they would give praise and honor and glory to you and to you alone, leaving no glory for a man, for no man is worthy of that praise. May you be glorified, may you be honored in the preaching of the word today. And may we be fed and conformed to Christ thereby. These things we pray in the name of your son, our beloved savior, Jesus Christ, amen. As many of you know, I actually, I have a dark background wherein I was involved in theater. And part of the education process for that is being exposed to what they call Comedia dell'arte. And unless you're into theater and you're obsessed with theater, you probably have never heard Comedia dell'arte, seen Comedia dell'arte. It's really, in many ways, an extinct art form. But the more you study it, the more you begin to realize that it has kind of filtered out and trickled down into culture. And a lot of the things that were present in that continue to be presented today. And I'm not just talking about the way in which We still have an idea of who Harlequin is. Harlequin came out of Commedia dell'Arte. But one of the things that I've always been fascinated by in terms of how it's perpetuated into culture is with what we call the zany. And those, I'm probably saying that wrong, but I don't have an Italian accent, so forgive me. But the zany were basically the clowns of that performance. And it's actually where we get our word zany from. But the zany, now we can kind of see reincarnated, so to speak, in things like the Three Stooges and Mr. Bean, and even a lot of the different routines that they would do, you can find in modern comedy films and movies that you've seen, and different just little bits that they would do, which were called latzi. And those centered on following what was obviously the wrong course of action. For, you know, the lady faints and then the clown comes in and tries to wake her up by pulling her hair. And either it's doing the wrong action or he's trying to do the right thing, but he's doing it in quite an obviously wrong way. And when we watched kind of those modern incarnations of those things, when we watch, my wife and I have a particular love for Mr. Bean. especially the routine that he does where he falls asleep in church, and going through and watching all of that clowning, all of that foolishness, we can find a great deal of laughter in it when it's somebody else, or when we're not having to pay for the bill of whatever it is that Mr. Bean or the Three Stooges are doing. We laugh when it's somebody else, but certainly there's an apprehension that comes about when it's us or it's someone that we care about. And as we enter into this text, Galatians chapter three and verse one is one of the most famous passages in the book of Galatians. This declaration of Paul's, oh foolish Galatians. There's a lot of people that don't really remember what the book of Galatians is about, but they know that it was some kind of a rebuke because they remember, oh foolish Galatians. They remember that the Galatians were fools. What a wonderful way to be remembered throughout church history. But Paul is addressing someone that he cares deeply about. He's a group of people that he loves. And he calls them fools because he loves them. And so we're going to explore how it is that all of these pieces fit together from our text as we go through it in the course of five points. The first is bewitched fools. The second is Christ portrayed. The third is faith starts. The fourth is faith finishes. And finally, the application. And of course, your outline is provided for you inside of your bulletin, as is the verse list, or at least the majority of the verses this morning. We have quite a few of them. We're not going to quite read all of them, but we're going to reference them as we go along. In order to start into this and understand why it is that Paul would be so audacious as to call a group of saints that he loves and he has ministered to a group of fools, it's good for us to understand what scripture has to say about fools. And with Paul, we're always aware that he has been steeped in the Old Testament. He was well-read, having been trained. He would have had the entirety of the Torah memorized. It's likely that he had the entirety of the Old Testament memorized and was able to simply recite it off the top of his mind. So it's no small stretch to say that when we read an Old Testament passage that has to do with that subject, it was quite near the forefront of his mind, if not on the tip of his tongue. And when we go to the book of Proverbs, we see a great deal that is said about the fool. In chapter one and verse seven, it says that the fool despises wisdom and instruction. In 335, it says that he inherits disgrace. In chapter 10 and verse one, he is a sorrow to his mother. In 1223 and 1316, he flaunts his falling. In 14.9, he mocks the guilt offering. And in 26 and 11, he repeats his folly. And all of that we look at in a very much Old Testament context, or perhaps just transferring it straight over into a secular context, that this is what a fool looks like in the world. And there's much more that can be said about fools, but these are very pertinent to us because all of these things are true of the Galatians. They have despised the wisdom and instruction that Paul gave to them. They are inheriting disgrace from the Judaizers over the beautiful inheritance that has been offered to them in Christ. They have been a sorrow to their mother, the church. They have flaunted their folly to the point that now Paul is hearing about their foolishness. They have mocked the guilt offering that is Christ by seeking to accomplish salvation by their own works. And they have repeated their folly. All of this is true of the Galatians. and any who seek to save themselves by works. And that's why he repeats the question, why are you foolish? In Galatians chapter three and verse three, and in Proverbs 27 and verse six, we see the following. The faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. And that's precisely what we're seeing taking place in this passage. Paul, who loves these people, who cares for these people, who has come before the throne of grace time and again pleading for these people, is the friend whose wounds are faithful. It is not an easy thing to be called a fool. It was not easy for the Galatians to receive these words, but they were faithful wounds of a friend. You see, Paul is not in violation of Christ's command. In Matthew chapter 5, verses 21 and 22, is that declaration where Christ is dealing with the nature of sin and its relationship to the law. He says, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raka, or fool, as that's often translated, shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says you fool shall be in danger of hellfire. Is Paul in violation of this? Is Paul going against that which Christ has said by calling his brothers and sisters in Christ fools? Well, no. What Christ is dealing with there is anger without cause. It's just wrath and anger and the murderous heart. Christ is saying, it isn't just if you actually take the knife and plunge it into the heart of someone else that you're then guilty of murder. If you have harbored that murder in your hearts, If you have harbored that anger in your heart and you've given place for it, then you have sinned against your brother and you have sinned against a holy and a sovereign God. He's dealing in that text with the breadth of what the law really covers, the spirit of the law and the way in which it functions for us and the way in which we are ever in violation of God's law and in need of more grace. And this is not what Paul is doing in the book of Galatians. He's not simply angry with them, and he's certainly not angry with them without cause. These are words of grief. These are words of correction. As I've gone through this text this week, I've continually thought how much I really wish translators didn't put an exclamation point after, oh foolish Galatians, because it makes Paul sound angry. It makes it sound like he's shouting, almost like he's typing out in all caps in order to make it more vehement and more passionate. But when I read those words, I see the sorrow of a pastor. It isn't the angry, oh, foolish Galatians. It is, oh, foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you that you would do these things? In Titus chapter three, verses three through seven, it says, for we ourselves were also once foolish. disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hating and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God, our Savior, to our man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, nor according to his mercy, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ. our Savior. In Luke 24, verses 25 through 27, we see Christ himself use this kind of language. This is actually in the context of the road to Emmaus, which I think I actually preached on that last Christmas. and talked about the beauty of that passage. But after these disciples have talked about the tomb is empty and we don't really know what to think, Christ's response to them, these disciples whom he loved, whom he poured his heart into, then he said to them, oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory. Christ used this language to call them to an awareness that they did not understand what was going on, that they needed instruction, that they needed correction. And certainly there's a tinge of grief that is present in that because he's told them over and over again, the son of man has to be lifted up. I'm going to die. I'm going to Jerusalem and I'm going to die for your sins and I'm going to be raised again. This is what is going to happen. and they didn't understand, they didn't grasp the principles that had been taught to them, and that's what Paul is going through. He's presenting to them the truth again. He's going, I taught you all this, you should know all of this, but apparently it didn't stick. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you into following after a salvation by works when I have preached to you the gospel of grace? And that phrase, who has bewitched you, more literally it can be translated as who has cast the evil, envious eye upon you. And I'm not gonna take you into all of that first century history and what that meant in its context, but it's properly translated as bewitching. But it's kind of fascinating to use that language because the first thing that it calls them to and calls us to is to contrast The envious eye, the evil eye of the Judaizer with God's apostle. In Matthew 20 and verse 12, we see that parable wherein the laborers have been laboring in the vineyard and the master has called some and sent them to the work and then he goes out and he brings in more, and then later on he goes out and he brings in more, and then when they're all being paid out, they're all getting the same way. And so the men who have been laboring from the beginning of the day are getting the same wage as those who have only labored for an hour. And here in verse 12 it says, we see these men say, these last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. This is the envious eye that we're seeing in the Judaizers. All of these Gentiles, these Gentile Galatian white people who have just shown up out of nowhere. By the way, if you haven't been here since the beginning of our study through Galatians, that's where the word Galatians comes from. It actually alludes to their being milky white. These are white people that are being grafted on to the kingdom of God. And God has brought them in and the Jews are going, But Lord, they have not borne the burden and the heat of the day. They have not fulfilled your law. They have not gone through circumcision and done the fasts and worn the clothing and said the prayers and made the sacrifices. We've done all of these things and they're going to get the same heaven that we are. And in a similar fashion in Luke 10, 41 and 42, Christ speaks of rebuking Martha. for her attempt to rebuke her own sister who has chosen the better portion. These Judaizers, like Jonah, have a racist envy of God's free grace that is being bestowed upon Gentiles. In Galatians chapter six, which we're still a long ways out from this, but we'll get there in due time. In Galatians chapter 6 verses 13 and 14, Paul says, for not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Earlier on in the book of Galatians, in chapter 4 and verse 29, It says, but as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. What Paul is saying there is, just in the same way that there was this conflict There was this conflict between the child of Hagar and the child of Sarah, the son born according to the flesh and the son born according to the spirit. That conflict existed in that ancient time and now these Judaizers who think that they're the sons of Sarah are actually the sons of Hagar and they're persecuting the ones who are born according to the spirits. Who has cast the evil eye upon you? Who has bewitched you? Who has deceived you? Well, part of that answer, the most obvious part of that answer is what we've seen in terms of these Judaizers. Contrast these men and the motivation that they have behind their words, behind their actions, behind their teachings. But at the same time, Paul could have very easily said, who has deceived you? without engaging in this supernatural language of bewitching. And he's done this to expose the fact that there are machinations of Satan behind these scenes, that there are desires and corruptions of the evil one who wants to see God's people turn away from the gospel of grace. He wants to see God's people deny the fullness of the gospel. Just as Christ himself said in John 8, 44, you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources. For he is a liar and the father of it. In 1 Peter 5.8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And certainly this is true of the work of the Judaizers, even if they themselves were not conscious of it. It was a bewitching thing for them to be deceived, for them to be convinced that they must fulfill the law in order to be acceptable before God. But now we come to Christ portrayed. Here we see a shift. As Paul continues his defense of the gospel, much of what we've seen already dealt with the nature of justification, and we're going to be engaging later on again with some of these Old Testament arguments that he uses where he draws these principles out of the Old Testament. But here in Galatians, we see this shift to a focus on the personal experience. Certainly, not everything in our Christian life is about what we feel. We don't want to go down that road and make everything about what I feel things to be because God has revealed himself in his word and he's been clear about who he is, about who we are, and about how we are to be saved. but at the same time we don't want to completely divorce out our experience of God. We don't want Christianity to be a purely intellectual exercise because there is to be a relationship that exists there. And God reveals Christ as the bridegroom and us as the bride. And there is to be an intimacy and a closeness there. And Paul is now drawing their eyes to the defense of the gospel through their experience. What do you yourselves know about salvation from your lives? And he begins by talking about how they first heard the truth. Because they are now not obeying the truth. He tells them that before your eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. And this is language similar to a billboard. It was actually an announcement for like the sale of a house, but it's probably the closest equivalent we have is those billboards that you drive past as you go down the freeway. Christ was portrayed to you. We put him up on the billboard. We put it as large as we possibly could so that you could see it and understand it. What did we put on the billboard? Did we put the 10 commandments up on the billboard? No, we put Christ up. Christ was portrayed to you as crucified. He was conveying to them Christ. And this is talking primarily about his preaching. The way in which through words, through imagery, through the depiction of the cross, he painted word pictures for them so that they could see by that eye of faith that indeed Christ had been crucified for sinners such as they. In Acts 26. And verse 18 says, to open their eyes. This is actually Paul recounting his conversion experience and what Christ had declared to him. And God told him that he would be sent to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. How does Paul open their eyes? How does Paul turn them from darkness to light? By the Spirit empowering his preaching. The proclamation of the Word of God. Paul was not using gimmicks. Paul was not using paintings. I was recently informed of an instance where in one of these emergent churches where we're really trying anything we can to try to get people to show up and stick around. There was actually a pastor who had artists painting and sculpting on the platform as he's preaching. Things that are relevant to the sermon to try to bring in more art forms and try to involve the audience and try to get people more captivated. But Paul used words to convey to them who Christ is. You see, Paul didn't preach a works-based how-to form of salvation. He preached Christ. That's what we're told here. We portrayed Christ to you. I preached Christ to you as perfect, as God come in flesh, without flaw, made in every way like us, yet without sin, as Hebrews tells us, yet crucified for their sins. And in doing so, he called them to faith. There's a lot of parallels between what we see in the preaching to the Galatians and what we see in the preaching to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians chapter one, this is beginning in verse 22. This is for Jews with quest assigned and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Then down in chapter two, verses one through five, and I brethren, when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God, which by the way, Paul there is referencing the type of rhetoric and the type of showcasing of public speaking that was popular in his era. He's saying, I didn't come to you to show you how talented of a speaker I am. I didn't come flaunting my abilities and my talents, for I determined to know anything, not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling, and my speech and my preaching were not persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. He trusted in that means of grace. As it says in Romans chapter 10, verses 14 through 17. How then shall they be? How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And this is important. In an age where churches are increasingly bowing to pressure to give distraction over doctrine. To give pyrotechnics over preaching. That's not an exaggeration. I have a pastor friend who's in Canada who told me that there's another pastor in his town who has actually rigged pyrotechnics in the pews. And your associate pastor's getting ideas, but we're not going to do that here. There are countless churches that are presenting foolishness over faith. And it's bad enough that they try to bring in things that are not part of the worship of God and force them in, but so many of them do it badly. We have to trust in those means of grace that God has provided. And in keeping with that, there's another layer to what Paul is saying here when he says that we portrayed Christ to you. Where else did they see Christ if not in the preaching They saw it, in a sense, in baptism, but more so they saw it in the Lord's Supper. Christ was presented to them. It is not that the bread and wine were transformed into the body and blood of Christ, but Paul presented to them visually and metaphorically Christ in the Lord's Supper and told them, this is as Christ's body, which was broken for you. The grain had to be crushed and it had to be passed through the fire. It had to be anointed with the oil in order to provide you sustenance. The grape had to be crushed in order that it might be able to provide you with that which is a symbol of bounty and a symbol of feasting and that which brings joy to the heart. We presented Christ to you. I presented Christ to you in the preaching of the Word, in the Lord's Supper. I showed you what saves you. And I showed you everything that is necessary to save you. And now we come to the faith starts. You see, Paul wanted to know in isolation what they themselves have experienced. And it seems a little strange to us when we read Paul's language here where he says, this only I want to learn from you. And then he has a whole series of rhetorical questions. He's got more than one question. Almost sounds, if you aren't following closely, it sounds like a parent that says, I only have one question for you, and then they have about five that come after that. But what we're seeing here is Paul saying, I want to understand your experience. This is what I want to hear from you. And really, because this is a letter and these are rhetorical questions, he's saying, I want you to think about one thing. What do you know from your salvation that teaches you where salvation comes from? Think about what you went through. Think about your experience. And then he draws their minds to these principles with rhetorical questions. He knows that they have received the Holy Spirit, that same Holy Spirit that instructs them, that we see John speak of as the spirit of comfort, the paraclete, Romans chapter 8 verses 9 through 11. It says, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirits, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Paul is pursuing these Galatians because he knows that the Spirit dwells in them. He knows they have been saved, but they have been deceived. And so he's drawing them back to the basics of faith. He wants them to reconstruct that conversion experience in their minds. And he's asking them, were you receiving the Spirit by your flesh? Were you circumcised at the time that you were saved and you received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Were you observing the Jewish Sabbath? Were you observing the feasts? Were you observing the fasts? Were you observing the clothing restrictions? Were you flawlessly following the Ten Commandments? And the answer to all of this is no. These were Gentiles. They were not doing any of these things. But through the preaching of the word of God, through the hearing of faith, they were exposed as sinners and they were brought low. So that from the gutter of despair, they heard the words of life and clung to them with faith. And Paul uses, as is often his style, what I call a vague genitive. And it comes to us in a prepositional phrase. He says, of faith. And you have to kind of look at the context and try to figure out, what does he mean when he says, of faith? Is he talking about how they heard the gospel of faith? In Acts chapter 10, verses 44 through 48, we see this same kind of language used. Which is while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished. as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For when they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God, then Peter answered, can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. So Peter comes, he preaches, and they hear They hear that truth, they hear that gospel of faith, and they receive the Holy Spirit. Is that what Paul is talking about when he says, the hearing of faith? Or rather, is he talking about the way in which they heard with faith? They heard and clung to those words. with a faith that had been granted to them by God, a saving faith, the likes of which we see in Ephesians chapter one, verse 13, where it says, in him, you also trusted. After you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And as is so often the case when Paul uses these kind of vague genitives, these vague prepositional phrases, he's doing it on purpose so that we see both sides. Because the answer is it's both of these things. It was by faith in Christ's gospel of faith. that these sinners in Galatia were, and that sinners throughout history have always been saved. So coming back to our passage in Galatians. 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? Paul now assumes the answer to verse two. that they were saved, they were justified, they were adopted through the Holy Spirit, through faith. It was not of works. It was not by the law that they were saved. They had experienced salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And yet now they had been fooled by these Judaizers and were attempting to complete the work of salvation on their own, by their flesh. And Paul is using A play on words here. There's a reason he's using this terminology of salvation by the flesh, because what is the drive? What is the greatest symbol that these Judaizers are seeking to accomplish in the Gentiles? It's circumcision. He says, you assume that by the works of your flesh, in the cutting of your own flesh, you are going to be able to somehow complete the work that God started in you in spite of you. God began this work in you by His Holy Spirit, and now you are presuming to complete that work by the power of your own strength. And we may be tempted at this point to be pragmatists and ask, why does this really matter? You see, we're called to do good works. We're called to follow after God's moral law that is presented to us in the Ten Commandments. And certainly the rest of these things are all arbitrary. So the pragmatist in us says, well, if they're following after God's law, doesn't the end of good works justify, or at least render irrelevant, the motivation? Is it really that significant whether we're convincing people to follow after God and do good works out of an attempt to accomplish salvation or out of joy and gratitude? And this has been part of the debate throughout history. The Roman Catholics and the Armenians have come through history and told us you cannot tell people that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. If you tell people that, if you let the big secret out, then they're not going to do anything. They're not going to do any good works. They're not going to follow after Jesus because they don't have any motivation. You've got to put the fear of God into them and make them feel like they're going to go to hell if they don't do enough good works this week. Does the motivation really matter that much? Well, yes, it absolutely does. It is vastly important. Because their presuming to earn righteousness before God by the works of their flesh had two sinful implications. One, it presumed that Christ's work was incomplete. If we are supposed to finish the work, if we have to follow the law of God in order to be found acceptable, then it means that Christ failed to complete it. But in John chapter 19 and 30, we see Christ portrayed to us. We see Christ on the cross, declare the words of victory, it is finished. And I've used this example before, but if I were to go out to Florida, to where they launched the space shuttles, and I were to go down there with a determination that I'm going to help NASA out, with all of my beautiful mechanical engineering skills, and I were to walk up there and I look at the space shuttle and I say, you know what? This looks a little flimsy to me. I'm going to take some old scrap iron and steel and I'm going to see if I can You know tack weld on some supports for this. We're gonna improve this situation for them Sure, they've done some good work here But I think they need help. I think I need to finish the work that's here. Well one Obviously tack welded on chunks of steel are not going to survive passing through the Earth's atmosphere and to every aspect of that space shuttle has been engineered to death and Every gram is accounted for. And if I start trying to weld on chunks of metal, I'm going to offset the balance of it. I'm going to weaken what is already there and in place. I am going to destroy that beautiful piece of engineering. And yet we presume that the God of heaven and earth, who spoke creation into existence, didn't account for all that was necessary for our salvation. It is an insult when we claim that Christ's work was incomplete. And the second implication is that it pretends to assign glory to man that is due to God, and it presumes to indebt God to man. If I've done my half of the job, then God owes me my wages for my half of the job. If I've shown up and I've done the work, then God owes me glory and God owes me blessings. And I hope that your initial reaction to that statement is in horror, that your stomach turns at the idea of anyone having the audacity to say, God owes me glory and God owes me blessings. because it is God alone who saves. As it says in Hosea chapter one and verse seven, I will save you by the Lord your God. God says, I will save you by the Lord your God. He's talking about Christ, the deity of Christ. He says, I will save you by the Lord your God, not by horses or by horsemen or by swords or by chariots. I will save you. In Proverbs 14 and verse 26, we see that it is God alone who preserves. It is God who cares for his children. In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence and his children will have a place of refuge. God saves. God preserves. And it is God who will bring us safely unto glory. In Philippians chapter one and verse six, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. So what is our application? Aren't we supposed to just look at how foolish the Galatians are and walk quietly away and feel self-righteous about ourselves? That's the goal this morning, right? No. You see, if we carefully examine ourselves, brothers and sisters, we will find that we too have played the fool. We have allowed ourselves to believe often that we have to earn our God's love. that we have to earn his favor and his mercies. As one songwriter put it, why are you trying to earn grace? You see, every time we have grumbled against God's providence, when we have grumbled that our prayers have been answered with a no or a not now, we have revealed what fools we really are. And perhaps you're going, Pastor, how is that? If bad stuff happens, it's my prerogative to complain to God. That's my job, I'm supposed to complain. As soon as something goes wrong, I'm supposed to tell him about it, right? I'm supposed to carry my burdens to him. Well, yes, but when you grumble against that providence, when you claim in your heart of hearts that God has not given you what you deserve, When we kick against the goads and grumble, we are claiming that God owes us better. We claim implicitly that we have earned favor and blessing. Oh foolish Arizonans, who has bewitched us? Because I fall into this sin myself. You see, when we fall into this thought pattern, when we act as fools, we rob not only God of glory that is due to him, but we rob ourselves of joy and peace, just as the Galatians did. Because our recourse to not getting what we deserve is either to stew in our own misery or to strive harder to earn grace. But believer, Christ has set you free. He has set tasks before you to be done, but they're to be done in love and in joy, knowing that they will benefit you and will prepare you for heaven. God works all things together for the good of those who love and serve him. And though at times it is beyond our comprehension as to how, each trial, each suffering, each harsh providence is designed in perfect love and designed in perfect wisdom by your Heavenly Father. He began the work in you, He is doing the work in you, and He will bring it to completion. In Christ, He has already overcome the world. So return, return to the tasks that God has put before you, but not in embittered determination to finally earn love, but in joy that you are already loved. When we come to the table today, if you're a Christian, if you're a Muslim, If you are not under church discipline and you are trusting in Christ for your salvation, come to the table today with us. Come with your sins cast away and nailed to the cross. Come and see Christ whose body is broken. See his blood that was shed to make a new covenant by which sinners would be saved. Come in love. Come in repentance, come in faith, and you will be fed. But if you do not know Christ, all of this will seem incredibly foreign. You certainly did not wake up this morning and decide, I'm going to go to Miller Valley Baptist Church so that someone can tell me that I am a fool. Yet if you do presume to stand before God your creator on only the grounds of your own work, then that is what you are. But I speak to you not from a place of arrogance, I speak to you as a fool who is saved by grace. And I tell you that you are surrounded by people who are fools saved by grace. God demands perfect righteousness, absolute Perfect righteousness. The example that I've used before is if I went the entirety of my life without ever breaking God's law, but for one moment I did not love my wife as Christ loved the church, I would be worthy of condemnation. That's the level, that's the standard of holiness that God calls all of creation to. God requires perfect righteousness. and you cannot provide it. Your punishment will be eternal without Christ interceding. So come. Come with nothing in your hands to the foot of the cross. Come, as it says, with nothing in your hands to bring, and simply to the cross do cling. Come in repentance and in faith, casting off your foolishness. and clinging to Christ, who is the wisdom of God for the salvation of men. Let's come before the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you and we praise you for all that you are, for all that you've done, for all the grace that you have shown, for your mercy, for your love. Lord, we ask that you would apply these truths to our hearts. They are easily spoken. They are easily understood, but they are not so easily applied. Lord, we ask that you would ingrain these truths in us, that as we go out from this place, we would not strive to earn your love, but rather, Lord, that we would do these things out of joy and out of gratitude As sinners set free. As those who were unlovable and yet have been shown love. Lord, we. We know that. We are defiled as sinners and we even dread the exposure of our sins, but you know all and yet you have loved us. Lord, we thank you and we praise you for this. Lord, we ask that you would grant us the wisdom and the words and the opportunity to speak of this love that was shown to us for the opportunity to show love to those who are in this world who are lost and without you. We ask that you would use us to grow your kingdom and to glorify your name. And Lord, if there are any here who do not know you, I ask that you would apply your truth, your gospel to their hearts. Lord, expose their sin to them by the law and draw them near to you by your gospel. You are mighty to save. And you are able to save. And you are merciful. So we ask these things of you. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.