Sermon Tone Analysis

Mr. A asked Mr. B to make him a wooden cabinet because Mr. B was a great cabinetmaker.

Mr. B and Mr. A were friends, and therefore Mr. B said, “Well, I better make this really good . . .

perfect.”

So he worked and worked and worked on the cabinet till he got it to the place where it had been buffed and polished to perfection.

He brought Mr. A into the workshop to see it, and Mr. A picked up a piece of sandpaper and said, “Let me just add one little stroke.”

Mr. B said, “No!

It is finished.

It’s perfect.

And there’s no way to add to it without subtracting from it.”

It’s the same with Jesus Christ’s work.

Because when Jesus died, he said, “It is finished.”

There is nothing else to add to it.

It’s perfect.

And if you add to it, you subtract from it.

If you say, “He did this but I have to add this,” anything you add becomes the real basis of your salvation and makes you your own savior.

Question 33

Should those who have faith in Christ seek their salvation through their own works, or anywhere else?

No, everything necessary to salvation is found in Christ.

The reality of finding salvation in Christ plus anything else is a denial that Christ is the only Redeemer and Savior.

That he is somehow not enough.

John Calvin wrote, “We maintain that of whatever kind a man’s work may be, he is regarded as righteous before God simply on the ground of gratuitous mercy; because God, without any respect to works, freely adopts him in Christ, by imputing the righteousness of Christ to him as if it were his own.

This we call the righteousness of faith, that is when a man, empty and drained of all confidence in works, feels convinced that the only ground of his acceptance with God is a righteousness which is wanting in himself, and is borrowed from Christ.”

Introduction:

As you study the book of galatians you will find that the Galatian believers were struggling with their faith.

False teachers had come into the church and had begun teaching a false gospel; saying that faith plus the works of the law was required for justification and sanctification.

Paul admonishes the church in this passage to continue in truth.

Look with me tonight at Galatians 2:16

1.

The Problem of the Galatians (v. 1)

A. They Were Foolish

Their is a difference in ignorance and foolishness.

Ignorance is acting without knowledge

Foolishness is having knowledge and responding differently

The Galatian believers had grown lazy and undiscerning.

They had foolishly fallen into Judaistic legalism because they had stopped believing and applying the basic truths of the gospel Paul had taught them.

These Galatian believers fell into the trap of comfort.

Simply taking the Theological point of another without verifying it with scripture themselves.

Many are doing this today!

B. They Were Fooled

The word bewitched means that the Galatians were charmed with something like magic.

Essentially, they had trusted feeling over fact.

What was happening to these believers in Galatia is still Satan’s goal today.

He wants to seduce believers to follow false doctrine.

Galatians 5:7 – “…who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?”

C.

They Were Fickle

The Galatians had clearly seen the truth set before their very eyes, yet turned to ritual religiosity.

They turned from the simple Gospel.

The truth they turned from was that they needed nothing other than Jesus Christ to gain salvation.

Even today, the power of the cross is enough.

No ritual, no ceremony, no regulation, or any other thing devised or accomplished by men can pick up where the cross leaves off, because the cross never leaves off!

The work of Christ on the cross is the continuing and eternal payment for all sin, and every sinner who puts his trust in Christ is forever and continually forgiven!

2. The Priority of Faith (vv.

2-4)

A. By Faith We Are Saved (v. 2)

At conversion, believers receive the righteousness of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

These Galatians must have known the Holy Spirit’s unmistakable presence.

B. By Faith We Continue in the Spirit (vv.

3-4)

We are given the Holy Spirit at salvation, and then we are to mature spiritually through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul is emphasizing that you are saved by grace through faith.

You didn’t deserve it (grace) and you can’t work for it.

You must believe (faith).

Likewise, you grow by grace through faith.

It’s not you!

It’s all Him.

Trust and Obey!!!

3. The Power of the Lord (v. 5)

What is Paul saying here?

The One who works in you and through you.

Is He manifested through the works of the Law, or by faith?

Does you doing more stuff, enact God’s grace?

NO!!!

God response is based on relationship, not religion…

Continual growth and spiritual service in our Christian life is not possible through our power.

It is only by the power of the Lord that we continue in Him.

A. The Reception of the Spirit Is by Christ

We receive the Spirit because of the finished work of Christ.

B. The Revelation of the Miraculous Is by Christ

Not only is it crucial for me to know that “Who I Now Am” is because of Christ, but also “Who I Will Become, and What I Will Do” is also because of Christ.

The fruit of the believer is not to be claimed for self.

It is the fruit of the Spirit dwelling within.

Believers are simply commanded to abide in Christ, and in Him we will bear much fruit.

Paul’s message was that only through Christ could powerful and wonderful things be done.

CONC:

Through the law, man has no hope!

Through Christ, man has eternal hope, the promise of salvation, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Galatians foolishly and lazily abandoned the truth of the gospel for a message of condemnation and hopelessness.

Paul’s admonition is that hope is found in Christ, alone.

For redemption, for restoration, for continual strength.

Don’t trust the works of your flesh, you are not enough.

Continue in the Spirit.

Question 33

Should those who have faith in Christ seek their salvation through their own works, or anywhere else?

No, everything necessary to salvation is found in Christ.