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Galatians 3:1-6 ESV
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
I.THE NEED FOR DISCERNMENT (1)
A.Paul gives tough love because he knows the Galatians are smarter and more discerning than they are acting.
B.Discernment is necessary because Satan is a master liar and deceiver. (2 Corinthians 11:4)
II.THE GIFT OF DISCERMENT
A.God gifts discernment to all His followers first in the form of His Word.
B.God gifts discernment to all followers through indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
III.FAST START, FALSE FINSH (2)
A.Galatian church started out good but got off track by drifting from the Gospel they had heard from Paul.
B.Paul anchors them back in the truth and then appeals to their experiences.
IV.FAITH OR WORKS (3-5)
A.Do we receive the Holy Spirit through faith or through superior personal morality?
B.Are we perfected through the effort of the Holy Spirit or our own self effort?
C.Does the Spirit richly supply all our needs through faith or are we taken care of by our own grinding?
V.DISTORTING THE GOSPEL
A.We ruin the Gospel through dilution of the Gospel.
B.We ruin the Gospel through subtraction.
C.We distort the Gospel when we monetize the Gospel.
D.In Galatia, they were guilty of Gospel addition.
NEXT STEPS:
1.Discernment matters because without we miss the Gospel and suffer in vain.