Galatians #6 - "Blessed Assurance...Jesus is mine" - Galatians 3:1-14

 


Hopefully this old photo grabs your attention.  The young lady on the far right is Fanny Crosby who is blind but wrote these beautiful words.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine Oh what a foretaste of glory divine

E'er of salvation, purchase of blood Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood

This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long

This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long

Paul is in all out mode to help the Gentile Galatian Christians to be assured that their salvation in Christ alone as enough.  It is sufficient.  It is all that the Scriptures teach.  Anyone adding to this gospel is diminishing the gospel that they have heard.  I keep going back to Galatians 1:3-5 (LSB) for this simple description of the gospel and I have put in some parentheses of who, what, where, when, why and how.

(What is the gospel) Grace to you and peace from 

(Who gives it) God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 

(How is it given) who gave Himself for our sins 

(Why is it given) so that He might rescue us from 

(Where are we now) this present evil age, 

(When is it given) according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

With the help of Warren W. Wiersbe (the original www) we see an outline of Paul's arguments to give assurance of a salvation that is based on Christ alone.

  1. The personal argument - 3.1-5
  2. The scriptural argument - 3.6-14
  3. The logical argument - 3.15-29
  4. The historical argument - 4.1-11
  5. The sentimental argument - 4.12-18
  6. The allegorical argument - 4.19-31
The big question in the personal argument is, "Have we went from the grace of God as the source of our salvation to now emphasizing more the works of man?"  Have we walked across the platform like Peter did out of fear to the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem from the position of faith of Christ alone?  

The big question in the scriptural argument is, "Do we cling to God's words over our own words?"  How does God say faith came by?  What does God say about the place and purpose of the law in our lives?  What is the great limitation of the law that Jesus and only Jesus can overcome by giving Himself for us?

I end the sermon with an "importance" and an "illustration."  The importance is that we are proclaimers of the true and simple gospel and we are the preservers of it.  We proclaim to the world and pray for understanding to be made known to others of God's love through His Son Jesus Christ to us.  We are preservers because we are prone to wander from one side of the platform to the other.  We start in faith but we drift back into living in fear.

This is when another hymn came to mind,...

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness (Christ alone!)
I dare not trust the sweetest frame (bewitched, desert) but wholly lean on Jesus's name
On Christ the solid rock I stand (faith) all other ground is sinking sand (fear)
All other ground is sinking sand.

The illustration is Peter going from faith to fear.  Jesus is walking on the water and Peter is the one who says, "If it is You..."  In faith, Peter steps out of the boat toward Jesus but then in fear he looks at the winds and waves.  He calls out to Jesus and Jesus stretches out His hand to him.  

I see the same happening again with Peter.  In faith he is worshiping in the name of Jesus with those who are "in Christ", Jew and Gentile.  In fear he separates himself from them to be with those who hold and esteem "other things" as necessary to be a "true follower of Jesus."  Paul sees this happening and realizes that Peter has went from standing on the solid rock to the sinking sand.  Paul in this very public confronting account reaches out his hand to Peter to pull him out and we know of later scriptures that Peter writes that he is back firmly on solid ground of Christ alone.  

May we have brothers and sisters in Christ who see when we are going from faith to fear.  May we reach out to their outstretched hand and grab it to pull us out from the sinking sand of fear and back onto the solid rock of faith in Christ alone!  May we do the same for them also.

Adam




A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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