'Two ways of Living' (Galatians Chapter 2:19 and in into Chapter 3)

Darren Clarke is one of our regular visiting speakers. He is journeying through the book of the Galatians with us at this present time.

Sermon transcript. Darren Clarke 1/6/2014 5pm.

Galatians Chapter 2:19 and in into Chapter 3

Paul sets out 2 ways of living and contrasts them..

How are you living?, We can live by the flesh, we can live a self centred life, a self empowered life or we can live Christ's live through Him Or Christ can live His life through us.

Paul is concerned for the Galatians He preached the Good News to them...look at verse 1 in Chapter 3.

He speaks about the crucifixion as Good News, the people were probably used to people being crucified, but it wasn’t good news whenever they were thinking about it. Jesus was different, He rose, He didn't stay on the cross, He didn't stay in the grave, He defeated the powers of death and sin and He is seated at the right hand of The Father, ruling and reigning victoriously. This is the Good News that he preached to them, he's seen as another way to live. Paul had never got the chance to stay in one place very long, he had to move on, and others came up behind him, The Judaism as they were called. They would say, 'Wonderful, wonderful. You've heard about Jesus, but have you heard about circumcision, the food laws? Have you heard about these special days, and have you heard about this and that and are you doing all theses things? Let us tell you'......using the Old Testament that they had at the time...'Let us show you about this God'. They got dragged into this old way, and Paul is saying that's an old way and I'm showing you a new way.

But if you don't know Jesus, you've only got one way to live. You can't live this new way because you don't have a choice, you are locked into that old way. But, Jesus gives us a new way. Verses 19 and 20 are two of the key verses in this book. What does he mean through the law? It's hard to pin down equivocally because Paul's not here to explain these verses. He goes on to say how he had died to that way of relating to God, not that the law has passed away or it is useless, he is saying something more powerful. He says ‘I am crucified with Christ’, because the problem was never God, or the law, the problem was me (self that is) He's found a new way of living, it's by trusting, relying on this Jesus, this one who died for me, this one who has risen. He gets really cross with the Galatians and he says, You foolish, stupid Galatians. Who has bewitched you?

I want to encourage us and remind us that the enemy's chief tactic is to get our eyes off Jesus, to get our eyes off of what Jesus has done for us on the cross and to get our eyes onto ourselves, our situations or our problems, Paul calls that bewitching, putting a spell on you. Just like covering the eyes.

V3 has a question for us all to consider, We started by The Spirit, so how can we now think that we are going to be perfected by the flesh, by our own self effort? We can't, it's only by the Spirit. Yet, all it takes to make that shift is to take our eyes off Jesus.

Darren goes on to speak about Job and how it's almost like God is saying to his friends they are wrong when they argue that Job must have done something to deserve it, it's all about His grace, not about what we deserve. All God wants from us is to hear with faith, We have to hear Scripture with faith. Are we hearing with faith, because if we don’t hear with faith, we will never respond with faith. God wants to deal with a heart that is hearing with faith. For us to hear with faith, then we have to know the one who is speaking. Our relationship with God is based on God and all He wants from us is to hear with faith. We have got to come back to what Scripture says. How's your hearing? are you hearing with faith, because if you don't hear with faith, you won’t respond with faith.

Abraham heard with faith, and He is looking at our hearts and He just wants a heart that is hearing with faith. For me to hear with faith means I have got to know the one who is speaking.

Like a bull let loose, we are only likely to take seriously that it is charging around, if it was the farmer who told us rather than a total stranger. Because we know the one who's speaking. So, let's get to know God. Let's realise that the one who is speaking to us is faithful, He is perfectly good, He is perfectly true to His Word, has all power to back that Word up. We can have faith in the one who is speaking to us, when we know, when we really know who is speaking to us, faith becomes a lot easier, when we realise 'This is my Father God speaking to me’.