Remember, Jesus was crucified for you
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified. (Galatians 3:1)
Christians can be hypnotized by distorted gospels and forget that Jesus was crucified for them. Don’t let this happen to you.
Does your Christian life make sense in light of the gospel? Would you live differently if Jesus had been crucified for you yesterday instead of thousands of years ago?
Remembering that Jesus was crucified for you will help you avoid the spellbinding effect of distorted gospels.
Remember, you received the Spirit by faith, not works
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? (Galatians 3:2)
You did not receive a punch card when you became a Christian entitling you to the Holy Spirit once you achieved enough church attendance and good works. You received the Spirit the same way you received justification: by hearing with faith.
Remembering this will help you spot distorted gospels.
Remember, you’re being perfected the same way you began
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)
Many Christians think it’s a miracle they were saved but that their everyday Christian life is up to them. That’s not true. It’s all supernatural.
Becoming a Christian is like being rescued from drowning. The Savior doesn’t pull you up from the depths of your sin and leave you to swim to shore on your own. He’s with you every step of the way.
The Spirit that helped you begin the Christian life helps you progress in the Christian life. Every day you live for Jesus is another page added to your testimony of what God has done for you, not another line on your resume of what you have done for God.
Remembering this will help you rely on God for both salvation and sanctification.
Remember, your Christian experience points to the truth of justification by faith in Jesus
Did you suffer so many things in vain–if indeed it was in vain? (Galatians 3:4)
The word translated “suffer” could also be translated “experience,” which may make more sense in context.
Your experience of being saved, receiving the Spirit, and growing as a Christian all point away from our ability to save or sanctify ourselves and toward faith in Jesus instead.
Remembering this will help you stay on the true gospel path.
Remember, God’s ongoing work in your life comes through faith
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, just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. (Galatians 3:5-6)
Hearing and believing are the two wheels on the bike. It’s how God got us into Christianity and how he keeps us growing in Christlikeness. We heard the gospel and believed it. Now we get to hear his word and believe it every day.
Remembering these things will help us reject distorted gospels and hold fast to the true gospel. It will help us live lives of grace and faith, forgiveness and deliverance, justification and freedom–both from sin and law.
