Bewitched Believers

Galatians 3:1-5 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

One of the social media sites I sometimes visit is called Linkedin. Recently I was intrigued by an article entitled “What Is The Worst Thing That Can Happen On A Sunday Morning?” from Church Growth Magazine. I rarely read these articles, because much of what people are doing to grow the “Church” is man-made, not Bible inspired. The article started out good:

“In the push to execute Sunday morning services, it is easy to forget the basics: churches grow when people receive Christ, and people receive Christ when they’re invited to receive Christ. Read the story of a church that has mastered the basics.”

So I thought, “Okay! I believe that. Salvation comes by RECEIVING Christ as He is. Let me see what this Church is doing.”

The article went on to say that this Church was growing so fast, they couldn’t keep up with all the new people coming in. The writer said:

“The worship was loud, sometimes unorganized, sometimes spontaneous. The pastor preached a decent message on “becoming a new creation in Christ.” The message was good yet … a little simplistic.”

When a man came forward at the end of the service, “He knelt. The pastor laid hands on him, and they both prayed a “sinner’s prayer.” Then, some folks took the cover off a horse trough filled with water. This young fellow was about to get baptized!”

After the service, a “Worship Planning Meeting” met, debriefing, looking at the numbers, talking about the sound system. No discussion of Scripture. The Pastor did not come to the meeting, nor did he give input. As I read the article, the one thing that kept coming to my heart was …

Is God in this? Is the Bible in this? I admire that the members are excited about “numbers”, but are people being saved? When the Pastor – and not the Holy Spirit – leads someone in a “Sinners Prayer’, where do you find this in the Bible?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for using technology to reach others. I love the slides we can now show on the wall as I describe the Scripture. But neither I nor any pastor are “God”. God must call people to salvation. God must effect a change in a life. Many Church leaders, years ago, read Rick Warren’s book “Purpose Driven Church”. In that book Warren taught marketing tricks to try and entice people into the Church. I’d love to see 200 here on Sunday. I’d love to see a great crowd. But what about Wednesday Bible Study and Prayer Meeting? What about Sunday night services? A crowd on Sunday morning is great, but God calls me, and all Pastors, to …

Ephesians 4:11-15 (ESV) {God the Holy Spirit} gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ …

Pastors oversee the Church as shepherds, EQUIPPING THE SAINTS FOR THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY. I am called to teach you God’s Word, to BUILD UP THE BODY in the UNITY OF THE FAITH, to teach you about Jesus. To feed you so that you will go from being children to ADULT CHRISTIANS who will not be deceived by the devil.

No Pastor can teach dead people.
You must be BORN AGAIN of God.
You must be DRAWN OF THE SPIRIT to Jesus.
God must save the sinner.
Repeating a “Sinners Prayer” smacks of man made religion.
Nowhere in Scripture do you see the Apostles
lead others in a “Sinners Prayer”

Beloved, the devil is always trying to flood the Church of Jesus Christ with anything that will get it off mission. I can’t save you. You can’t save you. Only God can. Salvation is God’s supernatural response to the human heart REPENTING and RECEIVING the Lord Jesus Christ. I can’t do that for you. Anyone who tells you they can, they are bewitching you.

The Galatians Were “Bewitched” Believers

Galatians 3:1-2 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

What is the Apostle talking about? The Church at Galatia was a Gentile Church, filled with believers who have given their lives to Jesus. They were going well. Beloved, any time the Church gets going well, it won’t be long before the devil will infiltrate, and try to cause it to stumble. This is why we need strong, Bible based Christians in the Church. If not, we will find ourselves (as we saw in Ephesians).

Ephesians 4:14 (ESV) tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

What creeps into Churches that the Bible doesn’t support? The Pastor saves you. Baptism saves you. You must count beads or pray to saints. You must belong to this Church to be saved. Jesus was just a good man. God saves everyone by default, since Jesus died for everyone. You can be saved by Jesus and ignore Him in your life. You can do what you want to do and go to Heaven. We are gods who will one day be equal to God. God is not a Trinity, but an Actor. The Bible is a fairytale, not the Word of God.

There’s more, and I’ve heard them all over the past 50 years. What was the lie that Satan pumped into the congregation at Galatia? You must follow the Mosaic Law to be saved. Paul asks:

Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath BEWITCHED {baskainō} you

Word Study: The word translated “BEWITCHED” is the Greek baskainō, used only here in the New Testament. The word means “to cast a spell on, so as to bring under control”. Paul uses this word specifically because at this time, the only Scripture fully available was the Old Testament. Years ago there was a cute comedy called “Bewitched”, where Daren Stevens wife Samantha, a witch, could twitch her nose and make things magically happen. In the comedy witches were shown as harmless, fun. But God’s view of witches is far different. God said:

Exodus 22:18 (ESV) You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

And as the Apostles wrote the New Testament, we are told:

Revelation 21:8 (ESV) But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

Witchcraft is considered the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), because like murder and sexual immorality, it’s power is not derived from God but from darkness. Those who are specifically cast outside Heaven are “sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Revelation 22:15). Pharisees had crept into the Church and taught the believers there, “You must keep this law, and observe this festival, and do this and that, or God will cast you from Him”. Yet the Apostle says:Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

Word Study: It was well known among the Gentiles that Jesus was crucified on Calvary, and the Apostle Paul had taught them that Jesus was “SET FORTH” by God the Father. This is the Greek prographō, which means “to write before, to depict or portray previously”. It was very clearly presented in the Old Testament that God was going to send a Messiah, a Savior to save us from our sins. The Apostle told the Church at Rome, “whatsoever things were WRITTEN AFORETIME {prographō} were WRITTEN {prographō} for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope”. Our Lord Jesus was foretold all throughout the Old Testament. Jesus told the Pharisees:

John 5:46 (NKJV) For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.

My commentary notes:

“The story of Jesus saturates the meta-narrative of the Bible, and prophecies of His first advent are found throughout the Old Testament. Allusions to Him also come up in micro ways, as many people and events hint at the work He would accomplish. One scholar, J. Barton Payne, has found as many as 574 verses in the Old Testament that somehow point to or describe or reference the coming Messiah. Alfred Edersheim found 456 Old Testament verses referring to the Messiah or His times. Conservatively, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry.”

The Lord Jesus Christ paid for our sins IN FULL. Further, for a person to be saved, the Spirit of God MUST work in their lives.

Galatians 3:2-3 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

When a person RECEIVES Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God the Holy Spirit comes to them and indwells them. The Bible says:

Romans 8:8-11 (KJV) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. [9] But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. [10] And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness. [11] But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Your righteousness did not save you from God’s condemnation. Jesus’ payment for your sins saved you, if you believed. Your righteousness does not bring the Holy Spirit to indwell you. The finished work of Christ on Calvary makes it possible for the Spirit to indwell you. Beloved, if the Spirit of God does not indwell you, you are not Christ’s child. And if the Spirit of God does not indwell you, you are GOING TO HELL!

If you’re saved, you’re saved not because you are “good” or “perfect”, but because you received Jesus as Lord and Savior. You are saved because the Spirit of God indwells you – and you are Heaven bound for it.

Paul says, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”. How stupid is that? I can’t save myself. I didn’t save myself. God saved me, and God saves you IF you believe in Christ Jesus, surrendering your life to Him.

Galatians 3:4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

The greatest persecutors of the early Christians (and even Christians today) are the Judaizers and Pharisees. They hate Jesus. The Jewish Talmud, which teaches Jews about the Old Testament, repeatedly defiles the Name of Jesus. The Rabbis taught that Jesus was raised from the dead not by God, but by sorcery (Talmud Gittin 57a:3) or witchcraft. The Talmud in the same section claims Jesus is being punished with boiling excrement in the next world. The Rabbis taught that Jesus worshiped idols and performed sorcery (Talmud Sotah.47a.14). They refused to receive Jesus as the Messiah, though God did many miracles through Him. The Rabbis teach that:

“On Passover Eve they hung the corpse of Jesus the Nazarene after they killed him by way of stoning … because he practiced sorcery, incited people to idol worship, and led the Jewish people astray.” (Sanhedrin 43a:20). The Judaizers and Pharisees HATED Jesus, because Jesus stood against their false teachings. Jesus said of these so called teachers:

They are children of hell (Matthew 23:15)
Their father is the devil (John 8:44)
Their faith is the synagogue of Satan (Revelation 2:9; 3:9)

The Jewish Rabbis teach that Jesus was born not of a virgin, but out of adultery. A footnote in Talmud Sanhedrin 106a:42 states “Balaam is frequently used in the Talmud as a type for Jesus”. There is much more of this nonsense in the Talmud. The early Church suffered greatly, and suffers today from false teachers who attack our Lord.

Galatians 3:5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

The intent of Satan in using his agents to infiltrate the Church is to create a flesh powered, man made institution. The proof of an effective Church is not large numbers at a rock concert on Sunday morning, but a Church that consistently longs for the power of God’s Spirit and the truth of God’s Word.

Was Abraham Saved By The Law?

Galatians 3:6-7 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Paul now brings out a key section in the Bible of that day, our Old Testament. He refers to the life of Abraham. If there was ever a broken man, it was Abraham. Before he met God, he wasn’t even called Abraham. He was called “Abram” (Hebrew ‘aḇrām) which means “exalted father”. This was what his father Terah named him, as every parent hopes that their children will be great. Yet Abram was not an exalted father. When God the Father came to Abram and called him, Abram was 75 years old and childless (Genesis 12:4).

God came to Abram and offered him the Covenant of Grace. We are told in

Galatians 3:17-18 … the covenant {of Grace}, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

The Law was not given to Noah. The Law was not given to Abram. And yet, both Noah and Abram found GRACE in the eyes of God. They were saved by FAITH, not by keeping the Law!

God came to this broken Abram, the Almighty Father came to the exalted but impotent father, and called him to salvation. God told Abram:

Genesis 12:1-3 (NKJV) Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

How was Abram saved? By believing God. By following God. By heeding God. God said, in essence, “If you’ll follow Me and trust Me, I’ll bless you. You’ll have kids. And through you, I will bless all the FAMILIES of the earth.” What did Abram do? He followed God.

Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

What Paul quotes here is not from Genesis 12, but about 10 years later, in Genesis 15:6. Abram is still without a child, though he has faithfully followed the Lord for ten years. When Abram went to God in prayer about it, the Lord told Abram:

Genesis 15:4-5 (NKJV) … “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

The Bible says, “{Abram} believed in the Lord, and He {God} accounted it to him for righteousness.”

Saving faith believes God, and follows God. Saving faith trusts God. Saving faith realizes that we are deficit, but that God is good and faithful. Saving faith clings to God like a drowning man clings to a life raft.

Galatians 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

The Pharisees were fond of saying that they were “Abraham’s seed”. They said, “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man” (John 8:33). They were physically able to trace themselves back to Abraham, but they were not Abraham’s seed. Jesus told them,

John 8:34-37 (KJV) … Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. [35] And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever. [36] If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. [37] I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

The Pharisees rejected the Messiah, but relied on the Law and their adherence to it to save them. But the Law cannot save. Only God can save. Only Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, can save us from our sins. Only God could save Abram from his brokenness. Only God can save us from our brokenness.

The true children of Abraham are not those who can genetically trace themselves back to him. The true children of Abraham are those who spiritually imitate Abraham, following and trusting in the Lord our God.

The Pharisees, trusting in the Law and their abilities, damned themselves for all eternity. We do the same when we think we with our tiny strength can save ourselves.

Galatians 3:8-9 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

It was God’s intent to JUSTIFY the Gentiles through faith, just as He JUSTIFIED Abraham. God offered Abram the Covenant of Grace, and Abram, believing God, was made by God into Abraham. God takes the broken and, through His Covenant of Grace, makes whosoever will whole. I end with this quote from Pastor J.D. Hall:

“The Gospel does not merely grant a legal acquittal before the throne of God. It transforms the sinner into a new creation. The blood of Jesus Christ is not a mild detergent that lightens the stains but leaves the fabric frayed. It is a consuming flood that regenerates, sanctifies, and resurrects the spiritually dead. This is not poetic embroidery; it is the core proclamation of the New Testament. It is the very blood of Christ, drawn from Immanuel’s veins. … The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, listing the vices that exclude from the kingdom of God, sexual immorality among them, and then immediately declare, “Such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” … That is not careful, hedged language. It is an unqualified declaration that the blood of Christ is entirely sufficient to cleanse even the most sordid sinner and that the ground at the foot of the cross is perfectly level for both harlot and Pharisee.”

Are you saved by Grace? Have you come to God broken, with empty hands? Or are you relying on your ability to save yourselves? Oh, dear ones, reject Satan and his tactics. Trust in the Lord Jesus. Surrender to Him as Savior and Lord. Trust His power, and the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Don’t trust in a “Sinners Prayer” or a Pastor’s assurances. Trust in the Lord. “they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham”. Amen!