Sermon Guide: Galatians 3:1-6 "Hearing With Faith"

Key Passage(s)

Galatians 3:1–6 ESV

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 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”?

Sermon Overview

In Galatians 3:1–6, Paul confronts the Galatians for drifting from the gospel of grace, reminding them that they received the Spirit not by works but by “hearing with faith.” This sermon emphasizes that the Christian life—both its beginning and its continuation—is entirely dependent on God’s grace, received through faith. Good works are not the cause of salvation, but the result of it. Christians must resist the temptation to rely on self-effort and instead daily return to the gospel, trusting in the Spirit’s power for sanctification.

Sermon Structure

Main point: The Christian life begins, continues, and is completed by grace alone, through faith alone.

#1 How to Become a Christian

• Receiving the Spirit is relational, not transactional.

• It happens by “hearing with faith,” not moral effort.

• Salvation is a gift, not a reward for good behavior.

#2 How to Grow as a Christian

• Sanctification also depends on hearing with faith.

• Moral effort cannot produce spiritual transformation.

• Ongoing growth requires returning to the gospel again and again.

Definitions

Justification: “An act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 33)

It is a legal declaration whereby our sins are forgiven and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us — to be received by faith alone.

Imputation: A reckoning or crediting of something to another’s account; a transfer. Our sin, with its guilt and punishment, is imputed to Christ; his righteousness, with its blessing and reward, is imputed to us. This is often called “The Great Exchange.”

Sanctification: “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 35)

The Flesh: Human effort and sinful nature apart from the Spirit’s power.

Hearing with Faith: Receiving God’s promises (especially the gospel) through belief, not by doing or achieving.

Questions for Discussion & Reflection

1. What does “hearing with faith” mean?

2. We recognize that the Christian life begins by “hearing with faith.” But it also continues by hearing with faith. What does it practically look like in your life to anchor your growth and obedience to Jesus in “hearing with faith”?

3. Sometimes non-believers can lead lives that look really good. They can be charitable, kind, even sacrificial. What is the difference between the good works in a Christian’s life and those in a non-Christian’s life?