What Can't Be Earned | Sermon | The Grove Church, Port St. Lucie

Why Good Works Might Be Your Greatest Enemy

Christian Freedom: Galatians, Week 7 | All sermons

"The good life isn't earned, only received."

Summary

In this message on Galatians 3:1-9, David Hancock, pastor of The Grove Church in Port St. Lucie, Florida, argues that hard work and determination, real virtues in most of life, become an enemy the moment you put your faith in them. Paul confronts a church that began in grace and drifted back under a spell: the ancient and deeply human belief that what God offers must be earned. From Eden to Babel to Abraham to Galatia to today, the pattern repeats. The life we long for cannot be climbed to; it must be received.

Key Takeaways

Paul's six questions all point back to one moment: the Galatians received the Spirit by faith, before they were ever circumcised.
Abraham was counted righteous with no law, no circumcision, and no children, holding nothing but a promise.
The Spirit makes a believer deeply aware that God is not only Creator but Father.
Jews and Gentiles who had every reason to hate each other became one family, which is the promise to Abraham coming true.

Read Galatians 3:1-9 (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"? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Talk about it

1. Think about an area of your life where you are most driven by persistence and hard work. Now be honest: is there any part of your relationship with God that operates the same way; where you feel like your effort is what keeps things right between you and him?

The Spell We Are Under: Why Do We Keep Trying to Earn What God Gives?

The sermon opens with the original loss: Eden; a place where God's people, in God's land, under God's blessing lived in perfect unity. When that was lost, humanity has been trying to claw its way back ever since; through hard work, success, love, religion, and achievement. The Tower of Babel is the clearest picture of it: people trying to reach by their own effort what must be received by grace. The Galatians fell into the same trap; and Paul says they were bewitched.

Talk about it

2. The sermon traces a repeated pattern throughout history: humanity keeps trying to reach upward to God through effort; but God keeps coming down by grace. We can't reach Him, He must come down to us. Where do you see that pattern in your own spiritual history? Have there been seasons when you tried to climb; and seasons when you received?

3. Paul says the Judaizers' message was "Jesus plus law keeping." The sermon says the modern version is "God knows I'm trying hard to be good." How does that show up in conversations you have heard; or in your own thinking? What makes works-based thinking so intuitive and grace so hard to hold onto?

4. The sermon points out that the Galatians started well; full of the Spirit; experiencing something that felt like Eden reopening. Then they drifted under the spell. What typically causes that drift in your own life? What makes the grace that once felt so alive start to go cold?

Received by Faith: How Did the Galatians Actually Receive the Spirit?

Paul asks the Galatians six questions; all pointing to the same moment: when they first believed and received the Spirit. It was not because of circumcision or law-keeping. They had not even been circumcised yet. The Spirit came; miracles happened; Jews and Gentiles who had no business being a family became one; and it was all by faith. Paul then traces this back to Abraham; who trusted a promise with no children; no land; and no law; only God's word. That trust was credited to him as righteousness.

Talk about it

5. Paul says Abraham was counted righteous before circumcision; before the law; with nothing to offer but belief in a promise. What does it do to your understanding of salvation to realize the pattern was always faith; not performance; even from the very beginning?

6. The sermon describes the Holy Spirit entering believers and making them deeply aware that God is not just their Creator; but their Father. Have you experienced that awareness? What did it feel like; and what triggered it? If you have not; what do you think stands between you and the Father?

7. Jews and Gentiles who had hated each other became a family through faith in Christ. The sermon calls that the greatest proof of Christianity; not arguments; but uncommon unity among people who should never have been friends. Where have you seen that kind of unity? What made it possible?

Faith or Works: Whose Work Are You Actually Trusting?

The sermon frames the choice plainly: will you put your faith in your works; or your faith in Christ's work? This is not just a question for those outside the church. Many Christians live as if how God feels about them depends on their performance. Faith is not just what makes someone a Christian; it is how a Christian lives every day.

Talk about it

8. The sermon says faith is free but costly, because you lose control. Works-based faith is cheaper because once you do the minimum, you feel free from God. Does that ring true in your experience? Where do you feel most tempted to settle for the minimum, and what does that reveal about what you actually believe about grace?

9. The sermon ends with this image: when all of us live from faith rather than for approval; doing great things from the presence of God rather than to earn it; heaven comes to earth. What would it look like in your daily life; your relationships; and your work if you operated from that place rather than toward it?

The Heart of It: How Do You Know God Will Keep His Promises?

When Abraham doubted and asked God how he could know the promise would be kept; God did something extraordinary. He passed through the divided animals himself; taking on the death clause of the covenant. Normally the lesser party walks through to say: if I break this promise; I die. But God said; even if it costs me my life; I will keep my promise. Two thousand years later; Jesus; the offspring of Abraham; was buried in death; and the Spirit raised him as the King who would unite every tribe; tongue; and nation into one family.

Talk about it

10. God passed through the covenant animals himself; bearing the death clause so Abraham would not have to. The sermon says that when you doubt God's promises; his answer is the cross. Is there a promise of God you are struggling to trust right now? What would it look like to let the cross be the answer to that doubt?

Questions This Sermon Answers

What does Paul mean by "bewitched" in Galatians 3:1?

Paul says the Galatians were "bewitched." The word for foolish does not mean stupid; it means having the capacity to think clearly but refusing to do so. They once knew grace; now it is as if they cannot see it.

What was God's promise to Abraham?

God told Abraham: look at the stars; your offspring will be more than they; and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. There was no law; no circumcision yet; only a promise to believe. And Abraham believed. That faith; not his performance; was what made him right with God.

What does Galatians 3:1 mean?

"It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified." When you stand under the stars and ask God how you can know he will keep his promises; his answer is the cross of Christ. He will do whatever it takes to give you what he has promised.

Why was Abraham counted righteous before the law was given?

Abraham had no law to keep, no circumcision yet, and no children. He had only a promise. His trust in that promise was credited to him as righteousness, which means the pattern was faith rather than performance from the very beginning, long before Sinai.

Vision for the Christian Life

The Grove to become a community that stops trying to build Eden and starts receiving it. A people who do great things in the world not to reach the presence of God, but from it. To become unlikely friends who become family, living proof that the promise made to Abraham is being kept in this room.

Discussion Questions for Small Groups: Galatians 3

Think about an area of your life where you are most driven by persistence and hard work. Now be honest: is there any part of your relationship with God that operates the same way; where you feel like your effort is what keeps things right between you and him?
The sermon traces a repeated pattern throughout history: humanity keeps trying to reach upward to God through effort; but God keeps coming down by grace. Where do you see that pattern in your own spiritual history? Have there been seasons when you tried to climb; and seasons when you received?
Paul says the Judaizers' message was "Jesus plus law keeping." The sermon says the modern version is "God knows I'm trying hard to be good." How does that show up in conversations you have heard; or in your own thinking? What makes works-based thinking so intuitive and grace so hard to hold onto?
The sermon points out that the Galatians started well; full of the Spirit; experiencing something that felt like Eden reopening. Then they drifted under the spell. What typically causes that drift in your own life? What makes the grace that once felt so alive start to go cold?
Paul says Abraham was counted righteous before circumcision; before the law; with nothing to offer but belief in a promise. What does it do to your understanding of salvation to realize the pattern was always faith; not performance; even from the very beginning?
The sermon describes the Holy Spirit entering believers and making them deeply aware that God is not just their Creator; but their Father. Have you experienced that awareness? What did it feel like; and what triggered it? If you have not; what do you think stands between you and the Father?
Jews and Gentiles who had hated each other became a family through faith in Christ. The sermon calls that the greatest proof of Christianity; not arguments; but uncommon unity among people who should never have been friends. Where have you seen that kind of unity? What made it possible?
The sermon says faith is free but costly, because you lose control. Works-based faith is cheaper because once you do the minimum, you feel free from God. Does that ring true in your experience? Where do you feel most tempted to settle for the minimum, and what does that reveal about what you actually believe about grace?
The sermon ends with this image: when all of us live from faith rather than for approval; doing great things from the presence of God rather than to earn it; heaven comes to earth. What would it look like in your daily life; your relationships; and your work if you operated from that place rather than toward it?
God passed through the covenant animals himself; bearing the death clause so Abraham would not have to. The sermon says that when you doubt God's promises; his answer is the cross. Is there a promise of God you are struggling to trust right now? What would it look like to let the cross be the answer to that doubt?

Related Messages in This Series

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Pastor David Hancock is the Lead Pastor of The Grove Church in Port St. Lucie, FL, a church where believers and skeptics wrestle honestly with faith and doubt.

Wrestling with a question this raised? You can text in your question on any Sunday and hear it answered after the sermon. Or come sit with people asking the same things. Plan Your Visit

Read the full sermon manuscript

I am a persistent man, so persistent you might call me stubborn. And I'm determined, so much so that if I set my mind to something, I often believe I can make it happen. This has served me well in life. Calvin Coolidge famously said, Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

I agree with much of this, but I'm afraid Coolidge has overreached. I'd argue that my own persistence and determination might be what is keeping The Grove from becoming who she is meant to be. Why? I have come to realize that I keep trying to do without God what only God can do. What if, like me, your hard work, determination, and persistence are keeping you from the life you are made for because you keep trying to earn what must be received by God?

We are in our series called Christian Freedom in Paul's letter to the Galatians, and today we see how a whole church fell under a spell and is in danger of losing the greatest thing that has ever happened to them. We, too, are under a spell, and my goal today is to break you from it.

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? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

To understand our verses, I must take you back to the beginning. To Eden, the garden where three realities existed in perfect unity. God's people, in God's land, under the blessing of God's presence. Land, people, and blessing. Imagine it like this: we once gathered around the table in the cool of the garden; everyone belonged; no one was left out; and life was full of perfect love, joy, and peace. It was Home.

But Home was lost. The forbidden fruit smelled of a false promise of our own land, people, and blessings without the need for God. When we bit the fruit, we were banished from the garden, and the gates were shut behind us. Now, we ache to find all that was lost.

The land, the blessing, and the people. Even the best we have here is missing something. Here is what I mean.

My wife, Alyse, and I know each other very well, but sometimes we look at each other and say, who are you. We laugh about it, but no matter how well we connect, there is a distance even the greatest of love can't close. Why? We live in exile, in a world that won't allow the intimacy we long for.

And it's not just the disconnect from each other, but the distance from the joyful life of God, and the loss of peace in our true Home.

We ache to get back, so we all desperately try to find it here in any way possible through hard work, love, success, admiration from others, and when we don't get it we turn to anything to numb the pain.

That is life in this world. That's why a few pages after the loss of Eden, humanity built a tower up to heaven. They were trying to get back to what was lost. But God confused their languages to prevent them. Why? They tried to reach by their own efforts what must be received by grace. Another version of reaching for the fruit. So we kept wandering.

But one day God chose a man, Abraham. And God said, go out into the unknown, on an adventure to find the lost land. Where? God didn't tell him; he just had to trust God along the way.

One day, under the night sky, God said to Abraham, look up at the stars, your offspring will be more than they, and you will be the father of many nations, and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. That's why later his name would change from Abram to Abraham. It means something like big daddy, because he is the father of many nations.

There was one problem. Abraham's wife, Sarah, couldn't get pregnant, and they were both way too old to be having a baby anyway, and yet Abraham trusted.

It was a hard road and they wrestled with doubt, but eventually Sarah would have a son named Isaac.

Notice, at this moment, there is no law, no rules for him to follow, only a promise to believe in. And then God, after many years of Abraham walking by faith, instituted the practice of circumcision. Strange, I know. What's up with this strange practice? Circumcision is a sign and seal. What does that mean?

A sign points to something. It was a sign that he believed. This is a painful and costly thing, so he clearly believes.

Seal means he was sealed into a right standing with God by faith, not works. Think of it as a receipt confirming that faith made him right with God.

Years later Jacob, Abraham's grandson, would be born, and his name would be changed to Israel, which means wrestles with God.

The nation of Israel was born but was soon taken as slaves. God rescued them and they wandered in the wilderness again. But there, God gave Moses the ten commandments.

The commandments were to guide them into the good life, to live the way they were meant to live so they would flourish. Notice God rescued them first and then taught them how to live. They didn't earn their rescue; it was a gift, and the law taught them how to live.

Eventually they would reach the promised land. Finally they were a people, had a land, and the blessing of God's presence.

But over time they began to disobey God's commands, and God exiled them from the promised land again.

Eventually they returned, but over the course of 500 years they would begin to see following the law as a means to salvation, not a product of it.

In other words they flipped the order. Law, then rescue.

Why? Because they didn't see that the root of their disobedience was a lack of faith in God.

The loss of faith over time is why they disobeyed.

So over 500 years they began to make their own laws to put on top of God's laws as guardrails to keep them far from breaking God's law. After all, it makes sense; they linked all the tragedy to disobedience.

So when Jesus arrives in the world, he finds a bunch of rule followers who are far from God. They were trying to earn their way up to God instead of receiving God and salvation as a gracious gift.

This is the greatest problem of our day. Almost always, when I talk to people who aren't Christians, they say something like, you know, God knows I'm trying hard to be good.

Essentially, they are saying, I trust God will accept my faith in my good works.

Works are good to do, until they become the thing you put your faith in.

This is the moment your good works become your enemy. They become the thing that steals the life you are made for.

We all do this, and it was happening in our verses. Look how Paul describes it.

Paul starts off and says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

The word for foolish isn't stupid; it means having the capacity to think clearly but refusing to do it. And bewitched means something like being put under a spell. They once knew the grace of Christ so well, but now it's like they can't even see it.

How did they get bewitched?

When Paul started the church he brought a provocative, clear, yet ancient truth to them. A truth Abraham understood very well. Righteousness, meaning a right standing with God, comes from faith, not works or law keeping. Abraham was trusting in a future promise that would be fulfilled in Christ. What is the promise?

Christ came and kept the law perfectly, and has credited his perfect life to our account. Faith means you trust in Christ's accomplishments, not your own.

Everything God required of you, Christ accomplished for you. This is received by faith.

In other words, by faith, the gate that closed us out of Eden was brought down. He earned our way in.

The Galatians believed it.

But after Paul left Galatia to spread this joy-filled news to other regions, a highly organized, winsome, and persuasive group called the Judaizers came in with another message. Jesus is great, He is Lord, but the gates haven't come down yet. You must observe the law of Moses, the rules, and you must be circumcised.

In other words, they are saying, put your faith in Christ and your law keeping.

Jesus isn't enough; you must be circumcised, not as a sign and seal, but as a work that saves you.

They were bewitched by the message. How did that happen to them after they started so well?

The Judaizers had a letter of recommendation from James, Jesus' half-brother and leader of the whole movement. It was the ultimate proof that they were to be trusted. Little did the Galatians know, and Paul would imply it, the letter was a fake.

But it's not just them. We are all bewitched. We are prone to think this way. Grace is a word our ears can't comprehend.

In a recent podcast, one of my heroes, John Lennox, a Christian apologist, had just finished explaining why Christianity is about faith in Christ, not faith in works. Clear message. And the interviewer said, yeah, but as long as we are good, God would accept us, right? It was like his ears were stuffed up and he couldn't comprehend grace.

And it's the message of every religion. God is up there, and we must climb with our works, like the tower of Babel, and then the gates of paradise will open up to us.

That's every religion except Christianity.

The world is bewitched, the Christians in Galatia were bewitched, and we Christians today have fallen under the spell. How do we break it?

To break the spell, Paul asks a series of questions. Six of them. The questions are meant to prompt them to reflect on how they received the Spirit, and why there was an outpouring of miracles. It was like Eden had opened up and all the blessings were returning. Was it because of their faith, or the works of the law?

Immediately, they know the answer. They hadn't been circumcised yet, and they were already experiencing an outpouring of the gates of Eden opening up. So how could it have been by works of the law? In verse 5 he asks, does he who works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by faith? The answer is by faith.

Let's look at miracles, and I'd like to level the playing field a bit. We are a place where believers and skeptics have authentic community and honest conversations about faith and doubt. Some of you aren't Christians yet, and you are skeptical of miracles. And some of you are Christians, and you feel a little weird when you read about miracles.

So let me address miracles and our belief in them, or lack of belief, by saying this.

Even atheists believe in miracles. In fact, when we look at the beginning of our world, we find that every atheist believes in at least six miracles: something from nothing, order from chaos, life from non-life, the personal from the non-personal, reason from non-reason, and morality from matter.

Your objection to miracles is not really about evidence; it's about which miracles you are willing to accept. We are all standing in the middle of the miraculous.

The message of Christianity is that the same God who made the earth entered into it.

Miracles are what happens when the Creator gets involved again.

They are not a violation of nature, but a violation of what we know about nature.

And the outpouring of miracles didn't happen because of their works, but by faith in Christ.

But there is an even greater miracle that every Christian has experienced. Receiving the Holy Spirit.

When Paul asks, did you receive the Spirit by works or faith, the word receive here is an aorist verb, which means he is pointing to a specific moment of what happened when they believed. What did happen? Paul explains it in chapter 4.

The Spirit made them all aware, deeply aware, that God wasn't just their Creator, but their Father.

Now, do you get what's happening here? Verse 9 says those of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations. How? His offspring would be Christ, the greater Isaac, the very Son of God. And by faith in Him, He welcomes us into the family as co-heirs with Christ. He shares his sonship with us.

Now, you can go running through the gates.

I have a key to my parents' house because I'm their child; you have a key to your Father's house because you are His son or daughter by faith.

But even more than this. We don't just get a key to the Father's house. In the book of Ephesians Paul tells us that God makes His home in us. That is the Holy Spirit being received. The Spirit enters us, making us aware of who we now are, but also filling us with all the fullness of God and His love, joy, and peace. That is the blessing of His presence in us. And God can't be contained, so the love and peace burst out of us as praise.

So imagine this happens to you, and you then walk outside and look around and see it is happening in all of Galatia.

It's happening to both Jews and Gentiles. These are people who hated each other, but now they are a family that belongs to their Father in Heaven.

This is the promise God gave to Abraham, to be the father of many nations.

In the book of Acts, the first time news about Christ is preached, you see the gathering of the nations of all those who believed.

Jews and Gentiles, people who had no business being a family, became a family. Nations that had been divided since Babel are now brothers, weeping over the same cross, rejoicing and calling God Father.

This promise, which seemed impossible, just came true through faith in Christ.

Paul is saying, look at this, you see it. This isn't because of circumcision. And this isn't a new thing. This is the promise God gave to Abraham coming true 2000 years later. And today, 4000 years after the promise, we are here as the fulfillment of that promise God gave Abraham under the stars.

We are children of the promise Abraham trusted in.

So you must make your decision. Will you put your faith in your works or your faith in Christ's work? Will you trust that God will accept your faith in your works, or will you trust that God will accept you by faith in Christ's work?

I'm not just challenging the skeptic of Christianity.

There are too many Christians, like the Galatians, who are bewitched and are basing how God feels about them on their works.

Put your faith in Christ. Faith isn't just what makes you a Christian, it's how you live your whole life as a Christian.

Faith is free to all, but it's costly because you lose control.

Faith in your works costs less, because as soon as you do the bare minimum God requires of you, you are free from God and can live however you want.

But if it's by grace, there is nothing God can't ask of you.

The reward is that the Spirit goes with you wherever God sends you and whatever He calls you to do.

And through the perils and struggles of the loss of control, through the adventure, the Spirit within you stirs, reminding you that you are a son or daughter, and nothing can separate you from that love, no matter what you face or what you must give up or do.

And that turns you into someone who does great things in the world, not to get into the presence of God, but from the presence of God. And when all of us do this together, as a family, Heaven comes to earth.

This isn't something you can build. It's something only God can do.

It doesn't matter how hard you work, how persistent you are; the life you long for can't be earned by hard work. It must be received by faith.

It doesn't mean we aren't active, but we are no longer working for salvation but from salvation.

And it means all our activity is strengthened by the Spirit within us.

All of us, every nation, gathered under the arms of our Father.

Unlikely friends who become family.

The greatest proof of Christianity is not the arguments we bring, but an uncommon unity and love among people who should never have been friends.

The Grove is not a project or a business; it's a promise from God being fulfilled. Every time someone from a different background, class, culture, or story sits in this room and encounters the Father, the promise God made to Abraham thousands of years ago comes true in this room.

And one day, the promise of a land, people, and blessing will be complete, and when it is, we won't go up. It will come down. It was always going to be received.

The new heavens and new earth are not something that we get up to; it comes down to us. That is the repeating pattern. We don't go up to God; He comes down.

You don't earn love, joy, and peace; you receive them by faith when the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of perfect love, joy, and peace, comes down and enters you and lifts you.

And one day, when the heavenly city comes down, it won't come down because of your works. It will come down to be received by faith in Christ.

And when you doubt all of this, because you will at times, what do you do?

Abraham also doubted. One night, with no children, he asked God how he could know God would keep this promise. A question all of us need to ask God.

God tells us just what He told Abraham. Bring animals and cut them in half. Strange for us today, but Abraham knew exactly what was going to happen. A covenant is being cut. A covenant is a promise sealed in blood.

Now typically when a promise like this was about to happen, it would be the lesser person who would walk through the dead animals to say, if I don't keep my promise I die.

But instead, God is the one who passes through to say, I swear by myself, even if it costs me my life, I will make sure you have a land, a people, and a blessing.

God kept that promise 2000 years later when Jesus, the seed, the offspring of Abraham, was buried on the cross, buried in death, and the Holy Spirit, the living waters, touched Him in death and raised Him up from the grave to be the King who would unite every tribe, tongue, and nation into a land, people, and blessing from heaven.

So now, when you stand under the stars and you ask God how do I know you will keep these promises to me, His answer is the cross of Christ. The death of God. He will do whatever it takes to give you what He has promised.

Put your faith not in your persistence but in His persistence to keep every promise He made, no matter the cost.