The world says, ‘Have a drink and forget.’ Jesus says, ‘Drink and remember.’

Steve Brown:
The world says, ‘Have a drink and forget.’ Jesus says, ‘Drink and remember.’ Let’s talk on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life is all about God’s radical grace, grace that has dirt under his fingernails and laugh lines on it’s face. If you want the Bible to be a book of rules, you may want to stop listening now, but if you’re hungry for the truth, that will make you free. Welcome to Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you have your Bible and we’re studying the book of Galatians, go if you will, to the third chapter, and we’re gonna study the first nine verses of the third chapter of Galatians. Before we do that, and I hope you had a great weekend by the way. And I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. So let’s pray. It can’t hurt. Father, we come into your presence, surprised that we’re here. Father, restore when we’re not surprised, the astonishment of your grace, that you called us, we didn’t call you, that you chose us, that you invited us, that you forgave us, that you loved us. And we didn’t deserve any of it. And so in your presence, make us astonished that we’re here, but where else can we go. Father, you know the people who are listening to this broadcast and you know the variety of stories, cause you wrote them, the pain, the laughter, the joy, the tears, the darkness, the light, the loneliness, the fellowship, all of it is from your hand and teach us to trust you to be sufficient in every need that we have. And Father, we worship you because of all you’ve done, but if you had never loved us, you’re still God, the creator and the sustainer and the ruler of all that is and worthy of our worship. And then father, as always, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast, forgive him his sins, because there are many, we would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Alright, at the third chapter. And I’ll began at the first verse, where Paul says,

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with a Spirit, you’re now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so many things in vain– if it really is 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 reckoned to him as righteousness”? So you see that it is men 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 nations be blessed.” So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

Now, in these verses that I just read to you in the book of Galatians, in effect, Paul is saying, remember, the world says, have a drink and forget. And Jesus says at The Last Supper, drink and remember. A lot of the Christian faith is remembering. And a lot of the teaching on grace is a place where we are called not necessarily to have more knowledge or more purity or more obedience, but to remember. Paul had come and preached the gospel, salvation by faith in Christ alone and not by the works of the law. Now that was counter intuitive to religious people. And religious people not missing the chance had moved into the church at Galatia, and they said to them, that’s good, but it’s not enough. That’s a wonderful message of the gospel, but you do know that you’re to be circumcised. Don’t you know, that after you’re saved, it’s the law and it is the law that makes the difference. They said, you have to become a member of a good synagogue. You have to be a wonderful person. You have to understand and practice a certain ritual. And Paul in this text says what?, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten the dear Christians, the Christians who had been so excited about their faith, who had really seen wonderful changes in their lives, all of a sudden were diffused. They bought the lies and it almost killed them. Paul is here, trying to restore them to the joy of their salvation. Have you ever had friends, who when they became Christians were practically out of their gourd, they were so happy. I mean, they were free, they were alive, they were forgiven and they were His, and then after two or three years, they get the disease. And when they get the disease, they become more legalistic, more arrogant, more self righteousness and it almost correlates with how many verses you memorize in the scripture. I know that’s heresy, but it’s true. And you know what? Well, that’s what happened here. It happened to the Galatians. I mean, they started so well. Jesus meant everything to them. And they were deliriously happy, until the religious folks got hold of them. And when they got hold of them, they started telling them that there were certain things that they ought to do. I dislike the word discipling. I can’t think of a better one and it’s a necessary concept for the church, but too often, discipling is exactly what the Judaizers did in the church in Galatia. They came in and said, now in order to move to maturity of the faith, there’s some things you need to know and they began to lay another trip. And pretty soon these Galatians we’re back where they started at the beginning, they were under the law. It happens, you know. It happens a lot and I’m not preaching it at you, I’m talking to me. I’ve been there. I mean every once in a while, I have to stop and say, what’s this thing really about? I have to remember the Cross. I need to remember where He found me. I need to remember that all I need, is him. And that he’s covered every sin, every aberration, every doubt, every place where I have failed, it’s covered and I’m free. I am scandalously free. Now that’s what Paul was saying. He was saying you idiots. Try to remember what happened when you first met Jesus. You can be deceived. And this is the first thing he points out, by forgetting the Cross. Look at that first verse.

O foolish. Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

In other words, Paul said, remember the Cross. Remember Jesus and how much he loved you. Not too long ago, we interviewed a friend of mine who lives in Lebanon. His name is Danny and he’s an amazing Christian. He was a Muslim. And, I don’t mean just a fly by night, by name only Muslim. He was a committed Muslim and he never could feel very close to God or that he could have leave all that he was called to achieve. And then somebody told him about Jesus and grace, and he said it changed everything and he followed Jesus. Then as he got involved solved in the church, he began to see the same spirit in the church that he had seen in Islam. Do this, do that, do this, do that and God will like you and it almost killed him. So he got nailed by two religions until he discovered and he remembered the Cross. On our talk show and you can hear it when you go to keylife.org, Zach, a pastor who’s on that show asked him about a lady in his church who had just become a Christian and had converted from Islam. What should she do? Zach said to Danny. And Danny laughed and said, tell her to just enjoy the gospel. It’s more than enough. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. Steve Brown there guiding us through the book of Galatians and reminding us to remember. More good stuff tomorrow. Be sure to join us then. So you may have heard me mention this thing called the Key Life CD family, but you may not have signed up yet. If that’s you then allow me to give you the pitch. The Key Life CD family is what we call the group folks who get two free CDs from Steve each and every year, as funds permit. Now we do give away a lot of CDs featuring content from Key Life and Steve Brown Etc, but these CDs are different. They’re from talks at various events where Steve speaks throughout the year and the cost just three easy payments of $39 99. Yeah, just kidding. It’s free. If you call 1-800-KEY-LIFE, that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also drop an email to [email protected] and ask for the CDs. By mail, send your request to

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