Confused Christians

In Galatians 3:1–5, Paul rebukes the Galatians for losing sight of Christ crucified, forgetting how they received the Holy Spirit, and confusing justification with sanctification.

This sermon examines three areas of Christian confusion: Christ, conversion, and sanctification. Justification is God’s completed act of free grace, received through faith alone. Sanctification is God’s continuing work of free grace, renewing believers through their union with Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. The law reveals the holiness God requires, but it cannot produce that holiness in us.

Rather than looking to human effort, religious techniques, inward impressions, or a supposed “higher life,” Christians must continue looking to Christ through the means God has provided: the preached Word, the Lord’s Supper, and the fellowship of His people. The gospel is not merely good news for the end of life; it is the grace by which believers live and grow now.