Blessing and Curse — What the Spirit Begins, the Flesh Can Never Finish

A few years ago, a wonderful sister in Christ shared something with me that made me laugh out loud. She said, “Joe, it seems like I always get myself in the most trouble when I say, ‘Oh, I see what You’re doing, God. I’ll take it from here.'”

We both laughed because we both recognized the problem immediately. There’s something in us that wants to take over. We see God moving, and somewhere along the way we grab the wheel. It’s not just a quirk of immature faith. Mature believers do it too. In Galatians 3, Paul is going to show us that this tendency isn’t just common — it’s dangerous. It’s exactly the error that prompted one of the sharpest rebukes he ever wrote.

Paul confronts the Galatian church head-on. And he wasn’t laughing about it.

“Who Has Bewitched You?”

Paul opens with strong language: “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” In biblical wisdom literature, calling someone a fool is no light term. But Paul isn’t being cruel. He’s bewildered. Their behavior is so contrary to how they began that it’s as if someone cast a spell on them.

He reminds them that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified before their very eyes. The events of the cross weren’t ancient mythology. They had happened within living memory. Paul and Barnabas had come through, preached the gospel, and these believers had responded in faith. How could they now be turning to something else?

The Only Question That Matters

Then Paul narrows his argument to a single question: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith?”

This is a powerful appeal to their own experience. When Paul and Barnabas came through on their church planting journey, these Galatians heard the gospel and believed. They received the Holy Spirit — not because they took on circumcision, kept dietary laws, or observed the festivals, but simply because they believed the message. Paul wants them to sit with that. If God started their salvation through faith, why on earth would they try to complete it through the flesh?

The Drift No One Announces

Here’s what makes this so relevant for us today. The Galatians weren’t making some dramatic exit from the faith. Nobody was standing up and declaring, “I don’t believe Jesus is Lord anymore.” Their error was far more subtle. It was a drift.

They were gradually supplementing the work of the Holy Spirit with fleshly effort. And for many of them, it probably felt like the responsible thing to do. A checklist mentality crept in: read more, pray more, serve more, perform more. None of it explicitly rejected the gospel. But Paul told them the effect was the same — they were turning away from what God had done and trusting in what they could do.

Maybe you can relate. Maybe you sit in the same seat on Sunday, go through the same motions, but the power you once felt has quietly been replaced by routine. Maybe you couldn’t even pinpoint when it happened.

Back to the Source

Paul doesn’t just appeal to their experience. He takes them back to Scripture, all the way to Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

This is an accounting term. Think of it like checking your bank statement and finding a credit you didn’t earn. What God credited to Abraham’s account was something no amount of money could ever purchase — righteousness. And it came through one channel: faith.

Abraham predates the law. He predates Moses, the nation of Israel, and the entire sacrificial system. The promise of blessing goes back further than any of those things. And that promise was never limited to one nation. God told Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through him. Gentile inclusion was never Plan B. It was always the design.

The Curse and the Cross

So if the promise brings blessing through faith, what does the law bring? Paul is blunt: a curse. Quoting Deuteronomy 27:26, he reminds them that anyone who fails to keep every part of the law falls under its condemnation. And no one keeps it perfectly.

Think of it this way. You’ve already received the blessing of salvation by faith. Now someone comes along and says, “That’s great, but let me add some stipulations. If you miss any of them, you’ll be cursed.” Would you sign up for that? Of course not. Yet that’s exactly what the Galatians were doing.

But here’s where the gospel shines brightest. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. The sinless Lamb of God hung on a tree, absorbing the full weight of the curse we deserved. He endured the wrath of God for our sin. And He proved His victory by rising from the dead on the third day.

So many who watched the crucifixion thought Jesus was a victim. He wasn’t. He was a Savior. He told His disciples in advance: I must go to Jerusalem. I must be handed over. I must be crucified. The cross wasn’t an accident. It was the plan.

Spirit-Empowered, Not Passive

Now, someone might hear all of this and swing to the opposite error — thinking the Christian life requires no effort at all. But the answer to no fleshly effort isn’t no effort. It’s Spirit-empowered effort.

The Scriptures command us to walk by the Spirit. That’s an active command. It requires participation. God tells us clearly what He wants us to do, and then He gives us the grace and power to do it as we depend on Him. As Paul writes in Philippians 2, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who is at work in us.

The Christian life demands more than most of us are giving, not less. But the path to that “more” isn’t gritting your teeth and trying harder. It’s a deepening dependence on the Spirit and a simple obedience to what God says, even when it’s hard, even when you don’t feel like it.

Am I Walking by the Spirit — or Just Going Through the Motions?

Can you say before the Lord, in integrity, that you are actively walking by His Spirit? Or have you settled into a self-powered religion that runs on habit and routine?

Have I Quietly Taken Over?

Is it possible that somewhere along the way you grabbed the wheel and have been steering your own spiritual life so long you can’t even remember when you started?

What Would It Look Like to Let the Spirit Lead?

Imagine a church full of people who woke up every day and said, “God, I’m not taking it from here. Lead me. Empower me. I will obey You, but I’m not doing this in my own strength.” That is exactly the kind of movement that shook the world in the book of Acts. And it’s available to us right now, by the same Spirit and through the same faith.

Stop Trying to Finish It

What the Spirit has begun, the flesh will never complete. But on the authority of God’s Word, the Spirit will complete it. So stop trying to finish it yourself. Trust the One who started it. If you’ve never begun — if you’ve been going through the motions in your own strength — Christ died so that the blessing of Abraham might come even to you. Turn to Him. Believe. And receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Listen to the full sermon here: Blessing and Curse — Galatians 3

Preached March 8, 2026 at Howell Bible Church