If you take your Bibles now and
turn them into Galatians. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Now, thus far in this book, in
chapters 1 and chapter 2, the apostle establishes this principle,
this principle that there is only one gospel. Church of Galatians
had been duped, they had been deceived, and they believed that
salvation, they were being taught at least that salvation was by
the work of Christ and by their obedience to the law. And they
only chose one aspect of the law by which to add, and it was
circumcision. And so Paul in chapter 2 he announces
that even the apostle Peter was in great error concerning this. They were eating some pork sandwiches
and some Jews came in and the Jews they looked at him sternly
and Peter thought he would sanctify himself. So he set himself apart
with these other men and would not eat with the Gentiles and
Paul said I had to withstand him to the face in this error.
And so in verse 16, he said this, he said in verse 15, no, hey,
we're Jews. We understand this better than
the Gentiles should. He said, knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith, notice
that little word there, of Jesus Christ. How's a man justified?
By the faith of Jesus Christ. Same thing he said in Romans
chapter 3 and verse 22, that the righteousness of God is by
the faith of Jesus Christ. Same thing. And listen, even
we have believed in Jesus Christ. Now there's our faith. We believe
in the faith of Jesus Christ. We believe our righteousness
is by justification by the faith of Christ. That we might be justified
by the faith of Christ, there it is again, not by the works
of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. And then he tells them in verse
19, he says, for I through the law am dead to the law. I didn't
skirt the law. Matter of fact, I'm saved through
the law, not around it. How in the world could you be
saved through the law and not obey it? Listen, I am crucified
with Christ. There's my salvation, I'm crucified
with Christ. He obeyed the law in my stead. Nevertheless, I live. Here I
am. I'm alive. Christ died. I died
with Him, but look at me, I'm alive. And the life I now live
in the flesh, how do I live it? By what rule do I live it by? I live by the faith of the son
of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And he said,
I don't frustrate the grace of God. I'm not going. I do not
forfeit the grace of God like you do. They were forfeiting
the grace of God. He said, I don't frustrate the
grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. That's what it means. Now in verse chapter
three, having established this principle, one gospel, justification
by the faith of Christ. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. He says this, he turns now, he turns now to these, their
eyes, the eyes of these who are in error. And he turns from Peter's error
and sets their eyes squarely on these professing believers
of Galatia and with all his broken heart. Now, I want you to see
this. Paul is not pointing his finger
and condemning them as reprobates. That's not what's happening here.
Listen to the words, and know this is coming from a heart of
love, not a heart of condemnation. Look, O foolish Galatians, who
hath bewitched you? that you should not obey the
truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set
forth, crucified among you. This only would I learn of you,
received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith. Are you so foolish, having begun
in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Have you
suffered so many things in vain, if it yet be in vain? He therefore that ministereth
the Spirit, to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you,
doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Seeing there is only one gospel
justification by the faith of Christ, how then could you be
so foolish to turn back to the law? Paul knowing if this was true. If these who profess to believe
in Christ had turned back to the law for justification, he
knew that they were not justified at all. This was his fear, that
they were not justified at all. He knew his work was in vain
and their faith was vain. Matter of fact, in chapter 4
and verse 10, he says, I stand in doubt of you. If this is how
you really believe, I stand in doubt. And so what is this to us? It
is a warning. This text is intended not only
to warn the Church of Galatia, but to warn us. May we never assume that we are
beyond this error. Let me ask you this, was Peter,
you suppose he was beyond this era? He was an apostle of Jesus
Christ, and yet it took nothing but those guys to show up and
him have a little fear and move over. If it can happen to Peter, if
he can be seduced by a legalist, so can we. So can we. Yet if. if anyone will not repent of
it. Now we can all fall in it, can't
we? We can all fall in it, but the
key is this, is there any repentance once there is an understanding,
once our eyes are open to it, do we still embrace it or do
we turn from it? Peter turned from what he did.
He was withstood to the face and felt the sorrow and the grief
and repented. Now he didn't repent to Paul.
He didn't offend Paul. It was Christ. I tell you this
because it's important. There are some people who have
made errors in the church. grave errors. And I know men
that still will not fellowship with them unless they repent
and like repent to who? You? They don't need to repent
to you. If they repented to Christ, that's
all that's sufficient for me. Not for anybody else. They don't
need to repent to a pastor or to a church or to people. They
can apologize, but that's not repentance. And so then if there's an error
and they won't repent, if you won't seek to let go of the law,
then truly your faith is in vain. Why? Because you cannot live
by faith and the law. These two are diametrically opposed
to one another. Look at verse 11. Tell me if
this is not so. But that no man is justified
by the law and the sight of God. Well, that's evident. I like
the way he puts that. Isn't that just plain? Isn't
that just simple? It's evident. The just shall live by faith.
And listen, and the law is not of faith. You see that? You can't
mix the law and faith. The law is not of faith. But
if you want to live by the law, the man that doeth them shall
live in them, not just one of them, all of them. If you do
one of them, you must live in all of them. If you tithe, you
must offer a lamb over there in Jerusalem. You got to go back
and build a temple and somehow convince God to get back inside
and offer a sacrifice. You can't do one without the
other. So the law is not a faith. So
then. In our text, Paul sets forth five rhetorical questions. Five rhetorical questions. And the the apostles not asking
these questions for information. Now, remember, rhetorical question
is the answer is obvious in the question. That's what he's asking.
In these questions, you're going to see the answer right away. So that's what a rhetorical question
is. It doesn't need an answer. The answer's in the question. And so the apostle is using this
method to teach them, to cause us to think and consider what
it truly means to be justified by the law. First of all, it's foolish. Just
to think you're justified in any measure by the law is foolish. It is against both the experience
of grace and the word of God. And by these questions, he moves
the Galatians as well as every believer to focus on the experience
of our conversion. To focus on our salvation as
it was set in opposition of faith and the law. Was your salvation
by faith in Christ or was it by the works of the law? Rhetorical
question, isn't it? You that believe, I don't have
to think about it. The answer's in the question. Were you saved by the perfect
work of Christ? Or is it made perfect by our
obedience in some way? So let's look at this first rhetorical
question. O foolish Galatians who have bewitched you, that
you should not obey the truth. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ
had been evidently set before you." Now, Paul is not here using
the word foolish and bewitched to say reprobate. Do not assume
that at all. It's not in the language. Because he had hoped that they
were just in great error, that they, like Peter, had made a
foolish mistake. Now the word foolishness, this
is what it means, thoughtless. Oh thoughtless Galatians. It means an act of immaturity.
You see a child do something foolish, you would just look
at them and wonder. See a kid hitting himself against
the wall. Why? What's the purpose of that?
You would take it. Now, if you saw a grown man doing
it, you'd be a little worried. You see a little child acting
immature, then that's what he means is an act of immaturity. It means that they have been
the word bewitched. It doesn't mean as though someone
cast a spell on them. What it means is this. You've
been duped. You've been tricked. You've had
some guy like a magician with a sleight of hand. That's what
it is. This idea of being justified
by faith and justified by the works of the law, some kind of
unholy mixture of that, is nothing but sleight of hand. Nothing
but sleight of hand. I was talking with a man who
was listening to a modern preacher on sanctification. And this guy,
he's a really educated man, very high in what we would call the
not reformed theology, okay, very high. And he was explaining
sanctification. And by the time he got done,
I didn't know what he believed sanctification was. It was a
word salad. It was just he had a bunch of
big words just tossed together and when you got done you were
more confused than when you began. That's a slight of hand. That's
what he means by bewitched. The bewitching method of the
legalist is flattery. This is how they do it. This
is the bewitching is flattery supposing that men have something
to add. Consider for a moment, if that
were true, how flattering would that be that God would give us
some part in salvation? Well, man, I I must be pretty
good that God's going to give me something to do. It flatters
our flesh. And don't think your flesh is
beyond flattering. It's appealing to our flesh.
These Judaizers came in as angels of light. Now think about these
false teachers. They came in when those men came
from Jerusalem down and Peter saw them. Do you think he looked
at them and said, man, those devils? No. Obviously, Peter and the rest
of them thought those guys were the cat's meow. Those guys were
the highest. And that's how these false teachers
come in, they appear as angels of light no matter. Paul said
this in 2 Corinthians 11, he said no matter, Satan does the
same thing. He appears as an angel of light.
No wonder his ministers of the law, that's what he said. He
said, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as ministers of righteousness. Now he was talking about same
people that be which the Galatians. So plain. So in plain terms,
Paul is deploring this displaying in his question, these believers
were thoughtless, they were thoughtlessly charmed by the vain illusion
of adding something to Christ. It's an illusion, isn't it? It's
an illusion. to think that you, by working,
can add righteousness to the righteousness of Christ. I just flipped through a little
Facebook and I saw this little satire thing. It said that Joe
Biden was going to talk to the Pope about having his son redo
the Sistine Chapel, because he's a good painter. Now, that's exactly what it is
to add our righteousness to the righteousness of Christ. It's
an illusion. It's not real. It's satire. It's a joke. It's a joke. It's a sleight of hand to think
that we, by our obedience, can add holiness to ourselves. You can't do it. It's an illusion. Are you so foolish? Are you so
duped? Are you so thoughtless that you
that you can't see that that's an illusion to try to. Your righteousness
by obedience. That's not even real friends,
that's just made up words. You cannot merit righteousness
by obedience to the law, no matter how sincere you are. Sin is mixed
with everything you do. It's an illusion. It's to take something that's
unreal and replace the real. What's the real? The real is
Christ's righteousness. Now that's real righteousness.
That's righteousness that God accepts. So the point of this is a rhetorical
question. Is that justification is by Christ
and him crucified, he said, look, how could you not obey the truth?
Did I did I not set the truth before you when I preached to
you? What's the truth? He said it right there in the
question, he said, Jesus Christ and him crucified. That is the
truth. That is the righteousness of
God. All who would charm you by thoughtless
human wisdom and flattery of self-righteousness are liars
and deceivers. They are the messengers of Satan,
only appear as angels of light. But their idea of righteousness
is nothing more than an illusion. And all who are duped by this
message of justification by the law. And I want you to understand
this. It's the same idea. Slight of hand here, slight of
hand when someone says the law is our rule of life is nothing
more than saying the law is my justification. Just they're just
switching words. But that's exactly what they
mean. do this is to not obey the truth,
which is faith alone in Christ alone to justify us before God
without the law. So you see, then he's asking,
Are you so foolish? Are you so thoughtless? As to exchange the the crucified
Christ and his righteous with your own, are you so duped? Are
you so bewitched? Rhetorical question for us who
believe we don't want any part of that. Secondly, look at this second
question here. He said, This only would I learn of you. Received
you the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of
faith? Paul desires these believers to think now. He puts before
their eyes their own experience of grace and he asks them, How
did you receive the Spirit? There's two options. Did you
receive the Spirit by your obedience to the law? or by the hearing
of faith, which is. It's a rhetorical question, you
know what it is, you know, it was no by no means did you receive
the spirit by your obedience? He's asking this, this is how
foolish the question is, it really is. He said, did you, by your
obedience and knowledge, elevate your soul to such a point that
God said, hmm, look at him. Look how good he's doing, so
now I'm going to send the Spirit to him. Is that how you received
it? You know, Glenn's shaking his
head. He's shaking his head as hard
as he can. God forbid you'd say something like that. God forbid
I'd ever think anything like that. I know this, I was so unworthy. so unfaithful, disobedient, foolish,
blind, dumb, dead, that I would never have come to Christ. I
could have never moved God to save me. I could only move God
to condemn me. That's all I could do. I could
move God to condemn me, but I could not move God to save me. Not by the obedience of the law. We know that whatsoever things
the law sayeth, that sayeth to them that are under the law,
for what purpose? Law has a purpose, friend. The law has a purpose and the
law is good. Nothing is wrong with the law. The law is great. You and I are
the problem. Listen, now we know in Romans
3 verse 9, 19, he said, we know that whatsoever things the law
say it, that say it to them that are under the law for this purpose,
that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world become guilty
before God. And there's the purpose of the
law. The law is not to elevate your soul so as to move God to
save you. The law is only to condemn you.
It only condemns, that's all it can do. It can expose our
sin and reveal the just sentence of God's holy eternal wrath. That's what it does. The law
surely has its part. And that is to expose our sin.
Because of our sin. It nullifies anything to help
us. in this matter of salvation,
the law can do nothing but condemn. It cannot give life. The law
surely can abase us before God, but only the free grace and power
of the Holy Spirit can save us. This is the experience. How did you receive the spirit?
Was it by the law? No. Was it by hearing of faith? Well, of course, that's exactly
how I received it. Go to go to John chapter one. Go to John chapter 1. See this
truth really plainly revealed here. How did you receive the
Spirit? That's a great question, isn't it? How did you receive
the Spirit? Scripture says, as many as received
Him. To them gave He the right to
become the sons of God, which were even to them that believe
on His name. What is it to receive Him? See,
you don't have to guess, do you? I'm amazed that Scripture always
explains itself. As many as received Him. What
in the world does a man have to do to receive Him? Even as
many as believed on His name. That's what it is to receive
Him. It is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how
in the world did you receive Him? How did you believe on Him? Which were born. Ah, you had
to be born. It's a spiritual birth he's talking
about. Born, not of blood. He's not talking about physical
birth, is he? You didn't receive this birth because of your daddy
and your mama. You received it not by the will of the flesh,
not by your own will, not by the will of some other man. You
were born by the will of God. That's how you received him. Isn't it? It is for every believer. We
receive Christ by faith as all our justification. We like this
hymn. We don't sing it. I don't have
the music for it so much, but this hymn is a very good illustration
of every believer. Against the God that rules the
sky, I fought with hand uplifted high. Madly I ran the sinful race,
regardless of a hiding place. Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night
and fond of darkness more than light, madly I ran the sinful
race, secure without a hiding place. Is that you? Is that you? Thus the eternal counsel. The
eternal covenant of God's grace, the eternal covenant of mercy
by which Christ came and honored the law, magnified the law, died
for our sin, the eternal counsel ran. And then what? Almighty love arrests that man. You've been arrested. You've been arrested by love. Not wrath. You've been arrested
by love. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view. When you found out about God's
wrath, where's the first place you ran? To Sinai's fiery mount
I flew. And justice cried with frowning
face, this mountain is no hiding place. Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
and mercy's angel form appeared. He led me on with gentle pace
to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. How'd that happen? Was that by
law? Law leads you to Christ? No. Or was it by the hearing
of faith? We believe on Christ. We believe
because we were born again of the grace and power of God. Then
we believed on Christ. We fled to him as our hiding
place, our ark, our refuge. We forsook all hopes of self-righteousness. But what was the means by which
this spirit came to us? It was the hearing of faith,
not by the law. Faith comes not by works, but
by the hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isn't this what
Paul said in Romans 10? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Isn't that simple? It's not a word salad, is it? Not a bunch of complex words
put together. It's a very simple statement.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Oh, but my, how are you going
to call on somebody you don't believe? Can you call on him without faith?
Well, no. Well, how are you going to believe
on him unless you what? Heard of him. Can't believe on
nobody you ain't heard. Well, how are you going to hear
without some preacher to tell it? You can't. And listen, preachers
aren't just a dime a dozen, they're sent. They're sent of God. And then when you hear what we
say and God gives you His Spirit, you say, how beautiful are the
feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad
tidings of good things. Listen, but nope, not all have
heard or believed our gospel. Isaiah said, Lord, who had believed
our report? Here's a conclusion. So then,
faith, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing very specifically
by the word of God. Isn't this your testimony? How'd
you receive the Spirit? By the hearing of faith or the
obedience of the law? Rhetorical question. You know
you heard it by the gospel. In 1 Peter chapter one, First
Peter chapter 1 verse 18 First Peter chapter 1 verse 18 He said
this For as much as you know I like that I'm going to tell
you something you already know Isn't that what I do all the
time? Just tell you something you already know For as much
as you know you were not redeemed with corruptible things The silver
and gold of your vain conversation Received by tradition of your
fathers You weren't redeemed by the law, were you? You know
that How were you redeemed? Oh, with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without spot and blemish. Who? The blood of Christ. Christ was
fairly foreordained in that covenant of grace. Christ was foreordained
to shed His blood. But now He's come and did it.
He was manifest in His last time for you. Who by Him do believe
in God? How do you believe in God? by
Him. Isn't that the difference? Isn't that why you believe in
God and others don't? By Him, you do believe in God,
who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God, seeing you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the law. Is that what it says? How do you purify your soul?
Obeying the truth through the spirit. You see who's doing the
thing here? Who's doing the work here? The
spirit. Unto unfeigned love of the brethren. How in the world you gonna love
me except to be the spirit of God do it? You can't love me
without him. Ain't no way. I don't love me. That's a lie. I love me more
than anybody else. But I love me so much I loathe
me. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and
abideth forever. How did you receive the Spirit?
That's a rhetorical question. I received it by the hearing
of the faith, hearing of faith by the power of the Spirit of
God, not by my obedience to the law. There's a third question.
Are you so foolish then to begin by the Spirit and be made perfect
by the flesh? Now this question pertains to
those believers who, believers walk and growth. This is the
question that deals with us in the present now. How does the
believer live? Do you begin by the spirit and
then now you finish by obedience to the law. Is that it? How we live? How do we grow in
the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ? referring to the obvious answer
to the second question. We being born again by the Holy
Spirit through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, being justified
by the faith of Christ, without the deeds of the law, but now
being justified, are we to finish by the obedience to the law? These, like many others, are
so thoughtless and foolish to say the law is the rule of life. Again, you're going to hear this
not just from Armenians, but you're going to hear this from
people who claim to be Calvinist. Matter of fact, the mass majority
of so-called Calvinism. They say we begin by the spirit,
but we are made perfect by the flesh. One prominent reformed theologian,
he's now since passed, but he said this, that if you don't,
if you're not sanctifying yourself, he said, you're one of those
believers that just barely gets into heaven. As though he gets in with some
kind of grand, you know, pomp and circumstance because he had
obeyed the law. Some are so thoughtless to say
that we we finished this work by the Ten Commandments or obedience
to the law. Are you so foolish? Are you so
thoughtless that having begun by the spirit, you supposed to
end be made perfect by obedience to the law? Are you so foolish
to be saved by Christ, made perfect or complete in any part of your
salvation by your own obedience? You're going to finish this thing
that Christ started and you're going to finish it. Rhetorical
question. There's no way believer to say
that's no way I could say I do that Some are so bold to say
that salvation began by Christ, but their obedience to the law
They make themselves ripe for heaven Fit for heaven I'm not
this is this is not a joke friends. I know that some of you shaking
your head But I mean, this is what's being taught in so-called
reformed churches Christ began the work and you
fit yourself. You make yourself ripe for heaven
by obeying the law. This is utter foolishness. Not
only so, it's against the word of God. Is that not justification by
the law? Don't be duped by their words. Again, friends, don't
be duped by their crafty illusions. to exchange word justification
for sanctification. Well, no, preacher, we don't
believe we're justified by the law. We believe we're sanctified
by the law. As though one is separate from
the other. So you can be justified without
being sanctified. Can you be justified without
being holy? Doesn't make sense. Are you so
thoughtless? that somehow your justification is taken care of,
but your sanctification belongs to you. I had, and I'm going to give
you this, I had a friend of mine and we were talking about the
word sanctification. Now there's a word in sanctification that
means set apart, just simply set apart. You know, believers
are sanctified, set apart by their faith. The gospel we believe. Surely, I don't have to do anything
to be sanctified in that. I just, you know, I know the
gospel, believe the gospel. I'm not going to hear another
gospel. So obviously, that sets me apart from the rest of the
world in that. You know, we love one another.
By this you shall know, all men shall know you are my disciples
if you have love one for another. Right? Well, in that we are set
apart. But do we really have to Do anything
special? Because those are the two laws
that we're given anyway, faith and love. But this idea of being made holier,
and I mentioned that to him, I said, when we use the word
sanctification, be careful you explain what you mean. Because
the majority of the time it means holiness. And that's what the
false religion is talking about. When they say sanctification,
they mean progressive holiness. And he said, I don't think that
that's what's being preached out there. I beg to differ. I
listened to a message no more than three weeks ago from a big
sovereign grace church out in California, and that's exactly
what they're saying. Progressive holiness. How can you be part holy? Tell
me, anyone, are you so thoughtless to think that you can be part
holy? To be part holy is to be sinful. You are either holy or you're
not. It is not progressive holiness.
Now then, if you want to say that, well, you know, basically
what they believe is this, that the flesh will get better. The
more you obey the law, the flesh is going to get better. Now I'll
tell you this, if you believe on Christ, if you follow the
law of the believer, faith and love, surely I know this, the
flesh must be put down. Surely we must mortify the deeds
of this body. There's no doubt about that.
That doesn't make me more holy. Now listen, it may appear before
men that I'm holier. But who cares about what I look
like before men? It matters what I look like before
God. True holiness is what I'm concerned
about. Holiness. So no, don't be duped
by their switching words of sanctification and justification. They're both the same in this.
So don't forget human wisdom here is in opposition to the
word of God. How do you begin and how do you
end this? That's the question. Are you
so foolish to think you begin in the spirit and end in the
flesh? Listen to the word of God being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, who starts
it? Believer who started your. Your
faith, your love for Christ, who started this salvation? He
who began a good work in you, who's going to finish it, you
Or he am being confident of this. He that hath begun a good work
in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. So it's
a rhetorical question in this. We know who starts and we know
who finishes it. If I believe until my dying breath
in all the glory belongs to Christ. All of it. So then, what is then the rule
of life? Well, how is the believer to
live then? How is a believer to live? Are we lawless? God
forbid you should say it. I've already mentioned the law
of the believer is simply two, faith and love. How do you live? Faith. It just shall live by faith. If God who began this work, he
began it by faith in Christ, did he not? How will he finish
it? By faith in Jesus Christ. And what happens in the middle?
Faith in Jesus Christ. That's how he works. Listen to
the second Colossians chapter two, as you have therefore received
Christ. How do you receive it? by grace
through faith, right? So walk ye in him. And just in case you didn't understand
it, it gives you the explanation. Rooted and built up and established
in the faith as you have been taught. abounding therein with
thanksgiving. I'm so thankful justification,
sanctification, redemption, wisdom, all of it is accomplished by
Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful I don't have
my part in that. Number four, look at this fourth rhetorical
question. I'll move through this one quickly. He said, have you
suffered so many things in vain if it yet be in vain? that in
this in this question he's asking, because these people in Galatia,
they had suffered. They had suffered their loss of their family. They
had been kicked out of their synagogues. They had been despised
by the legalistic Judaizers. They had been mocked. They had
suffered many things. When believe we believe in Christ,
we are going to suffer. But he's he's telling them this,
look, if you go back to the law, all your suffering was useless.
It was he said, if it be in vain. Listen, if this is the way you're
going to continue, if you're going to begin by the spirit
and finish by the law. Listen, all you're suffering
is you suffer as much you want to. Not going to help you. Not
going to benefit you at all. How many people have given their
lives for the false church? How many? How many countless
millions went to the Crusades? fighting the pagan Muslims and
two guys hitting each other with the sword, both died and went
to hell, Muslim and the so-called Christian. You see, their suffering was
pointless. But to us who believe, listen,
our suffering is not. Matter of fact, it is given unto
you on behalf of Christ not only to believe, but to suffer for
his name's sake. And so then I want you to see
that, that those who believe and then return, their suffering
is vain. But believer, I'm so thankful
that ours is not vain. Ours have purpose. Our suffering
does have purpose. It does cause us to grow. It
causes us to look more to Christ. Isn't that what suffering does
to you? Doesn't it press you out of measure
to look to Christ? And the fifth rhetorical question
is this. Look at verse 5. He, therefore, that ministereth
the Spirit to you, and worketh miracles among you, does he do
it by works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Now, the
question moves the Galatians to the first cause. All right. Who ministered the Spirit to
you? Well, that's an easy one, isn't
it? God did. Who worked the miracle of grace
in your heart? You or God? Well, God did. Well, if God ministered the spirit
to you and he worked the miracles of you, how did he do it? Did
he do it by your obedience to the law or did he do it by the
hearing of faith? God ministers these things to
us, not by the keeping of the law, but by hearing of faith. Was it God's intent by the law
to make you better? Is that what happened to you?
When you were saved, did you get better? He looked in the mirror the next
day, I believe, he said, look at that guy. Look at that. I'm telling you what, I'm already
getting better. It's a joke. I get it. It's foolishness
to say such a thing. These are rhetorical questions
because the believer knows that's not how it is. God didn't do
that. He didn't minister the spirit to me to make me better. He says the flesh profiteth nothing,
Christ said. That which is born of flesh is
what? Flesh. It doesn't get better. The only
thing you can do to it is kill it. That's it. Mortify the deeds of, why? Because
it ain't going to get better. Don't compromise with it. Now
which is born of the spirit though is what? Spirit. And these two then are constantly
opposing one another. Therefore, the believer, we are
supplied the Holy Spirit, not for the purpose of making the
flesh better. That can't be. That which is
born of flesh is flesh. The flesh doesn't profit, but
the Spirit is given to us for this purpose, to keep us in the
faith. to keep us in the faith. And
how does he do this? By what means does he do this?
How are you kept in the faith? Scott, why in the world are you
still here? Why do you listen to this message over and over
and over and over and over? Because that's the means of the
spirit to keep us. You didn't come here to hear
the law, did you? Why not? Because that's not the
intent of the spirit to keep us. He keeps us by the hearing
of faith. He constantly supplies the spirit. He constantly works miracle after
miracle in our hearts. You believing right now is a
miracle of grace. Why? Because it's impossible
for your flesh to do it. It's a miracle. And he constantly
supply at this. How? By the hearing of faith. So you
see the necessity then of constantly hearing the same message. So
the spirit to hear the word of God, to hear of the grace of
God through Jesus Christ. So now then go back over there
just real quickly. Are you so thoughtless? Do not obey the truth to revert
back to the law. Are you so bewitched? This only what I learn you receive
you the spirit by the works of the Lord by the hearing of faith.
How in the world you get the spirit was it were you so good? That God gave it to you or did
he give it to you by grace? Through the hearing of the gospel.
Well, you know, it's by the hearing of the gospel. Are you so foolish as to be gun
in the spirit, he now made perfect by the flesh. Are you so thoughtless
to think now you're going to revert back to the law in any
measure? No, the just shall live by faith. Constant, perpetual
faith in Christ. Have you suffered so many things
in vain if it yet be in vain to go back to the law? It means
all of our suffering in our faith is empty. And the fifth one,
God who ministers us the spirit and works the miracle of grace
in us, he continually does it by what? the works of the law
or by the hearing of faith. These are the answers are in
the text. They're right there. You see,
we can do away with a lot of this foolish word salads that
religion is throwing up at you. Read the text. It explains itself. And I pray that God would keep
us from being duped because it's easy. The flesh is always looking
for something to set itself above another. It just is. When we see somebody sin, the
first thing we do is look at them and say, man, how could
they do that? And what we're not considering is that we are
capable of everything they've done. The flesh is so easily duped. God keep us from being duped. Always looking to Christ alone,
Christ alone, Christ alone as all our salvation. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father in heaven, I
pray that you be gracious and pour out your spirit to us. Father,
I beg you to teach us. Open our hearts and minds. Open
the scriptures to our understanding. Not just our minds, but our hearts.
That you would pour it in, Father, that we should be so thankful
that it's not by the law. but by grace, through faith. I pray, Father, that you would
help those who are struggling, those who are confused, even of the brethren who would
be bewitched, that you would open their understanding. I ask
you to do this for your own glory, in Christ's name.