Let's turn in our Bibles, brethren, to Galatians chapter 3. I have a problem this morning that is a very good problem for a preacher to have. And that is, I have three messages I want to preach and I'm having trouble deciding which two I'm going to preach this morning. I'd rather have that problem than not having anything. But we were here not long ago in Galatians 3, but I preached here last night to the brethren over in the Philippines, and I really want to go through this again with you.

Galatians chapter 3, and let's look here in verse 1. Paul says, O foolish Galatians, Who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? The Apostle Paul had preached, and some of the other disciples, apostles, had preached to these brethren so clearly that it was like Christ was crucified right there in their midst. That's what he means. Christ had been preached plainly to them. And these brethren that had come in, or these men, false brethren that had come in, had bewitched them. And a lot of people think that the issue here was justification by faith, that they were preaching a lie concerning justification by faith. But that's not the issue. The issue here concerned sanctification. They were being told that once they believed on Christ for justification, then they needed to turn back to the law and keep the law in order to be holy, to be sanctified. It was of their hand. There it works. That's the lie. And that's what Paul's dealing with throughout this Galatian letter.

Any time that a man makes his law keeping a necessity for any part of his salvation. That man is looking to himself. That man is worshiping his will. He's worshiping himself. He's not worshiping the true and living God. And so he asked him a series of questions here. And I wanna just look at a few of these questions. We're not gonna look at all of them. But he asked this question in verse two. He says, this only what I learn of you Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. He's saying, how did you begin? Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. How a person begins has everything to do with whether they've really been saved or not. And it has to do with how they're going to continue is however they began.

Now the important thing for us to know starting out here is that when he speaks about how did you receive the Spirit, what is it to receive the Spirit? Some people think that means you're accepting the Lord Jesus. That's not what receiving the Spirit means. We're dead by nature. We're spiritually dead by nature, and a dead man cannot do anything. So how would you receive the spirit if you're dead? So that's not what this means at all. That water, that glass received the water that I poured into it, and that's what this word means. That glass didn't do anything. I poured the water into it, and that's what it is with a spiritually dead sinner The Lord pours the Spirit into that person. And we know that so, let's look at a scripture. Let's go to John chapter 1 and listen here to what the word of the Lord says.

John 1. Look at verse 12. As many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. That word power means the privilege. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And how did they receive him? Look here, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. They didn't do anything to be born again. It was of God. It wasn't because of who their family was. It wasn't because of their own will. And it wasn't because of any other man. It was because God gave them life.

Go with me to John 3, John chapter 3. And look here, when Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus, Nicodemus had not been born of God. Now he's like 99% of people that are religious. He was religious, and he was worshiping a god of his imagination, but he had not been born of God, and he didn't even know who Christ was. And he came to him by night, because he didn't want anybody seeing him come to the Lord Jesus. He came by night so he wouldn't be persecuted of men.

And the Lord answered him. And look what he said, look, he's verse two. He came by night and he said unto the Lord, Rabbi, that tells you right there he didn't know who Christ was. He called him a rabbi. Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.

And listen to what the Lord said. Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Christ is the king of the kingdom. And Christ is telling him, you can't even see me. You don't even know who I am.

Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. When you were born the first time, you were flesh. I was flesh. And that's all that part of you will ever be, is just flesh. And that which is born of the spirit of God is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, where it will. And you can't, you hear the sound, but you can't tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. So to receive the spirit is to be born from above, is to be born of God. And it has nothing, we didn't do anything, nothing at all.

So here's the question. He said, how did you receive the Spirit? Was it through the hearing of works telling you that you had to do something, telling you what you must do to be born again? Or was it through the hearing of faith?

Now, here's the question. What is the hearing of faith? The hearing of works is the message of you need to do something to be saved. You have to do something to make yourself be born again. That's what you hear in a lot of churches. preachers begging folks to make a decision and begging them to walk an aisle and begging them to pray through and walk the Roman road and all these numerous things that men call it. Is that how you started or was it through the hearing of faith?

Now what's the hearing of faith? It's the hearing of the message that God does the work. It's hearing the message that God chooses whom he will save And Christ came and did all the work to make his people righteous and to make his people holy. And that he sends the gospel and he brings his child under the sound of the gospel, the preaching of the gospel. If you're here under this gospel today, it's not by accident. You didn't come here just of your will. You came here because it's appointed of God for you to be here to hear the word. One of two things is going to happen. You're going to hear this gospel, and the Lord's going to save. And it might not be today. It may be years from now. He'll keep you coming, keep you coming, keep you coming, and make you hear this word. Or it may be that you hear it one time, and you go out, and you don't hear it again. And this word is to either save or to damn. And that's so of everybody that hears it. Everybody that hears it, the words work in that twofold purpose. It's either saving or it's damning.

We're a saver of life unto life, unto God. Paul said we're a saver of life unto life in them that perish and in them that are saved. One we're the saver of life, the other the saver of death. But this word is never returning void. God's accomplishing one of those two purposes every time it goes forward. And so the question is, did you hear a message that told you what you must do? Or did you hear a message that told you the work is all of God? The way we're truly saved is through the message that declares the whole work is of God. It's all of God. It's all of the Lord Jesus sending the gospel, making the word effectual in the heart of his people by him speaking into the heart. It's all of him.

Now that's a good question to start with because that's going to help us with the next question. And here's the next question. How do we grow once we're born? How do we continue once we're born of God? He says in verse three, are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the flesh? Now, he answers the first question. Anybody that's truly begun began by the spirit, in the spirit. The Lord sent the gospel and he sent the spirit and he gave life. Now here's the question. Now how are you gonna be made to grow up? That word perfect there does not mean It doesn't mean sinless perfection. That will never be for God's people while we're in this earth. One day we will be perfect. We are perfect in Christ, but one day we will be perfect when he brings you to glory and you're made new in body, soul, and spirit. But while we're in this life, we'll never be sinlessly perfect. That will not be. The word means mature. How do you grow up and become mature believers? Well, how does God grow his child and make his child become a mature believer? The same way we began. It's through the hearing of the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus. The hearing of faith, not the hearing of our faith, it's the hearing of his faithfulness, the hearing of what he does. And that's how we grow. We hear more and more of the Lord Jesus.

You see, most people in religion that you hear, and I've heard men say this, there's two kinds of messages that you preach. You preach an evangelical message. That's the message, as they say, to get somebody saved. And they give more emphasis to the Lord Jesus when they preach that message, or at least to a Jesus of their imagination. But then they say once they're saved, then you go back to Mount Sinai and you take the Ten Commandments and then you start preaching works and teaching them works. That's not how the Lord saves. The Lord doesn't take you to Mount Zion to save you and then take you back to Mount Sinai to sanctify you. No. The message is Christ, Christ, Christ all the way through. It's all of Him. We don't grow, and this needs to be said first of all, We do not grow more holy. We grow, having been made holy by the Lord, we grow as holy saints. But we don't grow more holy. We grow in grace and we grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Go with me to 2 Peter 3.

2 Peter 3. And here in verse 17, he's talking about how the Lord is coming again, and this whole world's gonna be dissolved. Not only those that he has begun this work in, they're the ones that's gonna be saved. Now he asks this question right here, or he gives this statement in verse 17. He says, ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.

Our steadfastness is in Christ alone. He said, don't be led away from Christ, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And who's gonna get the glory? Who's gonna do the growing? To him be the glory. both now and forever, amen.

Now, growth, growing in grace is growing by the grace of the Lord Jesus. What he does for us is not gonna be something we merited at all. It's gonna be entirely by his grace. It's gonna be growing by grace, and it's gonna be growing by him giving you more grace, him giving us grace and growing us up into him.

and it's going to be in the knowledge of Christ. It's going to be by his knowledge. He has the wisdom to know exactly what his children need. Like if he sees you start looking to yourself and depending on your works, he knows how to send the circumstances and sovereignly work everything in our life to put us in a place to where he shows you you're still the center. and you're still weak and unable to do anything of yourself.

And through this gospel then, he will keep renewing you to know he's the only one that's saving you. He's the only salvation you have. That's all by his knowledge. That's by him being the wisdom to know what you need to keep you from looking to you and keep you looking to him.

And it's also growing in knowledge of him. It's him making you know more and more that he is all our wisdom, all our righteousness, all our sanctification, and all our redemption. It's growing in him. But we're not growing more holy. We're growing up as saints that he has sanctified and made holy.

And that's important because this thing of being more holy than somebody else, and that's what's taught in a lot of churches. You grow to get more holy and less sinful. You don't sin as much. That promotes pride, and that promotes competition with brethren, and it makes one look down on another.

I know I've told you this before, but in Isaiah 65, it is the only place in the scripture where one person is said to be holier than another person. And it is a false religionist, a false believer, saying to somebody else, stand by yourself and don't come near me, because I'm holier than thou. And the Lord said, they're a stench in my nose. They're a fire that burns all the day. They stink like a burning waste dump, is what he's saying. And that's the only place in scripture where one person is said to be holier than another person.

Go with me to Ephesians 4. The Lord's people, by grace, the Lord's people have everything in unity with each other. We have one and the same thing. Go with me to Ephesians 4 and look right here. Verse 4 says there's one body and one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling, there's one Lord One faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who's above all and through all and in you all. You see, we have everything the same. We have the same righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ at God's right hand. We have the same holiness, the Lord Jesus at God's right hand. And the way we know this is he came through the gospel and regenerated us and created our new holy man and made you look away from you to Him, to know He is all your holiness and all your justification. He's both.

But look, but we don't all grow at the same rate because growth is of Him, not of us. Look here, verse seven, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. He's given you, He's given you the bread, He's the bread. and he's making you to grow up into him. And some have been in the faith longer than others, just like children in a family. They're not all the same age and all the same height and all the same build, all at the same time. They grow at different levels, and that's how it is with Lord's people.

But he's taught us that your righteousness is not you, and your holiness is not you. so that we're not looking at one another and saying, oh, I'm holier than you. We have the same holiness. Christ, we're separated into him. We've been made holy in him. And we have the same righteousness before the law of God in him. And this is what keeps us looking. We're all looking at one. We're all looking at Christ.

And so he said, if you began in the spirit, he said, are you going to grow up now by hearing Of works, are you gonna grow by hearing more of him? You're gonna grow, if you're gonna grow in knowledge of him, you're gonna have to hear more of him, right? So that's how we grow. That's how we grow.

Look at Galatians 6, look at verse 15. Nothing about our salvations of us. And that's exactly what Paul's declaring right here in Galatians 6, 15. He says, He says in verse 15, in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. Circumcision stands for the law. That's the first thing they did to come under the law. So he's saying it's not whether you're under the law or not under the law that avails. Gentiles had never been under the law that God gave to Israel. And yet, Peter said we're gonna be saved like they're saved. And so, It's not circumcision or uncircumcision that avails, but a new creature. That's how you began. He made a new creation in you, a new man. And Christ formed in you as the holiness of that new man. And he said, and as many as walk according to this rule, our rule of life is Christ. We're looking to Christ. He said, follow me. He said, come to me, follow me. Abide in me. He said, as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and they're the Israel of God.

I'm sorry, I meant to show you this. Go back to Ephesians four. Let me show you this. This new man, there's gonna be some result that he's gonna create. He's gonna make you hate the sin you once loved. Look here in verse 21, he says, If so be that you've heard of him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that's how we're going to continue being taught of him. It's how we began, it's how we're going to continue. That you put off concerning the former conversation, the former conduct, the old man, which is corrupt according to his deceitful lust.

Now see, our old way is this. We didn't think we were corrupt. We didn't think we were full of deceit and full of lust. And what our deceit and our lust was, was to try to come to God in ourselves, thinking God ought to save us because we were good enough to be saved. We just needed a little help, that's all. So he's gonna turn you from that and everything about yourself and all the corrupt sins that we love, and he's gonna make you to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you're gonna put on the new man. which after God is created, a new creation, in righteousness and true holiness. That's not your righteousness and not your holiness. That's his righteousness and his holiness.

Wherefore, putting away lying, speak ever, man, truth with his neighbor, for we're members one of another. We used to lie and say, I'm a holy man because I keep the Ten Commandments. Now we quit lying. Now we say, I've never kept the law. Christ is the only one who's fulfilled the law on my behalf. He did it for all his people. My only righteousness is him. I'm nothing but a sinner, saved by grace. Now you speak the truth to one another.

But that putting off the old man and walking in the new man, that's not what made us holy. That's the result of him having made you holy. not what makes us holy. Again, in Colossians 3, we saw this too not long ago, I'm just trying to show you the new man is holy because he's created by Christ in Christ's image. Colossians 3, he says, now put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, verse 8, Colossians 3, 8. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, lie not one to another, seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

Where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. All those things we use to exalt ourselves over others. What you see going on in politics and in the news in this world all over, you know, you're from that country, we're from this country. You're that color. I'm this color. You're female. I'm male. You're that party. I'm this party. Every bit of that is self-righteousness. That's all it is. It's worms arguing with worms that they're a better worm than the other worm. That's all that is.

And all that stuff is Jew and Gentile, circumcision and non-circumcision, educated, uneducated, rich, poor, using that to say I'm better than you are. That's not, we know better than that now, because the Lord's taught us there's none good, not one. There's none righteous, there's none that understands, none that seeks God. But here's what he's made you to know. But in that new man, Christ is all. He's all. He's all. What does that mean? It means just what it says, Christ is all. What do you need? That's who Christ is. Do you need righteousness? Christ is all His people's righteousness. You need holiness? He's all His people's holiness. You need to be saved to get through this next hour? He's all your salvation for this next hour. You need to be saved all the rest of your days? He's all your salvation. He is all in salvation. Every aspect of salvation is in Christ and by Christ, by His grace, apart from anything you and me do. apart from anything we do, and he's in all his people.

And so we put on, therefore, as the elect of God, already made holy, not to be holy, elect who are holy and beloved. In the new man, bowels, in the new man, from the new man, you put on mercies and kindness and humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, where do you get this? You go back to the letter of the law to do this, learn to do this, it won't teach you this. You look to Christ. Even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. We learn everything looking to Christ. He is everything to us, and we're gonna learn in the knowledge of him.

Now our old nature's still with us, and so there's no way you and me can look to ourselves and ever think, I've got to a point where I don't sin anymore. I'm less sinful than I was yesterday. Never, never. Paul said, when I would do good, evil is present with me. He said, oh wretched man that I am right now today. And this is what the Lord makes you know through that. He says, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The Lord Jesus. I thank God through Jesus Christ. Does that mean when he first called you? Does that mean today? Yep. Does that mean tomorrow? Yep. Does that mean when you die and you need somebody to bring you into glory, bring you out of the grave? Yep. He does every bit of it. He's delivering us. He has, he is, and he shall.

So lastly, let's go here now. Every miracle of grace that's worked, Christ works it. Now does he continue working this through The message of works are through the hearing of his faithfulness. Verse five. He therefore that ministereth to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you. Who does that? Christ does that. He ministered the spirit to you and he's the one working these miracles. Does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness.

Okay, so how did he work it in Abraham? Look at verse eight. The scripture for seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham. He did it through the gospel. The same gospel by which he saved you and me today is the gospel that he did this work in Abraham and continued to work in Abraham through the gospel. And he declared to him, in these shall all nations be blessed. I'll put that as simply as I can. He declared to Abraham, Abraham, Christ is all your salvation. And he's all his salvation of his elect all over the world. Why did he say in thee? Because Christ came through Abraham, through his genealogy. But the message was, Abraham, Christ said, I'm your shield, and I'm your exceeding great reward, and I will save you. And I'm going to save my elect scattered in all the world.

And he sent the spirit to Abraham, and he made Abraham be born again, just like he did you and me. And then he taught him this gospel and gave him faith to believe Christ. And he kept doing the same thing for him all his days. You think whenever Abraham went down into Egypt, that famine came and he went down into Egypt. Why did that happen? Because he needed to be taught that Christ is his salvation. And so to continue that work, the Lord organized everything in Providence to where he went down there into Egypt And he got down there and he lied and said Sarah was his sister. And that king took her and the Lord brought Abraham to see that he's the one that, and when he was down there, he gave him much cattle and everything he gave him and he brought him out of there and brought him back. And through all of that, the Lord taught Abraham a little bit more. Abraham, I'm your salvation. It's not your wisdom trying to lied and connived, I'm your salvation. And every trial you and me go through that Abraham went through, it was the Lord teaching him the whole time, I'm your salvation. And he kept doing it through this gospel. You can go over there in Genesis and read, every time the Lord appeared to Abraham, he declared to Abraham, I'm your salvation, Abraham.

He said, go offer up your son, Abraham, your only son. This is the one I've promised you that I'm coming through. This is the one I've promised you that in him your seed's gonna be called. And he said, now you go offering him up to me. Why did the Lord do that? He was preaching the gospel to Abraham. And he was teaching Abraham, I am the Lord who will provide. And when Abraham went up that mountain, God gave him the grace to be able to say, Isaac said, here's the wood, here's the fire, where's the lamb? And God had given him the faith Christ had to say, my son, God will provide himself the lamb.

And he went up there, and he put his boy on that altar, and Isaac's a grown man. He laid down on that altar. And he drew back to slay his son, and the Lord said, stop, Abraham. And he looked over there, and there's a ram caught in a thorn thicket. And Abraham saw Christ. who years later would be crowned in thorns and hanging on that cross and laying down his life in place of Abraham and Isaac and all his elect.

You see, you and me just come in here and sit and hear the gospel preached because we have the scriptures now. That's how God preached the gospel to them in that day because they didn't have the scriptures yet. He did it through a high priest, and he did it through a lamb, and he did it through the tabernacle, and he did it through all these ceremonies, and then he put them through this providence to teach them. And that's how he preached the gospel to them.

Now he's given us the word, and we come in and we hear Christ declared in the word, and look at those pictures and types of how Christ taught them, but the method in the gospel is the same. He's declaring to us, I do it. I'm the faithful one who's saving you. And it's through that message that we continue to be saved. And the reason Abraham is such a good example, you can read on down there in verse 17, and it'll tell you, the law wasn't given for 430 years.

All but the laws are, the Ten Commandments is our rule of life. Then Abraham didn't have a rule of life. He lived 430 years before the law was given. Noah lived 430 years or longer than that before the law was given. Adam, Enoch, well then how were they led? How did they know how to walk in the world and how to be ruled in their heart? The same way as people today, by the spirit of the Lord, through the preaching of the gospel, through the faithfulness of Christ, teaching them, just like he's teaching you and me. And that's why he uses Abraham as the example.

He didn't have the law. We're not saved by the law, brethren. Our hand, if you, the Lord told them when they built that altar, he said, you don't lift a tool up on the altar even. When you're building the altar, don't put your tool to that altar, because when you touch it, you'll defile it. And that's our, we can't put our hand to the work of salvation, because when you put your hand to it, you defile it. So do I. So we trust Christ. Having begun in the spirit, We're grown and kept by the Lord Jesus, and we learn everything looking to Him.

Walk in love as Christ loved us. How do I know how to walk in love? As Christ loved us. He said if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. How? He gave Christ when we didn't love Him. So you love one another when they don't love you. That's how we learn everything from Him, see?

And in everything, what He's teaching you is Your acceptance with God is not what you do. Your acceptance with God is at God's right hand, and you are there in Him right now, seated in Him, and complete in Him, and He's not gonna lose you, because He paid His blood for you. That's the message I would just say.

Let's go to Him, brethren. Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for saving Your people. Thank You for teaching us. Lord, thank You that You do it in spirit, and you do it through the gospel, and you make us know that our salvation is sure because it's entirely of your hand and not of ours.

Lord, thank you. We pray you bless the message to our hearts and be with us the second hour, Lord, and cause us to hear you. In Christ's name we pray, amen.