May it please God to bless us
as we continue our meditation in the epistle of Paul to the
Galatians and tonight we'll concentrate on verses 4 and 5. We'll read these first five verses
so that we have the picture. And the Apostle commences by
saying in this chapter, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched
you? that ye should not obey the truth
before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth,
crucified among you. This only will I learn of you.
Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith. Are ye so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit? Are ye now made perfect by the
flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet
in vain? He therefore that ministreth
to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he
it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? So in these two verses really
the Apostle continues his admonition to the Galatians, desiring that
they might cease from their own work, cease from the law, and
to turn to the Lord with that living and glorious faith which
the Lord does grant to his people. And he asked them this question,
have you suffered so many things in vain? Well, the Christian
church do suffer. I suppose we think that those
days are now past, but they're not. They are still with us. And we should recognize that
if we are a true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we
can expect opposition and difficulty and not be turned out of the
way because of it. Remember what the Apostle Peter
said in his first epistle in the second chapter, he said,
dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. And
that's what the church of God become. When they are born again
in the spirit, they become strangers and pilgrims. And he says then,
abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. And so he says here, have you
suffered so many things in vain? Because there is a natural suffering
when God gives us grace to turn away from the poor things of
this vain world, which perhaps have occupied our hearts and
minds and our life, so that we've given very little time to the
great things of God. But the apostle here comes and
says, have you suffered so many things in vain? And we should
recognise that if we are indeed these strangers and pilgrims
on the earth, then we should expect the opposition and shouldn't
be surprised and shouldn't desire then to turn our back upon it. That's what really the Apostle
was saying here. Have you suffered so many things in vain if it
be yet in vain? Well what a mercy if we are blessed
with this understanding because the Apostle when he wrote to
Timothy he encouraged him in this path and he told him If
we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he
also will deny us. Now, the reality is, I'm sure,
that none of us want to find that when we come and stand before
that judgment seat of almighty God, that the Lord says, I never
knew you. Depart from me. We may have had
an easy life in this world and then a terrible eternity. But what a blessing it is to
be counted worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called because
of the suffering that we endure for Christ's sake. And in that
period, in that time, the reality is that we have union with Christ. What a mercy then, to be joins
to the great and blessed God. and to know what it is to endure
suffering. The Apostle tells us, doesn't
he, they that endure unto the end shall be saved. So let us
realise there is an enduring, there is a good end, who by the
grace of God do endure. And what a mercy then tonight
if we see this question, have you suffered so many things?
Well we may have done. And if we have not done, then
we will do. Because the Word of God is very
clear that there will be those suffering times, those oppositions,
like when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church of Rome. You remember, he asked that question,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ? He then gives
a list. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,
peril, or sword. All those things. The question
was, will those things separate? By the grace of God, they won't.
by the grace of God, we shall be kept. And we'll be able to
rejoice in the words that the apostle was able to declare,
no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. So as we see this question that
the apostle places, have you suffered so many things in vain,
if it be yet in vain? To be able to realise, well,
we are amongst those strangers and pilgrims. The Lord is with
us and helping us to fight the good fight of faith, to lay hold
of eternal life, the great and important issue which we each
have to consider. And then he says, He therefore
that ministereth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you,
doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. He therefore that ministereth. You may think, well, who is speaking
here? Is it the Apostle Paul or is
it the Lord God? Well, it's helpful really to
recognise that this word ministering in the original really means
supplies. And if we consider that word,
he therefore that supplies to you the spirit, it's quite clear
that poor man can't do that, but we're thankful we have a
God who does it to his people. And so here we have this great
statement, he therefore that supplies to you the spirit and
worketh miracles among you. And we may think, well, what
is a miracle today? Well, every sinner saved by grace
is a miracle. You may ask, why is that? I'll
tell you why. Because naturally we are spiritually
dead. You need a miracle, don't we,
to raise a dead body? And we also need a miracle to
give life to a dead soul. What a blessing it is then to
know that the Lord gives us of His Spirit. And what a mercy
if you and I have the wonderful evidence that we do possess the
Spirit of God within us. That means the life of God within
us. That means that we passed from
death to life. And what a mercy then to realise
that the Lord supplies this glorious work of the Holy Spirit within
us to bring glory to our God. And the Apostle goes on to tell
us, And among you, doeth he it by the works of the law or by
the hearing of faith? Well, he endeavours to make this
very clear, and we're thankful the Spirit of God directed the
apostles so many years ago to clearly show to us that it's
not a works It's that faith which the Lord gives to us. And in
Romans 10, we read these wonderful words in verse 17. So then faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Well, have we had faith then
as we've heard the word of God to believe the truth of God and
to realize it is by God's spirit. I'm sure you remember the 11th
of Hebrews, and in all those wonderful exploits that were
listed by the saints of God, it always commenced with these
words, by faith. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. without faith. It is impossible
to believe in the great and glorious Gospel. And so how dependent
we are to be the recipients of this God-given faith. And therefore, we do not do these
things by the works of the law. That's what the Apostle wanted
his Galatians to understand. And how necessary it is for us
to understand it today, so that we might know the great and blessed
favour of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. by faith. The Apostle speaks here, in that
chapter we read, glorious verse, you know, in that second verse
of that second chapter, the first of Corinthians, he says, for
I determined. It's a glorious word, isn't it?
Determined, a gracious determination. He knew how important, he knew
how valuable it was. For I determined not to know
anything among you There was only one thing the Apostle wanted
to know amongst the Church of God who were given that glorious
grace of living faith. And what was it? He tells us,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What's our prayer tonight? Is
that our prayer? I hope it is. I hope it is, that
we might know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, and being made conformable unto
His image. Now then, walking this path will
be a path of suffering, but it will be a path of glory, and
a path of peace, and a path of comfort to our souls, because
it will show to us that we have the evidence of the Spirit's
work within us, giving us that real living faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a mercy it is then to
be found here in this position. And the God's servant James In
his epistle he speaks to us about the necessity of linking faith
with works. He tells us in the second chapter
in the 18th verse, Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and
I have works, show me thy faith without thy works, and I will
show thee my faith by my works. You see it was all those glorious
characters that we read of in the 11th of Hebrews. He showed
forth the faith given to them by the works that God enabled
them to do. They trusted in the Lord. They
waited for the Lord. They believed in the Lord. They
were dependent upon His grace, dependent upon His strength,
to enable them to do those great and wonderful acts which they
performed. They didn't possess the strength
themselves. It was through faith God gave
them, living faith, and He honoured that faith which he gave to them.
It's wonderful, isn't it, to think of that correlation. But
it's so true, and it's so wonderful. And so tonight, as we ponder
these words, may we indeed rejoice in the faith that God gives to
us. That it might be, doeth he it
by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? The faith
which we hear of, in the preaching of the Gospel, the faith that
we hear of as we read the Word of God. And you know this great
and glorious Gospel we receive by this living faith, as again
the Apostle wrote to his son Timothy, and he tells us in the
first chapter of the first epistle, verse 15, this is a faithful
saying, a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief. Is that tonight good news to
us? I hope it is. We're thankful
tonight that Lord Jesus came into this world to save us from
all our sin. to redeem us with his precious
blood, and to grant us the wonderful deliverance from the power of
Satan, who would turn us away from the grace of God, turn us
away from that living faith, to rest upon those things that
we can do. But my friends, remember, all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We are so dependent upon
that great and glorious spotless righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. May we know the application of
it to our own hearts and be able to rejoice in it and bless our
God for it, realising that it was not a works lest any man
should boast. It was of his free grace that
we received that living faith to believe. He therefore that
ministereth or supplieth to you the Spirit. Isn't it humbling? Isn't it amazing? That God should
give us of His Spirit utterly unworthy sinners of the earth
and worketh miracles among you. Doeth he it by the works of the
law or by the hearing of faith. Well may we bless God tonight
for that hearing of faith. Amen.