Let's be turning to Galatians
chapter 3. While you're turning there, what
made the difference in your salvation? What made the difference? Was
it something that you did or was it something that God did? What made the difference in our
salvation? Is this a spiritual work? Is
salvation a spiritual work in the hand of God? Or is it a carnal,
fleshly work in our hands? Whose work is it? And if it began
a certain way, is God going to change it midstream? Is it going
to be changed from how he began that work? These are questions
that Paul is settling for the believer here in Galatians chapter
3. So Paul is addressing the Galatian
church. They're being charmed. They're
being wooed by legalists that are coming in there and now speaking
to them of the law. And they're drawing them by the
law away from Christ. They're being turned from their
hope that they heard preached to them in the gospel, in the
simplicity of the gospel. They're being turned away from
trusting Christ for righteousness, and they're being turned to the
law. And Paul asks in verse 2, Galatians 3, 2, this only would
I learn of you. Received ye the Spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith? He's asking them, how
did you receive the Spirit? This gift of the Spirit, how
was it given to you? Was it by the works of the law?
Or was it by the hearing of faith? That is, did God minister the
Spirit to you through the preaching of the gospel of Christ? Or was
it by something that you were doing? And so he's speaking here
of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is given
to believers. It's a gift which Christ gives
to believers. those that are redeemed by Christ. It's a gift given to his people,
those that he laid his life down for. The gift of the Spirit is
one of Christ's ascension gifts, meaning when he returned to the
Father, he gave gifts unto men. And so the Lord gives the gift
of the Spirit. He gives the Spirit. for the
life of his people, to give them life, to turn them from darkness,
to turn us from trusting vain, carnal things that cannot save,
and to give us a hope and an understanding and light in the
face of Jesus Christ. And it's the spirit that he gives
that does this, that makes us to know Christ, that makes us
to turn away from those things which we trusted in and to trust
Christ alone for righteousness, for our life, for our hope. Now,
I quoted this early, but from Ephesians 4, 8, we're told that
when he ascended up on high, when Christ returned to the Father,
he led captivity captive and gave gifts. unto men." This Holy
Spirit is the gift of Christ to His people for our help, for
our life, for our understanding, for our salvation, brethren,
that we might know the true and living God. Our Lord said in
John 16, Verse seven and eight, he says, nevertheless I tell
you the truth, it is expedient, meaning it's profitable for you,
that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter,
that's what he calls the Holy Spirit, the Comforter will not
come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. He's saying it's expedient, it's
good, it's the most efficient thing is for me to return to
the Father that I may give you the Spirit who reveals truth
unto all my people for whom I've died, for whom I'm raised again. And so he sends the spirit. And
when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. And so the Holy Spirit is given
to make us, who sit in darkness by nature, who know not the true
and living God by nature, he comes to make us to know what
we are before the true and living God, to remove that false understanding
of what we are. that false sense of righteousness
that we have, and to make us to know that we're sinners, that
God is holy, and that we need a righteousness which he provides,
that we can't do it by our own works. He makes us to know that. He brings us to see that truth
in himself. He makes us to know that we are
worthy of death, unable to deliver ourselves by our works, that
we might hear faith, that we might hear the hope of God which
he gives to us through Christ, that it would close our mouths
of proud, vain boasting to hear, Lord, how do you save? How can a man be just with you?
How can I be delivered of my sins? He makes us to know this,
that we would hear Him and listen to Him. And man by nature doesn't
understand these things until the Spirit is given. He brings
us out of darkness into the light of Christ. He convinces us of
these things, and He makes us to see the excellency of Christ. He makes us to see the sufficiency
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would find our all in Him
and be assured that He is the very righteousness of God. He
is my very acceptance with the true and living God. And apart
from him, I have no life. Apart from him, I have no hope. So he turns us to behold Christ. He said again, when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me. You know it's the Spirit of God
when He glorifies and exalts Christ unto you, when He raises
Christ up before you. The spirit of this world turns
us to the things that we're doing. The spirit of this world turns
us to what we're doing to save ourselves. Oh, you better fix
it. You better stop doing that. You
better start doing this. You better start doing it this
way. The spirit of the world turns
us to us and what we're doing to save ourselves. But the spirit
of Christ turns us away from self to behold him who is the
very righteousness of God for his people. to behold His righteousness,
to behold His satisfaction, to be comforted in Christ, to believe
Him, to trust Him for all. And so salvation, or our acceptance
with God, or our justification by God from all our sins, is
a spiritual work. It is a spiritual work. It's
a work of grace. that God does for unworthy sinners
to deliver them from death and to give them light and life in
Christ. It's a spiritual work. It's not
a fleshly work. It's not a carnal work. It's
not something that we do for ourselves. Unto every one of
us, Paul said, to every redeemed sinner is given grace according
to the measure of the gift of Christ. Not a measure of what
you do, it's a measure of Christ and what he has accomplished
and as it pleases him to give his gifts unto men as it pleases
him, according as he will and as he fits us in his body, as
he assembles us and builds the house in his local body for the
good of his people. to know the true and living God,
and to serve one another in love, being joined together in this
hope which God has done for us, what he's done for us in the
face of Christ. And so this is what our Lord
is speaking of when Nicodemus came to him by night and he said,
Nicodemus, ye must be born again. He must be born again. He said
just before that, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. What we are by nature, all we
can bring forth is fleshly things. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. And this is a spiritual work,
which God must bring forth, what he must do. Our Lord is speaking
there of the new birth. We've been born. We must be born
again. He's speaking of a regeneration. We are generated by Adam's seed,
by nature. We must be regenerated by the
Spirit of God. must be a new birth, a quickening
of grace that is made alive by the grace of God. He makes spiritually
dead sinners alive, giving us eternal life by the Lord Jesus
Christ. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, when it pleases God, we are delivered from death and
darkness and immediately given life in and by Christ. He does
that instantaneously. In a moment, Paul's describing
this in Colossians 1, verse 12 through 14. He said, we're giving
thanks unto the Father. which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. I didn't
make myself meet for this. God has made me meet for this. God has made you that believe
Christ. He's made you meet for this inheritance. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Here's an example of being translated. I'm translating this glass of
water from this side to this side. It's translated just like
that. And our God translates us from
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, the kingdom
of his son, just like that. He does it that quickly, that
instantaneously. And I use those words that Paul
used, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Now, Paul used those
words to describe when Christ comes, when he returns again. He tells us, behold, I show you
a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed, in a moment. in the twinkling of an eye at
the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible. We shall and we shall be changed. This corruptible must put on
incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. It's
that efficient. It's that instantaneous that
we are raised again. This corrupt body will be raised
incorruptible. And it's a picture of what he
does for us spiritually. When it pleases him, he instantaneously
gives life to his people. Just think of a child, the conception
of a child. When the egg of a woman is met
with the seed of man, a child is born. Right then and there.
Oh, but it's only a cell dividing into two cells, dividing into
four cells, dividing into eight cells. It's a man. It's a man-child. That little that little baby,
even though it is nothing to us, even though it seems like
such a small insignificant thing, it comes forth. When it comes
forth, it'll be born a child. And it's only a child, but it's
a man-child. It's either a woman or a man,
and it's going to grow up and become a man or a woman. That's
it. It's a child. From that instant
moment, and that's how birth is spiritually by the Lord Jesus
Christ. When he comes, when the Spirit
is given, there's life wrought. There's life wrought. And then
you grow up. You grow in that grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you're a child of God. ready
to stand before the true and living God by Christ, by His
blood, not waiting for you to do things and add to it. You're
ready to stand before God in that very day, that very moment,
just like the thief on the cross. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And Christ said, this very day
shall you be with me in paradise. That man on the cross hadn't
done anything. Nothing. And yet he was fit to stand before
God, accepted of him in the holiness, the righteousness, the blood
of Christ. That's how perfect, how sufficient,
how awesome Christ is. How he saves his people to the
uttermost. Let me give you an example. Turn
over to Acts. Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, we're going
to pick up in verse 43, Peter here has been called by Cornelius
to tell him what he needs to hear. And he's assembled his
family and friends together to hear whatsoever Peter has to
say to them. And Peter comes there preaching
the gospel, preaching Christ. And so Acts 10, verse 43. He says to Him, to Christ, give
all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth
in Him shall receive remission of sins. Remission means forgiveness. Whoever believes in Christ shall
receive the forgiveness of sins. While Peter yet spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they
of the circumcision, those men that came with Peter to Cornelius's
house, those Jews which believed, they were astonished. Because
this is Gentiles here. These are people not circumcised.
These are people who did nothing under the law, and the Holy Spirit
came on them. And they were astonished, as
many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. They thought up until
then that you had to be a doer under the law. You had to be
a partaker of the law, a practitioner of the law, before you could
receive the Holy Spirit. And yet God demonstrated that
through the preaching of Christ, the hearing of faith, that his
spirit was poured out. And they heard that word. And
it came to them with power, effectually, in their heart, by the grace
of God, apart from their works. apart from their works. And they
were translated from the kingdom of darkness instantaneously to
the kingdom of light, to the kingdom of Christ. And that's
what he does. He pours out his spirit on his
people who hear the word in the day, in the hour he chooses,
making that word effectual in your heart, taking you out of
dead things, out of death, out of darkness, into the light of
Christ. It's a miracle of grace. It's
a spiritual work that we don't make happen, He does. He does. It's all of Him. That's why he
says throughout the scripture things like, not by might, nor
by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. And he's saying there
it's not by man's strength and man's work. It's not by man making
it happen. It's not by man having sufficient
numbers. God can do whatsoever He pleases
to do. Because He's God. He's almighty,
able to do whatsoever pleases Him. And you that believe Him
are happy about it, thankful, thankful unto God for that. Because
I'm thankful it's not in my hand. I'm thankful it's not by my doing. And I'm so thankful that it's
all in Christ's hand and that we're given to Christ to do this
very work for us, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And so the Lord is teaching us
more and more. He shows us in his word. It's
not by my tinkering. It's not by my perfecting. It's
not by me adding things and taking things away that accomplishes
this salvation. It's all of Christ, all of Christ. Believe him. Whosoever believeth
on him hath received, shall receive everlasting life, the forgiveness
of sins. You have life in Christ, you
that believe. It's done. It's accomplished.
Paul said it this way in Galatians 6, 15, For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision availeth anything, that was a work under the law,
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. A new creature, that's
what accomplishes this. It's a new creation of Christ's
seed, of Christ's grace, of his spiritual work, of his doing. And as many as walk according
to this rule, you want a rule? You want a law? Walk according
to this rule, this one, that we are saved by Christ. Walk
according to that one. Peace be on them and mercy and
upon the Israel of God. It's a new creation, which he
does. He does. It's a spiritual work.
And so we don't trust our doing. We don't have any confidence
in this flesh, Paul said. We're taught that, to have no
confidence in the flesh. We're taught by the grace and
power of God to have every confidence in Christ. More and more, he
does it, he does this work. And so Paul says now in Galatians
3.2, this only what I learn of you, received ye the spirit by
the works of the law? No, no. By the hearing of faith,
yes, yes. The matter is settled. We heard,
it was given unto us through the preaching of the gospel when
the spirit took it and made it effectual in our heart. The hearing
of faith. Now, verse three, Galatians 3.3,
are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are ye now made
perfect by the flesh? All right, if we agree that it
was a spiritual work in the beginning, does that change? Are we now
going to complete this and make it effectual unto us by the works
of the flesh? The Lord teaches us that we are
chosen of God in Christ. He said it this way in Ephesians
1-4, that it's according as he hath chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Before we were born, before we
did any good or evil, we were already chosen by God in Christ. He chose whom he would save according
to His will and His purpose of grace. We are told that we are
redeemed by Christ while as yet we were in darkness. He said
it this way in Romans 5 verse 8, God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we were yet in darkness,
yet ignorant of these things, yet foolishly doing what we would
do, Christ died for sinners. for his people. He laid down
his life. We were blessed, he tells us,
with his grace to believe Christ unto salvation apart from our
works. He says, by grace ye are saved,
through faith. And that faith, that faith that
you have, is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Because that's what we do. If
it was a fleshly work, We would boast, say, I'm doing more than
you. I'm doing better than you. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. I'm just a sinner saved by the
grace of God. And he humbles us so that we
would serve one another in love and be kind and gentle and gracious
to one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
us and been gentle and kind and gracious to us, though we are
undeserving sinners. so that we would go and do likewise
to our brethren. Be kind to them and gentle to
them. And so, having done everything
for us by the Spirit, is God now going to turn over salvation
into our hands? Is He saying, well, I've done
everything I can do now, it's up to you. Now you've got to
finish it off. Would God do that? Because that's
what Paul's asking. Is that what's going to happen?
If everything's up till now we see is dependent on the Spirit
to do it, is He now going to turn it over to you and I to
finish this thing off, to bring it over the finish line? Is it
going to be turned to the flesh now? He says it this way, in Hebrews
12, 2, it says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. He's the author of it and the
finisher of our faith. He says in Philippians 1, 6,
we're confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you shall perform it. Will perform it. And the
margin, if you have a good Bible, the margin will say that word
perform is finish. He shall finish it until the
day of Jesus Christ. He says this, faithful is he
that calleth you who also will do it. If he's called you to
faith in Christ, if he's given you faith in Christ, he's going
to perform it. He's going to finish that which
he's begun in you. John says, whatsoever is born
of God overcometh the world. If you are born again, You overcome
the darkness and the death that's in this world. You have life
in Christ, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. If He's revealed faith in you,
it's because He's purposed to be gracious to you, to show you
these things, to teach you and show you Christ, to not leave
you in death and darkness, but to bring you out of that darkness. It's immediate, but he'll keep
teaching you and keep showing you more and more how much Christ,
how sufficient Christ is to do this very work of grace. And
so it's not of this flesh that we're saved. It's all by the
grace of God in Christ. And he reveals this faith in
his child, and he tells us the just shall live by faith. And
that means you're not always going to see what you think you
should see. Things aren't going to just unfold
easily before your feet. You're going to be brought through
trials, and darkness, and difficulties, and struggles. You're going to
see your weakness. You're going to see your insufficiency.
He does it, he shows it to me all the time, how insufficient
I am. That we would find our all in
Christ. that we would be made to rest
in Him, and it's going to be a walk of faith. A walk of faith. If you saw everything you think
you should see, where would faith be? But the just shall live by
faith. That's why we're made to see
our failings, our fallings, our weaknesses, because it's not
of us. It's of Christ. It's of Him. And He does it perfectly. Perfectly. Now he does it. That's how we're
made holy and without blame before him in love, through Christ,
through Christ. And the Lord reveals it through
faith in Christ. Then verse four, have you suffered
so many things in vain if it be yet in vain? And we know that
anyone who believes Christ and anyone who lives by faith, trusting
him is going to suffer persecution. You're gonna be called a fool.
You're gonna be told, how could you hope in him? How could you
trust him? You gotta be doing, you gotta
be adding something to that. No, we're made to trust Christ. And anyone who believes him is
going to suffer persecution for that. And what he's saying to
these Galatians is, but if you turn from Christ, if you turn
to the law, all your suffering was in vain. Because it's not
the builders of their own righteousness that are the inheritors. It's
those that are in Christ that inherit eternal life. They have
it. And so Paul asks further now
in verse 5, Galatians 3, 5. This will be the last verse in
Galatians we're looking at here. 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. We that are called to preach
Christ, to preach the gospel of Christ, were made able ministers. God did this work. God made us
able ministers of the New Testament by his grace and power. We're
here to minister. the new covenant, to speak of
what Christ has done and accomplished by himself for his people. And he establishes us in the
covenant of God's grace by his blood, by his blood and righteousness. And it's by the power and grace
of God, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter
killeth, he tells us, but the spirit giveth life. We're called
to turn you to Christ. turn you to him who saves to
the uttermost. And God has purposed that we
should preach this gospel to declare what Christ has accomplished
by himself in coming into the world in the likeness of this
flesh but without sin, that he went to the cross willingly as
the sin-bearing sacrifice for his people to atone for their
sins, to settle our debt, to reconcile that which we've ruined
to make it right in and by himself. And he died on the cross, was
buried, and raised again, God, by that justifying us, declaring
you're justified. You that hope in Christ are justified
from all things from which you could not be saved by the law
of Moses. He's done this. And he shows
us that this is a spiritual work. It's a gift by his grace and
mercy in Christ. God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Without Christ, there
is no blessing. Without Christ, there is no life.
Without Christ, there is no light. There is no fellowship with God.
It's all in Christ. It's not of works, but of grace.
Now I want to close with one passage in 1 Peter. So be turning
towards the back of your Bible, not as far as Revelation, but
after Hebrews. And before you get to Revelation,
go to 1 Peter, and let's look at chapter 2. Chapter 2, and I'm going to pick
up in verse 6. 1 Peter 2 verse 6, Wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. He's talking about Christ. He's
the chief cornerstone. He's that precious stone that
he's laid in Zion for our salvation. whom he builds the house by whom
he builds the house unto you therefore which believe he's
precious you that have this hope Christ is precious unto you because
he's everything everything we need to stand before God but
unto them which be disobedient now he's talking to the legalist
they're disobedient yes disobedient to the faith disobedient the
stone which the builders disallowed, which the builders rejected.
See, the Pharisees were builders. They were building a righteousness.
They're tinkering and playing and messing around with the law,
thinking, this is my righteousness whereby I may stand before God. He says they're disobedient.
They've rejected the stone. That one that they rejected,
the same has made the head of the corner. He's the one who
builds the house. Jesus Christ. Not Moses. Christ does. And so he's saying,
by nature, we're builders. We want to fix that which we've
made wrong by our works. You're not going to do it. Not
perfectly. Not to stand before God, except that of him. Only
by Christ are we perfect. Only by his righteousness are
we accepted of God. And so these builders, to them,
Christ is a baffling mystery. They don't understand it, because
they're so certain. It's by the law. It's by my works.
It's by what I do that I'm righteous before God. Even though he's
showing us, it's Christ. It's Christ. We've come short. So that Christ is a stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense. They're offended by Christ, even
to them which stumble at the word being disobedient. whereunto
also they are appointed to those things. Appointed. But brethren,
I have a better hope for you that the Lord has gathered here
this morning to hear this word. We are sinners. We do come short
of the glory of God. We need salvation. We need a
righteousness. And he's gathered us together
to declare to us Christ, the very one who saves sinners from
their sins. I have a good hope that he's
gathered you to hear this word, to bless you this day, to comfort
your hearts, to give you a true, righteous, Holy Spirit wrought
hope in Christ, and not in yourselves. As he says, ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation of peculiar people. hope
not in what you do but in Christ a peculiar people that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light right he just translated you take you
out of darkness into light I pray the Lord that Bless that word
to your hearts that He meet that word with faith in your hearts
by the Holy Spirit making it effectual in your hearts to believe
Christ that He is all to the salvation of your soul. Amen.