Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow
along in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book
of Galatians. This is Paul, the Apostles, his
letter, his epistle to the churches in Galatia. That was a province
in Asia Minor. And he wrote to the churches
in Galatia concerning false preachers who had infiltrated the church
and began preaching heresy. And the title of the message
today is this, A Complete Salvation. A Complete Salvation. Now the
reason I chose this title and really the verse of scripture
that I got the title from is in verse 3 of Galatians chapter
3. So the third chapter of the book
of Galatians chapter 3 when he spoke to the people of Galatia
who professing believers And he says, are you so foolish,
having begun in the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, are you now
made perfect or made complete by the flesh? And the flesh there
mean the works of the flesh. So the title of this message,
as I said, is A Complete Salvation. So what I want us to understand
is that the salvation that is of the Lord through the Lord,
it comes to sinners by the grace of God, in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ, is a complete salvation. It's not a partial salvation. It's not God getting us started,
and then we finish it. It's not an incomplete salvation. It is a complete salvation. Now,
the reason that the Apostle Paul was speaking like this to the
Galatians is because, as I said, false preachers who were legalists,
many of them who were Jews, who professed to believe the true
gospel, they professed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, But
they said that salvation, even though it begins by grace, it's
not complete until you add your works of the law and other things,
such as circumcision, in order for that salvation to be complete.
In other words, they were saying things like, God gets you started,
but you have to finish it. And that's like people today
now. I'm not intentionally trying to offend anyone, but it's just
the truth now. It's like people today who say,
well, you can be saved, but then you can be lost again if you
don't do certain things, whatever those things are. You know, I've
told you that all false gospels have basically two things in
common. Number one, false gospels place
salvation in the hands of the sinner and not totally in the
hands of Christ. They preach salvation conditioned
on sinners in some way, to some degree, at some stage. And basically
what they say is that, yes, God saves us by His grace through
Jesus Christ, but you've got to do your part to secure it
unto glory or else you'll lose it. And that's a false gospel. That's salvation by works or
by the wills of men. And the second thing that false
gospels have is they measure righteousness on a sliding scale. In other words, they say, well,
you have to do enough to keep saved, to keep yourself saved,
or to enter glory, or to earn your reward. That's a big, big
heresy. You know, I've heard preachers
say, you know, well, I'm saved by grace, but I get my rewards
in heaven by my works. That's not so. God never puts
himself in a place where he owes us anything. It's all of grace. Salvation is by grace through
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the merits
of his obedience unto death, in the beginning and in its final
glorification and everything in between. It's all of grace.
And the reason that people fight against that, the legalist, what
a legalist is one who believes that salvation in some way, some
stage, to some degree, is based on their law keeping. That's
what a legalist is. That's Pharisaism. And the reason
they fight against salvation totally, completely by grace
is because they claim, well, that gives you an excuse to sin.
In other words, well, if it's not conditioned on me in some
way or some stage, in some degree, then I don't have to obey God.
And that is not true. Because the obedience of a believer
is not the cause or the condition or the ground of salvation. It's
the fruit. It's the result. Salvation by
grace is not just a doctrine. It is a dynamic power written
on the hearts of God's people wherein He calls us to walk according
to His Word, to strive to walk according to His Word, to fight
the sins of the flesh, to strive to be good people. not in order
to be saved and not to earn our rewards, but because we already
are saved and we've already been blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now these false preachers
in Galatia were telling these believers, these professing believers,
and the reason I say professing is because they had fallen prey
to the legalistic issues that were being forced into the church
by these false preachers. They were actually preaching
another gospel. Paul said that in Galatians 1.
He said, though I or an angel from heaven preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we've preached, let it be anathema.
And it's a false gospel of salvation conditioned on sinners and not
on Christ and Him alone. Salvation based upon what Christ
did plus what sinners do and not based upon His righteousness
alone. So they would say things like,
well, you're saved by grace, but you need to be circumcised
to be sure, to be complete. Or you need to keep the law.
You need to keep the law of Moses. Do this or do that, or don't
do this. Taste not, touch not, handle not. That's one of the
things that Paul wrote in the book of Colossians. In order
to really be saved and to really be righteous, you've got to add
to what Christ did. And the answer to that is no,
absolutely not. What Christ did as our surety,
as the surety, the substitute and the redeemer of his people
was enough, more than enough, complete salvation. And here's what he says in verse
one of Galatians three. Now he's talking to those who
were listening to these false preachers. and who, because they
were deceived, they agreed with him. And what Paul's doing, he's
trying to recover them, all right? Now, if they can be recovered,
that's a true believer. But if they can't be recovered,
then they were false professors who'd never been saved to begin
with. And so Paul says in verse one of Galatians three, oh foolish
Galatians, who hath bewitched you? That's literally who's put
a spell on you. He says that you should not obey
the truth. Well, what is the truth? Well, it's the gospel truth.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, raised from the dead. Christ,
who is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the
Father but by Him. Christ, the complete salvation.
Paul wrote to the Colossians, the church at Colossae. In Colossians
two and verse nine, he said, for in Christ dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. And verse 10, and you are complete
in him. He didn't get a start. He didn't
just give us a jumpstart that we complete. And that's the idea
behind most people today who believe that God loves everybody
and Christ died for everybody, but it does you no good unless
you do your part by believing. Now, my friend, believing is
necessary for salvation, but not because Christ's work is
incomplete. If Christ died for my sins, the
fruit of that is that God will bring me to faith in Christ.
And how many times, if you've listened to this program any
time at all, you've heard me quote Ephesians 2, eight through
10. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto, not because of, but unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So he
says, you're not obeying the truth. If you do not look to
Christ and rest in Christ and the merits of His obedience unto
death, His righteousness imputed to His people for their justification
and from which they have life from the dead, faith and repentance,
if you don't look to Christ and rest in Him as the author the
originator, the beginner, and the finisher, the completer of
your faith, you're not obeying the truth. Because the truth
is, the gospel truth, is that Christ is the author and the
finisher of our faith. He's a complete Savior and he
accomplished by his obedience unto death for his people whom
God gave him before the foundation of the world, he accomplished
a complete salvation, nothing to be added, nothing to be taken
away. That's spoken of in Ecclesiastes
chapter three, the work that God does, nothing can be added
to it, nothing can be taken away. Christ is my righteousness completely. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30
says, he is of God, made of God unto us. Wisdom, he's all the
wisdom we need completely. Righteousness, all the righteousness
we need completely. He is the sanctification, sets
me apart completely. And he is the redemption of his
people. So look back now, verse one,
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. I preach Christ crucified to
you. And you remember what Christ
said on the cross? You know, we talk about the seven
sayings of Christ on the cross. Well, one of those sayings, that
Christ stated on the cross is recorded in John 19 and verse
30 when he said, it is finished. And what he was talking about
is what is spoken of by the prophet Daniel, in that he finished the
transgression, he made an end of sin, he brought in everlasting
righteousness, sealed up the vision and the prophecy, the
word, and he entered into the holiest of all, Daniel 9 24. And that means he did it all,
it's finished, it's complete. What is he talking about? He's
talking about the salvation of his people, a complete salvation. Now, a lot of people, you might,
if you're riding around town, sometimes you'll see these little
bumper stickers where it says something like, be patient, God's
not finished with me yet. Well, there is a sense in which
that's true, but that's not talking about the salvation of the souls
of God's people. Paul wrote about that in Philippians
chapter three when he says, I've not already arrived. If I'm a sinner saved by grace,
I am completely saved and sure for heaven's glory based upon
the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blood,
His death completely paid my debt. unto God's law and justice
for all my sins. Justice is satisfied. God cannot
and will not lay any of my sins to my charge. They were imputed
to Christ. If I'm saved by His grace, I
am completely forgiven of all my sins, past, present, and future. If I'm saved by His grace, I
am completely righteous, justified, declared righteous in God's sight,
not by what I do, Not by any act of devotion, not by any act
of charity, not by any act of self-denial. Now, if I'm saved
by grace, I will do acts of devotion and acts of self-denial and acts
of charity. All of that, an obedient child. Not perfectly now. But that's
not what makes me complete. Christ is my completion. Christ
is my whole salvation. And so look, he says, this is
what I preach to you. That's what he means when he
says, I've set forth Christ crucified among you. I've told you the
truth. And look at verse two now of Galatians 3. He said,
this only would I learn of you, receive you the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Now,
to receive the Spirit is when the Holy Spirit brings God's
people, Christ's sheep, His elect, under the preaching of the gospel
and gives them life, spiritual life, raises them from the dead
spiritually in what is called the new birth. You must be born
again. And what happens in the new birth? Well, the Spirit imparts spiritual
life and knowledge whereby he gives us a new heart, which is
a new mind, new affections, a new will. He makes us willing to
do and believe, to believe and do what we were by nature unwilling
to believe and do. And he brings us to Christ. He
gives us the gift of faith in Christ. And He gives us the gift
of repentance of dead works. And He gives us a desire to obey
God and to walk in His statutes, to keep His commandments. Now
again, we don't keep them perfectly. We're not finished in that way.
We will be perfect when we leave this world. If you're a believer
now, a sinner saved by grace, justified by the imputed righteousness
of Christ, when we leave this world in physical death and go
to be with Christ, we will be complete in ourselves. But we
still, right now, I have a complete salvation that I cannot lose. You know, you say, well, you're
a preacher, once saved, always saved. Now, people use those
phrases and they misuse them and they butcher them and they
misinterpret them. My friend, if God saves a sinner,
that sinner is always saved and that cannot be overturned. He
will keep us unto the end. Paul said it in 2 Timothy 1 and
verse 12. He said, I know whom I have believed
and I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've
committed unto Him against that day. And what have I committed
unto Him? My complete salvation. My whole
salvation. And if I turn out to be an unbeliever
in the end and forsake Christ and apostatize from Him, John
says in 1 John 2, 18 and 19, that I never knew Him to begin
with. I just had a profession, but not a true heart confession.
So what he says here, how did you receive the Spirit? How were
you born again? Was it by the preaching of the
law? Did you work your way into this by keeping the law? Or did
God give you eyes to see and ears to hear, the hearing of
faith? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God, Romans 10, 17. What is the hearing of faith? It's the hearing of the gospel,
where Christ is preached in the glory of his person and in the
power of his finished, complete work for his people to secure
their salvation. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth, the Jew first, the
Greek also. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith, that's knowledge revealed, to faith,
that's knowledge received and believed and lived by. For it's
written, the justified, the just, the ones who are declared righteous,
they live by faith. They live by looking to Jesus,
the author and finisher of their faith. And that's what we do,
so the hearing of faith. So he says in verse three, are
you so foolish? My friend, to look at salvation
as an incomplete work that you must finish is the height of
foolishness. And if that's what you believe,
And when you hear the true gospel of that complete salvation that
Christ accomplished to save and secure all for whom He died and
was buried and arose again the third day, if you hear that and
you don't believe it, You're like those who are perishing
in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18. The preaching of the cross
is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to those who believe,
who are being saved, it's the power of God. It's the wisdom
of God. So he says, are you now, having
begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh? Verse three, are you so foolish,
having now begun in the spirit, That's the same thing as saying,
having begun in grace. The Spirit of God points sinners
away from themselves, salvation conditioned on themselves, and
points them to the Lord Jesus Christ as their complete salvation. That's what the Spirit does.
So if you're saved, you begin this in the Spirit. But now are
you made complete, perfect, that's what the word perfect means here,
are you made complete by the flesh, by your works of the flesh? That's foolish, he says. He says
in verse four, have you suffered so many things in vain, if it
be yet in vain? Now, believers, especially in
that day and age, suffered for their testimony of the gospel. Suffered physically, mentally.
They were tortured. Many of them lost their jobs,
lost their homes. They were put out into the desert. Some of them were arrested, some
tortured, and some killed. over the gospel. I've often told
the congregation here that we ought to be thankful that God
has given us this country to live under this constitution
that keeps us safe from those who hate the gospel and hate
us. And we were blessed that way. Now, I may not always say
that way, but there are people in other countries who suffer
sorely for their testimony of the gospel, because by nature,
men and women hate the gospel. Remember in John 3, 19, this
is the light that's coming to the world, and men love darkness
and hate the light, because their deeds are evil. See, Paul, what
he was doing here, he was showing these false preachers who were
trying to get believers to keep the law, he shows them, he says,
they're wicked. They're trying to get you to
sin. Wait a minute, Paul, trying to get us to sin, they're trying
to get us to keep the law. My friend, trying to keep the
law in order to be saved or to establish your own righteousness
is evil in the sight of God. Why? Because it does not glorify
God. It's a denial of Christ, both
in his person and in his finished work. It's nothing more than
self-righteous, dead works, aimed at doing something that sinners
cannot do. The Bible says in Romans chapter
three and verse 19 is that all that the law can do is curse
us. The law was not given for salvation,
it was given to expose the sin of men and women. And so he says,
have you suffered so many things? Have you suffered for the testimony
of the gospel in vain, if it's being in vain? And remember I
said, he's seeking to recover them from this error. And if they cannot be recovered,
then all their suffering was in vain for nothing. So he says
in verse five, 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. The ministry of the Spirit, remember,
to lead sinners to Christ as their complete salvation. And
the working of miracles here is the conversion of God's people. Now, granted, at this point in
time, there was still miracle working that attended the preaching
of the gospel, but he's talking about that miracle of God's grace
and power that brings a sinner from looking to him or herself
to looking to Christ and him alone as their complete salvation,
their complete righteousness. That's a miracle. you realize
that any person who is a true believer is a walking, talking
miracle, not of their own goodness or their own grace or their own
free will, as people say today, but they're walking, talking
miracles of God's power, God's will, God's grace. And so did
all that happen by works of the law? That's what Paul's saying
here in verse five. Or did it come by the hearing
of faith? By the Holy Spirit empowering
the gospel, the good news of the finished work of Christ.
His glorious person, who is Jesus Christ? God and man in one person. And what did he accomplish on
the cross? The complete salvation of his people. that is applied
to them in time through the hearing of faith. When the Holy Spirit
performs a miracle, he gives them life from the dead. That's
what it is. Ephesians 2 says, and you have he quickened, given
life, who were dead in trespasses and sins. By nature, man is spiritually
dead. He's a walking dead person. And
he can do acts of morality in the eyes of men, but not in the
eyes of God. And when he hears the gospel,
he says, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
So the Holy Spirit comes along and he performs a miracle here.
giving life, a new heart, a new spirit, eyes to see and ears
to hear. That's what Christ said when
he told Nicodemus, you must be born again in John three and
verse three, else you cannot see the kingdom of God. You can't understand it. You
can't know it. You can't believe it. You can't
love it. Can't love Christ because you're
so full of self and death, spiritual deadness and depravity. But when
the hearing of faith comes, that's a miracle. Because that hearing
of faith leads us to look to Christ as a complete salvation. I hope you understand this, because
if you do, that's a miracle in and of itself. That's the miracle
of the hearing of faith. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Thank you again for listening
today, and may the Lord be with you.