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 this morning
from the book of Galatians. It's the New Testament letter,
the epistle that the Apostle Paul was inspired to write to
the churches of Galatia. And I've got several messages
that I'm gonna go through this section of scripture in the coming
weeks, but today I wanna talk to you about this subject, the
hearing of faith. the hearing of faith. And that's
taken from Galatians chapter three and verse five. And where
he says, where Paul writes to the Galatians, he said, he therefore
that ministereth to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you.
Talking about Paul the apostle himself and the preachers of
the gospel who had the sign gifts of the power of God then to support
their message. And we don't have those today
because we have the completed Word of God. But back then, they
were enabled by the Holy Spirit to do miracles that would, not
to draw people's attention to the miracle, but to show that
they were sin of God with the authority of the Word of God.
We are ambassadors of Christ. And so he said, he that ministereth
to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth he
it by the works of the law? In other words, is this ministry
of the gospel of salvation, is it upon conditions of keeping
the law or by the hearing of faith? The hearing of faith. Now, what is the hearing of faith?
What's the hearing of the gospel which comes by the Holy Spirit
who performs a miracle in every one of God's true children, the
miracle of the new birth, wherein the Holy Spirit imparts life
from Christ, spiritual life, And he gives all of God's children
eyes, spiritual eyes now, to see. You have physical eyes,
I have physical eyes, and we can see somewhat. I have to wear
glasses at this stage of my life, and many people do. But we have
physical eyes. But what we don't have by nature,
as we are naturally born, is spiritual eyes. You know, it's
one thing to see a thing. It's another thing to know and
see and understand its value. And so, also, he gives us spiritual
ears. It's one thing to hear a message,
but it's another thing to hear the glory and the beauty of it. And that's what the Holy Spirit
gives in the new birth when he imparts life from Christ. He
raises us from spiritual death unto spiritual life, gives us
eyes to see and ears to hear. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
meant in John chapter three in speaking to Nicodemus, when he
told him, you must be born again or you cannot see the kingdom
of God. You can see things, but they
don't mean anything. You can see the truths and the
glories of the kingdom of God. You can see them, understand
what we're saying, but you cannot appreciate them and love them
and believe them. and hear them unto faith. And so he talks about the hearing
of faith. The hearing of faith is believing
the gospel of God's grace conditioned, salvation conditioned, not on
our law keeping, not on our human morality. Should we be moral
human beings? Yes, but our salvation is not
conditioned on our human morality. and not conditioned on even our
choices, but conditioned on Christ alone. Jesus Christ crucified
and risen from the dead. And that's what the gospel is
all about, that God chose a people before the foundation of the
world and gave them to Christ, put all the responsibility, all
of the stipulations, all of the conditions of salvation upon
Him. And that's why he is the savior
of his people. So understand that. So Christ
said to Nicodemus, you must be born again, or you cannot see
the kingdom of heaven. He told his disciples in Matthew
13, when they asked him the question, why are you speaking in parables? And he told them that the reason,
now you read this in Matthew 13, it begins at verse 10. We won't go there this morning. But he told those people, he
told his disciples, he said the reason he was speaking in parables
was as a judgment against those who refused to see and hear the
message of grace. And that's what all of us do
by nature. And he told the disciples there
in Matthew 13, he said, he talked about the Pharisees. They seen,
but they see not. They have physical eyes, but
they don't see what they need to see, the spiritual glory and
value and beauty of Christ, the glory of his person, the power
of his finished work, how his blood is so successful that in
His death, shedding His blood, it was the complete payment of
all the sins of all for whom He died to ensure their salvation
and eternal glory, their eternal well-being. Do you see that?
And the glory and power of His glorious person, who is Jesus
Christ? Do you know who He is? because
that's necessary to our believing the gospel, the good news. Paul
wrote about that in Romans chapter one, when he said that I received
the gospel of God. And he says, and the gospel of
God, he said in Romans one is about a person concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, concerning this person, who is God and man
in one person, very God of very God, as some theologians put,
and very man of very man without sin. That's who Jesus Christ
is. He's such a wonderful person,
the scripture tells us. Such a glorious person, one person
with two natures. One nature is deity, the other
nature is sinless humanity. and He took into union with Himself,
a perfect sinless human nature, and as God in human flesh, the
Word made flesh dwelling among us, John 1.14. God manifest in
the flesh, Matthew 1.23. That's what he's talking about. Do you see the glory of Jesus
Christ? Or do you think he was just another
good prophet? Another kind moral martyr? No. If you look across the page
of Galatians, where we're at in Galatians three, and look
at chapter four, look down at verse four. And here's what he's
saying here. He says, but when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son." Now, the fullness
of the time there refers to the time that God had predestinated
before the foundation of the world. God appointed a time.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and when He says, God sent forth
His Son, that speaks of Christ's deity as the second person of
the triune Godhead. He's the Son of God. He is by
nature in every wit God, every attribute of deity, co-equal
with the Father and the Spirit, but he's the second person. Now
that's not three gods, that's one God who subsists in three
persons, and that's something we cannot explain. But that's
how the revelation of God is here in the Bible. But in the
fullness of the time, at the appointed time, not one second
before or one second afterwards. But when God appointed it, Christ
came, the Son of God. He sent His Son, and then look
at the next line in verse four, made of a woman. Now that's His
humanity. The humanity of Christ, the human
nature of Christ, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb
of the Virgin Mary. without the aid of man. So he
wasn't born of man, he's the seed of woman. Genesis 3.15,
he's born of woman. And he was made of a woman. And
that's talking about his humanity conceived in the womb of Mary.
And he was made of a woman. So God the Son came and united
with that human nature. Now why did he do that? Well
it says in verse four that he was made under the law. Now, what does that mean? Well,
that means that he was made under the law in the sense that he
was responsible, accountable to keep the law and satisfy the
justice of God's law as the surety, the substitute, and the Redeemer
of his people." It says in verse 5, it says, to redeem them that
were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Now I'm going to refer back to that verse in later messages.
But Christ had to be both God and man in order to redeem his
people from their sins. When he was made under the law,
over here in Galatians 3 in verse 13, and I'm gonna deal with this
a little more in detail later on too. Look what it says in
verse 13 of Galatians 3. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. That is for his
people, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. That's quoted from the law book
of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 21. So Christ being made under the
law, he was responsible and accountable to keep that law for his people
and to satisfy its justice by death because the curse of the
law which he was made, how was he made a curse under the law?
Well, again, now before the foundation of the world, Christ was made
surety for his people. What does that mean? That means
all of the debt of their sins was put upon him, to his account,
to his charge. imputed to him, that's what the
biblical word is. So they're not imputed to God's
people. That's why David wrote in Psalm 32, blessed is he whose
sins are forgiven, whose iniquities are covered, blessed is the man
whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity. And so our iniquities, the iniquities
of his people that God gave him before the foundation of the
world, They are imputed to him, the sin dead. And the sin dead
is the curse. Christ was made a curse when
he came under the law as a human being, as a sinless human being,
both God and man and one person. But that law cursed every one
of his people. In other words, it showed that
they were deserving of the curse, which is death, eternal damnation. That's the curse. Just like God
told Adam in the garden, in the day that you eat thereof, thou
shalt surely die. Dying thou shalt die. And that's
the curse of sin. That's the curse of the law.
The strength of sin is the law because the law condemns sinners
where sin is imputed. So what's my only hope? Well,
it's to stand before God, not having my sins imputed to me.
And if they're not imputed or charged or accounted to me, they
had to be imputed, charged, accounted to someone. Well, not just anybody. If God imputed your sins to me,
I couldn't help you, because I'm a sinner too. But he imputed
those sins to Christ. Christ is the one whom God appointed. Christ is the one who is able
to pay the debt. Christ is the one who is willing
to pay that debt for the sins of his people. So you see that. Now what I've just talked to
you about is the hearing of faith. That's what it is, that's the
gospel. The Bible says that the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. Hearing that gospel with spiritual
ears. Now why do we have to have the
hearing of faith? Why do we have to be given spiritual
ears? Well, it's because we fell in Adam. When Adam sinned, do
you realize this? The Bible teaches this. That
when Adam sinned, the whole human race fell into sin and death
by him. He was the representative of
the whole human race. That's what the Bible teaches.
Some people say, well, that's not fair. I shouldn't be called
a sinner until I make my first sinful choice. My friend, everybody
makes the sinful choice because we're not only fallen in Adam
into sin and death, we're born naturally spiritually dead in
trespasses and sins. You can read about that, for
example, in Ephesians chapter 2, you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. That's spiritually dead, not
physically dead. You come forth from the womb
with physical eyes to see, physical ears to hear, but you come forth
from the womb naturally completely, totally, spiritually dead. So that when you come to a point
where you can hear and understand things, messages, when you hear
the gospel, if you don't have spiritual ears, the hearing of
faith, and what is the faith there? That's the gospel. It's
not that we believe and then we receive the hearing, it's
we receive life from the dead, hearing, and then God gives us
faith. The Bible says in Romans 10 and
verse 17, faith cometh by hearing. And it's God who gives us that
hearing and it's God who gives us that faith. Faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. Ephesians chapter two
and verse eight says, for by grace are you saved, through
faith, but that's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. You see that? Now, what brought
the Apostle Paul to say these things? Well, he had been in
this area called Galatia, an area in Asia Minor, and he'd
gone to different places in that area and he preached the gospel.
He preached the hearing of faith. God's people come to Christ by
God-given faith. They're not saved by the law. They're not saved by their works.
If left to themselves, they would not choose Christ. It's all by
God's grace, the hearing of faith. And then God, through the apostle
Paul, had established several churches in that area called
Galatia. Well, after Paul had left on
other missionary journeys, what happened? Well, what normally
happens? False preachers creep in subtly, claiming to believe
salvation by grace, claiming to believe that Christ is their
only hope. but adding to that works of the
law in order to be really saved or in order to be righteous,
in order to be more saved or more sure. In other words, they
introduced the works of the law. And Paul, back in Galatians 1,
you can read this, calls that another gospel. The literal Greek
word there for another means another of a different kind.
It's not just a modification of the gospel. It's not just
veering off the course a little bit. It is a totally opposite
gospel. Because he'd said to, just like
he'd said to the Romans, the Roman believers, He said grace
and works will not mix. If you preach, listen, if you
preach grace, it's all of grace. And if you add works, it's not
grace. And if you preach works, it's all of works, and grace
is no more grace. You can't mix the two. I've heard
people say that about certain preachers. They'll talk about
salvation by grace, but their preaching is legal. You gotta
do this, you gotta do that, you gotta stop doing this, you gotta
stop doing that. And what they mean by that is in order to be
saved. And what Paul was telling these Galatian people, don't
listen to these false preachers. He said, he made the statement
over in Galatians chapter one. I'll turn over there. How serious
is this? And in Galatians one, listen
to verse six. He says, I marvel that you are
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel. I preach the gospel to you, Paul
says. You claim to believe it, but now you're being swayed by
these false preachers, and then he says in verse seven, which
is not another. Listen, that's not good news.
Salvation conditioned on the sinner, whether it's his works,
his choice, or whatever, but there be some that trouble you
and would pervert the gospel of Christ. What these false preachers
were preaching was a perversion. But listen to verse eight of
Galatians 1. He says, but the we, that's the
apostles, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him be damned. This is serious
business, he's saying. And so, he tells them very plainly
that salvation is by grace. through the works of Christ,
through the blood of Christ, through the righteousness of
Christ. He tells them that a sinner is justified before God, not
by works of the law, but by grace. What is it to be justified? Well,
it's to be forgiven of all my sins. My sins are washed away. We sing that hymn, what can wash
away my sins? What's the answer? but the blood of Jesus. Nothing. My tears of repentance won't
wash away my sins. My believing will not wash away
my sins. My living a good moral life will
not wash away my sins. The waters of baptism will not
wash away my sins. What does? The blood of Jesus
Christ. And in that hymn it says, this
is all my hope and peace, this is all my righteousness. Righteousness,
that's what, to be justified is to be forgiven of all my sins
based on a just ground, the blood of Christ. And it's to be declared
righteous in the sight of God. Not by my works of the law, but
by Christ. Listen to what Paul says here
in Galatians chapter two and verse 19. right before he goes
up to chapter three. Now he didn't write this book
in chapters and verses now, but I'm just showing you this so
we can find it. But in Galatians 2.19 he says, for I, through
the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. In
some way he's talking about it, it's through the law being satisfied
that he became dead to the law. What does that mean? It means
the law cannot condemn him. The law cannot require anything
of him in order to be saved. How did he become dead to the
law? That he might live under God. Verse 20. I am crucified
with Christ. That's it. Christ is my surety.
He's my representative. He's my substitute, my redeemer.
When he died, I died. Not me personally, but him, in
him. When he was buried, I was buried.
He did it for me. How do I know he did it for me?
Because God has brought me to faith in him. If you go through
this life and die in unbelief, he didn't die for you. No, his
blood secures the salvation of all for whom he died. And they
are known when God brings them under the gospel of God's grace,
the hearing of faith. And so he says in verse 20, I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I died
when Christ died, but I'm living now. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. It's the power and the goodness
and the grace of God in me. That's how I live. I'm not the
source of the life. Christ is. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
It's his faithfulness, you see. I want to be faithful and He
will keep me faithful. But the ground of my salvation,
the power of my salvation, the glory of my salvation is His
faithfulness to do what He promised to do. And he says, I live by
the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for
me. And then look at verse 21. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. I don't make it void by introducing
the sinner's works as to attaining or maintaining salvation. For
if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If you can be saved by your works,
if you can be saved by anything you do or choose to do, If you
can be made holy and righteous by your efforts to keep the law,
then what you're saying is Christ didn't need to die for you. He
didn't need to die for anybody. He died in vain. Because he was
made a curse, we saw here. He died to redeem his people
to do what they could not do for themselves. And that's the
hearing of faith. And so when Paul talks to them,
he says, excuse me, he says, he therefore, this is Galatians
3.5, our text. He therefore that ministereth
to you the spirit. Now what is it to minister the
spirit? It's not to try to get people to speak in tongues or
anything like that. To minister the spirit is to
preach the message that the Holy Spirit uses to bring sinners
to salvation. To preach the message that the
Holy Spirit uses to enable, to cause God's people to grow and
persevere, and wherein He produces the fruit of the Spirit. We have
to preach that message, and what is that message? It's the hearing
of faith. It's the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace,
conditioned on Christ, based upon His blood for the complete
payment of all my sins, and His righteousness imputed to us,
to His people. You see, everyone who believes
the gospel, everyone who's been brought to the hearing of faith,
they're righteous in God's sight. How are they righteous? Not by
what they do, not by their works, not by their human morality.
They're righteous based upon the obedience unto death of Christ,
the merits of his obedience unto death. And it's imputed, it's
charged him, as my sins were charged to him, his righteousness
is charged to me. That's the message of the Spirit.
And that's what he means when he says, he therefore that ministereth
to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you. Now Paul
did work miracles. The disciples, the apostles,
they did work miracles. Some people today claim they
can still work miracles. I don't argue with them. I don't
believe they do. But I'll tell you, what gospel
do they preach? Listen, is it by works of the
law? Or is it by the hearing of faith? Is it by Christ? Is
it by grace? Is it by His blood? Is it by
His righteousness imputed alone that I'm justified before God
and from whom I have life, ears to hear, eyes to see, a heart
and mind to know and love and believe by the gift of God-given
faith, the gospel, that's the hearing of faith. 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 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.