Turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 3. The name of the message is Spirit or the Flesh. Spirit
or the Flesh. Now, today we'll continue our
study in Galatians. We'll look at question two and
three that Paul puts before the Galatians. Remember I said there's
five questions in this portion that Paul sets forth before the
Galatians. And these actually questions
are good for us to examine ourselves. Examine ourselves, whether we
be in the faith. Scripture tells us to do that. Examine yourself,
whether you be in the faith. So these questions are good for
believers to look at and to examine ourselves. So let's start in
verse 1, and we'll go all the way to verse 9. And then verse 3 will be our
text for today. But I want to read this so we
see the context of verse 3. O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth among you? This would
I learn of you, received you the spirit by the works of the
law or by the hearing of faith? My, have you, well, as we examine
ourselves, we look at that and say, well, we received the spirit
by the hearing of faith, right? Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. It's not something we did to
receive the spirit, nothing. Can a dead man do anything? That's
what we were, we're gonna see that in the morning message.
That's what we were, we were dead. A corpse can't do anything,
can they? No, we were a corpse spiritually. So we received the
spirit by the works of the law, or the hearing of faith, not
the works of the law. And then look what he says here,
are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now made
perfect by the flesh? That's gonna be our verse today.
Look at who begins our salvation, right? born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. So regeneration precedes faith. We see so clearly right
there. Having begun in the Spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? So if the Holy Spirit's regenerated,
can we make ourselves perfect by the flesh, by living a life,
a so-called life to the law and all that? Absolutely not, can
we? We're only sanctified in Christ
by the Holy Spirit of God. But see, this is the amazing
thing. Paul's writing to saints who
are already sanctified in Christ. So he's putting this before them.
Are you going to continue now by being circumcised to supposedly
be saved along with Christ after the Holy Spirit's already regenerated
you? So I love this. He's not saying you're a bunch
of lost people. No, he's actually putting forth questions for them
to examine themselves. Well, of course. We received
the spirit by the hearing of faith and having begun in the
spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? No, the flesh can't
do nothing but condemn us, can it? You see how these are excellent
questions for inflection, right? For us to look inward. Have you suffered so many things
in vain if it be yet in vain? And they had suffered for their
faith, hadn't they? He, therefore, that ministereth
to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you. Doeth he
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Again,
these questions are put forth, noticed, and notice each one. We'll have them look inward and
realize this is the work of the Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit's
work. I was reading a Spurgeon sermon
yesterday and Spurgeon was bringing forth how we need to speak about
the Holy Spirit as much as we speak about the Father and the
Son. You guys have heard me say that before because he's just
as much a part of the adorable, I like what Spurgeon said, the
adorable Godhead as the Father and the Son. They're all fully
God. And we see here, we see here,
I love this verse three, having begun in the spirit. It's his
work. He works. He regenerates us,
doesn't he? It's him who regenerates us, beloved. If he didn't regenerate
us, we wouldn't have nothing. We'd have no faith in Christ.
We'd still be dead in trespasses and sins. My, it's so wonderful. Even as Abraham believed God
and it was accounted to him for righteousness. I was talking
to my daughter this week and she said, it's as easy as me
just to look to Christ and live, Dad? And I said, yeah. She goes,
it's that simple? And I said, yeah, you just have
to look to Christ and live. That's all you have to do. That's
what it's about, isn't it? And I know and you know that
if she does look to Christ, it's because she'd been born again.
Because that's what happens, right? We're born again of the
Holy Spirit of God, given faith to believe, and then we look
to Christ, willingly. My, it's all His work. It's all
Him. It's all Him. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham? What a verse
there. In the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen,
that's me, through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, Indeed, shall all nations be blessed. So then they which
be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. My oh my, what
a portion of scripture. I've been loving this study in
Galatians because it's a defense of the gospel against works-based
salvation, but there's also, as we've entered into chapter
two and chapter three, a lot of inflection too, a lot of inward,
looking inward, right? And I love these questions personally
because it makes me look inward, not to see if there's anything
I've done, but to see if my hope is in Christ and Him alone. Right? In Him alone. Has the Spirit
begun to work in me? Well, I have faith now that I
never had before. And it's only in Christ. It's
only in... He's the center of it. He's the
object of it. See, if you have supposed faith
in Christ plus anything else, then it's not God-given faith.
Christ is the one, he is the only one, the only savior of
sinners. And let's read verse three again.
Are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit? Are you now made
perfect by the flesh? Well, the Galatians were being
foolish, weren't they? They were being foolish, just
as we're foolish sometimes, right? We can be even as believers.
They were believers and they were being foolish. They were having their ears tickled
by these false teachers. They said, come on over here.
Paul's not right. Come on over here. Come on over
here. But folly's bound up in our hearts,
isn't it? Even as believers it is. It's
bound up in our hearts, but praise be to God that salvation is of
the Lord. It's not of anything we do, so
let's be quick to proclaim that. Salvation's a hymn. It's not
anything I do. It's all of him. Why? Because of the Holy Spirit. Look
at that verse again. Having begun, right? Having begun
in the Spirit. It's the Spirit's work, beloved.
It's the work of the Holy Spirit in us. And note, remember too,
who the true author of these words are. It's God, the Holy
Spirit. I know I keep saying that, and
I will keep saying that through this study because it's a reminder
for us. So the Holy Spirit's telling
us, through Paul, that he's the beginner of our salvation. He's telling us that right here.
Having begun in the Spirit, well, does that include me? No, I'm
just being worked upon, aren't I? Isn't that wonderful? My, it's absolutely amazing.
And this is talking about regeneration, beloved. We're going to look
at that in the morning message a little bit more too. This is
talking about regeneration. So note how the Holy Spirit brings
forth his mighty work. His mighty work. Without Holy
Spirit regeneration, we would not be alive spiritually. We'd
still be dead in trespasses and sins. We have no life spiritually. We'd still be groping around
in the dark without the Holy Spirit's work. And we'd have
no faith either. Because faith is given to us
after we're born again, and it's just like that. It's just like
that. It's so quick. It's the work
of the Spirit. He gives us faith and repentance
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith to believe on Christ
and repentance before God that we never had before. We were
rebels before. If not outwardly sane, it's shaking
our fists at him by our actions. And yet he saves us, beloved.
So note the question Paul puts forth here. Having begun in the
spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Are you now made
perfect by something you do? Even though the spirit begun
his work, are you now made perfect by something you do? Isn't it
God? Aren't we his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus? So for his workmanship, that
means that which he begins, what's he going to do? He's going to
finish it, isn't it? And he's going to do everything
in between too, isn't he? All, all of him, all of him,
beloved. It's wonderful. And this is one
thing I know as a preacher, beloved. It's nothing I do. I just get
the honor of proclaiming God's Word. And Brother Travis knows
this. We get up, we proclaim God's
Word, and just let the Holy Spirit do the work. Is there nothing
we can do to save anybody? Nothing at all. Nothing at all. Oh my. And if the Holy Spirit
don't take our words and use them for His glory, no one will
get a blessing out of it. Isn't that amazing? That's absolutely
incredible, isn't it? Oh my, it's absolutely amazing. Let's read verse three again.
Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made
perfect by the flesh? Your salvation, the salvation
of all God's elect, began with God before this world was. I
was reading, again, another Spurgeon message, and he said, before
there was any creation, before there was angels, Before there
was anything, God loved His people in Christ. That's you and I,
beloved. Isn't that amazing? Before He
ever made anything, created anything, He loved us in Christ. I'll be honest with you, my mind,
I believe it because the word says it, but it makes me go,
right? It does, doesn't it? My, it's amazing, but it's true,
beloved. It's truth. But the beginning of our understanding
of God's unspeakable gift, starts with the Holy Spirit regenerating
us. We don't have any idea that we were one of God's people.
The preacher don't know who God's people are. We preach the gospel
to everyone, right? But the minute we're born again,
the second we're born again, now we have an understanding
of who God is. Isn't that amazing? That's a
work of the Holy Spirit of God. And our understanding is just
a little bit, right? And I've been saved now for,
I think, 20-something years now. And my understanding is just
a little bit still. Oh, it's amazing, isn't it? But what I know, it leaves me
in awe. Does it leave you in awe? Oh,
it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. And
the beginning of our understanding, again, starts Because it was
a gift by the enlightening power of God the Holy Spirit. He's
enlightened us now to the things of God, beloved. Things we never
knew before. Things we never knew. My. And the Holy Spirit moved the
Apostle Paul to write these words to the saints which are at the
church at Thessalonica. I'm going to read these. We are
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved
of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you. Beginning, before he created
anything, before there was ever any angels, before there was
ever a heaven and an earth. And this is where I said we believe
it because the scripture says it. God has, from the beginning,
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. Sanctification of the Spirit.
Sanctified in Christ, right? By the Holy Spirit of God. Set
apart. Made holy. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14. Isn't that wonderful? God has from the beginning. I'm
looking at some folks who God from the beginning has chosen.
Isn't that amazing? You're looking at someone who
God from the beginning chose. I can't get over it still. Election's
probably one of my favorite, probably my favorite doctrine
in the scripture because as the old hymn writer wrote, and I
know this to be true, that if God hadn't chosen me, I never
would have chosen him. Never. Because I know who I was. My oh my. So having begun in
the Spirit here means just that as our new life with the true
and living God begins when we're regenerated. Now He's known us
and loved us from eternity. But for us now, this is the beginning
of our new life, beloved. When we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. This is the commencement of our
salvation, even though it's been bought and paid for. We're saved
at Calvary, right? But as for us knowing about it
now, this is the commencement of it. And just as we were in awe the
day the Lord saved us, we will continue to be in awe all the
days of our life here, and then we'll be even greater awe when
we get the glory and see Him face to face. face to face to
see our savior. This is why the master said,
you must be born again. You must be. And we know now
our works had nothing to do with our new birth. The scripture
declares this, not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy he has saved us by the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. My, that's
Titus chapter 3 verse 5. Not by works of righteousness,
not by anything we've done. Nothing we do can start the new
birth. I can ask you this. If a man
is dead, can he make himself alive? It's impossible, isn't
it? He's a corpse. That's how we
were spiritually. So could we make ourselves alive
by walking an aisle or praying a prayer? Nope. Couldn't, could we? The only
way we must be made alive is by the regenerating power of
God the Holy Spirit. That's the only way. That's the
only way. Turn, if you would, to Philippians
chapter 1. Philippians chapter one. So the beginning of our
understanding of Jesus Christ and what he accomplished for
his people was by the sanctifying power of God the Holy Spirit
when he gave us faith to believe the truth. Beloved, he called
us out of darkness. That's what the scripture says.
He called us out of darkness. He called us out of the darkness
of our sins. He called us out of spiritual
darkness that we were in. My, into the marvelous light
of his son. And when the Holy Spirit enlightens
our mind, it is God himself. Now think of this. When the Holy
Spirit enlightens our mind, it's God himself who causes the light
to shine in the darkness. It's him that's done that for
us. The minute we saw was because he commanded that darkness that
we were in to cease. Isn't that wonderful? It's all
him. We see salvations of the Lord,
don't we? We see it. In these words, are you so foolish,
points to a lack of spiritual understanding of our hopeless,
helpless condition. When he says, are you so foolish?
That points to that position where we can't do anything to
save ourselves, nothing. And this is the problem
with works religion. This is the problem with it.
They believe that a sinner has the ability to raise himself
from a state of spiritual darkness, which is impossible. Nothing we do can raise us from
spiritual darkness, nothing. Now, do we willingly follow Christ
when we're born again? Absolutely, I'm not denying that.
We run to Christ, don't we? And then we cling to Christ our
whole life. We cling to him our whole life.
He becomes our everything. Now our faith may go like this
during that time, right? But he's constant, isn't he?
He's constant. And he keeps us looking to him.
We fall back 15 steps, and he comes and gets us and brings
us back, doesn't he? My, he's so wonderful, isn't
he? So these words, are you so foolish, brings forth. that there's
a lack of spiritual understanding among the Galatians of our hopeless,
helpless condition, that them being justified by Christ and
by circumcision shows that they have a lack of spiritual understanding.
Because justification is only in Christ alone, and that's what
Paul's bringing forth here. The great doctrine of justification
in and through Christ alone. And the problem with works-based
religions is they don't believe that life begins with God. They
think that there's something that man has to do. And that's
the danger of works-based religion, beloved. That's the danger of
it. There's absolutely nothing. Tom,
you said it a long time ago. We don't bring anything to the
table, nothing. We bring our sin and that's it.
But nothing, we don't bring anything that attributes to our salvation
to the table, nothing at all. Because we're a spiritual corpse,
and we cannot make ourselves alive. It's impossible. It's impossible for a man to
raise himself from a state of spiritual death, just as impossible
it is for a man to raise himself from a physical death. It's impossible. When we're dead,
we're dead. We can't make ourselves alive
again. It's impossible. It's impossible. But remember,
that which is impossible with man is possible with God, isn't
it? Oh, he'll raise us up again,
won't he? Oh my, it's wonderful. Oh, I had to put that in, because
that just makes your heart sing, doesn't it? Oh my. So if we know
that we've begun in the spirit, as our text plainly states, then
any other doctrine that teaches otherwise is false. Any doctrine
that teaches that there's something you have to do added to the finished
work of Christ, it's false. We just know that then, because
it's a work of the spirit. So if the spirit's begun the
work in us, then anybody who says, well, you gotta do this,
or you gotta do that, It's false. We can just say, no, it's the
Spirit's work. And it's the Spirit who works in us, right? All through
our life here on this earth afterwards. And it's He who keeps us. Remember, it's the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit who keeps us from falling. Right? My, oh my. And anyone who believes the beginning
of the relationship with God was begun by an act of the flesh,
Paul's saying here it's foolish. It's senseless. It's void of
spiritual understanding. Let's read verse three again.
It says, are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? The word perfect there means,
you know what it means? To completely fulfill. Isn't that wonderful? to completely fulfill. We're
made perfect by the Spirit. Now, we're still sinners, don't
we? When you say stuff like that, people go right away, they're
like, oh, you're saying a prayer, and I'm a sinner saved by grace.
But in God's eyes, I'm not a sinner anymore. The work that Christ
done is perfect. Perfect. And God sees me now
in Christ, despite my sinfulness. He will not remember my sins,
and if you're a believer, your sins, they're gone as far as
the east is from the west. But we're still sinners. But
this Greek word means to completely fulfill, to accomplish, to complete. So Paul's saying, can you make
yourself complete by your works? What's the scripture saying,
Colossians? We are complete in who? Christ, in him. Complete in Him. That's what
we have to remember. So if the Spirit begins a work
in us, that's a work of salvation, right? That's being born again. He's going to complete it, beloved.
Now in Philippians it says this. I told you to turn to Philippians
chapter 1. Look at verse 6. Philippians 1 verse 6. Same Greek
word here. for perform, which means to completely
fulfill, to accomplish, to complete. Look at verse six. Being confident
of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you,
well, who did we see begins the work in Galatians, right? Don't
you love how scripture just ties in with scripture? Who begins
the work? Well, we saw the Holy Spirit
begins the work, right, in verse three. He that begun a good work
in you will perform, complete it perfectly, until the day of Jesus Christ.
Whoa, that's wonderful, isn't it? Isn't that wonderful? He
who begun the work, the Holy Spirit of God, he's going to
complete the work until we see Christ face to face. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. That's
it. We believe it, don't we? Praise
God, we do. God's given us faith to believe
it, to accept it, to receive it. But you see how the scripture,
when you compare scripture with scripture, using the same Greek
words too, just how magnificent it is? How it brings forth that
it's not of us? So Paul's saying there, he's
saying, are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit, you're now
made perfect by the flesh? And then that verse in Philippians
says, it's the spirit who's gonna do the work until the end. So there's our answer, right?
There's our answer. Oh, it's absolutely wonderful.
If this Holy Spirit has begun a good work, if He's begun a
good work in us, He will completely fulfill, accomplish, complete,
perform that which He has begun. That's good news. Isn't that
good news? That's wonderful, isn't it? Oh,
there could be no holy confidence in the works of the flesh, in
the deeds of the law. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. For it's evident that Joshua
lived by faith. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh, Philippians 3.3. Beloved, just before our Lord
laid down his life, he uttered these words, it is finished. Done, complete, perfect. That word in the Greek means
perfect. It's a perfect work. Can you add anything to perfection?
We can't do anything perfectly, can we? But He can, because He's
the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. He's the Word of God. And
He did it perfectly. He redeemed us with His precious,
precious blood, beloved. My, oh, my. And His redeeming
work for those He represented, those who were given to Him by
God the Father in the eternal covenant, was perfectly finished.
Perfectly finished. And the question in verse three
pertains to life or the believer's walk and growth in this world
and addresses how it's accomplished. How do we grow in grace? Can
we make ourselves grow in grace? No, it's the spirit who does
that, isn't it? He grows us. We don't even see our own growth.
Other people might see it, but we won't see it, because we're
still going, I'm such a sinner, right? My, oh, my. And the rhetorical question is
proof that the declaration of the first two verses is Christ
crucified and the gospel received. So he's having them inflect,
right? Look inward, and the answer to
all these questions is Christ. And the spirits work, the answer
is salvations of the Lord. It's not by anything we do, nothing
we do. Having begun means that they
obeyed the truth by believing Christ. When it says having begun,
they believe, they receive the word of God with gladness by
the Spirit. Having begun by the Spirit. The
only way we will receive the word of God with gladness is
by the work of the Holy Spirit of God. My, they heard the gospel and
they believed the gospel by the grace of God. And the question
in verse three is for those who believe that the law is the rule
of life for the believer. Well, the law is not the rule
of life for the believer, but this question is for folks who
say that. If your spiritual life began by the spirit of God and
Christ is in you, do you now keep that life going by works? Works of the flesh? No. Works
of flesh can't do nothing for us, can they? Just condemn us,
if that's what we're trusting in. No, it's foolishness. The Scriptures
declare that salvation is of the Lord. He is the Alpha, the
beginning, and He's the Omega, the ending. That's the first
letter in the Greek alphabet, and the last letter in the Greek
alphabet. And as Henry used to say, He's
everything in between, too. Right? He's all. He's all of our salvation. And the Lord Jesus Christ saves
us by his almighty grace, having redeemed us on Calvary's cross
by the shedding of his precious blood. When that blood flowed
from him, that was redeeming blood, beloved. That blood was
redeeming our eternal souls. My, oh my. The Son of God became
a man that we might be called the sons of God. And that we
might cry, Abba Father. Cuz the only ones who cry Abba
Father is those who Christ redeemed and he sends the spirit to. Nothing can be added to what
Christ has done for his people. Nothing can be taken away from
what Christ has done for his people. Listen to these words
in Psalm 32 verses 1 to 2. It says, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile, which means no treachery or deceit. I'm going
to close with this wonderful little portion here. Beloved, by his great sacrifice
for our sin, The Lord Jesus Christ has forever removed all sin from
His people. It's gone. He bore our sins in
His body on the tree. Our sins were imputed to Him.
And He bore them. He paid for every single one
of them. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our Great Substitute, He took
our shame, He took the guilt of our sins, He took the curse
of our sins upon Himself. and died under the penalty of
God's law and justice for us. That's what he did for us. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. And because our
sins were imputed to Christ, and God punished his son in our
room and place as our substitute, to the full extent, to the full
extent, beloved, of His own infinite justice, He freely forgives us
of all sin. We are fully, freely forgiven. That's amazing grace, isn't it?
We who sinned against God, our sin was against God, and yet
He forgives us in Christ. My, oh my. In God's forgiveness,
the sin is complete. It's complete. It's absolute
forgiveness. He will never charge any believer
with any sin, never. Though we sin 1,000 times a day,
as we all do, God will not charge his people with sin. Though David
commits adultery and murder, God will not charge David with
sin. Though Peter denies Christ with an oath, God will not charge
Peter with sin. Though you and I commit the most
hideous offenses, God will not charge us with sin if we're in
Christ. No matter what sin we may commit,
God will not charge it against us. Now, some people say, you
preach like that, then we can go do whatever we want. No, we
won't. God's people will not go out that door and do whatever
they want. They won't. You've heard me say
it a thousand times, it's the love of Christ that constrains
us from sin. But no matter what sin we commit, God will not charge
it against us. Our standing and our acceptance
with God are not in ourselves, beloved, but it's in Christ. It's in Christ, our Lord, who put away our sin. No wonder David said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Isn't that wonderful? That's
man or woman, too, right? Where God will not impute sin.
When we teach and preach absolute forgiveness from God through
the perfect redeeming work of Christ for all his chosen people,
and that absolutely nothing can be laid to God's elect, no charge
can be laid to God's elect, well, people then right away say, well,
they're going to go live wickedly. And as I said, that won't happen
to God's people. That won't happen. God's enlightened
children don't receive the truth of absolute forgiveness in that
way. We hate sin, don't we? Now we
hate sin. We hate sin in ourselves. We
hate sin in this world. And his perfect love for us has
cast out all fear of coming judgment, hasn't it? Think of that. If you have any fear left in
you of coming judgment, let it be cast away, beloved, by the
perfect love of God in Christ. Sometimes we get little whispers
in our minds, right? How can you be a Christian and
do all that? You ever heard that? You know what, you use the arrow
of God's love. God's loved me for eternity. God has absolutely forgiven all
my sins in Christ. And just keep hitting that target.
My oh my. We are made whiter than snow,
the scripture says. May God give us grace and faith
to believe that. When we see that, and you know,
we're blessed here in Michigan, actually, you know, I know winter's
coming, but we're actually blessed because we get to see that fresh
snowfall where nothing has touched it. And God's made us whiter
than that by the precious blood of Christ. And you know how white
it looks? It's so beautiful, isn't it?
It reflects off the sun like little diamonds on top, and it's
so beautiful. It just takes your breath away,
doesn't it? We're whiter than that, beloved, by the precious,
precious blood of Christ. So we say hallelujah, what a
Savior. What a Savior is Jesus Christ, my Lord. Brother Brian,
can you close us in prayer?