It's good to be here again with
you. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Galatians. Well, I have had technical problems. Galatians chapter 3 will be our
text. Galatians chapter 3. I do ask your prayers as I preach
this message to you. I do pray that God would use
it. and teach us, instruct us, and
keep us. Now, here in Galatians, we have
the Apostle Paul in chapter 2. In chapter 2, he has now clearly
shown the foolishness, the foolish error, of the Apostle Peter and
Barnabas in removing themselves. those legalists came in and Peter
and Barnabas wanted to sanctify themselves. They wanted to justify
themselves in the sight of men. And Paul clearly confronts this,
that all who believe in Christ are not justified in any measure
by the obedience of the law. But we know that no one is justified
by the works of the law, no one. but only by the faith of Jesus
Christ. You can see this in verse 16
of chapter two. He says, knowing that a man is
not justified by the words of the law, but by the faith of
Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not
by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight." Pay attention to that.
He said, we are justified by the faith of Christ, and he says
it twice. Even we believe," now there's
the faith that God has given us, even we believe what? That
we were justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. And we know
that no one is justified by the works of the law. And he further
shows us that all who seek to be justified and return to the
law This is to say that Christ is
the ministration of sin and death. Look at that in verse 17. For
while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves found
sinners. It is therefore Christ the minister of sin. We know
that the law is the minister of death. The law is the ministration of
death, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3. But if the ministration of
death, written and engraved in the stones, was glorious, so
that the children of Israel should not steadfastly behold the face
of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was
to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit
rather be glorious? And if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, how much more the ministration of righteousness. He's talking
about two glories. The law was glorious. The law
was glorious. There's nothing wrong with the
law. When we speak of the law, we're not trying to put it down. The law is just. The law is right. The law is good. But to us who
have sinned, it is only one thing. It is a ministration of death. That's all it is. It's a ministration
of death. And so in Jesus Christ, advocating
justification by the law. So is Jesus Christ advocating
justification by the law, which only can condemn me, saying,
God forbid that Christ should advocate your justified by the
law in any means, in any measure. Christ said this, I came into
the world not to condemn the world, but save it. Save it from
what? The condemnation of the law. Save us from the ministration
of death. And so Paul boldly in the next
two verses, he reveals the relationship of the law, his relationship
to the law concerning justification. He says, for if I build again
the things that I destroy, I make myself a transgression. For I
through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. In other words, if I build my
righteousness by the law. If I build my righteousness by
the law, I must then destroy the righteousness which is of
faith in Christ. He's showing that these two things
are polar opposites. They cannot coexist together. Either we build our righteousness
by our obedience, or our righteousness is built by the faith of Jesus
Christ. They cannot be mixed, friends. And this is exactly what religion
does, exactly what false religion does. He says, if I am dead to
the law, in order to return, I must exhume the corpse. I gotta dig up the corpse. If
the law is dead to me and I go back to the law, I have to dig
it up and I have to bury the righteousness of Christ. Can't
have it both ways. Those who profess to be justified
by the faith of Christ and hold to the law as a rule of life
are in a sense digging up the corpse and asking it for advice.
Would you do that? Would you dig up a corpse and
ask it for advice? No, the law is dead to me, and
I am dead to the law. Therefore, if I returned to the
law as a rule of life, I would have to dig it up. I would have
to go back to it, and then Christ, His righteousness, would have
to be buried again. We are justified by faith in
Christ. We have believed in Christ and are dead to the law. What
is it to be dead to the law? What is it to be dead? It's to
be unable to communicate with our surroundings, isn't it? If
you were dead, you would be unable to communicate with anything
around you. You're dead. Our former existence would be
gone forever. Death is final. And so the believer,
in connection with the ministration of death, with the justice and
the wrath of God, we are already dead. We died in Christ. Can the law demand twice payment? No, Christ our Savior died in
our stead, therefore the law is satisfied. The law cannot
exact it again. I am dead to the law. The sentence
has been carried out. Believer is dead to the law. How did we escape this great
condemnation? We escaped it through the death
of Jesus Christ. Paul says, I was dead through
the law, not around it, I didn't skirt the law. We didn't try
to sweep everything under the rug. No, God pulled out all of
our sins, took all of our sins. We've broken that law and God
took our sins and nailed them to Christ, put them on Christ
and he suffered in our stead. Therefore, Paul said this, I
am crucified with Christ. Verse 20, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life that I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. There it is
again. My whole life is based on that.
The faith of the Son of God. Isn't that comforting? That my
life is not dependent upon my obedience in any measure. It
is completely dependent upon the obedience and death of Jesus
Christ. I always like that in Isaiah
chapter 9 when he says, unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given. Name shall be wonderful, counselor,
mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Listen, and
the government shall be upon his shoulders. You know what
that means? He bears the full weight and responsibility of
his kingdom. of our salvation, he bears the
weight on his shoulders. Christ is all our life. Therefore, now he has sent his
Spirit into the world to save and to call us to life and faith
in Christ. And so now it stands firm that
all who were in Christ, have fulfilled the law, and the law
is destroyed by Christ, the law is dead, and therefore, there
is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Now,
we come to chapter three. We come to chapter three here,
and Paul now turns his eyes from the error of Peter, and he sets
them squarely on all the professing believers of Galatia. all the
professing believers of Galatia, and he does this with a broken
heart, and that's how I believe this should be read. I don't
believe it should be read as one pointing fingers and condescending. That's not the spirit of grace,
is it? The spirit of grace is not like that. He says this with
a broken heart, oh foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth? before whose eyes Jesus Christ
had evidently set forth, crucified among you. This only would I
learn of you, received you the Spirit by the works of the law
or the hearing of faith." How did you receive the Spirit? Are you so foolish that having
begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
Have you suffered so many things in vain if it yet be in vain?
He, therefore, that minister to you the Spirit and worketh
miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law or
by the hearing of faith. Now, friends, there is only one
gospel. Paul sets that out at the very beginning, doesn't he?
He said, I don't know how you're so easily removed from the gospel
to another, which is not another. There's only one gospel. Salvation
by grace through faith in Christ alone. That's the gospel. That's
the gospel. Justification by the faith of
Christ. How can you be so foolish as
to turn back to justification by the law? Upon knowing if it
is true, if it is true, these professors who believed on Christ
had now turned back to the law in any measure he knew this,
that they were not believers at all. They were duped, they were deceived,
that these were not justified at all. He knew that his work
was in vain and their faith was in vain. As a matter of fact,
in chapter 4, he says this, I stand in doubt of you. I stand in doubt
that you actually know Christ at all. If this is what you believe,
I stand in doubt that you know Him at all. Now, this is intended
for us who are believers, and I think this is good for all
of us to hear this, because none of us None of us may ever assume
we are beyond this error. You have had a faithful pastor
for many years who has preached the gospel to you, but you listen
to this. Peter did it. And so this is incumbent for
us to look to ourselves and be warned concerning ourselves. Never assume we are beyond this
error. If Peter was guilty, so too may we be seduced by these
legalists. Make no mistake, these legalists
are wordsmiths. I was listening to, I wouldn't
recommend it. I don't dare recommend, and I'm
not even gonna say who it was. I was listening to a man, and
he was talking about sanctification, and when he got done, I didn't have a clue what he
believed about sanctification. It was like a word salad. I couldn't
under, but that confusion, you see, that's what they do is they,
but it was so eloquent when I heard it. It was just like, it would
seem like it was reasonable in my mind. And I knew all along
it wasn't. It was just against the word
of God. So we're to be careful. So now
Paul takes five rhetorical questions here. Five rhetorical questions
concerning faith and the law. And what is a rhetorical question?
A rhetorical question is one that has an obvious answer stated
within the question. The answer is obvious. When we
read these questions, the answer to these questions should be
obvious to us. And that's exactly what Paul
intended. That the answer to these questions are in the questions
themselves. And these questions cause us
to think, to consider what it truly means to be justified by
the law or justified by faith. And to be justified by the law,
Paul says, it is to be foolish. It is to be foolish. It is against
the experience of grace and it is against the word of God. He now, by these questions, moves
the Galatians, as every believer, to focus on the experience of
our conversion, the experience of our salvation. And he sets
in opposition one to another faith and the law. Matter of fact, he says, He says later on, he says in
chapter three later on, he says, the faith, that which is of the
law is not of faith. These two are in opposite ends. And he asks this question, was
it done by faith in Christ or was it done by the works of the
law? Is that your experience? What was your experience in salvation?
Was it, were you saved by faith in Christ or were you saved by
the works of the law? Was it done by the perfect work
of Christ, or did you make it perfect by your obedience to
the flesh? And so let's look at these five
rhetorical questions. First of all, he says, there's
old foolish Galatians who have bewitched you, that you should
not obey the truth. Now, what is the truth? The truth
was evidently set forth among them. Christ crucified, that
was the truth. That was what he had been preaching
to them before he left the first time. He preached to them Christ
and him crucified. This is the gospel. It is Christ. It is always, it is only Christ. I would only to have you see
Christ when I preach to you. I want you to see Christ and
him crucified. If there's any hope of your salvation,
it is in Christ. I tell you, look to Christ. You
that have not looked to Christ, look to Christ. Believe on Christ. You that have looked to Christ,
I tell you, look to Christ. Believe on Christ. Constantly. Now, Paul is here using these
words foolish and bewitched. Now, he's not saying they're
reprobate. That's not what he's saying. He's not calling them
reprobate. He actually hoped that they would
repent. He hoped that they would change. This is why he wrote the letter.
If he had no hope they'd change, he wouldn't have wrote the letter.
He wrote the letter hoping that God would use it to change, that
they would repent like Peter. Now this word foolishness, let
me tell you what it means. It means thoughtless. He said,
oh Galatians, are you so thoughtless? Have you not thought about this?
Have you not considered what's been preached to you? And this
word bewitched, it doesn't mean like a magic spell. What it means
is duped. Are you so thoughtless as to
be duped by these people? Deceived, tricked. Ephesians 4, Paul said the same
thing. Be not children tossed to and
fro. Don't be duped like children.
Don't be thoughtless. You see, this bewitching is the
method of all legalists by flattery. They were duped by flattering
words. Flattering words. To suppose
to suppose that it's possible for you to add something to the
work of Christ is flattering to the flesh. It's flattering. It's appealing, friends. It's
appealing. How much do you owe Christ? How
much do you owe? And yet you want to serve him. You want to give all you have
for him. And so someone says, well, that's
good. And when you do that, you're adding to it. Like you have something
to contribute, something that you can give that he wants. It's flattering. It's not true,
but it's flattering. These Judaizers came in not as
devils. They came in as angels. These
men were moral, their character above reproach. But Paul says
in 2 Corinthians, that's no wonder that they can do it because their
master does it. He says, such as false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. No marvel, for Satan himself
transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great
thing that his ministers also be transformed as ministers of
righteousness. And what Paul is speaking of
in that place is ministers of righteousness by the law. They
transform themselves, whose end shall be according to their works.
So in plain terms, Paul is displaying in his question, these believers
were thoughtless. They were charmed by vain illusions
of adding righteousness of the law to the righteousness of Christ.
to add to Christ's righteousness is bewitching. It makes the righteousness
of Christ diminished, as though the righteousness of Christ is
not sufficient. This is where we, in our day,
they've just, like I said, they're bewitching people by their words. They say, well, we don't believe
that a man is justified by his obedience to the law. We just
believe he's sanctified by it. They change it around so that
you're bewitched. Now, they're talking about justification,
not sanctification. They're talking about progressive
holiness. When a person is justified, what is he? He's holy, isn't
he? He's sanctified. Can you find
a justified person who is not sanctified? If you're not fully sanctified,
friends, you've not been fully justified. How can God justify
a person who's not holy? He can't, he won't. He's bewitching people. And how
thoughtless and foolish it is to be duped by this illusion
of exchanging something unreal for something real. What's unreal
is your righteousness. You obeying the law and somehow
producing some righteousness. Okay, let's just say it were
possible for a minute that you haven't lied. Ever since you said you hadn't
lied. Now, to believe that that was
actual righteousness because you didn't lie is a lie. It's duped. You're duped. Did
you not lie perfectly? No. You keep this mouth closed. You sew this mouth shut, and
then you can say, well, see, I ain't lied. I ain't lied. No,
you can't do it perfect. It's an illusion to think we
can do anything that's really righteous. But they do that, and to do that,
you have to exchange something that's real, which is the righteousness
of Christ. So the point is, the rhetorical
question is that justification, justification is by Christ crucified
alone. Christ the truth had been set
forth among you. Paul said, I told you that Christ
obtained our righteousness. That Christ by his death has
forever justified us before God. The law is therefore completely
satisfied and therefore we are justified by him, not by our
works. And all who are duped to this
message of justification by the law, which is the same thing
as having the law as a rule of life. Again, wordsmiths, you
see, they just move the words around. And they say, we don't
believe you say by the law, but the law is a rule of life. Is it? Is the law a suggestion? Now it's become a suggestion
to you? Well, don't lie, we're just suggesting it. No, but if
you take anything, any part of the law, you've got to take the
whole law. Now, and Paul says, so you're
duped. You're duped. Christ is the only
justification. Now, look at the second one in
verse two. This only would I learn you. Receive you the spirit by
the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Now, Paul desires
that the believers think. He puts their eyes upon now,
upon their own experience. Tell me how it was with you.
How did you receive the Spirit? Was it by the works of the law
that you received the Spirit? Or was it by the hearing of faith? Now you that believe, you see
how the answer's in the question? You know it already. Did it go this way with you that
you were obeying the law so perfectly? You're really trying to obey
the law and the Spirit of God looks down and says, you know
what, that guy, he's doing a pretty good job. So I guess now I'm
gonna come unto him because he's doing such a great job. Is that
how it happened with you? Did you by your own obedience
and knowledge move the Spirit of God to set up His abode in
you? If so, then you have not the
Spirit of God. For all the law can do is expose
sin. It can't help you. It can't keep
you from sin. It can't cause you to merit the
Spirit of God, the favor of God. The law surely has its part. We do not hate the law. You that
believe, do you hate the law? You do not hate the law. The
law is good, we confess. The law is just. The law is right. But because of our sin, it nullifies
any hope of it saving us. It only can condemn us. The law surely abases us before
God, but only the free grace of God and the power of the Spirit
can give us life. Is that your experience? That's
my experience. Remember, John said this, as
many as received him, to them gave he the right, the power. Who gave us the power to become
the sons of God? We received Christ, but who gave
us the right to become the sons of God? He did. Him whom we received,
He gave us the right. Even them that believe on His
name. Well, how did you believe on His name? You've got family. They've heard
this same message. They have not received Him, but
you have. How did you receive him? By your
obedience to the law? No, you received him because
you were born of God. You were born of the Spirit of
God. We were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. So then true believers,
you who receive Christ, you received him by faith as all your justification. And we received it by the grace. and power of God. That's our
experience. That's our experience. Listen
to this hymn. You know this hymn well. Tell
me if this is not our experience. Against the God that rules the
sky, I fought with hands uplifted high. Madly I ran the sinful
race, regardless of a hiding place. Enwrapped in thick Egyptian
night and fond of darkness more than light, madly I ran the sinful
race, secure without a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran, almighty love arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. indignant justice stood in view,
to Sinai's fiery mount I flew. What do you find there? When
you flew to the law, what did you find? Justice cried with
frowning face, this mountain is no hiding place. Ere long
a heavenly voice I heard in mercy's angel form appeared. He led me
on with gentle pace to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. Now, what was your experience
of grace? Paul said, how did you receive the Spirit? Did you
receive it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?
We believe on Christ. We were born again of the grace
of God. And by this we believe on Christ as our ark, our refuge,
and forsook all hopes of obedience to the law. All hopes of self-righteousness. So by what means did we believe? We believed by the hearing of
faith. By the hearing of faith. Faith
comes not by works, but by the hearing of the gospel. Listen to what Paul says in Romans
10, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Now then, he asks a series of
questions. How? This is a question, how?
You that call upon the name of the Lord, how? How can you call
on him if you don't believe on him? And how can you believe on somebody
you've never heard? And how can you believe except without a preacher. And how shall
they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. We preach Christ and he is the
tidings of good things. Salvation freely Salvation that requires nothing
of you. Salvation that has been accomplished. Not something that started by
Him and finished by you. And we'll get to that in just
a minute. He's going on to the next one here. But they've not all obeyed the
gospel, Isaiah said, who had believed our report. So then
faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word. So Paul says, how
do you receive the spirit? By the works of law, by hearing
of faith. We know this, by the hearing of faith. By the hearing
of faith. And in verse three, he says,
so foolish. Are you so foolish? Are you so thoughtless? If you
received it by the hearing of faith, by the grace of God, then
Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made
perfect by the flesh? This question pertains to believer's
walk, the walk. How in the world are we going
to make it to the end? Now that the Spirit of God has
come, now that you've heard the gospel and believe the gospel
and the Spirit of God has come to make His abode with you, how
then shall you finish this course? How are we going to live? How
are we going to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ? Referring to the obvious answer
to the second question, we were born by the Holy Spirit through
faith in the gospel of the justification of Christ without the needs of
the law. Now being justified, what is
the rule of the believer's life in this world? They, like many, had been thoughtless
and foolish to say the law. That's what the Galatian church
was saying. They said, you know what? We began this in the Spirit,
but you know what? We've got to do our part. We have to contribute something
to this salvation. something to this judgment. So
then they take the law and they say, well, the law is good. Let's
use that as a rule of life. And Paul said, you're just faultless.
You've not fought this through. Are you so foolish having begun
the spirit that you think that you're going to finish in the
flesh? Some were so bold as to say that
salvation began by Christ and finished by their obedience to
the law to make ourselves ripe for heaven. I mean, that sounds
to you that believe, and you know this, that is utter garbage. But it is being conveyed by false
religions throughout this world today that God has begun a work
in you and that you must make yourself fit for heaven. Heard very prominent preachers
say this, that, you know what, if you don't sanctify yourself,
yeah, you're gonna squeak, you may squeak into heaven. But those who go about sanctifying
themselves by the obedience of the law, they're gonna have a
more glorious experience. This is utter foolishness. This is just saying that the
law is part of our justification. Don't be duped by these crafty,
thoughtless men who merely exchange words. Justification by the law,
they exchange it for the laws and rule of life, but that's
saying the same thing. Don't be duped. Forget this human wisdom and
listen to the word of God. Philippians 1.6, being confident
of this very thing. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. You got
that? That does away with all that foolish nonsense of progressive
holiness. He that began the work. That's
what Paul's asking in our text. You so foolish to begin in the
spirit and finish by the flesh? You think you're gonna finish
this? Do you think you have enough
power now that you can make this work? That you can somehow merit
the rest of it? Well, Christ did all He can do
and the rest is up to you. Are you so thoughtless? Are you
so foolish to believe that? No, He that began this work is
going to finish it. He will finish our salvation
because He purposed it. He purchased it. He applied it. And listen, the only way I'm
going to make it to the end is Him keeping it. He will keep us to the end until
we receive the full measure of what He had promised. So how
are we then to live? What then is the rule of the
believer's life? If we're not gonna finish this
in the flesh, how then are we to finish? How are we to live?
How are we to discern? Are we lawless? Are we lawless? Oh, God forbid we are lawless.
We have a king, and a king has issued his commandments. His
rule of law is over us. But his law, John says, is not
grievous unto us. It's not grievous unto us. What,
then, is our law? Go to 1 John. What, then, is
this rule of the believer's life? Go to 1 John, look at chapter
3. 1 John chapter 3, look at verse
22. And whatsoever we ask, we receive
of Him because we keep His commandments. And do those things that are
pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment. See, I always love the Scripture
because it doesn't leave me to guess what it is. It leaves no
room for guessing. If you would just read it, it's
going to tell you what it means. He said, look, he's gonna, what's
our, we ask, we're gonna receive it of him. Now, why do you do
that? Because we keep his commandments.
And then some idiot will come along and say, well, see, there
you gotta go back to the law. No, just finish reading the text.
Don't be so thoughtless. Listen, read it. And this is
his commandment. Well, there it is. What is it?
that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ. Commandment number one, faith. The just shall live by faith. Paul in our text is gonna go
on, he's gonna use Abraham as a, to show us this. Now why would he use Abraham?
Why not Moses? Why not Elijah? You could have,
but why Abraham? Because Abraham was 400 and something
years before the law came. So as we walk, we walk by this
rule, by this law. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You that believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, listen to your commandment. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Is that grievous? Oh, would to God I'd believe
more. I love to believe. Oh, Lord, I believe. Help thou
my unbelief. Here's commandment number two.
Love one another as he gave us commandment. Look at me. If you do one, two
is easy. If you can see what he did for
you, it's easy then to love your brother. If you miss number one,
number two's hard. If you fail to believe, you fail
to look to him. Because remember, what constrains
us from sin? What keeps you from sin? Is it
the law? God says this, it is the love
of Christ that constraineth us. The love of Christ constraineth
us. And so we have a law, we have
a rule, and we will finish this race by obedience to that law. The law of faith and love. The
fourth one is this, have you suffered so many things in vain
if it yet be in vain? Paul now is talking to these
believers, he's saying, look what you've suffered. Believing
on Christ. You listen to this. Believing
on Christ, you will suffer tribulation. You will suffer persecution. These people have suffered. They
have lost their families. They have lost their friends.
They have been kicked out of their synagogue. They were persecuted. And Paul says this, look, if
you believe, that justification is by the law. If you believe
to start by the spirit and finish by your flesh, listen, all your
suffering was vain. It was empty. It was nothing. It meant nothing. I tell you, there are many false
believers, many professing believers who really didn't know Christ
suffered a lot. How many of the false church suffered martyrdom?
And you know, what does Paul say about that? Their suffering
was vain. It didn't do anything. You see people dying in the name
of Christ. But listen, if you believe in
Christ plus your works, all your suffering, I don't care what
you suffer, and I'll tell you what works religion, it's afflicting. It's a burden. But what's it
going to accomplish? Nothing. Paul says, look, have
you suffered in vain? You do if you believe that. You
believe salvation by works. Now, the last question is this.
Look at this in verse 5. He therefore that ministereth,
that supplieth unto you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you. Who is it that supplieth to you
the Spirit? Who ministered to you the Spirit of God? Who worked
the miracle of grace in your heart? This was God. It was God. And so Paul is saying this, he,
therefore, God, that ministered the Spirit, he, God, that worked
the miracles among you. How did he do it? Did he do it
by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? God is the one that ministered
to us the Spirit, and He alone gives us His Holy Spirit to do,
and He gave us His Spirit to will and do of His good pleasure.
That's what He said in Philippians 2.14, for it is of God who worketh
in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. And as God
ministered this work through our keeping the law or by the
hearing of faith, Hear the truth. Is God's intent to do this by
the law? Is God's intent to make your
flesh better? That's a better way of putting
it. Is God's intent to make your flesh better? He that supplied
the law supplied the spirit to you. Is that his intent? That
your flesh get better? Because that's what religion
teaches. Religion teaches that by your progressive holiness,
by your progressive obedience to the law, you somehow, the
flesh gets less sinful and the spirit gets more holy. Is that true? He that ministered
to you, the spirit, is that what he's intending? By the law, to
increase the flesh, to make the flesh better? Well, what did
Jesus say? Jesus said, the spirit quickeneth. The flesh profiteth
nothing. When God saved you, what did
your flesh profit? Nothing. Nothing. He said, the words I speak unto
you, they are spirit and they are life. When his disciples
went out, then, you know, what happened in John 6, they all
went away, and Jesus asked his disciples, you gonna go away?
And they said, Lord, who are we gonna go to? You're the one
supplied the Spirit. You're the one. You have the
words of eternal life and we are sure, we believe and are
sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Therefore,
believers are supplied the Holy Spirit, not for the purpose of
making the flesh better, to obey the law. That cannot be. That which is born of flesh is
flesh, but that which is born of Spirit is Spirit. The Spirit
is given to us. And in faith we are to live by
faith and not by the law. This is why you constantly desire
to hear this message. You desire constantly to hear
Christ. Why? So that your faith should
be refreshed. so that your faith should be
strengthened, so that your faith should be rooted and grounded
where? In Christ, not in your obedience
to the law, but in Christ. Be ye rooted and built up, established
in Christ. How? By the hearing of faith,
not the obedience of the law. How are you gonna grow? How are
you gonna grow? That's what Paul's asking. He
said, look, he that ministered the Spirit to you, how are you
going to, how is he going to, what is his intent? Is his intent
to make you better by your obedience to the law or that you should
grow by the hearing of faith? Which is it? These are rhetorical questions. And so as we I just pray that God would help
us not to be so thoughtless. Because we are susceptible, friends. I know what you've been taught.
I know whom you have believed. But don't think that we are so
far above this. And the remedy is simple. These
simple questions, these aren't complicated questions. The answers
are in the questions themselves. Paul said this, I pray that you
not be moved from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. The
singleness. It's not salvation by Christ
and you. It's salvation by Christ alone. And the Spirit of God intends
for us to always look to Him. Look to Him. to live by faith
and love. Those are our laws. May God help
us to keep them. And I know he will. I know he
will. He promised. He promised. I pray God will help you with
this.