The Spirit Is Received By Faith

Okay, we're starting in on a new chapter. Not only a new chapter, but a, if you remember right, we divided the work relations up into three different sections, and we're starting that second section this morning. But before we do, I'd like to just take a minute and talk about something that Mike and I do often. Why should we take time for silent prayer before studying God's Word? Hopefully all of you know, but if you don't, it has everything to do with what we'll be studying this morning.

Walking by means of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians chapter 5 tells us how we are to walk. In verse 8, we read, For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. So walk as children of light. Our position is one of light in the Lord, but experientially, we need to walk that way. Verse 15, Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise.

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is a waste, but be filled by means of the Spirit. You see those words in black, that's not really in the NASB, but I put that in there to clarify things. We're not being filled with the Spirit. It's very important to make this distinction.

We are being filled by means of the Holy Spirit. When we're saved, We have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and we are filled with the Holy Spirit. But in our daily walk, we are to walk by means of the Holy Spirit. And we will get into that much later.

Walking in the light, abiding in Him, and being in fellowship, they're all synonyms for walking by means of the Spirit. 1 John 1, verses 6-9. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and we're talking about believers here, we're not talking about the unsaved. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Although Christ has paid the penalty for our sins, actually for the sins of the whole world, we still have that old man which can quench and grieve the Spirit by sins in our lives. We are admonished to name or admit those sins that we know about. I'm not talking about being sorry or saying, Lord, I'll never do this again. We're just encouraged to keep track in our mind where we're at in our life. If there's things in our life that shouldn't be there, let's name them, admit them to Christ.

We are then restored to fellowship with God Just as it says in 1 John 1.6, Hence, abiding in him, walking in light, and walking by means of the Spirit, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.

This is kind of like... and I just thought this up a couple weeks ago. I never thought of it this way before. This is like rebooting your computer. You do that on a regular basis. It cleans out all the junk so that you can move on in your life or your computer. And in your life, it's by means of the Holy Spirit. And this isn't just something... We do, before Bible study, it's something we should do continually day after day. Whenever things come to mind that we're not right with God, name that to God.

Romans 12.2 is another way of statement.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. So let's not waste our time studying God's Word if we are doing it by the flesh, and not by means of the Spirit. Anything we can do by the flesh, isn't going to do us any good at all. If you're studying your Bible saying, boy, I can get stuff out of this without letting the Holy Spirit guide and direct us, we're not really getting anything out of Scripture. And that's why we take time to examine ourselves before Bible study. So, we have spent the last four months in the last two chapters of Galatians. And this morning we're going to start on a new chapter, chapter 3, a new point.

That time has been spent not only defending Paul's apostleship, but also his message as coming directly from Christ and not from man. We saw the source of his gospel in chapter 1, verses 11 through 17. We saw his early ministry before the leaders in Jerusalem accepted him, and that's in verses 18 through 24.

Then in chapter 2, the Jerusalem leaders accepted Saul as an apostle, but they still had reservations about his message. As a matter of fact, he finally had to take Peter aside. And Peter was the head apostle of the church at that time, and explained to him what God's grace is all about. Saul's instruction to Peter in the last half of chapter 2 actually introduces us to the rest of Galatians.

Further on in review, let's remember this is the first epistle by Paul we have in Scripture. It was written shortly after his first missionary journey and before his second. Most likely written before the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 due to the fact it's not really mentioned in Galatians.

Before moving on in Chapter 3, it would be good to review the relationship between justification and righteousness. Normally, there's two ways to study the Bible. A lot of people just study the Bible by reading verse by verse. But if you really want to study the Bible, sometimes you need to take time, stop your reading, and examine what's in those verses, and try to put them together and put them in context with the rest of Scripture. That is called And I will say a lot of Christians do not like this phrase, but this is called systematic theology. So we sometimes need to stop what we're reading and put some of these doctrines together. We're going to take a couple of minutes, and we're going to head down this rapid trail. Isn't that a nice little picture? Yeah, very nice.

I'm the one who made this picture with the help of AI. I'm not smart enough to make something like that. I went to AI and I said, okay, give me a rabbit that's running down a trail. make it a crazy-looking rabbit, a cartoon figure, and put a sign up there that says, Rabbit Trail. And I clicked the button, and after about a minute or so, this is what I got. And you're going to see a couple more pictures that I used Aon.

Actually, some of it's a little scary. I want this and I want that to show up and you have pictures of all kinds of who knows what. Yeah, it's a little scary. Well, I was going to say, is if you're going to use this for Bible study, not this cartoon, but if you're going to use it for Bible study, I would be very cautious.

Amen. Because AI is based on everything That's out there on the Internet. And what's out there on the Internet is of the world. It's not necessarily of God. So I would be very careful, based on any of your doctrine, on what you find with artificial intelligence. But this picture here, that artificial intelligence certainly helped my intelligence out. I'm like Wayne, I fall way short of intelligence. Okay, so let's go down this rabbit hole.

Let's take a minute and look at the doctrine of justification and righteousness. The term justification and righteousness comes from the Greek root. I'm not going to pronounce any more of those words. Justification is the verb form, and righteousness is the noun form. If you want to learn how to pronounce those words, Talk to Roger after the class is over. Both of these terms are found in Galatians 2, verses 16 through 21.

We read, nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. And then in verse 21, I do not nullify the grace of God, for it is righteousness, the same word, comes through the law, then if for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. Justification is built on the doctrine of righteousness.

They are both based on the integrity of God. Now we're right in the middle of systematic theology. The integrity of God is composed of three aspects of his essence. Number one, God's righteousness. God is perfect, absolute righteousness. This is the standard of his integrity. It provides the norms by which he evaluates and judges all creation. Number two, God's justice. Justice is the application of that standard. God is perfectly fair to all his creatures. And number three, God's love, which is the motivation of God's integrity.

What the righteousness of God demands, the justice of God executes. And this is motivated by the love of God and expressed through the grace of God. Grace is God's policy throughout all the ages, not just the church age, but throughout all the ages. And grace is unmerited favor. Therefore, If the righteousness of God is his standard, and that righteousness rejects something, then the justice of God condemns it. But what the righteousness of God approves, the justice of God blesses. And the love of God provides a solution expressed through the grace of God. The integrity of God provides the basis for understanding salvation. Here is God, perfect righteousness. But here is man, falling short of that righteousness.

No matter how good we are or what we do, we can never obtain God's approval. That not only includes our salvation, but it also includes our walk, with Christ throughout our Christian life, which most of Galatians is going to be talking about. Any human righteousness we might have is filthy rags in God's sight. Not anything we do, but all of our good, anything good we might have is filthy rags in God's sight.

In Isaiah 64.6, For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous deeds, all of our good deeds, all of the deeds we think are perfect, are nothing but a filthy garment to God.

God's standard is absolute perfection, much higher than any good thing man could possibly do. So how can we ever meet God's standard? How in the world did we actually please God? Because of God's love, he provides the solution through grace. Here's a verse that we all probably have memorized. Every time I read this, I want to change it. It says, for God so loved the world. And to me, it sounds better if you say, for God In what way did He love the world?

That He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. That is the solution. At the moment of our salvations, God's justice imputes to the believer the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ as our eternal, permanent possession.

Experientially, we're still a sinner. We are not made righteous, and that's very important. I'm not righteous. You're not righteous. None of us have been righteous. But we are declared righteous. A big difference there. At the point of salvation, we are placed in Christ, having Christ's righteousness imputed to us. As a believer, when God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Which is great, otherwise I'd never have anything to do with the Lord. Because of Christ's righteousness in us, God declares us righteous, which satisfies His justice. His justice is satisfied by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. And this is all of God. It's not of the law. It's not of the mosaic law. It's not of works. Not of anything we can do possibly. Not anything we could possibly do to try and please God.

Justification is mentioned four times in Galatians chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. Nevertheless, knowing the man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Since by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. But if while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners. Is Christ then a minister of sin? He may never be.

Therefore, our justification comes by faith in Christ and not by works. That's our non-meritorious belief or faith in Christ. Galatians 2, 20 and 21, I have been crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly."

And of course, for the last couple of weeks, we're through with our rabbit trail. This rabbit guy tried to poop down, It's got to lay down and rest for a while. Which brings us to our next section in Galatians. Remember our main outline for Galatians.

Paul's defense of his apostleship in chapters 1 and 2, which we have just finished. Paul defends justification by faith alone in chapters 3 and 4, where we're at today, And Paul's call to liberty in chapters 5 and 6, that's where he applies all of this to us. What Paul pointed out to Peter in chapter 2, he will now expand on in chapters 3 and 4. And he does this in two ways. The first way, by defending the doctrine of justification by faith, that's in chapter 3. by appealing to their personal experience, verses one through five.

That's where we're at today, if we ever get to it. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Also, by comparing Abraham to the Mosaic law in verses six through 14, the scripture preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, and then by the logical outcome of this comparison in verses 15 through 29. I speak in terms of human relations. Why the law then?

And then the second way is by illustrating the doctrine of justification by faith in chapter four. We have a legal illustration in verses one through 11 that we might receive the adoption as sons. Once we get there, probably be going back to systematic theology. A personal illustration in verses 12 through 20, become as I am or I also have become as you are. And then a biblical illustration in verses 21 through 31. Abraham had two sons, one from the bond woman and one from the free woman.

Galatians was the first epistle of all inspired by God the Holy Spirit. Only in Galatians does he spend two whole chapters establishing the fact that his apostleship and message indeed came directly from the Lord. He spends those two chapters because this is his first epistle that he has written. Once established, this lengthy account of his apostleship was no longer necessary in any of his other epistles. His authority in the other epistles is stated in just one or two verses. I think with the exception of one, maybe it was two books, he uses a couple of verses to establish his apostleship. Concerning his message, he now appeals to their personal experience in chapters 3, 1 through 5.

Let me read that for you. I'm going to be reading out of the NASB, but if you see in the black, that'll be coming from the King James Version. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you.

Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? So then, does he who provides you with the Spirit, and works miracles among you, do it by the works of law, or by the hearing of faith? This morning, we're only going to deal with those first two verses. You foolish Galatians!

We are not dealing with just one church here, but a number of churches in several cities and surrounding areas of Southern Galatia, where Paul went on his first missionary journey. And here's a map of that, which, if you remember, we've seen before. The southern part of Galatia took in the Pisidia of Antioch, not the one in Syria, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. This is who he's talking to. This description, foolish, is not to be taken lightly. Paul is not happy with the Galatians. He is at war with Judaizers. I mean, he's really at war with them. You can see it in the way he speaks to the Galatians.

Here's a more descriptive translation. I say translation, but it's actually a paraphrase. If you read J.P. Phillips' New Testament, he paraphrases a lot. Don't be caught up with the idea that a paraphrase is God's Word. It's just one man's opinion of God's Word. So if I was you, I would stick to good translations as opposed to paraphrases. Although paraphrases can help us understand, but let's not put too much into them. But anyway, J.P. Phillips says it this way, Oh, you dear idiots of Galatia!

Who saw Jesus Christ, the crucified, so plainly? Who has been casting a spell over you? I will ask you one simple question. Did you receive the Spirit of God by trying to keep the Law, or by believing the message of the Gospel? Surely you can't be so idiotic. as to think that a man begins his spiritual life in the Spirit and then completes it by reverting to outward observances. Has all your painful experience brought you nowhere? What would you think of me if I talked to you guys like that? I'd be right out of here. I simply can't believe it of you. Does God who gives you His Spirit and works miracles among you do these things because you have obeyed the law or because you have believed the gospel? Ask yourself that. Are you really that nuts? Paul has shown his displeasure with Galatians and other sections of the epistle as well. We remember back in chapter 1, verse 8 and 9.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now. He says this twice. If any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, he is to be accursed.

Paul has some strong feelings towards what's going on in the area of Galatia. Further on in chapter four, he's hoping that he can soften all this. He says to them, so have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? But I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. I wish I could be more loving, but with what's going on here, I just can't be.

So, chapter 3, verse 1, who has bewitched you? Who has deceived you? Bewitched. In Greek it means to be hypnotized. It also is known in many Greek manuscripts to be given an evil eye. Just like her. So you asked for that one? You got the same one on AI? Yeah, AI helped. I created that with the help of AI. Paul has shown his attitude toward the Galatians. We've already gone through that. Let's get back down to that last line. The ancient world associated hypnotism with the eyes. Who has hypnotized you? It is quite obvious the Judaizers has cast an evil eye with their legalism. The Galatians have been hypnotized by the Judaizers in two different ways. The one we saw in the last chapter, salvation by works. And the one we see in this chapter and throughout the rest of Galatians are spirituality by works.

The phrase that you should not obey the truth is not in most of our Greek texts. We find it in the King James and the New King James Version, but we don't find it in most... We find it in a few of the other translations, but in most translations, it's not there. So you've got to ask the question. A lot of times we'll say, this isn't part of the original text. And people are, what? You mean there's errors? There's errors in the Bible? Why is it that some Greek manuscripts are different from others? Let's take a minute and look at that. I don't want to bore you with textual criticism, but I'm going to.

Here's a chart that... I originally saw this chart when I was in college, when I had what was called the Thompson New Chain Reference, which is a Bible I used for years. It's a very good chain reference, despite the fact that it was put about by the Church of Christ people. Although I searched all through their chain reference, they don't really say much about their fallacy of having to be baptized to be saved. But it is a very good translation.

I quit using it because I got old and I couldn't read it anymore. But I have put on your table a copy of that. It's a little bit different because the one I had in My Thompson Chain Reference, which is over 40 years old, the one that you have on your table was, I think, done in 2010. And the one we have here on the screen was updated, I think it was 2014. But let's take a look at our English Bible.

Why in the world don't all the manuscripts agree with each other? What time is it? I'll tell you what, one of the reasons I left this on the table for you is we're not going to take time to go through this. The only thing I want to say about it is if you look down at the bottom, There are human errors in some of our manuscripts. Scribes, even those intended to be accurate, made mistakes, simple typos, forgotten words, misread words, or accidental omissions. But there were also intentional errors. They wanted to clarify an ambiguous passage, or in some cases, people changed them just because it would align with their own views.

I had a, my cousin told me once, he said, why do you use the NASB? What's wrong with the King James Version?" I said, the problem with the King James Version is there was just a small group of people translating it, and they put their own slant on it. I would rather have a dozen unbelievers translate our scripture, because that would do away with the biases.

And I think he finally got that. But that last paragraph, the vast majority of variants are minor and have no impact on the meaning of the text. By comparing thousands of different manuscripts, we can come up with an accurate English translation. And this is important. Only the original manuscripts, which we don't have any of those, only the original manuscripts are the inspired Word of God. So as far as the rest of that, you can take a look at it on your own time. The Galatians, let's get back to 3 verse 1.

Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. When Paul was in Galatia, he actually preached the crucifixion so much that it was like it was portrayed to everybody. If they had billboards, it would have been on a billboard in town. If they had buses, it would have been on the back of all the bus benches. It was publicly portrayed as crucifixion. Paul reminds them of the clear presentation of the gospel centered on Christ's crucifixion.

When he was in Antioch, the city of Antioch, he said to the people, Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And through him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you cannot be freed through the law of Moses. They had their eyes on Christ. But after Paul left, the Judaizers turned their eyes back to the Mosaic law.

Now verses 2 through 5, concerning the Holy Spirit. And all of verses 2 through 5, we're going to be dealing with the Holy Spirit here. If our righteousness is nothing in God's sight, then how are we supposed to live? How in the world can we please God? What can we do to please God? Absolutely nothing. There's nothing we can do to please God, even as believers.

This is where the ministry of the Holy Spirit takes over for every believer. Paul asks four questions in verse 2-5, and it all has to do with the Holy Spirit. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Have you begun by the Spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Does He who provides you with the Spirit and work miracles among you do it by the works of the law or by the hearing with faith?

This morning we'll deal with only the first five verses in chapter 3 are all about the Holy Spirit. Up to this point in Galatians, the Holy Spirit has not been mentioned. So he right away, he wants to talk about the Holy Spirit, but how do they know about the Holy Spirit? What do they know about the Holy Spirit? He's assuming they are aware of the Holy Spirit's ministry. We have to assume that Galatians were aware of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which came by faith at the point of salvation.

When Paul and Barnabas were in Galatia, They not only evangelized, but they also spent time teaching them. A part of that teaching had to have been the ministry of the Holy Spirit, even on the way back home. Paul and Barnabas revisited every one of those cities, encouraging them in the faith. We read in Acts 14, then Paul and Barnabas returned to the cities of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. And in those cities, they helped the followers grow stronger in their faith and encouraged them to continue trusting God. Paul wants to know only one thing from them. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? In chapter 2, the grace of God was illustrated by the work of Christ on the cross. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. Here in chapter 3, God's grace is illustrated by the work of the Holy Spirit.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the basis of our entire life as a Christian. This indwelling is called the baptism of the Spirit. Another way to put it, our death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism means to immerse, to plunge, or to identify. And what we'll be talking about in Galatians basically will be our identification. This is what baptism is all about. We are identified with Christ by means of the Holy Spirit. As a believer, our whole life is one of identification with Christ.

Now back to verse two. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? The Holy Spirit came to us just as salvation did, by faith in the finished work of Christ, not by any work that we could do. Next week, we're gonna be dealing with the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the last three questions concerning the Holy Spirit. Before we can move on, in the rest of Galatians, It's important to know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

This is what our whole doctrine of possession with Christ is all about. So, next week, we'll deal with the rest of these verses, having begun by the Spirit. Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, and indeed it was in vain? Does he who provides you with the Spirit and work miracles among you do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? So before we move on next week, we're going to examine exactly what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is all about.

And of course, this is going to take us back to that dreaded word, systematic theology. And that's where we're going to close. Do we have any questions or comments? Okay, let's close. Thank you, Father, for your spirit, how he indwells us, and that although we can do nothing on our own to please you, if we are are led by means of the Holy Spirit, we're able to do all kinds of things, but not of ourselves. It's from the indwelling Holy Spirit. Pray now for our Sunday morning service, that your spirit might guide and direct Roger as he speaks, and each one of us as we take in your word. In Christ's name, amen.