The Spirit Is Recieved By Faith pt. 2

Okay, so we're in part two, The Spirit is Received by Faith. This is Galatians chapter three, the first five verses. Actually, chapter three starts a new section in Galatians. We started that last week. Remember, we divided the book up into three different parts.

In section one, We have where Paul defends his apostleship. We spent many weeks going through chapters 1 and 2. Now in section 2, Paul defends his message, which is justification is by faith and faith alone. And then in section 3, chapters 5 and 6, Paul's going to apply all that doctrine we're going to learn in the next two chapters to our lives.

In this letter, there are a couple of key words that appear repeatedly, very important words. One key word is law. It appears 32 times, and we're not just talking about the Mosaic law, we're talking about any standard of laws which we might feel that we have to follow. The other key word is faith, which is mentioned 21 times in the book of Galatians.

Paul's whole message to the Galatians revolves around these two words. How are you saved? Is it by keeping the law, or is it through faith? In Galatians 2.16, we ended that last section with, nevertheless, knowing that a 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 the works of the law, since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. Now in chapter 3, Paul methodically defends justification by faith and faith alone.

I have an outline that I'm going to put up from the Bible Knowledge Commentary. I don't know if y'all are aware of that commentary. It's a very good commentary. It was put out by John Walvoord. He just edited it, but it was back before 1983. That was back before Dallas Theological Seminary went downhill. It's a commentary that I have used for a long time.

It's a two-volume set, if you want to get it from Amazon. I have the two-volume set. I also have it in my digital what's called Logos, Logos Bible software. Great thing about a digital software like that is you can copy and paste anything you want, which is really something.

But his commentary for just the chapter three starts off with the experience of the Galatians, which is where we're at today. Then he'll move on, verses six through nine, He'll have the example of Abraham. We read in verse six, even so Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Moving on, we have the effect of the law in verses 10 through 12. For as many as aren't under the works of the law are under a curse. Then at his fourth point, we have the work of Christ. We read in verse 13, Christ redeemed us from that curse. Then his fifth point, by the permanence of faith, in verses 15 through 18.

And in verse 17, we read, what I'm saying is this, the law which came 430 years later, after Abraham, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God. We have the Mosaic Law, but what God gave to Abraham, it does not nullify that. The Abrahamic Covenant is still in effect today. And part of the Abrahamic Covenant is that all the nations in the world will eventually be blessed from that covenant. And then the sixth point, it's the purpose of the law in verses 19 through 25. Verse 19, we read, why the law then? It was added because of transgressions. And in verse 24, therefore the law has become a tutor to lead us to Christ.

And then seven, this last point, by the believer's present position, which is what a lot of Galatians chapters 3 and 4, we'll be talking about our position in Christ. In verse 28, we read, there's neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And I know this has been mentioned many times, but the term in Christ is a very important term. It's where we're at. It's the position we're in. We are in Christ. We're identified with His death, burial, resurrection, and His ascension. I mean, He said it sitting at the right hand of the Father, and that's exactly where we are with Him.

So in verses 1 through 5, we look at the personal experience of the Galatians. In the first verse, we saw how the Judaizers had deceived the believers. We read, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? In the next four verses, Paul introduces the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul brings up the Holy Spirit three different times using three different questions. Paul assumes that the Galatians knew they had received the Holy Spirit.

Paul and Barnabas not only shared the gospel with the Galatians, but also spent time teaching them the truths which were later written down in both his epistle and this epistle in the letter to the Romans. We may think that these truths weren't known before those epistles came out, But I think Paul knew all about them way back in Damascus, when he went out into the desert and was taught all these doctrines from the Lord. So the Galatians were aware of all this. They just needed to be reminded of it. Paul is here to remind them of those truths.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is key to understanding the rest of Galatians. Up until now, we've talked about law and grace, law and faith, but if we're not to live by the law, what are we to live by? We're to live by means of the Holy Spirit. So this doctrine of the Holy Spirit is very important. We're going to take time to show the importance of this indwelling.

At the point of salvation, every believer is baptized with the Holy Spirit. What exactly does it mean to be baptized? We assume we all know what that means, but do we really? This is actually a transliteration of the Greek word baptizo, baptizbo, meaning to immerse or plunge. The spiritual meaning of the word is to identify with. And when it comes to baptism, that term identification is very important. Our English translators, they translated the word baptize. And I think that was unfortunate.

It would have been better to translate it as immerse, plunge, or even identify, instead of transliterating it. The reason it was transliterated, baptized, was because of all the different theological powers that influenced our translations back in the 16th century. In the Middle Ages, church leaders had been practicing infant baptism and sprinkling for over 1,000 years. Because of the Roman Catholic Church, which was the main church in England at that time, because the Roman Catholic Church was identified with the state to challenge that practice, of infant baptism or sprinkling was to make a political statement, and they didn't want to do that. So, to be on the safe side, instead of translating it or MERS, they just transliterated the word. And because of that, everybody's confused.

Everybody has their own idea of what baptism really is. There are actually And I want to take time to go through this because not very many teachers do this. There are actually eight different types of baptisms in the Bible. Three of them are wet baptisms, and five of them are dry. And all eight have to do with identification.

Yes. Well, you know, Bob, just we need to be reminded that this whole indwelling of the Spirit, being baptized by the Spirit of those who are in Christ, and I mean, you mentioned that earlier, but, you know, I think identification really is the best way to interpret that. Right.

Galatians 2.20 lives on, Chapter 3, right? Right, right. Identification, that can be synonymous with our position in Christ. Let's take a look at the three wet baptisms. And these are ritual. We have John the Baptist's baptism in Matthew 3, 1 through 6.

We read, now in those days, John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. Now their repentance was actually a change of mind for over 400 years. They've been coasting along in their Jewish religion. But now John the Baptist comes along, he says, you need to change your mind. They were identifying with the fact that the kingdom of God was at hand. And that's what John the Baptist was preaching about. And if you were baptized by John the Baptist, you're saying, yes, I believe the kingdom of God is at hand.

Now, unfortunately, it was set aside later. Our second Baptism is Jesus' baptism in Matthew 3, 13 and 15. Then Jesus arrived from Galilee and to Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him. For in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Christ was, the Messiah was prophesied to be baptized. And Christ's baptism identified him with the plan of God and his public ministry on earth.

Our third water, wet baptism is believer's baptism. Matthew 28, 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The new believer is immersed in water, identifying, remember, keep this in mind, identification. Identify him with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And that identification is our position near Christ.

How do you know that's immersion? voice-out-of-water baptism. The third example there in terms of a prophecy. Well, you have to look at the meaning of baptize, baptismal. In all of literature, it meant to either immerse or plunge. There's all kinds of baptisms. in the early church and before. As a matter of fact, some of the Roman soldiers would take their swords before going into battle, and they would plunge it into a bucket of pig's blood, identifying that sword with victory. And before that, everywhere you see baptized, baptismal, it means to immerse or to plunge. But your point here about Matthew 28 is its identification also.

Yes. But you think it's a wet baptism, not a dry. Well, Believer's Baptism, I guess it can be either. But Believer's Baptism, in the context I'm talking about, is to actually go out into the baptistry at our church or a swimming pool. or a horse trough, or a river. Yes, Roger. I was just gonna say, I think it will help if we, the believer has already been baptized spiritually before this ever happens. Yeah. So I think it's important to get the cart before the horse. That sort of speech. If that helps. If you notice... I mean, I said it right, but anyway. If you notice, when we go back... Go ahead.

When I talk about the three-way baptism, we're talking about the ritual. baptisms, not the real baptisms. So, Bobby, you're just a little concerned by saying that's identification with the third one? Well, no, it's just I think that if Christ's mandate to the church is I think we could debate that first, but it's in our going, right? It's not necessarily going to the entire world. I mean, people can misinterpret that a little bit. All of us who are in Christ in our life traditionally should be in Christ. But I'm not being critical, I'm just trying to understand why that's a wet baptism necessarily, because it could be a dry baptism. Well, I think it's both.

Whereas it's a wet baptism, we are identifying with other believers around us that we are in Christ. But we go through that to ultimately show that we've been identified. The baptism we do here at Holly Hills is someone who now has indicated that I'm being identified with Christ as First Ascension.

Yes, Fannie. The way it's used there, it's not something that those that go can make people be baptized. Baptizing is the work of God. Yeah, we can. I mean, in that way, it's almost like something that they're doing, which would be the actual ritual, or whatever. The wet baptism versus the baptismal. So this wet baptism, as opposed to a dry baptism, is something we actually choose to do as a testimony to others that we are in Christ. And that we're signed and then we're changed.

Right. And yes, Jim? What would you use as a better word than baptism? Immerse. Immerse. Or identify. I like the term identify because in historical terms back then, it could also mean plunge. But I really think the best term that they could have used if King James had told his people to do it would be identify, or being identified with Christ. That would, I think that would have been better. Yeah.

Well, we also have to say that that's an imperative, the imperative mood to make disciples is imperative. So you can't, a person already has to be. a believer and be spiritually baptized before you can do the physical water thing. So with imperative, you can't make a person believe or become spiritually baptized. You can put them in the water. The imperative there kind of tells me it's water.

You know, this is an act of Satan to mislead us. No, no, no. I'm not saving people or water baptism. Absolutely. Amen. I don't think it needs to be said in this group that it does not save any people. No, it does not. It's just a personal testimony of what God has done for us. Right. So those are the three wet. Oh, yeah. Hey, and Bob, one more thing.

I think, yeah, I read it as just a command to the disciples, after they've been baptized by the Holy Spirit, to baptize them by water, just to show, so they can tell the world that they're identified with Christ. And the example, wouldn't that be Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch? He said, I believe, is what's Is there any reason I can't be baptized right now? There are churches, good Bible-believing churches, who believe that water baptism isn't necessary today.

A lot of them are called a mid-axe dispensationalist or super-dispensationalist. Or ultra-dispensationalist. Bob, did you say is or isn't? I missed what you said, whether it was is or isn't. There are churches that believe you don't have to. You don't have to be water-baptized. A lot of churches will say that was only for the early church.

You know, when it really comes down to it, in the early church, the moment you were saved, you were baptized. But today, I think it's, you don't want to work that way. Once you're saved, you need to understand what's going on. and understand what baptism is all about.

Well, for me, it was like 15 years later before I was water baptized. But remember, back in the early church, there were all kinds of baptisms. There were Jewish baptisms. There were baptismal places all around the temple for cleansing and for all kinds of different reasons. So you just have to keep everything in context. So let's go on to the five dry baptisms before I run out of time. So we have baptism, and we'll go through these quickly.

Baptism of Noah in 1 Peter 3, 20 and 21, in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were brought safely through the water corresponding to that. Baptism now saves you. So this baptism is an anatype. The baptism now saves you, identifying the believer with the ark through the water. This is a dry baptism.

The baptism of Moses, 1 Corinthians 10, 1 and 2. For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea. They left Egypt, went through the Red Sea. They were all identified with Moses into a new life, which is another anotype of the believer's identification with Christ.

And then there's the baptism of fire, which to me is probably the hardest to understand, and I don't want to take a lot of time talking about it. But as for me, and we're talking about it on the Baptist, I baptize you with water for repentance, But he who comes after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." And this has everything. This identifies all unbelievers who survived the tribulation with fire. Those unbelievers will go through fire and be judged. And that's, I would say, what I would agree with as far as the baptism of fire. Other people think it has something to do with Acts chapter 2, where the Spirit of God came down on them and came down with fire. But however you take this, Christ is going to baptize with fire as a form of judgment.

Now, seven, the baptism of the cross. I won't read this whole thing, but Jesus Christ was identified with our sins on the cross when he was judged for them as our substitute. James and John could not go with Christ to the cross, although they wanted to, but afterwards they would be identified with him. So the baptism of the cross has to do with Christ taking on our sins.

And then the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and this is where we want to be at today. For by one spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we're all made to drink of one spirit. At the point of salvation, we are identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The baptism involved the permanent sealing and indwelling of the Holy Spirit in everyone who put their faith in Christ. The baptism of the Holy Spirit began on the day of Pentecost, after the cross, which puts every believer in Christ during this church age.

Now, before the cross, No one was indwelt by the Holy Spirit. When God wanted a person to do a particular job, the Spirit came upon him and then left him. We won't go through these two passages, but unlike Old Testament saints, every believer today is indwelt permanently by the Holy Spirit.

This brings us to verse three in Galatians chapter three. Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Now, wait a minute. If works didn't save you, why would you want your life to be ruled by works? That seems a little crazy. That seems a little foolish.

Haven't we already established there is absolutely nothing we can do to please God? Are you all that stupid? I've been saying that a long time, and I Sorry about that, and they are yeah, I'm sorry I have to say that I'm beginning to sound like Paul in verse 1. Are you that foolish? Have you been bewitched? Here's another I've been playing with AI again. And I asked AI to make a cartoon character that looks like me.

That's the best I could come up with. Actually, Heidi thinks it looks a lot better. She's going to take all the pictures we have in our house and burn them and just keep this one here. I just asked for a general liking with some old guy with a beard, looking a little bit sorry. That's what AI gave me.

But I decided I would look a little closer. I decided, what would Wayne look like? And so I went into great detail. I talked to I talked to AI, you know, you can talk to it as well as type. I wanted to see what he actually looked like. I give him the hair, the mustache, and that little white patch of hair on his chin that his razor seems to miss every time he shaves, include his disdemeanor, his attitude, his personality, even some of his hobbies, make a perfect facsimile of Wayne. And they did pretty good. This is exactly what Wayne would look like.

Let's get back to verse three. Are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Foolish, meaning unwise, senseless, not understanding. God's grace is what saved you when you believed. It was God's grace that provided you with the Holy Spirit. Why would you abandon His Spirit And try to live by your own efforts, the flesh. Why in the world?

If we are to mature as a believer, it will be by means of the Holy Spirit, not the flesh. Being perfected. This doesn't mean perfection, it means maturity. Being brought to maturity. And the flesh, that's the physical body, any human effort we might do.

It's obvious from this verse, that we are either walking by means of the Spirit or we're walking by the flesh. It's not a percentage. It's either one or the other, and that's important. A lot of Christians say, well, I'm walking with the Spirit a little bit today, but not completely, but that's a little bit crazy. We are either in fellowship or we're out of fellowship.

We are either abiding in Him or we're not. We are either walking in the light or we're walking in darkness. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

A brief comment. I'll be brief. Many believers are one-naturists. That means they think somehow the old man's getting better, right? And I think the fact that we're new creations in Christ Jesus, how's that for scripture? We're not old naturists being approved. We're new creations in Christ Jesus. Yes, we are. That's all being in Christ and identification. because it gets schizophrenic.

Am I walking in the spirit or am I walking in the flesh? I mean, no, we need to understand position first, position, position, position, as our condition increasingly gets conformed to our position. Bad teaching or inadequate teaching or uneducated teaching is where we fail. But on the other hand, we don't want to ignore our condition. that shows up in all of us. Yes.

So our spiritual life is one of faith and what God provided when he imputed to us Christ's righteousness. This is our position in Christ. Not by any good deed, work, or righteousness we think we might have. Galatians 5.25, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Now, when it comes to our condition, we still have that ulcer in nature. And when we screw up, admit that to God, confess it, and move on. Isn't that where the trials come in to remind us of our position? Yes, yes. So, did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain?

Verse 4, Paul now gets very personal with the believers in Galatia. He knows firsthand what they sacrificed when they turned away from the mosaic wall and they turned to Christ. Notice Paul and Barnabas' ministry in Antioch in Acts chapter 13. The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming.

First, Notice the phrase, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the Word of God. This is a little off topic, but it is estimated that there were around 100,000 people living in Antioch during that first century. This brings us back to verse 1, where Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Publicly portrayed.

Nearly the whole city was aware of Paul's ministry. How did nearly everyone in the city of that size hear about the gospel? Paul had only been there for maybe a week or so. That was amazing. Seeing as there were no billboards, radio, TV, cell phones. Internet, how in the world did this happen?

Christ's crucifixion portrayed could have only been the result of the Holy Spirit's ministry. It's amazing what can be accomplished under the power of the Holy Spirit. Then read on in verse 50, but the Jews incited the devout women of the prominence and the leading men of the city and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and then drove them out of their district. After Paul and Barnabas moved on to the next city, the persecution was then directed to those left in the city who put their faith in Christ. Paul was aware of the persecution and suffering they were going through. Now, it would be easy to show scripture after scripture concerning how suffering is profitable and necessary in our lives.

But I don't think that is what Paul is getting at here. He is reminding them of the freedom they had when they first believed. They were no longer under the bondage of sin. They no longer had to follow a system of laws that even those who went before them found impossible to follow.

Remember how good it was to discover the grace of God and relax in His love? Remember how their relationship with God was based on what God did and not what they had to do? But now, because of the persecution from the legalists and Judaizers, they have abandoned God's grace for that old way of living.

Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? You were condemned by your friends. You were shunned by the synagogue. You were considered dead by your family. Think about it. Was all that suffering a waste of time? Was it all in vain? You did all that. Now you want to turn around and go back to that old way of life? Are you so foolish? Who has bewitched you? So then, let's sum this all up.

Galatians 3.5, 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?

The word miracles may be a little bit misleading here. The word for miracle is dynamis, which is where we get our word dynamite. It means power. ability, strength, supernatural, and in some cases it means physical miracles. The context suggests that it is the Holy Spirit that gives you the power, ability, and strength to live your life as a Christian. This is not necessarily talking about performing miracles, although that did happen. So we're just talking about the power, that is given to us by the Holy Spirit. The first five verses in chapter three introduces the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

And this is seen throughout the rest of Galatians. And that was by the hearing of faith when you believed. Do we really want to ignore the Holy Spirit who indwells us and go back to a system of rules and regulations which can only enslave us? Ron Merriman states in his book, the five questions of Galatians 3, 1 through 5 are intended as stimulators to jolt the unthinking Galatian believers out of their delusion. And then we will next week go on with the doctrinal part of this book. Any comments or questions? Yeah, can you go over to Jerry Hill's community church? People are so busy working, they wouldn't have time to listen, right? They're so busy, I gotta work, work, work, work. It's sad, it's pretty sad that that's a prevailing position. Just to have thousands of people. Working, working, working, working.

We are in Christ. We have his righteousness, not our own. But that's something that we need to remind ourselves about all the time. To me, that lifts me up, encourages me, and makes me look at the old, and say, you know, you've been dead. Why are you in front of me? Right. And what that means is, in myself, I'm a pretty handsome looking guy. We would all agree. True, we see on that video. We'll talk after. I knew we would.

But there's absolutely nothing I can do in myself to please God. Absolutely. It's the righteousness that God sees in me in Christ. So, as we live our lives, let's not try to do it of ourselves or, as Scripture says, of the flesh, but let's do it by means of the Holy Spirit. Wayne, you want to close us in prayer? Father, thank you for the word that teaches us day by day. Thank you for this class and for this fellowship. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.