Raise you up from the evil swings, Bear you on the bread of dawn, All right, Chester A.R.P. Church devotional podcast. We are in Galatians chapter three. Man, I'm fired up. I was fired up. We worked our way through Galatians two. I'm fired up here. Now we get to Galatians three. This is what the Apostle Paul says in verse one, remembering. that he is carrying on this argument of why in the world would you leave faith in Christ to go pursue some other doctrine of law, whether it be faith in Christ plus things that you must do or some other way in which you think you're gonna make yourself right before God. Paul says, I'm astonished in chapter one that you're leaving what you once heard to go after this other stuff. This is what he says. Oh, you foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit by 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? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith, just as Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham, and the scripture. For seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Now Paul says here, listen, I can't figure this out. I'm astonished that you would walk away from that which you first heard. You first heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. God loves you, gave his life for you. He was raised from the dead and in him you have life eternal. You were saved by grace through faith in him. You trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you're starting to go in this different direction. Oh, you foolish Galatians. What is wrong with you? Who has bewitched you? Who has tricked you? Who's pulled the wall over your eyes? Who's hoodwinked you? It was before your eyes, Paul says, that Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. You saw it in me when I preached it. But this is a question for you today, if you're a follower of Christ, wrestling with whether or not you need to add something to faith, right? Luther came to grips with this when he brought this idea of justified by faith alone in Christ alone, by grace alone, to the glory of Christ, to the glory of God alone, right? In the Reformation. Who's bewitched you? Who kind of has led you in a different direction? You heard from me the message of the gospel. Maybe you need to reclaim that in your own life today. You heard the message, you saw the message. Let me ask you this question. If you're wondering, if you need to add or you're looking for assurance, did you receive the Holy Spirit by works of the law or by hearing of faith? Well, you know the answer to that. It's a rhetorical question. You received it by the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish, he says again. You began by the Spirit, now you're gonna be perfected by the flesh? What's wrong with you? You mean to tell me your argument is, hey, listen, I began by the Holy Spirit, I came with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I received the Holy Spirit by hearing with faith, but now I'm somehow gonna perfect myself or make myself right before God eternally by doing things in the law? Did you suffer so many things in vain? Did you, did you endure such hardship when you trusted Christ in vain? Right? Maybe some of us listened to that this morning. Maybe you had to break relationships. Maybe you had the, you got cast to the side in your cultural context. You've had to say no to some things because you've trusted Jesus. And some of the things that perhaps you were doing before are no longer accepted because you're walking with Christ. Maybe you had to make a decision about your child in some kind of athletic event or endeavor on the weekends, whatever. You suffered that in vain? Does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you, did he do so by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Of course you know the answer to that. It's a rhetorical question. Did he do it by works of law or by faith? The miracle of God saving sinners, the miracle of God showing up in powerful ways among the people of God, does he do it by hearing with faith or does he do it by works of law? Well, you know the answer. He does it by his grace and his goodness and his mercy by hearing with faith. In fact, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteous. You Jews, your daddy, Abraham, was credited righteousness by faith. And then he goes on and says, do you not know then that the ones who have faith are the sons of Abraham? The scriptures even foresaw it, that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and so Paul's writing to the Jews here saying, he preached the gospel beforehand saying to Abraham, in you shall all the nations be blessed. This Abraham that you hold on to with this sign of circumcision, right, do you not know that righteousness was credited to him because he believed? And do you not know the promise that God made to him in you shall all the nations be blessed? And what God meant by that was his seed was gonna come and save the world and bless the world and those who would receive Christ would become sons and daughters of Abraham by faith. He'll explain that in the next section. Paul says, what's wrong with you? Sometimes we have to look ourselves in the mirror and say, what's wrong with you? What's wrong with you, Clint? What's wrong with you? Why are you wrestling with this? Why do you go in a different direction? Why do you think somehow you've done something to lose your salvation? Why do you think somehow you hadn't done enough to find your affirmation in Christ? Were you saved by grace through faith? Did you receive the spirit by grace through faith? Then what makes you think you need to change now? That's a great question and a great question for you to answer for yourself today as well. Who has bewitched you, Galatians? Maybe if you're wrestling with that today, you need to ask yourself the question, who has bewitched me? Who has convinced me that what I'm doing is wrong and who has convinced me that I somehow need to add something to Jesus and his work rather than trust in him? Hope is found in trusting Christ for the only good news is that which we find in Christ. Have a great day. God bless you. Catch you next time.