For the preaching of God's Word today, please turn with me to the book of Galatians chapter 3. Today we begin a four-part series, a sermon series on the book of Galatians, specifically this chapter 3. And the reason we're doing this is because Galatians 3 focuses on some very central matters of the Christian faith. It deals with issues such as How do we relate to God? And what is the role of the law, obedience, such things in the Christian life? So we'll be focusing on Galatians 3 for the next four weeks, but today we'll be looking at verses 1 through 9. We've got a lot to cover in this first section today, but it will lay the groundwork for what comes after. So I trust that you will bear with me. Galatians 3, verses 1-9. Let's hear now God's word. O 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 the works of the law or by hearing with faith, just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing 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." Let's open in prayer. Our God and Father, we do bow before You today longing to hear the proclamation of Your Word. We pray, O Lord, that Your Spirit would come and move within our midst, opening our eyes, illuminating our minds so that we may see our Savior, so that we may see this cross publicly portrayed as Christ crucified. And Lord, that You would create faith and strengthen faith in our midst so that You may be glorified. Father, bless us now for your name's sake. It's in Christ's name that we ask. Amen. Dear congregation in the Lord Jesus, we live in a culture that highly values things that are new and improved, whether it's a new diet with the latest scientific data to support it, or that new technology that promises to improve our lives, we're constantly being confronted with trends, with fads, things that seek to persuade us that what we have is obsolete, and what we really need is this thing that is newer and is better. One reason for this, of course, is that we live in a technological age. It kind of comes with the territory. We live in an age where there's a rapid development of technology. If we think about even one generation ago, there were no iPhones, there was no internet, there was different medical technology, things that have not been developed yet. So there's this level of progress that we're kind of surrounded by. And one by-product of this is that we naturally kind of just assume the things that are newer are better. We naturally assume that old ideas, old practices are quickly outdated, and that new technology has the answers that we're looking for, even though this, of course, is not true in every area of life. And so, when we consider this in relation to the church, frankly, we see that things are not much different. Much of the church is driven by fads, by trends, things that are new. There's new books. There's new spiritual disciplines. These things come to us and they boast of fresh ideas, new techniques to improve our lives, that promise to be that answer that we're looking for, the thing that we are missing. And so, it's amazing in one respect So many within the church are driven by these things, and they're deceived by the latest bestseller, or that TV evangelist. And they're deceived and driven, moved away from the simple truths of Scripture, based upon boastings of new and improved. The key, the thing that we are missing in our lives. Of course, it isn't just the age of technology that is behind this type of quest for the new and better in the church. Frankly, it stems from a dissatisfaction of the simple things of the gospel. And it stems from this never-ending quest of wanting to do more and try better. Try harder, do more, improve our lives. You know, we ask these questions, what is the secret to true peace that I'm missing? What is this area of my life of this lacking fulfillment? What is it that is eluding me? How can I obtain my best life now, to use a popular term after a popular book? We're dissatisfied with the simple truths of the Gospel, oftentimes. And we're constantly on this quest to seek new ideas, new things, and like gullible children, we are led astray. Well, brethren, as we come to the book of Galatians, we find that this is exactly what was going on as Paul pens this epistle. Paul here is dealing with false teachers who had come in after he had planted this church, and they were leading the churches in Galatia astray. The Galatians had embraced the Gospel when Paul brought it to them, but now they were moving beyond that. Perhaps they were moving to something new. Paul certainly alludes to the fact that they were moving towards something different, another Gospel. And it's important to note, it's not as if they were denying Jesus Christ. It's not as if they were moving into this blatant heresy, where they were denying the gospel, denying that Christ was crucified for sinners. But when we look at the book, it seems clear that what they were doing is they were adding to the gospel. They were teaching the churches in Galatia that the Christians there must complete their salvation or complete their justification by becoming circumcised, submitting to the law of Moses in order to kind of finalize and seal their Christian experience. And of course, like gullible children, the Galatian Christians Quit to listen and follow after these things. Look at how Paul opens the epistle in chapter 1 verse 6. This is an epistle that's famous for not including any thanksgiving or commendation of the church. But Paul opens immediately in 1 6 by saying, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Galatians said, started well, but by seeking to add on to what Christ had done, essentially, they were in danger of total apostasy. And so, congregation, as we consider this context and what Paul is dealing with, and as we come to our passage today, I want to press this by asking you to consider a few simple questions here. What is the source of our spiritual power for growth and sanctification in Christian life? What is the source of spiritual power for growth and sanctification in our lives? What is it that keeps us faithful and ensures our perseverance to the end? Is it our obedience? We see, of course, how Christians have tried to answer this in our own day by running to different fads and trends. What does the Scripture say? Related to this, I want to ask you, how do we relate to God on an ongoing basis? What is the basis of our relationship with God? This is a related question, but is our relationship with God based upon what we do? How well we're reading our Bibles in the morning and praying. How well we're turning from sin and obeying God's law. Or is our relation to God and our standing before Him based upon something else? Namely, by faith. In our text today, I believe that we'll find the answers to these questions. What we'll see is very clearly that the source spiritual power, if you want to label it as such, lies in God's gift of the Holy Spirit to us. There's a presence of the Spirit. There's a confirmation that we have entered into a right relationship with God. God's work of creation, of new creation, is taking place in us. And we'll complete that work in the end. And we will also see, of course, The basis of our relationship depends not on our continual obedience, adding to what Christ has done. But the just shall live by faith. So in answering these questions, I want to draw four points and then a conclusion. From this passage. Four points we'll see from this passage. First, we'll see that adding to Christ's work on the cross is the same as denying it altogether. Secondly, we'll see that the source of our spiritual power lies in God's gift of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, we'll see that the gift of the Spirit comes to us through the preaching and hearing of the gospel. And fourthly, we'll see that this gift of the Spirit is received and strengthened by faith and not by our own good works. So first, let's consider this kind of background aspect that adding to Christ's work on the cross is the same as denying it altogether. Look with me here at verse 1, chapter 3. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Remember, the Galatians had accepted the gospel. This is in the background here. They had received Paul's message of justification by faith. They weren't openly denying it here. But Paul begins this epistle by essentially laying the groundwork before he gets to the meat of his argument here in chapter 3. And what he's basically arguing is that perhaps you have not understood the doctrine that you initially accepted. In other words, they weren't explicitly denying justification by faith, but they certainly did not understand its implications, it appears. So Paul begins in chapter 1 by defending his apostleship, by basically defending his right to rebuke them, to correct them. And he turns in the middle of chapter 2 towards this idea of justification before moving on to its implications in chapter 3. Look with me briefly here at 2 verse 16. He says very clearly, a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. He says again in 221, if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Paul is dealing here, of course, with how sinners are saved, how we are made right with God by faith because of the work of Christ and not because of our obedience. But as he gets to chapter 3, he turns slightly to consider the implications here. What does this mean? And how have you, Galatians, perverted this central doctrine of the Christian faith? How are you turning away from it? And it begins really with one of the harshest rebukes that we can find from the Apostle in the New Testament. He says, Oh foolish Galatians, or you foolish Galatians, Normally, Paul tends to be pretty soft-spoken. We see in the Church of Corinth, of course, they had a host of problems. They were putting up with blatant sexual immorality. They were abusing the Lord's Supper and the spiritual gifts. But here, his language is much more pointed than it was towards the Corinthians. This is striking language of how firm of a rebuke it is from the Apostle. Communicate to us just how serious an error was going on here. Even among those who said, yeah, Christ is good. Christ is fine. We love Jesus Christ. But subsequently turning away from Him because they did not understand justification by faith and the implications that it has in our Christian life. So he uses this term foolish here. This emphasizes that they've failed to understand what they should have. This isn't simple ignorance or a defect of understanding. He's saying, you know better. You have failed to discern what you should have discerned, what you should know. What's caused them to be so foolish? He illustrates this by using this term, bewitched. Who has bewitched you? Bewitched literally means to exert evil influence through the eye. So, it's like to hypnotize, to put a hex on someone, to cast a spell. He's illustrating. He's so astonished that they've turned away from the Gospel that he likens it as if someone had cast a spell on them. As if there's no other rational explanation for what you've done, except that somebody is hypnotizing you into doing the unthinkable. Why is this so amazing? We might ask. false religions, pervert or misunderstand the gospel of Jesus Christ? Isn't our world filled with people who chase after false doctrines? Why would He say, whose be with you? Why would it astonish Him so much, we might ask? Well, He answers that question at the end of chapter 1 here, excuse me, verse 1, where He says, it was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Basically, he's referring to the preaching here, how he had come and he had brought the gospel to the Galatians. Recall what he says in 1 Corinthians, where he says, I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What he's saying is, Jesus Christ was publicly betrayed before you. This was the central emphasis of my teaching to you. This idea of publicly betrayed, it literally means like a large billboard. It was a term used in military conquests where an army would win a victory and they would march through town and they would hold these big place cards up, announcing to the people, sometimes drawing pictures and making very graphic pictures or very exaggerated pictures of their victory in battle. And it was a means to publicly announce the victory that had been won to the people. You know, it's kind of like, He will save His people from our sins. It's prominent. It's big. It's large. You can't miss it. Christ was publicly portrayed before you. But Paul is saying it's a message across. I brought this message to you. It was portrayed graphically, vividly, openly, prominently through my preaching. And you've missed it. You've missed it. So he's astonished. What have you done? Brethren, Paul speaks to them not as if they were openly denying the Gospel, but in fact, they were openly denying the Gospel because of their seeking to add to it. Let us learn that we can deny the Gospel of Jesus Christ as much by addition, just as much as by subtraction. Adding to Christ's work as if something more is needed in our relationship with God is no different than denying it altogether. For Paul, the cross was the ultimate truth. This is as good as it gets. In Christ and Him crucified, we find everything. And he's saying, why have you abandoned your only hope? So as we understand this rebuke, everything that Paul says subsequently from this passage flows out of it. And it begins to form a counter argument to illustrate to them, to argue to them how they have denied the gospel and denied this Christ crucified that he labored so fervently to communicate and preach and teach to them. So secondly, we see after this rebuke, This rebuke where they've added to the work of Christ, we see. Secondly, that Paul teaches that the source of spiritual power lies in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Look here at verse two. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Paul is saying, let me ask you only this. If you can answer this, you've made my argument. I don't have to say anything more. Answer me this. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? The obvious answer here, of course, is that they had received the Spirit when they heard, when they believed, when Christ was preached and they received it by faith. But think about this. Think about this notion of receiving the Spirit. They received the Spirit. They didn't work hard to earn it. They didn't seek it out by going to the ends of the earth to find the great mysteries of the universe. God, through Paul, brought it to them. They weren't looking for it. God brought it to them proclaimed it to them, and they received it as a gift from God. God was the giver. They were the receiver. Brethren, this is a central aspect of Christian theology. When a person comes to Christ, a person is justified and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12.3, No one can say Jesus is the Christ except by the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8-9, he says, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. So what Paul is doing here is he's calling them to remember their conversion. To remember how they were brought to Christ. How God poured out the Spirit upon them. And Paul is saying, Do you want to add to this? Haven't you realized how you received the Spirit? Now, are you going to depart from how you received it, how you were converted in the first place? It calls on them to remember their conversion. You know, we live in a day where there's a church on seemingly every street corner, especially in Texas and in the South where I'm from. And unfortunately, a byproduct of this is that there's a lot of empty professions of faith. It's become almost a cultural thing in some areas, and there's a lot of people who profess Christ insincerely. But things were not quite the same in Paul's day. The Galatian region was steeped in paganism and idolatry. in complete and total darkness. The gospel had not been disseminated to all the world as it is in our day. Confessing Jesus in that day was often a very dangerous and risky thing. It could cost you your life to say that Jesus and not Caesar is Lord. So, Paul is saying, if we think about this context, When the Galatians professed Christ, there was no doubt that the Spirit was at work among them. There was no doubt that God had come down to them and was doing a work there. We even see the continual evidence of this in verse 5. Paul mentions that the Spirit was continuing to work miracles among them. There was no doubt that the Spirit of God was at work there And this fact alone proves that the Galatians had entered into a right relationship with God and that they did not need to add anything else to complete their salvation. It was proof alone that they had a right relationship with God and they need not move beyond that to complete their salvation. And of course, it's obvious here that the power came to them not because of what they did to earn God's favor, but as a gift which they received by faith. So, brethren, this is an important point. When we consider the question of power for obedience or spiritual power, what fuels our sanctification in our obedience? You see, the fact that the Spirit had been at work among them was an indication that the last days were upon them. You know, the prophecy in Joel, I will pour out my Spirit, their young, I'm quoting from memory, but their young men will dream dreams and their daughters will prophesy and vice versa. See, this is predicted by the prophets, this pouring out of the Spirit. And so we think about it in relation to spiritual power, our sanctification. What do we need to do to persevere? What is the key to our perseverance in life and our obedience? And by highlighting this aspect of the Spirit, Paul is recalling the prophecy of the New Covenant. The prophecy of the last days that were upon the Galatians. In Ezekiel chapter 36, we have one of these prophecies of the New Covenant, what the last days will look like. In Ezekiel 36-27, God says to the prophet in those New Covenant days, He says, I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues and be careful to obey My rules. Paul is saying, remember how the Spirit came upon you. Remember the glory that came down from God. Remember how you became partakers of the divine nature. This is a gift from God. This is a fulfillment of prophecy. This is what God has given to ensure that you are both in a right relationship with God. It is what God has given as the means of your spiritual power and sanctification to lead you to walk in His ways and observe His statues. You're turning away from what has been prophesied and fulfilled in your midst. New creation has dawned in their midst. The Spirit was confirmation of this and there's no need to go beyond this fulfillment. And this gift came to be received as a gift from God. Thirdly, if we point out this presence of the Spirit here among them, I want to point out as well how this gift came to them. And what we'll see here is the gift of the Spirit came to them through the preaching and the hearing of the gospel. So, it came as a gift. How did it come to them? It came through the preaching and hearing of the gospel. Of course, there's some overlap here. We've already considered how Paul says Christ was publicly betrayed before you. But there's a repetition and an emphasis here on this idea of how the Galatians heard hearing with faith. He says it twice. He says it in verse 2, and he says it in verse 5. In other words, publicly portrayed as crucified was Paul preaching the Gospel. And the source of spiritual power is the gift that God gives in the Holy Spirit, but the means by which it came to the Galatians was in their hearing this Gospel preached. Consider this in light of other passages of Scripture that open this up to us, Romans 1.16 The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. 1 Thessalonians 1.5 where Paul says that the Gospel came to you, not in word only. It wasn't just an abstract idea. It wasn't just an academic teaching. It wasn't just a ritual where I just told you this story. But this Gospel came to you in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Brethren, as Paul preached, Christ crucified. The power of the Spirit was working among the Galatians, bringing them to faith through the message that He proclaimed. It's been said before that the ear is the instrument of salvation. The ear is the instrument of salvation. The ear because we hear the gospel and that is what God uses to create faith in the gospel. In fact, it's one reason why pictures and illustrations are insufficient, inadequate means of proclaiming the gospel. Think about it. Just the term beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When we see a picture or a painting, for example, we're sovereign over the observation. Is it a beautiful painting or is it a mess? Is that a beautiful dress? Of course, if it's on your wife, it always is. Husbands. Or is that an ugly dress? Well, someone might like it, someone might dislike it. When we're the surveyor, when we're looking, We can look away from things we don't like. We can focus on areas that are our preference. And of course, we can form our own opinions on what we see. But when we hear, there is no escape. Sure, we can choose to stop our ears. We can choose to ignore the message, of course. Cannot deny that. But we can't change what we hear. In preaching, we sit there. In silence, as someone else addresses us, tells us what is true, tells us what God demands, tells us how we ought to respond. The communication is one way. And the hearer is not sovereign over the message. And so it's through this passive action of hearing the Gospel, hearing the truth confront us, that the Spirit works. creates faith, and then we respond in belief and in faith. Paul says in Romans 10, faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word, or the preached Word in this context, hearing through the Word of Christ. Congregation, I hope you see that the preaching of the Gospel is the highest and most important calling of a minister The preaching of the Gospel. Paul did not bring them law or spiritual principles or rules and tips of how to have more obedient children or better relationships at work. Paul brought them a story. A violent, bloody, gory story about a cross. And God's accomplishment of redemption through that story. The message of the cross defies human wisdom. There's no smooth talk or flattery there. There's no ingenious system of personal disciplines. But in the story of the cross, there is the power of God working through this simple message to save those who believe. So Paul reminds them that God had given them the Spirit and that He'd done so through the preaching and their hearing. In fact, we read it this morning in the proclamation of the Gospel in Ephesians 1.13. He says the same thing, "...in Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were sealed with a promise to the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantor of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." Here's my sermon right there. You heard the gospel, you believed, the Spirit came upon you, it is the seal of your final inheritance, and will guard you until you attain that glory. Moving quickly, thirdly, after noting the Spirit had come upon them as a gift from God and had come to them through the preaching and hearing of the cross. Thirdly, I want to point out a somewhat redundant point, but the gift of the Spirit is received by faith and it is strengthened by faith, not by works of the law. Listen to how Paul contrasts these ideas of hearing and doing. Faith and doing. Law and gospel. In verse 2, he says, did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? In verse 5, he says, does he who supplies the Spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? There's a contrast going on. Works of the law refers most specifically here in this context to human actions done in obedience to the law of Moses. And Paul's point is clear. The gift of the Spirit was not received by your obedience to the law of Moses. And the Spirit does not continue to work among you and work miracles among you by your obedience to the law of Moses, but by hearing with faith. And so the issue here for the Galatians comes into clear focus. They had confused law and gospel. He confused doing with believing. Works with faith. Brethren, the law comes to us and it tells us what to do. It tells us what God demands. It is a mirror, as it were, that reveals just how sinful we are. And it also points us to that behavior that pleases God. But the law has no power to give what it demands from us. It's powerless. It cannot provide what it tells us to do. And the law has no mercy, no second chances, no grading on a curve. The Gospel, on the other hand, tells us what God has done for us. It is good news to us. It's like that place card that we considered earlier, that billboard. It is an announcement that a victory has been won. Not that, you know, you have to fight the final battle. You have to seal the deal. But the announcement that victory has been won. The Gospel comes to us as good news that everything that we need has been accomplished by another. Yeah, there's certainly other skirmishes that are still remaining. There's fighting and toiling and mortification of sin in our lives. But the final victory has been accomplished. The gospel is good news. Not that there's a little work that we must complete. But God's promised that He has done everything necessary for our salvation. And we are to believe it, trust it, and rest in it. is through this gospel message that the power to obey the law comes to us. So I want to point out very briefly three ways here, very briefly, just three ways that Paul uses this law-gospel contrast. Remember I just explained law is something we do, gospel is something God has done for us. I want to see how Paul kind of brings this out here. We've already considered Verse 2, where he says that you were converted, not by the law, but by hearing the gospel and believing. The Spirit came to you by the law, excuse me, by believing, by hearing and believing. Why would you now turn to the law? That's basically what he says. But secondly, he brings out this contrast and he points to their conversion and their justification. Excuse me. I'm sorry. He brings out this contrast in verse three where he does does not turn to their conversion, but he talks to their refers to their continual sanctification and their growth. He says, having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? So verse one, he points to their conversion. You were converted through hearing and believing. Verse 3, he moves here to their sanctification. You were begun in the Spirit, now are you going to be perfected by something else? Why would you move beyond what the gospel has already given to you and started that work in you? And when he references this word flesh, it's interesting. Flesh is basically, in this context, a synonym for works of the law. That is, instead of believing and trusting and resting in what God has done, when he says, are you being perfected by the flesh? He's talking about human efforts to secure the favor of God in their own strength and in their own power. In Galatians 4, he refers to the child of Abraham born by the flesh. Ishmael, who was not the son of the promise. Abraham was promised a son, and he went into Hagar instead, because he listened to his wife. He did not believe the promise that God would provide for him in offspring, so he tried to secure it in his flesh. What's also striking, though, is in Galatians 4.19, he also references the works of the flesh, and he says, works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. It's striking to us, should be striking to us, how Paul equates trying to obey the law adding on to the Gospel, in your own power apart from faith and trust in the Gospel, how he equates trying to obey the law with the work of the flesh, with all of these horrible sexual sins and rivalries and anger. It's a point to us. How sinful and how erroneous, how dangerous it is to assume that we can secure the favor of God in our own power and by our own efforts. So he's drawing this contrast, how you began, how you were being perfected. But there's a third way that Paul draws this contrast, this works of the law versus hearing by faith. And he does that by appealing to the scripture and the record of Abraham. Verses 6-9, he recounts how Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And that those of faith are sons of Abraham. And how the Scripture preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, promising him that all the nations would be blessed in him. And that those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham. Brethren, this teaches us that the way of salvation has always been the same. It's never been by the works of the law. It has always been by grace through faith. And the false teachers who were saying, you've got to be circumcised and come under the law and be a true child of Abraham if you're really going to be saved. Paul reminds him of Abraham and how he was made righteous by faith. and how on the basis of faith he was counted by God fully righteous as if he had perfectly obeyed and met the demands of all of God's law. It's noteworthy here that Paul says the scripture preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand. Isn't it amazing? Even Abraham's faith came when he heard the gospel? When he heard and he believed, even Abraham was saved by the preaching and hearing of the Gospel. Believing by faith. Paul is saying that when they believe as Abraham believed, they too are counted righteous. When they believe, they too are fully justified. They follow in the faith of Abraham. They join the people of God as the fulfillment of this prophecy to Abraham. And they receive all of the blessings and favor of God, just like Abraham. If the Gospel was good news to Abraham, even though it was proclaimed to him under these shadows and types, obscure promises, how much more so the fulfillment? which is taking place right in their midst. The Galatians were the fulfillment of what the Scriptures prophesied to Abraham. It was proof that God was at work among them. Why would you then turn back towards the law? Brethren, the same is true for us today, for those who believe. Righteousness and obedience to God is always and at every stage manifested through faith, apart from obedience. And we are children of Abraham and share in his blessings when we are united to Jesus Christ by faith and are imputed with his perfect righteousness. Well, congregation, I would like to close by drawing a few Conclusions and applications. As we consider this text. Remember that this this is a very, very deep text. There's a lot here we can only focus on a few things. But I want to emphasize to you the sanctification, our growth and godliness, our obedience is not a part of our justification. And it is a work of God is not something that we accomplish in our own power. In fact, the Baptist Catechism, question 38, it asks, what is sanctification? The answer is, sanctification is the work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. Our salvation is the work of God from beginning to end. But also, there's something noteworthy in this text that's related about this passage and what Paul says here in verses 3. Look again at 3. There's that statement where there's been much debate over, where he says, "...having begun by the Spirit, are ye now being perfected by the flesh?" What's important here, we cannot miss, is that Paul uses two terms. He uses begun and perfected. In two terms that he uses in another place as well when he's talking about the very same thing. I believe this other scripture reference opens up what Paul is talking about here. In Philippians 1, verse 6, Paul says this to the church, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Same two words. Began, completed. Begun, perfected. Brethren, the Galatians, by assuming that they were to complete their own salvation, they were essentially affirming that they had started their own salvation. Paul very bluntly says, the work of salvation is the sovereign work of God from beginning to end. He starts it and He completes it. Jesus Christ is the author and the finisher of our faith. God does not save us by sovereign grace and leave us to work out the rest in our own power. But it's that same spirit that brings life to our dead hearts, leads us in sanctification and growth and final salvation. But there's another important element and implication here that I want to point out. That's the role of the law. This is something that we will get into in the next few weeks. But you might say to me, okay, you've showed us that doing and believing are contrasted, that law and gospel, at least in some sense, are contrasted. And that my spiritual power and development doesn't come through the law by my obedience. So, am I free then just to Stop obeying the law? Am I free to ignore it? It's certainly a fair question. The answer is certainly not. In fact, I believe you've been considering the very same questions as Pastor Steve has preached through the book of Romans. But it isn't as if we're called to stop obeying the law. Rather, it's that we've been called to stop trusting the law. Stop trusting in the law and our performance of it. As if our obedience is the standard by which we are judged and our obedience is the basis of our relationship with God. Our obedience is what earns God's favor. Even temporal favor. There are certainly blessings that come in our obedience. but they do not come because we have merited, earned favor in God's eyes. We relate to God on the basis of faith because faith lays hold of Christ. And in our union with Christ, Christ has obeyed where we have not. And that perfect righteousness is imputed to us. It's also noteworthy Not only were we not to place our trust in the law, but what is our motivation to obey? Paul is astonished because Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. And they turned away from this because this is the highest and deepest, fullest motivation to our obedience. It is in view of the mercies of God that we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. What is our motivation to obey? To build ourselves up by obeying the law? Or is it in view of the cross? In view of what God has done for us that we're motivated by love? By a sense of gratitude and service and obedience to our Creator and our Recreator in Jesus Christ. We are not to place our trust in the law. And we do not look to the law as our motivation to obey. We look to Christ. We place our trust in Him. Well, brethren, in your midst, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been publicly portrayed before you. Have you heard? Have you heard the message? Have you believed? Have you trusted? Trust it as your only hope of righteousness, your only plea on the last day when God will hold you account for what you've done. Have you abandoned your ability to do good works and please God in your own power, trusting only in Him and what He has done and promised to you in the gospel? Brothers and sisters, seek Christ where He may be found. God has chosen the simple means of grace to feed and shepherd our souls. There's no need to run to the fads and the trends of spiritual disciplines. Jesus Christ is portrayed before you every single week in the preaching of the Word, in the reading of the Word, in the prayers, in the worship, very graphically in the emblems before you. His blood and His body represented in the bread and the wine. These are the things, these simple things that brought you to faith in Christ. They are the things that strengthen you as you go through this life and all the dangers and toils and trials and backslidings. Stir up the Spirit of Christ within you. Complete that good work of new creation by trusting in Christ, that work that's already been begun in you, that He will bring to completion. Let us pray. Our God and Father, we thank You for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that our sins may be forgiven fully because of His blood. and that we may be dressed in a perfect, obedient righteousness, a full obedience to the law because of His good works, His perfect life counted to us by faith. Father, we thank You for this hope, for we know we have no hope in ourselves. We pray that You would stir up the Spirit within us, that we would walk by the Spirit, that we would not quench the Spirit, that we would keep in step with the Spirit, Father, and that we would trust these simple means of grace to lead us to that day of salvation that awaits us. Lord, we worship you and we love you for your goodness to us and for bringing this gospel to us when we were dead in our sins. In Christ's name that we pray, Amen.