All right at this time if you have your Bibles Would you turn with me once again to Galatians the book of Galatians and we are going to be in chapter number three today studying specifically the first five verses of Galatians chapter number three and we are at a A pivotal moment. This is really the body of the letter from chapter 3, verse 1, through chapter 5, verse 12. We see the central force and thrust of this letter from the Apostle Paul and others to the churches of Galatia. Chapter number three this morning and when you found that if you're able and willing would you stand with me for the reading of God's Word? Galatians chapter number three beginning to read in verse Number one the Word of God says Oh 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? This is the word of God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you once again. For your faithfulness and for your word today, we pray that it would not go forth void. Lord, it would return unto you and accomplish that which you have willed for today. As your servant, cleanse me of sin, empty me of self, fill me with your spirit. Lord, help me to be a blessing to you and to your people. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Thank you for standing. You may be seated. Title of the message today is Hearing with Faith, and it's quite obvious where that is coming from. But by way of introduction, I was pondering the truth that's found in John 8, verse 44. John 8, verse 44 refers to the devil, Jesus refers to the devil as the father of lies. In other words, Jesus is saying any and every lie can be traced back to can be traced back to the original liar, namely Satan himself. The consequence of believing the original lie that the serpent, Satan, told Eve is still being experienced today. The tactic used then and there in the garden is also still being used today. Satan is not all that creative. But that's in part because he doesn't have to be. All he had to do was sow doubt into the hearts and minds of Adam and Eve, and he did so with the question, did God really say? Did God really say? The Galatians and furthermore, many of us have experienced this same temptation. We hear something that sounds to be believable or seems to be believable, and rather than holding it to the test Of Scripture, we take the bait and get reeled in by the enemy of truth. The enemy of truth is the enemy of the cross. The enemy of the truth is the enemy of the church. The enemy of the truth is the enemy of the gospel. And these are the things that we war against. This was the primary focus of the apostle Paul in writing this letter to the Galatian church. He wanted by all means to get to the bottom and expose the truth, expose the air, and that in doing so there would be restoration and there would be clear direction in the Galatian church according to the gospel. And so when we get to chapter three, verse one, the apostle Paul doesn't turn the heat down. He doesn't put it on warm and walk away. As a matter of fact, it was about medium high, and now he cranks it up to high. And we see that in the way that he confronts or now again begins to address as he turns from speaking specifically to the apostle Peter and his error, his sin. And he goes back to the writing to this church and he says, Oh, foolish Galatians. Oh, foolish Galatians. We see in this the boldness of the apostle. Many today, and probably then too, would have found Paul's address, his way of referring to the Galatians a bit harsh, maybe a bit offensive. But I want us to also recognize in that, that God himself, as he has created communication, has given us a great diversity in our communication. And there are things that God has simply created for the sake of effect. And so we see this as something that is good. I believe wholeheartedly that Paul was not sinning in the way that he is addressing the Galatian churches. But I do want us not to miss the the force of it. He was being very forthright. He was being very blunt and, and not pulling any punches, but here's the key. I think Paul took his cues from Jesus himself. As a matter of fact, we have Jesus recorded when he was addressing the opposers of the gospel, the opposers of the truth in him. Pharisees specifically, he called them a brood of vipers. He called them whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. I think it's safe to say that they probably took offense to be labeling such, would you agree? So Jesus was certainly on the blunt side with his words, but it was also in a very particular direction. Jesus was always gentle and lowly. Yes, meek and mild. We rejoice in that. But he was also a defender of the truth. And he was a soldier, he was a warrior for exposing errors and bringing it to the light of the gospel. And that's all that Paul is doing. But many would rather get hung up on the tone of the apostle, and failed to recognize the greater good that Paul was dealing with. Oh, foolish Galatians. Now, we could just simply skirt past this word, oh, and some of your translations may not have the word, oh, but it is there in the original language. And the O is an emphatic word that is used here to either, this is the two different ways in the scriptures that this word is used. It's used either to express admiration or to Express scolding or reproving now. I think it's safe to say in the context of what we're looking at Paul was not looking at the Galatian Church expressing his admiration of Where they were and where they now were would you agree? It's pretty clear that as He says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that He is coming to them emphatically and He is scolding and reproving them for the error that they now find themselves in. And again, He calls them foolish. Foolish. The word is anatos in the Greek. It means mindless or dense. We have a parallel word that we use in English, and it's a word that some of you may not like, and my household included in that. But nonetheless, as we go back to where we began, diversity in communication, words for effect, And the word would be stupid, stupid. Paul is calling the Galatians in a literal sense that they are being mindless. That means to be, uh, just, just plain old stupid. And, and I, again, I want us to recognize that he is, he is declaring this thing. He is declaring this truth in order to wake them up. that they would take what he says to heart, to realize the condition that they now find themselves in. Oh, foolish Galatians. And then again, as we read Paul's other epistles, so many times when he's addressing the church, he says, all beloved in Christ or brethren, right? Terms of endearment, terms of gentleness and love. But here he says, foolish Galatians, right? It's almost, it's not, it's not derogatory, but it's, it's, it's certainly pointing out that you're, you're not, you're not qualifying yourself to be numbered, to be recognized as the beloved in Christ, as those who are, who are the brothers in the fold of God, but rather your, your, your actions and your direction has, has suggested that you're just Galatians. You're those who are yet to be redeemed. But what is it? He goes on to say, he says, who has bewitched you? Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? So obviously Paul was recognizing that there was somebody or some people, a group of people behind the, uh, the bewitching. And we'll get to that in a minute, but there was somebody behind that that was, uh, driving the, uh, the doctrine away from the biblical gospel and back into this, this system of dead works, this, this bondage is slavery of the law and, and circumcision, all those things. And so he says, who, who, who, who was it specifically that has bewitched you? Now, this word bewitched is, is Biscayne. Oh, and it means to cast an evil eye. And here it's used. in the sense of to mislead someone by pretense deceit or deception and and let's just connect the dots here that the product of being mindless dense or Stupid is being misled right? That's that is the the chain of events you become misled you become bewitched by being mindless and dense and not thinking about what you are believing and what you are receiving. There's an old phrase that, uh, that I've heard a lot in my life and probably some of you, uh, even more so it's called, or it's, it goes like this. Uh, they had the wool pulled over their eyes. Uh, anybody ever hear that phrase? They had the wool pulled over the, uh, I never really studied to understand where that phrase came from. As a matter of fact, I was kind of confused by it when I really started thinking about, have the wool pulled over your eyes? Well, back in the 1600s and 1700s, there was a strange trend. And that was that men would wear woolen wigs, and they would dress those wigs in such a way, some of them would put real fancy curls in them, and we see politicians, whether presidents or whatever, or army generals, we even seen preachers from those eras, When you look at their pictures, you see them and they're wearing these woolen wigs. And I, I am just want to say this this morning. I am so thankful that that fell out of style. Praise the Lord. What a ridiculous thing to do. I'm not sure how anything like that would have ever caught on. But suffice it to say, back to the point of the matter, when somebody was wearing one of those silly wigs, if the wig would come down over your eye, you could suddenly not see and you could be misled, be deceived. And so that's where we get this phrase, this idea, to have the wool pulled over your eyes. In other words, to be deceived, to be misled. And that's exactly what Paul says. Who has pulled the wool over your eyes? Who has bewitched you? Who has misled you? There's two things by way of application to that specifically that I want to think about or set us on. The first is this. Someone else's sin does not justify your own. Say that again. Someone else's sin, right? And I'm saying this in the context of someone else's sin that leads you to sin does not justify yours. Paul says, who bewitched you? The bewitchers, the deceivers, the misleaders were guilty. of sin, specifically that they would sin against the teachings, the scriptures of God, that they would sin against the gospel, that they would sin against Christ in such a way. The Galatians had a responsibility of their own that in their sin, that their sin that was produced out of the misleading out of the misguiding of another, they were still responsible for their sin, that they would err in according to the gospel so much. So let me remind you what Paul said. If anyone else would proclaim or preach another gospel, let them be anathema, a curse. Condemned. Damned. That's what he said. And so the reality is that these people were sinning in believing this other gospel, and they were doing so to the detriment of themselves, but it was their sin. So we can never place the blame on somebody else. They're responsible, the bewitchers are responsible for their sin, and the Galatians were responsible for their own sin. Now, the other thing is this. Christianity is not a blind faith, nor a mindless religion. Christianity is not a blind faith, nor is it a mindless religion. You must think. You must think for yourself. You must learn. You must understand. Now, I'm not saying that Christianity is just simply an intellectual thing that you can study and learn and become a Christian. Sometimes that happens. That would be the exception. Christianity certainly involves the intellect, but it's more than that. The only way that someone can become a Christian is through the Holy Spirit, breathing new life into them, and that by grace they receive the grace of Christ, and through faith they receive justification. But there is a body of divinity, that is, there is doctrine to learn and to understand and to be able to give a defense for the hope that is within you. Now, I'm not saying that every single one of us need to run out and buy systematic theology books. It wouldn't be a bad thing. But the truth of the matter is, a lot of us, that would be just simply a fruitless endeavor because one, you probably would buy it, but you might not read it, right? I read a statistic not all that long ago that men buy more Bibles than anybody else, but they read them less than anybody else. So buying a book just simply doesn't equate to learning what it says. Now, the other thing is this though. We need to, we need to, and this is one of the reasons why in our, right now we're going once again through our confession of faith, one of our confessions, but we're going through that because the same as the catechism that we were looking at week by week. These truths are things that we must learn so that we can regurgitate them, so that we can spit them back out, not just to verbally memorize something, but that the truth itself would take root in our hearts and that we would, listen, that we would understand what we believe and know why we believe it, right? That's the key. And the correction, the guide for that is the scriptures itself. And so, yes, Doctrine is absolutely, positively essential, and being able to articulate doctrine is also so, so vitally important, so that we can expose error, so that we can recognize the difference between the true and the almost true. Because therein is where the battle is. And so the Galatians, they started right. They had sound doctrine taught to them, but they were bewitched. They were misled. And notice what Paul turns to next. He reminds them, it was before your eyes. You've seen this, you experienced this, you heard this, that Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified. Now, most of the Galatians, if not all of them, I have no idea, but most of the Galatian Christians were not physically present when Christ was publicly crucified. but that he was crucified was first and foremost public information. However, what Paul is referring to here is that publicly Christ was portrayed to them in the gospel as crucified. So then every time, listen, every time the gospel is proclaimed from then till now, Christ is portrayed publicly before our eyes as crucified. By the way, this is the ordinary ordained means that God has created for the salvation of the lost, that it would be through the proclamation of the gospel itself. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 21-24. He says, For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom. It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to Gentiles, to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. And so he is just simply referring to the fact that they heard the gospel and in the gospel Christ was portrayed as crucified. So the, the question is right. So what, what's the relevance of Christ being crucified? Well, Christ was crucified because he was, he became the sin bear, but before he could become the sin bear, he had to be the law obeyer. And in his act of obedience, Christ obeyed God, tempted like you and all at all points, yet without sin. And then he lays his life down in passive obedience and gives up his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. And he's publicly portrayed as crucified for sinners, publicly portrayed as crucified for the salvation of those who would trust and believe in him. And His crucifixion also led to His resurrection, and all of these things are relevant, and Paul just simply says, you heard this. You're accountable for this because you know this truth. Then notice he shifts gears, so to speak, and in verses 2 through 5, Paul gives five questions in rapid fire, and each of these questions is rhetorical. Now, a rhetorical question just simply means this, that the answer is abundantly obvious, right? So let's look at these questions. Paul, again, he's moving the argument to the Galatians' own experience, their experience with the gospel, and he does so by asking rhetorical questions. First question. Verse two, let me ask you only this, did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? So this is a matter of, right, he's assuming here, he's assuming here that those who are reading and hearing this letter are Christians, that they have, experienced the grace of God in salvation, justification by faith alone. He's assuming that. And this is the question. When God saved you, right? When God saved you, did you get saved, right? Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Again, something we got to point out here, that the receiving the spirit is synonymous with justification. Let me say that again. Receiving the Spirit, that is being indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, is synonymous with, equal to, in conjunction with, never separated from. I want you to get it. Always and forever. justification and the receiving of the spirit go hand in hand. You cannot be justified and still waiting to receive the Holy Spirit. Okay. And the reason we have to be so dogmatic and, and redundant on that point is because there are false teachings that are in our own community. Okay. On this doctrine itself. When someone gets saved, it's because of the Holy Spirit of God coming inside of them in regeneration. And when you are born again by the spirit of God, you express that by grace through faith. Okay. And so there is not a, listen, there's not a single Christian roaming the face of this earth who is born again and does not have the spirit of God in them. Okay. Romans 8 and 9 says, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. So this silly business of surrendering to receive the Spirit, this silly business of being smacked upside of the head and whooped by the Holy Ghost and slain in the Spirit, those things, listen, it's a circus show. It's a sideshow. It's not biblical doctrine. It's not biblical practice. You get saved, it's because you've got the Spirit, okay? And Paul's question is just simply this. How did that happen, right? That's his question. How did you get saved? Was it when you got circumcised? Was it through some kind of keeping of the law of God? Is that when the Holy Spirit came upon you through your work of circumcision or your act of obedience to the law of God? Or hey, let's apply it this way. Was it when you got baptized? Is that when the Spirit of God came upon you? Or here's the alternative Paul says, or was it by hearing with faith? Right. And again, the answer is abundantly clear. They didn't get circumcised. And then the Holy spirit rushed upon them. They didn't do, you know, obey the 10 commandments or, or, or observe the mosaic law and its completion and boom, the spirit of God was upon them. No. It came by grace, through faith, at the hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then moving on, verse three, are you so foolish? I'm sorry that I find that humorous, but the reason that I do is because we are in a generation where people's feelings are about as thick as a well-used piece of dental floss. You know what I'm saying? And just the little flick of the finger, and they bust to pieces. They have a term for it. I'm not going to say it. Anyway. Anyway. He's being very, very abrupt with them, right? He's being blunt with them. Are you so foolish? Do you really think, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? I titled this point, is this a two-step? I'm not talking about what you do to country music. Is it a two-step in the sense, is this a foolish thought? It's a foolish thought either way, but it's one of two things or maybe both. Paul could be referring to justification, but he could also be referring to sanctification, or he could actually be referring to both. And I think we have biblical grounds to say that this has a component for both justification and sanctification. So let me explain what I mean. The first thought is if Paul is talking about justification, if that's in mind here, Paul is addressing, listen carefully, Paul is addressing this thought. Do you think that your justification was started by the spirit, right? Started by the spirit. And now you have to keep the law in order to finish the job, right? That's scenario one. If he's talking about justification, he's saying, okay, you, you got started in the gospel. You, you're, you're, you've begun to be born again, basically. Now you've got to finish the job by, by getting circumcised and by being obedient to, to the law. It's, it's faith plus. Works. Okay, that's option one now In our minds because we've been so super saturated by these things I think by now all of you most of you should by now say that's a silly thought right? But can I just point out that there's a lot of people today believe that That and and it's kind of like this This is the best illustration that I've ever come across that that really exemplifies what I mean Jesus has made the down payment on your life Now you've got to make monthly installments, right? That's the idea. He started the work by the spirit, but now you've got to finish it. Do your part, right? Jesus did his now it's your turn, right? I've heard those things preach from the pulpit. Jesus did his part. Now it's up to you. Listen, if that's the gospel every single month, you're going to get a notice in the mail and you know what, it's going to say insufficient funds. Amen. That's not the gospel. Okay, so here's the other option. Here's the other option. Maybe he's talking about sanctification, and if he's talking about sanctification, he's simply building off of what he says in verse two, and he's answering the question of verse two and verse three, right? Listen to this again. Let me ask you this only, or only this. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Or are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected, that is sanctified, by the flesh. Now, this is equally applicable to our generation and again, our neighborhood, in the sense that, listen, here's the question. Are you being perfected in the sense of being made complete? Are you being made mature in Christ by works of the flesh or by works of the law? Okay? So, justification is by grace through faith in Christ, right? You know this. That's when you receive the gift of eternal life. At the very same time, God sanctifies you positionally in Christ. You are sanctified, but he also begins to do what? To work in your heart, right? To transform you, to conform you. The language of Romans 8.29, those whom he foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, right? That's God's commitment in salvation to you, okay? So Paul is asking the question, are you conformed to the image of Christ by works of the flesh or by works of the law? Is that how you grow in your sanctification? Through works, right? Works of righteousness? Is that the means by which we are conformed to Christ? That's, that's the question. So let's answer the question and let's answer the question with scripture. Are you ready for this? Romans eight chapter 12, or I'm sorry, Romans eight verse 12. So then brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. So there, the key phrase in that is those who are led by the Spirit of God. Tell us more. John chapter 17, verse 17, Jesus prays, sanctify them. Speaking of all who would be, all who were, and all who would be in Christ. Sanctify them, the church. in the truth. Sanctify them in the truth. What's truth? He says, your word is truth. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. First Thessalonians chapter two, or I'm sorry, chapter five, verse 23 and 24. Paul says, now may the God of peace himself Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ He who calls you is faithful. He Will surely do it Who's doing it? God's doing it by his spirit. I Second Thessalonians chapter two, verse 13, but we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers beloved in the, by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by works of the law. No, that's not what it says. through sanctification by the Spirit, and here's the key, and belief in the truth. We are justified by grace through faith, that is by hearing with faith. We are also sanctified by grace through faith, that is by hearing with faith. Now, here's the difference, because so many times we conflate sanctification and justification. And by that, I simply mean we confuse the two. Justification is not sanctification, and sanctification is not justification, but the two go hand in hand. This is the relationship. Your sanctification is a work of God's grace in, by, and through the Holy Spirit. whereby God is working in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Now, that's the reality, that's the truth. But the practical outworking of that, what does that look like functionally? The practical outworkings of this reality is seen in obedience to Christ. But don't be confused. They are the fruits of the work of the spirit, not the root of faith in Christ. You see the difference. You say, well, all this talk about not doing works of, of the law, according to the flesh for righteousness, whether it be in justification or sanctification, are we against the works? And are we against the law of God? Are we against obedience to these things? No, no. They are the product. They are the reality. They are the demonstration of the power of the Holy spirit of God at work in you. In other words, if you profess to be justified by grace through faith in Christ, and you have no fruits of that salvation by obedience to Christ, I would seriously wonder whether or not you're actually saved. Because we believe in a transformative gospel, one that takes you from one who's dead in trespasses and sins, and indwells you with the spirit of the living God, and he completely changes your life. No, you're not suddenly perfect. You're suddenly sanctified and being sanctified because of a God who has set his affections upon you and has not only determined to save you, but to transform who you are from the inside out. And that's the difference. That's the difference. So Paul asks the question in verse 4, he said, did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Now again, there's a challenge to this verse, but it's easily dealt with. Suffer here, did you suffer, the word is pascho, And it means to be acted upon for good or evil. Um, but contextually in the context here, it would make, it makes most sense to translate that word experience. Okay. So let's read it this way. Did you experience, you understand where the suffer come? You, you suffer something. It doesn't necessarily mean that you were suffering in a, in a, in a, in a way that was hard, but did you suffer? Did you experience so many things in vain? if indeed it was in vain. Okay, and now he's gonna point to the experience. Well, what did they experience? That's a question. What are you talking about, Paul? What did they experience? Well, verse five. 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? Okay, again, that gives us a glimpse of what they experienced. Actually, what they experienced, we can find in Acts chapter 14, verses one through three. Iconium is part of Galatia. Verse 1 of chapter 14 of Acts says this. Now at Iconium, they entered together into the Jewish synagogue, this is Paul Barnabas, and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. They preached the gospel, they believed the gospel. But, sound familiar? The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. Sounds a whole lot like bewitching to me. Verse three, so they remained for a long time. Paul and Barnabas said, we got to stay put. Speaking boldly for the Lord who bore witness to the word of his grace. granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. That's Iconium in Galatia. Jump down to verse eight, chapter 14 of Acts. Barnabas and Paul again at Lystra in Galatia. There was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing him or seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, Paul says, stand upright on your feet. And he sprang up and began walking. So back to verse five, Paul's question, 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. Did you hear any works of the law in Acts 14 at Iconium or Lystra, or did we see hearing with faith? The answer again is abundantly obvious, that the work of God is accomplished in our hearts by hearing with faith. It's a faith that trusts, a faith that depends fully on the work of another. That is good news. That's good news for all of us. The Galatians needed to be reminded. They needed to be brought back to the reality that if in fact they were saved or if in fact they were ever going to be saved, it was going to be the result of their faith in Christ apart from works of the law. And so the question is the same to you and I. What are you trusting in? What are you depending upon? Is it your religious activities that make you feel good about yourself and hopefully gain you some credits with God? Or is it obeying the truth by hearing with faith? Because let me remind you, by hearing with faith is obedience to Christ. You cannot please God more than when you're trusting in Christ fully. Fully. So we praise God for the simplicity of this reality and ask that God would help us to always and forever, listen, We never, ever get past the gospel. We never, ever, ever outgrow and run away from the gospel. The gospel saves us. The gospel sanctifies us. The gospel grows us. And listen, it's going to be the gospel that brings us to glorification. That one day when our faith is made sight, it's not gonna be because of anything we've done. It's gonna be all because of hearing By faith, amen? Amen, let's pray. Father, thank you once again for the truth of your word, and I pray that, Lord, you would help us, Lord, not just to understand, but truly, truly believe, to truly put our faith and trust in the sufficiency of Christ. and that God, by doing so, you would be glorified more and more and more as we trust you more and more and more. We love you, we praise you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.