WWUTT 1758 By Law or By Faith, Part 1 (Galatians 3:1-9)

Are you a Christian? How did you receive the Spirit of God when you came to believe? Did you do some kind of a work and then you became a Christian? Or was it hearing by faith when we understand the text?

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Galatians 3:1-8 and the Question of Faith Versus Works

Thank you, Becky. In our series in the book of Galatians, we are up to Chapter 3. I'm going to start out reading Galatians 3, 1 -8 out of the English Standard Version. This is Part 1 of a sermon entitled, By Law or by Faith?

We'll play Part 2 on Monday. Beginning with Galatians 3, 1 -8. 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 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 being blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Let us pray. Our God, we thank You for Your Scriptures and Your Word. For as we have read in Romans 10 -17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. So as we hear the Word of Christ spoken to us and taught to us today, I pray that we are growing in faith, coming to know You more and more, and seeing the greatness of who You are and the wonderful gift of Your grace that has been given to us through Jesus Christ.

And we would receive all of the benefits and the treasures of the grace and love that have been given to us by God simply by faith in Christ. Grow us in this faith all the more today, we pray. In God's name and all God's people said, Amen.

You may be seated. So last week, the way that I started the sermon was talking about all the things that I did, thinking doing those things was meriting my salvation or my right standing before God. It's also the things that we do not do that sometimes we will list out.

I don't do this. I don't do that. And thinking those works, in a sense, will earn our salvation, will give us righteousness, will make us a good person. There are certainly certain things that we will demonstrate with our lives to show the evidence of faith that we have, but these things do not save us.

It is faith in Christ that is our salvation. And this is the message that Paul comes back to over and over again with the Galatians throughout this letter. Justification by faith. You are forgiven your sins by faith in Christ.

You do nothing. You can do nothing. You are not a righteous person, so you can't earn your own righteousness. It is Christ who has done it for us. And by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave, do we have salvation.

Paul says in Galatians 3, once again in rebuking of the Galatians' behavior and the things that they have come to believe, that they have to work, that they have to do something in order to be saved. Paul says, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

See, at one point the Galatians had heard the gospel. There was a point that they believed the exclusive gospel of Christ. That it is only by faith that we are saved and not of works. But then these Judaizers come in and they tell the Galatians, well, you have to be circumcised.

If you haven't been circumcised, then you are not saved. They still believed in Jesus. They still believed He died on the cross. They still believed that He rose again from the grave. But now they've added to the gospel.

See, that wasn't enough. I also have to be circumcised. And if I'm circumcised and I believe in Jesus, then I'm saved. No, that's a different gospel. And if you have added to the gospel that was proclaimed to you, like how did you so easily fall into this?

You believed the gospel at one point, but you've fallen into this. So did someone cast a spell on you? That's what Paul means when he says, who has bewitched you? How did you so easily fall back into works?

Again, trying to do these works, which you were doing before, and it didn't work then, it's not going to work now. So you believed the gospel. Now you've gone back to believing works. So how did you fall into this so easy?

Again, back to Galatians 1 .6, I am astonished that you're so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of God and are turning to a different gospel. Chapter 3, verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

This was so easy for you to fall away from the gospel and into works of the flesh. Did someone cast a spell on you? That you would fall into this the way that you have? It is very, very easy for us to come into thinking that we have to do something in order to be saved.

It's very easy to believe that. Or it's very easy for us to believe that we don't do certain things in order to be saved. As long as I don't do this, then by my abstinence, by doing nothing at all, then I know that I can be a good Christian.

Well then, my friends, the best person that you will ever be is sitting at home in your easy chair doing nothing. If that's what you're going to believe it takes to have sanctification. But on the contrary, God has called us to work.

He has told us to go. He has called us to believe, to have faith, to serve, to worship. All of these things we have been called upon to do. So we can't just sit and do nothing and earn our righteousness.

In fact, the Thessalonians had a problem with this. They believed that they just sat and did nothing. They're just waiting for Christ to return and that's all we have to do. As Christians, that's all we need to do yet.

And Paul rebuked them and said, No, you have somebody in your church who's not working. Have nothing to do with that person. Don't even eat with such a one. For each one of us are to do our work and mind our own business.

As Paul had said in 2 Thessalonians 3. Not meddling and getting involved in other people's affairs, things that you had no business being involved in, but you have work to do and you have a task that is set forward at hand.

Ephesians 2 .10. We often quote Ephesians 2 .8. By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. That's 8 and 9.

But then we leave off verse 10. For you are his workmanship, made for good works, which God prepared for you beforehand, that you should walk in them. So there is a work that we are supposed to do. But the works are the demonstration of the salvation that we have.

They are certainly not the thing that earns us salvation. I think I said this to you last week, but if you ever find yourself in a church one of these days, or God forbid it even be proclaimed from this pulpit in this church, that you have to work in order to gain your salvation.

You have to do this. You have to do this. You have to do this. You should not do this. You should not do this. You should not do this. That church is anathema. Get out. Go find one that is preaching the gospel.

It is not by works that we are saved. It is by faith. But let it also not be said that there's nothing we're supposed to do at all. For if our heart has been transformed to be lovers of God rather than haters of God, then we will desire to worship Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And that is a bold and deliberate action that a believer takes in Christ Jesus. We don't sit and wait for something to happen. But we go as Christ has told us to go. I remember a Sunday school teacher when I was a kid giving me this illustration.

What are the first two letters of the word God? What does that spell? Go. What do the first three letters of the name Satan spell? Sat. God has called us to go. That we would worship Him. That we would live lives of holiness in this present age.

We do that because we've been called in the grace of God. Not because doing so gives us the grace of God. Paul says, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

Now, if you have the New King James Version. Anybody have the New King James, by the way? Is anybody reading from the NKJV? If the Hickersons were there. If they were here, they would have the New King James.

But the New King James has this worded in an interesting way. Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? That's interesting.

That's an interesting way to word that. Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth that Christ was portrayed as crucified? Now, I read it that way, and you say, Well, Brother Gabe, you just said that we're justified by faith and not by works.

Do not conflate obedience and works. Obedience does not mean works. For faith is also obedience. When Jesus comes preaching the gospel in Matthew 4 .17, and he says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Repent is a call. It is an instruction. It is a command that must be followed. In Mark, in Mark 1, as Dave is teaching through Mark right now in his Sunday school class, in Mark 1, the gospel as Christ proclaims it at first is, Repent and believe the gospel.

That's what he says. So by faith, there is an obedience that happens. There is a repentance that takes place. And there is a belief that occurs. But all of these things happen because the Spirit of God has been poured into our hearts.

Not because we do that to then have our salvation, but because it is the response to the call of the gospel. To have faith is to obey God. There are other words that we can find that are synonymous with faith, as a matter of fact.

Love is also synonymous with faith. For Jesus said in John 14 .15, You will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments. So our obedience to God is in love for God. And again, obedience is not synonymous with working, or doing some kind of work to merit our salvation.

For obedience is synonymous with faith. John 6 .29, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. And so if we have faith, and if we follow God, then we are demonstrating that the love of God has been poured into our hearts.

In Christ Jesus our Lord, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth. We have been called to obedience in Christ. But we cannot obey without the work of the Holy Spirit that is within our hearts.

So it is the Spirit of God that is poured into our hearts, and we are regenerated, Titus 3 .5. Previously we were rebellious against God, and now we desire to follow God because of his Spirit that is given within us.

So then it is before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Now this doesn't mean, Paul is saying to the Galatians, you saw Jesus crucified. That's not what that means. But rather, that you saw through the preaching of the apostles, and the miracles that were performed by them, that this gospel that was proclaimed is true.

And therefore, believing it, you obeyed the call of the gospel to turn from sin and follow Jesus Christ. And this was evidenced in you because of the gospel that was said. Jesus Christ publicly portrayed as crucified.

Receiving the Spirit by Hearing with Faith, Not Legalism

Let me ask you only this, Paul goes on in verse 2. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? So here is the options that Paul is laying out before the Galatians.

Was it by works of the law or by hearing with faith? If you would like, separate those out into categories, option A or option B. Your underline would be works of the law or underline under hearing with faith.

Another way to say this, maybe to whittle this down into words that are easier to grasp. Did you receive the Spirit by legalism or by believing? Was the Spirit of God given to you in your hearts because you checked off everything on your list and you got it?

And you could put a line through it, strike it out. I've accomplished that. Boom. Did it perfectly. Accomplished it. Done. I know I'm saved because X, Y, Z. A, B, C, X, Y, Z. You did everything on your list.

Is that how you came to faith? Or was it by believing in Christ? Is that how the Spirit of God came to you? Was it because you did this and the Spirit of God looked at you and said, Aha, finally you've accomplished those tasks.

That's what I've been waiting for. I've been waiting for you to finish all those works and now, boom, Spirit of God comes inside of you. Is that how that occurred? Or did you believe in Christ and the believing demonstrated that you did have the Spirit of God received?

Because as we read in Romans 3, 10 -12, no one is seeking for God. There is no one good and no one righteous. Romans 8 is where it says that without the Spirit of God, no one can please Him. So how could you believe in God, which would no doubt be a good thing and would be pleasing to God?

It is only by the Spirit that has been poured into your heart. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Did you receive the Spirit by legalism or did you receive it by believing?

This morning before church, I went down to the jail and I ministered to a young man. It's the only time in the entire week they allow him visitors. So that's going to be my routine on Sunday morning. I'm going to the jail and ministering to this young man and then I'm coming to church.

And as I was talking with this young man, I said to him, Do you understand the gospel? Do you understand what that means and what it is? And he said he thought so. He was very honest in saying, Well, there's certain things I get.

There's certain things I don't understand. And I asked him after this conversation, explaining the gospel, I said, If I were to ask you if you were saved, how would you know? And he said, Well, because I pray every night.

And because I pray every night and ask forgiveness for my sins, then I know that I'm saved. And I said, Are you sure that when you pray every night that you're doing it the right way? And he sat and pondered that and he said, Well, no, I guess not.

I said, See, here's the conundrum that this creates. When you put the assurance of your salvation on the things that you do, is that you're always going to be questioning whether or not you did it right.

So you say that you have assurance of salvation because every night before I go to bed, I repent. And so now I have assurance. What if you die at six o 'clock and you didn't get the chance to repent before you went to bed?

How would you know that at the moment of your death, you're standing before God and you're hearing him say, Well done, good and faithful servant, rather than depart from me, I never knew you. The assurance, the reliance cannot be on what we do.

We will never be sure. We will never have faith. That legalism, that checking off those boxes, that making sure I've done this, this and this is never going to make you right before God. It is only by faith.

Did you receive the Spirit by works? Did you receive the Spirit of God because you asked forgiveness before you went to bed? And incidentally, that's kind of a whittled down form of Islam. You know, regular prayer throughout the day.

I pray. I have made the pilgrimages. I have paid alms. All of these things, a Muslim is going to check off his list and say, This is how I know I am going to receive paradise when I die, because I've done this, this and this.

Once again, how easy is it for us in our flesh to fall into legalism, to believing that we do these things and therefore we know that we have salvation with God. Even when you go into the early church and you read the early church fathers, there are some that will come back to the early church fathers, they will quote something by some of these guys, you know, like from Polycarp all the way up through Augustine.

And they will think that by quoting these guys, this is how we best understand the scriptures. There are certainly some great things that we can understand from the early church fathers that help to give us light and understanding into the way the early church understood these passages.

But the early church fathers were wrong sometimes. They're not scripture. The Bible is scripture. The early church fathers are church history. So they help us understand some things about the church, but they're not the Bible, right?

One of the things that we see when we look into the early church fathers is even through these guys, how easy it was for them to fall right back into legalism. You're talking about decades removed from the crucifixion of Christ and his ascension into heaven, and yet even within the second century they're falling right back into a pattern of, I got to do this, I got to do this, I got to do this, and then I know I'm saved.

It is not by works of the law. It is not by legalism. It is by hearing with faith. It is by believing in him who saves. Now, I had a very short time with this young man this morning, so I'm expanding greatly on what it is that I shared with him as I relay this to you.

But I simply said to him, do you want to know if you are saved? Look at Christ. Do not look to yourself. Do not look at whether or not I've done this today. You look at Christ. How do I know if I can forgive this person who's done me wrong?

Look at Christ, who's forgiven you of far more wrong than this person has ever done to you. How do I know that I'm properly equipped for this task that God has called me to? Look at Christ, who has accomplished all things perfectly by his life on earth and fulfilled the requirement of atonement with his death for the forgiveness of sins.

How do I know that I can live in this world in a way that is pleasing to God? Look at Christ, who lived perfectly in this world and who gives us his Spirit.

Looking to Christ Rather Than to Ourselves

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.