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Bro. Otis Fisher
Chapter 3 of the book of Galatians. Morality declines with the breakdown of faith that's been proven in this country. Paul is getting very serious today in our study. He says, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you.
You are an infatuated people. You make as little use of reason as those that have none. You're being led by the wrong people. There is no salvation for the sinner who depends the least upon works. And he's going to talk about works this morning.
There's no salvation if they have the idea that they must make the first move, that it's offered by the Lord, but they have to pick it up. It's not like that. He says that if a person believes that they must do anything himself in order to obtain his salvation, he cannot and he will not be saved.
Salvation is totally of God without any movement on man's part. It makes absolutely no difference what your denomination tries to teach you. The Bible says, and Jonah told us just a couple of three weeks ago in Jonah 2 .9, But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.
I will pay that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. It comes from no place else. He says you have acted in this business as those do that are just fascinated, being led blindly by blind leaders.
How could you so quickly leave that that you knew? The ground of their defection from the truth was based upon the fact that they are being now told that they must observe the law as well as the gospel.
Folks, that's been a battle ever since the gospel arrived. He says it's inexcusable because that's making the cross of Christ of no effect. We learn from this that the most pure Christian believer can err.
We're all susceptible to it because the church is made up of people. And Brother David, all people are subject to doing wrong. The members are unable to secure themselves. This aggravation that Paul is addressing is that I cannot understand because right before your eyes and in your ears, Jesus Christ has been set forth, crucified among you.
That is Christ and their freedom by him from the bondage of the ceremonial law. I want us this day to understand that there is no law of any kind that we must observe except the law of Christ, which includes all moral law, all civil law, all things that are good.
This brand of wickedness that they were exhibiting is due to the Judaizing doctors, those that were so well-educated. And in that first verse, he calls them, what was it, as bewitched you. He's calling them sorcerers.
David, what is a sorcerer? You believe in that stuff? You really think there are witches? Greg, do you? You've met one I know of. What? Well, I wish I hadn't mentioned it. These sorcerers, their doctrines, spiritual witchcraft.
He says, who has bewitched you? By using sorcery, they delude their senses to think that what they see is real. Have you ever, and it would probably be in a high emotional state, seen something that was not real you found out later, but at the time you just knew that it was exactly as you were picturing it in your mind?
Have you ever seen anything that you knew to be what you thought it was and it turned out different? Anybody? Rubber snake. All right, that's an example. Be very, very careful. Satan will use heretics.
They will cast spells, humbuggery, to delude your mind that what his workers are incapable of, he assists himself. Yes, yes. Yeah, Clarence. And Greg, both could probably fill us in a little more on the Greek meaning of pharmaceuticals.
Clarence, you have any information on that? No comment. Greg, you have no comment? He doesn't have no comment. What about dreams? About what? Dreams. Dreams? Don't be disturbed by your dreams. No, that's usually due to what you ate before you went to bed.
Dream is the state of being, well, let me start over. A person that is demented, one that is not normal mentally, will act a lot like your dreams. Because when you are dreaming, the controlling agent of reason is asleep.
And it's the same with those people. Their power of reasoning is not available to them. So our mind just wanders around in crazy fashions. It's true in the Old Testament times that he did use dreams to impart truth and visions.
But he doesn't have to do that now. We don't rely on that. We study his word. Everything that he is ever going to say to us, until he returns, you have in your hand, the Bible. There are no new revelations.
It's all right there. So with Satan's cooperation now, he can draw into his way of thinking multitudes of people. And unfortunately, some Christians also, if they forsake their study, the flesh can be easily mistaken for the spirit, even by those who have made progress unless they continue to maintain a pure faith.
If you quit, you're in high danger. So don't quit. Verse 2, this only what I learned of you. Now, he said, I want you to answer me a simple question. You know, and I know, that at one time, when I was with you, you accepted the truth.
You received salvation. And you were joyful in it. But he said, did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of the faith? See, in his absence, these Judaizers are telling them no.
He said, now what Paul told you might be true, but he just didn't tell you all of it. You have to also be circumcised. You must keep the law. You must do this and do that. Believing in Christ is all right, but you have to do this other.
So Paul pulls it all back together and he said, now just let me ask you. This spirit, this Holy Spirit that you received, did you receive it by the law or by the hearing of faith? If you're saved by works, let's just follow that line for a little bit.
Last week I gave you six options that you could pick one of those six and write a short paragraph on what your life would be like if that option were true. How many of you did that? Do you have your papers with you?
Dennis, take the papers up, would you, and bring them up here. The main reason for doing what I did, it's good for us to remember from where we come. Not that we need to go back and practice it, but just to realize what I used to think and how foolish it seems to me now.
Thank you. I'll grade these and give them back next week. Now, if you're saved by works, then joy would just naturally follow that you must continue in your works. For how long? All right, every day and every day.
Now let me ask Dennis a question. Let's say that you believe it is by your works and today you perform enough works to stay saved. What are you going to have to do tomorrow? No, you'll have to do more.
And if you have to do more tomorrow, what would you have to do the next day? So you would have to continue to increase your works. Bill, what would happen when you got so old you couldn't do anything?
Whenever you want a direct answer, just ask Bill. So you get so old you can't do works anymore. David, what about the time you're asleep? Oh, we've introduced another facet into it now.
Well, I've met a man who untries people to get baptized.
There's a law against that. All right, now technically then, since you have to do more and more in order to stay saved, if you got sick, if you ever went to sleep, the scripture tells us in the book of Hebrews, if you'll turn over there with me, please, to the 10th chapter and the 12th verse of the book of Hebrews.
Let's just follow this line of thinking a little bit. Hebrews 10, 12. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down, finished tense, on the right hand of God. For by one offering hath he perfected forever them that were sanctified.
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. So Hebrews tells us, of course, it tells us lots of things, especially in the 6th verse, we won't go into all of that.
But basically he's saying, no place in the Bible is there instructions for being saved the second time. So if you're going to be saved the second time, you'd have to crucify Christ again. Yes. That was, excuse me, I skipped from 10 to 6.
So if you, by your works, you have failed, Dennis, today to do more than yesterday, then you would need Christ to be crucified again so you could start over. Now, let me ask you, for each and every born-again Christian that are following that line of thinking, how much time would Christ need to spend on the cross?
Perpetually, wouldn't it? He'd never get to come down. He'd have to be there forever. You see how foolish some people think. Verse 3, are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
Are you that foolish? Is that what you really believe? I knew you didn't believe that when I was there, and now you do. So, he says, I want to ask you a question. Is it possible to get a spiritual effect from a physical cause?
Bill? No. Well, then, is it possible to get a physical effect from a spiritual cause? Bill? But only as it works in you, as the spirit works in you. Is it possible to make yourself perfect by anything you can or cannot do?
Virg? No, sir. Then it is impossible to become perfect by the flesh. Is that true? Then you cannot do enough, you cannot do anything to make yourself perfect. From this we learn that it makes no difference.
Now, listen to me very close, because this is a point that I grew up with, never did like it, and always felt guilty. Let me see if any of you did. From this we learn that it makes no difference how good or how bad a witness you are, you will never, in fact, you cannot ever send anyone to heaven or hell.
Most of my early life, I was told if you didn't come to visitation, there's going to be somebody go to hell that you'll be held responsible for. In fact, their blood's going to be on you. Well, that didn't give me very good night's sleep.
You cannot gain any degree of favor with God from any works you might or might not do. Now, please understand me, Clarence. This does not relieve us of any responsibility. But we do not work to get salvation.
We are working because we have it. Big difference. It's impossible for the spirit to affect the flesh. Is that true or fact? Is it possible for the spirit to affect the flesh? No. The spirit affects you.
You affect your flesh. See, there's no way we can get out of it, Dennis. We're always right in the middle of it. Is it possible for the flesh to affect the spirit? No. Then he says, have you suffered so many things in vain?
If it be yet in vain, have you really suffered what you have because of your stand for Christ? You were ridiculed. A lot of you lost your jobs. Some of you lost your family. But you withstood all of that.
Now, are you just going to throw it all away and go back to where you were? That means all of the suffering that you underwent was for nothing. Are you going to let all things you have suffered come to naught?
They had paid a price for receiving Christ. We shall too. There's some in this room right now that will really pay a price before they die for their stand in Christ. Don't ever change, no matter what.
And you never know. The only thing you're assured of is that if you're ever in the situation where you have to make a choice, he gives you the strength and wisdom to make the choice. He just can't get away from this because there's such a serious problem with them.
Faith comes by hearing of the heart and only then by the new heart that the Lord has given you. Then he refers to Abraham and everybody listened real good when he mentioned Abraham. Even Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Again, let's be sure we understand. He believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. What was it that was counted to him for righteousness? His faith, not his belief. So you cannot have belief unless you're saved.
You cannot be saved unless you believe. It's the old pencil through the paper again. In Genesis 15 .6, turn back there please. Dennis, read that to me when you arrive, please. 15 .6. All right, so there we have the record of it.
Written by the Holy Spirit through the hands of Moses. Now go to the book of James, the second chapter, verse 23. And Joy, I'd have you read that to me. 2 .23. All right, it was his faith that was counted for righteousness.
I must ask, what does the word impute mean? Well, that's half right. Who's talking to me? Russell. All right. It is given to you by someone else. You are held responsible for it as though it were yours.
But it never is yours. Now what is it here that is never yours? The faith. It's his faith. He imputes it to us, Marian. We are to use it as though it were ours. Our life the same way, David. Our new life is imputed to us.
It doesn't belong to us. It's Jesus Christ himself. But we'll be held responsible for how we use it while it's in our possession. That's right. That's right. See, when it comes down to it, Greg, we contribute nothing.
It's all of him. He gives us the belief. He gives us salvation. He gives us the faith. He gives us the circumstances. He gives everything to us. And he gives us eternal life. He gives us the work to do.
And the strength to do it. And the ability to do it. And the desire to do it. So, David, in all of this, how much of it is of us? One thing. The what? Our duty. Our obedience. And that's only in our mind, not in our doing.
If it were not, then we'd never sin. That's the only part. Dennis, it just, as Patsy used to say, it blows my hair back. To think. Well, you can see it did. To think that all I have to do is the best I can with whatever he gives me, wherever I am, right now.
And that's all. As I sit here and think and speak, and as you sit there and listen and think and speak, do it the best we can. Now, we cannot plan tomorrow to do the best I can. It's only while we're in it, right now.
Make that a way of life. No, you not. Therefore, in other words, it's common knowledge. Now, you ought to know this. You ought to remember this. That they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Now, David, how can we be the children of Abraham? And he lived, what, 4 ,000 years ago? His fiscal state is a great number of nations, too. But we are, those that are of faith, the same. Those very people are children of Abraham, in faith.
The promise, what? The promise and covenant that was made with Abraham was made to us. Well, you cannot believe unless you're saved, and you cannot be saved unless you believe. Remember two things that are so interrelated.
What's the rest of that? They are so interrelated, two things so interrelated, Verge, that if you have one, you know you have the other, even though you can't see the other. You follow? Example I always use is the light.
We know we have light, so we also know we have electricity. But we can't see the electricity. So, if you know you're a child of God, then you know he lives in you. If you know that you're living in him, you know you belong to him.
Two things so interrelated that if one is present, the other has to be present. That's right. Absolutely. That's right, and that's the only way we can justify ourself before man is by our works. Not before God.
How are we justified before God? By faith in Christ. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Now, does this verse say God foreseeing what was going to happen? That he did so and so? The scripture foreseeing. What's the difference, David, in the scripture foreseeing and the Lord foreseeing? That's right.
Absolutely. It did not cause a reaction because of what was said. So then they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Again, let me point out the difference between being blessed and being a blessed person.
A blessed person is one that receives favor from God. A blessed person is one that receives a favor from God and passes it on to others. So those that are of the faith are blessed. We receive the favor and it affects other people.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. What's that tell you about the world, Diane? If you're not under the blood of Christ, you're where? Under the law. One place or the other.
Doesn't mean you have to know it. You're under the law and the law demands what? Death. What's going to happen to the general public? As Bill said earlier, they're going to go to hell. Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon the tree.
For as the word I get, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do. If you're going that route, then you better do them all.
Now, does he, if he's a just God, it means he's a God of wrath.
Yeah. It does seem hard, but I'm so glad you said it was humanism that does that. That's the old human nature. Because we've been raised to treat everybody fair, keep your shoulder to the wheel, your nose to the grindstone, you'll succeed.
If you do better than everybody else, then you're a success. So the world is in the doing. God is in the believing. He's done it before. He told us that unless we come as one of these little ones, that doesn't mean you have to come as a child or a baby, but you must come with that trust, with that faith, with that abandonment of yourself.
Totally. And just rely upon him. I remember when our daughter was very young, I'd set her up on the piano and tell her to jump into my arms. And boy, she would. Not a moment's hesitation. Now, I never dropped her.
I never scared her. But there'd come one day when I'd set her up there and she wouldn't do it. So when we grow to the point that we begin to rationalize in our own mind, now, he might drop me, so I'm not going to do it.
Then we begin to think that God is good, he's going to save everybody, and if we just do what we know to be right, then that's sufficient. But it's not like that. If you are not in Christ, you're under the law.
And the law demands death. We're going to stop here. Try to conserve my voice. In Jeremiah 48 .10, I would like to close with that verse. The first part of that verse. Jeremiah 48 .10. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully.
Burge, when I first found that, I said to myself, I'd just as soon not know that. Cursed is he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully. Hypocritical. That's awesome. Anything from anyone now? Well, if not.
I remember. And we are under a Christian nation. There wasn't anything to worry about. I think that we are satisfied with where we were as people of God.
God is where we are today. How many of you remember the TV show, The Waltons? You ever watch that? I like to watch it, but I had a hard time watching it because that's when I grew up. I was in that show.
And I well remember when everything kind of seemed to be even. It's because we didn't know very many people on the other side of the hill. We didn't know what was going on in the other county. We didn't know what was happening overseas.
Today, if the Queen of England should die, and she's what, will be 100? The mother queen? No, the mother. If she should die before 12 o 'clock, somehow one of us would know it today. But I used to live in hopes that the old times would come back to be normal again.
Okay, I've decided they're not going to. And the scary part of all of it, I look back on that time in my life as the good old days. These young people are going to look back on this as the good old days.
And I fear it will be. Let's stand. And the great, would you dismiss us today, please?