We are so thankful, God, for your grace to us. We're thankful for songs like these that lay out your beautiful redemptive plan in four stanzas. We are so grateful that we can round that song off with the statement, no guilt in life and no fear in death. Because our hope is rooted in you. Lord Jesus, in what you have done, it is in you alone that our hope is found. You are our light, our strength, our song. We are so thankful for that and for the opportunity to study your word and even in the text that we are considering right now in your sacred scripture, to be able to affirm that we are trusting in you alone. We thank you and I pray that you would help us to increase our understanding of this. That we might also increase our joy in its realities. So I pray that you would help us this morning to grow a little more as we consider the next text in Galatians. So we declare our dependence upon You, God, upon Your Spirit. Holy Spirit, we recognize Your presence in this room and we ask that You would help us to understand Your truth. And as we leave, we declare our dependence upon You to enable us to apply it. In Jesus' name, for Your glory, amen. Amen, if you would take your Bibles and go with me now to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three. And as you turn, I have to say, you guys are a bunch of idiots. Not sure why you're laughing, talking about you. Do you guys have like zero discernment? Like what kind of sorcery has you under its spell? Are you so foolish? Now, I'm thankful that you know me well enough at this point to know that I wasn't actually talking to you. I'm just paraphrasing the text. In fact, this is exactly what Paul says to the Galatian church. And as you can imagine, it got real. It got real and really quick. If you would allow your eyes to glance down at Galatians chapter 3, you can see the language that I just paraphrased to you, oh foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you? A little further down verse 3, are you so foolish? A question for you, what would cause the apostle Paul to be this intense, to be this abrasive to these people? In short, and we recognize this is nothing new in the book of Galatians, but in short, the gospel is at stake. Paul believes that the eternal destiny of these people is on the line. And here again, you find in chapter three, Paul is saying it shouldn't be this way. You guys should not be on the precipice of losing your grip on the gospel, of frittering it away. It should not be the case because you have heard the gospel clearly and fully presented to you. Allow your eyes to go down to Galatians three and verse one, where Paul says, it was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Now, These Galatian Christians were not at the foot of the cross, literally at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. So what is Paul saying? What Paul is saying here is that in the preaching of the gospel, he put it on display as if it were on billboards around the Galatian region. So Paul is saying, you know the gospel. You've heard it fully and clearly presented to you. So you should not be in danger of this. You should not be in danger of this false message. You've seen it, you've heard it. In fact, you've actually trusted in the full and pure gospel. Thus, Paul begins with this abrasive language, perhaps even risking being considered rude this morning at the outset of chapter three, because he is appalled that they are flirting with something else. they are flirting with a different gospel. If we can imagine it this way, imagine that your body has been infected with a toxic venom and thus you go to your family doctor and this venom is working its way through your system and your system is progressively shutting down and you will die. If you're not treated, you're going to die. And so your family doctor, does the necessary research to find the one particular anti-venom that will heal your body. And so you trust him with that and he injects you with this anti-venom and like almost, right before your very eyes, your body begins to heal. Everything begins to change and your body does in fact heal. Imagine with me that a few weeks later, your family doctor hears that you actually have been called into another office with another guy in a white coat. And he has offered you a different syringe. Because he's saying to you like, yeah, the first dose was good, but it wasn't good enough. You're not fully healed. Therefore you need this second dose of antivenom. But the family doctor knows that's not actually antivenom at all. It's a different kind of venom that will nullify the first dose and actually kill your body, i.e. kill your soul. What would you want that family doctor to do? Think about it with me. What would you want your family doctor to do? What would you hope his tone would be like? I think you would hope his tone would be a little bit like the Apostle Paul here. that he would sort of break in or barge in to that other office and maybe like swat the other syringe out of the other pretend doctor's hand, right? And maybe even turn to you and say like, what are you doing? You're healthy. You're healed. You don't need this man, right? I think you would hope that your family doctor would have that kind of vigilance about him, that kind of intensity. I think he would not be offended if he were a little bit abrasive. This, my friends, is why Paul is intense. He knows and believes their lives are on the line, and I think we should be so thankful that he uses language like this. Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? I can't believe that you guys are coming underneath the spell of these other teachers because you actually know the gospel. So the tone of this text sort of grabs the Galatian church by the shoulders to give them a nice shoulder shake, to wake them up, to get their attention. But then what Paul does next, I think is brilliant. What he does next is really brilliant. Paul, He comes with questions, like six of them to be exact. The way it's rendered in the English, Paul asks them six questions in six verses. And I say it's brilliant because questions are often the key to clarity. Questions are often the key to clarity. They help us understand people, do they not? Questions help us understand concepts. If you want to understand someone or understand what someone is presenting, you might ask questions like, what did you mean when you said that? Or what are you trying to say when you put it that way? And when you have this facial expression, like what are you trying to communicate? Questions help you understand someone or understand a concept. But I would also say questions also help listeners understand their own position. The position that they are saying they're in, questions to them can help them evaluate and help them discern whether or not their position is actually trustworthy. In fact, I saw a brilliant apologist do that very thing recently. This individual was saying that she could not believe in Jesus. because she could not verify that he was actually risen from the dead. She's like, I don't do anything in my life without 100% certainty, 100% verification. And the apologist simply asked her a question. He said, really? You don't do anything without 100% verification? She was like, nope, I don't do anything. I have to see it for myself. And then he said this, so let me ask you a question. He's like, when you go to the pharmacist to pick up a prescription, do you take a chemistry kit with you? And you get those pills and you start doing a little scientific experiment right there in the pharmacy to ensure that those pills actually are what they claim to be and there's nothing nefarious in them? He asked her that question and you could almost see the reality begin to come over her face. And he said, actually, you don't. No one lives with 100% verification all the time. There is a kind of reasonable reliability. Questions. Questions can often help the listener evaluate their position to see, am I on good ground? And this is exactly what Paul does here. So see it for yourself in the text, verse two. Paul says, let me ask you only this. I got some questions for you, Christians of Galatia. Let me ask you only this. First of all, Paul asks questions that are framed around their conversion experience. He says, did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Essentially what Paul is saying to the Galatian believers is this, guys, I want you to go back to when you first believed, when you first became a Christian. And I want you to consider this question. When you first trusted Christ, how did you receive the spirit? Did you get the Holy Spirit because you worked enough to muster up enough credits to bring them to God to say, God, I'll take a portion of your spirit now, please? Is that how it happened? Did you pray long enough to get this spirit that finally he came to you? Is that how it happened? Did you get the Holy Spirit like you might get $20 worth of gasoline at the Q stop? Is that how it happened? Like, look, God, look at what I've done for you. Look at what I've accomplished for you. I'll take a half a tank of the Spirit. No, please. Is that how it happened? By the way, think about your conversion experience. How did you get the Spirit of God? It's a really good question. Was it something you earned? Or was it almost a surprise gift? Was it a surprise that all of a sudden, after hearing the gospel, understanding your plight before a holy God, and recognizing that he has made provision for you in Christ, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin, that he took the wrath for you so that he could offer forgiveness and righteousness to you. When you heard that news and were blown away by this good God, whose attributes are clearly displayed in what he has made, you were blown away that this good God actually wants to forgive you and welcome you into his family. When you recognize that, repented of your sin to trust in Christ alone, what happened? Weren't you almost surprised? Because in that moment, God flooded you with himself in the form of the Holy Spirit of God. And suddenly you began to be kind of convicted about things you've never thought about before. Like you used to be able to gossip and slander about people all the time and it didn't even cross your mind that that was a problem. But suddenly now the Spirit of God is going like, that's a problem. Suddenly you started to have motivations for things that you never had before. Like you actually wanted to understand the Bible. You wanted to come to church and hear more about the truth. You wanted to worship Jesus with other Christians and sing about his grace to you. Your heart began to be filled with hope and assurance and courage and comfort in ways that you never experienced before. Isn't this how it happened? Brothers and sisters, think about this for your own soul. Isn't this how it happened? Gracious sakes, I know it's daylight savings time, right? But you could say amen or something, or just nod your head. But this is like our life, right? What happened is that at the point of conversion, God flooded our lives with himself. He came and took up residence in our heart and things began to change. I've heard some of your salvation testimonies and I know that this is true. It's so beautiful. It's so exciting, right? So exciting to hear and to think about. But that came, that came as a total gift. You didn't earn it. You didn't build up enough credits to get the Spirit or pray long enough to get the full endowment of the Spirit. No, the Bible teaches us that when you came to know Jesus, when you trusted in Christ alone, He filled you with Himself. All of the Spirit came to dwell within you. And that's why God has made sweeping changes in your life. If you are a Christian, God has made sweeping changes in your life. So Paul is like, think back guys, to your experience of conversion. How did you get the spirit? Was it because you earned it? Or was he provided to you free of charge? And I hope that you can answer like Paul assumes the Galatian church would answer, that you would say it was a gift. In fact, I didn't even know he was coming. But man, he came. And my life has never been the same. Amen, indeed. He is a gift. Thus Paul is hearkening back to the beginning when they came to know Jesus to say, everything about your salvation is grace. It's all a gift of faith. Assuming that they will answer the question, yes, it was a gift, totally free of charge. He follows with this question in verse three. He says, are you so foolish? Having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? So Paul is saying, you received the Spirit of God as a gift at the point of conversion. Are you now changing your understanding of salvation to assume that it wasn't actually settled at that point, but rather you are going to bring your salvation to completion by circumcision? You're gonna finish the deal that God started with his spirit through circumcision or through your willingness to keep certain laws? Really? Is that how it's going to happen? So understand me, brothers and sisters, verse three, this is not talking about two different approaches to sanctification. Many people assume that. All right, we're gonna get to this later. Sanctification also is by faith. Okay, it is by faith. But here, Paul is not talking about two different kinds of sanctification. He's talking about two different understandings of justification. Paul is saying, when you were justified, that happened at a point in time. By the way, friends, if you're tracking with this sermon today, we're talking about two fundamental gospel doctrines. One, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that he is a gift that God gave to you at the point of conversion. And also justification by grace through faith alone, and this aspect of it, that it happened at a point in time. There was a moment, and we don't always know exactly when that moment was, but there was a moment when God effectively brought his gavel down upon the dust to say, Dustin is my son. I am declaring him righteous." Thus, justification, brothers and sisters, please grab this. Justification is not a process. Sanctification is a process. Your justification is not a process. It is not progressive. And this is a key difference. between an evangelical understanding of the clear teaching of scripture and, for example, the Catholic understanding of justification. Catholic understanding of justification is that it is very complicated. It is a process that begins at baptism, where you receive a kind of an initial infusion of grace that you work to build upon. And if you don't kind of like finish that, then that's why purgatory exists. Because in purgatory, you'll kind of burn off the rest of the sin that's keeping you from heaven. It's a complicated process, not so in scripture, My friends, not so in scripture, not so here in the book of Galatians. Paul is saying, it's not a progressive thing. Your justification is not a process. No, God began it and completed it at the point of conversion. You're not going to finish it off by getting circumcised. You're not gonna finish it off by keeping the law. If you are saved, you are as saved today as you ever will be. Amen? Now, we're going to experience a different reality of that someday in glory. But if you are a Christian, if you are trusting in Christ alone, your positional relationship with the Father is secure. It's awesome. So Paul verse three is saying, guys, are you walking this back? Are you now making salvation or justification a progressive movement? Don't be so foolish. That idea of justification is damning. As we will see, as the text continues in Galatians, that shifts all the focus, all the spotlight on us. our ability to keep the law, our willingness to follow through with X, Y, and Z. Paul is saying that's not salvation. That's not justification. Justification is of God. Thus verse four, he says this, did you suffer, guys, Galatian believers, did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain? What is he saying there? Paul is acknowledging the reality that these believers, when they claimed Christ, that their identity was rooted in him, that reality brought a lot of persecution into their world. Many of them would have lost family members as a result of this, or lost jobs as a result of this, and great hardship would have come into their life, and Paul's like, was that even, Necessary if you're now not really claiming Christ. It's about Jesus and you. Thus you are nullifying, as Jeremy preached last week, nullifying the cross of Christ, acting like Christ's cross was not necessary at all. Is that really what you're doing? And if so, is all of this hardship unnecessary? Is it all pointless for you? Certainly Paul is like, I hope not. But in these questions, what is he doing? Paul is helping them to evaluate their position. Is my position really strong as I flirt with this other gospel? So he asked them questions around their conversion experience. Moreover, he asked them questions about their current experience. Know with me, your text verse five. Does he who supplies the spirit to you For the Spirit is always, always present amongst God's people as we gather. We talked about that already this morning via prayer. We recognize Holy Spirit, your presence amongst us. 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? So people are being saved in the present. Praise God. Amen. People are being saved in the present as God through his spirit is working miracles amongst us, regenerating souls right before our very eyes and doing marvelous deeds in the present. And Paul is saying, even in the present, is God doing these things? in such a way to say, I'm just rewarding you? Or is God just displaying his grace? Ask yourself that question. Perhaps you can think about it this way. I just recently heard about a phenomenal work of God that's been going on right here. I won't talk details, but it's been going on right here. Phenomenal. I would say miraculous work of God. right here, how crazy would we be to show up on a Sunday and stand up here and say, like, guys, I just want to tell you about what God's been doing. And man, we must be doing something right. God is doing some stuff because we must be doing something right. Or so-and-so did enough good things that he earned a miracle. What would you think about that? I hope that someone in this room would go like, maybe we should praise God. Maybe we should just come together and say, hallelujah. Like, look at what God is doing in our midst. This is what Paul is getting at. He's drawing upon their past experience and even their present experience to say, how is God working? to regenerate souls and to change lives. He's doing this by his grace. It is not because his people are building up credits and earning this thing, earning the favor of God. It's not that way at all. Rather, God is displaying his grace as a result of his own choice and as a result of his people's simple faith. his people's simple reception of his grace. Thus, Paul asks the main question. With all of these series of questions, Paul's asking one real overarching question and that is this, we've stated it throughout, is it works of law or is it hearing with faith? You can see that repetition in your text. Is it works of law or is it hearing with faith? So think about these questions with me for a moment. Is your salvation, friend, is your salvation something you earned or is it a status he gave? Is it something you earned or a status he gave? Are you today trusting something you do or something he's done? Or is your justification, is your justified status before God based upon a case you have built or upon a Christ you have believed? Is it a wage or is it a gift? Everything about what Paul is saying here is this, it's a gift. Friends, our position in Christ is a free, glorious gift of God. Hallelujah is right. So our answer to this question is crucial. And in order for us to really see this, Paul continues with an example. So see it in your text, verse six, something we need to know just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Really a continuation of the previous question that is started in verse 5, but here he sort of changes our perspective to think about an example, an Old Testament example that is really for Paul, Exhibit A, for what it is to be justified by grace through faith alone. Abraham simply believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. This is really justification in a nutshell. And Paul is quoting here from Genesis chapter 12 to say, Abraham is exhibit A for a reality that God's salvation has always been, it has always been by grace through faith alone. So again, Paul is saying here, I'm not the one who's rogue. Guys, understand this. I'm not the one who's rogue. It's these other guys that are claiming to be superior apostles to me. They're the ones that are rogue. They're the ones that are bringing a message that is new. My message is actually consistent with the way God has always saved people. Consider your text, verse seven. No, then, this is so crucial as it relates to our answer to that question. No, then, that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. It is only those who are sons of faith that are sons of Abraham. The story of Abraham, and we'll see this more as the book of Galatians continues, the story of Abraham is a beautiful example of justification by grace through faith alone, and Paul's prime example because God declared Abraham righteous, chapter 12, some 25 years before he ever gave him the sign of circumcision. And friends, at least 400 years before the law was even given. So the fact that Paul can quote Genesis 12 and say, God justified Abraham, declared Abraham righteous and to be his son on the basis of his faith, apart from circumcision and apart from the Mosaic law is a shot across the bow against these Judaizers. He is saying, this is the story of God. This is the way God has ordained for people to be saved. So you and I must know again, And trust me, I know that this is full of repetition, but necessary, necessary for our minds, necessary for our hearts. We must know that it is only by faith that anyone could ever be saved. Only by faith. Abraham's example, I don't want to steal too much from the rest of the text of Galatians, but Abraham, his example is so beautiful because The promise that God gave that man wasn't something he could have ever even dreamed of accomplishing. It was given in such a way, in such a way to say, this is only going to happen by God's sheer grace, by God's sheer working of a miracle for this man. Thus, Abraham could only do one thing. He could only say, I believe. I simply believe. I trust you. God, I take you at your word. Thus justification is in Genesis. See your text, verse eight. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached, isn't this great? Preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. Let me just pause you right here for a moment. If you're the kind of person that marks your Bible, something really cool here, you should circle the word justify, verse eight, and the word blessed. Justify and blessed. Paul is giving to us a sacred interpretation of Genesis to say when God gave this promise to Abraham that he would bless all nations through him, he is saying effectively, Abraham, I am going to justify people from every tribe, nation, tongue, language. They're all gonna be around my throne. I'm gonna justify them by faith. So cool. So justification is indeed in Genesis 12. You and I, friends be encouraged by this, you and I are depicted there as Gentiles who would be grafted into God's big house, God's big family tree by faith, not by ethnicity, not by our deeds, but by faith alone. So then, verse 9, Those who are of faith are blessed or accurate to say in this context, those who are of faith are justified along with Abraham, the man of faith. So true descendants of Abraham are so by faith, not by being Jewish. In fact, if you can harken back to our use of these two tables Man, this would have fired those guys at that far table up, would it not? Paul effectively is saying, you guys are more closely affiliated to Abraham than those. Those guys who were very proud because of their Jewish heritage, very proud of the fact that they were in fact linked to God and linked as sons of Abraham. Paul is saying, no, these Gentiles are more sons of Abraham than you guys. In fact, you guys are not sons of Abraham or sons of God, unless you are trusting in the finished work of Christ alone. So friends, the question comes then to you and to me, what are we reliant upon? What are you relying upon today? Again, I asked these questions a few moments ago, and I'll ask them to you again. For your salvation, are you trusting something you do? or are you trusting something he's done? Or this question that remains on the screen, is your justification based upon a case you built or upon a Christ you have believed? Here's the simple statement. Friends, the Bible teaches that salvation is only ever a gift of God. that offers the accomplishments of Christ to believers who receive it by faith alone. All right? And don't take your knowledge of this for granted. This is the clear teaching of scripture, but man, this is what sets the gospel apart from so many, quote, churches with a pretend gospel that smuggle works into there. It's not just faith, man. You can't just hang out in grace through faith alone, right? That's too free. It's too good to be true. No, what Paul is saying and what God is saying to you and I today is, no, it's just simply good. It's just truly good. God saves people on the basis of his grace received by faith alone. So justification is a one-time thing. If you want a word picture, think of it this way. Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is symbolized by this gavel, not by a scoreboard. All right, it's a gavel, it's a one-time moment in which God on the basis of his grace flooding into your heart is saying, that man is my son. That woman is now my daughter. On the basis of what Jesus did, my son, on the basis of what he did for them, I'm adopting them in this moment at my bench, I'm adopting them into my family. That happened at a point in time. It's an action decreed by God. And at that moment, we're seeing this in this text, at that moment, God then floods the believer with the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 tells us that he is the seal, an assurance, a seal, an inheritance, that is to be a testimony and a witness to the believer that we are indeed gods. So when we were talking about this earlier, if in your hearing of it, you're going, yes, it was a kind of surprise. I remember when God began to move things around in my life and began to change me and convict me and grow me and assure me and comfort me and give me hope and swell my heart with love for people. I remember that. You know what that is, my friends? That is God's gentle assurance of your soul that you're his. This is wonderful, that you're his. And get this, according to this text, God's gentle assurance to say, and there's nothing else you need to do. You're in. You're mine. You are a part of my family. When that reality, friends, sinks into our mind and into our soul, it brings with it so much joy, so much freedom, so much hope, because if you're anything like me, your tendency is to rely upon your performance when you think about your relationship with God. He's either father or judge based upon how well you think you're doing. And the gospel is teaching us in this book, that's not how it is. That's not how it is at all. So friend, can you hear the gavel? For a moment, can you hear the gavel come down on the desk and the voice of God saying, That man is my son. Let me just substitute your name in there. Dustin is my son. Catherine is my daughter. Put your name in there and believe it, okay? Put your name in and believe it. Friends, that reality, if it's true, that reality will change your life. So this is why Paul is so abrasive. This is why Paul is so intense, why he risks being considered rude because he's fighting for this reality for his people in the church at Galatia. So the other day, we opened our front door and we were out on our front stoop. and our little beloved dog, Echo, just bolts off the front porch. And we love this little guy. He's awesome, all right? He's definitely a family member in the Rogers household. All right, but in that moment, we're outside, he bolts off the front stoop and he charges straight through the front yard because he's gonna go after this massive truck that's coming, just like barreling down our street. In that moment, you know what not just me but the whole family started doing? Echo, you fool, what has bewitched you, right? What about that truck makes you think you're going to take it out or do anything with that truck? That truck is only going to crush you. Echo, get back here, right? And so Echo ducks his head and he comes running back to us and he jumps into our arms, right? And all the kids, they begin loving on Echo and they usher him right back into the house where he's free and he's safe. And nobody watching that, friends, nobody watching that scene unfold is going, man, those are some really rude parents, some really difficult dog owners. No, everybody's going like, they love that dog. And that dog gets ushered right back in, echo, right back into our home where he has a nice little kennel. But understand, brothers and sisters, that illustration only goes so far because as much as we love that dog, we got three kids. They don't have kennels, they actually have bedrooms. Yeah, shock. They actually have bathrooms, you know. Echo goes to the bathroom outside most of the time, most of the time. Friends, the reality that we are rehearsing throughout this study is this, God has welcomed you by faith into his house. as sons and daughters with bedrooms that were wanted there, not just there with a kennel. We're there as sons and daughters and it should blow us away. But friends, it's all on the basis of God's sheer, marvelous, glorious, astounding, overwhelming grace. It's not because you earned it or can keep it. You just got a bedroom by grace. God, thank you so much for your grace to us. We are so thankful that you have lavished us in this way and have gone overboard to teach to us that it's because you're good and not because we've ever been good or great or can't be great today. Thank you for your grace. I pray that you would continue to help us to understand a precise and accurate gospel message. Help us to not distort it or change it. but just to cling to it and rejoice in it and to long to share it with those who don't yet know it. I pray, Father, that as we come to your table today, where again, your gospel is held up like a billboard, publicly displayed before our eyes and minds and hearts, I pray that you would help us to be reminded again that you are so good that you are worthy of our praise and you're worthy of our lives. So we thank you in Jesus name.