BEWITCHED: THE ARGUMENT FROM EXPERIENCE
GALATIANS 3:1-5
May 3, 1998


We find the apostle Paul coming to approach the Galatians with a series of questions, and each of these questions are aimed to unearth some things in their minds. You'll notice that he uses some rather strong language. He calls them foolish. J.B. Phillips translates this, "Oh, you dear idiot Galatians"; pretty strong language. Perhaps J.B. Phillips hit the word, the Greek term, a little more accurately even than we see with this word, foolish, because what Paul is saying, is, "Have you quit using your mind? Have you become senseless? Have you quit thinking about what God in Christ has done for you?"

It's interesting that Paul builds, in these first two chapters, upon the reality of the gospel and how the gospel had affected the people in Galatia and how the gospel had affected him personally. And we notice in chapter 2, verse 20 last week that this power of the gospel, this work of justification affects you experientially. It does something to you. You are radically transformed, when you're justified by faith in Jesus Christ. And you have a new life, and Christ is living His life through you. And now, Paul aims at their experience in Galatia. Now he'll build pretty much the rest of chapter three and chapter four on the teaching of Scripture concerning justification, but here he begins to question their experience.

We, perhaps, walk a fine line when we begin to do that, when we begin to question experience, but it is very important that we do not get the idea that the gospel of Jesus Christ is simply something theoretical or something academic or something to be discussed in some kind of mental circles, but the gospel is also something that we experience. You might say, "Well, I know all kinds of things about the gospel" and you may be able to quote the gospel backwards and forwards, but what is your experience of the gospel? And that's what Paul is asking. He's saying, "Look back." He's not questioning their salvation. He's really not. He is counting them as brothers in Christ, true believers, but now, because of this creeping heresy that was slipping in to the Galatian region through the mouths of the Judaizers, who were watering down the gospel of grace, who were trying to say "Yes, Christ is good. Yes, you need to have faith in Jesus Christ in His death. Yes, that's important, but you've got to have the law. You've got to be perfected by the law. Christ started the work, but the law finishes the work, so you must adhere to these ceremonial aspects of the law. You must be circumcised. You need to follow this. You need to follow that." Now Paul is saying, "Wait a minute. Let's go back. Let's look at the foundation. Let's forget all these other things that you've been learning, that you didn't need to be learning. And let's look: did you receive the Spirit by what you did or by hearing with faith?" He said, "That's all I want to know. That'll answer my question. That will satisfy everything." And so, here we see the apostle Paul, teaching and explaining that when a person hears and believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is forever changed, and he's changed because he has an experience. Please understand what I'm saying. He has an experience by faith with the Godhead: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And Paul strongly expresses that in this particular text.

Well, we see Paul's exasperation, that he would use language like this: "you foolish Galatians, you idiotic Galatians, you senseless, imperceptive Galatians, you have forgotten to use your minds. You have forgotten to think through. How could you do this? Who has bewitched you?" He uses a term that means, "Who has put the evil eye on you?" Here you are, walking in truth and enjoying truth and someone's come along and they've given you this scornful eye and you begin to look. Has anyone ever done that to you? Maybe they give you a look, maybe in a business place, maybe at a checkout line, and somebody gives you this eye. I know our children understand that eye, don't they, coming form parents. They give you this eye, and all of a sudden you begin to look at yourself and say, "What's wrong with me? What have I done? Is something missing in my life?" Well, that's what was happening with the Judaizers. Here these Galatians were, professing their faith in Christ, and enjoying a life of grace in Jesus Christ, and the Judaizers begin to give them that scornful, bewitching eye, as Paul calls it. He said, "They gave you that eye, that bewitching eye, you whose very eyes of spiritual understanding came to understand Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And you let that bewitch you. Why? How could that happen?" Here Paul zeroes in on the experiential. "Look back and see what Jesus Christ has done in you." He wants them to think through on this experience by faith in Jesus Christ, because they did not need to forfeit their understanding of the gospel because of these bewitching eyes of the Judaizers. What does he address to them? How does he explain to them their experience in Christ?

I. Involvement of the Trinity

The first thing we notice is that their salvation is an involvement with the Trinity. I think this is such a fascinating truth and such an important thing for us to grasp. You recall the baptismal formula, which Jesus gave the disciples, the formula that tells us that we are to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Why did he tell us to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? He told us this because our great God, who is one, has manifested himself in three persons, which we've been singing about and been reminded of together. And this great God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, these three persons of the Godhead, have all been involved personally in our lives and our salvation. Now, rightly so, we speak of Jesus Christ and his saving work, and we should, but we need not forget, we must not forget, the work of the Father on our behalf and the work of the Holy Spirit on our behalf in this saving work. And so Paul begins to unfold this.

Now, we see this in a number of passages in the scripture, where the different biblical writers will bring together these truths concerning the Godhead's work in our salvation; for instance, in I Peter 1, Peter writes to these believers, whom he calls "aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who were chosen," and then he explains "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood." Peter is explaining that it's the Godhead involved. God, the Father, is doing the choosing, the Holy Spirit is doing that sanctifying work, and here he's using that as sanctification that begins in our salvation, at the moment of justification and continues. He sets us apart unto the Lord, he regenerates us, he works continually, applying the work of the cross in our lives; and then, "that you may obey Jesus Christ being sprinkled with His blood." He brings in the Godhead.

Then, probably, to me, the classic passage that explains this is in Ephesians chapter one, where Paul says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He", that is the Father, "has chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He", the Father, "predestined us to adoption as sons". How? "Through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which he freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved. And in Him", that is, in Christ, "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which he lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention, which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him," in Christ, "also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose", that is the Father's purpose, "who works all things after the council of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise," this Holy Spirit, he says, "who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory." A lengthier passage, but here you see the Father's great electing work, Jesus Christ in His great redemptive work, and here in this particular passage, the sealing, securing, sustaining work of the Holy Spirit. So when Paul began to think about salvation, he thought about the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the whole Godhead involved in our salvation. And notice how he brings this out in this particular text.

1. Jesus Christ and His Crucifixion (vs. 1)

He begins by describing Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, and we have in verse one, the gospel in miniature. "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?" Here's the gospel in miniature. Jesus Christ, well, if you're going to understand Jesus Christ, if you're going to say the name, Jesus Christ, if you're going to explain something about Jesus Christ, you must know who He is. You must know that He is God Himself, who became in time, a man, and that He fulfilled all the law on our behalf, that he is indeed our Messiah, our Savior, our Redeemer, our King, our Master, our Lord, our Prophet, our Great High Priest. You must understand who Jesus Christ is, so that when the gospel of Jesus Christ was presented in Galatia, the apostle and his coworkers spent time explaining Jesus Christ. They wanted those Galatians to know that Jesus was not just some preacher, who had come along and was preaching some sermons and doing some amazing things, but that He is God Himself, who has come to earth and dwelt among us and became a man and has become our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But notice, He not only confronts the Galatians with the person of Christ, but they were also confronted by Jesus Christ Himself. He said, "Jesus has been publicly portrayed among you." You almost get the idea that they were in Jerusalem when the crucifixion took place, by the words that Paul's saying. There's a little bit of a play on words that's taking place. "You foolish Galatians, who has given you the evil eye? Who has bewitched you? Who has given you the evil eye, the scornful eye, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?" "These Judaizers are giving you this evil, scornful eye, but your eyes, think back to your eyes. What did you see? What did you see through eyes that were opened and illumined by the Spirit of God? You were confronted with Jesus Christ." And the words that he uses, "publicly portrayed", picture someone, who's taken a paintbrush and they're painting a mural on a wall. We would call it a billboard. We would say, "Jesus Christ has been placarded on a billboard before your eyes." That's literally the idea what Paul is explaining. He is literally placarded on a billboard as crucified. That truth of Jesus Christ was so real to you, it was as if suddenly you were confronted with this gigantic billboard, and there's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You saw it. It's real. Jesus Christ, who in His person came and dwelt among us, and you saw that you were confronted by Christ. You didn't just hear some vague ideas. No, Christ Himself, Christ Himself, he said, confronted you.

And what did they understand about Christ? He says, "You understand that he was crucified." He puts this, in the Greek, in the emphatic position. He does that to contrast what the Judaizers were teaching. They were saying, "Oh you've got to have the law. You've got to have you works. You've got to do this." And Paul says, "No, you saw this truth. You understood that what needed was Jesus Christ crucified, the Son of God, bearing your sins in His own body on the cross. What you needed was God's judgment being satisfied through Jesus Christ. And you saw that, you experienced Christ."

Now let me ask you, could you say with what the apostle Paul is telling the Galatians, "Yes, I've experienced Jesus Christ. Oh I don't know everything about Him. I don't understand everything that He did, but in my mind's eyes, Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed. I was confronted by that reality, that he was crucified for me." You see that's the experience, isn't it, of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, we ask people, "Have you experienced Jesus Christ?" Well that could be kind of a wild question to ask someone. It could be taken in many ways, but when you focus upon what Paul was saying, that you've been confronted by Christ Himself, through the preaching of the gospel, and it so radically affected you, that you saw that your only hope was the satisfying death of Jesus Christ, crucified for you upon that cross.

2. The Holy Spirit and His Initiation and Application (vs. 3)

But he goes on and says, "Not only were you confronted by Christ, but you also had this experience, this involvement in initiating the work of salvation." Now, we'll look more in detail on the work of the Spirit in a few moments, but at this particular point, notice what he asks in verse three in this series of questions. "Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected or completed by the flesh?" How did you begin your Christian life anyway? Did it come about that you started sizing things up, said, "You know, I've got to start working really hard, and I'm going to start going through all of these exercises in the law. I'm going to start doing this, and I'm going to start doing that, and I'm going to gain merit before God." You all said, "No, that didn't happen." You began by the Holy Spirit. He initiated that work.

Do you remember that beautiful story out of the book of Acts, when Peter went to Caesarea to the household of Cornelius? Here, Cornelius was a Gentile, and all he knew was that he had this dream and he was to send for this man named Simon Peter, who was at the house of Simon the Tanner, by the seashore in Japa. So he sent his soldiers down; they came and brought Peter back. And he said, "I had this dream, this vision that I was to send for you. Now, will you please tell us what you've been instructed to tell us?" And he didn't know what Peter was going to preach, he didn't have an understanding of Jesus Christ. And the incredible story was that Peter stood and he started preaching Jesus Christ to them. And they were confronted by Jesus Christ, and before Peter even finished his sermon, the bible says the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Here was that initiation by the Spirit of God. Even when they didn't realize it, even when they hadn't fully comprehended everything about the gospel, the Spirit of God fell upon them and they were born of God. He initiated that work.

How was your Christian life begun? My friend, if it was begun in the flesh, it's not a real Christian life. It must be begun by the Holy Spirit. And there we see that mysterious, sovereign, working of God, that gracious working of God in invading the lives of sinners, and as we saw several weeks ago, intruding upon our lives, that gracious intrusion of God, beginning a work in us, we, who were at enmity with God, he began that work by the Holy Spirit. That was the thing that troubled Nicodemus, when Jesus told him, "Nicodemus, you must be born again." "How can I be born again? Can I enter into my mother's womb a second time?" And He said, "Oh, no, Nicodemus, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't be surprised Nicodemus. You not only must be born of the water, but you must be born of the Spirit, of the Spirit." Have you been born of the Spirit? Paul was saying that is an experience. It's not just something that you talk about in the textbooks; no, it is an encounter with the Spirit of God, who initiates a saving work in your life. And it is so real, that you honestly have to say, "I've experienced the work of the Holy Spirit. I don't understand it. I can't explain it all. I can't give you all the terminology of it, but I know that something so amazing and incredible happened within me by the initiating work of the Holy Spirit, and that gospel message that was preached suddenly became real to me and alive to me. And I saw Jesus Christ for who He is, and I heard, I finally heard the gospel and believed the gospel." How did that happen? : By the initiating work of the Holy Spirit; by that regenerating work of the Spirit of God, bringing a dead sinner to life so that he might hear the gospel and that he might willingly, gladly believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

3. The Father and His Provision (vs. 5)

But Paul also wanted to remind the Galatians, that the Father had been at work too, in His provision. Notice in verse five: "Does He then", the He at this point, the pronoun that he's using is referring to the Father, "Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?" He's backtracking for a moment. He's saying, "Look back at what happened to you. Look back and see the changes that occurred. Look back and understand that you were provided with the Holy Spirit; that something extraordinary was happening in you. And you saw God working miraculously in your midst.

The word that he uses here, miracles, is the word that literally, we translate, powers, dunameis; "powers are at work among you." There is this unusual power of God, and Bible scholars debate exactly what this means. Is he talking about an internal work; that God has provided the Spirit, and he's provided workings within you, so that you are affected internally? Or is he talking about things that are happening externally; that you are seeing the amazing provisions of God begin to work in your life and all in the circumstances of your life? Well, whether it's external or internal is not even the question. The question is this: Has the Father so worked in you, that you could say, "I've encountered the living God. I've experienced Him."? Now I know we tread thin ice at this point, and here's the reason, because there could be someone, who has some kind of goose bumpy feeling, and many people do that. They are perhaps in a service, and people are excited about the Lord and all of the sudden, they feel themselves getting a little bit excited. Maybe they pray some prayers or they make some decisions, and, as is typical in many churches, they'll make some kind of public response. And, oh, they feel good about it. But then in a couple weeks, everything's faded away. Paul's not talking about that kind of temporary, as Jesus explains in Matthew 13, that kind of temporary elation. No, he's talking abut something that's a steady work, an encounter with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that radically affected and changed your life. And evidently, this transformation had gone on, perhaps, for months and months, maybe even for a few years, before these Judaizers came in, and began to give them this evil, scornful eye. And so Paul lets them know, "You had this involvement of the Trinity in your salvation."

II. The Exercise of Faith (vs. 2)

But he clarifies, in the second aspect, by showing the exercise of faith. This was not just you coming into a service and hearing something and your heart starts beating fast, and you start kind of getting excited about everything, and so you make some kind of decision, and afterwards, everything's just kind of over. Now Paul says, "Now it's different. You heard the gospel, and it affected you by faith." Look how he describes this, secondly in the exercise of faith.

1. The Ground of Faith

It is explained first by what I would call the ground of faith. Notice the emphasis that he is giving in verse two. "This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or" notice the contrast "or by hearing with faith?" Now look in verse five, how he repeats his same phrase. "Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?" What does it mean, "hearing with faith?" Weymouth puts it like this, in his translation of verse two: "Is it on the ground of obeying the Law that you received the Spirit, or is it because you heard and believed?" Well obviously, there is one answer to that question: "Oh, it's because I heard the gospel and believed." They didn't know anything about what the Judaizers were teaching in Galatia. They had not heard any of this circumcision stuff that they were teaching, and all the ceremonial law, and all of this gaining merit by adhering to the moral law. They had not heard that kind of thing before. They didn't understand that. For the most part, they were just in their paganism, but they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, and by faith they embraced that truth of Jesus Christ and him crucified for sinners. And so they heard, so that the very ground of faith was their hearing.

I cannot help but think of the many, many times we see in Scripture, "Let him who has ears to hear, hear." You ever think about that? What does it mean? "Let him who has ears to hear, hear." Well, we have all ears. I don't see anyone in the place that doesn't have ears. We all have ears, but do we have ears that hear. And he's not speaking of someone, who, because of some kind of physical problem, cannot actually hear. No, he's speaking of ears that spiritually hear. Now, that brings several things to mind. It means that we must hear something. If we're hearing something, what are we hearing? Well, we're hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed. That's the whole context of what Paul is talking about. That was what he was standing for, back in chapter 2, verse 14, for the truth of the gospel. It was this gospel that had been proclaimed, and so Paul says, "You heard this gospel." It was a definite message. It wasn't just some endless ramblings. Oh, I'm appalled in our day of what some people call the gospel. And they just kind of endlessly ramble or tell a few stories and ask people to do something, but they've not explained the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When Paul explained the gospel message, he talked about the person of Jesus Christ, and he talked about the crucifixion of Christ, and he talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he dealt with the person of God, and he dealt with the sinfulness of man. He dealt with the gospel. It was a definite message. It's interesting that Martin Luther said the only organs of a Christian man are his ears. That's what he needs. He needs ears. And I would ask you: do you have ears that hear the gospel? It is an amazing thing to me, how you can be in an audience of people, where there're a hundred people or a thousand people, and you can proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, and there are some, who just radiate when they hear that gospel. Oh, it's glorious, good news to them. And there are others, who say, "So, what?" You know what the difference is; the so-whaters don't have ears to hear. It doesn't matter to them. They don't care. My friend, if you can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed week after week, and it does not affect you, it doesn't do something to you, either bring conviction to your heart or joy and assurance to your heart, if it doesn't challenge you, if it doesn't somehow or another, work in your being, then you don't have ears to hear, and you're in a very desperate condition.

And so, we hear the gospel proclaimed, but we also understand the gospel. If you are hearing something, what is it invading? It's invading your mind. Now, I know sometimes, we talk to our kids, and say, "Well, I just talked with you, and it went in one ear and went out the other." Well, somehow or another that happens, doesn't it, sometimes? But what Paul is saying was, "No, when I preached the gospel, it came in your ears, and it didn't go in one ear, and go out the other. No, it stopped in the middle. It stopped in your minds, and you began to think upon its message. You heard its message, definite propositions, definite principals, truths, doctrines, concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. You heard it, and then you began to use your mind. You began to think upon the gospel. You began to see yourself as a sinner before a thrice-holy God. You began to see Jesus Christ placarded on that billboard before you as a crucified savior, as a crucified mediator, and as one who conquered death by the resurrection. You saw him."

Now how does that happen? I mean, why is it that some people hear, and it goes in one ear and out the other, and other people hear and it stops right in the middle, and they think through. Is it because of intelligence? We might like to think that, but that's not the case. It's because of the illuminating, revealing work of the Holy Spirit. That's what is happening in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. He's bringing us to life. The Old King James puts it, "He quickens you." Here you were, dead in your mind. Oh yes, you had a mind, but, as Paul says in Ephesians 4, "You were darkened in the understanding of your mind." The lights were turned off, and suddenly, the lights come on, and that gospel you're hearing stops in your mind, and you begin to revolve around in your mind those truths, and you begin to look at yourself in light of what the gospel of Jesus Christ says.

2. Experience through Faith

And what do you do? Do you stop and say, "Oh, well, that was a nice message. That was good to hear. I am intellectually stimulated by it."? No he goes on and says, "You believe." That's what he means by hearing with faith. You hear. Some people hear without faith, don't they? Those are the ones where it goes in one ear and out the other, but when you hear with faith, it goes in, it sinks in your mind, it affects your heart, and suddenly by faith, you embrace the gospel message. Curtis Vaughan says it is "a hearing which leads to, and is therefore characterized by faith." Paul said, "Look back at your Christian life. Look back at the beginning. Look at the roots. Was it the works of the law that opened that door for you to receive the Holy Spirit to indwell you, to seal you, to do His sanctifying work in you, to bear witness in your spirit that you're a child of God? Was it because of the works of the law or was it because you heard the gospel message, and in all the simplicity of the gospel, it finally stuck in your mind and then from the very depths of your being you embraced that truth of Jesus Christ crucified for you, singular? As Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ." It was that truth of the gospel of Christ proclaimed, and you heard it, and then you believed it. He's not talking about some kind of casual belief or a generic belief; no, he said, "It was a belief so strong, that through that belief you received, you, a sinner, an unworthy sinner, you received the Holy Spirit himself." And so Paul is saying, the very ground of your faith is hearing.

But notice he also explains the experience through faith, because he says, "This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or hearing with faith?" Did you receive the Holy Spirit? Receive Him? The very word that he uses here means, "not that you worked to do something in order to gain." That would be called merit, earning something, receiving pay, or receiving your due. No, he says, "Here is the Spirit of God, offered freely, given to you, and you receive by faith. Not because of something you've done; no, because of the grace and mercy of God, you received the Spirit." And what he's describing here is the Spirit coming to indwell you.

We've seen so many times in Romans 8, how Paul says that if a person doesn't have the Holy Spirit, he doesn't even belong to the Lord. He's not even a believer. And Paul could say, in summarizing the Christian life, in Romans 14, where some people were thinking, "I'm more spiritual, because I'm a vegetarian", and some other person says, "Oh, that's ridiculous. I'm more spiritual, because I'm following certain holidays and holy days", and Paul said, "No. The kingdom of God, this rule and reign of the Lord in your life, this being part of another world, is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, in the sphere of the Holy Spirit, through that indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You've received the Spirit of God. How did that happen? : By your works? No; by hearing with faith."

And then, we experience, sometimes, suffering because of our faith. So, we experience the Holy Spirit, but we also experience things in our lives, don't we, that come as a direct result of having received the word, the gospel by faith? Verse 4: "Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?" In other words, suffer could be translated simply as experience, and normally it's used like that. And so Paul could have been referring to this, "Did you experience so many things in the Christian life? Perhaps, times of worship; perhaps, times of insight in studying the Scriptures; perhaps, wonderful times of witness; perhaps, profound insights? Did you experience so many things in vain?" Or he may have used this as suffering: "Did you because, by faith you embrace Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and you didn't try to get to God or some heavenly being by the works of the law, no, by faith, you embraced Jesus Christ, and you suffered, did you suffer in vain?" Whether he was talking about experiences or sufferings, either way, Paul was talking about something that was very real in their lives. He said, "Was all of that in vain? Was it to no avail?" You know, I look back on my Christian life, and I think of so many experiences.

Now, experiences are not my foundation, but they sure are wonderful fruit to encourage me along the way. And I look back and I see experiences of worship and experiences of fellowship and experiences of ministry and experiences of studying the word, and so many experiences. And sometimes, those experiences came toward suffering for the cause of Christ. Paul said, "Were those things in vain?" He said, "No. When you came to faith in Christ, you began to have experiences that affected your life."

And then he spoke of the experience of divine provisions. Verse 5: "Does he then, who provides", literally, who abundantly supplies, "you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, did he do it by the works of the law or did that happen by hearing with faith?" There are these provisions of God that take place and Paul says, "Look at all these things. Look at these experiences that happened. They came not because of your works; they came by faith." That was his whole argument, not to build a big castle upon these experiences, but to say, "What is the foundation of your experience in the Christian life? Is it something you've done or is it hearing with faith?" You see, if you've built your life, your Christian life, and you call it a Christian life, and you've built it upon your works of righteousness, then Paul would say, "That was a false one. It won't work. It won't take you to the end of life and into eternity. But when you hear by faith, and you receive by faith the gospel of Christ, that carries you through."

III. Reception of the Spirit

Well, he not only describes their salvation, their experience as an involvement of the Trinity and as an exercise of faith, but he also describes it the third place, as the reception of the Spirit. And we've touched on this at several points, but I would just bring to your attention a few things that he mentions in this text.

1. He Indwells Us

First, that the Holy Spirit indwells us. For, he says in verse 2, "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?" Leon Morris said, "The verb, receive, points to the truth that the Spirit is given to believers, not acquired as a result of some merit they possessed." I think about those wonderful passages in John's gospel, where Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit, dwelling in us, and teaching us, and living in us; and how we're told over and over that we're in the Spirit, and that the Spirit is in us, and that the very insights that we have of the things of God, in I Corinthians 2, teaches us, "come by the Spirit of God, who dwells in us." He reveals things to us. And so I would ask you this: Have you received the Holy Spirit? Paul used that synonymously with having received Christ or being saved. He was not drawing thin lines at this point. He was saying, "If you've received the Spirit, then you're truly a child of God. If you've not received the Spirit, then indeed you're not." And he affirms that in more detail in other portions of his epistles. And so, the Holy Spirit indwells us.

2. He Perfects Us

But the Holy Spirit also perfects us. Verse 3: "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" And he uses that word, teleos, that is, you're being brought to a point of completion, you're continually being developed in the Christian life. Well what is happening in our salvation? Does the Lord save us and then just leave us alone? No, of course not. We were saved and the Holy Spirit begins to sanctify us and set us apart unto the Lord. And here, once again, we see how he brings together justification and sanctification, not separating those issues, but bringing them together, in this great epistle that addresses that great subject of justification; and showing the effect of sanctification in our lives, the Spirit of God is perfecting us. He said, "You began the Christian life by the Spirit. Now are you going to go down? Are you going to perfect yourself by your adherence to the law?" Paul was showing that that would be preposterous. Instead, as II Thessalonians 2 points out, Romans 8, and other passages, "You're being perfected by the Holy Spirit." "You're being", as Paul put in Romans 8, "You're being conformed to the image of God's Son." Now, how does that happen? : By the works of the law? No. By the work of the Spirit, who began a good work in you. "He that began a good work on you, will perfect it, complete it", same word, "until the day of Jesus Christ." How does he do that? : By the same Spirit that initiated that work in you.

3. He Provides For Us

And then he provides for us. Verse 5: "Does he then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?" How does the Holy Spirit provide? Well, we're told, in the context of Ephesians 5, where Paul deals with walking with the Lord, and that the beauty of living out the Christian life, that we're to be filled with the Holy Spirit, that this Holy Spirit, who indwells us, is to fill every aspect of our life, that is, He is to control every aspect of our lives. We see that scene in Acts chapter four, where the disciples, in the early part of the church, were going through persecution, and some of them had been in prison, and they came back praying and seeking the Lord. And Luke adds that the Holy Spirit fell in their midst, the Holy Spirit came to them and filled them and emboldened them with the gospel of Christ. That was the provision of the Holy Spirit.

He's continually providing. Sometimes, it's to give courage. Sometimes, it's to give strength in our weakness. Sometimes, it's to enable us to stand firm against temptation. Sometimes, it's to invigorate our spiritual disciplines, and on and on we could go. The Holy Spirit comes. He provides. He's continually at work in us. He's bearing witness with our Spirit that we're children of God. He's grieved in us, when we sin against the Lord. He's quenched, when we disobey. He's continually showing himself, as one who is leading us in the Christian life. "All those, who are lead by the Spirit of God, these are children of God," Paul says, in Romans 8. There's that experience of the Holy Spirit. Now, do you see what Paul is doing? He backtracks. He said, "Let's take a moment. We've looked at my experience. We've looked at the gospel in general. We've looked at, specifically, the work of justification, and what it is, and the radical effect of justification upon your life. Look back and see. Did you know that experience of Christ? Did it happen by the works of the law or did it happen by hearing with faith? The same way you began the Christian life, you continue the Christian life, not by your merit, but by the walk of faith."

Conclusion:

Have you come to Christ by faith? Can you honestly look at your life and say, "Yes, I know the experience of the new birth. I know the experience that has come by faith of the saving power, that radical transforming power of being justified by faith in Christ. Let's pray together. Perhaps there are some in our midst that have never come to faith in Christ. And I exhort you, my friend, by the mercy and grace of God, to repent of your sin and trust in Christ alone for your salvation. Quit trusting in yourself. You'll never save your self. Oh, you could try a million years, and you would never become righteous. But in that moment of faith in Christ, you, who've been unrighteous before God, are declared righteous. You, who've been unrighteous before God, are now fully identified in the experience of Jesus Christ himself, of having been crucified with Christ.

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