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Good evening everyone. You can turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Galatians. It's been a number of months since we have been in this book. So, we'll start over again. No, we're in Galatians 3. Um just uh after I read the passage, I'll just sort of remind ourselves as uh as to where we had previously gone in this passage, what the context is and what Paul is doing in this letter to the Galatians. For right now, I'm going to read from Galatians 3 beginning at verse 1 and finishing at verse 9. Our focus will be verses 1 to3 this evening. Uh 1 to four, excuse me. Right now, the word of God from Galatians chapter 3, beginning in verse one. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly clearly portrayed among you was crucified. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain? Therefore, he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed." So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. Amen. Well, let's pray. God, we thank you for this time together in worship. We thank you for this act of worship, the preaching of your word. Do be with us. be with us by your holy spirit that we might be uh all the more lifted up to high thoughts of your truth and to uh to precious praisings and honorings of you, father, son, and holy spirit. We do uh pray that that we'd be focused in this time that you'd help our minds uh to be captured by the word of God, captivated by it, that we might leave this place uh having, even if in a small measure grown in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our precious savior. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen. Well, just a reminder of where we have gone in the book of Galatians. The uh the apostle starts out essentially out of the gates not really commending the ga the Galatians at all but drawing their attention to the reality of the fact that they have been wandering from the gospel that there were those among them preaching uh a false gospel which is really no gospel at all. And the apostle Paul emphasizing the fact that he is in a great pastoral wondering as to how this happened. You remind uh we could remind ourselves of chapter 1 and verse 6 capturing some of the what's going on in Galatia. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. And these were in essence um engaged in what is called Judaizing even in the context of uh this Galatian epistle. They were they were seeking to Judaize these Galatian Christians. In other words, emphasize to a certain degree, yes, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but adding to that, as Pastor Butler mentioned last last lord's day evening, supplementing that with their own obedience to the Mosaic law largely in view is circumcision, that aspect of the ser ceremonial law that Christ abrogated with his first coming. He being the very fulfillment of that circumcision and as well observance to the Mosaic calendar and observance to aspects of the Mosaic law. And Paul is uh engaged in a very severe a very significant pastoral rebuke of anyone who would seek to follow after, as we'll see in in a moment, such bewitching, such uh spellbindedness. And so what Paul does in following this uh this passage after pronouncing anathemaas a cursed to destruction declarations against those who would seek to so pervert the gospel. He engages in a in an autobiographical defense of the true and saving gospel. He reminds them of the things that he had gone through. He reminds them of his contentions with the apostle Peter. the apostle Peter's activity and behavior betraying the very gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith in that Christ. And he comes to a particular cutting end at the end of Galatians 2. Remember with this language verse 21 of Galatians 2, I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. This is a a thrusting of the chief uh a chief blow of the sword of the spirit here. Uh and this is actually um completing or finishing his reflection upon his conversation with the apostle Peter. He finished off his rebuke of Peter by saying, "I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." You might see a quotation mark if you have uh the New King James. I'm not sure how other versions have it, but that's essentially the Apostle Paul recounting his whole conversation with the Apostle Peter in his rebuke of Peter. And then now we come to Galatians 3. So having having swung that sword and and cutting to the heart of the gravity of the situation that if you supplement the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you seek to add to that your own obedience, then Christ has died in vain. The cross is empty. The cross is vanity and your prof your profession of faith is absolute folly. And now we have the severity of Paul's pastoral rebuke increasing a little bit here in Galatians 3. So in verses 1 to 3 4 that is I keep saying it. Galatians 3 1:4 uh we're going to look simply at three things. The pastoral rebuke the clear portrayal of Christ and then the measured experience. Uh but just to to frame this here with regards to Paul's the severity of Paul's pastoral rebuke listen to Chris Austin he writes concerning Paul at the outset he Paul at the outset he said I marvel that you are so quickly turning but here oh foolish Galatians then his indignation was in its birth but now after his reputation of the charges against himself and his proofs it it bursts forth. Now, Paul isn't doing this out of an anger, some sort of sinful hate for the Galatians, but he's doing it in some measure of pastoral severity and rebuke of these who are turning away from the absolute clarity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which we'll look at in a moment. But first off, let's notice under the pastoral be rebuke, this this pastoral severity. Oh, foolish Galatians, he says. Now, this is a it's a strong statement. Oh, foolish Galatians. Uh Martin Luther renders it, you insane Galatians. Um it it marks it marks not only an intellectual lack of understanding, but also a measure of ethical departure. You you can turn back to the book of Jeremiah for a moment just to see something of the similar lang similar language. Now, the situation isn't exactly the same because Paul th this letter would have been read and is addressed to. It's addressed to the churches of Galatia. So, it's not necessarily that Paul has primarily the idea that all of these to whom he's writing are like the ones here described in Jeremiah 4, but the language is similar. And there is obviously a severity here with this. Notice in Jeremiah 4 at verse 22, for my people are foolish. They have not known me. They are silly children and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. So there's this bringing together in the pronouncement of folly or foolishness, an intellectual lack of understanding, a sto, but also the mingling together with uh an ethical departure from that which is good. And so the apostle Paul rightly says here, "Oh foolish Galatians," because remember what their folly is. They had heard the glorious news of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had heard of justification by faith alone um not by the works of the law. Remember that the Apostle Paul and this this points to something of what we'll see in a number of moments with regards to the clarity. But remember Paul at 216 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might not be justified by faith in Christ. that we excuse me that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. There's a there's a five-fold emphatic repetition of the fact that justification is by faith alone. And what are these Galatians doing? They're being stolen away by these uh by by these um by this witchcraft, if you will. We'll we'll qualify that in a moment. But they're being stolen away by these errorists, by these false teachers, to believe another gospel, which is no gospel at all, having beforehand been given and delivered the glorious news of Jesus Christ and having owned that blessed message. And so Paul rightly begins this uh begins this portion of his epistle with, "Oh foolish Galatians." John Gil on this. And John Gil seems to be um correcting Luther's point of view with with regards to this. Luther says that it was a national character to the Galatians just like the cretins or lazy glutton uh uh and that sort of a thing that Galatians had this according to their own national or ethnic character. But John Gil corrects Luther here a little bit and uh and then gives what the sense is on, oh foolish Galatians, referring not to any national character, as some have thought, Luther, but to their present stupidity about the article of justification. It being an instance of most egregious folly to leave Christ for Moses, the gospel for the law, and the doctrine of free justification by the righteousness of Christ, which brings so much solid peace and comfort with it. For the doctrine of justification by the works of the law, which naturally leads to bondage. You can see the severity here. They the the gospel, the true and saving gospel is a gospel of solid peace. It is a gospel of comfort. The so-called gospel of the works of Christ supplemented by your own works, however small, is a gospel of absolute bondage. And so Paul rightly uh Paul rightly calls these Galatians out as foolish. Uh Luther though does have some good comments on this. He writes, "Oh foolish or insane Galatians, it is as though he were saying, "Alas, to what level have you fallen, you miserable Galatians? I taught you the truth of the gospel diligently, and you also accepted it from me with great zeal and diligence. Then how does it happen that you have defected from it so quickly?" It brings us to this second that this amplification of the language here with what Thomas calls a grieving bewilderment. A grieving bewilderment. And that's in the language of who has bewitched you. Notice, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth. this language of bewitching, this language of a of almost a spellcasting as if it was a spell that was casted upon these Galatians. I mean, it could only be that it it can't be that you're that insane. It it can't be that I came through, we came through an apostolic journey uh came through your various cities of Galatia. We proclaimed Christ Jesus to you. We endured much suffering. You have subsequently endured much much suffering for this gospel of Jesus Christ. You have seen me as if stoned to death before you. Many of you proclaiming to you the glories of Christ and that we must through suffering through the endurance of suffering enter the kingdom of God. And now you are turning away from that blessed truth. It could only be bewitching. It could only be spellcraft. uh the language could also bear the reality of uh who out of envy has deceived you and corrupted your minds. In fact, that that understanding is uh I think evident in Galatians 1. Um remember in Galatians 1, we have this language concerning the apostle Paul and he's recounting his defense of the gospel. And notice in verse four, uh actually um let's uh let's back up to verse three. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in, notice, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. They're they're spying out this liberty with envy. They're looking upon these Christians who have peace and comfort in the perfection of Jesus Christ alone and they're seeking to pervert that blessed peace and comfort by pulling them away unto bondage to the Mosaic law which uh which was of course never brought into the reality of God's universe for justification to be saved ultimately uh unto God and eternal life. And so we see this grieving bewilderment. Who has bewitched you? Who has engaged in spellcraft and stolen you away from the very clarity of the gospel? Who out of envy has deceived you? And notice we we see that this what the Galatians are engaged in is a disobedience to the truth. Very often when we think of disobedience to the truth or when we just simply think of disobedience we we think of it we think of it within the context of uh of a you know a moral structure of particular precepts given to somebody and they're disobeying it when they either transgress the precept or don't do what the precept demands. I think very often within the realm of Christianity, we can take that idea that perhaps here disobedience uh that they should not obey the truth has something to do with perhaps the moral law of God or something in that respect. But it simply has to do with believing the gospel. Who has bewitched you that you should not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ? We we heard Pastor Butler, I believe, in in his prayer talk about those uh those who will be judged by the glory and the the justice of God, who do not obey the gospel. That means those who have not believed in the blessed one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven, sinners to save. And so this bewitching, this spellcraft is stealing away these Galatians to not obey the truth. that is to reject the very gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We we think or we we should see here that Judaizing or adding to however subtle. Remember, this isn't this isn't the Apostle Paul combating, as Pastor Butler mentioned last Lord's Day evening, salvation by works exclusively as if he's setting setting faith uh salvation by faith against the exclusive salvation by by our deeds of righteousness done in the holiness of our own hearts. No, it's belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's owning certain propositions concerning Jesus Christ, but supplemented by our own obedience. So, it's faith. It's a faith plus works reality that he's opposing here. But this sort of Judaizing, it's not a lesser error. It's a bewitching delusion. And so in our own day, however subtle it may be, because it very often is, whenever there is anything added to the gospel of Jesus Christ, when there's ever anything added to the perfect and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a bewitching delusion. Gil writes here with regards to the language of that you should not obey the truth of which Christ is the author was the preacher and is the summon substance which is good news and glad tidings of the grace of God of peace pardon righteousness life and salvation by Christ which may be said to be obeyed when it is received and embraced by faith with and from the heart and confession is made of it with the mouth and the ordinances of it are submitted to. And so these were abandoning the peace. They were abandoning the comfort. They were abandoning the shurness and the certainty of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ from first to last. And they were entertaining the vanity of their own obedience to the ceremonial law. So moving on then we want to see secondly this clear portrayal of Jesus Christ. Notice this striking language here. Oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth. Notice before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. It it it's almost as if here what the apostle Paul is saying or what he is saying is that Jesus Christ and his gospel was so clearly was so evidently was just so transparently and glorious in its honesty preached to you that there's no way that you should be carried away by anything other than the blessedness of that message. It's as if it was so clear that they saw with their own eyes Jesus Christ and him crucified before them. The message was so prospicuous. The message was so glorious in its simplicity that it is as if Jesus Christ was himself portrayed among them as crucified. The centrality of the crucified Christ in gospel preaching is is here set forth. the the the preaching of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be a preaching about Christ. It's a novel concept, but the namesake of our high and holy religion is to be the sum and substance of Christian preaching. We are to preach the whole council of God. We're to preach the word of God from Genesis to Revelation. But remember in some page after page, chapter after chapter, it's Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of men, the topic of the holy scriptures. And so Jesus Christ is clearly the the central point of Christian proclamation. But we have here the clarity of apostolic preaching set forth. Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. What what might this mean? I think there's one thing that it more emphatically means. But what does it include? Well, first off, the preaching of Jesus Christ was clear because of the and is clear because of the simplicity of the language used. What do we mean by that? If you look at a lot of religions out there, what are they marked by? They're marked by stuff that is mystifying. It's abstract and it's completely ahistorical or actually non-historical. It's it's not rooted in clarity. It's not rooted in the concrete and it's not rooted in the reality of uh the the reality of history. It's not framed within the blessed context of God's condescended redeeming plan to save a multitude of sinners. the simplicity of the language. You can turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts with me just to see this. What is the clarity that Paul is is talking about here. This clearly portrayed among you as crucified. The the simplicity of the language, the blessed clarity of gospel declaration. This is Paul, Acts 13. This is Paul in Galatia. He's preaching in Pacidian Antioch. So many of those I would imagine who saw Paul who heard Paul preaching here would have been read the letter of Galatians uh a number of years following. So notice in Acts 13 at verse 26 regarding the clarity of the language. Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent. For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know him, nor even the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause for death in him, they asked Pilate that he should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are with who uh who are his witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad tidings that promise which was made to the fathers. Just pause there for a moment. You see here the the clarity of the the gospel message. You see here this clear portrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul in in his bewilderment and his grieving bewilderment and his pastoral severity has in mind this this Acts 13 sort of language by which he proclaimed the richness and the simplicity of gospel truth. Uh secondly with regards to this clarity it's clear with respect to the the content of the message. The content the content of the message is always clear and it is always consistent in only this this passage here. Christ is the fulfillment of the law, the prophets and the psalms. He lived, he died and he rose again to justify a multitude which no man can number. The clarity of the message is with regards to its content. It isn't mystifying. It's not abstract. It's not non-historical, but rather it's rooted in history. It's concrete and it comes with a raging clarity. And so the language used, the simplicity of the language used, the content of the message itself, Christ as the promised one, Christ as the fulfillment of all that the prophets had spoken. And thirdly, it's clear with regards to the instrument of belief. Notice a little bit further in the passage, Acts 13:36. The clarity comes with the reality of the instrument of belief declared. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins, and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. You see the clarity there? The Galatians are doing or being stolen away to believe the opposite of what Paul preached to them here in Pacidian Antioch. They're saying that not everyone who believes in him is justified, but everyone who believes in him and who also adheres to the Mosaic ceremonies and obeys particular Mosaic precepts. Paul preached to them the clarity that everyone who believes is justified by him from all things which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. And it's also clear due to the repeated exhortations. Notice if you turn the page to Acts 14, or perhaps it's on the same page, but in Acts 14, beginning at verse 21, Paul not only proclaimed the message of the gospel first and once, but he repeated via exhortations the reality of the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Notice in Acts 14 at verse 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, remember this this has to do with the cities in Galatia and made many disciples, they returned to Lististra, Iconium, and Antioch. Those are three of the cities that are in Galatia. uh as well as Derby mentioned previously, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. And after they had passed through Pacidia, they came to Panilia. Now when they had preached the word to Perga, they went down to Atalia. From there they sailed to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. So these repeated exhortations, the gospel is proclaimed and Paul and the apostolic team, they don't just depart and say best of luck, but they travel back through those same cities and they exhort them to lay hold of the hope of their confession without wavering. to lay hold of that message that we're justified by faith in Christ alone and not by the works of the law. And lastly, it's clear with respect to the weightiness of the subject matter. This Christ being clearly portrayed among the Galatians as crucified. the the weightiness, the significance, the reality, the the gravity, the glory, the exalted glory of this message, its clarity is seen with respect to the weightiness of the subject matter. And it this has to be something of Paul's not not the only thing as we've noted many things already but something of the the the the the grieving bewilderment that Paul is enduring here uh on beha or by virtue of the Galatians departure or temptations to depart because of the weightiness of the glory of the crosswork of Jesus Christ. Remember he had just written, "I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." And this, "Oh foolish Galatians comes upon the heels of that." And the weightiness of this reality is captured well was reminded of this quote this morning uh by Arjun. this quote by Alexander of Alexandria and this c it's an extended quote but I want to employ it here for us so that we can enter into the weight of the moment. The apostle Paul is here feeling this this grieving bewilderment. The glories, the perfections uh of Jesus Christ, the riches and the excellencies of so great a savior were proclaimed and these are being stolen away to have their foreskin cut off and that obedience added to the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's madness. Alexander of Alexandria on the weight of the moment of the crucifixion. For Christ by dying has discharged the debt of death to which man was obnoxious. Oh, the new and ineffable mystery. The judge was judged. He who absolves from sin was bound. He was mocked who once framed the world. He was stretched upon the cross who stretched out the heavens. He was fed with Gaul who gave the mana to be bread. He died who gives life. He was given up to the tomb who raises the dead. The powers were astonished. The angels wondered. The elements trembled. The whole created universe was shaken. The earth quaked and its foundations rocked. The sun fled away. The elements were subverted. The light of day receded because they could not bear to look upon their crucified Lord. The creature in amazement said, "What is this novel mystery? The judge is judged and is silent. The invisible is seen and is not confounded. The incomprehensible is grasped and is not indignant at it. The immeasurable is contained in a measure and makes no opposition. The impassible suffers and does not avenge its own injury. The immortal dies and complains not. The celestial is buried and bears it with an equal mind. What I say is this mystery? The creature surely is transfixed with amazement. But when our Lord rose from death and trampled it down, when he bound the strong man and set man free, then every creature wondered at the judge who for Adam's sake was judged, at the invisible being seen, at the impassible suffering, at the immortal dead, at the celestial buried in the earth. For our Lord was made man. He was condemned that he might impart compassion. He was bound that he might set free. He was apprehended that he might liberate. He suffered that he might heal our sufferings. He died to restore life to us. He was buried to raise us up. You see the You see the weightiness, the significance, the the reality of what these Galatians were being tempted to depart from. Oh, foolish Galatians I I think is holding back by the Apostle Paul. Who has bewitched you is holding back by the Apostle Paul. This this wonderful tapestry of the blessedness of the son of God who condescends from the pinnacle of glory to our lower shame, assuming our humanity to redeem a multitude of guilty sinners which no man can number. This glorious tapestry, we're going to weave into it our circumcision. We're going to weave into it our obedience to the ceremonial law. we're going to weave into it our own preferences and our own peculiarities and and our own pious deeds. It's madness. It's insanity. It's stupidity to take something so glorious and seek to muddy it by our own really unrighteousnesses. And so the clarity uh I was going to say the clarity is clear. The the message is clear here. Christ was portrayed among them in such a proclamational manner that there ought not to be saved for bewitching any escape from the glory and the richness of so glorious a gospel. To turn from justification by faith alone is to turn from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. To add to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, even in the smallest measure, is to abandon, is to turn from the very cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. To heap upon a congregation requirements that the Lord God Almighty never asked is to turn from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chrostm on these words Christ being clearly portrayed among you as crucified. These words convey both praise and blame. Praise for their implicit acceptance of the truth. blame because him whom they had seen for their sake stripped naked, transfixed, nailed to the cross, spit upon, mocked, set forth, crucified, uh, excuse me, transfixed, nailed to the cross, spit upon, mocked, fed with vinegar, upraided by thieves, pierced with a spear. For all this is implied in the words openly set forth as crucified, him had they left and be taken themselves to the law, unshamed by any of those sufferings. Here observe how Paul leaving all mention of heaven, earth, and sea, everywhere preaches the power of Christ, bearing about as he did and holding up his cross. For this is the sum of the divine love toward us. Imagine seeking to to to supplement the sum of the divine love towards us. First of all, it is the sum of the divine love. So there's nothing else that can be supplemented to it. But imagine seeking to add to glorious divine condescension, to the immeasurable goodness of God visited upon the sons of men, trying to add to that the lopping off of foreskin calendar obedience, obedience to the Mosaic ceremonies, our own deeds which are always wrought by rema with and mingled by remaining corruption. It it is absolute madness. Surely you must be bewitched. Surely you must have had a spell cast on you. Surely out of envy your minds have been deceived and your minds have been stolen away by these errorists. Lastly then the measured experience. Paul is measuring their experience or we could say questioning their experience in these next set of verses. Notice verse two. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain? Remember these are actually four uh well four five questions in a row that the apostle Paul is asking here. You know, we might say in the vernacular, what's going on with you guys? Give give your heads a shake. to put it lightly. But he asks these five questions in a row. And now moving to the measuring of their experience. This only I want to learn from you. There's this there's this one thing that Paul is asking. He's boiling it down to one question at one question that's represented in in a in a repetition, if you will. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Was it your obedience that uh initiated the spirit's work? Is that what grace really is? That's not grace. That's that's reward. That that's that's the giving of a reward for obedience. That's that's not grace. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Obviously, Paul knows the answer and they are to know the answer as well. You receive the spirit by the preaching of the word of God. That's what's in view here. The the hearing of faith is is the hearing of justification by faith alone proclaimed by apostolic witness. You heard the gospel of Jesus Christ wrapped in the blessed gift wrap of justification by faith alone. You did not receive the spirit by the works of the law, but you received it by the very preaching of the word of God. The receiving of the spirit through the preaching of the word. They They can't have it both ways. They're they're weighed it. It's either by the spirit or it's uh by the flesh. Which one is it? It's not by the spirit and then the flesh completing it. Remember, he who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ. Pastor Butler read from Hebrews 12:2 this morning. Christ is what? The author of our faith and then we finish the rest. He starts the book, if you will, but then we finish it with our circumcision, our calendar obedience, and the deeds of the law. No, he is the author and the finisher of our faith. You begin by the spirit. That's the next verse here. Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? as if it is to say here either the spirit saves either God saves from midst to last first and first to last midst and throughout or it's only begun by the divine love and goodness towards us and it's man that perfects us man is the perfecting principle your flesh obedience is the perfecting principle he's calling them to see the folly he's calling them to give their heads a shake from out of the bewilderment And to see the glory of spirit wrought salvation. The glory of spirit wrought salvation. It is the fact that the receiving of the spirit comes through the preaching of the word, not by the works of the law. It is the fact that it is the spirit who sanctifies, not our own obedience to the law, that sanctifies us. Have you begun in the spirit and are now being made perfect by the flesh? And then notice, have you suffered so many things in vain? If indeed in was if it if indeed it was in vain your the the persecutions, the sufferings, the plundering of your goods, all of these things that you have endured for the the the cause of Christ, for the cause of the truth of the gospel, were these then in vain? Is it is your faith then, whatever it might be called, vanity now? Is it the case then that flesh perfects spirit? That the works of the law, your own deeds of obedience to the law is that which secured the reception of the spirit? If if that's the case, then everything that you have endured is vanity. But the apostle Paul holds out hope here for the Galatians. Notice this this last clause in verse four. If indeed it was in vain that there's hope that the Apostle Paul holds out here for these Galatians, let it let it not be in vain. I I pray that it might not be in vain that you beheld the glories of Christ and that you're now going to be tempted to fall away to add your own deeds of the law to the perfection of his work. What what a what a terrible transgression. As it's been said before, murder is terrible. Adultery is terrible. Hatred against a a brother and a and a sister is is terrible. Stealing, theft, disobedience to to God with respect to the moral law is is is of course terrible. But the apostle Paul here is seeing the height of folly, the height of madness, the height of insanity in just adding supplemental work just in in adding supplemental works to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a madness. It is an insan insanity. The greatest event that has ever c occurred. The greatest three and a half years that have ever been uh exercised on the face of this earth. The greatest 33 years ever lived by any individual. Perfect obedience to the law of God. A substitutionary sacrifice that perfectly secures the salvation of a multitude. A glorious resurrection. A glorious ascension. Christ from first to last, midst and throughout, secures the salvation of his elect. Sinners brought forth from deadness to life. And we're going to add some stuff to it. I It's It It's madness. And it's not just It It doesn't It doesn't just obtain or it didn't only take place 2,000 years ago with the the Galatians. It's occurred throughout the history of the church and it is still with us. Sometimes it's more obvious, sometimes it's not. But we need to hear the apostolic uh pastoral severity. We need to be on watch that we do not that we are not bewitched. Ultimately, what is the source behind this bewitching behind this spellcraft? It's the devil himself, the the enemy of Christ and the enemy of his church. The devil seeks to assail. The devil seeks to steal us away. The devil, the devil would love nothing more if the church falters, if the church waivers, if the church is way by error and heresy. And so we are by spirit and word to be girded up in our knowledge of Christ. Just in closing then just a couple minutes reminder. We are to be reminded of the clarity and the the glory of the gospel. What a what a religion is Christianity. So many religions and cults are, you know, are all about the the mystifying and the abstract. Let's just rest under the the slow falling of effervescent petals and wallow in the glory of our oneness with the divine and just just madness. No simplicity of language, no root in the concrete, no God breathed declaration that these things took place within a history framed and formed by the very God of heaven and earth. We have the glorious clarity that Christ came into this world, sinners to save. Just just think of that phrase for a moment over and against the madness and the confusion of other religions. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world sinners to save. What what a blessed simplicity and clarity that we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to be aware of subtle Judaizing resting in forms resting in works resting in personal holiness as ground of peace with God. attaching uh attaching conditions to our salvation. Well, first you must endure a time of preparatory wallowing in your own sins before you can come to this Christ. And even then, beware to to call yourself a Christian, unless you do this, unless you do that, unless you prove this, unless you demonstrate that. What a Judaizing madness. You notice the the the occasions of conversions in the New Testament in in the Bible. Think of the demoniac this morning. He is out of his mind and he isn't he isn't called upon by Jesus Christ to take off for three months, really understand your sin, really grieve over it, weep and count the amount of times that you've weeped, then come back and maybe you'll be in your right mind. He was seated and he was in his right mind. Why? Because the grace of God came upon him. Think of the Ethiopian unic. The uh upon the immediately upon the heels of the Ethiopian unic being saved by amazing and victorious grace by the spirit attending the preaching of the suffering servant of Isaiah uh through Philillip, Philip baptizes him. the the wonder and the glory of the simplicity of the message of the gospel and the glory of salvation. There is nothing that can be tacked on to condition to uh condition uh that conditions the gospel tacked on to it attached to it the glorious simplicity the glorious clarity beware of Judaizing heresies because sometimes it comes in the most subtlest of forms. And lastly before we close in prayer with the true and saving gospel there is fullness and there is no vanity. Righteousness does not come through the law. Christ died with the fullness of an everlasting sufficiency. And that's what we have as saints of the living and true God. We have a sufficiency not in ourselves. We have all sufficiency in Jesus Christ. Very God and very man. and yet one Christ and the mediator for guilty sinners. If you're here this evening and you're outside of Christ, know that the way unto salvation is not by deeds of righteousness which you have done or will do. It's solely and alone by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith in this precious Christ who came into the world sinners to save. Hear the simplicity of the gospel message that Christ lived and died and rose again for guilty sinners that he might bring a multitude to glory. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And God protect us from bewilderment. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We rejoice in your truth. Do help us to know more and more of our savior each and every day. We pray that you would uh impress upon us the peace, the comfort, the joy that we have in a perfected gospel, in a perfect Christ who came into this world sinners to save. Do go with us. Help us to finish off the remainder of this uh Sabbath day, giving honor to you, giving praises to you. We pray that you would equip us in this week to rejoice solely and alone in the gospel of Jesus Christ for our salvation and to equip us by your spirit such that we might conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.