(Episode #29): Study on Galatians: Did you get your Holy Spirit because of Performance?: Gal 3:2-3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to our podcast.

(00:03):
Have you noticed that in manychurches, when we are born
again, they say, salvation is bygrace through faith. You need to
come just as you are, and youwill be saved. And right after
you're saved, the tone changes,and now it's like you have to
keep the law.
I've heard preachers teachingthat that grace enables you to

(00:24):
keep the law, that grace helpsyou to come to a place where now
you're a new creation in ChristJesus, and now you can keep the
law. That's not true because theBible teaches otherwise. This
was supposedly one of theteachings that Galatians had too
because they felt that nowhaving been in Christ, they had

(00:46):
to be perfected by the law, thatthey needed to have Jesus plus
something. They had to have theperformance, the Old Testament
laws, the moral laws, tradition,ceremony laws in order to be
perfect. That's for perfection.
Now we are going to look intoGalatians chapter three two and
three, and Paul asks the firstquestion of the two questions

(01:09):
that he asked here, and I willlook into the second question in
the next episode, but it sayshere, let's read from Galatians
chapter three verse two andthree. Did you receive the
spirit by the works of the lawor by the hearing with faith?
Are you so foolish having begunby the spirit? Are you now being
perfected by the flesh? Alright.

(01:30):
You're saying that you need tostart by grace through faith,
but then you need to continuewith the law. And so he asked
the question, how did youreceive the holy spirit? The
answer to that question is thatwe receive the Holy Spirit by
faith because in Ephesianschapter one verse 13, it says,
in him, you also, when you heardthe word of the truth, the

(01:55):
gospel of your salvation, youbelieved in him and were sealed
with the promise of the holyspirit. We were sealed with the
promise of the holy spirit whenwe believed. So it was not
because of the spiritualgymnastics that you did.
It was not because of theperformance. It was not because
of the old testament laws, butrather you received the Holy
Spirit when you believed. That'swhat Paul is saying. So he's

(02:18):
asking in a sense, you startedoff by grace. What makes you
think that you can continuewithout grace by getting into
legalism and performance basedChristianity.
So that's what his firstquestion was. They say that, are
you praying every day? Are youfasting twice a week? And
sometimes people don't sayoutright that you need to fast

(02:40):
and pray all the time, but theysay that, look at this person.
He fast and prays every month.
He's such a spiritual person. Soin a sense, you are implying
that someone who is fasting andpraying all the time is someone
who has perfected in Christ. AndPaul was saying in Galatians
chapter two verse 21, ifrighteousness could be gained

(03:03):
through the law, Christ died fornothing. Just imagine this. If
righteousness could be gainedthrough the law, Christ died for
nothing.
It was because we couldn't getthe righteousness of God through
anything but faith. That's thereason why we received the
righteousness by faith. And oncewe received it, we live in that
righteousness. And we are veryquick to preach grace to the

(03:27):
unsaved. But when it comes tosaved people, we all of a sudden
say, you have to keep the law.
Before salvation is come as youare and right after salvation
is, if you don't do this, thenyou are in big trouble. If
righteousness could be attainedthrough the law, Christ died for
nothing. Christ died for ourrighteousness, and he has to die

(03:49):
because there was no other waythat we would be righteous.
Should we live righteously? Yes.
Absolutely. But you might ask,then why are you so against
living in the 10 commandmentsand all that? I've said this
before in one of my otherpodcasts, but you should
understand. What I'm saying isnot to live indulging in sin,

(04:11):
but what I'm trying to say isthat you are a new creation. You
have changed.
You are not the old person thatyou think you are. You are not
that person anymore. You don'tlike sin. The law is for people
who like sin. They were the oneswho were trying to stop them
from doing things that they lovedoing, but you are a new

(04:31):
creation.
New has come. The law of lovehas been written in our hearts.
And John says, if you abide inlove, you abide in God. That's
what he says in first John. Andthat's what we have to do rather
than having a rule book on whatshould I do today.
Should I be nice to my childtoday? Should I not murder

(04:53):
today? Rather than focusing onall those kind of stuff, live
from love. That's the way tolive. That the purpose of law
was never for righteousness inthe first place.
It was never intended forrighteousness. In Galatians
chapter four, first one, we readthat it was a guide to the
actual substance, which wasChrist. So grace is not just for

(05:17):
sinners. It's for saints too. Ifyou started your Christian walk
by faith and you continue yourChristian walk by faith.
So that's what Paul says inColossians chapter two verse
six, as you have thereforereceived Christ Jesus, so walk
in him. That's what we have todo. It's not just about living
in legalism, and we need to stoptrying to finish in the flesh

(05:40):
what we started in the spirit.And Galatians chapter five verse
one says that it is for freedomthat Christ has set you free.
Stand firm then, and do not letyourself be burdened again by
the yoke of slavery.
You see, you need to understandthat the righteousness of God,
and it's by grace through faiththat we walk in the

(06:02):
righteousness of God. That'swhat the finished work of Christ
is about. You walk in thatperfection. That's what Paul was
trying to say, that you havebeen crucified with Christ. It's
no longer I who live, but Christwho lives in me.
The life that I live by faith,the son of man who lived, who
died for me. So we need to focuson grace, living in grace,

(06:25):
living according to the spiriteven after our salvation.