 given us. There's amazing grace, extravagant grace that he's given us. Something that we did not deserve, but he just poured out on us. So we are ever grateful for that. So we don't have to be apologetic about receiving grace, right? We don't have to... You can come with confidence, like we see in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 4. We see that, let us draw near with confidence. Let us draw near in faith and to receive grace and mercy. So every time it's about grace, we don't have to hold back. We don't have to be apologetic. We don't have to beat ourselves down because grace is given freely, right? So we can come with confidence. We can come with rejoicing in our hearts. We can come boldly to the presence of God and thank him for the grace and receive even more grace and mercy for living off this day. Right? So let's thank him. Father, we thank you for the grace that you made so freely available for each one of us. We thank you for the grace, Lord. And Lord, everyone as your word declares, Lord, enable us to stand firm, stand strong, be firmly established in this grace. Lord, enable us to understand about grace. Lord, enable us to understand the freedom that we have because of your grace. And Lord, we pray that we will continue our life, our walk will be, Lord, in that grace that you've given us, Lord. And we thank you that we have access to this grace by faith and not by our own deeds or not by our own works. We have the access to, we are recipients of this grace because of our faith in you, Lord. We believe and we receive. And so, God, we thank you. Thank you for all the works of your grace, Lord, the works of righteousness that we have received, justification, testification, and sanctification, everything that we receive because of your grace. We thank you. We thank you, Master. And Lord, we, this morning, each one of us, we come boldly to your throne of grace. We thank you that you are enthroned in grace. And Lord, we thank you. None of our works, none of our performance can ever match, Lord, match up, Lord, to receive this grace, Lord. We thank you that it's given freely. And so, Lord, we as believers, Lord, we joyfully receive it. We gratefully, with grateful hearts, we receive this grace. We thank you. We thank you for lifting us up. We thank you for, Lord, placing us where we are. We thank you, Lord, that you, Lord, watch over us with grace-filled eyes, Lord. You don't look at with condemnation-filled eyes, God. Look at us, God. You look at us with grace-filled eyes and we thank you. We thank you. We bless your name. We bless your name. Hallelujah. Let the grace of God just wash over you today. Right now, you know, just receive the grace of God. Let the grace of God just wash over each of us this morning. Just receive it in a greater measure, even greater measure and say, Lord, I thank you. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your abundant grace. I receive your abundant grace. I receive your amazing grace. Let your grace wash over me. Let your grace, Lord, break away every bondage, every thought of legalism, Lord. Let it, let it just break away. Let it break away every false assumption of, Lord, of anything that we can do by works. Let it break away, Lord. Hallelujah. We thank you. We thank you. We bless your name, Lord. We are ever so dependent on your grace, Master. We thank you. We give you all the praise at this time. We give you all the glory in Jesus' matchless name. We pray. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Yeah, we just thank the Lord for the grace of God. If not for his grace, where would we be? Amen. Yeah. Okay. So, we've been, oh, I see a new student success. Welcome to the class. I think this is your first class for Galatians. Right. So, we'll get started and yeah. So, I hope you got the notes. Download the notes from the Classwork section. I'll upload just to re-trade a few things. We will have a quiz after each of these episodes. So, once we finish Galatians, we'll have a quiz and all of these, so we'll have about five quizzes for this course and the total of that will be total up for the finals course, for this course. Okay. So, that's how the evaluation assessment is. Okay. Okay. Let's turn to, I think last class we stopped with Galatians chapter two. Right? We reached the end of Galatians chapter two and we stopped there. So, just to re-trade, Paul writes about his apostleship and he, when he's writing to the Galatians, he marvels. He's stunned. You know, he's so surprised that the Galatians are turning away from the gospel that he preached, that they preached and to another gospel and he declares and he says, you know, it is not another gospel. There's no way compared to the gospel that we preached and he says, you know, even if we preach some other gospel or if we are an angel, a messenger from heaven also preaches any other gospel, let them be accursed and he says, let them be accursed and meaning, let them be marked for destruction and so on. It's a very strong word, let them be separated from the life of God, let them be accursed. So, and then we go on to see why does he say that because the other gospel that they preached, that the people, that the false brethren preached, drew them away from the grace of God. They were, it was drawing them back to what they were actually earlier held by, which was the works of law and so he was, he had very strong words, he said, you know, let them be accursed and then he talks about his own life, you know, about my former conduct. This is all in chapter one. So, you know, my former behavior, my conduct, that I was very zealous for the ways of my forefathers, you know, he also says that he progressed so much in Judaism, much further than all the others. So, he talks about that and then how he, after he believed in Jesus, what happened after that, right? So, and the fact that this gospel that he was preaching, this gospel of grace, it came by revelation, you know, no man taught him, right? He had this encounter on the road to Damascus and he had a revelation of who Jesus was and immediately he started preaching. The gospel he started preaching about Jesus from the scripture showing that he is the Messiah and the synagogues everywhere. So, he says, after three years he went to Jerusalem, stayed with Peter for a couple of weeks. Then after almost 17 years, right, he goes back to, he goes back to Jerusalem and then he goes, he meets, he says, he meets with the people of prominence, those who seem to be pillars like Peter, James, John and then he goes, of course, with Barnabas. Barnabas takes him and also Titus is there and then he talks about a specific instance where he goes and meets with these apostles and none of them compelled Titus, who was actually a Greek, a person of Greek origin, none of them, he was not Jew. So, they didn't compel him to be circumcised. So, all this to say that, you know, the apostles were not really teaching a gospel of, you know, law and works and to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses and all the traditions, the other apostles were also not doing that. So, he's just building up that case. He says, and then we met and he spoke and, you know, they didn't compel Titus to be circumcised. So, then he says, well, it happened because of false brethren. All this entire teaching of law and works for someone to be saved with law and works, in addition to believing in the Lord Jesus to be saved with law and works, this came in because of the false brethren. So, however, he had to correct Peter when he was in Antioch. So, he says that when Peter was there in Antioch, I had to confront him. I had to withstand him. I withstood him. He says, this is in chapter 2 because Peter would separate himself along with the Jewish people when other, there was other groups of Jewish people came from the Apostle James. So, he would separate himself and then when they were not there, he would spend time with them or fellowship with them or eat with them. So, he says this is not right. So, he confronted him, corrected him and so on. So, the last few verses, so, relations 2 verse 20, I think you're very familiar verse, he says, I have been crucified with Christ. So, it is no longer I who live but Christ lives with me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So, and then again the verse before that, it was 18 and 19. So, he says, if I build again those things which I destroyed. So, what happened is when you and I when we came to Christ, we died to ourselves. We died to the law. We died to sin. So, these were things we died to or there was an end to all that. So, Paul says, if I build again those things which I destroyed, then I make myself a transgressor. I make myself a person who is going back to transgression or great sin. So, through the law, I through the law died to the law. Now, that's a important statement that through the law because the law actually confined everyone. You know, the law said that this is the standard and none of us are capable of keeping the standards. Therefore, we are condemned in the eyes of God. So, that's what the law you know declared that this is this is the standard. This is the standard of God. None of you are capable of keeping it. Therefore, you are sinful and therefore, you are condemned. So, it says, in Christ, however, I died to the law because I have been crucified with Christ. This old man crucified with Christ. So, in the sense, I died to that. I died to all that expectation of the law or the standards of the law. I died to that. Now, I am a new creation set free from sin set free from the expectation of the law. And that's why he says in verse 20, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Verse 21, I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law, if this whole thing of righteousness, the fact that I've been made right with God, the fact that all my sins have been taken away, if that righteousness comes through the law, then the death of Christ on the cross is emptiness. It's a waste. It's in vain. So, there's no purpose in that whole, you know, sacrificial death. So, he's asking the Galatians to, you know, open their eyes and see the truth. You know, why are you turning away? Why are you believing in all these things instead of grace, instead of continuing in grace? Because if you're not continuing in grace, then actually what you're saying is that the death of Jesus, the death of Jesus, sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross is actually, is in vain. You're saying that, well, his work of salvation, it doesn't amount to anything. That is exactly what you're saying. You're not really saying it, but in your actions, you are actually proclaiming that. You're saying that Christ died in vain. So, let's look at chapter 3. I'm just going to share the notes here. Okay, chapter 3. Let's read a few verses, probably from verses 1 to 9. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as 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, preach 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. Okay, verse 1, chapter 3. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Okay, so again, very strong words, it literally calls them fools because they have turned their eyes away from the grace of God, from Christ. So he uses that word. How can you be so unintelligent? How can you be so unwise and not understanding? O foolish Galatians. And he says, who has bewitched you? Meaning who has actually put a spell on you? It's like when it comes to the powers of darkness and it's about manipulation. When it comes to powers of darkness, they manipulate in order to control, in order to bring someone under the control. So that is all about bewitching and putting a spell and so on. So he's asking the question, who has bewitched you? Who has actually put a spell on you? Who has put a charm or something on you? Who has done this? That you should not obey the truth. And before your eyes, Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified. So he says that with all the proof, with all the evidence, the Lord Jesus was clearly portrayed or depicted. It was like a picture that was painted, a portrait. So right before your eyes, you knew, you heard, you experienced this whole truth that Jesus Christ was crucified. So who is controlling you? Who has put the spell on you that you should not obey the truth? So that's something that he says. Verse 2, this only I want to learn from you. Now here's the question, 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? Verse 3, are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? So Paul, like in every other church or his ministry, we read when we studied the Corinthians epistles, we saw that Paul would preach the gospel, teach the believers, ground them in the Word of God, expose them to the power of the Holy Spirit. In Corinthians we read that he says, I came not that you might put your faith in the wisdom of man, but your faith should be in the power of God. So he clearly shared the gospel, gave them reasons for the gospel and also exposed them to the power and the experience of the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and everything. So they had experienced firsthand the gifts of the Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So they were well acquainted, they had the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. So here's this question, he says, did you receive the Spirit? How did you receive the Spirit? Was it by faith? Was it by simple faith in the baptizer, who's Jesus? Or was it by the works of the law that you kept three or four things? And then because of which you achieved this baptism of the Holy Spirit, you received the work of the Spirit. Was it because you kept these things, you did not do these things, you did these things? Was it because of that? Obviously the answer is, and it's a rhetoric question. So it's a rhetorical, so obviously the response to that is by faith, they all knew that. Then so verse three says, are you so foolish having started in the flesh? I'm sorry, have you started in the Spirit? You started your walk in the Spirit. You received the work of the Spirit. You know about the leading of the Spirit, you know the gifts of the Spirit. Now you started. Now, are you being made perfect? Are you coming to maturity? And the word that he uses there, which means accomplishing something or being complete, are you coming to that place by your own flesh? So you started in the Spirit. Are you so foolish that having started in the Spirit, having begun in the Spirit, that you are being made perfect by the flesh? So we asked them those two questions. So just to make the Galatian believers think about what they were doing, just to make them think deeply about what they were believing in. It seemed right. It seemed nice to them to do these things, to keep up these things and say, okay, now I've achieved this. I've prayed for such a long time. I've kept these things. I kept these laws. I've become circumcised in my flesh and all these things. It seemed like medals or badges of honor, something achieved in the flesh. But Paul is saying, you started in the Spirit. Now do you want to come to a place of completion in the flesh? How can you even think like that? And the other question is, how did you receive the Spirit? The most important thing. You came born again and you experienced the anointing of the Holy Spirit. That's what is implied. How did you receive the Spirit? The Spirit whom you interact with, the Holy Spirit who leads you, teaches you the scriptures, the Holy Spirit who fills you with power, and so on. How did you receive? Was it by the works of the law? And they would have thought and said, thought to themselves and realized, no. And the third thing, the third question that he asked is, have you suffered so many things in vain? Or are you suffering? Is it futile? If indeed it was in vain. So the question is that, as believers, this is obviously a, mainly a gentile congregation, believers, gentile believers. So then he's saying, did you, obviously they were being persecuted for their faith. So his question is, you've suffered so many things for the sake of your faith. You've suffered so many things. And why did you suffer? Because you did not want to do those things, the things of the law and so on. You wanted to follow the way, which is the way of the Lord. And you kind of did not want to do the other things. But have you suffered that in vain? So what did you believe in? Like if you had believed in the works, if you had believed in keeping to the law, then there would be no suffering. Like everyone would be happy. You would not be persecuted. So have you suffered those things in vain, if it indeed was in vain? Then verse five, 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? Yes, the other question. He who supplies the Spirit and who, he who pose out his Spirit upon you and works miracles among you. So this was a church just like the Corinthian church, just like any other church, any other church, which was established by Paul. So you see that in his ministry that Paul would go preach the gospel, teach the believers, establish them in the Word and the Spirit, establish them, establish people in the, lay those foundations, establish them in the Word and also lead them to an encounter with God himself, with a person of the Holy Spirit. So they would experience the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit manifesting himself, the power of the Spirit of God manifesting himself in miracles and signs and wonders and the other gifts. So Paul is asking that yet another question. So first of all, he asked, like, did you, you know, did you, like, who bewitched you? And then secondly, he asked, did you receive, how did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law? And thirdly, he asked, you know, you've started in the Spirit, now do you want to be made perfect in the flesh? And fourthly, he asked about the suffering, you know, why did you suffer all these things? You took a stand, you wanted to follow Jesus, you took a stand. Now, was all that suffering in vain? You took a stand and you suffered because of your faith and not because of wanting to keep the law? Then he asked the question, now he who supplies a spirit and works miracles among you. So again, the fact that in the Galatian churches or the churches in Galatia, there was this mighty outpouring of the Spirit, there was this mighty ministry of the Holy Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit, which was taking place. So he says, he who works miracles among you, you experience the supernatural signs and wonders, miracles. How does he do it? Was it because you kept the law? Was it because you were circumcised? Obviously, the answer is no, it is because you put your faith in him. Right? It is by the hearing of faith. So not by the works of the law. Okay. Verse 6, 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. Okay, so he takes us back to Genesis here, Genesis 15, verse 6 and Genesis chapter 15, where maybe we can just go there and read that. Verse, Genesis 15 and I think it works. Verse 6. Right? So this is the conversation. The word of the Lord comes to Abraham. The Lord says, Abraham, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. And then Abraham says, Lord, you see I am going childless, you promised, but this is what it is. So therefore maybe one who was born in my household, that person will be my heir. That person is what you are referring to. Maybe not one who is born, physically born through Sarah. Maybe that is somebody who is born or who is somebody in the household. Then this is what God says. He specifies verse 4, this one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then he brought him outside, look now towards heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them and he said to them, said to him, so shall your descendants be. Okay, so this is what God says. He clarifies, he gives him the details and then he says, look up in the heaven, see the stars, your descendants will be like this. Okay, innumerable. Then it says in verse 6, and he believed in the Lord. Okay, now we need to understand that the law came much later. Okay, the law came much later. Now also in Galatians, Paul talks about what was the purpose of the law. Okay, he's talking about it much later, right. So the law came later. Now here they are having this conversation and God says, so shall your descendants be. Then the Lord also says, immediately when he says that Abraham believed in the Lord and he, that is God, accounted it to him for righteousness. Okay, so Abraham believed God and he was counted as righteousness. You know, he was counted as one who is righteous. Okay, so the Lord looked at him as one who is righteous and he reckoned that he imputed righteousness. So that is what we see there in Genesis 15 and verse 6. So here Paul refers to that and he says, just as Abraham, in Galatians 3 and verse 6, just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So again, he's pointing them to the fact that, hey, this righteousness that you enjoy, this salvation, this righteousness, this forgiveness of sin, this right standing with God and all this of being clothed with the righteousness of God, this thing that you have received and that you enjoy and you walk in, it's because of your belief, it's because of your faith. Just like how Abraham believed God and it was considered, it was accounted to him for righteousness. So also with you, he says, therefore, know that only those who are of the faith are the sons of Abraham. So when we say sons of Abraham, it is those who have put their faith in God, those who have put their faith in Christ. Of course, physically, naturally, in the natural, there's this lineage of Abraham, but those who are the sons of Abraham are actually those who have put their faith in God. Those who have the same kind of faith where Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness the same way even we believe in our Lord and Savior, we receive righteousness and therefore we are called sons of God and even sons of Abraham. So those who are of the faith. Verse 8, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed. In you all the nations shall be blessed. So we see that reference in Genesis 12. And I'm sure we've read that many times, Genesis 12 and verse 3. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse them who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So God pronounces blessing and he says, Abraham in you all the nations shall be blessed, all the families shall be blessed. So this is something that Paul is saying, God foreseeing that those who believe and those who have the same kind of faith as Abraham, you know, they will receive the blessing, the same kind of blessing that Abraham did. So in you, so it says that Abraham, the gospel was actually preached to Abraham. The scripture foreseeing that something like this would happen, the gospel was actually preached. The good news of believing in God was actually believing by faith. It was actually preached to Abraham. We don't know whether he received a revelation of the cross or not. But the fact is that God said that in you, it was partly a revelation, like in you all the nations shall be blessed. So referring to the kind of faith that he had and we receive righteousness. So years down, centuries down, millennials down, when we have the same kind of faith and put our faith and believe in what Christ did on the cross, we receive the same righteousness, what God brought about on Abraham, the same thing that we receive and enjoy also. So verse nine, those, so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. So talks about, he's talking about the law now here, and he's referring to, you know, all these things which are in the law and he's talking about Abraham. And through him, the law was given and he's talking, referring to the faith of Abraham here now, saying that he's going to talk about how the difference between the works of the law and so on. But he's talking about the faith of Abraham. He's saying, you know, Abraham believed God and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. And those who believe, those who have the same kind of faith, they are the actual sons of Abraham. And so God prophesied, he gave a prophetic word saying in you all the nations, all the people groups, all the people shall be blessed. Let's look at verses, any doubts here, any questions here before we proceed to verses 10? Anything at all? Okay, so for us as believers, we just need to be careful about, let me just scroll, yeah, we just need to be careful about not going back to the law. No, no, we may not be going back to the law like how, you know, how these people did, like in terms of circumcision or keeping the some of the traditions or, you know, and things like that. But we could be actually, instead of living in grace or instead of teaching the grace of God, we could be unknowingly, you know, maybe upon ourselves, we might be saying, okay, you know, if I do this, this, we're not, I'm not talking about, you know, living a holy life or living a life of righteousness, you know, those are things that come because we are being made righteous, right? But maybe there are certain other things that we could, for example, you know, in our own minds, we might say, okay, if I, you know, if I need to read the Bible in a year, you know, I'm just being careful about, you know, saying this because, you know, it's good, you know, we need to read the word, we need to be in the word, it's the word of God which produces faith in us and which is the word of God which leads us to a relationship with the Lord Jesus. So we need to be in the word, need to know the word of God, the word of God is a weapon and all that, you know, the word of God is nourishment and the Holy Spirit quickens that word to our heart. So all that is true. But if we somehow make it a law, right, saying that if I don't do this or if I do this, only then I am pleasing in the eyes of God. Okay, and suppose we start teaching that, you know, we could teach that to people and say, you know, God is very displeased if you do not spend, let's say, two hours reading the word every day. Now reading the word two hours every day, it's good. It's a good discipline. We all need it. Maybe we should spend more time. But if you are going to, you know, teach that and say God was not pleased, God will not receive you, he's not accepting you, you know, you don't have access to him. If you do not do this, then it becomes a law, which is what the false brethren had actually taught these churches, right? So, so that's the thing is going back to the law, we are going back to, so Aaron says, yeah, sometimes we do that, you know, it seems good. It seems good. And it is a good thing. But then there is a fine difference. We are not accepted because we do this. We are accepted in the beloved because of what Jesus did for us. And it was a work of grace, right? The work of grace would actually empower us to maybe spend more time in the word, maybe spend more time in prayer. And it's not that, it's not spending time in the word, spending time, more time in prayer, which actually, you know, makes us acceptable to Christ. It's not that. So, here they were actually teaching, you know, you need to be circumcised, you need to keep the law in order to, you know, in order to even, you know, call yourself, say, call yourself a follower of Christ, which was, which was totally opposite of, you know, what Christ taught, right? So, so that's, so Paul is actually bringing from the Old Testament itself and showing them that it is by faith, right? Okay, so we'll take a break and we'll come back to verse 10, right? And we'll proceed from there. We'll take a break now.