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00:00:01 Good morning brothers and sisters. Um today's uh scripture is taken from the book of Galatians chapter 3 verses 1 to 5. May I ask you to please stand for the reading of the word? Galatians chapter 3 verse 1. You foolish Galatians, who has bewished you? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the spirit by the work of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish of the beginning by means of the spirit? Are
00:00:44 you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by your believing what you heard? This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Good morning brothers and sisters in Christ. Okay, next week um law or covenant. Galatians chapter 3 verse 1-22. um Uncle Anna will be preaching um law and the Christian the week after that'll be uh brother Brenda Mong
00:01:28 Galatians chapter 3 as well and then the adoption the experience of adoption by Dr. Peter, Galatians chapter 4. All right, before we start, let us bow our heads together and ask the Lord to guide us in the hour ahead. Our father, we give you thanks for the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, that we can have life in him. And Father, we as we come to your word now, we pray that you will help us in our understanding of what it means to grow in the gospel. You have given us our father the good news and that's how we
00:02:00 came to know you as our god. And father now we just pray that we will reconsider and see again a fresh this good news to grow even in our lord Jesus. We ask this in the name of our lord. All right. Galatians chapter 3 verse5 is a quick summary of what we're going to do today. This is really the gist of it. All right. We'll jump straight in. We begin, grow and thrive through faith, not our own human effort. This is the gist. We grow through faith, not our works. Now, first of all, let's uh we have already read it earlier. Um I'll
00:02:44 read through it one more time so that it will just sink in our minds. Oh 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? Are you so silly? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Are you now being perfected? Are you complete by
00:03:17 things in vain? If indeed it was in vain. Therefore, he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you, God, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Now, before we start, who knows what this is? Electric car here. Electric vehicle. EV. Yeah. Who knows what brand? Proton. Everyone also knows our national brand. We thought you know 2020 mate says we got flying cars but only what we have is electric cars. Okay. Consolation price. Now I want you to imagine this. All right. Personally just
00:04:00 imagine I use and work your imagination muscles a bit. Imagine, right? You go to a shopping mall and then I say, you know, spend 50 ringgit and then you stand a chance to win the brand new I don't know how to pronounce it. Is it Heras or EMAS? I'm not quite sure. All right. But it's a electric vehicle. You know, lo and behold, you won it. All right. And it's yours. You know, you are so excited. You drive it off the showroom. Remember, you won it. It was given to you for free. You didn't work for it. You didn't earn it. It was given
00:04:33 to you for free. You want it. Okay. You're taking down the road. You're driving it. You know, you're so happy. You know, it's like, okay, let's take this for a spin, you know, up the north south highway. I'm going to go up to maybe Pinang, right? All the way up. And it's like, wow, you know, this is so great. You know, I don't know about most of us here. It's not entering the market so quickly. Just as some of you may have an electric vehicle, most of us still pump petrol or diesel. Okay. So you say,
00:05:01 "Oh, it's so quiet and it's going so fast, you know, and so effortless, etc. You're so happy, you know, and then you're driving halfway through, you're reaching already, you know, but suddenly after you say, ah, you know, I'm running out of not fuel, you're running out of charge." All right. Yeah, running out of charge. Okay, so logically speaking, you would want to recharge your vehicle, right? You want to start it with more electricity, you know, more charge, and then you can continue again. But then you say, I'm so used to
00:05:34 my petrol and my diesel, you know, I'm not quite sure how this electricity charge works. I know it has got me here thus far, but I tell you what, I don't think I'm going to charge my vehicle. I'm going to put it in neutral and push my car all the way to Pinang. Seriously? Really? Every one of us thinks that's silly, right? But guess what? That's exactly what happened to the Galatians. And to some extent, it's actually happening to us as well. All right, if you think it's silly, yeah, but actually we can fall in
00:06:08 the same trap. How? So, let's first talk about the Galatians. All right, they call it the Galatian problem. I think this has been covered um quite a number of times earlier. without understanding this context it's very hard to understand Galatians there were a bunch of people the Jews or the Judaizers in this case the church of Galatia remember Galatia is in um a place in Asia Minor now those people there weren't necessarily Jews right they were Gentiles just like us right non-Jews Jews versus Gentiles they were people
00:06:44 who were not born as an Israelite so naturally of course there were things that they wouldn't didn't do as Jews, right? As the Jews do. Now, to become a Christian, they say, "Oh, you must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." And then some of these people came along and say, "Guess what? I don't think that's enough. You're going to need to be upgraded. You're going to need to do more than just believe. It's not enough to believe. You're going to need to do all these things. You need to be circumcised because, well, the
00:07:10 Gentiles aren't circumcised." And he says, "You need to follow the Levitical laws. You need to do, you know, all the washing of the plates, etc., food laws, ceremonial laws. You had to do the sacrifices. Not enough for you to become a Christian. You believing is one part, but you still need to keep the law because that was how the Christians came to be in the first place. So it's not just enough to hear and believe. You also have to work. You have to do something else. So it's belief, faith plus works. All
00:07:39 right? Paul is saying you begin with the spirit. You don't try to finish your Christian journey by your own strength. And that's exactly what Paul was trying to get across to the Galatians. God gave us his spirit. And so that should be the very force that pushes us in the life that he's given and not that we can drive our own life on our own strength but by his strength. So there are five rhetorical questions that are being asked. It's a small passage, five verses only, but packed and pregnant with meaning.
00:08:16 Who has bewitched you? Rhetorical question number one, who has fooled you? Rhetorical question number two, did you receive the spirit two ways? One is by your own works or did you believe? Number three, having begun in the spirit, now you have already began. Do you now continue with your works and your all your faith? Number four, have you suffered all of this in vain? Is it for nothing? And number five, God, he's he who supplies you with his spirit and works miracles among you. Is it by works or is it by your faith? Five questions.
00:08:58 Now, three contrast I like you to make is this. You always see the term by the works of the law, hearing of faith, which is believing by faith. Begun in the spirit is really synonymous with hearing of faith. And then by the flesh is by the works of the law. last one by the works of the law hearing of faith. There's always this contrast in this particular passage after these five verses Abraham was used as an example. So you will see that next week I believe. Right? So today three parts. First one is the
00:09:31 commencement by faith in verse two. You start off one way. Right? You were born again. For those who are Christians, you have accepted Lord Jesus Christ. You were born again. You received the spirit by faith. All right. So the gospel as we know entering God's kingdom. This is the part where a lot of people usually focus on is about preaching. You must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for you to be saved because uh we are all sinners and we need a savior this is the gospel. Yes, but the gospel is the way yes we
00:10:05 enter the kingdom. But Paul is now saying there's much more than that. It's not just about you know entering. It's more than that. We are not only saved by the gospel. We also now grow by the gospel. We usually think we are saved by the gospel and then we need to do do right. Sometimes we're taught you need to serve, you need to be in this ministry and we need to do this, you need to do that and there are more implications of that even in our real life today, right? We have other um people that teach that
00:10:37 you need to attend certain things you know for you to be a Christian etc. So you hear the term Christ is clearly portrayed in verse one. Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed to you crucified. Now the portrayal in this case it's achieved through preaching of what you heard. Now you know we were thinking how was he portrayed? How was he graphically vividly shown? In those days there were no PowerPoint slides like we do have now. So they only heard but it was clearly portrayed somehow. They saw how how is it possible right? They saw what
00:11:16 Jesus had done on the cross. Now what's that term see what you have heard? How do you see now? How do you clearly see something portrayed? Now do you remember in Job chapter 42? The Lord speaks to Job out of a whirlwind. He says, but but at the end Job says, "I have heard you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." No man has seen God at any time. Job says, "I can see you." Interesting term. It's not with his eyes that he saw God. Is the eyes of his spiritual understanding as it were that
00:11:50 saw God. He finally understood who God is. There was just a wind and a voice. But now he actually can perceive. That's the word see. So when we say here in verse one about Christ being clearly portrayed to the Galatians. See you're so foolish. You know it was so vividly portrayed to you, right? It really means that they saw it at the beginning. A Christian is not someone who just knows about the Lord Jesus. It is someone who has seen him on the cross. Remember that sea that we said just now. It's not just
00:12:21 physically see and that's it. That's not the point. It's really that our hearts have been moved by the very fact that he didn't just die but he died personally for me for you. It's a personal application of what the Lord Jesus has done. We see the meaning of his work for us. Now when we see Christ is clearly portrayed. He died on the cross. Yes, some people may know about him but you know do they believe? Yeah some believe but only intellectually but some believe from the heart. And believing from the heart is how we taste
00:12:54 it. We see it. We sense it. We know it's real to us. It's no longer just a concept that is in the mind. It has reached the heart. It has hit the heart. It really has gripped them in the heart as it were. So how do you become a Christian? Remember, we get the facts. That's one part. That's not good enough, though. You must not rely on your good works. You suddenly say now, "Hey, Christ died for my sins. Why do I need to make myself good anymore by my own works? I trust him." Now, that's the seeing. That's how we become Christians.
00:13:24 When he grabs us in the heart, then it that's what it means to move from the mind into the realm of faith. That's how you get imputed righteousness. That's how you become a Christian. Now the term believing here is something that you will come over and over again right the hearing of faith remember I've already defined it it is not to do with an intellectual ascent it is more to do with believing in the heart that you stop trying to attain your own salvation by your own effort by observing the law
00:13:57 the works of the law as it were now we this is another definition um about made perfect. I'm jumping the gun here. Just keep this in mind. All right, it's a bit dry, but you will it will be worth it to just keep in mind. In verse three, he says there, "Having begun flesh, are you now made perfect?" The word is really epito which is really to mean to attain your goal, to complete, to accomplish, to finish. Are you going to complete your Christian race as it were? Because that's a metaphor being used by your own works.
00:14:31 Are you going to go go go out of the car now and start pushing it again rather than just relying on the power which once brought you to where you are today? So how do we complete ourselves? There are many ways that we do it. Usually we try to make ourselves acceptable to God or to others through our own efforts through moral or vocational or even relational achievements. We will see this in more detail later. But the point is saying that believing the gospel what you heard is to abandon my own way my
00:15:00 own you can say approach my own methods of making myself right with God. We stop observing the law and attaining our goal. The question is who or what are we trusting? It's like you know in Cantonese say right? So I trust in the gospel, but I also trust in my own works. You know, soon enough you're going to fall in the river. All right? There's no way you're going to say that you're going to survive. So when we become before we become Christians, we start to trust all sorts of different things to help us,
00:15:36 you know, feel like we are actually worthy. Well, that's what sin does, right? Sin actually makes us unworthy and is glaring us in the face and say, you know, you are actually not quite a worthy person. So we find all ways all our fake leaves to try to cover ourselves up. It can be our clothing. It can be our makeup. It can be our cars. It can be our houses. It can be our money. It can be it can be our good works. I say you know oh I give so much to the poor. You can do all sorts of things or you know you can lead a church
00:16:08 or you can be a leader in a ministry. I can be a CEO. All these kind of things are fake leaves just to try to cover our inadequacies. That is the projects that you can say to make us feel epitomp complete. But to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is to revolutionalize what or in this case who we trust for our sense of completion because Christ has done it for me. Then why do I need this anymore? So that's how we received the spirit. So the result of believing the vividly portrayed and shown gospel of the Lord
00:16:44 Jesus Christ that result is that we receive God's spirit. That's how we become Christians. That new birth. Remember we are still in verse two. It's talking about the commencement of our faith. How do we start having begun? That is verse three. But in this case, did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by believing? This new birth, receiving the spirit is inextricably linked and connected to believing the gospel. Now, where do we find this? The Lord Jesus tells us this. Now, we're going to look at three
00:17:13 examples. First one, the Lord Jesus says in John 3:3-7, most assurely, or verily, verily, I say unto you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Born again. So, Nicodemus say, how can a man be born again? You know, he go back into his mother's womb and come back out again. Is that it? Then the Lord Jesus says unless he actually goes into detail now on what that born again means. It's not born again a second time through the same nature is being born again in a new different nature. Born of
00:17:47 water and the spirit. That which is born of flesh. That which is born of human beings. Your physical birth. That which is physical is physical. And that which is born of the spirit of the holy spirit of the holy ghost is spirit. You need that second birth. Receive the spirit. Remember. So do not marvel. Do not be surprised. Do not be amazed that I tell you you must be born again. Then James also says he chose to give us birth. God chose us. How we are we going to be born again? Through the word of
00:18:24 truth. You are born again by the word of God. The very word that's being preached to you every Sunday morning, that's the way you are going to be born again. If you have not been born again, if you are, you have been born again. This is how you became a Christian. And this is emphasized even more in 1 Peter chapter 1 23. You have been born again through the living and abiding word of God. So you see that how intricately linked they are. The new birth through the spirit. John 3:5. New birth through
00:18:56 the word of God. James chapter 1 vers8 and 1 Peter 1 vers23 they are linked together is saying this you cannot be born again without the spirit of God and without the word of God. They are both uses and the spirit of God does not work apart from the gospel. And the gospel is the channel and the form of the spirit's power. That is why the word of God is so important. It's not a textbook. It is the living word that God has breathed and the spirit uses to give us new life. That's how we receive the spirit. That's
00:19:31 the first part. We commence the gospel. Is it by your own efforts? Let's do a recap. Nothing at all about your efforts or my efforts, right? It's just that God has come in grace. This is my son. Believe. And he was like, "Okay, you know, that's how I entered the kingdom of God." The Galatians got that right. At least the first part they received the spirit by the hearing of faith not by the works of the law. So now part two is about the confusion of the flesh. What did they do? Having begun in the
00:19:59 spirit you have already become a Christian. Now are you going to be made perfect? Are you now going to be a better Christian by the flesh? They want an upgrade as it were. All right the Galatians saying the Jews come to them and say you know you're going to get upgrade by doing all these things. Then guess what? Now what is this called? Now a lot of this going on nowadays you know scam right I heard scam and you're right my mother always tell me can I open this link uh can I uh you know log in here you know later I get scammed
00:20:30 right so that's scam all right a lot of this is happening right now guess what the Galatians were also scammed they were bewitched who has scammed you that's what Paul was saying in the Galatians life something changed they had believed what They heard about the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified. They received the spirit but now they are foolish. They say you are so for lack of a better term quite crude. Stupid. All right. You are foolish. You have been bewitched. You have been scammed. Who cast a spell over you? Who has scammed
00:20:59 you? That is what Paul was saying to the Galatians. You come into the kingdom of God by hearing and believing. And now you want to complete yourself by what you do. So how were they scanned in this case? Remember Paul says this way the same way the way the spirit enters our life should be the very same way the spirit advances in our life is one way to start and it should be the same way to continue but some of them says it's one way to start and it's a different way to continue. Are you going to be now
00:21:36 made perfect by your own works through your own human effort through observing the law? We'll talk about this in more detail as to what about observing the law means right. Are we saying that know can we throw it out the window all together? We we'll come to that. You know it's like okay now it says thou shalt not steal. Okay now means I can steal. I don't need to follow the law anymore. You know what the implications? So the Galatians they were foolish to start right but they finished or they continued wrong. Right? They
00:22:02 started one way and they went another way. So the start of their life was marked correctly but they were perfected as it were by their own efforts. So is it right? Paul is saying that we don't begin by faith in Christ and then proceed to grow through our works. You don't begin one way and then continue another way. We are both doing it the same way. Justified by faith, sanctified by faith. We don't leave the gospel behind. Now, why is this so difficult? Because it has been quite rooted since our infancy. Every time when we are
00:22:35 young, you're always, you know, given a little carrot as it were. You do this and then you will get this carrot. I still remember you read one Nancy Drew book William you get 10 ringgit. Oh, you know how many Nancy Drew books I read man. Okay. So I grew up you know earning money that way because like oh yeah you know but actually honestly it's quite you know I'm I'm very privileged. Some people don't even have books. Okay that in itself should be a reward but you get the idea behind it right. So if you were
00:23:04 brought up this way what is this called? It's a meritocracy right? You are given rewards based on your merit. Everyone has been through it some way or another. If it's not through your family, it will be through society. It will be through your work. It will be through your peers. People will say, "Wow." When they see such big things, they glorify these things. Achievements, money, property, success, status, medals, recognition. All you can think of all different things that you can base your merit upon
00:23:39 even on your character. Some people say, "Oh, you're brave, so I'll be more brave. You're intelligent. I will do this and do that." All these things can be used as a proxy as it were. So we have thought about this since we are young and now the Galatians right they were being fooled by the Jews trying to bring this in and say you know what actually this is more important to you than just believing now this is going to be a bit more in depth so try to follow if you can if you can't just know that
00:24:12 there is a summary for this justification is a legal standing we have been justified in Christ when we believe it's a legal standing you have just been moved now okay you are now righteous. Sanctification is the process in which we become holy and become more like the image of Christ. When believe we are not instantly sanctified sometimes uh you know people who just become Christians you know then they say oh how come I become a Christian I still do the things which are wrong. I still lie. I still you know
00:24:42 um steal stuff you know inevitably I don't want to do it but I'm still doing these kind of things. Why? That's the process of sanctification. Over time we become more holy. But is it through my own efforts? Now that's a question because if it is we come now to a term which is linking the two together. Right? They become one and part of the same process. That's called legalism. I am accepted by God not only because I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only because I believe but because I work hard to become like Jesus
00:25:14 Christ. And you see that a lot not just outside but also within our own Christian circles within our own church. You will see that a lot. I challenge you to take a look around you and find not just other people but yourself as well. How is this applying in your life? It becomes quite obvious soon enough. So there is confusion between these two. Some think that sanctification is by works and human effort. But this is not true. It is the both we have already said justification and sanctification is
00:25:45 by faith. It is not by faith and works because if it's a cooperative effort between ourselves and Lord, it is actually an error and it can be misleading. We always think that oh yeah you know I'm saved through faith and now I need to work my way to become a better Christian. Our desire is there but it's not about works. So, here's what everybody, almost everybody does. We try harder. Aya, I say another lie again. I'm going to try harder not to lie next time. I'm going to try harder. All right. Aya, I do this and do wrong. Aya,
00:26:19 you know, I get angry at my my uh daughter again. Aya, you know, I lose my temper again. Aya, I try harder. So, actually, that is not quite where the gospel comes into the picture. All right? You're trying harder to be a better Christian. That's your own work. It's your own effort. Okay, that's what Paul is trying to advocate against who have bewitch you, who scammed you. You know, now you think you can be better. You can, you know, have a better temper or you can, you know, be more truthful just by trying harder, just by
00:26:48 willpower. Not happening. You will become what is called a Christian behaviorist. You will do behavior modification. All right? You will never work on what motivates you or your heart, but you will work on your behavior only the outcome. All right. You say, "Yeah, I shouldn't be worried. I, you know, I shouldn't be out of control. I shouldn't be angry. I shouldn't lie. I shouldn't steal. I shouldn't feel guilty. This is all wrong." And you will write the symptoms, but not quite the root cause. It's like
00:27:19 saying, you know, uh, someone has a a stroke, all right? And then you just give them penol. You are relieving the symptom. Or I don't even know whether it works. I don't think it will, but you're just relieving the symptom, but you're not addressing the root cause. Maybe it's high blood pressure, cholesterol. That's the underlying root cause. And this is exactly what's happening. When we just address behavior, we are just addressing the surface level superficial symptoms and not the underlying root
00:27:47 cause. Jeff Bridges puts it this way under the discipline of grace is a book. I believe part of the problem is our tendency to give an unbeliever just enough of the gospel to get him or her to pray a prayer to accept Christ. say the sinner's prayer and then immediately we put the gospel on the shelf and say okay that's done and then we put them on the duties of disciplehip you need to be a disciple now we need to push you through you know our pipeline you know and make sure that you know you become
00:28:14 more and more like Christ but by your own effort all right you must you must you must so this moralistic behavior change if it's just Christ righteousness this wouldn't be you know the sole outcome but if you add it together with your own obedience and say that you know my acceptance by God is dependent on Christ's righteousness and my obedience the primary motivation for obedience now will be the fear of punishment or the desire for blessing a carrot and a stick remember thish so you realize there are
00:28:46 a lot of false gospels out there prosperity gospel especially really really hits with this desire for blessing so if I obey God he's going to give me more money this is not the gospel it's a false gospel who has scanned you ah This is you can tell your prosperity gospel friends you have been scammed. Okay. So anyway so the result of this is insecurity. You're going to feel like oh if I don't do enough you know I'm not going to be approved by people. You or if you are doing enough you will result with something called
00:29:15 spiritual pride. You start looking down people. Ha you know that person never do this I've been doing that. I've been giving this much that person never give or that person you know never comes to church. I come to church. you know I'm such a good Christian because that spiritual pride comes from my own selfworth right I'm obeying therefore so it results in all these sort of things all right and and that's how you identify whether you are doing it really because of who you have been inwardly changed that Christ really come and
00:29:49 transform my life or is it because you know I'm relying on my own works to be accepted Tim Keller in center church is a It says that moralistic behavior simp change simply manipulates and leverages radical selfishness. It's your own selfish wanting things and you know it's just a manipulation of it. So it tries to use the selfish against itself by appealing to fear and pride. While this may have some success in restraining the heart self-centeredness, it does nothing to change it. Absolutely nothing. It
00:30:21 only confirms its power. It's like saying this your heart is really a bit like you know that springy metal you know and you say I'm going to change the shape yeah with my own willpower I will really really you know bend it. Yeah you can bend it for a short while and then after a while when your willpower loses it's just going to spring back again. So it's based on your willpower is never going to last. It's going to relapse. What we need is a transformation in the heart based on the gospel. Ezekiel chapter 36 God puts it
00:30:50 this way. I will give you a new heart, a new spirit. I will put my spirit within you. Last time they tried to follow the works of the law so that they can be saved as a means of salvation. But now we can do the works because we are saved. Now that's a different thing. So how do we know if we are relying on self-righteousness? My wife asked me this question. It's quite an interesting one. Okay. So when we do things right and if we do it wrong do we have a sense of self- condemnation? Are we anxious
00:31:23 about you know wanting yeah you know if I got this wrong yeah I messed up real big you know one of my fears is like me preaching here right I'm being put on YouTube it's there forever you know I make a mistake and it's there forever am I anxious you know am I touching with criticism if people come up and tell me you know that is you know what what you did with him was really bad you know you shouldn't have done that will I feel criticized how do I feel will I fall apart hardw I fail you know so what am I
00:31:55 relying on am I relying on people's approval because if I am then I will fall apart but if my identity is based on the Lord Jesus Christ is built on him well people can say all they want about me but I'm accepted by God already that is the biggest approval I want do you see what's going on here right are we still relying on the law if we are there's still a curse on us there's still a sense of condemnation upon us so it's good are good works necessary then because it's very possible to say that ah you know we
00:32:21 don't need good works anymore. Now, there is a very interesting key to this. What is your motive? If you're doing good works so that you can be accepted is different from doing good works because I'm already accepted. Okay? So, Paul is saying here that we it's not that we should ignore the law. All right? It's not to say don't observe the law because the laws are there. Thou shalt not murder. You say, "Oh, oh no, I'm a Christian now. I can go murdering people." No, you can't do that. Right? That's not right. The law is still the
00:32:49 law. He does not say, "Hey, you're a Christian now. You can do anything you want. You can lie. You can cheat. You can steal." Of course not. What is he saying? There is a difference between this. It's not about keeping the law or breaking the law. It's about relying on the law. Are you relying on the law? Are you relying on your own selfworks? Are you relying on your own achievements to be a better Christian? We are to observe but not rely. Okay? So we can keep and not break but not rely on it. That's the key. We
00:33:26 cannot rely on the law. What does this practically mean? All right. Now, this is where it gets a bit hazy, you know, and I'll do my best. All right. Tax season coming up. All right. Um, make sure you do your tax returns. Be a good citizen. Okay. Um having said that you know especially you know taxes in Malaysia is that bracketed system right and we'll try to find ways you know I am paying so much tax to the government you know I hope they make good use of it or you know you know maybe you try to say maybe can I get a
00:34:00 relief or not you know can I get this relief or cannot get a relief it's a gray area very hard you know how you know so as believers we must not steal or cheat on our taxes we may be tempted to So maybe I I'll just underdeclare a bit and we may be tempted to do that right but because we feel anxious about our finances life already so high cost of living going up and now I have to pay taxes you know so option one one of the ways we can deal with this okay you know what I'm not going to cheat I'm not
00:34:26 going to I you know I I will fully declare everything you know I'll be a good you know citizen of Malaysia because I'm a Christian all right in a sense yes we are saved and therefore we should do good works but do you see what's the problem with this statement. The problem is that we are just appealing to our character. We're not really thinking about how the gospel applies here. It's just I'm a character and then you know out of guilty conscience actually you know as Christians if I do this wrong people are
00:34:59 going to say Christians are bad people you know. So the motivation is not quite there. Now, how should it be that the second option by walking by faith and trust in the Holy Spirit? We are reminded that the Lord has promised to provide for all our needs. Remember, our greatest need was met at the cross. If he's going to take care of you and yeah, you know, we may be working with less if we don't cheat. But that is what it means to trust because based on the gospel, God has met all our needs. If we trust him
00:35:33 now, then we know that he will provide. I don't need to do all these things anymore. I don't need to go out of my way to make myself feel comfortable because God is going to provide for me. So question comes again, are you so foolish? Galatians, they thought they could upgrade from grace to effort is a downgrade. Instead of growth, it's regression. They were going backwards. So if we're not careful, we can slip into trying to earn what was always meant to be a gift. That's the gospel. So what faith starts, the flesh cannot
00:36:10 sustain. The Galatians were now trying to continue in the flesh what was commenced by the spirit and it's foolishness. You start spiritually, you finish carnally. Not going to happen. That's the second one, the confusion of the flesh. Now the third one, I've told you what not to do. Let's tell you what to do. the continuence through faith. Now this verse says there that God supplies to you the spirit and he does miracles. It is by the hearing of faith or is it by the works of the law? We already know the answer is a rhetorical
00:36:44 question. Is by the hearing of faith? It's by believing the gospel. And is is it in the present? Now this is written in the present tense and twice he supplies and then he works miracles. All right they are in the present tense. The work of the spirit occurs because we believe continue believing. It's not just because we believed once upon a time. Yes, that's very important. But it's a continued belief. It links the spirit and the gospel in inseparable terms. We have already done that earlier. So the work of the spirit was
00:37:15 not due to their observance of the works of law. It's not not because I follow these set of rules and therefore god blesses me. Is because of God's grace. The work of the spirit was by their hearing of the message of the gospel with faith. They just believed what God said and that was how God operates. He still operates like that today. Take God at his word, believe him and God will lead you accordingly. So if we did not gain salvation by works, how are we trying to grow spiritually by our works? Faith
00:37:46 isn't just the starting line, it's the supply line. You have to continue this way. Now, how? What does it practically mean? It's going to be tough. I'm going to skip this. How? Now, this is a big question. How? All right. How is it possible for me to not rely on the things around me, you know, to find my sense of selfworth? How? And this is through what we call the gospel redepiction. Remember Christ portrayed to you earlier vividly. Now we want it to happen over and over again. Our failure to obey and to conform to
00:38:23 Christ's character, it's not a matter of simple lack of willpower. It's not about willpower. If it's about willpower, we have got it wrong. Not about trying harder. The root of our disobedience is really in seeking our own way to make ourselves righteous in our own method. So how do we redepict it as it were? The way to progress as a Christian is to continually repent and uproot these beliefs. how we see Christ's saving work for us over and over and over again. We abandon our self-effort to complete ourselves.
00:38:58 We must go back again and again to the gospel of Christ crucified so that our hearts are more deeply gripped by the reality of what he did and who we are in him. That's the only way. Why do we preach the gospel over and over and over again? It's a very tough job to preach. Why? Why do we do it over and over again? If you just say just to be a Christian, right? Honestly, many of us here actually don't need to be here anymore. Why are you listening to this over and over again? You've heard it a thousand times. Why do you have to
00:39:30 listen to it over and over again? To remind ourselves. Yes. And to remind ourselves, it will actually help us to help that reality sink into our hearts of what he has done for us. You need it not just to start, you need it to continue. Our service for the Lord, our ministries, what we do, is it based on so that I can be approved by people or is it so that I can be approved by God? Because if that is the case, we have got it wrong. The gospel, if we sing in our hearts, we know that what we're doing is
00:40:06 really because I am a new creation. You are wasting your time. if all there is was just to start and enter the kingdom of God. But it's not a waste because this is how we grow. Our hearts are like this tree. The more we hear the gospel, the more it takes root in the gospel. The more we don't rely on other things around us. We rely on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are more gripped by what he has done and who we are. And then we will abandon our selfwork. It's a bit like this. Our
00:40:37 understanding of who God is and who we are determines how much our love is for him. The more we hear the gospel, the more we hear the gospel, the more we hear the gospel, the more we hear the gospel, the more we understand who God is and who we are and our love for him will grow. It'll be natural for you to do the very works that God has intended you to do. Not because you have to do it to save yourself. It's because of who he is and who we are in him. Now Luke chapter 9:23 puts it this way. If any
00:41:11 man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. I used to think that, you know, when I was younger, this verse really means that I need to sacrifice myself. I need to offer myself. I need to surrender my life to God, you know, and let him take over. But actually, right, you know, and then you have to take up his cross. It's like a burden I have to carry. But if you look at it from Galatians chapter 3's perspective, denying yourself is just really saying, "I'm denying myself of
00:41:39 the way that I want to be right with God. I just give up trying to be right by my own way, taking up the cross." It's really just saying that I'm reapplying, as it were, what Christ has done for me over and over again. And therefore, remember the Lord says, "Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Why? Because he's lifting it up. He bore it all at the cross already. Now, I'm going to give you a quick case study about anger. All right? If I
00:42:14 struggle with anger, I say, "Lord, I have a problem with anger at Mr. A. Please remove my anger by your power. Please give me the power to forgive." All right? That's one approach. Or some people are more creative and they decide you know instead know Lord please remove him by your power there different ways you know we can always pray and ask the Lord things none of these are going to work all right you say oh yeah he's addressing the root of the problem not quite it instead we need to reapply the gospel to
00:42:44 our lives here how if we have uncontrolled bitterness is really just we are not living in line with the gospel why something else now has become our functional savior. What is this William? What is he talking about? I don't understand what you're saying. Instead of believing in Lord Jesus Christ is our hope and our goodness, we are looking to something else as our hope. Instead, we should be asking if I'm angry and unforgiving, what is it that I think that I need so much? What is it that makes me feel
00:43:11 complete or gives me hope or gives me a sense of selfworth? It might be that I want comfort above all things. And so if someone takes away their comfort you know you know I want to sleep in in and then someone rings the door doorbell thing dong and I wake up and I get angry you know because I value my comfort or if someone you know I am almost going to get that promotion someone undercut me you know oh you know now I can't get the respect and the recognition that other that I should get you know then you get
00:43:37 angry haven't you made that your god your idol so our functional saviors are all these things I'm just giving you examples comfort approval control We get bitter when they are taken away from us. And it's not about trying harder. It's about saying I repent of this self-righteousness which is the root of our anger. As we make our hearts look at Christ crucified, the spirit will work in us to replace that functional savior with the savior and the root of our anger will wither. It's like saying this
00:44:10 originally the gospel should take root in our hearts slowly suddenly sometimes other things displaces it. The approval of men displaces it. I want that more. I want their respect more. The more we preach the gospel to ourselves, we realign ourselves back again and say, "Okay, I found my selfworth in the gospel." So, we should rely on Christ. As Christians, we need to relearn the gospel every day. That's why I preach here every Sunday. Every message here, we preach Christ crucified. Why? Because
00:44:42 we are prone to wonder. The hymn puts it that way. The Christian life is a battle to rely on the gospel and not on ourselves. Don't trust ourselves. Trust Christ. It's a spiritual transformation from the inside out rather than outside in. I'm not doing religious works so that I'm approved by God. That's outside in. This is inside out. If I believe in Lord Jesus Christ and I trust in him, his righteousness will result in faith, in love, in hope, in grace. And he gives me a new identity, new motives,
00:45:12 new thinking. And that results in permanent behavioral change, not just modifications. How do how we live is determined by who we trust. Comfort, approval, control, power, money, are those your idols? Because that will determine how you live. But if you have faith in Christ, if you eagerly await his coming, you eagerly wait upon him, you trust him for your sense of selfworth, you will respond differently. So look away from yourself and focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. We may slowly drift from the
00:45:49 gospel just as the Galatians did. The foolish Galatians, the problems that Paul addressing Galatian reminds us that the Christian life cannot be lived by our own power on autopilot. It's a daily struggle. Galatians chapter 2, Paul is saying that we have died to the law as a way of being saved. We are no longer relying on the law. So what do we rely on now? Galatians 2 verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. I don't need to rely on the law
00:46:19 to be saved anymore. Christ is living in me. And the life I now live in the flesh while we are still here on earth, I live by the faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The work has been finished. You can say that the work is complete. I am complete in him. I now live my life. I make my choices. I do my work. I do it remembering who I am by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. Before we sing our final song, this is the song you're going to sing. I want you to
00:46:52 emphasize your focus on these lyrics. There is one gospel to which I cling. All else I count as loss. For there where justice and mercy me, he saved me on a cross. No more boast in what I can bring. No more I carry the weight of sin. For he has brought me from life to death. I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope this will be our key in our life. We commence by faith. Yes. Don't be confused by the flesh. continue in faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we're going to grow in the gospel. Let's
00:47:30 bow our heads together. Our father, we give you thanks that we have been given such a wonderful gospel, such a wonderful good news, our father, that you have given to us that we don't need to work for your approval to be accepted by you. You have provided yourself a lamb. You have provided us the means to salvation throughout all eternity from the beginning of time even from the time of Cain. He would work his way to be approved by you. But father you have taught us that we can't do it by our own
00:48:08 works. You have just given us the best. You have given the best that heaven could give even your son. And it is in him that we are complete. We are epidio as it were that we are justified and now also being sanctified. We pray father this may take root in our hearts that we are not just saved by the gospel but that we will also grow through the gospel. See us through our father until the end of our life here on earth or until our lord calls us home or until he comes again. We ask this in the name of
00:48:42 our lord Jesus Christ. Shall we rise to sing? Romans chapter 15 verse3. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. And all of God's people say, "Amen." Amen. Thank you all. Have a blessed Sunday. [Music]
