Perfected by the Spirit - Galatians 3:1-6

Back in the time that Paul was writing this letter, there were doctors, there were even surgeons who would be able to cut and to try to help people's physical bodies.

At this time, there was no such thing as a physical heart transplant.

But now in the year 2026, through through God's grace and allowing the minds and the brains that He has created in human beings, we have a deeper understanding of our organs and our organ systems and how we work, how God put us together.

And we live in a time where you might have a big need medically.

You might have an organ that needs to be replaced, one that's failing, or maybe one that was damaged in an accident of some kind.

And there's a there's a a modern way of remedying this physical ailment, this crisis that you might have.

Now imagine this.

Imagine you, where you sit, are in need of a new organ.

Your time on earth is short and shortening rapidly unless you get a new heart.

Your heart is not working properly, it's not circulating blood as it should.

And it's only a matter of time before your body will fail.

Their heart can be placed into your body.

You can have a new heart.

And imagine, let's let's say, after all the meetings and all the details of this heart transplant, the procedure goes exactly how the surgeon imagined it.

Perfectly, flawlessly.

No errors, no complications of any kind.

And afterwards, you go up for a follow-up appointment, many of them, and throughout these appointments, imagine this doctor, this surgeon telling you, hey, um, now that we have this new outlook on life, now that you have this new heart, there's some things that you need to do to continue living well, living as you should with this new heart.

And the things that he's starting to tell you are something along the lines of this.

Now, in order to keep living, you have to do your own oil changes for the rest of your life.

You have to do them.

You can't go to a drive-thru, you can't take it to a shop, you have to do your own oil changes forever.

Also, you need to take a hike from the valley up to McCall twice a year.

You can't take a car, you can't take a bike, you can't take a horse, you have to use your feet.

This is the way that you continue living.

You have to go up there twice.

You can't take your car that you do your oil changes on twice a year or more.

You have to walk to McCall twice a year.

Also, you have to take some things out of your diet permanently.

Bacon off the menu.

Soda off the menu, seafood, most of it off the menu.

You sushi fans are like, really?

This this new heart sounds kind of lame.

This surgeon, does he know what he's talking about?

What she's talking about?

What is going on here?

Now, there's one more thing.

There's one more thing.

You have to stay in your house on Saturdays, and you can't leave for the rest of your life.

You can only leave if your distance traveled is less than your walk to the mailbox.

You cannot leave your house.

You have to stay home.

Imagine all this, all these details connected into your new life and you, your new heart.

Your new heart is supplying you the life that you currently have.

And it's a heart that is working flawlessly.

It's it's perfect, it's pumping blood as it should.

Though you may fall short, you may still struggle with things.

Physically, that heart, the new one that you have, is better.

Better than your old heart.

But this surgeon is telling you, you have to do all these things.

If you don't, then you're not really living.

You're not really utilizing that new heart.

Now, Paul, I use this illustration to underscore Paul's heart for the Galatians, for the churches in Galatia, he's gonna be astonished.

We're gonna see this in chapter three.

He's gonna be bewildered.

He's gonna be thinking, What has gotten into you?

You are not the same people that I once knew, that I once saw.

How can this be?

And for us, if if we're looking at a new life and a new heart that God has given us in salvation, if we have the Spirit of God in us, Paul Paul's gonna again remind us, why is it that you keep insisting that doing all these extracurricular things are going to save you on top of this new heart?

Why?

Why do you believe this?

Who swindled you?

Who tricked you?

Who bewitched you?

Someone casts a spell on you, clearly, because this is not the gospel that I preach to you.

This is different.

Why?

Why are you believing these things?

So let's take a look.

Let's take a look because it's important for us to understand what the gospel is and what we cannot add to it, which is anything.

We cannot add a single thing to the gospel to receive salvation.

It's the gospel alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

So follow along with me in Galatians chapter 3, and we're gonna look at the first six verses.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Paul says, Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

Let me ask you only this: did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Are you so foolish?

Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Did you suffer so many things in vain?

If indeed it was in vain?

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Some powerful questions, some some strong, some strong tone that we are feeling here as Paul continues on trying to identify what happened.

What is the reasonable explanation for your confusion?

You've slipped, you've fallen away from the gospel.

That saves Paul's questions.

What happened to you?

Did someone use magic?

Did someone someone go to Harry Potter Land and cast a spell on you?

What has a hold of your minds and your hearts?

What in the world is going on?

I cannot believe it.

This is Paul's mind.

I gave you the real deal and you've wandered.

I gave you the true gospel and you're adding to it to make it better, to improve it.

Don't do that.

What are we doing?

What are we doing?

Now you might be thinking, man, like these people saw Jesus Christ on the cross.

They saw him dead, and they and they see, they see now that now he's alive, and this is the gospel that that we that we believe.

Pump the brakes a little bit.

Pump the brakes.

This word portrayed, it's a Greek word pographo, and it means something written, something depicted, explained, or set forth publicly.

Meaning it's Paul that educated them on who Christ is and what he did, how he was crucified.

They weren't there.

They weren't there.

They believed by faith, or at least he thinks that.

Because the details and the circumstances are pointing to a different outcome.

He's the one who brought the gospel to them for the very first time.

Now you might be thinking, huh, like I've I've I've been in church for a little bit, but I I think I remember when the first time I I think the first time I heard the gospel was uh a couple years ago, maybe maybe three, four, five years ago, that I kind of like understood it.

You might be counting back the years, and and Paul's thinking the the same thing, like, how long has it been?

It's it hasn't been too long.

It has been decades and decades.

It hasn't been lost in the generations.

You are the same people that I spoke to face to face.

And I told you about the grace of God through Jesus.

I told you about the blood that was shed for you.

I told you about his body that was broken for you.

He took your place.

You don't have to suffer for your sin.

He took your place on the cross.

And they're adding to it.

They're adding my good works.

They're adding my my secret sauce, my my secret ingredient that's going to make it a little better.

The add-ons, the expansion pack, the DLC to the gospel.

They're trying to improve upon perfection and they're failing.

They're buying lies and it's leading them down a path towards destruction because it's a false gospel.

We've talked about this.

If you add to the gospel, it's no longer the gospel, it's false.

It's a false gospel.

The word of Christ was preached to them from the mouth of Paul, publicly portrayed.

Paul delivered the message to them.

It was explained to them in detail.

And they believed.

They believed.

Paul goes on to ask a series of questions.

Did you receive the Spirit in verse 2?

Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Trick question.

He knows the answer.

They know the answer.

They received it by faith.

They received it with joy.

They did not believe initially that their works have anything to do with salvation initially.

And Paul's asking this question again.

How did this happen?

How did you fall off?

How are you off the rails?

I need to know.

This is their spiritual dad.

This is the one who raised them up in the faith, bringing the gospel to their ears and to their hearts.

Did you receive the spirit?

The mark of salvation?

The you are Christ's stamp that cannot be removed from you?

Did you receive the spirit by works?

Did you earn the spirit?

Did you earn all the merit badges and all of a sudden you're an Eagle Scout Christian?

Did you, did you rise through the ranks?

No.

No.

It was by faith.

It was by hearing the gospel, understanding the gospel, and believing it in faith.

That is the way that people are saved.

That is the only way.

It's through faith.

It's not through works.

This is starting to sound more and more familiar.

Like this is like the fourth or fifth week in a row.

It's like, yes, I get it.

Faith.

Yes, not works.

Yes, faith, not works.

I'll say it.

We'll say it some more today.

We'll continue.

We'll continue as Paul defends the gospel and he's doing a follow-up appointment with the churches of Galatia.

In Romans chapter 10, Paul is speaking to the churches in Rome, and he's expressing in verse 14 through 17, he's expressing, how is it that we believe?

Romans 10 · chapter mention

How is it?

In verse 14, he says, How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

You can't call out to someone for help if you don't believe that they can help you.

You can't.

You're fake.

He goes on to say, and how are they to believe in him who they have never heard?

You need to hear, you need to understand, okay?

There's a message communicated.

Continuing on.

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Someone needs to communicate, someone needs to relay the message.

You need someone to say it, someone to relay it, you need to understand it, and you need to believe it.

And you can't believe unless you call out.

That's the evidence of your belief.

The evidence of your faith is action and calling out for help, crying out to God for forgiveness.

This is Paul's message in Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

He goes on in verse 15.

And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.

But they have not all obeyed the gospel.

For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?

So faith comes from hearing in hearing through the word of Christ.

You need to hear.

You need to understand.

And God helps you understand.

If you're in a position right now where you're like, the gospel's kind of muddy.

It's not clear in my mind.

I don't understand it.

Like, I can recite it, but I don't know what that means for me.

Like, I can I can recite the formula.

Y equals mx plus b.

I don't know what that means.

I know, I know what it says.

It's a it's a slope intercept, slope formula.

Why?

You might know the the the Pythagorean theorem, but like what does it do for you?

You might be able to regurgitate like a penguin.

I I know what I caught, now it's for you.

Now you have it.

Yay! Mushed up fish, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's of no use.

It's of no use to you, but maybe for a penguin.

But maybe for a penguin.

I know what imagery to use from now on.

Mushy food.

Mushy Mushy fish.

Mushy fish.

Um but does that make sense to you?

Like you might understand the formula of the gospel, but it does it has no power in you.

Like you you could recite the gospel and you could say, you could recite it, you could tell someone about it, but but if you don't believe it, if it's not if it's not your conviction, if it's not something you believe, it's just they're just words.

They're just words.

Do you believe in the gospel?

Do you understand it?

Did someone bring it to you?

Did someone faithfully explain it to you?

The responsibility is now on you.

The ball is in your court.

What will you do with the gospel?

Will it just hang out in a folder on your desktop?

Are you gonna exercise it?

Are you gonna open it?

Are you gonna run the file?

Are you gonna run the program?

Are you gonna follow?

Are you gonna utilize the spirit that has been given to you?

If you're a Christian, the only answer is yes.

A new heart.

Someone with a new heart can't help but produce fruit, can't help but grow.

We have to look back to the Old Testament to see the first, the first hints, the first whispers of this new heart.

We have to look to Ezekiel 36.

Ezekiel 36, starting in verse 26.

This is God's promise.

Speaking to the future, speaking about the spirit, the helper that he will send, that Jesus will send.

He says, it's better for me to go because the helper will be with you.

In verse 26.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Stone heart, gone.

It doesn't, it's not alive, it's dead.

Heart of flesh, it's pliable, it contracts, it actually pumps the blood, it actually is operating, it's giving you life.

This new heart, this new heart of flesh he will give to you.

He goes on in verse 27.

Ezekiel says this, and I will put my spirit within you.

This is God speaking to his people.

This is this is this is a message for the future.

And cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

He will cause you to obey.

What a prayer.

What a prayer that needs to be.

God cause me, help me to obey.

Lead me into obedience.

Show me the truth of the scriptures, show me the path that I should walk down and cause me to go there.

Make me go.

The spirit enables that.

You cannot resist the spirit if you if you have the spirit within you.

You will grow.

It's inevitable.

Let's write this down for point number one.

Trace the gift of the spirit from Ezekiel.

Trace the gift.

This is the promise, generations and generations in the rear of you.

God is telling his people, I'm going to give you a new heart.

I'm going to place my spirit in you.

You're going to have my spirit.

You're going to have a new operating system.

You're going to have new desires, new affections, new perspectives, and it's going to be in line with obeying me.

What a gift.

We're naturally disobedient, opposing authority, yeah?

Tell me what to do.

Go ahead.

Yeah, I'm not doing it.

Tell me again.

Still not doing it.

There's a stubbornness, a hardness of heart, a crookedness about us without God, without Him leading the way.

We oppose God, and God opposes the proud.

When we think it's our way or the highway, we're best.

You guys are just the bench guys.

I'm the starter.

I call the shots.

I run the place.

I'm the scorer here.

I'm the captain.

I lead the team.

No.

It's a proud heart.

Do you follow God?

Is he your captain?

Is he your head?

Is he leading you in paths of righteousness?

We can look back to Ezekiel, back to the prophet to show us that this promise has been fulfilled.

This promise has been checked off the list, completed.

New heart, new spirit.

The helper is here, dwelling in the hearts of man, in the hearts of those who have repented and believed.

For those who have been, yes, Connor, forgiven.

You can be forgiven if you confess your sin and ask God in faith to forgive you, to give you life.

I was so encouraged by you.

Thank you for that.

We're going to continue on.

You can't just like burn down the level and ask and forgive you.

No, forgive us.

You know what?

We can't abuse grace.

We can't abuse forgiveness.

Just because we know that God's gonna say forgiven, we can't just go about our lives doing what we want.

I think that's what you're saying.

We can't serve two masters.

We can't serve money and God, we can't serve ourselves and God, we can't serve anything else other than God because we will love one and hate the other.

That's what the Bible says.

We can't have two masters.

Money will buy you love and if you have Christ, if you have God, he is your master and he is good.

This isn't like oppression.

This isn't this isn't slavery in a negative sense.

This is this is good to be following God.

This is good to be taking orders from him.

Run away.

Run away from sin.

I agree with that.

Run away.

Turn your back from sin and run away in the opposite direction as fast as you can.

And Paul in Ephesians 3 speaks some encouragement from prison.

He's in prison.

He's locked up for working and living out his life for the Lord, and he's in prison speaking to The churches in Ephesus to the Gentile Christians.

And he's going to speak with an excitement.

This mystery in verse 3 revealed.

The mystery that was revealed to him on the road to Damascus, he's reflecting on it.

The privilege it is that God would extend his grace and salvation beyond his people to the Gentiles of the earth, to those who are not Jew.

Which means that the sons of men in past generations, they did not have this opportunity.

But the Spirit is here, he says.

The Spirit is available.

Salvation is available to the Gentiles.

They're being grafted in.

And it's mysterious.

In verse 10, it's the mysterious.

The people, the creatures of heaven, the spiritual beings, the angels, are filled with wonder.

They look down and give glory to God for salvation being extended to more people.

It's God's eternal purpose.

And it was all fulfilled in Jesus when he died on the cross.

He saved those sinners who were his enemies.

And now those people who are forgiven can boldly stand before God, knowing that because Christ humbled himself to death on a cross, he's going to raise us up because he is alive.

If you are forgiven of your sins, you are God's possession.

He doesn't lose, he doesn't forget, he doesn't discard any of his children.

That's an encouragement to us.

Sometimes we can feel, we can feel left out, sometimes we can feel at a place.

And not in God's family.

You have a place.

You have a father that is only good.

And Paul is going on later in the chapter.

He's praying for his spiritual children that he helped plant.

Church planting was one of Paul's greatest passions, making disciples in different towns, in different cities, all around the ancient world.

He loved seeing people humble themselves and call out for forgiveness.

Call out for God's power, for his saving grace.

And he's praying, he's praying for the church that they would be strengthened, that their inner being would be strengthened, their souls would be encouraged, and the kind that not only gives you a lightness like the monkeys off your back, but an internal strength and refreshment, not a physical strength like the one that you might need for battle or for the weight room, but this spiritual strength that encourages growth in Christ that makes you remember and believe.

Paul is all about following up, checking in on his spiritual offspring.

He's following up with these churches, writing letters to them.

How are you doing?

What's the state of the church?

Is there conflict?

Are things going well?

Are you following Christ?

Are you obeying him?

This is Paul's desire is to see people saved and continuing to grow as they wait for Christ's return.

And the spirit is what he's focused on.

Spirit or works of the law, spirit or flesh.

And in Romans chapter 8, verse 16, Paul says the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Romans 8:16

And he has his doubts about the church, the churches in Galatia.

He has doubts about their salvation because they are adopting and buying a works-based salvation, this hybrid salvation that adds Jesus and works.

The Spirit bears witness.

If you have the Spirit, you are a child of God.

It's a one-to-one.

It's a guarantee.

It's the origin of your spiritual maturity and walk with God begins with the Spirit and continues on through the Spirit.

You cannot grow in Christ without the Spirit.

You cannot obey God without the help of the Spirit.

And the gospel is presented to you, to you, every one of us.

At some point in our lives, if you said yes to Jesus, you've heard and understood the gospel, the word of truth, the gospel that leads to salvation, and you said, I need that.

I can't live without that.

There's no other place to go for me.

And when God saves you, when you call out for forgiveness, he surely will forgive, and you are sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.

That's what Ephesians chapter 1 speaks to in verses 13 to 14.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

The Spirit, who is, verse 14, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Spirit will guarantee your growth, guarantee your progression, your walk with Christ secure.

This is a work of the Spirit, not the works of the flesh, not your resume that ensures your progression step after step after step as you make your way to God in heaven.

It's an interesting thing to look to these scriptures and see this word suffer.

Do you see it?

Verse 4.

Did you suffer so many things in vain?

If indeed it was in vain?

He's asking them, Are you foolish?

If you truly are saved, you have been gun, have you begun in the Spirit.

Your life started in God with the Spirit.

Are you now being perfected by the flesh?

What happened?

Did you suffer so many things in vain?

This group of people, their lives were flipped upside down.

They were suffering.

They were being oppressed, they were losing property.

They had a lot that was going on in their lives, real trials.

And as we think back to our time in James, we understand what trials do for us.

We understand what they accomplish in us, that God would be so kind to send them our way to help us grow.

Were all these things, all these trials for your growth, for your good, were all these things in vain that you would adopt something different that doesn't save you?

This is not making sense to me, Paul says.

Are you foolish?

Are you buying cheap tricks?

You thought this would be an improvement, something better.

Why did you did you suffer so many things in vain?

He calls into question the fact that it might not be in vain because they might not be saved.

He says, if indeed it was in vain.

He's unsure.

He's unsure of their stance, of their of their standing with God.

He is trying to inspect and understand what happened.

These trials.

These trials, what were they for?

James 1:12.

James 1:12

Blessed is man who remains steadfast under trial.

I saw you being steadfast.

We saw this.

I've heard about it.

For when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.

I saw you loving God.

I saw you enduring trials.

Was this all for naught?

What happened?

What happened to you?

And it's good for us to take a moment and pause and reflect and assess our own lives.

So we need to be searching our hearts.

We need to be asking ourselves hard questions.

So let's write this down for point number two and lean into this.

Point number two, inspect spiritual growth without legalism.

You're not going to look at your maturity or your growth or those around you with a finger that's that's wagging, that's critical, that's saying, well, that's definitely not fruit of the spirit.

That's fruit of the flesh.

You're looking with sincerity.

You're trying to understand, is your growth?

What's fueling it?

Is this something that's sprouting up and is withering away?

Is this something that's getting choked out?

We think about the parable of the soils, the different, the different soil conditions that Jesus was speaking of.

And Paul might, as we look to the scriptures as a whole, I think verse 13 in Luke, in Luke 8, I believe, I did not Luke 8, 13.

You might be thinking, these are the ones, these are the ones that the seeds fell on the rocks.

And when they heard they received the gospel, they received the seed with joy, but the seeds sprouted and began to grow, but there was no root.

And they believed for a while, and then after a time of testing, they they fell away.

This could be a group of people that this parable speaks to.

Some fell on the rocks.

As it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture.

It had no root, it didn't send down its roots.

We need to be inspecting our hearts, inspecting the desires that we have.

In Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 5, we see some imagery about shrubs in the desert.

Jeremiah 17:5

And Jeremiah says, Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.

This person's cursed.

He is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come.

He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness in an uninhabited salt land.

He goes on to say, Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

He, on the other hand, he is like a tree planted by water that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and it's not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

The trials that you experience will send down roots deep, deep into the earth, like it, like a tree that would be soaking up water from aquifers deep down.

The roots are tapped in to sources of water that that help you endure the trials, help you endure the times of drought.

The Lord searches the heart.

The Lord knows.

And Paul is not one that is saying, I thus saith the Lord, you are not saved.

He's not saying that.

He's confused and he's asking questions.

He's calling them to evaluate themselves.

The crucible of testing, the trials that come into our lives help refine us, it helps, helps us see where our hope and our trust really is.

So we look to trials as a gift.

We look to trials as a testing of our faith, and that's a blessing for us.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under these trials.

Paul is scattered, his books are all over the New Testament.

And again in Romans, I want to draw our attention to Romans chapter 5.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

And it speaks about how we're justified, how we're saved.

Romans chapter 5, verses 1 through 5 says this.

Romans 5:1–5

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Do you see Paul's attention to detail?

He's all about God getting all the glory.

All of it.

None of it gets distributed to works.

Nothing is brought into this equation.

We have nothing to contribute to our salvation.

There's no works that we can add.

The Spirit has been given to us.

Salvation is available through faith.

We have peace with God because of what Christ has done.

And now for those who are in Christ, those who have responded to the gospel, there's a lifetime of pursuit.

Like the mission isn't over.

Like you've you found you found the solution to your problem.

You found salvation in Christ, but the journey gets better.

Growing with him, knowing him, pursuing him, learning more about him, adoring him more.

This is the life of a Christian.

Day in and day out, pursuing God in the scriptures, pursuing God in prayer, pursuing God with others that would call Jesus Lord.

Let's write this down for point number three.

Pursue God through hearing and believing.

Pursue God through hearing and believing.

It's the Spirit who will sustain you to the end.

It's the work of Christ that enables it.

God is faithful.

Will you pursue him?

Do you know him?

These are questions that we ask often, but we keep asking because these are some of the most important questions that you could ever hear.

Does God know you?

God is faithful to forgive.

Does he call you son?

Does he call you daughter?

Are you in his family?

If you are, how do you know?

How do you know?

Paul's heart is for the wayward.

Paul's heart is for those who have responded to the gospel and are continuing on.

He wants to check in.

He wants to hear updates and reports.

When I was younger, I I was scared of bringing my progress reports home because I didn't get the grades that I wanted to.

I would hide them.

I would be be ashamed of like my low grades, or more so my behaviors in class that my my teachers were commenting on.

I wasn't I wasn't uh the most obedient student and I did get into trouble.

Um fun fact, I was suspended twice.

Uh never expelled, but suspended twice.

And um those those those are some wild times.

You you can you can trust that that your sins will be forgiven, guys.

You can trust that the things that God supplies to you, the spirit, fellow believers, they're for your good.

Paul's conclusion to the section, he's he's asking another question.

Does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Paul Paul wants the honest progress report.

He's like, what's the real deal here?

Is this is this growth?

Is this supply of the spirit?

Is this by works of the law?

Is this gift, is this gift of the helper to you because you've been doing well?

You've been checking all the boxes, you've been you've been going to every Sunday school class, you've memorized your ten verses for the week?

Or is God supplying the spirit to you because you've heard and you've responded in faith?

Just like Abraham.

He's speaking about Abraham here in the sixth verse.

Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, is this you?

Is this how you've you've received the spirit because you've believed?

You've trusted in God, you had faith in God.

Is this how this has happened for you?

Or do you think that somehow this the spirit that you think you have is because you've earned it, you've worked your way to achieve it.

Now, in it's easy in this world to compare ourselves to people that might be less than, people that have a lower GPA, a lower struggle than us, or a higher struggle than us.

We can we can be finding our ways to feel better about ourselves by by looking around and saying, well, I'm I'm checking all these boxes and they're not.

I'm I'm more obedient at home with mom and dad.

I don't struggle like they do.

I don't disobey like they do.

I'm I'm better, I'm more obedient, and therefore I'm favored.

This this is this is the the formula that the church in Galatia is is looking to.

Jesus died, he rose again, and my works are bringing me to heaven.

No, just like Abraham, church of churches in Galatia, just like Abraham, if you believe in God, if you have Christ, you will be counted among the righteous.

It's not your works.

Those don't play.

Those are those are evidences of the spirit in you.

Those are not what will add up and are the sum of of your goodness that God will approve of and let you into heaven.

That's that's backwards.

That's on the other side of the equal sign.

So my my call, my question to you is do you have the spirit?

Do you have a new heart?

Are you believing what the surgeon has told you in this Christian life?

All you have to do is read one page of your Bible, go to church three out of four times a month, memorize a set number of verses from this list, raise your hand at an altar call, and you're saved.

And do all these things and be a good Christian and do all the things that your pastor tells you to do.

And because you've done all these things, you'll be led into the gates of heaven.

No.

No.

At the end of your life, you will only have Christ to boast in.

You will only look to him to say, I'm saved because he died.

I'm saved because he paid the price for me.

That is the way of faith.

Do you believe it?

Or are you believing in your own efforts?

Let's pray.

God, we we need your help.

We need you to cause us to believe, to cause us to obey.

Um, for for some in this room, uh, they they are walking with you.

They're they are figuring out what the Christian life looks like as they study your word, as they understand you, as they seek to follow you and obey you.

Um God, it's only a work of your spirit.

It's only by grace through faith that anyone can be saved.

It's it's a gift.

We have no boasts in our works, we have no boasts in our efforts.

It's only, it's only God, it's only the the Lord Jesus that we can boast and that we can look to for salvation.

God, will you bless, please, the the discussion time.

Help these students to ask meaningful questions, help them to stay focused and help them to grow and their understanding of who you are and what you've done for them.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.