Hey everybody, I'm Matt. This is the 10-Minute Bible Hour Podcast. And yesterday we were looking at this little part of Galatians chapter three, where it's easy for me to imagine Paul taking a very dadly tone, like my dad took with me, and hopefully like I take properly with my kids, to remind his spiritual children, the Galatian Christians, to remind them of how they got the awesome things in their life in the first place. In this case, how they received the Holy Spirit in the first place. And he's asking them, well, let me just say it. I would like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the Holy Spirit by observing the law or by believing what you'd heard? That's Galatians 3.2. Surely everybody in the room was like, yeah, yeah, this is by belief. It wasn't by observing the law. Paul knows that. They know that. But, you know, most of the time, uh a dad in this situation will still cite some examples to remind the kid that whatever the right answer is, it's not just a mantra that we repeat. There are tangible examples in recent memory to support this. And today we're going to go and look at three of those tangible examples of confirmation that the people who were becoming Christians and receiving the Spirit were not getting that by strict adherence to the law. They were getting it by believing what they heard. That is, belief in Christ. All right, and let Jeff play some music, and then we're going to get after it. Starting with Peter, kind of the bad guy of the previous chapter of this book, who had that encounter with Cornelius. God orchestrates this meetup between Cornelius the Gentile and Peter, the Jewish follower of Jesus, and they get together and they're both kind of looking at each other. Cornelius is like, God told me to call you. And Peter's like, okay, God told me to come here. And then Peter's like, I guess God doesn't show favoritism. And then he doesn't really have Cornelius do anything. He just says we were witnesses to everything that Jesus did, and that they killed him, and that he was raised from the dead, and then he commanded us to preach to the people. I guess just kind of what I'm doing right now. Also, you should know, Cornelius, this is Acts chapter 10, that all the prophets testify about him, and that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. That's it. That's what Peter says. And then in the next verse, Cornelius does nothing. There's no account here of Cornelius being like, all right, then I shall do several acts of the law because I believe in God and I want the forgiveness of sins. No, nothing happens, at least demonstrably in the text, is Peter says that all the prophets say that everybody who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name. And then the very next thing, while Peter was still speaking these words, no time has elapsed. Zero time has elapsed. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came upon all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who'd come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. And then miraculous things are happening, so it's even more inarguable. And Peter says, Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They've received the Holy Spirit just as we have. And so they, you know, these Gentiles, they got baptized right there. Well, dang, it sure looks from that example like what Paul is saying in Galatians 3 is exactly right. These people weren't saved by doing law stuff. They received the Holy Spirit, I guess, as a product of belief, which happened between verses 43 and 44 that I was just reading you from Acts chapter 10. That is wild. Turn the page a couple over, and Peter and Paul are now back in Jerusalem, and they're reporting all the stuff that they're seeing to the Christians who haven't been out on the road seeing this stuff. And both Peter and Paul are saying the same things. It's just it's belief that God is pouring out his Holy Spirit on people you would never figure he would do that. But then in the same way that Peter, when talking to Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, was like, the prophets testify that this is how it's going to work. So James steps up and says, The words of the prophets are in agreement with this. The report that Peter and Paul are given about the Holy Spirit showing up, not as a result of the law. James, right here in the meeting, quotes from Amos chapter 9, an Old Testament prophet. After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things that have been known for ages. He goes on to say, It's my judgment, therefore, that we shouldn't make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Boom! There it is. That supports what Paul is saying in Galatians chapter one, where he's asking the Galatians, hey, did you get what you wanted, that being the Holy Spirit, by doing a bunch of law things, or did you get it by believing? Further, and once again, what literally was the message that the Galatians had heard and responded to? It was this, Acts 13. This is Paul in Galatia talking to presumably these people, or at least people from the same district or sister churches. He said, Therefore, my brothers, this is Acts 13, 38, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. And then these people responded, and the church was founded in this region. This very likely was even the very church that was founded here is the one that the book of Galatians is being written to. So in Galatians chapter three, Paul is asking a very simple question. How did you get the Holy Spirit in the first place, guys? This question isn't that hard. And you guys know the answer to the question. But picture again the dad figure pulling aside the misbehaving kid, getting right down to their level and being like, Hey, but how have the awesome things in your life come to you in the past? Did they come to you through whining and complaining and throwing fits and being manipulative? Or did they come to you through being a part of this family and trusting the people in your family who love you to look out for you and make things awesome? Which way did it happen? Or in this case, Galatians. Come here, come here, come here. No, no, no, just be quiet. Come over here for a minute. Hey Remember all of that amazing stuff when the Holy Spirit showed up and broke the laws of time and space, and you were filled with joy and miracles happened, and you knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was all real, that it was all true, that all the hope that you had hoped against hope would be real and true, that there's actually a God, that there's actually life after death, that you and the people you love were made by God and are eternal beings, and that you have right standing before this God. Remember when all of that came totally into focus for you? Do you remember when there was nothing even left to doubt? Because God's Holy Spirit was there and did miraculous things, and you saw it and you felt it, and you still have that Holy Spirit. Do you remember when that happened? Yeah, I remember. Okay. But do you remember how that happened? Yeah, I do. Go ahead and tell me. How did it happen? We believed in Christ. That's right. By faith in Christ. I did all of that incredible stuff, the confirmation of everything that you had hoped, the arrival of new life. Did that happen because of the law? You obeyed Moses' law and some bonus commands? Go ahead and answer me. Is that why it happened? No, no, it's not why. It was because of faith in Jesus. Right on, kiddo. There you go. So then why now, after you've seen all of that and experienced all of that, why would you go back to a way that didn't work in the first place? Why now would you turn back to the law? Does that make sense, kiddo? No, it doesn't. You're right. Okay, all right. Good talk. We're getting somewhere. Obviously there's a lot of paraphrasing going on there with me, but I really think the tone fits. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched 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 Holy Spirit by a observing the law or by B believing what you heard? Really, the question didn't even need to be answered out loud in the room, because everybody was there, everybody saw it, everybody remembers what had happened a few years earlier from that bit that I was just reading you in Acts, where Paul showed up with either this exact church that this letter was being read to or a sister church. Everybody remembers what the message that was preached was. Everybody remembers that amazing day when the Holy Spirit showed up in Gentile territory in Galatia. They all remember. They were there. It hasn't been that long ago. They know the answer to the question. And further, assuming that the letter of Galatians was written after the Jerusalem Council, well, they know what happened there as well. That got reported to all the Christians all over the place. And further, they know Peter, or at least know of Peter. I mean, why else would Paul bring him up in Galatians chapter two, just a couple paragraphs earlier? So they've heard about Peter's preaching, they've heard about what happened with Cornelius, they've no doubt heard about other Gentiles who had the same thing happen. These other Gentiles, they believed in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit showed up. No, they know the answer to the question. That's why Paul is using that term bewitched. Who enchanted you? Who gave you this evil eye? Who tricked you? Who fooled you? Who cut in on you? This isn't hard. You know better, kiddo. Come on. So what happened here? Talk to me. What's actually going on? Because we both know this doesn't make any sense. My tone might be slightly more soothing and gentle than Paul's tone should be interpreted in this letter, but maybe not. Either way, I think it fits. I think it is indicative of the pivot toward a more tender, fatherly tone that we're going to get moving forward here. But the question is so obvious it doesn't even need to be answered. You didn't receive the Holy Spirit by observing the law. You received the Holy Spirit by believing what you heard. Fun. All right, that's plenty for now. Moving forward in Galatians 3, next time around. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.