LLM Question for 12-29-2011, and, THE LLM STUDY OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, CHAPTER 3, PART 1 of 3

First the Question: No prayer, no agonizing, no religious struggle is required on the part of the BELIEVER in Christ to receive the Holy Spirit. True or False?

Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day

And now the answer to the LLM Question of 12-23-2011

Question: The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to the BELIEVER. Romans 5:5. The BELIEVER receives the Holy Spirit the very moment he BELIEVES the Gospel of his Salvation. True or False?

Answer: TRUE! A Christian is one who receives the Holy Spirit, and baptism into the Body of Christ, at the time he or she becomes a Christian. Tarrying meetings for the Holy Spirit have no place in the spiritual program which the Risen Christ gave, through the Apostle Paul, for the members of His Body. The earnest, the sealing, or the baptism in, or with, or by, the Holy Spirit is always a PAST experience with the believer. Now, out of the 804 responses we received to this question, 87.8% of you got it right. Praise the LORD! Therefore, now, let us take a look at...

THE LLM STUDY OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, CHAPTER 3, PART 1 of 3

“O FOOLISH GALATIANS, WHO HATH BEWITCHED YOU?” Galatians 3:1

The Gal­atians were indeed foolish to permit themselves to be bewitched. And while human instruments were used, we are sure that the ministry of these human instruments was directed by the god of this age. That would be Satan, for those reading this who are yet unsure. How many of us can say, truthfully, what the Apostle Paul wrote concerning Satan, in 2 Cor. 2:11, “we are not ignorant of his de­vices.” In Ephesians 6:11, we are warned against the wiles of the devil. He is not only the father of lies, but he is accused of the crime of deceiving the whole world. Let us note Paul’s warn­ing in 2 Cor. 11:3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent be­guiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the sim­plicity that is in Christ.” It is the devil’s business to corrupt, beguile, and be­witch. He always has plenty of ser­vants to do his bidding. Sad to say, many, who are really saved, serve Satan in the matter of frustrating the Grace of God by mixing something else with the Grace message. Remember what we learned in LLM’s Seventh Rule, that God is not making three hundred sectarian denominations and the LORD will not permit any man to have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to understand the Mystery who contends for or sponsors a sectarian denomination!

How foolish is any sinner who will not receive salvation as the free gift of God. God states that a believer is declared righteous, “without a cause”, by His Grace, on the grounds of a crucified and resurrected Christ. The religious messengers, deceived by Satan, (that is one who contends for or sponsors a sectarian denomination!), say that this is not true; that the believer must add to God’s Grace and Christ’s finished work in order to be saved.

The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to the believer. Romans 5:5. The believer receives the Holy Spirit the very moment he believes the Gospel of his Salvation. Ephesians 1:13. “After that ye believed” in Ephesians 1:13 is: “pisteusantes,” believing. As eternal life is God’s free gift to the believing sinner, so the Holy Spirit is given to any and every sinner who, by Faith, meets God at the cross where Christ put away sin. Galatians 3:13-14. Then and there, by the Holy Spirit, the believer is SEALED unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30

“ARE YE SO FOOLISH, HAVING BEGUN IN THE SPIRIT, ARE YE NOW MADE PERFECT BY THE FLESH?” Galatians 3:3

No Christian needs to importune God for Holy Spirit baptism. A Christian is one who receives the Holy Spirit, and baptism into the Body of Christ, at the time he or she becomes a Christian. Tarrying meetings for the Holy Spirit have no place in the spiritual program which the Risen Christ gave, through the Apostle Paul, for the members of His Body. The earnest, the sealing, or the baptism in, or with, or by, the Holy Spirit is always a PAST experience with the believer. In the light of 1 John 2:27, it is doubtful if any member of the Body of Christ has ever received a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit. A Christian is one who has been anointed. Christ means “anointed”. The dispensational and doctrinal truth, taught in Galatians 3:6-29, should be studied diligently and prayerfully under the direction of the same Holy Spirit who moved upon the Apostle Paul to write it. The child of God, who understands these verses will not be seduced by teachers who are, themselves, deceived concerning the believer’s relation to Abraham, and concerning the hope and calling of members of the Body of Christ.

First let us read Galatians 3:6, changing the name “Abraham” to “Abram.” “Even as Abram believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” It is so important to make this change, if we, as members of the Body of Christ, would know how to interpret and apply the truth of these verses. Now, in Genesis 15:6 we read, “Abram believed the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness.” At that time Abram had not become Abraham. As Abram, he was an uncircumcised Gentile. In Romans 4:9-11, we learn that Abram was declared righteous in uncircumcision. The account of Abraham’s circumcision is given in Genesis 17, which was some years AFTER Abram was declared righteous in uncircumcision.

Now we come to the consideration of a very important truth. We quote Galatians 3:8, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through Faith, preached BEFORE the Gospel unto Abraham (Abram), saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” With this, we quote Galatians 3:17, “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed BEFORE of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” We have emphasized in these two verses the word “before.” In both cases it means “before God made with Israel the covenant at Sinai”, which we now call the “Law” covenant or the “Old Testament.” We again quote Galatians 3:8, and supply the 430 years “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through Faith, preached (430 years) before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Here we learn that the Scripture foresaw what God was going to begin to do by the Apostle Paul nearly twenty centuries later. And God is still doing the same thing by His messengers who are true to this Gospel of Grace.

While the Scriptures foresaw the ministry and message of the Apostle Paul to uncircumcised Gentiles, at the time he declared uncircumcised Abram righteous by Faith, none of God’s holy prophets ever foretold the fact that the Gospel of the uncircumcision, would be revealed to an apostle to the Gentiles. What was not revealed by the LORD to Israel’s prophets, and not foretold by them to Israel, is called in the Scriptures “The MYSTERY” or “The SECRET.” It was God’s secret which He did not choose to reveal until after the Apostle Paul was chosen to be the special custodian and dispenser of this Divine “deposit”.

Beginning with the circumcision of Abram at the time he became Abraham, at the age of 99, (Genesis 17), God made circumcision a condition upon which His people should enjoy His fellowship and blessing. This continued even after the time when God granted repentance unto life to uncircumcised Cornelius. Acts 11:18. We quote Acts 11:3 to show why the other apostles contended with Peter preaching to Cornelius the Gentile. “Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.”

Now, concerning Galatians 3:17, “And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed BEFORE of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.”, we learn that God added the covenant at Sinai, (with the Law of commandments and ordinances), 430 years after He justified uncircumcised Abram. Abram was NOT under the law. Abram was NOT an Old Testament saint. Abram was NOT an Israelite. Abram was NOT a Jew.

The “Law Covenant” did NOT annul, or declare void, the “Covenant of Grace” which God made with Abram; the promise. The Law was given to Israel. The Gentiles were aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel. Ephesians 2:11-12. They were not under the law. The Holy Spirit would here teach us that the “Law Dispensation” was both parenthetical and temporary.

When Christ died on the cross He broke down the middle wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile. However, the revelation of this fact was NOT given to the Twelve Apostles, in the early chapters of Acts. This we may learn by reading Acts 10:28, which we quote, “And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” God nailed the law of commandments to the cross and took it out of the way. Colossians 2:13-14.

“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!

So There You Have it!

Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short

Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.

In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry

Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

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