Ron Dunn Podcast - Bewitched Believers - Bellevue

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

One of the greatest bewitching that has come upon believers is that if we are going to grow in the Lord is done through our performance. A message from Galatians 3:1-5. Preached at Bellevue Baptist Church.

Would you open your Bibles tonight to the book of Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, and I want to read verses 1 through 5. Now, we'll be referring to some other verses throughout the course of the message tonight, but I want us to begin with just these five verses. Galatians chapter 3, verses 1 through 5. Oh 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 Spirit by observing the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish after beginning with the Spirit are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing if it really was for nothing? Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard? Oh, you foolish Galatians. Who has bewitched you? Who has cast a spell on you who has hypnotized you

that you should not obey the truth. I've always been a poor sleeper even to this day I can never really remember having a good night's sleep or getting up feeling rested. I don't like these people who jump out of bed singing every morning. I think it's of the devil. I take getting up very seriously.

I don't believe you ought to jump out of bed. I think you ought to sit on the side of the bed there for ten minutes with your head cupped in your hands and realizing that it's dangerous out there. And so I have always been a very poor sleeper. And when I was pastor, I went for about six months where I just didn't get any sleep at all. And so I finally decided to go to the doctor and see if he could find out what was wrong with me. There had to be something wrong that was keeping me from sleeping. And so he ran these tests, and I went back in a few days later and was sitting in his office, and he walked in with the folder that contained the results of my test, and he said, well, preacher, I can't find anything wrong with you. I can't find anything

organically, physically wrong with you that's causing you to be unable to sleep. Of course, he had to be a joker, you know, like a lot of doctors. And he said, I did find out, however, that you're too short. And see, I thought I was too fat. But he said, according to my charts, you ought to be seven feet three inches tall. And I was glad to hear that because it's a lot easier to stretch than it is to reduce and but he said he said I can't find anything there's nothing that we can find that causes you to stay awake being unable to sleep and I said well I've got to have something

and I was asking him if he would give me some sleeping pills. And he said, I tell you what, I really don't like to do that. He said that you can become addicted to those things and half the time you wake up with a hangover. He said that what I'd really like to do is to teach you self-hypnosis. Now when he mentioned the word hypnosis, I don't know, red flags kind of flashed before my eyes and some bells rang in my ears. And I didn't know about that. That's kind of spooky to me. When I thought of hypnotism, I always thought of some nightclub magician making somebody cackle like a chicken or bark like a dog, you know. And he could see my hesitancy, and he said, oh, now, preacher, I know all the things you've heard about hypnosis, but he says, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. He said, you hypnotize

yourself without even knowing it. That's why you get sleepy a lot of times when you're driving down the highway and just gazing at that long ribbon of pavement, and you get drowsy. He said, it's the most natural thing in the world. Take me about six weeks to teach you how you can put yourself to sleep and you can wake up without any kind of hangover. Well, I thought, what do I have to lose, you know, except my mind. And I said, okay, I'll give it a try. So I went into his office every week for an hour for six weeks and he did teach me self-hypnosis. And it was one of the most disappointing things in my life.

Not because it didn't work, it did to a certain extent, but I don't use it anymore because it takes too much concentration. But what disappointed me in it is that it was so simple, you see, I mean just so simple. I thought I was going to be initiated into some deep, dark secret, you know. But it's just simple. You just lay down on the bed and fix your eyes on a greasy spot on the wall or a dead fly in the screen. And you take your attention off everything else and you focus on that one thing. And you say to yourself, I am sleepy.

I am sleepy and I'm getting sleepy. My eyelids are so heavy I can't keep them open. I'm going to have to close my eyelids. Oh, I'm getting into a deep, deep sleep. I'm going to count five backwards and by the time I get to one, I'll be in a deep, deep sleep. I'm going to count to five backwards, and by the time I get to one, I'll be in a deep, deep sleep. Okay, that's it. It's simply a matter of mind over mattress. That's all there is to it. Been hypnotized.

Paul writes to these Galatians, and said, oh foolish Galatians. And in that phrase he is both showing his love for them and his contempt for what has happened to them. I like the Phillips translation. It reads, oh my beloved idiots. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth. Somebody has cast a spell on you so that you are no longer walking in the truth. Now, what is the essence of this bewitching? What was this truth, or this false truth, that these Galatians had been led to believe? I think you have it right there in verse 3,

where he says, Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? And I want to say to you tonight that I believe that one of the greatest bewitchings that has come upon believers is getting believers to believe that even though they're saved by grace through faith and they began in the Spirit, yet they are perfected by the works of the flesh. That if we're going to grow and mature in the Lord,

it's going to be by our performance, by following rules and regulations, you see. That if somehow I'm going to become more pleasing to God, and if I'm going to become more like Jesus, and if I'm going to grow in maturity, then it's up to me to do it, you see. I've got to work hard and be busy so I can become Christ-like. Now, please don't anyone misunderstand.

I believe a Christian ought to be busy, and I believe he ought to serve. I believe he ought to work. I believe that with all my heart. What I'm saying is service and activity will not make you spiritual. We do these things. We serve, and we're active, and we're busy for the Lord

out of gratitude for what God has done for us. It is the issue of grace. We do not do these things because we think that by doing things, we're going to be more acceptable to God. If grace means anything, it means this, that God has already accepted you. There's nothing you can do to make God love you anymore, and there's nothing you can do to make God love you any less. What happens is some people come along

like these Judaizers came along after Paul left and they said, well, you know, Jesus is as good as far as he goes. He just doesn't go far enough. You've got to add Moses. And it's not enough just to have faith. You've got to have works. And it's not enough to have the Holy Spirit. You've got to have the law. And so these believers had become bewitched, and they thought, okay, now I'm saved, no doubt about that. But if I'm going to attain my goal and be everything that God wants me to be, oh, it's going to be up to me. It's going to be up to my efforts and my performance, and I've really got to work hard in order to impress God and please Him. And folks, I want to tell you something.

We are saved by grace through faith. And then there is the growth process where day by day we are being made more like Jesus and being conformed more and more into the image of God's dear Son. But friends, that is not something that you accomplish by your performance, by your efforts. Works cannot bring life to a lost man, and they cannot bring maturity to a saved man. You see.

Now, why do people think this? What gets into people where they think that, boy, it's up to me now, and most of my Christian life is struggling in the flesh, trying to overcome? It's because they've been hypnotized. Now, in order to be hypnotized, you have to take your mind off other things.

You've got to have your attention diverted from other things and focused on this one thing. And so Paul in this passage mentions three things that these believers have had their attention diverted from that enable them to be hypnotized and bewitched by false teachers. And I want to talk about those three things very quickly tonight as we can. Because the moment you take your eyes off of one of these three things or a combination of them, you're going to be plunged into the pit of self-effort, thinking that you're going to grow and become like Jesus simply because you do more than somebody else does.

What are these three things? First of all, I believe that when we take our eyes off the manifestation of the cross, we make ourselves vulnerable to false teaching let's read again what Paul has to say to these people you foolish Galatians who has bewitched you and the Greek text the word you is in the emphatic position in other words Paul is saying I can't believe that you of all people have been bewitched I could understand somebody else being bewitched, but I can't believe that you have been bewitched.

Why? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. In other words, Paul says, when I was with you, every time I taught, every time I preached, it was as though I had a big billboard up there. And Jesus, crucified, was on that billboard.

You could translate that word billboard. And I think one translation does say, before your very eyes, Jesus Christ crucified was billboarded before you. And he said, I didn't make just a small matter of it. It wasn't just a mention. It was the major portion of my message. It was the heart, the central of it. It wasn't just a mention. It was the major portion of my message. It was the heart, the central of everything. And it was like a billboard was right there in front of your eyes. And I can't believe that you of all people have taken your eyes off that and forgotten that. And I tell you something, folks, one of the great dangerous people,

every once in a while, you know, Dr. Rogers, when you travel like I do, they think you know stuff, you know. I don't know where that comes from, but they think if you're from out of town, you know things. And, you know, so I tell them like I do, know things, you know. But I'm having people say, what do you think is one of the greatest threats to modern Christianity? And I think there are two. I think one is we're losing confidence in the power of the Word of God. And number two, we're forgetting the cross. We're minimizing the cross. And there are some churches that are trying to be so seeker-friendly to the world

that they won't mention the cross because it's offensive. My dear friend, I'd rather offend the lost person by preaching the cross than to offend God by leaving it's offensive my dear friend I'd rather offend the lost person by preaching the cross than to offend God by leaving it out of my message but that's what we're doing today we're minimizing the cross minimizing the cross what happens listen when you minimize the cross you take your eyes off the cross you know what you put your eyes on yourself. And then you begin to think it's up to you to do it all. Because let me tell you what the cross means. Jesus Christ dying on the cross means this. It means that everything that was ever needed for my salvation and sanctification

and glorification was accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Folks, it's already been done. It's already been accomplished. Everything that was necessary for my salvation, for my day-to-day living, for my glorification, it's already been done by Christ on the cross. And so when I minimize the cross or I forget about the cross, I don't preach the cross, I don't like to talk about the cross. And so when I minimize the cross or I forget about the cross, I don't preach the cross, I don't like to talk about the cross. Well, if you don't talk about that, what else are you going to

talk about? There's only one thing. Talk about your goodness, your efforts, you're doing the best you can. You see, that's it. And if you want to know how to tell the difference between new age stuff and Christianity, that's just it. In new age, there is no cross, for in new age, there is no sin. In new age, you have to solve your own problems, get in touch with your inner self and your inner child, and pull yourself up by your bootstraps and find the God that's within you. But when you come to the cross, it slays man's pride and self-effort, and it throws him on the floor and says, you can't do anything to merit my favor.

You can't do anything. You can't do anything. And natural man doesn't like to hear that, you see. We take our eyes off the manifestation of the cross. And we forget the cross. And the minute we do that, we begin to focus on ourselves. You see.

For instance, let me just show you one thing. And you all are going to have to listen a lot faster than you're listening for me to finish. Let me show you one thing, what the cross means. Look in chapter 6, verse 14, where Paul says, God forbid that I should boast, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified unto me,

and I unto the world. There's a double crucifixion there. Paul says, the world has been crucified unto me, and I unto the world. In other words, Paul says, as far as I'm concerned, the world is dead. Friend, when you forget about the cross, the world becomes alive to you, and you begin to fancy it. But he says, I've been crucified unto the world, and the world unto me. In other words, Paul says, as far as I'm concerned, the world is dead.

And as far as the world is concerned, Paul is dead. You see, that means that if I'm going to really proclaim the cross and live by the cross and understand the cross, friends, that means I have to understand this. The world holds no attraction for me. And I certainly don't have no attraction for me, and I certainly don't have any attraction for the world. Now, I'm going to tell you something, which is my opinion, which I respect, but it's just my opinion. I believe, now listen to me carefully,

be this all my heart, I believe why so many preachers and religious leaders today are minimizing the cross is because they want to be thought well of by the world. Well, once in a while, I like to read the letters to the editor. And maybe there's an issue that's been tumbling around in the pages. And some dear saint writes a letter to the editor and starts off like this.

Sirs, I am a Bible-believing Christian. And you know what? They've done it right there. From that moment on, the world's not going to listen to you. As I told the group the other weekend, you can be against homosexuality if you have other reasons besides biblical reasons for being against it. The world will expect, respect your opinion about abortion unless you throw up the Bible at them, you see. So if you announce

yourself as a Christian, and these are my beliefs based on the Bible, I have news for you. As far as the world is concerned, you're dead, and you have nothing to offer. And the reason that we have such a tendency to minimize the cross is because we want to have an ear with the world. The Bible says the ear that we get with the world is that which comes from proclaiming the cross. But somebody says, but that offends people. Well, it was meant to. That's the whole purpose. It offends

natural man. So first of all, you take your eyes off the manifestation of the cross. Secondly, we forget about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We forget the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We forget the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Oh, I love verse 2. It's always a good question. Paul says, I would like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by observing law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish after beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? In other words,

folks, now this is all very logical here as you follow it with Paul. First of all, there is the cross and what Jesus did on the cross. He did everything that was necessary for our salvation and for our sanctification. Now, it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to take that and make it real in our lives and to apply it in our lives. We weren't saved by the works of the flesh, were we? No. How were we saved? By the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit.

We began in the Spirit. Are you so foolish to think that what you began in the Spirit are you so foolish to think that what you began in the Spirit can now be finished by the works of the flesh not so and so when you and I minimize the work of the Holy Spirit

forget about the Holy Spirit don't wait for the filling of the Holy Spirit we try to go out what we're doing we're working in the flesh. Well, Paul has a great deal to say about the Spirit. I want you to turn over to chapter 5 and notice verses 16 and following. He's talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit

in the life of those believers. And he comes down to verse 22, and he says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Now, nine things there. Notice, as I'm sure you know,

the word fruit is in the singular. He's not talking about nine different fruits. He's talking about one fruit with nine characteristics. You say, well, I've got love, but I don't have much patience. Well, that'd be all right if God grated on the curb, but he doesn't. And if you're really walking in the Spirit, you're going to exhibit all nine of these characteristics. Now, have you ever taken the time to study those nine characteristics? Do you know what they are? They're the life of Christ. That's the character of Christ.

What he's saying is the Holy Spirit is the one who not only begins us in our salvation, but he's the one who makes us like Christ. It's the work of the Holy Spirit that does it. He says the fruit of the Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit that does it. He says, the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. And I like to think, I like to think of the Spirit as a tree, a fruit tree planted in the believer. When we had our farm in Arkansas, we had a lake, a big lake, and leading, a road leading down from the house to the lake was lined by big trees. What were they? Elms or oaks?

Oaks, oaks and big trees. And it made a beautiful walk, just made a beautiful walk down that road to the lake lined by those oak trees. Well, I was down there one summer and I noticed as I came to that last oak tree right before the lake, it looked as though somebody had taken a pencil and ruler and drawn a straight line right down the middle of that tree because all the leaves on this

side of the tree were dead and all the leaves on this side of the tree were green. And what that meant was that this side of the tree was dead, this side of the tree was still alive. Well, I didn't think too much about that. And then I came back on Thanksgiving in the fall, and all the leaves had fallen off the trees. And I was walking down that road, and I came to that tree.

And it looked as though somebody had taken a pencil and a ruler and had drawn a straight line down the middle of that tree because all the leaves on this side of the tree, though they were dead, all the leaves on this side of the tree were still hanging on the branches. But all the leaves on the living side of the tree had fallen to the ground. And that puzzled me. Why did those leaves not fall?

And then I began to look around. We had done some clearing and cut up a lot of brush and some limbs off trees. Hadn't had time to burn them all. And they were dead. And I noticed that the dead leaves were still on those dead limbs. Well, when I got back home, I talked to a friend of mine who knew a little bit about everything. And I mentioned that to him. And I said, why didn't those dead leaves fall off those dead trees?

And he said, oh, he said, leaves don't fall off trees. I said, they don't? No, he said, dead leaves don't? No. He said, dead leaves don't fall off trees. They're pushed off by the life that is in them. And as that sap begins to fall in that tree, it pushes off those old dead leaves.

Just pushes them off, and they fall to the ground. So there'll be room for the new leaves next spring. But since there's no life on this side, there's nothing to push off those old dead leaves, and they just hang there. You know, God is really smart. I mean, what if he had arranged that differently? Let's say I've got a hundred trees in my yard

and it's fall and it's time for those dead leaves to come off. So I get me a ladder and I climb up one of those trees and here I am, I'm pulling off all those dead leaves. Boy, I'm pulling them off. And you know, they hang on quite tenaciously. And I'm pulling off all those dead leaves. Boy, I'm pulling them off. And you know, they hang on quite tenaciously. And I'm pulling off all those dead leaves, all those dead leaves. And finally, I finish.

It's taken me a whole day, but I've got one, oh no, right at the top, there's another. Well, anyway, close enough. And so, but I've got 99 more trees to go. I'll never finish by spring. And suddenly God says to me, Son, what are you doing? I say, Father, I'm pulling off these old dead leaves so there'll be room for new leaves next spring.

And God said, I don't recall ever creating anybody that stupid. He says, you don't have to pull off the dead leaves. He said, all you need to do is to make certain the tree is alive and healthy and that the life is flowing through the tree and it will by itself push off the old dead leaves and produce the new leaves you see folks I spent a greater part of my Christian life climbing trees and trying to pull off dead leaves.

You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? I've got to quit this. I've got to give up this. I've got to give up that. I think I just about cleared the tree, and then there's another one full of dead leaves. God came to me and said, son, that's ridiculous.

He said, all you need to do is make certain that the Holy Spirit is flowing through you and filling you. And you know what? He'll push off the old dead leaf of hate and in its place put on the new fruit of love. He just does that. You see, folks, you know,

the glorious thing I have about preaching tonight is I'm not asking you to go out here surrendered to a new set of rules and regulations so you can be right I'm asking you to go out here submitted to a person

and when the Holy Spirit has his way with us and we walk in him you see then those old dead leaves will take care of themselves. But if you forget the ministry of the Spirit, you'll think it's

up to you and your effort. Alright, there's one third thing I want to mention. And it is this. We become bewitched when we forget the message of faith. Now, I've been

talking about these three things. The cross, the spirit, and faith. And as you study the book of Galatians you'll find that over and over again. That's the key to the whole book. You forget the message of faith. I like it. He says in verse 5, does God give you his spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law

or because you believe what you heard? And then, I tell you, Paul is so smart. Verse 6, Consider Abraham. Now, you see, these Judaizers, these Jews who had become Christians and were trying to get these Galatian Christians enslaved by following the rules and regulations of the law, they kept saying, listen, if you're going to be children of Abraham, you're going to have to do this.

Yes, sir. You're not going to be heirs of Abraham's promise if you don't do this. And they kept pushing Abraham down their throats. They kept rallying around Abraham, rallying around Abraham. You've got to keep the law if you're going to be children of Abraham. And Paul doesn't shrink from that. He doesn't run from that. He comes right back and pushes it down their throat.

And he says, you want to talk about Abraham? All right, let's talk about Abraham. And he quotes Genesis 15 where the Bible says that the Lord imputed unto him righteousness because he believed. He said, well, what's so important about that? That was 430 years before the law ever came along. See? If it takes the law to make you a child of Abraham, if it takes the law to make you an heir of Abraham, then there's something

funny somewhere because Abraham was justified by his faith 430 years before the law ever came along. You see? And not only that, these Galatians, hey, he said, I just want to ask you one thing. You received the Holy Spirit long before you heard about the law.

See, these were Gentiles. They didn't know anything about the law now they've get down there they've got saved and the Holy Spirit and dwells them and Christ is in their hearts and then these Judaizers come along say hey you can't be saved without the law you can't have the Holy Spirit without the law they said that's funny we received the Holy Spirit long before we ever heard of the law did Did it by faith. And then, oh, he comes down, let me just mention this. He comes down to verse 11. Clearly no one is justified before God by the law

because the righteous will live by faith. You've heard that before, haven't you? The just shall live by his faith. It's quoted four times in the Bible. Habakkuk 2, Galatians 3, Romans 1, Hebrews 10. You know, if God says the same thing to me four times in the Bible, I get the idea he's trying to tell me something.

And four times in the Bible, God says the just shall live by his faith. I get the idea God's trying to tell me something. And I think what he's trying to tell me is the just shall live by his faith. I get the idea God's trying to tell me something, and I think what he's trying to tell me is the just shall live by his faith. You see, it's faith that makes it universal. If it were works, there were some works that we could never accomplish. Isn't it wonderful how God has made so available His salvation. Oh, Christmas Evans, Scottish evangelist, used to say,

you could put a man in a wooden barrel and nail down the lid and wrap chains around it and padlock it and then punch out the knot hole and whisper through that knot hole how to be saved and he could be saved. Right there in that barrel. Isn't that amazing? It's all by faith.

The just not saved by faith. They live by faith. I live the Christian life the faith. I live the Christian life the same way I entered the Christian life. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, Paul said, so walk ye in him. But all of this

starts in Habakkuk chapter 2 where the Chaldeans are swooping down on the people and it looks like they're going to be destroyed. And Habakkuk has been complaining because God is not doing anything about the Chaldeans. And Habakkuk, in effect, is saying, well, what's going to happen to me?

I'm righteous. What's going to happen to me? And God says, the just shall live by his faith. And the Hebrew word can be translated, the just shall survive by his faith. Boy, I'm glad to know I'm going to survive, aren't you? You know how you're going to do it? Not by your works.

You're going to do it by faith. 1948, they made a discovery called the Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Earliest portions of scripture that we have on record, but for years now, a few scholars have kept those to themselves. That's the way scholars are sometimes. You know, a scholar can take this big, small piece of a parchment of Isaiah and study it for 30 years and then write an article in a journal on it. And he's famous. And that's

what they were trying to do. They wouldn't let anybody else look at him. But through the efforts of biblical archaeologists, the magazine, now all those things have been let loose and more people are free to study them and to benefit from them. Well, one of the interesting things is part of what they found was Habakkuk 2, plus a Qumran commentary on Habakkuk 2. And you know when it comes to that verse where it says, the just shall live by his faith, the word his is capitalized. And thus translated, the just shall live by his faithfulness. I don't live by my faithfulness. I'm not faithful.

I don't have an ounce of trust in my trust. I don't have faith in my faith, folks. But you know what? God is faithful. And you know why I've survived so long? Listen, I'd have killed myself years ago. I'm surprised God even still talks to me, much less listens to me.

I don't know why he didn't just throw me away, but you know what? He's been faithful. He promised to be with me, promised to bless me, promised to guide me, promised never to leave me nor forsake me. Folks, it is his faithfulness. It is his faithfulness. Abraham said that he was persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to perform. And that's the key.

I'm all the time making promises to God. Well, then it's up to me to perform them. Hey, no, no, that's not the way it works. God makes promises to us. And what he has promised, he is able to perform. I haven't promised God that sin shall not reign in my mortal body. God promised that to me. I have not promised God that every need of mine would be met

according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He has promised that to me. See, if I make the promise to God, it's up to me to keep it. No wonder some of you are so worried. No, listen. Forget about making all these promises to God. Just take out your Bible and write down all the promises He's made to you. And then, you know what?

The just will live by His faithfulness. His faithfulness. His faithfulness. And in the final analysis, folks, that's all we've got. For if God is not faithful, then there is no hope for any of us. But bless God, He is faithful. Would you bow your heads with me for a moment?