The Only Thing I Want You to Know - By the Law Or By Faith

Bill Morel
Matt kicked this series off with a question that I haven’t always understood, but now that I do I get very excited about it. Gal 3:2 says, “Did you receive the Spirit by the Law or by faith in Christ?” In the Old Testament, the Spirit fell on people for a specific purpose such as the 70 men in Numbers and Saul in Samuel. However, in the New Testament, the system changed. 
When Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the grave the system changed in our favor. He sent his spirit to live inside those of us who believe. Like Matt said, if the law is necessary for us to be saved and receive the Spirit of God, then Jesus died for nothing. However, before Jesus ascended, he told the disciples that he was going to send us the Helper. Before the cross, the Spirit was administered by God to certain people for certain purposes and it was not permanent. The good news is we aren’t living before the cross.
On our side of the cross, and because of the cross, Jesus offers his Spirit to everyone who believes in him.  Once I got that, I was so relieved. I can’t “fall out of favor with God” or we don’t have to “usher in the spirit” with a 2-hour long worship set before the sermon. Matt couldn’t have chosen a better closing scripture than Ephesians 1 because it clearly answers the question.  We are 100% forever SEALED by Grace through faith.
At Heritage, we get real excited about that because it truly is that simple.

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