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

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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

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.

Now we quote Galatians 3:13-14

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith.”

In the study of the Bible we observe the four-fold curse, The curse when sin entered by Adam; The curse suggested in Galatians 3:10, which is the curse of everyone under the law. Then in Matthew 25:41 we read these words, “then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” But there is another curse which we have quoted in Galatians 3:13, “Christ was made a curse on the cross.” That delivered Israel from the curse of the law. What did it do for the Gen­tile?

By the death and resurrection of Christ, the blessing of Abram, the un­circumcised Gentile, came upon all Gen­tiles through Jesus Christ, namely, righteousness without works or religion.

Compare Galatians 3:14 with Romans 4:22-25, which we quote, “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through Faith”, and “And therefore it was imputed to him for righteous­ness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our LORD from the dead; Who was delivered for our offen­ces, and was raised again for our justi­fication.”

Also by believing God, the sinner, justified without the law, not only re­ceives eternal life as a free gift but he receives the Holy Spirit as God’s free gift!!! No prayer, no agonizing, no religious struggle is required on the part of the believer to receive the Holy Spirit. Think of the disgraceful con­duct of some in their unscriptural methods. You know who you are.

In Galatians 3:16 we have the truth which is also found in Hebrews 2:16, which we quote, “For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abra­ham.” There are some Christians who object to applying the term “seed of Abraham” to members of the Body of Christ. Gentile members of the Body of Christ are in no way the physical seed of “Abraham.” They are the spiritual seed of “Abram,” which is quite another matter. Some insist that Gentile members of the Body of Christ have nothing to do with anything that is Israelitish, and nothing to do with any covenant that God made with Is­rael.

While it is true that both the Old and the New Covenants have to do with God’s dealings with Israel, it is also true that the Christ, by whose shed blood we are saved, is called, in Romans 9:5, an Israelite. He died as the seed of Abraham and the seed of David. Even the Apostle Paul, in his Gospel, in connection with “the Mystery,” wrote these words in his last Epistle, 2 Timothy 2:8, “Re­member that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead ac­cording to my Gospel.”

Now let us quote this very important verse, Galatians 3:19

“WHEREFORE THEN SERVETH THE LAW? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.”

“THE LAW WAS ADDED TILL.” It was added to the Gospel, mentioned in Galatians 3:8, UNTIL Jesus Christ, on the cross, abolished it. 2 Cor. 3:9-16. Surely we have here the answer to the legalistic teaching of the Seventh Day Adventists and others. There is a great difference between the Law that has been abolished and the new law that has been established and which abides, namely, “the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus”. Romans 8:2; Hebrews 7:11-12. This law enables us to walk in the Spirit and fulfill the righteousness of the law. Romans 8:4. The sum total of the spiritual life of man is to appropriate, to demonstrate, and to propagate “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”

Nothing has brought more distraction, discomfort and doubt in the hearts of believers than the lack of understanding of the believer’s relation to the Law of Sinai.

“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