I'm going through Galatians with
the church in the Philippines, and so from time to time, I plan
to preach from this to you. And why do we preach, why do
we repeat the gospel, and particularly this message of sanctification
only by the Lord? Why do we keep preaching this? Because then and now, Then and
now, it is a serious issue. We saw how the Pharisees came
down to the Gentiles at Antioch, where Paul was preaching. They
first came there with this lie. And then when Paul went up to
Jerusalem to speak with the apostles about this, the Pharisees arose
again with this lie, trying to compel Titus to be circumcised
and come under the law. And now Paul's writing this epistle
to the Galatians because the Pharisees had arisen again and
got somewhat of a foothold in the church at Galatia and were
bewitching believers with this lie that man contributes. to his holiness, he contributes
to making himself holy. So this is a lie that kept coming
back and again and again, and these Pharisees are rising again
and again, and it's still prevalent today. It's still prevalent today. Now I want you to get this. These false Jewish men, they
were not brethren, they were false. They were unsanctified,
spiritually defiled, spiritually dead, self-made religious men. They did not have a problem with
justification by Christ, so they at least didn't speak that. They
came saying, though, that after you are brought to believe Christ,
now you have to go back under the law of Moses for sanctification. That was their message. I've
titled this Law or Grace, Compelled or Constrained. Sanctification is of the Lord. All salvation's of the Lord.
Sanctification is of the Lord. The Lord is the holiness of his
people. And when you're sanctified by
the Lord, From then on, when you've experienced it in regeneration
and he sanctified you, given you a holy heart, from then on,
you are led of the spirit. From then on, you are taught
of Christ in the heart through the preaching of this gospel
and led of him. He's really in his people. He's
really leading his people. He's really present with us at
all time. He said to the apostles, abide
in me and I in you for without me you can do nothing. Even our
abiding in him is of him. We need him to keep us abiding
in him. Sanctification is entirely of
the Lord. And the constraint that motivates
us in the heart is the love of Christ. It's his everlasting
love. God everlasting, he loved us
in Christ, and it's inseparable, unchanging love of God. That's
our motive. constrains us. But for those
that are self-sanctifiers, they are compelled. There's a difference
between being constrained by the love of Christ and compelled
by men. They're compelled by men. And their heart's motive is to
please men. Their heart's motive is to do
what they do out of a fear of displeasing men and a fear of
punishment and a a desire for a greater reward, or to make
themselves holy, to make themselves different from others. And it's
all of man, it's all a compelling of man. And it always results
in this attitude of I'm holier than you are. It doesn't humble,
it puffs up. Now I want you to see here in
this passage, Galatians 2, just the first 10 verses, I want you
to see how how the Lord, we see sanctification is of the Lord
and how the Lord used Paul to deal with this issue. We see
it right here in this passage. Now, before we go further, for
those that, I know you that believe have heard me say this over and
over, but I don't have any issue repeating it, but for those that
don't know, I want to declare to you, what is sanctification?
What are we talking about here? What is it? Sanctification is
to be set apart from others, to be set apart, distinguished
from others. Set apart is to be declared holy
and then to actually be made holy for the Lord so that you
can have communion with holy God. God, the reason he said
those sacrifices, those offerings had to be perfect is because
God cannot receive us unless we are holy. We have to be perfect
to be accepted with God. All right, so sanctification
is holiness. It's holiness. We've been made
holy by the Lord apart from our works. Justification is to be
righteous before the law, to be clear of any sin, perfect
before the law. Christ is our justification. He is our righteousness. He alone
obeyed God perfectly and put away our sin on the cross. Sanctification
is a work of the heart in the heart whereby we're given a new
heart so we can actually have spiritual discernment and believe
the Lord. And when you have it, the holiness
of the new man is Christ. And he turns you to see how he
sanctified his people by his one offering. And so that's through
the Spirit. So sanctifications of God the
Father. He chose us in Christ before
the world was made. He set his people apart in Christ. You could read this in Jude 1.
He set us apart in Christ, preserved us in Christ, called us holy,
declared us holy in Christ. Ephesians 1, 3, he blessed us
with all spiritual blessings. according as he chose us in Christ
for the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame. There's holiness and righteousness.
In Christ from eternity, God looked at us in Christ our holiness
and said, they're holy. He looked at his people in Christ
our righteousness and said, they're without blame. Even when we fail,
that's how God saw us in Christ, holy and without blame. Sanctifications
of Christ. He said, I come to do thy will,
O God, Hebrews 10, and it's by him fulfilling the will of God
that he took away that first covenant, that curse we were
under, and established the everlasting covenant of grace for us. He
sanctified us by his will, fulfilling the will of God by his one offering.
Perfected forever, then God had sanctified in him an election,
he sanctified us on the cross. And that's what, when we're experiencing
it in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and were made holy, a
new holy man's created in the image of Christ. That's what
we're given discernment to understand. Christ is all. He is all. He is our holiness and he is
our righteousness. And from that day forward, we're
led by Christ through the gospel, through the spirit, Christ leading
us, Christ leading us. So understand that. That's what
we're dealing with here. These men were coming down with
this lie saying, Holiness is partly by you. You
have to come under the law and you have to keep the law or you
cannot be saved. All God's people who are holy,
all God's people who are sanctified, we don't want to break the law.
We don't want to break the Ten Commandments. Our desire is that
we could keep them all, that we could ourselves fulfill them
perfectly and obey God perfectly. but we know we can't because
of our sin. So we're not looking to our obedience
or any effort of obeying God, we're looking to Christ only,
to Him only. Now, so that's the first thing.
It's what we're dealing with here, and I don't want you just
to, I'm not trying to just teach you a doctrine or a theology. I want you to see Christ. I want you to know He is our
holiness. He himself is our hope. That's
why it's such an offense to God when a man is boasting that he
contributes to this holiness. It's because Christ is the holiness
of God. He has to get the glory. And
he is our righteousness. He is everything. He is salvation. He is. Now, so secondly, here's
what I want you to see. Well, I said now, once you're
sanctified by the Spirit, from then on, we're led by the Spirit
of our Lord. So even with this issue having
come to Paul in Antioch, and now he's gonna go up to Jerusalem,
we see sanctification. We see the Lord leading his people
by the Spirit. We see him actually working sanctification
to solve this lie of man-made sanctification. And here's what
I mean. I said, we're led of the Spirit
from then on. Look how Paul went up to Jerusalem. Verse two says,
and I went up by revelation. I went up by revelation. That
means the Spirit revealed to Paul and revealed to the church
at Antioch that Paul needed to go to Jerusalem about this. That's
what we saw this morning when the Lord opened the door for
Paul to go to Lydia. He shut the door for him to go
somewhere else, and he opened his door and assuredly made him
know, you're to go to Philippi and preach to Lydia. Preach down
at this river. He didn't know who she was, but
see, the Lord led him there. When you're sanctified, it's
the Lord leading us from then on. And you know, when our Lord
served for us in this earth and walked before God as a servant
of God, to be the perfect believer representing all God's elect,
he was led of the Spirit. He was, the scripture says he
was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the
Lord. So now that he's risen, he sends the Spirit and regenerates
us, and from then on, he's leading us by the Spirit, by his Spirit. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. And Paul said in Galatians
5, if you're led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. We're
not led God's gonna use a preacher to preach the gospel to you,
but we're not led of men. We're led of Christ Jesus, the
spirit of our Lord. And we're not led by the law
now. We're not going to the letter
of the law and saying now, okay, I have to do this, I have to
do that, I have to do the other, I have to do this, I have to,
or can't be saved. We're led of the spirit giving us a heart
to want to live to him and want to obey him. It's not a fear
that we're gonna be lost or condemned. There's a new spirit, a new heart
of love that wants to serve him. It wants to live to him. And
then this is the other thing that happens once you're sanctified.
Not only are you led of the spirit, you're led through the preaching
of the gospel. The preaching that gives Christ
all the glory. This is how we're led. Not the
preaching of the law, the preaching of Christ and how he's the fulfillment
of everything written in the law. Look, we see this right
here too. I went up by revelation, verse
two, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among
the Gentiles. He preached to the whole church
first, and then he went to the apostles in private and preached
to them. And he did this, he said, so
I wanted to see if I'd run in vain. In other words, do they
believe the gospel or not? Well, how's that gonna be understood?
How's he gonna know if they believe the gospel or not? He preached
Christ. See how the Lord's solving this
issue, this lie, the man-made progressive sanctification. He's
solving this issue for his people, how? Through the preaching of
Christ sent him crucified. Paul went up there and he declared
to them the one gospel. He said God worked affectionately
in Paul to make him the preacher to the Gentiles. God worked affectionately
in Peter to make him his preacher to the elect Jews. And so now
Paul's standing there and he's preaching Christ him crucified,
the one gospel we preach. Don't you know that was a message?
Don't you know when Paul stood there and preached that day,
the Lord gave him a message? I know what the message was.
The message was Christ. Everything about that God's done
for us by grace is in Christ. Where did he choose his people?
in Christ. He elected us in Christ. That
means from the beginning God looked to nobody but his son
to save his people. Our Lord Jesus redeemed us. We were redeemed by grace. How?
By the Lord Jesus. He paid it all. He paid the price
to free us from the curse and condemnation of the law. He paid
the price to free us from our sin nature. He paid the price
to free us from this sin-cursed world into the new heaven and
the new earth. It's all by Christ. What's the doctrine of righteousness? How do we fulfill the law of
God? It's never divided in scripture.
It's not just, you know, that's what progressive self-sanctifiers
say. We're not under ceremony, but
we're under the 10th commandment. It's never divided by God in
the word. There's just one law. 613 commandments,
depending on how you look at them. It's never divided. Christ is the fulfillment of
all. Every word in the law of Moses gives honor to Christ who
fulfilled them all. He perfectly served the Father,
that's the first table, and he perfectly loved his people, that's
the second table. And every civil law, every ceremonial
law, every bit of it pointed to him, and he's the fulfillment
of it all. Righteousness is Christ. Holiness is Christ. He did it
all from a holy heart. And when the Lord gives you a
holy heart, he makes you to know, understand, God sees us perfectly
holy in the Lord Jesus Christ because we're one with him. Sanctification
separates you from the lie that you contribute. It separates
you from the lie that you're saving yourself. and it brings
you into union with Christ Jesus and you trust he is all your
holiness and acceptance with God. Everything God has for his
people, it's in Christ. That's what Paul went up there
preaching to them. And then he talked privately
to the apostles because he wanted to see, did you fellas send these
men preaching this lie? And he found out they didn't.
He found out they were led of the spirit, They were led by
the gospel of Christ. Christ was their salvation just
like he was Paul's. Look here at Galatians 2 and
look down at verse 19. Here it is. I through the law
am dead to the law. You know what a blessing that
is to really believe that? This is what self-holy men don't
believe that. I through the law by Christ coming
and laying down his life, I'm dead to the law. I've been executed
by the law of God. That I might live under God.
You can't live under God while you're trying to live to the
law. You can't do it. He has to make you know you're
dead to the law. And that you might live to God. I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I. Now here's, being
crucified with Christ is our righteousness. Here's our sanctification. I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. He's my holiness. In the life
I'm living now, I live by being led of the Son of God. By him
faithfully leading me, that's how I live. The same one who
loved me and gave himself for me. So Paul, he's led of the
Spirit to go up there, and when he gets there, just like we saw
in the first hour, the Lord opened the door, gave him the message
to preach Christ. We're led of the Spirit in holiness,
and it's through the preaching of Christ. Now, here's the third
thing. Here's a contrast. Those that believe they sanctify
themselves are compelled by men. They're in bondage. Those that
are truly sanctified are free. We're free, brethren. If Christ
makes you free, you're free indeed. We're free. and we live under
him and we're constrained by his love. Verse three, he said,
neither Titus who was with me being a Greek was compelled to
be circumcised. That's how self-made religion
operates. They compel men, they try to
force men. But he said, we weren't compelled
to be circumcised and it was by these false brethren who came
in unaware They came in privately to spy out our liberty, which
we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.
To whom we gave place by subjection, know not for an hour that the
truth of the gospel might continue with you. The same fellows, or
among the same message at least, that came down to Antioch preaching
this lie, when Paul got to Jerusalem, they rose up again with this
lie. And Paul, I have no doubt, Paul took Titus with him on purpose,
because Titus was a Greek, and they knew it. And so they were
trying to compel him to come back under the law, or that he
couldn't be saved. And Paul said, we didn't even,
we didn't submit to this for an hour. Why? That the truth of the gospel
might continue with you. If, when you're compelled by
a man to do anything, because a man compels you to do it, in
a fear of a man, trying to please men, trying to make yourself
holy by what you've done, anything of that nature, you have left
the gospel. You have left Christ. The gospel
ceases. The gospel ceases. Remember,
the Lord said, the Lord told him in Galatians 5, he said,
this persuasion didn't come of Christ who called you. He didn't
work this. He said, a little leaven leavens
the whole lump. The gospel's gone. He said, if
you're circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. You've fallen
from grace. You left grace. And the Lord,
here's true sanctification now. The Lord's not gonna let his
people unite with that lie and be compelled by men. He's not
gonna allow that. He's gonna, what's he gonna do?
Set you apart from that, sanctify you from that, and keep you in
union with him, looking only to him. That's what the Lord
does. That is true sanctification.
Peter told them when they were down there in Antioch, he said,
Christ purified our hearts. That's what holiness is. Christ
purified our hearts. He did it. And how'd he do it?
He did it through faith in him. He gave his faith to trust him.
He said, and to bring somebody back under the law that Christ
has already worked this for, he said, you're tempting God.
That's tempting God. Why? Because as Paul said at
the end here of the chapter, he said, because if we frustrate
grace, we're saying Christ died in vain. Think of the, think
of the, this, This show that men put on of
trying to be holy and appear like they're wanting just to
obey God by putting confidence in that. That's so dishonoring
to God. That is saying, you sent your
son and that's not enough. Your son didn't accomplish what
you sent him for. You see how dishonoring to God
that is? We believe we shall be saved,
just like those Gentiles, Peter said, that never had the law.
We're gonna be saved like they are. without the law. What about
Abraham? How was he sanctified? He didn't
have the law. What about Enoch? Scripture said
he pleased God. What was his rule of law? What
about Abel? What about Noah? What about Adam?
None of them had the law. What about that thief on the
cross? Brethren, all who are saved by our Lord Don't ever
come to Christ with more than you had when he first called
you to him. Don't ever come to Christ with more than that thief
on the cross had. That thief on the cross had one
thing he could say that was of him. I am a sinner. I'm getting
what I deserve. But he knew this. He didn't know
a bunch of theology. He didn't know a bunch of doctrine.
He didn't have time to take time to be holy. He didn't have the
law. Nothing that men put so much
confidence in. But he had one thing, the one
thing needful. He had Christ. He had Christ. That, if you have Christ, you
have all. You have all. And so through this, the Lord
brought them all together. That's what Paul goes on to say
in verses seven, eight, and nine. They saw the gospel was committed
to Paul, and the Lord, what did he do here? He united them in
holiness. He united them in Christ, and
they gave each other the right hand of fellowship. And anything else is bondage. These men were trying to bring
them from liberty in Christ to bondage, to bondage. I want to
show you something. Go to Galatians 3. I was in the
middle of preaching last night when this hit. And I looked it
up after I got finished preaching. Look here at verse 11, Galatians
3 11. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. The judge shall live by faith.
You know, here's something that folks have a misunderstanding
about is all through this letter, Paul is talking about we're not
justified by the law. But the issue he's dealing with
is being sanctified by the law. So why is he saying we're not
justified by the law in the sight of God? Remember what James said,
he's talking about we're not justified as truly believing
Christ by our obedience to the law in the sight of God. Just
like you're You, before men, you're justified as truly having
faith in Christ by your works. And before God, you are as well. Get what I'm saying now. When
the Lord sent Abraham to offer Isaac, this is James' illustration,
when the Lord sent Abraham to offer Isaac, at the end of that,
the Lord said, now I know that you believe me. You're justified
that your work has justified you as truly believing, not as
righteousness to stand with God, but just it was evident he really
believed God because he proved it by what he did. Men think
that they're going to be justified before men, before God, by keeping
the law. That's not what's going to justify
you as really believing God. What justified Abraham as believing
God? It was a work to where Life was
at stake. It was a work that showed that
he had no other life but Christ. He, Lord said, I'm gonna bless
you through this son, Isaac, because that's who Christ is
coming from, and he's the one whom all my blessings are. And
then he said, now you go kill this son. You go offer this son
to me. And Abraham, God really looks
on the heart because Abraham didn't do it hourly, but God
said in Hebrews that he really did offer Isaac. Because in his
heart, he was slaying that boy. And if God hadn't intervened,
he would have. And the Lord said, now I know you believe me. You
know how you're justified as truly being a believer? That's
what he's saying in Galatians 3. It's not by the law, it's
to just live by faith. Every hardship you come into,
every trial the Lord sends you, the one way you're justified
as truly believing the Lord is you keep walking by faith, trusting
Christ. And the law's not of faith. The
law's not of faith. Christ redeemed us from it. The
other illustration him gave was Rahab. What works did Rahab do? Her life was at stake. Her life
was at stake. She could have been killed for
hiding those spies and then sending them out another way. She manifests
by doing that and by continuing looking at that scarlet line
in her window, that rope in her window, she manifests all her
salvation was Christ. Brethren, you can't live under
God and the only way it manifests, even in the sight of God, that
you really are living to God, the only way is this. that you
truly believe Christ is your only, your only life, your only
life, so that whatever the Lord sends to you providentially,
by his grace, you just keep looking to him. You keep looking to him.
You keep looking to him. See, these men, these false men
at Glacier, Just like today, they're trying to justify before
men they're really holy men because look how they keep the law, and
look how they hate those that don't, and all that. That doesn't
justify a man as having faith even in the sight of God, that
doesn't. What does? I'm looking to Christ
only. That's it, faith is the evidence
that just live by faith, to just live by faith. And when a man's
trying to justify himself as being a believer by the works
of the law, that's the motive of his heart, justify how he's
a saint because of all these good works he does. That man
is living to himself. He's living to men. He's fearful
of men. He's compelled by men. It's only
when the Lord gives you a heart to trust Christ come what May,
come what may. If everybody loves you and they're
praising you and they want to hear you preach or walk with
you as a believer, or if they reject you and hate you and want
to string you up, either way, you're not, that's what Paul
said there. I wasn't moved by them that were of reputation.
They didn't add a thing to me. If they loved me or they hated
me, it wasn't going to change anything. Why? Christ is all
to me. That's a man that's been made
holy. That's a man that's been made
holy. All right, I'm done. I'm done. Let's go to Galatians
5. I'm gonna read this one thing to you. Here's the, you know,
Brother Rothbard used to say, no summons, no sermon. So here's
the summons. Galatians 5.1. Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, he's a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is because of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
justified by the law, you are fallen from grace, for we Here's
a true holy man right here. We, through the Spirit, that
was my second point. We, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness. We're waiting for Christ our
righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ, neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. Nothing about
us in the flesh contributes, but faith which worketh by love,
faith which worketh by love, not compelled, constrained by
the love of Christ. That's the heart, that's the
heart. You did run well, who hindered you that you should
not obey the truth? This persuasion came not of Christ
that called you. A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. You've turned to a man, you're
fearing a man, You're doing this for fleshly reasons. That's what
he's saying. But how did he know they were
gonna be kept if they were truly sanctified? I have confidence
in you through the Lord. The Lord's gonna keep you. That
you'll be not otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you, how's
the enemy gonna be dealt with? He that troubleth you shall bear
his judgment, whoever he be. The Lord's gonna sanctify his
people and he's gonna protect us from the enemy. He is all,
brethren. I pray the Lord bless you. All
right, Brother Adam.