Let's turn in our Bibles to Galatians
chapter five. I'll begin by reading the text
where the apostle Paul is inspired by the spirit to write to the
Galatian churches, professing believers who had heard the true
gospel and who'd been brought out from false religion and set
free, and that's what we're gonna be talking about, free to serve
Christ, freedom to serve Christ. And he says in verse one, stand
fast and firm, 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 that he's
a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You are
fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. You did run well. Who did hinder
you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh
not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that
you will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you shall
bear his judgment, whosoever he be. May the Lord bless His
word in our hearts. I know that you've studied these
verses before. I've preached on them many times
before. But in light of what the Lord has led me to preach
in these last few messages, I thought this would be a sort of a good
conclusion to, if you want to call it a series. I didn't tell
you, Kristen, to keep it in a series like that, but that's okay, don't
worry about that. But one of the basic, most fundamental
truths concerning the issue of good works, and like we've talked
about, we've talked about what good works are, how they are
the acts of devotion, acts of self-denial, acts of charity,
worship, all of that, that are done by a justified person, a
sinner saved by grace, who has been redeemed by the blood, who
has been regenerated by the Spirit, born again by the Spirit, and
who, by God-given faith, looks to Christ for all salvation. looking nowhere else. You don't
look to yourself. You don't look to the law. You
don't look to the church or the denomination or any hierarchy. You look to Christ, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Isn't that a glorious
thing? And that's the liberty that bolsters
and motivates God's people in good works. In fact, there are
no good works without the assurance of salvation that comes from
Christ. If your assurance of salvation
is based upon what you have done or something in the past or something
you are doing, there can be no good works, there can be no faith.
I heard a message one time by a preacher, claimed to be a Sovereign
Grace preacher, He said faith and assurance are not the same
thing. Well, I beg to differ. To believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that's God-given faith now, you understand that
didn't come from us naturally. It's the gift of faith, for by
grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ is to have the assurance of salvation and final glory
in Him. This preacher said faith comes
first and then assurance may come later, may not come at all.
Well, that's not true. That's what the book of Hebrews
talks about in Hebrews 12 to looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. Now faith grows and even our
assurance can grow. As we learn, as we grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ, as we learn more and more that it's
not good to look to the world and the circumstances, we don't
get our assurance of salvation by reading the headlines. We
don't get our assurance of salvation by trying to look within ourselves
to see if we measure up. You see, our measuring up is
not within ourselves. Our measuring up is in Christ,
by whose blood our sins are forgiven, by whose righteousness we're
justified, made right with God. And how can a sinful person do
that? Think about that. Because I'm
a sinner and you're a sinner, only a sinner saved by grace.
Well, we see by God's word in the gospel, looking unto Jesus,
that all charges against us have been dropped. Anything that could
be chargeable to us. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. They've
been charged to Christ. And so we have charged us His
righteousness. Well, that frees us up. And so look at verse 1. He says,
stand firm, stand fast. This is a dogmatic position now. and don't be moved away. Stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Now that yoke of bondage had to do with false preachers who
had infiltrated the Galatian churches, preaching this, that
even though you're saved by grace, you're made sure and kept by
your works under the law. And the first thing they would
tell the men, the Gentile men who claimed to believe the gospel,
is you've got to be circumcised, physically. You've got to be
circumcised in order to please God, in order to be sure of your
salvation, in order to be really righteous. And this is what Paul
was talking about here in verse 8. Look down at verse 8. This
persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. That kind of
preaching that tells a believer who's looking to Christ as the
author and finisher of his or her faith, that kind of preaching
that tells you to look elsewhere for your assurance or elsewhere
for your righteousness or to make you more righteous, that
didn't come from God. That comes from sinful men and
women who don't know Christ. And he says, a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump. In other words, it just takes
a little bit of that. You know what leaven is, it's
yeast. You put it in the flour and it spreads out through the
whole lump. And that's what they were doing. They were just putting
in a little bit of works. You're saved by grace, but you're
kept by works. You know, there are denominations
today who claim to be Christian. They say you can lose your salvation
if you don't do your part. Well, that's a little leaven.
and it'll corrupt the whole lump. Leaven in the Bible is, most
of the time, it's a type of sin. And so he says, a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump. It's like those in 2 Corinthians
11 whose minds have been corrupted from the simplicity, the singularity
that is in Christ. All my salvation in one person
by one offering. the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
says in verse 10, I have confidence in you through the Lord that
you will be none otherwise minded. Paul had confidence that he would
bring them back from this error, recover them. He said, he that
troubleth you will bear his judgment, whosoever he be. These false
preachers who put this leaven in, they'll be judged by God. These legalists, Well, that liberty
is the freedom that God has brought his people to in Christ. He made us free. Now, don't be
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't let somebody
come in and put you under the yoke of the law. You remember
Christ talked about a yoke. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. He said,
my yoke is easy, my burden is light. His yoke is freedom. liberty, not bondage, the bondage
of the law. Turn back to that passage in
Romans 6 that I read at the opening. I want you to see, I refer to
this quite often because you see two types of liberty here,
two types of freedom. One is our legal freedom that
we have in Christ. That's our justification. What
is it to be justified? It's to be forgiven of all of
our sins on a just ground. And what is the just ground?
The blood of Jesus Christ. It's to be declared righteous
in God's sight on a just ground. And what is a just ground? The
imputed righteousness of Christ. That's our legal freedom. That
means all charges have been dropped and we've been made righteous
in God's sight. And then there's a spiritual freedom that comes
when the Holy Spirit gives us life from the dead, a new heart
in the new birth, changes our mind, our thinking with the gospel
of freedom, the liberty of the gospel. James, in James, I think
it's chapter one, verse 25, called the gospel the perfect law of
liberty. I love that. But look at Romans
chapter six, verse seven. He says, for he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now, what does that mean? Well,
that word free is literally the same word that the Bible translates
often as justified. That's our legal freedom. Somebody
brings a charge against us. That charge cannot stick. Romans
8, for who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justifies. God does not charge us with sin. With our sins. And we do sin. We are sinners. Well, how can
God do that and not be a just God? You know, if we're really
sinners, which we are, and God decides not to charge us with
sin, how can He do that and still be holy and just and right? Well,
there's only one way, and that's the Gospel way. That's the way
of salvation through our surety to whom our sins have been charged,
and he willingly took that on. Through our substitute, that's
Christ, who took our place under the law and died for our sins,
shed his blood, and that's Christ as our Redeemer. He paid the
debt. The sin debt that we owe to God's law and justice, Christ
fully paid. That's our legal freedom. Legal
liberty. And as a result of that comes
spiritual liberty in the new birth. Look down at verse 17
that I read earlier. But God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin. A servant of sin is an unregenerate,
unbelieving person. Because all that person can do
in the sight of God is sin. Now he may be religious, he may
be moral in the eyes of men, he may appear righteous unto
men, but in God's sight, It's all sin, iniquity. But you have
obeyed from the heart. Now who gives us the heart to
obey? God does. That doesn't come to you naturally. If you're in obedience to God's
word, that's a gift from God. And it's because you've already
been justified. He says you obeyed from the heart,
that form of doctrine, that teaching. What is that teaching? The gospel.
The gospel of freedom, that perfect law of liberty that shows us
that Christ was appointed by the Father before the foundation
of the world made our surety. We're chosen in Christ, given
to him before the world began. And that he came and became a
man, God manifest in the flesh. And as the perfect God-man, he
obeyed the law and died on the cross and redeemed us from our
sins. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And this is all my hope and peace, this is all my righteousness.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You see that? Now we sing it,
now we know what it means, see? We know what the reality of it.
So you've obeyed that form of doctrine, and it says which was
delivered you, and most times when preachers preach, they say
which was preached to you, and it is preached to you. Faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But that
literally says which you were delivered to it. God in time,
if you're one of his chosen people, he takes you and delivers you
where the gospel is preached or communicated in some way.
Now look at verse 18. Being then made free from sin. Now the word free here is a different
word than the word freed in verse seven. Again, the word freed
in verse seven means justified. That's our legal freedom. Absolved
of all charges. Declared righteous in God's sight
legally. The word free here in verse 18
is the word liberated. It's like being put out of jail.
Released from prison. The prison of our mind. The bondage
of sin and Satan and the law. that kept us in bondage trying
to establish a righteousness of our own. But we're free now. We're made free from sin. And
we become what? Servants of righteousness. What
is a servant of righteousness? It's a servant of Christ. And
that's the kind of liberty that he's talking about over here
in our text, chapter five. Well, look back at that. Verse
two, listen to what he says. Behold I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. What
he's talking about is the Jewish requirement of the law that was
given to Abraham that every male in the Jewish family was to be
circumcised physically. Now that never was given to Israel,
to the Jews, for salvation. It was a physical sign of their
connection with Abraham. The unbelieving Jews turned it
into a legal thing, saying that you must be circumcised or you
can't be saved. And Paul's saying this, if you
be circumcised for that reason, Christ will profit you nothing.
You men, if you're circumcised thinking that that makes you
righteous, that that saves you or contributes to your salvation,
your profession of Christ is nothing. It's nothing. He'll profit you nothing. You
say you believe in Christ. You say that you're resting in
Him. You say that your hope is in Him, but you say, oh, but
you've got to be circumcised to be saved. You've just denied
Him. See how meticulous this is? And he says in verse three,
for I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that
is, for that reason, that he's a debtor to do the whole law.
James said this. He said, here's how tight and
united the law of God is. To offend in one point is to
be guilty of all. Think about that. And to seek
salvation by that same law that you have broken, to seek salvation
by that same law is bondage and to be under the curse. But if
you're one of God's children, Christ was made a curse for you.
And that curse was removed by him, by his death. But if you're
trying to be saved, trying to be righteous, trying to be forgiven,
trying to be assured by your deeds of the law, then you're
a debtor to do the whole thing. You've got to keep it perfectly,
and I've got news for you. You got a bad start. If you could keep the law right
now perfectly for the rest of your life, that still wouldn't
make up for the sins you've already committed. You agree with that? It's true. You see, as far as
salvation by works is concerned, it's impossible. What did Paul
write over in Romans chapter three when he was actually bringing
in the whole world as guilty before God by their works. He
says in verse 19 of Romans 3, now we know that what things
the law, soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God, subject to the judgment of God.
Based upon our works, the only thing that we can earn and deserve
is condemnation. You see what I'm saying? So he
says, Therefore by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in
God's sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Where's
our hope? Verse 21, But now the righteousness
of God without the law, without our obedience to the law, is
manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even
the righteousness of God, which is by the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. And it's unto all and upon all
them that believe, for there's no difference. Back in Galatians
5, he says in verse 4, Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the law, you're fallen from
grace. Now to say you're fallen from
grace does not mean you've lost your salvation. It means that
your profession of salvation by grace is no good. If you claim to be justified,
made right with God by your works, whatever those works are, and you claim to be saved by
grace, you're denying what you claim. You're exposing that your
claim of grace is no good. He doesn't mean you've lost your
salvation, because that's impossible. Once God saves a sinner by his
grace, that sinner is always saved. That's the assurance of
salvation that comes from looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. And that establishes the very
motive of good works. To try to do good works without
that assurance of the grace of God in Christ is empty. It's an impossibility. And so
what does he say? Verse five, for we through the
Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, we wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. What is that hope? That hope
is the certain assurance of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.
Now there's the motive. What are good works? They are
works that are motivated by grace, by love, by gratitude, not by
legal threats, not by mercenary promises of earned reward, but
by grace. God has freely and fully given
me all spiritual blessings, every bit of it, by His grace. none of which I've earned or
deserve, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of the merit
of his obedience unto death. Now, do you really believe that?
Well, thank God. And you thank him not just by
looking up in the air and saying, thank you, Lord. It's okay to
do that, but you thank him by serving him. servants of righteousness,
servants of Christ. In other words, you're serving
not to make yourself righteous before God, but you're serving
because Christ has already been made your righteousness. That's
the liberty. That's the freedom to serve Christ. It's not freedom to sin. You
know, the natural man, a lot of times, unbelievers, when they
hear us preach like this, they say, well, if I believe what
you believe, I just go out and sin as much as I want to. And what you realize about somebody
like that is they've not been set free. They've not understand
not only the doctrine of grace, but the power of grace. What
does God say? We read it last week in Ezekiel
chapter 36, where he said, I'll put my spirit within them. I'll
give them a new heart. I'll cause them to walk in my
statutes. Ephesians 2.10, for we are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, not because
of, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
It is God that worketh in us to do His will and His good pleasure. That's the power of grace. So
we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith. That's righteousness in Christ. His righteousness imputed. And verse six. For in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Serving God, not because of what
you can earn, but serving God because you love him. I've often used the illustration
about parents and children. You parents, would you rather
your children Obey you because they love and respect you? And
because you've cared for them and taken care of them? Or do
you want them to obey you because they're afraid you'll kick them
out of the family? See what I'm saying? We want
them to obey us because of our love for them and because of
what we've given them and we care for them and we'll do whatever
is needed to help them. Look over across the page at
Galatians chapter six. Here he talks about salvation
and the results of it. And look at verse seven. He says, be not deceived, God
is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. Now that's not teaching salvation
by works. That's simply teaching what you
sow, you're going to reap. What do we sow? You know, a lot
of times in the Bible, the gospel, the preaching of the gospel is
illustrated by sowing seed. That's what we're sowing. We're
sowing the gospel. We're sowing the word of God.
And that seed is implanted by God to his people within their
hearts. Remember the parable of the seed
and the sower? Some seed fell upon thorny ground
and stony ground and by the wayside, but the seed that fell upon the
good ground. That's the heart that Paul spoke
of in Romans 6, 17. You've obeyed from the heart.
That's the new heart. That's a gift from God. That's
the power of God. That didn't come to you or me
naturally. Our natural hearts are deceptive. Desperately wicked,
Jeremiah called it, Jeremiah 17, 9. So what you sow, so shall you
reap. If you sow grace, you reap grace as a gift from God. If you sow works, you'll reap
condemnation. And it says in verse eight, for
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
What is it to sow to the flesh? It can be anything that has to
do outside the gospel of God's grace. You take people who live
a totally, totally immoral life, with no thoughts towards God
or the good of the people, just totally selfish, immoral life.
What are they going to reap? They're going to reap corruption.
But this is just as true in false religion. Those who sow salvation
by works, what are they going to reap? Corruption. Because
that's all that there is. But he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. What is it to sow
to the Spirit? It's to believe in Christ, it's
to rest in Him, it's to plead His blood and His righteousness
alone for all of salvation. And then he says in verse nine,
look at this, Galatians 6 verse nine, let us not be weary in
well-doing. In other words, this notion,
this great truth of salvation by grace, of being liberated,
the liberty, free from sin, free from judgment, all of that, it
doesn't inspire God's people to sin more. It doesn't inspire
God's people to throw caution to the wind. It doesn't inspire
God's people, motivate them to live like the world. It inspires
us not to be weary in well-doing, serving Christ, Freedom to serve
Christ. For in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. We don't quit. And the reason
we don't is the power of God. And as we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all, especially unto them who are of the household
of faith. We're to be servants of righteousness, servants of
Christ, and to do good to everybody, even our enemies, but especially
to our brethren. It's kind of like your family
here on earth. You could say, well, I'm going
to help people, but I'm especially going to help my sons and my
daughters, my wife, my husband, all of that. We have a, he says,
them of the household of faith. He says in verse 11, you see
how large a letter I've written unto you with mine own hand?
Paul was so concerned about this that he didn't have his secretary
write this down, he wrote it personally. And he said, and
as many, verse 12, as many as desire to make a fair show in
the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised only lest they
should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Some were
giving in to these Jewish false preachers. because they didn't
want to be persecuted by unbelieving Jews. Paul calls that the persecution
of the cross, standing fast in our liberty, standing fast firmly
in the cause of Christ. But verse 13, he says, for neither
they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. They may be circumcised
physically, but they don't keep the law. But desire to have you
circumcised that they may glory in your flesh, Oh, we've got
a convert. But God forbid that I should
glory, that I should boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. That's freedom. That's liberty to serve Christ. to be a servant of righteousness. And that didn't come about except
to those who are justified before God, based on Christ's blood
and righteousness imputed, and those who have been born again
by the Spirit and given a new heart of grace, liberty, freedom
to serve Christ. Isn't that a beautiful thing?