Now I want us to stay right there
in Galatians 3. Mainly I'm going to focus on
verse 27, where it speaks of being baptized into Christ and
putting on Christ, put on Christ. Title of the message is Clothed
with Christ. Now I've preached on this before.
I was looking up on my files. I think it's been about 10 years,
but I've dealt with this subject. But through discussions with
other believers this past couple of weeks, the Lord has just laid
this on my heart to preach again. So I'm not gonna be preaching
anything new, but however, we always listen and we need these
things to be repeated. It's good for it, line upon line,
precept upon precept, as Isaiah the prophet said. And so we continue
to learn. as the Lord blesses us and the
Lord gives us his word. But let me just give you a little
background. This whole passage here that
Brother Robert read from verse 15 on, what he's speaking of
is the greater glory and the sureness of the promise of the
new covenant, the gospel covenant in Christ. Now the new covenant,
the Bible speaks of a new covenant, And I always look at it this
way, there's the everlasting covenant of grace made before
time began. And the new covenant is the actual
working out of that everlasting covenant made before the world
began in time. Christ was set up before the
foundation of the world to be the surety of his people, the
substitute, the redeemer. the Lord our righteousness. That
was set up from eternity. It was sure. Our debt, the debt
of God's chosen people was laid to his charge. That's why he's
called a surety. But in time, the appointed time,
in fact, in Galatians four down there, look at verse four, but
when the fullness of the time was come. Now that fullness of
the time, in time, Christ had to come into this world He had
to keep the law perfectly unto death, had to be buried, and
he had to be raised again the third day. He had to ascend into
the fire. All these things took place in
time according to the terms of an everlasting covenant of grace
made before time. That's mind-boggling, but it's
so. And so what the apostle, as he's inspired by the Holy
Spirit, he's showing them the surety of the promises that are
made in the new covenant, the gospel covenant, the revelation
of the everlasting covenant of grace, because they're all conditioned
on Christ, the surety. 2 Corinthians 1.20 says, all
the promises of God in Him, in Christ are sure, and in Him,
amen. And that's why because it's all
conditioned on Christ. And that's what he talks about
the inheritance there. Verse 18, the inheritance. If
the inheritance of salvation and eternal life and glory and
blessedness, if that were by the law, the law of Moses, keeping
the law of Moses, keeping the 10 commandments, keeping the
law of Sarah, if that were by the law, then it's not a promise.
See, the promise is of grace. God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Now, it didn't begin with Abraham. I'll show you that in a moment. Again, it began before the world
began, and it was revealed in Genesis 3. Actually, it was revealed
in type and picture in Genesis 1, but it was stated out in Genesis
3 in the promise of the woman's seed Genesis 3.15, and the work
of Christ in the substitution, Genesis 3.21, the slaying of
animals and the making of coats of skin, that's the blood of
Christ, that's the righteousness of Christ, all of that. But it
was given to Abraham. When it was given to Abraham,
it wasn't saying, Abraham, you do this and God will do that.
It was given to Abraham by promise. And the promise it says in verse
nine, so why was the law of Moses given? To show them their sinfulness
and their depravity and the impossibility of salvation by their works. And the seed that he speaks of
mainly here in Genesis three is Christ himself. who was, according
to his human genealogy, came through Abraham, Abraham, Isaac,
and then Jacob, and on down through Judah, all of that. And so Paul
makes the point, now the law is not opposed to the promise,
because why was the law given? To show them their sinfulness,
the impossibility of salvation by their works. And the Holy
Spirit uses that to drive sinners to Christ. Now, he mentions faith. He says in verse 22, but the
scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by the
faith of Jesus Christ, that's the faithfulness of Christ, be
given to them that believe, but before faith came, before Christ
came and did his great work, the God-man, Christ becoming
incarnate, God manifest in flesh, walking this earth, doing the
work that he was sent to do. Before that came, we were kept
under the law. The Jews were kept under the
Mosaic law. That was probably around a 1500
year period from Sinai to the cross, shut up under the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. In other words, they were kept
closed under that. And then he says in verse 24,
wherefore the law was our schoolmaster. Now look at that verse. See,
to bring us is in italics. It means it wasn't in the original
manuscript. The translators added it. And
so it says, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ. Until Christ is what it's saying.
That we might be justified by faith. Justified by faith means
justified by the blood of Christ. That's what faith says, that's
the promise. That we believe the promise. Now, we're not justified
by our believing. But in our believing, we look
to Christ, who is our justification. And that needs to be straight
in our minds. But a lot of people, they'll
argue over this. Well, they say, well, the law,
the law can't bring us to Christ, it takes the gospel. Well, that's
true. But the gospel shows us the impossibility
of keeping the law to be saved. But what this verse is saying
is this. And you understand that because
the law that the Israelites were under, most of them, the majority
of them didn't see the reality of it. Most of them were never
brought to Christ by faith. There was a remnant. So what
is he saying here? The Israelites were shut up under
the law until Christ came. And then he says in verse 25,
but after that faith has come, after Christ has come and done
his great work, we're no longer under the school of man. We're
not under that law anymore. That's what he's saying. So where
is this thing of salvation? Well, he says in verse 26, for
you are all the children of God. Now understand this is Jew and
Gentile. by faith in Jesus Christ, faith in Christ Jesus. It is
by God bringing us to believe in Christ that we realize that
we're children of God. Our believing doesn't make us
a child of God, it evidences that we are a child of God. Now
you want proof of that? Look right down the page to Galatians
4.4 again. Now listen to what it says. But
when the fullness of the time was come, at a point in time
when Christ was brought into the world, God sent forth his
Son, that's the second person of the Trinity. Who is Jesus
Christ? God manifest in the flesh, made of a woman, that's his humanity,
his perfect sinless humanity, made under the law. What does
that mean? All the requirements of the law
in its obedience was conditioned on Christ. And why? Verse five, to redeem them that
were under the law. To pay the debt. Pay the price
by his blood. We're redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. That we might receive the adoption of sons. Okay? That's the adoption that God
purposed before the world began. You can read that in Ephesians
one. Now look at verse six, and because you are sons. Did you
see that? It doesn't say, and in order
for you to become sons, it says, because you are sons, God has
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. That's faith in Christ. because
you're a son, because you're a child of God, because God justified
you and adopted you before this world ever began in Christ. And
he says in verse seven, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but
a son, and if the son, then an heir of God through Christ. Now, when the Holy Spirit brings
us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, gives us the gift of
faith, and brings us to repentance of dead works, then we have the
biblical God-authorized right to claim to be children of God.
I'm a child of God. I'm a child of the King, him
says. Now, without believing in Christ
and resting in him and the glory of his person and the power of
his finished work, I have no biblical God-authorized right
to call myself a child of God. Now, you may be a child of God
according to God's purpose and plan from eternity, but until
he brings us to Christ, believing in him, resting in him, pleading
his blood, his righteousness as our only ground of salvation,
and repenting of dead works, we have no biblical right or
biblical cause or God-authorized right to say, I'm saved. I'm one of God's elect. I'm a
child of God. And so verse 27, for as many
of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ,
putting him on. What do you mean putting on Christ?
Well, first of all, what's he talking about baptized into Christ?
Now, anytime we think of baptized, we always think of the waters
of baptism, confession, But you need to understand that when
the Bible uses the word baptized, baptism, it's not always talking
about the ordinance of believer's baptism, whereby we go down into
the water and come up out of the water confessing our union
with Christ. Now sometimes it is talking about
that. John the Baptist, he baptized. Christ was baptized. Not for
the same reasons we were, but we're baptized, be baptized. Baptism is a command that Christ
gives to his children who have been brought to faith in Christ,
who've been regenerated and converted, born again, to confess Christ
publicly. That's what baptism is, the waters
of baptism. But the word baptized, you know
what it means? It means placed into. Now, if you're baptized in water,
you're placed into water. We say submersion. Somebody would
say, well, baptism means submersion. Well, it does if you're talking
about water baptism. But here, what he's talking about
is those who are placed into Christ. And he's talking about
union with Christ. I'm united to Christ in union
with Christ. The book of Ephesians chapter
one speaks of it often as being in Christ, in Christ, in him. Now, what does that mean? Well, there's several ways that
a true child of God has been placed into Christ, united to
Christ. We can think about it this way.
We are placed into Christ in eternal electing grace. When God chose you or me in Christ,
we were baptized into Him eternally in election, united to Him. The Bible says that if we're
in Christ, our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life, the
Lamb that was slain, our names were written there before the
world began, before the foundation of the world. Think about that. Doesn't that
amaze you? Your name, my name, if you're
a child of God now, if you can biblically under God's authority
of his word claim that, because you have been brought to faith
in Christ, your actual name, and I don't believe God had a
literal book there, you know, with pen and ink, But your name,
and that's a metaphor, in God's mind and heart, your name was
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Isn't that something? And why did God write your name
there and not somebody else? It pleased Him. It wasn't because
He looked down through a telescope of time and foresaw that you'd
be a good person, because by nature you're not, and I'm not.
None good, no not one. It wasn't because of who we are.
It's not of him that runneth, nor of him that willeth. It's
not that God looked down and said, well, I know he or she's
gonna make the right decision in a church service. No. Left
to ourselves, we won't make the right decision. But God chose
us before the foundation. That's called election. That's
union with Christ. Another way we were baptized
into Christ is adopting and justifying grace. God adopted us into his
family and he justified us in Christ. He put all of our debt
upon Christ whom he made our surety. Even before the world
was created. Even before Adam sinned. Even
before I sinned. Our debt was placed upon Christ
as our surety in Christ and adopted us into his family legally. You
know, that's why adoption works. That's why it's a good analogy
for it, you know, a couple chooses whom they want to adopt. And
there's some legal barriers there that they have to fulfill. And then they go get the child
and inform the child of what's happened. Or if it's an infant,
they just take the child and they bring it into their family
and love it and nurture it. And then we're united to Christ
in redeeming grace. When Christ died on that cross,
for whom did he die? He died for his sheep. Their
sins were imputed to him, their debt imputed to him, and he went
to the cross and died on that cross, shed his blood unto death
for our sins. And by that one offering, he
completed, perfected, finished all, for all of his sheep, their
sanctification, setting them apart, redeemed by the blood
of the crucified one, our debts paid. You see, when God chose
us and adopted us and justified, it had to be on a legal ground,
had to be on the ground of somebody paying the debt. Christ did it
on the cross. That's why he said on the cross,
it's finished. The work's done. Sins are put
away. Righteousness is established.
That's what he said. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
is risen again. How do I know that he finished
it, completed it with success? He arose from the dead, send
it unto the Father. And he did it for his people.
And that's why you see language in the scripture that goes something
like this. When Christ died, I died. I didn't die personally then.
But I died in Him, and it's just as real and effectual, because
He's my representative, He's my surety, He's my substitute,
He's my redeemer, He's my intercessor. When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose from the dead,
I arose from the dead. When He ascended unto the Father,
I ascended unto the Father, representatively, legally. And that's what, when
I was baptized in the baptistry back then, that's what I was
confessing. I died with him, I was buried with him, I rose
with him. That's what confession is all
about. And then, now this is what it's being spoken of here
now. We're baptized into Christ in spiritual regenerating grace
when we're born again by the Spirit. Look at it again, verse 27. For
as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, you've done what?
When you're baptized into Christ spiritually, in regenerating,
the new birth, regenerating grace, converting grace, you've put
him on. That means you're clothed with
Christ. Putting on Christ, what does
that mean? Well, that's a metaphor. Now
you know what a metaphor is. I don't want to insult your intelligence,
but I don't take for granted anything anymore. A metaphor
is symbolic language. It's using physical things like
this, putting on a garment, to illustrate and describe a spiritual
matter. And so when we talk about putting
on Christ and being clothed with Christ, we're not saying that
salvation only has to do with the outward person, like I put
on this coat. That's a metaphor. I've heard
preachers put this down. And one thing he's talking about,
he's talking about imputation and he's talking about faith
in Christ. We'll get to that. But I've heard preachers talk
about things like this. You know, righteousness is more
than just outward. Well, let me tell you something.
Righteousness is not outward at all. Righteousness is perfect satisfaction
to the law and justice of God. Sin is not outward. I mean, we
can commit outward acts of sin, but what did Christ say to the
disciples? It's not what goes in you that defiles you. It's
what comes out of the what? The heart. Sin's a matter of
the heart. If you commit a sinful act, it's
because that sinful desire was already in your heart. Imputed righteousness, that's
not this jacket I'm wearing. It's not just, one preacher said,
a pasted on righteousness. What they're doing, what they're
showing you when they use language like it, they don't understand
the metaphor. I'm clothed with Christ, but
that has nothing to do with these threads. It's a legal matter
where God says, you're justified. You're right with God. You don't
owe a debt. You don't have any sin imputed
charge to your account. You're a sinner, but God doesn't
charge it to us. He charges us with righteousness.
So when he speaks of putting on Christ, And the Bible says
this in several places. Listen to this, this is Romans
13, 14. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision
for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Put him on. Let
me give you these things real quickly. First of all, we need
to see our need to be clothed with Christ. By nature, I have
no righteousness. By my works, I have no righteousness. By nature and by practice, I'm
a sinner. I'm naked before God. That's right. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous,
there's none good. So what do I need to be saved?
I need a righteousness that I can't produce. Nakedness in the Bible
symbolizes unrighteousness and exposure to God's wrath. Remember
Adam and Eve? They realized they were naked.
They put on fig leaf aprons to hide their nakedness. And God
took those fig leaf aprons off in Genesis 3.21. What did it
say he did? He slew an animal. The animal
had to die. Blood had to be shed. Without
the shedding of blood, no forgiveness. That's a picture. That's a type
now. It's an illustration. And he gave him coats of skin.
Illustrating our need of a righteousness we cannot produce, but is produced
by one who is the seed of woman, God in human flesh, Christ, to
be charged, accounted to me. That's what I need. That's my need. The righteousness
of man could not even keep Adam in the garden. The need of righteousness is
legitimate, but sinful man is totally at a loss. What was wrong
with Israel under the law? Romans chapter nine says, they
sought righteousness by works of the law and not by faith. How do you seek righteousness
by faith? You look to Christ. And so we see our need of being
clothed with Christ, but now secondly, we see God's provision. by his grace of a righteous garment
through sacrifice unto death. And that's what he talked about,
Genesis 3.15, the seed of woman, that's Christ, the God man. The
animal that was slain, I believe it was a lamb, but it doesn't
matter, whatever God slew, he's picturing the death of the Lamb
of God. to produce the righteousness
that we need. And you remember what I read
in the opening there in Isaiah 61? Listen to this, verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation. Now does that mean that God literally
gave us a coat to wear on the outside? No. It means we're covered. We're safe, we're secure, we
enjoy the warmth of salvation by God's grace through Christ.
He says, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness. You
know what that is? That's imputed righteousness. I have no righteousness
within. I have the Holy Spirit within
and he's righteous. But Christ is my righteousness.
He says, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as
a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. You see what I'm
saying? That's a metaphor. That's an illustration. We're
clothed with Christ's righteousness, the Lamb of God. And then thirdly,
how are the garments of salvation applied? Well, we've already
talked about it. First of all, they're applied
by God imputing Christ's righteousness to us. That's number one. That's the ground of salvation.
That's the legal ground. God imputed our sins to Christ
and imputed Christ's righteousness to us. That's our justification.
And then secondly, by imparting not righteousness itself, but
the knowledge of it. Through the preaching of the
gospel, God reveals to us the righteousness of God. Isn't that
what Romans 1, 16 and 17 said? I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God and salvation to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first, the Greek also, for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed. You see, in my original state,
as I was born into this world as a sinful person, spiritually
dead and depraved, I didn't know anything about this. I didn't
know anything about what God had done for me before the foundation
of the world, that he chose me and adopted me and justified
me. I didn't know about it. But God, in his providence, God
me under the preaching of the gospel and by the power of the
Spirit, he informed me, he convicted me, he revealed himself to me
from faith to faith, from knowledge revealed to knowledge believed.
He gave me the gift of faith. He gave me the knowledge of it.
You see, by nature, we're ignorant of God's righteousness. Going
about to establish our own, But then in the gospel, he reveals
to us that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. And that's the third thing, by
giving us faith to believe in him, believe in Christ, and bringing
us to repentance of dead works and idolatry. That's what he's
talking about here, verse 27. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, you've been united, you put him on,
you believe in him. That's what putting him on right
here means. You believe in him. That's a metaphor for faith and
God-given faith. You put him on and you can read
other scriptures that expand this metaphor in this way. You
take off your own filthy rags And you put on Christ. You're
clothed with Christ. You believe in Him. That's an
act of God. That's the power of God. Look
in verse 28. And when you realize that, there's neither Jew nor
Greek. Whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, that doesn't matter.
Whether you're black or white, that doesn't matter. Whether
you're a man or woman, that doesn't matter. He says there's neither
bond nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. United together. And verse 29
says, if you be Christ. Now that's a possessive. And
here's the way it would read. If you belong to Christ, then
are you Abraham's seed. Then you believe the same gospel
Abraham believed. Then you have the blessings of
Abraham. What are those blessings? Salvation by God's grace in Christ. And heirs according to the promise. Now let me show you one more
way and I'll quit. We put on Christ when we seek
to follow him in his word, when we seek to obey him. Look back
at Ephesians chapter four, beginning at verse 17. Putting on Christ, we believe
in him, we repent of our dead works and idolatry, that's the
gift of God, that's the power of God. and then we follow him. We strive to walk in him, striving
to obey him. We walk the walk of grace, the
race of grace, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. Look at verse 17 of Ephesians, for this I say therefore in testifying
the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk
in the vanity of their mind. Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. See,
we've been delivered from that by the power of God. Who being
past feeling have given themselves over until lasciviousness to
work all uncleanness with greediness. That includes immorality and
false religion, everything that man can do. but you have not
so learned Christ, if so be that you've heard him and have been
taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning
the former conversation, the old man." Now, what is the old
man there? Well, that was my life, my state
before I was born again. Whether we were religious or
whatever, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be
renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on the
new man. What is the new man? That's what
I am in my state as a born again person in Christ. Forgiven of all my sins by the
blood of Christ. Righteous in God's sight by his
righteousness which is after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness. That's putting on Christ. Now,
can we keep the law perfectly? No, we're sinners saved by grace.
The only righteousness we have is Christ's righteousness imputed.
But God has given us a new heart, a new mind, a new life, and we're
to fight the fight of grace. Will we mess up? Yeah, mess up all the time. Will
we fail to You know, I put an article on the bulletin on the
back, oh, to be like Christ. Are we successful in the perfection
of righteousness? No, never. The only way that
we'll find perfection of righteousness is as we look to Christ and rest
in Him and put Him on and realize that we're clothed with Him. We stand before God in Him, in
Him alone.