Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. Today we'll
look at Galatians 6. We'll look at one verse in this
study again. It's fast coming to a close.
Probably this week and next week and then we'll be finished. And
it's been a wonderful journey going through this book. As Paul
has said before us that Justification before God is only in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, not by anything we do, right? Circumcision
doesn't avail us anything or uncircumcision. It's trusting
Christ and Christ alone. Our justification, our sanctification,
our redemption, everything is in Christ Jesus our Lord, right?
And through him. There's no No way that man can
gain merit and favor with God by anything we do. No way we
can justify ourselves before God by anything we do. Paul's
made that evident. Actually, the Holy Spirit has
said, put it on Paul to make that evident. And the Holy Spirit
is the one who has masterfully bought forth through the pen
of Paul, that salvation is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. The Judaizers were saying, you must believe on Christ and
be circumcised to be saved. And Paul said, no, salvation
is only in Christ, in Christ alone. Again, the true author
of these words, we have to remember, is God the Holy Spirit. And salvation
is only through the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no other way to be saved. No other way to be saved. No
other way to see God. No other way to be redeemed.
No other way for eternal life. Except through Christ and Him
alone. And the amazing thing is, is all that is all through
the will of God and because of the will of God and the purpose
of God. So if we're here today and we are in Christ, it's according
to the will and purpose of God. That's amazing, isn't it? That's
absolutely amazing when you think about it. I know we hear it all
the time, but just let it sink into our hearts this week. Meditate
upon that. I'm saved because of the will
and purpose of God and nothing else. There's nothing good in
me that made him choose me or you. It's all because it pleased
him to do so. So think upon that this week.
Meditate upon that this week. It's so wonderful. And there's
absolutely nothing in us that would recommend us to God. Nothing
in us that would cause God to choose us. It's simply an act
of what's called His free and sovereign grace. Right? His will. Charlie, we're saved
because it's the will of God. That's amazing. We didn't know
that. We didn't know we'd be sitting
here and be born again blood-washed saints when we were young and
doing whatever we wanted to do. We had no idea. But here we are. all according to the will and
purpose of God. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. I'll tell you.
And think of this, too. We're saved because of the will
of God, not because of our will. What does our will in our natural
state want to do? Amen, brother. And run as far
away from God as possible, right? Wants to have nothing. When we're
born again, we now have a new nature. Our will is guided by
our nature. So now, now we want to serve
God. Do you know that every believer,
we're chosen to serve? Now there's deacons in the church,
and there's pastor in the church, and those are all chosen by God. They're ordained to that position
or they wouldn't be in it, right? And every believer though is
ordained to be a believer, and every believer is ordained to
serve God. Isn't that amazing? And what
will we do in glory? We're going to serve God in glory,
aren't we? Oh my, it's wonderful. And so we're going to look at
a portion today, and there's a people here called the Israel
of God. The Israel of God. And they are also known in the
scriptures as the elect of God, the beloved of God, the saints
of God, the children of God. They are the people who are saved
according to God's will and purpose. It's not speaking of national
Israel. It's speaking of God's spiritual
people. those who are born again, blood-washed
saints. And praise be to God that the
Father chose us in Christ, because we would never have chosen him. We never would have. And praise
be to God that the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us by the
shedding of his precious blood, paying for all our sins, because
we couldn't pay the price for one. And praise be to God, the Holy
Spirit. See, Father, Son, and now the Spirit, for his regenerating
power. Because we could never make ourselves
born again. It's not in any power that we
have. And he's given us faith and repentance
in Christ. Who's the object of our faith?
Christ. Who did we repent before? The
Father, right? Through Christ. My oh my. So we see the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit involved in our salvation, which means
salvations of the Lord. It's all His. Isn't that wonderful,
Sister Carolyn? It's wonderful, isn't it? In
His planning, He planned and purposed to save us, sent the
Son to redeem us, sent the Spirit to regenerate us. It's amazing. It's absolutely, why, why? Was
there anything in us that God said, well, I'm going to look
down through time. Oh, they're going to choose me. No. No, when
God looked down through time, he saw everybody's just rejecting
him and doing their own thing. And he said, that Brian is mine. That Linda's mine. Mary Jane, you're mine, he said.
In your generation, right? Marsha, you're mine, Steve, Barb. Isn't that, it's just amazing.
And somebody said, well, how does he know your name? Oh, he
already knew what we were gonna be called, didn't he? He's God. Oh my. Isn't that amazing, Dave? He planned and purposed our salvation,
brother. And then he executed it in time
and space. My, oh my. And here we are saying,
we're sitting here rejoicing, praising God for his goodness
and his grace. It's amazing. Why? Because it pleased God to
do so. Because we are his people from
before the foundation of the world. And we will see in our
text here called the Israel of God. Let's read our text here.
Galatians chapter six, verses 11. Paul says to the Galatian churches,
you see how large a letter I've written unto you with mine own
hand? As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they
constrain you to be circumcised, only less they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves
who are circumcised keep the law. They're just a bunch of
lawmongers. They require other people to keep the law, but they
don't even keep the law themselves. No one can. That's why Christ
had to fulfill the law for us, beloved. So they constrain other
men and women to keep the law, and they don't even keep it themselves.
This was true of the Pharisees, wasn't it? This is true of all
religious people, beloved. As I said last week, we're not
religious, we believe the truth. We believe the truth, we believe
on Christ. The world's full of religion,
isn't it? We believe in He who is the truth, the way, the truth,
and the life. And people don't know the difference
between us and religious folks, so they all say, well, you're
just religious. No, I'm not. I'm trusting Christ. I'm not
yoking people with a bunch of things they got to do and they
can't keep, and I don't even keep myself. No, look at that.
Look at that. For they themselves. For neither
they themselves here are circumcised, keep the law, but desire to have
you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. Oh, man
just wants the glory in themselves. But God forbid, Paul says, but
God forbid. Remember what Paul came out of
all that, didn't he? He came out of all that. He says, but
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. in Jesus Christ. Now he's going to lay that right
on the line. So clear. Look at this. For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availed anything. So he's saying to them,
whether you're circumcised or not, don't matter. Do you believe
on Christ? Are you a new creature? We're
going to see. And then he even brings on uncircumcision. Avail
of anything nor uncircumcision. But a new creature. You must
be born again. That's what we looked at last week. You must
be born again. You must be. Our master said that. Look at
this. And now we can see that this is continuing the same thought
because he uses, and as many walk according to this rule.
What rule? You must be born again. You must be born again. We can't
do it ourselves. God does it for us, right? As
many as follow this rule, right? Oh, look at this. Peace beyond
them. As many as walk according to
this rule, peace beyond them and mercy. and upon the Israel
of God. That's the chosen of God, beloved.
From henceforth, let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the
marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. To the Galatians written
from Rome. So our verse today will be verse
16 it says here for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availed
anything or uncircumcision but a new creature and in verse 16
and as many as walk according to this rule you must be born
again peace beyond them look at that and mercy upon the Israel
of God my brother Brian how do we have peace and mercy Amen,
brother, amen. That's the only way, right? That's
the only way. It's wonderful. And we see what
the word and, it's attached then to verse 15, right? So he's saying
circumcision or any other work performed by a man in their attempt
to be justified before God amounts to absolutely nothing. You must
be born again. You must be. And for the believer,
Christ is all our righteousness. He's everything. Over in Galatians
chapter 5, if you want to read there, verses 3 and 4, it says
this. Let's look there. Galatians chapter
5, verses 3 and 4. Look at this. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, that he is indebted to do the
whole law. Oh, you want to follow the law? You've got to do it
all. So these Judaizers are saying, well, you have to be circumcised
and believe on Christ to be saved. And Paul's telling us, if you're
going to throw that in there, you've got to follow the whole
law. And James tells us, remember what James tells us? If you offend
in one point of the law, we talked about that, Zane, you're guilty
of it all. See, this is the wondrous thing, that Christ fulfilled
the law for us. And he did it perfectly. And
that's counted to us through his perfect work. Isn't that
amazing? That's incredible, but it's true.
It's wonderful. And then he says this, Christ
has become, so if you're counting on circumcision or the law to
get you to be justified before God, look what he said. Christ
has become of no effect unto you. Doesn't profit you nothing. Whosoever you are justified by
the law, you are... I'm sorry. Let's read that again. Christ has become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever you are justified by the law, you
are fallen from grace. Look at that. My, oh my. So Christ is all our
righteousness. I'm so sorry. We are reconciled
to God by the death of Christ, and not alone. It's the blood
of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin, not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us. And what do we have through Christ
we see in this verse? Peace and mercy. Peace and mercy. Oh, so circumcision's not the
issue, or uncircumcision's not the issue. The issue is, are
you born again? Because I'll tell you, if you're
born again, then God's going to give you faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And a team of wild horses couldn't
keep you from running to Him. I'll tell you what, you'd be
dragging them horses back, wouldn't you? Oh, Rupert Reibenbach used to
say that. What a pitcher, man. He said, a whole team of wild
horses wouldn't stop a believer that's being drawn by the Holy
Spirit of God and born again from running to Christ. See, the only reason we come
to Christ, or people say accept, come to Him though, same thing,
is because we've been made willing. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
the question is, have you been born again by the life power,
life given power of God, the Holy Spirit? Scripture says this,
therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, right? Old
things are passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. And the new birth is a miracle. We've looked at that. It's a
miracle by God, right? It's a miracle by God. Oh my. And he alone is able, God alone
is able to perform that miracle, isn't he? To regenerate us. We
didn't, as Pink said, we didn't have anything to do with our
first birth, how could we expect to have anything to do with our
second? Right? I didn't say to my mom and dad,
I want to be born now! Nope, I was born at the exact
second that God ordained, right? So were you. You ever think of
that? The exact time that they wrote down your birth is the
exact time that God ordained for you to come into this world.
Isn't that amazing? And the exact time we breathe
our last breath is the exact time that God has ordained for
us to breathe our last breath. Isn't that amazing? That's so
comforting for the believer. And to know that everything in
between is all in his hands. It's amazing. Brother Cherry,
that's what you were talking about, folks at work. Well, if
I die, I'm going to heaven. My. You know? My, oh my. Like Dave said, Dave said that
with his dad. You were talking to your family
about that, Dave. You know? Well, we're all gonna end up there.
Every one of us. How many people die? 100% of
100%, right? Nobody's gonna avoid it. Except
those who may be caught up when the Lord comes back. But we don't
know when that is. We don't know. As far as we know,
every one of us is going to die. Just a matter of time, isn't
it? But the question is, are you
born again? Oh my. Let's read verses 15 and 16 together
here. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availed anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace beyond them, and mercy
and upon the Israel of God. So we see here, in verse 16,
that genuine saving faith renounces all works of the flesh. With
that, and as many as walk according to this will, what is according
to that will? Well, circumcision doesn't avail
anything around circumcision. It don't matter what works a
person does, it won't save them. That's what we believe, right?
Isn't that amazing? And we walk in faith in Christ.
So as many as believe this, as many as walk according to this
will, renouncing all the works of the flesh for salvation, and
trust in Christ alone for salvation, right, what's gonna happen? Peace
beyond them and mercy. We have peace with God through
Christ, right? And God has shown us mercy, because
Paul said, I've obtained mercy. And where did he obtain mercy?
The same place Brother Brian mentioned, in Christ. We have
peace with God through Christ. We've obtained mercy with God
through Christ as well, according to his sovereign will and purpose. Isn't that amazing? It gets me
so excited, I'll tell you. A religion was such works when
I was in that one. Those of us who come out of religion,
what is such works? Just, oh my. And now we can leave
here rejoicing. Rejoicing, we can walk out these
doors every week going, praise be to God. He saved me. And it's not based on anything
I did. It's all because of Him. I receive
mercy from God and grace from God in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we're saved for Christ's
sake, the scripture says. Isn't that amazing? For His sake. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
It's absolutely wonderful. And faith works by love. Faith
is God's gift to every believer. And coupled with the love of
God that's shed abroad in our hearts, a love that's foreign
to us, remember? The love of God is foreign to
us, that's now shed abroad in our hearts. Oh my, now we love
God's people, don't we, Charlie? We love the gospel. We want to
tell other people about Christ. No matter what they think of
us. Oh, my. And we can have that
peace and that joy. And knowing that we've received
mercy and grace through Christ Jesus, our Lord, all according
to the will of the Father. My. And what's a result of this happening
in our lives? Well, we now seek to we now seek
to give all the glory to God. Don't we? Give him all the glory. Salvation's
all through him. And for the redeemed of the Lord,
the moment of our new life in Christ, until the appointed time
of our departure from this world, we will walk according to this
rule, by faith. Salvation is all of Christ. Absolutely
nothing that man does. It's a gift of God, faith. For
by grace, grace, grace in Christ, are you saved through faith. Who's the faith in? Christ. Not
of works, lest any man should boast. Who do we boast in now? We boast in Christ, don't we?
Amen, sister, we boast in Christ. That's who we boast in now. We
boast in Christ. And we see this wonderful text
that God's peace and mercy are upon the church, called here
the Israel of God. Who is our peace? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He's our peace. And he's the
only way that a sinner can find peace with God. We're living
testimonies of that. We have found peace with God
by the grace of God and by the mercy of God according to the
will of God in Christ in him alone. Were we looking for it,
brothers and? We weren't looking for it at
all, were we? No. And just like that lost sheep
in Luke chapter 15, God came and sought you and I out, didn't
he? And every other believer. Came and sought us out, didn't
he? And he picked us up. We didn't even know we were lost. That little sheep wandering out
there, he didn't know. I'm gonna go over here. Next
thing you know, he's way far away from the flock, doesn't
know where he is. Starts bleating a little bit. Well, maybe I'll
eat some more grass here. Oh, there's some right over here,
not knowing there's a huge cliff down there. Oh, I'll eat some
right here. And the shepherd comes and just snatches them
up, puts them on his shoulders, carries them home rejoicing.
That's us, beloved. That's us. In God's sovereign mercy, is manifest to us in and through
his unspeakable gift, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. My, oh
my. And you know, again, as I mentioned
earlier, he's forgiven us for Christ's sake. And God the Son
purchased us with his own blood. God the Son purchased us, gave
his life for us. My, oh my. Now we see the titles
of God's elect in this verse, they're called the Israel of
God. One of the titles, let's read it again. And as many as
walk according to this rule, peace beyond them and mercy and
upon the Israel of God. Turn if you would to Galatians
chapter three, Galatians chapter three. Look at this in verses 26 to
29 in relation to who are the Israel of God. For ye are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. How are we the
children of God? By faith. Faith in who? Faith in Christ, right? The one
who God said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
And then it says this. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there's neither Jew
nor Greek, there's neither Jew or Gentile, that's what he's
saying here. There's neither bond nor free, slave or free
person. There's neither male nor female,
for you are all one in what? In Christ Jesus. And if ye be
Christ, then who are you? You're Abraham's seed, look at
that. You're the Israel of God. You're
the Israel of God. And heirs according to the promise.
Now turn if you would to Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. Look at this. We see a similar
portion over here is what we see in the portion in Galatians
chapter 6 here. We see a similar statement made
over here. Look at this. Romans chapter 2, verses 25 to
29. Romans chapter 2, verses 25 to
29. Let's start in verse 25. For
circumcision is very profitable if thou keep the law. How many
of us keep the law? No one. Saved or unsaved? No one. There's only one person
who kept the law, and that was the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
right? Look at this. I'll keep the law. But if thou be a breaker of the
law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Don't matter
at all. You're condemned. Right? Therefore, if the uncircumcision
keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision
be counted for circumcision? Now, this is a hypothetical situation
here, because no man who's uncircumcised can keep the law, which is a
Gentile, right? Look at this. And shall not circumcision,
which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the
letter and circumcision does transgress the law? Again, what
we read there was just a hypothetical situation because no one can
keep the law, no man, woman, or child. So now let's read verses
28 and 29. For he is not a Jew which is
outwardly. Oh. Who then is the Israel of God?
Oh, this is wonderful here. Look at this. Neither is that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew
which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart. You must
be born again. And not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. Now turn, if you would,
to Colossians chapter 2. So we see in verse 28 and 29
that no one is a child of God or righteous before God by mere
name, nationality, profession, or ceremony, right? True circumcision is not something
outward, which is what the Jews did, but it's an inward work
of grace. That's what was brought forth
there, right? It's a work of God. Often we preachers Say it's
an operation of God. It's an operation of God. So
a man is a true Jew or a redeemed person who has had a work of
grace done in their heart. We, who are the elect of God,
are the Israel of God. Isn't that amazing? Now we're
going to see it again, too. And it's the Israel of God who
have renounced their works, right? We've renounced our works to
justify ourselves before God. We've renounced any work that
we can do. And we've said salvation's only in Christ and him alone. And the law of God's now written
on our hearts, beloved. And now we give praise to God. Now one may ask, how does this
inward circumcision of the heart occur? Well, in Colossians chapter
2, verses 10 to 12, the Holy Spirit has saw fit to have this
written down. And I love verse 10. Oh, I could
just, I could sit here for the rest of my life, beloved. And
ye are complete in him. Let's just, you know, a lot of
folks A lot of things could be straightened
up in religion if people just believe what that says. Ye are complete in him. That
song we sing, complete in him. Oh my, it's beautiful. You know
that. Which is the head of all principality
and power. In whom also ye are circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands. That sounds a lot like what Paul
was talking about in Romans. Look at this. In the putting off of the body
of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in
baptism, wherein he also risen with him through the faith of
what? The operation of God. Amen, brother, who has raised
him from the dead. We're born again because of an
operation of God, beloved. That's the only way. That's the
only way. You must be born again. You must be. In this circumcision
of the heart is also called the circumcision made without hands.
It's also called being born again. And it occurs by God's almighty
power in his power alone. God the Holy Spirit does an operation
on us. Gives us a new heart and we're
born again. And he gives us faith too, doesn't
he? And repentance before God. Were you sorry for your sins
before the Lord saved you? Nope. Now we mourn over our sin. Mourn
over the sin in the world, don't we? But more so our own. Oh my. Now turn if you would
to Romans chapter 15. Last place we'll be turning to.
The Israel of God does not refer to the physical nation of Israel,
which is Abraham's physical seed, but to the church of God's elect,
Abraham's spiritual seed, which we saw in, remember Galatians
3? If you be in Christ, then you're Abraham's seed. Right? So there's a physical seed, which
is the Israel nation, and then there's a spiritual seed. which
is those born-again, blood-washed saints of God. My oh my. And do you know that all Israel
shall be saved? Well, that couldn't mean physically,
right? Because a lot of Jews perish
in their sins if they haven't trusted Christ as Messiah. So
who does that mean then? That means God's elect. called
in our text the Israel of God. Look at this. Romans chapter
15 verses certain verse, or I'm sorry, Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11, I wrote the
wrong number down in my, look at that. Right in front of me,
man. Romans chapter 11, verses 25
to 27. This is amazing here. For I would
not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery.
lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness
in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
be come in. So the Jews are blinded. They
don't trust Christ as a Messiah. And so all Israel shall, there's
that word again, Brother Dave, shall. Shall be what? Shall be
saved. God's not going to lose one of
his sheep for whom Christ died for. Not one. Not one, look at
that. As is written, there shall come
out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them when I, what? Shall, what's he gonna do? Take
away their sins. Let us rejoice, beloved. God
has taken away our sins. We're still sinners while we're
on this earth, aren't we? but Christ paid for them all. They're gone in God's eyes. They're bought and paid for in
God's eyes. Oh my. This is the best news for a sinner
could ever hear. Again, that's why we say flee
to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners. The question is,
are you a sinner? God's people say, I'm a sinner,
but I'm saved by grace. Hallelujah. I'm saved by the
precious blood of Christ. Look at that. For this is my
covenant under them when I shall, I love that little word, shall.
So all of Israel shall be saved. This is my covenant when I shall
take away their sins. My sins, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sins, not in part, but the
whole, are nailed to his cross, and I bear them no more. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. Isn't that wonderful? We can sing that, can't we, as
the redeemed of the Lord? That's wonderful. So rejoice.
Our text brings forth that peace and mercy shall be upon the Israel
of God forever. It's gonna be forever, right?
And it's in Christ, that's why it's forever. Circumcision and
obedience to any of the rituals and ceremonies can profit one
nothing. There's no way we can be justified
before God by anything we do. We renounce, God's elect renounce
all confidence in any work we can do, any dependence upon something
we do, we renounce it, we renounce it all. We no longer trust in
ourselves, which we once did, right? We no longer trust in
ourselves, and anything done or experienced by us doesn't
gain a merit or a step towards God. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ in Him alone, and we have renounced all other means to
gain favor with God. God said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased, and we say praise be to God,
we're in Christ. Oh my, thank you, Lord. Thank
you, Lord, for choosing me in Christ. Thank you, Lord, for
saving my soul. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for regenerating
me and giving me faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So
rejoice. Every undeserving, because we
are undeserving of God's mercy, hell-deserving, that's what we're
deserving of, sinner who's born again by the Holy Spirit of God
is a member of spiritual Israel. We are the Israel of God. According
to God's mercy, according to God's will, and according to
God's purpose and only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ
in him alone. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Brother Dave, can you close us
in prayer, brother? Heavenly Father, we thank you
this morning. We thank you for the gift that
you give us. We thank you for Christ. Oh Lord, we love the shalls of
thy words. It is all through thy power and
thy power alone that we are able to gather in thy name. And we
ask this in our beloved name. Amen.