Take your Bibles this morning
and turn to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 6. I would
urge you to go back and to read all of Galatians. It is a sad thing to me to think
about how every single one of us will be dealt with by God
on the basis of what he says in this book. And yet, how at
the same time, how so very few have even read for the first
time what he says in this book. We would do well to read it again
And again and again. As the Apostle Paul comes down
to the end of this letter, this epistle, he wraps it up. by statements that pretty much
involve the whole of what He said. If you look here in Galatians
6, beginning at verse 14, He says, But God forbid that I should
glory, that I should have any confidence, that I should make
any boast, that I should seek any peace, 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 preacher. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy,
and upon the Israel of God." The Israel of God. What does the Apostle mean when
he speaks here of the Israel of God? And I ask that especially
in light of what he has said before. Because many of these
who had come into the churches at Galatia, they were Israelites
by natural birth. And they were seeking to add
to the gospel the law that God gave to that nation, Israel. I can tell you this, we would
do well to try to learn something about the Israel of God. And we would need in the scriptures
to seek to find out and to see if God would teach us how he
distinguishes the Israel of God. Because this same apostle who
was himself naturally a Jew, he said in light of the fact
that his nation for the most part had rejected Christ. He said, don't you think for
one minute that the Word, that the Gospel of Christ, hath taken
none effect? Don't you think that just because
they've rejected it, Because they've rejected Christ? Because
it doesn't seem outwardly that all the prophecies concerning
Israel will be fulfilled in Him? Don't you think for one minute
that this Word has taken effect? Because... He says, "...for they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel." In other words, They
were in one Israel, but obviously they were not in another Israel. They were not in this Israel
of God. And he says something else. If
you'll hold your place and turn back to the book of Romans, in
Romans chapter 2, he makes this distinction again. He says in
Romans 2 and verse 28, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly. I like to use the expression
a true Jew. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, 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, not a work in the flesh. It's a work in the heart, in
the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men. In other words, when men and
women have this work, They don't wind up praising themselves or
praising other men when they have this work of the heart.
they end up praising God, whose praise is not of men, but of
God. Where does this name Israel come
from? Well, the name Israel was given
to a man who had another name by birth, and that name was Jacob. So, in truth, Jacob and Israel
are the same man. And what we find is that many
times in the Old Testament, we find not only those two names,
but we find them in the same sentence, or we find them again
and again in the same verse, especially in the book of Isaiah. Take a minute with me and look
back in the book of Isaiah. Because in Isaiah chapter 41,
if you'll notice in Isaiah 41 and verse 8, he says, But thou, Israel, art my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend." There
we find Jacob and Israel, and also an association with another
name who is the one described as the father of all those who
believe. Same verse. Look down also in
verse 14. He says, Fear not, thou worm
Jacob, and ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. What a contrast. You worm Jacob, You men of Israel. And then also look over in Isaiah
chapter 43 in that first verse. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name, thou art mine. Isaiah 41, or 44 rather, verse
1 again. Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant,
and Israel whom I have chosen. Verse 5. One shall say, I am
the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob,
and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname
himself by the name of Israel." Going to be called by both names.
In other words, that verse sounds like to me that whoever this
is, they're going to both confess to both of these names. Look
down in verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel,
for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. Verse 23. Sing, O ye heavens,
for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye
mountains, O forests. and every tree therein. For the
Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel."
And they keep right on going. Jacob and Israel. And the reason that they keep
on going is because these names are typical. Just like so many
other things in the Old Testament, they are types and they are figures
and they represent of people. And they show two things about
these people, each and every one of them individually and
all of them together corporately. They show what they are by nature
and they show what they are by grace. They show what they are
each and every one in themselves And then they show also what
they are by God's grace in Christ Jesus. They show what they are
in this natural state. Jacob meaning trickster, conniver,
supplanter, liar. And they show at the same time
what they are by the grace of God, Israel. Prince of God. Prince of God. And whenever this
man from whom these names come, whenever he was on his way to
see his brother who he feared, he met with a man by the brook
Jabok. And he wrestled with that man,
thought he had a hold on that man. But the reality was the
man had a hold on him. And the wrestling went on until
it was about to break day And Jacob said to this man, most
likely the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, that I will not
let you go until you bless me. And that's the way it is with
everyone God saves. There's going to be a wrestling
match, but God's going to win. And this is the way that we'll
know that he wins, is when that sinner is brought to realize
and to know that he cannot live, he cannot be saved, he cannot
endure. except God bless him. And so
he gave him this name, Israel. And he said, Thy name shall be
called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince thou hast power
with God and with men, and hast prevailed. But both of these
names picture a spiritual people. They picture all of God's elect. They picture this nation that
is said to be chosen of God in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And so what is said of this nation
outwardly is even more true spiritually concerning the people of God
When he says, through Moses, the Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than
any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But he set his love upon you
because he would, because he could, because he loved you.
These are the objects of God's everlasting love. And so God,
in light of this, he calls himself by this name. Look over in Isaiah
chapter 45, and he distinguishes these people, and he identifies
himself with this people, and he says this, verse 14, Thus
saith the Lord, the labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia,
and of the Sabaeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and
they shall be thine, they shall come after thee, in chains shall
they come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, and they
shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in
thee." That never happened. to an earthly people, but it'll
happen to His spiritual people. It'll happen to this Israel of
God. "...and there is none else, for
there is no God. Verily, thou art a God that hidest
thyself, O God of Israel the same. They shall be ashamed and
also confounded, all of them, they shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols." In other words, Every so-called
God except the God of Israel is an idol. Whether he be in
stone or wood or just in our minds, he's an idol. And so God
distinguishes himself and identifies himself with these people And
look at what it says in verse 17. But Israel shall be saved
in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed
nor confounded world without end. Now it doesn't sound to
me like there's any doubt about this. And so men and women and
preachers, they can talk about maybe and if and hope so and
all these kind of things if they want to. But without any doubt,
the God of the Bible, the God who is God, the God of Israel,
He says, this is a sure thing. This is a sure salvation. This is an eternal salvation. And he says, they're never going
to be confounded. They're never going to wake up
one day and say, oh no, I believed on the wrong one. They're never
going to be disappointed. I don't know how many times in
the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, it's said of these,
and they are further identified as these who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, they're never going
to be ashamed. They're never going to be disappointed. They're
never going to be confounded because they've been saved by
this everlasting salvation. But I want you to make sure you
see this. He said, but Israel shall be
saved in the Lord. All their salvation, all their
hope, all of this that God has purposed to give them, all of
this that they will surely have, this salvation is in the Lord,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what we read each
and every place that we go to in this Bible. It is, as it says
in the last verse of Isaiah 45, you mark this down, in the Lord,
in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel, all of this people,
all of this spiritual Israel, in the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. You see, you and I, we're
going to glory in something. That's just the way it is. That's
the way we have been since the very beginning. We are made to
glory in somebody. But after the fall, we glory
in everyone and in everything except the one we're to glory
in. But these are going to glory.
And they're going to glory in this, that their salvation is
in its entirety in the Lord. It has to do with who He is. And it has to do with what He
has accomplished. And it has to do with them being
brought into a right standing before God. He said, ìIn the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified.î And that means
that they will every one be declared, be counted, be viewed, be seen,
be valued before God and by God as perfectly just. I don't mean
as just good people. I mean as those who possess and
before divine justice have been declared so by God as those who
have the righteousness of God. in the Lord, in Him. You see,
when the Apostle tells us, as he does in II Corinthians 5,
that God made Christ to be sin for His people, it is, he says,
that they might be made the righteousness of God in him." Now let me just
tell you this, there is no righteousness, I don't care what men say, there
is no righteousness except the righteousness of God in in Him. And so that is what this
Israel glories in. This is what this Israel sings
about, talks about, that is that they are justified in Christ,
by Christ, by His righteousness alone less nothing. You think that's a new doctrine?
What do you suppose that old hymn writer was thinking about
when he sang or when he wrote down that hymn words like this? My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. And irregardless of what
religious people have said, are saying, or shall say in this
world, This Israel stays right here exclusively in this one
ground and basis in the Lord. We have righteousness and salvation.
And so when the Apostle Paul writes as he does in his letter
to the Romans, he can say it as clearly there as Isaiah was
led by the same Spirit of God to declare it here in Isaiah
so many, many years before he could declare it in Romans chapter
11. And so all Israel "...shall be saved." All Israel,
all this Israel, "...shall be saved. As it is written, there
shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob." Who's he talking about there? He's quoting from
the Old Testament. And he is associating the prophecy
such as was given concerning Jacob and Israel to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who's going to turn away ungodliness
from Jacob? I can tell you this, you can
spend your lifetime, and if you are burdened or if you're concerned
about your own natural ungodliness and unrighteousness, and I think
that most everybody is in a measure, And so, they set out to try to
do something about their ungodliness. And they turn over a lot of new
leaves. They turn over a lot of new leaves. But all they find
on the backside is the old leaf. And while they turn over and
over again, all these new leaves make these new efforts to do
something about ungodliness, their own natural ungodliness,
try to stop this and start this and do all these things. They're
never able to turn it away. And they're never able to turn
it away all the days of their lives. There's only one who turns
it away, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. So when the Apostle
Paul comes, as he does, in Galatians chapter 6, and he talks about
this rule that God's Israel walks after or this rule that God's
Israel follows. What's he talking about? He said
as many as walk after this rule. Peace and mercy to them. I wonder how many times that
men have hurried in to this text to give their rules. That's natural
to us. From the earliest time I can
remember, playing with other children or, as we would always
do, start our little clubs and start our little societies among
us, secret things and various clubs. What's the first thing
we always want to do? We're going to set the rules.
We're going to have the rules. You remember the Little Rascals
and the He-Man Woman Haters Clubs? They had a rule! And that's the
way we are. And it grows from that, from
little clubs and such we make up when we're children, it grows
all the way to our big clubs and our big organizations, and
especially our religious organizations. Two things people always do.
Number one, we've got to elect officers. Why? Because somebody
wants the preeminence. I made a rule a long time ago.
I'm not interested in being a part of anything where they have officers. Let's elect officers. And maybe
you'll all vote for me and I can be the president. But the next
thing always is, let's establish these rules. And everywhere you
go in religion are all these rules, are all these things you
do in order, if not to be saved, you do them to get rewards. Or, you do them, you obey these
rules in order to get assurance. And they tell you things like
this, you can know you're a Christian if you're doing this. I'm sorry,
no you can't. Or they say also, if you do this,
you know you're not a Christian. I like it when they say that
because I can always take them to one saint of God that God
gave the record, they did it. Sorry. Why? because it's only
in the Lord. It's only in who He is and only
in what He has done for this Israel that they can ever have
hope or peace or anything else. And so here it is, He's declaring
to us again and again and facing, even in Paul's day, the same
difficulty. The people who want to lead the
club, they say you've got to obey this rule. If you're a big
giver, you might just be a Christian. Or if you quit drinking, you
just probably will be a Christian. Or if you do this, if you read
your Bible a lot, that's evidence you're a Christian. Or if you
give to the poor, or if you go visit the sick, or if you go
all these things, maybe some of which are good. Let me tell
you this, if you ever find a basis for assurance by looking at what
you've done or not done, that's a phony assurance. If you imagine
that you possess or are getting or are building some kind of
righteousness that if not to put you in right standing with
God, to at least improve your standing, you're lost. I'm sorry. And I'm talking about in the
least part because in the Lord, Only in the Lord is this Israel
justified. And this is exactly what this
Israel confesses. This is exactly what this true
Israel has as its hope and its only hope. I wonder how many
times over the last almost 40 years I've heard somebody say,
most of the time, a preacher, while we believe that you're
saved entirely by the free grace of God, but, but, that's one
of the goats, but, that's all goats do, but, but the sheep,
they always confess, and this is all their hope, it's in the
Lord. that we're righteous. It's in
Christ, His righteousness that God has imputed to us, charged
our account. That's the sole ground of our
justification before God. But why does Paul say this in
this letter? Well, there were some that were
called, or have been called, Judaizers, who had gone into
the churches, the various churches in Galatia, and they had begun
to sow in those congregations, and among those people, and in
their minds, this damning doctrine. I'll call it Christ's Bless. He said, yes, we believe Jesus
is the Savior, But the law says you have to be circumcised. They
were talking about something in the flesh. But as Paul said,
true circumcision, which that pictured, is not of the flesh. It's not something outward that
is done to us or that we do. It's of the heart. When we're
circumcised of heart, we don't have anything to boast in, and
we only have one to glory in, the Lord Jesus Christ. The law
that God's people are interested in is described by the Apostle
Paul in Romans, I believe it is, in this way, the perfect
law of liberty. What's that? The gospel. There's
no law about the gospel. The gospel is the gospel of grace,
and grace, the very notion of grace, excludes all effort, all
human merit, everything, and that notion scares the self-righteous
to death. Paul said, all these fellows
that come in here and sow that stuff among you, all that they
want to do is have power over you so that they can glory in
you. They want to be able to control
you. They want you to believe what
they say. So they can glory in you, and
so you'll glory in them. But he said, those who are of
this Israel, they know that all boasting is excluded. They know
that God says, he that glorieth, let him glory. in the Lord. So when he comes to write this
letter, knowing how cunning they are, knowing what counterfeits
they have sown, knowing the deceptiveness of Satan, whose ministers are
transformed into angels of light, seemingly good things said, well,
surely there's nothing wrong with these things. Absolutely
right. There's nothing wrong until you
begin to rest upon any part of them as the ground of your being
justified before and by God. I've said this a lot of times
and I'll say it one more time. The most easily polluted thing
in this world is the grace of God, gospel grace. And there is nothing that scares
the false religionists and these self-righteous preachers and
these self-righteous individuals in their congregation. There
is nothing that scares them any more than the preaching of the
absolute free and sovereign grace of God in Christ I've told you,
a lady asked a dear old preacher brother of mine, now departed,
she asked him, she said, is Christ really enough? He said, if he's
all you got, he is. But add anything to him, that's
never enough. And you would think at times
that people would even have a little common sense about this. How
contradictory it is to say that salvation is in the Lord and
then turn on the heels of that and set a man or a woman to doing
in order to improve upon it. No. God will be. He does forbid. Paul says, God
forbid that I should glory, save, or accept in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. In what He did on that cross,
in what He did as my representative and as my substitute and as my
Savior, appointed of God, given to me and me to Him in that everlasting
covenant before the world began, God forbid. God forbid that I
should glory in a Christ apart from His cross. God forbid that
I should glory in anything but Christ. Now let me ask you this. Is that enough for you? I'm serious. Because it's on every hand. Sadly,
it's in so many of the writings of those who claim to believe
grace. Sadly, even some of the Puritans
would turn on the heels of talking about free grace and set men
and women to examining themselves. Well, you say, well, the Bible
does say examine yourself. No, it does not. It says examine
yourself whether you be in the faith. This is the faith, that
all that God gives in His grace, that all of salvation, that all
that's worth hearing, all that's worth knowing, all that's worth
resting is, is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, that's not
enough for the self-righteous. The self-righteous are just like
this nation naturally. that always was saying to Moses
and to God, just tell us how to live. You tell us how to live
and we'll live like that and you can bless us. He told them. He gave them the law. You know
what that law showed? It showed that they were totally
incapable of keeping it. It demanded perfection, but it
could not give it to them. It brought them low, but it could
not raise them up. And so blind, and so ignorant,
and so self-righteous are all by nature that they take the
very law which proved that they could not please God by their
obedience to it, and they imagine somehow that they've kept it,
or at least that they're going to keep it. They plan to one
day. When they get straightened out,
when they get past this rough spot in their life, whenever
they get back to being more spiritual, they're going to do it. They
know that's the right way to go. That's not what the gospel
says. This is the rule. The rule is
the gospel. The rule is the walk of faith.
To walk according to this rule is to walk by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ and only Him. You say, well, preacher, don't
you think people ought to live right? I absolutely do, but I
don't know anybody who doesn't know to live better than they're
living. Don't you? Don't you know that you're supposed
to treat your wife or your husband right, that you're not to commit
adultery, that you're not to lie, that you're not to steal?
Don't you know those things? We know. What we need is grace. What we need is a full salvation. What we need is that which, rather
than set us to doing in order to get, motivates us to do because
we've been given all. He spoke this word of condemnation
to his own nation, physically, naturally. He said they have
a zeal toward God, but it's not according to knowledge. And I
know that for one reason. He said they're going about to
establish their own righteousness. And they've not submitted themselves. Oh, what a word. It's more than
just receiving. He said they've not submitted
themselves. They've not bowed themselves
to the one righteousness. They've not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to them that
believe. And so men by nature And apart
from the grace and Spirit of God, they spend all their days
trying to establish righteousness. All different ways. Here are
all these people we know in all these various religions and churches.
They're just trying to establish righteousness by what they do.
But here's another group over here. The blatantly ungodly,
I guess you might say, if there was such a thing, but they're
over here. They've established your righteousness
on this basis. They're glad they're not like
these hypocrites. I'm just as good. I may ride
my motorcycle down the road and I may drink and carry on and
cuss and fight and rip and rare. I may do that. But I'm not like
these people are. You just like them. Turn over
to Philippians chapter 3. Because here is a man who was
a Jew by birth. He was an Israelite according
to the flesh. He was Saul of Tarshish. And
just like Jacob, God gave him another name, Paul the Apostle. But listen to what he says. He
says, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. to write the same
things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous. I don't mind
preaching Christ and Christ alone again and again. Not grievous
to me. Not grievous to me to tell you
who is the righteous one, how God saves sinners. It doesn't
bother me, grieve me to tell you about the glorious Savior.
But for you, it's safe. I'm going to keep reminding you.
Beware of dogs. Oh, me. You ought not talk about
these people like that. He said, beware of dogs. That
might be maybe one step better than what Christ called them.
He said, you're a bunch of snakes. You cross land and sea to make
one convert, proselyte, to your way of thinking, of establishing
righteousness by weighing out your spices and doing this and
that and the other. But when you do, you make that
person two-fold more the child of hell than he was. Beware of
dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. Who's the concision? These who
are always requiring something done for either acceptance or
improvement before God. Works. He says, for we are the
circumcision. We are the true circumcision. What he's saying here is, we
are the true Israel. Bill, I remember the first time
I heard Henry preach on the true Israel. It blew me away. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit. With them, it's all about meetings,
it's all about giving, it's all about doing, it's all about all
these programs, it's all about candles and ceremonies and all
these things. But the true Israel worships
God in spirit. Don't need any pictures, don't
need any relics, don't need any crosses, don't need any religious
paraphernalia. We worship God in the spirit,
by the Holy Spirit, taking the things of Christ We worship God
in the Spirit. And not only that, he says we
rejoice in Christ Jesus. Men rejoice in their buildings.
They rejoice in their big budgets. They rejoice in how many they
had in Sunday school. They rejoice in all these things. But he said, we rejoice in Christ
Jesus. What is that next statement? And have no confidence in the
flesh. Nada. Zero. Negative. How much plainer could he make
it? And have zero confidence in the
flesh. I'm going to tell you something.
If you look, this flesh into something that you've done or
are doing for assurance of salvation, that's the basis you're looking
to for salvation. But the true Israel, the Israel
of God, has no confidence in the flesh. Paul said this is
our confidence, being confident of this one thing, that He who
has begun a work in you He shall perform it. He shall bring it
totally to pass until we stand in God's presence. This is the
Israel of God. They believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. They believe the gospel of His
free, full, and eternal salvation in Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
That's what Paul said. I determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He said, my piano,
my gospel piano has one middle C note and I'm going to hit that
note again and again. I love it. And for you, it's
safer. Paul, he says, and as many as
walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and
upon the Israel of God. To each and every individual
who walks according to this rule, peace, mercy, and not just to
them, but to all the Israel of God. Turn over to Luke chapter
18, because here's the illustration. Luke chapter 18. Look down in
verse 9. Because it says, and he, that
is Christ, spake this parable unto certain which trusted in
themselves that they were righteous and despised, and they always
do. He says, the Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Where is he looking for his comfort,
his consolation, his assurance, his ground of salvation? It's
all in what he did and what he didn't do. And you see, He's
so blind he's thanking God for this. He's finding a measure
of some kind of fleshly consolation in this. He's willing to lay
down his life as an evidence that he's a true believer in
God. in contrast to this other man.
He's just a publican. He's not a Pharisee. But look,
and the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but he smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, thee sinner. God be propitious." And
that ties us all the way back to that mercy seat and that blood
that was sprinkled on that mercy seat. The propitiatory and the
propitiatory sacrifice of blood. That is God's wrath is turned
away through it and favor is restored through it. He said,
God be propitious to me, the sinner. And there's only one
way that God can be merciful to you and me as sinners, and
that is in Christ and His crucified sacrifice. No other. No other. But wow, look at this. Verse
14. Our Lord says, I tell you, this
man went down to his house justified. I like that. He went down to
his house justified, declared righteous by God, God in human
flesh saying this, rather than the other. Now I'm just standing
off there at a distance. I'm leaning on one of the pillars
in the temple. I'm watching everything. Here's
this fellow. He has all the garb of a religious
man. He's a Pharisee. He's got all
these little pieces of paper with Old Testament scriptures
written on them, rolled up, tied in his garment, in his hair.
He walks in there and he has his hands together. He's looking
so religious. He's thankful to God that he's
not like other people. Even as this publican, he's just
kind of inside the door. He won't even look up. But he
smites himself on the breast. And what does he ask for? Mercy. Mercy through the perpetuatory,
God-appeasing, wrath-turning-away sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
for sinners. He went to His house just to
buy. Because everyone that exalteth
himself, whether it's this much, "...shall be abased, and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted." What does Paul pronounce? He's
the Apostle of God. He's writing by inspiration of
the Spirit of God. What does he pronounce on these
who walk according to this road? Mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy,
mercy, peace. Is that what you want? That's
what I want. I want mercy. You say, well,
you've preached a lot of years. That's mainly why I want mercy. Peace. Peace in the heart. Peace
with God. He said, as many as walk according
to this rule. What's that? In the Lord only
have I righteousness, mercy, and peace. And they'll never
be surprised. I don't know what burger company
it was that had the advertising campaign years ago where no surprise
is the best surprise. That would pretty much sum me
up. I don't like surprises that may
be bad. They'll never be confounded or
ashamed because they're the Israel of God. Because the kingdom of
God, Paul says in Romans 14, the kingdom of God is righteousness,
next order, Peace. Next order, joy in the Holy Ghost. If we have righteousness in Christ,
we have peace. And if we have peace, we have
joy. Joy, the joy of the Lord is our
strength. The psalmist says, for the Lord
hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure. I'm definitely Jacob. I used
to kid my wife When she didn't tell me all of something, you
know, like you women do, like my mom used to do, buy a dress,
put it up in the closet, top of the closet for a couple of
months, and then when she puts it on, she'd say, oh, I've had
this thing for a long time. I'd say, all right, little Jacob,
now. That's what we are by nature. But oh, to be Israel, his child,
by grace, in the Lord, in Christ. How many times in the New Testament
does Paul use that expression, in him, in Christ. Chosen in
him, made righteous in him, called in him, kept in him, and only. This is the rule. Just one. We
don't have a lot of rules. No sense in making them when
you're not going to keep them. But we have this one. God forbid. that we should glory save in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's offensive to me, naturally,
but it's all our salvation. Father, we give you praise and
thanks and glory that you please to make us your people, cause
us by grace to be your children, give us righteousness, charge
it to our account, having charged all our sins to our Lord Jesus
Christ, who pays that debt in our place on the cross. God forbid
that we should glory in anyone or anything else but Christ and
Him crucified. Such is the hope of your people.
Such is the rule that we walk by when we walk by faith. Such is the true Christian walk. And from that blessed truth and
hope, flows every motivation to do the things you command.
We thank you. Praise your holy name through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.