Well, we come back to Galatians for the last time this week, and we're looking at the end of chapter 6 of Galatians. We've been in this epistle now for many weeks, since probably about September of last year. But I just want to read from verse 11 down to verse 18, and then we'll have a look at it. Paul says this, ye see how large a letter I have 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 lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. 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. For in Christ Jesus, Neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth, let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

From the moment God stopped Saul of Tarsus, in his tracks on the road to Damascus, seeking to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ. Since then, the time when he, as it says, Paul says in chapter 1 and verse 16 of Galatians, when he revealed his Son in him, in him, not just to him, in him, he revealed his Son in him. He revealed to him the only way to heaven, the only hope in this life, which for every one of us is going to end in death at some stage, the only way to heaven. And from that moment onwards, the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul had a one-track mind. A one-track mind.

He said in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 2, when he was amongst the Corinthians, he said, I determined to know nothing else among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified. That was The marker, that was what he stood for. That was the principle that drove him to know nothing other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. There's an interesting place in a cemetery near where we used to live, and there are two gravestones side by side. And one is the gravestone of one who was a dear friend of ours. And on it, it says, he was determined to know nothing other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. And the one next to it is of another preacher, another religionist preacher.

And it says, oh, he was a very good man and he did all sorts of great and excellent and wonderful things. And he was so worthy of this, that and the other. But the one that we remember. is the one that says he was determined not to know anything other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. If you believe, if you rest in the truth of God in Christ, if you rest in the salvation from sin that that truth of God in Christ has accomplished, you have eternal life. You have the life of God in your soul and it goes on past death into eternity.

It's a narrow path through this life and there are things that vie all around to divert you. Don't think throughout my life and my working life I was immune to these things. They were there around me all of the time. The world, the world vies to divert you off that narrow path.

The world with its pleasures, the world with its experiences, with its people, with its friends, associates, success, with money. And you know what money is according to scripture? The love of it, not money itself, but the love of it is the root of all evil. All kinds of evil stem from that. And that's the things in this world that vie to divert you from that narrow path to eternal life.

But there's another. There's another which is very, very influential, and it's religion. You'd say, what, religion? Surely religion's good. No, religion, religion. That very man whose gravestone head with 1 Corinthians 2, 2 that I mentioned, I remember him preaching once and saying, he said, you'd be surprised at me saying this, but the biggest hindrance to the true progress of the gospel of Christ is religion, religion, because it comes in various guises. with its different formulae for attaining eternal bliss, which are other than Christ alone. What did I say? I said, other than Christ alone. Why? Because they add. They preach Christ, they'll talk about Christ, perhaps, yes. but they'll add something, or they'll take something away from what Christ has done. It's Christ and him alone.

Be in no doubt, be in no doubt, even religion, which looks like the most orthodox Christianity, often keeps many subtle idols hidden in its tent. What I mean by that is if you remember the story of when Jacob left Laban, he'd served him for 14 years and he'd acquired the two daughters plus other girl servants as his wives and 12 sons and Rachel, the one he loved above all else, when they left, she stole some of her father's idols, heathen idols, and she hid them in her tent. And these things were precious to Laban, the father of Rachel. Well, I'm telling you, the thing I'm saying is that there's religion which looks like the most orthodox Christianity. in this country and others today, but it keeps its subtle idols hidden in its tent.

It likes to hang on to them. Beware, we've got to be on guard. So Paul concludes this most powerful epistle with a stark contrast. And it's the contrast, really it is. You know, they say, oh, it's a matter of life and death. It really is a matter of life and death. It's a matter of eternal life and a matter of eternal death. What do you glory in? This is it. He doesn't ask the question directly as such, but what do you glory in? He tells us what he glories in.

Here we have, this is my first point. Here we have a message from the pastoral heart of Paul. Look at verse 11. You see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. If you look at nearly all of the other epistles, most of them Paul dictated and somebody wrote it down for him because we believe he had bad eyesight and other problems. But he wrote this one himself. This one was written by Paul himself because it was such a state of urgency.

You'll look at the end there. It doesn't say somebody else helped him. He just wrote it from Rome. He was in prison. He was in the last days of his life. He was going to be executed by Emperor Nero before too long. This was too important to let go. It was a matter of urgency. It was a matter of life and death.

So he underlines his call to reject those who peddle a false gospel. They'd come. to the Galatian churches. This is a group of churches in the middle of modern-day Turkey. And they come there and they were trying to persuade them away from the gospel that is in Christ alone. And Paul has already called down a curse upon them.

That's a bit strong language, isn't it? But no, it is. He says in chapter 1, verses 8 and 9, If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. I'll say it again in case you didn't hear it the first time. He says it in verse 9. So I say it again, if any man preach any other gospel than that which you've received, let him be accursed.

He's already called down that curse upon them. He's already stressed in chapter five and verse eight that this persuasion, this teaching, this doctrine of theirs doesn't come from the God who's called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. No, he says in verse 10, they'll bear their judgment for what they've done. They're not just Christians with a different slant, a different take on it.

No, they're preaching damnable, eternally damning doctrine and have nothing to do with them and he wants them to be cut off, verse 12. He wants them to be separated from you. He wants you to have nothing to do with them. How harsh, how unloving. That's not the marks of a Christian minister, is it? No. How wise, how wise.

These Judaizers trying to teach that you needed to obey the law of Moses as well as believe Christ, they were peddling that which is poison to the souls of Galatian believers. And that's like so much religion today. It peddles poison to the souls of those who follow it because it's Christ plus or Christ minus. It's not Christ alone.

It's like a parent. You know, you think about it, those of you that are parents or have been parents, how much you desire to protect your children from any who would do you, who would do them harm. You know, we read so much about it in the news in these days, horrendous things, horrendous things reported in the press. Parents are absolutely outraged, incensed, heartbroken, cut to the quick because of what's been done to their children. Well, Paul likewise, in spiritual terms, is a spiritual father of these people. And he's striving to keep them from those that would do them harm. Remind us, Paul, What is it that these troublers are seeking?

Remind us, he's already said it, but in verse 12 he says this, 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. They're adding Mosaic law, and it's symbolized by the act of circumcision. But he means all of it. He means anything that you might do, or that you might not do, to improve your standing with God. He says in verse 13, they themselves who are circumcised, they say do, but they don't do. They're hypocrites. They don't keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised. Why?

That they may glory in your flesh. They're trying to convert these Galatian believers away from faith in Christ to Christ plus legal religious works that impress religious folks. It's that they might glory in your flesh, that they might impress religious folks.

In Matthew 23, Jesus is talking about this. In Matthew 23, verse 3, he says this, He sort of talks about the Pharisees, and they sit in Moses' seat, and they're the religious leaders. And he says, whatever they tell you to do, that observe and do, but do not after their works, for they say and do not do. You know, you've heard of that expression, do as I say, not as I do. That's what he's saying of them.

What do they do? They bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be born, and they lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do, why? Why do they do it? Why do they do it? For to be seen of men.

They make broad their phylacteries, a religious symbol of dress. They make broad their phylacteries. They enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called Rabbi, Rabbi.

No, he says, don't be like that. But that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to glory in your flesh. And having got you to follow their way, they do. They glory in that. Look what we've got these people to do. They say, do as I say, not as I do, for they themselves are hypocrites. As Peter said in Acts 15 at the Council of Jerusalem, He said, let's be honest, all of us. These were the apostles. These were the leaders in the early church. And he was saying, look, our fathers, the Jewish fathers, didn't keep the law because we couldn't and neither could we. So let's not be hypocrites in pretending that we can and trying to get others to do it. So then you might ask the question, why were they doing this to these Galatians? And why are the equivalent religionists in our day doing what they do?

Well, I would say, number one, it's to discredit the true gospel message of Christ alone. Christ is all and in all is the message of the Bible. From start to finish, that's the message of the Bible. Christ is all and in all. You say, well, what about all the details of the Old Testament? It all boils down to that. That's what it all comes down to. It all comes down to Christ is all and in all. But religious folks stumble over that. They stumble over it. They don't like it. It doesn't fit with what they think is the right way of being right with God.

Secondly, certainly in this day, they were doing it to discredit Paul. who they despised as a traitor to Judaism. They despised him. They wanted him killed. You know, you read the Acts of the Apostles and the last few chapters are all about the Jews chasing Paul to have him killed. That's what they wanted. They despised him as a traitor to Judaism.

But it's the same today for any who preach the true gospel of Christ. If you could see, and I'm not going to name names, but, you know, beloved brethren that have been faithful preachers of the gospel down the last few years, and how the religious world that called itself orthodox Christian opposed them, and persecuted them, and reviled them, and got people to have nothing to do with them. It's the same sort of thing. And thirdly, they do it. Why? lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. They wanted to dodge the persecution from that large number of Jews who stumble at the chief cornerstone. You know where this comes from, this stumbling at the cornerstone, it's in 1 Corinthians 1. And verse 23, where Paul says, we preach Christ crucified.

What is that message? To the Jews, it's a stumbling block. It's the chief cornerstone over which they stumble. You can read that in 1 Peter chapter 2, as well as in many places in the Old Testament. Christ is that cornerstone. that foundation stone on which the true body of Christ, the true temple of Christ, the living church of God, built out of living stones, is founded on that cornerstone. But the Jews, the religious Jews, they stumble at that, they trip over it.

They can't get their heads around it. How can this possibly get people into heaven when we've got this system of obedience that gets us into heaven? He says it's a stumbling block to them, but to the Greeks, meaning the non-Jews, meaning the Gentiles in general, that message is foolishness. That's what it is today. It's a message of foolishness.

Look at the world around us. Look at this world that is in so dire need. Look, everyone out there, Everyone out there is going to die sooner or later. Every single one is going to die. And yet, they think the message of the gospel of grace, which gives such hope, not hope, but certainty, assurance of heaven, they think it's foolishness. What a foolish message. How can you waste your time on a wet Sunday morning going off to listen to that sort of stuff? So let's apply this to our day today.

There are many who claim to be the gold standard of true Christianity, orthodox Christianity. They hold to the doctrines of sovereign grace and particular redemption. But in many ways, they add their rules and their traditions and their denominational practices by which they seek to keep their people in check. They seek to keep them under bondage, that they might rejoice in their flesh, that look here, I've got a few hundred people all doing as they're told. It's belief in Christ plus our culture is what they say.

Jesus talked about this in Matthew again in Matthew 15 and verses 8 and 9 where he quotes Isaiah talking about the hypocritical religionists, the Jews of Judea. This people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me.

Doing what? Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Oh, you orthodox Christianity out there. And let's examine ourselves as well. What do you add to Christ and Christ alone? The doctrines, the commandments of men that you turn into doctrine. Those that value their confession of faith above the scriptures, or they put it on an equal footing with it. You know what? Read the article I put in where I wrote the first one, but I quoted Don Faulkner in the middle of it.

The word of God is our our confession of faith. This is our confession of faith. That and nothing else. You see, Christian believers in our day, today, we're not troubled by Judaizers as such, but many are troubled by denominational commandments and practices of men that they elevate to the level of doctrine. And they're so proud of their heritage.

In Luke chapter 18 and verse 9, It says of them that they trusted in themselves that they are righteous and despise others. You know that verse, I forget where it is in Isaiah, but... Stand not near to me, I am holier than thou. Don't defile me. There's that sort of attitude amongst them.

No doubt, many will say in that last day, because Jesus said they would, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all of these things in your name? And he will say unto them, depart from me, I never knew you. So then, so then, let's contrast that with Paul's glorying, and that of all true believers, because he says, they want to glory in your flesh, but verse 14, but God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. What is it to glory? What does he mean to glory? Do you talk about, oh, I am glorying in such and such a thing. Do you talk like that? No, you'd say, no, I don't say things like that. Well, what does it mean?

It means to revel in it. It means to derive great pleasure from it. It means to rejoice in it. It means to be highly satisfied with it. It means to major on it. It means to do all these things, but above all else, above all else, with Paul, it was to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Above all else, above family, above career, above pastimes, above customs, of whatever it might be, above all, to rejoice, to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So what does he mean? What is it to glory in the cross?

The cross was a cross of wood, a heavy cross of wood. You know, you've seen pictures. Does he mean the wood? Is he glorying in the wood, like some superstitious relic, you know, Catholics love to go off and find a little bit of something that somebody claims was a bit of the cross of Christ and they put it in a case and they revere it and they bow down to it and they think that they get some special spiritual benefit from being near this thing. It might be a saint's kneecap or something like that. No. Is it a kind of a charm that you wear around your neck, a piece of jewellery like a lucky charm?

Is it? I mean, if you've ever travelled in the dark on the train through Preston in Lancashire, then on the east side of the railway line is a church with a very tall spire and on the top of it they've got this enormous great red illuminated cross at night. Is it that? Is it that that's going to do some good?

It casts a spell of goodness, you know. And you see these horror movies where to counter the evil that's all around, somebody will hold up a cross and the thing that's causing the terror will flee away from it. No, it's nothing to do with that. It's nothing to do with that.

You see, in simple physical terms, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, that wooden gibbet on which he was nailed and hung and bled to death, was a shameful thing. It was a dreadful thing. It was a place of horror. It was a place of revulsion. You know, he came down, Philippians chapter 2 tells us, that God in the person of his son, left the majesty, the glory of heaven, and the presence of everything that was good. He left it and he came down.

He came made of a woman, made of a sinful woman, Mary. You say, oh, Mary wasn't sinful. Why, if Mary wasn't sinful, why did Mary need a savior? She said, I bless God for God, my savior. She needed a savior. He was born of a woman, a baby, God contracted to a span.

He was laid in a manger because there was nowhere for them to stay. He grew up in poverty. They said of him, is this just not the carpenter's son? He'd grown up in the poverty of a village carpenter's shed. He went down from his ministry. He went down. He was obedient. Obedient how far? Obedient unto death. Which death? Even the death of the cross, it says in Philippians 2 verse 8. Of all the deaths, he was obedient unto the death of the cross.

And that cross was that cruel Roman instrument of execution. Not the Jewish one, the cruel Roman instrument of execution. Reserved for the most shameful criminals. The cross, that place, Calvary, on that day, when the sky was darkened from midday till three in the afternoon, when in that time, when he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That was a scene of physical torture. It was the scene of cries, of agony, of filth, of blood, of gore, of death.

Is Paul glorying that, in that? No, of course not. But he is glorying in what that death of Christ on that cross of Calvary accomplished for the elect multitude that he loved from before the beginning of time. For he poured out his precious lifeblood to pay the price of redemption.

And this whole epistle has shown that it's the death of Christ on the cross and not legal obedience that has satisfied divine justice. Galatians 2 verse 16, it's clear, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, by what he did. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified.

In verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. When he was crucified in the reckoning, in the justice of God, I was crucified there with him. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness come by the law and my obedience to it, then what did Christ die for? He died in vain. But he didn't die in vain. He died for his people. If you believe that, rest on it wherever you are. in whatever religious situation you're in.

The Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 asked Jesus, where should we worship? You Jews say that Jerusalem is the only place to worship, and in the Old Testament, it truly was in Jerusalem. That was the only place the sacrifice could be. That was the only place in the Old Testament regime where it could be. And she said, but their forefathers, Jeroboam and others, set up alternative altars and ways of approaching God. Where should we worship? And Jesus said to a woman, believe me, the day is coming and now is, when they that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The place, the physical thing, is utterly irrelevant. It's spirit and truth that matters. And so, for any listening to this, if you believe the gospel of grace accomplished by the cross of Christ and his death and his shed blood there, rest on that wherever you are. The situation you're in, the building that you're in, the tradition that you're in, makes zero difference. If you believe that gospel, you are saved.

You know, I often quote him, and I'm going to quote him again, but you know, the religious managers, if I'll call them that, of the church in the story of Happy Jack, They had him round to see if he was a suitable candidate to be qualified to meet with them and to partake with them. Are you qualified, Happy Jack, to be a member of our denomination? Are you in, I'll quote this term, are you in good standing with a gold standard Christian assembly somewhere else? Because if only then will we accept you.

And he replied, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. In this alone rests the power of God unto salvation. I know there are many who have their bits and pieces that are their little religious idols and they continue to hide them in their tent. They do.

That's why Paul was determined to know nothing other than Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's why he was bereft of peace and comfort if he didn't preach the gospel of Christ. He said, woe is me if I preach not the gospel of Christ, though it brought him great opposition and great suffering and eventually death.

You see, the cross is the whole counsel of God. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20 and verse 27, on that beach at Miletus to the elders of the Ephesian church. He said, I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. What's the whole counsel of God, Paul? I determined to know nothing other than Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The Judaizers sought to bring the Galatian Gentiles under Mosaic law, but the cross, the cross, The death of Christ on that cross is the fulfilment of that Mosaic law that they wanted to bring them back under. The cross of Christ and the death of Christ on that cross and the shed blood of Christ is, Romans 10, 4, the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had been a master, when he was Saul of Tarsus, he'd been a master of fanatical Judaism. But now, what does he count it as? He says in Philippians 3, I count it as dung, manure, worthless. The cross of Christ is everything to him. All his religion that he was so proud of, he counts it as dung.

Because why? The Mosaic law and obedience to it can't enable God to be a just God and a savior. It can't enable God to be just regarding his own righteousness and yet justify those who are sinners. That's Isaiah 45, 21, a just God and a saviour. Just and justifier, Romans 3,

26. It's only the cross of Christ and the death of Christ and the shed blood of Christ and the broken body of Christ on that cross which does all of those things. Moses' law can neither save from sin's curse nor improve anyone's standing with God. It can only bring us in guilty. In Romans chapter 3, you see this. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 19, having listed all of the sins of the people, he says in verse 19 of chapter 3, Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped.

Come on, what are you going to reply? Silence, silence. I've got nothing, no excuse to make. And all the world become guilty before God. All the world guilty before God. It helps not one bit to answer the question of Job. What should a man do to be just with God? The Mosaic law cannot provide the answer to that.

Romans 3.21 though, but now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

What does that mean? It means that the whole of the Old Testament has been saying it. If you could but see it, it's witnessed by the law and the prophets. All of the Old Testament is saying that the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, by the doing of the Messiah who was promised. the seed of the woman who would come from the line of Abraham unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference for as we stand all have sinned and come short of the glory of God but it's by the grace of God that we're freely justified through how it's not just okay I'll let you go it's through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Where was the redemption accomplished? Where was the purchase price paid that would release the people of God, love from before time, from the curse of the law? It was paid on the cross of Calvary, and that's why Paul glories in the cross of Calvary, exactly as the Old Testament had witnessed. It's in redemption It's in, look at the words here, redemption, propitiation, which means a turning away of the just anger of God for sin. It talks about blood, it talks about justification, because all that was accomplished by Christ at the cross. That's why Paul glories in the cross and the cross alone. It's what Christ accomplished there.

And he says, what is it that makes a difference? What is it that makes a difference? Verse 15, in Christ Jesus, in all that he has done, whether you're circumcised or not, makes absolutely no difference. And everything else that goes along with that, everything else that's like it, it makes no difference. The only thing that makes a difference is a new creature. If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creature. That's what it says, 2 Corinthians 5,

17. If anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. You must be born again. Unless God, by his Spirit, has made you anew, your religion of whatever sort, we've seen it again and again in chapter 5, will avail you nothing. It will do you no good. Do you? Do I? glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ alone, putting no confidence in the flesh? Do I live my life guided and directed by this gospel of Christ?

If so, Paul calls down God's blessing of peace and mercy upon you. He says this, as many as walk according to this rule, this faith, this belief, If you walk according to that, live your life according to that, peace be on them and mercy and upon all the Israel of God. For the Israel of God, what is it? The Israel of God is the people of God, the multitude chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Multi-ethnic, Jews and Gentiles in all times. called out of darkness into the marvelous light of God in the gospel of his grace.

It's the multitude of sinners. Israel is the multitude of sinners made princes with God. When God met Jacob, Jacob was the sinner, was the cheat, was the swindler. He cheated his brother out of his birthright. And yet God said, I'm going to call you Israel, for in the gospel of his grace, he made him a prince with God, and so he does to everybody else. The Israel of God is composed of people from all tribes and tongues and kindreds, not just Jews, Gentiles, Gentiles, but some Jews still, the remnant according to the election of grace. So then, it's those that are children of God and seed of Abraham by virtue of faith, not of physical descent.

That's the gold standard of true Christianity. That's the true, what Paul writes to Titus in that little epistle, the first verse, the faith of God's elect. It's that faith, that sight of the soul that he gives to his people. And it's in that alone that spiritual Israel of God rests in the full assurance of faith. That's a term from Hebrews chapter 10, the full assurance of faith and confident expectation of heavenly bliss.

Because let's get back to where we started. That road to eternal life is narrow and there are things that would vie to knock us off it, but it's this that gives the confident expectation of heavenly bliss. What does God say about all other presumed ways to eternal peace with God? What does God say about it? We read it in the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 6, but it's also in Revelation 18 and verse 4. What he says is this, come out of her, my people. Come out of that falsehood and have nothing to do with it. Trust in Christ and him alone. Amen.