If you will, be turning to Galatians
chapter 6. I'd like to say I appreciate
your prayers over the past couple of weeks. I appreciate this congregation
and your help towards us and my family. and your pastor especially. And I've enjoyed this weekend.
It's been a good weekend. I needed it. I appreciate it. Let's look here in Galatians
chapter 6 beginning in verse 11. The Apostle Paul says, You see
how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hands. 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 that no man trouble
me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Now,
the church at Galatia, as you know, was a church that Paul
had preached in, or the churches in Galatia, and made up mostly
of Gentiles and some Judaizers had come in and began to teach
that not that it was wrong to trust Christ, but that it was
wrong to trust Christ alone. Trust Him, plus you've got to
be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. And Paul says here
in verse 12, he says, the reason they do this is that they fear
men and they don't fear God. They fear men and they don't
fear God. They want to impress men rather
than glorify God. He says, They desire to make
a fair show in the flesh, and 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. is constraining the believers
to be circumcised. It wasn't just an out-and-out
denial of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a subtle thing. We're all brethren, and we're
all headed for the same common goal, and we all believe the
same thing. It's just that we've always done
it this way. We've always, anytime someone
came into the, to the church of old, they were always circumcised. And so keeping with tradition,
you need to be circumcised when you come in and keep the law
of Moses. And Paul said, all it is, is
a fair show in the flesh. It's a desire to make a show
in the flesh. That's all it is. In our day,
the message of circumcision centers on man's work, just as it did
here. The principle is the same. They
don't call it preaching the law. They give it other names. If the law is brought up as a
means for sanctification, if the law is used as a way to gain
rewards of some sort, If the law is used as a way to motivate
people to be more moral, if the law is used as a means to whatever
it's called, whatever reason it is, it ceases to be the truth
of the gospel. Look back over at Galatians chapter
1. I'm sorry, Galatians chapter
2. Listen to what Paul says here. Verse 2, he says, I went up by
revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach
among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation,
lest by any means I should run or had run in vain. But neither
Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be
circumcised. And that because of false brethren,
unawares, brought in, who came in privately to spy out our liberty,
which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into
bondage. To whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for an hour." Now look here at the reason. That the
truth of the gospel might continue with you. It's just that serious
that if we mix law in any regard, the truth of the gospel won't
continue. Because mixing law with grace
is simply not the truth of the gospel. That's just the long
and short of it. Mixing law in with the gospel
is not the truth of the gospel. If we strive to mortify the sinful
deeds of the flesh, and believers do that, our refreshing to carry
on in spite of our constant failings, in spite of our constant shortcomings,
is not going to be from the law. It's not going to be from someone
telling us to do this or don't do that. Our motivation is going
to be from the fact that we know what Paul said in Romans chapter
6 and verse 4, sin shall not have dominion over you. For you're
not under the law, but under grace. Now listen to what John
Gill said about that. He said, this is not a precept.
exhortation, or admonition, nor does it express merely what ought
not to be, but what cannot be and shall not be. It is an absolute
promise that sin shall not have the dominion over believers,
because sin in regeneration has been dethroned. Sin's been dethroned,
and it won't have dominion over you. Paul warns these Galatians not
to look to the law, but to Christ. And he says this, verse 14, God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what we've heard this
whole weekend that we've been here. We've not heard anybody
glorying in their obedience to the law. We've not heard anybody
whipping anybody with the law. All we have heard since we've
been here this weekend is the truth of the gospel, glorying
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Glorying in the fact
that our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation of his people,
the redemption of his people. He paid the purchase price, and
there's purchase possession. He bought them. He bought them.
And he says here, And by Christ, the world's crucified unto me,
and I unto the world. The world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, it's not
circumcision that avails anything, nor is it uncircumcision, but
a new creature, a new creation. That's what avails. And as many
as walk according to this rule, he said, peace be on them. Paul's glory and rejoicing was
in the spirit wherein Christ is worshiped. We don't worship
him. We don't worship our Lord with
flesh. We worship our Lord in spirit
and in truth. Paul was concerned for their
faith in Christ, for their hope in Christ, for their love of
Christ, for their patiently waiting on Christ, their order and steadfastness
as saints for the glory of Christ. That's what he was concerned
for. And he says, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law, both the ceremonial law and the moral law. What matters
is a new creature, a new creation, called so because man is as passive
in the creating of it as we were when God created the heavens
and the earth. Passive. It's an inner man. created in righteousness and
true holiness, that believers hear God's command and walk according
to His commandment, which is simply this, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. You want to know
what the commandment is of God? This is my beloved Son, hear
ye Him. Paul says, and as many as walk
according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon the
Israel of God. As many as walk according to
this rule. That's what I want to talk about
this morning. As many as walk according to
this rule. What is this rule of which Paul
speaks? What is this rule? It was Abel's rule who obtained
witness that he was righteous. It was Enoch's rule who had the
testimony that he pleased God. It was Noah's rule who became
the heir of righteousness. It was the rule of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob who were heirs of promise. And you know what not one of
these had in common? You know what not one of these
had? What not one of these had was
the Ten Commandments. Not one of them had the Ten Commandments. So according to this modern day's
version of what the believer's rule of life is, they didn't
have the believer's rule of life. They didn't have the Ten Commandments.
Poor old Abel and Enoch and Noah. and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They had the law of God written
on the fleshly tables of the heart. The new creation made
by God wherein they worship God in spirit and truth. They heard
God speak by faith and they followed God by faith. And this is the
same rule of which Paul speaks to the Galatians and to us right
here today. The same rule. We walk by faith. Law religion walks by sight.
Faith looks at things that are not seen. Law religion looks
at nothing but what can be seen. That's it. Illustration. I was up in Rock Valley, Iowa,
where Brother Fred Vlashtine. I can't pronounce it. I can't
hardly pronounce it. But Brother Fred was taking me back to the
airport up there in Sioux Falls. And we're in the gift shop there. And I was trying to pick out
something to buy to take back to Melinda and the kids. And
so we go up to the cash register. And I'm about to pay for what
I'm buying there. And the lady says, oh, where
are you from? And I said, I'm from Tennessee. She said, well, what did you
come up here for? And I said, well, I came up here to preach
for these folks. Their pastor's out of town. And
I came up here to fill in for him. And she said, well, what
did you preach on? And I said, well, I preached
Christ and Him crucified. And she said, well, we had our
service in the form of a cantata. And I said, Fred, I'm sorry I
shortchanged y'all. But you know, whenever Moses
was in the mountain, And they made that calf, that golden calf,
and they said they sat down to eat and they rose up to play.
You know what that means? They rose up and had a cantata.
It literally is what that means. They put on a big play. Believers don't worship God that
way. We don't worship God that way. The believer's rule of life
is faith. whereby we heed the gracious
instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we lay hold of Christ,
the hope set before us. By faith we trust Christ. We receive the promise of the
Spirit through faith. Faith is the eye by which we
see the fellowship, the mystery. The Savior says, I'm in you and
you're in me. And we delight in the law of
God after the inward man. We delight in the law of God.
We delight to follow him. And no matter how diligent a
man works, a branch that's not in the vine can't bring forth
fruit. It just simply won't happen. The apostles were adamant against
mixing the law at Sinai with the law of Zion. Paul was adamant
about that. He was adamant about intermingling
the law of Mount Sinai with the law of Mount Zion. It just can't
happen. Peter told the Pharisees who
desired to mix law and grace, he said, look over there at this
with me. I froze to death. Let's look at it again. Acts
chapter 15 verse 8. This is how serious this thing
is. Acts 15 verse 8. Peter said,
And God knoweth the hearts. He said, And God which knoweth
the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even
as he did unto us. Talking about the Gentile believers. And put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore,
Now listen to this. Why tempt ye God? Why tempt ye God to put a yoke
upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ they shall be saved even as we.
No, we shall be saved even as they. These ones who didn't have
the law, who never even had the law. Peter said, if we're going
to be saved, we're going to be saved the same way that they've
been saved, without the law. And it's a tempting of God to
try to put the law on a person. It's a tempting of God. It's
saying that he doesn't have the power from Mount Zion. to rule his people by his sovereign
power, by his sovereign grace. It says that his spirit is irresistible
to where it can accomplish irresistibly the work of grace in the heart
of a believer. It counts Christ's blood vanity. It counts his blood vanity. It's tempting God. It's tempting
God. The glory in electing a people
into salvation, the glory in redeeming a people from sin and
death, the glory of regenerating a people, and the glory of guiding
a people all their days belongs to the triune God of glory alone. Second Corinthians chapter 4
and verse 6, it says, God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Just like the Lord said, let
there be light in the beginning. He said, let there be light.
And there's light in a believer's heart. And we behold the glory
of God in the face of Christ Jesus. We behold his glory. We behold his glory to save whom
he will, when he will, how he will. We behold his glory to
save fully and freely and not fail, not fail. In Romans, we're told that he's
a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart
and the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. It's the spirit that quickeneth
the flesh prophets nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they're spirit and they're lie. Howbeit when the spirit of truth
is come, he'll guide you into all truth. Paul said, he made
us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life. Is the believer then without
law to God? Is he without law to God? Not
at all. Here's our law and here's our
rule. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made
me free from the law of sin and death. The law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. Our rule of life is called the
law of faith. Where's boasting then? Where's
boasting then? It's excluded. By what law? By
the law of works? By the law of faith. Do we make
void the law through faith? No, we establish the law through
faith. We establish the law because
Christ Jesus the Lord fully established the law. He obeyed the law in
every jot and every tittle. And by faith in him, we established
that law just as fully as he established that law, by simply
trusting him to have done it for us, on our behalf. You know
what happens if we start running in the law and trying to save
ourselves? I'll give you an illustration.
I was with a hunt buddy. And we were way back in the river
bottoms down in South Arkansas. And this was a while ago, a long
time ago. And we had on chest waders. I don't know if you know what
they are, but we were duck hunting. We had on chest waders. And you
can't hardly maneuver too good on dry land in chest waders. We came to this little old creek. We called it a slough. I don't
know what you call it. Up in West Virginia, they call
it a crick. But that's something that I get in my neck. We have
cricks in Arkansas. But anyway, this thing was real
shallow on the sides. It had a little shelf about a
foot or two foot deep. And then out in the middle, you
could tell, you couldn't see the bottom. It just dropped off.
But both of us, me and my buddy, both looked at it. jump across
it. We get us a good running start,
we can jump across it. And we didn't want to attempt
wading it, because it looked like it was over even our chest
waders, you know. So my buddy, he went first. And
he took off, and he stumbled right before he got to the edge
of the slough. And he landed right on the edge of it there,
in about that foot or two foot of water, you know. And I kind
of chuckled. He chuckled a little bit. So
I'm going to go out and do it. So I get way on back. And I took
a good running start. And I jumped hard. And I fell short of the other
side. And I landed in the middle. And it was over Cheswetter D.
And it's about 30 degrees outside. It was cold. But that's what
happens when we run after the law. We fall short of the glory
of God, and the one that runs the hardest and the fastest is
going to fall short in the deepest water. In the deepest water. The spirit
of life in Christ Jesus is the believer's law because it's the
cord of everlasting love. The bond of peace, the anchor
of the soul which binds us to Christ. The law of Sinai only
binds a man in sin and death. That's it. The law of the Spirit frees him
from the law of sin and death and binds him to Christ where
he wants to be bound. Now the Lord is that Spirit and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. There's
liberty. The Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus is called a law because through the Spirit Christ's love
constrains us. It constrains us. The spirit
of life in Christ Jesus is our law of life because by it, is
our rule of life because by it, God produces obedience in his
people, which the law of Sinai could never do because of the
depravity of our own sinful flesh. Just couldn't do it. He said,
I'll make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I'll put my fear in their
hearts and they shall not depart from me. He said, I, the Lord, love judgment. I hate robbery for burnt offering.
I will direct their work in truth. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with them. I'll ordain peace for them. In Micah, chapter 4, verse 2,
it says, Many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us of His ways, and we'll walk in His paths. For the law shall go forth out
of Zion in the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. What mountain
is that? I tell you what mountain it's not. It's not that mountain
that they couldn't touch, that burned with fire and was black
and dark and a tempest that they said, Moses, you go up there.
We don't want to go up there. It's not that mountain. It's
the one you find in Hebrews 12. You're not come to that mountain,
but you come to Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to Christ
Jesus the Lord. That's the mountain. That's where
our law comes from. That's where our rule comes from.
And it's a gracious rule. It's a loving rule. It's a rule
that makes his people a gracious people. That rule that comes
from Mount Sinai sets a man up in a pulpit, and he starts yoking
people with it. And he yokes this one, and he
yokes that one. And he starts just yoking everybody
he can yoke. And then the people that's in
the pew, they start looking at one another. Because if I can
look at somebody else and keep the attention on somebody else,
maybe I keep the attention off of me that I'm not keeping along. So let's point out old sister
so-and-so that ain't keeping along. And they say, you know,
everybody's looking at one another. And ain't nobody looking at Christ.
Nobody's trusting Christ. Those men who command folks to
look with one eye to Christ and one eye to the law at Sinai have
for their only rule of life the law of sin and death. That's
it. Let's look over Jeremiah chapter
34. Jeremiah chapter 34 and I'll close here. Here you go. Let me give you
a little background on this. The Lord made a covenant. And
He said in the day when He brought them out of Egypt, out of the
house of Bondman, He said in those days, if a man fell into
debt, committed a crime, his sentence was to be made a servant.
He's a type of a sinner in bondage to sin, to the law. He said that
he'd have these masters to remember that they too were once in bondage.
and God had delivered them. And so he gave a law to the rulers,
Jeremiah 34, 14. He said, at the end of seven
years, let ye go every man his brother and Hebrew, which had
been sold unto thee. When he had served thee six years,
thou shalt let him go free from thee. Well, in King Zedekiah's day,
the Lord sent Jeremiah to reestablish this covenant. And so Zedekiah
and all the princes and all the people entered into a covenant
with the Lord to obey Him. That's what every preacher does
when he's given the charge to preach liberty in Christ, is
he's going to set the captive, he's going to preach the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ that sets those that
are in debt free, sets the captives free. And so in Jeremiah 34,
15, it says, And they did it, they did it
for a little while. Listen, and you were now turned and had done
right in my sight in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor.
And you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called
by my name. But, something happened. But you turned and polluted my
name and caused every man his servant and every man his handmaid
whom you had set at liberty at their pleasure to return. and
brought them into subjection to be unto you for servants and
for handmaidens. That's exactly what's going on
in churches today. They preach to try to get them
to look to Christ alone, or so give lip service to it anyway.
But then once they've made a profession, then it's back to side, now you
go. Back to bondage, you go. And therefore, thus saith the
Lord, you've not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty, every
one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold,
I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword,
to the pestilence, and to the famine. And I'll make you to
be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. That's what the
Lord said. The Lord Jesus Christ sets captives
free. I wrote this down last week,
and I want to just go through this with you, just a few of
these, just a little bit. And I want to just, back there
in Galatians, I want you to look at this with me. This is what
happens if we preach the law, or mix the law with grace. Just
a little bit of what happens. It makes, Galatians 2 verse 18. Paul said, if I build again the
things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. If I build again the things which
I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. You know what Paul destroyed?
You know what he preached against constantly? The law. Against
the believer trying to find salvation by the law. But if we mix law
and grace, it's going to make men transgressors against God.
Galatians 2.21. It's going to make them count
Christ's death vanity. Look at Galatians 3 verse 3. Are you so foolish, having begun
in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Tell them
they're saved by grace, but they're sanctified by the law. And we're
going to cause them to think they're sanctified in that old
filthy flesh. Cleaning a dirty floor with a
dirty mop. Galatians 3.10 For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse, we're going to bind them there,
keep them there under the curse. Galatians 3.24 Wherefore the law is our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith.
When we mix law and grace, it's going to make them think that
justification is by law instead of faith. In Christ who justifies
us. Look at Galatians 4.11. Paul
says, I'm afraid of you lest I'm bestowed upon you labor in
vain. It counts the work of God's true messengers vanity. If we mix law and grace, look
at Galatians 5 verse 2. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised, he's a debtor
to do the whole law. It's going to make Christ of
no effect unto you. If you mix law and grace, look
at Galatians 6, verse 3. If a man thinks himself to be
something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. It's going
to pump men up in self-righteousness when in reality they're nothing
but self-deceived. Mixed law and grace. Galatians
6 verse 7 and 8. God's not mocked. It's going
to make men mockers of God, thinking they can come to God by in the
law. Galatians 6 verse 13. It's our text. It's going to
cause men to force others to walk after the law so they can
glory in what they have constrained other men to do in their flesh.
That's what a preacher does. That's why the preachers that
are preaching that you've got to do something, their work and
their work that they're going to be so proud of when they walk
up to God one day is, look at what I made these people do.
Look at what I made these people do. Don't that count for something? But our text says here, Paul
said, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm crucified to the world, I'm
dead to the law, and I'm alive unto God. And he says, as many
as walk according to this rule. This is the believer's rule of
life right here. As many as walk according to
this rule, peace be on them. And I say with Paul, from here
on, don't let any man trouble me. I'm tired of it. I'm just
tired of it. Tired of it. Well, I appreciate
your attention. I hope that was a blessing to
you.