Open your Bibles, please, to
Galatians 5, verses 1-12, which is my text for today. I pray
that you know the sweetness, the peace of being justified
in Christ, because Jesus Christ is our only justification. And nothing we do to justify
ourselves will ever bring us justification before God. Here
in Galatians 5, Paul is telling us to stand fast in Christ. There is nothing changeable in
our Lord. Christ's person, His love, His righteousness, the
effect of His blood and His complete salvation, they never change. They always remain the same and
in Him there is no shadow of turning, God tells us. And so
why then should anyone ever turn away from Christ and seek comfort
in their justification from some other place? The answer to that
is because they really don't know Christ. The only reason
they might turn away is because they don't know Christ. Jesus
Christ is the only sure foundation on which we can stand. We feed
on Christ and He gives us life in Him. And if the ordinances,
circumcision or uncircumcision, prayers or tears, experience
or unbelief, or any part of the ceremonial law or of the moral
law ever seem like a better foundation on which we should stand before
God, then all we have to do, all we have to do is to look
to Christ. Christ who is the Lord, our righteousness. And there we see that in no other
place Can we stand except on Christ? And so Paul says to us
in Galatians 5 verse 1, stand fast. Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Paul is saying to
us, stand fast in Christ. Highly esteem, maintain and defend
the liberty of Christ, the liberty of God's grace which is in Christ.
and the liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because Jesus
Christ has freed us from all of our sin. All of our guilt. We're freed
from the dominion of sin and we're freed from the damning
power of sin in Christ. Paul admonishes us to stand fast
in Christ because Jesus Christ has freed us from the ceremonial
law such as circumcision and from the moral law Paul would
have us stand fast in Christ because Christ has freed us from
the moral law as a covenant of works and the ceremonial law
as a way of gaining God's favor. I pray you can hear this. Jesus
Christ has freed us from the law's curse and the law's condemnation
by making us righteous in Him. and nothing we do can add to
or accomplish the righteousness which is found only in Jesus
Christ by faith. In Jesus Christ, we who are believers
are given the free use of the Gospel ordinances, the free access
to the throne of grace, and a freedom from fear, fear of death, and
fear of punishment. And so Paul says, don't allow
anyone to entangle you again in a system of works and deeds
by telling you that you have to do something. You have to
do something in order to gain God's favor. We are complete. I emphasize, we are complete
in Christ. We are made totally free in Christ. We have our liberty in Christ. We believe and we trust in Christ. The liberty that Paul is talking
about is the perfect and complete freedom that Christ Himself has
obtained for His church and His people by His obedience, by the
shedding of His blood, and by His death which is all confirmed
by God, by the resurrection of Christ who now sits at the right
hand of God as our mediator. Jesus Christ is our substitute.
Jesus Christ is the great head, surety, and husband of His people,
has redeemed His church from the curse of the law by being
made a curse for them. Therefore, all believers can
say, as Paul said in Romans 8, verse 2, the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. And so Paul gives us this warning
in Galatians 5 verse 2. He says, behold, I, Paul, say
unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Paul is using circumcision, which
is a part of the ceremonial law, as an example also of the moral
law. He's saying that if a man submits
to circumcision in order to gain acceptance with God, then Christ
profits him nothing. If a man tries to do anything
in order to gain acceptance with God, then Christ profits him
nothing. Why not? Well, because Jesus
Christ must be received as our only and our all-sufficient Redeemer.
Otherwise, He isn't our Savior. If we add anything, even something
which is done in a religious way to the person and work of
Jesus Christ, in order to gain God's favor, no matter what it
is, circumcision, baptism, fasting, praying at certain times, or
doing good for others, we are not trusting and resting in Christ. Therefore, Christ profits us
nothing. And this is very important to
understand because we are attempting to add our righteousness to His
righteousness. And that shows contempt for Him
by saying that His death and His shed blood just wasn't enough
to save us. You see, we are all an unclean
thing. And all of our righteousness
is His filthy rags. But every child of God who is
regenerated or who is born again by the power of the Holy Spirit
of God has been fully, has been completely made holy before God
in Christ. And the evidence of that is that
they believe and they trust Christ to save them. Nevertheless, we
still carry around with us this body of sin and death which is
altogether unholy. So we shouldn't be surprised
that we are subject to sin, but we are not ruled by sin if we're
in Christ. We feel the assaults of sin,
and we've grown under these assaults, and we find that often when we
would do good, evil is present with us. And so we often willfully
sin, but we don't trust in our righteousness. We trust only
in Christ. because Jesus Christ has freed
His people from all of the condemnation of sin, but not from the sorrow
of sin. Jesus Christ is our Savior, has
conquered sin and death, hell and the grave, but yet His people
continue to know and to feel sinful because of their body
of sin which they will wear as long as they are in this time-state
here on earth. But being in Christ, they feel
and know the dreadful evil of their sin. They know the effects
of their sin and the awful terrors of Satan whose fiery darts cause
us to fear the very real prospect of death and hell in the grave
if they are without hope in Christ. Without Christ, they know by
God's grace that they would be lost forever if Jesus Christ
hadn't destroyed the everlasting power by His victory over these
evils and made them free in Him, made them free in Christ. And
so we praise God for the unspeakable blessing of the liberty wherewith
the Lord Jesus Christ has made His people free. We can only
praise Jesus Christ our Savior because it is all of Him. It
is said by God's Spirit through Paul in 2 Corinthians 3.17, Now
the Lord is the Spirit And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. And so I pray that we might each
understand what Paul is saying to us here about circumcision. It is equally applicable and
true to any and to everything that men try to apply to or to
add to Christ's salvation. You see, for the Jews, circumcision
was a solemn religious ordinance of God which pointed to Christ. And in Christ, circumcision was
fulfilled, along with all of the other ceremonial law. Christ
is our righteousness. And anything that we try to do,
adding to what Christ did to save us, only takes away from
the glory of God and makes Christ's work of non-effect. So that the
observance of the act of circumcision by those who profess Christ after
Christ had fulfilled both the moral law and the ceremonial
law by his life and death as our substitute, was only a testimony
saying that what Christ did in life and in his death was not
sufficient because it says that something else needed to be done
in order to save his people. For a believer to be circumcised
in order to gain God's approval says that Christ's life and death
as his substitute wasn't enough to save And if circumcision implies
that Christ's life and death as our substitute wasn't sufficient,
so does everything else that we try to do to gain God's favor. Can you hear what Paul is saying?
Anything which we try to add to what Christ did to save us
says that what Christ did wasn't sufficient to save and so becomes
a testimony, it becomes evidence that we don't really trust Christ
to save us. But since circumcision is being
used by God as representative of all of the law, let's look
at what circumcision is for a few minutes. There is something that
is particularly interesting about the Jewish rite of circumcision. The first thing we see is that
God commanded Abraham to be circumcised. In Genesis 17.10, God says, this
is my covenant, which you shall keep. between me and you and
thy seed have to be. Every man child among you shall
be circumcised." Circumcision from the first moment of its
institution by God was an ordination from God which pointed to Christ. Because the covenant of redemption
by Jesus had circumcision as its token or seal. And in Romans
15, verses 8 and 9, it expressly said, that Jesus Christ was a
minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm
the promise made unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify
God for His mercy. As it is written, For this cause
I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy
name. And so when Jesus was circumcised
on the eighth day, according to the law, as it says in Luke
2.21, Jesus fulfilled the first of the ceremonial laws and the
need for circumcision ended because Christ had fulfilled it. But
we should understand that by Christ submitting to this act
of circumcision, that Christ then became a debtor to the whole
law. And of course, Jesus Christ kept
the whole law. And because Christ did keep the
law of circumcision, because Christ did keep the whole law.
Christ's redeemed are not only freed from the law of circumcision,
but in fact, they are prohibited from observing circumcision.
Christ has kept not only this ceremonial law of circumcision,
but Christ kept all the law perfectly as our substitute. That's why
Paul was so earnest on this point that we should not be circumcised.
Look at Galatians 5.2 again. Paul is declaring that, for us,
circumcision inversely denied the covenant of God's grace.
He says, Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. The reason that circumcision
denied the covenant of God's grace seems to have been this.
The seed of Abraham, by the act of circumcision, identified God's
people and it declared that as a people they were looking for
and waiting for the coming of the promised seed in whom all
the families of the faithful were to be blessed. So to be
circumcised then after Christ had come was in effect denying
that Christ did come. And by the act of circumcision
they were saying that they were still looking for his coming.
But there's another reason why circumcision is improper for
those who trust Christ for their salvation. And I think it's probably
an even more important reason. The person being circumcised
is by that act declaring himself to be under an obligation to
fulfill the whole law. Christ submitted to it with this
view. He submitted to circumcision
with this view that he would be indebted to keep the whole
law. but Christ's redeemed are completely justified in Christ. And so to undergo a circumcision
would imply a defect in Christ's justification. This is what Paul
is saying in Galatians 5 verse 3. Paul says, for I testify again
to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. In other words, If we're going
to seek any measure of righteousness by our own works, any measure
of rightness by obedience to the laws, we are not depending
on Christ for our justification, and we are therefore under an
obligation to perfectly obey the complete law, both ceremonial
and moral, that denies the whole purpose of Christ's coming and
what He accomplished by His death is our substitute. And so in
Galatians 5, Paul makes this very strong statement. He says
that when we try to add our works to what Christ did, Christ has
become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you are fallen from grace. Now, keep this fourth
verse in its context. Remember who Paul is speaking
to and why Paul is speaking to believers. He's speaking to the
believers in the Galatian Church and he's speaking to the believers
in our church today. Paul is emphasizing that you
who in any way seek to be justified before God by your own righteousness
or by your own obedience to certain laws such as circumcision and
Sabbath days, washing, abstaining from certain food, or you've
turned away from the gospel of free grace and righteousness
in Christ. You have turned away from Christ
because you are trusting in your keeping the law for your justification. You have departed from salvation
by grace alone in Christ, and you have turned to a mixture,
and I emphasize it's a mixture of both grace and works. Therefore,
Christ has become of no effect to you at all, because God's
grace and your works are opposites, and they just don't mix. They
don't mix to accomplish justification. You either trust in the one or
you trust in the other, but you can't trust in them both. And
if you're trusting in your works, then you are fallen from God's
grace, which is only in Christ. But believers trust Christ. But what does Paul mean when
he says those who are justified by the law are fallen from grace?
The idea that a child of God who is truly born again in Christ
and saved by the blood of Christ could ever fall from grace is
directly opposite to what Paul is saying, and that is not what
Paul is saying. Paul is not saying that a child
of God could ever fall from grace. Paul is admonishing believers
to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them
free. Their liberty in Christ is precious. Their freedom Their
freedom from the law and from the guilt of sin and death is
precious. Paul is admonishing believers
to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them
free. In our flesh, we have this desire to add our own works to
what Christ did. I don't know about you, but it's
a desire that I have to fight constantly. We want to add our
own works to what Christ did. But our works are as filthy rags. Believers believe Christ. Their faith is in Christ and
those who trust Christ only trust Christ. They don't trust themselves
or their own works of righteousness. Believers know that Christ is
the born-again believer's only justification, his only righteousness. Evidence of our sinful unbelief
is that we try to add to what Christ did. and unbelievers are
fallen from grace. So it seems important to Paul,
and he's being led by the Holy Spirit, that we must be taught
by the Holy Spirit to distinguish between law and grace. We must
learn that they are opposites and they can't be mixed. It may
be true of you that you understand very well the doctrines of grace.
You may have a good mental understanding of many of the basic truths of
Scripture. But until you are given the knowledge
to know and the faith to believe that your salvation and your
justification and your righteousness are all in Christ, then you really
haven't believed or trusted Christ. And I pray that the Holy Spirit
might be your teacher. You can have a very good mental
understanding of your total depravity, of unconditional election, limited
atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints,
which all of God's saved know and they appreciate all of these
doctrines. And they know them and appreciate
them as the doctrines of grace. But until you believe Christ,
Paul is saying you are still in your sin. God's grace is found
only in Christ. It isn't what you believe, but
it's who you believe that should give you peace and assurance
of your salvation. Your liberty is only in Christ. When Jesus healed a blind man,
the Pharisees cut that man out of the synagogue. And I've always
thought that must have hurt him very badly to be put out of the
synagogue. And so Jesus asked him a question
which I'm sure was intended to give that man great comfort. In John 9, verses 35-39, it says,
Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And when He had found
him, He said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered
and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus
said unto him, Thou hast seen him, and it is he that talks
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. And Jesus
said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which
see, see not, might see. And that they which see might
be made blind. And when the jailer asked Paul
and Silas, what must I do to be saved? Acts 16.31 tells us
that they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. And thy house. And in 1 John
3.23, the Apostle says about God, and this is His commandment,
that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as He gave us commandment. And again, in
1 John 5, verse 13, as the Apostle was about to finish his letter,
he said, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal
life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Oh, how I pray that you can hear this because it is so important. Jesus Christ is either our whole
and complete Savior, or He is not our Savior at all. He can't
be a partial Savior. Christ will not share His glory. As Paul said in Romans 4, verses
3-5, for what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God. And it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his fate is counted for righteousness. And again, Paul says in Romans
11, verses 5 and 6, even so then at this present time also there
is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by
grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no
more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work."
Have you been able to hear it? Do you hear what Paul is saying
to us? If so, if you can hear it, that's the work of the Holy
Spirit in your heart. Faith is believing Christ. And that implies that you trust
Christ. The object of faith for a saved
born-again believer is Jesus Christ. But you need to understand
that your belief has nothing to do with you. It doesn't matter
how strong your belief is or even what your belief causes
you to do. Your faith has nothing to do
with anything that comes out of you. You aren't the object
of your faith. The object of a saving faith
is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who has died for
you so that you could be made righteous in Him. Believe on
Jesus Christ who is on that tree. And that Jesus Christ that you
can see by faith. See that He's dying for you.
Can you see? Can you see Him with His hands
and feet nailed to the cross as He pours out His life for
sinners? Can you truly believe that Christ died for you? I pray
that you can. I pray that these are things
that you believe. But your faith isn't in believing that Christ
died for you. Or that on that cross is the
object of your faith. Yes, it is by faith that those
who are saved believe that Jesus Christ died for their justification.
But their faith isn't something that's in themselves or even
in what Christ did. Their faith is all in Christ. And saving faith isn't in anything
that the Holy Spirit has done to you either or anything that
God our Father has promised to do for you or in anything that
you have done. Saving faith doesn't come from
a changed heart. It's what changed heart Faith is what changes your heart.
Listen closely. Saving faith is believing on
Christ, and it's a gift of God, lest any man should boast. The
object of saving faith is Jesus Christ, and so you trust Christ.
You don't even trust in what Christ did for you. You trust
Christ. You trust Christ. By faith you
are to look to Christ and to Christ Jesus alone. And then
by the faith of Christ, let your faith give you eyes to see not
only Christ dying for your sin, but Christ rising from the dead.
Can you see Him in your eye of faith? Christ has borne the curse,
and so now He is able to justify. Now He who was dead arises so
that He may nail the handwriting of the discharged debt to the
cross. Can you see what it says? It
says, paid in full. All of the sin of all of God's
people is nailed to the cross. Not because of anything that
they've done, but because Christ died to pay the debt that they
owed. And yet, while it may be true that Christ died for you,
was buried and rose again for you, it is the person of Jesus
Christ that you trust. Salvation is all in Christ. The question to answer is, do
you believe Christ. So Galatians 5, verse 5, Paul
says, For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. It is by the Holy Spirit's regeneration,
revelation, and help, not by relying on our own works and
deeds or obedience to the law, that we anticipate and we wait
for the fulfillment of the blessed hope of eternal glory. which
our standing before God and our righteousness in Christ promise
us. Our hope is in Christ, not in
any deeds, not in any works of the law. The waiting for the
Holy Spirit to reveal Christ's righteousness to the soul of
a believer is a beautiful testimony of God's grace. Clearly, Paul
is telling us that not until God by revelation through the
Holy Spirit has fixed our minds on the person of Christ and on
His righteousness so that we are completely satisfied with
both Christ and His righteousness and then when we have abandoned
our own efforts to justify ourselves, the full consent of the soul
is obtained and we are made free in Christ. That's important because
we must be satisfied. We must be satisfied first that
we are nothing but sinners and then that our only righteousness
is in Christ. I don't know about you, but that
delights me. I think it ought to delight you
too. If you know you're a sinner and that you believe on Christ,
you came to save because then you have the hope that if God
is merciful, and because you need God's mercy, then God might
be merciful to you too. and save you in Christ. But when
God through His Spirit keeps us waiting for this revelation,
and then when He eventually makes the sufficiency of Christ known
to us in our hearts, we are then enabled to rest with the full
assurance of faith and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God
who is not only a just and a righteous God, but also He is a loving
and merciful God. The assurance of faith is this.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But
believing is one of many examples of God not only requiring his
people to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, but also of
God enabling us to walk in the power of the Spirit by the precious,
precious work of God the Holy Ghost. So then for just a minute,
let's think sweetly how sweetly the words and the promises of
Jesus are fulfilled here as they have been fulfilled in a thousand
other instances when Christ said about the Holy Spirit in John
16, 14, He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine
and shall show it unto you. Christ is glorified when His
people believe on Him, not in what He did and not in what they
have done, but when they believe on Him, Christ is glorified. Then looking back again at our
text, In Galatians 5 verse 6 it says, For in Jesus Christ neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but, and
here's what counts, but faith which worketh by love. That's
what counts. If we believe Christ, if we are
in Christ by grace and by faith, it doesn't profit us one little
bit to be circumcised or to be uncircumcised. It's a good thing
to keep God's law. But whether to keep the law or
not, these things that are commanded in the law and in the moral law
don't commend us to God. You're a fool not to keep God's
law. Because the law of God tells us how we should live our lives.
The service which God requires is a true heart of faith. which
is evidenced and expressed by our love to Christ and to one
another. And when God gives you this faith of Christ, it will
change your life. Let's think for a minute about
the change that faith makes in a believer. The practical purpose
of circumcision was to identify God's people. But with the coming
of Christ, circumcision is no longer needed to identify God's
people. I've heard it said often The world didn't recognize Jesus
when He walked on this earth, so they won't recognize Christ
in you either." Well, I really don't doubt that that's true.
But there was something very different about Jesus Christ
that the world did see. They saw that Jesus was not like
other men. He didn't talk like other men
and He didn't teach like other men. Jesus spoke and taught with
the authority of God. And when the Pharisees sent their
officers out to find Jesus in some violation of the law so
that they could arrest Jesus as the criminal, they returned
to the Pharisees and they said about Jesus, never man spoke
like this man. They had seen something different
in Jesus. And when a blind man is made
to see, the world sees something different in that blind man too.
He can see. He can see when once he was blind.
My purpose this morning is to point you to Christ so that you
might believe on Christ. So I don't want to do anything
to say anything to cause you to judge yourself or to take
your eyes off Christ. But frankly, I don't see how
you can be born again and not know it any more than you could
not know that you were born the first time. When you first really
believed Christ, Didn't the world look different to you? Didn't
you read your Bible with a new understanding? Are your friends
the same today as they were before the Spirit revealed Christ to
you? Didn't many of your interests change along with how you spent
your time when you were born again or when you first believed
Christ? When we are first born, we are
born with a sin nature which is inherited from Adam, who became
a sinner in his fall. But a child of God is regenerated
by God. He is born again by the power
of God. He isn't born again physically. He's born again spiritually.
God actually gives him a new spiritual nature. And then these
two natures of spirit and flesh always reveal themselves in this
man just as plainly as any two opposites principles do in nature,
such as fire and water and light and darkness and good and evil.
so that while the child of God walks in the Spirit, the lusts
of the flesh are no longer ruling over him. Christ rules over him. Christ rules over his people.
On the other hand, every born-again child of God will tell you that
when God's restraining grace and their hate of sin doesn't
keep sin under submission, the clamorous demands of the flesh
are clearly there, and so they often sin. I'm getting ahead
of my text, but Paul says in Galatians 5, verses 16 and 17,
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill
the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary
one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you
would. The general idea of partial regeneration both of the soul
and body and the new birth of a believer, is totally done away
with with what God the Holy Ghost speaks to us here through Apostle
Paul in verses 16 and 17 of Galatians 5. If men would only take scripture
just as it is, instead of bringing it by partial quotations to suit
their favorite opinions that they themselves have adopted,
then they would be led under divine teaching by such plain
words as Paul uses here to see the truth. that the truth would
make them free. Clearly, God is showing us that
in a born-again believer there is both the fleshly and the spirit
nature. There is the old man, unrenewed,
and then there's the new man created in Christ Jesus. And
they are said here in verses 16 and 17 to be in direct opposition
to each other with the flesh fleshing against the spirit and
the spirit against the flesh. This opposition is there to such
a degree that the born-again believer has to be aware of it. Because while every child of
God who is regenerated knows daily to his sorrow that his
flesh is making everlasting war against his spirit so that he
cannot do the things that he would, he ought to take comfort
when his spirit nature just as plainly and just as fully brings
through the grace of God by the power of the Holy Spirit the
opposition that His renewed nature makes to the wishes of His flesh,
and many times prevents their gratification. And it seems right
to me that we should find joy, we should find comfort, giving
God the glory when the Spirit has its seasons of conquering
against the flesh, even while we often mourn at the triumphs
of the flesh over the Spirit. Jesus said Himself in John 3,
verse 6, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit. But the Holy Spirit doesn't
do His work by changing the flesh. The flesh remains the same as
it was when it was born, and it remains that way until it
returns to its original dust in the grave. Because as we are
told in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 44, it is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. But let's
get back to our text. Paul says in Galatians 5, verses
7 and 8, and he's talking about when they first heard about Christ.
You did run well. Who did hinder you that you should
not obey the truth? The persuasion cometh not of
him that calleth you. Paul is saying to the Galatians,
you started well in the beginning. You came as helpless sinners
to Christ and you found in Christ all that you needed. At the beginning,
you were zealous for the gospel of God's grace in Christ. And
so who was it that turned you back to the law by telling you
that you must keep the law in order to be saved? Who hindered
you in your faith by turning you to another gospel? Because
the gospel of salvation by works is another gospel. Who was it
that turned you away from Christ and caused you to trust in your
works? It wasn't God who called you by His grace. It wasn't Jesus
Christ who fulfilled all things for you. It wasn't the Holy Spirit
who revealed the gospel to you, or it wasn't an apostle of Christ
who preached the gospel to you. So who was it that turned you
to another gospel? And the only answer to that question
is that it most surely was Satan and his messengers of human righteousness. In 2 Corinthians 11, verses 2
and 3, Paul says, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy.
For I has espoused you to one husband that I might present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." And then
skipping to verses 13 to 15 of 2 Corinthians 11, Paul says, For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works. Oh, dear Father,
could it be that none of us, none of us might be judged for
our works? that we might be judged only
in Christ our Savior. Lord, we have no righteousness
of our own, and so we need Jesus Christ as our Savior. Keep us,
dear Father, from looking to anything but Christ for our salvation. Then in Galatians 5.9, Paul says,
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Now I know that some
people say we need to preach the law and we need to preach
Christ. We need to preach them both because
if we don't preach the law, then people will do whatever they
want to do. Anyway, they might say, we do
preach Christ along with the law, don't we? Isn't the law
part of Scripture? How are the people going to know
what the law is if we don't tell them and remind them of it often?
And so Paul reminds them that a little leaven, a little error,
a little evil, especially in regards to the work of Christ,
will pervert and mislead the whole church. And this is a false
gospel that must be stamped out immediately because law and grace
do not mix. Let me tell you something that
I've learned from God as your pastor, and I pray I might be
able to put it into practice. By my sin nature, I love to tell
people how they should live their lives. Some of you know that. I love to tell people how they
ought to live their lives. It makes me feel good. But as your pastor, I'm in a
great place to do that. Some people think that's what
a pastor ought to do is to tell you what you ought to do with
your life. And at the same time, I see people all of the time
doing things that I know are going to lead them into pain
and heartache. And if you love them, and I do
love you, I love you all, then how can you not lay down the
law to you? If I love you, how can I not
lay down the law to you? It's a great temptation. But
you know what? God has called me to preach Christ
to you. My only job is to preach the
Good News of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Jesus Christ to you.
That's God's way. And all that I might learn to
do that, that's God's way. But when Christ is preached,
people are saved. And when they're saved, they
begin to walk in the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit leads them and
guides them into all righteousness. That's the work of God in the
lives of His people. My job is to preach Christ to
you and that's my only job. Paul must have learned that too
because in Galatians 5 verse 10 he says, I have confidence
in you. And here's why he has confidence
in you. I have confidence in you through
the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded, but that trouble
of you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be." He that troubles
you shall bear his judgment, God's judgment, whoever he is.
The Apostle Paul has dealt roughly and very plainly with these Galatians.
We've only looked at a part of it. He's talked to them strongly
about their trusting in the law and their works, and yet he expresses
confidence in them. He expresses confidence that
they will see what he is teaching so that they will deal with these
false teachers who have been leading them astray. And so Paul
is preaching Christ to them. That's really what he's doing.
He's preaching Christ. He's telling them to believe
Christ and not to trust in anything else. One of the purposes of
preaching the Gospel of Christ is that God uses the preaching
of the Gospel to draw His people to Christ. But as that happens,
they are sanctified by their faith in Christ. Listen to what
the Lord said to Paul as he called him to be a minister of the Gospel.
It's in Acts 26, verses 16 and 17. And the Lord said to Paul,
But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee
for this purpose. to make thee a minister and a
witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those
things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from
the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee, to
open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from
the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith which is in me, which is in Christ, the Lord is saying. As Romans 10, 17 says, so then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I
can't tell you how to live your lives. I can't even keep the
law myself. And I'm a far worse sinner than
anybody in this room. Anyway, you don't listen to me. I know it. You don't listen to
me. When I try to tell you what to
do, you don't listen. But if you love Christ, if you
are led by His Spirit, then I know from experience that you will
seek to do His will, not only because you love Him, but because
living for Him is the best way to live. It won't get you to
heaven, but it will be a life that is full of liberty, the
liberty that we find in Christ. And in Galatians 5 verse 11,
Paul says something that I think is very interesting. He says,
And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer
persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased? Some of these false teachers who preach salvation by works
and by keeping the law contended that Paul taught that circumcision
was necessary to salvation because he had circumcised Timothy. But
that's not why Paul circumcised Timothy. We know why Paul circumcised
Timothy. It was to prevent the stumbling
of weak Jews and to enable Timothy, who was a Gentile, to preach
to them. Paul didn't circumcise Timothy
for Timothy's spiritual good. In Acts 16.3 it says about Timothy,
him would Paul have to go forth with him and took and circumcised
him because of the Jews which were in those quarters. For they
knew all that his father was a Greek." They knew that Timothy's
father was a Greek. Here's what I hear Paul saying
in Galatians 5.11. If I'm an advocate of the circumcision
and other laws, why do these men persecute and constantly
oppose me? And if I preach circumcision
or any other work which is added to the person and work of Jesus
Christ, the doctrine of the cross as an offense and as a stumbling
block would cease. Listen to me, please. Natural
men don't object to Christ being a partial Savior. It's Jesus
Christ as the total and complete Savior that they reject and deny. As long as you preach a gospel
in which men and women are taught that they have even a small part
in their own salvation, then there's really probably not going
to be any problem. They'll love you for it, in fact.
But when you tell people that salvation is only in Christ and
that we can do nothing to save ourselves, they're going to hate
that. Only a born-again, regenerated
child of God will find a Christ who saves completely to be an
attraction. And when by faith God shows them
Christ who not only is able to save to the uttermost, but does
save completely, then they will fall down on their knees and
they'll worship Him. They'll worship Christ. In Galatians
5, verse 12, Paul says very strongly, I would that they, those false
teachers who preach a salvation by works and by the law, I would
that they were even cut off, which trouble you. The preaching
of Christ is very serious business because the salvation of souls
are involved. God will save His people, but
He uses the preaching of Christ to do it. And when people only
hear a false gospel, as in my case for so many years, all of
my life really, most of it, They may live most of their lives
without knowing the joy of Christ and without having the liberty
that is found only in Christ. In verse 12, Paul is going back
to what he said in Galatians 1, verses 8 and 9 about the false
teachers. In Galatians 1, verses 8 and
9, Paul said, But though we or an angel from heaven preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again. If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that which you have received, let him be accursed. Any man called by God to preach
the gospel of God's grace in Christ will be a man who loves
so much that to see any other gospel preached is a terrible
torment to him. A preacher once told me, Bob,
I would preach what you preach, but if I did, I would lose my
church. Well, I'm sure that he meant what he said. But I don't
believe for a minute that he knew Christ. Because if he did
love Christ, and if he loved his neighbors, how could he not
preach Christ, longing for the salvation of God's people? No, salvation is all in Christ.
Salvation is not in the least in what we do. And I pray, my
parting prayer to you is, May God open all of your eyes to
see Christ as your full and complete and able Savior. That you might
believe in Christ. And may we all believe in Christ. Amen.