missed. Good morning. We're going to
begin this morning in Galatians chapter 5 and have several passages
I want us to look at. I'm sure everybody has heard
by now that The Lord was merciful to take Terry home on Thursday,
and we're planning to have a service here tomorrow at 11 o'clock. If you plan to stay or go to
lunch after the graveside, which is right down here on 436 near
Hunt Club, please let me know so we can get a count for lunch
at the Olive Garden down by 436, or down by the interstate on
436. That was a great hymn, Tom, singing. Just thought about what a glorious
victory Terry knows now. Not only has she been delivered
from all of her suffering, but she's been made perfect and sees
Christ in all of His glory. And that happened in the twinkling
of an eye. What a blessing. What a blessing.
Let's pray together. Merciful Heavenly Father, we
ask that you would cause us to find Christ in us to be the hope
of our glory. We pray, Lord, that you would
not allow us to be settled or satisfied with anything less
than knowing him. We know, Lord, for that to be
that you would have to turn our hearts. You would have to give
us faith. You would have to unstop our
ears and enable us to hear your voice and take the blinders from
off our eyes that we might see. We ask, Father, that in light
of eternity and your glory and the salvation of our souls, that
you would do a work of grace for us this morning. We thank you for your word. We
pray, Lord, that it would be living, active, and effectual,
that it would accomplish the purpose for which you send it.
We ask, Lord, that that accomplishment would be our salvation. We thank you for Terry. Thank
you for the sweet testimony that you gave to her and the desire
that you put into her heart to hear and to believe the gospel.
We thank you, Lord, for the great comfort and peace now that you've
given to us and knowing that she's at rest. We ask, Lord, that this time
would be a time for each of us to reflect upon our own souls.
Lord, that we would prove ourselves to see whether we be in the faith. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. In our study of the books of
1st and 2nd Corinthians, we've been reminded time and time again
of how the Judaizers would come in behind the Apostle Paul and
try to undermine the message of the gospel that he had preached. And they did that everywhere
he went. Now the Judaizers were those
men from Jerusalem that agreed with the Apostle Paul that Jesus
of Nazareth, the one that he preached, was in fact the long-awaited
Messiah. He was the Christ. He was the
fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies. And he was necessary
for salvation. They believed that. And they
had entrance into the church as a result of that confession
that they made. Nevertheless, They did not believe
that what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished was sufficient for
salvation, for in addition to what Paul was preaching, one
had to be circumcised and observe all the Mosaic laws of the Old
Testament if they wanted to be right with God. So it was Christ
plus your works. The Judaizers are alive and well
today. They're everywhere. It is the
message of modern-day Christianity that Christ is necessary for
salvation but he's not sufficient. You've got to do your part. You've
got to keep the law. You've got to prove yourself.
to be a child of God through your obedience, through your
law keeping. The more God teaches me the gospel,
the more convinced I am of how radical this message of Christ
really is to men. It's not the message that men
believe in the world. That God in His electing grace
would be sufficient without any contribution on my part that
he according to his own goodwill and his own pleasure in his sovereign
grace would choose a particular people before the foundations
of the world? Before Adam was ever created
God wrote the names of his elect in the Lamb's Book of Life and
that he has the sovereign right to do that? Well, that's not
my God. That's what I hear. People say,
that's not my God. I don't believe in that God.
I don't doubt that you don't. It's not the God that's generally
believed today. The problem is that the God that
most men believe doesn't exist. He does not exist. He's nothing
more than a figment of men's imagination. Men by nature are
idolaters. We come into this world as an
idolater. We come into this world with
ideas already fashioned in our sinful nature as to what God
is like. And in essence, what we've done
is we've made him to be altogether as we are ourselves. We've fashioned
God in the foundry of our own imagination that looks like us. And yet, in fact, he's subservient
to us. He's obligated to save us if
we do our part. He's obligated to help us. He's,
in fact, not a God that reigns sovereign over all the inhabitants
of the earth. He's a God who is subservient
to the men who have created him. The problem is, he doesn't exist. There's no more substance to
him than there is to a mirage. He is a hallucination brought on by the intoxicating
drug of self-righteousness. He's nothing more than a dream. And when men wake up from that
dream, they'll find it to be a terrifying nightmare. The God that is, the God that
exists, is not the God that you and I came into this world believing.
And He's not the God that's worshipped by men today. This gospel message,
a young man I was talking to this past week and he was trying
to share the gospel with a friend of his and referred them to our
website and they read some of the stuff on our website and
they responded back to him by saying, that's scary stuff, I'm
not interested in that. That's scary, it is scary stuff.
If what we believe is true, it's a fearful thing. And it's not
consistent with what the world believes, or what we believed,
or what religion promotes. A God that would all by himself,
all by himself accomplish everything necessary for the salvation of
those that he chose according to his own sovereign will before
the foundations of the world? that he would come into this
world and all by himself fulfill all righteousness? That he would
present his obedience to God on behalf of his people and make
them accepted before God in himself? That there's nothing that we
can do to add to that? You mean there's no rewards for
my commitment and my dedication? Isn't that what religion is really
all about? This is not man-made religion. And the Judaizers hate it. They
hate it. One of the things I've come to
realize God has ordained for all of his children to suffer
personally the onslaught of Judaizers at the onset of their conversion
to prove them. It's true. It's true. I want our young people to hear
this because if you believe what we believe here, if you believe
what God says, you're going to experience. Families, they assemble intervention
teams to try to bring you back out of that cult. It's just gonna happen. It happens
to every one of God's people, every single one of them. And
God's ordained it to be so in order to prove us. Galatians chapter 5, in light
of all the resistance, hold your finger there in Galatians chapter
5 and turn to me to 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter
3. Are you telling me that I don't have a free will
in this matter? I'm telling you until God gives
you a new nature, the will that you have is in bondage to your
nature and your nature is spiritually dead. Yeah, you have a will,
but everything you will will be contrary to the things of
God until God gives you a new nature. Until He intervenes,
until He causes you to believe, until He opens the eyes of your
understanding and unstops your ears and gives you faith, you
won't come. You won't come. God's people
love hearing that because they know that that's true about themselves. They know that they would not
have come had the Lord not made them to come. Look at 2 Timothy
chapter 3 at verse 11. Persecutions, afflictions, which
came unto me at Antioch, and Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions
I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and
all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you believe the gospel, you're
gonna find yourself to be at odds with everything in this
world. You're gonna find yourself to
be at odds with your own family. You're going to find people are
going to hate you for it. They just will. Don't be surprised. Galatians chapter 5 verse 1,
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us
free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't
go back to the law. He's dealing with these Judaizers
now. If you can confess Jesus as Lord, nobody's going to have
problems with that. As long as you don't make Him
exclusive in salvation. As long as you add to Him, everybody
will be satisfied with that. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you for don't be entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Don't go back to the law. Behold, I, Paul, say
unto you that if you be circumcised, if you go back to the law, Christ
shall profit you nothing. In other words, Christ is everything
or he is nothing. Now that's a radical message.
He's everything or he's nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, every man that circumcision is symbolic
for anything that man does to help God out in saving him, whatever
it is, whatever it is. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole
law. If you're gonna play with the law, you're obligated to
do the whole law. Now that's what God requires.
God's not satisfied with partial obedience. God demands absolute
perfect obedience. There's only one that ever did
that. Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever you are, justified by the law. You are
fallen from grace. You mix law and grace, and you've
destroyed grace. Paul makes that clear in Romans
chapter 8. If it's of grace, it can no longer be of works.
Otherwise, grace is not grace. You can't mix the two. Either
God did it all, or it's a salvation of works, and if it's a salvation
of works, you've got to be perfect. That's what he's saying. For we through the Spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith withworketh by love." In other words, nothing you do
can add to what Christ has accomplished, and nothing you do can take away
from what Christ has accomplished. He's done it all. Paul saying to these Galatians,
whom he said, I fear lest my labor has been done in vain,
I'm afraid of you. He said, you did run well when
I was there, you heard the gospel, you believed it. Who did hinder
you that you should not obey the truth? You've given ear to
these Judaizers that have come in and you've allowed them to
tempt you to compromise the gospel. The gospel can't be compromised.
A little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump. It destroys the
gospel of grace. This persuasion came not of him
that called you. A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will
be none otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you shall bear
his judgment, whosoever he be." If you're a child of God, you're
not going to be persuaded by them. You're going to rejoice
in Christ and know that you are complete in Him. You're not going
to compromise the gospel with works. And I, brethren, if I
yet preach circumcision, if I preached Christ and gave
men something to do, there'd be no persecution against me.
You see, the persecution, the offense, let's read on. If I
yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. The offense of the cross is the exclusivity of the gospel
and the accomplished, successful work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It strips men of all their righteousness. And men hate it. And they'll
do whatever they can to persuade you otherwise. I would that they were even cut
off with trouble you for brethren you have been called
unto liberty only use not your liberty for occasion to the flesh
but by love by love serve one another for all the laws fulfilled
in one word even this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Oh you know, men hear this gospel
they say We're not under the law? You can't tell people that. It'll lead to licentious living.
There's only three responses to the gospel. Three responses. Either person hears the gospel
and the gospel, the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only
gospel there is. And some will hear it and they will conclude
from that message that that gives me liberty to be licentious. I can just go indulge myself
in the flesh and live however I want." That's their response. That's some men's response. We're
not going to change that. I'm not going to try to fix that. Other men's response will be
legalism. They'll hear the gospel and they'll
say, no, we've got to have the law. We've got to go back to
the law. We've got to enforce the law. We've got to use the law to motivate
us. We've got to use the law to monitor
our progress in the gospel and faith. And we've got to use the
law to monitor one another and to measure our success. That's just legalism. And the
last response is liberty. Liberty. Freedom. deliverance
from the law, free to love God, free to believe. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
10. The Judaizers are alive and well. If you believe the gospel, I
promise you, you'll contend with them. And as a new believer,
you will be bombarded with them. They'll do everything they can
to try to persuade you back into the fold. Matthew chapter 10. Now what the Lord describes in
Matthew chapter 10 never happens in religion. It just doesn't. I've been in many flavors of
religion. Many of you have been in different flavors of religion.
This didn't happen. It happens now. It happens now. It didn't happen then. Men were
perfectly comfortable with what we believed because it didn't
upset their faith. It cast no judgment against them. There was no offense to it. Matthew
chapter 10, look at verse 28. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear
him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Fear God. Don't fear those who will cast
aspersions against you. Don't fear those who would, you
know, I mean all of us like being liked by other people. We don't
like being the bad guy. We don't like being the outcast.
We want to be accepted by people. But the gospel, well the Lord
is going to go on to tell us what the gospel is going to do.
And in another place he says that they love the praise of
men. Who doesn't love the praise of
men? We all love the praise of men. They love the praise of
men more than the praise of God. You're not gonna have it both
ways. Verse 29, And are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall to the
ground without your father? But the very hairs of your head
are numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, you are of more value than many
sparrows. Oh, God before me, who can be
against me? That's what he's saying. The
Lord's saying, don't be afraid of what men can do. God's on
your side. If you believe the gospel, you've
got the Heavenly Father to protect you and comfort you and encourage
you and teach you. Now here, this doesn't happen
in religion. Look at verse 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is
in heaven. And whosoever shall deny me before men, him will
I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not
that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send
peace, but a sword. Came to send a sword. This is
a radical message. Think not, for I am come to set
a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against
her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foes shall be they of his own household." That doesn't
happen in religion. Doesn't happen. As long as you put a little leaven
in your gospel, as long as you put a little circumcision in
Jesus, Men will tolerate it because that means they can have a little
circumcision in theirs. When you make it exclusively
Christ, then it exposes all the false gospels for what they are
and men hate it. Verse 37, He that loveth father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that
taketh not up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Now, I know people say when they have a problem or they have a
difficulty in life, they say, well, that's the cross they have
to bear. That's not what our Lord's talking about here. He's
talking about identifying yourself with the crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's talking about what Paul
said in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet it's
not I, but Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
died for me. Christ is my life. If you're going to live in this
world for what you can get out of this world, then you'll never
believe the gospel. You'll never believe the gospel. He that findeth his life, he that seeks to gain life from
the friendship of the world, from the approval of their peers,
from the praise of men. You don't want to rock the boat.
I don't want to create a division in my family. I don't want there
to be a problem. You try to gain life like that
and you're going to lose your soul. This gospel won't allow
you to do that. And he that loses his life for
my sake shall gain it." Now turn with me to Mark chapter
10. Mark chapter 10. Peter heard what the Lord was
saying. And Peter makes one of those
statements that Peter often made, statements like I make oftentimes
and maybe you do too. Engaged his mouth before he thought
about it. Verse 28 of Mark chapter 10,
then Peter began to say, Lord, we have left all and followed
thee. What's in it for us? Lord, look what sacrifice. We understand what you're saying. We understand the call of the
gospel is going to put us at odds with our very family. It's
going to put us at odds with our peers. It's going to put
us at odds with the world. It's going to put us at odds
with religion, and we've heard that, and we've believed it,
and we've gladly identified ourselves with you. What are we going to get? Jesus answered and said, Verily
I say unto you, there's no man that has left house, or brethren,
or sister, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands
for my sake and the gospels, but he shall receive a hundredfold. And I'm glad that next phrase
is in there. He's not talking about just receiving a hundred,
well that's going to be an infinite fold, not just a hundred fold.
What we're going to get in glory, what Terry's experiencing right
now can't be compared to whatever suffering she had in this world.
But he's talking about right now. Right now. A hundred fold. now in this time
houses and brethren and sisters and mother and children and lands
with persecution and in the world to come eternal life you cannot believe the gospel
without the entire church of the Lord Jesus Christ becoming
your family you just can't do it You embrace Christ, you embrace
the entire church. And every child of God that you
meet in this world becomes your brother and your sister. And
their homes become your homes. And their possessions are your
possessions. That's just the way God's people are. That's
the way they are. Whatever you have need of, God's
people will be there to help you. I've never seen that any other
way. Our Lord said you haven't given
up anything. What I've given you is so much
more than what you lost and so much better. Your brethren in
Christ love you like your family can't love you. They just can't. Turn over a couple of pages to
Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. Our Lord gave a parable. A parable of the soils. Sometimes that's called the parable
of the sower. four different soils. You remember?
The sower was casting the seed. The sower is Christ or his preachers. The seed is the gospel and the
seed of the gospel is being scattered into the world every time it's
preached. And the Lord said some of that seed falls on the roadside. Some of it gets caught up in
the wind. It gets completely out of the tilled field and falls
over where the carts and the horses go by and there's no,
there's no, it's just hard pan. You know, the birds come and
they pick it up and it's gone. And some souls are like that. He said other souls are thorny. And the seed along the edges
of this field would have been a hedge row to protect the field. And in that hedge row would have
been vines and thorns and some of the seed falls in there and
it grows. But as soon as it gets caught
up in the thorns, the thorns choke it out so that it doesn't
produce fruit. He said, some of the seed falls
on ground that's been prepared for it. And that seed takes root
and produces fruit. Some 20, some 40, some 40, some
60, some 100, whatever the numbers were. Different degrees of fruitfulness
in the children of God, but they all bear fruit. And those are
the believers. Now look at verse 21. This is
a scary thing. Verse 20, But he that receiveth
a seed in a stony place. Now this would have been a place
around the edge of the field where the rocks were just below
the surface of the ground. the ground above that rock would
have been mossy ground. Very fertile, very fertile ground.
Rich, mossy ground above the stone. And any seed that fell
in that moss would spring up quickly. It would take root and
spring up quickly. And you'd think, boy, there's
a person who's heard the gospel and believed the gospel. Look
how excited they are about the truth of the gospel. And he that
receiveth the seed into the stony place, the same is he that hears
the word, and anon with joy he receives it. Yet hath he no root
in himself, but dureth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. The Judaizers have come in. They've accused this person of
associating with a cult, believing a lie. And the persecution comes,
the heat of the sun comes, that little thin layer of mossy soil
dries up, and the plant dies. God gives you grace to believe
the gospel. You're going to believe it. You're going to believe it. But know this, with the gospel
is going to come persecution. It's going to come. It just is. What a blessing. The Lord has
designed it to be that way. in order to prove his children. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we're thankful that in your wisdom,
you've made the gospel to be so that we are dependent on you
always. We thank you that you've given
us, in this world, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers,
houses and lands, more than can be numbered. Thank
you for the church. Thank you for your children.
Pray, Lord, you'd keep us faithful and keep us diligent to not allow
the leaven of works to creep into the gospel. For we ask it
in Christ's name, Amen.