Alright, brethren, let's turn
to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Our subject tonight is the offense
of the cross. The offense of the cross. Let's
read in Galatians 5 verse 11. The Apostle Paul, speaking by
God the Holy Spirit, said, And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense
of the cross ceased. You know the Gospel of Christ
and Him crucified is called in Scripture the Gospel of Peace.
It's the gospel of peace. It is the good news of glad tidings. And it's such good news and it's
such glad tidings and it's such a gospel of peace that those
that Christ sends to preach it are received gladly by God's
children, by believers. The Scripture says, as it is
written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. The gospel
is the good news. But it's not so to all men who
claim to believe Christ. And that's not the case with
all men that profess to believe on Christ. They don't all receive
the gospel with joy. and they don't all receive those
who preach it with joy. The Lord said, think not that
I've come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. He said, I've come to set a man
at variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foe shall be they of his own household. Men and women
will not persecute a preacher who gives them at least just
one thing to do to save themselves. That preacher won't get any hate
mail. But God's preachers are not that way. God's preachers
preach the gospel. The Apostle Paul wasn't one of
those preachers. He declared that there was nothing
sinners can do to save ourselves. He declared that the whole work
is of God from A to Z. And He said, and I brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, if I gave men one thing to do,
why do I yet suffer persecution? For then is the offense of the
cross ceased. Now let's go back up to verse
1 and work our way down to this verse. And I think we'll find
out what Paul means by the offense of the cross. This is what offends
the flesh and the man of flesh, the unregenerate sinner, religious
though he may be. Back up in Galatians 5 and verse
1. He says here, Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Paul is writing to
believers here. And he says stand fast. That
means highly esteem, maintain and defend this gospel. Stand fast in this liberty, liberty,
this freedom wherewith Christ has made us free. By God's effectual
grace, we've been called into the liberty of grace, the freedom
of God's grace, of His free salvation, of eternal life in Christ Jesus.
And therefore, every believer, chosen, redeemed, called, born
again, called to faith in Christ, is free in Christ. What are we
free from? What is this liberty we have?
Well, number one, we're free from sin. We are free from sin. Sin still dwells in us. Our old
man is nothing but sin. Nothing has been done to the
old man. He is a sinner. The old man is sin. We are still
tempted by sin and we still sin. But Christ has made us free from
the guilt of sin in our conscience. Turn over to Hebrews 10. God,
when He regenerated us, He wrote the Word, the Law, the Word of
God, the Gospel of God, in our hearts. And when he did, he purged
our conscience with the blood of Christ so that we know now
that we don't have to do anything to please God. We accept it. The guilt of our sin and our
rebellion is gone. Now look here, this could not
be done by the law. This could not be done by all
those sacrifices in the law. Hebrews 10.2 says, Then would
they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers,
once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins. They shouldn't have been conscious
of their sins anymore. But in those sacrifices, there's
a remembrance again made of sins every year. And that's the case
with men's legal works. They are never enough to soothe
and to truly purge the conscience. They may soothe the conscience
for a little while, but they got to keep doing more because
that guilty conscience is always there. But now drop down to verse
14. But he says of Christ, by one offering, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. By one offering Christ has perfected
forever all those that God the Father sanctified in Him before
the foundation of the world. All those that shall be sanctified
by God the Holy Spirit. He sanctified us. He perfected
us by His one offering. And look at verse 15. Whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, the Holy Spirit. For after
that He had said before, this is the covenant I will make with
them after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws into
their hearts. This is the law of faith. This
is the law of love. This is that law whereby we know
we've been purged of all our sin. This is the gospel He's
talking about here. I'll put my law into their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more." And when He does that, He makes you
to know He doesn't remember your sin anymore. He makes you to
know your guilt is gone. He purged your conscience of
guilt. And then also Christ has made us free from the dominating
power. Sin used to dominate us. Turn
over to Romans 6. Romans chapter 6. Mark your place in Romans. We'll
come back here in a minute. Romans 6 verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. Romans 6 verse 14. Sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but
under grace. What then? Shall we sin because
we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom you
yield yourselves servants to obey, His servants ye are to
whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto
righteousness. But God be thanked, you were
the servants of sin. Sin had dominion over you. Sin
was your ruler, it was your king, and you served sin. But by God's
grace, God being thanked, you've obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free
from sin, the gospel was preached to you, and God made it effectual
in our hearts. Being then made free from sin,
you became the servants of righteousness. Look down at verse 22. Now, being
made free from sin, you become servants to God. That's what
He's talking about. We're servants of God. And you
have your fruit unto holiness and the everlasting life. Alright,
Christ set us free from the guilt of our conscience. He set us
free from the dominion of sin over us. And He set us free from
the wages of sin, which is death. Our bodies are going to die because
of sin. but not our inward man. The inward
man is alive. We have eternal life and we'll
never see death. Look at Romans 6, 23. The wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God's eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. And then Christ made us free
from the condemnation of sin. Look at Romans 8. Free from sin's
condemnation. Romans 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. Did we do this? Did we set ourselves
free from all of this? Now look here. For the law, this
is that law He wrote on our heart, the law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through
the flesh, we couldn't do it. So God sent His Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Not
by us, not by us. He said He sent His Son to do
this because we couldn't do it. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in our midst by Christ who fulfilled
it. He fulfilled it. He brings this good news to our
heart. And now we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
So first He made us free from sin. We have freedom from sin,
brethren. We are free from sin. We did
not do this. We could not do this. Christ
alone did this. And this is brought to us and
given to us through faith. by His gift of faith. Now also,
Christ has made us free from the ceremonial law. He made us
free from circumcision. He's made us free from the Sabbath
days, from the feast days, from sacrifices, from all those burdensome
ceremonies and rites that were required in the old covenant
law. He's made us free from those. Look at Colossians 2. Colossians
chapter 2. All of those things pictured
Christ. They all pictured Christ. They were a picture. But now
Christ has come. And we have the picture. I mean,
we have Christ. We don't have the picture. We
have Christ. So we're free from the picture now. Look here, Colossians
2 verse 19. I'm sorry, Colossians 2 verse
16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or
in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath
days. Why? Watch this. Which are a
shadow of things to come. All those things were a picture.
Every Sabbath day in the Old Testament, every holy day, all
the drink, all the meat, all those things were pictures of
Christ to come. But the body, the image, the very image of
the thing is Christ. Let no man beguile you of your
reward by a voluntary humility. and worshiping of angels, by
intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, not holding
Christ, from which all the body, by joints and bands, have nourishment,
ministered, and knit together and increased with the increase
of God. Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ... Are you dead
with Christ? Did you die when Christ died?
If you be dead with Christ, he says, from the rudiments of the
world, You're free from them now. Why, as though living in
the world, are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste
not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using. Those are after the commandments
and doctrines of men. They were given by God, but men
still insist you've got to be under those things. You've got
to observe Sabbath days. You've got to observe these things.
God the Holy Spirit says here, no, no. These things have indeed
a show of wisdom in will worship. in will where in free will works
religion they have a show and they give a good vain show. He
says in a false humility and of neglecting of the body but
not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. He is saying there
those things don't have the honor of subduing the sin of our old
fleshly man. On the contrary they puff up
the old fleshly man. The one who has the honor of
subduing the fleshly man is Christ through the Holy Spirit. He has
that honor. Christ from whom the whole body
is joined together and is ministered to and knit together and grow.
So we're free from ceremonial law, free from sin, free from
the ceremonial law. Now be sure you hear me carefully
right here. I'm going to be plain as I can be when I say this.
I don't want anybody to misunderstand me. Believers are free from the
moral law. We're free from the moral law.
Stay with me. Stay with me. We're free from
the moral law. Now the only reason I speak of
that separately from the ceremonial law is because legalists who
try to use the Ten Commandments to yoke believers, they separate
it. They separate the ceremonial
law from the moral law so they can use the moral law to yoke
and bind and hold sinners. where they want them to be. But
the Word of God doesn't divide it. The Word of God does not
divide the law. You won't find that. It just does not. Now,
that in no way means that a believer is free to sin. That's not what I'm saying. That's
not what the scriptures teach. Anybody that teaches that is
teaching contrary to the scripture. The law is holy. It's just and
good. Everything in the law is good.
But the Word of God teaches that all who are born of God to faith
in Christ are free from the yoke and the bondage and the curse
and the legal rule of all the law. We're free from that. In
fact, I want you to turn to Romans 7. I want you to look at this
now. This is the Word of God. I want you to see this in Romans
7. I don't want you to take my Word
for it. I want you to take God's Word for it. This is God's Word.
Did you ever know that God illustrates this for us through the Apostle
Paul that we're free from the moral law using one of the Ten
Commandments to show us? He uses one of the Ten Commandments
to show us we're free from the law. Look here in Romans 7 verse
1. Know ye not, brethren, for I
speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he lives. As long as that man lives, the
law's got dominion over him. For, now here's the illustration
he uses. He uses adultery. That's one
of the moral laws. That's one of the Ten Commandments.
The woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he lives. But if the husband be dead, she's
loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband
lives she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she's
free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she
be married to another man. Now what is God teaching us by
that? Here's the lesson, verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, wherefore
you who have been called and believe the gospel, you also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Do you
see it? Did you see it? He used one of
the Ten Commandments to tell you, you're dead to the law.
When Christ died, when He was made sin for His people, and
He went unto the justice of God, He died and He went into the
grave and He's dead. What does the law have to say
to a dead man? Nothing. Nothing. He came out
of that grave, we came out of that grave with Him. And now,
because we died in Him, we're dead to the law so that we can
be married to Christ and bring forth fruit by Christ and we're
no more in adultery. But now, if you claim to believe
Christ and yet you're going back to that old husband, you're an
adulterer. That's true now. That's true.
Now listen to me. Men hate this. This is why Paul
said, if I preached another message other than this, I wouldn't be
hated. But he said, this is what I preach, this is why I'm hated.
But if I preach that other gospel that says you're obligated, you
have a legal obligation to the law, the offense of the cross is ceased.
Now listen, he says you're going to bring fruit unto God just
as a wife is married to her husband. And through her husband, through
his seed within her, she brings forth fruit. She brings forth
children. Likewise, brethren, now we're married to Christ.
He's our husband. And through Christ's incorruptible
seed, the word of this gospel, the gospel of Christ and Him
crucified, that is how He makes us to bear fruit, not by the
law. Not by the law. No fruit's ever
been born in a center by the law. None. Because we couldn't
do what the law demanded. We could not do it. Christ has
established the law for His people and that perfect righteousness
is ours through faith in Christ. Turn to Romans 3. Romans chapter
3. Look at verse 21. Now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested. That means without your keeping
the law. Right back up there before that,
he said no flesh is justified by the law. The law was given
to declare us guilty. That's what it was given for.
Now here he says, but now the law, the righteousness of God
is manifested without the law, without your deeds to it. It's
witnessed by the law, the law bears witness to it and so do
the prophets. Now here's what it is. Even the righteousness
of God which is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ Himself, by His
obedience unto death, by one man's obedience shall many be
made righteous. And this righteousness is unto
all and upon them that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
down at verse 27. Where is boasting then? Where
is boasting then? It is excluded. By which law?
Is it excluded by the law of works? No way. If it was by the
law of works, you'd be boasting and I'd be boasting. That doesn't
exclude our boasting. The law of works doesn't. But
it's excluded by the law of faith. And he says, this is true of
Jew and Gentile. And in verse 31 he says, do we
then make void the law through faith? That's what we're falsely
accused of. We're falsely accused of being
antinomian. We're falsely accused of being against the law. No, we don't make void the law
through faith. But through faith we establish
the law. Through faith we establish the
law because Christ did it. And he goes on there and he says
in Romans 4, even as Abraham did, as Abraham did, he established
the law too. Now look at Galatians 3.17. Look
at Galatians 3.17. I want you to see when Abraham
established the law through faith. I want you to see how fully another
does it. I want you to see how fully Christ
alone establishes the law for His people. Here is how we see
how fully Christ does it. Galatians 3.17. This I say, that
the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, this
was a covenant confirmed to Abraham, the law which was 430 years after. The law was given 430 years after
Abraham established the law through faith. And that law, given 430
years after, could not disannul the covenant that God made with
Abraham, that it should make the promise of none effect. For
if the inheritance be of the law, If it's of works of the
law, it's no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. You see that? So He's freed us
from sin. He's freed us from ceremonial
law. He's freed us from the moral law. We're righteous in Christ. That's what the law demands.
And every believer is perfectly righteous before the law of God.
Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justified us. It's Christ that died. It's even
risen again who makes intercession for us. We're righteous before
the law. And He's freed us, brethren.
He's freed us from... What was the last thing I said? He's freed us from the... from
the moral law. That's it, from the moral law.
He made us righteous in the law. And this is what He's freed us
to. He's freed us to open access to God. He's given us open access,
freedom to come to God in Christ Jesus. Freedom to worship Him
in all His ordinances of baptism in the Lord's table. Freedom
to use all of the things that He's given us to glorify Him. We have freedom in Christ. And
so Paul says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Alright, verse 2. He says, Behold,
I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. Circumcision was the thing being
added by those who were perverting the gospel at the church of Galatia. Circumcision was what their thing
was that they said you had to do. You had to be circumcised.
That's what they were saying. Well, God the Holy Spirit says
here through Paul, He says, if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. We must believe on Christ. we
must trust that He is the one thing needful. He's the one thing
needful. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in Him. The word
all fullness and the word complete are translated from the exact
same word. And so it means as fully and
completely as God, as Christ is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, that's how complete we are in Christ. We're that complete
in Christ. Nothing can be added to it. Nothing
whatsoever can be added to it. Now, if we add anything to Christ,
if we add anything to the obedience unto death, to the death of the
cross, to His obedience unto the death of the cross, if we
add, be it by our will or by our works, whatever it be, be
it true gospel privileges that He's given to believers, be it,
if man says, you've got to be baptized, Or he says, you've
got to come to the Lord's table. Or he says, you've got to attend
church. And they say on the Sabbath day,
the Sabbath was Saturday. It was Saturday. Whether they
tell you, you've got to pray. Whether they tell you, you've
got to read the Scriptures if you want to be saved. Any of
these things that you say have to be added to Christ. God says Christ will profit you
nothing. Now all of these things Christ has given the believer.
These things are our privileges, the things that we delight in,
that we willingly want to do because we've been made willing
in the day of His power and we delight to know more and more
and more of our Redeemer. But the moment these things become
a requirement, Christ profits us nothing. It profits us nothing.
Turn these gospel privileges that Christ has given believers
into a necessity, and Christ profits you nothing. The moment
we make any other thing but Christ necessary for salvation, or add
any old covenant law to the obedience and blood of Christ, Christ shall
profit us nothing. Absolutely nothing. This is true
whether it's to obtain God's favor, or to increase God's favor,
or to just maintain God's favor. Whichever, Christ shall profit
you nothing. The moment we require any other
thing but Christ alone, we cease submitting to God's righteousness
and we start going about to establish our own righteousness. Now that's
why the gospel is offensive to men. That's what offends men. Are you offended? Is anybody
here offended by this? This is the offense of the cross.
Alright, look at verse 3. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Anyone who seeks to be made righteous
or holy, to any degree, righteous or holy, to any degree, by something
he himself has done in his flesh, that person must keep the whole
law of God. He must keep the whole law of
God himself. Paul says, I say this again because
look at Galatians 3.10. He just said it. He said there
in Galatians 3.10, As many as are of the works of the law are
under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. James said, Whosoever shall
keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all. He is guilty of all. Now I included
sanctification in this because Those that were perverting the
gospel to the Galatians, they were saying that law obedience,
by their law obedience, they could make themselves more holy.
That's what they were saying. That's what they were teaching.
And Paul said this in Galatians 3, 2. Look there. He said, he
called them foolish Galatians. He said they've been bewitched.
He said, you're not obeying the truth. And he asked them this,
verse 2, this is only what I'll learn of you. Received you the
Spirit by the works of the Law? Was it because you were keeping
the Law that the Holy Spirit came into you and gave you life?
Is that why you got life? That wasn't how we received the
Spirit, was it? Not by the works of the Law.
Or was it this way, by the hearing of faith? Was it through the
preaching of the gospel that the Holy Spirit entered in and
gave you life? That's how it comes. That's how the Spirit
comes. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. This is how it comes. It either is going
to come by works or it comes by hearing of the faith. And
he says now, if you, and he gives us, he says, so are you so foolish
Having begun in the Spirit, that tells us that it was through
the hearing of faith that the Spirit entered and they began
through the Spirit. He says, now then, having begun
that way, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Now is it up to
you to make yourself more and more holy? Of God is Christ made
unto us both righteousness and sanctification. If a man doesn't
get this, doesn't know this, he don't know Christ. He just
don't know Christ. all growth in the believers inward
man. in that new man. In this state
of holiness, we're not getting more holy. We're holy, brethren.
We've been made fit, meet, to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. It's got to be perfect to be
accepted of God. We're holy. You know, that baby
that's born, I'm going to give you this illustration again.
That baby that's born is a human being. He's going to grow in
that state of being a human. But he's not going to become
more human. He's as much human as he's ever going to be. Well,
we're holy and we're going to grow in that state of holiness,
but we're not getting more holy. You either are holy or you're
not holy. There's only one place in Scripture that, speaking of
men, that the holiness is spoken of in a relative manner. And
it's spoken of over in Isaiah of 64, I believe, where God says
of those who say, stand by yourself, don't come near me, I'm holier
than you are. And God said, and there's a stench
in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. No, no. Man's holy
and we grow in that state of holiness by God, by Christ, through
the Spirit, through the hearing of faith. Through the hearing
of this Gospel, He continues to grow us and grow us and grow
us. Grow in grace and in what? The knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's how He grows us, brethren. So it's not of us at
all. And that offends a man. That
makes a man all his trying to make himself holy by what he's
done and more holy and more holy so he can tell you, stand over
there a little bit further, don't come by me because I'm holier
than you are. This offends him because he's not doing it himself.
Alright, look here at verse 4. Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever you are who are justified by the law, you
are fallen from grace. Whether using the law to justify
yourselves for righteousness or for holiness before God or
men, whichever way you use the law to justify yourself before
God or men that you're righteous and holy, Christ has become of
no effect unto you and you're fallen from grace. Now the Holy
Spirit's not saying here, when He says you've fallen from grace,
He's not saying here that a believer can be saved and then lost. That's
not what He's saying. Christ said of all His sheep,
My sheep hear My voice. and I know them, and they follow
me, and I give them to them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." The Holy Spirit
is saying that though a man may publicly profess that he believes
salvation is by grace, he may publicly profess he believes
salvation is through faith alone, by Christ alone. Yet by adding
one work of his own, he is altogether lost. He never has been saved. He never knew the gospel at all.
He's turned to another gospel. And the Holy Spirit moved Paul
to say this back in chapter 1. He said, and it's another gospel
which is not another. It's not another. But there are
some that trouble you. It's a troublesome gospel. It troubles you. You never rest
in it. You're always troubled by it.
And it's a perversion of the gospel of Christ. He said they
would pervert the gospel. They're perverts. They're not
gospel preachers. They're perverts. They're perverting
the gospel of Christ. Alright, Galatians 5 verse 5.
He says here, For we through the Spirit wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith. The truly saved by grace alone,
those truly saved by grace alone, by Christ alone. We're taught
by God the Holy Spirit. We don't have any understanding
any other way. We through the Spirit, he said. We through the Spirit. Paul said,
you're not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God dwell in you. And he says,
now if any man have not the Spirit, of Christ, He's none of His.
A man that doesn't have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him is
not His. He's just not His. Now he may
be elect and he may have it in him before he dies, which he
will if he's elect, but if he doesn't have it in him, he's
none of his right now. Not right now, but you are. You're in the
flesh, or in the Spirit, not in the flesh. And we're taught,
we're kept by the Spirit, we're taught by the Spirit, we're guided
into all truth by the Spirit, and he says, and being taught
by God the Holy Spirit, we wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. We're waiting. We're waiting
with eagerness. We're waiting with anticipation. We're waiting
for that hope of eternal glory with Christ. We're waiting for
that day that Christ is going to make us to be perfectly conformed
to His image and we'll be righteous in our body and in our spirit. We'll be perfectly conformed
to Christ. That's what we're waiting for. And we wait for
that hope by faith. We're waiting for that hope by
faith. We believe God and we trust Him
and we're waiting. What's our hope? What's a believer's
hope? What's your hope? It's God's grace. It's not our
graces. Not our graces. It's God's grace.
It's Christ's obedience. Not our obedience. It's Christ's
obedience. It's Christ's blood. It's not
our benevolence. It's Christ's blood. It's Christ's
righteousness. It's not our righteousness. The
Holy Spirit's power and guiding and keeping is our hope. It's
not our power and our keeping and our understanding. That's
not our hope. Our hope is Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is our hope, brethren. Alright,
verse 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.
Now, I meant to say this in the beginning. He's talking here
about circumcision. This is what they were adding. This was their
thing they wanted to add. But you can put anything in the
place of circumcision that a man in our day tells you, you've
got to do this. You've got to do this or you
can't be saved. Anything a man tells you and
says that about, It's a lie. It's a lie. Now listen to me.
In Jesus Christ, it does not matter if you are circumcised
or if you are uncircumcised. It does not matter. You can apply
that to any other thing that deceivers say you must do in
your flesh to make yourself righteous or holy or more so. Anything. Peter was a circumcised Jew.
He was born in Israel. He was under the law. And his
Gentile brethren were uncircumcised, born outside of Israel, and they
never were under the law at all. Look at Acts 15. I want you to
see this. Acts 15. This is what Peter said. When men tried to make his Gentile
brethren add to Christ, They were saying, we need to make
sure they're circumcised. We need to have them do this
thing or this other thing to add to Christ. It's okay to believe
on Christ, but now you've got to do this too. And Peter said
this to them, Acts 15.10. He said, Now therefore, why tempt
ye God? You mean if I tell somebody they've
got to keep the law, I'm tempting God? Why tempt ye God to put
a yoke upon the neck of the disciples? Here he's talking about Gentiles,
uncircumcised, who were never under the law of Mount Sinai.
He says, why do you put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples
which neither our fathers nor we, speaking of Jews now, were
able to bear? We couldn't bear that yoke. Now
why are you putting it on them, he said. But we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we, Jews, who were
once under the law, we believe that we shall be saved even as
they, as those Gentiles who were never under the law. Well, if
they were never under the law, then they're not going to be
saved by the law, are they? That's right. And Peter says,
and us Jews are going to be saved the same way they are. See, in
Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision. But here's what matters. Turn
over with me to Galatians chapter 6. Here's what matters. I'm sorry,
Galatians 5. Look at verse 6 at the end. Here's what matters. But faith
which worketh by love. That's the rule believers are
under. which worketh by love. Am I in Christ? That's what I
need to be asking. Am I in Christ? Am I a new creature
made new by grace? That's what matters. Am I born
again to faith in Christ? That's what matters. I got the
Word of God backing me up on this now. This is what matters.
Look at Galatians 6.15. Galatians 6.15. Let's read verse
12. Paul says, 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. Why are they preaching works? Why are they telling you
you've got to do something? Because they're going to suffer persecution
if they preach this gospel. They'll be rejected if they preach
the truth. And he says, for neither they
themselves who are circumcised keep the law, or whatever else
it is they're constraining you. They're not doing it, but they
desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh
in what they've got you to do. 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. Now here's
what matters. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, being born again, being
born to faith in Christ which worketh by love. Now watch this,
verse 16. I said that's the rule that believers
are under. Paul says, and as many as walk
according to this rule. to this rule. Walk according
to this rule. Faith which works by love. Being
a new creature in Christ. Peace be on them and mercy upon
the Israel of God. True faith works. True faith
works. Indeed true faith works. But
our works are not performed from a motive of legal requirements.
We don't got to do nothing. We do it because we want to.
Because out of love. Out of love. Love makes a man
want to seek Christ. Love makes a man want to know
more of Christ. Love makes a man want to give himself to Christ. Love does that. Love does that. We bear one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ. It's faith which works for love.
When you're bearing another person's burden, you've got to believe
God. You've got to trust God. You've got to believe Christ
that He's able to make him stand. That He alone can make him stand. And you've got to be doing it
because you love Christ and because you're constrained by Christ's
love for you and because you love that brother. That's the
only way you can do it. If you're doing it because you
think God's going to bless you because you've done it, that's
law. That's legalism. But if you're
doing it because you love Him, that's the law we're under. Faith
which works by love. 2 Corinthians 5.14 says this,
The love of Christ constraineth us. The love of Christ constraineth
us. 2 Corinthians 5.14 Because we thus judge. This is
the discernment He's given to us. That if one died for all,
for everybody He represented, then everybody He represented
were dead. And that he died for all, that they which live should
not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them
and rose again. Why do you come to church? Well,
the preacher said I got to. The preacher said this is the
Lord's day and I got to observe it. It won't do you any good
to come. Maybe it will. Maybe God will
save you. But not under that preacher. That preacher is going to tell
you a lie. But go find where you get somebody
telling you the truth and it might help you. But if a man's
just coming because he feels like he's got to, he's not really
there. I told you this. I've had folks
come here from other places. And they would come a while and
then they wouldn't come. And they'd call me and tell me,
you know, oh, I'm sorry. And I thought it was just them
being kind at first. And then I realized they were
afraid I was going to call them up and give them the nth degree
for not being here. And I said, you know, If you
want to come because you're constrained by the love of Christ, come.
But if you don't want to come, there's no legal requirement
requiring you to come. And they quit coming. They quit
coming. Don't neglect the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is. But all the
more as you see the day approaching, we gather, we exhort one another
to love and to good works by being here together and hearing
this gospel. You sit here and talk after the
services and we sit and talk about what we've heard and talk
about Christ and Christ is still feeding us through that. But
what I'm saying to you is that person who comes and sits down
because that's what they made them do in their other church
they were in. But then when they find out, hey, I don't have to
be here, and they stop coming, they manifested. All their many
years they were coming and sitting and hearing the preacher because
he made them do it. They were manifesting. They weren't
really there. They were there in body, but
they weren't there in heart. They didn't want to be there.
And if you don't want to be there, you're not there before God,
the way God sees it. If you want to pick up this book
and read it because you love God and you want to know more
of Christ, That's searching the Scriptures. And Christ said,
search the Scriptures. When He said that to them, He
meant that. Search the Scriptures. That's a good thing. But when
you search them thinking that in the Scriptures you're going
to find life by your doing, by your reading, by your work, and
you will not come unto Me. These Scriptures declare Me,
He said. You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have
life and you will not come to Me. They're there, they which
declare Me and you won't come to Me. If we're searching it
for life, We're not even reading the Bible. But if we're reading
the Bible because we want to, that's truly serving Him. So this is what I'm saying. We
do this because we're constrained by love. Now, all right, look
here now. Verse 7. I've got to hurry. Verse 7. You
did run well. Who did hinder you that you should
not obey the truth? Running well is to be determined
to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Remember that
Hebrews 12? Run the race set before you with
patience. laying aside all sin that beseech
you, that would turn you aside. What turns you aside from Christ?
Trying to obtain your own righteousness. Trying to go back to the law
of Sinai. Run this race looking to Christ,
the author and finisher of our faith. He said, you did run well
for a while. You were running this race well.
You had nothing in your sights but Christ and Him crucified.
This is what he was fearful of. He told the Corinthians, 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, from Christ being the one thing that you need. I'm
afraid that you're going to be tricked by Satan, turned aside
to think there's something else you need besides Christ only.
That's right. Verse 8, he said, And this persuasion
cometh not of him that called you, It's not from God the Father. It's not from God the Son Christ
our Head. It's not from God the Holy Spirit. It's not from Paul
who was used to preach the Gospel to them. Who'd it come from then?
It came from Satan and his messengers. That's who it came from. Satan
and his messengers. You can read about them in 2
Corinthians 11 verses 13 through 15. We won't read it now. Now
look here, why was Paul so worked up over this? If a person is
sincere, is it really all that big a deal if they're in error?
If they're trying to come to God with Christ in one hand and
their deeds in another, is that all that big a deal? Look here
at verse 9. Here's why he was concerned about
this. It only takes a little, brethren.
Rat poison is 99% good food. It's just 1% poison. But 1% will
kill you. It will kill you. There's a restaurant
right there. Would anybody in here go to that place and sit
down and eat if they just served 1% poison? Would you? Will you go to a church that
delivers 1% poison and sit down and feed there? Why would we
not do it to our bodies, but we'll do it to our spiritual
soul? Why? Verse 10, he said, I have confidence
in you through the Lord, that you'll be none otherwise minded,
but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever
he be. Now Paul spoke plainly, and he
spoke truthfully, and he spoke boldly, and he spoke dogmatically
to them. That's what you do when you're
constrained by the love of Christ. Peter and John answered those
men that were trying to tell them not to speak this gospel.
And he said, you judge whether it be right in the sight of God.
You judge whether it be right in the sight of God to obey you
or to obey God. And he said, but we cannot help
but speak the things which we've seen and we've heard. Because
he's constrained by the love of God. The gospel is the one
thing that men can be about to step off into death And if it
was in human life and you didn't warn them that they're about
to die, they would blame you and say, why didn't you tell
me I was about to die? But if you say it in anything to do
with the gospel and truth, men will jump all over you for telling
them the truth. But Paul did it. But he said, but I was confident
of you whom God had truly called that God's going to make you
stand fast and put these false teachers away from you and be
none other minded. Be none other minded than Christ.
And he says this about them. He didn't have anything good
to say about those false preachers though. He said, but he that
troubleth you shall bear his judgment whosoever he be. Those men who wanted the glory,
who wanted the glory that belongs to Christ, these false preachers
that were telling them, constraining them, that Paul said they just
wanted glory in your flesh. They were saying Paul was against
the law. You can find that in several places in Scripture.
They called him an evildoer. And so Paul says this, verse
11. He said, And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
if I'm preaching what those fellows are preaching, why am I persecuted?
Why do they lay these charges against me? Why do they tell
you, don't go down there now, he's a cult, he's a cult leader,
he's against the law, he's an antinomian, don't go there. He
said, if I'm preaching what they're preaching, why do they say that?
He said, but if I preach what they're preaching, then the offense
of the cross is ceased. It's ceased. So that's why we
preach the gospel, brethren. The gospel is offensive because
it makes God's word to be true and all men be liars. I was talking
to a friend today and he went and preached at a church. It
was an Armenian Free Will Works church. They asked him to come
and he went and preached to them. And his first message he preached
is, God is man's will really free. I said, I bet that went
over good. And when it was over, they were
ready to string him up. And one fellow there, he opened
the Bible up and he showed them in the Bible and he said, look
here. He says, it says right here in the Bible All God's people's
names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation
of the world. And you know what the man answered?
He said, I don't care what it says, I don't believe it. I don't
care what it says, I don't believe it. This gospel is what God's Word
and that offends man. It says all human wisdom is utter
foolishness. It says all human ability is
utterly impotent. They say, well, Christ made you
savable. If you'll exercise your will,
you can make it effectual. Well, Adam didn't make us depravable
if we just sin and make it effectual. He made us depraved. By one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. And Christ didn't make
us savable. By one man's obedience, many
were made righteous. Here's what it is. This is the
chief offense right here. It declares Christ died for a
particular people chosen of God, and He successfully redeemed
them, and the Spirit of God will successfully, irresistibly call
them to faith in Christ and keep them, and not one of them will
be lost, and He gets all the glory. You see, men don't object
to Christ being a partial Savior. The offense of the cross is that
the Gospel declares Christ alone is Savior. Men don't object to
Christ being a Savior. The offense of the cross is that
the gospel insists Christ is the only Savior. That's what
offends men. It declares there's no merit
in us. It recognizes that there's no distinctions in mankind. From the prince in the palace
to the brothel, they're all the same. Just worms. And got to
be saved by God. Well, what about those preachers
who teach free will works religion? You know, in our day, you've
got to be loving to everybody. In our day, you can't do as Christ did.
You can't say, beware of the leaven of the Pharisee. You can't
say, they're wolves in sheep's clothing. You can't say, in our
day, according to men. You can't say, as Paul said,
you know, they're preaching another gospel and they're perverting
the gospel. You can't say that because then you might offend
somebody. Well, if I don't say it, then offense to the cross,
you see. Here's what God said through Paul, verse 12. I would
that they were even cut off which trouble you. I would that they
were cut off which trouble you. Do you want Satan to be cut off?
Yes, I do. Along with all his preachers.
I would they were cut off. Amen.