Well, it has been my delight
to be here, and I can't tell you in more ways than you might
imagine it's been my delight. I have been part of this congregation
since God brought you together, and I'm thankful for that privilege.
And I have observed God's work among you these five or six years
that you have been together. God's greatly blessed you. I urge you to continue steadfast
in the work God's given you, laboring together in the cause
of Christ. Let me try to encourage you a
little bit. Somebody asked me the other night how large our
congregation is. About the size of this one. We
have about 40 members in the church in Danville. And they
called me as pastor there. I had no place to meet. We were meeting in a rented hall
just like this and carrying some books back and forth to every
service just like you do, only we had to take them home and
come back with them. And there was no possibility
judging by what could be seen, calculating things in a material,
monetary way that we could build a church building, support a
pastor, either of the two, let alone do both, support the cause
of Christ in other places. But God managed it, and things
have always worked out just fine. We went to Danville and started
to build the building. We can't do that. Can't do that. How are we going
to do that? Just working stiffs. Nobody there
had any money. And work just like you do. Try to make ends meet. But I'll
tell you what I've never done. In all my life as a believer
and as a pastor, I have never looked at any opportunity and
said, I don't have the ability. I don't have the means. I can't
do it. I just can't do it. And I have never looked at the
opportunity, something I was convinced God would have me to
do. I didn't pursue it. And as I pursued it, God opened
the door and made a way just as he has for you. I know where
you were when you called Clay as your pastor. There's no way
this congregation can support a pastor. There's sense. And
you've taken care of those things. I know you're thinking about
buying or building a building to meet in. I urge you to do
it. The sooner the better. You need that place of permanent
worship, a place where you can identify locally in this community. And I urge you to do it. And
as long as you calculate, you won't do it. Won't do it. I know these days my son-in-law
came over to ask my daughter's hand in marriage. He had everything
well worked out. He'd been working, and he was
well established in business and had bought him a house and
wanted to show me what I could do for him and all those things.
And I appreciate that. I'm thankful. When Shelby and
I got married, we couldn't buy beans, let alone
do something else. But I haven't gone too hungry. Things worked out pretty good.
And I'm telling you these things because I want you to understand
that God honors folks who honor him. Give yourselves relentlessly
and wholeheartedly to the building of the kingdom of God in this
place, and God will honor folks who honor Him. Devote yourselves
to it continually. As He has honored what you've
done, He will continue to honor what you do for His namesake,
for His glory, for one another, and for the interest of His kingdom.
I ask you to pray for us, pray for me, for the work in Danville.
I am trying to help several other congregations around the world
secure a pastor, get their works established in Wasilla, Alaska,
Valley of Money, Ireland, San Diego, California, all of them
looking for pastors, all of them looking for the opportunity and
privilege of having what you have here. Pray that God will
give me direction and give them direction. And some of you have
asked about our conference. I brought a few of these. Scott,
you can print more if you need them. The conference brochure
is laying back there in the back if you'd like to pick them up
and look at them. Motels are getting full quickly. So if you
want to get a motel close to the church building, the Hampton
Inn and the Quality Inn are two closest to the church building.
And if you want to get those, I recommend that you get them
right away. All right. Turn with me, if you will, to
Galatians Chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. My subject this morning is glorying
in the cross. I'm going to be making my way
to chapter 6 and verse 14 where Paul says, but God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. But
let me work my way through the book of Galatians getting to
that last thing spoken of in the book. First look at chapter one. The
gospel, the gospel, there's just one. The gospel is defined numerous
places in the scriptures, defined in numerous ways, not contradictory
ways, but in numerous ways, each one filling out the definition
of the gospel. Paul identifies the gospel distinctly
in Romans chapter 1, in 1st Corinthians chapter 15, in 2nd Timothy chapter
1, Colossians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, and here in Galatians
he identifies the gospel for us again. It is always defined
as Paul defines it in this first chapter of Galatians. The gospel
is always defined as the good news of grace accomplished through
the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving all praise, all
honor, all glory to God alone. The gospel is always in this
book defined as redemption accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation
by God's free grace, giving all praise to God alone. Anything that contradicts that
is not the gospel. Not only is it not the gospel,
anything that contradicts those things is a damning error, a
damning heresy that will bring you to hell if you believe it.
The gospel is not an optional thing. It's not a a better understanding
of religion, it's not a better understanding of Christianity,
apart from the gospel of Christ, received in the heart, believed
with the heart, apart from the gospel of Christ, there is no
Christianity except in word only. Apart from the gospel of Christ,
there is no salvation. Apart from the gospel of Christ,
there is no knowledge of the living God. Now look how Paul
defines the gospel here in this first chapter of Galatians. Look
at verse 3. The gospel is the good news of
grace and peace. Grace and peace to you. Grace
be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord
Jesus Christ. Grace is not something that God
offers to men. Grace is not a good attitude
in God toward man. Grace is not an opportunity God
gives men. Grace is the operation of God
for men and in men. The gospel does not come and
declare to you good advice, good counsel, good instruction. The
gospel is a declaration of good news, declaring something accomplished,
declaring something finished, something done. Salvation is
not something God gives you opportunity to perform. It's something God
performs in you. It is grace in Jesus Christ the
Lord. The gospel declares redemption
accomplished through the Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption accomplished
for sinners by the doing and dying of the Son of God. Redemption
fully accomplished. Again, not an opportunity for
redemption. Not the possibility of redemption,
but the accomplishment of redemption. The scriptures declare, whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, almost everybody
takes that to mean if a person says Jesus is Christ, he's born
of God. That is not what it means. To
declare that Jesus is the Christ is to declare that that man,
Jesus of Nazareth, who lived and died more than 2,000 years
ago, was crucified as a common criminal by the hand of the Romans
at the instigation of the Jews. That man who was looked upon
by men as a lowly Nazarene, that man, anyone who believes that
that man fully accomplished everything the Old Testament prophets said
Christ would do, he's born of God. He's born of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? That Jesus Christ actually did bring in everlasting
righteousness? That he actually did make an
end of transgression? That he actually did put away
sin? That he actually did fulfill
all the law? That he actually accomplished
All that the Prophet said he would accomplish that he actually
ascended and sat down on the right hand of the throne of God
David's son and David's Lord forever to reign as king over
all That one who believes that Jesus is the Christ. He's born
of God. So the gospel is a declaration
of redemption accomplished by Christ look at Galatians 1 for who gave himself for our sins,
because of our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world according to the will of God and our Father. Christ
Jesus died as our substitute because of our sins being made
his because that's the only way he could deliver us from this
present evil world and its everlasting damnation. The only way, Don
Renneri, Jesus Christ could save your soul is by dying for your
sins. That's what he did. He did this
to deliver us. That was his intent. Every sinner
for whom Christ died, it was his intent to deliver them from
the curse of this world. It was his intent to deliver
every soul for whom he shed his blood from the wrath of God.
Either he did it or he's a failure and there is no gospel. People
talk about Christ dying for folks who perish and go to hell and
talk about there's a sense in which Christ loves everybody
and died for everybody and wants to save everybody. That may sound
sweet as pudding to you, but I'm telling you that's damning.
To declare that Christ tried to save folks who aren't saved
is to declare that he's not God. To declare that Christ tried
to redeem people who were not redeemed is to declare that he
is not God. It is to declare that he's a
miserable failure. It's utter blasphemy. The gospel
is the declaration of redemption accomplished by Christ. And it
gives all glory and praise and honor to the triune God. Look
at this, verse 5. To whom be all glory, be glory
forever and ever. Amen. That is to say, that's
the way it is, that's the way I want it, and that's all there
is to it. The gospel is the good news of grace through redemption
accomplished for the glory of God. You got that? And anything
that contradicts that is a false gospel. Well, what could be wrong
with saying things that aren't exactly in line with that? Look
at verse 6. I marvel that you were so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ.
These Galatians had heard the gospel from Paul's own lips. And now these Judaizers came
in, and none of them would just out and out deny what Paul said.
That's not what they did. They added to what Paul said. They said, now, it's true you're
saved by Christ, you're justified by Christ, you're redeemed by
Christ, but that doesn't mean you've got nothing to do. You
must be circumcised. And we talked about being circumcised.
They weren't just saying, you've got to be physically circumcised.
You must come back under the law, as the children of Israel
are under this day. And Paul says, I marvel that
you are so soon removed from me, from the gospel that I preached
to you, having called you into the grace of Christ, to another
gospel, to another gospel. Now watch this. Watch this. You got a Bible in your hand?
Hold it up. That's a book, isn't it? You got a hymn book? That's
another book. That's another book. So that's
kind of simple. Yep, I intended it to be. That's
not a book. That's not a book. Now watch
what Paul says here. I marvel that you so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ to another
gospel, which is not another. It's not even similar. Not even
similar. The word another may mean another
like this. But this is another, it's not
even similar. It is in no way like this. It
is in no way like the gospel of Christ. It's not another,
but there be some which trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. Pervert. Back years ago, When
I was first converted, the big fundamentalist controversy with
liberals, they were still fighting the liberal things that took
place in the 30s and 40s and early 50s in this country and
in Europe as well. The liberals came along and perverted
the gospel. And they would say the Bible
is the word of God. That's the word they'd use. But
that's not what they meant. What they meant was that the
Bible contains the Word of God, and if you're smart and you study
hard, you can find out which part is God's Word and which
part is fiction. And that's exactly what they
meant. Read their writings. You'll understand that. They
would talk about resurrection, but they didn't believe in resurrection.
They denied the resurrection altogether. They didn't believe
Christ raised from the dead. They didn't believe that we're
going to be raised from the dead. They didn't believe in the future
resurrection of these bodies. Well, why would they use the term resurrection?
You preach the gospel as we understand it and it resurrects a man's
life so that folks who lived in slums start to live in middle
class neighborhoods and folks who used to be drunks get sober
and they're resurrected. That's not what the scriptures
mean by such terms. The same thing happens today.
Multitudes all over this state, all over this town, all over
this country, all over this world claim to believe in redemption
by Jesus Christ and salvation by grace alone. But what they
mean by that is that if you will do something yourself for God,
then God will do something for you. And thus they pervert the
gospel. They talk about redemption and
they simply declare the possibility. Talk about grace and just declare
the possibility. And Paul says this is not a gospel
at all. Read on. They trouble you. They
would pervert the gospel of Christ. Now, but though we are an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached unto you, let him be forever damned. Joe, that's
the word. Let him be accursed. Somebody
comes along and preaches something contrary to this gospel of grace
through redemption for God's glory, let him be damned. As we said before, I so say I
now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that you have received, let him be accursed. Then in chapter
two, Paul begins to explain his meaning. He tells us how to distinguish
the true from the false. And here in the second chapter,
he asserts that we are justified by Christ alone. What does that
mean? Justified by Christ alone. We're
justified by Christ without us doing anything. I'm not looking for something
to say, I want you to hear that. We're justified by Christ without us
doing anything. Let's look at it, Galatians chapter
2 verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Well, that ought to read justified
by faith in Jesus Christ. That's not what it says, Ralphie.
Your faith in Jesus Christ does not justify you. Your faith in
Jesus Christ is the result of the faith of Jesus Christ. your
faith in Jesus Christ receives and experience that which was
accomplished by the faith of Jesus Christ. The faith, the
faithful obedience, the faith of, the submission, the obedience,
the doing, the dying of Jesus Christ, that's what justified
us. We receive justification by faith in Christ. All right,
read that. He said we're justified by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Jesus Christ
and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Look at verse 19. For I, through
the law, am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ. Quite literally, Paul's language
here would be better translated in the past tense. He's saying,
I was at one time crucified with Jesus Christ. When he died, I
died in him. When he was crucified, I was
crucified. You see, Christ is our substitute. He is our federal head. He is
our surety. But he's more than just a representative
federal head, as we commonly think about those things. He
is our seminal head as well. We lived in our father Adam.
And when Adam sinned, we sinned. When Adam died, we died. We were
in him. We get Adam's nature from him
by natural generation, by natural birth. I just met your mom this
morning. You look a lot like her. He got
his looks from his father and his mother by natural generation. We are born again by regeneration
and given a new nature, Christ in you, the hope of glory, because
while Christ lived on this earth, we lived in him. When he obeyed
God, we obeyed God in him. When he satisfied God's law,
we satisfied God's law in him. And now the law can demand nothing
from me. I've done everything it requires.
I have loved God with all my heart, soul, mind, and being
in my substitute. I have loved my neighbor as myself
in my substitute perfectly. God demands satisfaction for
sins past. I satisfied every demand of God's
justice in the sacrifice of his son. But what about sins present
and sins to come? All of them by one sacrifice
by the infinite merit of God's son. All right, read on. He said,
I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. That new man, that's Christ in
you. That new creation, that's Christ
in you. We're made partakers of the divine
nature by the new birth. Christ planted in you, given
you a new heart, a new will, a new life. Christ liveth in
me, and the life which I now live in the flesh. Wait a minute,
Paul, you said it wasn't you. Yeah, but that really is me.
That really is me. When I sin, it's not me. Yeah,
that's you. That's what you are, Scott, just
sin. But when I look to God, to believe God, to worship God,
that's not me. Yeah, that really is you. That's
the real you. That's that new man. That's really
you. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now
live in the flesh, this new life that I live in this body of flesh,
I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. Now watch his next word. I do
not frustrate the grace of God. I do not bring the grace of God
to confusion. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. What does that mean? If it's possible, Cyril, for
you to make yourself righteous by something you do, if it's
possible for you to perform a righteous thing, if it's possible for you
to do anything good before God, then Christ died for nothing.
If righteousness could come by man's obedience, God slaughtered
his son as a monster for no cause. But the fact is, righteousness
can't come by your obedience to the law. You can't do good
because there's no good in you. All you can do is sin. But righteousness
comes by Christ's obedience and Christ's death, his obedience
unto death as our substitute. Now, look at chapter 3. Paul
moves on. Thus far, most everybody would
agree, at least everybody who comes close to saying anything
consistent with the gospel. And then we come to this matter
of sanctification. Sanctification. Most people have
the idea that when God saves a sinner, he makes him holy. He starts him on the way. And
then, if you read your Bible enough, and you pray enough,
and you go to church enough, and you're good enough, and you're
gracious enough, and you don't lose your temper too often, and
you're honest in business, and you just keep working good, good,
then you start to get sanctified. Not by yourself, now. The Spirit
of God has to help you, of course. Of course. We wouldn't take credit
for all of that. We didn't know how to do that.
Of course not. And you get gooder and gooder
and gooder until at last you're ripe for heaven. Paul said, I count that but dung
that I may win Christ. That's just refuge. That's just
dung. Well, how are folks sanctified
then? Read this book one more time. I dare you, read the Word
of God and compare what folks teach you with the Word of God.
The word sanctify is never used in the New Testament. Sanctified,
sanctifies, sanctification never used in the New Testament with
regard to something you do, not one single time. Well, how are
we sanctified? By Christ. Of Him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. You mean, Brother
Don, I thought we were supposed to, God justifies us and then
he gives us a holy nature and then we make ourselves more holy. That's what everybody thinks.
That's what everybody thinks. That's another remnant of Romanism
in Protestant churches. That's not what this book teaches.
God makes sinners holy by his grace, not by what you do, by
his grace. Let's see if that's what he says
here. Paul refers to this matter of sanctification, holiness,
and tells us it's the work of Christ alone. O foolish Galatians! O foolish Galatians! Who hath
bewitched you? Who hath bewitched you? That
word, Kevin, is cast a spell on you. Cast a spell on you. Most of you I've known for a
long time. and people through religion had
cast a spell on you. They'd cast a spell on you. They
had good little mumbo-jumbo like a poking a voodoo dog cast a
spell on you and you're scared to death and lived under the
spell all your life. Who's bewitched you? What are
you talking about? That you should not obey the
truth, the gospel. before whose eyes Jesus Christ
has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. The gospel
will be preached plainly to you. This only would I learn of you.
Receive ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith. How did you first get started
in this thing called grace? How did you first get started
in this thing called life in Christ? How did you first get
started in this business of salvation? By law or by grace? By what you do or by faith in
Christ? Well, preach it by faith in Christ.
Listen now. Listen. As ye therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, Colossians chapter two verse six. As ye
therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord. How did you receive
him? An empty handed, naked, helpless,
doomed, damned, worthless, bankrupt sinner before God with no hope
of Christ. Is that how you received him?
Is that, did any of you receive him any other way? Did you bring
anything to God? Did you present anything to God?
Did you offer anything to God except His Son? Oh, no, that's
how God saved us. So walk ye in Him. But what about living the Christian
life? That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking
about. We walk before God by faith in
Christ. He's our hope. We trust Him and
only Him. Watch what it says now. Did you
receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? Having begun in the spirit, do
you think you're going to complete God's work by something you do
in your flesh, by some carnal means? Look at verse 10. For
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. Now, around here, you folks have
lots of what's called reformed churches. And I'm in the habit of sticking
my neck out real far. So go ahead and whack away. And
they teach you to live by the law. Every one of them's lying. Every one of them's lying. And
they know it. None of them live by the law.
None of them live by the law. Well, we don't try to keep the
Passover and the ceremonies of the law. That passage is taken
right from the middle of them. That quotation in Deuteronomy,
it's not taken from the Ten Commandments. It's taken right smack dab in
the middle of the ceremony of the law. Well, we don't really
circumcise, folks. We recognize, though, we must
live by the Ten Commandments and keep the Sabbath day. That's
the big one. And I want you to keep the Sabbath day in tithe.
Those two, that's the big ones. And we keep the Sabbath day. If you did, you'd do it on Saturday.
Saturday, Sabbath day is not Sunday. Well, we keep Sunday
for the Sabbath day. That won't work. That won't work. But let's just pretend that you
can. Let's pretend that you do keep the Sabbath day on Sunday
instead of Saturday. If you step out your door and pick up some
sticks to light a fire, you broke it. Now who is it keeps the Sabbath
day? Who is it that doesn't do any
work on the Sabbath day? Who is it? Folks who pretend
to do so are lying. And they only lie to make a fair
show in your flesh so they can brag on you. So they say, look
here what I've done with people that I preach to. They make a
show of the flesh, that's all. Nothing else, nothing else. Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in every single letter written
in the law. If you pretend to live by the
law, you gotta live by it perfectly. I do. Thank you. I do. Christ is my Savior. That means Christ is my Sabbath.
I rest in him. I rest in him. When the Lord
first described the seventh day, God rested on the seventh day
from all his works which he had done. God wasn't tired. What does it mean he rested?
What does it mean to rest? He quit working. He quit working. And if you ever trust the Son
of God, you will quit working for God's acceptance. And if
you refuse to trust the Son of God and you hold on to your rituals
and your ceremonies and your doings and your righteousness
and your communion and your sacraments and your stuff, you hold on to
it. You hold on to it because you
will not cease from your works. Believers cease from their works. They rest in Christ. His name
is the Lord our Sabbath. rest look at chapter 3 again
verse 10 for as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse no exceptions no exceptions for it is written curse it is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them and then in chapter 4 he
takes a historic event Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and
Abraham and Hagar and Ishmael. And it says these things are
an allegory. You mean they didn't really happen? Yes, they really
did happen. But they happened for an allegory. These things
came to pass by God's design so that God might use them as
a picture of something heavenly to instruct us in spiritual gospel
truth. When you read the Old Testament,
you read about the flood, You read about Israel going down
to Egypt. You read about Israel coming out of Egypt. You read
about their wandering in the wilderness. You read about them
overthrowing the kings in the wilderness. You read about them
taking the possession of the land of Canaan. You read about
them under the judges and being delivered from their captives
by the judges. And you read about Ruth and Boaz. And you read about
things that took place with Manoah and his wife and Samson. And
you read about the things that happened in the book of Joshua,
all those different events. And you say, oh. Are those real
historic things? Of course they are. But they
came to pass by the arrangement of God to be illustrations used
in the book of God to teach us the things of God. Here is an
allegory. Sarah was married to Abraham
and God said to Abraham, I'm going to give you a son. And
You're an old man, and there's no possibility of you getting
one on your own. And your wife Sarah, she's 90
years old, and you know she's not going to bear children. That's
not going to happen. I'm going to give you a son through Sarah. And Sarah laughed, and then she
started thinking. You know, I was wrong to have
laughed. Abraham, honey, God's going to
fulfill his promise, and I figured out how he's going to do it.
You know my young handmaiden, Agar? She's my handmaiden, and
if you'll go into her and sleep with her tonight, then God may
give us a son that way. And Abraham said, all right.
And he slept with Agar. And Agar finds herself a child. Nine months later, Ishmael. Oh,
I've got the Lord's child. God said it won't be by your
works. No, no, not Ishmael. He's not there. He's not the
son I promised you. He's what you get. He's what
you get. We've been dealing with Ishmael
for the last 10, 12 years in this country. That's what you
get from the works of your arms. That's what you get with the
works of your flesh. What's he talking about then? I'm gonna
give you a son by Sarah. Supernatural a son that everybody
will know the only way you can get him if I did it and so Isaac
is born and Ishmael began to mock Isaac and Sarah said I Abraham
I Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the free." And Abraham said,
I can't do that. It should be with my son. I love
it. I love it. All right, kind of like you love
your works. Kind of like you love your righteousness.
Kind of like you love your goodness. I can't get rid of that. I can't,
oh no, I can't do that. Cast him out, God said. The bondwoman
and her son, throw the baby out and the bathwater. All of it,
out. Because there's no place in the
house of grace for law. There's no place in the house
of grace for law. There's no place in the house
of grace for your works. There's no place in the house
of grace for your righteousness. There's no place in the house
of grace for your goodness. There's no place in Christ for
your flesh. You cast it all out. Otherwise,
you will not walk with Christ in God's grace and in God's salvation. In chapter 5, Paul tells us that
we must never allow ourselves to be entangled with the yoke
of the law. Look at chapter five, verse one. Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if you be circumcised, hmm, let me see if I could put
that in shoe leather. Any of you fellas got an appointment
anytime next month or two to be circumcised? Well, that doesn't apply to us.
Yes, it does. And I'm sure none of you women
have an appointment to be circumcised. That doesn't apply to them. Oh,
yes, it does. If you do anything, if you start to feeling bad and
you lack assurance and you Well, I need to start going to church
more. You should start going to church more, no question about
that. Well, I need to read my Bible more. You ought to read
your Bible more, no question about that. I need to pray more.
You ought to pray more, no question about that. I need to start giving
more. You ought to give more, no question
about that. I ought to devote myself to more time in serving
others. Yep, you ought to do that, no
question about that. But if by doing something, you think you
have hope before God, If by something you do, you can give peace to
your conscience. If by something you do, you can
make yourself righteous or more righteous. If by something I
do, I can gain God's salvation or keep God's salvation or improve
God's salvation. Read what it says here. If you
be circumcised, if you do something, if you do something, You're about to be baptized,
right? You're going to confess Christ and believe his baptism.
If you think that's going to give you a foot up toward God.
Believe his baptism is important, but if you think that's going
to give you a foot up toward God. So nobody thinks that. Several years
ago, I was going down to Mexico to visit a missionary. I go every
year. I think it was the year you went with me. I'm not positive.
the folks translated Brother Mahan's commentaries into Spanish
and had them done specifically for the Mexican Preacher School,
they translated the word ordinance. Every single time Henry used
the word ordinance, they translated it Sacramento, rather than ordinancia. And of course, most everybody
believes that baptism and the Lord's Supper are sacraments.
Sacraments by which you receive grace. Sacraments, right? By which you, in doing this,
receive something good. And Brother Cody said, would
you please deal with the ordinances because these things are raising
questions in the preacher school. You see, if you do something,
Which you think you are making a sacramental service to God
Gaining holiness for yourself. What does it say read the book
now? This this is not my commentary on the book This is not my this
is not my slant on what Paul says if you got your Bible open
Behold I Paul say to you if you do something Christ shall profit
you nothing You've got no Savior For I testify again to every
man that he that is circumcised, he that does something, he's
a debtor to the whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you've
missed the grace of God altogether. You've fallen from grace. You
mean preacher, all these religions that teach works are outside
the grace of God? Boy, I wouldn't say that. Oh
no, I wouldn't say that. God said that. Is that what the book says? You
got it right in front of you, is that what the book says? If
you be circumcised, you're fallen from grace. For we, through the
spirit, the spirit of life and faith in Christ, wait for the
hope of righteousness, everlasting life by faith in Christ. The
rest of the chapter explains to us what it is to live by faith
and not by the law. To live in freedom rather than
in bondage. To live in liberty rather than
in legalism. To live after the law is to live
after the flesh. That's what it says. Read it.
To live after the law is to live after the flesh. It's carnal.
Nothing spiritual about it. It's to fulfill the lust of the
flesh. Believers are in the spirit and believers walk in the spirit
and live after the spirit. Now, look at chapter 6. Paul shows us that grace teaches
us to be gracious. The love of God causes God's
people to love him and love one another. Mercy experience teaches
us to be merciful. The kindness of God our Savior
teaches us to serve sinners with kindness one to another. Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual have a
meeting of the discipline committee and decide whether or not you're
going to bring him before the church first fence or wait a
while and kick him a little, if not real hard. No. If a man be overtaken in a thought,
you, who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness,
knowing who you are, knowing what you are, knowing you're
saved by God's free grace. Your only acceptance with God
is in Christ. Considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens.
Carry one another's loads. Your brother's difficulties,
his heartaches, his trials, his faults, his failures, his weaknesses,
his sins, his infirmities, you bear them with him. You bear
them with him. And so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if any man think himself to be something when he's nothing,
he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own
work. not the work of his brother,
not the righteousness of his brother, not the holiness or
lack thereof of his brother, but his own work. Prove yourselves
by faith in Christ. Prove yourselves God's elect.
Then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his
own burden." And then Paul has the rubber hit the road. Let
him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth
in all good things. Scott, the long and short of
that means this, that man labors to feed you the word, you take
care of his needs. Let him that is taught in the word communicate
to him who teaches him. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. Oh preacher, my
son's My son's gone wild. I'm afraid my chicken's coming
home to roost. Don't ever think like that. The
Lord God doesn't punish his children for their sins. He punished our
sins in our substitute. What's this mean? Whatsoever
man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption. God puts material things in your
hands and you say, well, but I can take that and I can put
it here and I can put it there and I can get more of that stuff.
And you get it and you pile it up and the treasures you have
just corrupt or thieves take them and they're gone. They're
gone. But he that soweth to the Spirit takes what God puts in
his hands, his time, his labor, his money, his properties, his
talents, and he uses it for God's cause, for God's people, for
God's glory. He shall of the Spirit reap life
everlasting. Oh, but I'm getting old now. It's time for the younger folks
to do their part. I've done my part. Let us not be weary in
well-doing. For in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. You mean, preacher, the whole
of this business of Christianity is serving God and his people,
living by faith in Christ. Yeah. That's the whole of it. People talk about godliness. I love it when they use different
word tones. They say, oh he's such a godly
man. And they mean by that that he
behaves funny. And it doesn't have much to do
with people. And he prays a lot. And he's real strict. And he's
never out of sorts. And he puts so much salt on his
food, he can't taste it, because it's fun to eat if it tastes
good. He's a godly man. Eric, godliness is living for
God. That's what godliness is. It's
living for God. And let me tell you how you live
for God. You got your notepad out? Don't
forget this. To live for God is to live for
God's people, for God's family, for God's kingdom, for God's
gospel, for God's church. Oh, I didn't know that. Now you do.
As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially to they who are of the household of faith. You see how large a letter I've
written to you, verse 11. With my own hand, as many as
desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you
to be circumcised. Steve, I believe you were the
one talking to me the other night about these prayer meetings, folks.
They want to get together and have prayer meetings, have Bible
studies. Isn't that wonderful? What could
be wrong with that? What could possibly be wrong with that?
I've been around a while. Been around a while. I've been in a lot of prayer
meetings. A lot of folks all pray at one time and you can't
hear anything. Oh, we don't do that. We we get together and
I pray for 10 minutes and then Eric prays for six. And then
Don prays for seven. And then play play for 15. He's
happy. No, he's he's more spiritual
rest of us. And he starts to really get worked
up and he pulls a shirt. He cries and this his hands and
then we go around again. I got to cry. So for my shirt,
wave my hands. So let's talk what happened.
you tell me when it didn't happen. You tell me when you've been
involved in it, when it didn't get reduced to just that. A fair
show in the flesh. When I said, I think it was Steve,
I said, when you pray at home and you have your prayer before
you have a meal, I don't ever remember, it may have happened,
but I don't ever remember me praying and then having somebody
pray right behind me. I don't ever remember them doing
it. You'd think I was a little bit crazy if I did. Sometimes
I'll have her to pray rather than me. Usually I leave the
family in prayer, but I've never prayed and just said, now you
pray, it's your turn. What's the point in her repeating what
I just got through saying? If she was paying attention to
me when I was leading her in prayer? All these things added to the calls
of Christ, and the worship of God, and the church of God, all
these things that are a show of religion, a show of piety,
a show of devotion, are a fair show in the planet, and there's
nothing else to it. Nothing else to it. You got it
right here in front of you. Those that have you be circumcised,
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ, lest they should bear the burden of trusting Christ
alone before men and before God. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh." Now, here's my text. But God
forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid that I should glory
saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By the cross, Paul
is not referring to the stupid sign of the cross, however you
make that thing, or to wearing a cross around your neck, or
to the wooden piece of timber on which the Son of God died.
If I could find that thing, the papists have got more pieces
of that. You could make crosses to fill up New York City from
all the relics they've got. But if I could find the real
thing, you know what I'd do with it? I'd burn it. And I wouldn't
let anybody watch me throw the ashes to the wind. Why? Because fools worship stuff like
that. Well, I don't worship the cross. It just helps me to feel spiritual.
That's what I was talking about. You worship it. I don't worship
these pictures. It just helps me to worship.
That's what I'm talking about. You worship it. It's called idolatry. What's he talking about when
he says, our glory in the cross? He's talking about the gospel
of the free grace of God. Salvation by a crucified substitute. Well, how do you glory in the
cross? I trust the crucified Christ alone for everything. For everything. I trust him for
all my acceptance with God. I trust him for all my righteousness. I trust him for all things in
this world who sits upon the throne of the universe and governs
the universe by the hands that were nailed to the tree for me.
I trust him. I glory in Christ crucified. What do you mean glory in the
cross? This is all I've got to say to you. This is all I've
got to preach. This is all I've got to give
to you. This is all I've got to proclaim
to you. Jesus Christ and him crucified. I delight in the inspiration
of this word you spoke of a little bit ago. But my salvation is
not in inspiration. I rejoice in the incarnation
of our God. Jesus Christ came into this world,
made flesh, made one of us, but redemption is not found in the
incarnation. I'm thankful to think upon and
meditate often upon our Lord's life of obedience in this world,
but his life of obedience didn't put away my sin. I'm thankful. Very thankful for our Lord's
agony in Gethsemane and the portrayal given there. But Gethsemane is
not redemption. I'm thankful, very thankful,
for the empty tomb by which we have testimony that Christ rose
from the dead and we shall rise from the dead. But redemption
is not in the resurrection. Redemption is in the crucified
Son of God. Blessed are they who live by
this rule. Grace be upon those, Paul said,
who live by this rule, the Israel of God. What rule? The rule of
the cross. This is what motivates. This
is what inspires. This is what sanctifies. This
is what comforts. In all things, I want to be conformed
to Christ. I want to know him. I want to
know him in the power of his resurrection. I want to live
by that same power by which he lives. I want to know him in
the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know my participation
in all that he accomplished, being made conformable unto his
death. To glory in the cross is to bow to God. To glory in
the cross is to surrender everything to the will of God and the glory
of God. To glory in the cross is to consecrate
yourself to the Son of God. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, plural,
a singular living sacrifice. Cyril, how can you and I, both
of us, present our bodies, one sacrifice, a living sacrifice,
wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service? How
can you do that? Only by submitting ourselves
and giving ourselves to God in Christ Jesus the Lord. Now here's
one sacrifice with which God is well pleased. And God accepts our sacrifice,
your life and mine. Imagine that. He accepts our
sacrifice as he accepts his soul. Amen.