Alright, we'll be in Acts chapter
15. We'll be in Galatians Psalm and we'll be in John Psalm, so
if you want to mark those scriptures. The first lie to enter into this
world was introduced to turn Adam from following the rule
of the triune God to following Adam's own rule. And God's law
was used to introduce that lie. By pointing Eve to that one law
given in the garden and by perverting the word of God, she was tricked
into turning from God to her own wisdom and to take that law
into her own hands. And through this, Adam broke
the law by taking it into his own hands, and thus he separated
the entire human race from God into spiritual death. Seeing
that that was the first lie, is it any wonder, any marvel,
that the first lie introduced into the New Testament church
was the same lie? The same lie? Acts 15 verse 1. The title of the message tonight
is The First Lie. And certain men which came down
from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore
Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with
them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other
of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders
about this question." This doctrine was brought to
believers in Antioch who were already perfected forever by
Christ's one offering. They were whole. These brethren were in a state
far better than what Adam and Eve were in when God created
them in the garden. They were created upright. Paul
and Barnabas, along with the brethren at Antioch, had their
conscience purged with the blood of Christ. The God-man, through
offering himself through the eternal Spirit without spot to
God, had recreated them. eternally better than how Adam
and Eve were created the first time. The Hebrew writer said,
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who offered himself
without spot through the eternal spirit, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? If we walk in the
light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all
sin. Paul gave that long list to the
Corinthian brethren. of what they were guilty of at
the time. Things that the law was made
for men just like them. And yet at the end of giving
them that list, Paul said, and such were some of you. But ye
are washed. But ye are sanctified. But ye
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. Adam was created upright. the
inner man which is born of God is created in righteousness and
in true holiness. That is, these brethren were
created through Christ, through the righteousness of God. That righteousness manifests
as God declared Him just and at the same time justified His
people in the person of His Son. And they were created in the
holiness of God, manifest in the person of the Son of God,
Christ Jesus. They were created in righteousness
and true holiness through the blood of Christ. That means Christ
Jesus, the Son of God, bought the right to have the dominion
in the heart of these saints, which he himself spoke into existence
and created himself through his own blood and righteousness.
And it meant that it could only be forfeited, this dominion could
only be forfeited at the expense of God's holy character. And
therefore, you believer, just like these saints at Antioch
right here, you are so eternally secure, better than what Adam
had. Because the only way that this
dominion that Christ has in your heart can be forfeited is if
God's character can be forfeited. And that can't be. That's security
more so than how Adam was created when he was created upright in
the garden. Now, here's the folly of this
lie. Here's the folly of this lie.
These men came declaring to the saints, to holy saints who were
already in this state of righteousness and holiness in the new man in
Christ Jesus. Saints who because of Christ's
work of grace performed in them were made willing to look away
from themselves to Christ Jesus the Lord alone. Saints who were complete, who
were as holy as the God-man seated at God's right hand Himself.
And they came to these saints and said to them, Now, except
you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be
saved. Except you do something now with
that flesh, That's just passing, withering away day by day, hour
by hour, and will soon be nothing but dust. Except you do something
with it, you can't be saved. Do you see the absurdity, the
folly? This lie comes down to this.
After all that Christ has done, there's yet something you must
do. That's it. That's what it comes
down to. And this absurdity was received
by our first parents. But such a notion is continually
cast out of the believer by the inner workings of Christ in those
in whom he truly reigns in spirit. It can't prevail. The eternal
security of Christ's hand is at stake if this lie prevails,
if it has dominion over us. Christ will not allow it. Listen
to this now. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me, continually hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. Micah said, And Michael,
we read, let me read this to you. It says, He will turn again.
He will turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities,
and thou will cast all their sins into the depth of the seas.
He will subdue our iniquities. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. This is
the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
minds, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." No
ifs, ands, or buts about it. No maybes. Now, what I want you
to see here is that these were certain men. Certain men. Let me show you how Paul describes
them. Turn to Galatians 2, verse 1. Paul says in Galatians 2.1, he
says, 14 years after I went up again to
Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also. We'll see
later as we go on throughout the 15th chapter of Acts that
this is what Paul is speaking of, and I don't have any doubt
in my mind that this is what he's speaking of, although some
seem to doubt it. He says here, And I went up by
revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I
preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were
of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain.
But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled
to be circumcised. And that because... Now here's
how he describes these fellows. And that because of false brethren,
unawares brought in, who came in privately to spy out our liberty,
which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into
bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an
hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." Paul
said, first of all, that these fellows that came, by the same
spirit of discernment given to all believers, that by the doctrine
that these men insisted upon, Paul knew these were false brethren. They were false brethren. And
he said they were unawares brought in. He didn't blame those in
the church at Antioch, at the church of Jerusalem, or at the
church at Antioch for these fellas being brought in because they
wore a disguise which made them appear at first as true brethren. And they were brought in unaware
to the brethren at Antioch. And then thirdly, he said they
came in privately. We'll see later, I read that
text to you a minute ago in Acts 15. The church at Jerusalem didn't
send these people. They came of their own accord.
They came declaring, acting as if they were sent from Jerusalem,
acting as if they were true God sent messengers, but the church
at Jerusalem didn't send them. They came on their own accord
trying to spread this doctrine. And they didn't appear to be
liars, brethren. They didn't come in appearing
to be liars. They claim to believe that salvation is by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone. But you recall the serpent
which Beguiled Eve is described as being more subtle than any
beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Declaring that except you be
circumcised after the manner of Moses. You cannot be saved
They did just what the serpent did in the beginning they questioned
God's truth and by this doctrine They denied the whole doctrine
of Christ the whole doctrine of grace and defended salvation
as the work of man they pointed men away from God by merely pointing
men to the law of God and the very principle of the lie which
denied God in the garden and The very principle of the lie
which denied God in the garden and plunged us into spiritual
death is the same principle at the heart of this lie. It doesn't
deny just one doctrine, but all of the doctrine of Christ, because
they're all one doctrine. It's the utter denial of God.
And therefore Paul said these were false brethren. He said
this is not the gospel. It's another gospel which is
not another. And he said it's bewitching.
It's beguiling. It's trickery just as that serpent
beguiled Eve in the garden. Let me show you what fleshly
circumcision was given to typify. It says here, these men came
in, and I want you to notice something, Acts 15.1. They taught,
except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot
be saved. That's important. They didn't
say after the manner of Abraham. They said after the manner of
Moses. The circumcision of Abraham. What was that? Look with me at
Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4, verse 8. Abraham was blessed. The Lord
would not impute sin to Abraham. And Paul says, cometh this blessedness
then upon the circumcision or upon the uncircumcision also?
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. God commanded Abraham to be circumcised
15 years after Abraham believed God. And he received the sign
of circumcision. This outward fleshly token, a
seal, a reminder of the righteousness of the faith which he had when
as yet he was uncircumcised. This was done to remind him of
what God had done in his heart before this thing ever came into
being. It was given as a token, a reminder,
that he might be the father of all them that believe, though
they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed
unto them also, and the father of circumcision to them who are
not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps
of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had, being yet uncircumcised. You see, When the Lord gave Abraham
life and faith to see and believe on Christ, the coming Messiah,
the Lord cut away the polluted spirit. He didn't remove the
old nature, but he created a new nature and thus freed Abraham
from that dead, corrupt flesh as was pictured in circumcision.
It was a thing performed by the Lord in Abraham's heart. And
it was later the Lord gave the outward sign of circumcision
as a token to remind Abraham of what the Lord had done in
his heart, of the everlasting covenant that God had made to
Abraham, and that He was showing that this was how He would...
And it was passed on to the sons of Abraham to show, this is how
I'm going to save all the sons of Abraham, the true sons of
Abraham. It's a hard work that God does. Look back at Romans
3, verse 28. Romans 3, 28. Therefore, I'm sorry, Romans 2, 28. For
he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. This is the work Christ did when
Paul told the Colossians, You're complete in Him, which is the
head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are circumcised
with a circumcision made without hands and putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. It's
what Christ does in the heart and causes us to see that what
He did on the cross is He put off the body of sins. And we
were created in newness of spirit. We walk after Him now, not in
the letter. Not look into the flesh to carnal
temporal worship. We don't worship God. We worship
Him in spirit and in truth. And that's why the Lord in the
Law of Moses says such things as this, Circumcise therefore
the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked. Well,
if we can't do that, if God has to do that in the heart, why
did He tell us to do that? Because through telling us to
do that, God does it. It's just like He tells you,
don't join yourself with a harlot anymore. And through the Spirit
of God, He declares what Christ has done for you and He makes
it where you don't want to join yourself with a harlot anymore.
He says, the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the
heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart
and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. Now, The dead sinner is a legalist
who thinks that perfection, that the final capstone, the final
work to make the believer perfect lies in what men do with their
own hands. The work that these men chose
to promote this doctrine was circumcision. But this very thinking
that a man must do something is the filthy foreskin of the
heart, which God alone must circumcise. He must remove it, or we won't
be without it. That's why Paul called them false
brethren. It was obvious by what they held to, what they insisted
upon, that they didn't know God from a hole in the ground. Those
who have not been born of the Spirit have no idea that they
serve a lie. They sincerely, adamantly, as
these legal dead Jews, think that the truth is what man has
to do by the work of his hand. They were sincere. These men
thought this was the truth. And we all did until God came
and did this work of grace in our heart. Alright, now what I want you
to see here is this word, circumcision of Moses. I want to show you
something. Turn with me to Galatians 5, verse 4 first. If somebody tells you, the believers
yet under the law of God, let it be a sign to you, something's
wrong. Something's wrong. It's important
to understand that these fellows, as well as those in our day,
put a man under all the law of Moses, not just ceremonial. Now I want you to get this. Be
sure you understand this. They put a man under all the
law of Moses by this. Just because they declared that
the believer is under one law, just that one law to be circumcised,
they put him under the entire law of God, ceremonial and moral. Paul knew this, and he said in
Galatians 5, verse 4, Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the law. You have fallen from
grace. For we, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. We just wait by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. That's all that avails. Paul's
gospel is that Christ was made a curse for us and has delivered
us from the curse of the law. Let me ask you a question. What
part of the law cursed us? All of it. Every bit of it. So then when Christ delivered
us from the curse of the law, what part of it did He deliver
us from? All of it. Every bit of it. Those that teach
that keeping of the law of God is necessary for salvation break
the law of God. Break it. Be sure you understand
this. No believer advocates that believers are to be lawless.
That's not what we're saying here, brethren, at all. That
we live contrary to the law of God, but that we live unto Christ. Because where this spirit is,
it says, obey this one law, there's going to be a spirit amongst
the people and amongst the leaders who are going to desire the preeminence
among men, yoke, bind, whip. It's a doctrine that is motivated
by a fear of punishment or by the thrill of a reward. It's
a, Brother Tim James calls it, it's a biscuit whip mentality. Dangle a biscuit in front of
you and whip you with a whip the whole time. That's what it
is. Let me show you a clear illustration of it and I hope that I can get
this across to you. But John 7, John 7 verse 18. Now I want you to see this. This
is interesting. You know they said, except you
be circumcised after the circumcision of Moses. Because if they would
have said after the circumcision of Abraham, the first thing they
knew, the first argument Paul would have said was, there was
no law when Abraham believed God and was counted righteous.
This thing of circumcision didn't even exist. Abraham didn't have
what you call the rule of life. He didn't have the Ten Commandments.
He didn't have the ceremonial law. He was counted righteousness
through faith. God did a work in his heart.
They didn't say that. They said, except you be circumcised
after the circumcision of Moses. Now, let's see what the Lord
says. John 7, 18. He that speaketh of himself seeketh
his own glory. But he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in
him. Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you keepeth the
law. Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said,
Thou hast a devil. Who goeth about to kill thee?
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work. You know what that one work was
he did? He made a man whole, completely whole. That was the
one work he did. He made a man completely whole.
He said, I've done one work and ye all marvel. Now listen to
what he says. Moses therefore gave unto you
circumcision. Not because it is of Moses, but
of the fathers. Moses knew what it meant. That's
what he's saying to them. But he gave you circumcision
and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. That's what they were
upset, they claim they were upset about, is that he made this man
whole on the Sabbath day. Now he poses a question, now
hear this question. Moses gave unto you circumcision,
and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. Remember, the lie which
is in other gospel is that except you be circumcised after the
manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. They were saying you must
keep the whole law of God. Now they'd pick and choose which
ones they meant, which ones were more important than the others
that you must conform to and that they would teach you as
being truly godly. Men today don't say except you
be circumcised, but they do insist that you're still under the law.
And they tell you which ones they are and what have you. But
now listen to what the Lord Jesus teaches about the law of God.
Listen, catch this now. Verse 19, he says, Did not Moses
give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Now listen,
verse 21, Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one
work, and ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you
circumcision, and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. He uses
a ceremonial law, circumcision, as well as one of the Ten Commandments,
the Sabbath. And he's declaring that we can't
We can't require one without requiring the other. We can't
require that a man be circumcised without requiring that a man
also keep the Ten Commandments. We can't require that a man keep
the Sabbath without also requiring that a man keep the whole ceremonial
law. Can't have one without the other.
Now listen. Listen. Now he asked a question. He asked one question concerning
ceremonial law and one concerning the Ten Commandments. Moses gave
unto you circumcision, and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise
a man. You see, the law of the circumcision
said when a child is eight days old, he's got to be circumcised
that day. If you don't keep this as a law,
a child's got to be circumcised the eighth day. But the law of
the Sabbath said you can do absolutely no work on the Sabbath. There's
going to come a time when the law of circumcision is going
to fall, the eighth day is going to fall on the Sabbath. Now what? You got to keep the whole law
of God. If you don't circumcise him,
you've broken that one. And if you circumcise him, you've
broken the other one. What you going to do? You know
why the law is that way? You know why the law is given
in such a manner? It's given in such a manner to
cause us to throw up our hands and say, Lord, I can't keep your
law. I can't keep it. By trying to
keep one, I'm going to break another one. I can't keep it. But now look what the Lord says.
He's the fullness of our circumcision. When the Spirit circumcises us
in heart, we behold that Christ fulfilled the whole law in taking
away the body of sin by His death at Calvary. And therein, He becomes
our Sabbath rest. And we just wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith. That's what we do. So here's
what Christ says to them. It's what He's declaring to them.
He's saying, that's why I came. I made man every whit hole. And
He says, verse 23, If a man on the Sabbath day receives circumcision,
that the law of Moses should not be broken. Are you angry
at me because I've made a man every whit hole on the Sabbath
day? Christ died and He circumcises
us in the heart. That's why He came. This whole
work that He's done is that He might make us every whit whole. That He might make us see by
circumcision of the heart that He is the Sabbath rest. And these
men, by seeing they couldn't keep the circumcision and keep
the Sabbath, have to throw their hands up and say, how can we
keep this law? How can we be whole before God?
And He says, did you not just see what I did to this man? how
I made him every whit hole. I'm the circumcision, and I'm
the Sabbath. I'm the one in whom God's covenant
is fulfilled, and I'm the rest where you can just rest from
all this. That's exactly what he's teaching
right there. So, and now look at this too. I want you to see this. He says,
verse 24, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment. Don't discern things by what
you see with your eye, by what somebody's doing on the outside,
because I made this man whole. Hear what I'm saying to you.
That's what he's saying. Have spiritual discernment. Do
you not have it? And then he shows them that they
can't have it without the Spirit of Christ giving it in the heart. Look, verse 25. Then said some
of them of Jerusalem. They're standing there and watching
him say this. Is not this he whom they seek to kill? But lo,
he speaketh boldly, and they don't say one word to him. Do
the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we
know this man whence he is, but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth
whence he is. How is it that Paul and Barnabas
and the brethren of Antioch knew that Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, but these men
that came claiming to believe Christ and said, except you be
circumcised according to the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.
How is it that Paul and Barnabas knew it and these men didn't
know it? Because he circumcised their heart and made them to
see him. Now, that's why scripture tells
us, if the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. You be free indeed. And once
He's begun that work, He does not stop that work. He does not
ever let us cease to see that He is the completion. Men don't
have a problem understanding that God's righteous. When Paul
said, I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but
it's not according to righteousness, not according to knowledge. They
being ignorant of God's righteousness, it's not that they didn't know
God's righteous, it's that they didn't know how a sinner is made
the very righteousness of God. That's it. They didn't know how
a sinner's made whole. They don't know how he's perfected
forever. They don't know how he's complete.
And they manifest they don't know it by saying there's something
yet that the sinner's got to do. If you hear somebody tell
you that, you turn your back and you run as fast as you can
get away from them and don't have a thing in the world to
do with them. Paul said, I am fearful unless,
just like the serpent beguiled Eve in the garden, you shall
be tricked from the simplicity, the singleness of knowing that
your salvation is in Christ Jesus alone. The Lord said, they're
blind leaders of the blind. Let them alone. You'll fall into
the ditch with them. Is that not clear? You're going
to obey Christ or you're going to obey our own foolish desires? We're going to slap Paul in the
face and say, Paul, you should have been gracious now to these
false brethren. You shouldn't have called it
another gospel. You shouldn't say, let a man be accursed that
preaches this lie. You should be more gracious.
You're going to slap him in his face who risked his life and
gave himself to make sure that the brethren at Galatia weren't
fooled by these deceivers? You're going to crown Christ
with a crown of thorns again who said, leave him alone? Or
are you going to trust him and follow him? Which one is it?
Let me show you the heart of this thing, and you listen carefully
to me now. The essence of this error denies
the whole truth of Christ. Let me tell you, the principle
which makes man's obedience a basis for his acceptance with God is
the same principle included in the lie which teaches that God's
election of grace is due to God foreseeing some merit in man
rather than by God's sovereign grace. Same principle. It's the same principle that
allows a man to glory in somehow giving himself some kind of spiritual
life, or bringing himself by his self-attainment to the wisdom
that God is. It's the same principle that's
included in the lie which teaches that man is quickened by God,
and then he has the choice to either choose God or reject Him. Same lie, same lie. It's the
same addition of man's glory included in the lie which says
that by believing on Christ, the sinner makes Christ's blood
effectual for him personally, rather than declaring just what
God says, that Christ effectually atoned for the sins of a particular
people whom God loved before the foundation of the world.
The principle represented in this era is one with the era
which gives the glory for the believer's perseverance and faith
to the believer's will and strength rather than to the power of God
by whom we are kept and preserved in Christ Jesus unblameable until
the day of his return. And this principle that makes
the necessity of circumcision a perversion is one with any
perversion which makes even one of all the spiritual blessings
which are freely given us in Christ Jesus by God according
as He chose us in Christ in heavenly places before the world was founded.
It's the same principle that takes any one of those and says,
yes, but man has a part in it. The only thing that you and I
have any part in in this equation of salvation is we sinned against
God. And that principle that says
you have something else to do denies that fact too. Denies
the whole, it's one doctrine brethren, it's one doctrine.
That's why I tell you, I've harped on this thing ever since I've
been here to you, because it's all around us up here. And the
problem is this, brethren, this one lie is a perversion of the
entire gospel of God. It denies God, period. And I
don't, I don't, I'm not going to mince words with you. I don't
think folks that promote it know the truth. I don't think they
know God at all. There are some, Paul clearly
showed, that have these grave clothes on that went on in it. He said, but this is what he
taught. He said, Christ can make him stand. He said, don't put
a stumbling block in his way. But these fellows who said, except
you be circumcised, Paul said, they don't know God. They don't
know Christ. It's all together different from
somebody who There's folks here who's we got
that legal nature There's folks here who's gonna we're gonna
raise up against one another and in a legalistic spirit and
what-have-you And that's what Paul said don't don't put a stumbling
block in front of your brother's way Don't come back at him with
the sword of the flesh point him to Christ restore him in
the spirit of meekness but these fellas who say that if you don't
if that the believers under the law and Unless you keep the law
they may not be calling it circumcision, but they're saying you're under
the law period And they're denying God. That's just how it is. That's how it is well Let me
end here, and I want to show you something That's why Paul
and Barnabas had no small dissension in disputation with these people
Paul said I say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. For Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. You have
fallen from grace." And that word justified there means it
includes all the work of salvation. Justified, sanctified, made righteous,
redeemed, It's perfected forever. It's what he's talking about.
Don't let anybody say, well, now we're not saying it's justified that
way. We're just saying that this is how you obtain your sanctification.
I don't care. It's the same lie. Same lie.
Martin Luther said, this passage may well serve as a criterion
for all the religions to teach that besides faith in Christ,
other devices like works or observances of rules, traditions or ceremonies
are necessary for the attainment of righteousness and everlasting
life is to make Christ and His salvation of no benefit to anybody. To anybody. That's why, Paul,
it had been utter hypocrisy. Now, you catch this, too, and
plant this and think about this. It's hypocrisy. If on one hand,
Paul told men that they couldn't be saved by such false teaching,
For he knew and preached that such a gospel counts Christ's
death vanity. And it would have been hypocrisy
for him to say that and then on the other hand to accept these
fellows and their teaching and count them as brethren. It would
have been hypocrisy. He renounced it as dumb. And
everybody that's been converted is going to renounce it as dumb.
Because when Christ circumcises the heart, you see him, you say,
it's dumb. I see it now. I understand it
now. Well, Paul did this, that the truth
of the gospel might continue with you. That's what he said.
That's what he said. And he didn't go up there to
Jerusalem to debate, to negotiate, to reach some kind of compromise.
He went up there to tell the saints at Jerusalem. that they needed to know that
these these idiots had come out of Jerusalem up there and was
trying to tell folks that they needed to be under the law that
couldn't be saved. He's going up there to let them
know about it. He wasn't going up there to... We're going to
see this later on in what he says in Galatians. He wasn't
going up there looking for some kind of approval of what he believed.
He saw Christ and knew Christ. The man who knows Christ, he's
not looking for an approval from men. He went up there to tell
them. And if they would have said, well, now we sent these
fellas and we believe this is a case, Paul would have said,
well, you fellas don't know God. You don't know Christ. He didn't
go up there to debate it. And the fellas up there didn't
debate it either. And they said plainly, we didn't send these
fellas out. They're liars. We don't know who they are. So
we don't tolerate that. It's a lie. It's a lie from the
beginning. Christ is all, brethren. He's our justification. He's
our measure of our sanctification. He's our rule of life. His love
for us constrains us, and He's our reward in heaven. The law
is the ministration of death, and it's the strength of sin.
We must always remember that. We must always teach that. We
must always use the law in that way and that way only. Christ
is our liberty, and He's our salvation. Understand that all
right. We'll look at this chapter more
next time. I pray the Lord bless you