May God bless his word to our
soul's profit this evening. Let's read a few verses from
the Acts of the Apostle in chapter 15. The Acts of the Apostle,
chapter 15, and we'll read the first 11 verses. 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. And being brought on their way
by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring
the conversion of the Gentiles. And they caused great joy unto
all the brethren. And when they would come to Jerusalem,
they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders,
and they declared all things that God had done with them.
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which
believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and
to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and
elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there
had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men
and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice
among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word
of the gospel and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt ye God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they. We'll turn again to the epistle
of Paul to the Galatians. And the fifth chapter, and we'll
meditate this evening on verses two to six, but we'll read the
first six verses. So Galatians chapter five, the
first six verses. 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,
But if ye 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. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Last week we spoke on the first
verse, which reads, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. And now the Apostle Paul continues
really his Discussion or the argument that
he's brought before them on a number of occasions already in this
epistle to the Galatians to not rely on What he's really saying
here rely on the works of the flesh And it was very hard clearly
for the the Jews to reconcile the fact that the Gentiles were
now being called by the grace of God and needed not to fulfill
any of the ceremonial law, particularly that which was being circumcised. And so Paul tells them very clearly
that if they should be circumcised, that it would profit them nothing. And yet clearly The Jews had
been telling them that it was essential and needful to follow
that pattern. Well, says Paul, it will not
profit you. And further he goes on to say,
I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is
a debtor to do the whole law. Remember, of course, circumcision
in actual fact started in the days of Abraham. And it was a
sign to Abraham, a sign of the promise. And of course that was
fulfilled in any event when Christ came. And there was no further
need for it. But the Jews were really harping
back not to Abraham, but to Moses, the covenant of the law, the
covenant of works. And that's what Paul is now really
speaking to them about and telling them. that if they're relying
on that kind of act for righteousness, then they should be aware that
in order for that to be satisfactory, they would have to keep the whole
law, every single jot and tittle of it. And that was very obvious. They were unable to do it. That's
why the apostle really homes in here very positively to tell
them this great truth, that he is a debtor to do the whole law,
but he immediately directs them then to the Saviour. He says, Christ is become of
no effect unto you. Whoso of you are justified by
the law, ye are fallen from grace. Those who were relying on the
law and to keep the law as they thought, correctly, but it wasn't
so, they failed, and yet there they weren't relying upon the
law, and therefore if they were relying upon that, they weren't
relying upon the great and glorious work of Christ and his righteousness. And this really is what the Apostle
was desiring to point out to them. Christ has become of no
effect unto you, Whosoever of you are justified by the law,
ye are fallen from grace. That means they weren't dependent
upon the grace of God. They were dependent upon their
own works. And then the Apostle directs
us this way. For we through the Spirit so very different. But we through the Spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. And what a difference
there is between that which is of the flesh, that which is the
works of the flesh, and that which is the gift of God, the
work of the Spirit, that work of the Spirit which grants the
blessing of living faith to believe the truth of God, and recognising
that the Word of God is true, we walk by faith and not by sight,
and that we do not rely on our righteousness, we rely on the
blessed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we view
that through faith. God-given faith. Wonderful thing
it is, not a works lest any man should boast. For we through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ Neither circumcision
evaded anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love."
Well, it's a great truth that is, to realise that faith works
by love. Now, we read together in the
Acts of the Apostles, the 15th chapter, just to remind us that
there was this discussion and they were not sure what was the
outcome. And we read in the first verse,
the 15th chapter, and certain men which came down from Judea
taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised after
the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. And you see here, they
were pointing them to Moses, not to Abraham. 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 the question. And so they went up to Jerusalem
and they met together and they had a discussion about this situation. And then we are thankful to have
a record of what the Apostle Peter said. And when there had
been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and
brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice amongst
us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. God which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us. That's really the great and important
consideration, and the vast difference that gave them the Holy Ghost
to believe, gave them the Holy Ghost to possess the faith to
believe, and put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith, not by works. Now therefore, why tempt
ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved even as they. And so that confirms what we
read here in this verse, the sixth verse, for in Jesus Christ,
neither circumcision evaded anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith
which worketh by love. You know, when the apostle John
wrote his epistle, and in the third chapter, in the 18th verse,
we read this, my little children, Let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but in deed and in truth. As we, by the grace of
God, follow the word of God and the truth of God, that means
not relying on what we've done, but relying upon what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done, so that we are justified through his
death. and that because of that we receive
the glorious robe of his righteousness and it's a pure robe and there's
nothing mixed with it and it's given freely. So tonight, as
we consider these verses, as the Apostle is writing to the
Galatians again, and especially of course in those days, speaking
about circumcision, which they were relying upon. But speaking
to us today, really in the same words, but using the position
of works, rather than circumcision. So let us not rely at all on
our works, But may we rely on that which the gracious God gives
to us, indeed as the Apostle Paul says, for by the grace are
ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For may
we know that we possess this great blessing of grace to believe
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.