Let's return to Galatians chapter
6. I'm going to read our text in
verse 11-14. Paul is bringing this letter
to the Galatians to a close. He says, You see how large a
letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. He's saying,
these things are so important, I didn't dictate these things
to another to record for you. I've written them with my own
hand. 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. They should be persecuted
the way I'm persecuted, of my countrymen and of others who
despise this word of grace. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. 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, in this
passage, there's two comparisons being drawn. The first and the
primary one is for us to know, to satisfy this question, in
whom do I glory? What am I glorying in? Who am
I glorying in? Is it Christ, or is it this flesh? Am I glorying in what I do, or
am I glorying in what Christ has done? And the other comparison
that we see here is, what is the motivation? that we, by the
grace of God, should make this distinction made known unto men
to ensure that others are considering, what is my hope? How can a man
be just with God? Am I trusting myself, or am I
trusting the salvation of God in Christ? And that distinction
is made because what's our motivation for telling the truth? to those
who hate and despise the truth of God. So the believer, the
reason why this is important is because we as believers know
that our eyes can be taken off of Christ. We can be found looking
at things that have no value and looking at things that we
trust in for a time. And so that's a great temptation
to us in the flesh. But that being said, the child
of God. by the grace of God, in that
appointed hour when the Lord comes and seeks them to bring
them back to himself, they'll readily acknowledge the truth
when they hear it and know, Lord, you're all my salvation. You're
all my hope. I have no righteousness of my
own but that which is given unto me in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The child of God will embrace the truth when the Lord brings
them back and causes them to hear the truth. And they'll embrace
that one who labors to preach the truth to them. That's why
Paul said it this way, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. We appreciate that. We love God
for the gospel, and we love those men who bring us the gospel,
who preach the gospel and are faithful to tell us the truth.
Because not all men appreciate the hearing of the truth. They
don't wanna hear it. They don't always appreciate
that, but being offended, they persecute those who speak the
truth. And believers are judged of the
world, and they're cast out by the world just as the world cast
out Christ and thrust him from them. And so they crucified Christ
to put him out of their sight, and they do the same to believers.
And so that's what we see here in today's text. So we begin
with this motivation, this motivation for making this distinction known
to the minds of men. That distinction is, what am
I glorying in? What's my hope? In whom do I
glory? Where is my confidence lie, in
self or in the Lord Jesus Christ? The glory of the believer is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the glory of the believer.
That's the hope that Paul had. That's what he preached, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, when writing to the Corinthians,
reminds them in 1 Corinthians 2 that he declared unto them
the testimony of God. He made sure to tell them God's
testimony. And the very next thing he said
to describe this testimony is, I determine not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul gloried in
Christ. He lifted up and exalted the
Lord Jesus Christ. and he silenced the boasting
of man. That's what the message of the
cross does. It glorifies Christ to our hearts,
it tells us what Christ has done to save us, and it silences our
boasting, this boasting in the flesh. And so this distinction
is being made here by Paul for these Galatians, and the motivation
that Paul has in making this distinction is one of love. He loves them. That's why He
tells them the truth. That's why He's clear with them
regarding the truth of their salvation. This is the most important,
most serious thing that we must consider. Who is God and how
may I be just with Him? How can a man be just with holy
God when I'm such a sinner? This is the most important thing.
And so, Paul is motivated with love, and therefore, what he's
saying comes from God, because God is love. God is love. And if we love, it's because
we have the Spirit of God in us. And we love because He loved
us. He's taught us what true love
is. It's not a selfish motivation that's causing Paul or any man
to preach Christ crucified, because the flesh despises Christ crucified. And we're subjecting ourselves
to the persecution and the hatred of men. That's what Paul did.
That's why he was persecuted. That's why he bore the marks
of Christ in his body, because he preached the truth. and he
was faithful to his God who sent him to declare the truth. And
so Paul's motive is one born of love, and it's a motive of
goodness, to do what is good for his hearers. And goodness,
as we know, is born in us out of the Spirit of God. But the
fruit of the Spirit is goodness. Goodness. What is goodness? It's
that intention to do for another that which is for their good. It is for your benefit that you
know what God says we are by nature, that we are sinners fallen
in Adam, guilty of our trespasses and condemned for our sins and
iniquities which we do in this flesh against the true and living
God. and that we have no heart or
desire or ear to hear what He says. That's us by nature and
the Lord makes that known to us that we should stop and hear
the promise of God made unto us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's for good, it's for your good that we hear this truth. And so we want to do that which
is good and of a benefit to others. And that spiritual fruit of goodness
is most clearly seen when we look at our God who sent his
darling son into the world in the flesh for our good. for our good, because we cannot
save ourselves. We cannot work a righteousness
by the works of this flesh. In sending Christ, it is done
in grace, and it's for our good. And so the minister of God, if
he's sent of God, has that same spirit. a motive of love and
goodness for his hearers, to do them good. 1 John 4, 16 says,
and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. We're taught love
because we have the spirit of God who is love. And so this
is critical to understand because the one who glories in Christ
and declares their hope of glory in the Lord Jesus Christ will
inevitably run contrary to the will of the flesh, to the religion
of man, to the hope that man has in his works and he's gonna
be angry because you're saying that his works count for nothing. nothing. Christ is all, we are
nothing. Christ is everything, my works
are nothing. They don't save me. They don't
justify me with the true and living God. They're not even
my sanctification. Christ is my sanctification.
And so Paul says to them, he's careful to make this known to
his hearers because the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and
the spirit lusteth against the flesh, and these are contrary
one to another. By the works of the flesh, by
the boast of the flesh, we are not going to do that which is
pleasing unto God." And so Paul says now, because of the importance,
he says in In Galatians 611, ye see how large a letter I have
written unto you with mine own hand. I personally wrote this
letter to warn you to make sure these words are worded carefully
for you to hear because it is that important. Your very souls
depend upon it. The Lord Jesus Christ and Christ
alone is our salvation. He is the salvation of God, given
to us in grace, freely, by the Lord our God. Everything else
is a damnable lie, because it's not Christ, it's flesh. And so
this is Paul's motivation for telling the Galatians, and us,
through them, this truth. It's a motivation of love and
goodness. It's for your good to hear the
truth. Brother Scott just went through some surgeries, some
procedures in the hospital, one for his foot and then another
to open up a vein, a blood vessel, to let blood down to his foot
so it could heal properly. And he didn't want to do that.
He doesn't want to go through those procedures and surgeries.
It's painful. He told me that they had to go
through his groin up here. And he said, it feels like a
thousand hornets stinging me nonstop. but it's worth it. I would do it again because it
enables me to keep the foot. It heals the foot. It's allowing
for me to get better. Without that, I couldn't have
that. So you see how even though it's contrary to the flesh, it
cuts the flesh, it wounds the flesh, but it's that it may be
healed, that the bone may be set, that the infection may be
rooted out in order for it to heal. And that's what the truth
of God is. Spoken in love, But the truth,
it cuts the flesh. It hurts. It offends. People
get offended by it. People turn on people who speak
the truth. But for that one who hears it, it's all worth it,
because the Lord blesses them and enables them to hear the
truth of the gospel. And so this is the very heart
of the gospel toward you, brethren, who or what is your glory? In
whom do you glory? And whom are you glorying in?
The glory of the flesh is the glory in man's contribution to
God. The glory of the flesh, the boast
of the flesh is to look at, well, this is what I've done in order
to save myself. This is what I've done to make
use of the things that God has provided. I've done this and
that so that God would be gracious and merciful to me. And man can
hear that because it's not offensive. It opens, will that work for
you? This is what I did, right? It's not offensive when you speak
about what man must do to save himself. It's a whole nother
thing to preach grace and what Christ has done to save his people.
And so Paul says in verse 12, 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. And
that tells us that the message of Christ crucified is a message
of grace. That's when men persecute you,
when you declare God must save the sinner, and only God can
save the sinner. We don't save ourselves, we don't
get ourselves saved. Only God saves sinners, and that
by Jesus Christ. The natural man is happy to be
religious. Natural man can be religious.
We look at people, this country that we live in is a very religious
country. There's church-like buildings
on almost every corner in every town. There's plenty to choose
from. Because man is happy to be religious.
And he's happy to go there because he has family that goes there.
He has friends that goes there. He has community that's built
up. He has history in those things.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard men say, my grandfather
built this church building. My grandfather built this. He
founded this. He was one of the people that
founded this. And that's great. That's not necessarily a bad
thing. But that's not our salvation. those who know the true and living
God they know that they know that it's nice to know that there's
history there but that's not salvation that's not our hope
we have one hope the Lord Jesus Christ and so for for his religion
man will be mocked by the world because he's boasting and glorying
in his brand of religion and he's saying I don't care if you
don't like it. I've got family and friends here. I've got a
profession of faith here. This is my hope. I've done what
they've asked me to do, and this is my hope. I have religious
duties that I have kept. I have sacrifices that I have
made. I have dedication that I have
to this work here. I have works that I trust Him.
And we say those things, we do those things, the natural man
does those things, thinking that God will reward me for those
things. I'll be rewarded. This is my hope. That's the natural
man. That is the flesh. That is the
religion of the flesh. And Christ warns us in Matthew
23, verses 5 and 7. He said, all their works are
done to be seen of men. That's why the natural man is
engaged in religion. To be seen of men, they make
broad their phylacteries. That's that device that they
would wear on their forehead in their vision so that they
always had the word of God wherever they went before them. They thought
that was their religion. They made broad their garments,
the edges of their garments, the hems of their garments, because
it looked so lovely and so nice then. They wore things to be
seen of men. And they loved the uppermost
rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and
greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. They loved the praise of men.
Oh, you're a pastor. Oh, you preach the gospel. I'm
nothing, nothing. That's not my salvation. That's
not my salvation. I'm a sinner just like everyone
else. My hope is the Lord Jesus Christ and his blood and forgiveness
by God in Christ. Again, he said in Matthew 6,
5, when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are,
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the
corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. You see those Videos and images
of people at the Wailing Wall at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. And you see these people banging
their heads into the walls and standing there with their prayers
and doing all sorts of things to be seen of men. Making their
prayers at the Wailing Wall to be seen of men. Verily I say
unto you, they have their reward. That's their reward. Oh, you're
a religious person. Well, there's your reward. for
that. So the carnal man is willing
and will go to great lengths to appear righteous to other
men, to make a fair show in the flesh, Paul says, to make it
look good. I'm committed. I'm a Christian. Look at my profession. This is
what I've done for the Lord. But what they do, it's not for
your good. It's not for your benefit. It's
for their benefit. It's for their good and their
benefit. It's for their reward. And so the Judaizers worked hard
following Paul all around. They had to go wherever Paul
went because they then had to, they were trying here in Galatia
to swing them, to take them away from the gospel and to bring
them back under the law that they could boast of and glory
in what they had accomplished in their flesh. in their flesh. And so the believer doesn't look
to what we do. That's not what the Lord calls
us to do. He's not telling you look to
your works, to look to what you do, except to see your sin. But
don't look to your works. That's not your salvation. Look
to Christ. Behold, my servant, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever believeth on him shall
receive the remission, the forgiveness of sins. Whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. You will not be ashamed standing
before God in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many
make the mistake of believing that salvation isn't something
that I do for God, whether it be circumcision. And circumcision
comes in many forms. Some, it's baptism. I was baptized. Others, I take communion now. I took communion and God blesses
me in that. Others observe days and moons
and years and times and seasons. They observe Sabbaths. different
sabbaths, some the sabbath day, some other sabbaths, but they're
trusting in that as their rest and peace rather than in Christ
Jesus who is the sabbath of God. He is the rest of God that in
him we cease from our labors to work a righteousness for ourselves. Others, they join a church, and
I do the things that the other members do. Surely I'm a Christian. Surely God is pleased with my
works. Others, to talk about how they've repented of their
sins, that they don't do certain things anymore. They don't tell
you about the other things that they still do. They just focus
on what they've repented and how they've made adjustments
to live a better life, to be a better person, to do good works,
to live under the law and say that they live under the law,
by the law. And that's their righteousness and that's their
hope. That's their glory. Some even confess faith in Christ
and that that's their hope. They walk down the aisle. They
prayed a prayer with the prayer captain, they went to the altar,
and they gave their life to Jesus and got saved that day. No, you
didn't. All you did was make a profession
of religion. And that's your hope, what you've
done. What has the Spirit shown you?
Because the Spirit shows the child of God Christ, Christ. Salvation is a person. and the
gospel preached declares that person the Lord Jesus Christ
and what he by himself accomplished. for his people in his blood redemption. And in the preaching of Christ
crucified, the spirit of God takes that word and blesses that
word and makes it effectual unto that lost sinner who all their
life hoped in what they were doing and were troubled and terrified
to die and stand before God because they never felt like they did
enough under the law. And you never will. never will. We need the grace of God to deliver
us from trusting in that law. And so the Spirit of God makes
Christ crucified effectual to the hearer through regeneration,
by a new birth, by giving you spiritual life and raising you
from the dead. And so the spirit of God takes
the things of Christ and shows them unto that sinner. He takes, he shows them Christ
crucified. And he blesses that sinner to
see Christ, not as the world sees him, but that he is the
lamb of God. And he makes that sinner to know
who loved me. and gave himself for me to wash
my sins away. This is what Christ meant when
he said in John 16, 14, he said, he shall glorify me for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. The Spirit of God
takes the things of Christ and shows them to the sinner in grace
and in faith to behold the Lamb of God who gave his life for
me, for my sins, to put away my sins and to make me righteous. And so having received this grace
from God, being born again by his grace, not of works, that's
how, that's why we look to Christ. That's how and why we look to
the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, because the Spirit of God has
taken the things of Christ and shown them unto us. and we see
and receive them in faith. Am I now going to boast of the
faith that I have as something that's of my flesh and something
I've done, or do I boast in God who gave me faith? To look to
Christ, to believe him, to believe the promises of God. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that, not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Our glory is not in what we've
done, not even our faith. Our glory is in Christ Jesus,
the gift of God, given for sinners. For me, a sinner, an unworthy,
vile sinner, that he gave his life for me, to deliver me from
death. This is confirmed for us in John
3.21, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his
deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. God did this. You that have faith,
glory in God, because it's of his grace and kindness that you
have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, having the
Spirit, that results in a walk of faith in the Spirit. The Spirit
begets the Spirit. And that's what we need. Galatians
6.13 Paul says, for neither they themselves who are circumcised
keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may
glory in your flesh. It cannot be done. Do not attempt
to mingle grace and works. The works we do, the fruit we
bear is born in us by the Spirit. not for salvation but because
we are delivered from death by the Lord Jesus Christ and live
in him. A living tree bears a living
fruit and it's all to the praise and glory of God not because
we're trying not because we've done it, but because God does
it in us. And if we do have a heart and
we do labor to do good works and to think of our brethren,
to care for them and to lay our lives down for them, it's because
the grace of God is given unto us in Christ. It's because he's
working it in us and bearing those fruits of righteousness
in us. And I encourage you to do those
fruits of righteousness all the while giving praise and thanks
and glory to the one who gave it, your God. Blessing you in
Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 14, 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. And so Paul, because Christ is
our salvation, because Christ crucified is our salvation, he
gloried in the cross. Not the piece of wood, he gloried
in the one who hung upon that tree. to make atonement for our
sins. For my sins, you that believe,
to make atonement for our sins. And so the power of God is made
effectual unto the children of God. As he said to the Corinthians,
but of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who has made unto us wisdom
and righteousness, sanctification and redemption, that according
as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let
him glory in the Lord who gave it. And so in this salvation
of God's grace, which is purchased for us by Christ, Paul says,
the world is crucified unto me. The world is crucified unto me.
You know, back about a couple decades ago now, the Bushes captured
Saddam Hussein, Saddam, as the senior Bush said, Saddam. And they pulled him out of a
hole and they put him on trial. And in some parts of the world,
especially in the Middle East there, they telecast his, they
broadcast his hanging. I don't think they did it here,
but they broadcast his hanging. Maybe they did it here. And the
reason why they did it is so that those people who were terrified
of him, who were afraid of him, who had family members taken
and put to death, who had their belongings taken and given to
another, and those people who lived under his tyrannical, fearful
reign, they saw that man was taken and brought to justice,
being hanged himself and put to death. so that they would
no longer be afraid of him. So that they would know you have
nothing to fear from that man. There's nothing more he can ever
do to harm you or touch you. And that's what Paul is saying
here when he says, the world is crucified unto me. It's dead. It's dead. It can do nothing
to me. It has nothing to say to me. I don't need the world
anymore. It's dead. It's dead. And so
the law we see is nailed to the cross. The world is nailed to
the cross. Paul tells us that the fashion
of this world passeth away. John tells us this world passeth
away. Why? Because it's done. Christ
has put it away. He's destroyed. He's defeated
and conquered it. His word tells us that the Lord
cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the world.
of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose
her blood and shall no more cover her slain." What the Lord's telling
us there is that every stone shall be turned over. Every rock
shall be looked under. Every sin shall be brought to
account. Everything that is going on in
this world that men are doing in darkness, in evil, wickedness,
to persecute, to destroy others, it's all going to be laid bare
and all accounted for, everything. Why? Because they have no covering
for their sin. Our stones have been turned over. Everything's been brought to
account in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for
his chosen people, given to him by God before the foundation
of the world." Before the foundation of the world. And so, this world
is finished, treated as such. And he tells us, just as the
world's crucified to me, I'm crucified to the world. The world
hates me, too. They hated your Christ. They
crucified him. Why? To put him out, to put him out
of their sight. Well, that's how they see you,
that hope and trust in him. You're crucified to the world,
too. You're dead unto the world. And so you trust Him, you walk
in faith, you trust your God and your Savior. Forget about
what man thinks of you, forget about even what you think of
Christ. Our hope is not in what I think of Christ, our hope is
in what God the Father thinks of His Son. And He says, His
voice says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
You come to the Father in Jesus Christ the Son. You trust Him
because God is well pleased with Christ. He's well pleased in
His person and in His work. Therefore, all who come to the
Father believe in the promise of God. are received of the Father. We're not received on the basis
of what we've done. What we do is the fruit of His
salvation, of His grace working in us. That's not our hope. Christ
is our hope. We keep our eye on the Lord Jesus
Christ. So in that day, When our stones
are turned over before the true and living God, all that shall
be found is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no more blood to be brought to light in the people of God. Christ
is their salvation and their righteousness. And hearing that
from holy God, we shall turn to our savior, casting our crowns
before him and declare thou art worthy. to receive honor and
praise and glory you've done this you've done this all in
perfect grace and righteousness not unto us oh lord not unto
us but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Christ is the last Adam in whom
the believer stands complete. God is well pleased with his
son and he is well pleased with you that come unto him in Christ. You believe him. Don't be turned
to the boast of this flesh and the dead religion of this dead
world. You trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You glory in him. You speak to
others of what Christ has done for you in grace and mercy, to
the praise, honor, and glory of his name. Amen. Let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace. We thank you for your gift of
salvation, freely given in the Lord Jesus Christ, provided for
us before we were ever born. Lord, you provided everything
in Christ our Savior, in Christ our glory and our hope. He is
the one in whom we glory and entrust. And Lord, when our eyes
are averted and taken away, Lord, we trust and have no other hope
but that you in faithfulness and kindness and mercy and in
love will turn us back again to Christ and to him only. It's
in Christ Jesus we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, let's be dismissed.
We'll come back in 15 minutes from now.