Good morning. Let's go to Galatians. Galatians chapter 5. Now in the verse that we're going
to look at today, Paul is addressing the cause of his persecution,
which is coming largely from the Judaizers. And the Judaizers
had come into Galatia, and they were troubling the Galatian believers
by their doctrine, by their teaching, in telling them that they must
be circumcised after the manner of Moses. And what we see here
in these Judaizers is that something that we recognize in ourselves,
in the natural man, where We will take cover if we think that
there's going to be consequences and persecution for our stand. People will naturally try to
preserve themselves and take cover in trying to compromise
and in trying to reconcile the differences, trying to find a
middle ground with those who would persecute us. But thankfully,
Paul stood firm. Paul knew the truth. He was instructed
by the Lord in the way of truth, and he knew this is salvation. There's not salvation in any
other, and there's not various ways that we can come to the
Lord according to what we like or according to how we would
do it. But Paul stood firm, and he preached the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. for the salvation of his people
and he did it without compromise. He told the Galatian believers
in Galatians 2 verse 5, he did it, he stood firm that the truth
of the gospel might continue with you. And I am thankful that
he did, because we have the epistles that he wrote with that light
and understanding of the liberty that we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ, rather than the teachings of the Judaizers that would bind
us and yoke us with the Law of Moses. Instead, we have the pure
gospel truth. We have the revelation of the
Spirit and the light of God revealed to us in the face of Jesus Christ
and what he has accomplished for his people. Now let's read
the verse, our text is verse 11, but let's read verses 10
through 12 in Galatians 5. Paul said, I have confidence
in you, through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded,
but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever
he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution. Then is the offense
of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off
which trouble you so the trouble which was facing the Galatian
believers they were in a predicament here because you had Judaizers
come from Judea people that were teaching that believers Gentile
believers were to be circumcised after the manner of Moses, and
if they stood with Paul and agreed with him, well, they were going
to receive the same treatment as Paul was receiving from these
Judaizers. They were going to be seen as
outcasts and be canceled in the way that they were trying to
cancel Paul, and they would be persecuted like Paul. Now I was
thinking about this persecution as I was preparing this message
and thinking, you know, Paul received persecution from many,
many angles, many avenues, and he was persecuted for the gospel's
sake. His persecutors might have come
up with different reasons, but it was for the gospel's sake.
It was because he declared the truth of Christ, and he stayed
right there, and he didn't compromise with the flesh. He didn't say
things to tickle men's ears. He was careful to preach Christ
crucified. You know, first of all, among
his persecutors were the Jews. They didn't believe that Jesus
was the Christ. And if they could, they would
have put Paul to death in the same way that they put Stephen
to death for preaching the truth of Christ to them in Acts 7,
in the same way that the government put James to death under Herod
They would have put Paul to death and they tried numerous times. And so they would go behind Paul
into various cities and stir up the city council members to
turn on Paul, to make it known to them what Paul was really
saying, at least in their interpretation, and then they would realize,
wait a minute, this isn't what were supposed to believe, and
they would get upset and leave over it, or they would force
Paul out. I've experienced where some have
sat here, hearing the truth, agreeing with the truth, until
they hear what's being said, and once they realize, wait a
minute, that's a teaching I've heard is not the truth, Even
though they agreed with it, but now they've heard, oh, don't
touch that, that's bad. Then they leave, right? They
did it over, I don't like to call it Calvinism, but some people
get offended by what they perceive as Calvinism. I would call it
the doctrine of grace, which is preached and proclaimed in
the scriptures. It's the truth of God. We're
not following a man, except that man be the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the son of God. And so we preach Christ, but
some people hear it and get offended. Secondly, we also see similarly
to the Jews, as the faith of Christ spread throughout the
Roman world, there were those who were idolaters, who profited
off of idolatry, who made idols for people. And as people heard
Christ and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, that was customers
that they were losing, that weren't going to be purchasing more idols
from them in the future. And so they persecuted Paul.
Paul even said to Timothy, Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. Then there are the Judaizers. The Judaizers, they were Jews. They believed that Jesus was
the Christ, but they lived by the law of Moses. They followed
the law of Moses, thinking this was their salvation. And they
would just slap the name of Jesus on their religion like it's some
kind of a good luck charm. And that was their hope, was
the law of Moses. And they blended the two. They united the Old and the New
Testament. And they interpreted the New
Testament, the revelation of Christ, through the lens of the
Old Testament, rather than looking at the Old Testament through
the lens of the New and the Spirit. And understanding Christ and
seeing Christ in all his worth. Paul's hope in Christ and the
understanding which was given to him by the Spirit enabled
him to preach the liberty that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ
and the breaking of that yoke and doing those things that we
do in the flesh, thinking that this is our hope. If I am good,
if I fix myself, and if I do things the way the Lord tells
me to do them, this is my salvation. Well, Paul said, no, the Lord
Jesus Christ is your salvation. He's the one who gives his spirit
and reveals himself to the heart of his people. And he calls them
out of darkness. and they follow Him. Our Lord
Jesus said, He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life. They're gonna have life in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's our light. He's our teacher. He's the one who chastens us
as we need chastening. He's the one who turns us from
wicked ways and doing foolish things to behold all our salvation
is provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives the heart and
the will and the desire and the hunger for righteousness whereby
we look to him alone. And so Paul preached the liberty
that believers have in Christ, and he didn't preach Moses to
the people. He said in Galatians 2.5 in the
beginning, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an
hour. In other words, when they came
telling us, telling the people that they were to be circumcised,
he said, we didn't give them space. You know, Peter said,
submit yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord. And
we are to submit ourselves one to another. But to a lie, to
that which would turn us from Christ, there's no submitting
to that. It doesn't matter what name they
come in. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord. He's our King. He's
our salvation. He's the one who we look to and
believe. And that, when he said we gave
subjection to them, not even for an hour, he's referring to
what's recorded for us in Acts 15. When some from Judea came
in and told the brethren that except ye be circumcised after
the manner of Moses, and they said this, ye cannot be saved. And so they made the law. the
salvation of the people. And believe it or not, there's
churches today, there's still people today that trust in the
law and do believe that that is their salvation, going so
far as to circumcise their children, their sons. And so people are
still looking to and trusting in that same lie that the Judaizers
trusted in. And so there in Acts 15, it was
agreed though by the apostles that they would not put a yoke
on the believers. They wouldn't put this yoke of
Moses following the law of Moses, which even the Jews themselves
could not follow. They could not keep it. And so
when Paul went about preaching Christ in the Gentile nations,
he didn't teach Moses. He didn't preach Moses to the
people, he preached the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't teach
them the Ten Commandments, he preached the law of faith. The law of faith. You know, people
try to warn and say, well, if you don't teach the law, if you
don't preach the law and put the people and subject them to
the law, they're gonna do what they want. Well, all men do what
they want. Even those under the law, they
just find tricky and crafty ways to do their evil deeds. We need
to be born again, not religious. We need to be born again, regenerated
by the spirit of God. who takes the things of Christ,
that incorruptible seed, and he gives birth, life to the Lord's
chosen people whom Christ laid down his life to save, whom he
shed his blood for, and he gives life to them and applies the
things of Christ to his people. And he turns us from darkness.
He brings us out of our folly and our foolish ways. He teaches
us and instructs us and makes us to know, Lord, I need you. Lord, I'm doing this, save me. And he's the one that stirs up
that prayer that causes us to groan and to cry out for him. And if you don't have that groan
or cry or could care less, that's all the more reason why you should
beg and fear God and cry out to Him for mercy because He turns
the hearts of His people. It's a holy calling. It's not of this flesh and He's
not going to lead us into darkness. but he turns us from the things
of this world. And so Paul did not preach Moses. Even James, when Paul went up
to Jerusalem and spoke with James and Peter and the other apostles,
James said, there's believing Jews here and they're all zealous
of the law. And they are informed of thee
that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles
to forsake Moses. saying that they ought not to
circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. And Paul didn't refute that.
Paul didn't argue with that. That was true. That was true. He was not teaching Moses. He preached Christ. And the reason
why Paul preached Christ is because the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
every jot and every tittle of the law. and you who believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ through faith in him have also fulfilled
every jot and every tittle of the law. You have satisfied the
holy justice of God completely in the Lord Jesus Christ. When
Christ died, his people died with him. When Christ rose again,
his people rose again. When Christ satisfied all the
righteous requirements of the law, all the demands of God,
when he satisfied them entirely by himself, so his people and
him satisfied. Holy God perfectly. And the law
has nothing more to say to us. We stand in Him. And then we
see here one final form of persecution that Paul faced was with those
who wanted to relieve the tension. that was being stirred up between
the Gentiles coming in and the Judaizers who were zealous for
the law. There's plenty to suggest in
the scriptures that the imprisonments that Paul suffered for his preaching
the gospel and being so clear that it's not for, that it's
not by following Moses, it's not by being circumcised. Paul
was so clear that there's reason, that you could see it in the
scriptures, that it was making it, that he was imprisoned for,
that it was making it difficult for those who were ministering
to the Jews. Because that chain that Paul
had was used against the gospel. and it was stirring up trouble.
And so there were some who wanted Paul to not do the things he
was doing and to not be associated with him because it made it difficult
for them to minister to the Jews. Paul said to Timothy, therefore,
in 2 Timothy 1.8, he said, don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner,
the Lord's prisoner, don't be ashamed of me. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel, of going to prison for the gospel. Don't you be
ashamed of me. And then he said in verse 15
and 16 of that same chapter, this thou knowest that all they
which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are Phygelus
and Hermogenes. Those were names that were tied
to the original 70 that the Lord sent out. They turned from Paul. They didn't want to associate
with Paul. One did, Onesiphorus, he oft refreshed me. He said
he was not ashamed of my chain. So two-thirds, two-thirds turned
away from Paul. In the next hour when we go to
Judges, we'll see there that the Lord, for that army that
was with Gideon that would go fight against the Midianites,
the Lord initially drove away two-thirds from that body that
went to war. He drove away more even, but
he turned away more, but two-thirds, turned away from going to war
against the Midianites. And here, Paul suffered the same
thing for preaching Christ crucified and suffering the persecution
which came along with preaching Christ crucified. Paul even said,
As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, this is Galatians
6, 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 so there are people
that will join in persecuting the truth just so they don't
stick out and so they can avoid persecution. And that's just
something that Paul dealt with. But should that stop us from
preaching the truth? Should that turn us from declaring
Christ crucified because of the threat of persecution? Not at
all. Not if you want the truth to
continue. with those that you know, with your children and
your loved ones, stand for the truth. And so Paul was persecuted
by Jewish leaders, various city councils and governments. He
was persecuted by the Judaizers. He was persecuted by the Compromisers. And I'm sure he was, to some
degree, he had disagreements with other brethren for various
things, because that happens in every age. People just get
mad at someone or upset about something or offended for some
reason. then they just turn away from them and they break off
fellowship. And it's sad because the day is dark. The day is far
spent. In eternity, the things that
we get upset about and turn from one another are passing. They're
passing. They're forgotten. Nobody remembers
them. eternity in the arms of our Lord. Now, Paul was not compromising. He was telling the Gentiles not
to circumcise their children, and he was telling the Jews the
same thing. Don't circumcise your children. So here he is
in verse 11. It says, And I, brethren, if
I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. Paul stopped preaching circumcision
and works when he was called by the Lord and converted, given
the Spirit, born again by Him. Instead, he preached Christ crucified. So why is the cross, the preaching
of Christ crucified, why is that so offensive to men? Well, when
you declare the cross, it declares all men are sinners. It declares that we don't have
the strength, we don't have the righteousness, we don't have
the will, the wisdom, or the ability to save ourselves. We are so spiritually dead that
we cannot make a righteousness for ourselves, not even by the
law of Moses. not even by some other religion,
or becoming monks, or locking ourselves away, or whatever it
is that man does and events, none of those things save us.
We need a Savior. A Savior that saves to the uttermost,
who does everything necessary for our redemption and deliverance
from eternal death. We need a Savior, and God has
provided the Savior. He sent his darling son, who
is the Lamb of God, and he was slain on the cursed tree, being
made a curse for his people. That is, dying their death that
we ourselves earned by our own unrighteousnesses, by our sin
and wickedness. He died in the place, in the
room instead of his people, to make payment for what we had
done and to obtain for us life and forgiveness and to give us
that inheritance through the Spirit as a down payment now
for what we shall receive in glory hereafter. He tells us
that if there had been a law given which could have given
life, God would have given it. God would have given instead.
Instead, he sent his son, which tells us that when Christ came
in the flesh, it said, for certain, there is nothing that we can
do to save ourselves. It declares us all sinners. It affirms to us what the scriptures
have been saying. We're all dead in trespasses
and sins in Adam. There's nothing we can do to
cleanse ourselves, to change our nature, to change this wicked
heart, to turn it around and to start doing better consistently
and to work off our debt. There's nothing we can do. As
the prophet Jeremiah said, can the Ethiopian change his skin?
Can the leopard remove his spots? Then so can you that are accustomed
to doing evil do that which is good. In other words, it's not
going to happen. We're not going to do it. We
drink iniquity the way we drink water. We just drink it in by
nature. That's what we are. So when Christ
came into the world as the sacrifice for sinners, it confirmed what
our God said to Adam. In the day you eat of that fruit,
you shall surely die. And we, being in Adam, died with
him. We sinned when he sinned. We
were corrupted and defiled just as he was corrupted and defiled.
We're born of corrupted seed. We need to be born again of incorruptible
seed, which is the work and the power and the glory of our Savior. So God the Father sent his Son
and spared him not, but delivered him up for us all. And the all
are all those who were chosen of God and given to Christ, put
into his care before the foundation of the world. Now as long as
you or I mix the works and the will of man, With what Christ
did, you'll be fine. Men will receive you into their
company, into their everlasting habitations of death. Men don't
have a problem so long as there's something that you give him that
he can glory in. So long as you acknowledge his
works, his experience, his thoughts, his ideas, his ways, you can
slap the name of Jesus on it if you want to. They're fine
with that. They don't get offended by that. But once you emphasize the truth
of God declared here in his word, that it's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that free willeth.
that makes a decision for himself to let God save him. Once you
emphasize that it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, that does good works, that follows the law of Moses,
that does the best he can do. Once you say it's not of man's
will, it's not of man's works, but it's of God that showeth
mercy, now you've offended him. And now you've just opened yourself
up to persecution. Because now you've just shown
him what his works and ways and will is. It's dust. It's dirt. It has no lasting
value with the true and living God. The most insulting thing
that you can say to somebody is that his free will is dead
in bondage. It's in darkness. His free will
goes about in the ways of death. Eternal death. No, he cannot
save himself by his decision. And that's foreign to a man.
That's foreign to this natural man. What do you mean I don't
save myself? What do you mean I can't, by
my faith, make a decision to let God save me? That's what
everybody's told me my whole life. And here you're saying
it's not by man's free will? It's not by his decision that
he saves himself? That his faith is not of this
flesh? How then can God save him? Doesn't
God continuously point out in the scriptures, to him that believeth,
to him that believeth. They overcome, to him that believeth,
absolutely. And what it's declaring is, this
truth of the gospel, this salvation is to them who believe, meaning
to them whom the Father has manifested life in, given them faith. Who
is this done for? To them that believe, to those
whom the Spirit came and manifested this fruit of faith. They hear,
they're called, and they believe. And we know who it's for because
they believe. That wasn't a product of their
flesh that they had some hurdle that man had to get through first
by accepting the Lord or making the decision to let God save
them. That's the language of man. That's
not the language of the scripture. Faith is manifested, it's revealed
by the spirit of God. coming upon whom He will unto
salvation and revealing the hope of Christ in them, so that they
believe. There's no decision to make.
They hear it and they believe. That's the salvation of our God. That's the grace of our God. It's the faith is of the Lord. The carnal man teaches that circumcision
is something that he does in the flesh that is determining,
something like determining to let God save him. That's the
circumcision of today. It's letting God save you. It's
doing something in your flesh, and it's not according to the
scriptures. It robs God of his glory, and
he thinks, while he's robbing God of his glory, that he's now
pleased God and got himself saved, and it's all just flesh. The
message of the cross offends that false gospel hope of man's
invention. Turn over to 2 Timothy. Let's
go to 2 Timothy 1. And I'm going to read verses 8 and
9. He said, Paul writes, Be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of
me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God. who hath saved us and
called us within holy calling, not according to our works, that
is God doesn't need our works according to the law of Moses,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. We preach the gospel according
to the power of God, and man thinks that the power is in his
decision. And if he just makes the right
decision, then God can move and show him grace and mercy. That's
not grace. That's something that you've
done for yourself to put God into a position where he saves
you according to something you've done. And that's not what it's
saying at all. We're saved according to the
power of God, which while we are yet dead in trespasses and
sins, God brings his child to hear the gospel and calls them
through the clear preaching of what Christ himself has done
in obtaining eternal life for them by the death of himself
on the cross. It's already been obtained. We've been redeemed. And hearing
what he's done, we're not wrangling with your flesh, twisting your
mind, trying to convince you of something that you have to
do. We're declaring what God has
done, trusting he persuades his child, that he calls his child
and reveals faith in them whereby they believe. what they've heard,
and know that Christ is salvation, and it cannot be another way,
because all my works are done before holy God." But he's provided
everything. He's given everything in Christ. It's according to the power of
God. Not my persuasive skills, not your ability to comprehend,
but according to the power of God. And so he even confirms
this in Ephesians 2.8 when he said, for by grace are ye saved
through faith. And that, that faith is not of
yourselves, but it's the gift of God. God gave that faith. He revealed it in you by his
grace and mercy in that new man of grace and faith, which he's
created. giving you, regenerating you
by the spirit of God sent to save you, to call you out of
darkness and to apply that blood of Christ and to deliver you
from death. He's called us within holy calling. In other words, he's not making
use of your flesh. Otherwise it would be a corrupt
and sinful calling. It would be covered with dirt
and grime and the filth of our sin, but instead it's a holy
call. It's all done by him in grace
for his child. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace. So whose decision
was it to save you? Your decision or God's? It's the Lord, it's his, give
God the glory. Give God the glory according
to his own purpose and grace. This salvation was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began. So a man can endure anything
so long as he's allowed to couple his works with Christ. But you
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. He's provided everything. Preach
the full, free, sovereign Savior who did everything for His child. Everything. That's the grace
that the Lord doesn't save His people by a lie. He saves them
preaching the truth. And though the truth is contrary
to the flesh and doesn't make sense to the flesh, we trust
that in declaring Christ crucified, He'll save whom he will, whom
he gave to Christ before the foundation of the world. We trust
him. Trust him. Paul trusted him and had confidence
in it. And that made sure that the truth
continued with you as it is this day. And so do the same thing. Follow him in so far as he followed
Christ. Preach Christ crucified. Amen. Let's close in prayer and be
dismissed for about 12 minutes. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for this gracious salvation which you've given us in Christ.
Lord, help us to stand fast in Christ, preaching, proclaiming
what you have accomplished for your people, what you do in saving
your people. Help us to be faithful in preaching
and proclaiming his name to the glory of your name. to the glory
of your power, honor, and grace in your son. Lord, we pray that
you help us to hear this, that you stir up our hearts and turn
us away from the flesh to look to Christ and Christ alone. It's
in his name we pray and give thanks. Amen.