will go to God in prayer. Remember
those that are traveling. Annie and Kathy. When is Annie
supposed to be back? This week? Okay. I'm glad she made it back safely.
A week? Okay. So pray for them. I'm thankful
that Lord brought her back. You said that Emma's sick? Someone
said that? Okay. Pray for Emma. I know,
pray for Ryland, because when Emma's sick... Yeah, the mama's sick, the whole
house is sick. I get it, but that's even a greater
case there. So, pray for Ryland. Gene, pray for Gene. I know you've
got to make some decisions, I guess, soon. Did you make it, or... Huh? OK. Well, pray for her. I know that she's weighing in
whether to have surgery on her legs. So pray God be gracious
to her and give her the right decision to make. I know he will. He'll guide you. Pray God be with the doctors.
Ask for your prayers for me again. I don't know how these messages
come and I don't know how they come across. It's not even given
to me either, so I don't know. I just trust that God will use
His word. God would guide us and instruct
us who are believers in Christ, I pray will this morning, I'm so thankful for what God
has given us here. I am. I'm amazed. There is no reason in the pastor
that would bring any unity or love for the gospel. It's not
me. Just I stand amazed at what God
does for you. God does for you. And how God
keeps us. many divisions even among the
churches of God. We should pray that God would
keep us from such things. It wouldn't take much. It wouldn't
take much to cause strife and division. But if we would just
heed God's word, it wouldn't enter in. It wouldn't even the
thought wouldn't come across our minds. He's preaching on the rule of the
believer's life. If we would follow the rule that
God has given us, it brings peace and unity. It brings joy. I know many, even believers,
have been tempted to leave this rule. Many have fallen. I know this, God will restore
His people from it. We're capable of this. We're
capable of unbelief. We're capable of listening to
the flesh. And so God instructs us to keep
our minds and hearts fixed on Christ. Daily, constantly fixed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And this will bring peace and
mercy. So pray for me as I preach this
message to you this morning and ask God's mercy upon you. Pray
for Andrew, he's traveling today too, so pray for him. Give him
praise to bring him back safely. I'm thankful that God has brought
my mom. She's able to be here with us and I'm very thankful
for that. Any other requests need to be mentioned that I'm
missing Joanne? Make sure you pray for Joanne.
She's recovering, isn't she? She's, but it's, okay. Don't bounce back so fast. But
pray for her. Let's go to God in prayer. Our
gracious Father in heaven, we bow again before you. We present ourselves, Father,
before you in the name of our Savior. by the authority of His
blood and righteousness we come. And we pray, Father, this morning
that you would give us the ability and strength and wisdom and understanding
and power that comes from the Holy Spirit, directed to our
hearts and minds, that we might receive the Word as it is, the
Word of God and not of men. And we should abandon all thoughts
of self-righteousness and self-glory, and by faith completely submit
ourselves wholly to the perfect work and salvation of Jesus our
Savior, not trusting in any merit in ourselves which the flesh
is constantly prone to do. but leaning wholly and completely
on the perfect finished work of Christ. I pray, Father, for those that
are sick. I'm pleading for your mercy, for their healing. I pray, Father, that you would
raise them up again so that we may rejoice together and worship
together. Bring them back that are traveling
safely, restore them again so that they might hear the gospel
and rejoice with us together. I'm thankful for the unity and
the blessings that you have bestowed upon us, this congregation, and
I pray that you would continually bestow this upon us and keep
us, sustain us in this unity, all looking with one mind and
one heart to Jesus Christ, our Savior. plead for those outside
of Christ, those in our family, those among our friends, who
have no interest in the things of Christ, no desire, no faith,
no life. This alone can come from your
hand, Father. This comes alone by your power
and your grace. And so we ask you to give it.
We pray that you would give it. I pray, Father, that you would
lead me and guide me in this message, that you would guide
my thoughts, my heart, my words. Father, you would sustain me
in this. I need you. These that come to
here, they need you to make it effectual. We beg you to do this
and offer any glory in ourselves but that all the glory should
redound unto thee through Jesus Christ. We pray it in his name.
Amen. I take your Bible's term with
me to Galatians 6. Galatians 6, verse 16. Titled this message, rule, this
rule. The Apostle writes, and as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy and
upon the house, upon the Israel of God. Now, The subject of my
message is the rule of every believer's life. The rule of
every believer's life. That's exactly what the Apostle
is talking about. Because this is the whole subject
of the book of Galatians. The whole subject of the book
of Galatians. Now, the Apostle having laid
out everything, laid out the gospel in such plain terms that
the gospel is according to the grace of God, the power of God,
through faith in Christ alone. And not according to the law. There were men that crept into
the church and they believed that salvation by faith in Christ. They believed that. They acknowledged
that salvation is by grace, that it's through faith in Christ.
But after one is saved, he must then return to the law for his
rule of life. And they chose only one law,
circumcision. This was to them the greatest
need, that the person who believes must be circumcised. They must follow this rule. The Apostle through this book
is telling the exact opposite, that the believer's rule is not
law but faith. The believer's rule is not law
but faith. Here the Apostle tells every
believer, every believer has a rule. as many as walk according
to this rule. Walk has to do with activity. It has to do with living. It
has to do with our conversation, our manner of life in this world. Here Paul is speaking as to how
believers are to live in this world. That's a question, isn't
it? Don't you ask that question,
how am I to live in this world? What is my rule? Now that I've come to faith in
Christ, what am I to do? What is my rule, my law? You see, our manner of life is
not free to choose as we please. We're free in Christ. Does that
mean we're free from Christ? That's what most religions tell
you. Well, you believe in Jesus, you can just go out and do what
you want to. Well, no, we're not free from
Christ. We're free in Christ, but we're
not free from His rule. Our daily life and rule is not
up to our opinion either. It's not based on what we think
or how we feel. A lot of people say, well, what's
the rule of a believer's life? And somebody will say, well,
I think it's this. No, you don't get to think. Well,
I feel. Oh, this is a big one. I feel. Like that gives it some kind
of authority. I feel. Well, who cares what
you feel? You may have gas. Something may happen. Our feelings
change, don't they? They just instantly change. So,
your feelings is not the basis of this rule. We are believers
in Christ. Listen, we are not lawless. We're
not without law. So Paul says of all spiritual
Israel, all who have peace and mercy, all who are the Israel
of God, listen, as many as that are believers in Christ, they
walk according to this law, this rule. The word rule means boundary. We have boundaries, don't we,
as believers? We have a law, a standard of
faith and practice, So what is this law? That's important. What
is this rule? So then this rule is a rule of
every believer in Christ. And what is it then? Now countless
millions upon millions of religious people, when they say, as many
as walk according to this rule, immediately the religious world
will turn to the Ten Commandments. which is actually the opposite
of everything the apostles said throughout this whole book. They
will immediately turn to the Ten Commandments as their rule
of life. And listen, believers, why is
this here? Well, I'll tell you what, I'll
never... Preach on preacher, because that's
not... I'll never turn back to the law. Listen to me. Peter
did more than once. Remember when he was told to
go to Cornelius' house? And he said, I ain't eatin' nothin'
that man's got. That's against the law. And the Lord showed
him a vision from heaven and gave him all that. Said, no,
just take eatin'. Anything is lawful for you to
eat. And you know what he did when he came to Galatia in the
very first part of this book? Paul said this. He said, when
Peter came, he was eating a pork sandwich, and he got up, and
when he saw the Jews coming, he got up because he wanted to
honor the law in front of them. And so he went over there and
he stood him to the face. He said, you're wrong for doing
that. You're wrong for doing that. So Peter was tempted by
this. Listen, the flesh in us is always
tempted to look at something we do or something we feel or
something we think as some rule or measurement by which we know
we're safe. I mean, am I the only one? Because
I'm tempted to this. It's just so. The flesh is constantly
trying to look for something. And we always look rather than
looking to Christ. The flesh wants to look at something
it can see, something it can touch, something it can taste. And he says, no, we don't live
by that rule. So religion sends you the Ten
Commandments. If you want to be triumphant
over the world, triumphant over Satan, then you've got to strive
to obey the law. Look at Galatians 3 and tell
me that this is not exactly the opposite. Listen to what He said
to them that tried this. In Galatians 3 verse 1, He said,
O foolish Galatians, who has duped you? Who bewitched you? that you should not obey the
truth. You see, returning to the law
is not obeying the truth. You understand that? To leave
faith in Christ for obedience to the law, Paul says this, you're
duped and you don't obey the truth. Now religion tells you
that they're trying to obey the truth. No, they're doing the
exact opposite. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ
evidently set forth the crucified among you, this I only would
learn of you, received you the Spirit by the works of the law
or by the hearing of faith. How in the world did you receive
the Spirit? Now receiving the Spirit is not
accepting the Spirit. Don't misconstrue that. When I take this water into my
body, received it. I just, it just come in, it came
in. When I pour glass into a water, water into a glass, it simply
receives it. I didn't make the water. Did
I even have the strength in myself to lift that thing, put it in
me? I didn't have it. No, we received
the spirit. It's all by the grace and power of God. Now, how did
you do it? How did that happen? Was it by the hearing of the
law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit, are you made perfect in the flesh now? Isn't this
what legalists want you to do? You begin by faith, but you finish
by law. Are you so foolish to think that? I must be very clear that if
you're a believer in Jesus Christ, I want to be as crystal clear
as I possibly can, you are in no way under the law of Moses. None. To return to the law is to not
obey the truth. Now the law in scripture is mentioned
in different ways. I mean, you go to Psalm 119 and
the law of God in Psalm 119 means the whole Word of God. That's
what it means, and it doesn't mean one specific thing, it means
the whole Word of God. In some places it talks about
the sacrifices. In some places it talks about
the dietary law. In some places it talks about
the Ten Commandments. So the law is used in different
manners, pointing to different aspects of the law. The problem, and you know what? When the legalists, you know,
they have no problem saying that we don't need a sacrifice. You
know, they say, what we mean by law is not sacrifices, that's
done away with. We don't mean the governmental
law, that's been done away with. We don't even mean the dietary
law. What we mean is the Ten Commandments. So the only portion that they
believe of the law that remains is what? The Ten Commandments.
The problem with this doctrine is it's nowhere found in scripture.
The law, my friends, is never divided. The ceremonial law is
just as much a portion of the law as the Ten Commandments.
The dietary law is just as much a portion of the law as the sacrifices. It may speak of different portions
of the law, but in no manner does it divide the law. The law
is the law is the law is the law. And if you desire to be
under one law, you are under all the law. You want to tithe? Anybody want
to tithe? You're under the whole law. You don't get to choose. They
were choosing circumcision. The problem is, you don't get
to choose. Look at chapter 3 and verse 10. The apostle says this. As many as are of the works of
the law are what? Under what? What are you under?
Curse. You're under the curse. No matter
what law you choose, You are under the law in any measure
you are under its curse For because this is why It is written. I like that There's no debating
here. I don't want when Paul gets done
with this. He says I don't want to hear you talk of me anymore
about this This is settled. It's written. That's what I mean.
It's settled I kick, spit, curse, hate all you want to. It's written. Curses everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. You see, it's altogether one
thing to acknowledge the law as good, but if you acknowledge
that you're under it, you have to do it. And not just one, you
have to do it all. I've told everybody here, how
many laws are there? Anybody know? I've said it before, 613. 613. If you desire to be under 10,
you're missing 603. Tell me 539. Anybody? Cursed is everyone that continues
not. This includes the Ten Commandments. Yes. Now, I know this. The motive
for most preachers in using the Ten Commandments is to keep their
congregation in line. They say, well, if I don't preach
the Ten Commandments, then these people are going to be out of
control. Not God's people. Come on. We have a rule. We have a law. It's just not the law of Moses. They use it like a chain to bind
men. But the gospel message is not
of bondage, but freedom. It's a freedom. We preach a message
of full and complete deliverance from the law. Full, complete
deliverance from the curse of the law. Paul writes in verse 11, No man
is justified by the law in the sight of God. That's just evident.
Man, that's just clear as a bell. And listen to this, for the just
shall live by what? What's your rule? The just shall
live by faith. And notice he sets these two
in total opposition to one another. The law is not a faith. The moment you go from faith
to law, it's no longer faith. So we preach this, Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. That word here means fulfillment.
He is the fulfillment of righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. In chapter 6 of Romans, you remember
Paul says, shall we sin that grace may abound? See, he's answering
that question that these preachers are trying to keep people, you
know. He said, shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid!
What do we do, Paul? Do we return back to the law?
No! That's not the remedy. In verse
14 and 15 of that, he says, You are not under the law, but under
grace. He doubles down. You're not under the law, but
under grace. Why? Because Christ fulfilled it.
And listen to this. When you believed, God created
in you a new nature that is totally Fulfill the law. You say, well,
I need to fulfill the law. If you're in Christ, you already
have. This is the glory of it. Look at Romans 8. Look at Romans
8. See if this is not exactly what the
Scripture tells us. He says, There is therefore now
no condemnation of those who 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 free from the law
of sin and death. You see the opposition here?
He puts the law of faith in opposition to the law of Moses. The law
of Moses to me is only sin and death. That's all it can do.
It can only show me my sin and condemn me. That's all it can
do. It can't help me. But I'm free from that. I'm free
from that. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, what did
He do? Condemn sin in the flesh, that purpose, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us. You that believe the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in you, by Him. It is fulfilled in you, by Him. When He lived a perfect life,
so did you. That's what a representative
is. That's what a surety is. That's what a high priest does.
That's what a mediator does. He lived for us. Just like Adam, when he lived
for us, we all died. Even so, when Jesus Christ lived
for us, He made us righteous. And when He died, He suffered. He condemned sin. God didn't
let your sin just go. He actually condemned it in His
body. When Jesus Christ rose from the
dead without sin, you rose with Him. Even so, we were examined by
the law of God and found blameless. You understand that, don't you?
By faith, we can only see this by faith. You can't see this
in any other way. You're blameless. How do you know you're blameless?
He's blameless. How do you know His righteousness
was enough? How do you know His death was
enough? Because God raised Him from the dead and God set Him
on the throne. That's how I know. That's the
evidence. So Paul says, To as many as are
under the law, in any part, you are under its curse. But no believer has ever hated
the law. Now, is that true? I mean, they
would say, well, you just hate the law. What are you, dropped
on your head? If it were possible for me to
obey that law, I would most surely do it. The law is not evil. Paul said the law is not weak.
It's weak through the flesh. It's my fault. It's not the law's. Paul said if salvation should
come by the law, then it would come by that law. That law is
perfect. There's nothing wrong with the
law of Moses. Never would we condemn the law of Moses. It
is perfect. The problem is us. The law was never intended of
God to save us. When you say, why the law? Paul
answers that question. Wherefore then serveth the law? If the law can't help me, if
all the law can do is curse me, then what is the purpose of him
giving the law? Listen. Knowledge of sin. He said, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin. When you read the law, do you
read your righteousness? When you read the law, do you
say, you know, that's me. I got that. Is that what you
read? If you do, you're lost. You listen
to that, you're lost. If you believe in some measure
that you can obey that law, it's because you don't know anything
at all about your nature. By the laws of knowledge of sin.
The law is good if it's used lawfully, And the law's intention
is only to expose sin. Now let me, I'm going to prove
this to you, that you've never obeyed the law. Now, let's just
suppose for a moment that it was possible that you could have
never committed adultery, never lied, never stole. You realize that if you have
never done those things, yet you did not keep them in perfect
love to God, you failed. You see, the love of God is the
cornerstone of all the commandments. If you have kept any commandment,
but you have not done it in perfect love to God, you failed. Yet we know this, we have never
done anything in the law perfectly. I've never committed adultery,
you did in your mind, I've never lusted. Have you ever
envied? You ever wanted something someone
else had? You broke it. You broke the law. No one has ever obeyed the law
in any measure. Any measure. Any measure. You've never obeyed the law. So now to everyone, who will
not repent of this wickedness and look to Christ alone. The
scripture is clear, Christ will profit you nothing. Now, listen,
this is not my opinion. I'm not giving you an opinion.
I don't do that. I want to give you my opinion
about things. If you desire to be under the
law, you say, well I believe in Jesus, I believe salvation
is by grace, but I believe you've got to live by the law. You listen
to me, because the scripture declares Christ will profit you
nothing! All that faith is nothing! It's
vanity. You have not obeyed the truth. How do you know that? Paul says
it twice. In chapter 5, look at chapter
5. He said, Behold, I Paul, just in case you missed it, the apostle,
sin of God for a message of God. I Paul saying to you, if you
be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. I testify
again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to the whole
law. Christ shall become of no effect to you. Whosoever you
are that are justified by the law, you have fallen from grace.
If you take the law for one measure of your salvation, one aspect,
well, I don't think I'm justified by the law, but I'm sanctified
by the law. Don't get semantical with me.
You can't be justified without being sanctified. Tell me somebody
who's justified without being holy. Can you be justified without
being holy? Is that possible? It's not. No,
Christ is all our redemption. He is all our righteousness.
He is all our justification. He is all our sanctification.
Or listen, He's none of it. He's none of it. Christ will
profit you nothing. It's not my opinion. I don't
like that. I don't care. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what we think.
It doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what you think.
It doesn't matter how we feel. about this. If you return to
the law in any aspect, your faith is empty. Paul said it. I didn't
have to. He did. Why? Why is it so? Why is it
so important? Because of this, if you take
any aspect of your salvation to yourself, you take glory to
yourself. You rob God of what belongs to
Him. Glory. you that believe, who
receives all glory? For your salvation, who receives
all the praise, all the honor, all the wisdom that planned it,
that executed, that gave it, all the power that keeps it?
Who gets all the glory? You? Do you have any glory in
this whatsoever? You suppose for one minute you've
kept yourself. Is there one work that you've
ever done that's any good at all that comes from you? The whole belief on Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. To everyone that believes on
Him, I want you to understand, if you hold to what I just said,
you will be an outcast. This religious world will despise
you. They will hate you. You will be hated and they will
seek to silence you as the Pharisees did our Lord. Though their doctrine
is not according to the Word of God, it's according to their
creeds and their forefathers and their traditions. They'll
call you a blasphemer. If you get called this antinomian,
most people say, what? I won't be offended because I
don't know what that means. You antinomian? No, what in the
world is that? It means a lawless person, a
lawless person. We denounce such accusations
because we are not lawless. Why? As many as walk by this
rule. We who believe do walk by a law,
by rule. But it's not the law of Moses.
Okay, what is it? Hopefully I've made it clear
it's not the law of Moses. What is it then? What is this
law that we live by? It is the same thing he said
in Galatians 3 and verse 11. The just shall live by faith. I believe that's recorded three
times in scripture. Three or four times. If something
is said once, it's important. If something is said more than
once, it needs our attention. How then do we live daily, constantly? How do we guide our conduct and
manner of living in this world? Listen to me. By faith in Christ. The just shall live by faith. And look at this, back in chapter
6, he describes the rule of life in the previous verse. He says, but God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the rule that we should
live by constantly, that we should never glory in anything except
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the believer's rule of
life. It is faith. God forbid that we should glory
in anything. In verses 12 and 13, He was telling them what
they were glorying in. He says in verse 12, He says,
As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. Isn't this
what the legalist is trying to do? Aren't they just trying to
make a fair show? Trying to exalt themselves above
someone else? Look down on someone. They take
a measuring stick and they say, well man, I'm way ahead of that
guy. What are they doing? They're
glorying in the flesh, aren't they? Paul uses a statement, God forbid
I should do that. God forbid that I should glory
save anything except the cross. I shouldn't glory in my preaching.
I shouldn't glory in any service that I do for God. There should
be no glory in it. Now the flesh is going to try
to glory. You just ain't going to stop
it. You just won't. It's going to try. It must be
put down. It must be put away. There is
no glorying in self. Let us never glory in our faith,
in our love, in our faithfulness, but rather glory only in the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do this by believing, trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the measure that I am
accepted with God? It is the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the measure. My salvation is measured by His
success, not mine. Isn't that liberating? Is that
not just stone rolling off your back, liberating? It just is. This is my rule of life, to constantly
believe and trust in Christ. I went over that message on Wednesday,
and I was going to continue it, but Lord put it aside, and I
got this. But I kept thinking about that
message, you know, fret not. That was the first one. There
were eight precepts in Psalm 38, and one of them was fret
not. One of them was trust in the Lord, and there
were several others at this time. My mind's not clear. I don't
have it. I realized this, that trusting the Lord is the center
of all those other things. He says, don't fret against evil
doers. How in the world am I going to
guard against fretting? Well, you need to trust Him.
You need to look to Him. How am I going to be content
in this world? Look to Him. How am I going to
commit my way and myself under the Lord? Trust Him. Trust Him. Now I've got four things here,
four questions, four things that must be seen if we're to walk
according to this rule of faith. Four things must be seen. First
of all, we must see who died on the cross. If I'm to glory
in the cross, I have to see the one that died there. Who was
it? Second of all, why did he die? I must know why he died. Thirdly, I must know for whom
he died. And fourthly, what did he accomplish
by his death? These things are constantly in
the view of everyone who lives by faith. First of all, who died? Look what Paul says in your text. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord, Jesus, Christ. Use all three.
Now why? Because He is describing the
fullness of His person. He said He is Lord. What does
this tell you of? What comes to mind? That He's
God. The one who died on that cross
was God. He is the Lord. John says, in the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and later on he tells us just to make sure who we know
he's talking about. He said, and the Word was made
flesh. God. My faith is in God. I was listening
to a message about Christ in the garden, When he stood there,
there were over 500 soldiers there to get him. And they said,
he asked them a question, he said, whom seek ye? And they
said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. 500 men fell backward on
their faces. Why do they do that? It's God. It's God. I don't believe my Savior was
just a good man. I don't believe He's God. No
hope for me. No hope for me. Jesus said, except
you believe that I am, you shall die in your sins. Anybody who
don't believe that He is God will die in their sins. He is
God. So when I look to Him who died
on the cross, I'm looking at God. Thomas bowed and he said, My
Lord and my God. Christ is God. But He's not only
that, He is the Lord Jesus, which speaks of what? Is humanity.
He's not just God. He's a man. This reminds me that
He's my substitute. He's my surety. He's my representative. He's my high priest. He's my
mediator. The one who died at Calvary was
not only God, he condescended to become man. And as a man,
he honored the law of God. Now you want to see who honored
the law of God? Jesus alone. He is the only man that has ever
honored the law of God. He's it. That's it. He's the
only man who was subject to the law of God and perfectly honored
it. But he didn't do it just for
himself. Have you ever thought about this? When Christ came
into this world, He did suffer, but everything He did was natural. It was natural for Him to obey
the law. It was His law. He alone obeyed that law for
me. He was made flesh and dwelt among us. God, very God, became
man, very man. And that's why he said that again
to those in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, and he said the exact
same thing. He said, Jesus of Nazareth, and
he said, I am. I am God. And what? I am man. And at that point, he, in power,
submitted himself unto them. You understand, he didn't do
this unwillingly. They could never take him. You
think they could have ever took him? You laugh, that's right. Because
it would be hilarious to try to take him. He had no power. They tried it before. They said,
why didn't you take him? He said, no man ever talked like
this man. We couldn't take him. That's
right, you couldn't. Until when? Until he laid down his life.
He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. He said, I have power
to lay down my life and I have power to take it again. You know
what he said? I like this too. He said, if
you take me, let these go free. He didn't ask. And listen, if Peter pulled out
a sword, if anybody could have disrupted it, Peter could have.
And he did. They were just going to let him
go. And Peter pulled out a sword
and cut their ear off. You'd think that would have agitated
them enough to just ignore everything and they couldn't. He said, they
go free. You take me and they go free. He's a man. My substitute, the
Lord Jesus Christ. So faith looks to the person
of Jesus Christ. And notice this, He's Christ.
What does that mean? It means that every scripture,
every prophecy was about Him. The whole book speaks of Him. When you get to heaven, when
you get to glory, what do you suppose you'll do for eternity?
Without ceasing or ever being tired, without any sin to pull
you to the earth, what are you going to be doing? You will be
singing His praise. You will be glorifying Him. I
remember Andrew told me when I told him that when he was a
kid, he said, that sounds boring. Well, yeah, to the flesh it would
be. But to a new man, he's the Christ. He's the anointing. He's the Savior. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
So faith looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every scripture testifies of
him, the great day of atonement. He's the scapegoat. He's the
strong man. He's the high priest. He's the
sin offering. It's His blood. He's the high
priest that takes His own blood in the presence of God and sprinkles
it on Himself, the Ark of the Covenant. He's everything in
our salvation. My faith rests on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith looks to Him who died on
the cross. What did He die for? Why did
the Son of God die? Now listen to me, it's not what
you think. This is immediately thought comes
to mind. He died for sinners. That's the
first thought that comes to mind. And He did. There's no doubt
about it. But I want you to know that's not the first purpose
of Him dying. The glory of God. The glory of God was the main
purpose that Christ died. You read in Ephesians. He said,
according as He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy with our brain before Him, in
love, having predestined us under the adoption of children, by
Jesus Christ unto Himself. Now why did He do it? According
to the praise of the glory of His grace. In Ezekiel, He gives
us that wonderful covenant of grace, right? He said, I'm going
to give them a new heart. I'm going to forgive their sins
and iniquities. They're going to dwell in the
land forever. Wonderful covenant! But right
before that, He tells us why He does it. Now listen to what
God says. He says, I will sanctify my great name, which you profaned. Now that's
your part. That's what you've done. You
and I have profaned His name. which you have profaned in the
midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord,
saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their
eyes." It was by the grace of God that
sinners are saved. It was by man that sinned and
rebelled, and it was by a representative man that righteousness had come.
Yet before there was ever sin, God, in sovereign love, according
to His own purpose, purpose that Christ should die on the cross
for His glory, for His glory. In sovereign love, He decreed
a covenant of grace to save us, who merited only His wrath, did
not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance, And
He came to die for sinners because this alone magnifies the glory
of His grace. He said, I do this for my own
namesake. And why did He do it? Why did
He die? He did it for His own namesake. He did it to manifest
His glory. And you see now why taking the
law as your rule of life is so hideous because it robs him of
his glory. Those who take the law as their
rule of life are seeking glory for themselves. There's no other
way to explain it. Why would you take a law that
you can't obey? Except to find some glory in
yourself. And if the sole purpose of Christ
dying was the glory of God, and you take the law, you rob God
of what He purposed to get, glory. But we give glory to God in this,
that the death of the cross has glorified God. He said, Father,
glorify thy son as thy son hath glorified. What's the basis of
your salvation? It's the glory of God. If Christ failed to glorify God,
then he failed to save me. But he didn't. He glorified God,
what we could not do in the law. The law demands you to glorify
God, and you couldn't do it. But your Savior did glorify God
in your stead. So what are you glorying? I glory
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, who did he die
for on the cross? The popular belief is everyone. Get that in, when you say Christ
died, immediately you ask the question, for who? The immediate
response without thinking of every religious person is everyone.
The problem with that is not in the word of God. The problem
with that is not true. Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd,
and the Good Shepherd giveth his life for, specifically, the
sheep. He said, I am the Good Shepherd,
I know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth
me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. Says it twice. My goodness. You
missed it the first time. Maybe get it the second time.
I lay down my life for the sheep. And listen, he's not talking
about past tense. He's also talking about future
sheep. He said, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Talking
about you and me. Consider that. He was thinking of you. You that
believe. He was actually, literally thinking
of us. Other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold. Them I also must free. And they shall hear my voice. It was an accident you heard
his voice. Was it fate, chance, luck? He told them 2,000 years ago
that you were going to hear his voice. They shall hear my voice.
And there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Then he turns to
those who didn't believe. And he says this, now get this. He says, you believe not, and
I'm going to tell you why, because you're not of my sheep. Religion wants it reversed. They
say, you're not my sheep because you don't believe. Jesus didn't
say that. He said, you don't believe because
you're not of my sheep. When our Lord Jesus Christ went
to that cross, he went for a very specific people, his sheep, his
bride, his church, the elect. In Isaiah 53 he said, for the
transgression of my people was he stricken. His elect were by nature no different
than anyone else. Yet an act of God's free grace,
He chose them, gave them to Christ, and when Christ died, He died
for them. You see how the gospel abases
us? I mean, have I exalted you in any measure? If I did, it
is totally accidental. I never intend to do that. I
never intend to exalt you. Because the Word of God never
exalts you. It abases you. And Paul said, God forbid I should
ever glory in myself, except in the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who died for the elect. Behold, the cross of Christ
testifies the full measure of salvation, something God has
done for us outside of us. Were you there? Did you see it? And if you were there, there
were many people there. Did they have any part in it? Does it have any hand in it? I'll ask you that believe. Did
you have any contributing factor to your salvation? Name one thing that you've done
to merit what you have. Where does your merit come from?
Because you have to be holy to be accepted. Where does that
come from? God forbid us a glory except in this, Jesus Christ
and him crucified. There is my hope. There is my
holiness and my standing before God. Now some poor sinner might
say, well if he died for his chosen, then how do I know if
I'm one? Because that's important. That
is vitally important. You can pretend to walk by this
rule all you want to, but if you don't know that you're one
of his, there's no comfort. No peace. There's no mercy. How
do you know? Let me ask you a couple of questions.
Do you have any goodness in you? This is the first thing. When
Christ comes and saves a sinner, it's the first thing He makes
him know. He's a sinner. I wasn't just a little sinner. I was THE sinner. Before, you
were a sinner. When He came to me, I was a sinner. Do you need a perfect salvation?
Or do you need something just to
help you along? Do you need to begin by faith and finish by
works? Is that what you need? No. I need a perfect, complete
salvation. I need something that's done.
I need something that's finished. Something that's perfect. And
I see that in Christ. I see He's my perfect salvation. Well, have you believed on Him?
Do you now believe? Well, here's the rule of life.
Do you now believe? What about now? Do you believe
now? What about now? Do you believe now? as many as
live by this rule. That's my rule. John says this,
His law is not grievous to me. Is it grievous to believe? Is
that grievous to you? Is that burdensome to you to
believe? No, every believer looks at his faith and says, no, it's
not enough, I want more faith. We believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the sign of one's election. Lastly, I want you
to see this. As we live by this rule, we see
the glory in the cross because of this. It's result. It's result. We who believe know Christ is
a successful Savior. We have no doubt of his victory. I have no doubt of his success.
Perfect victory. Perfect salvation. Listen to
me. When he said, it's finished.
Listen to this. It was finished. It's done. Why in the world would any believer
try to take and add to that? Why would you say, Christ, yeah,
I believe it's enough, but you know what? I think I need to
add something to it. There's still something I gotta
do. I always thought of that Sistine Chapel, beautiful painting
on the ceiling. And I look up there and I see
that thing and I go, you know what? This thing needs a little
more color. I think I'm just gonna add to
it. And I get a scaffold and I start going up there and drawing
stick figures on it. You take the law, you do worse
than that. You defile the sacrifice. Paul says you are fallen from
grace. So what do you need to follow
this rule? You need a new heart. If you don't follow this rule
of faith, if that's not your law, if that's not the rule you
live by, it's because you don't have a new heart. Paul said neither
circumcision availeth anything nor incircumcision. I don't care
what you were in the past, if you were a Jew and you tried
to follow all that law, or you were a Gentile, heathen, adulterer,
fornicator, it don't matter, you both were the same. What
makes the difference is a new heart. And a new heart lives by this
rule. God forbid that I should glory in anything. except the lower cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is God in man, who glorified God by
his death, who died for his elect, and who was totally, 100% victorious. I'll tell you this, we are surrounded
by difficulties and afflictions and trials and troubles constantly. What is your rule in those things?
The flesh will say you need to turn to doing good and doing
this and stop doing this. That's what the flesh will tell
you. But the rule of the believer is this, in the midst of our
afflictions, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you've
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, listen to this, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when you've done that, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does He promise? That
you'll have peace. There's no peace in the law.
There's no peace there. There's only peace in faith in
Christ. There's only peace in Christ.
And mercy. Anybody need mercy? You believers,
do you still need mercy? I need mercy. I need mercy. Well, you have
it. You have it. Why? You're the Israel of God. Who walk not after the law, but
after the Spirit. Which is what? Faith in Christ. I pray God bless this to you.
And if anybody ever walks after the law, I know the believers
are susceptible. Now listen to me, believers are.
I know believers, some people I hope and have confidence that
they're believers. This day, today, they still believe that they
gotta try to obey that old law. Now how do I know if they're
real believers? Because eventually a real believer can repent of
that, he'll turn from that. He won't be able to stay long
in it. But the sad case is, if they
continue in it, Paul says Christ will profit them nothing. That's
a sad state. Keep me. That's what I pray.
Keep me. I'm not looking down at him because
I know without him keeping me, I couldn't live by this rule. Keep me in this rule. Pray God bless us. Stand and
be dismissed in prayer. Chuck, would you dismiss in prayer,
please? Please. We ask you to keep with us. We can't wait. Keep with us. We will pray. And pray that there will be peace
in your lives. I'm going to do the opposite.