Take your Bibles and turn back
to me, Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, I've entitled
this message, In Whom Do You Glory? In Whom Do You Glory? I'll continue with the apostles'
theme of love and service to one another. The Apostle said, we went over
this last time, that those that are taught in the word, those that are taught in the
word, he said, communicate to those that teach in all good
things. You that are taught of God, we are to give. We are to give for the service
of the ministry. We are to restore those brethren
who have fallen. Those who offend us, we are to
forgive them when they seek Mercy or repentance we are not to press
down on their wounds, but rather forgive them We are to give of
our earthly things for the furtherance of the gospel And he says in verse 7 that we're
not to be deceived God is not mocked God is never disappointed For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For they that soweth to the flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And he says this in verse 9,
let us not be weary in well doing. Now as we do these things that
the apostle is exhorting us to do, we understand that the Providence
that surrounds us, the flesh that is in us, the world that
is around us, it is constantly weighing down on us. Listen,
if doing good were easy, everybody would do it. And it's just not. It's constantly pressing in on
us. It's hard. It requires sacrifice
to do good to others. It requires us not to be selfish. And so he says this, don't be
weary in well-doing. Our Lord sends us into this world
and he understands it. We understand that all the storms
of this life, all of the troubles of this life are sent of our
Father. But we have this promise, we
shall reap if we faint not. Faint not in faith, trusting
Him. believing Him in due time. He will come to us. He will deliver
us from every trouble, every difficulty. And so we depend on Him. Don't
be weary, but trust Him. And this, in verse 10, this is
where I left off last Lord's Day. He says, As we have opportunity,
let us do good unto all, especially them that are of the household
of faith." It's a matter of doing good. He says, as we have opportunity. In other words, the Apostle says
we are to be as though on the edge of our seat looking for
opportunity to do good. Looking for opportunity, not
making opportunity. That's not what he's saying.
Not doing something that's beyond what we have. What gifts God
has given us, let us be ready to use them for the good, listen,
to all. To all. If a man's hungry, is
that not opportunity? If a man has no clothes, is that
not opportunity? If we have it, we have opportunity. And surely these things are good
and necessary. What good is it if you say be
warmed and be filled and you don't give them what they have?
You've got it, but you don't give it to them. No, if God gives
us opportunity, we should do good to all as we have ability
that God gives us to do it. What's the best we can do? What's
the best thing we can do? What's the best good that the
church can do after we have provided food for somebody that's hungry
or provided clothes for them? What is really the best thing
to do? Is it not to preach the word? Is it not to declare the
glory of Jesus Christ, the person of Jesus Christ, and the work
of Jesus Christ? I know a man that had donated
a lot of money to a mission in order to house and clothe people
that were in need. That's a good thing. I'm sure
that those people who didn't have the food or the housing,
they were very thankful. But I thought about the people
that he gave it to. They don't preach the gospel. What good was that that you clothe
them and fed them, and yet you did not declare unto them what
we have? Peter said that. He said, it's
silver and gold. Have I none? What I have, give I unto you.
Now, he had power to heal. I don't have that. If I had that,
I'd give it to you. But what I do have is what I
give you. What is that? Jesus Christ came to the world
to save sinners. Is that not the best news in
the world that anyone could ever have? And that's the message
we are to give. When? At every opportunity. And I've seen people try to make
opportunity. Boy, that messes up pretty bad.
I mean, they just try to, like trying to sell used cars. You
know, they give them food, and they give them clothes, and then
they're just waiting to pounce on them with it. Oh, God makes opportunity. And as we have opportunity, we'll
freely give to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know I've been guilty of this
many times. I've had opportunity. And you
know what I thought in my heart? Well, man, that person will never
receive that. Who am I? Who am I to make that judgment
that that person would not need that at that moment? Makes me think of what Spurgeon
did that one time. He was in a large auditorium,
and he was getting ready, and they had the pulpits really high.
They have microphones and things. They use it for acoustics. And
he would, as a routine, go up at the top and test out the sound
to see how loud he would need to be to reach the back. And
he said this, Behold, the Lamb of God, taketh away the sin of
the world. Now he didn't know it, but there
was a janitor sitting in the back. And he heard that, and
the man believed. He looked to the Lamb of God.
It's not for us to judge who will and who won't, but as we
have opportunity, let us do good to all by preaching the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And notice what he says here is special.
Now you gotta understand, this church was torn apart. This church
was split and it was, it seemed unmendable. But he said, look,
as you have opportunity, do good to all, especially. How often
does a church, when it has difficulties or splits in, how often do we
seek to do good to men outside the church, but in our church,
We seek to do others harm. No, especially of the household
of faith. We are to specially do good for
one another, for one another. The apostle Peter said this,
he said, seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth.
And what is that purifying your souls? How do you do that? What
is obeying the truth? Simply this, it is believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how the soul is purified. It is through faith in Christ. Now, seeing that you believe,
that's what he's saying, seeing that God has created in you a
new nature through, listen, the spirit and unto what? Unfeigned love of the brethren. sincere love of the brethren.
That's what Peter is saying. Peter is saying God saved you
to a particular attitude and it is what? Unfeigned, sincere
love. Love without hypocrisy. Love the brethren. See that you
love one another with a pure heart fervently What's the cause? Being born again. That's the
cause. You've been born again. Is that not reason enough to
love your brother who also has been born again? You don't know what he did to
me. What does it matter? Has God not purified his soul
with yours? Do good. even when our brethren
does us evil. Seek an opportunity to do good. Whatever they need. Whatever
they need. Let us provide, John said this,
that our Lord laid down His life for us. Did He not? Are you not less than Him? Should we not also lay down our
lives for the brethren? John said we should. We should
follow his example of love. Now, let's continue on and see
what he says here in our text. Look at verse 11. He says, You
see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own
hand. I want you to see the affliction of the apostle. the affliction
of the Apostle in writing this letter. Now the Apostle Paul
wrote many long epistles, Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, some say Hebrews,
but this epistle, he makes this very specific point. And I want
you to understand why he writes this in here. He wrote this with his own hand
while the others were just transcribed. This is the common means of writing
back then, is when someone wanted to write something, they would
have a man, he would dictate to the man what to write. And
the man would write what he said. This was common, and I don't
want to go through all the passages, Romans 16, 22, 2 Corinthians
12, 14. He tells us that these other
men were the instruments that Paul used to physically write. Now why did he do that? Because
we believe that the Apostle Paul had some physical ailment in
this. Some physical sickness. And so the Apostle Paul, in the
other letters, he would sign his name to it. He would seal
the authority of it. But this letter, he says, is
much more than that. It was very personal that he
himself took it to write with his own hand. He wanted to stir
their hearts. He desired the Galatians to know
this letter came directly from his heart to his hand. It was an urgent matter, and
this was to be done, he wrote it with his own hand because
it had to be done quickly. He saw the urgency of this, the
necessity of this letter, and they, knowing that he had some
affliction in the flesh, no doubt, they stirred their hearts to
see his love for them. You should pray for me that I
should have the same love for you as the Apostle Paul had for
his people. I desire to have that kind of
love for your souls, that I should take care for you. Let us, by
God's grace, when we see the need of the body of Christ that
we should not allow inconvenience of the flesh to stop us from
doing good to either their souls or their bodies. This is what
Paul is saying when I wrote this with my own hand, my own sickness,
my own affliction, though it was inconvenient for me to write
this letter to you, I did it out of a heart of love seeking
your good. Seeking your good. And this is
an example for all of us as believers to follow. to not let inconvenience
stop us from doing good. And so now the apostle, after
stirring their hearts, he then goes back to the original meaning
of the letter. He's going to make a distinction
now once again between true and false religion. He's going to
make a distinction by this one thing. In what or whom do you
glory? Look at verse 12 and he describes
all false religion. He says, as many as, I don't
care who they are, I don't care where they come from or what
denomination they are, as many as desire to make a fair show
in the flesh that constrain you to be circumcised only lest they
should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Now, the word glory, what does
that mean? The word glory means to exalt,
to boast, to brag, to rejoice in something. Now all men glory
in something. They glory in something or they
glory in somebody. Some boast in themselves while
others may glory in their families, some glory and boast in their
education, and others would glory in their work. Now, some of you
have grandchildren. You like to glory in them. I have children. I like to glory
in my children. When they do well, I like to
let everybody know about it. There's nothing wrong with these
things. There's nothing wrong with rejoicing in our accomplishments
or in loving our families. But we who are believers in Christ,
the distinction is this, we make none of these things the glory
of our acceptance with God. None of our works, none of our
abilities, none of our loving, none of our rejoicing, nothing.
We glory in nothing for our acceptance with God. None of these things
do believers in Christ glory in to save our souls. But just like this church in
Galatia, there are many false teachers and many false religions
who do glory, who boast and rejoice in the flesh. This simply means
that False religion and false preachers seek to brag on themselves. False religion, they have a desire
to glory, as Paul said, making a fair show in the flesh. They like to brag about their
religious exercises, their religious obedience to the law, They desire,
as he says, to make a fair show in the flesh. And the one that
comes to mind is the Pharisee. Remember the two that prayed,
the Pharisee and the publican. Our Lord said the Pharisee stood
in the middle, in the midst, in front of everybody. He made
sure everybody around him could see him. And he said this, he
prayed thus with himself. I thank thee, God. You know what he thought he was?
He thought he was God. He was praying to himself. I
thank thee, God, that I'm not like other men. I fast twice
in the week. I give tithes of all. I do good
to all men. I've obeyed your commandments. This is what it is to make a
fair show in the flesh. Because they are not sin of God,
they are not preaching the true gospel of God's grace. The only
confidence false religion has, the only measure of success is
outward ceremonies and moral conduct. This is how they measure
their success in religion. They measure it by numbers. They
measure it by money. They measure it by morality. Look at this church. Our church
is moral. Our church is outstanding in
the community. Our church is politically active. Our church... What is that? Does that help you to God? Any
of that? Any of your moral conduct help
you to God? And if you're a community service, does that help you to
God? Let me ask you this. Does your
spiritual growth help you to God? Do you get closer to God
because of your spiritual growth? Is that your merit? Is that how
you measure the success of your sanctification? Because that's
how a lot of people measure it. You say, well, I need to sanctify
myself. Well, how do you measure that? Well, I stopped doing this. I
started doing this. Listen to me. You desire, as many as desire,
to make a fair show in the flesh. They constrain you to be circumcised. They constrain you to obey the
law. They constrain you to do this. They constrain you to stop
doing this. What is that? That is nothing
but glorying in a fair show. And they put on a good show. They do put on a good show. These
men do not really care for the souls of men, but only that they
appear to be religious in the sight of men. They love the praise
of men. This religious age is only concerned
with the flesh getting better. Have you noticed that? The message of modern religion
is how you can be a better person. That's it. How you can feel better, feel
good about your works. How you can feel good about the
merits of your flesh to make you more acceptable with God
than other people. But we who preach the gospel,
we say with the Apostle Paul in chapter one, in verse 10,
he said, for I do not persuade, for do I now persuade men or
God? Do I now seek to please men?
Is that my purpose? When I do good unto others, is
that my purpose, to make it appear good so that everybody else would
see what I do and say, man, that guy's a good guy. You know, he
must be a really great Christian. What is that? You're making a
fair show. It's all you're doing. As many as desire do that. What
are they going to do? They're constrained to be circumcised.
These religious men have all the outward signs of religious
zeal. They may do many good things
for others. They may say a lot of nice words. It's been a while since I've
ever seen a Catholic service, but I imagine they use the word
grace a lot. I imagine they might use words
like justification or sanctification. They might use words like that,
I don't know. I know modern Baptists do. They
use all the same words. I'll tell you this, they don't
mean the same. They don't mean the same. They use a lot of nice
words, but listen to me, if they do not preach the gospel. Friends, there's not many gospels
That's the point of the apostle's writing here. He said, look at
this in chapter one. Look at this again. He said,
I marvel you are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is what? Not another. There is not another. There's
only one gospel. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ
and him crucified. It is a message of salvation
by grace Through faith in Christ alone. That is the gospel. And any variation of that is
not the gospel. It is another gospel which is
not another. We preach the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ. But as many desire to make a
fair show in the flesh, their glory, their hope, is only to
appear religious and be accepted of men. Be accepted of men. Modern church is nothing more
than a social gathering. It's nothing more than a social
gathering. That's what it is. Look at 2 Timothy. Go to 2 Timothy. Look at chapter three. The apostle says, and I want
you to see this and tell me that you cannot see it now. Tell me
this is not exactly the time that we live in. It just. It's a mirror. He said, no, this
also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. What perilous
times are you talking about? Earthquakes, volcanoes, no, no.
This is the peril. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves. This is surely the most narcissistic
generation that has ever lived. I, I, me, me, and I don't give
a damn about anybody else. Lovers of their own selves. I
don't care who I hurt. I don't care as long as I get
mine. As long as I'm happy. As long
as I'm pleased. Lovers of their own selves. Covetous. Boasters. Proud. Blasphemers. Disobedient
to parents. Boy, that's put right in the
middle of that. Have you ever seen such a generation that is
obstinate against parental authority? Unthankful. Unholy. Without natural affections. Have you ever seen a generation
more without natural affection for their own children? No natural affection. They'll
kill their children in an instance and call it nothing. No natural
affection. They'll abandon their children. Truth breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Imagine
that. Somebody's doing good and they
don't like it. Traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Now listen, you
think I was talking about the world out there. I'm talking
about the false church. Listen, having a form of godliness. Now all those people were not
outside the church I just talked about. They're in there. They have a form. They appear.
All of those things are in them. When they show up, dressed in
their nice clothes, how you doing? You all right, brother? Our Lord said something about
that to the Pharisees. He said, you are like painted
tubes. on the outside indeed beautiful,
but on the inside you're full of dead men's bones. Having a form of godliness, now
how do you know it's only a form? Listen, denying the power thereof. What does that mean? They deny
that the power of salvation belongs to God. The power of godliness. How can
a man be just? Justify. How can God be just
and justify the ungodly? That's the question. And they
deny that the power is of God. They think godliness is something
that they contribute to. They deny the power thereof. What do you do, you that know
the gospel? Turn away. Turn away. It's not our business to straighten
them out. As we have opportunity, preach
the word. Don't join. He said, for of this sword are
crept into houses, led silly women, laden with sins, led away
with diver's lust, ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. Now, as Janus and Jamberus withstood
Moses, so do these resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate
concerning the faith, but they shall proceed no further, for
their follies shall be manifest unto all as it was theirs. But thou hast fully known my
doctrine and manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering,
charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came to me
at Antioch and Iconium, at Lystra, with persecutions I endured.
But out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that
will live godly in Jesus Christ shall suffer persecution." We
live in a day where there is nothing but a vain show of religion.
have an appearance of godliness, but deny the gospel of Jesus
Christ. They deny that salvation is by
the power of God. Therefore, we turn from them,
these men of false religion, as they try to constrain you
to follow them. Listen to me. They're very zealous
in their work. They're very zealous in their
work. They will always seek men to follow them. They do this because their doctrine
is still appealing to the old man inside of every one of us. These legalists will always try
to measure the truth of their message and the validity of their
preaching and their acceptance with God based on how many people
they can get to attend. Isn't this always the argument?
Man, there's nobody at your place. What does that matter? See, they
measure it by how many people they can get to come. And they don't care what means
they got to use to get them in. They say how many, they measure
their success by how many they can get to make professions of
faith. You've seen that in time past. Boy, they'd like to have
a big show, make a big show of baptism. They got 150 people
wanting to be baptized every week. You want to measure how many
people that are doing good deeds in the community. But you know
what the problem is? That's their glory. That's what
they glory in. Nothing but a vain show in the
flesh, and that's all it is, friends. It's just a show. I heard a preacher One time he
was confronted with the gospel of salvation by grace. And he said, I believe what you
just said. And I asked, why aren't you preaching?
He says, Preacher, if I preach that, I'll lose my congregation. What was he concerned with? Making
a fair show. That's it. That's it. I tell you this. He obviously
did not really believe the gospel. Otherwise he would preach it.
Otherwise he'd preach it. This is one who glories in a
fair show in the flesh. Only fleshly religious and the
fleshly religious works of others rather than glorying in the cross
of Christ. These men desire to keep men
entertained keep them under the bondage of the law, so that they
can keep their coffers and pews full, so that they can boast
in their religious zeal, which is only a show. The poet Peter,
but the apostle that tells Timothy said, look, just like those men
who withstood Moses, God made a distinction. Remember that? When they withstood Moses, And
they withstood Moses. You know what Moses did? Moses
fell on his face. Moses fell flat on his face.
These men stood up in pride, thinking they were just as good
as Moses. You know what the problem was?
God didn't send them. And God opened the earth and
swallowed them. God always makes a clear distinction
between His men and these that desire to make a fair show in
the flesh. You know what it is? In what do they glory? In what
do they glory? False religion always glories
in the appearance and they always neglect the message
of the gospel of the cross of Christ. a prominent Southern Baptist
curriculum writer. She was asked about preaching
the cross. And she said, yeah, everybody
already knows that. We have to just move on. In what do they glory? They're
glorying in something other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. The more men pressure their congregations
to obey the laws or rule of life, these stress the ability of man
and not the salvation of God by grace. If we would hear men
preach, we must first see their desire and motivation of their
glory. Is it the cross? Is that the
only message you preach? Is grace the only cause of faith? Is Christ the only object of
worship? If these are missing, listen,
it's false religion. It's false religion. What do
the saints glory in? Look at this. Go back to your
text. He says, For neither they themselves
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. In what does
God preachers glory in? We glory in this one thing, the
cross of Jesus Christ. Now we are not talking about
some piece of wood or piece of gold that people put around their
necks. We don't glory in the object of the cross. We don't
glory in some sentimental object. What are we talking about when
we are talking about the cross of Christ? We are saying the
gospel The gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the cross is the
center of the gospel. It is the foundation of the gospel. Without the cross, there's no
hope. If God chose a people, if God chose a people to save,
and yet Christ did not die upon the cross, there would be no
hope for them. The cross is the hinge upon which
the door rests. I'm the door! Without the cross
there is no hope. And so what are we glorying?
We glory in the cross. Paul said that to the Corinthian
church. He said, I desire not to know anything among you except
what? Jesus Christ. crucified. Two things. Every gospel preacher will declare
to you the person of Jesus Christ. Secondly, the work of Jesus Christ. Who is he? I am declaring to
you, listen to me carefully, Jesus is the Son of God. He is God manifest in the flesh. sent of the father to do a work. There was a covenant made between
the father and the son, the father purpose to save a people for
himself. And in a covenant, He gave them
to the Son, and the Son agreed, I will be surety for them. I
will be their Savior. I will be their mediator. I will
be their Redeemer. I will be all their salvation.
Therefore, the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians that God has
made Him to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification,
and our redemption. Preach the person of Christ.
Behold Christ. Look to Christ. Stop trying to
make a fair show in the flesh. Abandon that and look to Him. Look to Him. There's no salvation
in your fair show. There's none. There's no glory
in it. Behold the glory. Jesus Christ. God condescends. take on flesh. He did that. He came to do his
father's business and his eye was set like steel until it was
done. What was his business? His business
was to save his people. That's what he was doing. You
realize I was saved long before I ever knew it. When Jesus Christ was actually
living out that righteous life, when he was obeying the law,
he was doing it for his elect. So when he finished it, their
righteousness was done. My righteousness was already
finished 2,000 plus years ago. It's already finished. Done. I'm not going to add anything
to it. It's finished. It's done. So for righteousness,
in whom do we glory? I glory in Jesus Christ, who
is all my righteousness, A-L-L, all my righteousness. And not only was he all my righteousness,
he had another work to do. He must have suffered the wrath
of God for my sins. God did not save His people with
a wink and a nod. He didn't save His people by
sweeping their sins under the rug or putting them behind Him.
God actually demanded payment. And Jesus Christ died. Willingly laid down His life
for people who hated him with every ounce of their souls. Talk
about me. Scripture says in that while
we were yet sinners, he didn't wait for you to get better. He didn't even wait for you to
come to him. He died while you were yet sinners. And we glory in his blood. What good is a message without
the blood of Christ? Can you think of a good message
that's ever preached without the blood of Christ? Man, that was a good message.
Not if it didn't have the blood in it. See, sinners need something. We need an offering that we can't
provide for ourselves. Jesus has provided the, listen,
the offering. And he said it when he's done.
He said it is finished. I'm not going to add any of my
sacrifices to his. Not one. I won't have any sacrifice. If I give my life for the gospel,
there's no glory for me. Didn't add one thing to his,
his death. his death paid my sin in full and God just to show me raised
him from the dead and I tell you right now he is seated on
the throne of God and nothing nothing nothing happens in this
world without his divine decree not a hair on your head is not
enough You numbered it. I tell you what, I like myself
pretty much. I think I like myself more than anybody else. But I
have not yet sat down and counted my own hair. He has. I love my son. I love my daughter. I have not yet counted the hairs
on their head. He has. And he is now ruling over all
things to make sure that I receive everything he earned. And in the end, when we stand
before God, he will say to us, come, you blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you. kingdom I purchased with my own
blood. The Father ordained it for you
and I bought it for you. Come, inherit the kingdom, prepare
for you for the foundation of the world. Why? Because you are
righteous. When I was hungry, you fed me.
When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was sick and in prison,
you visited me. What's the answer to the righteous?
What's the answer to the righteous? Lord, when did we ever do anything
like that? You see, even in glory, we find
no glory in ourselves. What does he say, though? He
said this, when you've done it in the least of these, you've done
it unto me. So all these things Paul's saying, when you have
opportunity of good, who are we really doing it for? Who are we really doing it to? To the one who saved us, the
one who loved us, the one who died for us. And when we preach the cross
of Christ, we preach this, that not one of his people will ever
fail to come to him. I said, I don't know who they
are. I don't know where they are. I simply call sinners to come
to Him. Is there any needy sinner? Any needy sinner? Anyone? He says come. How do you do that? It is believing in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is ceasing to make a fair
show in the flesh and glorying only in Him. See the difference? False religion
desires to glory in appearance. I glory in Christ. I glory in His cross as all my
salvation. And I don't want to talk about
anything else. I don't care to. And His people
have no concern to hear anything else save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Do you glory in Him? May God be gracious to cause
you to glory in Him. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Our Holy Father dismisses with
mercies. Oh, please. Tell us your rich mercy. Pour out your riches on us for
Christ's sake. Because of him, Father, please
bless us. Because of him, please intercede
for us, Lord Jesus. I beg you for tender mercies
to save the needy sinner. They should come to Him and find
true rest and peace. Forgive us our sins and may we
beg these things in the name of Jesus our Savior.