Galatians chapter 6. We'll be looking at verse 16
as our text this evening. Galatians chapter 6 and verse
16. And the title of the message
this evening is, The Rule to Live By. The Rule to Live By. Or The Rule Believers Live By. Verse 16, and as many as walk
according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy. And upon the Israel, God. My subject tonight is simply
the believer's rule of life. The rule by which every believer
in Jesus Christ is to live by. What is the rule of the believer's
life? Here the Apostle tells us that
the believer has a rule of life. He says, as many as walk. Now this word walk indicates
a conversation of life. a manner of life, how you walk
in this world. Believers, we are not taken from
this world, but we are saved from this world, but we are not
extracted from it. We are to live soberly, righteously,
and godly. When? When you get to glory. No, in this present evil world. That's our conversation. We have
a life that must be lived in this world, a walk. That's what
that means, a manner of living. And here Paul is speaking of
how believers are to live and what is to be our conduct. Our
manner of life is not free. Now, understand this. We are
not free to do what we please. Remember, we are bought with
a price. We do not belong to ourselves. We belong to Christ,
and Christ is our King. And so we are to live after his
command. We are not free to choose. This
is not an opinion-based thing here. How you live your life
is not based on your opinion of how you should live your life.
Not for the believer. Not for the believer in Christ.
We are not free to speculate as to how to walk. We as believers
in Christ are not lawless. We are not without a law. Paul
says of all spiritual Israel, he said, look, as many as walk
by this rule, Peace be on you. Peace of God that passes understanding. Peace of God that comes from
Jesus Christ, bought by the blood of Christ. That peace be on you. And mercy from God, whosoever
you are, that walk according to this rule. Now the word rule,
it simply means boundary or standard of faith and practice. This rule,
whatever it is, is what believers are to walk after in this life. It is to be our boundary. It is to be our standard of all
faith and practice. It is a line, that's what this
word means, a line by which we measure our walk and manner of
living, a rule. Isn't that what a rule is? So, what is the rule? What is
the rule? Everyone that's true Israel of
God, every true believer, shall walk by this rule and they have
the peace of God, they have the mercy of God. And listen, only
Israel is going to walk by this rule. He said, and upon who?
Israel. That's spiritual Israel. It has nothing to do with that
nation in Palestine. It's talking about spiritual
Israel. Now countless millions upon millions of religious men
and women believe that this rule of life is nothing less than
the Ten Commandments given in the Mosaic Law. They believe
salvation begins with Christ. They believe that salvation begins
with faith. We know this. Salvation begins
long before I ever believed. But that's what this common world
believes, is that salvation begins at faith, and that somehow they
must live by this Ten Commandments as a rule of life, that salvation
begins with Jesus Christ, but in order to triumph over the
world, the flesh, and the devil, they must strive to obey the
Ten Commandments. I told you about that sign I
used to pass in Houston all the time. That religious church had
that big tablet up there or big billboard that said, Ten Commandments,
God's Road to Happiness. This is what the modern religious
world believes. Now on this we must be clear.
that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, born again of the
Holy Spirit, to life and faith in Christ, you are under no measure
of that law of Moses. Absolutely no measure of that
law are you under. You're not under the law of Moses.
Now the word law in scripture is used in different ways, to
depict different things concerning that law. Now in the Psalms,
especially Psalm 119, you read the law a lot in there, but that
word mostly means the whole Word of God. When you read that in
Psalm 119, it is talking not just about the law of Moses,
but rather the whole law, the whole Word of God. In some of
the other places, the law might have reference to the sacrifices. In other places, it might refer
to the governmental law, or even some places, it might refer to
the Ten Commandments. And this is what most people
assume, and that's all it is, an assumption, that the law of
Moses, that Ten Commandments, is the believer's rule of life.
So when most ministries say the Believer's Law rule of life,
they're saying the Ten Commandments. That's what they mean. Now they freely confess this,
that the sacrifices are done away with. They freely confess
that the governmental law, the dietary law, has all been put
away when Christ came. But the only portion, they say,
remains for the believer to follow is the Ten Commandments. And
there's a problem with this doctrine. You know what the problem is?
Here it is. It's not found in the Word of God. It's not found
in the New Testament whatsoever. Nowhere are we commanded to go
back under the law in any part as a believer in Jesus Christ. They will strive to prove this,
but to no avail. You know why? Because the law
of God is never divided. It doesn't matter if you're talking
about the sacrifices or the governmental law or the dietary law. It doesn't
matter what portion of that law you're talking about or the moral
law. The law is the law is the law is the law. And it's an all
or nothing principle. It's an all-or-nothing principle.
In fact, that's the whole purpose of our book in Galatians here,
is to deal this, that the whole New Testament shows
this, that all who are under the law in one point are under
the law in every point. What was the point that they
dealt with in Galatians? It was circumcision. And yet
Paul said this in Galatians 3.10, for as many as under the works
of the law. Now, no matter which portion
of the law you want to take, if you are under the works of
the law, you are under the curse of the law. Take one, take five,
take ten. Doesn't matter which portion
you take, you take the whole thing. And you're under the curse
of the law. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in... what? Two words, all things
written in the book of the law to do them. And so if these Galatians
were taking circumcision, Paul says, look, you're guilty of
the whole thing. You can't pick and choose which one you desire
to take. And this includes the 10 commandments
for they are all the law of God. I know why preachers do this
and I know why men do this. They try to keep people in line.
They believe they can use this in order to guilt people to stay
in their churches so they don't have to run and chase them. They
bind them to this law so as they can try to keep people in their
ministry and keep their ministry funded. But the gospel message
is not one of bondage, is it? It's one of freedom. One of deliverance. We preach a message of full,
complete, and absolute freedom from the law. Deliverance from the law by the
perfect righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ. We preach this
in Romans 10, chapter 10, in verse 4. Christ is the end. The law and what does that mean?
That means he has the satisfaction He is the completion of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth We preach you are not under the
law but under grace Romans chapter 6 in verse 14 You are not under
the law. How much more clear? Can you
be you are not under the law which part all of it is All of
it. And not under the law in any
part. Since every elect child of God
is put into union with Jesus Christ, and he has been made
our surety, our high priest and mediator, we have in Jesus Christ
already fulfilled the law. Romans chapter 8 and verse...
I'll read to you Romans chapter 8 and verse 1. This is what Paul
says to those who are not under the law. There is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. In Christ
Jesus, you're not under the law. You're under grace. There is
no condemnation to 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 us free from the law
of sin and death. 4. Because what the law could
not do, then it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh. Here's the reason. That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us." Oh, isn't that sweet? The righteousness of the law
is fulfilled in you. Jesus Christ is your substitute
has fulfilled it and by his grace. He has imparted it to you in
the new nature That's what Paul says in Galatians chapter chapter
6 and verse 8 Verse 15, he says, For you are in Christ, neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. But what?
A new creation. If you are in Christ, you are
a new creature. What does circumcision avail
you? Nothing. What does uncircumcision, does
it prevent you? No. We are in Christ, new creatures,
and there is no condemnation to us. You know this. that when he lived
a perfect obedience in his life, so did I. You know, I don't know anything
at all about Adam. Do you? I mean, I know who he was, I
just, I wasn't there. I wasn't there. But when Adam
sinned, I know this, I sinned. God said so. That was my representative
man. But even more precious, here
it is, When Jesus Christ obtained righteousness by his obedience
to the law, so did I. When he died, I died with him. When he satisfied the justice
of God, I satisfied the justice of God in him. When he rose again
without sin, I rose again with him without sin. We are seated
together, the scripture says, in heavenly places, where? In
Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. And so Paul
says that as many as are under any part of the law, you're under
the curse. I want to make this clear because
people will start to, at this point, begin to mumble and grumble. Believers do not hate the law.
We do not hate the law at all. The law is, as Paul said, it
is good, it is right, and it is holy. The law is perfect in
every way. Nothing wrong with the law, but
it was the weakness of our flesh that was the problem. The law,
if the believer could obey the law, we would. Because it's right,
it's good, everything it says is right. But listen, God never intended
that law to be any part of your salvation. God never intended
that your obedience to that law should have anything to do with
your salvation. Now the law is good and it has
a purpose. Now what's the purpose of the
law? For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. The law can only expose sin. It cannot help you, it cannot
cleanse you, it cannot wash you from your sins. It can only condemn
you. The law of God is good when it's
used rightly. The law of God shows us that
we could never please God. Now, that's a good use of the
law. If I'm going to use the law, it's going to be in this
way, to show you you can't obey it in any part whatsoever. No matter how hard you try, you'll
never obey it. You could never do it. Now, I want you to see this.
Do you realize, let's just take those Ten Commandments people
want to live by. How many of those of you obeyed perfectly? I'm holding up the answer. When have you ever obeyed one
of them? Say that a man was a eunuch from
birth. Somehow this fella had missed some kind of chromosome
in his mind that he didn't have any lust in his mind or outward
actions. Now how did I know he has failed
to obey thou shalt not commit adultery? How do I know that?
Because in order to obey that, he has to love God with all of
his heart, with all of his soul, with all of his mind, as he is
not committing adultery. So then whatever we strive to
do, it is a complete failure seeing that we cannot love God
with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our
mind, for Jesus said that is the greatest commandment. And so all of them must be done
then in perfect love for God, which cannot be. Now, everyone who still will not repent
of this wickedness and look to Christ alone, the Scripture is
clear in this matter. Christ shall profit you nothing.
Anyone who has the law of God in any way, in any measure, for
their justification, sanctification, or redemption, Paul says this,
Christ shall profit you nothing, whosoever you are. That just
eliminates all statute. I don't care if you're the president
or you're a preacher or you're a peasant. It doesn't matter,
whosoever you are. If you add the law to Christ,
Christ shall profit you nothing, Paul says at the end of Galatians
chapter 5 and verse 3. For to take one part of salvation
to yourself is nothing short of robbing God of His glory. For a man to take the Ten Commandments
as his rule of life, that man is seeking some glory for himself.
That's the only thing you can come up with. Why would he dare
take that law to himself? He hasn't obeyed it ever and
he can't obey it even now if he is saved, if God has given
him a new nature. He still can't because that old
man still resides in him. Why then would he do it? I'll
tell you why. He wants some way to measure
his salvation by his works. You know how we measure our salvation?
By this rule. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Now there's my rule of my salvation. You want to know if my salvation
measures up? Christ is my rule. Christ is my measurement. And
friends, He measures up just fine. Just fine. That man is
seeking some kind of glory. But would to God that all who
believe such a thing would repent and trust Christ alone? Now,
all who believe on Jesus Christ as the end of the law, for righteousness
to everyone who believes on Him, I want you to know this, the
result of your testimony concerning the Ten
Commandments, knowing that it has nothing to do with our rule
of life, you will become an outcast. You will become hated and despised
by this religious world. You will be called names like
antinomian, lawless. I tell you this, we are not antinomian
and we are not lawless. We do have a law, it's just not
the Ten Commandments. That's not our rule of life.
That's not what we live by. We do have a rule. As many as
live by this rule, peace be on them and mercy. And that is not
the law. That rule is not the law. What is it? Now I've told you
what it's not. Now what is it? Well, I believe
it's found all throughout this chapter. This is a conclusion. This rule of life is what Paul
has been talking about throughout this whole chapter. But I believe
that the summation of this rule is best seen in verse 14. Go
back to verse 14, and you'll see what rule the believer lives
by. What is our law? What is our
rule? But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's your rule. Pay attention.
Faith in Jesus Christ. That is what is intended by glorying
in the cross of Christ. I will not have faith in anything
else. except the cross of Jesus Christ. This is the rule by which we
live, the law of faith. Remember, Paul mentions this
law of faith in Romans chapter 3. He says this, Verse 25, whom God hath set forth
to be the propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time
his righteousness, that he might be just in the justifier of him
that believeth in Jesus, where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By the law of works? No. by the law of what? Faith. So the believer's rule
is a law. His law is faith. Faith in what? God forbid that I should have
faith, that I should glory in anything except this one thing,
the cross of Jesus Christ. Now Paul uses that language,
God forbid, very strong language. A very strong language. And this
is our language, is it not? Is this not the language of faith?
God forbid that I should glory in anything. God forbid that
I should glory in my flesh. God forbid that I should glory
in my obedience to the law. God forbid that I should look
at my goodness. God forbid that I should look
to my own strength to serve God. God forbid that I should glory
in anything I have ever done or ever shall do. God forbid. Now that's a rule we can live
by, isn't it? God forbid that I should try
to glory or look to anything. Except what? The cross of Jesus
Christ. May God give us such grace to
walk by this rule. May God ever keep us from looking
at our own merits. Do you not have trouble with
that? How often when you feel like,
when you are doubting, if you are even His, what's the first
thing the flesh begins to do? Begins to look for things you've
done. Well, I've been in the service. I'm faithful to the
worship of Christ. I love the... No! Don't look
for that. Don't glory in that. That's not...
His law is this. Don't glory in anything you've
done. Don't look for it. Look at Christ. Look at Christ. That's all your law. That's all
your law in this world is to look to Christ alone. God keep
us from doing that. So then whatsoever gives glory
and praise or any merit in ourselves must be abandoned.
Must be completely abandoned. This is our rule of life. That's
a rule of faith, isn't it? If you believe in Jesus Christ,
you don't believe in you. Isn't that right? You can't do
both. It's not a combination here.
It's all of Christ or it's all of you. Faith says it's all of
Christ and abandons every hope of the flesh. That's my rule
of life. That's your rule of life. Our
rule of life is this, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name be glory for thy mercy and thy truth's sake. We
who believe still confess that all we do is mixed with sin.
Isn't that right? You who walk by this rule of
faith, you confess this. that in my flesh dwelleth no
good thing. And God forbid that I should
try to measure the success of my salvation based on anything
I've done. God forbid. Herein is our rule
of life that we should always glory in the cross of Christ.
That's my law. And that's your law. See, we're
not lawless. We have a law. It's the law of
faith. Not the law of works. And oh,
how necessary is this law. Isn't that right? Is not faith
necessary? Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. We must believe. And what then
is the object of our faith? It is not our faith, is it? No,
God forbid that I should glory in anything save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. The cross of Christ, now what
is that? As I've talked about this verse recently, I'm not
going to spend time on this, we know this, it's not that wooden
cross. It has nothing to do with that
wooden cross and anyone who is a believer, you should get rid
of any of that garbage. You should not have any of that
stuff. Listen, people say, well, it's just a symbol. It's just
a symbol. And by this symbol, I'm preaching
the gospel. No, you're not. A symbol never
preached the gospel. Not once. A symbol never saved anybody.
Not one. No, our faith is in Christ and
Him crucified. The Christ of the cross, not
the cross. Now, when we look at the faith
of the cross, there are four things here. Four things, four
questions that must be answered. As we say this, this is my law. This is my law. God forbid that
I should glory in anything except the cross of Christ. Now, every
time you think of the cross, there are four things we must
know. Four things. Who died on the cross? Why did he die? For whom did he die? And what did he accomplish? Those
four things must be answered. And every believer who has this
faith as their rule of life, as their law, We know these answers
most readily. First of all, who was it that
died? It was God manifest in the flesh who died on that cross.
It was God manifest in the flesh. Matter of fact, when you read
that text with me again in verse 14, look at these three words.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our... Listen,
Lord. Speaks of His deity. Jesus speaks
of his humanity. Christ speaks of his office. This is the one who died on the
cross. The Lord died. The Lord God was
manifest in the flesh. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word, listen, was God. The same was in the beginning
with God, and all things were made by Him, and without Him
was not anything that was made. In Him was life, and life was
the light of men. Jesus is God. He is with God, with the Father
and the Spirit, and one with the Father and the Spirit, and
He made all things by His omnipotent power, Can you imagine that? There he was, walking in Jerusalem,
hated, despised of men, and he was walking on his own earth
that he made. He was hated by the very creatures
he brought up and gave life to them in their mother's womb,
brought them forth from their mother's womb, took care of them
as they grew up, and yet they despised and rejected the Lord
of glory. This is the one who came and
died. He was God, the Son of God, made flesh and dwelt among
us. This was the Lord Jesus. He was
man, very man. God, very God. The spotless,
sinless Son of God came in human flesh, was rejected and hated
of men, and they hated Him so much they crucified Him. But
we know this was not by chance, right? It was no accidental crucifixion. It was on purpose. In fact, all
of the scripture before he came told us that he would be crucified. The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent and then God killed the animal and covered
their naked bodies to picture Christ. He who was God became
the seed of the woman and did on the cross exactly that, crushed
the head of the serpent, removed our sin, and covers His people
with His own righteousness. This was told to us from the
beginning that He would do this, that He would come. And this
word Christ, what does that mean? It's the anointed one of God,
the chosen one of God. He was chosen to be crucified. Revelation chapter 13 verse 8
says this, He was as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This One who is God manifest in the flesh was purposed of
God to be crucified and save His people. And I want you to know this is
very important that he is God manifest in the flesh because
no other man could have saved us. If we believe as the scripture
teaches concerning a representative salvation, no other one could
obtain the righteousness of God but God. The angels, though holy, have
never obtained the righteousness of God. You know that? Even though
they've never sinned, they have not the righteousness of God.
They have the righteousness of angels, but not the righteousness
of God. Only God could produce the righteousness
of God. And that's why we needed Him.
No other blood but the Son of God's blood would do. Spotless
blood. Remember, that's what was pictured
throughout the Old Testament. The necessity of spotless blood.
and only His blood, the blood of the Son of God, would ever
do. Therefore, our rule of life is
this, to believe on the Son of God. That's who we believe, isn't
it? When we say we glory in nothing but the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we are saying this, I believe in the Son of God. that he came
in the flesh and that he is our mediator. There is one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Now secondly, why
did he come in the flesh to die? Think of that. Why did he come?
Why did he have to die? He had to die, not what you think. I mean, yes, there's going to
be a measure of this. The first thing that comes to
our mind is not correct. We think, well, he came to die for us.
Well, that's a result of why he came to die. The first reason
he came to die was the glory of God. The glory of God. The first cause was not to save
sinners, but to glorify God. He said, Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
may also glorify Thee. What do you think He was going
to do on the cross? He was going to glorify God. He was going
to magnify God. It is very clear, we need to
be very clear on this point. Don't you know that everything
that happens is for the glory of God? We think things are happening
for us. But if things are happening for
you, the first cause of that is the glory of God. God said this, I will sanctify
my great name, which you profaned. God says that. I'm going to do
everything I'm doing for my own glory. In Ephesians chapter 1,
we love that passage, right? We love, of course, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy without blame before
Him, in love, having predestinated us to the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ, Now here's the reason. According to the good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Now you know why everything's
being done. According to the praise of the glory of His grace.
That's it. His glory. Christ came and died for the
glory of God. And how best is the glory of
God displayed? In the salvation of sinners.
In the salvation of sinners. It was the grace of God that saved sinners. It was man that sinned and rebelled
against God. It was man who rebelled and sought
to overthrow his maker, and yet God, before their sin, in love,
purposed to save them by this means, by killing his own son. Greater love hath no man than
this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. God, in
sovereign love, decreed in the covenant of grace to save those
who only merited His wrath. This is why Jesus Christ came
to die, the glory of God. And by fulfilling the glory of
God, He saved us. By fulfilling the glory of God,
Those who take the law to themselves as a rule of life, what they're
doing is seeking glory for themselves. But we who walk by this rule
take no glory for ourselves, seeing that the glory was accomplished
by Jesus Christ. The glory of God was accomplished
at the cross of Jesus Christ Behold, Christ Him crucified
is God's glory, it's God's gospel. He came to give His life a ransom
and to reconcile sinners unto God. I'm so thankful that God in mercy
came to us and gave us a new nature so we might glory in His
perfect offering. Now thirdly, for whom did He
die? Christ came, we say this, Christ came to save sinners.
But more specifically, the Scriptures are very clear for whom Christ
died. Now, the popular belief of religion is that He died for
all men, that man sinned and God must somehow come up with
a remedy. A remedy. And that remedy was
Jesus, and Jesus came and He died for all men, without exception, And all they must do to make
that redemption powerful to their souls is just exercise their
will. That's the popular religion.
The only problem with that is it's not in the Word of God. This doctrine of free will works
religion is the doctrine of men and the teaching of devils. The Word of God concerning those
for whom Christ died is very clear. Listen, He died for the
elect of God. He died only for His people the
Father gave Him. He died for His sheep. He died
for His church. He died for His bride and no
one else. God forbid I should glory in
anything but that gospel. Listen to what our Lord said
in John 10. He said, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd
giveth his life for everyone. Is that what it says? For the
sheep. For the sheep. He said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them I also must bring. He's the Good Shepherd. He gave his life for the sheep.
And we know that doesn't mean everyone because later in that
same chapter in verse 26 there were Jews who would not believe
him there were Jews who did not believe him and Jesus said to
them you believe not Listen to the reason why they
didn't believe you believe not because You are not Now he did not say you are not
my sheep because you don't believe that's what the world say well
you're not a sheep of God because you don't believe no if you don't
believe it's because you're not his sheep you see he came to die for his
sheep If men will not believe on the
Son of God, it is because they are not elect, they were not
given to Christ by the Father, and He did not die for them.
In Isaiah chapter 53, you know that wonderful chapter, speaks
of Christ. It says, We like sheep have gone
astray, turned everyone to his own way. The Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all. Now who is that? Verse 8 tells
us plainly who those are, who the sheep are, who the transgressions
belong to. It says, "...he was taken from
prison, from judgment, who shall declare his generation? He was
cut off from the land of the living for the transgression
of my people was he stricken." The Lord had a very specific
people for whom He died, His elect. Now listen, his elect were no
different than anyone else. They had no merit in themselves. They
were like all the rest, without righteousness, without goodness,
children of wrath, haters of God, just like everyone else.
Yet in the free act of God's grace, He chose them, put them
into union with Christ. It was by sovereign act of love
that God made Christ to be their mediator. Therefore, on the cross,
He was bearing the sins of His elect. It was there that the
sinless Son of God was made sin for them. It was there that He
freely gave His life and died for their sins. God forbid that I should glory
save in this gospel of the cross of Christ." Don't you see how this gospel
eliminates any glory of man? It erases it. It puts down every
glory of man and exalts the glory of God. I'm so thankful for this
gospel because I needed a salvation totally outside of me. I needed
a salvation accomplished outside of my health, of my merit. I needed something that was done
completely outside. And that's what Christ was on
the cross. It was outside of us. And that salvation of my soul
was a sovereign decree of God accomplished by His death in
my stead. Now listen, there may be some
poor sinner, and I want to speak to a sinner. I want to speak
to someone who doesn't know Christ. And they say, well yes, I believe
in the election. I know that to be true. I know
that Christ only died for the elect. This sinner may feel his
guilt, he may know his need, and yet he is confused. And though
I don't know, I need to know, am I one of them? How do I know
if I am one of that number? Well, God clearly gives us marks
of this. Who are the elect? They are sinners
to the core. They are sinners to the core.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. Sinners. Listen, if you don't
have any goodness, if you don't have any righteousness, if you
don't have any hope in yourself, oh, you may be one of God's elect. Because that's who His people
are. Secondly, His people need a complete
salvation. Do you need a complete salvation?
Anyone here need a complete salvation? A perfect salvation that requires
nothing of you? See, God's elect, they need an
absolute Savior because they're absolute sinners. That's who
His people are. That's who His elect are. And
see, all of His elect, They see Christ as the only hope for their
souls. And not only do they see Him,
this is the measure, they believe on Him. Do you believe on the
Son of God? If you believe on the Son of
God, you are His elect. And His elect lived by this rule. God forbid that I should glory
save in the God-man. That I should glory save in the
glory He accomplished at the cross. God forbid that I should
glory except in the perfect redemption of Christ for His elect. And
what was the result of this cross? The result of this was stated
by Christ completely. It is finished. This is the rule
by which every believer lives by. It is finished. It is the rule of faith that
trusts completely in the perfect work of Jesus Christ without
any help from us. I like that picture of the altar
Moses was to build of earth. He said, if you built an altar
of earth, take those stones. He said, don't you touch it.
Don't put a hammer to it. Don't make it pretty. Don't do
anything. You stack those stones just like
they are. And the moment you touch it,
you ruin it. Christ is the altar. Perfect. without any need or assistance.
He fully, completely provided all that God required of His
people. What is the rule of life for
us? Cease from working. Your rule is this. Rest. Trust. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. How often? Perpetually. Constantly. Daily. Believing on Christ. Not believing in your faith.
Not trusting your love for Him. Looking only and always to Him.
That is the rule to live by. This is our rule. Jesus paid
it all. Now listen, all to Him I owe.
Is that not reasonable? Anything unreasonable about that,
that you owe Him everything? "...I beseech you, therefore,
by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice
unto God, holy and acceptable." That's what He made it, holy
and acceptable, which is just your reasonable service. That's
not a law that's miserable, is it? No, this law to us is not
grievous. His law to us is not grievous.
That law of the Old Testament is nothing but grief and misery.
It's a chain, it's a bondage, and if any man is half-honest
with themselves, knows this, they have no hope of ever obeying
it. That's not the rule of our life. The rule of our life is
simply, God forbid, that I should glory in anything. Save the cross
of Jesus Christ. And because of that, listen,
I am crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me. Because of His perfect work,
because of the new creation that He puts inside of us, we despise
our sin. We loathe our sin. Are we saved by grace that sin
may abound? What does he say? God forbid.
God forbid. We're not antinomians. We have
a law. It is the law of faith. And if
any man, as many as live by this rule, what does he say? peace
be on you." The peace of God that passes understanding. Can
you understand why you have peace with God? Really? Can you get
to the bottom of it as to why God gave you peace through the
blood of His Son? No, it's passing understanding.
But I have peace. I have peace with God and mercy. Now what believer does not still
need mercy? As you walk and live by this rule, I know this, you're
not perfect at it. Are you? Is your faith perfect?
Is your love perfect? No. It's perfect in Him, but
it's not in ourselves, so we need mercy. Constant, perpetual
forgiveness of sin daily. Lord, help me to live by this
rule, that I glory not in anything I've done, save the cross of
Jesus Christ our Lord. I pray that was clear. I pray
that you understand now what your rule is, what your law is. It is the law of faith. And it
is the law of love. I pray that God would give us,
and that's what it produces, isn't it? If you walk by the
law of faith, faith working how? By love. These two are never
going to be separated. And what does love produce? Love
produces good works, doesn't it? If you love somebody, that
produces good works. I don't need a law to tell me
what to do. Faith and love yield always good
works. Now may God give us grace to
live by that rule.