Go with me back to Galatians
6. Galatians 6, the Lord willing
we are going to finish tonight our study through the book of
Galatians. And what a profitable book this has been. I have so
enjoyed going through this book. This is a very precious book. They all are. They all are, but
this book is so clear. It's just so, so fundamental. Paul closes this letter that
he wrote to the Galatians by saying in verse 11, you see how
large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. Paul loved the Galatians. He clearly loved these people
in Galatia and the Lord used him to bring the gospel to them
and the Lord blessed it. They believed the gospel, they
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and in that bond, that bond of
Christ, he truly loved them. He rebuked them all through this
letter. That's what we've been reading
all through this letter. He corrected them. And the reason
is because he loved them. I mean, he loved them. Look with
me back at chapter one. Chapter one, he started off to
him by saying, I can't believe you've departed from the gospel.
Chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither
by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him
from the dead. And all the brethren which are
with me unto the churches of Galatia, grace be to you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this
present evil world according to the will of God our Father.
To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. But there
be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto
you than that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
He said, I marvel. I marvel that you're so soon
removed from the gospel that you were called into. There's only one gospel, he said,
you know that. You know there's only one gospel,
one good news. In chapter 3, verse 1, he said,
O foolish Galatians! Who hath bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath
been evidently set forth, crucified among you? O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you? He said in the verse before that,
chapter 2, verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for
if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. I don't frustrate his grace,
his precious grace." So he corrected them all through the book, all
through the letter. He corrected them and he did
it because he loved them. It's because he loved them. Whom
the Lord loves, he chastens. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens.
He does it through his word. Aren't we so thankful for the
correction of the Lord through his word? Aren't we so glad he
didn't leave us to ourselves? My father and mother both were
pretty good disciplinarians, I believe. And I'm so thankful. I really am. I deserved everything
I got. And I'm so thankful they didn't
let it go. They loved me. And our Lord loves His children. And whom He loves, He chastens.
And we're so glad. But these things that were written
to the Galatians, they're written to us. Everything Paul had to
say to them, he has to say to us. It's for our learning, for
our correction, and it's because we're loved of God. So we said
back in chapter 6, back in Galatians chapter 6, verse 11, You see
how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. Rarely did Paul write with his
own hand. Normally he spoke it and somebody
else would write it and many believe it's because of some
infirmity he had, maybe blindness of some type or something like
that. But he said, you see that I've written
this with my own hand. It's a large letter written to
you in my own hand and what he's telling them is this was important
to me. What I had to say to you was vital to me. special to me. Verse 12, He said, As many as
desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you
to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution
for the cross of Christ. He's saying, I just want to remind
you one more time. He's saying, I love you. I've
written this letter in my own hand to you. And I want to remind
you one more time about these false men, these false preachers
who are confusing you. They're lying to you, they're
distracting you from the one issue that's needful, the cross
of Christ. The cross of Christ. He said
they're doing what they're doing to be seen of men, to fit in
with men, to be okay with men. He said it's an outward show,
it's a fair show in the flesh. They're trying to make everybody
happy. That's what he said. They're
trying to make everybody happy so they won't be persecuted by
anybody. Nobody wants persecution. Nobody
does. But he said the Jews, they're
trying to make the Jews happy. They're trying to make the Greeks
happy. They're trying to make everybody happy. And that's what
religion does. And Paul said don't be fooled
by it. Don't be fooled by it. They're wanting you to be circumcised.
And they're wanting you to follow all these rules and follow all
these ordinances in order to be saved. And he said, they're
telling you all this because they don't want to be persecuted
for preaching God's free grace. It's amazing to me that any man
could be persecuted for preaching God's free grace. I can't, I
can't enter into it. It's free. We hate that. I just
can't enter into that. It's complete. We don't want
to hear it. It's done. Shut up. Rest. I don't want to. I'd rather
go to work. Who would rather go to work?
You have one of two options. You can rest or go to work. But he said, don't be fooled
by all this. Don't be fooled by it. They're wanting to give in. They don't want to be persecuted
for saying Christ paid it all. Christ paid it all. Rest. That persecution is real. And
men don't want to receive it. They don't want to receive it
for telling people Christ obeyed the law for you. That's what
Paul spent the entire letter telling them. This morning we
were in the message and we turned to Galatians 4 and then we turned
to Galatians 3 and we looked at all these places and it's
saying Christ satisfied the law. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. It's done. And they don't want
to be persecuted for that. They don't want to be persecuted
for saying, you just trust Christ. You just believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. We just sang in that song. Seems
now I see him on Calvary's tree. You just see him on Calvary's
tree. And you just rest and you're
going to be saved. And they don't want to be persecuted for saying
that faith to see him on Calvary's tree. That's faith to look to
him. That's the gift of God. That's
not a work you conjure up. They don't want to be persecuted
for telling people that. They don't want to be persecuted
for telling people baptism. I mean, clearly, clearly, baptism
is not salvation, period. They don't want to be persecuted
for that. Circumcision is not salvation. The Sabbath is not
salvation. Keeping the law is not salvation. Church membership is not salvation. Christ is. The blood of Jesus
Christ is. We are complete in the blood
of Jesus Christ. Verse 12, he said, as many as
desire to make a fair show in the flesh, They constrain you
to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for
the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. He said they're circumcised,
but they're not keeping the law. He said, I know they're not keeping
the law. They're flesh. They cannot keep God's holy law. They're flesh. They're telling
you to do something that the flesh cannot do. It just can't
do it. They're telling you, you keep
this little piece of the law and everything will be fine.
And he said, that's just not the case. It's not the case. I love you. I want you to know
the truth. I want you to be reminded these are my last words to you.
In order to be justified before God, a person cannot be a sinner. I'm going to repeat that. In order
to be justified before God, a person cannot be a sinner. Isn't that right? I mean can't
be a sinner. Now are God's people justified
before God? You know what that means? It
means something this brain can't understand and can't fathom.
In Christ, no sin. No sin. In Christ, this is me. In Christ, I have loved the Lord
my God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength. I've
loved my neighbor as myself. I've loved my mother and father. I've kept the Sabbath. I've never
stolen anything. I've never lied. I've never coveted. Never lusted. In Christ. I mean, it's absolutely,
absolutely complete. And by the flesh, that's impossible.
In the flesh, that's something that's absolutely impossible.
But he said, these men, they're wanting to brag and they're wanting
to put another notch in their belt, you know. So they ask each
other, how many baptisms did you guys have last month? We
got a sign that we put it up there, put the number up there. They want to brag on converts,
you know. How many converts? Paul said,
recognize the fact that these false preachers are glorying
in the flesh. That's all it is. They're glorying
in the flesh. They're glorying in everything
that you can see on the outside. That's what they're consumed
with. Everything you can see on the outside. The work that
they're producing on the outside. They're not glorying in the work
that only God can do right here on this heart. They're definitely
not glorying in the work that Christ has already finished.
Not glorying in that. I love what Paul said. He said,
you know, I can't remember who I baptized. He said, I can't
remember if I baptized any of you. A couple in the house of
Stephanas, Gaius maybe. He said, if I glory, it's not
going to be in how many people I baptized. I'm not going to
hold on to that number. Verse 14, he said, but God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. He said, if I glory God forbid
that it's in anything other than the cross of Jesus Christ. Anything other than that. What
God purposed to do for sinners on that cross and what God did
on that cross. God forbid I should glory in
anything other than what took place on that cross. Paul said, The Christ of that cross is my
glory. That's what he's saying. He is
my glory. Glory means rejoicing. He is
my rejoicing. And every ounce of it is in that
cross. Every single ounce of it. That
is the heart that God gives to every child of his. Every ounce
of it. I mean every ounce of it. We're
not glorying in the fact that I'm a little bit better this
year than I was last year as believers. Although I want to
be a little bit better this year than I was last year as a believer. But that's not my glory. That
is not my glory. My rejoicing is not in myself. It's not in my works. It's not
in anything God does through me. anything. My rejoicing is in Christ. It's
in Christ. Nothing in this world is my glory,
my happiness, nothing. He went on to say this world
is crucified unto me by whom the Christ who hung on that cross
by whom through him this world is crucified unto me. The importance
of it. The importance of it. There's
some things that are pretty important to us. The importance of this
world and the love of this world and the fear of this world. The
fear of what men can do to me. He's about to tell us in just
a minute, I've had about everything there is to happen to a man happen
to me. Almost all of it. I've been through
almost all of it. and the way of this world, the
riches of this world, the honor of this world, the recognition,
the fame, any fleeting happiness that this world may try to entice
me with, anything that could come along to pull me away from
this gospel. And this world tries hard, doesn't
it? This world tries hard. And but
for the grace of God, we would latch hold of it and run after
it, wouldn't we? But anything that this world
tries to entice us with, by God's grace, by God working on the
heart, believers say, it's dead to me. If it's going to take
me away from the crucified Christ, if it's going to take me away
from worshiping him, it's dead to me. None of those things compare
to the cross. None of them. Not the cross itself. He's not talking about that old
rugged cross, that old piece of wood, the Christ who hung
on it, the man who hung on that, that bloody cross, that precious
cross. Thank God, the sin, the sin of
this world is dead to me. Through that cross, through what
he did on that cross, the sin of this world is dead to me.
Absolutely dead. We sang this morning, it was
nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. He said, through
the Christ of the cross, because of the Christ of the cross, the
world is crucified to me. And then he said, I am crucified
to the world. I'm crucified to the law that
God gave to this world. Crucified to it. As far as the
law is concerned, I'm dead. You know that the law convicts
and the law will hold you to the fire. If you break that law,
you pay the penalty until you die. And as far as the law is
concerned, I'm dead. Well, how's that? The cross of
Christ. That's what he said back in Galatians
2 20. I am crucified with Christ. I am crucified. I died with Christ
on that cross. Thank God the law says. You've broken me and you're going
to be condemned. I glory in. No, I was crucified
with Christ. That penalty is paid. Dead to
it. That's where God will keep his
people. That's exactly where he'll keep them. Crucified with
Christ, crucified in him. The world can move on without
us. It really can. This world is
rolling and moving and years are clicking by and things are
moving forward. It can just move on without us.
It really can. It can do its thing without us.
Any minute now, our Lord is going to come pick us up. Any minute
now, our Lord is going to come pick us up. He does it from time
to time and any minute now, it's coming again. He's going to come
pick us up. He's going to take us out of
this world. We're going to be with Him forever and none of
these things are going to be our concern ever again. None
of these things. What He's saying right here is
Christ is our life. Christ is our life. We're dead
to the world and the world is dead to us and it's because Christ
is our life. He's our life. We're alive in
Him. We live, we move, we have our being in Him. He's all. He's all. I mean He's all. He's
the end of the line. All. If we have Christ, we have
it all. If we have Christ, we have all we need. Verse 15, He
said, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything
nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Paul said the only
thing that will avail anything, truly, is if Christ creates a
new creature in here. If he enters this part and creates
a brand new creature in here, a creature that loves God, a
creature that loves the Christ that hung on that cross. Men can try to obey whatever
they want to obey or disobey whatever they want to disobey.
They can do whatever they want to do. They can say the law is
everything to me or they can say the law is nothing to me.
There are men who walk this world who say that law right there
is everything to me. There are men who walk this earth
who say that law means nothing to me. Either way, nothing will
avail anything if Christ doesn't create a brand new creature in
here. A brand new creature in him. Christ must come. He must
put his spirit in a man. He must put his own heart in
a man. There must be a brand new creature.
That new creature will cry out. If God creates that new creature,
he will cry out, Abba, Father. That's what he told the Galatians.
Christ enters his people and the Spirit of Christ in them
cries out to God, Abba, Father, help me. Help me. The man who cries out is going
to be held. So there must be a brand new
creation, one that cries all the glory goes to Christ. All the glory goes to him in
everything he did for me on that cross. I love him. I love him. I don't just love correct doctrine. Do you love correct doctrine?
Would you prefer correct doctrine or false doctrine? Correct doctrine,
but I don't just love correct doctrine. I love him. I don't
just love his ordinances. I do love his ordinances. But
I don't just love those, I love him. I don't just love His law. I don't just love His cross.
I love Him. I love Him. Verse 16 says, And
as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them,
and mercy and upon the Israel of God. Whoever God has done
this for. Whoever God has revealed all
this to and created this new creature in them and caused them
to truly walk according to this rule of being dead to the world,
the world is dead to them. If they glory in anything, it's
only in the cross of Christ, it's in their God. If they glory
in anything, it's in their God. Whoever God has caused to look
to Christ and believe on Him, And whoever God has convinced
that Christ is all, he's all my righteousness, he's all my
holiness, he's all my life, he's everything. Then he said, peace
is on that person. Peace is on that person. Mercy
is on that person. That person is counted in the
Israel of God. Verse 17, he said, from henceforth,
let no man trouble me. For I bear in my body the marks
of the Lord Jesus. He's talking about his own actual
scars. His own scars that he bore in
his body. He, all those whippings, all those lacerations, he was
whipped and whipped and whipped. I think he said five times his
back was filleted open. ripped to shreds, he was stoned,
he was beaten, and then he was beaten, and then he was beaten.
He suffered all these things for preaching the gospel of Christ. He suffered all those things
for preaching the cross of Christ. And this is what he said, that's
all men can do to me. That's what he's saying, that's
all that a man can do to me. Look quickly with me at Matthew
10. Matthew 10 verse 28, Our Lord
said, Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to
kill the soul. But rather fear him which is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That's what Paul
is telling the Galatians. He's giving them a final note
and he's saying don't fear men that can only kill the body.
That's all they can do. That's all they can do. Fear
God who's able to put both body and soul in hell. Fear Him. Fear Him. And that's what he's
telling them. I fear Him. I fear Him. He is my God. And he said, he
told them, these false preachers, they're telling you this because
they fear persecution. They don't fear God. They fear
persecution. So he held up his shirt. He said,
you see this? I bear in my body these scars. He said, this is all a man can
do to you for preaching the gospel. This is the persecution for the
truth's sake. And he said, that's all a man
can do. And in spite of whatever comes, whatever persecution comes,
may Christ still be glorified. May He still be glorified for
His goodness, for His mercy. May He be glorified. Come the
end of this, of our time. Come the end of our generation.
Come the end of our ministry here. This is what I pray is
said about us. He was glorified. He was glorified. That's all
I want. How many converts did you have?
I don't know. Only God knows that. A man can
live his life how he wants to and show no evidence or show
all the evidence in the world. Only God knows that. What happened at the end of the
ministry? Christ was glorified. The flesh was abased and all the honor, all the praise
went to him for his goodness and for his mercy. So he says
in verse 18, And what he's about to say right
here is, I love you. I love you. I absolutely desire the best
for you. I desire God's blessing on you. May God shed His grace on thee. May Christ Himself bless you.
Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. May He comfort your heart. by
His Spirit. May He draw you near to Him.
May He keep you. May He keep us. May He truly
keep us in Him, in His Spirit until He returns. And then He
said the glorious word, Amen. So be it. May it be so. All right, let's all stand together.