And just beyond the river, in
the cross, in the cross, be my glory ever. Till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river. Good singing. That's one thing
I've enjoyed about being down here. We'll just meet down here a couple
more times and then upstairs, perhaps this winter, Save on
the heat bill. We might meet here a little bit.
Go back to Galatians 6 now and read with me one verse. Verse 16. Galatians 6, verse
16. As many as walk according to
this rule, peace be on them and mercy. and upon the Israel of
God, the people of God, the chosen of God, the redeemed of God.
As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and
mercy. No matter what happens, it's
mercy. And what this rule means, rule
means something that governs your thinking. Something that
overrules every other thought. Something in your heart and your
mind that controls your thoughts and your affections. He said,
now if this rule, if you walk according to this rule, peace,
you'll have peace. And everything will be mercy.
I need peace. Paul said in verse 17, Paul had
this peace, he said, from henceforth let no man trouble thee. Nobody
and nothing is going to trouble me. Now, do you realize what
troubles Paul had? We don't really realize. No one
endured more troubles than the Apostle Paul. Go back and read
them for yourself. No one endured as much trouble
as he did. except our Lord more. But he
said, if this rules you, you will have this peace. I want
that. I want that. In Colossians 3,
he said, let the peace of God rule in your hearts. I need that. Peace means calm. Peace means rest. Peace means
no fear. Freedom from fear. Freedom from
worry. Freedom from agitation and anxiety. From being under stress. Peace. I need that. Paul, then what
is this rule? What is it you're saying that
needs to govern us, that we need to be under in order to have
this peace? In verse 14, here it is. Verse 14, he says, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in light of, in thinking
about, in dwelling on, Jesus keep me near the cross, keep
being near to, behold Him, considering, thinking on, dwelling on, your
mind, your heart, on what Christ did on the cross, you'll have
peace. Peace with God and peace of heart
and peace of mind. Nothing, no one can do anything
to you. Verse 14, he said, By whom, that
is, by Christ crucified, the world is crucified to them. Until the world is crucified
to us, we won't have peace. And he said, And I am crucified
to the world. Until we're dead to the world,
we won't have peace. It's all in light of Christ and
Him crucified. this rule. Walk by faith in Him. Look into Him. Now, there's two
kinds of peace that we're going to look at tonight. Peace with
God and peace within. Peace with God and peace within.
This is what our Lord said to His disciple when He was leaving
them. He said, Peace I leave with you. I made peace for you. I made
peace for you. God is not angry with you. In
fact, He loves you. He is your Father. You are reconciled
to God and He is you. Peace. I live with you and my
peace I give unto you. I impart to you. Peace by believing
Me, by trusting Me. Alright? Let's look at this.
Peace with God. God is holy. We are not. God is angry with the wicked.
We often act that way. We often act no different than
the people of this world whom He calls wicked. God who will
by no means clear the guilty. And I'm still guilty in many
ways. God who destroyed the world and
will destroy sinners. I was going to have you read
Isaiah 13, but for the sake of time, I'm not. And it's just
one verse of many where God promises, where God says, where God warns,
I'm going to destroy this place. forever. Well, what's to keep us from
being destroyed with the Word? And in Isaiah 48, the Lord said
this about those who are rebels against God. There's no peace
for the wicked. God's not going to let anybody
have any peace. That's a rebel against Him. They're
going to try everything. They're going to go everywhere
in search of it. They're not going to find it. They're not
going to find it. God won't let them have it. No
peace. They're only trouble. As long
as they're rebels against God, men, women, young people, until they're reconciled with
God, they're not going to have any peace. As long as people
are under the law and trying to keep the law, they're not
going to have any peace. That's what this whole book is
about. The whole book of Galatians. is written to the Galatians,
the church there, where that some people, some Judaizers came
in and told them, yes, we're saved by grace, but you've still
got to keep the law or you're not going to be saved. And so
people went about trying to make themselves righteous or keep
the law. And Paul said, you don't have
any peace. You don't have any peace. No
peace with God against whom we sin. No peace of mind and heart.
No peace of conscience. Brother Scott Richardson once
said, the only peace for a troubled conscience is the blood of Jesus
Christ. The only thing. Paul, who he
said, I was injurious. I was a blasphemer. He said,
am the chief of sinners, but he said, I have peace with God. How, Paul? By the blood of his
cross. And though his sins bothered
him, though he probably never could get that out of his mind,
standing there watching Stephen Stone and others. That's why he was so compassionate
with his brethren, the Pharisees. And though he maybe could never
get that out of his mind, yet he had peace of mind and conscience
that God was not angry with him. That God took out his wrath upon
his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he had peace. That's the
only way you can have peace. The only way. Peace with God. Galatians
1. Go back there. Galatians 1. Peace with God. Peace with God. I've been reading
through Isaiah from my own enjoyment, and I say enjoyment, but the
first 30-some chapters are frightening. There's woe pronounced on everybody. And the things I hear the Lord
say to the people convict me. I'm guilty of it. And I've been reading through
that until I get to Chapter 40, where he says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. And then the other chapters,
and then finally the Lord has Isaiah write chapter 53. After all that judgment
and condemnation and woe, he writes this, Surely he hath borne
our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace,
the whipping, the stripes, the punishment due unto us was upon
Him. And with His stripes, we are
healed. And he goes on to write that
he shall see of the travail of his soul, God, and be satisfied. God is satisfied. Shall I say it again? The gospel
is in two words. Substitution. Your peace with God, my peace
with God, is in a substitute. It's not what you do, it's what
He did. And satisfaction. Is God satisfied
with that? Is God pleased with what Christ
did? Is that enough? Is it enough? Will God charge me with my sins
or did Jesus pay it all? All the debt I owe. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And it says
that he was numbered with the transgressors. He bare the sin
of many and made intercession for the transgressors. I can't wait to get to that chapter
on here. I'm still in chapter 38. I went ahead and read it. I couldn't
wait. Galatians 1, look at verse 3.
This is how it begins, this whole chapter. Verse 3, Grace be to
you and peace from God the Father. Whose Father? Our Father. And
our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sin. That's why
it came. Paul, who said, I was injurious
and a blasphemer, he said, no, this is a faithful saying. This
is a true saying. God said it. And it's worthy
of every sinner, need to hear this, for your peace, for your
comfort, for your joy. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, even the chief. So He said He gave Himself for
us, verse 4, that He might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God. This was God's will. This was
the love of God, the purpose of God, the choice of God, choosing
you, choosing me. and sending Christ to die for
our Father, so He gets all the glory in it. To whom be glory
forever and ever. It's all to the praise of the
glory of His grace. Grace and peace. This is why
we glory in the cross of Christ and nothing and no one else.
That's why Paul said that, isn't it? God forbid that I should
glory. Paul was a Pharisee. He marveled
and he worried about the Galatians who were trying to keep the law
and get some peace by their morality or by keeping the law, by observing
the law. He said it won't work. It won't
work. Look at chapter 3. And many of
you were under that bondage. You were even in places And Jeanette
and some others were in a place where they claimed to preach
grace, but yet had you under bondage, didn't they? That you
need to reform yourself. There was no peace there, was
there? It was bondage. Verse 10 of Galatians 3, he says,
"...as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse."
If you think there's anything left for you to do, you don't
have any peace. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do that.
No man is justified by the law on the side of God. It's evident.
Well, how are the just going to live with God? Live before
God? How are they going to live in this world and have any peace
of mind and heart? By faith. Not by work, but by
faith. Verse 13, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He kept the law. Chapter 2, verse
21, Paul said, I don't frustrate the grace of God. Paul preached
grace. Isn't that grace? Not grace in
works. Not works. And then he wrote
that in the Romans. He said, now see, the grace works. If it's grace, it's no more works.
If it's works, it's not grace. Which is it, Paul? Not grace,
he said. Grace. It's not works. If righteousness,
verse 21 of chapter 2, If righteousness has come by the law, Christ died
in vain. That's how serious it is. And
God's not going to let anybody have any peace that's trying
to keep the law to appease Him and to be accepted by Him when
it took the blood of His Son to obtain that peace. They're
going to share His glory, and God's not going to let that happen. Go over there to chapter 5. I
read the whole chapter. They're leading up to this, our
text. And I read it a couple of times.
Chapter 5, verse 4, he said, Christ is no effect unto you. You don't need Christ if you're
justified by the law. The gospel won't give you any
peace. The gospel won't give you any hope if you're justified
by the law and you're falling from grace. But we, through the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, It takes the things of Christ and shows
them unto us. We wait for the hope of righteousness. How? By faith. By faith of Christ.
By faith in Christ. Listen to this verse in Isaiah
32. I did get this. Isaiah 32. The work of righteousness shall
be peace. Whose work of righteousness?
The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness. Isaiah 42. The work of righteousness shall
be peace with God and peace for God's people. The effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever. Assurance. You can't have any
assurance in yourself. There's no assurance to be found
in yourself. If you look for some kind of assurance or some
kind of growth in yourself, you won't find any. discouraged. Your guilt will
increase. It will not diminish. In fact,
the older you get and the more light you get, the more you read
of God's Word, the more guilty we are before God. And the only
thing that can put away that guilt is faith in Christ. And listen to this. There is
therefore now, right now, no condemnation For anything. For anything. All manner of sin. No condemnation to them that
are in Christ. Not to them that do better, not
to them that try better, not try harder than others, but in
Christ. This is one of my favorite verses.
None of them that trust in Him shall be guilty. Not one single
person. who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
will ever be guilty before God. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. So, Galatians 6 verse 16
says, As many as walk according to this rule, walk by faith,
looking unto Jesus, Run this race looking unto Jesus, our
Substitute. Peace be on them. And mercy. Surrounded by mercy. Mercy. Though troubles all around us,
sorrows beset us, we realize it's all good. It's all mercy. All God's wrath and anger and
justice and hatred was spent on Jesus Christ. He's not angry
with us. That's why He sent Christ. It's
all good. It's all for our good. And it's
all mercy. You see that? It's only peace.
Peace with God and peace within. As many as walk according to
this rule. Peace. And the reason He said all Israel
is because all the way through this book, He talked about those
that would be circumcised, those that keep the law. No. That's
not the Israel of God. The Israel of God, the true circumcision,
are those who are circumcised, not by hands, but by Jesus Christ. Do you remember that message
on circumcision? Christ is our circumcision. Alright, now look
at verse 14. My, my. There are three crucifixions
here. We looked at this not too long
ago, but we do well to look at it every two weeks God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the crucifixion of Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto
me. The world is crucified, and I
unto the world, and I am crucified. Three crucifixions that will
give us peace. First, the cross of Christ. The
cross of Christ. Now, when we talk about the cross,
and you all know this, And you're so blessed to know this, and
flesh and blood didn't reveal it to you, I didn't reveal it
to you, no man revealed it to you, but my Father which is in
heaven. He reveals this to every one of his people. But most people
don't know that. But when I talk about the cross,
when Paul's talking about the cross, you know he's not talking
about that piece of wood. Not many people know that. If
we found that piece of wood, we'd have to burn it, wouldn't
we? We'd have to burn it. We wouldn't
want it in our church. It'd be a curse to it. It's a
cursed thing. We worship that thing instead of the one who
hung it. You know, he's not talking about
that piece of wood. So many people think he is. Some fool is a fool
named Arthur Blessed, who walked all over this world with a cross
on his shoulders, glorying in himself. By the way, that cross
had a wheel on it so it wouldn't be too hard to carry. What an abominable fool. Stealing
Christ's glory. Everybody was so impressed with
this man taking away the glory of Christ
who suffered. That man wasn't suffering. He
was getting rich. The cross is not a piece of wood. It's not
a piece of wood. When I mention the cross, to you, you know that it's something
repulsive. To you, it's something frightening. It's something horrifying. It's
something fearful. The cross was an instrument of
torture, like a hangman's noose. Paul surely isn't in glory in
the instrument of torture. It was an instrument of shame
and torture. Only the worst criminals on earth
were crucified. That's who the cross was reserved
for. The worst criminals on earth,
the most vile and wicked of all sinners, they died a grotesque,
horrifying, bloody, gory, the worst possible death that a human
being could suffer was inflicted on those who hung on a cross. Now, you do understand that Jesus
Christ hung there not for his own sins, but for the sins of
those who deserve to be there. And when we glory in the cross,
and not glory in that horrible, horrible, torturous instrument
or death, but the one who hung there. Why He hung there. What He did there. And who He
did it for. That's who we're glorying in.
Not what, but who. This cross was a thing of great
shame and disgrace and humiliation. It was the most humiliating.
Christ hung there naked. And men and women take away His
glory by depicting Him on the cross, not in the bloody, His
visage marred more than any man. Not in the bloody agony that
can't be depicted in that way. And they have a little loincloth
about him. That steals his glory, doesn't it? He hung there naked
as a substitute for the people that he came to die for who should
be naked before God and exposed before God to the ridicule and
the shame. Their ridicule and shame. The
cross was the place where Jesus Christ bore the wrath and judgment
of the holy God against our sins. We're not to pity Him. When He
was carrying His own cross, some women were weeping, and He turned
and He said to them, Weep not for Me. If I don't do this, you're
going to die in your sins. Weep for yourselves and for your
children. Mourn over the sins that you committed that made
me go to this cross. Do not pity me. Glory in what
I'm doing. Be thankful in what I'm doing.
The wrath and judgment of God poured out on His Son in place
of guilty, hell-deserving sinners. Jesus Christ. And this is why
I hate to hear anybody say, I went through hell. I've been through
hell. No, they haven't. They may. But they haven't. But
Jesus Christ did. And hell is separation from God.
Hell is separation from everything that is love, mercy, grace, kindness,
peace. Separation from God. And Christ
cried out on that cross, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? So that we will know He was forsaken
of God. Why? So that we won't miss. God forbid that I should go and
save in the cross. That is what Jesus Christ did
on the cross. You see why anything added to
that or anything that takes away from that is an abomination to
God. That's what we're talking about.
Now, in light of that, Looking to Christ. And the cross is the
only way sinners can be saved, or God wouldn't have done it.
That's what He said. If righteousness comes by the
law, Christ died in vain. It's the only power that will
put away sin. And here's what the Scripture
said. Now, once in the end of the world, hath He appeared to
put away sin. How? By the sacrifice of Himself. And when He did, it says He obtained
eternal redemption. There's only peace for a guilty
conscience, for a guilty sinner, in seeing Christ hanging there
as your substitute. God is satisfied. That will give
you peace. And mercy. You'll see that everything
God does to you is mercy. Barnard used to say, anything
this side of hell is mercy. Mercy. Sin put away. The only power to put away sin
is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son. And it's the greatest
power in the universe, the only power that will give life. You
can't give yourself life. You can't give anyone else life.
Only by Christ, that corn of wheat falling into the ground
and dying, only He can give life. Transforming power. It's the
only power. Take one dead in sin and raise
them to walk in newness of life. Only Christ crucified. A sight
of Him. A drunk, a thief, a murderer change. Anger, wrath, malice,
envy, jealousy put away. Put away one way. Not by trying or striving. By
seeing Christ crucified. The only way. There's no room
for anger. There's no room for envy. There's
no room for jealousy. There's no room for malice. There's
no room for an unforgiving spirit when you see Christ angry. The
only thing. in the light of His cross, and
give you peace and make you peaceable, and others have peace with you.
Oh, boy. And he goes on to say here, here's
the next crucifixion. By whom? That is, by Jesus Christ
crucified, the world is crucified unto me. By me seeing Christ
crucified, the world is crucified to me. The world is crucified
to Me. Only when you see Christ hanging
on that cross for you, only when you see that Christ did what
He did for you, will this world begin to diminish in your eyes. And you see that He who was rich,
yet for our sakes became poor. He who left glory came down to
endure shame for us. In light of that, how can anything
in this world, I could be admired or be taken
with or have affection for anything in this world. That Christ meant
everything for us. When we see Christ on the cross,
the world will become dead to us, its opinions. He won't care. You'll consider the opinions,
the thoughts, the ways, the direction, everything that this world believes,
you'll say it's dead. They think we're fools for believing
that God created this world. That's because they're dead,
dead to God. They don't know. They think we're
fools for believing the truth of God's Word, believing in and
all that God says in His Word about sin, about the need to
put away sin, about Christ coming to put away sin, and we're all
sinners, and God is holy, and they think we're fools. Well,
they're dead to God. They're dead to God. How we know
is, I was once dead like that. They're blind. I was once blind.
Now I see. All the honorable of this earth,
All those whom this world esteems highly, all the celebrities,
all the stars, all the honorable people, the governors, the vast majority of everyone
in this world believes the exact opposite of what God's Word says,
especially this nation we live in. How can you have any respect
whatsoever? any admiration at all for people
who hate God, hate His Word. Listen to me. When Jesus Christ,
the only honorable man who ever lived, the only honorable man
who ever lived, the only true man, the only righteous man,
the only holy man, the only man who loved people, the only man
who was merciful, the only man who was kind, the only man who
was just, who really cared about the poor. These liars talk about caring
about the poor. The only one who did, they hated. So they're dead to me. They're
dead to me. I don't honor them. I don't esteem
them highly. If they don't esteem my Lord
highly, They hated him then, and they
hate him now. They're trying to eradicate his
laws, his word, all memory of him. They don't care. They're
dead to me. They're dead people to me. I
don't honor them. I render honor, as the scripture
says, to whom honors due. If my president was here, I'd
call him Mr. President. I'd arbuke him to his face if
he was sitting there. from God's Word. And I'd be a
sorry preacher if I didn't. I'd be a man-pleaser if I didn't.
We cannot have any respect for anyone who has no respect for
our God. God forbid that I should glory
in anyone when this world is dead, dead, out of the honorable,
out of all the honorable of the earth, the riches. The riches,
the silver and the gold, in light of the unsearchable riches of
Jesus Christ, is dung. In fact, it's useless. It's vain, really. We need it
to pay our bills, but to go after it and pursue it, rather than
the unsearchable riches of Christ? It's dung. It's trading pearls
for dung. It's dangerous. What the world
esteems as things to die for, we need to be dead too. Dead
too. Having food and rain, he said. That's all we need. Set your
affection on things above, not on things of this earth. The
Word, the Gospel. How can things have more attraction
to us than the Word of God? David said, I esteem it as gold,
as much fine gold, greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.
What, Moses? The reproach of Christ. I want to know that. Moses had
peace. He was just wandering the wilderness
for 40 years. It's all right. He left Egypt,
all the fine gold. How? Look into Christ. Seeing
Christ crucified. Don't look at that. Don't look
at that. Wrecking it all dead. It's dead
things. It's not worth dying for. It's
all dead. Crucified. And yourselves. He said, I am crucified unto
the world. Wrecking yourselves dead unto
the world. Like old Noah in that ark. When
God shut that door. The world laughed harder than
they ever had before for the previous 120 years. Let them laugh. He was dead to the world.
It didn't matter what they said. It didn't matter. You know, a
man on a cross is not too interested in politics. A thief on the cross was not
too interested in politics. It was one thing. that he desired. Reckon yourselves crucified.
A man on the cross is not too interested in world events. What's
going to happen tomorrow? Well, I'm going to die is what
I plan. I'm going to face God. A man on the cross is not too
interested in his possessions. Who gets them? He's losing them. A man on the cross doesn't have
too much ambition, does he? He's going to go meet God. A man dead on the cross, you
can compliment him. Everybody in the world can say
he's a fine fellow. It won't matter to him. It won't
puff him up. It makes no difference to him. Or everybody in the world can
curse him and say what a rotten fellow he is. It doesn't matter
to him. He's dead. Only by looking to Christ and
Him crucified will you be dead. When they scoffed at him, mocked
at him, if they scoff and mock at me, I deserve it. If they
say all manner of evil against me falsely, well, much of it
may be false, some of it may be true. And in light of Christ
doing what He did for me, I've got nothing to complain about.
Like David said, let Shimei curse me. The Lord sent him to curse
me. I need humbling. David, the Lord raised up adversaries
today. He knew it. He knew it. He didn't
complain about it. He knew it. A man dead on the cross. You
know, death has a profound effect on us, doesn't it? And I close
with this. Anyone's death close to us has a profound effect on
us. A profound effect. It's a mother,
a child, a brother, a sister. parent, somebody close to us,
a friend, a brother. It has a profound effect on us
and we think will never be the same. And for a long time things
are different and certainly circumstances will all change. But somehow
or another time eases that. Time enables you to go on. You have to. You just have to. But the one death that If you consider that will have
the most profound effect on you, and you'll never get over it,
and nothing will ever be the same again, it's Christ's death. Until you see Christ dying for
you. Nothing is going to change. But
when you do, it's going to have a profound effect on you for
the rest of your life. Nothing is ever going to change.
When Christ comes to you through the gospel and wrestles with
you, you're going to limp for the rest of your life. You're
going to look at everything in light of Christ crucified. Your eyesight is going to change.
Your affections are going to change. your ambitions, your
wants, your wishes. It's got to. If you really seek
Him. And the next death that will have a profound effect on
you is your own. When you come to die, and every
one of us are going to, we're going to be on our deathbed if
we don't die suddenly. I pray. I don't think I want
to die slowly. I don't think I want Time to
think about it. I think I'd like to go quickly.
I wish the Lord would come get us all. But if we do come to
our deathbed, it's going to have a profound effect on you, unlike
anything else other than Christ's death. If you really think you're
dying, like Mary Bale right now, there's no doubt, is there? She's
going. She's leaving. Brother Charles,
he's not in his right mind, but Mary, what matters? What matters? I'm serious. What really matters? I'm going
out to meet God. We looked at Psalm 32 Sunday. Brother Todd, I went down and
spent several days with him while he was in the hospital. And we
thought he was going to die. He thought he was going to die.
Everybody thought he was going to die. His brain had swelled.
And Todd said while he was lying there, thinking, this is it.
He said this scripture came to his mind. Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed, blessed,
blessed. And he said, he could die. It's okay. I can die. God forbid. So that's why Paul
said here in closing, he said, from henceforth, let nobody bother
me. Nothing and no one should really
bother us too much. Trouble me. Trouble me. You know, we've got troubles,
In light of Christ crucified, our light afflictions, which
are but for a moment, work for us a power more exceeding than
the eternal weight of glory. And we're going to come to die,
and all of this is nothing. But, oh brethren, he said, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with you. Grace beyond you. Because Christ came to put away
your sin. And you're going to be someday
in Him. This is life eternal. This is
the gift of God. Eternal life. And this life is
in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
If it were not so, He wouldn't have done it. Alright, stand
with me. Our Lord, we thank You for Your
Word. It is our only comfort. Our only wisdom. Our only understanding. Our only
light. in a dark world. Our only food,
our only joy, really, in the midst of a world of troubles.
Thank You, Lord, for Your Word. Lord, we're dull hearers, poor
preachers. Oh, Lord, take something from
Your Word tonight and plant it in our hearts and minds and give
that peace that passes understanding. May we ever have Christ before
our eyes. looking unto Him, the altar and
finish of our faith. Christ and Him crucified. Lord,
keep Him before our eyes as we sung the song. Keep us near the
cross. And if He is, if that is, oh,
everything will lose its luster. Everything will lose its glory
and honor but Christ and Christ alone. Oh, Lord, crucify the
world to us and us to the world, we pray, by looking to Christ.
It's in His name we've met here tonight. Amen.