Thank you, Brother Norm. In the book of Galatians chapter
3 there, I mainly want to deal with the last few verses concerning
the subject clothed with Christ. And I took that title from the
phrase in verse 27 where it says, for as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. The imagery there
is putting Christ on like a garment, but it has a specific meaning.
But let me give you some of the background here. You know that
in the book of Galatians, Paul is encouraging the Galatian people
who profess belief in Christ not to be sidetracked or deceived
by false professors of legalism, claiming to be sin of God, who
were trying to add things to the grace of God in order to
make salvation possible or sure. They'd say it was like a Christ
plus religion. You've heard that. In other words,
we believe salvation is by Christ and Him alone, by God's grace
alone, but you have to do this, you have to keep the law, you
have to be circumcised. And so Paul in Galatians 3 makes
a clear distinction between the promise of God in the gospel,
and he uses Abraham as an example to one to whom this promise was
made, the promise of God in the gospel in opposition to the commands
and demands of the law. And he says here in verse 18
that Brother Norm began to read, for if the inheritance be of
the law, the salvation, eternal life, and all the blessings and
benefits of God's grace, it's an inheritance. And it's an inheritance
that we did not earn, and we did not work. It's not by the
law, in other words. It doesn't come to us. We don't
receive this inheritance and enjoy this inheritance in any
way, shape, form, or fashion because of our works under the
law. It is totally by promise. And so Paul says, well, if it's
by the law, by the works of the law, then it's no more promise. You can't say it's promise. He
says, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Now, Abraham was
a sinner saved by grace. Abraham was an example of one
who was justified by God as God justifies the ungodly. God did
not come to Abraham and invite him to accept him. That's not
how he did it. He came down into the Ur of the
Chaldees and he picked up Abraham off the dung heap of idolatry
and brought him into the kingdom. And so the question comes then
from these legalists. Why was the law given? Wherefore
then serveth the law? Well, Paul's clear. It was added
because of the transgression till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made. And that seed is Christ. This
is why the law was given. It was given to expose the sin
and depravity of those who were under it, to show them the impossibility
of salvation in any way, to any degree, based upon their law
keeping. The law was given as a way to
expose their sin until Christ, who is the Son of Promise, would
come. And all the promises, the Bible
says all the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen. All the promises of salvation
were conditioned on Him. And then He goes on and explains
a little bit more about that. But here's what he's saying to
the Galatian people. He's saying that you are all,
verse 26, you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now the word faith is an interesting
word. I won't go into all the ins and
outs of this word. But faith here sometimes means
the gift of faith by which God brings his people to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then sometimes the word faith
refers to the promise of God of Christ Himself. Look at verse
22 of Galatians 3. It says, But if the Scripture
hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith... Now look at it. What's the promise? Salvation. Forgiveness of sin. Righteousness. All the blessings
and benefits of salvation. That's the promise that God promised. And it says that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
That's the faithfulness of Christ himself. To do what he agreed
to do before the foundation of the world, to bring salvation
to his people. To seal it up. and to make it
sure. And he says in verse 23, but
before faith came, you could just as well say it this way,
before Christ came. Before the promise that God gave,
that's what the faith is here. Before Christ came, we were kept
under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. What he's saying here is that
before Christ actually came into the world, was made incarnate,
and born of a woman, The Jews, the Israelites were kept under
the law until that point in time. And he says in verse 24, wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. He's
not saying that the law itself brings a sinner to Christ because
that doesn't happen. The law only condemns. Now the
spirit uses the law to convict us of our sin. But it's the gospel,
it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. But what
he's saying is that law was given and laid upon those Israelites
for 1,500 years to bring them up to the time of Christ. And
then it was abolished. No more. And so he says, but
after, verse 25, or verse 24, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. That doesn't mean we're justified
by our believing. You understand that? That's an
important thing. We're not justified, made right
with God, forgiven of our sins, declared righteous in God's sight,
based upon our believing in Him. We're justified by Christ, by
God's grace through Christ. And the result, the fruit of
that is that we do believe in Him. And so, one of the things
that he brings forth here is that all the children of God,
look at verse 26. For you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. The revelation, the evidence
that we're true children of God is what? We believe in Jesus
Christ. That's a gift of God. God brings
us to believe in Him, to rest in Him, to trust Him for all
salvation, for all forgiveness, for all righteousness and eternal
life. And then He says in verse 27,
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put
on Christ. Now this is where a lot of people
go awry. Because what is He talking about?
Being baptized into Christ. Well, I can tell you what he's
not talking about. He's not talking about believer's baptism in water. Now, there is an ordinance that
Christ gave the church, the New Testament church, called believer's
baptism. And we believe in that. We practice
that. Believer's baptism is a confession
of the grace of God that has already brought us to faith in
Christ. And we identify with Christ through the symbol of
being dipped into water, being immersed into water, saying that
when Christ died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he arose again, we arose again. That's believer's baptism. Every true believer should confess
Christ in believer's baptism, not to be saved, not to be forgiven,
not to have your sins washed away, but because all of that
has already been accomplished by the person and work of Christ.
But that's not what Paul's talking about here. He says, as many
of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
What is that word baptized? What does it mean? We often say
it means immersed. And that's a good translation
of it. But literally what baptized means, it means placed into. And what he's referring to here
is the believer's union with Christ. Our union with Christ. And let me give you several things
to consider on that. Let's go back to Romans chapter
6. I preached on this chapter earlier, out of this, but I didn't
really deal with some details in the first part of this. Number
1. Baptized into Christ. Placed into Christ. Who placed
us there? God did. When did He place us
in Christ? Well, the Bible teaches He did
it in eternal electing grace. And you can read Ephesians 1,
we won't go there, but how many times it's elect in Christ, predestinated,
predetermined, all in Christ, in Him. That's electing grace. God chose a people. before the
foundation of the world in Christ. He gave them to Christ. And then
we were placed into Christ in legal, justifying grace, redeeming
grace. Now look at Romans six and verse
one when it says in verse three, know you not that so many of
us as were baptized or are baptized into Jesus Christ were or are
baptized into his death. Now he's not talking about believer's
baptism there either, the confession. But now he's talking about what
believer's baptism symbolizes here. Now how do you know that? Well look at verse four. Therefore
we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. This is an identification
with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. He is the surety,
the substitute, and the redeemer of His people, so much so that
when He died, every one of His chosen people, every one of His
sheep died in Him. When He was buried, they were
buried in Him. When He arose again, they arose again in Him.
All right, look at verse five. For if we've been planted, now
look here, together in the likeness of His death, together now, Now,
there was a time in my life when God brought me to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and I was baptized before the church, confessing
Christ. Did that all happen of all of
us together at the same time? Well, obviously not. It was different
times. But here he's talking about being
planted together. And this togetherness reveals
to all of God's chosen people who were planted together in
the likeness of His death. When Christ died, He died for
every one of His sheep. He didn't die for you at one
point in time and then later on die for me. One death by one
offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. He
died one time for all of His people. And it says, we shall
together be also in the likeness of His resurrection. When Christ
did that great work of redemption, we were all baptized into Him.
We were all placed into Him by God's electing grace, by God's
redeeming grace, all at the same time. And so verse six says,
knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him. Now what
is the old man? That's our identification in
our sins in Adam. and it was crucified in him.
It's not being crucified. It's past tense. It is crucified.
It's put to death that the body of sin, everything that sin is,
might be destroyed and that henceforth we should not serve sin. And
what does he mean by all that? Verse seven, for he that is dead
is justified, freed from sin. That's baptized into Christ.
Now, what he's talking about, turn back to Galatians 3. What he's talking about in Galatians
3 when he talks about putting on Christ, when he speaks of
those who, in verse 27, for as many of you as have been baptized,
placed into, united into Christ, have put on Christ. He's speaking
of our union with Christ in spiritual, regenerating grace, where we
believe in Him. We put Him on like a garment.
That's a metaphor, meaning we believe in Him. We rest in Him. We wear Him like a garment. Now
we know His righteousness is imputed to us. That's a metaphor
for putting on Christ. God put Him on us. God, the only
source and originator of salvation, imputed Christ's righteousness
to us. And that figure is made clear from the very beginning.
Remember when Adam and Eve made fig leaf aprons to hide their
nakedness. God took those fig leaf aprons
off and made them coats of skin and put them on Adam and Eve.
That's a metaphor, a picture of the blood of Christ washing
away our sins of his righteousness imputed to us. But in time, we
put on Christ as a garment. And that's a metaphor for salvation.
Listen to Romans 13 and verse 14. But put you on the Lord Jesus
Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the
lust thereof. And what does this metaphor teach
us? Putting on Christ. Well, number one, it teaches
us our need to be clothed with Christ. You know, nakedness in
the Bible symbolizes unrighteousness. No righteousness. It symbolizes
exposure to the wrath of God. It symbolizes judgment. It symbolizes
humiliation and shame. None righteous, no not one. And
going back to the fig leaf aprons of Adam and Eve, that's man's
work. That symbolizes man's work trying to hide that nakedness,
trying to hide his shame. It's self-justification, justifying
ourselves by our work. But the righteousness of man
could not keep Adam in the garden and could not gain him access
back into it. The need of righteousness is
legitimate, but sinful man is totally at a loss as to how that
can happen. How can God justify a sinner? How can a sinner be just with
God? And all types of fig leaves.
There's all types, isn't there? Performance, religious duties,
moralism, even faith. Some people say, well, faith
is the condition we must meet in order to be saved. Well, that's
not the gospel. We must believe, but we must
believe that Christ is the one who fulfilled all conditions.
So this shows us our need of Christ's righteousness. It showed
us our need of being clothed with Christ. Secondly, it shows
God's provision of a righteousness through sacrifice. Just like
in the garden, He slew an animal. He made coats of skin. That's
a picture of Christ. That's a picture of Christ as
our surety, having our sins imputed, charged to Him. It's a picture
of substitution. He died in our place. He went
under the wrath of God that we earned and deserve. And based
upon our sins imputed to Him, He died that death that we deserve. It's a picture of imputation.
God charging our sins to Him and His righteousness to us.
It's a picture of satisfaction. God was pleased with that sacrifice. He wasn't pleased with the fig
leaf aprons of Adam and Eve. But He was pleased with the sacrifice
that He accomplished. You know, the Bible says it pleased
the Lord to bruise Christ. That which is pleasing unto God. The blood of animals could never
take away sin. And until the cross, God passed
over all the sins of His people in the Old Testament, His forbearance,
but the mercy and forbearance of God only covered them until
this. God always had in mind the blood
of His Son, the Lamb of God. Paul called it a salvation which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began in 2 Timothy. And then thirdly, we see the
garments of salvation applied. How are we clothed with Christ?
Well, we've already mentioned it. First, by God imputing Christ's
righteousness to us. We wear the garments of salvation.
God made Him to be sin, Christ who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him, 2 Corinthians 5,
21. That's speaking of imputation. Our sins imputed to Christ, His
righteousness to us. Secondly, The garments of salvation
are implied by imparting knowledge of Christ. and his righteousness. God gives us the knowledge. He
makes himself known to his people. He teaches us, as we said in
the last message. He reveals himself unto us. You
know there in Romans chapter one, where it talks about how
Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and the Greek or the Gentile also. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed. Well, what is that righteousness
of God? It's the merit, the value of the obedience unto death of
that glorious person, Jesus Christ, the God manifest in the flesh.
And it says, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith,
and you remember that phrase, from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just or the justified shall live by faith. Now, what
does that from faith to faith reveal? What does it mean? I've
heard all kinds of explanations about that. I've heard it said,
well, it means from one degree of faith to another. Well, faith
does grow, I know that. I don't believe that's what that
means. It's talking about a revelation. The righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. And the base English word that
we would use for faith is knowledge. Did you know that? It means to
know something is true. Why do I believe anything? Well,
I believe it because in my mind I know it's true. How do I know
that the gospel is true? Because God revealed it. So what
is this from faith to faith? It's this, it's from knowledge
revealed by God to knowledge believed as the gift of God.
That's what it's talking about. That's imparted knowledge, God
teaching us, putting it in our minds, writing it on our hearts
so that we know him that is true. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ. He said,
they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest. That's putting on Christ. And then thirdly, by giving us
faith to believe Him and receive Him. Look back at verse 27 of
Galatians 3. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And it says in verse
28, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free,
there's neither male nor female, for you are one in Christ Jesus.
The distinctions that make sinners so proud or so prejudiced or
whatever, they don't mean anything in salvation. Only Christ Jesus. And he says
in verse 29, and if you be Christ, that means if you belong to Him. That's a possessive. Then are
you Abraham's seed. Then you believe the same gospel
that Abraham believed. That's what that means. And heirs
according to the promise. How do I know I have the inheritance
of grace and salvation? Because God has revealed his
promise of salvation, conditioned on Christ who fulfilled those
conditions. and He's brought me to believe
it and rest in it and receive it. Look over at Galatians 6
and verse 14. Galatians 6 and verse 14. Paul writes here, he says, but
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now that word glory It means
to boast. It means to have confidence.
It's the same word that is translated in the book of Philippians chapter
3 and verse 3 when he says, we rejoice in Christ Jesus. We glory in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. So Paul says, God forbid that
I should boast. That I should have confidence.
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you all know
He's not talking about the wood of the cross or some symbol. He's talking about the finished
work of Christ on that cross as God manifests in the flesh,
who put away our sins, who drank damnation dry, who, as Daniel
said, made an end of sin, finished the transgression, brought in
everlasting righteousness, sealed up the vision and the prophecy,
Anointed the most holy. The finished work of Christ.
He said, I finished the work which you gave me to do. And
that's the cross. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
manifest in the flesh. So God forbid that I should boast. Claim salvation. Claim justified. To be justified. I'm forgiven
of all my sins. Well, how can I make a boast
like that? How can I say that with confidence? I'm righteous
in God's sight. I'm a sinner, but I'm righteous
in God's sight. He says it's so, and it's so.
And that's a reality. That's not legal fiction or fake
righteousness or anything like that. Listen, if God says it's
so, it's real. You can mark it down, whether
I see it or not. I probably have told you about
this, about the sign I saw outside of a church building. It said,
God said it, I believe it, that settles it. Wrong. God said it,
that settles it. So how can I make that boast
to say I'm a child of God? Everybody thinks they are, don't
they? That's a boast. We're born into this world spiritually
dead. Fallen in Adam. Totally depraved
sinners. And we can never rise above being
sinners. We're either sinners lost in
our sins or sinners saved by grace. So how can I stand before
you and say, I'm a child of God. I'm a child of the King. How
can I stand before you and say, it is well with my soul. What a boast. And I'll say it even this way,
how can I stand before you and say I'm as sure for heaven as
if I were already there? Now some preachers don't like
that. They say, well that's too confident. Let me tell you something,
you can't have too much confidence if your boast is based upon something
that honors God. How can I say that? Because I
boast not in myself, not in my works, not in my experiences,
not in my dreams or visions, not in my opinions, but in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, you talk to a lot of
people today and you talk about salvation. You know, most people
that I talk to, if they don't know the true gospel now, the
doctrines of sovereign grace, They always talk about some experience
they had in the past, like when they were kids and they gave
their heart to Jesus, walked on... Is that your boast? Is
your boast like the false preachers in Matthew 7 who said, haven't
we preached in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? Is that your boast? Is that your
glory? Are you like the Pharisee who
said, I thank God I'm not like other men. Do you remember he
said that? He didn't say, I'm boasting because I'm just not
like other men. He said, I thank God. He gave
the credit to God. But God didn't want credit for
that. We don't glory in what God has
enabled us to do. And you know something? Think
about that. If you're a sinner saved by grace, God has enabled
you to do some miraculous things. And I'll tell you what the most
miraculous thing that He's enabled you to do. He's enabled you to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing more miraculous
than that. He's enabled you to repent of dead works. But is
that what you glory in? The fact that you believed, the
fact that you repented, the fact that you're trying to be a good
person. Well, Paul said this, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you can say that from the
heart, you've put on Christ. And he says, by whom the world
is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Glorying in Christ and Him alone
puts you at odds with the world. Separates you from the world.
You see, our sanctification, our holiness, our separation
is not of what we wear or the things that people boast in. It's not in the fact that we
don't drive cars, we have horses and buggies and stuff like that. It's we glory in Christ and Him
alone. And it puts us at odds with the
world. They call us cursed and we know the world is cursed because
God says it's cursed. John said in 1 John 5, 20, we
are of God and the whole world lieth in the wicked one. What a boast. And so he says
in verse 15, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, a new creation.
Doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, whether you've
been circumcised or uncircumcised, that has nothing to do with salvation. That has nothing to do with being
blessed because we're blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Isn't that what he said?
But are you a new creature? A new creation? Have you been
born again by the Spirit? But look at verse 16. And as
many as walk according to this rule. Now what's the rule that
he's talking about? What canon? That's the word canon,
you know, when you get the canon of Scripture. What doctrine? What's the rule? Here it is.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the rule. That's the rule
we walk in. When we seek to do good works,
our rule is God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. When we come to worship God,
to praise His name, to meet together in fellowship and love, God forbid
that we should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You understand that? And those who walk according
to that rule, here's what God says of them. Peace be on them. What does that mean? It means
we're at peace with God. And how is peace with God attained?
By the blood of the cross. Now what the Bible says, God's
reconciled to His people and His people are reconciled to
Him by the cross, by the merits of the righteousness of God,
by Christ's righteousness imputed to us. And He says, and mercy,
God's compassion is upon His people who glory in the cross. And listen to this, and upon
the Israel of God. Here's the Israel of God. You
know what the word Israel means? It means those who have prevailed
with God. That's what it means. You remember
that's the name that God gave Jacob over in Genesis, what,
32, wasn't it? When he wrestled with the angel.
And Jacob prevailed. Now that doesn't mean that sinners
are saved by wrestling with God and winning the match. That's
not what that means. It means that sinners prevail
with God in the only way that anybody can prevail with God,
and that's by pleading the cross, pleading the merits of Christ's
righteousness. God said, this is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. And this is speaking
of those that Israel of God, spiritual Israel, His sheep,
His church, who walk according to the rule, God forbid, that
I should glory save in the cross. Now that's what it means to be
clothed with Christ. Wear Him like a garment. And
you know that's not literal language, that's a metaphor for our union
with Christ. We're justified in Christ, redeemed
by the blood of Christ, adopted by God in Christ. We're given
life, regenerated, converted to Christ, and we're kept by
Christ. And we wear Him like a garment.
Not just on the outwards, but in spirit, in heart, and in joy,
and in confidence. We boast in him alone. Okay. I do want to say in closing,
Debbie and I both, we speak for her that we really, really, really
appreciate your hospitality, love your pastor and his wife,
love you all. And it's just been a joy to be
with you. And I hope and pray our plane
doesn't get canceled. And if it doesn't get cancelled
that it takes off and lands safely But I thank you all we love you
all but appreciate