I want you to open your Bibles
back to the book of Galatians. My text will be found in chapter
4, but I want you to open your Bibles to chapter 1 of the book
of Galatians to start off with. The title of the message this
morning is Christ Formed in You. Christ Formed in You. It helps if we understand the
context of this epistle that God the Holy Spirit inspired
the Apostle Paul to write. Some people say one church, one
local church in the area of Galatia. Some say several churches, and
I believe that's probably closer to the truth. Paul had been a
missionary sent of God to evangelize this area, to preach the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. And the Lord had been
pleased to raise up several churches in this vast area of Galatia. These churches were founded on
the truth. The Apostle Paul being used of
God to preach it. But then there, after Paul left
and went on other missionary journeys, there arose a problem. It's a common problem. It's a
problem we have in our day, just as much. It's a problem that
plagues the New Testament church here on earth and will plague
us until the time of the Lord's return. And that is the presence
of false teachers and false preachers, false professors. It's a sad
thing to consider, but it's a reality that we have to deal with. Ignoring
it will not help, and ignoring it will not cure it. This problem,
it's more serious than if you had a cancer growing within you
right now and you chose to ignore it. You know that would be deadly. Well, the problem in Galatia
was false false preachers who claimed to know and believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ, claimed to believe in salvation by grace,
but they sought to introduce legal works righteousness into
the life of salvation. One preacher said it's like this,
it's not just Christ alone to them, it was Christ plus. a Christ
plus religion, Christ plus this, Christ plus that. Many of them
were Jews who sought to bring believers back under the old
covenant law. They're called Judaizers. And
they, again, made a claim of believing that Jesus of Nazareth
was the Messiah, but in order to really be saved, In order
to really be confident, in order to really be righteous and holy
in God's sight, a believer has to be circumcised, has to keep
the law. That's why over there in Galatians
chapter 6, Paul wrote, God forbid that I should glory, I should
boast or have confidence in anything save the cross, the death of
this person, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And circumcision
avails nothing. It means absolutely nothing as
far as a sinner standing before God. What means anything as far
as a sinner standing before God? Christ and Him crucified. Christ alone. It's not Christ
plus baptism. It's not even Christ plus your
faith. Should believers be baptized?
Yes. To confess that they glory in
nothing but Christ. That's what baptism is about.
That's what you're confessing in true believer's baptism. That
you glory in nothing but Christ. You're not glorying in your baptism.
Must we believe? Yes. Faith is required. It's
not an option. It's the gift of God. He gives
it to all of His elect people. They lay hold of Christ. But
faith glories in Christ. You see what I'm saying? It doesn't
glory in itself. It doesn't say, look at me, I
believed. But they didn't. It says, Christ,
by the grace of God I believed. And that's it. It's not Christ
plus your holy life. No. Should we strive to be holy
in our lives? Yes. We're always going to fall
short in this life. That's why we glory in nothing
but Christ and His holy life and His death, His burial, His
resurrection, His righteousness alone. But these false teachers
were introducing other things as forming some part of the ground
or cause, the right and the title of the salvation of a sinner.
And these false teachers, again, they claim that justification
before God was in part by the grace of God through the righteousness
of Christ and in part by the believer's efforts to keep the
law. Now look at Galatians 1. Let me show you how Paul dealt
with that. Look at verse 6. And here's the thing. Now what's
happened here in these churches of Galatia is some of these professing
believers were being swayed by that false message. They were
starting to look elsewhere for confidence, for assurance, for
holiness, for righteousness. And here's the case with that.
If that's the case with anybody who professes to believe in Christ
and they persist in that, what does that show? It shows they've
never truly been saved. That's right, they've never truly
been saved. But Paul's seeking to recover them. And listen to
what he says in verse six, he says, I'm marveled, I'm amazed
that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel. That's another gospel. Now there's two Greek words for
that word other or another in the New Testament. One means
another of the same kind, the same nature. Christ used that
word when he was teaching his disciples about the Holy Spirit
as the comforter or the help, another comforter. In other words,
I'm going to send you another Comforter, one of the same nature. He's God, God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit. But then there's another word
that means another of a different kind. That's this word. That's
another gospel. It's not just another shade of
the same gospel. It's not just a derivative. It
is another gospel. It is a different gospel. And
he says in verse 7, listen to how he puts this, which is not
another. And what his point is here is there's really no other
gospel. Gospel means good news. That's
what the word means. It means good news. Well, my
friend, there's no other good news. Now, it may sound good
to you, but if it doesn't get the job done, it's not good news.
So he says, which is not another. In other words, there's only
one gospel. There's only one good news. That's the good news
of salvation by grace through Christ. But there be some that
trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. This other
gospel, this of the different kind is a perversion. And my
friend, it's so popular. And Christ himself said that
in the last days as we get closer, to the second coming of Christ,
that these false gospels, these false Christ, these perversions
would be more and more abundant and more and more popular. I'm
going to tell you something now, and listen, I know people will
criticize you for being negative or for being critical, whatever. But for us to sit and say, well,
now wait a minute, preacher, we're all worshiping the same
God. We're just, you know, different denominations. That's foolish. That is not biblical. I'm telling
you, you better wake up. He says they pervert the gospel
of Christ. But look at verse eight. He says,
but the we, now who's the we there? Well, Paul was an apostle. Though an apostle, a man of reputation,
renowned, doesn't matter who he is, or an angel from heaven. Now you couldn't get any better
in personality than an angel from heaven, could you? So he's excluding personalities,
he's excluding reputation here. Doesn't matter what my personality
is, or my reputation, If we preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. And
that's what he's saying. A false gospel will damn your
soul. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the power of God unto salvation. No other gospel can
do that. That's in the hands of the Holy
Spirit. So salvation by God's grace alone through Christ alone
is the only true gospel. And then Paul proceeds to go
through some of the specifics, but you turn over to chapter
4 now. Look at verse 16. Now I admit
that what I'm preaching as far as other gospels, false professors,
false preachers, it's not a pleasant message. Paul knew that. This
is not a pleasant message. Don't you wish we didn't even
have to deal with it? We've been preaching through the book of
Jeremiah. Jeremiah, it just tore him up because he had to expose
the message, the false message of a multitude of false preachers
and false prophets in his day. And it just tore him up. It's
not something that you enjoy. And as I said Wednesday night,
any man who does that without a tear in his heart, there's
something wrong with him. I don't like to do it, but it's needed.
It's like the doctor who has to give the diagnosis that you've
got a deadly disease. I hope he doesn't enjoy doing
that. But my friend, here's the issue with us. What buffers that
sadness and that anxiety over doing this is this. I've got
the cure. We have a cure for all this.
Now, you don't have to stay in a false gospel. And so Paul writes
here, look at verse 16 of Galatians 4. He says, I might therefore
become your enemy because I tell you the truth. Now you may not
like to hear this. But I would ask you, what Paul
asks here, am I your enemy because I'm telling you the truth? Is
that the way you look at it? He says in verse 17, they zealously
affect you. Now he's talking about the false
preachers there. They zealously affect you. They're eager. They're
adamant on this issue. But not well. It's not for your
good. Yea, they would exclude you.
Or exclude us. You might have that in your concordance.
And that's the real interpretation, the translation. They would exclude
us. In other words, they're going to exclude Paul. Don't listen
to Paul now. That's what they say. You listen
to us. You've had that happen in your
day, haven't you? Don't listen to this one. Listen to us. He
says that you might affect them. Basically what he's saying is
that you might be notches on their gun. But he says verse 18, but it's
good to be zealously affected always in a good way. And not
only when I'm present with you, in other words, with the gospel,
it's good to be affected that way. My little children, now
here's my text, verse 19. My little children of whom I
travail in birth again. Like the birth pains of a woman
getting ready to have a baby. That's pretty rough, isn't it?
He said, I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. Formed. Now that word formed,
it could be used different ways. Sometimes it was a medical term
that was used to describe the development of a fetus. You know,
woman's womb. But it could also refer to the
abiding character of something, something that that marks the
character of something. And this text here, what Paul
is referring to, he is talking about maturity, he is talking
about growth in Christ, where, where there is life. Now you
know that no fetus is going to grow and be born and no child
is going to grow unless there is life there, isn't that right?
Isn't that right? Got to be life that God puts
there. And that's what Paul's dealing
with here. If there's any life in you, spiritual life, you know,
by nature we're spiritually dead. That's how we're born. That's
what we got from Adam, isn't it? Spiritual death. Man has the physical faculties,
for example, to hear the gospel positively, but being spiritually
dead, he doesn't have spiritual ears, he doesn't have the ear
to hear the beauty of it, the glory of it. That's why Christ
told his disciples, blessed are your ears, for they hear. They
got ears, but they don't hear. You see, that message is It's
negative to them. It's something they don't want.
It's ugly to them. But to you it's beautiful. It's
good news to your ear. Blessed are your eyes for they
see. They don't see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The glory of the cross. But you see it, don't you? Do
you see it? Do you hear it? Do you know if
you do? That's because you're a miracle. If you came up here with a dreaded
disease, and God gave me the power to heal you, put my hand
on your head and whatever they do and heal you, you'd say that's
a miracle, wouldn't you? But I want to tell you of a greater
miracle. Do you hear the gospel with the hearing ear? Do you
see the glory of God in Christ? That's a greater miracle than
curing your disease. That's a greater miracle than
raising you from the dead. And we take it for granted, don't
we? I know I do. Shame on me. But it's a miracle. A miracle of God's grace. So
Paul's saying if there's any life in you, here's what I want
for you, and I want it so bad, so bad that I travail. That means
I sorrow and I hurt and I agonize. Just like a woman bringing forth
a child. till Christ be formed in you."
And he's saying, having the life of Christ within us, they would
be so consumed. Having Christ formed in you,
that means you're so consumed in heart, mind, and life with
Christ, that you cannot be distracted by false religion, by self-serving
preachers, by legalism, by the world, the flesh. You cannot
be distracted because you are so consumed with Him. That is
what that means. Believers are not people who
believe salvation in part by grace, in part by works. That
is a lost person. But when you are born again by
the Holy Spirit, You're brought to see all of salvation wrapped
up totally in the person and work of Christ by the grace of
God. And you know what? You'll grow
from there. And that growth will not be you getting holier and
more righteous. Because you're not. I can tell. And you can tell
with me too, can't you? It'll be coming to a greater
love and appreciation and value for Christ. You see, you're still
consumed with him. Paul knew that if there's any
life in any of these people, they'd see this. What does it
mean to have Christ formed in you? Look over at Galatians 2. Here's number one. And I'm going to use the word
impartation. What does impart mean? Well,
it means to communicate. We have some teachers in our
audience. Some of you have taught for years. And when you stand
before your students, you're trying to do what? You're trying
to impart knowledge. And it gets frustrating, doesn't
it? Because sometimes we, I know I taught for like 10 years, and
sometimes you just feel like you're so unsuccessful. Have
you ever used the phrase, I wish I could just open up their skulls
and pour it into their brains? That would be impartation. But
it means to communicate. It means to transfer. It's often
used as a teaching term. To impart something. The communication. The giving of something. Like
that. When we talk about impartation
in the new birth, we're talking about the infusion of a powerful
principle of grace, of life, of knowledge, And so when we
talk about Christ being formed in us, number one, we're talking
about the impartation of the very life of Christ within. Spiritual
life. It's the life of Christ. It's
life that comes from Christ. Look at verse 19 of Galatians
2. And listen how the scripture puts this. Paul writes, for I
through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. Now being dead to the law through
the law refers to what? How did a sinner become dead
to the law? Well Romans chapter 7 and verse
4 tells us plainly. He says you are dead to the law
through the body of Christ. That has to do with what Christ
did on the cross. What did He do? He was made of
a woman. Galatians 4.4 says that. He was sent forth, God the Son. He was made of a woman. That's
His humanity. That's His incarnation. God-man. He was made under the law. What
does that mean? Now that's where we come to the
doctrine of imputation. What does it mean to impute something?
It means to charge it to somebody else. It means to put it to their
account. That's a legal term. That's what
it is. To charge something to somebody else's account. Like
if you have a debt and somebody else says put it on my account,
I'll take it. That's what impute means. And
so when Christ went to the cross, what was he doing? He was dying
for the sins of his people charged to him. The debt. He took our
debt. And he paid that debt in full.
That's the ground of salvation. That's the cause of salvation.
Now, what comes out of that? Well, Paul said it, I'm dead
to the law through the law. That is, the law was satisfied
because Christ kept it and died. I, through the law, am dead to
the law. You see, I'm not dead to the law based on my works.
What is it to be dead to the law? It means the law cannot
condemn me. Its sentence has already been carried out. I'm
dead to the law. How did I become dead to the
law? Through the body of Christ. Christ died in my place. The
sentence is carried out. It's already satisfied. The law
has no hold on me now. As far as its justice is concerned.
Why? Christ died. Now that had nothing
to do with my works. Listen to me now. It had nothing
to do with my experience of it either. No, sir. I wasn't even
born when that happened. Many of God's choice saints were
dead physically when that happened. That happened by one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That happened
only when He by Himself purged our sins and sat down. Am I making
myself clear on this? That happened by the act of one
person, the God-man. The Lord Jesus Christ. He paid
the whole sin debt of all his people, imputed, charged to him. Now what's the result? What comes
out of that? That I might live under God.
Spiritual life comes out of his death. Look at verse 20, Galatians
2. He said, I'm crucified with Christ.
He's my substitute, my surety. He was made sin. For us, Christ
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. And he said, nevertheless I live. You know what, here's
what, put it to you this way. When you look at me, you're looking
at a crucified person. Yet I live. Now how's that possible? Well, I'm crucified with Christ.
He died, I died. He was my substitute, my representative. And as a result, I have spiritual
life from Him. And he says, yet not I. Now wait
a minute, Paul, you're talking in circles here. You say you
live, but it's not you. No, here's the point he's making.
I live, but my friend, I'm not the source of that life. That
life didn't come from me, it didn't come from you. It came
from Christ. Look at it. I live, but Christ
liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Now, how
does Christ live in his people? If I were to ask you this question,
where is Jesus Christ right now? How would you answer that question
biblically? Well, I'll tell you how the Bible
answers it. He's at the right hand of his father as God-man
ever living to make intercession for us. That's the biblical answer. You know I'm telling you the
truth. So then how does he live in me? Well, how did he tell
his disciples he was going to do that? I'll send my spirit. The spirit and the word. That's
how Christ lives in his people, by his spirit and his word. Hold
your finger there at Galatians 2 and turn back to Romans chapter
8. How does the Bible explain that? And I know people can get a little
confused here, but there's no need, really. Do you know that
Jesus Christ is God and man in one person? That became so in
time in His incarnation, 2,000 years ago, and it will always
remain so throughout eternity. He is God and man. He'll never
stop being God and man. He's the one mediator between
God and man. the man Christ Jesus. But look at verse 6 of Romans
chapter 8. He says, for to be carnally,
fleshly minded is death. That's an unbeliever. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. That spiritual mind. There's
a spiritual mind imparted. How is that imparted? That's
the knowledge of who God is. The knowledge of God's holy and
righteous and just. Yes, He's merciful. Yes, He's
gracious. But not at the expense of His
justice. This is His glory, you see. He must punish sin. The soul that sins must surely
die. That's so. And yet, He's merciful. How? Through Christ. This spiritual
mindedness is a knowledge of who I am. God taught me that. See, God teaches you that. He
imparts that knowledge. And I'm going to tell you something,
He's the master teacher. He's not like us teachers who try
to pour that knowledge in and can't do it. He does it and He's
successful every time. And it's by the power of His
Spirit through the world, He teaches me of my sinfulness and
my depravity. And how if God were to judge
me based on my best at any time, I'd be damned forever. And then
he teaches me about Christ. Who Christ is. The glorious God-man
who put away my sins and established the only righteousness so I can
sing hymns like that opening hymn, the Lord our righteousness
and really mean it from the heart. So that's to be spiritual. And
that's life. Christ is my life. Christ is
peace. Peace made by the blood of His
cross. Verse 7. He says because the carnal mind
is enmity against God. For he is not subject to the
law of God. Now that could be somebody trying to keep the law,
but they're still not subject to the law. How's that possible? Well, if you're trying to keep
the law for your salvation, you're always going to fall short. The
law is dishonored. And you're damned. Because you
don't have what it takes, and I don't either. To be subject
to the law of God is to be subject to Christ, for Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
So he says, they're not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. Verse eight, so then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. But you're not in the flesh,
but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God
dwell in you, that's the Holy Spirit dwelling in his people.
Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his. If you don't have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you,
you don't belong to Christ. Well, how do I know if the Holy
Spirit is dwelling in me? Well, go back to what Paul wrote
in Galatians 6.14. God forbid that I should glory,
save or accept in the cross of Christ. What are you trusting
in? Who are you trusting in? Where is your hope, your peace,
your assurance, your comfort? Where is your inspiration, your
motivation for obedience? All of that, you see. If it's
anything but Christ and Him crucified and risen, it's not of the Holy
Spirit. But look at verse 10. He says,
and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin,
that's His physical body, but the Spirit is life, that's the
Holy Spirit, spiritual life, because of righteousness. Who's?
Christ. So, now go back to Galatians
2 verse 20. He says, I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. I'm
not the source of spiritual life, Christ is. It didn't come from
me, it didn't come from my mama and my daddy. It came from Christ. And he says, and the life which
I now live in the flesh, that is in this physical body, I live
by the faith of the Son of God. And I believe that's talking
about the faithfulness of Christ to do what He has said He would
do. And gave Himself for me. He says,
I do not frustrate the grace of God. Now these false preachers
were frustrating the grace of God. How were they doing it?
They were claiming to believe grace, but they would interject
the works of men. And that made void the grace
of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, by your works, then Christ is dead in vain. So anyone
who preaches a message of salvation by works, they might as well
title every one of their message, Christ died in vain, because
that's what they're saying. That's what the message is. All
right? Now, this back here in Galatians
4, Christ formed in you is the impartation, a powerful impartation
of spiritual life by the Holy Spirit through the preaching
of the Word. It's not an improvement of the
life we have. It's not mere reformation of
outward character and conduct, though that may accompany it
and should. It's not dressing up the flesh
or improving the flesh. It's a new birth. It's being
born again by the Spirit. A new heart. He said, I'll give
you a new heart. Another place is called the circumcision
of the heart, the cutting away the filth of the flesh. That's
another way of describing repentance. I repent of my works and I trust
Christ. That's what circumcision of the
heart is. It's a resurrection from the dead. It's a communication,
powerfully, conveying spiritual life. And it's so much a part
of us. It's the law written on the heart
as we see it fulfilled in Christ. It's faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. It's the impartation of knowledge
that I didn't have before. But not just intellectually now,
it is part of me. It is a conviction of knowledge. Such a conviction that I can't
get away from it. You know, an old Jeremiah, when
he agonized over preaching to the people of Judah about these
false preachers who were crying peace when there was no peace.
There was one point he got so down, he said, I'm quitting.
I'm not going to mention it anymore. You know what happened? He said
that the word of God welled up in me like a fire. And I could
not keep quiet. I just couldn't. That's what
this is talking about. And then, he said later on, he
said he agonized and it wasn't pleasant. He hurt telling people
this truth is not pleasant. But the reason he had to do it
is he couldn't get away from the Word of God. Now you may
try to ignore it for a while. But my friend, if there's any
life in you, if Christ has been formed in you, you will not be
able to get away from it. I'm telling you. It'll haunt
you. It'll weigh on your conscience
and you will not be able to get away from it. And then secondly, there's the
conviction of life of Christ. Look over at Galatians 5. Now
as I said, this is the impartation of knowledge. Think about this, we talk about
Christ the Lord our righteousness. How is He the Lord our righteousness?
Number one, by an act of divine imputation. God imputes, charges
His righteousness to us. Having charged our sins to Him,
it's an act of divine revelation. God reveals it to us in his word. The gospel is the revelation
of the righteousness of God. And then it's an act of divine
impartation in the sense, not that God infuses some merit of
righteousness within us. No, I know people who preach
that and they don't know what they're talking about. It's not
scripture. The knowledge that Christ is my righteousness. And
I lay hold of him by faith. I put him on. Galatians 3 says. Put him on. Put on Christ. That's
an act of faith. God-given faith. But look at
Galatians 5 verse 1. He says, Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Don't be moved
away from this liberty. And go into the bondage of the
law. He says, And be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. That's what works salvation is.
It's bondage. He says, verse 2, Behold, I,
Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. Anybody that doesn't believe
that verse needs some explanation, you must be crazy. Read what it says. If you be
circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. What's he talking
about? He's talking about if you be circumcised for this reason,
thinking that that's what saves you or makes you righteous before
God, then you're denying Christ. Christ will profit you nothing.
You may claim to be a Christian. I'll give you an example of it.
You may claim to be a Christian. You may claim that salvation
is by grace, but if you get into the baptismal pool thinking that
that's what washes away your sins, Christ will profit you
nothing. That's the conviction of life of Christ within. Christ formed
in you. I know that Christ plus anything
is deadly. I'm convinced of it. It's not
His blood in my faith or His blood in my works. It's His blood
alone that washes away all my sins. It's not His righteousness
plus my righteousness. You've heard the story about
the preacher who talked about the Christian life as walking
on a tightrope. You've heard that? He says it's
like walking on a tightrope. And when you walk on a tightrope,
I saw a fellow walk on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon on the
news. And he had that thing on top of him. He was going like
that and he had to dip down every now and then. Well, some people
say that's what the Christian life is like. You've got to have
that bar and you're walking on that tightrope and the fellow
said on one end of the bar is the righteousness of Christ and
on the other end of the bar is the righteous works of believers
and they've got to balance out. I'm going to tell you something.
That's deadly. That's deadly. The Christian
life is not walking a tightrope. The Christian life is standing
on a rock, and that rock is Christ. God forbid that I should, glory,
say in the cross what Christ did to establish righteousness
and put away my sins. Look here, he says in verse 3
of Galatians 5, For I testify again to every man that is circumcised,
he is a debtor to do the whole law. If you claim that salvation
is in any way, in any time, to any degree, based on your works,
then your debt is not paid, you are a debtor to do the whole
law. Either Christ paid the whole debt, or you've got it to pay. You can't do it. You don't have
the first penny to pay that debt. So if you think you have to do
this, then you're a debtor to do the whole law. And over there
in Galatians 3 and verse 10, he says, cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things in the book of the law, which
are written in the book of the law to do them. You see, all the law can do is
expose our sin and our need of Christ. You deny Him, you're
a debtor to do the whole law. Verse 4, Christ is become of
no effect unto you, whosoever you are justified by the law.
You're falling from grace. Now that doesn't mean you lose
your salvation. It means you deny your profession. You claim to be saved by grace?
Well, If you're justified by any way other than the blood
and righteousness of Christ alone, His righteousness imputed, then
you're denying grace. You're falling from your claim.
And so he says in verse 5, For we through the Spirit, by the
Holy Spirit, wait, waiting means believing, for the hope, the
certain assurance of righteousness by faith, by looking to Christ. And then thirdly, there's the
fellowship of the life of Christ. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. The fellowship of the life of
Christ within. Christ formed in you. 2 Peter
1 verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
You see, our faith is the product of his righteousness, isn't it?
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. As Christ formed in you
that knowledge, according as his divine power hath given unto
us how many things? All things. that pertain unto
life and godliness. That's Christ formed in you.
Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, and remember 2 Corinthians 1.20, all the promises of God
are in Christ, yea, and in him, amen. That by these, these promises,
that your that God tells you about and convinces you of, you
might be partakers, sharers, or fellowshipers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. Now, what is the divine nature there? Well, the only
divine nature that I read about in Scripture is God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That's deity. Some people
say, well, that means that when you're born again, you have a
divine nature created in you. No, sir. Divinity cannot be created. You can't create something divine. What's that big word? Oxymoron. I guess that's just because morons
use those things. But you cannot create something
divine. God is the I am. He has no beginning,
no end. But by these promises of which
you are Convinced by the Holy Spirit as Christ is formed in
you, what happens? You're brought into fellowship
with God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
happen through Christ. And that fellowship cannot be
broken. That's Christ formed in you, you see. That's the fellowship
of light and righteousness and love, the fellowship of God's
grace. And when that fellowship is realized,
Then, as back here in Galatians 4, you become so consumed with
the glory of Christ, the power of Christ, the love of Christ,
all that He is and all that He has accomplished, and all that
He teaches, that you cannot be swayed from it by any false preacher. You may be a little confused
a little while. You may be a little bedazzled
by some people, but that doesn't matter. You will never, never
turn away from Christ. That's Christ formed in you. And you'll grow from that. Design
the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby, growing
in grace and in knowledge of Christ, who is your only hope. Brother Joe read it in Psalm
92 there. In verse 12 he said, The righteous
shall flourish like the palm tree. The righteous is a sinner
saved by grace. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall
flourish in the courts of our God. Now who planted them? Some
evangelists? No, God did. They shall still
bring forth fruit in old age. I like that. They shall be fat
and flourishing. Fat there means healthy. I know
in our physical bodies it doesn't, but in spiritual terms, fat means
healthy. They'll be healthy and flourishing
or green, that's life, to show that the Lord is upright. That's
what it's all about. That's Christ formed in you.
In other words, my life, my preaching, my attitude, I want to show that
the Lord is upright. He is my rock. I have no other
hope of salvation but Him. And there is no unrighteousness
in Him.