Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. Last week, I began a message
from Galatians, the book of Galatians chapter five, verse one, entitled
Our Liberty in Christ. And this today will be part two
of that message, and it'll be the conclusion also concerning
our liberty. And as I said last week, I love
to talk about our liberty in Christ. This is where the Apostle
Paul, writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, stand
fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. And
I explained how that liberty has two aspects. The first is
the legal aspect, which Christ alone as the surety, the substitute
and the redeemer of all the people whom God has given him, all God's
elect, all sinners saved by grace, which he accomplished by himself. He purged our sins. by His blood
on the cross so that they cannot be condemned, they cannot be
charged with sin. God will not impute sin to His
chosen people. The scripture says in Romans
chapter eight that who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? It's God that justifies. He imputes
righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, the entire merit,
value, and worthiness of Christ's obedience unto death. as their
surety, their substitute, and their redeemer. And so they cannot
be condemned. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. And then we talked about the
second aspect of that liberty, which is spiritual liberty. And
that's when God's chosen people are brought personally into the
kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, by God-given
faith in Christ. and repentance of dead works. That's the spiritual aspect.
That's where we come from being servants of sin, unbelievers
in bondage of legalism and works and conditional salvation and
brought into faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be servants of
righteousness. That's to be those who follow
Christ who is our righteousness. It is to strive to be like Him,
not in order to be saved, but because we already are. And I
mentioned this too, that this liberty now, it's the liberty
of grace. It didn't come about because
of what I've done or try to do or decided to do. Christ hath
made us free. That's the issue. It's all the
work of Christ, and even the new birth is not my work, it's
His work in me. That's God's work, it's a powerful
work, it's an invincible work. Dead men, dead women, cannot
make themselves alive. And that's what the new birth
is. It's a spiritually dead sinner
being quickened, made alive by God, through Christ, who is our
life, in the power of the Holy Spirit. And it's a sovereign,
invincible, work of grace, powerful. And so those who are in unbelief
cannot bring themselves to faith. If left to ourselves, we would
remain as servants of sin in the darkness of unbelief. But God has brought us out from
under that bondage if we're truly saved. So Paul says, stand fast
in that liberty. Well, he goes on in this passage
to show some implications of bondage. Let's read verse 1 again. Legalism. What is legalism? What
is this yoke of bondage? It's the idea that people have
naturally that they can be saved They can be righteous. They can
be accepted with God. They can create a right relationship
with God by something they do or something they decide in obedience
to the law. Works salvation. Conditional
salvation. You see, the gospel tells us
that God, before the foundation of the world, chose a people
to save and conditioned all of their salvation on Christ as
their representative, as their surety, their sins imputed to
Him, His righteousness imputed to them, as their substitute. In other words, before the foundation
of the world, the lamb slain, that was the purpose. And that's
why Christ had to come and die on the cross. to do what He promised
to do in the covenant of grace. And God conditioned all of our
salvation on Christ, and Christ came in time, became incarnate,
the Word made flesh, dwelling among us, God manifest in the
flesh, to save His people from their sins by His death on the
cross. He died for His sheep. The good
shepherd giveth his. His death was not just a token
of love, It was the accomplishment of God's love in the obedience
unto death that brought about satisfaction to God's justice
in the place of His people. That's why it's called a propitiation.
A sin-bearing sacrifice that brings satisfaction. He paid
the debt in full. the sin debt of his people, and
by that he redeemed them, he secured their eternal salvation
and every blessing of glory and grace unto the end. There's no possibility, listen,
if you know this liberty, and you're not in that bondage, you
know this, that there is absolutely no possibility for any person
for whom Christ died on that cross could ever perish. That's right, Christ did not
die for those who perish. They're in bondage, but he set
free his people. He set free the captives. But
now, as I said last week, in these churches, in the area called
Asia Minor, Galatia, False Jewish professors had crept in bringing
in the law. They said they were saved by
grace, they said they believed in Christ, but they added the
works of the law as far as attaining or maintaining salvation. It's
like people today who claim that a person can be saved one day
and then lost the next. What they're saying is, they
claim, they're saying you're saved by grace, but you're kept
by your works, by your life, by your obedience, by your believing.
And that's legalism. That's a false gospel. That's
bondage. Well, these false preachers were
preaching circumcision, keeping of days, things like that. And
so they came into the Gentile churches and they said, yes,
you're saved, but you're not righteous yet. You're not qualified
yet. You've got to be circumcised
in order to maintain this thing, in order to be more holy, holier,
in order to be more righteous. And Paul said, that's a yoke
of bondage. Don't bow to that. Don't listen to them. In fact,
in Galatians 1, he said, it's another gospel. Another of a
different kind, which is not a gospel at all, he said. And
let them be anathema. He said, all they want to do
is mutilate you. That's what the words he uses.
And he says, no, you stand firm. Don't bend an inch. Be dogmatic. I know people don't like that
word today, but I like it. Be dogmatic in the truth. Don't
be dogmatic in a lie. And here's what he says, here's
the implications of that bondage. Now listen to this, this is verse
two, Galatians five. He says, behold, I, Paul, say
unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. That's how serious this is. Now
what is he talking about? You know, people go crazy with
stuff like this. He's not talking about just being
physically circumcised as far as people who have gone through
that. He's saying if you think that
circumcision recommends you unto God and you're circumcised because
of that, then your claim to be believe in Christ, Christ will
profit you nothing. Over in the book of Galatians
chapter two, Paul made this statement in verse 21. Listen to this. He said, I do not frustrate or
make void the grace of God. Now here's what's happening now.
You need to understand this. These false preachers claim to
believe salvation by grace. It's like people today, everybody
says salvation's by grace. There are people who say, well,
I believe salvation by grace, but you've gotta do your part
in order to make it secure. They'll say, well, God loves
everybody, Christ died for everybody, but it'll do you no good until
you make your decision or you believe. Some say until you're
baptized, all of that. Well, what they're doing is they
claim to believe the grace of God, but they make it void, they
deny what they're claiming. And here's what Paul says, I
do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come
by the law, that is by your obedience to the law in any way, shape,
form or fashion, to any degree, at any time, in any way, then
Christ is dead in vain. Do you realize that if you believe
that salvation is conditioned on you, on your believing, on
your repenting, on your baptizing, or anything like that, you're
actually saying Christ died in vain for nothing, because he
died to accomplish all that. Now, does that mean we don't
have to believe? No, we will believe. If he died for me, I'll
believe. We talked about that last week.
The liberty has to do with that legal liberty. Christ took care
of that on the cross. And then that spiritual liberty,
that's the new birth. That's the Holy Spirit coming
under the preaching of the gospel and bringing his people to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. They will repent. They
will believe. It's inevitable. And that's necessary,
not as meeting a condition to attain or maintain salvation,
that's Christ's work, but as the evidence and the fruit of
His grace. But if you be circumcised in
thinking that it's gonna make you righteous, then you're denying
Christ to be your righteousness. Christ died in vain, and He'll
profit you nothing. Look at verse three, now this
is back at Galatians chapter five and verse three. He says,
for I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that
is circumcised for that reason, that he's a debtor to do the
whole law. Now if you, whatever, you can put anything in the place
of circumcision, anything the sinner does or anything the sinner
is unable to do. If you think that it recommends
you unto God or makes you more holier or more righteous, then
my friend, you're a debtor to do the whole law. You're under
the law, you're under the works of the law. And I quoted this
last week, Galatians 310. For they that are of the works
of the law are under the curse, for cursed is everyone that continued
not in all things. which are written in the book
of the law. In other words, if you have to do one, you have
to do it all. You're a debtor. But now, what
did Christ do on the cross for his people? He paid our debt
in full. We're not debtors to the law.
Over in Romans 6, he says, you're not under the law, you're under
grace. You're not a debtor to the law.
You're a debtor to grace. That's a debt of love, not a
legal debt. And we'll spend our eternity
loving God in that way. So he says, Christ will profit
you nothing, you're a debtor to the whole law. And look at
verse four, this is Galatians five and verse four. Christ is
become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified. Now that is, what is it to be
justified? It's to be forgiven of all my
sins, it's to be declared righteous in God's sight. So this is the
issue. How is a sinner justified before God? All right. If you
think circumcision contributes to that, if you think, listen,
if you think your believing contributes to that, your repenting, your
baptism contributes to that, Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever you have justified by the law, you are
fallen from grace. Now, what is it to be fallen
from grace? Well, there's a lot of people
say, well, that means you've lost your salvation. Oh, no, that
means you never had it to begin with. And to be fallen from grace
has to do with people who claim salvation by grace, but who deny
it with other ways. Like these false preachers here.
They claim to be Christians. They claim to believe in Christ.
They claim that Christ was their salvation. They claim to be people
of grace. But they said, you've got to
do this. You've got to do that. You've
got to do this. You've got to stop doing that.
And in doing that, they didn't realize it, but they're denying
what they claim to believe. And that's what it means to be
fallen from grace. We'll look at verse five. Now
listen to what he says here. He says, for we through the Spirit,
that's the Holy Spirit. Now whatever he's talking about
here, it's the Spirit's work in a person. It's not that person's
work of his own free will or decision or goodness. But we,
through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith. Now what is it to wait for the hope of righteousness?
Well, hope is the certain expectation that when I appear before God,
I'll be declared righteous in God's sight, not because of my
works, not because of anything I've done or decided, but by
faith. And what is it to have righteousness
by faith? Romans chapter nine tells us
plainly, it's to look to Christ for all righteousness. Christ
is my righteousness. He is the Lord my righteousness.
I have no righteousness but Him. And that's what God has imputed
to me. And he's given me life from the
dead, faith to believe, repentance. And then he says in verse six,
for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. That means nothing but faith,
God-given faith, which looks to Christ now. You see, there's
a lot of people who believe in their faith, not in Christ. They
have faith in their faith. They believe they made the difference.
Christ died for everybody and I made the difference, but that's
not the gospel. Faith looks to Christ, rests
in Christ, pleads Him as our righteousness. And so he says,
but faith which worketh, faith will result in obedience by love. obedience by love, in other words,
motivated, not by bondage, not by fear of punishment, not by
promise of earned reward. We're not forced slaves, the
liberty, see, that we have in Christ. We're not forced slaves
under a legal obligation and bondage to pay our debt to society,
to pay our debt to God's justice. Christ already paid it. And we're
not mercenaries in the army of God trying to earn our keep,
earn our way into glory, earn our rewards, but we work by love,
grace, gratitude, love. There's a wonderful picture of
this back under the old covenant law, and it's called the law
of the bond slave. You'll find it in, I believe,
Exodus chapter 25. Read about it sometime. And what
happened when a person back then, when they got in debt and it
was fearful that they would lose their part in the citizenry of
Israel, their land, their belongings, they got in debt and they couldn't
pay their debt. So they would offer themselves
as a bond, as a servant, a slave. to the one to whom they owed
the debt, and they had to work, for example, seven years to pay
that debt. Well, at the end of the seven
years, they could go free. They were not under obligation
of the law, and they could go free with their family. However,
and it was just, it was like a job, you see. If they loved
their master and they wanted to stay because of that love,
they would become a bond servant, and the master would take and
he would take an awl and bore a hole in their ear, and usually
they'd put a ring in that ear, and if you saw, and they became
a willing, loving bond servant. If you saw a ring in that ear,
you knew that that person was serving the master, not out of
a legal debt, but out of love. And that's what those who are
at liberty in Christ do. They're willing, they're not
legal slaves forced to serve to pay their debt, but they're
willing, loving, bond servants of Christ. Paul, the apostle,
often referred to himself as a bond servant. And that's why
we serve God. We're not trying to earn our
way into God's favor. We're not trying to avoid the
punishment. We serve him out of gratitude.
Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making
me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so full and so free. That's why we serve. Well, if you look over at Galatians
chapter six, there's another statement here that describes
this liberty that we have in Christ, believers have in Christ.
Sinners saved by grace, based upon the blood of Christ, based
upon the righteousness of Christ. And it's what I call the believer's
motto. It's in Galatians 6 and verse 14, or it begins there.
And that's where Paul writes, this is Galatians 6, 14, but
God forbid that I should glory, that I should boast. That word
glory means to boast. It means to have confidence.
It means to have assurance. And He's saying, God forbid that
I should have confidence or boast or glory, save or accept in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we talked about that legal
bondage that Christ delivered His people from by His cross
work by Himself. And so that's a work done outside
of us. And that's what we boast in.
The work that's done within us by the Holy Spirit causes us
to glory in the work that Christ did outside of us. And his cross
here means it involves the doctrine of Christ, the glorious person
of Christ, and the finished work of Christ, the gospel wherein
the righteousness of God is revealed. I boast in Christ. He's my hope. He's my surety. He's my substitute. He's my redeemer. He's my intercessor. He's my
Lord and King. He's my keeper. I can't even
keep myself. I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. And
what have I committed unto Him? My whole salvation from beginning
to culmination. I glory in Christ, I boast in
Christ, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, Galatians 6, 14,
by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
The world's dead to me and I'm dead to the world. In other words,
this has established the world and me to be enemies. The world,
Christ told his disciples, marvel not if the world hates you. It
hated me before it hated you. He said, in the world you'll
have tribulation, but be of good courage. I've overcome the world.
We're not of the world. Those who are saved by grace,
we're in the world and we have to deal with the world. We have
to work in the world, but we're not of the world. The world is
in bondage. The world is cursed. The world
is a belief system that brings and keeps everybody in bondage,
and we're free in Christ. And so they look upon me as being
dead, cursed, and I look upon them as being cursed and dead.
And then verse 15. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. Circumcision
doesn't mean a thing as far as salvation, as far as a right
relationship with God, as far as being forgiven, as far as
being made righteous, as far as being saved. But a new creature,
a new creation. Now the new creation is a born
again believer. a regenerated sinner who's been
delivered, liberated from condemnation by the blood of Christ and who's
been liberated from spiritual death and blindness and darkness
and unbelief by Christ through the Spirit. And that's a new
creation. Now verse 16 says, and as many
as walk according to this rule, this canon, that's a truth, a
body of truth. Now what rule? God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. As
many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them. They're at peace with God. Christ
is the Prince of Peace. This is reconciliation. How is
God reconciled to sinners and sinners reconciled to God? By
the blood of the cross. By his righteousness, God made
him to be sin. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So they're at
peace with God. And then he says, and mercy.
God has shown compassion, mercy towards them. Christ who is the
mercy seat. How do I know God's had mercy
on me? It's not because of the things
of this world. He may make me healthy and wealthy
and wise in the things of this world, but that's no indication
that he's had mercy upon me. But now, if I from the heart
have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, which causes
me by the power of the Spirit to say, God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, then I know
God's had mercy on me. And he said upon the Israel of
God. Now, who is the Israel of God?
Well, you know about Israel. The nation, the name Israel means
those who have prevailed with God. How does a sinner prevail
with God? Through Christ. The Israel of
God here that he's speaking of is spiritual Israel. It applies
and describes those who walk by that rule, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. They
are those who back in Galatians chapter five and verse one have
been made free, liberated. justified by the Lord Jesus Christ,
by the grace of God, by what Christ did for them on the cross
as their surety, substitute, redeemer. It refers to any person
who has been brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works, whether they be Jew or Gentile, they may not be physical
Israelites, but they are spiritual Israelites. They are those whom
God has brought into His spiritual kingdom. and they are free, they
are liberated, they are justified, they are liberated, and they
stand firm in that liberty wherewith Christ has made them free. And
don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't get
involved in this legalistic religion that makes men boast in glory
in what they do or what they think God has enabled them to
do, but glory in Christ. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. 317-07. Contact us by
phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.