Turn, if you would, to Galatians.
Galatians chapter 6. We're going to jump right in.
Galatians chapter 6. The message is called, A New
Creature. A New Creature. This is being
Just an outstanding study going through the book of Galatians,
and I figured out we're almost at two years in the book of Galatians,
because remember I said at the very first we're just gonna slow
walk it, and so we've just slowly went through the book of Galatians,
and it's been an absolutely wonderful study, as we see Paul contrasting
law and grace and how we're justified by Christ and Christ alone. And
so, Galatians chapter six, There's a few more messages left in this
text and then we'll be going to the book of Philippians after
that. So if you want to read ahead for the next study, start
reading the book of Philippians, it's a wonderful book. Prison
Epistle, written by Paul, so that'll be where we'll be going
next in Sunday School. Galatians chapter 6, so let's
read verses 1 to 18. You see how large a letter I
have written unto you with mine own hand, As many as desire to
make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the
law, but desire you to be circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
My, that's religion in a nutshell right there, isn't it? But God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
For in Christ Jesus, this is our verse for today, neither
circumcision availed anything, look at that, nor uncircumcision. Doesn't matter, circumcision
won't gain you merit and favor with God, uncircumcision won't
gain you merit and favor with God. So Paul's addressing both
the Jews and the Gentiles there. with that statement. He's addressing
both parties. And as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be unto them and mercy and upon the Israel
of God. From henceforth, let no man trouble
me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. And
this is written to the Galatians churches, the Galatian churches
from Rome. Now turn, if you would, to John
chapter 3. Must preface this message being a message about
being a new creature, which we see there. I'll read that verse
again. Galatians 6, 15. Excuse me. For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. Now look at this in John chapter
3. Our Lord is talking to Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a teacher in Israel. He comes to Christ by night.
He doesn't want to come to him during the day because of course
he's afraid that the other Jews, what they would think of him
and everything. So he approaches the Lord at night. And when you
read John chapter three, remember the whole chapter pretty much
is a discourse with Nicodemus. John 3, 16, all those other famous
verses, they all are still that same discourse. Same discourse. So let's look
here in John chapter 3. Let's read verses 1 all the way
down to verse 15. So again, the name of the message
is a new creature. So we're going to look at what
the Lord says. We know to be born again is to be a new creature
in Christ. And take note here as we're reading
this portion here in John chapter 3, that twice our Lord emphasizes
you must be born again. Must be. You must be. He doesn't say you must pray
a prayer. Right? He doesn't say you must walk
an aisle. Right? All those things people say,
well, you can get saved if you do that. No. You must be born
again. See, this is a work of God. We
cannot make ourselves born again. A.W. Pink said this. I'm going
to preface this with this. A.W. Pink said this. Did we have
anything to do with our first birth? No. Why do we think we
have anything to do with our second? Which is a spiritual
birth. done by the power of God, and
we're going to see that in this text. It's absolutely beautiful.
Let's read this. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a well-known man, prominent. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. So he's coming to the Lord, and
now he's, he sugared it a little bit at first, right? We know
you're a man of God. Well, yeah, this is obvious.
What he was saying is actually obvious truth, isn't it? Right? And look what the Lord says.
He doesn't address what he's saying. He just puts it right
to him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now that's the words of
the master, right? So what is being born again then?
Our Lord emphasized this right away, except the man be born
again. He cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Brother Dave and I
naturally say we couldn't see the kingdom of heaven. We didn't
know, did we? We didn't know nothing about Christ. We didn't know
nothing about God. We had a God of our own imagination. My, and
Brother Tom, when we're born again, now, now we have an understanding. Now, now, now we, God's revealed
himself to us, but it's all by his power. Look, and we can see
that through these next verses. And remember who's speaking here.
It's not just any mere man. This is God incarnated in the
flesh. Nicodemus, now Nicodemus is gonna give an honest, natural
man's answer here. Nicodemus says to him, how can
a man be born when he's old? You say, I have to be born again?
How can I be born again when I'm old? How can I be born? Right? This, again, is a natural man.
He's not being smug here. He's just being a natural man.
Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be
born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God. See, Nicodemus is looking at
worldly things, and the Lord is giving them spiritual answers. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. So my kids are sinners because
I'm a sinner. Right? Your kids are sinners
because you're a sinner. We were born that way. So naturally,
we're going to produce sinners. Right? But that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. We can't produce this new birth.
But there's one who can. And that's God. You see? Oh my. Marvel not, now here's the second
time he's going to bring it up again. Marvel not that I say
unto thee, you must be born again. Now look at the emphasis there.
You must be. You must be born again. There's no wiggle room.
You must be. This is the Master. This is God
in the flesh saying this. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? He still, you see, this is us. This was us in our natural state,
wasn't it? Brother Brian, this was us in our natural state.
You remember that, Brother Charlie? We didn't know what it meant
to be born again. We didn't know who Christ was. We didn't even care, did
we? And he says, He says, how can this be? How can these things be? And
I missed some scripture there. I missed verse 8. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou hearest. We hear the sound of the wind,
don't we? We hear it, but can us not tell whence it comes?
Well, now with modern technology, they can see where it comes from,
right? But who starts? It all comes from the Lord. He
controls the weather. People say, oh, Satan sent that
hurricane. No, no, no. Just stop right there.
God's in control of everything. Satan's just a created being. And he is at God's disposal. Right? He cannot do anything
that God does not allow. Let's remember that. Our God
is sovereign. He's sovereign. Oh, it's wonderful.
So is it, now look what he says, so just like the wind, you can't
tell where it goes, where they go, so is everyone that's born
of the spirit. Dave, you and I could be sitting
there with two friends, and you and I be born again, and those
other two stay dead in their sins. The Holy Spirit goes where he
wills. He regenerates whom he wills. It's all up to him, isn't
it? It's all by his almighty power,
right? Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Again, he's still thinking in
a natural way. Look at verse 10. Jesus answered
and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel? This is a man who
studies the scriptures? This is somebody who's considered
to be a master in Israel? And knowest not these things? What does this show us? This
shows us what Brother Tom and I were talking about a long time
ago, and Tom brought this up. It is by revelation that we know
God, by God's revelation. Otherwise, we do not know who
he is. And we have it right here before us, don't we? This is
a man who studied religion, studied the scriptures, studied Judaism,
and he does not have any idea of what the Lord's talking about.
And neither did we before we were born again. Right? My, oh my. See the power of God. See the grace of God. See how
merciful God is. He doesn't leave us where we
were a breath of it. And I believe the Lord saved
Nicodemus later on. Because he goes with another
man to get the body of Christ. Oh my. Look at this. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
we speak that we do know. God's preachers, we stand up
and we speak what we know. I've been born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. I've been saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'm going to proclaim it to whoever will listen or
who try to close their ears. I'm just going to keep preaching
the gospel. But I can't get up here and tell you about Christ
if I don't know him. I can't get up here and get excited about
Christ if I don't know him, right? He saved my soul. Has he saved
yours? Praise God, isn't that wonderful?
And he did it because it was his will and purpose. My is wonderful. Look at this. We speak what we
do know, and testify that we have what we have seen, and you
receive not our witness. See, Christ's been going around
doing miracles, and he's saying right here, my very works testify
of who I am. But see, we can't know him unless
he's revealed to us. Right? Look at this. If I've told you earthly things, If I have told you earthly things
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of
heavenly things? Now he's speaking heavenly things.
When he says you must be born again, he's speaking spiritual
things, isn't he? Now here we go. And no man hath ascended
up to heaven, but he that come down from heaven. Now he's speaking
of himself, isn't he? Even the son of man which is
in heaven, My. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, here's the gospel. Everybody thinks the
gospel's in John 3.16. Here's the gospel, beloved. Right
here. Right here's the gospel. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on him. There's the clause, right? Oh,
it's wonderful. So we say, do you believe on
him? Come to Christ. I don't know who God's elect
are, so we do the general call, right? Flee to Christ. Look what
it says here. It says, whosoever. I mean, it
doesn't matter what sins you've committed. It says, whosoever.
Whosoever believeth in him, right? Should not perish, but have eternal
life. Praise be to God. And in 3.16,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
As a result, it shows you the reason why God sent his son.
He sent his son to save his people, right? For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish but have an everlasting life, eternal
life. Believeth again, right? Not everybody,
but those who believeth on him. The same is, look at, I love
John 3.15, that whosoever believeth in him, it's so broad, isn't
it? Whosoever believeth in him. Spirit of the bride say, come,
come, flee to Christ. He's the only savior of sinners.
Should not perish, but have eternal life. My, so we see twice in
this, the little portion of John, twice our Lord's emphasized it,
twice, not just once, but twice he said, you must be born again.
You must be born again. See, when we're told to examine
ourselves whether we be in the faith, am I born again? Has God
the Holy Spirit regenerated me? Not, well, I'm such a sinner
I couldn't surely be saved. Oh my, we're all sinners. Are you born again? Praise be
to God. Praise be to God. If you're born
again, rejoice, beloved. Rejoice. Do you have faith in
Christ? Rejoice. Rejoice. Oh, my. Note what he didn't say here.
He didn't say, well, if you're a good person, you can enter into heaven.
Did he? He didn't say that. Because he knows there's none
good, no, not one. He didn't say, if you belong to a specific
church, you can enter into heaven. That's not in the text, is it?
What did he say? You must be born again. He didn't
say if you're circumcised, which is within our text that we're
looking at in Galatians. If you follow the law, you can
be saved. You can go and enter into the
kingdom of heaven. No, he said you must be born again. Right? Oh, my. We can go on, you know.
Didn't pray a certain prayer. He didn't say you must repeat
a certain prayer that someone tells you to be saved. No, he said, you must be born
again to enter into the kingdom of
heaven. He didn't say if you do certain works, well, if you
do certain works and you try to live a great life and be nice
to everybody, he didn't say that. He said, you must be born again. Now, it's good to live a good
life, isn't it? Nothing wrong with that at all. You must be
born again. My, he didn't say if you do certain
things you're going to gain merit and favor with God. No, no, no.
He said you must be born again. And we could just keep going,
couldn't we? We could spend the whole rest
of the message just saying that. Different things. You must be
born again. In order to enter into the kingdom
of heaven, beloved, you must be born again. And that's in
line with our text. Let's go back to Galatians chapter
6. We see this is so in line with our text. And again, remember,
it's God incarnated in the flesh saying you must be born again
in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven. So let's read our
text again. Galatians 6.15. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. So what he's bringing forth here
is that salvation doesn't consist in our attainment or our works. I was looking at an article by
Spurgeon this morning on Galatians, and he said, if you can get a
grasp of the understanding of that grace, the separation between
grace and law, and how we're saved by grace through faith
in Christ Jesus without any works of ours, you will have a grasp
of what grace truly is. Because it's not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his what? Mercy. Mercy. You know what Paul said? And can you say this? I've obtained
mercy. We say that, don't we, brother
John? We have obtained mercy, brother. Oh, undeserved mercy,
unmerited mercy, unsought after mercy, eh, sister? We didn't
even seek it out. And it was given to us in that
wonderful system. Just given to us by the grace
and mercy of God. My, oh, my. I'll tell you why.
This is amazing. So salvation doesn't consist
in our works or our attainments. It has nothing to do even with
our apprehension of things. Look at Nicodemus. He read the
scriptures. He knew about the laws and all
that stuff. And he wasn't born again. My, oh, my. And it's not even what our views
are. Well, I think it's not that either. I preached a message
on that a couple of Wednesdays ago. Well, I think, no, it don't
matter what we think. It don't matter. What does God
say? Right? Amen, brother. What does God
say? You must be born again. You must be. You must be. My
oh my. You know, Josh said something
to me this week. He said something to me. My son had been talking
to me about the scriptures and stuff and he said, he said, we
better know what the book says if we're going to trust our eternal
soul. to what it says and who it speaks
about. That's true, isn't it? How do
we know about things in the scripture? God reveals them to us, doesn't
he? You must be born again. Right? You must be. You must be. You must be born again. And how do we know? How do we
know that Think of this, too. It's not
what our views are, but it's what Christ, as the head of the
church, is in God's view. That's what's most important,
right? And how do we know this? How
do we know that being in Christ is the most important thing?
Well, there was a voice from heaven,
remember? A voice from God the Father that said, this is my
beloved son in whom I'm what? Well-pleased, amen, sister. And
if he's well-pleased with Christ, then he's well-pleased with all
who are in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? So it's
not our view of ourselves. It's God's view of us in Christ.
That's most important. See, Nicodemus was a man, everyone
looked at him and said, oh, surely, if anyone's going to heaven,
it's that Nicodemus fella. Right? Our Lord said to Nicodemus,
you must be born again. And that's to us too, isn't it?
You must be born again. Now look at verse 15. This is
interesting too, again. We see here clearly that circumcision
or any other work performed by man is just a foolish attempt
by man to be justified before God. so much so that it's worthless
in God's sight. It's actually an abomination
in God's sight if someone's doing it for salvation. And if someone
says, well, I haven't been circumcised, like, okay, so we got Galatians. Dave, you're one of the Galatians,
and Charlie, you're one of the Galatians. And you say, well,
I haven't been circumcised, right? And we're Gentile dogs, right?
So we, you know, and say you're one who says, well, I didn't
get circumcised either. And then someone else says, but
I did. Paul's saying whether you did
or whether you didn't will not gain you merit and favor with
God. And that's what he's telling
us here. What a new creature. Let's go back to our text in
John chapter three. You must be born again. See the correlation? Isn't it beautiful, beloved?
It just ties right in. It ties in so beautifully. You
must be born again. Let's read that verse 15 again,
because it's such a magnificent verse. For in Christ Jesus, look
at that, in Christ. That's the key right there, isn't
it? In Christ, that's the key. Are we in Christ? Brother Steve,
that's the key for us, right? Are we in Christ? Oh my, praise
God we're in Christ. We're in Christ. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision of the veil, it doesn't matter if
one gets circumcised or uncircumcised, it doesn't matter. And the whole
reason this is being brought up is because there was Judea
just saying, you must be circumcised or obey the laws to be along
with faith in Christ. And Paul's saying, neither of
those things will help you. Because someone might boast and
say, well, I didn't get that done. Well, that's good then. If you decided not to get that
done, it doesn't gain you nothing. Right? See, we can get proud
and things, right? And that's what he's bringing
forth here. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Christ you must
be but a new creature oh it's so it's such it's so beautiful
here just so emphasized and in really what Paul's repeating
is turn over to Galatians 5 if you would Galatians 5 and let's
read verses let's read verses 3 & 4 here look at this for I
testify again to every man that is circumcised that he's a debtor
to do the whole law So someone wants to be circumcised in order
to be saved? Have you ever thought of this?
It leaves the women out, doesn't it? You see how silly this is? Do you see how it's absolutely
silly? It's such a false doctrine. He
says here, for I testify to every man that is circumcised that
he's a debtor to do the whole law. You want to be circumcised
to be saved? You've got to do the whole law. But we're all
doomed, right? Look at this. Look what he says.
Christ has become of no effect unto you. Nothing. Nothing. Whosoever you are justified
by the law, you are fallen from grace." Look at that. Now that doesn't mean someone
can lose their salvation if they're saved. What it's saying is someone
who follows the Judaizers in their false doctrine, they were
never saved. They were never saved. If they
believe they have to mix grace and works together, they were
never saved. And think of this, every believer
is still plagued by the old nature, aren't we? And we know that every
single day, don't we? I told you guys about my friend,
said he only sins once a day. I laughed at him. Once a day? How do you do that? He doesn't. He's lying right
there, isn't he? I guess he burned his one day
thing right there, right? But he's a good friend of mine, and
I just told him, I said, no, that's wrong, my friend. We sin more
than we want to. Oh my. So we're plagued with
this old nature. And it's the single most difficult
thing for us to do is just to place our rest and our trust
in Christ alone, isn't it? Just every day to go, okay, Lord,
it's in your hands. I talked to a Brother Luke this
morning. He says, I just got to look up and give it to him.
the circumstances. And that's so true. That's so
true. It's so true. We just have to hand it over
to Him, don't we? That's the only way. That's the only way. My oh my. And we place our eternal
souls, by God's grace of course, but we do place our eternal souls
into the hands of Christ, don't we? Who's our only Savior? Christ. Who are we trusting to
take us to heaven? Christ. Why? Because he shed
his blood for us. And that's exactly what one has
to do or they're going to spend eternity in hell. Outside of
Christ there's no salvation. None. Think of this for the believer. Christ is all our righteousness.
He's all our righteousness. Think of this. He's either our
righteousness or we don't have none. And so rejoice, beloved
God. We've been made accepted in Christ.
We've been justified in Christ. Oh my. And the only way for a sinner
to be reconciled to God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no other way. Paul's saying circumcision don't avail you nothing around
circumcision. He's basically saying anything you do don't
avail you nothing if you're trying to gain merit and favor with
God. You can put anything on it. Take circumcision out there
and put baptism in. Or church belonging to it, like
Catholics believe, and I say this because I'm an ex-Catholic,
they believe if you don't die in the Catholic church, you'll
be damned. They believe the church is the
only place for salvation. That's not scriptural. Salvation's
only in Christ. The church is actually, the church
is called an ekklesia in the Greek. That means the called
out ones. The building's not the church. The organization
of Baptists is not the church. The church is the people. The individuals, and that's from
the Greek. The ekklesia. Oh, it's beautiful. The called
out ones. That's what we are. We're called
out, beloved. By who? By the power of God,
the Holy Spirit. You must be born again. See? A new creature. Isn't it wonderful? It's so beautiful. Oh my goodness. So man's work is not the issue.
We're not saved by works that we do. It don't matter. You can do all the works you
thought you could gain merit and favor with God and go to
hell, right? As soon as you breathe your last breath. My, the issue
is a new creature, right? Let's read verse 15 again. For
in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians
5. Look at this. The new birth is
a miracle of God. We are living miracles, beloved.
We're living miracles. We don't feel like that, do we,
Brother Steve? But we're living miracles. It's amazing. We've
been born again by God, the Holy Spirit. And like you said earlier,
Steve, about that circumstance we were talking with Luke, you
didn't realize back then that God was working his way, and
look what he did. And now you're here today. Isn't that rejoicing in the gospel? Oh, my. A new creature in Christ. It's wonderful. Oh, my goodness. Look at this in 2 Corinthians
5, verses 17 to 19. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, okay,
he's what? A new creature. Remember our
text? For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. You see the
tie-in, beloved? It's so beautiful. The Lord said
you must be born again. When you're born again, you're
a new creature. Oh my, look at this. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are
passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. Why do you love the gospel now? Why do you love Christ?
Why do you love the Bible? Why do you love God's people
now when you didn't before? Because you're a new creature
in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my, I love this. And all things
are of God who has reconciled us, look it, to himself. God
loves us so much with an eternal love that he sent his own son
to reconcile us back to himself. We'd fallen in Adam. We were
alienated from God. This speaks of the great love
of God in Christ. Look at this, to wit, that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. We know the
world there is whomsoever believeth, right? Because in John 3, 16,
it says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life, or eternal life, right? Look at this. To
wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not impugning their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. Oh my. So again, the new birth,
it's a miracle. It's a miracle. Being born again
is a miracle of God. It's all by His power, all by
His might, by His sovereign power. You ever think of that too? Here
we are, rebels one second and saints the next, praising God. If you had told me when I was
25 and out in the bars and hanging out in places I shouldn't have
hung out in, you told me I was being a preacher of God's grace,
you wouldn't have liked what I said to you. But here I am. And here are you. Isn't that
amazing? To the various things you went
through. Oh my, isn't God so good? He's so wonderful. He didn't
leave us where we were. So the believer We glory in the
sin atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ because he saved
our souls. He redeemed us. He shed his blood
for us. Oh my. And you know, the church now
has tunnel vision. You ever think of that? We got
tunnel vision, beloved. We just look at Christ. They say doves have tunnel vision
for their mates. That's how we are. Lord says
we have dove's eyes in Song of Solomon. We got tunnel vision,
beloved. Isn't that wild? He's got tunnel vision for us.
We're his people. We're his bride. Oh my. I'll tell you what, it's beautiful.
And we're narrow-minded now, too. Because we believe what God says
and nothing else. So he calls you narrow-minded,
and you say, yep, I am. I am for Christ. And we're single-minded, aren't
we? Because we're here for the glory of God. We're here for
the glory of God. We're here to glorify our great
God. Oh, let's read that text again. It's so beautiful. Oh my, I could keep going but
I'm running out of time. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. So in the
verse before, Paul said, God forbid that I should glory, save,
and the cross of Christ. Now we see why. He's a new creature
in Christ. He's been born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. He once was a destroyer of the church. And then the Lord
uses them to write these wonderful epistles that we're reading and
studying now. Even the next one that we're
going to go into, Philippians, was written by him, too, as well.
My, oh, my. And so Paul, quick thing here,
Paul goes back, think of this too, Paul in the verse that we're
looking at, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature. Paul actually
goes back to what the Judaizers believe is the source of their
righteousness and their justification, which is circumcision. So he
destroys it by bringing forth that in Christ, The only way
for one to be justified before God is in Christ. And they have
to be a new creature, which is born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. So he's actually head-on attacking the heart of the Judaizers'
message, the heart of the source of their righteousness and their
justification, which is circumcision. Oh my. He's destroying their
teaching that in keeping the law you can gain righteousness
with God as opposed to just believing in Christ for righteousness.
So Paul is just lifting up Christ, isn't he? He's just lifting up
Christ, saying He's our only righteousness, there's no other
way. And that's what we that's what we believe in. That's what
we want to hear. It's God's people. We just want
to hear about Christ, who is our righteousness. My oh my. Brother Brian, could you close
us in