We will be continuing our study
in the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 5. We've been
journeying through this book. It's been wonderful, hasn't it?
I think we're somewhere up in the 60s now in the amount of
messages in this. But we're near in the end. And
just to give you a heads up too, Lord willing, after this book
we'll be going to Philippians. And I've got a few studies in
the book of Philippians already ready to go. And Lord willing,
We'll get there after this one. I've told you guys my goal is
to preach through the whole New Testament before the Lord takes
me home. If he allows that, that would be a great blessing. So
we're journeying together through the New Testament. And then Wednesdays,
we're going through the life of Elijah now. And on Wednesdays,
I think I'll probably be sticking to the Old Testament, where we'll
see pictures of Christ and types and shadows of Christ. I'm not
sure where we're going to go after the study of Elijah, but
it'll probably be somewhere again in the Old Testament, so it'll
be a great blessing. So turn, if you would, to Galatians
chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. The name
of the message is faith works by love. Faith works by love. Now in religion, a lot of folks so-called labor
in the Lord for rewards, seeking to be rewarded for something
that they do, or seeking a reward in the future. But we who are the born-again,
blood-washed people of God, we've been taught by the Holy
Spirit of God that Christ is our reward. Christ is our reward. And I can ask you this, is there
any greater reward than Christ? Is there anything more exceeding
than Christ? He told Abraham, I'm your exceeding
reward. I'm your reward. My oh my. So nothing compares to Christ. Nothing at all. Let's read verses
1 to 6 in Galatians chapter 5. Paul again is writing to the
Galatian believers. And now he's starting to address
some who have made a profession of faith but have proven themselves
that they were just mere professors, they weren't true believers.
And he's going to tell them that Christ is no effect to you. No
effect. Look at this. Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
So again, in chapter four, he contrasted the law and grace,
right? And he said, people were saying,
the Judaizers, the false teachers were saying, well, you have to
be circumcised and believed to be saved. And so Paul contrasted
that with the true gospel, with an allegory of Ishmael and Isaac,
one being born of the bond woman and one being born of the free
woman. And beloved, we're born of the free women. And it says
here, behold, I, Paul, say that if you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. Remember, it's useless. Christ
is useless to anyone who seeks to be justified by works before
God. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. The person wants to follow the law and say that to be circumcised
you must be saved by being circumcised or anything. You can put anything
in there. Baptism, you can put anything in there. You add anything
to the finished work of Christ, Christ will profit you nothing.
You add anything man has to do, Christ will profit you nothing.
It says here, Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever
you are justified by the law, you're fallen from grace. Now,
people have misused this verse. Again, we've looked at this verse
in our studies. People have misused this verse and says, well, see,
you can be saved and then lost. That's not what it's talking
about. It's not what it's talking about. It's talking about people
who profess Christ, but who are never really truly born again.
They made a profession, they prayed a prayer, but there's
no Holy Spirit regeneration. It says, we through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Now last week we looked at verse
five. It says here, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith. Now we are in no way perfect,
are we? We are in no way perfect. We're sinners. And we who are
in Christ are but safe sinners, aren't we? Safe sinners. We don't have a license to go
out the door and go crazy though, do we? Even though we're safe
sinners, no. We're gonna see today that faith
works by love. What constrains us? The love
of Christ. What Christ has done for us constrains
us from sin. Now again, we're still sinners.
We are sinners from the top of our head to the bottom of our
feet, but praise be to God. We who are born again, we're
blood washed saints of God, aren't we? And remember what I said
last week? Oh, this will bless your heart,
right? Remember what I said last week? That the blood of Jesus
Christ cancels all our sins, but not one of our sins can cancel
the blood of Christ? My! Isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful, isn't it? Because
our salvation is not based upon anything we do, it's based all
upon what Christ has done in Him alone. He's the only Savior
of sinners. Let's read verse five again.
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. Now, the righteousness of faith is not something we
hope to have in the future, but something we've already received.
It's called the righteousness of faith. Abraham believed in
what? It was counted to him for righteousness,
wasn't it? So Paul's not speaking to that, the hope of righteousness. If you have something, you don't
hope for it, do you? This is talking about us going
to heaven. This is talking about us in our final form. When the spirit has conformed
us to the image of Christ and we're in glory in God's presence
in Christ. My oh my. And it's not, we know the righteousness
of faith is called that because it's not by anything performed
by us, is it? Can we perform the righteousness
of faith? We're a bunch of sinners, aren't
we? So everything we do is tainted with sin. But praise be to God,
the righteousness of faith speaks of Christ's righteousness that's
been imputed to us. And so when God looks upon the
believer in Christ, he doesn't see Wayne anymore. He doesn't see Martian Diane
anymore. He sees Christ. Isn't that wonderful? My, oh
my. It's wonderful. And the hope
of righteousness is the confident, eager, assured hope of eternal
glory. That's what we have right now
as believers, isn't it? It's not presumptuous. We have
that in Christ. I ask you, what's your hope? Is your hope in something you
prayed? Is your hope in something you said to God? Or is your hope
in Christ alone? And when we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God and given faith to believe, Christ becomes
our everything. He becomes our everything. He's
our all in all. And that perfect righteousness
is secured by Christ in his substitutionary life and death while he was upon
this earth and is imputed to us by God. It's not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us by the washing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit
of God. See? Salvation is of the Lord, isn't
it? From its conception, right, in eternity, to its execution
when Christ was upon this world, to its application, we saw last
week, that the Holy Spirit in the Greek is sent on a mission. But to do what? To regenerate
us, hey brother. That we might be born again.
And that's what he does. Oh, it's wonderful. And because
the righteousness of Christ is ours, because we're assured of
the fact by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, by whom the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts now, that's just amazing
in its own, We are assured of our eternal inheritance. Not
because anything we do. Could never be that way, right?
But all because of what Christ has done. All because of the
perfect finished work of Christ. And the Holy Spirit himself is
the seal of that. And if you went to Ephesians
chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, we'll read two verses over
here. The only basis and foundation
and assurance of our hope is the righteousness of Christ.
God's taught us that. That none but those who are perfectly
righteous shall enter into heaven. Well how can a sinner be perfectly
righteous? I'm a sinner right now. How can
I be called perfectly righteous? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Not in anything I do or say or
act. Only in Christ. It's wonderful. See, again, it just reaffirms
what Jonah said. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
all of Him. From the beginning to the end.
We know from the conception to the application to the execution,
everything. It's all of God. It's all of
Him. Look at this, Ephesians chapter
1, verses 13 and 14. You ever hear people afraid about
getting a mark, right? You ever hear that? Oh, there
can be a mark of the beast. Do you know we're already marked
as God's people? Right here in this text. Isn't
that wonderful? Yeah, I'm serious. In whom, look
at this verse 13, Ephesians 1 verses 13 and 14, in whom also in whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory." See that word sealed there? You've heard me say this
many times. Back in the old days, merchants
would seal the boxes, right, with a stamp, with a mark, were marked. God says, you're
mine. You're mine. Purchased with my
precious blood. Regenerated by my Holy Spirit,
the Father says, by the Holy Spirit of God. Chosen by me,
the Father says, before the foundation of the world. My, we're already
marked, beloved. We're sealed. We're sealed by
the Holy Spirit of promise. And again, the only basis and
assurance of our hope, of our righteousness, is in Christ.
The only righteousness that we can rest in is Christ's righteousness.
Revelation 21, 27 says this. And there shall no wise enter
into anything that defiles neither whatsoever work of the abomination
or make it a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book
of Life." Isn't that amazing? Written in the Lamb's Book of
Life. When did God write his people's name in the Lamb's Book
of Life? Amen, sister. In eternity. In eternity. I remember I remember
seeing this track, and I used to read these tracks all the
time, and then I just practically burned them up after this. It
said, after you believe, God writes your name in the Lamb's
Book of Life. After I believe? Nope. He's written our names in the
Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. How do we know that? Chosen in
Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. Chosen in Christ,
isn't that wonderful? Oh my. And because Christ is
our righteousness, then we're made the righteousness of God
in Christ. And we eagerly await now, we're
still sinners upon this earth, but we're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. And we eagerly await our inheritance,
don't we? Are you homesick for heaven?
Brother, you homesick for heaven? Amen, eh? My, we're homesick
for heaven, aren't we? My. My, oh my. Just a few more weary days. Our
lives like a vapor. Y'all know I grew up in Canada.
I used to love going outside in the wintertime. A little tyke. Right? Remember that? And out
comes this little vapor out of our mouths in the cold. You guys
grew up in Michigan, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
We all did it. And that thing, it'd come out
and it'd just go whoosh, just disappear, right? That's what
our life is like. Brother Zane and I were talking
about time. And our time on this earth is just like a microcosm
in light of time itself. God invented time, right? We
found out a couple weeks ago that, well, we already knew this
by God teaching us, but we looked at it from a text that God's
outside of time and space. He's not constrained by time
and space like we are. He's outside of time and space.
He's God. He's a sovereign ruler over all. My, oh my. So what a blessed hope we have
set before us. Let's go now to verse six of Galatians chapter
five. Before we look at this verse,
I want to tell you a little story. Something that happened to me
a few years back. Someone asked me if I did not
serve the Lord Jesus Christ for rewards, then why did I serve
him at all? This was a professional Christian
asked me that and said, why do you serve the Lord? If you don't
serve him for rewards, why serve him? Except because I love Him. And because I found that He's
loved me for maternity. I had no idea. When I was dead
in trespasses and sins, I had no idea that Christ loved me
for maternity. See, we're motivated by love.
That's why we serve the Lord. We don't serve the Lord for rewards.
We don't serve the Lord trying to get something. If we do, we
got the wrong intentions. We're motivated by love, beloved.
We're motivated by the love of Christ. Not for any personal gain. When
we find out that Christ has loved us, when we did that study in
John 17, and we found out that God loved us from eternity, and
then we found out that God loves us as he loves Christ, who can stop us from serving
the Lord? My. And I'm not just talking
about serving the Lord here, we serve the Lord at home too,
don't you? In our lives, when we go to work. We're servants of God. All the time. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. So we're motivated
by love. Let's read Galatians chapter
5 verse 6 again. Look at this. For in Christ neither
circumcision availeth anything. So he's telling us right here,
he's telling us right here that circumcision, circumcision won't get you nowhere
with God. You can't be justified by works, you see. And these Judaizers had crept
in and they were telling the people in Galatia, they were
saying, you have to be circumcised and have faith in Christ to believe.
If anyone says you have to believe in Christ plus, run away. Run away. We believe in the five souls
here, right? We believe that salvation is by grace alone,
through Christ alone, by faith alone, for God's glory alone.
We believe that, don't we? It's all Him. It's all Christ. It's all what He's done. So it
says here, Paul, very clear. And remember, who's the true
author of these words? Is it Paul? No, it's God the
Holy Spirit. So He's very plainly telling
us here that if you do anything for your salvation, And this
specific time here was circumcision because of what the Judaizers
were teaching. Christ, look at this, for in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availed anything nor uncircumcision, but faith
which worketh by love. Now note the first four words
are key here. For in Christ Jesus. That's key. Are you in Christ? That's number one, the most important
thing. What's the one thing needful
for we sinners? Christ. He's the one thing that's most
needful for us. So look at this. For in Jesus
Christ. So now Paul's saying if you're
in Christ, circumcision won't do nothing. Won't bring you favor
and merit with God. Well then why serve him? Well
if we can't get a reward, See? Or if we can't benefit from serving
Christ, well then why serve Him? Because faith worketh by love. See? What a burden remover, eh? Oh my gosh! What a removing of
burden for us! This is the hope of every believer
for in Jesus Christ. That's the hope of every believer
right there. Christ. Christ Jesus. So what a hope
a believer has. Am I in Christ? Then I was chosen
in him before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1, 4. That's a fact. You can't argue
scripture, can you? No. Am I in Christ? If so, I was in him when he was
formed in the womb. In the womb of the Virgin, when
he was born into this world, when he honored the law of God
by his perfect obedience to the will of the Father who sent him,
all his people were in him. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, in the faith which
I live. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. Jesus Christ. That's the most
important part for us as believers. Am I in Christ? If so, I was
in him when he satisfied the holy justice of God and the law
of God. If I'm in Christ, then I was in him when he did that. Right? By offering himself up
as a sacrifice so that God could both be a just God and a justifier
of his people. You see, what's the most needful thing
for us again? Christ. So what's the most important
question? Are you in Christ? Has Christ
saved your soul? You know, He not turned anyone
away who'd come to Him. He never turned a sinner away
that comes to Him. Spirit and the bride say, come.
Christ says, come unto me all you that are weary, that are
heavy laden. Are you heavy laden by works? If you come out of
works based, that's what Vicki and I came out of, works based
religion, where it just weighs you down. Brother Zane, we've
talked about that. Just weighs you down in chains.
Come unto me all you that labor, that are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. Has he not given us rest, brother? Oh, he's given
us soul rest from the works of religion. And now we find out
in Galatians, as we've been going through this book, that we are
absolutely free in Christ. Free. Free in Christ. Am I in Christ? If so, I was in him when he died,
when he was buried, when he rose from the dead, when he ascended
into heaven. Am I in Christ? If so, I was
in him when he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. You know, scripture says we're already seated in the heavenlies. Isn't that amazing? I'll tell
you what, it just gets better and better, doesn't it? Oh, my oh my. Is Jesus Christ in me by virtue
of the new birth? Am I born again by the Holy Spirit
of God? What comes first, faith or regeneration? You must be
born again. Regeneration. And then the scripture
says, for by grace we're saved. Oh, my. Let's turn to Ephesians
chapter 2 and 8 and 9 here. I'm getting old. I'm getting
old. Look at this. For by grace are
you saved through faith, and not out of yourselves. It's a
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Isn't that
wonderful? Those are just wonderful, aren't they? Wonderful verses.
Not of works. So if I'm in Christ, it's by
virtue of the new birth, because I'm born again. And we're new
creatures now. New creatures in Christ. God's
created a new man in us, hasn't he? Yeah. Which is what? Christ in us,
the hope of glory. Isn't that amazing? When I was
in my 30s, I didn't have a care. Didn't have
a care for things of God. Got religious. Got religious. Vicki can attest.
Went through a lot of religious things. It was hard, wasn't it,
hon? I became a Pharisee of Pharisees. But then God set my soul free
one day. Showed me that salvation's all
of Him. All of grace, all of grace, all by mercy. And if we are given God-given
faith, then we're united. We're united to the one true
living God, beloved. And you know what? Absolutely
nothing, absolutely nothing can take me
away from Christ. People say, well, you talk like
that, people are going to do whatever they want. No, they
won't. Nope. Love of Christ constrains
us from sin. We're motivated by love, we see
here. We're motivated by love. See,
people that say that stuff, they say, you're just going to go
out and do whatever you want. You got a problem now? That's not true for me or the
people I pastor, but maybe you have a problem with that. Right? God set me free. Has he set you
free? All my sins, all the ordinances
that was against me by the law and justice of God were nailed
to the cross of Christ. Is it so for you? Washed in the precious blood
of Christ, clothed in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ,
and now the believer becomes motivated by love. I serve God
now because I love him, because I want to. It's an honor. Isn't
it a privilege to serve the Lord? It's not a do. I don't like do
lists, do you? A lot of us came out of religion,
didn't we? Do this, do this, do this, do this. When's it ever
enough? I ask you, when's it ever enough? Paul wrote and he said, and ye
are complete in Christ. And remember I told you my buddy
who's a Greek guy, loves to read in Greek and study in Greek,
he told me the Greek word for complete there, you cannot put
another drop in that pot. It's absolutely filled to the
brim. It's all Christ. See? It's all Him. And again,
now we're motivated by love. And these blessed truths of salvation
in and through Christ alone make an eternal difference between
law and grace. Paul's purpose for writing this
epistle, this purpose of our Lord who moved Paul to pen these
words, The truth that make the difference between law and grace
were needful in the days of the apostles. And beloved, they're
needful now too, aren't they? They're just as needful now. Here's the good news. Want to
know the good news? The battle's already won. Christ has won it. It's already
won. Our king is a conqueror. Salvation is finished for God's
people. And we follow and look to the
Lord Jesus Christ, who's the captain of our salvation, the
scripture says, right? He's the captain of our salvation,
and he's the refuge for our soul. He's the captain of our eternal
salvation. And now the Holy Spirit guides
us and directs us. For those who think that God's
born-again blood-washed children are lawless, that we have no
rule of life, some folks again say, well, you teaching like
that, you sound like an antinomian. Well, they accuse Spurgeon of
the same thing. Look at this again. Let's look
at verse 6 again, Galatians chapter 5. What governs us now? We're going to see right here.
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by what? Love. A love, do you know, that
was foreign to us before we were born again? What do you mean? Come on, preacher, I loved people.
I loved people before I was saved. Right? People ask the craziest questions.
I'm telling you, I said that because people ask the craziest
questions. I'm talking about the love of God. Did you love
God before you were saved? I didn't. No. Listen to what scripture
says. Without faith it's impossible
to please God, Hebrews 11.6. Scripture says the law is not
of faith. Scripture declares, if you be
led by the Spirit, you are not under the law, Galatians 5.18.
Scripture declares, love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore,
love is the fulfilling of the law. Scripture declares, the
love of Christ constrains us, 2 Corinthians 5.14. Look what it says, but faith
which worketh by love. Love of God shed abroad in our
hearts. Well, that's what that is. That's the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts. We're motivated by love. Faith
which worketh by love. That's what motivates the believer.
You know, people always say, well, I got a friend of mine,
and man, I don't know. He keeps saying, well, all these
Christians, they're not doing nothing. They're not doing all
this. And he professes to be a Christian, right? They're not
all doing this. I said, well, what are you doing?
That's what I asked him. Oh. I said, you sound like you're
out to correct everybody but yourself. I'm sometimes pretty
brash with people who are religious like that because it's nothing but pharisaism.
It's nothing but do this, do this, do this, and they don't
even do it themselves. That's all it is. You know what motivates
us to serve Christ? The love of God in us. the love
we have for Christ. That wasn't in us before we were
saved, was it? But sure is now, isn't it? Praise
God. Praise his mighty name. It's
in us now. If we have not received the spirit
of adoption, if God's not sent the spirit of his son into our
hearts, if we're not being led by the Holy Spirit, then Scripture
declares we're being led by the spirit and our workers and the
children of disobedience. And think upon the miracle of
grace. Think of how much it's a miracle. Think of the miracle
of grace performed by the Holy Spirit of God upon the children
of God. Because in our unregenerate state, we had no love for God,
we had no love for Christ, we had no love for the gospel, and
now in Christ we have love for all those things. What a miracle! And now faith worketh by love.
We're motivated by love now for Christ. Scripture declares the carnal
mind is empty against God. That was our natural state. We
fell in Adam. That was our natural state, empty
towards God. I remember someone who used to
attend here a long time ago, they said to me, I was never
an enemy with God. And I said, well, if you weren't
an enemy with God, then you're not one of his children. Because I said, that's not my
opinion. That's what the scripture says.
See, that's why when you give scriptures, beloved, people can't,
they can't argue against it. But oftentimes they say, well,
but, well, there ain't no but. There's no but. Scripture declares
truth. All right, declares truth for
us. Oh, the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are of the flesh cannot please God. How can we please God? You must
be born again. You must be in Christ. Remember
the first four words? For in Christ Jesus. There's so much in those words.
We could spend weeks just right there. This is why we must be born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. This is why the Holy Spirit must
do an operation in us. How do you know this to be true?
Well, try sharing the love that you have for Christ with family
members and friends who don't know Christ. Just try sharing
with them what you believe. Say, salvation's all the Lord,
it's nothing we do. Well, you might not. The fireworks
will begin. They will. My oh my. We find out when we share the
love of Jesus Christ, our love for him and our love for the
gospel of God's grace which gives him all the glory of his electing
love, his perfect love in redeeming his chosen people by the shedding
of his blood, the love of God dwelling in his chosen people,
the unregenerate religionists will go crazy. My oh my. And the reason this
occurs is because it's foolishness to them. They think their will
is vaulted over God. Who is the supreme will in all
the universe and all the world? Is it man's will? Or is it God's
will? It's God's will. He rules supreme,
beloved. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. 1 Corinthians 2.14. What does the Spirit of God lead
us into? Paths of righteousness. For his name's sakes. God's enlightened
children assembled together, not to pay our dues, but to worship
God. To hear the gospel preached and
proclaimed. To hear Christ proclaimed. to hear about the one who paid
for all our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll tell you what, I'll
stand before you, a man, and I'll, you'd all run out the building
if you found out what I did or what I thought, and we'd all
do that, wouldn't we? But you know what? The blood
of Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all my sin. And that's
why I'm gonna preach. That's why I'm gonna preach to
sinners. Isn't it wonderful? It's glorious. The blood of Jesus
Christ has cleansed me. Every sin I thought, every sin
I will think, every sin I've done, every sin I will do, cleansed
under the precious blood of Christ. Isn't that freeing, beloved?
Isn't that liberating? What constrains us now? Faith that worketh by love. We're
going to have to continue a little bit on that. I went over it. I didn't even finish my notes,
but that's okay. But isn't it a wonderful salvation?
Remember what D.J. Ward said. I'm going to say it
again. This is wonderful. And I said it earlier in the
message. The blood of Jesus Christ cancels all our sins. And not
one of our sins can cancel the blood of Christ. Will we say
that? Hallelujah. What a Savior is
Jesus Christ, our Lord.