Chapter 5, we'll continue our
study. Last week we looked at the fact
of how we're to stand firm, and stand firm in the fact, remember
the allegory from Chapter 4? Stand firm in the fact that Christ
has fulfilled the law for us, and that law and grace do not
mix. The Judaizers are coming in, they're telling them, you
gotta be circumcised to be saved along with faith in Christ, and
Paul is just bringing forth the true gospel. Salvation is in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He paid it all, right?
Scripture says he shall save his people from their sins, right?
It doesn't say he hopes to save his people from their sins. It
doesn't say he wants to save his people from his sins. It
doesn't say he might save his people from their sins. No, it
says he paid it all, right? He shall save his people from
their sins. It's accomplished. The salvation's
accomplished, and this is what Paul's bringing forward. this
epistle that the salvation is by grace through faith in Christ
alone he's done it all he's done it all you ever hear you ever
hear people say well God's done all that he can do and now the
rest is up to you you know what they're saying there they're
saying Christ didn't accomplish it that's what they're saying
by saying that they're saying Christ didn't accomplish the
work well I'll tell you what the scripture says he shall save
his people from their sins and he did it below He did it. And so Paul's setting forth this
gospel truth before the Galatians, saying, if you be circumcised,
it's not worth nothing. It's not worth nothing. Your
faith is in vain. If you're adding circumcision
to the finished work of Christ, your faith is in absolute vain.
Oh, and that includes any kind of work, beloved, any kind of
work. So today, we'll still be in verse
1 of chapter 5, which again comes right after Paul's used an allegory
of how grace and works do not mix by bringing forth the two
sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Now let's read Galatians 5 verses
1 to 6. Stand fast. Don't move forward. Don't move backwards. Just stand
there. What's that mean? Just rest in Christ. Just trust
in Christ. As I said last week, when the
general moves forward, With his banner, we follow him, don't
we? Scripture tells us here to stand fast. Stand fast in what? Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty, which is freedom in the Greek. So stand firm in what? In the freedom wherewith who
has made us free? Christ has made us free. Free
from what? Free from the law. Free from
having to do all these things to gain salvation and merit with
God. Right? Free in Christ. He paid it all. He accomplished
the work. And be not entangled. That word entangled there means
to be placed in bondage. Ensnared in the Greek. Ensnared. Again with the yoke of bondage.
That in the Greek is slavery. So don't be ensnared in slavery. Listen to what the Greek literal
Bible says. I thought this was fantastic.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, freedom, wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again to the yoke of
bondage. Actually, I read the wrong one
there. Where is it? Well, I thought
I had it. I'll come across it again. But stand fast. Stand fast in
Christ. Stand fast in him. Let's see it says behold I Paul
Say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing
if you're out and if you're out and works with grace Christ Don't
profit you nothing Nothing you put any kind of work whether
it be circumcision or anything Christ don't profit you nothing
See how serious this is a it's very very serious Just for I
testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor
to do the whole law and So he's dealing with these guys saying,
well, I have to be circumcised to be saved. What about the women,
right? See how foolish this all is?
It's so foolish, it's not funny, right? They say, well, if I be
circumcised, well, Paul says, then you got to do the whole
law. Well, we break every law that God has, in thought, word,
and deed. In our natural state, oh, my. Christ has become, look at this,
of no effect to you. No effect. His blood doesn't
matter. If you're trying to work your
way to heaven, you've destroyed grace. By something you do, you've
destroyed grace. It's so clear, isn't it? Whosoever you are justified by
the law, you're falling from grace. Look at that. People don't
realize when they start to try to do things to gain merit and
favor with God, especially according to the law, that there's no grace
in that. We cannot be justified by the
law. We can only be justified in Christ,
in Christ alone. And that's the whole thrust of
this letter, is justification in and through Christ alone,
plus nothing. Plus nothing. It says here, for we through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. We've
been born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Now we wait. We wait
for our King's return, don't we? We wait eagerly for our King's
return. And our hope, our hope is the
righteousness of faith. Who's our righteousness? Who's
the righteousness of faith? Christ! Christ is the righteousness
of faith. See, There's none righteous,
no not one. There's none that understandeth
God. There's none that seeketh after God. There's none good,
no not one. That's us in our natural state,
but clothed in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. Oh my,
God sees us in Christ now, beloved. It's wonderful. Let us live in
that. Let us live each day in that
truth, because it's truth. And Paul's setting it forth here
before us. He says, for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.
That love of God that's spread abroad in our hearts, beloved.
That love that Satan can't counterfeit. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. And look what he says. He says,
if you be circumcised, we'll put baptism in there too. Right? Put Sabbath worship. Put anything
that man attempts to do. profit will you nothing right
for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availed no works avail no works
in Christ there's no works it's all about his works it's all
about what he's done now he's ordained us to do good works
right But that's his doing, isn't it? And they have no bearing
on our salvation. They're fruit of being justified.
They're fruit of being born again. And we don't even know when we
do them. Oh my. Let's read verse one again. It
says, stand fast, so stay firm. Therefore, in the liberty, that's
freedom, wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled,
That's to ensnare in the Greek, again with the yoke of bondage,
slavery. Don't go back to the law. Don't go back to that which
enslaves and leads to death. In Christ is freedom. In Christ
is liberty. In Christ is life. Life. Now, if one tries to keep the
law for salvation, they're being ensnared by the law. It'll ensnare
them. because it can only lead to death. But what Paul says, if you want
to be circumcised to gain merit and favor with God, now you got
to do the whole law. Oh my, that's impossible for
we humans. See, but people like to pick
and choose, right? Oh, this here, oh yeah, but that's, no, no,
no, you're gonna do one. You're gonna say you got to do
one. Paul here, and remember who the true author of this is?
God, the Holy Spirit, right? He says, you want to pick and
choose and say, you got to do this to be safe? You got to do
it all. You got to do it all. My oh my. And I'd like to ask these Judaizers
back then and say, well, what about the women? Are they all
lost? Right? Because only men can be
circumcised. What about the women who profess
Christ? Do you see how these errors come
in and they just put people in bondage? Do you see that? They
just put people in bondage. Now if one tries to keep the
law for salvation again, they're going to be ensnared. And seeking to be saved in Christ
and the law will only damn one's soul. Because there's salvation
only in Christ. only in Christ nothing nowhere
else nothing else it's all based upon what he's done and those
who are trying to keep any part of the law to establish their
own righteousness or or doing something to become more sanctified
as they say well we're sanctified in Christ we can't make ourselves
holy in the first place how could we expect to make ourselves more
holy it's impossible It's a work of God the Holy Spirit. Now,
we grow in grace. We do grow in grace and the knowledge
and the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. But only God can make
us holy, and we're holy in Christ. Scripture plainly declares we're
sanctified in Christ. We're made holy in Him. Or one
may use the Ten Commandments as a rule of life. And it just ensnares them. We
can't fulfill one of the Ten Commandments, let alone all ten.
And you know, we break them all. We break them all. My, that's
why we're guilty before God. That's why we're guilty before
God. Jesus Christ alone is the only Savior from sin. And He
accomplished that salvation. And if you're trusting and resting
in Him for all your hope, then the scripture says, you're saved. And of course, we must be born
again, and that comes first. That comes first. Jesus Christ
is the only Savior. He alone is our righteousness.
I have no righteousness outside of Christ. Do you? I have none. Just my filthy rags. But they
can't gain merit and favor with God. I'm trusting in the one,
and I hope you are too, the one who is the only hope for sinners,
and the only one who we can stand in favor with God through. And
that's the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. God, our creator,
was made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because we are sons, God sent forward his spirit into
our hearts, whereby now we cry, Abba, Father. Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son and an heir of God
through through Christ, Galatians 4 verses 4 to 7. That's what
we are. Isn't that wonderful? God declares
that of us. We don't declare that of ourselves.
The scripture declares that. What do we declare ourselves
to be? I'm just a safe sinner. That's what I am. Oh my. You ever think about how
we were before? You ever think of how we... I
often think of how I was. And it shames me. But then I started thinking about
my saving. I started thinking about what
He's done for me. I started thinking about how
we're new creatures now in Christ. We're not the same. We're not,
sure we were, and now we're safe sinners. We're still sinners,
but oh my. Now, I want you to rejoice about
this, beloved, if God the Holy Spirit will get a hold of it
and bless your heart with it. now we love the Savior now we
love the Father now we love the Holy Spirit who teaches us and
guides us into all truth and teaches us about our Savior our
King our Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ my oh my how did that happen
how did that happen how did we go from being rebels in our hearts,
being saints of God, save sinners. It's all of God. It's all of
God from the beginning to the end. And now we have freedom
that we're seeing in this text. Stand fast therefore in the liberty,
in the freedom. What freedom? Free from the law. Free from the law that condemns
us. How? By anything we did? No!
Again, who made us to differ? God! God the Son fulfilled the
law for us! And now we who trust and rest
in the Savior and the Crucified One, the Lord Jesus Christ, we've
been born again by the Holy Spirit of God, now we rest in Him, or
we try to rest in Him, don't we? That's the hardest thing
for us to do, isn't it? I'll tell you, I'm not going
to lie, it's hard. We're still our flash battles
us every day doesn't it? Yeah, it just does you know I
can waste so much time oh My you like me I'm a I can
waste time and I can sit down on YouTube and watch some videos
and before I know it two hours went by and I just wasted two
hours of my life I Might have learned a little something, but
really I didn't learn a whole lot I And I'm not saying it's
wrong to do that. I'm not saying that. I'm a history
buff. I love watching history videos.
I watch them all day long. But I'm just saying, how quickly
time can go on us. How quickly we can be distracted.
I must keep my eyes upon Christ. Is it so with you too? I must
keep telling myself, turn your eyes on Christ. Turn your eyes
on Jesus, Wayne. Do you know that Any attempt
by sinful men or women to gain merit and favor with God by our
works is an abomination to our great God. It's an abomination
to Him. It's spitting in His face. You
know why? Because He sent His Son to be
the only sacrifice for sin. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done. That means not by anything we can do. Nothing
we can do to gain salvation. And under the preaching of the
gospel by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ,
we learn who he is. We learn what he's done. We learn
where he is. And we learn we're going to be
with him one day. By the grace and mercy of God, all according
to the will of God and all according to the grace of God. Because
Christ shed his blood to purchase our eternal souls 2,000 years
ago. Isn't that wonderful? And he
accomplished. And now we live in liberty. Now we live in freedom. Stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. We've been set free, beloved. From what? From our sin. Now
we still have the presence of sin, don't we? But the power
is broken. Right? The justice of God against
our sin is satisfied. The laws have been fully satisfied.
Do you see how free we are? You see how free we are, beloved?
It's wonderful, and it's only in Christ. Listen to the words
of the Master speaking. Now, this is for all born-again
blood-washed believers. Listen to this. So if the Son
shall set you free, ye shall be free indeed. Isn't that wonderful? That's the Master's words. Has
he set you free? Oh, hallelujah, he set me free.
That's what we say in our hearts, isn't it? We might not say that
out loud don't want people think we're getting a little too too
excited there Come on. It's okay to say it,
right? But in our hearts we do don't
we we praise God for what he's done for us My oh my He's so
wonderful So stand fast therefore in what in that freedom that
Christ purchased for us We're set free beloved We're not to
be entangled again by the law and by, you gotta do this and
you gotta do that. It's all gone. What is there
for us to do? Nothing for our salvation. But
we just look to Christ now, don't we? And again, that's the hardest
thing for us to do, just to rest in the finished work of Christ.
But let us do that, beloved. Let us just rest in Him. We're
free We're set free If the Sun shall make you free you're free
indeed, that's truth isn't it that's the words of God incarnate
in the flesh That's not my words. That's not your words. That's
nobody else's opinion That's the words of God being spoken
if the Sun shall set you free You shall be free indeed That's
wonderful isn't it Marvel at this truth What are we free from
sin and death death don't have no sting on us anymore, right?
That's just a doorway now for us Just a doorway for us Brother
Wayans in glory when he passed away. He just walked right through
that that door of death Sister Kathy to right through the door
of death into the presence of the king in that wonderful That's
glorious, isn't it? Oh my it's wonderful And free, free in reality too,
not just in profession. Right? Because someone would
say, well, I'm free. And then still, still trying to do things
to please God. Do you know the only place that
God is pleased with us is in Christ? That's it. That's it. That's all. Amen. That's it. Sealed up. Done. It's finished in that wonderful.
God is not angry with his people He's not angry with us his anger
his wrath has been appeased now. He looks at us in love beloved
true love eternal love everlasting love And as I said last week
before we were in Adam. We were in Christ now let that
just sit in our minds. Oh my gosh It's true. Chosen in Him before the foundation
of the world, right? Why? Because of God's everlasting,
eternal love that never changes. Never changes. Oh, it's so, so wonderful. So
wonderful. Christ Jesus, our Lord, as our
representative in the flesh, has fulfilled every jot and tittle
of the law. There's nothing left unfinished. as our substitute. He did it all. He didn't leave
nothing out for us to do. Right? As I said earlier, if
He didn't accomplish our salvation, right? Then it's not accomplished. But He's accomplished it. Scripture
says, He shall not fail in Isaiah. And He didn't, did He? This salvation's
accomplished. And you know what? Think of how
people say, well, God's done all he can do, right? This salvation
was accomplished before we were even born. Before we were even born. See,
I proclaim a salvation already finished. Already done. And if it's before we were born,
then how can we merit or favor God by something we do. We can't. It's already done. It was done
before we were even born. And that's just wonderful. That's
just wonderful. My. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, not being
Christ, many shall be made righteous. We fell in Adam. Right? We all fell in love. But beloved,
we're made righteous in Christ now. Isn't that wonderful? That's just glorious. In Christ
Jesus, the law is honored and satisfied. And Christ is the
just one and the justifier of his people. That's what he is. So marvel at the truth set before
us by the Holy Spirit of God. We are to stand fast in the freedom
wherewith Christ hath made us free. Liberty there is freedom
in the Greek. Stand fast in that liberty. We stand fast in the freedom
we have here, don't we? In America. And that freedom's
been purchased by the blood of many others that went before
us. But think of this in a greater, far, far, far greater sense. Christ has purchased our freedom. Remember what Paul wrote to the
Colossians at GRY complete in Christ Now he wrote that if I'm not
mistaken he wrote that 2,000 years ago, right And it hasn't
changed The true author of those words is God the Holy Spirit,
right? God doesn't change, does he? Let us remember that as we're
reading the scriptures. These scriptures are authored
by the Holy Spirit of God. And God doesn't change. So when
he says, when he says the sun will set you free, when the sun
says he that's in the sun is set free, that's truth, isn't
it? This is truth set before us.
Now we live in a world where we're geared to do something.
We come into this world wired for works. But here's something
that we humans cannot understand in our natural state. And let's
be honest, we still struggle with it even as we're saved. There's nothing for us to do
for our salvation. It's already finished. All we
do is look and live. cast our eternal souls upon Christ. I think I told you guys earlier,
I was talking to my daughter a couple weeks ago, no, but a
month ago we were talking, and I told her, all you have to do
is look to Christ. And she goes, it's that simple, Dad? I said,
yep, it's that simple. You just need to look to Christ.
She goes, I thought it was all complicated and there's all the,
I said, no, sweetie, you just need to look to Christ. Just
look to Him and live. Isn't that the truth, right?
Just look to Him and live. My oh my. So who's made us free? Christ has made us free. The
God-man. God incarnate in the flesh has made us free. Free. Free from the bondage.
Free from the entanglement of do, do, do. Folks in religion
say do, do, do. We say done. It's already done. It's accomplished. He did it
all. And we rest in He who is God.
God incarnate in the flesh. And He keeps us in this blessed
liberty. And we keep looking to Him, don't we? We keep looking
to Him. He keeps us in this blessed freedom,
and we just keep looking to Him. Now, when we get our eyes off
Him, then things start to unravel a bit. He'll never let us go.
Sometimes we just wander on our own. He's still got his eye on
us. He's still watching us with love. He just, as I said last
week, just gently picks us up. He carries us our whole life.
He carries us our whole life, beloved. There's never been a
time when he's been without us, even before we were saved. Now
that's amazing. That's God's amazing grace, beloved.
We continually look to him and trust him, by the grace of God,
and we refuse to be entangled again in the oppressive yoke
of works-based religion, of bondage. I don't want nothing to do with
the stuff I was into before. You know why? I was the most
miserable man, judging other people all the time. Now, I'm
free. And I tell others about the one
I'm freeing, the Lord Jesus Christ. I was talking to a fellow this
week, and he said, well, God's done all that he can do. He gives
people a chance, and their free will, da, da, da, da, da. And
I looked at him, and I said, I'm saved by the grace and mercy
of God, plus nothing else. And if my salvation was dependent
upon anything I do, I would never have salvation. So true for you,
too, right? But by the grace and mercy of
God, he saved us. And this morning, we're going
to look at our magnificent God. Do you know he's magnificent?
He's absolutely incredible. Our understanding of him is so
low, and he's so magnificent. He's incredible, beloved. In every reference to the law
of God, brings forth that we are dead to it in Christ. We're
dead to the law in Christ, beloved. Christ has made us free. And the law's bondage is gone. It has no claim on us anymore. My. Christ didn't destroy the
law, did he? No, he came to fulfill the law.
Well, he's sinless. Who did he fulfill it for? We
who are sinners. We who are the chosen of God.
And the scripture declares Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
He's it. Aren't you thankful? Oh, it's
so wonderful. So, you know, we may come out
of stuff, religion where we got beat up for doing things or beat
up for not doing things. Cast it all aside and just look
to Christ. Just look to him by faith. Rest
your soul in him. Trust him each day. Each day. Oh, we have such liberty. Listen
to what Martin Luther said. He said, in the stead of sin
and death, he giveth unto us righteousness and everlasting
life. And by this means, he changes the bondage and terrors of the
law into the liberty of conscience and consolation of the gospel.
Comfort. We have comfort now through the
gospel. The law just said death. The soul that says it must die. So Christ dies in our room and
place. Isn't that wonderful? What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. And again, we're not free from
the presence of sin or the indwelling of it or the temptation of it,
but we're free from the damning power of it, aren't we? We are. We are. And our great God imputed
all the sins of his people, past, present, and future. And all
our sins were future, remember. We weren't even born 2,000 years
ago. They were imputed to Christ.
And the judgment of God fell upon him in our room and place. In Christ, by his one offering,
he has purged our sins. They're gone from God's eyes.
Let us live in that reality. Let us live in that freedom.
That freedom of that fact. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Romans 4, 8. That's us. That's God's people. Because
our sins were imputed to Christ. And His righteousness was imputed
to us. And now We can stand fast in the liberty, in the freedom,
wherewith Christ has set us free. Oh, I pray that it was a blessing
to you. It was such a blessing putting it together to know that
my standing with God is only based upon Christ and Him alone.
And so for you too, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? Let us
rejoice. Let us leave this place today
just rejoicing at this wondrous, wondrous truth. We are complete. Brother Kevin, can you close
us in prayer?