Oh my, well let's get right into
our study then. Turn if you would to Galatians
chapter 5. We're starting chapter 5 today. We're getting closer. We've got
two more chapters, 5 and 6. I'm going to slow walk. these next few verses. And as
a matter of fact, we're just going to look at two words in
this first verse. And we might take a couple weeks on this first
verse here. But we're going to look at two
words today. Stand fast. Stand fast. In the Greek, it
means to preserve. Preserve. Just stand there. Don't move. Stand where you are. Isn't it amazing that God keeps
us? where we were to be. It also
means to not move forward. We just stand fast. It's like
the Roman lines. They used to just stand fast
until the barbarian hordes hit them and then they'd move forward.
We're just to stand fast. Stand fast in the truth. Stand
fast in the doctrine that was once delivered to the saints.
the doctrine of God's free and sovereign grace. Two weeks ago
we finished chapter 4, just before I went to Oregon. From verse
22 to the end of the chapter, in chapter 4, the Holy Spirit
gives us an allegory to help us to understand the difference
between law and grace. Let us remember that an allegory
is a story in which people, things, and happenings have a hidden
or symbolic meaning. And the Old Testament's full
of allegories that point us to our Lord Jesus Christ. They point
us right to Him. In Luke 24, 46, and 47, we read
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in speaking to two on the road
to Ermaus. He's speaking to them after His
resurrection. And He says to them this. He
opens their understanding. He said unto them, Thus it is
written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise,
from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
in Jerusalem. And then he expounded all through
the Old Testament the things concerning himself. So Christ
had to go and die, didn't he? I was listening to a fellow named
D.J. Ward. You guys remember D.J.? Oh, my.
You talk about getting excited. But he was talking, he was talking
this morning. He said, he said, if God hadn't
have chosen anyone, heaven would be empty. Heaven would be empty if God
hadn't have chosen people. Right? Because we're all sinners.
But praise God, he chose us. in Christ. That's what makes
election so dear to the believer. It's so wondrous. God chose me. God chose to save me in Christ. And do you know this? Think of
this too. I was mentioning this to Zane this week. That before
we were in Adam, we were in Christ. We don't think that way, do we?
We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
That's one of those fizzing moments, isn't it? Before we were in Adam,
we were in Christ. God's people were in Christ.
My, I'm not even going to, I'm not even going to say what we're
talking. I'm not even going to investigate that. I'm just going
to let it sit because it's true, right? It's true. We were chosen
in Christ and before the foundation of the world. So before we were
in Adam, we were in Christ. Just let it sit and let you be
in awe and wonder over that wonderful, wonderful fact. It's incredible,
absolutely incredible. So this allegory that Paul uses
at the end of chapter four is for us to see the difference
between law and grace. Because Ishmael is the child
of flesh, and Isaac is the child of promise. And they don't get
along, as we saw last week. As we saw last week, or two weeks
ago, The child of the flesh persecuted the child of promise. And that
just pictures how unbelievers will persecute God's people.
Let's look over there in Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4, and it says
verse 29, but as then he that was born unto the flesh persecuted
him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now, it's still
true today. It's still true today. And we
can look back, I can look back and say, I used to persecute
Christians to my shame. So I know that's true from a
personal matter and in reverse too. having been persecuted myself
for our faith. But our persecution, compared
to some people's persecution, is nothing. It's really nothing. We're not contending until the
death, are we? So we really do have a lot of
afflictions. Now, they're meaningful to us,
and they hurt when it's done by a family member or a friend.
But always remember. They can't get out our king,
so they just try to get out his servants. That's what they do.
That's what they do. They're really mad at God. They're
really mad at God. So let us rejoice as Christ fulfilled
the Old Testament scriptures for us. And the New Testament
is merely a record of Christ fulfilling fulfillment of the
Old Testament, really. And the messages are the same.
Salvation comes through Christ and Christ alone. The Old Testament
saints look to the Messiah, right? We look back to the cross to
look to Christ and Him alone. Both meet at the cross. Both
meet. Both have one object for their
faith. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Both are born again by
the same Holy Spirit, right? Both have the same faith, the
Old Testament and the New Testament. Both are part of the same church.
Because all the elect of God make up the Bride of Christ,
right? Not just New Testament saints, all the elect of God.
I used to belong to a church that they believed that only
people who belonged to their churches were the Bride of Christ.
Everybody else was just friends of the Bride. And that you and
I would be serving all of them for all eternity. Yeah, well. As long as we're serving the
Lord, right? Yeah. But isn't that crazy, though?
We're all the bride of Christ who are born-again, blood-washed
saints of God. All of us. We've all been purchased by the
same blood. We all have the same Redeemer, the same Father, the
same Spirit. And it's wondrous. It's absolutely
wondrous. In chapter 4, God the Holy Spirit
declares again to all his born-again people, now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise. My oh my, we're the
children of promise, beloved. We're the children of promise.
We looked at that last week, two weeks ago. Now, did Isaac
have anything to do with the promise that God made to Abraham? He didn't, did he? No. He had nothing to do at all.
Just as we had nothing to do with the promise that God the
Father made to the Lord Jesus Christ that he give him a people
and that Christ would redeem those people and that the Holy
Spirit would regenerate them. We had nothing to do with it,
did we? We had absolutely nothing to do with it. Isaac's physical
and spiritual birth were a miracle that only God could have performed.
Because remember, Sarah was barren. She was past her age. It was
a miracle. Such as our rebirth is a miracle,
isn't it? Even our first birth is really
a miracle when you think about it. My oh my. It's amazing. And Isaac inherited all of Abraham's
riches, didn't he? We're heirs of God through Christ
Jesus our Lord, beloved. We have what? All spiritual blessings. Through Christ Jesus our Lord.
My, and God is the only one who made us to differ. Ishmael was
cast out because he was a product of the flesh, but Isaac was a
child of the promise. And we are children of the promise.
That's what we are. It's absolutely amazing. Nevertheless,
what saith the scripture, cast out the bondwoman and her son,
for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman, We're the son of the free women.
Oh my beloved. Let's turn to Galatians chapter
5 now. So that allegory shows us, in
the latter part of Galatians chapter 4, it shows us that law
and grace cannot mix. It's impossible. They cannot
mix. Salvation is either all of grace or it's not salvation
at all. It's one or the other. And it
doesn't matter what people think. You ever hear this? People say,
well, God's sovereign over all these things and the rivers and
the streams, but he's not sovereign over man's decision to choose
him. What? The sun burns in the sky,
in the sky, at his decree. Can the night stop the morning
from coming? No. It's all at His decree, isn't
it? He's in control of all that.
Right? Can anything happen in this world
without Him knowing? Nothing at all. And yet people
say, well, He's not sovereign in this spot. Oh, He's sovereign
over all. And when we see this stand fast
there, let us know that we are kept by the power of God. We're
kept by His power. And all we are to do is stand
fast and look to Christ. Look to Christ. Look at this. So then, brethren, let's look
at verse 31. We'll add that in. of chapter four. So then, brethren,
we are not the children of the bond one, but of the free. Stand
fast, therefore. See, it's all connected, right?
So he's given us the allegory of how law and grace don't mix,
and now he tells us, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free. How's that? We're not under the
law anymore. We don't go and break the law, do we? We don't
desire to go against the law of God. But in our sinful nature,
we break it all the time. But you never hear a preacher,
a grace preacher, tell you you can go contrary to the law of
God. You just won't hear that. Because none of us will say that.
And it says here, so then, brethren, we are not the children of the
bound one, but of the free. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty, that's freedom in the Greek, wherewith Christ hath
made us free. And be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage, that's slavery in the Greek. That word bondage
there is slavery. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Look
at that, nothing, absolutely nothing. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. You want to live by the law? You gotta do it all. You gotta do it all. It's impossible. We can't even fulfill one of
God's laws, let alone all the other ones that are there. And
he's talking the whole Mosaic Law here. He's not just talking
about the Ten Commandments. That's enough to slay us anyways,
isn't it? But he's talking about the whole Mosaic law here. You
want to live under the law? You've got to live under it all.
But then James tells us, if we break one of the law, we broke
them all. My, see so these Judaizers, they're
trying to yoke these Galatian believers under the law again.
And Paul says, you're free. You're free in Christ. Don't
get caught up in that slavery again. You're absolutely free.
Just stand fast in the truth of the gospel. Just stand fast. Like we said, we're building
a wall, right? We're building a wall. That's what we're here
for. We're here for the gospel to
go forth, right? I'm called here at Alma to preach the gospel,
and you all love it, and I love it too. And we're not going to
get caught up in any controversy or any other group out there.
We're just going to build the wall. Remember the Israelites? They had a sword and a trawl.
They were building the wall, right? That's what we're just
going to keep going. We're just going to keep going
forward, aren't we? Yep. That's what we're going to do.
Oh, by the grace of God, that's what we're going to do. with
a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. I got no time for
that nonsense, right? We're going to have the gospel
go forth. Oh, and Paul says here, see these
Judaizers say, well, you have to be circumcised. I got no time
for that nonsense. My brethren, stand fast in the
freedom that you have in Christ. Stand fast. You're not under
the law. You're under grace. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
What freedom we have, what liberty. He says, Christ has become of
no effect to you, whosoever of you is justified by the law,
you've fallen from grace. Oh, a man cannot be justified
before God by the law. For we through the Spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. We wait for Christ,
don't we? We're looking to Christ. We're eagerly awaiting his return.
He's our righteousness. We know we have nothing in ourselves.
We got no righteousness to stand before God. But now, praise God,
we're clothed in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ.
And God looks on us and sees Christ. And we say, hallelujah.
That's wonderful. That's absolutely wonderful. It says, look at this, for in
Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything. Circumcision
won't help you, won't gain you merit and favor with God. Traditions
won't gain you merit and favor with God, right? Thinking you're
good will outweigh your bad won't gain you merit and favor with
God, just condemns us. He says this, he says, for in
Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. And that's the love of God in
our hearts, beloved. That's being shed abroad in our hearts. That's
foreign to us until we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God.
Now we have this great love for Christ. Now we have a love for
the gospel. Now we have a love for God's
people. We're family. And it's wonderful. Now we desire to come
hear the gospel when we didn't before. Now when we hear election,
we go, oh, Lord, thank you for choosing me, because I never
would have chosen you. Oh, Lord, thank you for justifying
me, because my righteousness, my own righteousness would have
condemned me. My own works would have condemned me. But I'm saved
based upon the merit and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in him alone. The complete, perfect, sin atoning
work of the Lord Jesus Christ that he performed on Calvary's
cross in our room and place. And it's wonderful, isn't it? So stand fast in that truth.
Stand fast in that truth, beloved. Let us just stand fast. Stand
fast. We don't need to go forward. We just need to stand fast. Right? Stand fast. Again, we're building
that wall, aren't we? Right? Let's have the gospel
go out from here. That's all we desire. We get
together as a family, we worship God, and then out goes the gospel
from here. And God does whatever he's pleased
to do. And we say praise his mighty
name. Praise his mighty name. It's wonderful. And so Paul is
exhorting those who have not, and remember, he's writing to
those who have not submitted to the Judaizers, right? We can tell that through the
text. Now there may have been some that submitted to the Judaizers
and proved that their professions were false, but he's actually
telling them, hey, those remaining ones, stand fast. Don't get caught
up in all that. And you notice he's not treating
them, he's not saying they're unbelievers. He's talking to
them like brethren, isn't he? Yeah, it's wonderful. I notice
that with Corinthians too. Paul before he, as he did here,
Paul before he does any correction sets forth the gospel, sets forth
Christ. And he did, remember he did the
same in Galatians chapter one, did the same thing. He corrects
them in love. Now he's being firm here. He's
being affirmed by the Holy Spirit. And remember, the Holy Spirit,
God's a jealous God. There's only one way to heaven.
There's only one way to the Father, and that's in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our God's a jealous God. He doesn't
want his people going after all this and that. No, no, and he'll
pull us back, won't he? He'll pull us back if we get
that way. He'll bring us back. Oh, he's wonderful. He's so wonderful.
And he'll do it with cords of love, just lovingly draw us back.
Oh, it's so wonderful. It's wonderful. So the Judaizers,
instead of teaching a humbling doctrine of redemption, which
is in and through Christ Jesus alone, by the blood of Christ
and justification by faith in Christ, they taught that by submitting
to circumcision, and obeying the law, that man could do something
in the way of meriting divine favor, which is a lie. Nothing
we do, beloved, nothing we do will gain divine favor. It's all in Christ. It's all
in Christ. So Paul's just telling us, stand
fast. Don't move forward. Don't move backwards. Just stand
fast in this wondrous truth of salvation in and through Christ
Jesus alone. And no, it's not based upon our
works. We beat ourselves up all the time, don't we? Notice he
just says, stand there. He doesn't say, well, do this
and do that and do it. Just stand. Just stand right there. Stand
with your sword in your hand. The word of God, just stand there.
Trust in Christ and Him alone. Just stand. My, we want to run
forward, don't we? But you know what happens when
we run forward? We're all by ourselves and the whole line's
back there. Oh my. No, stand fast. Lock your shields like the Romans
used to do. Lock our shields together and stand fast. Firm
together as brothers and sisters in Christ. My, and just look
to Christ, that's all we do, just look to him. He's the commander,
right? He's our king. He's the captain
of the Lord's host. He's a mighty warrior, isn't
he? Oh yeah, just look at Joshua chapter five, you see him as
a mighty warrior, the captain of the Lord's host. Oh my. And what the Judaizers were teaching
was wrong. Their object was to substitute
bondage for freedom. They were going to yoke the Galatians
back under the law. The Galatians are already free
in Christ. And they're trying to actually,
they're saying, well you gotta do this to be saved. They're
trying to yoke them back under the slavery of the bondage of
works. Now most of them came out of idol worship. They were
already slaves to their idols already before, and the Lord
saved them out of that. Right? And now here comes these
Judaizers. We're going to rope these young
Galatian believers in. And Paul says, just stand firm.
Just stand. You know this? It's not by might
nor power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Who's the battle? Who goes forth before us in battle?
The Lord Jesus Christ. And we just stand fast. And he
goes forth, right? And he's conquered all our enemies,
beloved. He's crushed Satan already, right? Satan's on a leash. He can't
do anything that God won't allow. Vicky's discovering out west
that people give so much power to Satan. So much power. And she said, well, he can't
do anything without God allowing it to happen. Oh my. Again, our worst enemy,
Zayn, right, we were talking, is right here. The flesh, the
flesh, the flesh. I finding that out. I still find
that out. Yeah, it's true, isn't it? But now, stand fast. Stand fast
in that liberty. Stand fast in that freedom that
we have in Christ, beloved. Don't be entangled again with
the works and this and that that people say you have to do. Stand
fast in the truth. I'm free in Christ. He's paid
all my sins. I'm free. I'm justified before
God. I'm sanctified before God. I'm
redeemed. And we can say like, Job, I know
my Redeemer liveth. I know who he is. I'm gonna see
him again. I'm gonna see, well, for the
first time, not again. I'm gonna see him. I'm gonna
see him when we die. We're gonna see him, beloved.
Face to face. Isn't that gonna be wonderful?
We're gonna see him. Our Redeemer, our Savior, our
Lord. My. And so these Galatians, they're
pretending that they're improving upon Christianity. But you can't
improve on perfect, can you? If something is perfect, you
can't improve on it. Christ said it's finished in the Greek. It's
perfect. It's perfect. And these guys are saying, oh
no, you got to do this too. You got to follow these laws
over here. It's perfect. Stand fast. Let
us stand fast. It's perfect. Our redemption
is perfect. Christ obtained eternal redemption
for us. It's perfect. Man, makes you
shout, eh? Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
Oh, it's wonderful. My. So they're trying to yoke
him under all these numberless carnal ordinances that Christ
fulfilled, too. Think of that. Christ fulfilled
those. He fulfilled the whole lot, didn't
he? As our substitute. So here the Galatians are, they're
free. Paul's saying, you're free. You're not under the law. You're
free for the law, because Christ fulfilled the law for us. And
these guys are trying to yoke you back under into slavery. And that's what works is. Works
is slavery. You remember, those of us who
came out of the workspace religion, you remember how much you beat
yourself up and how the chains just weighed you down? Never good enough. Oh, never
good enough. Well, it's perfect. The sacrifice
is perfect. Stand fast in that truth. Stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, beloved.
We're free. We're free from sin. We're free
from the penalty, not the presence. But one day that will come. But
we're free from the penalty of sin. Right? We're free from the
power of sin. It once had a grip upon us, but
now we can fight against it by the grace of God, can't we? And
we know it's only him. You ever get sitting there and
something's coming up, and you're getting tempted about something,
and you know what I find? I just go, Lord, please help
me. Please help me. I need your help. I need your, or like Zane and I
were talking, something happens, you go, I did it again, Lord. Please forgive me. And don't
ever say, I won't do it again. OK? Even though we should have
that mentality, right? It's like, remember when
you were younger and mom would make fresh cookies? Don't touch
those. As soon as she said that, what
happens? I want one. Right? Oh my, we're just such, we are
all the same, aren't we? See, we're all the same. Oh,
and sin's like that, eh? Don't touch that. Oh, that looks
real good. No, no, my. So they were pretending. They
were pretending to improve on Christianity. You can't improve
on the finished, perfect work of Christ. It's just impossible.
It's just impossible. I haven't even got to stand fast
yet, have I? My oh my. And they were determined in reality
to receive that which was not the gospel. Because the gospel
is good news, right? What's the good news of the gospel?
All my sins are forgiven. They're all forgiven. They're
cleansed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
now I'm born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And he's given
us faith to believe. That's good news, isn't it? That
a wretched sinner like me and like you, we can be saved by
the grace of God. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. And it's not because we made
the decision. It's not because we walked denial. It's because
God with cords of love drew us. That's why we went, that's why
we gave our lives to Christ, because He gave us faith. He
says He draws us to Him. Draws us to Him. Remember what
D.J. Ward said? If God hadn't chosen
the people, heaven would be empty. But praise God, He chose the
people. He chose a number that no man can number. That's why
we preach the gospel to everyone. And let God do the saving, right?
Let God do the saving. That's wonderful. Let's read
verse 5 again. He moved the Apostle Paul to
give us these encouraging words. And these are such encouraging
words, I'll tell you. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty of the freedom, wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. See, these Judaizers,
they were teaching these false doctrines, trying to put them
back under the law. And notice, they're entangled.
You ever been entangled in something and can't get out? It's a horrible feeling. When
I was young, I'll tell you a funny story. When I was young, I wasn't
entangled, but this is what happened. My parents went away for a weekend,
and mom and dad had a fruit cellar downstairs. Well, I had left
the back door open, and the fruit cellar door closed, and it was
locked. And the fruit cellar wasn't very
big. It's smaller than these rooms back here. But it had all
these preserves, so I thought, well, at least I'm not going
to starve to death. But I panicked. And thankfully, Mom had left
the broom in there. Well, this door was about that thick. And
it had that pressed wood in it. I drilled a hole with that broomstick
all the way through that door and stuck my hand and tore my
hand all up and opened that door. I was never so happy to be out.
It took me about an hour to get out of that door. But I'll tell
you what. Being stuck there, being entangled
like that, right? Where you can't get out. It was
a horrible feeling. And no one was around for four
days. My oh my. At least I wouldn't
have starved, like I said. The mum's preserves were all
there. I could have eaten. I could have eaten like a king. But I
just wanted to get out of there. See, and this is what it's like.
It's like being entangled. Being yoked up. And he's telling
them, don't be entangled again. with the yoke of bondage, with
works, because works won't do anything. My, and see the gospel, the gospel
is salvation in Christ Jesus plus nothing, right? That's what
it is. Nothing we do. It's salvation
in Christ and through Christ and that's it. And God's preachers
are constantly encouraging God's born-again, blood-washed children
to just stand fast. Just stand fast in the truth.
Stand fast in Christ. That's our hope, isn't it? Christ
is our hope. My. Stand fast. Jesus Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to all who believe. Stand fast
in that truth. He's the end of the law. Jesus
Christ, by his perfect obedience to the will of God, has made
us righteous, beloved. In God's sight and nothing that
man does can enter into what Christ our Savior has done for
his people. Let us stand fast in that truth.
You can't mess up God's salvation, beloved. We're to enjoy God,
right? Glorify God and enjoy him forever. Doesn't mean we go out and go
crazy. I have to keep saying that, right? But it's true, you
all know that. Doesn't mean we go, but stand
fast by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus Christ sanctified and perfected
forever all his chosen people. Let us therefore stand fast in
that truth. Look into him, look into he who
is the author and the finisher of our salvation, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God's promised children contributed
absolutely nothing to the perfect finished work of Christ, did
we? We contributed nothing. Let us stand fast in that truth.
See, the Judaizers trying to get them to contribute. They're
saying that that work wasn't finished. You got to do this.
No, it's finished. Let's stand fast. And let our
king go before us in battle. Oh, let him go. And think of
that. This is a king who doesn't send all his troops into battle.
He goes into battle himself with his sword drawn. That's
our King. That's our Savior. That's our
Redeemer. That's our God, beloved. He goes
before us. And God's promised children,
again, contributed absolutely nothing to the perfect redeeming
work of Christ. Let us stand fast in that. Jesus Christ is
every believer's surety. He's our surety, beloved. He's
seated in the heavens right now. He's making intercession for
us. Let us stand fast in that truth. And our Lord is a sovereign
ruler over all. He is sovereign in providence
and He is sovereign in salvation, beloved. Let us stand fast in
that truth. Let us stand fast in that, looking
to Him who is the ruler over all. And by Him, all things consist. Let us stand fast in these blessed,
blessed truths. And let us stand fast that the
only way we can have acceptance with God is in and through the
perfect, complete, finished, redeeming work of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he shed his precious blood for us on Calvary's cross.
Let us stand fast in that truth. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, beloved. Oh, we rejoice in that, don't
we? We rejoice. And remember, God's immutable.
He cannot change. He cannot change. The scripture
says He's loved us from eternity. We were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world because of His love for us, not because
of anything in us, because of His grace and His mercy. But
that eternal love towards us is eternal. It doesn't change,
just as God doesn't change. You see? Well, we mess up a lot. We sin a lot. Yeah, but God's
love still doesn't change for us. Isn't that amazing? That
is absolutely amazing. And even before we were saved,
when we were dead in trespasses and sins, his love was set upon
us. My! Stand fast in that. Stand fast in these truths, these
wondrous, wondrous truths. My, well, I'm going to finish
there even though I didn't even get done. But my, isn't that
wonderful? Just stand fast. Stand fast in
what Christ has done for us. It's perfect. His work is perfect,
doesn't need to have anything added to it. And we are saved,
we are saved, beloved, by the free and sovereign grace of God
in and through Christ because it pleased him to do so. My, what a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Brother Dave, can you close us
in prayer, brother?