Name of the message is Level
Ground. Level Ground. Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of Galatians, chapter 2. We'll be reading verses 1
to 9 to find the context of our verse here. The verse that we'll
be studying is in verse 6 of Galatians, chapter 2. So let's
read verses 1 to 9. Then 14 years after, I went up
again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also.
And I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel. only one gospel, which I preach
among the Gentiles, but privately to them, which were of reputation,
lest by any means I should run or had run in vain. But neither
Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be
circumcised. And that because of false brethren, unawares bought
in, who came in privately to spy on our liberty, which we
have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. to whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you. In verse six here, this is our text for today. But
of those who seem to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh
no matter to me. God accepted no man's person.
For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to
me, but contrarize. When they saw that the gospel
of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the
circumcision was unto Peter, for he that wrought effectively
in Peter the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty
in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Cephas, and John,
who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto
me, and Barnabas, they gave unto me and Barnabas the right hand
of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and they
unto the circumcision. So Paul is bringing forth before
the Gentile churches, the believers in the Gentile churches, the
fact that he's an apostle, and the fact that he's an apostle
sent by God. He's commissioned by God to be
an apostle. The Judaizers had been questioning
his apostolic authority, and they'd even be questioning the
message that he preached, which is salvation in and through Christ
and Him alone. And he goes up to Jerusalem. The elders in the Galatian churches
had asked him to go up to Jerusalem to get letters from the apostles
at Jerusalem saying that his gospel was the one true gospel.
And so Paul, he went up there and he says in verse six here,
but of those who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they were, yet make
it no matter to me. God accepted no man's person,
for they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to
me. So he's saying that he's an equal.
He's an equal to them, to those who had been with Christ, the
apostles. And again, he didn't go up there
to get authority from them, because his authority came from
God, didn't it? His authority came from God. His authority
to preach the gospel, his apostolic authority came from Christ in
him alone, just as it did for the other apostles. See, all
the authority that a preacher has to preach comes from the
Lord. not from man, not from man at all, but from the Lord
and him alone. And he did not submit control
of that which God had sent him to do. He didn't say, well, I'm
gonna change my message if they say this and that. No, he'd been
sent to preach the gospel. He'd been preaching Christ and
him crucified to the Gentiles. Paul wasn't going to change his
message. He'd never compromise. That's why we see in verse 5
when he says, I didn't give subjection to those false teachers. Not
at all. Not at all. Didn't even give them a place.
Didn't even give them a chance to speak. Because he knew that what they
were teaching was absolute lies. So he wasn't going to stop preaching
what he was preaching. He's determined to preach Christ
and him crucified. He tells us that in 1 Corinthians. He's going to preach the complete,
sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation in Him,
through His shed precious blood, redeeming our eternal souls,
and justified by His resurrection, that Christ completed the work.
It's all done by Him. He's not going to stop preaching
Christ. He's not done so so far, has he? Even though the Judaizers
were just peppering things, they were emissaries. You know they
were emissaries of Satan? That's what they are. That's
what them false teachers are, beloved. Folks, oh, you don't
want to offend people. That's what they are. They have
a false gospel. Scripture calls them Antichrist
in the sense that they're against Christ. Any false teaching is
Antichrist. Any false teaching, anything
that goes against the finished, complete work of Christ is anti-Christ. And these false teachers, they
crept in, and he wasn't going to give them any place. No place
at all. So every opportunity Paul got,
he just preached Christ. And that's what gospel preachers
do. We get an opportunity to proclaim
Christ, we're just going to proclaim Christ and his perfect, finished
work. That's what we're going to do. Again, these false teachers,
these meddling emissaries of Satan, had striven to misrepresent
Paul. They'd misrepresented him. They'd
said, well, he has no authority to preach. What do you think
of Paul's preaching? Oh, what do you think of it?
I don't know what to think about it, but I'm going to ask you
what you think about it. Oh my, called into question. They were calling into question
the completeness of the finished work of Christ. Do you know that?
That's what they were doing. They were saying you have to
do this. Ceremonies of the Jewish law to be saved along with faith
in Christ. So they were negating the completeness,
the perfect finished work of Christ. And that's what false
teachers do. There's always something you
have to do. In a way, it could just be something so small. What, a little leaven, what?
Leaven is the whole lump, doesn't it? How much poison take to kill
you? Just a drop, right? Just a drop,
not a whole bottle, just a little drop. Oh my, my oh my. So they'd actually called into
question the very gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace. So Paul goes up to Jerusalem
at the request of the elders of the Galatian churches to bring
back letters from the apostles. And look, they met, and they
agreed that Paul was preached in the gospel. And we see Paul
bring forth, and he's speaking of the apostles here in verse
six. That's who he's speaking of. And he does not mean this
in disrespect. He does not mean this in disrespect
when he's talking about this. He's just saying they didn't
add anything to what I preach. They didn't teach me anything
new. I'm already preaching what God sent me to do. See, I tell
people, I'm honest with them right off the bat. I say, I got
a one-string fiddle. You've heard me say that many times. I preach
Christ. I'm going to try not to move away from that. Just
preach Christ. I'm going to come at it from
different texts. preaching about our king, but that's who the
Lord sent me to preach about him and what he's done, the great
things he's done. And I can't tell you what he's
done for me unless it's actually happened to me, right? Your hometown, wherever you were
born in this world, you can tell me about your hometown and when
you grew up, but I can't tell you about it because I've never
been there. And even if I've been there,
I've never experienced the things that you've experienced. You
see? See, those who have been changed
by the grace of God can tell others about the grace of God. And I'll tell you what, when
they've been changed by the grace of God, when they're new creatures
in Christ, all they want to do is brag about Christ. Good news. Let me tell you about my king.
So he brings forth here in verse 6, but of these who seem to be
somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me. God
accepted no man's person. Another title I was thinking
of for this message is God respects no man. No man standing. Doesn't matter if you're rich
or poor or in between. God doesn't take none of that
into account for us. His mercy is bestowed upon we
who are sinners. And remember, level ground, right?
We're all sinners, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. And all are guilty before God. That means everyone.
I don't care what standing you are in life. That means every
one of us. Someone may be born with a silver spoon, come into
a wealthy family. They're still a sinner, just
like the poorest baby that comes into the world. They're still
sinners, aren't they? Desperately need saving. Desperately
need saving. And Titus, he accompanied Paul
to Jerusalem. He'd been Paul's companion in
Galatia in the mission journeys of Asia Minor. And he was a Greek.
He had no Jewish blood in him. He wasn't from the nation of
Israel. He had no relatives that were.
Like Timothy, I believe his dad was a Gentile, but his mom was
a Jew. if I'm not mistaken. But Titus
didn't have it. He was a full-on heathen like
us. Right? And they wouldn't subject the
Judaizers. They said, he needs to be circumcised
to be saved along with faith in Christ. And Paul said, we're
not having nothing of that. And even the Galatian churches.
Good on the elders. They should have just believed
Paul, right? But We humans, we can be swayed
by folks. We can be. We can be. I'm not
hard on them because I know we all can be in that position.
Right? Could be swayed by other men. But oh, the Judaizers urged Paul
that Titus should be circumcised and basically become a proselyte
to the Jewish ceremonies. That's what it really is. become
a slave under the law. Well, Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness, isn't he? And Paul resisted this demand. And he resisted it so determinedly
that he said, I won't even give them a place to speak. I don't even want them talking. My, in verse five, look at verse
five, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour,
that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. See,
the gospel was what was in stake. That's what was at stake, is
the completeness of the finished work of Christ. That's what was
being called into question. And anything that calls into
question and adds something man has to do is a false gospel. And remember, this is the Holy
Spirit authoring these words, right? And as I was studying
this week for this message and for the morning message, I thought,
wow, there's so much instruction how the Lord instructs us through
his word. And today is kind of like I want
us to look at the scriptures that way, too. And I want us
to continue to do that, to look at, this is instructional for
us. See, the Holy Spirit's equipping
us. If anyone comes in with these kind of doctrines, we just say,
no, that's not right. That's not right. And what was at question was
justification in Christ alone, which again is the heart of the
gospel. That was what was at question. And if Paul gave into their demands,
he would no longer be preaching grace. And we won't compromise,
will we? Here, we won't. By God's grace,
we won't. We're not compromised on the
gospel. Now, people get all wound up and all wound up in all this
stuff, end time stuff, and I've even heard Doctrines of Grace
folks go off, are you a lapsarian or super lapsarian? I don't even
care about that stuff. Come on. Talking theological
things that, you know what? Christ is the issue, right? That's
not the issue. The issue is Christ. That's the
issue. Christ and him crucified. If
you want to learn that stuff, that's fine. There's nothing
wrong with that. But don't make it such a big issue that it usurps
Christ. Oh my. So in the interest of the gospel
of God's free grace in Christ, Paul opposed their demands. He
said, that's not right. So let we who are the born again
people of God take the same stance. Take the same stance. Henry Mahan said years ago to
Norm Wells, he was talking to him about the Lord's Supper.
And Norm was in a group that believed that the Lord's Supper
was closed and only for the church that he belonged to and that
only they were the bride of Christ. Praise God, Norm and I were both
taken out of that. It's so cultic, it's not funny.
And Henry kept saying to Norm, Norm would bring it up and Henry
would say, that's not the issue. Christ is the issue, Norm. He
must have said it five times to Norm. Ask him when he comes
out here. He'll tell you the story about
it. It's incredible. And Henry just kept saying, that's not
the issue, Norm. Christ is the issue. And so now him and I get
on the phone. We'll be talking about stuff.
We're like, that's not the issue, is it? We're still learning. Christ
is the issue. That's what it is. That's what
it is. Oh my. So let us take the same
stance when it comes to workspace salvation. Now we're not even
going to give it a place. Let us always put the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ at the forefront. At the forefront
for us. Again, people argue about all
these things, end times, all this other stuff. They just get
wound up tighter in the clock. Let's just focus on Christ. Let's
focus on who He is. And may we as a congregation
never compromise on that. May we just always make Christ
at the forefront. May we love the Lord, may we
love the brethren, may we love the gospel. And make that the
main thing why we're here. Let's read verse six again. It
says, but of these who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they were,
it maketh no matter to me. God accepted no man's person.
For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to
me. Now again, Paul's not speaking out against the Lord's apostles.
He's not doing that. He's not speaking out against
the Lord's anointed leaders in the church in Jerusalem. He's
not doing that. These are the 12 who were with
Christ, but remember, Remember this, and Paul's gonna bring
this forth, the 12 are just sinners like you and I. That's why I
keep saying to y'all that I have a blessed position to preach
the gospel, but I'm a saved sinner just like every one of you. There's
no preacher mound, there's no apostle mound at the foot of
the cross. The ground is level, beloved.
It is perfectly level. We're all sinners before God. When we stand at the great white
judgment throne, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, the
only reason we're being separated from those who are goats on the
other side is Christ and him alone. That's the only difference. Because we're both a group of
sinners. One group will be lost and the other group will be saved
by the grace of God. Now, if we got what we deserved,
everybody would be lost, right? But by God's grace and mercy,
he saved the people. So he's not speaking out against
them in anger or anything. He's just saying that these men
who were placed in authority in the Jerusalem church, they're
to be loved and highly esteemed for their work, but Paul knew
that they were no different than he was. He knew that they were
just sinners saved by grace who were given the gift to preach.
That's all. but they're still just sinners
saved by the grace of God, that's all they are. Now Christ had
placed these men in those elevated positions of authority within
the body, but they had nothing to boast of in themselves, did
they? I don't have anything to boast in, even though I'm called
the preacher, I have nothing to boast in but Christ. He's
the only one I can boast in. As a matter of fact, I'm the
last person who thought I would be a preacher. Dave and I were laughing, because
we're cut from the same mold. And Sister Barb last week said,
yeah, I like how you guys work together. And I talked to Dave
this week, and I said, isn't that funny? Because we are the
last people who we thought would be he leading songs and me preaching
the gospel. We are the last folks that would
ever think we'd be doing that. But here, look what the Lord's
done, eh? Isn't he so good? And he'd done the same for you
too. We're all sinners, aren't we? We're all the same. No matter
what we came out of, we came out of sin, didn't we? And we're
still sinners. But we're saved by the grace
of God. We're not what we used to be. Praise be to God. And we're not what we're gonna
be. Oh my. Oh my. So Christ had placed these
men in these positions, and Paul was He was referring also to
what these men used to be, too. They used to be fishermen. Think
of that, too. They were just fishermen. If
anyone's the most educated, Paul was. But Paul said, I count all
that but dung. Everything I learned before in
religion, it's nothing. It's a bunch of manure. My, oh my. So let's look at the first portion
of this verse. It says, but of those who seem
to be somewhat. Somewhat. So they were in an
elevated position. People probably esteemed them
because of that position. And again, we're no different
than anyone else. We who preach, we're the same
as everyone else, just saved by the grace of God. Look at
this, though. The word seen there in the Greek
is translated reputation in verse 2. Look at verse 2. And I went
up by revelation and communicated unto them the gospel which I
preached among the Gentiles, but privately to them who were
of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain.
Now the Greek word again, but of those who seemed, that's the
same word that's translated reputation in verse two. And that's the
same verse. So they were men well known within
the church. And note the middle part of this
verse now. Note the middle part of this verse. It says this. Whatsoever they
were, it maketh no matter to me. God accepteth no man's person.
Look at that. Look at that. You know what he's
bringing forth here? He's making forth that there's
level ground with all people. He's making forth that even the
position that they're in, and the former position they were
in, makes no difference to God. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians. I discovered something this week.
I want to look at this with you. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And
it's based upon this portion here, where it says, it maketh
no matter to me. God accepteth no man's person.
So God doesn't accept us based upon our standing in life. He
doesn't look at us based upon our standing in birth. We're
all guilty before God when we come out of the womb. Every one
of us. Actually, in conception, we're conceived in sin. Look at this. Let's consider
these verses 16 and 17 of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And Paul's going to
bring forth here saying that he values no man from a human
point of view. Like he doesn't put one man above
another from a human point of view. And God doesn't do that
either. God doesn't do that. Now we're
valuable in his eyes, right, because we're his elect. But
that's only because he chose us in Christ. On our own, in
our natural state, before he chose anyone in eternity, when
he looked down through eternity, everyone was lost. Everyone was
dead. There was no difference. See,
it's only God who made to differ, right? You're mine. You're mine. Isn't that amazing? Oh my. Look at this though. We know man after the flesh,
yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth
know we him no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. See the word know there? Wherefore,
henceforth, know we no man after the flesh? That word know there
means to approve, acknowledge, or esteem. See, we would think, when we
see that word, we think, oh, that's just to know someone. No. No,
it's to actually esteem someone in the Greek. Acknowledge them. Approve them.
So Paul's bringing forth that whether a man's a descendant
of Abraham, circumcised, learned, rich, gifted, weak, he regards
no man in the flesh. That's what Paul's saying. He's not going to measure. To
Paul, everyone's on level ground. You're either saved or lost.
You're either a saved sinner or you're a lost sinner. He doesn't
say, well, this is the politician over here, I'm gonna hold him
in the higher esteem. Nope, not at all. Well, this
man over here is a garbage man, I'm not gonna, nope, he doesn't
hold them, they're all on the same level then. See, that's
how we should be, isn't it? That's how we as a people of
God should be. In no way should we elevate a
man because of their position in life. Not at all. But men do that. Men do that.
They do that all the time. And you know what? Do you know
Christ has taken away all the distinctions? Turn if you would to Colossians
chapter 3. See, men make distinctions among other men, right? Whether
you're learned or unlearned, whether you're rich or poor, whether one has a job or not
even, right? Sometimes people make distinctions amongst people. But you know, we're all the same.
How do we know that? Well, the Holy Spirit had Paul
write this down in Colossians chapter 3. Christ has taken away
all distinctions. Look at this in verses 10 and
11. And I put on a new man, again, that's the new creature spoken
of there in 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Put on a new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him,
where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in and
all. Look at that. Look what he's
done. Jew or Gentile? Nationality,
right? Jews used to think Gentiles were
a bunch of dogs. I don't know what the Gentiles
thought of the Jews. They probably thought, well, they're just a haughty
bunch of people. But in Christ, there's no distinction. Circumcision or uncircumcision?
Again, that's Jew or Gentile, right? Barbarian, Scythian. Barbarians were vicious, weren't
they? The Scythians were even more vicious. The Scythians were
the barbarians of the barbarians. They drank blood out of the skulls
of the people that they slaughtered. They were, they were. Well, it
looks like the Lord saved some of them, doesn't it? Oh, look
at that. The worst of the worst barbarians.
The Lord saved a whole bunch of them. I love that. I love that. Oh, that's wonderful. Bond or free, whether one's a
slave or not a slave. Christ is all and in all. That's
what he is to his people. That's what he is to us. He's
everything. You know, I was listening to
Donnie Bell this week, and he was talking about some works-based
preacher in Crossville. And you know all that reward
system where people think they're going to get all these rewards?
This preacher, Donnie said, had told the congregation. When I
heard this, I about fell over. He said he told the congregation
that when we're in heaven, y'all are going to be shining my shoes.
What? What? because he's going to have so
many rewards. I didn't even tell Vicki. That's her face right
now. I was shocked. Oh my goodness, I about fell
over. What a self-righteous statement,
eh? We're all one in Christ. We're
all on the same level. Christ is our reward. We're all
going to be mercy beggars going, oh Lord, thank you for saving
me. Oh my. That's just self-righteousness,
isn't it? And we see in our text, God's no respecter of persons.
He's no respecter of persons. No, we're all the same. We're
all sons and daughters of Adam. And we all come into this world
in the same natural state, don't we? Dead in trespasses and sins.
And the only one who makes us to differ is God. He's the only
one who makes us to differ. Who saved us? Who saved us? Christ,
in Him alone, right? He's the only one who saved us.
Whose blood was shed to redeem our souls? The blood of the Lamb,
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are we justified before God
in? In Christ, in Him alone, no other place. Who's all our
redemption? Christ, in Him alone. Who's all
our sanctification? Christ and Him alone. Who gives
us eternal life? Christ and Him alone. You see,
it's all about Him. Where Paul said, He's our all
in all. He's everything. That's why God doesn't respect
any persons. He is satisfied with Christ. He said, this is
my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Right? That's the one who He's happy
with. And I'll tell you what, if you're in Christ, By the power
of the Holy Spirit of God being born again, God is happy with
you. Oh, that's wonderful. It's only God who's made us to
differ. That's why it says here in our text, God accepted no
man's person. He's not a respecter of people.
We're all saved by the same mercy and the same grace of God in
Christ alone. Now let's read the middle of verse six. It says,
whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me. God accepted
no man's person. Whether they were ignorant fishermen,
which they were, right? Now, Vicky's dad's a fisherman.
They're not necessarily ignorant people. They're not at all. Her dad can build anything. I
saw him work with his hands. It's amazing. And he was a fisherman
his whole life. So when I read about Peter and
them, I think about John. I think about big, burly John.
Right? Could do all kinds of stuff with
his hands and everything. But in the world, he's not looked
at as a genius or anything. He's just a common fella. So
it doesn't matter what standing we have, does it? Whether you're
a fisherman, or whether you're Saul, who's been raised in all
this education. Doesn't matter, does it? Paul
even said that. I just counted all his manure.
It's nothing. Everything I learned, just garbage. Oh, my. He was a Pharisee of
Pharisees. It's only God who's made us to
differ. Do you know who we're accepted in? We're accepted in
the Beloved, aren't we? That's Christ. Every one of us.
We're accepted in Him. And I want, we're all like this
in Him. There's no, whoop, shoeshiner
down here. There's not, that doesn't happen.
That just does not happen. We're all the same. We're all
the same, Beloved. Oh, my education, worldly prestige,
worldly wealth, anything else, poverty. God does not accept us based
upon that. He accepts us in Christ, based
upon what Christ has done. He doesn't respect men. See,
that's why it's grace. That's why it's mercy when God
saves us. Because we're all the same. We're all just a bunch
of sinners. And he goes, you're mine. You'd be mine for eternity. You'd be born again now. Isn't
that amazing? The Holy Spirit comes and regenerates
us, and we become new creatures in Christ. Oh, my. It's wonderful, beloved. Someone
asked me one time, how do you know you're saved? Well, how
do I know I'm saved? Who's my hope? Who's my hope? Well, Christ is my everything.
You take away Christ, I have nothing. I have nothing. I don't have no hope outside
of Christ. Who was my hope before the Lord saved me? Myself, probably. My own doing, because I thought
my good could outweigh my bad. Then I found out I can't save
myself. I can't make myself acceptable
before God. So Christ, Christ is my everything. And how did
that come about? Only by the power of the Holy
Spirit. Who's the object of my faith? Christ. Who's my hope? Christ. Who's my salvation? Christ. Who's my wisdom? Christ. See,
that's the same answer, right? Christ is what? My all in all. Is Christ your all in all? Do
you feel the same way? Well, praise be to God, brothers and
sisters. No matter what comes, we're just going to trust in
Him, aren't we? We're just going to rest in Him amidst the storms
of life. We're just going to trust Him.
My, oh my. You know, everybody's important
in the body of Christ. Everybody. Christ is the head and we're
the body. Every single person in the body of Christ is important.
We're all on the same level. Don't ever think that you're
not important in the body of Christ, because everyone, every
born-again, blood-washed believer is important in the body of Christ.
Every single one. We've been placed there by God,
right? We've been placed there by God alone. My. He's our Lord Jesus Christ. He's
our King. And He instructs us. We get our
instructions from Him, don't we? Soldier says, we get our marching
orders from the Lord. That's who we get our marching
orders from, right? From Him. This is an outpost, but I look
at this like an outpost. Here we are. Here we are. We're soldiers in Christ in an
outpost in the middle of the wilderness. But you know what? We're waiting to get called home,
aren't we? when our duty will be done, and
then we'll just be worshiping Christ forever. Oh my, it'll
be wonderful, won't it? In Christ, he once walked as
a man as we walked. He was the same as us, except
he was sinless. Absolutely perfect and sinless.
Let's read verse six again. I gotta wrap this up. I don't
wanna stop till we look at the end of this verse. It says at
the latter part of this verse, for they who seem to be somewhat
in confidence added nothing to me. Paul, in defending his apostolic
authority, he was saying that those who were pillars in the
Church of Jerusalem, they didn't add anything to him. They didn't
add anything to the gospel he preached. Because they're preaching
the same gospel, right? They're preaching the same gospel.
So what he's saying here is the apostles didn't add anything
to what the Lord taught me, is what he's saying. When I meet
with my fellow preachers, we're preaching the same gospel. So
we have unity within that. It's wonderful. That's the grounds
we meet on, no matter what other difference we have. We meet on
the grounds of the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace.
In the preaching of his word. That's what's most important.
That's what's most important. So we're all on the same level,
beloved. Every one of us. We're all on the same level in
Christ. We are. Now we may be, some of us may
be closer to going home than the others. We don't know, because
none of us know the day of our death, right? None of us. But we do
know that we're all being conformed to the image of Christ together.
And that Christ is doing that for each one of us. Isn't that
incredible? Turn with me, if you would, to
one more place. I'm running out of time, quick here. One more
place, Philippians chapter 3. We're all on the same level.
And you know what? We don't graduate from that either. We don't graduate
from being on the same level in Christ. See, that's what the
awful, awful statement that that man made. Because he thinks he's
higher up than all the rest of the folks. We're all the same.
We're all the same. Again, that's nothing but a false
preacher there. I'll tell you what. I'll tell
you what. Look at this in Philippians chapter
3, verse 3. For we are all the circumcision which worship God
in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. Look at that. For we are all the circumcision. That's the circumcision made
without hands, beloved. That's to be born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. We're the true circumcision.
Not the Judaizers. No, not the Jews. But God's people. We have in Christ, in the new
birth, its fulfillment. It is the difference between
having the Lamb of the Old Testament, which the Jews were relying on,
right? Or having the Lamb of the New Testament. See? To be born again is the
true circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit of God. True
circumcision is having the heart pricked and laid open by the
Holy Spirit of God. True circumcision is renouncing
our own righteousness. I have no righteousness of my
own. Christ is my righteousness. True circumcision is of the heart,
not the flesh. It's not something man does.
It's something God does. It's an operation of God. And
it's to draw nigh to God with heart and not the body. It's
to rejoice in the completeness of Christ. And let us do that. Let us do that this week as we
leave here. Let us rejoice in the completeness of the finished
work of Christ. When we leave here today, let
us have that on our mind this week. Christ completed the work
perfectly. It is finished. It's done to
perfection, hallelujah.