It brings to light the Gospel
message, the Gospel news to our hearts in conversion. We pray,
Lord, that you'd be with us today, that the Spirit might help us
in our worship, that we might be pleasing to you in all things
as it pertains to the worship of God. And Lord, we just pray
that you'd be with us through the preaching of the Word, that
you might help keep me, Lord, from any error, that you might
keep me faithful to the Word of God. And Lord, I pray that
you might give ears to hear and eyes to see this morning to those
that are here, that they might be able to hear and understand
the things of the Spirit of God. Lord, we just, again, thank you
and praise you for the work that was done by the Lord Jesus Christ
on our behalf. And Lord, we just praise him
this morning and give thanks for all that he has done for
us. Alright, if you'll turn in your
Gatsby hymn books, that's the red and black hymn book. If you'll turn in that hymn book
over to hymn number 541, we'll sing Jesus, King of Zion. We'll sing that to I Love Thy
Kingdom, Lord. Yeah. I love that Kingdom Lord is the
tune that will fit this. 541 The Lord is Zion's king, let
Zion in him trust, midst friends and foes his goodness seek, and
of his mercy boast. He rules on Zion's hill with
laws of peace and grace, laws that bespeak his kindness still
and human pride of age. Let saints his scepter own, his
righteous laws obey. Acknowledge him, the Lord alone,
and walk the heavenly way. Of course, we know there that
whenever it's talking about the laws here, it's talking about
the laws of Christ, which are not the laws of Moses. There
are two mountains, as we looked in Galatians a few weeks ago,
there are two mountains. There's one that's Mount Sinai
and one that's Mount Zion. And that we are not come to Mount
Sinai, but we've come to Mount Zion. So we are under the law
of Christ, not the law of Moses, which we're continuing in our
study in Galatians. All right. Turn to hymn number
521. 521. Let's sing this to O Worship the King.
This is in keeping with our passages of scripture that was there in
Galatians. Thanks be to my head, the great
King of Kings. My life from the dead, the death
of my sins. Who took from my woes and was
made sin for me. Who died and who rose and from
sin set me free. His Spirit he sent to soften
my heart. The old veil is rent, and life
to impart. To bring me from darkness to
light in the Lord. And kill me to Moses, to sin
and the world. Thus I through the law, dead
to the law am. Yet married am I to Jesus the
Lamb. This union is sealed, all heavens
agree. From sin and from Moses, I henceforth
am free. My soul then rejoiced, let Christ
be thy song, with heart and with voice, with lip and with tongue. Before men or angels, sing worthy's
the Lamb of unceasing praises forever, Amen. Does anybody have a song that
you'd like to sing in any of your books? Yeah, they're all so quiet. Alright, we'll do one more, HEM
number 1094. 1094. Ye souls redeemed by Jesus' blood,
salvation's theme pursued. Exalt the sovereign grace of
God, for such were some of you. From head to foot defiled by
sin, deep in rebellion too. This awful state mankind are
in, and such were some of you. Whilst they are sinners, dead
to God, ye highly favoured few. are washed from sin by Jesus'
blood, for such were some of you. As ye are chosen from the
rest, to grace this praise is due. Be sovereign love forever
blessed, for such were some of you. Sorry guys, the matter of
my eyes this morning is just, I cannot get from being blurry. Alright, anybody have a song
they would like to sing? There's about 19 in this one. 19 in the purple, hopefully none
of them. The classic. Oh, now you just
have a little time. My Jesus, I love Thee, I know
Thou art mine. For thee, O the follies of sin,
I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Savior
art Thou. If ever I love thee, my Jesus
is now. I love Thee because Thou hast
first loved me, and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree. I love thee for wearing the thorns
on thy brow. If ever I love thee, my Jesus
tis now. I'll love thee in life, I will
love thee in death. and praise thee as long as thou
lindest me breath, and say when thy death do lies cold on thy
brow, love thee, my Jesus, tis now. In mansions of glory and endless
delight, I'll ever In heaven so bright I'll sing with a glittery
crown on my brow If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, tis now. I need Thee every hour, most gracious
Lord. No tender voice like Thine can
peace afford. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need thee every hour. Stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when thou art nigh. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour I
need Thee, O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, in joy
or pain. Come quickly and abide, for life
is vain. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, Most
Holy One. O make me Thine indeed, Thou
blessed Son. I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior. I come to thee. What a song. Anybody else have a song? It
almost sounds like my dad when he's snoring. Wow, he's tearing it up over there. Alright. Well, turn with me this morning
if you would, then, over back into Galatians. Galatians chapter 5. We'll pick
up where we left off last week. We started this fifth chapter,
and as I mentioned last week, whenever we're studying the Scriptures,
to always keep in mind that These are letters that are written
to people and they weren't broken up into chapters and verses.
That's not how they were originally written. But that was added in
later in the translations so to make it easier for us to find
the passages and to memorize the passages and things such
as that. But whenever these things were written, this was a long
letter that was written to the Galatian churches. And so whenever
we come to the scriptures and we look at these things, we need
to keep in mind Number one, that this was written in a context
to a particular group of people and that it's addressing a certain
issue. But the Bible says that all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God is profitable for all of us,
not just the people that it was intended to. But it's profitable
for all of us that the man of God might be thoroughly equipped
for the work of the ministry. And then for also those who are
not in the work of the ministry as far as the preaching of the
word, that we might be thoroughly equipped in the doctrine of Christ
to be able to share that with other people. So the word God,
even though these were letters written, the Bible says that
they were given by inspiration of God. It means that God inspired
or God breathed out these words or spoke these words to these
men to write down. So it's not just that you hear
the common argument by people today, especially among atheists
and agnostics, they'll say, you know, you can't trust that because
it's just a book that's written by men. Well, men pinned it down,
but the words didn't come from men. The words came from God.
And so we trust that all scripture is given by inspiration so we
can look at all the Word of God. So when we come to this particular
letter, as we've seen, Paul is dealing with an issue among the
Galatian churches. He had been through there before
and had preached. And the gospel that he preached,
as we found out in chapter one, was a gospel that he didn't receive
from man, but was taught by the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's
in Galatians chapter one, verse 12. So that was something that
was given to him as the apostle. He was given the doctrine of
Christ. Christ spent time with Paul.
taught Paul all his doctrine and sent Paul as the apostle
to the Gentiles. All the other apostles that we
read about in the Gospels and before Christ's crucifixion and
right after in Acts, we see that all those apostles were the apostles
to the Jews where Paul was chosen by God to be the apostle to the
Gentiles. Not that All of them was exclusively,
that was the only ones they could preach to, because we know Peter
went and preached to Gentiles, and we know Paul also went and
preached to Jews. So, they went back and forth,
but primarily that was the case, is that Paul was the preacher
to the Gentiles. And what had happened is that
in the Galatian churches, and there was more than one church
in the area of Galatia, so this letter was passed around to other
churches besides just one church. But these churches, there have
been men, Pharisees, that had professed faith in Jesus Christ
and who had been worshipping among the Christians that had
gone down from Jerusalem into these Gentile churches after
Paul had gone through and preached the gospel and that gospel had
been received from those people. And they'd come behind Paul and
said, you know, yeah, we agree with Paul that salvation is by
Jesus Christ and everything, but you still have to be circumcised
and keep the law of Moses to be saved and to stay saved. And
so whenever that began to start taking foothold within these
churches, Paul has now written this letter to address the situation
because that is not the gospel. The gospel that Christ had given
him was a gospel that is a gospel of salvation by the work of Christ
alone. That justification is not by
the works of the law, but by the work of Christ Jesus on being
our obedience in His life and being our death. He took our death for us because
of our sins. He paid for our sins in His death. And so Paul here has written
to them that anybody that preaches another gospel, in chapter 1
verse 7 it says, which is not another gospel, but there be
some that trouble you, and that's speaking of those Judaizers that
had come down that were saying that you still need to continue
to keep the law of Moses to be saved or for righteousness. He
says, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you
and would pervert the gospel of Christ. So any kind of preaching
that is opposite of what Paul had preached to them about righteousness
by Christ alone, by his work alone, is a perversion and is
not the gospel of Christ. He says, but though we are an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel, unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said
before, so say I now again. If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? For if I pleased men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." And so you see here, Paul started this letter
off really strong, saying that this supposed quote-unquote gospel
that these men are coming down and preaching to you is not the
gospel. This is a perversion of the gospel.
It never was intended to be the gospel. The keeping of the law
was never intended for righteousness. And, of course, then he goes
in to give an account about him going to Jerusalem, him and Barnabas
going to Jerusalem to talk with the other apostles and consult
with them about this matter, these men coming out of Jerusalem
and bewitching, corrupting these Galatian churches. And we find
that in Acts chapter 15. So we spent some time in Acts
chapter 15, but if you'll turn back with me there, keep your
fingers in Galatians 5. We are going to get there in a minute.
In Acts chapter 15 we see that account that Paul alluded to
where they went and spoke to that. Look at verse 1. It says in Acts chapter 15 verse
1, it says, And certain men which came down from Judea taught the
brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner
of Moses, ye cannot be saved. So what Christ did is not enough. You have to do
something else to be saved. That's the perversion that Paul
was talking about. Any gospel that preaches a condition
that you must keep for salvation is a perversion of the gospel.
It's not the gospel. And Paul said that anybody that
preaches that gospel, let them be accursed. He also said that
anybody that preaches that gospel is not a servant of Christ, no
matter how religious they look, no matter how much good that
they try to do. That's not being a servant of
Christ whenever you preach. That Christ's work alone is not
enough. That we have to do something
that He has conditioned. I've done all that I can do,
now you have to do something to get it. Okay? Verse two, he
says, when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension
and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas
and certain other men should go up to Jerusalem under the
apostles and elders about this question. So see, this caused
a stir. Whenever these men came in and
started doing this, it caused a tremendous stir and there was
heated disputation between Paul and Barnabas and these Judaizers
who was coming in trying to push this false gospel. And so they
went to Jerusalem to discuss this and it says in verse 3,
And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through
Phinehas and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles,
and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they
were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and
of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that
God had done with them. But there rose up certain of
the sect, And if you remember whenever
we went through these verses, we show where it said there were
certain men, okay? It was particular men that was
within, with among these believers in Jerusalem, there were certain
men. And Galatians says the same thing. There were certain men
who had come in and done these things. We see that it's tying
into these same men, but listen to what they said. But there
rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed,
saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command
them to keep the law of Moses. So it wasn't just about circumcision.
And I hear that argument a lot of times whenever you start talking
about this stuff, they say, well, they're talking about circumcision,
not the law. We're still to keep the law of
Moses, but circumcision was the only thing that they were eradicating.
No, here, these men were preaching that you not only have to be
circumcised as given to Abraham, but you also have to keep the
law of Moses. That's what they were, that's
what they were telling these people. And the apostles and
elders came together for to consider this matter, when there had been
much disputing. So see again, this causes an
issue. And as I've mentioned before, whenever you preach these
things about the law, and the Christian not being under law,
and that we are not, we don't have the obligation of keeping
these commands anymore, and especially for righteousness, where there
is no keeping of laws for righteousness, but whenever this is preached,
it causes disputing and dissension within people because it goes
against our very nature. Our very nature in Adam is that
we can do and perform a righteousness that we think God will accept.
It's the age old question, you know, that you always see in
like movies and cartoons and things like that, you know, does
our good outweigh our bad? You might see a balance scale
and here's all of our good deeds and they outweigh our bad deeds
or something like that, you know. Are we done more good deeds?
You know, people show up at the pearly gates and St. Peter's
there looking through and seeing how many good deeds you've done,
how many bad deeds, okay, now you can go through. That's not
how we get to heaven. That's not how men are saved.
Men are never saved by what they do, but what Christ has done.
And so we see here that it caused dispute. It said, Peter rose
up and said to them, men and brethren, ye know how that a
good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles, by
my mouth, should hear the word of the gospel and believe, And
God which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them
the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us, and put no difference
between us and them." So there's no difference between the Jew
and the Gentile. Okay? God used the Jews for a certain
amount of time in His purpose, but the Gentile was always purposed
to be part of the people that God would bring people out of
in salvation, and that they would be one people. He says, He put
no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts
by faith. Now, therefore, now pay close attention to this.
You know, this is not my words. This is God's words here. Now,
therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the
disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? So Peter here is saying that
whenever you teach somebody that you have to keep the law of Moses
for salvation or for righteousness is the same as putting a yoke
upon their neck and he even admits that nobody of that order of
people, their people at that time, and none of their forefathers
could ever do it. Okay, so why should we put a
yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear. But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they. So he's saying our salvation
and their salvation is done the same way. Our salvation wasn't
by keeping the law of Moses. Our salvation was in Christ.
Their salvation is because of Christ. So then all the multitude
kept silent and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul declaring
what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles
by then. And after they held their peace, James answered,
saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon hath declared
how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, and pay close attention
here, to take out of them a people for his name. Okay, so there
was always an elect among the Gentiles that would be saved,
just as among the Jews there was an elect to be saved out
of the Jews. The Bible says that there will
be the elect out of every nation, tribe, language, and tongue that
will be represented among the elect of God. He says, and to
this agree the words of the prophets as it is written. After this
I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David,
which is fallen down, and will build again the ruins thereof,
and I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after
the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called,
saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. known unto God
are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore, my sentence
is that we trouble not them which are among the Gentiles, among
the Gentiles are turned to God." Now, so we see here that they're appealing to the fact
that the prophecy in the Old Testament of David's tabernacle
being rebuilt. I grew up believing and teaching
and actually hearing this all my whole entire life, that that
meant that sometime in the future, in eschatology in the future,
that there was going to be a tabernacle rebuilt and Christ was going
to come and rule with an iron rod from that tabernacle on the
Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. But here, that prophecy of Joel,
we are told by the New Testament light that has been given to
us, that that prophecy isn't talking about a future tabernacle
that's actually going to be built, it's talking about the inclusion
of the Gentiles. The inclusion of the Gentiles
into the people of God, therefore we are all, the Bible says that
we're lively stones and we are built up as the tabernacle of
God. Okay, so it's a spiritual thing, not a physical thing.
Okay, look at verse 21, it says, For Moses of old time hath in
every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues
every Sabbath day. Then pleased it the apostles
and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own
company to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surnamed
Barsabbas and Silas, chief among the brethren. And they wrote
letters by them after this manner, the apostles and elders and brethren
sending greetings unto the brethren, which are of the Gentiles in
Antioch, and Syria and Cilicia." And here it is, look at verse
24 with me. And pay close attention, because
this, again, not my words, it's God's words. for as much as we
have heard that certain which went there that word certain
is against referring back to those men who said you had to
keep the law of Moses and be circumcised to be saved and as
we've seen in Galatians just not to be saved but to continue
to be saved he says for as much as we have heard that certain
which went out from us have troubled you with words subverting your
soul so the preaching of that kind of doctrine is a subverting
of souls ye must be circumcised and keep the law, and here it
is, to whom we gave no such command." See, the apostles who Christ
had given the doctrine to, the Bible says that the apostles
in the church that was laid first, the apostles, right? They were
the ones who Christ spent three years with teaching them his
doctrine, spending time with them to thoroughly furnish them
with the doctrine of Christ and to prepare them as the foundational
level of the church that whenever he died and was going to resurrect
it and send it back to heaven, that third teaching would carry
on exactly what he said. And that the church would be
established on the doctrine of Christ and that that would be
a perpetual thing. We read in the Great Commission
that we are to make disciples and we are to baptize those disciples. But there's a third part of the
Great Commission that most people, they don't ever pay attention
to this. They only think that that the commission is to make
disciples. And then there are some that
say make disciples and baptize them. But the third part of the
commission is you make disciples, you baptize them, and then you
teach them all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. So the
reason that the Lord's church is here, the reason why we're
gathered here today, is so that we might teach all things whatsoever
Christ has commanded us. And so that's the doctrine of
Christ. That's about his salvation. That's
about him. That's about God. That's about
everything. meet together as we continue to purport the gospel
of Jesus Christ. We continue to teach the doctrine. Matter of fact, the Bible says
that the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth.
There is no truth outside of God's word. God's word is the
truth. And it's only whenever the people
of God are gathered together, you hear this truth. Well, now
I'm not saying that we don't have truth when we're in our
houses, but what I'm saying is this is where we gather to preach
and to purport And that's who holds it. The Bible says that
he will be with us. He promised his presence whenever
we gather together. Did you know that? That whenever
the people of God gather together, there is a promise of a presence
of the Holy Spirit of God to be there with them in the midst
of that. And so that's why it's important
for us to see that. And here, the church, as it's
gathered together to hear these things, They say, listen, we
didn't teach anybody or command anybody. This is not the doctrine
of Christ that was given to us that we are now telling everybody
is what is to be believed. This is not it. We didn't tell
them that they had to keep, be circumcised to keep the law of
Moses. And so, so we looked at that now back in Galatians. So
we see that Paul goes through his account of that in chapter
two. And at the end of chapter two,
in verse 17, he says, but if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves are found ministers, is therefore Christ
the minister. I'm sorry, it's in verse 16. Knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus. It's by the faith of Christ that we're justified. What saves us? The work of Christ. Christ's obedience to God. His
faithfulness. See, our faithfulness is imperfect
all the time, okay? Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified
by the faith of Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. That's not the intent of God. Not only is that the impossibility,
See, that's speaking of ability. There is no ability for anybody
to be justified by the works of the law, because the Bible
says that the flesh profits nothing, that it cannot do anything good.
And so, because of that, we can never keep the law of God. You
would have to keep the law 100% completely, without fail, from
forever and ever, and the Bible says that this don't happen,
because it says, for all have sinned, and fall short of the
glory of God. That if we say that we have no
sin, we make God out to be a liar, right? And so, because all of
sin, then therefore, if it needs to be saved or to have a righteousness,
that righteousness has to come from somebody else, because we
don't have a righteousness. We can't perform a righteousness.
And so that's why Paul says here that no flesh will be justified
by the faith. That's the gospel. The gospel
is that there is no salvation in what we do. It's only salvation
in what Christ does. And so in verse 1 of chapter
3, Paul says, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth? Now, the reason for this summation
of what we've come through up to this point is to see, because
we're fixing to see some of the same verbiage Paul's about to
use it again. Here we are. You have not obeyed
the truth. Some people will say, well, there
you go. You know, what is it that we're to obey? Well, we're
to obey the truth. The truth is, and if you remember
whenever we spoke about this, we said to obey the truth or
to obey the gospel or to walk in the spirit. These are all
the same thing. It's talking about the same thing.
It means to walk in trusting Christ alone for our salvation.
That's what it means to obey the truth. To obey the truth
doesn't mean to obey the law of Moses because we've just seen
that the law, to keep the law of Moses, to be saved or to stay
saved was never the intent. That was never even anything
that was commanded from the first church by the apostles to all
those who scattered out and other churches began to form because
of their testimony. Okay? That never was preached.
So we know that it's not talking about the law of Moses here,
that you obey the law of Moses. It's talking about obey the truth
the truth that is in Christ Jesus. That's what we are to obey. It
says, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should
obey or not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been
evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I
learn of you, received ye the spirit by the works of the law
or by the hearing of faith. See, did you receive the spirit
by keeping the law? No. You didn't. He said, are
you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made
perfect by the flesh? So see, this is why I say this
isn't just about how to get saved. It's also about your continuing
in salvation. See, Paul here has said that
there obviously is some talk among these Judaizers that have
come down saying that you got to keep the law of Moses to get
saved. And you also got to continue in the law of Moses to stay saved
because here he makes it about a continuing thing. Are you now
made perfect by the flesh? By continuing to keep the law,
is that making you perfect? And the answer is no. Had he
suffered so many things in vain, it would be yet in vain. And
then he goes on and says in verse 12, and the law is not of faith.
So we've just seen here that we are not justified by uh... by law we are justified by the
faith of christ and he asked for twelve percent of the world
and the law is not a faith but the man that do with them shall
live in the impressive redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for for us for his recurrence that one of
the country that the blessing of abraham i come on all the
details through jesus christ that we were my received the
promise of the spirit through faith so yet it's about It's
about trusting Christ and looking to Him and looking for Him to
be your salvation and not you continuing in these deeds. Now
in chapter 4, we got to the place where Paul is saying that the
law was given for a specific purpose. What is the law given?
Why did God give the law? Do we preach the law? Well, we
preach the law, but we preach the law as we would say lawfully. What is the law intended for?
We don't preach the law to tell people to go out and do this
for righteousness or to stay right with God. We preach the
law to show them their need for Christ. That's what the law is
given. It says that it's a schoolmaster. Look at chapter four, verse one. Now I say that the heir is as
long as he's a child different, nothing from a servant, though
he be Lord of all. but as under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the Father. Even so, we, when we
were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
So see, we're in bondage to the law. We're in bondage to the
law, and we're going to re-identify that here in a minute. It's bondage. The law is bondage. In Acts chapter
15, we've seen the law was a yoke. Y'all remember, and for you young
kids that might not know, A yoke is something that they put over
an ox or a mule or something like that whenever they're out
tilling the ground. You know, that yoke is what goes
around the neck and they're pulling whatever or if they're pulling
a wagon or something that has a load on there, that yoke is
what they put over their neck so that they can drag that load.
Okay? And so that's what they're equating
this with. The law is like that. You're
trying to make progress and walk, but here's this law that keeps
dragging you back. It's fighting against you. And
that's what the law is. The law is constantly pointing
its finger at you. The law never tells you that
you're good. The law, all it does is condemn us. It's there
to point the fact that we inherently are evil. I know people like
to say, you know, Inherently, people are good. That's not what
the Bible says. The Bible says that we are all
wicked and estranged from the womb. The Bible says that when
God looked down upon men, that he saw that the intent of their
heart was only evil continually. So, even though we might be good
as far as man's standard is concerned, whenever it's compared to God's
holiness, we're evil. We're evil. He's saying that
the law is there to point out the fact of sinner, sinner, sinner,
sinner, sinner, sinner, sinner, sinner, sinner. It's there to
point out our sin and therefore as a schoolmaster it drives us
to Christ. It sends us to Christ. For those
who have been given spiritual eyes and spiritual ears, it drives
us to Christ. We look away from ourselves and
say, there is no way that I can keep the law. There is no way
that I can perform a righteousness that God will accept. The Bible
even says so, that no one's going to be justified by the works
of the law. So all my effort to keep the law, to be right
before God's eyes, is in vain because God's not going to accept
that effort. Because the Bible says that it's
not by works, but by grace that we're saved. For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. God's
never gonna save anybody from works that they do on their own,
because that would be boasting in ourselves. And God is not
gonna share his glory with anybody, the Bible says he will not share
his glory with anybody, and that he will glorify himself. The whole purpose of all things
is to glorify Christ Jesus. And if there's anything that
we do, if there is a salvation to be had, but we have to do
it, who is the ultimate one to get the glory for that? The one
who says, hey, I'm smart enough, I'm gonna accept that. Or I worked
enough, I did enough good, I'm gonna do enough good to get that.
Okay? There will be boasting, but in
the salvation of the Bible, There is no boasting that can be done.
It's all taken out of our hands. It's all in Christ's hands. And
so Paul says the law is given there to point us to Christ.
And then whenever we are by the Spirit, brought by faith to see
that and to believe that, receive that for ourselves as our righteousness,
like Abraham did, whenever he heard of that righteousness that
was from Christ, he counted that, that's my righteousness. Not
my trying to keep the law, but that's my righteousness. Whenever
we come to that place, then we are no longer under that schoolmaster
anymore. There's no need for that. Because
we now have seen that we can't obtain a righteousness by the
law, it's by grace. And it's by through Christ's
work. And so we see in verse 9 it says, but now after that
ye have known God, or rather are known of God, How turn ye
again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire
again to be in bondage? So once again, Paul is saying
to go back to the law is to go back into bondage. He said he
observed days and months and times and years, and the Jews
did that. They had all, and we talked about this when we were
going through here, they had their feasts and their festivals, the
tabernacles and all their kind of stuff that they were given
to keep during that time. All those were pictures and shadows
to point to Christ. And when Christ came, he fulfilled
the substance of all of that. He fulfilled all the law, not
only by keeping every law that God had given. He's the only
one that's ever kept all those 700 and something laws. But he's
keeping all those laws, but he is also the fulfillment of all
those laws. All those laws was fulfilled
in Christ Jesus. And that's why the Bible says
that he is the end of the law for righteousness, because he
has filled the law, fulfilled the law. And so him being the
fulfillment or the substance of that, there is no longer any
need for the shadow, the type. The type or the shadow is just
something to point you to the real thing. But when the real
thing comes, there's no need for the old. There's no need for
the type. There's no need for the shadow
anymore. That's why the Bible teaches that that we are no longer
under the law but under grace because that was the whole purpose
of the law was to point us to that salvation is going to come
by grace and not by the works of the law. And so whenever he
teaches this and preaches this, as we found out, it does, it
causes division, it causes issues, right? There was disputation
before they went to the courtroom in Jerusalem, right? When they
got to Jerusalem and they done it, there was division, there
was disputation. And here Paul says, am I therefore
become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Obviously there
was disputation here because the people were being riled up
because these guys are saying this, Paul was saying this. There
is a disputation. He says, they zealously affect
you, but not well, yea, they would exclude you that you might
affect them. But it is good to be zealously
affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present
with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you
now, and to change my voice for I stand in doubt of you. Tell
me," here it is, verse 21, "'Ye that desire to be under the law,
do you not hear the law?' And so then he goes into the allegory
that we spent a couple of weeks on, the allegory between Hagar
and Sarah. Hagar was the bondwoman for Sarah,
and whenever God promised Abraham a child, Abraham took things
into his own hands, and by his own hands tried to bring forth
a child, because him and Sarah was barren, they couldn't have
children. And so they didn't trust God for the promise, they
tried to make it themselves, and so what did they do? Abraham
laid with Sarah's handmaiden, they had Ishmael. But Christ
came and said, that's not the child of promise. Sarah is going
to have a child by you. You and Sarah are going to have
a child. That's the child of promise. And God opened up that
womb that was barren and gave forth Isaac to them. And whenever Isaac was brought
forth, there became a contention between Ishmael and Isaac. didn't care for Isaac. And there
became an issue. Hagar had bad feelings towards Sarah. And
so, because of that, the Bible says that God said to cast out
the bondwoman and her son, because the promise is not by the bondwoman,
it's by the son, the son of promise by Isaac. And so the reason this
allegory was given was to show forth there's two mountains,
there's two people. There is the mountain of Sinai,
there's the people of Ishmael, that's the work of our flesh,
that's the work of our own hands, that's our own deeds, trying
to perform something of our own, and God didn't accept it. He
said, cast that out. But on the other hand, there
is Mount Zion, or Jerusalem, which is above, the Bible says,
another name for it, and that we are the children of the free
woman, that we are not a husband to the law anymore, we're a husband
to Christ. And so that we are like Ishmael,
we are children of the promise, if we are the children of God,
we are the children of the promise, not the children like Ishmael
who have been cast out. So we see that there is a duality
in us, we have the nature of Adam, who wants to keep these
laws for self-righteousness. We think that we can perform
these things. And God is saying we have to
cast that out because no way, matter of fact, what does it
say there? It says, it was back, I'm sure it was back
when we read back in Genesis, it's not in Galatians, but back
in Genesis, He said that Ishmael will not be part of the inheritance. He will not be part of the promise.
And so our flesh is not going to get anything in the promise
or in the inheritance. What does that mean? That means
any effort that we do in the flesh to try to make a righteousness
before God or to please God is not going to be accepted just
like Ishmael. There's a purpose for it and
there's a reason for the flesh There's a reason why God has
left us this way. It's to keep us in remembrance
of our need for Christ. Every time I sin, what am I reminded?
I failed. I need Christ. Every time that
I can't keep the law, what do I do? I need Christ. It keeps me pointing towards
Christ. I learn from my downfalls. I learn from my sin. I learn
from my pain and agony. Whenever God puts upon us, hardships
and things like that, what does it do? It teaches us about how
frail we are, how sinful we are, how unworthy we are, and it shows
us that we are not righteous or not holy, and it points us
to Christ so that we would look to Christ for our salvation.
And so that's why we have the flesh still here. And just like
in the story of Ishmael, God sent Ishmael, he had to be cast
out, but yet God still said, you know, He blessed Ishmael
and that family in a natural way, just like now. Even though what's inside of
us, the Spirit of God that is born from above, if we are God's
people, we have the Spirit of God in us, and that's from heaven,
and that's blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
as Ephesians says. that we have now, all the inheritance
that has been given to Christ Jesus, we have that in heavenly
places. But yet our flesh, we're still
in this flesh, and until we die and put off this flesh, and then
whenever Christ comes and we receive that new body, you know,
we're not gonna experience everything that is in that, okay? And so
now, with this flesh here, God has adopted us in this flesh
just like with Ishmael. There was a blessing that was
given to them in our flesh. God's not going to look to anything
in our flesh that we do for righteousness or acceptance or anything like
that, but He doesn't destroy that flesh. He doesn't kill us. He has every right just to snuff
us all out because of our sin, but He doesn't. Because of His
grace and the promise given to who we are in Christ Jesus, He
is long-suffering towards us in this flesh. Okay? And so,
that's why we will receive a new body. And that brings us to chapter
5. And I just want to bring out
a few things in these two verses that we'll look at this morning.
And we'll be done here in just a little bit. It says, verse
2, we looked at verse 1 last week, where Paul says, in light
of all that, so everything we just surmised, In light of all
that, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
So again we are pointed back to Acts 15.10 and Galatians chapter
4 verse 9. Okay? It's called bondage. Don't be entangled again with
the law because it's a bondage. It will kill your liberty in
Christ. It will cause you to not be focused
upon the liberty that we have in Christ. Verse 2, though, it
says, Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. What's Paul mean by that? Well,
he's appealing again to what these Judaizers are telling him.
You have to be circumcised. And he's taking circumcision.
Again, we're not just dealing with the act of circumcision.
Whenever he says you who be circumcised, he's meaning the doctrine of
these Judaizers, which is you've got to keep the law for salvation
or to stay right with God. Okay? But just particularly this
circumcision, we can actually say because God groups the law
all together as one, not individuals, but as one, that if you keep
one, or if you break one, you've broken them all, right? Okay? The transgression of the law
rises and falls on whichever law it is that you break. If
you break one, you've broken every law. So it rises and falls
as one law that you keep, and you have to keep it all perfectly.
So Paul here is saying that, you know, if you be circumcised
or whatever you want to say, if you want to do this or do
it, just name one of the laws and put it in there. If you look
to that for your salvation, then Christ is not going to profit
you anything. If salvation comes by you doing that, then there
was absolutely positively no reason for Christ to have ever
done and came and do what He did. If you can attain, obtain
salvation that way, or righteousness that way, or a good standing
before God that way, then there's no reason for Christ to have
come because the reason He came is to be your substitute because
you can't. That's why He came. That's why
God is saying it doesn't profit you. And there'll be some say,
well, yeah, it does profit me because I continue to do those
things to be right before God, but I had to have someone die
for me. No, no, no. Christ came to live
for you and to die for you. I mean, Dave was talking about
this last night. Christ came and he lived a perfect
obedience for us, and that obedience of all those laws is laid to
our account. It's not imparted inside of us
to make us be able to live all those commands. It's laid to
our account. All of us have, well, we used
to have checkbooks. None of us hardly have checkbooks
anymore. Y'all know what a checkbook is?
I have one. Don't use it. Don't use it very
often. Yeah, same with me. Anyway, at
the back of those checkbooks, there's a ledger there, right?
And that ledger is keeping track of all the things that you've
bought. Your minuses, mostly, right? If it's like mine, it's mostly
minuses, not very many pluses. But there's a lot of minuses
there. Okay? And my account says this is how
much is in my account. But when it comes to righteousness,
in our checkbook, every one of us in here, our checkbook says
zero. No righteousness. The Bible says
there is none righteous, no not one. That all of our righteousnesses,
He didn't say all of our unrighteousnesses. He said all of our righteousness
is as filthy rags. Our count is zero. But whenever Christ died for
his people, the Bible says that he justified them. That means
that that righteousness that he did and all that obedience
that he did in those three years that he was here, or not his
whole life, but 33 years, I guess I should say, that he was here,
that all that obedience is now laid to my account. So whenever
my ledgers opened up, Mike didn't do any righteousness. But my
ledger says, holy, righteous. Because somebody else did that
in my place. That's how Christ profits us. But the Bible says that we're
not saved by works, we're saved by grace. Grace is something
that's given to us free. Grace is something that is given
to us without merit. We didn't deserve that. We didn't do anything to purchase
that. It's just freely given to us.
It's free. And so whenever I open up that
ledger before God and God looks at that and He sees holy, it's
not because Mike was given something to make Him holy and He continued
in that holiness. It was because somebody else
who was holy took my place and God accounted that for mine. Okay? And the same thing on the other
side with death. The Bible says that the wages
of sin is death. And every one of us has sinned.
For all sin comes short of the glory of God, right? So the wage
for sin is death. So Christ had to come and also
sacrifice. So his life was important because
it was the obedience that was required of us before God and
he lived it. The death was the, we actually
have sinned. Even though our account says
holy because of Christ, we've actually sinned. So we had to
pay the price for that sin. So Jesus as our substitute, our
representative, our surety is the word that the Bible uses.
He paid that price for us by dying for us. He took on the
full wrath of God on our behalf And that is also put in our ledger. The ledger of every wage that
we owed is there. Every sin that we have ever committed,
that we are committing, and that we ever will commit, if we are
Christ's children, Christ died for those. His blood was shed
for those. They are forgiven. They are forgotten. They are never going to be brought
up again at a judgment later on in life. They are gone. Our account says fully paid. Paid in full. Every wage. Even though we sin, our wage
has already been paid in full. Even though we sin, our ledger
says holy, righteous, perfect, obedient, just, even though we're
not. See, that's why salvation has
to be looked on, on keeping looking at Christ, because as soon as
we turn away from looking at Christ and think we can do it
for ourselves, boom, Christ profits us nothing. Everything that Christ
did for us, the substitution of obedience, the substitution
of death. If we're going to try to go this
way, then God's not going to lay this account to us. Now,
if you're His elect, if you're His people, That's laid to your
account no matter what, and He will bring you into the truth
of that and give you faith to believe that. What I'm saying
is, is those who want to continue to believe that this is what's
going to help you, Christ profits you nothing. You might as well
just quit even saying, I believe in Christ, because you really
don't. If you believe that law keeping
is what is going to save you and keep you right before God,
then just quit saying anything about Christ because Christ's
salvation has nothing to do with your law keeping. Salvation has
nothing to do with works. It has everything to do with
Christ. And so Paul is saying, it's not going to profit you
anything. Look at verse 3, he says, for I testify again to every man that is circumcised. Now, so again, he's saying, so
any man that believes that the law is what's going to do this.
He says that he is a debtor to do the whole law. So let's just
say it was, just say the Judaizers was coming in and just saying
circumcision and not the whole law of Moses. Just circumcision. He's saying that we're still
a debtor to keep the whole law. Because he says you can't pick
and choose which laws you want to keep and which laws you don't
want to keep because they're all one law. You can't pick. If you are going to go the way
of the law, the law says do this or die. That's what the law says. If you break one, you've transgressed
every law and you're guilty and you must die. That's what this
is. Verse 4, Christ has become of
no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law.
So if your thought about justification before God is by coming by the
law, by law keeping, good works, then Christ is of no effect for
you. What Christ did for you on the cross is for nothing,
if you think this. Because what Christ did on the
cross is to secure for you a salvation in which He gives you faith to
believe upon Him, but you're not believing upon Him, you're
believing in yourself. You're believing in yourself.
A good example of this is back in the Garden of Eden, whenever
Adam transgressed the law of God, what was the first thing
that they did whenever God called for Adam? Well, they ran and
they hid, because they was naked. And what did they try to do?
They made their own clothes out of some fig leaves, right? And
they tried to clothe themselves. Did God accept that? It covered
their nakedness. Why didn't God accept that? Because
that wasn't God's way of covering. That wasn't God's way of covering
their sin. Their sinfulness, they covered
themselves. And God said, that ain't how
it is. So what did He do? As the proto-evangel or as the
foreshadowing of Christ's atonement for us, what did God do? He killed
an animal, skinned them, and the Bible says, and He clothed
them. He didn't say He'd give it to
them for them to clothe themselves. He didn't give it for them to
do anything. The Bible says that God made the sacrifice, and then
God also clothed them. God put it on them. See that's
how it is if we look at that in the spiritual aspect of this.
God is the one who is the sacrifice in Christ Jesus. He did the dying,
but He also is the one who gives us the righteousness. He's the
one who clothes us. We don't do anything to get the
clothe. He doesn't give us something that we have to do so that it
will get on us. You know, we don't pick it up
and put it on ourselves. He clothes us. It's all about
God. It's all about Christ. Christ
is everything. It's all about Him. And man is
not going to share in that war. He's not going to have a part
of it. And so, He's saying, whosoever of you are justified by the law,
you are fallen from grace. Does that mean they lost their
salvation? Is that what that means? No, it's not what that means.
He's not talking about that. Anybody who's been saved by Christ
Jesus cannot lose their salvation. Nobody can lose their salvation.
We can have doubts, yes. We can kind of move into some
error, like these Galatians did, yes. The Holy Spirit's going
to correct us. The Holy Spirit's been given
to us to lead us into all truth, right? He's going to correct
us. He's going to reprove us of sin. He's going to teach us.
But what does this mean, that you have fallen from grace? That
means, remember, back whenever this whole first started, remember
Paul said, you know, remember, hey, I came and preached to you
this gospel that wasn't from men, it was from God Himself.
And you received it gladly and you were happy about it. And
you believed it that it was by Christ alone. Now all of a sudden
you're looking over here to works for your salvation and everything. You have fallen away from the
doctrine of grace to the doctrine of works. You've fallen from
grace back to works. You've fallen from Christ alone
to self-righteousness. That's what it means that you
have fallen from grace. Now, can this mean that some
people are not truly saved? Absolutely it is. Just in every
church, no matter where it's at, you know, you never know
who's in there. The Bible teaches us that the
wheat grow up among the tares, or the tares grow up among the
wheat, okay? There's the wheat and the tares.
That there are people that look like Christians, act like Christians,
maybe talk like Christians, and everywhere, but they might not
truly be Christians. And so, yeah, there are some that may
not believe this and they go back into a self-righteous system
because they truly aren't saved by God. But even the elect at
some point can be deceived a little bit, but thank God we have the
Holy Spirit that brings them out of that deception. Okay? Now look at verse 5, it says,
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. The Bible says hope that is seen
is not hope. Look with me real quickly. This
is the last verse, by the way. Romans chapter eight, verse 24.
It says, for we are saved by hope,
but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeeth,
why does he get hope for? But if we hope, For that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it." So Paul is reiterating
that same sentiment here in Galatians chapter 5 when he says that we
through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness. Now he's
not saying that we're having to wait for that righteousness
to be given to us because we already have it. We've already
been imputed the righteousness of God. It's not talking about
the death of Christ. The death of Christ has already
happened. So righteousness has already been fulfilled in what
Christ has done. The imputing of that or the laying
that to our account has already taken place. So it's not talking
about either one of those. So what are we waiting for? What is the hope that we've been
given waiting for? Well, the Bible teaches us that
that hope that we've been given is the hope that at the end that
this tent, this body of flesh will be, that's full of sin,
will be taken away and that we will be made into the image of
Christ Jesus in that new body, right? The hope that we are looking
for, the righteousness that we are looking for is the righteousness
where the Bible says that that in heaven we go, whenever we
go to heaven and we dwell that new tabernacle as we are all
brought together in our new bodies and we make up that new Jerusalem
that in it, the Bible says, wherein dwelleth righteousness. See, our bodies are full of sin.
But the Bible says that when we die and at the resurrection
when Christ comes again, it says that the corruption will put
on incorruption. That which is corrupted will
put on incorruption. Our old bodies will die as corrupted
bodies But we'll be raised as incorrupted bodies, without sin.
If we are without sin, that is righteous. That's the hope that we have.
The hope that we have. Paul said it in Romans chapter
7. Look with me while you're there.
Chapter 8, just look over just a couple of verses. He says in verse 11, For sin,
taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just
and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God
forbid, but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in
me by that which is good, or the law, that sin by the commandment
might become exceedingly sinful. So that's the purpose of the
law, is to show us that sin is exceedingly sinful, that we are
exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I'm carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that I
do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that is good. Now then, there is no
more, excuse me, now then, it is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh. And he makes that distinction
because in him is also the spirit of God. The spirit of God is
perfect and holy and righteous and just and cannot sin. That's
in him. But he's talking about in his
flesh. I know that in me, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the
good that I would, I do not. but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that, I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For
I then, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is
present with me." So even when we try to keep the law of God,
evil is present with us all the time. Our sinfulness is always
there in the flesh, and so it's not really good, it's evil inside
of God. That's why he said all of our
righteousness is his filthy wrath. But look at verse 22. For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in
my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? So he's talking about the flesh.
Who's going to deliver me from this? I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So that's the hope that we have,
that one of these days that we're going to put down this body of
death that continues to sin and sin and sin and sin and sin,
and we will pick up that new body that does not sin, that
is holy and incorruptible. And so he says, so then with
my mind, I serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh,
not in the keeping of the commandments. Walking in the flesh is trying
to perform a righteousness of your own. That's what walking
in the flesh means. But those who walk after the Spirit. For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. The law of sin and death
is the law. Paul here in Galatians, back
to our verse in Galatians 5, he says, Christ is becoming no
effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law,
you are fallen for grace, for we, through the Spirit, wait
for hope of righteousness by faith. We're waiting, knowing
this body is still going to continue to sin, but thank God there's
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus over that
sin, because we have a substitute who has taken our sin and die
for it and given an obedience that God is pleased with and
put it to our account. And so we, by faith, wait for
that hope. All right, we'll stop right there
and we'll continue from verse 5 or verse 6 and go down as far
as we can get next week. Anybody got any questions or
comments or clarify anything or have a verse
of scripture you want to read? I want to remind everybody that
we will not have any... We will not have any services
on March the 27th. We are not going to have any
services on March the 27th. We're going to be gone that weekend.
And you guys are going to be gone the weekend before that,
right? The 20th? Okay. But on the 27th, we won't
be here, so... We do not have services here,
so I won't be picking you up on that day. All right? All right. All right, any prayer requests
or anything? All right, well, let's bow and we'll go to the
Lord. Heavenly Father, we thank you
again for this day that we have together. We thank you for this
gospel. We thank you for the righteousness
of Christ. We thank you, Father, Though
we are sinners and deserving of death and hell, Father, we
are grateful that we have been given eternal life, undeserving,
through the grace only of Christ Jesus. By his work alone are
we accepted in the beloved, are we accepted before God. And Father,
Lord, we just pray that as we ponder upon these things, we
read through the scriptures and see these things, that our heart
might rejoice in the grace that's been given to us that we might
rejoice in the work of God. Lord, we truly are thankful that
salvation doesn't depend upon us. Because if it did, we'd never
be able to obtain that because of our flesh. And so Father,
we're grateful for what Christ has done on our behalf as our
substitute, as our redeemer, as our savior. And Father, we
just ask now that you just might continue to remind us of those
things that we might find joy and hope in this gospel. Lord, I pray that as we minister
this gospel to other people, that it too might bring joy to
their heart and that they might receive these things even as
the Galatians at the beginning received these things and believed
them and found joy in them, as did all the churches and the
people of God. And as you give them ears to
hear and eyes to see and as you turn their heart to believe the
truth and giving them faith and repentance. Lord, we pray that
they might turn and believe your gospel. Lord, we just thank you
so much for the way you take care of us on a daily basis,
the way that you provide for us, and that you keep watch care
over us. Lord, we are so grateful for
all the blessings that you've given us, not only physically,
but also spiritually, Lord. And so Again, we know that we
are undeserving of these things. We are no different than anybody
else. We are sinners and deserving of all things that your judgment
would bring upon us. But Father, we're grateful and
can only humbly say before you that we owe it all to Christ
Jesus, our Lord. And so it is Him that we give
praise to. It is Him that we give honor
to today. It is Him that we are worshiping today. And we pray
that that has been pleasing to you. We ask all these things
in his name. Amen.