End of days, come Thou incarnate
Word, gird on Thy mighty sword our prayer attend. Come and thy people bless, and
give thy word success. Spirit of holiness, on us descend. Come Holy Comforter Thy sacred
witness bear In this glad hour Thou who almighty art, now rule
in every heart, and there from us depart, Spirit of power. To the Great One in Three, eternal
praises be, hence evermore. His sovereign majesty may we
in glory see, and to eternity love and adore. Amen. The Bible says that there
are three, the bare record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Spirit. These three are one. And we give
praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the fullness
of that Godhead, dwelling bodily, right? He is God made flesh,
God incarnate. All right, turn now, if you would,
to hymn number six, just over a couple of pages. Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our song
shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, God in three persons, blessed
Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy
sea. Cherubim and seraphim, ? Falling
down before Thee ? ? Perfect in the art and evermore shall
be ? ? Holy, holy, holy ? ? Though the darkness hide Thee ? Though
the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see, Only Thou art holy,
there's none beside Thee. Perfect in power and love and
purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. I was thinking about those two
phrases there. I had a little hard time using
the word persons whenever it comes to the three witnesses
in heaven, the very record in heaven. Not that I don't believe in the
Trinity, but just the word persons isn't used in scripture. And
I think it's more complex than that. Individual persons would
require individual gods, so I don't necessarily agree with that. I do believe that there is the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and those three are the
record bearers in heaven that make up the one true God, and
that is manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I do believe
that, but I just have a hard time using the word persons.
Jesus is the person of the Godhead. He's the one that is actually
physically in body form, and so we can lay personage to him,
but the other three that bear record that indwell him, that's
something I don't know about. Just had a hard time with that.
Just the term, using that term, not that we don't have the triunity
of Godhead. All right, let's turn now, if
you would, in, lost my place here, hymn number
20. We praise thee, O God, for the
Son of thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, Thine the glory,
revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for Thy
Spirit of life, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. All glory and praise ? To the
Lamb that was slain ? ? Who has borne all our sins ? ? And hath
cleansed every stain ? ? Hallelujah, Thine the glory ? ? Hallelujah,
oh man ? ? Hallelujah, Thine the glory ? ? Revive us again
? Revive us again. Fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
Thy crown above. Hallelujah, Thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, Thine the glory,
revive us again. Do you have a song that you'd like
to sing? No. Or a chorus or a scripture or anything? How about, let's see if I can
find it here. Number 237. What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry Everything
to God in prayer Oh, what peace we often forfeit Oh, what needless
pain we bear All because we do not carry Everything to God in
prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a Prince so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden? Come, bird, with a load of care. Precious Savior, still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer. I gotta admit this morning, And I'll be honest, I was kind
of rushed in picking out the songs this morning. And again,
with this song, I have a problem with one of the lines in here.
In that first verse, third stanza, oh, what peace we often forfeit.
Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. I just, that doesn't fit with
what we learn of scripture, right? Oh, what needless pain we bear.
Any pain, any suffering that we go through is by the Lord's
hands. He has sent it to us and given
it to us for a purpose. The Bible says that he chastised
those that he loved, right? And so any kind of suffering
that we might go through or any kind of sorrow and pain that
we might go through or experience is for our learning, our growth
and grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So there
really isn't any needless pain that we bear. Every bit of pain
that we bear is because of the Lord. And so, again, I forgot
this line was there in this verse when I picked this song out,
but just needs a little bit of adjusting there. We don't forfeit
any kind of peace because we don't go to the Lord in prayer,
we just, or have any needless pain to bear. We probably need
to rewrite those lyrics in here. One of the reasons why I stick
in that other hymnal a lot, this hymnal here has a lot of stuff
in it that we sometimes forget. Alright, does anybody have a
song that you'd like to sing? Anybody got a testimony of any kind that
you'd like to share with everybody? Pretty quiet old town. Alright, relations chapter 5. Last week we finished up chapter
four. And of course we're all aware,
I'm sure, that these letters that are written, they're not
written in chapter and verses. It's one long letter Paul wrote
to these churches. And I would actually encourage
everybody here that if you can ever get your hands on one, you
can find them online to purchase. If you can't find one in your
local, I'm hesitant to say Christian bookstore
because most of the bookstores aren't really Christian, they're
full of junk, but at your local Bible buying outlet, maybe that
would be the best way to say it. If you can find one there, if
not, they have these available to read online, but I would encourage
you to find a Bible that is not broken up into chapters and verses,
that's in paragraph form, that is just not broken up and read
that way whenever you're just reading and everything because
whenever you read these in the context and in the way that it
was intended, which was as a letter, you know, this right here would
have been, you know, Paul would have sent this to the church
these churches in Galatia and the pastor would have stood up
and would have read this from beginning to end to the congregation. And so that was how this was
intended. Paul was conveying one big idea
or one big issue that he had and was conveying it in this
letter. And as with all of his epistles, that's what that is. It's just a continuing letter
and so It's unfortunate sometimes because these chapter verses
and breaks between the chapters, we kind of, our mind shuts off
and then comes back on in a different place. You know, we, okay, well,
we're done with chapter four. All right, start in chapter five.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty. But this is a continuation
of what Paul has just said in chapter four. And if you don't
have a grip on what Paul's been saying, In chapters 1, 2, 3,
and 4, chapters 5 on through 6 is not going to make any sense
to us, right? Remember, Paul is writing this
letter to these churches where Jews from Jerusalem had come
into their midst and was trying to persuade them back underneath
the law. Paul had been there to preach
the gospel to them, which the gospel was the gospel of free
grace. was the gospel of imputed righteousness,
was the gospel for Christ alone for righteousness, for salvation,
that Christ did all things required by the law on behalf of his people,
that Christ died in their place and that all their sins have
been forgiven and all of their righteousness has been established
for them and laid to their account and so that as far as God sees,
they are holy and righteous as he is holy and righteous. That
was the gospel that Paul brought to them. That was the gospel
that Paul brought to everybody. That's the gospel that we should
be taking to everybody that we preach the gospel to, is the
gospel of salvation accomplished, not salvation offered or invited
to. It's salvation that has been
accomplished. Jesus came and died for his people. The Bible says that he shall
be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And that's exactly what he did. He saved them from their sins
and he imputed unto them, or laid to their account, that's
what that word imputed means, is laid to their account his
perfect obedience, his righteousness. Okay? That's what was preached
to them, but these Judaizers had come in and said, you got
to keep the law. You got to get back underneath
that law. You got to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to
be saved and to stay saved. So stay right before God. And
so Paul's came in, he's warning them, hey, this is not the gospel. This is another gospel. Those
who are preaching this to you are not the servants of Christ.
This is an anathema. This is a curse. Anybody that
preaches that gospel is preaching a cursed gospel. A curse upon
you. Matter of fact, the Bible clearly
says those who are under the law are under a curse. Right? So anybody that comes and preaches
to you that you need to be under the law is preaching to you a
curse. Because if you're under the law,
you're going to be cursed. Because all the law can do is
condemn us because we cannot keep it. It just condemns us. And so Paul's saying, listen,
this is not good news. That's what the word gospel means,
is good news, right? That's not good news. Good news
is not here. Here's 731 laws. Be sure to keep
them perfectly from now on. Okay? That's not good news. Oh, and by the way, if you break
one of them, you've broken all of them. And the wages of breaking
those is death. There you go, good news for you!
Right? That's not good news, brother.
You know what is good news? You can't keep them, but someone
kept them for you. Someone not only kept them for
you, but God now reckons you as having kept them because He
kept them for you. And you don't have to do nothing
about it. You don't have to do nothing for it. That righteousness that
He did, I'm taking that and stamping
it on your account. He did it, you did it. If he
did it, you did it. So as perfect as Christ was,
that's how perfect you are on my side. Not actually, because
you sinned, but that's how God accounts us. That's how we are
looked upon. We are looked on by Christ in
Christ, right? And so that's what Paul's saying.
That's the good news. The good news is we don't have
to work for this salvation. The good news is that we don't
have to perform to a certain level for this salvation. We
don't have to keep up with all the laws and all the commandments.
We don't have to keep these things for righteousness. We don't have
to keep these things for justification, for sanctification, for glorification. We don't have to keep the law
for righteousness. But yet these people have been
bewitched. And so Paul has gone through in chapters 1, 2, 3,
and 4 explaining to them how the law works and that the law
was intended never to bring righteousness, but to condemn us is to show
us our need for Christ. And so we ended last week at
the end of chapter 4, but it wasn't a stop, it's a, actually
it flows right into verse 5, but we read last week, if you'll
remember, we've seen, matter of fact, let me start in verse
1 of verse 5 and we'll backtrack as we go. Starting in verse 1,
chapter 5, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Behold, I call saying to you
that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is
indebted to the whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are
fallen from grace. Now we're gonna stop right there,
we probably won't get much further than that today, but let's go
back and look. Paul starts out this verse, or
starts out here, he says, stand fast therefore. in the liberty
that word therefore we always talk about these little connecting
words and uh... all these uh... words that uh...
like uh... uh... uh... for and uh... uh... therefore and things that
connect these uh... phrases together whenever we
see that therefore my grandpa used to always say we need to
find out what the therefore is therefore okay why does he say
therefore he could have said it at the beginning therefore
stand fast in the liberty Or you could say, stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty. Either way, it's still pointing
back to something. The therefore is saying, in light
of what I've been saying, stand fast in the liberty. Okay? The admonition here, the encouragement
that Paul is trying to convey in verse 1 is, stand fast in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. So the therefore
is tying in, in light of everything that I've discussed, in light
of everything that I have been expounding upon, therefore, in
light of that, stand fast in the liberty. So what has Paul
been saying? Well, like I just said, like I just reiterated
all the chapter one, two, three, and four, all those things that
Paul was saying up to this point, but if we look particularly in
what we've seen in the last few weeks in the previous verses. Look, if you would, back up in
chapter 4, look at verses 6 and 7. Paul said this. He said, And because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Have a father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
So if we would just take that portion right there and tack
it on right before verse 1 of chapter 5, we could say, See,
Paul is saying, listen, it's all about what Christ has done
on your behalf. Not what you have to do. You've
been given liberty in Christ. Therefore, stand and reckon yourself
to be in that liberty, in that freedom. We're going to talk
about the word here in just a minute. Look also at verse 28, chapter
4, verse 28. He says, Now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise. Therefore, stand fast
in the liberty. where we cry. We are the children
of promise. What does that mean? That means
we have been promised righteousness. We have been promised salvation.
We have been promised glorification. We have been promised all the
inheritance of Christ. Everything that he has done on
our behalf, that's ours. Everything that is going to be
ours in the future, that's ours already. And he says, in light
of the promises, the fact that you are the children of promises,
not like Ishmael, who was the child to be cast out, you are
the child of promise. You are the spiritual child of
God, not the fleshly child of God. See, the people, the reprobates
are the fleshly children of God. Okay? They're children of God
in the fact that He created them. He is the creator of them. But
we, not only are we in the flesh created by God, but the Bible
says that we are a new creation. We are a new creature. We're
different than everybody else. The elect of God is different
than everybody else because we have been born from above. We
have been born from heaven. And that that is a new creation.
We are a new creature in Christ Jesus. They, as children, are children
of the flesh, and we, we are the children of God spiritually.
We are His spiritual seed. Okay? And so, we can look at
verse 31. So then, brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Therefore, stand
fast in the liberty. You're a free-born child. Stand
in that. Stand on that. Don't be sucked
back in to thinking you've got to keep law and be a servant
to the law anymore. You're not a servant to the law,
you're a servant to Christ. Christ served the law for you
on your behalf and therefore you're His servant. And what
has He commanded you to do? He hasn't commanded you to go
back to Moses, He's commanded you to look unto Him, the author
and the finisher of your faith. He's commanded you to believe
upon Him, to look upon Him, trust upon Him, to hope in him. Our hope is in Christ, right? So Paul, when he says, therefore,
he's saying, in light of everything that I have told you about the
downside of the law and the upside of the gospel, stand fast in
the liberty. Okay? So that's why he's going
on. So that's why I say it's important
that we flow from one chapter to the next just as if it's one
letter. That's why I say if you look
at those Bibles that don't break chapters, a lot of times you're
going to get a little bit different understanding of things. I found
that whenever I read the Bible like that, that it is a lot of
times the context comes out a lot clearer whenever I'm not stopping
at breaking points where man has done that in his making of
the Bible. So remember, in the original
language, there's not chapters and verses and breaks and all
that kind of stuff, right? Okay, so stand fast, therefore,
in light of all that has been said about the gospel and about
the law. Now, let's look at this word,
stand fast. Paul is telling these Galatians, stand fast, therefore.
Stand fast in the liberty. That word stand fast means to
be stationary, unmovable. to persevere. The word also translated
throughout our Bible means to abide, right? To abide. Now we've heard that term before,
right? The scriptures tells us Jesus
said, if you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much
fruit. That we are the branches and
he is the vine. If we abide in him, We will bear
much fruit, right? We've heard that word before.
Well, this word stand fast means to abide, to be stationary, to
persevere. It's basically saying, listen,
as a free born child, not born of Hagar, but born of Sarah,
the one who is born free, stand or abide in that, rest in that. Just be stationary in that thought,
be stationary in that motivation that we are free people and that
we have been given this freedom or this liberty because of the
work and righteousness of Jesus Christ and not ours. Anytime that we begin to work,
that's going to be labor. That's not abiding. That's not
standing fast. That's not persevering. That is trying to gain. To persevere
is not trying to push further and gain more. Persevering is
to stay steady. That word persevere, it doesn't
mean to accomplish something. It means to stay steady. To persevere
in the faith means to stay steady in the faith. It's to continue
in the faith. To stay in the same mindset of
the faith. What does the faith tell us?
Well, the faith tells us that salvation is of the Lord. The
faith tells us that salvation is because of Christ. Faith tells
us that it is the faith of Christ that has justified us, not your
works or your faith. It's the faith of Christ that
has justified us. So, whenever we persevere, whenever we stand
fast, that standing fast is basically staying stationary in our place,
in our mindset, to believe what Christ has told us. Believe what
the Word of God is testifying of what Christ did for us. Believe
what is being said about us, that even though we are wretched
and vile and full of sin and continue to break laws, okay,
we continue to be sinful people God still reckons us holy and
righteous. Now, brethren, that goes against
all religious thinking. Religious people think that you
have to continue to do good and to be right with God and to follow
the law of God so that you can continue to be in good standing
with God and that if you continue to do bad, then God's going to
punish you for something. and going to do bad and not reward
you. You're going to get rewards for doing good. Rewards are going
to be taken if you do bad and all this stuff. And listen, that
weighs on your mind. And in the flesh, the flesh says,
oh, I better get to work. I better get to work doing these
laws so that I can stay right with God. Or at the very least,
so that I can look good to the brothers and sisters in Christ.
See, we not only worry about our conscience telling us, oh,
we better get in there and do some good works, but we also
battle with the pride in our flesh that says, oh, I got to
keep up with these other people who are religious. I got to look
good. If I don't do so much good, then
I'm not going to look as religious to everybody. See, we begin to
look around and the standard of our obedience, the standard
of our righteousness becomes everybody else. We gotta be as
good as everybody else or better. See, that's what the Pharisees
was all about. Their standard of righteousness was, well, we're
better than this sinner over here, this publican, remember?
Remember whenever that religious Pharisee was standing there praying
to God, I thank you, God, that I'm not like this poor sinner
Here? Why? Because he thought he was
keeping the law. He thought he was making a righteousness for
himself. And so to persevere in the faith, the faith is that
doctrine or that body of Christ. To persevere is to stay steady,
to continue in, to keep trucking, okay, as we would say in the
South. Keep on trucking in your lane. Keep doing this. Okay? And what have we been told to
do? To believe upon Christ. Stand fast therefore in the liberty. Now let's look at this word liberty. This word liberty means unrestrained. It means unrestrained. It's translated unrestrained
in other places in Scripture. It's also translated free. So stand fast. Keep persevering
or keep your mind set. Continue in the thinking of your
freedom. Okay? So whenever the Bible says
that we are given liberty or freedom, what
does that mean? Well, that means that we have
been now unrestrained. We no longer have the curse of
the law upon us. We no longer have the curse of
sin upon us. We no longer have the curse of
death upon us, right? Christ has removed the curse
of the law. He has removed sin and death. That is no longer an issue. We
no longer have the enemy, sin and death. Sin and death is nothing.
Do we sin? Yes. Is sin a problem with God? No. A friend J.C. Fulton told me
one time, and I think it was actually a re-quote from another
friend of ours, Brother Royce, but he mentioned sometime, he
said, you know, he asked, he said, do you think God has a
problem with your sin? He doesn't have a problem with
your sin. You might have a problem with your sin, but God doesn't
have a problem with your sin. Your sin is nothing to God, because
Christ has already taken it. Here's where the Judaizer gets
his foothold in the heart and mind of a Christian, okay? The
Judaizer comes in and says, well, that couldn't be. Don't you think
God wants you to act holy? Don't you think God wants you
to act all these laws out and everything? See, there's that
mindset that says that God is holy, therefore, he hates sin. which he does, he is holy, and
he does hate sin. And he says, therefore, since
God hates sin, surely he isn't fine with you just continuing
to sin. You better quit sinning. Now,
I'm assuming, I hope, that I'm making a fair assessment of what
the modern evangelical believes. That's what I believed. That's
what I used to preach. That's what I hear taught in
a lot of churches around town, around the country. If you turn
on the radio and the TV, that's what you hear, is that God hates
sin and God wants you to stop sinning. Quit sinning. You need
to start sinning less. What Paul here has already told
us, it isn't about sinning more or sinning less, because if you
sin at all, that's it, you're done. You've broken the law.
And the wages of sin is death. that there is no keeping the
law. There's no one that keeps the law. So there is no more
sinning less. Okay? There's moving sin around. We might quit drinking, but we
might continue doing this over here. It's still sin. You're
still a sinner. You're still having sin in your
flesh. Right? And so the religionist,
the modern evangelical is saying, See, you've got to stop doing
that. I've even had some that have actually told me that since
they've been saved, they don't sin as much as they used to.
They sin less. They've become more holy than
they were. Well, brethren, I don't find
that anywhere in Scripture. Paul never does say that. Paul,
whenever he wrote Romans 7, when he said, O wretched man that
I am, when he says, I cannot keep the law, in my flesh. I continue to fail, to fail,
to fail. Paul wrote that. The apostle
Paul. Not that he's any different than
us, but you know, the Lord did use him to write most of the
New Testament and he was the apostle that most was talked
about. Even Peter, you know, talked about Paul. and how that
his doctrine and his writings were so great that it was hard
to understand them, even if repeated. Okay? So, we're not getting more
holy. So, the liberty that we have
is standing in the unrestrained freedom that God does not account
our sin towards us anymore. I remember whenever the Lord
really began to reveal these things and to give me more light
on this than what I had before on this. And I'm not talking
about I'm someone special. Any of us in here, if you know
anything that's true, it's because God has revealed it and he's
given you light to understand that. Okay, so I'm not talking
about some special revelation that I have and nobody else has.
I'm not talking about some special out of Bible revelation. I'm talking about in studying
the Word of God, the Spirit is our teacher, and sometimes we
have not yet been fully taught certain things. This was one
of them for me. And I remember, I was studying
on this, and matter of fact, it was the first time I preached
through relations at this church whenever I first come to pastor
here. And I remember we was having
a Wednesday night Bible study here at our house. And I was
a little bit nervous to bring the subject up because I didn't
know how everybody else looked at this and everything. But I
brought up the fact that there is a difference in the
sin of the reprobate and the sin of the elect. That God views
them in different ways. The sin of the reprobate, all
it can do is condemn them. The sin of the reprobate is there,
it is always going to be on their account, they are always going
to be guilty of that sin, and God is going to hold them in
account for that sin, and they will be punished for that sin.
That is their lot, that is their destiny, that is why God created
them. They were created for that condemnation,
the Epistle of Peter says. So they are created for that.
However, the relation of sin and the elect is different between
them and God. God doesn't view their sin anymore. God has taken care of their sin
issue in Christ Jesus. And the reason that sin continues
to remain in the elect is so that we continually are reminded
of our need for Christ. Why did God not just take away
our sin? Because we need to be reminded.
Why did He not do that? It's so that His work of faith
in the elect will be seen and that God will be glorified because
of faith. Not our faith. Not us mustering
up faith. But because we have been given
something that is supernatural, that the natural man cannot do,
that the natural man cannot perceive, that thinks it's foolish to say,
you mean I can just be nothing, do nothing, and God loves and
saves me? Absolutely. See, we have an inherent
problem, and that is we think that we can produce righteousness.
It goes all the way back to the garden. thought, and Eve thought
they could produce a righteousness of their own, they wanted to
be as God. That was the lie. You can be
as God. Make your choice, choose this,
and you can be as God. That's what everybody, if I,
by my free will, will just obey these laws, I can be right before
God. That is the sin of all sins. That is the sin of all sins.
Brother, is to think that we can perform righteousness before
God and be accepted based upon our own righteousness. And so,
faith looks to Christ alone. So Paul here is saying, stand
fast, abide, don't try to make more of it or less of it. I mean, we can't make more of
what Christ has already done, right? We can continue to praise
him for it, but I can't I can't make it any more than it is because
it is what it is. And it's great. It's glorious.
It's grandiose. But brethren, I can't add to
it. You by your righteousness is not adding to Christ's righteousness.
Okay? And we surely can't take nothing
away from it. So what do we do? We abide in it. We just stay. We stay firm. Stand firm. Stand fast in the freedom that
He has given us. Stand fast in the thought process
that, yes, I might be committing sins, but that is not how God
views me. My sin is not a problem to God
because Christ has forgiven me of all my sin because of His
shed blood. So now, what is my mindset? Whenever
I sin, the Holy Spirit might convict me of that sin, will
convict me of that sin. And what do I do? I confess before
God that I'm a sinner and still in need of His righteousness.
Whenever I sin, what does it do? It reminds me. You missed
it again. What do I do? I continue to look
to Christ, thanking Him for His righteousness, thanking Him for
His death, His burial, His resurrection, thanking Him for keeping the
law on my behalf. What does my sin do? It's different
than the reprobate. The reprobate, it continually
condemns them, but for the child of grace, it is working within
them the knowledge and the grace of Jesus Christ. And I know that
sounds weird. Some people may not even agree
with me. There'll probably be comments sent to me, I'm sure,
on Facebook. But sin actually works within
the child of grace. Grace. All things work together for
good to them who are the called. Even our sin is working to our
good. The reason that God has continued
to let that sin stay and we're not condemned, we're not going
to be held accountable for that because Christ was held accountable
for us. That sin is still teaching us
that we need Christ. That's why it's still here. That's
why God isn't erasing all of our sin and we just become holy
little angels here on earth. That's why we're not super holy
people is because if we were, we wouldn't need Christ anymore. But brethren, that sin, what
it does to me daily, hourly, that sin reminds me, my here
are totally no good. You're worthless. And my need
for Christ is magnified. And what Christ did for me, is
magnified. It humbles me before God. It
humbles me to know that Christ loved me. And while I was yet
a sinner, Christ died for me. And while I was in unbelief,
Christ did all that for me and then gave me the Spirit of God
so that I might be able to enjoy that salvation. Give me the Spirit
of God so that I might know of what He did for me. Listen, if
he wouldn't have done that, I would have never known. So Paul is
saying stand fast in that freedom, in that liberty. Keep trucking.
Don't look back at the law. Don't look back at your sins.
Keep trucking. Your sins are past. Your future
sins are coming. But stand fast that you have
been given freedom. You're not serving the law of
sin anymore. You're serving Christ. So the
law of sin cannot say anything to you. Listen, I used to work
for another company before I come to work for Ozark Imaging. And
right now, if I would happen to run into my old boss somewhere
out in the field where we occasionally might run into each other, and
he tells me, hey, you need to go do this or go do that, I don't
have to listen to him. He's not my boss anymore. I do
not serve him. I serve another boss. I listen
to what that boss says. I do what that boss says. That
boss now has captured my attention and my
servitude. Well, brethren, we who have died
to the law are no longer servants to the law. We are servants to
Christ. He is our husband that we serve
now. We serve under Him and whatever
that old thing says, we're dead to it. We don't have to listen
to it. It's not our master anymore. We don't have to listen to what
it says. We don't have to do what it tells
us to do. We do what our new master tells us to do and he
tells us to look unto Him, to believe upon Him, to thank Him
and praise Him and glorify in what He has done for us and to
rest in that. and then to communicate that
same love to the brethren. Right here, what are we doing
today? I'm communicating that love of Christ to you, if you're
a child of grace. I'm communicating that love to
the brethren. We are to love God and to love the brethren.
How do we communicate love? By preaching the gospel, by teaching
the gospel, by encouraging in the gospel, admonishing with
the gospel. That's how we do it. Yeah, we help each other
by, you know, loaning people money helping people when they're
sick or, you know, doing work for them or doing this stuff.
Yeah, that's nice to do good work, so we're going to see that
as we're going down the line that we are to do good unto all
men, especially those of the household of faith. But what
is keeping the law of loving God and loving the brethren?
That is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. To love Him
for who He is and what He has done. Believing His gospel, believing
His doctrine, and then conveying that to those, and correcting
and rebuking. That is also love. Did you ever
realize that? That if somebody comes to you
and corrects you in the doctrine, that that is actually a sign
of love. Now, for some it may not be.
Some may, you know, of course we have our Facebook warriors
that like to get out there and debate everything with everybody,
and, you know, they're out there headhunting, looking for heretics,
and they just want to debate. And it's easy to get entangled
in that, okay? But if you truly love somebody,
you're going to correct and rebuke them with the scripture in meekness
and gentleness and long-suffering, praying that God would peradventure
grant them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. And
listen, if somebody comes to you in love with the word of
God and says, Hey, have you thought about this? You know, you were
saying this, and I think you might be a little off on that.
Take that into account and say, Hey, praise the Lord. Somebody
loves me enough to pull me aside and say, Hey, you're, you might
be wrong. Go to God's Word and look and see whether what they're
saying is true. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith... Let's move on from
liberty. I'll tell you what, let's look
at a few verses here. Paul has talked about liberty already.
Look at Galatians chapter 2 and verse 4. We remember whenever
Paul went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and
Titus. He said in chapter 2, look at
the start of verse 1. 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
which I preached among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were
of reputation, lest by any means I should run or have run in vain.
But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled
to be circumcised." Here it is, verse 4. And that because of
false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy
out 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. So here we see that Paul is reporting
that there were some of the Judaizers that came in and was trying to
subvert everything. They came in to spy and say,
is this really true what they're saying? Is this really true what
they're preaching? Are they going around telling
everybody that they don't have to keep the law anymore? Let's
go check that out. I don't believe that. Surely
they're not saying that. And so what do these guys do?
They came in to see, is this really true? Is this the gospel
these people are preaching? And sure enough, it was. And
what did Paul say there? He said, they came and spy out
our liberty that we have in Christ Jesus. Why? That they might bring
us into bondage. Didn't Paul tell us in chapter
three or four that this was bondage? To go back into bondage in chapter
four. That to go back under the law
is to go back under bondage. See, they wanted to bring them
back into bondage. Bring them back underneath the law. But
what was Paul's defense of that? What did he say? He said, to
whom, those who were preaching to go back under bondage, we
gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour. We didn't tolerate
that. We didn't like that. We didn't
want that. We're not going to tolerate that
kind of preaching here. That's what Paul's saying. He
said, we didn't give them opportunity to preach that junk at all. because
that is not the gospel. And that's why he said later
that anybody who preaches this, or that's why he just said before
he said all this, he said if anybody preaches another gospel,
let them be encouraged that they're not a servant of Christ. These
men were coming in amongst these churches and was preaching this
and they were not servants of Christ. They were servants of
the devil. So we see that our liberty can be shaken Our standing
fast can be shaken whenever we listen to those who preach the
law. That was Paul's purpose in saying
this. Listen, stand fast in the liberty. If you don't stand fast in your
liberty, your flesh is going to be drawn away by this siren
song of religiousness. This religiousness will make
you say, well, that's got to be true. I better do that. Otherwise,
God's going to be mad at me. See, it's so easy to fall into
that. And the flesh is so eager to
do it. That's why Paul says to stand
fast in your freedom, the liberty that's been given to you. Look
with me, if you would, at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Do you have a brother? I have a brother. I have a couple
of brothers. And I have a bunch of brothers
in Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Is this
your book? It is. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And
look if you would. And I'm going to start reading. In verse 13, well, it's kind
of hard to just break into this. Let's go back to verse 8. It says, How shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation,
that's the ministration of the law, be glory, much more doth
the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that
which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason
of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away
was glorious, being the law, much more that which remaineth
is glorious. Seeing then that we have such
hope, we use great plainness of speech. And not as Moses,
which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. If
you'll remember, whenever Moses went up into the mountain to
receive the commandments of the Lord, the Bible said that whenever
he came down that his face shined with so much glory that he had
to put a veil over his face because the people couldn't look on him.
because of the glory that was emanating off of his face, and
so he had put a veil over his face, okay? Well, the Old Testament,
the law, is like that too. There is glory in it, but it
has a veil over it. The glory within the law is not
the law itself. While the law excelleth, as Paul
says here, the law excels But it isn't that it excels like
that which is exceedingly excelling. The righteousness of Christ,
what's found in the law is the shadow or the type of Christ. And if that be so, if the law
be so glorious and have to have a veil to clothe it over so you
can't really see, then what about this? This righteousness must
be even more glorious. But the Bible says that we look
into this righteousness, this New Testament, this New Covenant,
this Gospel of Jesus Christ with unveiled faces. We have the veil
removed from us. But look what it says, it says,
And not as Moses which put a veil over his face, that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished. There again, brethren, what did
he say? Look to the end of that which is abolished. Those who
believe that the law is still in effect for us to continue
to work in and to try to keep, it says here, Paul, by the Holy
Spirit, who is God, Christ, is saying that it is abolished.
Why do you want to keep saying that it's not abolished? That's
in opposition to God's Word. Look at verse 14. But their minds
were blinded, for until this day remain at the same veil taken
away in the reading of the Old Testament. untaken away in the
reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when
it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now
the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty." Now what's he saying here? He's saying If
you remember, the Jews had a veil put over their face. They were
blinded. They couldn't see the gospel. They couldn't see Christ
in the gospel, or in the Old Testament. Okay? They couldn't
understand. They didn't see Christ and how
that the Old Testament was pointing to Christ and how that Christ
was the fulfillment of all those types of shadows. God had not
revealed that to them. Now, could they read it? Yes.
Did they have it memorized? Absolutely. You could probably
assume that every one of those little Jewish boys and girls
had been taught that law so thoroughly, which is a shame we don't have
that same aspirations a lot of times, but they knew that so
thoroughly that they knew exactly what that law said. But yet they
didn't see Christ in it. They didn't see the fulfillment
of it in Christ. Why? That's because it's not
something that we can do naturally. It has to be revealed to us.
And this is what Paul is saying. Until that veil is taken away
by God, we will not see Christ in that law and fulfilling that
law and being the keeper of the law for us. We will never understand
the liberty and the freedom that we have from that until the veil
has been taken away from our eyes. And here Paul is saying,
That even now, whenever Moses is read to them, it's not condemning
them, it is pumping up their pride to make them think that
they can keep the law and it makes them work even more. Where
with the gospel, what do we do? We rest. You see, we talked about
the opposites a couple weeks ago, remember? Whenever you talk
about work, whenever you talk about the law, you're talking
about having to do work. But whenever you're talking about
grace, whenever you're talking about the freedom and the liberty
that we have in Christ Jesus, it speaks of rest. We rest in
Christ. We don't work for Christ. We
rest in Christ. You work for the law. I'm going
to show you that here in just a minute. But it says here that, nevertheless,
when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
Now where the Spirit of the Lord is, Now the Lord is that spirit,
and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Whenever
the child of grace has the spirit of the Lord and the veil has
been taken away, there is liberty there. They begin to see that
they are free from the law and its curses. They're free from
the condemnation. They're free from having to work
for the law and to keep the law for righteousness, and they stand
in that. That is the character of the
child of grace. The character of the child of
grace is not to continue to serve the law. And you say, well, what
about those who profess to be Christians who are doing that?
You keep saying you know preachers who are preaching that. Well,
brethren, don't take my word for it, take what God's word
says for it. If they're preaching that, they're not preaching the
gospel. Paul says that in chapter 1. If they are preaching another
gospel, they're not a servant of Christ. I didn't say that.
The Holy Spirit said that. Paul wrote it down in chapter
1. The Bible also says that if they
do not come with the doctrine of Christ, then we're not to
receive them. We're not even to wish them God's
feed, right? The doctrine of Christ is that
salvation is not by the law. by Christ. Alright, turn now
if you would to James chapter 1 and I know this is a lot of
people like to say that James is the book of works and that James contradicts Romans. But brethren, it doesn't if you
have a spiritual mind. Let's see what James is saying. Look with me, if you would, at
verse 25. Actually, let's look at starting
in 23. It says, For if any be a hearer
of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding
his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way in a straight way, forgeteth what manner of man
he was." Okay? But here it is. Look at verse
25. Now, we've got to understand what it means to be a doer of
the Word, and we may have to get into that at another time,
but verse 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty, not the law of the Old Testament, not the law
of Moses. We're looking at the law of liberty.
Whosoever looketh into the law, perfect law of liberty, and continueth
therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed in his deed." Now I want you to notice a couple
things here. We're not to look into the law of Moses, but the
law of liberty or the law of Christ. whosoever looketh into
the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein." He being
not a forgetful here, that's what it means to be continually
looking at that and not being a forgetful. Look at what it
says here, and I want you to pay close attention. If you've
got your Bibles, pay attention and read along with me here. This man shall be blessed in
his deed. It doesn't say this man shall
be blessed for his deeds. You see that? Do you understand
the difference between those two? A man who is blessed for his
deeds is a man who is rewarded for doing something. A man who
is blessed in his deeds is blessed because he's doing something. His doing it is the blessing. The blessing comes in the fact
that he enjoys what he is doing. He is reaping from what he is
doing. He is profiting from what he
is doing. What is he doing? What is he
doing? He is looking into the perfect
law of liberty and continuing in that. Not the law of Moses,
the law of liberty. He is looking into, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's looking into, look upon
Christ, the author and the finisher of your faith. He's looking upon
imputed righteousness on your behalf. See, he's looking into
the law of liberty, and he's continuing in that, and as he
continues to do that, he is blessed. Not rewarded for doing it, he
is blessed in the fact that he's a part of it. You understand
the difference? I hope I know I sometimes don't
make things clear. And that might be as clear as
I can make it right now without having to really think on it
anymore. But the fact is, is that I rejoice that I am considered
in this class of people, this group of people. I am in those
who the Lord has saved and he has given me his righteousness.
I am a blessed person to be in this and not looking at the law.
See, it isn't that if I keep this law, then God's gonna give
me jewels or crowns or money or health or, you know, more
kids or a bigger house or a better car or, you know, a jet or, you
know, a bigger church. No, that's not what we're talking
about. The blessing is the work in and of itself. Have you ever
heard the expression, That if you do what you like to do, what's
that old expression about work? That if your job is something
that you love to do, it's not really work. You never work a
day in your life, probably because you like to do what you do. That's
kind of what we're talking about here, is the blessing is not
to receive external payment of some kind. But the blessing is
the fact that you are included in these people. Do you remember
whenever Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount? Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for they shall. Blessed are these, for they shall.
A lot of people look at the Sermon on the Mount as a guidebook on
what they need to do to get blessed. If they will do this, then God's
gonna bless them with this. That's not what that is. That's
why I hate the word blessed. Whenever they use the word blessed
there, it's blessed. It's saying a statement of fact.
Those who are poor in spirit are blessed. Blessed are the
poor in spirit. Why? Because they shall inherit
the kingdom of God. That means that the ones who
have been given to be a to be poor in spirit, meaning that
they realize that they cannot achieve righteousness on their
own. To be poor in spirit is to know that I am a sinner, that
I am unworthy, that I am nothing. That guy that was praying, Lord,
save me, a sinner. That was a man poor in spirit.
The guy standing beside him saying, I'm glad I'm not that guy. He
was not poor in spirit. This man was blessed. How was
he blessed? Because God had given him the
spirit of Christ to show him his sin. to show him his need
for Christ, to grant him repentance, to grant him faith in Christ
Jesus, to look unto Jesus for salvation, that was being blessed. That's what this is saying. For
those who are blessed, those who look into the law of liberty
are the ones who are blessed. Those who are looking into the
law are the ones who are cursed. And they can't go any further
than that. So being blessed in His deed, that word deed there
is actually the word doing, is blessed in His doing. So we are
blessed in looking to Christ. We feel blessed by looking to
Christ. If it wasn't for Christ and what
He did, we would be lost and we would be without hope and
we would be without salvation. And so we are blessed to be able
to look and see what Christ has freely given to us. In chapter 2, the Bible says, verse 10, Whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet offend in one point he is guilty of
all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do
not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery,
yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So
speak ye and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of
liberty. For ye shall have judgment without
mercy, that hath shown no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. What doth it profit, my brethren,
though a man say he hath faith, and hath not works? Can faith
save him? The works that are going to be
done are going to be done from within. The Spirit of God are going to
be doing the works for us. So, back to Galatians. We're
just about done here. Back to Galatians. Chapter 5. in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free. So it's Christ that has made
us free. So again, it's not by our law keeping that makes us
free. It's not by our choosing, by our free choice. It's not
by our free will. It's not by our doing all these
things for Christ. No, it's Christ has made us free.
His actions But it says, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. So Paul is telling us here, in
light of what has been said before, in light of the great liberty
that you have been blessed with, and as you continue to look into
the gospel, that's why we continue to preach the gospel, brethren,
because we want to look into the law of liberty. We want to
continue to put that before the believer's face is the law of
liberty because that's what they're called to look upon. It says, be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. This phrase here is going back
to what Paul had told about back in Acts, remember? Whenever the
Jerusalem council met and they said, you know, why do we put
a yoke upon the Gentiles' neck that has never been put upon
theirs? You know, why put a yoke upon their neck? He's talking
about a burden. Why put a burden of bondage back
on somebody? So here he's saying, be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage, the burden of the law. Don't preach it. Preach it for
what it was intended to be preached about. Don't preach it for righteousness. Don't preach it for acceptance.
Don't preach it for perseverance. Don't preach it for sanctification.
That's not what the law is for. The law is to decimate any hope
that you have of gaining righteousness before God and to show you your
need for Christ and His imputed righteousness. So don't be entangled
again, brother. That's why we don't preach the
law. For all those watching, we're not heretics. We are actually
upholding what Christ has commanded, to preach the law of liberty.
We're preaching freedom in Christ. not bondage in the law of Moses.
We preach Christ. The law of Moses can't do anything
for anybody. But we preach Christ crucified.
We preach the victory of Christ who has overcome sin, who has
overcome death and hell. We're rejoicing in the good news
of what has been freely given to us In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and
verse 12, the Bible says this, Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us. It's not the spirit of God is
not given to us to tell us those things that we have to work for
and earn. It's there to tell us of what
has already been freely given to us in Christ. And it says,
which things also we speak. That's what we preach. We preach
those things, not the things that you have to work for and
earn. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's
wisdom speak. Man's words, wisdom of the world
is pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, get out there and
start humping it and be a self-made man. You get out there and earn
it for yourself. Now, when it comes to, Natural
things, I say that's true. If a man doesn't work, he doesn't
eat. Get out there and work. It's a man's responsibility to
provide for his family. Get out and do that. The Bible
says if a man doesn't provide for his own, he's worse than
an infidel. Okay? So, get out there and work for
what you need, for what you have. Okay? But whenever it comes to
spiritual things, brother, that's not the case. The case is just
the opposite in the spiritual understanding of things. It is
take and say thank you. Say thank you for the free things
that have been given to you and testify of that. Guess what? I tried my whole life to be righteous
and I never could do it. I found out that Christ has done
it for me and I don't have to work for that righteousness.
He gives it free. Go tell that to your friends,
neighbors. What's every church in this town,
around this country, all over the world, what are they trying
to tell people? Go out and earn your respect before God. Go out
and earn your fellowship with God. Go out and earn your acceptance
with God. Go out and keep that fellowship
by doing good works. You've got to stay in right fellowship
with Him. Brethren, it's impossible for
us to do that. So stand fast, therefore, in
the liberty for which Christ has made you free. Be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Anybody got any questions or
comments? Anybody wanna shout and say praise
the Lord for the great things He's done? All right. I know we're badness,
but it's okay once in a while. Say amen, raise your hands, say
praise the Lord. We have a liberty to do that.
Let's just not fall upon the ground like a drunk man. All right, let's bow and have
words for her. Father, we come to you once again.
We're so grateful for Christ Jesus and the gospel. We're grateful
for the good news that's been given to us in the Word of God,
and we're thankful for the Spirit of Christ that comes and reveals
those things, gives us life under these glorious truths. And Father,
I pray that each one of these brethren that are here today
is rejoicing in those truths, and I pray for those that are
here, Lord, that have not been converted by Christ, and I pray,
Lord, that they might by your spirit today, be given understanding
and repentance and faith to come to the grace and the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has freely given. Lord,
I pray for their salvation. I pray, Lord, that they have
been included in those that your blood was shed for. And Lord,
I just pray that you'll be with us as we leave today and as we
go this week, that you might speak and minister to our hearts
through our studies. Lord, that you might teach us
more of you Father, that you might give us opportunity to
speak of Christ to those that we might be around. We pray,
Lord, that you just guide us and direct us in that. We pray
for our church that you might bring others. Lord, we pray for
all those that are not here this morning. Lord, we know that you
direct and control all things and that they're at the place
where you would have them to be. And Lord, I just pray that
your hand would be upon Lord, I just thank you again for this
time of fellowship together in this gathering. We ask, Lord,
that you might continue to meet with us each time we gather.
We pray, Lord, that our worship has been pleasing to you and
that the Spirit has aided us in worship and that has given
us understanding of Christ and that has admonished us for things
that may be wrong. And Lord, I pray that the things
that I've spoken this morning may be of truth, and that if
they are not, if they are of error, Lord, that you would bring
correction, not only to me, but into the minds and understanding
of these brethren, that they might be given truth and that
they might stand up.