I was over at Brother Charlie
Pennington's a few days ago, and I had the tiptoe to see over
the pulpits. I guess they find out who's going
to pastor, and they design the pulpits. It's a joy. It is an honor, a great privilege
to be here. I count this a great privilege
to be here with you, dear friends, and open God's Word and see if
he'll be pleased to meet with us and open our hearts to rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to read a passage in Galatians
chapter 2. There was an incident that took
place in the early church. There were several preachers in the church
at Antioch, just north of Israel, northern Israel. And the apostle was there, Barnabas
was there. They sent them out to preach
the gospel, to do evangelical work. And this is where this
incident took place, at a place called Antioch, in verse 11.
And it records an incident that took place, and that's what I
want to read to you. I want to read the entire chapter.
In verse 11 of Galatians 2, when Peter was come to Antioch, I
withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before
that certain came from James, certain men came down from James.
They are from Jerusalem. Peter did eat with the Gentiles,
but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing
them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled
likewise, played the hypocrite, the word is, with Peter, insomuch
that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy, their
dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto
Peter before them all, If thou being a Jew liveth after the
manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why are you compelling
the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature,
and not sinners of the Gentiles, 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 Christ and not by the works of the law. For
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if
while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also
are found sinners is therefore Christ the minister of sin, God
forbid. If I build again those things
which I destroy, I make myself a transgressor. For I through
the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith
of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do
not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness came by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain." I think this epistle is one of the most unique epistles
that the Apostle Paul wrote for this It not only emphasizes how important,
how vital the gospel is to us initially. It comes to us. It saves us. He made that so
clear in chapter 1. But in this epistle, he stresses
how important, how vital the gospel is to us in our everyday
life. The Apostle Paul says here that
he tells us in other places that he was dead in trespasses and
sins. We all were dead. Paul said Christ
came to us. He came to Paul on the Damascus
road and gave him life. I give unto them eternal life.
I give unto them life and this life is in my Son. Paul said
that. But here in this verse, I think
he makes it so clearly in verse 20, That He doesn't just limit
this life to something that Christ gives us. It's that. We know that it's that. He gives
us life. And He doesn't just limit it
here to saying that Christ is our life. But I think what He's
telling us here in verse 20, that Christ is our living. He's my living. Do you see that
in verse 20? The life which I now live in
my flesh. Paul said, I'm getting older.
I'm breathing. I'm going about living my life
in this world. I'm getting acquainted with more
people. I'm going different places and preaching the gospel. I'm
living my everyday life. And as I do, I can be sure of
this, that Christ is my daily life. He's this life that I'm
living out. And this is the way I live my
daily life. See, he's not just talking about
that initial life. He's not talking about just when
the Lord came to him on the Damascus Road and saved him and gave him
life eternal. He's speaking about his everyday
life that he's living. Paul, watch your life right now. Christ is my life. Christ is
my life. He says here, I live my daily
life by faith upon, by faith in the Son of God. Christ is
my living. He that eats this bread that
came down from heaven, he that eateth me, I love the way the
Master said this, he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. Because of me and by me he shall
live. I am the resurrection and the
life. Whosoever liveth in me." The Lord Jesus reverses it. Paul
says, Christ is my life and me. And Christ says, Paul, you're
in me. And you have life. I'm in you.
Life. You're in me. And it's life.
Precious union. And I think verse 20 is so important
because It's in the context here that I read to you of this controversy
that had risen here in Antioch. And the controversy was this,
and you can see it again there in verses 11 through verse 14. And here's what the controversy
was. Could the Gentiles be saved? Could they be justified? Accepted with God? and live by faith in Christ alone. Was that enough for them? Or
did they have to be converted to the way the Jews lived? Was Christ enough? Was faith
enough? Not just initially, but to live
their lives every day in the flesh Was Christ enough to live
upon? Faith in Christ enough? Or did
they have to be converted to Judaism? Did they have to be
converted to the strict lifestyle and regulate their lives by the
law of Moses? That's the issue as I understand
it here in verses 11 and through verse 14. Peter was here at Antioch and
Paul tells us he was eating with these Gentiles. And he loved
it. He loved pork. You know, he never
tasted it before. It was unclean. But once he got
a taste of it, and he knew that it was an unlawful man for him
to eat it. And he came down here and he loved that pork. And he
said, and the fellowship was so sweet with these Gentiles. And he was sitting there and
enjoying himself. I almost picture it like a large
room. I don't know if it was exactly like this or not, but
I just picture him having a fellowship dinner. And they were eating
in fellowship. And then suddenly, I just imagine
suddenly, something happened. Somebody ran in and said, Peter,
some of your brethren from James is coming down from Jerusalem.
Uh-oh. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, and he jumps up and he runs
to the trash can and he tries to hide while he spits out the
pork and gets it out of his teeth. And he scares him to death. He
separates himself from these Gentile believers. And Paul comes here and he withstands
him to his face. And this word is very strong.
He was to be blamed. That's a very strong word. It means to reprimand. Call him
out to judge him, to condemn him. That's a pretty strong word.
And what Paul says here, Peter, by your example, here's what
you're teaching these Gentile believers. You're teaching them
that Christ is not enough. By your example. You've not said
anything. But what you've just told them,
but what you're doing, fellas, you're eating all of this meat.
You're not obeying the law of Moses. And you can't be saved
this way. You can't stay saved like this.
You've got to come over here now and be converted and start
eating what's proper, going, observing all of these feast
days. You must be circumcised. In other words, Paul is saying
Christ is not enough. Peter, that's what you're saying.
Faith in Christ is not enough. And Paul said to do this. to
say this, that a man cannot be saved by Christ alone and through
faith in Christ alone, but he has to adapt this rigid law of
Moses and live by it? Paul said that's to do this.
It's to not walk uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. That's a pretty bad charge, isn't
it? As a matter of fact, that's one of the worst charges that
could ever be brought on a preacher. And here it was brought on Peter
of all people. Brothers and sisters, good men
can error. Great men can error. We're just
told in this chapter that Peter was a pillar in the church. Great
men can error. And not only can great men error,
they can error in that which is vital. And not only can they
error themselves, they can lead other good men off into error
with them. You say, but Bruce, it was just
for a time. That's long enough, isn't it? It's just for a while. A while
is too long. Look what damage could have been
done if by the providence of God, He had not have had this
Apostle Paul there to rebuke these men, to correct this error. What would have become of all
of this? I'm not saying this to stir up
any offense at all against the Apostle Peter, but I'm ready
to remind us of this, that we have to be so careful. And what
we have to be so careful in is that very thing which is most
vital, the gospel. Not only to know it for ourselves. Did Peter know the gospel? Sure
he knew it. Not only to learn the gospel
better ourselves, but to be jealous of it, to embrace it, to get
a hold of it, never to let it go. I tell you, the gospel is
one of the most easiest things I've ever let go of. Now, some
may misunderstand me when I say that, but that's so. I speak for myself. I can say
this. There is nothing that suits me
any better than the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It just
suits my case. The joy of my heart sometimes
I cannot describe as I find Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel. That's my life, it's my joy,
it's my rejoicing, yet I'm continually having to come back to this book and re-read it to sit under a
searching gospel message to have me brought back to what the gospel
really is. I'm constantly forgetting it. I don't know what else to attribute
my coldness to, and my sadness, and my complaining, my willingness
to yield so quickly to temptation, my condemning faults in others
that I allow in myself, my impatience, my unkind attitude, my unwillingness
to work and labor and toil for the cause of Christ. having to
be forced or forcing myself. The only reason that I think
I get in this awful mess in my heart, I have forgot the gospel. Oh, no, I haven't forgot the
gospel. It's the reality of it. The living
reality of it. That's what I'm talking about.
And we can forget that. We can lose that coming to service
Sunday after Sunday. week after week. We can sit in
the pews. We can read our Bibles. We can
pray and yet lose the living reality of this Gospel in our
hearts. I don't know how else it could
be said that great men like this, Peter and Barnabas, Barnabas
the good man, Barnabas was a good How can it be said that men like
this walk not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel if
a man could not lose it, at least for a time? I withstood him to the face because
he was to be blamed. He was to be condemned, reprimanded. To be blind. That's a great sin,
ain't it? That's a great sin. I've read
where men tried to explain away Peter's sin. And they use every excuse in
the world. You mean he's not inspired? You mean he's not an
apostle? No, we don't mean that at all. His writings was inspired. His preaching was inspired. He
wrote infallibly. But Peter was just a man in himself. And he did deny the gospel. And he was rebuked severely for
it before his face. Here's what I want to look at
just for a minute. Why did Peter do it? Why did he do it? Well, verse 12 says here that
he feared those Jews, those who were of the circumcision. But
what did he fear? He surely didn't fear them physically.
They weren't going to beat him up. He wasn't surely afraid that
they were going to jump on him and whip him. They weren't going
to excommunicate him from the church there. He knew they couldn't
do that. What was he afraid of? He could
have touched his part. He could have out-debated them.
He already did before. He did it in the 11th chapter
of Acts. He did it in the 15th chapter of Acts. What's he afraid
of? Why was he overwhelmed with this
fear to the point that he walked not uprightly according to the
truth of the gospel? Here's what he feared, and I
think I can prove it. Peter feared the offense of the
gospel. He feared this humiliation of
the gospel. That was Peter's trouble. He
fell into this before. This ain't the first time Peter
fell into this mess. You remember in Matthew chapter
16, the Lord Jesus was talking with his disciples, and he said,
Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Well, they say, Elijah,
Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Peter, who do you say I am? He
said, Well, you're the Christ. You're the Son of the living
God. You're the Christ. I know who
you are. My Father, He said, has revealed this unto you. And the very next verse says
this, in verse 21 of Matthew chapter 16. From that time, Jesus
began to show unto His disciples that He must suffer many things, be rejected of these scribes
and elders and the high priest, and be slain. Be killed. Be crucified. And Peter became very adamant.
Oh, his hostility rose up. You could see it in his face.
And he said, what are you talking about? He rebuked him openly. The Lord of glory, be it far
from you. You can never suffer these things. Be slain. Peter loved the Lord and he believed
Him. He knew Him, thought highly of
Him. That was one of Peter's problems,
if you can call it a problem. He thought so highly of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This truth, this glorious truth
that you're the Lord, you're the Christ, you're the Son of
God, it blinded him to something else. And you, brothers and sisters,
we've got to be careful. We've got to be careful grasping
some glorious truth and letting it blind us to another glorious
truth. Why did Peter utterly refuse
the sufferings of Christ? Christ being slain. Why, he said,
you're the Son of God. That can't happen to you. You're
the Lord. You're the Christ. Dying? Suffering? So he takes him and
he rebukes him. What was it that held him off?
What was it that caused him to rebuke the Son of God? Oh, when
the Son of God began to speak of his humiliation. His suffering. His dying. Is he the Lord of glory? Is he
the Christ? Is he the Son of God? Yes, he
is. But he's the one who suffered the shame of the cross. He was
the one that was betrayed and mocked and poured out his heart's
blood in shame upon Calvary's tree. He's the Son of God who
suffered humiliation and died. And you can't have one without
the other, can you? But see why Peter stumbled? That's why the Lord Jesus went
right on to say in the very next verse, Whosoever will come after
me, Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. Whosoever shall be ashamed of
me. That was the context. Ashamed
of me? Why, Peter would have never been
ashamed of Christ, the Son of God. Oh, but in his humiliation. In his humiliation. You'll never wash my feet. You'll never stoop to wash my
feet. Oh, you're the son of God incarnate. You'll never stoop to wash my
feet. If I don't stoop to wash your feet, you have no part in
me." That's what got to Peter. That's what got to Peter. But
there was another place, and you remember this incident in
Matthew chapter 26. It was the night of the arrest.
They'd left the upper room and they were going out to the Garden
of Gethsemane. And the Lord made this statement to His apostles.
There was eleven of them. Judas had went to get the people
to come and arrest the Lord. And the Lord Jesus made this
statement. All of you, you eleven, shall
be offended in me this night. You are going to stumble at something
that takes place concerning me this night. And Peter said, all
men may be offended in you, but I won't be offended in you. I'll
die for you. I won't deny you in any way.
I'll die for you. Lord, how could I deny you? I've been with you for three
and a half years. I know that you're nothing like me. Why,
I've seen you do things, miraculous things. I saw you give a man
sight that was barn blind. I saw you feed 5,000 with just
a few loaves and fish. I was in that boat when you spoke
to those waves. You're no ordinary man. I know
who you are. I've seen you speak to devils
and them come out. Nature and men and disease and
sin, everything is subject to you. How could I deny you? No, Peter, it's not anything
about that. No, you're not going to deny me my power, my throne,
my deity, my miracles. It's going to be none of these
things that's going to cause you to stumble. But here's what's
going to cause you to stumble, Peter, and he tells it. All of
you will be offended with me this night because it is written,
I will smite the shepherd. That's what's going to cause
you to stumble, Peter. That's what's going to get to you. It's
not my miracles. It's not my power. It's not my
commanding the waves of the sea and ruling over diseases and
devils. It's my humiliation. That's what's
going to cause you to stumble. Peter would have fought to the
death for the Lord Jesus Christ and was ready to. But when Peter saw his countenance
fallen, and when he heard the Savior
say, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, Peter didn't
know what to think. He couldn't even ask, What's
wrong? For the first time in three years, he saw the Master's
lips quiver. And he saw him tremble. He saw
a weakness in him that he never saw before. He saw him almost
ready to stagger. He knew he was getting heavy.
My soul! My soul! And he couldn't even
ask the Lord, what's going on? What's happening? I've never
seen you like this. I just wonder, as he saw the
Lord Jesus Christ stumble just a few feet away and fall on his
face, I wonder if Peter didn't lift those sleeping eyelids long
enough to see the Lord Jesus on his hands and knees, weeping,
tears running from his eyes and bloody sweat dripping from his
body. I wonder if he saw just a glimpse of that. Oh, that's what caused him to
stumble. He was standing there with his
sword ready to fight. All the master would have had
to have done is say, fight to the death, protect me. He was
ready to die. But when he had to drop his sword
in the dust and watch him take his master and bind him and take
him out to smack him and mock him and shame him. Peter stumbled at that. Smythe the Shepherd. Smythe the Shepherd. It was a
smitten Christ. It was a suffering Christ. It
was a humiliated Christ that Peter denied. I don't know that
man. And you know something? Really
and honestly, in a sense, he didn't, did he? That's not the
man I know. I know this mighty man. The man
that I know, nobody could lay a hand on him. Nobody could harm
him. Nobody could bind him. I don't
know that man. Who is that man? Look at him.
Look at him standing there already with his face beginning to black,
pulling the hair from his face. Who is that man? I deny that
man. I don't know the man. There's two things about the
cross of Christ, about this gospel of Christ. I used to think it was like this. I used to think the cross come
to us. And it sort of pulled back the
shades, the curtains. And the light came in. But it's more severe than that.
It's like taking off the top of the house and the light flooding
in every room, in every crack, in every crevice, exposing the
filth and the spiders and the serpents. Shining, leaving us
nothing but sin and misery and wretchedness. And we fall upon
our faces, humiliated and shamed. And we're broken. And we can't
lift ourselves up. All we're allowed to lift up
by the grace of God is our eyes. And when we lift our eyes, we
see Him hanging in His shame, hanging in His blood, hanging
with our sins in His own body. Brothers and sisters, that's
where we must stay. We must stay there at the cross,
broken. until we can honestly say in
our hearts and have God Almighty to bear witness with us. There
hangs my shame. There hangs my glory. There hangs
my curse. There hangs my blessing. There
hangs my sin. There hangs my righteousness.
There hangs my hell. There hangs my heaven. There
hangs my despair. There hangs my hope. Can we say that? Have we got a view of the cross
of Jesus Christ? Or do we stumble at it? It's not a pretty sight. There's
a reason the Scriptures call the cross an offense. It's not
an offense to the world. It's not an offense to this whole
nature of ours. And shall be until we have rid
ourselves of it. Have you found that out in the
experience? We lay there at the cross, and
we can't get up. We just look up. We just look
up. And there in our utter helplessness,
our utter sinfulness, our utter weakness and shame, we see Christ
is our all in all. And where do we see him as our
all in all? In his utter humiliation. He is not our all in all in heaven.
No, he had to come to this earth and hang in shame and nakedness. There is where he is all in all
to us. In his weakest hour was his greatest
victory obtained. And it is our victory. But we'll
find it no place else than laying there at His feet, looking up
at Him, this humiliated, this shameful Savior. And we leave
that place with this same attitude and go with it outside the camp,
outside the gate, bearing His reproach. That's the first thing I think
of when I think of the cross. It shines such a light in upon
us and exposes us, our shame, our misery, our sin, and saves
us. I've never been shamed. I've
never been saved. I've never been humiliated. I've
never been saved. I've never been broken. I've
never been healed. But here's another thing about
the cross, and here's where Peter got in trouble in Galatians chapter
2. Here's where he got himself in
trouble. The nature of this gospel is such, the only place to retain
it is in a pure conscience. The only place to retain this
gospel in the living reality of it is in a pure conscience,
is in this pure light that the Scripture talks about, where
everything is exposed, where everything is up front, where
everything is honest and everything is sincere. As soon as we attempt
to shield ourselves and secure ourselves from this offense of
the cross and the humiliation of the cross, we become hypocrites. And we walk not up lightly according
to the truth in the gospel. And we step off into this mist,
into this darkness. And we lose the joy, we lose
the living reality of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what happened to me. That's what happened to me. I
don't want to be embarrassed. I don't want to suffer this offense.
I can out-argue these guys. I know I can. I just don't feel
like right now suffering this offense, this humiliation. What
are you going to do? I'm going to be a hypocrite.
I'm going to be a hypocrite. Paul uses this word, and I'll
give you these things and I'll quit. He uses this word crucified
four times in this epistle. In verse 20, I am crucified with
Christ. I imagine when these Sepharatist Jews read this, don't
you imagine they sniggered on their breath? This man has gone
off the deep end. See what you get into when you
start this stuff? See? Look here, I'm crucified
with Christ. How did he write this epistle
from a cross? I thought he said Christ was in heaven. And now
he's saying Christ is crucified and he's crucified with him.
How utterly ridiculous this man's gone. Why even listen to him?
Paul said you don't understand the mystery of the union of the
believer in Christ. The believer has this perfect
union in Jesus Christ. He's crucified with the Son of
God. And now he lives with the Son
of God. Union. Crucified with Christ. And then he says it here, another
place he uses it in chapter 3. Look at this. He uses this word
crucified again. And here he's talking about our
experience. O foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth? Before whose eyes, your very
eyes, the eyes of your understanding, Jesus Christ hath been set forth
so plainly, evidently crucified among you. And Paul is saying,
I come to you and preach to you, and I preach Christ crucified.
Christ suffering for your sins. Making reconciliation. I preach
Christ crucified. And Paul said, you saw Him through
the eyes of your understanding. You saw Him. You heard what I
was preaching. You saw Him with the eyes of
faith and you believed on Him. And he says there in verse 2,
you received the Spirit. As soon as you believed, the
Spirit came into your heart crying, Father, Father, if you believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, you have the Spirit
of Christ. There is no such thing as believing in Christ and not
have the Spirit of Christ. Every believer has the Spirit
of Christ. Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by
the hearing of faith? That was their experience. And
you know what he told them? You know what he finally told
them? He said, I preach Christ to you, Christ crucified. And you heard Him and He saved
you. He sent His Spirit into your heart. And you ran so well. You were doing so well. You looked
to Him and you were looking to Him. You were living by faith
and you were running so well. What happened to you? What happened
to you? Oh, you know what happened to
him? They had some fellows that come among them that said, Christ
is not enough. Oh, we know He's enough to save
you, but He's not enough to keep you. He's enough to justify you. He's not enough to sanctify you.
And what you've got to do, you've got to go and be converted to
this law of Moses. And you've got to live your life
according to that rigid rule. And they said, okay. Okay. And man, they got all entangled
and couldn't get out. I sat in my office the other
day and had a spider web. I saw this fly. He was just running
everywhere. I was watching him, waiting for him to land so I
could get him with my fly swat. But he come through and just
barely clipped that spider web. Just barely clipped it. And boy,
it got him. Just barely clipped the edge
of it, and he just kept on working them little legs. And after a
while, he's wrapped up in that thing. He can never get out.
Entangled is the word that Paul uses. Just a little leaven. Leaven the whole bunch. Get a
little Moses in your conscience. That's all it takes. It will
stir up such sin and enmity in you. Paul said, I preach Christ. You believed in Christ. You have
the Spirit of Christ. Stand fast right there. Just
as you began, continue. Did you begin with Christ? Then
continue with Christ. Have you received the full Christ
into your empty heart? Then walk in Him. Stand fast in the liberty. There's
something about this. I don't know what it is about
the liberty. When Christ frees you, when Christ frees you, it
has amazing effect upon you. I can't explain it. Peter said
He bore our sins in His own body, that we being dead to sin. Since He bore our sins, we're
dead to sin. Dead to sin. It has that kind
of effect. I can't explain it, but it does.
I've often said this, and I told somebody about this a while back.
It's something like this. I go walking on a little community
where we live, and on the north side of our little community,
there was a fellow that moved in. He had this pit bull. awful jaws. And he had him tied
up with a little dog jay behind this little rinky-dink fence. And I was walking by there. And
boy, that dog would lunge at me. And I thought, man, if he
ever gets out of there, he'll eat me up. And man, he just kept
on turning the ground up, chain just popping. Mean, those terrible
teeth and those big fat jaws. So I quit walking up there. I
quit going around that way. And one day I forgot. And I saw
him in the middle of the road the same time he saw me. And
it scared me. I'm telling you, I just froze.
You know, what used to run. And here he came just as hard
as he could come towards me. I was looking around and said,
surely does anybody see this? And he ran and got right up to
me and stopped. And wretched up and licked my
shaking hand. And the only thing I know that
changed his whole attitude, his owner set him free. And don't
tell me how that changed the whole disposition of that dog,
but it did. Don't bind your conscience with
some rigid rule that's going to do nothing but drive Christ
from the throne of your conscience. Don't bind your conscience, brothers
and sisters, with something that's just going to stir up the sin
and stir up the enmity that's there in your heart. I can't understand the dear brethren
and their dear brethren. I tell them my dear brethren. That says we're bound. We're
bound to obey the law of Moses. Well, that's what they told these
Galatians. Here's the third place. Here's the third place. Look
over here in chapter 5. Look at this. This is so clear and
such a blessing. Look in chapter 5 and verse 24. The context of this is what makes
this so wonderful. Look what he says in chapter
5 and verse 17. Verse 16. Walk in the Spirit. And ye shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. The flesh lust he wars against
the Spirit, and the Spirit wars against this old man, this old
nature. These two are contrary one to
another, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But
if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Isn't that wonderful? And can
you read that? Can you possibly bring yourself
to read that? If you be led of the Spirit,
you are under the law. Can you possibly twist that to
say if you be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law, but
you are under the law? You're not under the law as a
covenant, but you're under it as a rule of life. What is the
difference? I can't find any difference in
that. Put me under it in any sense. I get mean. Because all these vipers begin
to stir up and raise their ugly heads and I get mad at God and
go to cussing in my mind. All these blasphemies. If I'm under the law in any sense,
I'm stirring my sin and my death in the face. If you be led of
the Spirit, how did you receive the Spirit? Hearing of Him. Then
walking the Spirit. He freed you from sin. than walks
in freedom. But I'm afraid. You mean the
Holy Spirit can't do something that Moses can? Moses never brought
anybody into the land of promise. You think he's going to get you
through this world of devils and to heaven? Look what he says in verse 24.
They that are Christ's by this new birth They that are Christ's
by faith, they have crucified the flesh with his affections. Those sinful affections and those
lusts that he used to lead us around by. And look what he said
in verse 25. If you live in the Spirit, how
do we crucify the flesh? And that's the best you're going
to do with it. That's the best you're going to do with it. Paul
didn't say you've killed it. No, he's still hanging there. And I'm telling you what, he
just screams and cusses and desires and longs. He's crucified. How did you crucify him? Paul
said you've crucified. You know how you keep him crucified? By the aid, by the help, by the
grace of the Holy Spirit. That's the way you do it. One more time, he mentions in
3rd chapter 6, remember what he says? God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he makes
this wonderful statement, by whom the world is crucified unto
me. And I am crucified unto this
world. Paul said this world looks upon me and says you're nothing
but a criminal and we crucify you. You've robbed us of our
peace. You've stolen our gods. You've kicked our props of hope
from under us. We hate you for it. You're a
criminal. And Paul said, well, you're a criminal to me. I hate
your religion. I hate your course. I hate your
gods. What does being crucified do?
It gives us union with Christ. Seeing Christ in him crucified
will give you new life. The Spirit helps us to crucify
the old man and his lust. and crossed in you, crucified,
living upon him, will let you put this world behind you, all
of its temporal pleasures and its temporal advantages. Fade,
fade, each earthly joy. Jesus is mine. I've tried everything
else, haven't you? I've tried the law of Moses.
I know what it'll do to you. It'll have you fighting within
six months and splitting. But Christ will bind your hearts
in love, give you peace in your closet and peace abroad, the
old Puritan said. Christ, give me Christ, and give
me only Christ.