Galatians chapter five, and we'll
read from verse one. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he
is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are
fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ,
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. ye did run well. Who did hinder
you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh
not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. I have confidence in you through
the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded, but he that
troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense
of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off,
which trouble you. For brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law
is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. I hope that you notice as we
are going through some of these passages, some of this writing
from the Apostle Paul, these epistles, these letters that
he has sent to the churches, how that the Lord Jesus Christ
is never far from the Apostles' thoughts. All his arguments,
all his defences, all his doctrine, all his admonitions, all his
direction is focused upon, undergirded by, and delivered through the
power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knew that in the person
of Christ, in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, every needful
blessing of God flows to his people by faith. Paul knew that. He wasn't teaching these people
to do this or to do that. He knew where the blessings of
God came from. He knew that they come from the
Lord Jesus Christ and they are received by faith. How do you
find peace with God? By faith. How can you know forgiveness
from sin? By faith. How do you obtain a
firm hope of eternal everlasting life? By faith. How can you please God? How can
you experience God's good pleasure in your own heart, in your soul,
in your conscience? Only by faith. And in Hebrews chapter 11, verse
six, the writer there says, but without faith, it is impossible
to please Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Without faith it is impossible
to please God. He, God, is the rewarder. He comes to those, he blesses
those, he has pleasure in those. that diligently seek him by faith. This is not some sort of bare
belief, some notional idea that we've been taught or we've received
like at the lips of a teacher or from the pages of some textbook. This isn't the theory of the
schoolroom. This is the warm, personal understanding,
appreciation of the work of God in an individual's life by which
through faith we come to Him, seeking diligently. those things
that he has for his church in people. Not a bare belief in
the existence of God like we might hear those say who imagine
we live in a Christian country. As if living in a Christian country
or living in a country where Christianity undergirds some
sort of historical context or moral fabric. means that we are
his, that we are Christians. That's not the belief that we're
talking about. There are those that would say,
I believe there is a God. Well, you know, every religion
believes that there's a God. And yet, the vast majority, even
of religious professors, know nothing of the one true God. Rather, what the writer to the
Hebrews has in mind is that we believe in God as he is revealed
to us in scripture, in his word. The Bible tells us about God,
and to seek Him diligently is to study the Word of God, to
find out who this God is who has revealed Himself so that
we can believe in Him, so that we can hold fast to those things
which He has taught us. And that's why coming and hearing
the gospel is so important. How are we going to learn if
we are not taught? How is this vast knowledge of
ours that we have going to be enhanced and improved if we don't
keep learning? We need to study the Word of
God. We need to hear the Word of God. We need to be brought under the
sound of the Word of God, week by week, lest we forget. You cannot approach God ignorantly. It just won't happen. You can't
approach God ignorantly. Rather, we are to diligently
seek. That's what the writer to the
Hebrews says. Diligently seek. He is the rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. They inquire after Him. They are asking, they are curious.
It is as if there's an appetite being stirred up in their soul. There is a thirsting after the
things of God. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
speaks of this. He speaks of hungering and thirsting. He speaks of asking and seeking
and knocking. He speaks of this pursuit of
righteousness. Not by the things that we do,
not by our works and our efforts, but by the apprehension of faith. Faith. Trusting in Him. Trusting in that which has been
revealed of Him. to come to God believing is to
believe in what the Bible says about God. It is to believe in
that God who has revealed himself as the one true God in three
persons. It is to believe that the first
person of the Godhead is God the Father, the Father of the
Lord Jesus Christ. To approach him in this way is
to believe that the second person of the Godhead is both the Son
of God and that mediator of the covenant that has been established
for the salvation of sinners. And to believe that the third
person is the spirit of them both, the applier of all grace. For God the Father is to be approached
through Christ, the mediator between God and man, and by the
guidance and assistance of God the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus came
to Jesus. But the first thing that the
Lord Jesus told him was that he had to be born again. He had
to have faith to know anything of the truth of God. The Spirit
of God had to lead him and guide him into an understanding of
new life. The old things have got to pass
away. There has to be a stirring up.
There has to be an implantation. There has to be a new life granted. We speak about an awakening.
We speak about a regeneration. It's a new creation, which is
worked by God the Holy Spirit. And more than that, We must believe
in the perfections of God. We must believe in the attributes
of God, the characteristics of God that He has revealed. We
have to believe that He is omniscient. that He knows everything and
therefore He knows what we need. When we approach God, it is with
this hope that He will supply those things that we need. We
go to Him with empty hands. We go to Him with nothing. We've
had to turn our backs upon everything that we thought was useful or
valuable or might recommend us in any way to Him. We have to
realize that these are but filthy rags. And we go empty-handed. but hoping, but trusting, but
believing, but by faith grasping that he knows what we need. We have to believe that he's
omnipotent. that He can supply all our needs. That's what it is to go to God
by faith. It is to go to Him believing
that that knowledge that He has of me, the individual me, the
peculiar odd, unrepeatable me, is known to Him. Every sin, every
wayward thought, every wrong word, every iniquitous deed,
every transgression of his perfection known to him, and he can supply
that which we need. It is to see him as the true
and faithful God who keeps his promises, who keeps his promises
when he says that they that come unto me I will in no wise cast
out, who keeps his promises when he speaks to our souls of grace
and love and mercy and the bestowal of those things which are needful
for our eternal peace and reconciliation with him. This is the one that we must
seek diligently. This is the one that we must
approach, that we might hear his word, that we might receive
his blessing. The one that we believe in, not
simply as the God of nature and providence, the God of this world,
the God of creation, but as our own covenant God, our own personal
God, our God and Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that belief,
that diligently seeking after Him, is not naturally produced. It doesn't come from this flesh.
It doesn't come from this heart. It doesn't come from the desires
of this fallen mind. It cannot. Because the Word of
God tells us that the salvation that we have is by grace. Paul says to the Ephesians, by
grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. And so we see how here in Galatians,
the Apostle Paul in writing to this church in Galatia, for whom
he feared that having once heard the truth they were now turning
their back on it, now looking away from the Lord Jesus Christ
and imagining that because of the teaching of these false witnesses,
these false works religionists that They were going to fall
away from that lesson, that pure gospel that they had evidently
received. And so the apostle turns them
to Christ again and again and again. And we see how frequently
Paul refers to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only and
alone way of salvation. Just look at Galatians chapter
5 with me again. I just want to read a couple
of verses from the beginning. And just look at the way in which
the Apostle Paul draws these people back to the Lord Jesus. Draws them back to the necessity,
the urgency of faith in Christ. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. This works religion. Behold,
I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. Now, we know what that circumcision
was. It was a cutting in the flesh.
Right, it was a cutting in the flesh that was performed in the
eighth day to these male children. But it was symbolic, well, it
was real, but it had a symbolism. The symbolism of the cutting
was that they were coming under the covenant benefits that flowed
to the Jews through Abraham. But they thought that that meant
that because of that cut, they had this obligation to the law
of Moses. And that if they fulfilled the
law of Moses, God would be gracious to them. They were God's special
people. That cut, that fleshly cut, that
circumcision, that was the outward testimony, the outward symbol
that they were obligated to the law of God. So Paul says, look,
if you think that that circumcision, that by being circumcised and
all that that entails, all the obligations of the law that that
symbolises, I say this to you, if ye be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. This is not this plus this. It's this or this. It's either
or. If you go for circumcision, if
you go for works, if you go for a righteousness that comes to
you, a pleasure that flows from God because of what you do and
who you are and your good works and your holiness, Christ's got
nothing for you. He'll profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. You follow that way of works,
you are obliged to do absolutely everything perfectly for the
whole of your life. Not a wrong thought, not a wrong
word, not a wrong action. That's too heavy a burden to
bear. That'll crush you. It must crush
you. So the Lord Jesus Christ says,
take my yoke upon you and think of me for it's an easy yoke,
not this heavy yoke of works obedience. But liberty, wherewith
Christ has made us free, Christ has become of no effect unto
you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from
grace. For we through the Spirit wait for
the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith
which worketh by love. Paul uses these words, circumcision
and the weight of the law to show the people that this is
the choice. It's circumcision or it's Christ. It's works and doing or it's
grace and faith. What is it to be? And Paul, uses
another phrase also to speak about Christ in this matter.
He uses circumcision, as it were, as a shorthand for all the natural,
physical, legal works that they can do. And he uses the word
cross, the cross, the cross of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ. for all the gracious benefits
that flow from the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's saying to the Galatians,
as it were, is it circumcision or is it the cross of Christ?
Is it works or is it faith? He's saying to the Galatians,
you started out well, you believed my preaching, but someone's gotten
to you. Someone has put a spoke in the
wheel. Someone has messed your head
up, your understanding of these things. Someone is troubling
you. And believe me, that person will
be judged. All that happens to us in this
life, even when we fall off a bike or have some terrible event or
are brought by the frailty of our bodies down into the weakness
of ill health or financial ruin or homelessness or whatever it
might be, whatever happens in this world, whatever happens
to us in this world, whatever troubles befall us, trials come
upon us, they all happen in God's good
will and purpose. He's in control of everything. But the Word of God says something
else about that matter too. It says, Anybody who touches one of the
Lord's little ones, anyone who disturbs and troubles the Lord's
sheep, the Lord's lambs, will be held accountable for those
things that they have done to the people of God. Woe to him
by whom the offence comes. You can read that in Matthew
chapter 18 verse 7. There are three questions that
I want to ask as I think about this, and I'm not going to keep
you too long this morning, but I want you to think about these
three questions with reference to verse 11 here in this passage
before us. Paul says, and I, brethren, if
I yet preach circumcision, Okay, now we've already seen what that
symbolises. If I yet preach law, if I yet
preach work, if I yet preach doing things to attain God's
pleasure, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross
ceased. Then is the offence of the cross
ceased. So here are my three questions.
What is the offence of the cross? Why does the cross give offense? And is the offense of the cross
ceased today? So what is the offense of the
cross? Well, the offense of the cross
is man's natural hatred of the justice and the mercy of God. The carnal mind, says the scripture,
is enmity against God. Man in his natural condition
and his natural state is not God's friend, is rather God's
enemy, because that's what enmity means. Man is openly hostile
against God's holiness and against his plan of salvation. He hates both that God condemns
his wickedness as a sinner and that he can do nothing to change
that fact. We're not single-minded when
it comes to our opposition to God. We're broad-minded when
it comes to our opposition to God. We hate him for just about
everything. We hate the fact that he's holy
and we hate the fact that the way of salvation which he has
established doesn't leave anything for us to do. Basically, the
offence of the cross is that man thinks too highly of himself
and too little of God. Because man is evil, he despises
God's goodness, and he despises God's grace. Well, that's the
offence of the cross. Here's my second question. Why
does the cross give offence? Why does the cross give so much
offence to men and women? Well, I've got five reasons that
I'm going to give you for that quickly. The first one is this. Men and women are offended at the cross, despise
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, because it disallows them any
personal contribution to their salvation. We're all proud We're all proud
people. We all think that we are better
than we are. We all think that there's something
that we can do, something that we can contribute, something
that we can offer. And in our pride, we believe
that if we offer God something, if we bring something, as it
were, to trade with Him, that we'll have a contribution to
make to our own eternal wellbeing. We think that we can please God.
That's the natural man. That's our heart. Everything
about us is that we can do better. We can make amends. We can sort
this out. We can overcome. We are the people. And the cross, it says, no. It says, no, you can't. It says
no. It says this is the job and the
job has been done. This is the work and the work
is complete. This is the requirements and
the requirements are over and finished with. It says God has made a way of
salvation that asks no contribution from you. where everything needful
has been freely provided, a plan in which God will have all the
glory. And the Lord Jesus Christ fulfills
every demand, where the blood of a divine sacrifice pays every
debt. We call that the plan of salvation. And our Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, did it all. He fulfilled every requirement
of salvation's plan. The simple fact is that salvation
is a pure gift of grace and that offends the natural man. The second reason of the five
is this, that the cross shows God's effectual redemption and
limited atonement. And you say, preacher, that's
a bit of a mouthful. What on earth does that mean?
It shows God's effectual redemption and limited atonement. Well,
it's simple, really. The cross speaks of Christ, our
substitute. and the substitutionary death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of a payment of a sin
debt for those for whom Christ died. When he died, his precious
blood paid off a debt And only those for whom he died
have their debt paid off. Only they are free from condemnation. Only they have moved out from
underneath this burden of debt which sin and transgressions
and iniquity have brought into their lives. Not everyone will
be saved. Not everyone will be saved. Not everyone has been saved. There is a heaven and there is
a hell. There is a place of peace with
God and a place of separation from God. And the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ did not pay everyone's debt, did not redeem
everyone from their sin, because there is a people today, right
now, who populate hell in a place separated from God. And therefore, that redemption
that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross was not a universal
redemption. It was not for everybody. but
it was for those that were committed into his hands. The Bible calls
that group of people a remnant people. He calls them a little
flock. He calls them the few that find. He calls them his elect. his
chosen ones, a people committed into the care and keeping of
Christ for whom he died, for whom he shed his blood, for whom
he paid the price of the debt and all of the outstanding burden
that they had before a holy God. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was purposefully designed for the salvation of God's elect
people alone. In John chapter 10 verse 11 it
says, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. You mean Christ didn't die for
everyone? Yes, I mean that. On the authority of the word
of God, Christ's death on the cross was not effectual for everyone. You mean the sacrifice that he
made was only for certain individuals? Yes, that's exactly what I mean.
He laid down his life for the sheep, not for the goats. The
people that are in hell, their debts aren't paid. They're paying
their debts right now. And they will pay it for eternity.
Preacher, Are you saying that not everyone
can be saved? Well, is there another way for
me to put it? And that's why the natural man
is offended at the cross. The cross shows that God has
actually saved some people out of this world. and purposefully
limited the extent of that salvation, of that atonement, to the whole
number of his elect and no more. Not one person more. And that
is something that men find offensive. Here's the third reason why men
are offended at the cross. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross was a shameful, shocking thing. It was bloody. It was dirty. It was smelly. It was brutal. It was cruel and
unusual. Do you know that it's against
the law to put anyone to death in the United States by a cruel
and unusual method? But that's how they killed Christ,
by a cruel and unusual method. Crucifixion, it was a repulsive
thing. It was a disgusting thing. And
that a father could inflict such suffering upon his own son is
offensive. to the minds of men and women. And yet the book of Isaiah tells
us clearly that it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put
him to grief. It was God who unleashed the
sword of wrath and judgment upon the soul of his son as he hung
there upon the cross. This was the sword of justice.
This was the means of reconciliation. This was the work of the covenant
mediator. This was the price that had to
be paid. This and this alone could offset
that debt, could pay that price. It took such a horrendous sacrifice
as the Lord Jesus Christ endured. And the Bible calls that the
curse, the curse of the cross. Here in the curse of the cross,
we discern, we discover two extreme things. The first is the extreme
depth of our sin. and the second is the extreme
height of God's love. Romans 8.32 says, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? The fourth reason
why people are offended at the cross is that the cross confirms
that salvation is free and unconditional and undeserved. It confirms that
it's a gift, a simple gift, not merited, not deserved in any
way, just a gift, a gratuitous giving of salvation by God. Because either the Lord Jesus
Christ died for you or he didn't. Either the Lord Jesus Christ
died for you or he didn't. This is a historical event. He
died 2,000 years ago. And either you were one of the
number for whom he died or you're not. He either paid the price of your
debt or he didn't. He either accomplished your redemption
or he did not accomplish your redemption. It's not a matter of your will.
It's not a matter of your agreement. It's not a matter of your desire
or a matter of your acceptance. It's not your choice. It's not
your decision. It's not your call at all. God Almighty gives salvation
to whomsoever he will. It's his choice, it's his free
gift to give it to whomsoever he will. God chose who he would give to
Christ in the eternal covenant, who he would place into the care
and keeping of his mediator son. God chose who the Redeemer would
purchase and whose sins he would cleanse. God chose who the Holy
Spirit would come and minister to, who the Holy Spirit would
lead into truth, who the Holy Spirit would have the gospel
preached to. There are millions in this world
who will never hear the gospel. God chose who would and who would
not. And that Holy Spirit comes in
saving power and he gives salvation as a free unmerited gift to some
and he passes by others. And that offends people. That
offends them. That's the offence of the cross.
Romans 9.16 says, so then it is not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. In Psalm
110, verse 2, it's a lovely passage. It says, The Lord shall send
the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst
of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness from
the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth. What a beautiful, poetic way
to talk about God sending His Spirit into this world where
in the midst of darkness, evil, wickedness, He sends His power
to redeem His chosen people. And the final reason that I have
for you why people are offended at the cross is this. The cross
is a humbling experience for any man who comes to it in faith. It renders us passive, helpless,
dependent on mercy alone. All we can do is stand quietly
before the cross and bow our heads. There's nothing to offer,
nothing to give, nothing to say, nothing to do. We are completely
reliant on God's goodness, on his grace and on his generosity. Without these, we are lost and
lost forever. Without these, we are rightly
condemned for our sin and incapable of doing anything to remedy or
recover our fearful state and condition. The cross strips us
naked of everything of self, of every proud ambition, and
of every false hope. A natural man finds that humiliating. The man of faith finds it humbling. In a few verses on in this letter
to the Galatians, the apostle is going to write in chapter
six, verse 14, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to
me and I unto the world. I started off by saying that
I had three questions to ask you. The first one was, what
is the offence of the cross? The second one was, why does
the cross give offence And we had five reasons as to why it
does that. And the third question is this,
is the offence of the cross ceased? Well, the offence of the cross
will only cease when the Lord shows us mercy. Only then will
we no longer be offended by it. Only when God bestows His love
and only when God breaks us down and applies His mercy, only then
will we begin to understand the necessity of the cross, the wonder
of the cross, the majesty of the cross, the glory of the cross. There was a young Scottish minister
who died at the age of 29. He'd only really begun his life,
only really begun his ministry. His name was Robert Murray MacShane. We sing some of his hymns and
he wrote this at the end of his young life. He said, when this
passing world is done, when has sunk yon glaring sun, when we
stand with Christ on high, looking o'er life's history. Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then how much I owe, when I stand before the throne
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
and not till then how much I owe. Ian, on earth, as through a glass,
darkly, let thy glory pass. Make forgiveness feel so sweet
Make thy spirit's help so meet. Even on earth, Lord, make me
know something of how much I owe. Lord, open our eyes that we may
see tokens of love from Calvary. Open our ears that we may hear
whispers of grace to calm our fear. Amen.