I invite you to turn back with
me again this morning to the book of Galatians. This is a letter that the apostle
wrote, not to a church, but to several churches. If you look
at the introduction of the book, you'll see there where he addresses
himself to the churches which are at Galatians. And Galatia
was a huge area. You look at a map of any of these
big, like Asia, and you look in there and you see these countries
all over through there that make up that, kind of like our states
make up our union. Galatia was a huge area which
bordered on the Black Sea. and was located in what we call
in modern times, Turkey. If you look at a modern map,
you see Turkey, that's Galatia. That's where Galatia was. And
in the days of the Roman Empire, these people who populated that
area were called Gauls or Celts. If you're into those old movies
where these nations were being conquered and all these kind
of people were going on and you hear that word Gauls or Celts
mentioned in that movie, you know who they're talking about.
They're talking about these Galatians. They were heathen tribes who
took this country by force and they held it the same way. They
migrated there and just took it over. And to give you some
idea of what kind of people they were, the Romans often hired
the Galatians as mercenaries. They were a warlike people. A
warlike people. And so when you read in these
epistles where he's talking to them about, you're no longer
murderers, we might think, well, man, what kind of people was
he preaching to? That's exactly what kind of people he was preaching
to. Murderers, adulterers, heathens. Heathens. And the Apostle Paul
came to this place. He came to Galatia preaching
the Gospel. And the Lord was pleased to establish
churches all through that country. And then sometime later on, the
Jewish legalists who were driven during this Roman Empire, they
were driven away from their homes and they went out into these
various nations. And these Jewish legalists, who
were they? They were men who professed to
be Christians, professed that Jesus was the Christ. They accepted
that. But they insisted that certain
ceremonies be kept, certain laws be honored. Men who believed and taught that
salvation was a joint effort between God and men. They said
this thing is a joint effort. It's not all of God. Some of
this you have to do. God will take the first step.
You take the rest. You've heard that today. They
taught that God did the lion's share of the work. But men were
responsible to do their part too. And they taught that men
were saved by grace. but they're sanctified by the
law. You've heard that today. And this is a great error. It
was a great error then, and it's a great error now. And this is
an error that can cause men and women to make shipwreck of their
faith. Preaching this kind of doctrine has ballooned out in
our day to almost universal proportions. I wouldn't be a bit afraid to
say that if you went out today and visited 95%, I'll just pull
a number out of the air, 95% of the churches around Arkansas,
you went out there, they've all fallen under this air of the
Galatians. You say, is this an important
message? You better believe it. You better believe it. And speaking
directly about these heresies, Paul says it's another gospel. It's not just that somebody's
falling off into a little bit of error. Paul said it's another
gospel. It's not the gospel at all, which
is not another. But there's some who would go
out and pervert the very gospel of Christ. It's another gospel. It's a perversion. And he says of those who preach
such a doctrine, he said, let them be accursed. Let them be
accursed. Now, I want to be as clear as
I can on what I'm saying. Salvation is by grace alone. It's by grace alone. It is in
Christ alone. Not Christ plus. Christ alone. Not grace plus. Grace alone. And it is by faith alone. It has no consideration of your
works. And the good news of the Gospel
is that Christ has come and accomplished our redemption, and He's reconciled
us unto God by the death of His Son. That's the good news. We were justified freely by His
grace, the Scripture said, through the redemption that's in Christ
Jesus. He was delivered for our offenses. And He was raised again
for our justification. Who was? He was. I had nothing
to do with it. I wasn't even born yet. By the accomplishing of the redemptive
will of God, we're sanctified, the Scripture said, through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And by the
work of the Holy Spirit revealing this great truth to us and applying
it to our consciences, we are sanctified daily. That is our
sanctification. In 1 John 3, verse 3, he says,
Every man that has this hope in him. What hope? This hope
of accomplished redemption in Christ. Well, what happens to
the man who has that hope? He purifies himself even as he
is pure. How does he purify himself? By
faith, looking at his Redeemer. That's his purification. That's
the only pure one ever born into this world, is Him. That's my
purification. Peter said, you purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, being born again." Salvation is by grace. It's by
grace. And if by grace, the Scripture
said, then it is no more works. Now wait a minute, preachers.
Scripture is full of things talking about good works. No more works. Isn't that what it says? And
the Scripture is not contradicting itself. Salvation is by grace,
and if by grace, then it is no more works. Otherwise, grace
is no more grace. By grace are you saved. How?
Through faith. And that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. He
can't even boast in his faith. One thing I can tell you, I believe. You sure did. You sure did. When God gave you the ability. Now in the latter part of chapter
2 and the first 17 verses of chapter 3, Paul gives four reasons
why men cannot be saved by their works. He gives four reasons. Undeniable reasons. Why? That works can't enter into this
thing of salvation by grace. That was the error then, and
that's the error now. Today, what we bombarded with,
free will. Free will works religion. Everywhere
you go, I don't care what the name is on the sign, that's what
they preach. Just go inside and listen. In
fact, I'll tell you this, because I've been there and done this.
I've been there and heard what they preach. I used to travel
and sing in their churches and attend all their special events,
and I've heard every one of them preach. They all preach the same
thing. The only variations that I ever
see is how they conduct their services. Some are formal, some
are not formal. Some are dressed out in all kinds
of pageantry, and others are not. They're just common. And
then I see a little difference in church government. And I see,
you know, some of them have a single pastor and some of them have
a presbytery. I see some of them where the churches are run by
the deacons and some of them where they're run by the pastor.
I see differences all over there. But what they preach is all works. And it's all the same thing.
It appeals to your free will. Man has a free will. I sang in one church that had
the gall to put it on their sign, Free Will Baptist Church. That's
what they had up. Paul gives four reasons in these
verses. I read them to you a few moments
ago. He's telling these Ephesian churches
that this is grave error. Grave error. They're going down
a dark tunnel. And they're going the wrong way.
And this is offensive to God. It's not glorifying to God whatsoever. And he gives us four reasons.
And the first and greatest objection that Paul gives is that if righteousness
come by the law, in other words, we're going to have to have a
righteousness if we're going to be accepted of God because
we weren't born with one. How are we going to get that
righteousness? Where's this righteousness going to come from? Can you produce
it? And that's what he tells us here.
If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. You see it there? Verse 20 and
21 up there in chapter 2 of Galatians. He said, I do not frustrate the
grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, Christ is dead
in vain. If I can be made righteous by
my obedience to the law, Then why did Christ have to come?
His whole life, His whole death, His whole person, why must God
clothe Himself in human flesh and come into this world and
live under the law of God? You read on down there in the
chapter, you see there, when the fullness of the time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law. Why must He do that? To redeem
them that were under the law. That's why He came. And if man
can produce a righteousness by his own obedience to the law,
then why must the Word be made flesh? Christ is spoken of all through
the Scriptures. He's the Redeemer. He's the Savior.
He's the Mediator of God. And His coming into this world
was as a representative man. That's why He came. That's why
He came. And often the Scripture speaks.
If you read through the Scripture, you'll find out that a lot of
times when He's talking about these things, He just talks about
two men. He just skips everybody else.
He talks about Adam and He talks about Christ. In Adam all die. In Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15. There was a first man Adam and
there was a second man Adam. These are representative men. They're federal heads. In 1 Corinthians 1.21 it said,
For since by man came death, by man came also resurrection
from the dead. And then in Romans 5.18, listen
to this, Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came
upon all men the condemnation, even so by the righteousness
of one shall the free gift come upon all men under justification
of life. That is, all who were under that
federal headship of Adam, they've fallen. They're condemned. And
all who are under that federal headship of Christ, all that
the Father gave to Him, all that's representative to Him, are going
to be given a righteousness. How did it come? It came through
Christ. He came as a representative man.
You can't make anything else out of it. It don't make sense.
It doesn't make sense. If man can redeem himself, if
man has a free will and the ability to redeem himself, then the whole
coming of Christ, the whole idea of Christ, the whole concept
of Christ is blown to smithereens. There's no reason for it. The
reason for it is because you can't produce a righteousness.
Now that's what Paul is telling us. He didn't become obedient unto
death to be an example. He didn't die to be a martyr
or win sympathy to his cause. He lived and died as a representative
of his people. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
1. He lived as a man under the law,
as a representative man, and he died as a substitute for God's
elect. Now watch this here. He tells
us who Christ is all through this first chapter of Colossians.
You remember the Sunday school lesson. This is the Creator. He made all things. By Him were
all things made. He not only made all things,
but all things were made for Him. Not just by Him, but for
Him. And He is the Head, verse 18. Look at this, Colossians 1.18.
He's the head of the body. He's the federal head of the
body. We're talking about the church.
Who is the beginning? The firstborn from the dead that
in all things that he might have the preemptions. Not used to
describe his power or authority over the church, although he
has power and authority over it. But it's talking about his
federal headship. And as Adam was the federal head
of all those born of him, so Christ is the federal head of
all his elect, called in this particular place, his church. But if man can produce a righteousness
by his own obedience to the law, then the whole of Christ's life,
and especially of his death, was in vain. And the Word of
God can't be true, because it said he is the federal head.
He is the representative. Galatians 2, verse 20, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself for me. I don't frustrate the grace of
God. If righteousness come by the
law, Christ is dead in vain. Now that's just how serious it
is. So let this be established, that if man can produce a righteousness
by anything that he does, if he can even contribute to that
righteousness by anything that he does, the death of Christ
was totally in vain. Alright, here's the second thing
Paul shows us concerning this idea of a work salvation. That this work is totally contrary
to the experience of grace. Totally contrary. My friend,
faith and repentance are the gifts of God's sovereign grace.
He gives these things to you. He gives them to you. They come
as the result of the powerful workings of the Holy Spirit in
chosen sinners. And this working is in conjunction
with the preaching of the Gospel. That's what Paul tells them.
Jesus Christ was evidently set forth before you. How was He
evidently set forth before? In the power of God's Spirit
through the preaching of the Gospel. You find the same thing
in 1 Corinthians 2. Paul said, I didn't come in here
preaching these things in the power of man's wisdom and experience
and all that kind of stuff. He said, I come in here and these
things I preached in plain language. I declared these things of Christ
to you. Christ and Him crucified. Determined
not to know anything else. That your faith might not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in what? In the power of the Spirit. And the Spirit came in demonstration. Isn't that what He said? Demonstrated
these things to you and in you. How did He do that? Through the
preaching of the Gospel. This working is in conjunction
with the preaching of the Gospel. Paul said, Brethren and beloved,
I know your election of God, for our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance." God the Holy Spirit confirms the testimony
of Christ in the hearts of all who truly believe. And they receive
the gospel they hear as the true message of God, and it effectually
worketh in all that believe. How does it work? It convinces
of sin. Let me tell you when you're going
to quit looking to this flesh when you understand what it is.
When you understand that this is nothing more than a cesspool
of iniquity, you'll quit trusting in it. You'll quit looking to
it. You'll say, there's no hope in me. This is what believers
under the conviction of the Holy Spirit are talking about. How
can God save me? I can't be saved. I'm beyond
saving. That's the language they use.
But that's not how men are being preached to today. They're preaching
to them today the same as they did when I was a kid. They're
trying to get you to come down an aisle. What are you going
to do when you get here? You think after you walk down
that aisle, you're going to have some special ability to do something? You think there's something effectual
in an altar or table or on the floor or in your knees or whatever
it is? We point men to Christ. He's
effectual. And this Gospel is effectual
to save men's souls when it comes in the power of God's Spirit.
And those people who are beyond hope, who see themselves beyond
hope, that Gospel comes in assurance. That's what that Word is talking
about there in I Thessalonians chapter 1. It came in the Holy
Ghost and it came in power and it came in much assurance. You'll
need much assurance if He ever convinces you of sin. If He ever
convinces you of sin, He'll have to convince you of righteousness,
because you ain't going to find none in you. And He's going to
have to show you where it is and convince you of that righteousness. He confirms the testimony of
Christ in the hearts of all who believe. And they receive the
gospel they hear as the true message of God, and it effectually
worketh in them that believe. And He convinces them of sin,
of righteousness, and judgment, And this is the experience of
grace and its sovereign mercy and grace to hell-deserving sinners. That's their experience. Then
along comes a man who starts talking about circumcision. Now,
we know you're saved by grace, but just to be on the safe side. You was already on the safe side.
You're getting off the safe side now. We'd better add church membership
to it. You better not add anything to
it. You better just stay right where it is. Right where it is. And that's the experience. Paul
said, look at the death of Christ. Look at who this Christ is. The
Scripture talks about Christ from Genesis to Revelations.
And you just get away with all His whole concept of Christ.
You just blew it to smithereens. If you have the power to produce
a righteousness, And he said, let me tell you something else,
because Paul believed these men to be true believers, being led
astray. And he said, let me tell you
something else, this ain't your experience, is it? You search
your heart, it ain't your experience. Works ain't your experience.
Grace was your experience. This gospel came to you by the
grace of God. and its sovereign mercy and grace
to hell-deserving sinners. It's a revelation of how a holy
God can justly save guilty sinners without compromising His character. And this Holy Spirit is received
by the hearing of faith, not by the works of the law. Let me tell you what you're going
to get from the law. The knowledge of sin. Every time
you study it, here's what you're going to find out. I'm a sinner.
I'm a sinner. Actually, a true knowledge of
the law convicts, condemns, and takes away our hopes of righteousness
and leaves us speechless before the throne of God. The Scripture
said there's none righteous and none good. And just in case
you question it, He said, no, not one. Not one. God said man at his best state
is altogether vanity. And to speak of man justifying
himself or making himself acceptable to God is to call God a liar
because God said all his righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So a work salvation is contrary
to the experience of grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in
the gift of faith. And then the third reason Paul
gives to refute any idea of works religion is that the law which
he claims to be a blessing to him. I've actually seen a sign
with the Ten Commandments. It was a wood cut out, looked
like scrolls, and they had it all painted in, and they had
the Ten Commandments on there. And it didn't have them in full,
it just had them abbreviated, but they had the Ten Commandments
on there, and there was a little sign down there at the bottom
that said, Ten Commandments is enough for us. I told my wife,
I said, they are too much for me. They are too much for me. They see the law as a blessing.
Men who preach law see themselves by their obedience to it to have
a right to heaven. They talk about by their obedience
to this law they are building mansions up in glory. And then those who don't obey
as much as they do, they've got a little cabin over in the corner
of glory land to sing about. There's actually a song with
that title. They think the law is a blessing.
Listen to what Paul said, it's a curse. It's a curse. It's not a blessing. Look here in Galatians 3, verse
10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse. For it is written, Cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do." You're going to be righteous
by the law? All you have to do is do them perfectly. Why would the Apostle Paul call
the holy law of God a curse? Turn with me to Romans 7 and
I'll see if I can show you. The holy law of God, a curse.
Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not covet, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Love the
Lord thy God. with all thy heart, soul, mind,
and strength. Love thy neighbor as thyself."
Why would Paul call that holy law of God a curse? How can any
man say such a noble and honorable law is a curse? Look here in
Romans 7, verse 14. We know, believers do, that the
law is spiritual. Judges the thoughts and intents
of the heart. But I'm carnal, sold under sin. That's why it's a curse. The
law is holy, and I'm not. The law is good, and I'm not. The law demands perfection, and
I can't produce it. And therefore, it becomes a curse
to me. Everything it demands, I fall short of. All have sinned,
now listen, and come short of the glory of God. Look down at verse 18. Paul said,
for I know that in me, in me, that is in my flesh, are you
listening? Dwelleth no good thing. How are you going to keep a holy
law? Carnal mind is enmity. Romans
8, verse 7. It's enmity against God. Now
listen, it's not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can
be. The law is a curse to natural
men because they cannot produce what it demands. And the law
demands perfect obedience, continual obedience, and that in motive
and thought indeed. Paul talks in these verses, he's
talking about these two natures. He's talking about the believer,
and he's talking about the flesh, and he's talking about what that
law demands, and what this natural man can't produce. And he said,
at one time, he said, I was alive. I was alive without the law once. That is, without a true knowledge
of it. But when the commandment came,
when it came in power, when it came in truth, He said, sin revived
and I died. And that's what happens. And it's an absolute absurdity
to boast in a righteousness that you wrought out by your obedience
to the law because the law is a curse to you. Isaiah said,
we are all together as an unclean thing. And then fourthly, Here's
the fourth reason Paul gives concerning any idea of self-righteous
legalism. It's that faith was established
before the law was given. Did you know that? Faith came before the law. It came before the law. Listen
to this in verse 6. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. God preached the gospel to Abraham,
he says here, 430 years before he ever gave the law to Israel. 430 years before. These old patriarchs
were saved the same way we are. They are saved by faith. When Abel offered that lamb on
the altar, he offered it with an understanding that his lamb
was a type of the coming Redeemer. He understood that. Maybe not
to the same extent that we understand it after the coming of Christ,
but he understood it. He understood it. The Scripture
actually says in Hebrews chapter 11, By faith Abel offered unto
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts,
and by it he being dead, yet speaking. It says the same thing
today as it said when he throwed it on the altar back then. And our Lord said to Israel,
who bragged about Abraham being their father, these law keepers,
these legalists, claimed that Abraham was their father. And
the Lord said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it. And he was glad. He was glad. And then in Romans 3.25, He said
that this redemption that's in Christ Jesus is that same redemption
which God set forth to be a propitiation. That word is translated mercy
seat. He set it forth in that old mercy seat way back yonder
in that tabernacle. He set this whole redemption
that's in Christ, He set it forth back then. Through faith in His
blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of all the
sins that are past. Not your past sins, but those
men in the Old Testament. All those old patriarchs. All
those Old Testament saints. Their sins were taken away the
same way yours are. To declare, I say it this time,
Romans 3.26. his righteousness, that he might
be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
Faith was established long before the giving of the law. Actually,
the law was added because of transgressions. That's what the
Scripture said. It wasn't added for faith, it
was added for the transgressions. And all of the promises given
to Abraham were to him and his seed. Not seeds as of many, but
under Thy seed, which is Christ. And salvation has nothing to
do with law obedience. It has to do with the promise
of God in Christ. It has to do with His obedience,
not mine. It has to do with His work, not
mine. It has to do with His glory,
not mine. It has to do with His will, not
mine. Verse 26. Galatians chapter 3. For ye are
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Let me leave you with this this
morning. Galatians 5 verse 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. and be not entangled again
with that yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised, if you submit
to this one ordinance in some kind of hope to assist in your
righteousness before God, just this one ceremony. I testify again to you, every
man that is circumcised, that he's a debtor to keep the whole
law. So you go get all 437 of the rest of those laws, you get
you some sheep and some goats, some heifers, you get you a priesthood
set aside and get a high priest, and you go back under that law. You're a debtor to do the whole
law. Listen to this, verse 4, Christ
has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified
by the law. You are falling from grace. For we through the Spirit wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. Christ is my righteousness. I wait on Him. I wait on Him. You take your law obedience to
the judgment. Go and take it. He said, I wait
for mine. I wait for mine. I look for Him
who is my righteousness. I wait on Him. I wait for the
hope of righteousness by faith. And this salvation, this is what
I titled the message this morning. It's all or nothing. All or nothing. It's all of grace and all of
Christ and all by faith or you've got nothing. You've got nothing. Not of works, Paul said. Why? Lest any man should boast. This
thing of salvation is for the glory of God. It's not for your
glory, it's for His. And our glory is that we've received
it. We've received it. Our glory in that. Glory in that. Glory in God's grace and in His
mercy that gave you faith. Glory in that. But He gets the
glory for everything else.