In evil long I took delight,
unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck my sight
and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on a tree in
agony and blood who fixed his linquid eyes on me as near his
cross I stood, should never Till my latest breath can I forget
that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience felt and owned
the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins, his blood had
spilt and helped to nail him there. Alas, I knew not what
I did, but now my tears are vain. Where shall my trembling soul
be hid, for I the Lord have slain? A second look he gave, which
said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom
paid. I die that thou mayst live. Thus, while his death, my sin
displays in all its blackest hue, such as the mystery of his
grace, it seals my pardon too. That revelation of my Savior,
God gave me 47 years ago. And I can rightly say the last
verse of that hymn I've just quoted to you by John Newton
is more real today than it has ever been in those 47 years. It goes like this. With pleasing
grief and mournful joy, my spirit now is filled. that I should
such a life destroy, yet live by him I killed. And so I say with the Apostle
Paul, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and
I unto the world. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Galatians. As God the Holy Spirit will enable
me, I want to talk to you as best I can about the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Galatians 6.14,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The cross, the cross, that is
the sin atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. More about
that in a moment. But when the scripture speaks
about the cross, when we sing about the cross, as we did just
a little bit ago, whenever we speak of the cross in this place,
We are not referring to that historic piece of wood upon which
the Son of God was crucified. If I could find it, I would burn
it to ashes if it still existed. And I would scatter it everywhere
I could scatter it, lest any fool should worship it again.
We're not talking about that piece of wood. That piece of
wood is meaningless. We're not talking about any kind
of superstitious religious relic or piece of jewelry, idolatrous
piece of jewelry that people wear around their necks or put
on their lapels. We're not talking about that.
If you have those things, get rid of them. Get rid of them. Melt them down. Take them to
the jeweler and get your money for the gold. Get rid of that
nonsense. It's just superstition and idolatry. There's no place for that among
God's people or in God's house. Just recently, I was preaching
in a congregation, and I've been going there preaching for a good
while, and hanging right behind the pulpit, they had a big cross,
and it was one somebody spent some time making. It had a crown
of thorns on it, and drops of blood painted on it, and just
a real nice image. I find that I was preaching on
the cross, Turned the point of that, and I said to the pastor,
I said, it's high time you got rid of this thing, and he did. I'm
thankful they did. That's what you ought to do with
it. Throw that stuff away. You throw away the idolatry you
found in Baal's house when you come to worship God in his house. The cross, there's just one.
One sacrifice by which God Almighty satisfy His justice and put away
the sins of His people. Just one cross, the cross. And
I love how the apostle was inspired by God the Holy Spirit to speak
of it. It is the cross, the sin-atoning
death of our Lord, our Lord, our Lord, He who died upon Calvary's
Cursed tree is Lord over all God blessed forever He who died
at Calvary is himself God the Lord He did not die as a helpless
victim of circumstances. He did not die because the Jews
would not pretty please let him be their king, so he had a second
choice and decided that he would die instead. That's the most
ludicrous thing I can ever imagine anyone saying about the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. But there's a whole system of
religious theology built on that nonsense. And they get it from
the Schofield Reference Bible. It's this idea that somehow the
Jews wouldn't let Jesus be their king, so God had plan B and he
shifted gears and went to plan B and let his son die at Calvary.
Oh, no. Jesus Christ died at Calvary
by his own predetermined, everlasting purpose from eternity. He died
according to his will. He died by his own voluntary
discretion. He died giving his life for his
sheep. It is the cross of our Lord. Oh May he be pleased to show
himself this day your Lord and Calls you to bow to him as your
Lord the cross of our Lord Jesus What a name for our Savior We
will be singing here songs of The next several weeks, as people
will all around the world, celebrating the incarnation and birth of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But for most people, this season
of the year is a remembrance just of a little baby being born
in swaddling clothes and living and doing good and then dying
a terrible death. When he was born, before he was
born, the angel came to Joseph. before he and Mary had come together
as husband and wife, because she was found with child as a
virgin. And the angel said to Joseph,
don't be afraid to take Mary, your wife. For that which is
conceived in her is conceived in her by God the Holy Ghost. It is that holy thing prepared
in her by which God will redeem and save his people. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus. The word means Jehovah saves. Thou shalt call his name Jehovah
saves because this one born of the virgin is himself God Almighty
come in human flesh and he's come to say he's come to save
his people from their sins They were his people before he came
They were his people by divine election. They were his people
given to him, trusted to him by his father before the world
began in sovereign mercy. They were his people by divine
decree. He made them for himself, even
redeemed by him, by his blood shed as the Lamb of God from
the foundation of the world. His people they were before ever
he came into this world. He came here to save his people. He came only to save his people,
only to save his people. He did not come to save everybody. I don't know why this has to
be stressed with such emphasis, but it must be stressed with
emphasis because the whole world has the foolish idea that Jesus
Christ somehow or another failed miserably. I don't know how anybody
can be persuaded to make any profession of faith with regard
to a Jesus who can't do what he came to do. Why would you
trust him? If he came to save everybody
and everybody's not safe, why should you trust him? Why should
I trust him? Why should you bow to him? He's
not Lord, he's not God, he's nothing. Nothing. Oh, no, he
didn't come to save everybody He came to save his people from
their sins and it went back to glory. He had done it He said
the Spirit of truth will come when I go away and he will convince
you of seeing yours and of righteousness of your sin because you believe
not on me of God's righteousness in me because I go to my father
and I have now saved my people from their sins. When he left
here, Merle, we were redeemed. When he died upon the cursed
tree, his people were saved by his blood. He came to save his
people from their sins. And he comes by the power of
his spirit as he gives life eternal to chosen sinners, causing sinners
born dead in trespasses and in sins like you. Causes sinners
like you who have no ability to help themselves. Sinners like
me who can do nothing to bring themselves to God. He causes
dead sinners to live in the dead. Hear his voice and they that
hear live just as Lazarus heard his voice at the tomb and he
calls Lazarus to live. Lazarus come forth and Lazarus
came forth. Salvation is not your decision. Well, brother Don, I've heard
that all my life. Hear people say, well, I made my decision
for Jesus. I made my decision for Jesus.
A dead man doesn't do anything. A dead man doesn't even know
he's dead. He's just dead. Dead. D-E-A-D, dead. I heard a young fella preaching
a while back. fine man fine man, but he he
I guess thought it was impressive to refer to the Greek and Especially
when you don't know any and he said that word dead. He said
in the Greek that means dead You know what in the Greek that
means dead Dead well, how day are you? Have dead is dead Dead
you're dead That's the reason, one reason here, we don't try
to manipulate folks psychologically and pressure folks to make a
decision for Jesus and scare them into making a profession
of faith because you're dead. We don't spend time begging you
to do something for Jesus you can't do. You're dead. I'm here
to tell you that unless God does for you, What you cannot and
will not do for yourself, you will remain dead forever and
spend eternity under the wrath of God in hell. Dead. But Jesus Christ came to save
dead sinners from their sins and save them. He does by omnipotent
mercy. He comes and gives life to the
dead by the power of his spirit. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Christ, the Messiah,
the anointed one. This is he of whom Moses and
the Law spoke. This is he, the long expected
promised one of God. This is that one of whom God
spoke to our first parents in the garden when he said to our
mother Eve that she would bring a son. He would bring a son who
would be the woman's seed who would crush the serpent's head.
and God's people from that moment, from that moment. You remember
the Lord took Adam and Eve in the garden and he stripped off
their fig leaf aprons and he slaughtered an innocent victim
and he put the skins of the victims on Adam and Eve and covered their
nakedness. Thus portraying that through
the sacrifice of the innocent lamb of God the Lord God would
cover our Nakedness with the perfect righteousness of his
son He would take away our sin and cover our sin with blood
atonement and perfect righteousness Even the garments of salvation
and Adam and Eve believed God They believed God you remember
what he said when she brought forth her first son His name
was Cain. I can almost picture her. She
probably about jumped out of the bed. I've gotten a man from
the Lord. I've got the man the Lord promised.
She was just sure this was the Christ. He soon proved not to
be. He soon proved not to be. But
she looked for a man to come the seed of woman without the
aid of a man, a virgin born man, a man who is himself God to redeem
and save his people by crushing the serpent's head. And that
man is the Christ. Nathaniel said, we found him
of whom Moses and the Lord did speak. Is not this the Christ? God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's look
at the context in which this is found. Starting Galatians
chapter 1. In this great epistle, the Apostle
Paul was infatigably inspired by God the Holy Spirit to show
us and show us clearly that salvation is in its entirety Salvation
is in its entirety. Salvation is in its entirety
the work of God alone, a work of grace alone in Jesus Christ
alone. Now, just in case I should forget
to say it, that means you don't have anything to do with it.
That means you don't get any credit for it. That means it
doesn't depend on you. That means it can't be done by
you, and it can't be destroyed by you. It can't be improved
by you, and it can't be marred by you. Salvation is God's work. In Galatians chapter 1, The apostle
defines the gospel of God's grace. The gospel is defined in many
places in the scriptures. Defined very clearly, Romans
chapter 1, 1 Corinthians 15, Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, 1
Timothy or 2 Timothy 1. And it's always defined as Paul
defines it here in Galatians 1. It is always defined as the
good news of grace. through the accomplished redemption
of Jesus Christ, giving all praise, honor, and glory to the triune
God. Wherever you find the gospel
defined in this book, now I'm not talking about if you pick
up a tract or a booklet or a book and somebody says, what is the
gospel? And they start to define it. Now when men start to define
it, that's another story. But when you find the gospel
defined in this book, it is always defined as the good news of grace
through the accomplished redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving
all praise, honor, and glory to the triune God. Paul tells
us here in Galatians 1 that there is just one true gospel. Just one. Just one. Only one message of good news.
Just one. I don't care where you go in
this town. Just pick one of these buildings they call churches.
You pick it up. That one, that one, that one,
that one, that one, that one. Just stop at any. Just stop at
any. If you don't want to go and spend
your gas money, pick up the phone and call the preacher and ask
him to define the gospel. Ask him to find the gospel. And
the very first thing he'll do is tell you to do something. He'll tell you to do something.
Now, this is what Jesus did. This is what God did. This is
what the Holy Spirit did. But you've got to do something. You've
got to do something. Everywhere you go doesn't matter where you
go to a Baptist Church a Presbyterian Church a Mormon Church a Catholic
Church a Buddhist Church a Jewish synagogue of Islamic Shrine,
but where you go the marigo wherever you go in this world Where the
gospel is not preached it is not good news. It's good advice
and What they call good advice is bad by a bad advice because
they'll take you to hell. There's just one gospel And it
is the gospel of grace through the accomplished redemption of
the Lord Jesus Christ to the praise, honor, and glory of the
triune God. Look what Paul says here in Galatians
chapter one, verse three, grace be to you and peace from God,
the father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace
comes from God through Christ. through the redemptive work accomplished
by Christ for sinners in the sacrifice of himself at Calvary.
Look at verse four, who gave himself for our sins because
of our sins made to be his, that he might deliver us from this
present world according to the will of God and our father. The gospel gives all the glory
to God. Look at it, verse 5, to whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. End of the subject. Every
other gospel is a false gospel. Every other gospel is a pretense,
a sham, a damning gospel. Every religious message that
men preach, mixing grace and works. Every religious message,
every doctrine that men teach, mixing the work of Christ and
your work. The work of God and your work. God's will and your will is a
false gospel. It is a sham gospel. It is the
damning delusion of Satan. Oh, brother Don, you can't. You
can't talk like that about other people's religions. You're right. That's awful. That's awful. That's
awful. I ought to have more respect
for people than that. Some of you folks came out of
papacy. Some of you came from free will Baptist churches. Some
of you came from other places. What you came from was damning. If it wasn't, go back to it. If you found if you can find
refuge counting your rosary beads or rubbing your good luck charm
or doing stuff Go find refuge there If you can find any rest
go rest there. You can find any peace go get
peace there. Oh No, they're just one gospel
That's what and what's what the Spirit of God says. He writes
to us by the Apostle Paul verse 6 I marvel You're so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel Paul came preaching free grace and As soon as he he packed
his suitcase and went to the next town Some Judaizers came
in behind him and they didn't come in said now Paul was lying
to you. I They don't they never had that
much backbone, but they didn't come in so now now that that's
not right. You don't believe on Jesus You don't you're not
saved by faith in Christ. You're not saved by grace alone
now Now grace is necessary and you got to trust Jesus, but but
you know, it just stands for reason you got to do something
You can't do something and oh, well, what do we what do we got
to do? What we got to do? Paul said you've been moved away
from him that called you into the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
to another gospel Another gospel now watch what it says Which
is not another? That's strange language, isn't
it? There are two words translated
another in the New Testament one of them means another of
the same kind Another that is a replica another exactly like
this When our lord jesus said i will pray the father and he
will send you another comforter He's talking about the holy spirit
market. He's gonna send you somebody else just like me I want to pay
the father and he's gonna send you a comforter just like me
because when the spirit of truth has come He is god just like
i am But here the word another means another that's not even
similar Another that's not even similar. Here is a sheet. If you go out yonder and start
scratching around a little bit, you can find another sheet of
rock. It's a sheet, but it ain't nothing
like this. You got the idea? It's another,
but it's not even similar. It's another, but another kind.
Another, but another substance, another, but it's not another
gospel, another message, another religion, another God, another
savior, another grace, but not the gospel, which is not another. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Do you know what it
means to pervert something? You listen to folks on the news,
and somebody makes a speech, and somebody picks out a word
or two, or a phrase or two, or a sentence or two, out of the
whole context, and totally perverts what the man has said. They just
totally change the meaning. And it's as obvious as the nose
on your face if you listen to the whole thing. You understand
what I'm talking about? This is what folks do with the gospel.
They gut the gospel of its meaning. They take the words substitution,
atonement, redemption, justification, sanctification, and they strip
them of their meaning and make them to mean what God never said
in his word. They pervert the gospel of Christ.
Now watch what Paul says. Though we are an angel from heaven,
Preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you. What's he just preached? The
gospel of God, the gospel of God's son, the gospel of God's
grace, who the Lord Jesus gave himself for our sins to deliver
us from this world and save us from our sins. He says somebody
comes and preaches some other gospel to you than that which
we have preached unto you. Let him be damned. Let him be damned. That's the
word, accursed. Well, let's join up with the
Ministerial Association. We've got some things in common. Can you imagine, can you imagine
the Apostle, any of the Apostles making such a suggestion? The
Apostle said let him be damned. We said before so say I now again
if any man preach any other gospel unto you then that you have received
Let him be damned. Let it be accursed then in chapter
2 Paul begins to explain his meaning What are you talking
about? How do we distinguish the false
gospel from the true? How do we distinguish the gospel
of God's grace from any other gospel? He began by showing us
the distinction in chapter 2, asserting that we're justified
by Christ alone without any work of our own. We're justified. Justified. Made completely holy. Completely righteous. Completely
without sin. Without fault before God justified
Justified without anything we do Without anything. Well brother
Don work. What's the place of the law?
Surely surely man's got to do something. Let's see Galatians
2 verse 16 We know that a man is not justified by the works
of the law Now what he's talking about here is the Mosaic law
the Ten Commandments as well a man not justified by keeping
the law Not justified by keeping the law. No, no, what he's talking
about is the ceremonial law. What fool ever thought they were
justified like that? Nobody ever, I've never heard
anybody in history who said you're justified by sacrificing the
lamb. I've never, I've never had anybody, never across anybody
who thought such nonsense. But most people think you're
justified by keeping the 10 commandments. No, we're not justified by keeping
10 commandments. Why? Because you can't do it.
You can't do it. While you're trying, you break
them. We're not justified by keeping the law. No, no. And
certainly he's not talking about justified by doing religious
laws, by doing the stuff religion tells you to do. And I know something
about that. My soul. Oh, my soul. When I was a young man, I had
been converted very long and right through the early years
of my ministry. But if you could be against it, I was against
it. I mean, I was against it. I was against everything you'd
be against. Because I thought he was right. This is what religion
teaches. You're not supposed to go there
and do this. You're not supposed to have red flowers. You're supposed
to have brown flowers. These things people invent. Just
nonsense. You're not supposed to eat pork.
You're not supposed to chew tobacco. You're not supposed to spit.
You're not supposed to. And the religious laws always
have to do what you're not supposed to do. Something men say you're
not supposed to do. No, we're not justified by law
any kind of law But by the faith of Jesus Christ Now notice what
it says if you've got a Bible that had been messed with it
doesn't say by faith in Jesus Christ We receive justification
by faith in Christ We were justified by the faith of Jesus Christ
by the faith of Jesus Christ Even we had believed in Jesus
Christ. We who had believed in him were
justified by the faith of him who loved us and gave himself
for us. Watch it now. 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. Verse 19.
For I through the law am dead to the law. I, through the law, am dead to
the law. Well, what does that mean? Now
listen, listen. Have I got your attention? In
the Greek, that word dead means dead. Means dead. Means dead. What? You mean, by the law, I
have absolutely No relationship of any kind to the law. I think
dead would describe that. Dead to the law. How can that
be? By the law being fulfilled through
the faith of Jesus Christ unto death as I substitute. When he
died under the penitentiary law, the law said, it's over, that's
enough. And I'm dead to the law. Is Christ
dead to the law? He died to the law once, and
we have died to the law once. Through the law, I'm dead to
the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ,
quite literally. I was crucified when Christ was
crucified. I was crucified with Christ. People have the idea, well, we
need to nail our flesh to the cross. God nailed me to the cross more
than 2,000 years ago when he nailed my substitute to the cross.
I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I live
unto God. Not I, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. I know that I was crucified with
Christ because Christ now lives in me. And living in me has given
me faith in himself. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, this present life that I have, this life I possess
in this world, this eternal life, this everlasting life, which
I live in the flesh, I live by the faith, watch it again, of
the Son of God. I live by his continued faithful
obedience as my mediator and advocate who loved me. Oh, what a word. He loved me
and gave himself for me. Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Now watch this. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. Frustrate, what a strong word. Rex, I expect what you do involves
meticulous work a good bit of the time. And if you mess up,
you get frustrated and you throw it away. You ever done that?
My wife, I'm married to the best cook in the world. You wouldn't
know it by looking at me, I know. But I'm married to the best cook
in the world. And I have been informed, I've been informed
that many times she'll be fixing a dish. I'm going to get all
the ingredients in it, and get all the stuff in it, and go right
by the recipe, and just get frustrated with it, because it turned out
so bad. Just pick it up, throw it away. And I never even smelled
it, let alone tasted it. How come? Because it's worthless.
Paul says, I do not make the gospel of Christ a worthless,
meaningless thing. Well, who does? For if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ's death means nothing. If righteousness
can be had by what you do, then Christ died for nothing. If righteousness
can be had by what you do, Christ died for nothing. Some people have the idea God
could have saved sinners, just save them like we sweep dirt
under the rug, just forget about their sin. God says you can't. The only way God can be just
and justify of the ungodly is if he punished sin to the full
satisfaction of justice, while at the same time finding perfect
righteousness in a man. And that's only in the God-man,
our Savior, and in all who are represented by him. Look at chapter
three. People say, all right, we're
justified by grace, not by law. All right, we'll give you that.
But now, you know you've got to do something. You know you've
got to do something. And so they come along with the
idea of sanctification. Do you know what sanctification
is? Do you know what it is? Listen now. Listen. Holiness. Holiness. Preparing this message,
I sat down yesterday and read probably, oh, I don't have any
idea how many things I read on holiness, what men say about
holiness. And you know what they all talk
about? Something you do. Something you
do. Oh, he's such a holy man. Oh,
he's so holy. That means he talks funny and
walks funny and eats funny. He's holy. When he prays, he
prays so pretty. He's holy. You can tell he's
holy. I've actually heard folks say
this. I knew he was a holy man when I heard him talk. I could
tell by the tone of his voice. He's holy. He's holy. Holy by
something you do? No. Holiness. Perfection Holiness Bill Augustine God demands
without holiness. You can't see the Lord Without
holiness. Oh now God saves you but you've
got to lead a holy life That'd be a good trip give it a shot
a Holy life. Are you saying preacher no matter
how manly you didn't hear me say that or suggest that and
you who know me no better than that No, no, no, no. It matters
a great deal how a man lives, but I'm not going to put you
on a path you can't keep. I'm not going to tell you to
do something you can't do. I'm not going to tell you to
do something that makes you think you're doing something for God
when you're not. Your best holiness, your best righteousness, your
best deeds of sanctification are fit to rags in the nostrils
of a holy God. When are you most holy? When
are you most holy? When do you feel most holy? When
do you think yourself most holy? Ever drive by a sewer that had
been open, running across the road for weeks, real active? That's exactly how you smell
to God, in your holiness. What? You mean Brother Don? Holiness
is something God gives to now you got it. Whatever God requires
of you God gives and God will never accept anything except
what he provides won't be done. Look at Galatians chapter 3 folks
came in say, all right, we're justified by grace We'll give
you that but we've got to be sanctified by Lord. We've got
to do something to make ourselves holy and pure Galatians chapter
3 verse 1 Oh foolish Galatians Who put a witch's spell on you?
That's exactly what I'm saying, Frank. Who bewitched you? Who
bewitched you? What was the program? One of
the Westerns. I forgot what it was now. Oh, How the West Was
Won. James Ardez got some Indian out
to act like he was crazy because the Indians thought if a fellow
was crazy, he had a spell on him and he could cast a spell
on them and make them crazy. That's just what Paul said here.
Some idiot, some pagan who's scared of witches and demons
and stuff said, who cast a spell over you? Who cast a spell over
you? It was a preacher, that's who
did it. It was religion, that's who did it. That you should not
obey the truth. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ
has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. I declare
the gospel plainly to you. This only what I learned of you.
How did you start this thing of grace and salvation? Received
you this spirit by the works of the law? Were you born again
by something you did? Or by the hearing of faith? Are
you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? We're saved by grace, but we've
got to make ourselves really saved by doing good. All right,
let's do good. Chapter 3, verse 10. For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is
written, curse it is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. That means,
well, if you're going to stand before God on the footing of
your works, you've got to perfectly obey God's law from the beginning
to the end without a flaw. Brother Dodd, nobody can do that.
That's exactly right. Nobody can, let alone you, let
alone me. Chapter four. You read the fourth
chapter, the apostle Paul gives us a history lesson. Now, let
me tell you something about this book. Got it in your hand. It talks about a lot of things
that are historic facts. Whatever you read in this book
about Israel and Egypt and Ammon and Moab and Babylon, any other,
Israel, any other group, whatever you read here, Syria, whatever
you read here, about any historic place or event, it's exactly
accurate. but it's not here to tell you
about history. Whenever you're reading this book about science,
in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. I
was talking to my family at Thanksgiving dinner the other day about this
very thing, creation and evolution. How on earth can you validate
what God says about creation? You can't. God has to validate
it. How can you prove creation? You're
not going to prove creation to anybody. That ain't going to
happen. That ain't going to happen. By faith, we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God. Now, what about
all the scientific evidence to the contrary? You know how the brilliant scientists
laugh at me for what I believe? That ain't nothing to the how
I like it deal. Evolutionary science, that's
the most laughable form of science in the world. The most laughable
form of science in the world. Before I can get this paper turned
over, somebody's ought to change the theory. It's been changed
all the time. It's laughable. But you'll never
convince anybody creation until the born of God and believe Christ.
But if you believe God, it's not hard for me to believe God
spoke this into existence, is it you? It's not hard for me
to believe that God created all things by his mere will, is it
you? I believe God. I believe God. We understand
it. But the purpose of the book is
not to prove science of one kind or the other. What's it for then? It's an allegory. Everything
written in the book was performed by God in time, and is recorded
by God in Holy Scripture to be an allegory of something concerning
redemption, grace, and salvation. There was a man called Abraham,
called out of Ur the Chaldees, with his wife, Sarah, and his
nephew, Lot. And Abraham and Sarah were old
people. And when Sarah was 90 years old,
God came to Abraham and said, you're going to have a son. And
Abraham laughed because he believed God. And Sarah laughed because
she didn't. Big difference. But Sarah said
to Abraham, I'll tell you what, I've come to believe now. that
the angel was right, and God intends for you to have a son,
but it won't be by me. I'm an old woman. I've got this
young, good-looking handmaid named Hagar. You take her to
be your concubine, and God will give you a wife. You work. He
expects us to do something. And whenever you do something,
you always get Ishmael as a result. We've still got to live with
the rascal. You always get Ishmael as a result. So Abraham went
into Hagar, and Hagar had a son named Ishmael. And then Sarah
had a son, just like God said she would, named him Isaac. And
Ishmael got to persecuting Isaac. And Sarah said to Abraham, cast
out the bondwoman with her son. And Abraham said, I don't want
to do that. I love that boy. I love my flesh. I don't I don't cast
that way. And God said, cast out the bondwoman
and her son. The son of the bondwoman shall
not be heir with my son. It'll not happen. And Paul says,
yes, that happened just like it's written in Genesis. It happened
just that way. It's an allegory. It's an allegory. Sarah represents grace and Christ
and God's goodness. And Isaac represents all who
are born of pure promise by the work and will of God. Hagar represents
Mount Sinai and law that genders to bondage. And Ishmael represents
all who are born of law, nothing but persecuting, hateful, mean,
murderous rascals. Cast them out. There's no place
in the house of grace for law. No place in the kingdom of God
for law. No place in the church of God
for works righteousness. And chapter 4 of Galatians is
all about that. Now, just in case you should think I've been
a little too severe, look at chapter 5. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. Be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. That's what the yoke of law is.
Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, if
you be circumcised. Now, that must not be talking
about us. Anybody here planning on going
to hospital more than being circumcised? Anybody got an appointment? I've
only known one or two adults in my life to go through the
procedure. Well, what's this talking about then? If you do
something. If you do something, no matter
what it is, go to church, pay your tithes, go to mission field,
read your Bible, become a preacher, quit eating steak on Sunday.
If you do something, no matter what it is, if you do something
to make yourself holy or to give yourself acceptance with God,
or to make your relationship with God better, to make yourself
more holy and more righteous and more godly and more sanctified.
If you do something to attain righteousness, what does it say? Christ shall profit you nothing. Nothing. You've missed Christ
altogether. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, if you do something for righteousness,
if you do something for holiness, if you do something for sanctification,
Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, he's a debtor to the whole law. Christ
is become of no effect. That's not what he said. He didn't
say Christ has become of no effect. He said Christ has become of
no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law,
you've fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness. We wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. And then in chapter six, Paul
shows us that grace teaches folks to be gracious. The love of God
teaches people to love one another. Mercy experience teaches people
to be merciful. The kindness of God, our Savior,
teaches saved sinners to be kind to one another. And to enforce
all of this, Paul says then, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross. of our Lord Jesus Christ. God
forbid that I should glory. That word means to vaunt. It means to lift up. It means
to rejoice in. It means to magnify. It means
to trust in. God forbid that I should vaunt
anything. that I should exalt anything,
that I should magnify anything, that I should lift up anything,
that I should rejoice in anything, that I should trust anything
except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What's your hope? Where do you find refuge for
your soul? Come center to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Believe the gospel of God's free
grace. Trust Jesus Christ, the crucified
son of God, who by the shedding of his blood, satisfied justice,
brought in everlasting righteousness, and put away sin forever. Trust him. Oh, God help you to
trust him. Trusting him. You have a life eternal. Trusting
Him, salvation's yours. Trusting Him, you live unto God
by Him with whom you were crucified at Calvary. God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.