I'd like for you to turn with
me this morning to Galatians chapter 6. When you've found your place,
just hold it there and let me make a few comments before we
read. The book of Galatians was written
to not one church. If you'll carefully read the
introduction to the book, you'll find it was written to the churches
of Galatia. all these churches in and around
Galatia. And I suppose it wouldn't be
wrong to think that as the church in Daniel and the church at 13th
Street years ago had satellite churches out around from the
ministry of that church, the church in Pikeville, which now
has a pastor and had been there for quite a time, was at one
time a satellite church from the church at 13th Street. It
began from that ministry. And there are many churches all
around there who had their beginning that way. And I suppose it's
the same way here in Galatia. There were other churches, but
they were known as the churches of Galatia. And it was written
by Paul to rebuke those who had corrupted the doctrines of Christ
in these churches. Some men had come in there pretending
to be believers, saying, we believe what you preach. We believe that. We believe that. And they sat
in there for a while until whoever it was that was pastoring that
church got some confidence in them. And the people had some
confidence in them. And then they began their work. They began to try to introduce
and corrupt those doctrines of God's free grace was something
that men can do by mixing pieces of the law and man's work with
it. Now, Paul defines grace in Romans
11, verse 6. And he tells us, if by grace,
by grace. I see grace on everything on
the sun anymore, out here on signs and things. But when you
go talk to them, they don't know anything at all about grace.
They preach another gospel and another Christ. But he says to
us, if it's by grace, then is it no more of works. Works don't enter into it anymore.
It's all grace, if it's grace at all. And if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
It's one or the other, one or the other. And in this thing
of salvation, it is the grace of God front to back, side to
side, top to bottom. Works is not in it. It's pure
grace. Pure grace. It's owing altogether
to the grace of God. If your salvation calls for a
single work that you can do, One thing that you can accomplish
by yourself, it's not of grace. And I'll tell you this, if it
calls for one thing for you to do, you'll never be saved. How
do you know that, preacher? Because God showed it to me in
the garden. He put in the garden a perfect
man. I don't even know a perfect man
other than Christ. Do you? Never met one. But Adam was a perfect man. And
he put him in the garden, and he gave him one thing to do. And he couldn't do it. He couldn't
do it. And he caused the fall of all
mankind. And should I now expect an imperfect
man, a fallen man, to keep one thing, to keep one thing? If a perfect man can't do it,
why in the world would I think a fallen man could? Salvation is altogether a work
of God's free and sovereign grace. And Paul tells us here as he's
bringing his letter to a close in Galatians 6, verse 12, that
as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, They constrain
you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution
for the cross of Christ. That is, they've struck a compromise. And they said, we can have the
favor of the Jews, and we can get rid of this enmity if you'll
just be circumcised. And that's what religion's all
about. It's to make a fair show in the flesh. It's to make peace
with this world. It's to find a place of compromise,
to find a place where you can come together with them and be
happy. That's what religion's all about.
Everything they do is geared to appeal to the flesh. Their
buildings are designed to appeal to the flesh. Their programs
are designed to appeal to the flesh. Their preaching appeals
to the flesh. Their daily walk is carried out
in such a way as to be seen and applauded by men. They were careful
to pray in the marketplace to be seen of men. That's what it
says. Somebody told Henry one time,
they said, well, if we don't pray in public, how are people
going to know we're Christians? He said, I think they'll get
a good hint when they see the tip. Yeah. I think they'll know what you're
all about. When you open that little chain first and take out
a dime and put it down, they'll know what you're all about. And
there's no need, I mean, their buildings, their programs, their
preaching, their daily walk, all these things. There's no
need this morning for me to go through all of these things.
We've been over these things a hundred times. Religious men
and women desire to make a fair show in the flesh. And in doing
so, they deliver themselves from the persecution of this world.
That's why they do it. They're not going to be persecuted.
When I was young, my wife and I had made a profession of faith.
We joined this little country church, and I began to read the
Bible. And I read in there where these
men and women who believed were hounded. They were hounded, slandered,
tortured, beaten, had thugs to beat them up and put to death. I read in God's Word where men
covered their ears while a man preached, covered their ears,
gnashed their teeth together, couldn't stand what they were
hearing. And as I went about doing what
I was taught to do at the church, I used to wonder why men didn't
act that way toward me. Huh? They weren't angry with
me at all. Religious men or otherwise. Nobody
was upset with me. Nobody was angry with me. What I discovered was that our
church was represented at the hospitals, in the city council. They went down there and prayed
at the council meeting. They had interdenominational
meetings, denominations that didn't have anything to do with
us. They'd have their preachers come in and preach. In fact,
we were praised for our work even by them who had no interest
in religion at all. And I personally was never persecuted
for anything, not the whole time I was in there, until God taught
me the gospel. And boy, the bottom fell out. The bottom fell out. Oh, how
the gospel brings out the enmity of man against God. He can't
stand it. He can't stand it. You know there's
churches, I'm not going to name them, but there's churches when
somebody comes in like you this morning who are here to visit
and they come in here, boy they'll have somebody right there to
meet you and begin to ask you questions and counsel you all
about what you believe and don't believe. What do you think about
the Lord's table? What do you think about church
membership? Who baptized you? What do you believe about this?
Man, by the time they're done with you, you'll be doubting
whether or not God saved you. I preach the gospel, period. If you stay here for any length
of time, that's what you're going to find out. I preach the gospel. I don't need to ask questions.
I know this to be a fact. You can't stomach the gospel
on a regular basis unless you love Christ. I won't have to tell you to leave.
You'll go out the door on your own. All of a sudden, you won't
show up for a few weeks. And then it'll be six weeks.
And then it'll be 10 weeks. And then you'll be gone. I've
seen it time after time after time. how the gospel brings out
the enmity of man against God. Men learn quickly what they can
say and can't say. You go out here, you've preached
in these churches up and down through here, and I know without
asking you that you learn real quick what you can say and what
you can't say. They learn quickly what subjects
to talk about and what subjects to leave off. My cousin invited
me up to hold a revival for him. And this was back in the early
days, and I just began to see a few things and was listening
just a little bit to Henry Mahan on tapes and things. So I said,
all right, I'll come up there. I said, now, you know what I
believe? He said, yeah. He said, I'll
tell you. He said, as long as you stay
in the covers of them books, them people won't have anything
to say. Well, I preached the first night.
Daylight the next day, he was outside my door. And I said,
well, come on in, you know. I said, what's going on? And
he hem-hawed around a little bit, and pretty soon he told
me, he said, well, to make a long story short, they told me if
you come back, I couldn't. And I said, well, I thought if
I stayed in the confines of this book, they could take anything.
He said, they won't take that. And that's been my experience
all my life. Neither they themselves, Galatians
6.13, who are circumcised keep the law. They don't keep it. These people who jump up and
down about keeping the Sabbath, they don't keep the Sabbath.
These people who jump up and down about paying tithes, they
don't pay tithes. They don't keep the law. These
people don't keep the law. They desire to have you circumcised
that they might glory in your flesh. Religion glories in their
numbers, and they glory in their denominational influence and
power, and they glory in their programs and customs, and they
glory in outward signs and evidences. And to all of this Paul said,
but God forbid, see it there in that next verse? God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom? Now listen, here's my
message to you this morning. The world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world. Believers all walk according
to the rule of faith. If you'll finish reading that
chapter, you'll see over there. Faith rule is the free grace
of God in Christ. See it there in verse 15? In
Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision.
But a new creation, a new creature. One born of God, given the faith
of God's elect, led to repentance, established in the love of Christ,
and have a love for one another. And as many, verse 16, as walk
according to this rule. That's the rule of faith. Peace
be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. Peace be on them. Now those in
whom the Spirit of the living God has come and taken up His
abode and taught them the gospel of God's free grace and Christ,
who all walk by the experience of grace that teaches them humility
and gratitude and love and patience, who walk as sons and not servants,
who are in every way new creatures in Christ. Old things passed
away and all things have become new. This man, this woman, will
discover two things to be true. It will be taught them from the
time of their regeneration and profession of faith and be experienced
in all their life. until they depart out of this
world, a two-fold crucifixion. They are going to know exactly.
Those of you in whom the Lord has worked this morning are going
to understand exactly what I am telling you. And the rest of
you are going to do this. A two-fold crucifixion. Two things
will become their experience which they will learn in their
hearts. They are going to learn it Most of us the hard way, but
we're going to learn it. We're going to learn it. And
we're going to learn it in our hearts. And the first thing they're
going to learn is this, that the world is crucified under
them. Now let me tell you what I mean
by that. Crucifixion was the Roman death penalty. Just like our electric chair
or our gas chamber. A man was brought before the
proper authorities and his crimes were read by his accusers. Then
he was judged by the powers that be. And if he was judged guilty,
he would then be taken out at a prescribed time. They'd set
a time. And they'd take him out at the
prescribed time and in the appointed place. And there they'd die a
public and humiliating death. His crimes would be written above
his head. You remember when they told Pilate
they had to write the crimes? He said, now you write this above
his head. He said, I'm going to write his
crimes. I'm going to write his crimes. He's king of the Jews. That's his only crime. And they
said, don't write that. Don't put that on there. Put
on there he said he was king. He said, what I've written, I've
written. This man nailed to this cross
would be looked upon by those around him as deserving of the
punishment inflicted on him. And those who witnessed his death
would be better off without him. They'd know that in their heart.
We're better off without this man. I guarantee you that man
who shot all them kids, if he was alive and judged and taken
to the electric chair, everybody in this country would say amen.
We're going to be better off without that man in this world. We're looking at the crucifixion. Put yourself in the place of
that crowd that was gathered out there. And for now, let's
take Christ out of the picture. We're just looking at these ones
who are guilty. They're guilty. And those who
witnessed His death, they'd say in their heart, boy, we're better
off. I'm glad He's gone. He was looked upon as a plague,
as a dread disease. And the best thing to be done
is to get rid of him altogether. Barnard, in a message he was
preaching about this world one time, he said, the only thing
you can do with a mad dog is kill him. Kill him. That's all
you can do with him. You can't tame him. You can't
reform him. You can't do anything. Best thing
to do is just kill him. Get him out of the way. Put him
in a place where he can't hurt you anymore. Well, this world,
to the believer, is crucified. He's crucified. This whole world. I look at this world the same
way that crowd looked on them men. Crucified. Crucified. Condemned of God. Proven guilty beyond a shadow
of a doubt. And even now, under the wrath
of God, awaiting the sentence to be carried out. Turn with
me to John chapter 3. The believer looks upon this
world in full agreement with God. You can read about it over
in the Psalms. He justifies God. He sees this
world under the wrath of God, dying by God's just decree. Now watch this. Here's a story
you're all familiar with. John 3.14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
What caused that serpent to be lifted up in the wilderness?
God's judgment. Huh? Fiery serpents rained down. On who? On everybody. Now wait
a minute, God had His elect in there. I know He had His elect
in there. And those serpents fell on them too. His serpents
fell on that whole outfit. And Moses saw the whole outfit
dead and dying under the judgment of God. And he went and fell
on his face and began to beseech God. And God said, you tell Aaron
to go have a serpent made, a brazen serpent, just like those flying
serpents. And you raise him up on a pole.
And out there among the dead and dying, every man that looks
on that serpent is going to live. See him lifted up at God's decree
and believe God that in looking to him, you're going to have
life. They're going to live. The rest of that outfit is going
to be bitten and die under the judgment of God. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
and all who look to it shall be saved. Even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not..." Now listen, He's condemned
already. Wouldn't be any fiery serpents
falling if He wasn't condemned. Wouldn't be any wrath against
this world if it wasn't condemned. He condemned already because
he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And here's the condemnation. Here's the proof. Here's the
evidence. This is the condemnation that light came into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light. Why? Because their
deeds were evil. The brazen serpent was not sent
down before the fiery serpents rained down, but during the condemnation
of God. And some of you out there might
be hung up on that word world in verses 16 and 17. It doesn't
mean every man, woman, and child in the world. It was written
because of the Jewish prejudice at that time. Everybody believed
the Jews were the only ones going to be saved. Just sons of Abraham
were the only ones going to be saved. And because of that Jewish
prejudice, these apostles of God under divine inspiration
inserted that word world. to let them know that God's Israel,
that one Paul spoke of, the Israel of God, is going to be taken
out of every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue under heaven. I'll tell you where the children
of God are represented in this whole thing. Whosoever believeth
represents all the children of God, and the rest were condemned
already. That's what he tells us. And
again, in verse 36 of John chapter 3, he said, he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. What's that say? But the wrath
of God abideth on him. Oh, you mean it's going to fall?
No, that ain't what that says. That's true enough. The wrath
of God will fall on him. But right now the wrath of God
abideth on him. Those who have eyes to see and
ears to hear and a heart to understand see the wrath of God abiding
on this present evil world. They see it. They see it. And they see it in their own
families. Boy, that's shocking. It was to me. I can believe that
old ill-mannered neighbor of mine didn't believe it. I can
swallow that. But boy, my own mother, my own sister, my own
brothers, the wrath of God is biting on
this present evil world. We see it. His wrath is giving
them over to strong delusion. His wrath is giving them over
to believe a lie and be damned. His wrath because they received
not the love of the truth. His wrath is giving them over
to their own wicked ends and desires. Can you see it? Have you seen it? Have you taken
a look through the eyes of God at this present evil world? Every
imagination of their hearts altogether sin. Man at his best state altogether
vanity. Can you see it? Can you justify
God in His condemnation of it? Can you find any reason for God
to show mercy? Huh? You can't find a reason,
can you? Oh, I remember like it was yesterday. The Holy Spirit of God began
to convict me of sin. And I couldn't find a single
reason to plead to Him. Not a single reason. I couldn't
find anything to say. God saved me because I couldn't find a promise that
I hadn't already broken. I had nothing to trade, nothing
to beg, nothing to say. I found myself completely, totally,
100% at the mercy of God. The only prayer I could pray,
God have mercy on me, the sinner. You've seen this world that way.
Can you see it in your children? See it in your neighbors? See
it in your friends? See it in those that you've known
for a lifetime? You see this world under the
condemnation of God. I'll tell you, our Lord, in His
high priestly prayer, He said, I pray not for the world. Huh? I can't either. I can't either. Every prayer I pray, I have to
end it this way. Not my will, but thy will be
done. Oh, God, save my children. But not my will. Thy will be
done. You see this world under the
condemnation of God. It's crucified. Crucified. And I can't do anything when
I see it except justify God. He's right to condemn this world. The miracle of grace is that
He didn't condemn everybody. The miracle of grace is that
He chose a people to save for the glory of His own name. Somebody asked me one day, he
said, well, what in the world are you going to do in glory?
Same thing you do now. Marvel at the glory of His grace. Just marvel at the glory of His
grace. Can you justify God in His condemnation? Is this world crucified under
you? John says this, love not the world. Isn't that strange? That was
so strange to me the first time I read that. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. He has not yet seen this
world crucified. Crucified. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the pride of life is not of the Father, but of this world. The end of this world walk. It
tells you that in Ephesians 2. These who are dead in trespassings
and sin, he said, and he's talking about believers before their
conversion, he said, they all walk according to the course
of this world. They all fit right in. They all
just fit right in with the rest of this world, this condemned
world. And they were all, now listen, they were all by nature
children of wrath, even as others. But God, That's where praise rises up
from the heart who can see the hand of God in his salvation.
Plucking him out of the red burning. Plucking him out of those condemned. Plucking him out from amongst
those where the fiery serpents were falling and biting all around
him. And those that you love are falling
over dead. And your neighbors and your children
and everybody's falling over dead. Wasn't but one place to
look. Look up there at that pole. Look
up there at that pole. I tell you, if you've got something
else to preach, I'd like to hear it. I haven't found anything
else since the Lord revealed it to me. Look to Him. Look to
Him. Look to Him! In Him is life. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Those who have eyes to see and
ears to hear and a heart to understand, they see the wrath of God abiding,
abiding on this world. It is the love, mercy, and grace
of God in Christ that saved us out from under the active wrath
of God on this world. And you can read about this in
2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul said, oh, he said, I give
thanks for you. He spends a few verses there
talking about antichrist religion and that man of sin and his power
over this world and God's disgust with it and giving them over
because they received not the love of the truth that they might
be saved and giving them over to strong delusion to believe
a lie and be damned for believing it. But Paul said, but oh, he
said, I thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Because
He hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation, through sanctification
of the Spirit, and believing the truth. Whereunto He said,
He sent me with His gospel. His gospel. He gave you His gospel. And you believed it. And you
received His glory. So here's the first thing I know. I know that this world is crucified. That's how I see it. That's how
I live in it. That's how I respond to what
they say. It's crucified. It's crucified. I'll tell you, if you're sitting
down at the foot of that cross, and that one thief who was guilty
of murder and sedition up there, dying under the just decree of
God, And you looked up at him and he said, I'd just like you to come over
and visit with me a little bit. I don't think you want to visit
with him, do you? I don't think I'd want to hear anything he
had to say. I don't think I'd want to be
his companion. I might utter a prayer for him,
but other than that, I don't believe what he's got to say. I don't believe what he's got
to say. Can you see this world that way? Is that how you view
this world? Believers view this world that
way because that's where God found them. And they know what
it is. They know what it is. And the
second thing I know is that I see this world as I see this world
so this world sees me. That's exactly The same way I
view this world is exactly the way this world views me. This
world looks upon those who live and practice what they believe
as being accursed of God. Is that true or not? Well, you've
got to be out of your mind. You've got to be. You've been
brainwashed. That's what it is. You go over
there to that church. I know where you go. You go to that
little white church over there on Route 53. I know where you
go. That man runs a cult over there. He brainwashed you. He
brainwashed you. They see us deceived, brainwashed,
deluded. They see us judged of God and
given over to strong delusion. They see us as demon possessed. Our Lord, by the power of God
His Father, did miracles right before their eyes. Wonderful
things. Cleansed lepers, raised the dead,
gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf. Things that had
never before been seen in this world. He did those things and
they said, you cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub. I shouldn't get too upset when
they tell me that I've got a demon. They told that to the Lord. They
told that to a man who lived a perfect life. This world sees us, as Israel
saw the Lord, an imposter, pretender, and fraud. Our message is so
totally opposite to theirs that they cannot justify anything
we say, even though we pile up Scriptures around it like cordwood. I know sometimes I bore you to
tears in here, giving you Scripture after Scripture after Scripture
after Scripture for everything I say. Have you turn over to
John and then turn over to Romans and then turn over to Ephesians,
and I'm taking you all through the Scripture. I'm trying to
show you that this is the message of the Word of God and that it's
true. And this world sees that, and I don't care how much Scripture
you give them, they say, well, our church don't believe that.
That's your interpretation. I don't know if there's an issue today over this
thing of Christ being made sin over in 2 Corinthians 5.21. And
I was talking to a fellow about it one day, and he said, the
Bible don't say that. I said, yes, it does. He said,
where? I said, 2 Corinthians 5.21. For
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. And I went over to
the truck. I said, I think I got a Bible
in my truck. I went over to the truck and
got it and turned to it. He said, that's old King James Version. I said, you reckon 2,000 years
ago, that word made, well, it wasn't that long. It was only
400 years. You reckon 400 years ago, that word made meant something
else other than what it says, made? In theological terms, we want
to just take that word and make it mean everything else. This world looks at the Word
of God and discounts it and takes the Word of men over the Word
of God. Ever learning, never able to
come to the knowledge of the truth. They hated the light of Christ,
John said, because their deeds were evil. That's why. They despised his gospel because
it exposed theirs as a fraud. They despised his sinless life
because it exposed the hypocrisy of theirs. They despised his
ways because it brought the foolishness of theirs into light. And they
despised his message of mercy and grace because it exposed
their self-righteousness, self-glory, and vain religion. Those who
believe and have experienced the free grace of God in Christ
and practice what they believe are crucified unto this world. This world looks at you as dying
under the just decree of God. He that will live godly, listen
to me, in Christ Jesus shall, shall suffer persecution. You can't do it. Now you can
go out here and live like the Jews lived and outwardly keep
the law and the world won't have anything to say to you. But you
walk godly in Christ Jesus and you testify the free grace of
God to this world and they'll look at you like you're crucified
or ought to be. And our Lord said this. He said
this to His disciples. He said, you know this, if the
world hates you, it's because they hated Me first. And the
reason they hate you is because of Me. That's why they hate you. So it ain't all that bad, is
it? No, it's not all that bad. These are two things we're going
to learn, though. We're going to learn them in our hearts.
We're going to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these two things
are true, that this world is crucified. It's judged, condemned
of God, dead in trespasses and sin, and that we're crucified
unto the world. That's how the world views us,
sees us, but for the grace of God.