Galatians chapter 6, and we'll
begin reading in verse 12. We've come here today to conclude
this epistle. I think probably one of the greatest
epistles of all the apostles' writings. Much needed in our
day. I've enjoyed looking at it with
you. I've endeavored not to use any
of my old notes. that I've went through it two
or three times before, but I've sought to be refreshed myself
in it, and I hope you have too. If you see some errors that I've
made, forgive me. God forgive me. I'm like Luther,
I'm just a man, and men do err. You see my weakness in it, pray
for me. And if you've been blessed by
any of it, thank God for it. Galatians chapter 6 verse 12,
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. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. But 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. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth in anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. And as many as walk according
to this rule, Peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel
of God. From henceforth let no man trouble
me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. As many, as many. These two little words are often
used in different ways. They're used to distinguish between
God's people and those who aren't His people, between the blessed
and the cursed. They're often used to describe
the great blessedness of those who will finally be saved. Listen
to these passages of Scripture. As many as were ordained to eternal
life, they believed. As many. Not most, but all of
them. Father, thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." As many. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are sons of God. Those who are led to repentance,
those who are led to faith in Christ, those who are led to
follow Christ, those who are led to mortify the deeds of the
flesh, they are of God. The promise isn't to you. Brother
Steve just read it to us, didn't he? The promise of the Holy Spirit.
That promise is to you, to your children, to those who be a fore-off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call. As many as received
Him, received a full Christ into an empty heart, received a willing
Savior into a needy soul, As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God. As many as touched Him
were made whole. If I can just touch the hem of
His garment, woman, not only you'll be made whole, but as
many, let them be many, but as many that touch the Lord Jesus
Christ, they'll be made whole. As many as I love, I rebuke,
and chastity. Oh, I want to be among as many.
Don't you? I want to be one of the as many. Many shall come from the east
and the west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in
the kingdom of heaven. As many. But these same two words
are used to describe others in a bad light. Listen to this. We are not as many which corrupt
the Word of God. were not as many which twist
the Word of God, and they misinterpret it, and misapply it, and they
add to it, and they take away from it, as many were not of
them. As many who are under the works
of the law are under the curse. Who are under the curse? As many
who are under the law. As many as have sinned without
the law They shall perish without love. What's going to happen
to those tribes of people in places that don't have the written
law, they don't have the gospel? What's going to happen to people
like that? They don't have the law, they don't have the gospel.
Men who sin and die unforgiven, they'll perish. Who? As many. As many. And here we
have it in our text, verse 12. Look at these. As many as desire
to make a fair show in the flesh. Paul never could leave these
false teachers. He never got away from these
false preachers. All they did, they did for a
show. And all their converts were just
like them. They did everything for a show
too. Listen to these words. And our Master confronted them
with this. They fasted. They prayed. They paid tithes of everything
they possessed, even their vegetables they tithed. They posted scriptures
on their garments and on their bodies. They attended feasts. They attended worship services.
They made clean the outside of their cup. Their bodies, they
appeared beautiful and righteous unto men. They spoke highly of
the prophets. They said if we'd have been in
the days of our forefathers, we'd have never killed them as
they did. They painted their headstones. They gloried in the
prophets. And everything they did, they
did for this reason. Here's why they did it. To be
seen. They did great things and perform
great religious works, but our Lord said, everything that you
do, you do to be seen of men. All your works, every one of
them, you've got this motive in your heart. It's to be seen.
It's to be seen. They desire to make a first show
in the flesh. And they wanted others to know
that they were religious people. They wanted others to see that
they had a zeal for God and religion. Paul said, I bear them record.
They have a zeal of God. Paul, how do you know? You see
it. That's their motive, to let you see how zealous they are. Look here in Matthew with me,
just over to your left, in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 6. They desire
to make a fair show in the flesh. Now you and I live, we live our
lives by faith. The life that we live in the
flesh, we live by faith in the Son of God. In our families and
before our families, we live by faith. On our jobs, what we
do, and our co-workers, our relationship in society and our fellow man,
we live by faith. That's how we live, by faith.
And as we live by faith, what happens? The world sees us. The world sees what we do. But
there's a vast difference in that as opposed to performing
religious works just to be seen of men, just so men will know
that we're religious people. I was talking with a friend of
mine not long ago, and he said him and a religious fellow that
he had met was having dinner together, and they got their
food, and he said he bowed his head and started praying over
his food. And he said, when he finished,
I thought, I just want to ask him to see what his motive in
that was. And he asked him, he said, why did you just bow your
head and pray over your food like that? And he said, the answer
is what gave it away. He said, I do this because I
want people to know and see that I'm a Christian. Now brothers
and sisters, there's nothing wrong with a man if he's thankful
in his heart, if he fears God, if he does it for love for Christ,
praying anywhere and doing anything if he does it for God's glory,
but anything we do with a motive just to be seen of men is wrong. That's wrong. And that's what
the Master is going to say here in verse 1. Look at this. Take
heed. Look at this. He's going to talk
to people who are zealous of good works. What the Christians
should be. But here He warns us how to perform
these good works and the motive behind it. Take heed that you
do not your arms your deeds before men to be seen of them. Otherwise
you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Wherefore,
when thou doest thine alms, don't sound a trumpet before thee,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets, that they
may have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But when you do alms, let not
your left hand know what your right hand doeth, that thine
alms may be in secret. And thy father which seeth you
in secret, he shall reward thee openly. And look at verse 5.
When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are,
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the
corners of the street, that they may be seen of men. Verily I
say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
Enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door and closed
everybody out that nobody can see you, pray to your Father
which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward
thee openly. And look down here in verse 16. When you fast, be not as the
hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces,
that they may appear unto men to fast. See what they did. Everything
they did, they did it to make a show in the flesh. That men may look upon them and
say what religious people they are. What zeal they have for
the Lord. The life of faith is first and
foremost lived before God in a clear conscience. And if it's
not, brothers and sisters, it's not accepted of God. Faith lives
its life before God. out of a pure conscience. When
faith prays, it gets along with God. It doesn't do it to be seen
of men. When faith fasts, it humbles
itself out of need before the Lord, not to be bragged on by
men. When faith gives, it gives to
the Lord and for His glory, not to be praised and patted on the
back by men. But Paul said, you teachers,
you false preachers, everything you do, You do it just because
you're glorying in your flesh. That's what he said. Why did
these teachers and preachers make this fleshly show? Look
back in our text again. Here's why they did it. Here's
why they did it. They desired. They desired. That's the whole problem, wasn't
it? They desired to make a fair show in the flesh. Their aim was the praise and
the applaud of men, and what motivated them to do it was the
desire for it. I tell you, what won't men do?
These fellows can pass land and sea just to make one parcel out. Can you imagine that? And why
did they do that? Just to get the praise of men.
That's how much men desire the praise of other men. How can
you believe which seek honor one of another, and seeketh not
that honor that comes from God only? You want the praise of
men, but you don't seek the praise of God. You are they which justify
yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. And that which
is highly esteemed before men. What is highly esteemed before
men? a form of godliness, a pretended morality. But you know something? That's abomination in the eyes
of God. While men are praising Him, God's abhorring them. While
men are patting them on the back, God's sealing their doom in hell
as false teachers and false prophets. That's what he said. I tell you,
when a child of God sees this in him, it makes him sick of
himself. when you realize that you've
done something, and you realize that all the reason you did it
was just to be seen of men. Don't that just make you sick?
David said, Every man walketh in a vain show. And we see that
in ourselves so bad. But here's the difference between
God's children and the self-righteous. When God's children sees it in
themselves, they abhor themselves because of it. But when the self-righteous sees
it, they gain their end that they desire. I wanted man to
see me and he saw me. I wanted man to praise me for
it and he's doing it. And that's just what I desired.
And the Master said, you've got your reward. That's all you're
going to get. The praise and honor of man. That's what the Apostle Paul
tells them here. as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. And notice how strict they are.
They constrain you to be circumcised. This word constrain, it means
to compel out of necessity. Now where have we seen that before?
Where have we seen this before? Over in Acts chapter 15. There
came down certain Jews from Judea and taught the brethren, except
you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you can't be
saved. These Pharisees rose up among them which believed and
said it was necessary to circumcise them and command them to keep
the law of Moses. What was wrong with that? It
wasn't that these Jews altogether denied Christ. They didn't do
that. They believed. Some of these
Pharisees believed. They believed that Christ came,
that He was born of a virgin, that He suffered upon the cross
of Calvary, that He died, He rose again, He ascended, He's
at God's right hand, that He's the mediator between God and
man. They believed that. But they believed that Christ
couldn't save you by Himself. It's going to take what He did
plus what you did to justify you. That's what they believed.
And they linked their works to being justified, to being saved. And there was the whole problem.
They started out by saying, you've got to be circumcised or you
can't be saved. That's necessary. Then they said
you've got to fast to be saved. Then they said you've got to
pay your tithes to be saved. Then you've got to keep the tradition
of the fathers to be saved. That's the whole problem with
free will, ain't it? It's not that they deny Christ
altogether, but they put everything with salvation. They link all
their works to salvation. For centuries, the Catholic churches
did this. Not so bad as they used to be
because they can't keep members anymore. But they used to add
all their works to salvation. Everything was linked to salvation.
If you don't come to Mass, You're going to be damned. If you want
to be saved, you've got to go to confession. If you want to
be saved, you've got to support our works that we're doing, building
our cathedrals and all of those things. You've got to support
the Pope and acknowledge his infallibility. You've got to
do all these things, and they linked it to salvation. It's
necessary, they were saying, to circumcise you. and command
you to keep the Law of Moses. And there's what kept people
in fear. And there's what kept them from trusting Christ altogether
to be saved by Him. Put it, everything, with words.
Brother Larry told me one day how many steps some of the Camelots
have to have to be saved. And they think it's a salvation,
don't they, Larry? You've got to do this, you've
got to do that, and you've got to do this. And it comes right
on down to the time of death. And if you're going to be saved,
all those steps are linked to salvation. That's what they were
saying. They constrain you. They say
it's necessary for you to do this or you can't be justified
before God. Paul gives another reason here
for them preaching circumcision. Not only because they desired
the praise of men, they linked it to salvation. But here in
the last portion of verse 12, here's another reason that they
preached circumcision and added it to the gospel of Christ. Only
lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Now they weren't denying Christ
altogether. You've got to remember that.
If they'd have done that, this Galatian church would have never
received them. They believed in Christ. They
exalted His name, but they said, wait a minute, you're not complete
in Christ. Not wholly complete in Him. You're
not accepted in the Beloved. Not really. You're not made righteous in
Him. Not fully. You're not justified
by His grace. Not completely. It's what He
has done added to what you have done and are doing that justifies
you. And that took the offense from
the cross. See, what makes the cross of
Christ offensive is that Christ is preached in the gospel as
a complete Savior. If you say He's a great man,
or a great prophet, or a good man, or he's half a Savior. The world will love you for that.
That takes the offense out of the cross. But a Savior who really saves,
a Redeemer who really redeems, and a Deliverer who really delivers,
and a Justifier who really justifies, and a full and free and all-sufficient
Savior the world can't tolerate. They hate that. They're disgusted
with it. And I'm telling you, they'll
show you if you preach such a Savior how they feel about it. Paul
said back here in chapter 5 and verse 11, he said, Brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?
If I yet preach circumcision and add that to Christ, then
it's the offense of the cross ceased. What is the offense of
the cross? It's Christ alone. Christ has
obtained it alone by Himself. It's faith alone in Him. And
we do what we do because we're already saved. Because we're
already justified. We don't do anything to be saved
and to be justified. We believed in Christ for that. But Christ is enough. Christ
is everything. Christ is all. And you add anything
to Him, I don't care what it is, you speak ever so highly
of Him, but you turn around and add something to Him to be justified. Put your righteousness with His,
and what have you just done? You've removed the offense of
the cross, and the world will love you for it. The world will
love you for it. You know why people think we're
a cult today? You know some people, even in
this area, think we're a cult? And you know why? Because it's
Christ alone. It's faith alone. It's Scripture
alone. And if we're a cult, then go
back through history, and you find a whole bunch of people
that's cultish, including Scrogin that they love, and Luther that
they sometimes preach after, and a host of other people. It's
faith alone, Christ alone, and grace alone. And here in verse
13, the apostle, he can't get away from the reason he wrote
this epistle to begin with, to distinguish between law and grace. to show them the difference in
Moses and Christ. And brothers and sisters, there's
a difference. If a man don't see the difference
between Christ and Moses, then he's blind. If a man thinks that
law and grace mixed can save him, he's just deceived. That's
why Paul wrote this epistle. And he can't get away from that.
And he says here in verse 13, For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. And what Paul is saying is this,
if you're going to be saved by Christ, you're going to have
to be saved by the grace of Christ and the love of Christ alone.
You can't mix these two things. And if you're going to be saved
by Moses, by your works, then Christ ain't going to have anything
to do with you nor your works. You must go to the law and see
what the law requires and keep it. And keep it. These fellows was crying up circumcision. Well, Paul says here in verse
13 that circumcision is not enough. If you're going to be saved by
any works at all, go to the law and find out what it requires
because that's what you're going to have to do. Keep the whole
law. And here's the problem, Paul
said. And here's a problem that every self-righteous person,
every legalist, is going to have to confront somewhere. He's going
to have to confront it now and come to the knowledge of this,
or yonder's the judgment. He's going to have to come to
the knowledge of this. And here's the whole problem with men trying
to save themselves. Paul said here, nobody keeps
the law. Ain't that what he said? They tell you you must be circumcised,
but they don't keep the law themselves. Well, we try. That ain't enough,
is it? That ain't enough. Let every man ask himself this
question, do I keep the law? Do I keep it from the cradle
to the grave? Do I keep it continually? Do
I keep it perfectly? And if I don't, then what's the
consequences? I'm guilty before God. And if
I don't find another way of salvation, if I don't find another man whose
merits and righteousness can justify me and save me, I'm going
to stand guilty before God at my deathbed, and when I stand
before Him in judgment, I'll be damned for my efforts in religion. Now that's what he said. They tell you that you've got
to work to be justified. Christ's righteousness is not
enough. But they don't keep the law either.
And there ain't never been but two men that kept the law. And
that's the original man, back here on in the garden. And he
broke it and fell into sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ who
kept it perfectly. Nobody else has kept it. Abraham
didn't keep it. David didn't keep it. Moses,
whom it was given to, never kept it. And you and I have never
kept it. Therefore, we must be saved by
another person. And thank God there is another
person. And His merits and His obedience and His righteousness
reaches unto us when we believe upon Him for it and justifies
us before God, before the court of heaven. Oh, look what he said
again in verse 13. Here's the whole problem, not
only with the Pharisees, but with self-righteousness of all
ages. They desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. That's what it's all about, ain't
it, with this world? Glorying in flesh. Up there in verse 12,
he said they glory in their flesh. They do what they do to glory
in their flesh. So you can see them and brag
on them. And here now, he says, after they've converted you and
convinced you to be circumcised and believe and act like they
do, then they glory in your flesh. Flesh. Flesh. That's all it's
about with self-righteous people, isn't it? Flesh. One poor worm glorying in another
worm. One maggot wanting to be praised
by another maggot. That's what it's all about. Flash. Flash. How can you believe? We seek honor, one of another.
Seek praise, one of another. What does God permit us to glory
in? Has He given us any place that
we can glory? Where does God desire that you
and I glory? Where does He permit us to glory?
Where does He permit us to put our confidence and our faith?
Only one place God will allow it. And here it is in verse 14.
Look at this. God forbid that I should glory
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Not a wooden cross. We know that. It's not a crucifix that we hang
around our neck, not a sign that we make with our hands. It's
not the cross of self-denial. That's our cross. Take up thy
cross and follow me. But this is the cross of Jesus
Christ. The life of Christ, the sufferings
of Christ, the obedience of Christ, the death of Christ, the burial
of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, The intercessions of
Christ. Christ obtaining on the behalf
of all who rely upon Him. Listen now. Here's the cross.
Here's the cross. In a nutshell, here's the cross.
Jesus Christ by Himself and by His works, obtaining on the behalf
of all of those who rely upon Him, a full and free an eternal
release from their sin and from their guilt. Ain't that a glorious
thing? Boy, if you're guilty before
God and you feel it, you know what you are in and of yourself,
and you can say with David, at my best state, I'm altogether
vanity. This is good news for you. Somebody's done on your
part what you can't do for yourself. Here the Apostle Paul was, poor
thing, out trying to save himself. Doing all sorts of things. And
he found out one day he couldn't do it. And then he found out
somebody else had already done it on his behalf. And he said,
oh, I glory in Him. I glory in Him. Here's what one
fellow said. Let me read it to you. Once some
commentator said this, and I thought this was awful good. It sort
of summed it up. I hope I can read it to you. But listen to
this. He gave these reasons why we glory in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, he said, for the
love of him who suffered there. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life. Love. For the purity and
the holiness of the character of him who suffered there. He
was a lamb without spot and without blemish, and the just for the
unjust to bring us to God. and for the honor that was put
upon the law of God by His dying to maintain its honor. He magnified the law and made
it honorable. In His life He fulfilled its
demands. In His death He met its full
penalty. He satisfied the law and the
justice of God. Fourthly, we glory in the cross
of Christ because of the reconciliation that He made there for our sins. He accomplished what no man could
ever accomplish, reconciliation. When you were enemies, Christ
reconciled you to God by His death. We glory in the cross
because of the pardon that He obtained for the guilty. A fountain
open for sin and for uncleanness. That's what he obtained. The
fact that through it, through this cross, we become dead to
the world and alive unto God. That's what Peter said. He bore
our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin. Why can't sin condemn us anymore?
He bore our sins. Now we're dead to it, to its
judgment and condemnation. And listen to this, we glory
in the cross because of the support and consolation which comes from
that cross and sustains us in the hour of trial, looking unto
Jesus, the Arthur and the finisher of our faith. who for the joy
that was set before him, endeared the cross and despised the shame. We got the victory through him
that loved us. And he said lastly of the fact
that it procures for us admission into heaven. It has gained for
us a title in that world that's to come. For he who died is now
for us in heaven. And being there on our behalf
assures our entrance there. Ain't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. That's why we glory in the cross. And this fellow
went ahead to say this, and let me read this to you. It was a
glorious Savior who died there. It was glorious love that led
Him to die. It was a glorious object to redeem
a world. And it is unspeakable glory to
which he will raise lost and ruined sinners by his death,
all who would not glory in such a Savior. Compared to this, what
trifles are all the objects in which people usually boast, and
what lesson is here furnished for the true child of God? Let
us not boast in our wealth, it will soon leave us. Let us not
boast in our strength, for it will soon fail. Let us not boast
in our beauty, for soon it shall fade away in the grave. Let us
not boast in our accomplishment, it cannot save us. Let us not
boast in our learning, for we may ever be learning and not
come to the knowledge of the truth. But let us glory in the
eternal Savior, the Son of God, that glorious Being who was adored
by the inhabitants of heaven, who made the worlds, who is pure
and lovely and holy, and who has undertaken our cause and
died for us, let us desire no greater honor than to be saved
by the Son of God. He alone has exalted our nature. He showed unto us more than anything
else true dignity, that one so great and glorious sought our
redemption. That cannot be an object of temporary
value which He sought by coming from heaven into this world.
And if there is any object of real magnitude in this world,
it is the soul. Listen to that. If there is any
object of real magnitude, real worth in this world, it must
be the soul which the Eternal God came into this world to save. and to have it in heaven with
Himself for all eternity. That's why we glory in the cross.
That's why we glory in the cross. Now look back in verse 14. What
effect does this have? I glory in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and look at this, by whom the world is crucified
unto me. Paul said, when I see the cross,
I see the Lord Jesus has overcome everything. He's overcome my
sin. He's overcome the wrath of God,
the justice of God. He's overcome the world. He's
overcome the devil. He's overcome everything. And
now when Paul said, I look upon this world, I look upon its pleasures,
I look upon its cares, I look upon its religions, I look upon
what it hopes in, and he says, I count it nothing but a criminal
hanging on a cross. That's what it means to me. That's
how appealing it is to me. In the light of this glorious
Christ, this world is dead to me. This world is criminal. And he said, this world is not
only dead to me, and I count this world a criminal, but when
this world looks upon me, they count me to be the most miserable
man surely that ever lived. They pity me, or even worse,
They have disdain for me. They despise me. And see, I'd
never be that man in all the world. He must be miserable.
I, to them, am no more than a criminal that deserves to be hanged on
a cross. And brothers and sisters, that's the way it's supposed
to be. That's the way it's supposed to be. When the world looks at
Christ and His cross and the believers, they don't jump for
joy and say, oh, what fun. That's not the way it's supposed
to be. They're supposed to look at the Christian and say, boy,
they've got to be miserable. They've got to be miserable.
And that way it takes God to change their hearts. It takes
God to regenerate them and give them a new life that what they
used to count the most miserable life in this world, now they
glory in. The Christ they used to hate, now they praise Him.
Now they praise Him. What the church has been doing
for a long, long time now He's got down in the gutter with the
world to try to win the world and make the world feel good. But what's happened by doing
that? The world said, you guys are just like us. You ain't got
nothing to offer us. But oh, here comes the message
of the cross and the Christian glories and that and says the
world's nothing. Keep your cares, keep your pleasures,
keep what you trust in, keep your hopes. I don't want them.
I don't want them. I've got Christ, and He's all
I want. He's all I need. Oh, what's the riches of this
world compared to the riches of Christ's grace? What is the temporal love of
this world compared to the everlasting love of Christ? What's the friendship
of this world, faithless world, compared to the friendship of
a faithful God? What's the support of a creature? What's the help of a creature,
brothers and sisters, compared to the help of the Creator, those
everlasting arms? Oh, in the light of the glory
and the beauty and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, And that salvation that's in him, this world in its greatest
splendor, is nothing but darkness and death. And the world in turn
looks upon the believer and it pities him and has contempt for
him. Miserable person. Miserable person. He's got to be miserable. He's
got to be miserable. Oh, in verse 15, Paul said, For
in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus. Neither
circumcision of Beleth, anything, nor uncircumcision. And here's
the issue in Christ. In Christ. In Christ Jesus. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. As ye have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, walk ye in Him. In the fullness of time, God
will gather together in one all things in Christ. In Christ is where we begin.
In Christ is the way we continue. And in Christ will be the consummation
of all things. In Christ. In Christ neither
circumcision nor bailiff anything. It doesn't matter if you're a
Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't matter if you're a
male or a female, old or young, rich or poor. In Christ Jesus,
first and foremost. And all that matters is being
in Him. Because if we're in Him, what
are we? New creatures. New creatures. You know Christ
didn't come into this world to give us laws to live by, to be
saved. He didn't come to give us ceremonies.
to live by and be saved. He come to save us. He come to
make us new. He come to forgive our sins.
He didn't come to remodel us. He didn't come to make us righteous
in ourselves. He come to make us new. He came
to save us by new and living way. And this is where the Galatians
begin. They begin here. They really
believed Christ. They were accepted in Him. They
begin in the Spirit. Oh, but now they turn from Christ
and His grace. And Paul said, Christ come to
save us and to make us new creatures. And verse 16, all who walk according
to this rule, peace be upon them and upon the God of Israel. All
who plead to Christ to be saved by Him, to be made new creatures
in Him, to be made righteous and accepted and complete in
Him. Grace be upon them and peace. And what Paul is saying here,
don't turn from Christ to Moses. Don't turn from Christ to anything.
Don't turn from His grace to works or anything else. Grow
in grace and knowledge of the Lord. Learn of Him and you'll
find rest for your soul. Look to Him. and your eye will
be satisfied, come to Him and your soul will find rest, and
your experience will be that peace that passeth all knowledge. And then when the Lord Jesus
looks to you, and He looks upon you, and He speaks to you, He
may say to you what He said to Nathanael, that Israel lied indeed,
and whom is no God. And then he sums it up in verse
17, and here's what he says. He says the argument's over. No more debating. I've wrote
you this epistle. And that ends the debate. If
you don't receive the Word of God that I've written unto you,
then don't bother me anymore. Don't bother me anymore. I'm
not writing any more epistles to you. I'm not talking to you
anymore about how men are saved and justified. It's clear. I've pinned it down under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The debate's over with. There
comes a time, and that's what we say in it. We've told you
the truth. We've preached the truth to you.
The debate's over with. You either receive it or go on
in your rebellion against God. Bow to Christ. Bow your heart
to Him. And on Him is the only Lord and
Savior. We're not going to talk about
this anymore. That's what Paul said. From henceforth
let no man trouble me. He said, you look at me. You've
seen me. You've seen what my face looks like. You've seen
the scars on my face from where they stoned me. You've seen my
back. You've seen the hundreds of stripes
that the Jews put on my back. Not counting what the Gentiles
did, I bear in my body the marks from believing in Christ and
preaching Him. I've suffered for His sake. And
I ain't about to let go of Him or His grace. And if you don't
want to come and believe in Him as I believe in Him, don't bother
me anymore. Don't bother me anymore. That's
what He said. And He ends with this, Brethren,
O Brethren, the grace, the unmerited favor of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be with your spirit. Be with
your spirit. Oh, may Christ be formed in your
hearts. That's what I pray for. Quit
making a show. Quit trying just to be seen and
impress man. What is man? His breath's in
his nostril. Seek to be accepted with God
in Christ. Live by faith before God in private. Let's pray.