Galatians chapter 5, and let's
begin reading in verse 2. I appreciate the scripture that's
already been read to us. If we did nothing else but come
here and read the scriptures and have prayer and sing to the
Lord, it would be worthwhile for us coming here. Am I hearing, is that in my head?
Is anybody else hearing bells? Okay. Oh, that's a relief. But you read, you read a passage
like Brother Turch read just this evening and you see so many
scriptures in there that then you go to the New Testament and
you see it's quoted there. In Galatians chapter 5, In verse
2, Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, ye are fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit,
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. If ye be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing. Now Paul wasn't saying that circumcision
was an unpardonable sin. All the saints in the Old Testament
from Abraham's day on were circumcised. Many of God's children in the
New Testament were circumcised. The Apostle Paul even took Timothy
and circumcised him. But when he uses this word here,
as he often does in his writings, especially in Romans and here
in Galatians, this word and this concept of circumcision represents
to us works religion, what men do to justify themselves before
God. He mentions the same thing there
in verse 4, and he says, Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from
grace." That's the same way as saying if you be circumcised.
It's worth religion. It's trying to keep the law to
be justified before God. Another way that we could say
that, and it's found in scriptures, in Acts chapter 15, and let me
read you a couple of places there. This is what he's saying. In
Acts chapter 15, verses 1 and 5, certain men, which came down
from Judea, taught their brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. That's worth
religion. You cannot be justified if you're
not circumcised. Now, many have said that today
about, what about this? Faith alone in Christ will not
justify you. You must be baptized. And in
the fifth verse of that Acts 15, he said this, and this is
somewhat more deceitful. And this shows us, I think, how
deceitful self-righteousness is. The first group of people
there in verse 1 said, except you be circumcised and keep the
law of Moses. It has nothing to do with Christ.
You must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. But in verse
5, there arose a certain of the set of the Pharisees which believed. Now here is a peculiar bunch
of people. They were believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ. They believed that he was the
Son of God. They believed he came, was virgin-born, lived
and died, rose, and went back to heaven. They believed. They
believed. And here's what they said. They
said that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep
the law of Moses. And if you ask those fellows,
what must I do to be saved, here's what they'll tell you. You must
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you must be circumcised and
keep the law of Moses. Now, self-righteousness is a
deceitful thing, isn't it? It's a deceitful thing. And there's
other scriptures that teach us the same thing the Apostle Paul
is teaching us in Galatians 4 about circumcision. and the works of
the law. And here's the way the Master
said it in a very familiar passage of Scripture in Luke 18 with
the Pharisee. He spake this parable to certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous. And here's
what a man who trusts in himself does. He trusts in what he's
doing. And listen to what the Lord said about this Pharisee.
He said, he went up to the temple And he stood and he prayed. And don't you just about imagine
the first thing he trusted in was his prayer. I have my dad. So all the years
that I spoke with my dad and talked with him about the things
of the Lord, I learned so much, not only from myself about self-righteousness,
And you know how that is. But I learned so much about self-righteousness
from listening to my dad. One of the things that my dad
used to say, if you're going to be saved, you're going to
have to do some powerful praying. You're going to have to pray
hard. You're going to have to pray hard. And don't you imagine
the Pharisee when he stood and prayed long on the street corners
and long in the widow's houses? He thought he was going to be
heard because he prayed so hard. I don't have a thing against
praying. Brethren, we ought to spend some time in prayer. But
if we trust in it, it's just as dangerous as trusting in circumcision. He went up to the temple to pray,
and I imagine he trusted in his prayer. And here's another thing
he trusted in. The Lord spoke this parable to
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous. He
said, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I've
never committed extortion. I don't never do things that's
unjust. I'm not like this publican. I'm
not a crook. I don't cheat people. And I do
a lot of good things. I fast twice in a week. I pay
tithes of all that I possess. I do all these good things, and
I omit the bad things. And he said within himself, I
can almost hear him saying this, that's what a good man I am.
And I don't understand why everybody is not just like me. They could
be if they would be. It's in their ability to do it.
Why don't everybody mend their life and get their act together
and be just like me? I was talking to a lady the other
day, and this shows you how self-righteousness, how deceitful it is. You know,
circumcision was a very small thing, wasn't it? Just a one-time
act. And somebody else, man, did it
for you when you was eight days old. There's not much to trust
in, but if you trust in that, Christ shall profit you nothing.
It don't take much, does it? Self-righteousness is a very
deceitful thing. Here's what one lady I was talking
with the other day. She said, I believe in Jesus.
I gave my heart to Jesus. And I'm a good person. And I
can't understand why everybody don't believe Him and why everybody
don't give their hearts to Jesus. You don't understand? You don't
understand that? You don't understand why people
don't come to Christ and to God by Christ? You didn't. And according to you, you had
no difficulty in doing it. And you can't understand why
everybody don't do it. You don't know that. How did
you come? Why did you come? I'm telling you, that's self-righteousness.
And it appears in a way to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, but all
it does is brag on yourself. And it's self-righteousness.
It doesn't appear much, but it doesn't take much. That's how
deceitful self-righteousness is. Circumcision is works religion. That's what Paul is talking about
here. Self-righteousness. It comes in all kinds of colors
and many forms, but it turns Moses into a Savior, and it turns
Christ into a judge and an executioner. That's what it does. Circumcision
is works religion out of a self-righteous and self-sufficient attitude. I can do anything, and I don't
understand why everybody else don't live and do just like I
do. If you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. And by this, the Apostle Paul
is telling us, if there's anything, any one single act that we've
done, or something that's been done to us or for us by some
mere man, and we trust in it to be justified before God, then
Christ shall profit us nothing. Now, boy, what a statement he
makes here when he says this. And what he's saying is this,
if there's one hair's breadth of a man's salvation, resting
in his own works, he cannot be saved. That is what he is saying. You cannot be saved if one hair's
breadth of your salvation is by your own marriage. Behold,
he said. Behold. This word here means
to observe. It means to shock and surprise. Paul said, I'm going to say something
here. I'm going to make a statement to you, and it's going to shock
this religious world. It's going to surprise people
who profess religion. Here's what it is. If you be
circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If one hurts bread,
that ain't very much. The thickness of a hair's breadth
is determined in your heart whether or not you're justified before
God. The Lord Jesus Christ shall profit you nothing. I, Paul, say that indeed. You
must be saved by the merits of the Lord Jesus, by the obedience
of the Lord Jesus, by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, by the grace
of the Lord Jesus. You must be saved by Christ Alone,
or you'll be lost forever. That's what he's saying now.
As I read this, I thought of Matthew 7, verse 14. Stray is
the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life. And here
it is. Here it is. One hour's breath
added to Christ, and He shall profit you nothing. Behold, I,
Paul, say unto you. Well, who's Paul? Who does he
think he is? He don't have a right to judge
me. He don't have a right to tell me what I should believe,
and what I must believe, and what I have to believe to be
saved. He got no right to judge me. Who does he think he is anyway?
I'll tell you who he is. He's God's apostle. He's the
ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hell knows this man. And they trembled every time
he got up to preach. And every time he wrote an epistle,
it scared them to death. Paul, I know. And Christ, I know. Who is he? I'll tell you one
thing. I'll tell you who he is. I'll
tell you who he is. Whether a man is justified or
whether a man is condemned will be determined if he believes
this Christ that the Apostle Paul preached. Now, that's who
he is. And our Paul said to you that if you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. This doctrine here of the Apostle
Paul is the doctrine of Christ. It's the doctrine of God. It's
the doctrine of Christianity. If you don't believe this, you're
not a Christian. And those who oppose it and do
not believe it, are the enemies of the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. No matter what else they possess,
profess it. And no matter how loud they profess
it, if a man does not believe this gospel, this doctrine, this
truth that the Apostle Paul preached, he's not a Christian. He's not
a Christian. Can a man be a Christian and
not believe the Bible? I, Paul, said to you that if
you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. That is, you will not derive
one single saving benefit from the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one single thing. Nothing. Nothing from Him. He may give
you breath, and if you have breath, He will do it. He may give you
your living. He may give you many natural
and temporal gifts in this life. And if you have them, it's because
He's given to you. But there's one thing He will not give you.
Not one single saving benefit will He bestow upon you. If you're
dependent upon circumcision, if you're dependent upon anything
you are or anything you do to justify you before God, Christ
will not give to you one single saving thing. That's dreadful
to think about. Christ that has saved multitudes
will not save you. The one who has pleaded the cause
of a multitude of sinners and brought them off from condemnation
will not speak a word on your behalf in heaven. Christ, who
loved others and washed them in His own blood, will not give
you one drop to wash your sins away. Nothing. He'll profit you
nothing. He that has showed mercy to thousands
and tens of thousands will show you nothing but a stern face.
Now, that's so. That's so. Nothing. Nothing. Add one hair's breadth to Christ
and He will profit you nothing. Those who seek to save themselves
by their own words will receive from the Lord Jesus Christ no
saving benefit. Nothing. Nothing. When He says
to the righteous, come, come into My glories, come into My
joys, come and inherit the kingdom prepared for you, He'll say to
everybody else, depart from Me. I never knew you. I never knew
you. Straight is the gate, and narrow
is the way that leadeth unto life." I am the way. I am the
life. Nobody can come to the Father
except by me. It's by me. There's no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And when Paul says the name,
I take it that he means the power of Christ and the grace of Christ. and the blood of Christ, and
the Word of Christ. There's no other way, no other
name, no other person, no other work that can save us but Christ
and Christ alone. Now that's pretty dogmatic, isn't
it? That is pretty straight. That is pretty straight. Well, if Christ will profit us
nothing then, If we've been circumcised and that's what we're trusting
in, and Christ is not going to profit us anything, what hope
then do we have of being saved? Well, Paul gives the only hope
here you have. If you're not going to profit anything from
Christ, he gives you your only other alternative. Look in verse
3, where I testify again to every man that is circumcised that
he is a debtor to do the whole law. if any man be circumcised. He's
a debtor to do the whole lot. There's things that separatist
people can do. They have the ability to do.
We don't doubt that. They were circumcised. You and
I have the ability, if we want to get technical enough, we can
keep track of our finances, every penny we make. And we can keep
it down if we want to give 10%, we want to give 20%, we want
to give 30%. We can mark that down and keep
track of it. We have the ability to do that,
don't we? If I want to fast twice a week,
I've got the ability to do that. I can do that. I can give all my goods to feed
the poor. If I want to do that, I've got
the ability. I can do that. I'm just going
to sell my house, sell my vehicles. I have to divorce my wife. She'd divorce me if I did all
that. But I could do that. You could sell your little farm,
Glenn, and give it every bit to Salvation Army. There's nothing
to stop you. You have the ability to do that.
But here's the problem, you see. When we do these things, and
we put our trust in these little things that we have the ability
to do, And we trust in those things to justify us with God,
then that obligates us to do what we don't have the ability
to do. And what is that? The whole law. The whole law. See, men are the
opinion, and this world imagines that we set the criteria for
what we have to do to justify. It's our own personal convictions. We just keep them. We live by
our conscience, they tell us. But if a man's going to justify
himself, you don't set the criteria for what you have to do. That's
God's prerogative. And God says, I give my son and
He took upon Him human flesh and He lived and He suffered
and died and I'll justify you by your faith in Him alone. And if you're going to be rebellious
and you're not going to bow to Him and you're not going to submit
to His righteousness, then you've got but one alternative. And
I've set the alternative, and here's what it is. You're demanded,
you're commanded to keep every jot and every tittle of my law. Now that's what he says. That's
what he says. It's not doing a little bit,
it's doing everything. And when we have one evil thought,
when we find one bad motive, when we've spoken one hateful
word, when we've done one deed that God forbids, And when we've
done something that He forbids, then we're guilty and we're condemned
and cursed. And if repentance does not prevent,
we'll burn in hell. Now, that's straight, ain't it?
But that's the conclusion. The Apostle Paul has argued this
point all the way through the other four chapters of this book.
And he says, you fellows have been led away from the gospel
of the grace of Christ. And he spent those four chapters
distinguishing between law and grace, Moses and Christ, and
now he reaches this conclusion, and he said, you won't mix these
things. You will not mix these things. You're either saved by
the Lord Jesus Christ alone, and you're justified by trusting
in Him and in Him alone. Or you condemn them to the curse
of God's law. And that's the conclusion he
reached. These things will not mix. They will not mix. No effect in verse 4. Look at
this. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. And boy, he says something here.
Whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from
grace." And this word of no effect, some read this this way, and
in some versions they tell me, the commentators, that it reads
literally like this, Christ is abolished unto you. Christ is
vanished away. Christ has become no effect.
Whosoever of you are leaning dependent upon your works, you
have abolished Christ. What happens when we abolish
somebody? They abolished Napoleon from
France. That means they abolished him
out of the coast. They put him completely out of the country.
Abolished him off into another country. Can you imagine if there
was no Christ at all? Imagine the Son of God had never
come to this world. That's what it means. There is
no Christ. He's been abolished. Well, we
have no Bibles, do we? Because in the volume of the
book, it's about Him. If we have no Christ, we have
no Bibles. And notice this, every man, every woman, every baby,
when they die, they automatically go to hell. and suffer in hell. Why? There's no Christ. It don't
matter who they were. It don't matter what they did
or did not do. Not a single person ever died
and went to heaven. Everybody without exception went
to hell. Why? Because there's no Christ.
Christ has been abolished. How could such a dreadful thing
be? Well, you take Christ away and there's no heaven because
there's no salvation. If there's no salvation, there's
no heaven. A great majority of professing Christians still believe
that the only way anybody gets to heaven is through Christ.
One way or another, it's through Christ. It's either through Christ
completely, or it's through Christ plus something else. But they
believe if there's no Christ, you can't go to heaven. Well,
that's what Paul is saying here. You that are justified by the
law, there's no Christ. You've abolished Him. Well, the
Holy Spirit says you're through Paul. If you are seeking to justify
yourself, partly by Christ, and partly by your words, then there
is no Christ for you. Don't profess His name because
there is no such person. Don't talk about His blood. There
is no blood because there's no Christ. Don't talk about His
grace. Don't mention His love. Don't
say that He's seated in heaven, that He's a mediator. There is
no Christ. And that's what he's teaching
us. He's saying if you can be justified partly by Christ and
partly by your works, then you've abolished Christ and his grace
from this world. And you're fallen. You're fallen. There is this teaching throughout
Scripture. We find it from Genesis through
the book of Revelation. that Jesus Christ came into this
world and suffered and died for sin, sin was punished in Him,
and He did that to save sinners by His grace. And now if a man
comes along and says, no, it's partly by works, then Christ
is gone. Grace is gone. Salvation is gone. And you have fallen, he said.
You've fallen from grace. You've fallen from what the Word
of God teaches. We were told to earnestly contend
for the faith, the doctrine of faith, which was once delivered
unto the saints. But we've lost that. We've lost
it. And brothers and sisters, as we look around us today, in
this religious world, where's the body of truth? Where's the body of truth? Where's
the doctrine of faith that the church was to contend for and
find it and keep it and embrace it in their hearts and don't
let it go? What's happened to that? Larry, why are you driving 35
or 45 or 50 minutes to come here? There's all kinds of churches
you've passed when you've been there. And if you left here this evening,
where do you mean you're going? We've lost, and our churches
lost, the faith that we were to get, that body of truth. Our
churches have fallen from grace. It's gone. And as far as they're
concerned, there's no Christ. There is no Christ. They talk
about Him, but He's gone. They've abolished Him. Because
they're adding all this stuff to Him. We're living in a day when just
about everybody that lives and dies goes to heaven. I remember when Elvis died. Remember
what they said? Jesus has took Elvis home. Just
about everybody's going to heaven. There's a few bad folks that
ain't going. We've got our Hitlers and Saddam
Husseins and Charles Mansons and a bunch of real, real bad
guys, and they're not going, but everybody else is just about
it. If you don't believe it, go to a few funerals. But what
does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? That's
where we get our truth from, ain't it? What does the Bible say? I, Paul,
say unto you, I, the apostle of God, I that am filled with
the Spirit and speaking under inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
I say unto you, let me tell you who's going to heaven. Those people who don't believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, are they going? I don't care where
you find them at. You may find them in Newcastle.
You may find them in the dark jungles of Africa. Are they in
New Guinea? Wherever you find a man that
does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, when he dies, he
goes to hell, not heaven. You say, Bruce, how can you say
that? That sounds so mean. That's what the Bible says. Except
you believe that I am here, you shall die, and you'll die in
your sins. He that believeth in the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son of
God shall not see life in this life and in the world to come.
But the wrath of God will be upon him for all eternity." That's
what the Bible says. But what about those who seek
partly by Christ and partly by their own works? What about them? Those are good people, Bruce.
You offer presumptions to condemn people, these good people. They
believe in Jesus Christ. And they do all these good things
that they tell us about. What about them? What does the
Bible say? By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. That not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. If
it's of grace, then it's not of works. Otherwise, grace is
no more grace. If it's of works, it's no more
grace. Otherwise, works is no more works. If a man is trusting
in his circumcision, Christ shall profit him nothing. And what's
going to happen to that man when he dies? He'll perish. Christ shall profit
him nothing. He appears. Hasn't our churches, brothers
and sisters, fallen from this truth? That's why just about
everybody is saved. That's why we've left the straight
gate in the narrow way. Right here it is. Right here
is where it begins with the Lord Jesus Christ coming to him as
a broken, helpless sinner with no ability to do anything. But
by the grace of God, cast your lost, undone soul upon him to
be saved. Who will be saved? You are saved
right now. Who will be saved at last? Only
those who with all their hearts, with all their hearts. You can't
even be saved with a half a heart. You can even be saved with seven-eighths
of a heart. Ninety-nine one-hundredths of
a heart. Who with all their heart trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
and in Him alone. That's all ones can be saved.
That's all ones who are justified. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. All your heart. What hinders
me from being baptized? If you believe with seven-eighths
of your heart, you can. No, sir, you won't be saved that
way. But when a man comes and he's
convinced and he casts his helpless soul upon Christ and says, it's
all a hemorrhage hell for me, that man will be saved. That
man that beat upon his chest said, God be merciful to me a
sinner. He is dependent upon one to save him. And he was saved. If you ain't got anybody else
but Christ, and your soul cleaves to Him, you'll be saved. You'll be saved. You're justified
now. And you'll be saved in the end.
Here's the saved. Look in verse 5. Here's the saved people. For
we, others have things they've done, things they trust in, things
they add to Christ, but we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith. What's Paul saying here? Is he
saying we're waiting to see if we're going to be justified?
We hope that we'll be made righteous? He's not saying that, because
he knows that we already have righteousness. God hath made
Christ to be sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And if we're in Him, God hath
made Christ to be righteousness. When? Right now. With a heart
we believe unto righteousness. We're not waiting to be made
righteous. God has already given us a righteousness. He hath clothed
us with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with a robe
of righteousness. Buy of me, he told the Laodicean
people, buy of me what? White raiment, that you may be
clothed. What is that white raiment? Well,
that's himself. That's himself. And how do you
buy it without money, without price? You believe in him for
it. Faith brings this righteousness
to us. Abraham believed God. It was
counted to him. Abraham had righteousness while
he walked and lived in this world. Paul is not saying here that
we're waiting to be made righteous. We hope that we're going to be
righteous. We hope that we'll be justified someday. But what
does he mean? We wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. What's he mean when he says that?
We wait. We patiently wait. I wait upon
the Lord. We're saved by hope. That's what
he said in another place. And here's what he means. As
touching this present life, in and of ourselves, we're sinners. Everything we see around us is
mixed with sin. We love the Lord Jesus. We love
His gospel. We love His people. We love His
ways, but yet over and above that we groan under a sense of
this awful burden of sin that is within us. Don't we do it?
We groan, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? And the creation and the creatures
groan together, waiting Waiting for what? The adoption. The redemption of our bodies. That's what we're waiting on. For it's then, and only then,
that we'll be delivered from this bondage of corruption unto
the glorious liberty of the children of God. And then, only then,
all these things in us that's wrong. And all around us that's
wrong will be righted. We're looking for a new heaven
and a new earth, and what's going to dwell in it? Righteousness. We're looking for a new body
from our Lord, our righteous Lord, and it's going to be just
like His. Righteous. But we don't have
that yet, do we? We don't have that yet. Now,
Bruce, I thought you were righteous. We are. We are. But, oh, there's a part of us
that's not. And this world's not. So what
are we doing? We're waiting for something.
We're waiting for perfection. A perfection that you can't earn
yourself. And you can't work for it to
get it. And you can keep the law from here on out. And it
ain't gonna gain for you what we're talking about right here.
We wait. We wait for the hope of righteousness. This is our hope. We can't obtain
it by the works of the law. But we, through the grace and
the power of the Holy Spirit, we believe. And we live. And we wait. Trust in nobody but Christ. And
we're sure and we have a steadfast hope that that which we wait
for will most assuredly happen. It's
a good hope. It's a sure hope. That's why
it has such an effect upon our lives. That's why it purifies
our hearts. Because we have this hope. Oh,
I'm a sinner now. I'm justified. Christ is there
in heaven on my behalf, and I'm in Him. The world that is touching
this life, I'm a sinner. This is a sorry world, ain't
it? It's a sorry world, and we're a sorry bunch of people. But
we've got a good hope. Things are going to soon change.
Things are going to soon change. And we're looking and believing
and hoping in our Lord Jesus that He's the one that's going
to do it. He's begun a good work, and He'll complete it at His
return. Let's pray.