Galatians 6. We begin reading
this morning in verse 11. Paul, speaking to the Galatian
brethren, says, You see how large a letter I have written unto
you with mine own hand. This error of mixing the old
covenant law with the grace of God concerned Paul so much that
he wrote this epistle with his own hand. Often, you know, somebody
else wrote and he dictated it to them. But he wrote this, he
says, with his own hand. 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. 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 anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. And as many as walk according
to this rule." The title of the message this morning is, Walk
According to This Rule. 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. Brethren,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Why is it that men would want
to mingle the law of the Old Covenant with the new covenant,
the everlasting covenant of grace. Why is that? Why do, and I say
false prophets because I believe that's in agreement with what
Paul called them here, false prophets. Philippians, he called
them dogs. Why is it that a man will preach
the will of man instead of the constraining love of Christ alone? Well, Paul bears it out here
very plainly. They fear men more than God. They want to impress men more
than glorify God. That's what Paul says here, "...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." This constraining the believers
to be circumcised Sounded like this, and I want you to want
you to hear this now Christ is all your salvation Christ is all But now let us preach Moses law
so you'll know how to obey God That's carnal constraining. That's
trying to constrain men by carnal understanding. And it's due to
a lack of the spiritual understanding that God gives, whereby a man
discerns how God makes sinners willing and obedient people unto
Him. Paul exposes it for what it is.
It's his desire to make a fair show in the flesh. It's a love
for doing in the name of Christ rather than believing on the
name of Christ. It's a fear of not filling pews
instead of a fear of God. These men who preach the law,
Paul says, don't keep the law themselves. But their hope is, is if they
can keep you bound together by the law, then they can glory
before God in what they've made you do. In our day, the message of circumcision
centers on man's work. They don't call it preaching
the law. They don't call it preaching circumcision. They give it names
like living the purpose-driven life. how to be the Christian God wants
you to be. You know what I'd like to have
happen? I'd like for us to strike the word God wants to from our
vocabulary. What He desires, He does. Men
speak of God as if He's the beggar. We're the beggars. We're the
beggars. This difference is a difference of thou shalt
and thou shalt not. Preaching that centers on what
you shall do and what you shall not do rather than on what Christ
has done. And therefore what he makes his
people willing to do. The message that will grow us
spiritually and make us obedient to the faith is the continual
exaltation of the person of Christ and of His finished work. Through
the message of Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, seated in heaven,
ministers to the hearts of His people and gives the increase
of God in the hearts of His people. And He does it through the preaching
of Him. Believe me? Turn over to Colossians
2. Colossians 2. There were some
in the church at Colossae that were doing the same thing in
the church at Galatia. There always are. Those mixed
in and they were wanting to move on to other things. Teaching
and preaching about things that Paul said, they don't have any
idea what they're talking about. They're beguiling you. And Paul
says in verse 19, here's the problem. They're not holding
the head They don't behold Christ who is the head of the church.
From which, from Christ, all the body, by joints and bands,
having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth
with the increase of God. Who gives the increase? Who ministers
to the saints? Who gives the nourishment needed? It's Christ that does it. And
that's the reason why men don't preach Christ alone. If we're to strive to mortify
the sinful deeds of the flesh, and we are, and believers do,
our refreshing to carry on, striving to mortify the deeds of this
flesh, in spite of the fact that we constantly fail to do so, the thing that's going to encourage
us is not going to be the preaching of do this or don't do that.
The thing that's going to encourage us is the preaching of what Christ
has done on our behalf. You're familiar with the verse
of Scripture, Romans 6.14. I welcome you to turn there with
me. Paul's declaring to the Romans that their husband, their old
husband, the law, is dead. He used the illustration of a
woman married to a man. She's bound by the law to that
husband, but if he's dead, she's free to marry another. The law
died. It died. We died to it so that
we're free to be married to a new husband, Christ. And he's encouraging
the Roman brethren not to live under sin any longer. Don't live
in sin any longer. But knowing his own inability,
to crucify His own flesh. In knowing ours, the Holy Spirit
gives Paul a word of encouragement in Romans 6.14. And he says,
For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under
the law, but under grace. Now how do you read that? Do
you read that? I'm not going to let sin have
dominion over me. That's what Paul was talking
about before. Don't let sin have dominion over
you. But here he tells you sin shall not have dominion over
you. Now let me give you some of the
old writers on this. Here's what Calvin said on this.
Hence, not to be under the law means not only that we are not
under the letter which prescribes what involves us in guilt as
we are not able to perform it, but also that we're no longer
subject to the law as requiring perfect righteousness and pronouncing
death on all who deviate from it in any part. In like manner,
by the word of grace, we're under grace, not under the law. We're
to understand both parts of redemption, the remission of sins by which
God imputes righteousness to us and the sanctification of
the spirit by whom he forms us anew unto good works. Now these
are shouts. These are thou shalt. Not this
do and live. This is something God's doing.
And Gill said, this is not a precept, it's not an exhortation, it's
not an admonition, as he said before, as Paul was speaking
before. Nor does it express merely what ought not to be, but it
expresses what cannot and shall not be. It is an absolute promise
that sin shall not have dominion over believers, for in regeneration,
sin is dethroned. Christ enters as Lord and continues
to be so. Saints are in another kingdom,
the kingdom of Christ and grace. Could sin reign again over them,
they might be lost and perish, which they never can. Now this
is a noble argument why saints should use their members as weapons
of righteousness for God against sin, since they are sure of being
conquerors and are secure from the tyrannical government of
sin over them. Matthew Henry said, God promises
to us are more powerful and effectual for mortifying sin than our promises
to God. Sin may struggle in a real believer
and create him a great deal of trouble, but it shall not have
dominion. It may vex him, but it shall
not rule over him. What can be a stronger motive
against sin than the love of Christ? Shall we sin against
so much goodness and such love? You see, We are to mortify the
deeds of the flesh, but preaching, if I stand here and just preach
to you about mortifying the deeds of the flesh, and I don't tell
you who it is that's going to mortify those deeds in you, I've
done you no service whatsoever. That's why Paul warns the Galatians
not to look to the law, but to Christ. Look back at our text
in verse 14. Paul says, 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 anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. Opposite of the preachers of
the law who prostitute the gospel for personal glory and personal
gain, Paul didn't glory in his outward carnal privileges as
a Jew. nor in his moral, civil, and
legal righteousness, nor in his gifts and attainments, nor in
his labors and success, nor in the flesh of others, or in any
outward corporal subjection to any ordinance, legal or evangelical,
Paul gloried and rejoiced in Christ. and worshiped Christ. Paul was concerned for the faith
of the Galatians in Christ. Paul's hope was that their hope
might be in Christ. Their love might be in Christ.
They're patiently waiting for Christ. Their order and steadfastness
as saints be for the glory of Christ. And Paul's glory was
in the Lord Jesus Christ from whom all these mercies flow. Verse 15. He said, In Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. You see what matters, brethren,
and what carnal religion will never understand. A new creation. It's called a new creature because
it's a new creation. We're as passive in this new
creation as we were when God created the heavens and the earth.
This is a new creation created within. By Christ's blood and
righteousness, the Holy Spirit enters in and creates a new creation
within. And in that inner man, that new
man, there's where we worship God. That's who we serve God
with. We mortify the deeds of this
flesh. This flesh is what it is. It
will be what it is until it dies. But we mortify it through this
inner man, this spirit that's working in us, both to will and
do of His good pleasure. And in this inner man that's
created in righteousness and true holiness, believers hear
God's command. And here's what God's command
is. You want to do the commandments of God? Here's God's commandment.
This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Hear Him. And Paul says in verse
16, As many as walk according to this rule, Peace be on them
and mercy and upon the Israel of God." Over in Philippians,
he said this, we are the circumcision. We're the true Israel of God
who worship God in the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus the
Lord, and put no confidence in the flesh. None. Now I want to
look at, for just a little minute here with you, at this thing
of walking according to this rule. What is this rule of which
Paul speaks? What is it? It's Abel's rule,
same rule Abel walked by, who obtained witness that he was
righteous. It's the same rule Enoch walked by, who had this
testimony that he pleased God. It's the same rule Noah walked
by, who became the heir of righteousness, which is by faith. It's the same
rule of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were heirs of promise. It's
the same rule of Sarah, who judged God faithful, who promised her. And these all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them." How were they persuaded of them?
Christ spoke in their heart. God spoke it in their heart.
Believers weren't saved then any differently than they're
saved now. The same God that is the triune God of glory saved
them just as He saves people now. The same blood and righteousness
of Christ made them complete as makes sinners complete now.
They embraced the promises of God. They confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims on earth. And you know what not
one of these people had? Not one of these people had the
Ten Commandments. Isn't that amazing? Well, what was their rule of
life then? It was the law of God written
on the fleshly tables of the heart. The new creation made
by God wherein they worship God in spirit and in truth. They
heard God speak by faith. They followed God by faith. They
believed God by faith. And this is the same rule of
which Paul is speaking to the Galatians and of which we walk
by today. Same rule. Believers walk by
faith. Law religion walks by sight. Faith looks at things that are
not seen. Works religion looks at the flesh.
You want to build a big congregation? Preach the law. If you want to
build a big congregation full of dead, ignorant, spiritually
dead sinners, preach the law. If you want to build a congregation
that Jesus adds to daily, such as should be saved, that are
true, spiritual, born-again Christians, preach Christ and Him crucified. I was out in Iowa. And I was
going back to catch my flight back home. I preached in Rock
Valley, Iowa. Brother Fred, one of the elders
there, carried me back to the airport. And as we were waiting
at the airport, there was a gift shop there. And so we were sitting
there at this gift shop. Sioux Falls, I believe, and that's
where the falls were. So he took me by there to see
that. So we were looking at it, and the lady was there, and she
asked where I was from. I bought a shirt there to carry
home to the kids. She asked me where I was from,
and I told her, and she wanted to know why I came there. And I said,
well, I came up here to preach the gospel to a congregation
in Rock Valley, Iowa. And she said, well, how did your
service go this morning? What did you preach on? And I
told her what I preached on and the verse I preached from, and
she said, well, our service this morning was in the form of a
cantata. And I looked at Fred and I said, Fred, I'm sorry I
shortchanged y'all this morning. I didn't give you something to
entertain your flesh. I just preached Christ to you. Carnal
religion has to be constantly entertained or it won't stay. Christ people stay because they
love Christ. They want to hear Christ preached.
The believer's rule of life is faith whereby we heed the gracious
instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's our ruler. He's
our lawgiver. He's our king. He's our commander.
And we follow Him. Hebrews 6.18 says, By faith we
lay hold of Christ, the hope set before us. 1 Peter 1.21 says,
By Christ we believe God. Galatians 3.14 says, We receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Ephesians 3 9 says faith
is the eye by which we see the fellowship of the mystery. The
Savior says I'm in you and you're in me This is the substance of
the new creation That's why Paul said I delight in the law of
God after the inward man Don't you I delight in the law of God
God's lost good. I I wish I could obey God's law
with my members. I wish I could. But I see in
my members the law of sin and death. I see it warring against
the law of the Spirit. The flesh lusts against the Spirit,
the Spirit against the flesh, the contrary one to the other.
That's why The preaching of Christ and Him crucified and the preaching
of law, free will, works, religion won't ever come together. You
can't bring them together. You can't make light and darkness
come together. That old man that still dwells
with you and that new man that's in you, do they get along or
do they butt heads constantly? Well, let me ask you this. Why
were the apostles so adamant against mixing the law at Sinai
with the law of Zion? Why were they? I want you all
to get it to your bulletin, and I sent it out yesterday, but
be sure to read that back article on there. But Peter said this
in Acts 15.8. If you'll turn there, Acts 15.8. There were some folks there who
believed Christ. And the Pharisees who believed
said that they should teach them the law of Moses. In Acts 15.8,
Peter said this, And God which knoweth the hearts, bear them
witness, giving them the Holy Ghost. He bore them witness. He gave them the Holy Ghost as
the witness in them of who Christ is. And so they saw and heard
and knew and experienced who Christ is. Peter says, even as
He did unto us. And He put no difference between
us and them. And here's what He did. He purified
their hearts by faith. Look at verse 10. Now therefore... Now listen to this. Here's the
offense of preaching the law. If this is not offensive to you,
boy, I'd give it a second look now. Listen. Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of
the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able
to bear? It's tempting God to do this?
It's what Scriptures say. But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even this day.
Do you believe God's able to purify the heart of his people
by faith? Do you believe that the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient to save his people from their
sins? Do you believe that the Spirit of God is sufficient to
lead you into all truth? Then why put a yoke on man? Why
put a yoke on a believer? Why bring him back under that
yoke? It's to tempt God. It's to say,
I don't really believe that's enough. You know what I've heard
people say over and over? My grandfather was in the hospital.
And a man came up there to see him. And this man preached at
a church that supposedly preached grace. And my grandfather asked
him, he said, do you preach sovereign grace to these people? And he
said, well, I don't preach it as narrow as you preach it. And
my grandfather said, why? And he said, because I'll run
off some sheep if I do that. And he said, you might run off
some goats, but you won't run off the sheep. And you might
find out that some sitting there that you didn't know were sheep
are sheep if you preach the truth. the glory in electing a people
unto salvation, the glory in redeeming a people from sin and
death, the glory of regenerating a people, and the glory of guiding
a people all their days belongs to God alone. Not to me, not
to you, not pointing them back to the law or trying to bind
them and hedge them in by the law. Why do men think if you
preach that, folks will just live licentiously? They'll just
go out and sin and rebel and just A man that says that has never
had the Spirit of God speak in his heart. A sinner saved by
grace mourns over his sin. He abhors his flesh. He hates the fact that he cannot
live more honorably before God Almighty. The man who says that
you have to have the law to keep people seated in the pews don't
know a thing in the world about the sovereign grace of God. That's
just plain and simple. I don't apologize for it. That's
the simple, cut-and-dry truth of the matter. Listen to this. Who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, that shine in our hearts to give the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus? God did. He said He's a Jew which is one
inwardly. Circumcision is of the heart
and the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but
of God. When He circumcises the heart,
you know what He does? He removes those thoughts that
you justified by the law or that you're somehow made more favorable
by the law, by your doing and your obedience. And you know
what he puts there in place? A true obedience, a real obedience,
an obedience that delights to serve God. That doesn't do it
out of a fear and a dread and just a legalistic bondage. It's
the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profits nothing. The words
that I speak unto you, they're Spirit and they're life. Then
how does the believer continue to receive His instruction? Okay,
he's saved now, he's regenerated, how does he continue? John 16, 13 says, when He, the
Spirit of truth has come, He'll guide you into all truth. Paul
said, he made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of
the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth what the
Spirit makes alive. Well, is the believer then without
law to the triune God? Are we without law? No, and no
wise. I've got to give you this, so
bear with me. Romans 8.2 says this, I want you to look at these
Scriptures with me. Romans 8, 2. The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus. There's the law we walk under.
There's our rule of life. Now, opposite to that is what
it has made us free from. The law of sin and death. The
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is spoken from Mount
Zion. The law of sin and death was
spoken from Mount Sinai. Over in Romans 3, 7, Paul calls
it the law of faith. The law of faith. Where is boasting
then? It is excluded. By what law?
Of works? No. But by the law of faith. Verse 31 says, Do we then make
void the law through faith? God forbid. It is by faith that
we establish the law. The whole righteousness of God
is fulfilled in His people. When He comes and creates life
in that person and makes them a new creation, and righteousness
is imputed to them. They're made new in Christ and
they're righteous and holy and complete in Him. And the law
is fulfilled. It's fulfilled. Got no more claim
on you. He did to it. Now the Lord is that Spirit.
Why is it called a law? Why is it called a law? Because
it's the cord of everlasting love, the bond of peace, the
anchor of the soul which binds us to Christ. The law at Sinai
never did that. Never could do it. But this law
does. Now the Lord is that Spirit and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. We all with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed
into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit
of the Lord. The Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus is called a law because through the Spirit Christ's love
constrains us. 2 Corinthians 5.14, For the love
of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge. Here's what our
discernment is, our spiritual discernment. If one died, if
Christ died for all His people, then we were all dead. And He
died for all that they which live should not henceforth live
unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them and rose again.
And then thirdly, this spirit of life in Christ is called a
law of life because by it God produces obedience in His people,
which the law of Sinai could never do because of the depravity
of our own hearts. In Jeremiah 32.40, He said, I'll
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their
hearts and they shall not depart from me. God said He did that. This is His law. This is the
perfect law of liberty we're talking about. This is the law
we are under. Isaiah 61a says, I the Lord love judgment. I hate
robbery for burnt offering. That's what men are doing that
are trying to, after they get a man saved, then they turn around
and bring him back under the yoke of the law. And God said,
I hate it. I hate robbery for burnt offering. And that's what
it is. It's making merchandise of men's souls. He says, I will
direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. Isaiah 26.12, Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us,
for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. In Micah 4.2,
many nations shall come. Where are they going to come
to? They are going to say, come, let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord. to the house of the God of Jacob. And He'll teach us of His ways. He'll do it. And we'll walk in
His paths. For the law shall go forth of
Zion." The Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Paul tells us in Hebrews,
you're not coming to the mount that might be touched and that
burned with fire, nor into blackness and darkness and tempest. but
you come unto Mount Zion. Where did He say His words were
going to come out from? His law and His truth and direct
the paths of His people? From Mount Zion. That's where
we've come to, the heavenly Jerusalem. We've come to the God, the Judge
of all, the Spirit's just men made perfect, Jesus, the mediator
of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better
things than that of Abel. Now hear these words. Hear these
words now. See that ye refuse not Him that
speaketh." From where? From Mount Zion. From the heavenly
Jerusalem. In here. For if they escaped,
not who refused Him that spake on earth. Mount Sinai when He
spoke. Much more shall not we escape
if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven. whose voice
then shook the earth, but now he's promised sin yet once more. I'll shake not the earth, but
I'll shake everything. The reason the apostles were
so zealous not to mix the preaching of Christ and the preaching of
the law is because those who command men to look with one
eye to Christ and one eye to the law at Sinai have for their
only rule of life the law of sin and death, the killing letter,
the ministration of death, this do and live. They've returned
from freedom back to Egypt's hard and bitter bondage and they
don't obey God and hearkening to the voice of his beloved son
who says, I've set you free. I've delivered you. That's tempting
God. You want to obey God? Don't look
to the Ten Commandments. You want to obey God? Hear what
His Son says. His Son said, Are you labored
and heavy laden? Has this law burdened you? Has
Pharaoh's taskmasters made your life bitter with hard bondage? He said, Come unto Me. My yoke's
easy. My yoke's light. That's this
yoke I'm preaching to you this morning. This rule, this law
where God teaches you. In Isaiah 30, I believe it is,
or 33 it might be, he said, if you turn to the left or to the
right, you'll hear a small, still voice in the back of you saying,
this is the way. Walk therein. Do you hear that voice? Is that
the voice you long to hear? Or do you hear that voice of
that old man saying, I will not have this man reign over me. It can't be but one or the other. Either we're free or we're in
bondage. Either Christ has redeemed us
or we're still under the law. It can't be both. One or the
other. I want to end with an illustration.
The Lord made a covenant with the early fathers in the day
that He brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen.
And in those days, if a man fell into debt or committed a crime,
the sentence was that he was made a servant. That would be
a good thing for us to do today. Next time somebody commits a
crime, take them to your house. I mean, they have to serve you.
Instead of just going and us paying to put them up to sit
in a jail house for Do nothing. Let them work and do something.
Well, this was the law that God passed. And it was a type of
sinners that were in bondage to sin. They fell into debt.
They committed a crime, a trespass, and they were in bondage. They
were servants to their masters. But God would have these masters
that ruled them remember that they were saved out of Egypt
by Him. And so he passed this law and
he told the rulers that would take these debtors, these ones
that had committed crimes. And he made this law and he said,
at the end of seven years, that year of perfection, that picture
of Christ our perfection, at the end of seven years, you let
go every man his brother a Hebrew. Let them go. which hath been
sold unto thee, and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt
let him go free from thee." That seventh year, he's free. He served
his time, and he's free to go. And that's a picture of God's... He said in this Hebrew, He's
my free man. He's my servant. He's mine. And
he's free to go. Now look with me at Jeremiah
34.15. In King Zedekiah's day, the Lord sent Jeremiah to reestablish
this covenant. And so Zedekiah and all the princes
and all the people entered into a covenant with the Lord to obey
Him. They said, we'll do this. That's what every preacher does
when he's given the charge to preach liberty in Christ. I entered
into a covenant with my God to preach liberty to you. And these rulers set the captives
free. They obeyed God for a while.
But then look in Jeremiah 34, 15. And ye were now turned and
had done right in my sight in proclaiming liberty every man
to his neighbor. And you had made a covenant before
me in the house which is called by my name. But ye turned and
polluted my name. and caused every man his servant
and every man his handmaid whom you had set at liberty at their
pleasure to return and brought them into subjection to be unto
you for servants and for handmaids." That's exactly what Peter preached
against, what Paul preached against, and what churches all over this
world are doing today. They're declaring liberty to
men, and once they set them free, then they make them their servants
and their handmaids, and they bring them back into bondage
with the law. God said, You pollute My name. You pollute My name. And therefore thus saith the
Lord, You have not hearkened unto Me in proclaiming liberty,
every one to his brother, every man to his neighbor. Behold,
I proclaim liberty for you, saith the Lord. Here's the liberty
that the Lord said I proclaim to you. They're going to bring
my people under bondage. To the sword, to the pestilence,
and to the famine, I will make you to be removed into all the
kingdoms of the earth. I'll give the men that have transgressed
my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which
they made before me. The princes of Judah, the princes
of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, all the people of the
land. I'll give them unto the hand of their enemies, and to
the hand of them that seek their life, and their dead bodies shall
be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of
the earth. Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his princes will I
give unto the hand of their enemies, and unto the hand of them that
seek their life, and unto the hand of the king of Babylon's
army." What does Revelation tell us about Babylon? That's false
religion. You want to preach bondage? I'll turn you over to the king
of bondage then." That's what God said. You're his servant
now. The servant of Satan. And when
I come and destroy you and all the hosts, I'll destroy every
one of you. Your dead bodies will be carcasses
for the fowls of heaven. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. If you try to look to one law,
you are a debtor to fulfill the whole law, and Christ has become
of no effect to you whatsoever. No, none whatsoever. Paul says,
As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and
mercy upon the Israel of God. And he said, From henceforth
let no man trouble me. I say amen to that. Don't even
trouble me with that foolishness. Paul says, I bear in my body
the marks of the Lord Jesus. You know, it's not hard to preach a message
that's non-offensive, that everybody wants to hear. That's not hard
to do. The difficulty and the burden
comes and preaching a message where you see people look at
you with hatred and venom in their eyes. Christ Jesus said, come to him.
And he said, he'll set you free. And if Christ makes you free,
you're free indeed. And don't let anybody else bring
you back onto that yoke. You're free. Does that message
make you want to serve Him? It does me. That message makes
me want to labor to bring more good news from Him. To preach
liberty to the captives. What's going to bind up the broken
hearted? What's going to heal them? What's going to dry up
your tears that mourn? If you don't mourn over your
sin, if you don't hear what the law says, you won't need Christ
to heal you then. I pray, I earnestly, sincerely
pray, and I pray continually. I pray day and night for you
that God will keep us, strengthen us, grow us in this perfect law
of liberty. That he'll continue to minister
to our hearts as he has and as he's promised he shall. And I
believe he will. I believe He will. And I'm so
thankful for it. I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful
for you that have stood for Him and said, we're coming out of
Egypt. We're not going to be in that
bondage anymore. I'm thankful. I'm thankful most of all to the
Lord who brought you out. All right. Brother Hyman.