As you all know, we constantly have a barrage of
things people discuss and debate and fight about and want you
to be engaged in with us and debate and fight with them. And
I, in preparing this message, I believe God's given me something
that'll help us all. I want to go back to my favorite
theme, my favorite subject. It's expressed well by John Newton
in one of his very best hymns. Newton wrote, in evil long I
took delight, unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck
my sight and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on
a tree in agonies and blood who fixed his linquid eyes on me
as near his cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath
can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience felt and owned
the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins, his blood had
spilt, and helped to nail him there. Alas, I knew not what
I did, but now my tears are vain. Where shall my trembling soul
be hid? For I, the Lord, have slain. A second look he gave,
which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom
paid. I die that thou mayest live. Thus while his death my sin displays,
in all its blackest hue, such is the mystery of his grace,
it seals my pardon too. With pleasing grief and mournful
joy, my spirit now is filled, that I should such a life destroy,
yet live by him I kill. My subject is the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. You'll find my text in the Gospel
of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14. I want you to just hold your
Bibles open in this book of Galatians and I'm going to be working my
way to chapter 6 and verse 14. Paul says in our text, God forbid. That's a strong statement as
the inspired writers ever make prohibiting something. God forbid. God forbid. It's a statement
that I would not speak in public and hope not to think in private
did I not find it written in scripture. Paul says God forbid. This is the strongest prohibition
of any kind to be found in Holy Scripture. 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. In the six chapters of this great
epistle, the Apostle Paul was inspired by God the Holy Ghost
to tell us plainly and explain to us clearly that salvation
is entirely the work of God's free grace with no contribution
by man, with no works of our own, altogether accomplished
by the doing and dying of Jesus Christ our Lord through his sin-atoning,
effectual death upon the cross. We are saved all together by
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is holy outside ourselves
and holy in Jesus Christ the Lord. Let's begin in chapter
1. The gospel is defined many times in scripture. Romans 1,
1 Corinthians 15, Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, 2 Timothy 1. But
it is always defined as Paul defines it here in Galatians
1. It is defined as good news, not good advice, good news. The good news of grace through
the accomplished redemption of Christ, giving all praise, all
honor, and all glory to the triune God. In Galatians 1, Paul tells
us that there is one true gospel. just one. And that any other
gospel, that is to say, any gospel that denies this gospel, any
gospel contrary to this gospel, is a false gospel and no gospel
at all. Look at verse 3. The gospel is
the good news of grace and peace from God. Grace be to you. and peace from God the Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ, from our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is the pronouncement,
the declaration of redemption accomplished for sinners by the
sacrifice of God's darling son, the Lord Jesus, according to
the will of God. Look at verse four. who gave
himself for us, for our sins, gave himself because of our sins,
gave himself under the load of our sins, gave himself a ransom
for our sins, for this purpose, that he might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. And look at verse five. To whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. Every other gospel is a
false gospel, a sham pretense, a damning heresy. Every religious
message that men preach, mixing grace and works, mixing the will
of God and man's will, mixing the work of Christ and man's
works, preaching what God does and what man does is a false
gospel. It is a delusion, a delusion
by which sinners go to hell. Some of you have met Brother
Jim Bowman, who rode over with me, just moved into our area
from California. Bless his heart, he'd been in
California most of his life. He's just so impressed with green
grass in Kentucky. But we were talking on the way
over, various religions, Papist and Pentecostal and free will
Baptist and all kinds of religions. And I said to him, Brother Scott
Richardson used to frequently say, every man to his own poison. There are lots of brands. Whatever
the poison is, whatever the poison is called, whatever its name
is, any mixture of what you do with what Christ has done is
a damning gospel. It'll take you to hell. Paul
warns us of this delusion. Look at chapter one, verse six.
I marvel, I'm astonished that you are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel. These folks had turned from the
Apostle Paul, being influenced by Judaistic teachers, and they
decided Paul wasn't a true preacher of the gospel. He said, but you've
been turned to another gospel, which is not another. It's not
even close to it. But there'd be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are
an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be forever damned. That's his word. Let him be accursed. Well, let's pray for him. Let
him be damned. Let's see what we can do to help him. Let him
be damned. Any man preaching any other gospel
is not my brother, but my foe. He is not my friend, but my enemy. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
which ye have received, let him be accursed. When we get to chapter
2, Paul begins to explain his meaning, telling us how to distinguish
the true from the false. In the second chapter, he asserts
that we are justified by Christ alone without works. Did you
ever take the time to mark, or notice as you read through Paul's
epistles, almost every time he says, we're saved by grace, saved
by God's work, saved by Christ, he adds those words, without
works. Almost every time he says it,
without works, because folks don't pay attention. Without
works. Look what it says here, verse
16, chapter 2. knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Now notice as
Paul writes in the second chapter and through this epistle, he
doesn't say by faith in Christ. Faith in Christ receives, embraces,
and experiences God's free justification. But your believing on Christ
doesn't justify you. We are justified by the faith
of Jesus Christ. He who is our God-man mediator
by his perfect obedience in faith as a man has justified us by
his obedience unto death. We are justified by the faith
of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Verse 19. For I through the law
am dead to the law. How can that be? I through the
law am dead to the law. When Jesus Christ, my Redeemer,
died in my stead and fully satisfied every demand of God's holy law,
and he died, I'm dead to the law. The law can't touch me. It's fully satisfied. The law
has no claim on me. It's fully satisfied. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. Quite literally, Paul is saying,
when Christ died, I died. I don't know how to express this
like I wish I could, like I know God teaches it. You who are gods, are you listening
to this? You who are gods are really and
truly one with Christ. You who are gods can no more
be separated from Jesus Christ than the Son of God can be separated
from the Father, one with Him, from everlasting. And when He
died upon the tree, we died with Him. Nevertheless, I live. How is that? Christ comes by
the Spirit of God and gives us new life, and a new man is created
in us in righteousness and true holiness. His name is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. You see, that wasn't my invention.
Paul said that. And the life which I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. Now don't miss verse 21. I do
not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If there was some other
way that God could save sinners, Christ died for nothing. If righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Many years ago,
when I was 18 or 19 years old, I read a very good book by Arthur
Pink called The Atonement. He earlier had named the book
The Satisfaction of Christ. And the book is very, very good.
except when Mr. Pink begins to exercise logic
in defending God's sovereignty, and he suggested that God could
have saved sinners any way he chose, but he chose to save sinners
by the sacrifice of his son. What a horrid concept. Did God
sacrifice his son for nothing? Did God kill his son for nothing?
Oh no. If righteousness could come some
other way, then Christ died for nothing. Now we get to chapter
three. Here the spirit of God inspired the apostle to assert
something else. Here he tells us that like justification,
sanctification, holiness is also the work of God's free grace
alone. Now I know that folks get all
upset and somebody will hear this on one of the media that
we use and I'll get some nasty letters and I'll throw them in
the delete bin. But sanctification's not your
work either. You don't make yourself holy.
Take time to be holy. That'd be a good trick if you
could do it. You can't make yourself holy. Holiness is Christ in you,
the hope of glory. We are redeemed by Christ, justified
by Christ, and sanctified by Christ without our obedience
to the law. The law was our schoolmaster
under Christ. Once Christ has come to us, and
we have come to him by faith, we are no longer under the schoolmaster. I have a good friend down in
North Carolina, I hadn't seen him in 30 years. I was preaching
down in North Wilkesboro one night, and I was, last night
of the meeting, and on the way to services, I was preaching
for Brother Mike Walker, and I saw a fellow, I thought, I
know him. That's Bob Spencer. He was my
sixth grade teacher. He was my sixth grade teacher.
And if I checked real close, I could probably still show you
some marks where he was my sixth grade teacher. And I stretched
out my hand and I said, you won't remember me, but I'm Don Fortner. Are you Bob Spencer? He said,
I sure am. And I do remember you. Later on, I found out that was
his last year teaching school. But we became good friends. And I used to be terrified of
it. I scared of it. Not anymore. I'm no longer under
the schoolmaster. I used to be terrified of God's
law. I used to be terrified of God. The purpose of religion for the
most part, the purpose of religion for the most part, Baptist, Methodist,
Calvinistic, Arminian, whatever you call it, the purpose of religion
for the most part is to keep you scared of God. I used to
be terrified of him. Not anymore. Not anymore. He, my father, And
Christ has satisfied all his demands on my behalf. We now
live by faith in Christ, not under the yoke of law and bondage
and fear. And those who pretend to live
by the yoke of the law know nothing about grace and faith. Look at
verse one, chapter three. Oh foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you? Who cast a spell on you? You should not obey the truth
before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth
crucified among you. This only would I learn of you.
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith? Were you born again by the works
of the law or by faith? Are you so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? And by the flesh he's talking
about by the works of the law. Look at verse 10. For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is
written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. As soon
as you start to talk about being holy, being more sanctified,
being more accepted with God, being more in God's favor. By your obedience to the law,
you've got to start obeying every command perfectly without sin
from beginning to end, inside or out. Cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them." Then we get to chapter 4. In this fourth chapter, Paul
was inspired to tell us that the whole history of Sarah and
her son Isaac and Sarah's handmaid Hagar and her son Ishmael, the
whole history was intended by God to be an allegory. Now that
doesn't mean it didn't really happen. It was just used as an
allegory. I was talking to some of the
men in the office about Bedford, England. and all that John Bunyan
used in his Pilgrim's Progress as an allegory of his experience
of God's grace, everything he used as an allegory can be seen
from where he was in jail for 12 years, right there in Bedford.
This really happened, what is recorded in Genesis about Sarah
and Hagar and Ishmael and Isaac. But it was brought to pass by
the design of God to be an allegory. an allegory, a spiritual picture
of the believer's complete freedom from the law. A picture of the
fact that salvation is altogether the work of God's grace, according
to God's purpose, God's promise, and God's covenant through his
promised seed, Christ Jesus, the seed of Abraham. In the fifth
chapter, the apostle tells us that we must never allow ourselves
entangled with the yoke of the law. Now read these first few
verses of chapter 5 and read them clearly. Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Do you find yourself
in trouble with that from time to time? Self-righteousness,
legality, works religion, is so much a part of the fabric
of fallen humanity that you just, everywhere you turn, it's just
all over you all the time. Don't ever again be entangled
with the yoke of bondage. Read what it says. Behold I,
Paul, saying to you, That if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. Well, that's talking about physical
circumcision. Well, let's see. Anybody here
got an appointment tomorrow morning to be circumcised? Well, either this is not talking
just about physical circumcision, or it's got something to say
to you. One of the two. This has got something to say
to you. Don't do anything. by which to make yourself righteous
before God. Don't do anything by which to
make yourself more holy. Don't do anything by which you
hope to gain or improve God's favor toward you. Nothing. Don't
read your Bible for that purpose. Don't pray for that purpose.
Don't come to church for that purpose. Don't write your songs
for that purpose. If you do something by which
you hope to win God's favor, improve God's favor, or maintain
God's favor, what does it say? Christ won't mean as much to
you as you would otherwise. That's not what it says. He declares
sharing Christ shall profit you nothing. You've missed him altogether. For I testify to every man that
is circumcised, every man who tries to do something to win
God's favor. He's a debtor to do the whole
law. Christ is become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are
justified by the law, you've fallen from grace. You've missed
the gospel of God's grace altogether. For we, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. We wait on the tiptoe
of faith, looking for blessing, for redemption, accomplished
by our Redeemer, who's coming to raise us from the dead. In
the rest of the chapter, this fifth chapter, Paul explains
that to live by the law, to live in religious legalism, is to
live after the flesh, and fulfill the lust of the flesh. Believers
live in the spirit. and walk in the Spirit. Look
at verse 11. And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, if I yet preach works, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. I would, they were even cut off, which trouble you. What
does that mean? You just carry it as far as you
want to, that's what it means. For brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty. Now, let's look at chapter six.
Here Paul shows us that grace teaches saved sinners to be gracious. The love of God teaches people
to love one another. Mercy experienced teaches people
to be merciful. The kindness of God our Savior
teaches saved sinners to be kind one to another. Verse one, brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, Restore
such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Brother
Falls, he gets in a pickle. He made a mess of things. He
commits some offense against you or against another, something
known only to you or something known publicly. You who are spiritual,
You help him. You help him. Go take him to
lunch and reach out a helping hand. Help him. Help him. Considering yourself because
you're made out of the same stuff. You're made out of the same stuff.
We are what we are only by the grace of God, nothing else, nothing
else. Verse two, bear ye one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Put your shoulder
under his load, help him. For if a man think himself to
be something when he's nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let
every man prove his own work. What's that talking about? You
prove for yourself that you're God's. How do you do that? Believe on his side. Believe on his side. I don't
have to show Brian Duford that I'm God's. That's not where my
problem is. I've got to know that I'm God's.
How? Faith is the evidence. Believe
on the son of God. Let every man prove his own work. Then shall he have rejoicing
in himself alone and not in another. He won't look to somebody else
for his assurance and peace and comfort. For every man shall
bear his own burden. Verse six, let him that is taught
in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good
things. Your pastor spends his days studying, and he does. You
have a faithful pastor. You take care of his financial,
physical needs. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth, that
shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of his flesh reap corruption. That he that soweth to the spirit
shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. You take everything
God puts in your hands and use it to gratify your flesh and
you'll reap corruption. Or you take everything God puts
in your hands and use it for his glory and the good of his
kingdom and people. Oh, what blessedness comes. And
let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. As we therefore have opportunity,
verse 10, Let us do good unto all men. That's a pretty good
way to live. Just help anybody you can. Just
help anybody you can, especially your brethren, especially them
that believe, those who are of the household of faith. And then
Paul says, you see how large a letter I've written unto you
with mine own hand? Well, this is one of his shorter
epistles. Apparently, Paul had some Problem with vision, I don't
know, but that's probably what he's referring to. He says, I've
written this to you with my own hand because I was concerned
to write to you personally rather than using a secretary. 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. Now this is what Paul said. Preachers
everywhere. Preachers everywhere. Preachers
all over the world. In every generation. Beginning
way back in the Old Testament. Preachers everywhere. Serving
themselves. Do what they can to get all the
followers they can and to compromise God's glory, God's gospel, and
God's word to do it. so that they can profit by your
flesh. That's the long and short of
it, not God's servants. Why won't they preach the gospel? Well, you talk to fellas, some
of you have experienced this. You talk to preachers and they'll
sit down with you in your living room and talk to you about the
grace of God. Oh boy, yes sir. I believe all five points. I
believe in predestination. I believe in double predestination.
I believe in limited atonement. Let's listen to a preach. Let's
listen to a preach. Several years ago, this has been
a long time ago, I had never met a friend of mine who was
preaching out in the heat of Oklahoma. And it was in December. And I
thought I wanted to go out and hear him. He was actually preaching,
he was lecturing to a bunch of preachers at the Southern Baptist
Convention. And I got my ticket and flew to Cincinnati and got
snowed in and had to turn around and fly home. So I called him
that evening after the classes were over and asked him how it
went. He said, oh, Brother Don, I wish you could have been here.
He said, there were 30 Southern Baptist preachers here. I said,
what? He said, there were 30 Southern Baptist preachers here
from all over this part of Oklahoma. I said, 30 Southern Baptist preachers
who believe the gospel of God's grace? He said, yes, sir. I said,
are they coming back tomorrow? He said, they're supposed to.
I said, George, I'll tell you what I'll do. If you don't mind
when you meet with those 30 fine preachers tomorrow, You ask them,
first thing, as the open class opens, how many of them in the
past year have preached from their own pulpits on election,
predestination, or limited atonement? I'll give you $100 if everyone
raises his hand. Oh, but he believes in God? If
he did, he'd tell it. If he did, he'd tell it, and
tell it to everybody. Verse 14. Now Paul says, but
God forbid. 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. What is Paul talking
about? He's not talking about the historic
fact that Christ died on the cross. And he certainly is not
talking about that piece of wood upon which our Lord was crucified
or some kind of a superstitious religious sign of the cross. Oh no, he's talking about the
doctrine of the cross, the gospel of God's free grace. blood atonement,
free justification, a legal propitiation, a penal sacrifice by which God
punished sin to the full satisfaction of justice so that he could be
just and the justifier of all who believe. Paul, when he speaks
of the cross, he's talking about substitution. Redemption by a
substitute. Salvation by the blood atonement
of our crucified Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's talking
about the gospel. God's people. God's servants. Glory in the cross. What does
that mean? Glory in the cross. We rest in
it. This is our boast. This is our
joy. This is our comfort. This is
our message. We glory in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. That which is thought to be by
men. the most shameful aspect of our
Lord's existence upon this earth. That's where men look upon him
in the most despicable manner. That about which preachers are
most ashamed and will not open their mouths, we glory in it. We glory in it. Free substitution. Redemption accomplished by the
substitute, Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, let me try to give
you some reasons why we glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The cross, what transpired at
Calvary 2,000 years ago is the revelation of the glory of God. It is the revelation of the glory
of God. Back in Exodus 33, Moses said,
I beseech thee, O Lord, show me thy glory. In chapter 34,
he put him in the cleft of the rock, put his hand over him,
I presume that means he covered him with a cloud, and he passed
by and proclaimed his name. And his name was the Lord. He said, I'll be gracious to
him, I'll be gracious. And I'll be merciful to him,
I'll be merciful. He showed his goodness. And then he said, I
am the Lord, good, gracious, and merciful, forgiving iniquity,
transgression, and sin, who will by no means clear the guilty. What? What a contradiction. Forgiving, iniquity, transgression,
and sin. That's every word used in the
Bible to describe the evil that's in us and done by us. Forgiving,
iniquity, transgression, and sin. And will by no means clear
the guilty. How can that be? Only by the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only by Jesus Christ crucified. God forbid that I should glory,
that I should trust in, rest in, rejoice in, proclaim anything
except the cross of Christ, the revelation of the glory of God. That's what God showed Moses
all through the book of Exodus. You see, the revelation, the
revelation of the glory of God by which faith is born in the
heart is salvation. And that's God's glory. God's glory. Did you hear me? God's glory is wrapped up in
the saving of his people by Jesus Christ. God commanded Moses. He showed him a pattern, a pattern
in the map. And that pattern was a person. It wasn't a set of blueprints.
It was a person. and a revelation of who that person is and what
he would accomplish when he, who is God, came here, the seed
of woman in human flesh and lived and died and rose again. It's
the revelation of the glory of God and everything in that tabernacle,
all of its furnishings, all of its priesthood, all of its altars,
all of its ceremonies, all the priest's clothing, everything
in there. The tabernacle itself was a portrayal of that person
and his work. When you get to chapter 40, I'll
tell you something about the tabernacle I bet you didn't know.
When you get to the end of chapter 40, I'll get to chapter 40 rather
in Exodus, that tabernacle was so designed by God that it could
be assembled and raised by one man in one day. And Moses did
it. One day, he set the whole thing
up. And he starts toward the tabernacle, and he couldn't enter
in. Do you remember why? Because
the glory of God was so manifest in the tabernacle, he couldn't
approach it. He couldn't approach it. God
says to Moses, this salvation portrayed here in this tabernacle
by my son, that's my glory you ask to see. The saving of God's
people is the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord. The doing and
dying of God's son. We just got back from North Carolina,
Sunday night. Went back down to I was raised
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but my father's people all lived
up close to Hendersonville, Sprucepine, North Carolina, up in the mountains.
Beautiful, beautiful, smoky mountains. Oh, beautiful place. And we used
to drive up to visit my grandparents in Sprucepine, my aunts and uncles
and cousins. And that was one place where
I always enjoyed going. My most delightful memories of
youth were in Sprucepine, North Carolina. I was bigger than all
my cousins and I could whip them. And my aunts and uncles all,
my grandmother, great aunt, treated me like a king. I just, I loved
it down there. But we'd drive up North Carolina, and always,
after you turned off at Marion, going up towards Spruce Pine,
you'd see a place, see signs, it's called Grandfather Mountain.
And I used to ask my daddy, why do they call that Grandfather
Mountain? He said, well, if you look close, you can see the image
of an old man laying on the mountain. And I looked and squinted and
looked and squinted and looked and squinted, and I couldn't
see it. I just flat couldn't see it. Until one day, we went
a different route. Went around to the north side
of that mountain. And I was looking at Grandfather Mountain, trying
to see that old man. And as I looked up, you could see the image of
an old man, his hair, and his deep forehead, and his nose,
and his lips, and his flowing beard. There he is. Would you see the glory of God? Would you see the glory of God
and experience that salvation he accomplished in one day by
the sacrifice of himself? Would you go home tonight walking
in the light of the glory of God? There's only one place to
see it. Come to Calvary and behold your God. Oh God, how I thank you. How
I thank you for your darling son and for free salvation by your
grace through his blood. Amen.