Galatians chapter 6, and as many as walk according
to this rule, peace beyond them and mercy and upon the Israel
of God. Now, there is no doubt that this
is the Christian's rule of life. That's beyond argument. He says,
as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them,
and mercy upon the Israel of God. The word rule is where we
get the word cannon from, and the word cannon means a straight
rod used for measuring. You can find out how big you
are or how small you are with this rod. It's a carpenter's
rule. It's a standard or a principle,
a rule. You've heard of the full canon
of Scripture. The 66 books of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation
are the full canon of Scripture and the Scripture is the measuring
rod. What saith the scriptures is
always the issue. Not what does this church say
or what does this preacher say. What saith the scriptures. Our only rule of faith and practice. Now this book is inspired by
God. It's authoritative. That means
what it says is so, whether we understand it or not, or whether
we agree with it or not. It's not asking for our opinion.
This word is authoritative, our only rule of faith and practice. I love the way even our Lord
Jesus, when he was tempted by the devil, how did he handle
it? The scripture says, The scripture
says. The scripture says. The Lord
used the scriptures. That gives us some idea of the
importance of the scriptures. It is written. It is written. It is written. Actually, the
Lord dealt with the devil. Now notice Paul said, as many
as walk according to this rule. This is the Christian's rule
of life. Now I'm going to give you a measurement
by which you can measure yourself and see if you really are saved. And does that interest you? You
can listen to this message. You can measure yourself by this
rule. And you can know tonight whether
God really has done a work of grace in your heart. And you
can know whether or not you really are saved. I want to know. And
I want to put myself up to this rule, this standard of measurement. And he gives three blessings
that come as a result of walking according to this rule. First
of all, he says peace. As many as walk according to
this rule, peace. You walk according to this rule
and you'll have peace, not turmoil, not doubt, not fear, but peace. Peace in your soul. Peace with
God. The peace of knowing that God's
at peace with you and pleased with you. That's very desirable,
isn't it? If you walk according to this
rule, you'll have peace. And if you walk according to
this rule, you'll have mercy. This is the evidence of having
been shown mercy by God walking according to this rule. You'll
have the mercy of God. That's what I want. I don't want
God to give me what I deserve. I want God to withhold from me
what I deserve and to give me what I don't deserve. I want
the mercy of God. Now, if you walk according to
this rule, you've experienced the mercy of God Almighty. And look what it says next. It
speaks of the Israel of God. Now, who's the Israel of God?
Well, you remember when Jacob's name was changed to Israel. What's your name? wrestling with
the angel. What's your name? Jacob. The angel knew what his name
was, but he was making him confess what his name was. Cheat. Supplanter. Deceiver. And that's what he
was. Jacob. He said, you're not Jacob
anymore. You're Israel. For you're, as
a prince, you have power with God. and prevail. Now if you walk according to
this rule, you are a true Israelite, a true son of Jacob. Now this makes me want to know
exactly what this rule is because I want to have peace. I want
God to be at peace with me and I want to have peace of conscience
knowing that God is at peace with me. And I want to have mercy,
oh I want the mercy of God. And I want to be an Israelite,
I want to be a true son of Jacob, don't you? Now, if we walk according
to this rule, we will realize all three of those things. Now,
the rule he's speaking of is clearly spelled out in verses
14 and 15. Look what Paul says. We've already gone over these
two verses. But God forbid that I should glory, that I should
have confidence in, that I should rejoice in, that I should trust
in anything 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 avails anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creation, a new creature, and as many as walk according
to this rule. Now, what he spoke of here is
the work of Christ for you, the cross. that you own the glory
in, the work of Christ for you, and the work of Christ in you. A new creation, something that
wasn't there before, something that you had absolutely no hand
in. Just like you had no hand in
the first creation, you have no hand in the new creation.
It's the work of God. Now, as many as walk according
to this rule. It's the only way you're going
to experience peace. It's the only way you're going
to experience God's mercy. And it's the only way you're
going to be a true Israelite by walking according to this
rule of saying, God forbid that I should glory. saving the cross
and knowing that the work of Christ in you is the creative
work of God. You had no hand in it. It's wholly
and completely His work. Now how often have you heard
that the law, the Ten Commandments, are the believer's rule of life,
the guide to right living? Now let me say at the outset,
I love God's law. I love the Ten Commandments.
And you know it's never okay to break the Ten Commandments.
It's never acceptable on any level. It's not okay. That being
said, if the Ten Commandments are your
guide that you measure your life by to see if you have spiritual
life, How do you measure up? How do you measure up? I shall
have no other gods before me. How many things do you put before
God every single day? Every time you sin, you're putting
something before God. The commandment concerning graven
images and forbidding idolatry. How many false ideas have you
had of God to make yourself feel better about what you're doing?
The commandment regarding not taking his name in vain. When have you not taken his name
in vain? When have you had the proper reverence in saying his holy name? The commandment regarding the
Sabbath. When have you completely rested? The commandment regarding honoring
your father and mother, have you ever really honored them
as they ought to be honored? Have you ever respected authority
as you should respect it? What about the commandment regarding
murder? Have you ever murdered anybody
in your heart? Do you still do it? Do you still get angry without
a cause? Murdered anybody's character
lately? What about the commandment regarding adultery? That's in
the heart as well. The Lord said, Whoso looketh
at a woman, and lusteth after her, hath committed adultery
with her already in his heart. What about the commandment regarding
stealing? Thou shalt not steal. You stole
time, you stole glory from God. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
When have you really borne true witness? Even if you tell them
the truth. When did you really tell it like it really is? In
a way that you're not trying to make yourself look better.
Thou shalt not covet? When have you not coveted? Now,
let me say this. If the law, God's holy law, is
the standard of measurement, me and you don't have any life. You believe that? And so, if
God's holy law is the standard of measurement, you and I do
not have any life. But also, the Bible doesn't teach
that the law is our rule of life. It teaches that this, that I've
just read from Galatians chapter 6, is our rule of life, our standard
of measurement. And that's the way we're to view
ourselves. Look in Galatians chapter 3,
look what the Bible has to say about the law being our rule
of life. Wherefore, verse 24, the law
was our schoolmaster. And you'll notice, to bring us
is in italics, and that word unto can just as easily be translated
until. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
until Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after
the faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. How many different ways are there
to state that? Look in Galatians chapter 4, verse 21. Tell me
you that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? Don't you hear it's condemnation?
Galatians 5 verse 18, But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are
not under law. Romans 6.14 says, For sin shall not have dominion
over you. And here's why. You're not under
the law, but under grace. Now, there we go. The law is not my rule of life. The law is not my standard of
measurement. The law is not a faith. The strength
of sin is the law. To talk about God's law as our
rule in that sense is to display profound ignorance of the law
and profound ignorance of self. But here's what the Bible says
the Christian's rule of life is. Now I'm going to be going
over some ground I've already gone over, but Paul did say to
write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous,
but for you it is safe. And so I've enjoyed thinking
about these things once again. I preached on verse 14 a few
weeks ago, and I preached on verse 15 a few weeks ago, so
I'm going to be giving a brief synopsis of what I said, and
that is our rule of life. Now, Paul said, first of all,
there's two aspects of this rule of the Christian life, the work
of Christ for you, the cross, and the work of Christ in you,
a new creation. And if you walk according to
that rule, you're going to have peace, you're going to experience
the mercy of God, and you're going to be an Israelite indeed.
You're going to be a true Israelite, a true son of Jacob. Now, what you glory in, God forbid,
but I should glory in saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What you glory in is what you ultimately give credit to. It's what you're proud of. It's what you boast in. That's what you glory in. For
instance, if I believe that God loves everybody and Christ died
for everybody and wants to save everybody, and that's what most,
probably 95, 99% of the preaching that goes on in our day says.
God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. God
wants to save everybody. but it's up to an act of your
will for you to be saved. It could be that God loves you,
Christ died for you, God wants to save you, but you won't be
saved because you wouldn't let Him because Your will said no. You didn't accept Him. But it
could be that you're saved because you, as an act of your will,
you decided to allow Him to be your personal Savior. Thus, you're
saved. Who gets the credit for salvation?
Your will. You would be glorying in your
will. Somebody says, well, I'm not
glorying in my will. If you believe that, you are. Whatever else you say,
you are. If you believe that, you're glorying in your will
because you're giving your will the ultimate credit for your
salvation. What you glory in or who you
glory in is who you give the ultimate credit for your salvation. Now, who do you give the ultimate
credit for your salvation? And you can answer that question,
can't you? You can answer that question. Now, remember who's
speaking here. This is the Apostle Paul. And
God taught him that there was no reason for him to glory in
anything, in spite of all the ways God used him. I mean, he
wrote scriptures, he was taken into the third heavens, and when
I think of this, if that would have happened to me, what would
I have been like? I've been up there, y'all haven't.
But Paul wasn't like that. Not at all. I mean, he said,
God forbid that I glory in the fact that God brought me into
the third heavens. God forbid that I glory in that I've written
Scripture and that I'm a founder of churches and I'm an apostle.
God forbid that I should glory in any of that or think of anything.
Not one thought of glorying in any of that. God forbid that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. at all I glory in Christ on the
cross, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that
he doesn't mean a piece of wood? He's not talking about that pole
that Christ was nailed to. I can't stand seeing people wearing
crosses. You know, what if your mother was electrocuted and you
wore an electric chair around your neck? I mean, that'd be
about the same difference. I don't want to be crude, but that's
the way that kind of stuff is. You don't glory in things like
that. We don't glory in the piece of wood. But oh, we glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We glory in who it was on the cross, we glory in why
he was there, and we glory in what he accomplished. Now when
we think of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, you think
of this. The cross, Christ nailed to a
cross, is the full revelation of who God is. All God is pleased to make known
about Himself is seen in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every attribute of God is on full display in the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how glorious this is.
God cannot be known apart from the cross. But He is known. He's fully known. He manifests
Himself in the cross. Every attribute of God. I love
to think of what all the cross tells us about God. Tells us
about His purpose. God's got a purpose. Everything
that's done in time has purpose in eternity. You know, the only
thing we know about eternity past is the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. That's the subject of eternity
past. And God's purpose taking place
through the cross. God's love for sinners we see
in the cross. God commended his love toward
us in the while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. What justice! Don't you admire God's justice?
How no sin will ever go unpunished. Don't you admire God's holiness? His hatred of sin? Oh, that sin
on the cross. If you want to know what sin
is, look at the cross. And there you see what God thinks
of sin. Oh, how we admire God's wisdom in making a way to be
just and justify the ungodly. God makes Himself known in the
cross. And that's why we love the cross.
We glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the cross
tells us the truth. about ourselves. Now, I can look
within my heart, and I can look in my actions, and I can see
some things that I'm ashamed of. I can see some things that
are really bad, and you can too, can't you? You look in your own
heart, and you look in your actions, and you can... How many times
do you say, how could I do that and be a Christian? How could
I do that and be saved? Now that's a wrong way to feel
because that's looking to yourself and looking to works. Well, we
do that all the time. But you know what? That doesn't give
even one millionth the view of what I really am. The only way
I can find out what I really am and who I really am and what
I'm really like is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. There,
when God takes away the restraints, that's me. That's me. Now, people
don't realize they hate Christ. If you tell them you hate Christ,
they'll say, no I don't. Nobody believes that. I love
Christ. I love Him. People don't realize they hate
Christ until they find out who He really is. When they find
out who He is according to the scriptures, that's when they
start getting upset. And that's when they nailed him
to a cross because of his claims concerning himself. So what does
the cross tell me about myself? It tells me that I am completely,
100% evil. You believe that about yourself?
That's what the cross says. You know, I really believe that
about myself. I believe that. I believe I am as the cross describes
me to be. You know, because of the cross,
what it describes them to be, there really isn't anything else
to glory in. I mean, when you look at who the cross describes
who God is, how can you glory in... in anything but Him. When you see who He is, you can't
glory in yourself. You feel like all that seems
offensive. When you see the cross with regard to yourself, there's
sure nothing to glory in. You don't have any goodness to
glory in. You don't have any good works to glory in. You don't have any
righteousness or merits to glory in. Nothing about you that you
can glory in. You're forced to glory in nowhere
but the cross, aren't you? That's the only place there is
to glory. Oh, the cross. The cross tells us Well, I've got a lot of favorite
words, but this is one of my favorite words. It's finished.
You know, I've been talking about how bad I am, been talking about
how holy and glorious God is in light of the cross, talking
about how bad I am in light of the cross. But listen to this,
the cross tells me that I am completely saved, completely
justified, completely sanctified without sin, without anything
but that which God is pleased with through the cross. Having
made peace, and listen to this, Colossians 120, having made peace
through the blood of his cross. by Him to reconcile all things
to Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. Now that's what the cross tells
me of, a completed salvation. And you know, if it's already
done, if it's already completed, I sure don't have anything to
glory in, for me. And I can say with full conviction
with the apostle Paul. Now remember, this is the rule
of life of the believer. I can say with full conviction,
I can say it just as meaningfully and feelingly and believingly
as he did. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. what he accomplished
on Calvary's tree, and I do glory in the cross. Now do you? Do
you? Remember, this is the rule of
life for the believer. If you can say, by the grace
of God, yes, I do glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have nowhere else to glory. I have nowhere else to look.
All I trust, all my confidence, is in what Christ accomplished
on Calvary's tree. When He said it is finished,
my salvation was finished. Completed nothing for me to do
to add to it. Do you glory in the cross. Now, that's the work of Christ
for you. But look what He says next in
Galatians chapter 6. For in Christ Jesus, Well, what all can we say about
that? We're in Christ Jesus. Do you know Paul uses this phrase
164 times in his writing. That's 13 books. That's an average
of a dozen times in every book. In Christ Jesus. This is where
all of God's salvation is. This is where all of God's favor
is. This is where all of God's mercy is. This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision. I love that. Circumcision represents any attempt
of mine to keep the law, to please God. If I do this, God will do
that. This is my attempt at obligating
God to do something for me. You know how much that avails
with God, anything I do? Nothing. Somebody says, well, I understand
all that. I see the Bible teaches that. I believe in salvation
by grace. I don't believe in works. You know how much that
avails with God? Nothing. Nothing. All you've got to do
is read the Bible, and you'll see that that is what the Bible
teaches. If you're honest with the scriptures, it doesn't take
a new nature to see that. What does avail with God? He
says, a new creature. a new creation. Now, the first creation was not a
cooperative effort, was it? God didn't consult with you about
creation, did he? He didn't ask your opinion about
how things ought to be done. He didn't consult with an angel.
He didn't consult with anybody or anything because all there
was was God. in the Trinity of His sacred persons, and He had
no need to create. You don't add anything to Him.
He had no need to create. He did it simply because He would,
and He did so simply as an act of His will. See, He did what
only God can do. He brought something from nothing. There was nothing. He said, Be,
and there it was. Only God can do that. No man
can do that. That can't be replicated in a
laboratory of some kind where you gotta have some kind of raw
materials but man can't create something from nothing. Man can't
create life. Only God can do that and he did
this without any help at all. Now just imagine creation. How
much did you contribute in the first creation? We know the answer
to that. Absolutely, positively nothing. How much did you contribute in
the second creation? The same amount that you contributed
in the first creation. Absolutely, positively nothing. You're a new creation. Now if you're saved, I know this,
you know that you're something that you were not before and
it has absolutely nothing to do with you or your works or
your will or anything about you. Don't you know that? You know
that. You know that if you're a believer, it's because you're
a new creature. You're given a heart that you
did not have before. You didn't decide to believe,
you found yourself believing. You didn't decide to repent,
you found yourself repenting. You didn't decide to love. You
found yourself loving because you're a new creature in Christ
Jesus, the creative work of God. You know, you know that you had
nothing to do with this. You know that God did it all,
don't you? You know that you're a new creation. Now, what about glorying in the
cross? What about Being a new creation
in Christ Jesus, that means you know your works didn't have anything
to do with it. It's completely, 100%, the work of God. What do
you get out of that? Well, Paul says in verse 16,
as many as walk according to this rule, peace on them. You know what the only thing
that gives me peace? It's glorying only in the cross. That gives me peace. Knowing
that all God requires of me, I have through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that gives me peace. You
know, the Lord said, peace I give you. My peace I give you, not
as the world give I unto you. Now what is the Lord's peace?
Now the only thing that messes up peace is what? Sin. Isn't that the only thing that
messes up peace? Now, does the Lord have any sin? No. He has the perfect peace of sinlessness. He has the perfect peace of knowing
His Father is completely pleased with Him. He has the peace of
who He is. Now, the Lord says, My peace. I give unto you. The peace that
I just described that he has is given to every believer. And what peace there is in glorying
only in the cross. Now if you start glorying anything
else, you won't have any peace at all. Not really. You put a
work in there anywhere and your peace will be gone. And it should
be. It should be. But if you glory
in the cross only, what genuine peace, the peace
that Christ gives. He said, these things spoke I
unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world you
shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world. The peace that's in Christ Jesus. Now also, in this thing of the
work of Christ in you, if I think that that has anything
to do with some kind of personal acts of obedience on my part
to make myself more holy or more acceptable or more anything.
Anytime I hear preaching like that, where you need to do this,
you need to do that, all these things you need to do in order
to, look, I don't have any peace. But you know what? That's not
a creative act of God. A creative act of God is where
He did it by Himself. And the work of Christ in me
is His work and His work alone. Now I want to be obedient. I
want to be like Christ. I want to honor Him. I want to
love Him. I want to glorify Him. I want
to walk with Him. Oh, I want to be his friend.
I want all those things. But as soon as you tell me something
I need to do to achieve any of that, I have no peace. I'm miserable. I'm wretched. I think, what's
wrong with me? But when you tell me that it's
all His work, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it's God that worketh in you, both to will and to do His
good pleasure. First Thessalonians 524, faithful
is he that calleth you who also will do it. He does it all. Oh, I get peace out of that,
don't you? I can rest in that. I can rejoice in that. And then
the next word he used is mercy. The only evidence that God has
bestowed his mercy on you is that your rule of life is glorying
only in the cross. and that your only way of being
saved, as far as his work in you, is him creating something
that was not there. A new heart I give to you. Now, if you walk according to
that rule, what's your name? He said, Jacob.
And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Here's the first time we read
of Israel. Here are the true sons of Israel. Thy name shall be called no more
Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and
with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said,
Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it
that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And
Jacob called the name of the place Penuel. For I've seen God
face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over
Penuel, the sun arose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
You know he had that limp the rest of his life. Lots of significance to that,
isn't there? One thing I know about every son of Jacob, they
limp. They limp. Therefore the children of Israel
eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the
thigh into this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's
thigh in the sinew that shrank. Jacob is Ma Israel. And let me tell you something
I know about Jacob. Jacob gloried only in the cross. And Jacob knew he was a creative
work of God. He walked according to this rule.
He had peace. He experienced mercy. And he
is the Israel of God. And if you walk according to
this rule, you'll have peace. You've experienced mercy and
you are the Israel of God. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for this
rule you've given us. Lord, we desire to glorify you. We desire to honor you. Lord, we desire to be obedient
children. And Lord, we're so thankful that
our only rule of life is to look nowhere but Christ and to know
that our salvation is thy work and thine alone. And there's
nothing for us to do because you do it all without our help. And in this we give thanks. Now,
Lord, bless this message for your glory and for our good.
In Christ's blessed name we pray. Amen. We've got, Mitch? Hymn number 51. Hymn number 51.
Stand and sing.