What a gospel. Turn back to Galatians
chapter five, if you would. Verse six, for in Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, for in Jesus Christ, neither
circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith,
which worketh by love." Every aspect of the salvation
of God, the gospel of God, is comprehended in the phrase, in
Jesus Christ. There's no part of the gospel
of God that is not in that phrase, in Jesus Christ. Now, this is
not hype. This is not overkill. This is
not over the top. This is fact. Now, I've entitled
this message, The Three Most Important Words, In Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ and union with
Christ are the precise same thing. It's what baptism depicts in
that beautiful, simple ordinance the Lord gives us where
we say in that ordinance, when Christ lived, I lived. When he
died and was buried, I died and was buried. And when he was raised
up, I was raised up because I was in him. and this is all my salvation
and all my desire. The father said, this is my beloved
son in whom, not with whom, but in whom I
am well pleased. Now this is not a teaching peculiar
to the New Testament. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
45. Verse 24. Surely shall one say, and I'm
saying it right now, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come, and
all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. and shall glory."
So we see this is not a concept peculiar to the New Testament,
but this is the message of the Old Testament as well. Look back
in Genesis chapter 1. Verse 27. So God created man
in his own image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. Now did you know that Eve didn't
come along to the last of chapter two? But yet God says, male and
female created he them. You see, Eve was in Adam. when Adam was created, and God
speaks of Eve as having been created, because she was in Adam. When Adam ate of the fruit, that's
when the fall took place, not when Eve ate of the fruit, because
God said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely
die. When Eve ate, the death didn't
take place, because she was not the one God said. There's so many examples of this
in the Old Testament. What about the ark? Inside the ark, safety. Outside the ark, did anybody
make it? No, all flesh was destroyed. I love to think of Abraham paying
tithes to Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14. And yet Hebrew 7
tells us that when Abraham paid those tithes, Levi paid his tithes
as well. It doesn't say Abraham's tithe-paying
was accounted to Levi. It says Levi paid tithes. When Abraham paid tithes, Levi
did as well because Levi was in Abraham. What about the house
with the blood over the door? In the house, was everybody safe
if they were in the house? They were absolutely and completely
safe and secure. Outside of the house, every one
of the firstborn were put to death. Safety was found in the
cities of refuge, and there was no safety without it. And I love
this. There in 1 Samuel chapter 30,
we looked at this in Bible study a couple of weeks ago. David
had hit the bottom. All of his family had been taken,
and the family of all of his men had been kidnapped. And they
spake of stoning him. They were so upset. He hadn't
shown any leadership. Let's just get rid of this man.
And David encouraged himself in the Lord. You see, there is
always, always encouragement in the Lord. Now, in Christ,
this is the single greatest desire of my heart. God knows whether
this is so. I'm telling you that, and I believe
it. The greatest desire that I have
is that I might be found in Christ. so that all God sees when He
sees me is His blessed Son. Now is that your desire? Is that
what you want above all things? Really, that is. That's what
I want above all things, simply to be found in Christ so that
all God sees is His blessed Son. Now I'm going to give you a bunch
of scriptures. I want you to listen to these. You can jot
them down if you want. But in Christ, there's justification. Romans 3.24 says, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. If I'm in Christ, that means
right now I am justified before the holy law of God. I don't
have any guilt. Romans 8.1 says, there is now
no condemnation. to them that are in Christ Jesus. If I'm in Christ, I am never
going to have to be condemned or punished or held accountable
for my personal sins. We read in Romans 8, 39, that
nothing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus. You see, all of God's love is
in Christ. And if I'm in Christ, I have all of God's love and
nothing can separate me from that love. Now, you see why it's
so important to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ? We read in
1 Corinthians 1, 2 of being sanctified in Christ. And language means
something, the way it's written. And that is actually, in the
original, in the perfect passive tense. That means I'm perfectly
sanctified in a way that I can't be any more sanctified. And the
fact that it's in the passive tense, I was acted on. This is
not something I did To achieve this, I was acted on by the grace
of God, sanctified, declared by God Himself to be completely
holy. I can't get any more holy. Can't
get any more lovely to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 1 Corinthians
1.30 says, Of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us. Wisdom. and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Now, if I'm in Christ, I'm wise
to God. I'm fit for fellowship with God.
I'm righteous. I'm holy. I'm completely delivered
in Christ Jesus. Then we read in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, verse 22, in Adam, all die. Even so, in the precise same
manner, in Christ shall all be made alive. I have life in Christ
Jesus, life before God. In 2 Corinthians 1.20, we read,
all the promises of God in him are yea and amen. You know what that means? There's
no, I'll do this if you do that. No, I'll do this on the condition
that you do that. No, it's, I'll do this and you
shall do that. How do you like promises like
that? All the promises of God in Him, every single one of them
are yay and amen. There's no such thing as a conditional
promise in that sense. They're all yay and amen in Christ
Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, if
any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Behold, all things
are passed away, and behold, all things have become new. Now,
I realize that religious people use that saying, well, I'm new.
I don't have those same sinful desires, and I don't have those
same sinful propensities. Don't believe it for a second.
Don't believe it. You're lying. It's not so. What that's talking
about is in Christ, I've got a new history. I've got a new
standing before the law. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus.
The law doesn't condemn me anymore. It says he's perfect. He's without.
I've got a new relationship, grace. in Christ. You're a new
creation. And then in 2 Corinthians 5.19,
we read that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And
he's committed to us this word of reconciliation. Now, beloved,
those things are things that are historical. What do I mean
by that? It means they're actually done
and it's over. history. When our Lord said in
John 19 38 is finished, it was finished. Um, my sins were not
reckoned, not imputed to me. I was reconciled to God by Christ. Listen to this. Second Corinthians
11 3 speaks of the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus, the singularity,
the singleness, the onlyness of Christ. Now listen real carefully.
I don't want you to miss this. the simplicity of Christ. That
means you can't have Him and have something along with Him.
Now, do you hear that? You can't have Him and have anything
else, and if you have anything else, you don't have Him. You've
been corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Now, in having
nothing but Him, you have everything. And if you have everything but
Him, you have nothing. That is the simplicity that is
in Christ Jesus. I love this passage. In 2 Corinthians
12, verse 2, Paul was talking about his experience of being
brought up into the third heavens and Christ teaching him the gospel.
When he talks about himself, he uses this language. And this
is how he identified himself. He said, I knew a man in Christ.
That's the only way he'd think of himself in that light. I knew
a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body, out
of the body, I can't tell, God knows, how he's caught up into
the third heaven, but this is how he identified himself. I
knew a man in Christ. He wouldn't dare think of that
experience without thinking about being in Christ. Ephesians 1,
everybody's familiar with that, all the in Christ in that chapter. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Every spiritual blessing
we have in Christ according as he has chosen us in him. You know, election, what's election
without Christ? It's meaningless. Some kind of
arbitrary choice where God decides to save one. No, I've never been
viewed independently of Jesus Christ, according as He has chosen
us in Him that we should be holy and without blame before Him. We're accepted in the Beloved,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. In Ephesians 2.6, we read that
we're seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Ephesians
2.13, we're made nigh by the blood of Christ. We read in Ephesians
3.12, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence. Now,
think of that. What would this boldness and
access with confidence be if it wasn't in Him, in whom we
have this boldness, boldness to enter into God's presence,
confidence, access into the very presence of God? And I'm welcome. In Philippians chapter 2, verse
1, Paul spoke of the consolation or the comfort in Christ. And
then in Philippians 3, he spoke of the rejoicing in Christ, and
there the word rejoicing means we're happy in Christ. Aren't
you happy to be in Christ? Would you want to be anywhere
else? And then he speaks of the rejoicing or the glorying in
Christ, actually boasting in Christ. He is my righteousness
before God. I glory in Him. Colossians 1,
19, it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Now was I exaggerating at all
when I talked about These being the most important words and
explaining or giving meaning to every doctrine of the scripture
in Christ. Colossians 121, we were reconciled
to God in the body of his flesh. That's in Christ. We were reconciled
to God in the body of his flesh through death to present you
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Colossians chapter
2 verses 9 and 10, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily and you are complete. Now I don't feel complete. I
feel like there's all kinds of things missing with me. But I
believe I am complete, because the Bible tells me I am. You
know, I got closure. I got closure here. I'm complete. I need nothing
else. You are complete in Him. 2 Timothy
1.9 says, He saved us, and He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus. That's why He
gave them to us. He didn't give me these things
to me because I asked for them, or because I was worthy, or because
of anything in me. He gave them to me before the
foundation of the world in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's where
all of God's purpose and grace is. First John 3.3 says, everyone
that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
First John chapter three, verses four and six says, in him is
no sin. Whoso abideth in him sinneth not. If I'm in him, I
have no sin. And if I abide in him, I don't
sin. I don't sin. That's the perfection I have
in Christ Jesus. 1 John chapter 5 verse 20, John
says, And we know that the Son of God has come and has given
us an understanding that we may know him that's true and that
we're in him that's true. This is the true God and eternal
life. Now, that's a lot of scripture
on in Christ, isn't it? A lot of scripture. And every
one of them are glorious. Every one of them deserve a separate
sermon. And the last one I want to give
you And then I want to make a few comments about the rest of this
passage of scripture is this verse in John chapter 16 verse
33, when the Lord said, these things have I spoken unto you
that in me, in me, you might have peace. At the only place
there is peace. In the world, you'll have trouble,
tribulation, anguish, but be of good cheer. I have overcome. the world. In Christ Jesus. In Jesus Christ. There are no
more important three words in all the Word of God than that,
and that's why Paul said, oh that I may win Christ and be
found in him. Now, back to our text in Galatians
chapter 6, or Galatians chapter 5. Verse six, for in Jesus Christ,
neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, neither one
of these things avail anything at all with God. Now, the word
availeth means has power, or force, or strength, or ability,
or pull. Circumcision, and we've seen
this over the last few weeks, represents salvation by works.
That's all it represents. Salvation dependent upon what
you do. If you believe any aspect of
your salvation in the beginning, in the middle, or the end. In
the beginning, an act of your will. In the middle, some work
you perform that makes you more holy, more pleasing to God. In
the end, you're rewarded a higher reward because of your works.
If you put circumcision anywhere in salvation, Christ will profit
you nothing. You see, circumcision doesn't
avail anything with God. Look back at verse 2 of Galatians
chapter 5. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. You
can forget Christ, for I testify again to every man that is circumcised
that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Here's what you put
yourself in a position when you're circumcised. You've got to keep
the law perfectly on your own, and that's something you can't
do. Verse 5, Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever
of you are justified by the law, you follow him for grace. For
we, through the Spirit, the Spirit of God, wait for the hope of
righteousness. Remember, a hope's something
that you can't see. If you can see it, it's not a
hope. Now, I can't see. I can't look at myself and say,
yeah, you're righteous. I got all kinds of sins I'm thinking
about right now that makes me know Am I really? Yes, I am. Here's my hope, that I'm waiting
for the hope of righteousness by faith. Faith is the evidence. Verse six is just an amplification
of verse five, for in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision avails anything
nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Now, does somebody say, I know circumcision has no power,
I understand that. I understand that you can't be
saved by your works. I understand that man doesn't
have a free will. I see that teaching in the Bible.
I see that men are dead in sins. I believe all that stuff. I believe
the doctrines of grace. I believe total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance
of saints. I believe those things. And I wouldn't go to a church
where that's not preached. And the church I go to, they
preach that, and I believe that, and I stand for that. I don't
believe in circumcision. You want that to balance with
God? Nothing. Nothing. In Christ Jesus, circumcision
avails nothing and uncircumcision avails nothing. It has no power
with God at all. You see, what I believe is not what gives me peace. Notice again, verse six, for
in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision avails anything. I've been circumcised. I've done this. I've done that.
That has no power with God, nor does uncircumcision. Well, I
know you can't be saved by your works. That has no power with
God either. Here's what has power with God, faith. faith, which works by love. There's only one singular thing
that avails with God, faith. That is all God responds to. You see, He gives the faith He
gives you the grace to exercise the faith, and He responds to
that faith that He's given you as your own faith. And faith
only avails with God. It has power with God. Now one day during the Lord's
earthly ministry, There was a crowd around him. Everybody was pressing
him, wanting to touch him. And he kept moving, he kept moving,
he kept moving. Crowd, touch him. All of a sudden
he stopped and he said, who touched me? Peter said, Lord, the crowd's
thronging you and pressing upon you and sayeth out, who touched
me? He said, somebody touched me. Now there's all kinds of people
who touched him They were putting their hands on him, trying to,
but there was one who touched him with faith. It was a woman
who had a issue of blood, some kind of menstrual disease. And
she said to herself, I mean, she'd gone to many physicians
and she'd been nothing better, but rather worse. And then she
said to herself, somehow she knew who Christ was. Christ revealed
himself. And she said, if I can just touch
the hem of his garment, I'll be whole. And she was on her
hands and knees going through the crowd. She touched him. And
the scripture says she felt immediately in her body that she was made
whole. And the Lord looked around. He knew who touched him. He knew
who touched him. He knew exactly who she was. And then she came and told him
all the truth. And He said, Woman, go thy way,
thy faith hath saved thee. Now what was her faith? She believed
that if she could touch the hem of His garment, she would be
perfectly whole. Do you believe that? Do you believe
if you come into contact with Him, if He causes you to come
in contact with Him, you'll be made perfectly whole? You see, the only thing that
availed with him was the touch of faith. Faith is faith in a
person. It believes in his ability. She
believed that the ability of Christ was such that if she just
touched him, she'd be made perfectly whole. And he said, daughter,
be of good comfort. Thy faith has made thee whole.
Go in peace. Now turn to Matthew chapter nine. Here's another
beautiful illustration. Verse 27. And when Jesus departed thence,
two blind men followed Him. And the only way they could follow
Him is by hearing His voice. They couldn't see Him. Crying and saying, Thou Son of
David, Have mercy on us. Now let me tell you three things
about these blind fellas. Number one, they were plum blind. They couldn't see a thing. Number two, they knew that Christ
was the son of David. They knew he was the Messiah. And they knew that mercy was
in His hands. He could give it or withhold
it as it pleased Him. Now they knew that. They knew
they were blind. They couldn't see. They knew
He was the Son of David. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you? That's what it is to believe
he's the son of David. Same thing. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. Take that, beloved. What a blessed
promise. They believed he was the son
of David and they believed mercy was utterly and completely in
his hands. That's why they said have mercy
on us. They believed it was his sovereign prerogative to have
mercy or to not have mercy. They understood that. Now, do
you understand that? Do you believe those three things? Do you believe
that by nature you're blind as a bat? You can't even see who
God is, you can't see who you're self is. You can't see yourself.
You believe that Jesus is the Christ and you believe mercy
is in his hand for him to give to you if he's pleased to do
it. You believe that? Well, let's go on reading. And when he was coming to the
house, the blind men came to him and Jesus saith unto them,
this simple Succinct question. Believe ye that I am able to
do this. Now beloved, this is the stuff
of saving faith. It's simply believing in His
ability. Doesn't have anything to do with
you. It's believing His ability to save you. I know whom I have
believed. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him. He's able. He's able. Abraham
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded
that what he had promised, he was able. He was able also to
perform. The Lord asked these fellows
this very simple question. And I'm asking you this question,
and I'm asking myself this question. Do you believe, he said, that
I am able to do this? Now, beloved, that question can
be answered with a yes or with a no. There's no in between. You either believe he's able
or you don't. Do you believe he is able to
save you? You know what they answered? Yay, Lord. Yay, Lord. And look at his answer. Then
touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it
unto you. What was their faith? Well, they
believed they were blind. They believed he was the son
of David, the Christ. They believed sovereign mercy
was in his hands. He could give it to them if he
wanted. And they believed he was able to do this. That, my
dear friends, quite simply, is saving faith. Nothing less, nothing more. Let's don't overcomplicate this.
That is saving faith. Back to our text. For in Jesus Christ, Galatians
5 verse 6, for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith, and note this, it's
a specific faith, faith which worketh by love. Now the only kind of faith there
is that's real faith, is a faith that works by love. Now, what's
that mean? The devils have a type of faith. You know that. James said, you
believe there's one God, you do well. The devils believe and
tremble. They knew that Christ was Lord. They didn't love the
fact that he was Lord, but they knew he was Lord. They knew he
was the Christ. Now, did they love it? No, they didn't. Were
they happy about it? No, they weren't. But they knew,
they believed, and they trembled. Now Christ never said to any
of these people, your love has saved you. He said, your faith
has saved you. And you know everyone who looks
to Christ only as everything in their salvation, they just
can't help but love him. It comes as natural, as spontaneous, as
breathing. If you believe that He's able
to save you and you look to Him only, you will love His person. Faith works by love. Now, everybody who has faith
loves the object of their faith. Can you believe on Christ and
not love Him? Absolutely not. It is impossible. Now, quit thinking
about your love. Think about Him. Think about
how He's everything in salvation. And your love is going to flow
out. You start thinking about your love, you start wondering if you have
any. But when you start thinking about Him, looking to Him only,
you will love. Faith worketh by love. Faith
works. It's a powerful, active thing. And the Bible uses Abraham's
faith to illustrate this in James chapter two. But you will remember,
I think it was last week or the week before last, somebody's
reading out of Genesis 22. I can't remember who it was. But Abraham
said in verse five, God had already told him to kill his son. And
he said to the fellows that were with him, he said, I and the
lad will go yonder and worship and return to you. Now he wasn't
covering up that he was going to kill him. He really believed,
according to Hebrews 11, that God would raise him from the
dead. He believed that because God had promised the Messiah
is going to come through this boy. And he believed God, and
he proved it when he raised up the knife to kill his son. If
he would refuse to do that, because every one of us thought, could
I ever do that? Could I ever render such obedience? If he would refuse
to do that, all he would have proven by that is he didn't really
believe God was going to have the Messiah come to his son.
He said, I'll mess this up and it won't happen then. If I kill
him, so I'm not going to kill him. All he would prove by that
is he didn't believe God, but he believed God. And it was demonstrated. by him lifting up the knife toward
his son. Now, faith does not work by fear
of punishment. Faith does not work by hope for
reward. Those things are in the realm
of the unbeliever. Faith works by love. You can't believe on Christ and
not love him. It's impossible. And you can't
love him and not want to please him. It's impossible. We, John said, love him because
he first loved us. In Jesus Christ, Neither circumcision
avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by love. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for that
glorious place in thy son. And Lord, let us, everybody in
this room, say from the very depth of their heart, in the
Beloved, accepted am I, risen, ascended, and seated on high. God sees my Savior, then he sees
me in the Beloved, accepted and free. Lord, what freedom, what
liberty, what joy, what rest there is in him to know that
everything that you require of us, everything we have in the
Beloved. We give thanks in Christ and
we pray. Amen. We've got Dwayne.