Would you turn back to Galatians
chapter 5? Andy Davis is going to preach
for us tonight. I've asked him to do that. Galatians 5, let's read verse
6 again. For in Jesus Christ, Neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. I've entitled this message, What
Avails with God? What does he respond to? What
has strength? what has power with him. Now, I realize there's a sense
in which God never responds. He never reacts. He only acts. I realize that. But in this passage
of scripture, we just read that faith actually avails. It has strength. It has power
with God. God responds to this thing of
faith. A couple of illustrations. The Lord is on his way through
Jericho to Jerusalem. The scripture says he'd set his
face like a flint. He was coming to the cross at
this time. He knew that's what he was going
to do. He came for this purpose. He set his face like a flint,
going toward Jerusalem from Jericho. And there were many people around
him crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna. They were saying all kinds of
things, good things, bad things. A lot was being said, but he
kept moving. He kept moving. He kept moving.
But all of a sudden, something stopped him dead in his tracks. Now you think about that. The
Lord Jesus is going to the cross and somebody cries something
that made him stop. We actually read, Jesus stood
still. He responded. Something that
he heard made him stop. And what was it that he heard?
Jesus, thou son of David, Have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still. A man by the name of Jairus had
come to the Lord and said, my daughter's dying, would you come
and heal her? And he said, I'll go and heal her. And so he's
on his way to that village where that little girl lived. And the
scripture says he was being thronged by many people. Many people were
touching him. Many people were coming into contact with him,
thronging him. I guess they were excited at
the thought. They knew he was going to heal this little girl
and they wanted to see it. They were excited about it. He
was thronged by the crowd. But all of a sudden, as he moved
through that crowd with many people thronging him, he stopped
and he said, someone touched me. His disciples said, Master,
the crab's thrown you. You're being touched by, why
are you saying somebody touched me? But he said, I, but he said,
I perceive that virtue saving power has come out of me. You
see, somebody came through that throng who was different than
the rest. It was a woman with an issue of blood. She'd been
to many physicians and she'd suffered many things and she
didn't get better, she grew worse. So she comes in the crowd with
this thought, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, that's
all it'll take. If I can just touch the hem of
his garment, I'll be made whole. And she came through and she
touched him. And he responded to her, didn't he? He said, woman,
Thy faith hath saved thee. What was her faith? She knew
if she could just touch the hem, the bottom of his garment, she'd
be whole. What avails with God? What does
he respond to? What gets his attention? What
does he hear? You know, there's a lot of religious
noise going on. There's a lot of preaching going
on. He doesn't hear it. There's a lot of supposed praying
going on. He doesn't hear it. People having
their devotions and their religion and he pays no attention. What
is it that avails with God? Now the first thing we read about
in verse six is for in Jesus Christ. Now here is where we
begin. And here's where we end. In Jesus
Christ. A person. and a place. In Jesus Christ, there's the
person. In Jesus Christ, there's the place. A person and a place. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. Now, we're in a room. There's people in this room.
Anybody that's outside of this room is not in this room. In
Jesus Christ. In the ark. There were eight
people in the ark. Nobody else was. Everybody else
was outside of the ark. What about the houses with the
blood over the door? There were people in the houses.
They were saved. Those outside of the house were
destroyed in Jesus Christ. Let me read just a volley of
scriptures. Colossians 2, 9 says, in him,
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, and
you are complete. in Him. He hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. According
as He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the
world, He has made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. That means if I'm in Him, I have
no sin. In Him, in whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge, being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 8.1, there is now therefore
no condemnation. to them that are in Christ Jesus. Don't you want to be in Him? We read of, if any man be in
Christ, he's a new creature, a new creation. Got to be in
Christ to be a new creation. We read of the eternal purpose,
which God purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. All of God's
purpose is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. All the promises of God in Him
are yay and amen. They're sure, not yes and no. They're all yay and they're all
amen. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. We even read
blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. And we read of the
dead in Christ. Is it any wonder that Paul cried,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. That's why I want to be found.
God comes looking for me. One place I want to be found.
in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that all that God sees is Jesus
Christ and nothing else. Is that your desire? Is that
the desire of your heart? Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in him. The person, Jesus Christ, the
place in Jesus Christ, all of God's salvation is holy and entirely
in the Lord Jesus Christ. If I'm in Him, I have all God's
pleasure. God's pleased with me. God looks
at me and He sees nothing but that which is holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. In the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. For in Jesus Christ. Now, before he tells us what
avails or prevails with God, he tells us what does not avail
or prevail with God. Look in verse six, for in Jesus
Christ, neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision. And here's something that does
not avail with God, circumcision. Now, you know what circumcision
means. It was a sign of the old covenant. Turn with me for a moment to
Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. Beginning in verse one, And certain
men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren and said,
except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot
be saved. Now they didn't deny salvation
through Christ, but they said you also need to be circumcised. Go on reading. When therefore
Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with
them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain of them
should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about
this question. Look down in verse six. And the
apostles and elders came together for to consider the matter. And
when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them,
men and brethren, You know how that a good while ago, God made
choice among us that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the
word of the gospel and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did
unto us. And He put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt ye God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we are able to bear? Why would you want to put
them under circumcision? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they."
Now, turn back to our text, Galatians chapter 6. Verse 1, or Galatians 5, I'm
sorry, verse 1. Now, you stand fast therefore in the
liberty. What's liberty? Freedom. Freedom
means you don't owe anything. It means you're debt free. It
means you get to do what you want to do. That's what freedom
means. You stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Now circumcision, he's not just
talking about the physical act of circumcision. If he was talking
about the physical act of circumcision, that means I wouldn't be saved
if I'm circumcised. So you know that's not what he's
talking about as far as just having the physical act. He's talking
about circumcision as representing law. Yes, you're saved by Christ
and you also need to be circumcised, you need to be baptized, you
need to whatever, fill in the blank, you need to do this. Now
understand this, regarding this thing of salvation, if I put
works, and that's what circumcision represents is works, if I put
works in the beginning, the middle, or the end of salvation, I make
the whole thing of works and Christ will profit me nothing. If I begin my salvation with
an act of my will, I decided to let God save me. I decided
to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. But
as an act of my will, I make what He did work for me. That's
salvation by works. If you go that direction, you
can forget Christ. He won't have anything to do
with you. He won't. It's over. If I put works in
the middle, well, I'm saved by grace, but I make myself more
holy by my works. These works of obedience I do
make me more pleasing to God and more acceptable to God. After
all, good works are better than bad works, and I'm doing things
that are making me more sanctified, more holy. That's works. You
can forget Christ. Christ shall profit you nothing. Somebody else brings in works
in the back door at the end. Well, by your works, true salvation's
all by grace, but you'll be rewarded a higher position in heaven if
you have good works to accompany, and where you'll be in heaven
will be dependent upon your works here on earth. That's works too. If you go with works and salvation,
if any part of salvation is dependent upon you, Christ will profit
you nothing. It's either 100% works or it's
100% grace. You believe that? 100% works or 100% grace. Verse 2, Behold, I, Paul, say
unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, 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 have
fallen from grace. Now, how many times have we heard
that term, fallen from grace? It's used a lot. Fell from grace. Fell from grace. And perhaps
someone here would have some kind of horrible moral failure. God forbid that it happened.
Hope it doesn't. But somebody here has some moral
failure. And somebody says, well, they've
fallen from grace. No, they haven't. You haven't. Grace is their only
hope. Grace is their only hope. Fallen
from grace. You've fallen from grace when
you do the law route. How many times even in our experience,
and this is so scary, scary to me, in my experience, when we
sin, When we see something in ourselves that's wrong, first
thing we'll do is go back to the law to try to make up for
it. That's wrong. That's contrary to the grace
of God. If we go the law route, you've
fallen from grace. Verse five, for we through the
spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ, Circumcision
does not avail a thing. We're waiting for the hope of
righteousness by faith. But you know what else doesn't
avail? And this is just as important. Listen real carefully. No, circumcision
doesn't avail anything. Your works, they avail nothing.
And if you go that route, you can forget Christ. But what else
doesn't avail anything is uncircumcision. Now, what's that mean? Well,
somebody says, I don't believe in free will.
I'm no Arminian. I believe the doctrines of grace.
I go to a church where the doctrines of grace are preached. I wouldn't
go anywhere else. I'm no Arminian. I believe sovereign
grace. How much will that avail with
God? Absolutely not a thing. I don't believe in circumcision.
Congratulations, you ought not, but that avails nothing with
God. It really doesn't. I'm sound. Well, you're not near
as sound as you think you are. You wouldn't say that. Here's what avails with God.
Verse 6, For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything,
nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by love. What avails with God? Faith. Which worketh by love. That's what avails with God.
Faith. Like the cry of Bartimaeus availed
with Christ. He stood still. He heard him. He responded to him. And he healed
him. Faith avails and has strength
with God. Now listen to this statement.
Faith puts the burden of salvation entirely on the Lord. That's what faith does. Casting
all your care upon Him. Not 99% of it, but all of it. Faith puts the entire burden
of salvation on the Lord. I don't want to have any of it.
I really don't. I want it all to be on Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Lord, I'm relying 100% upon the
Lord Jesus Christ as all I need. Now you said believe on Him and
you'll be saved. I'm believing on Him. Save me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, I'm calling on your name.
I'm calling on who you are. Save me. That leper came up to
Christ and he said, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. Notice all the burden of salvation
was put on the Lord. If you will, I can't do anything.
If you will, you can make me clean. But if you won't, I'll
remain filthy forever and end up in hell, and I sure don't
want that. Oh, if you will, you can make me clean. What about that woman? with the
demon-possessed daughter. Jesus, our son of David, have
mercy on me, for my daughter is possessed with the devil,
grievously vexed with the devil. She came up crying to the Lord.
The Lord didn't answer. He remained silent. But did she
shut up? No, she continued crying. Have
mercy on me, have mercy on me. And he said, it's not right to
take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. Well, I've only
come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I didn't come
to save everybody. You know, the Lord says that I did not
come to save everybody. How did she respond? The scripture
says she worshiped him. She worshipped Him. You see,
you realize that if the Lord passed you by, just and holy
is His name. Amen to that. But I sure don't want to be passed
by. I know you only came for a specific
people, but oh, I want to be one of them. She continued crying.
You see, faith is a crying grace. It never shuts up. He said, it's
not right to take the children's bread to cast to dogs. She said,
that's the truth, Lord. But I'm not claiming to be a
child. I don't, I'll take a place with
the dogs, with the children eating the crumbs that fall from the
table. I'm not looking for a place setting, but I'd sure be grateful
for any crumbs of mercy that fall my way. And the Lord said,
oh woman, great is your faith. You see, that's what the Lord
responds to. He responds to faith. He gives the faith and he responds
to it. Well, what is faith? It's very
simple. It's believing what God says. You will not get a better definition
of faith than that. It's believing what God says. Abraham, look at the stars. Can
you count them? No. So shall your seed be. Now, when God said that to Abraham,
could he see any descendants? No. Sarah had been bare, and
she'd never had any children. You know what the scripture says
about Abraham? He believed God. He believed
what God said, and it was counted to him for righteousness. You see, faith works. Works don't work. Turn with me
to Romans 9 for a moment. Verse 30. What shall we say then that the
Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained
to righteousness? even the righteousness which
is of faith. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness,
wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were
by the works of the law. They stumbled at that stumbling
stone. See, works don't work. They don't work. Faith does. Faith worketh. It avails with
God. God hears. God responds. God saves. Thy faith hath saved
thee. How many times does the Lord
say that? Thy faith hath saved thee. Somebody says, no, wait
a minute. It's not your faith that saves you. I mean, well, if the Lord
said it that way at that time, that's a good way to say it.
Whatever the Lord says is good. And he said, thy faith hath saved
thee. Faith. Turn with me for a moment
to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Here is what I believe is the
most complete definition of what the Bible has to say about faith
in all of the Word of God. Verse 12 of 2 Timothy chapter
1. for the which cause I also suffer
these things because of my preaching of the gospel nevertheless I'm
not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day. Faith, the faith of God's elect,
saving faith, that which He gives all of His children, that which
all the children practice, this thing of faith that He responds
to, faith is made of these three things. First, knowledge. I know whom I have believed. You cannot believe what you do
not know. I've heard people say, well,
their head's messed up, but their heart's right. That's foolishness.
That's all that is. You cannot believe what you do
not know. I believe God is. I know He is. I know He's sovereign.
I know the Bible's the Word of God. I know that Christ's righteousness
is the only righteousness. I know that I'm a sinner. I know
that Christ is the Son of God. I know whom. Somebody says, I know what I
believe. I know you do, but I know whom I believe. There's all the
difference in the world. You see, when you know the who,
everything else is determined. You can't believe the who and
not believe the what, but you can believe the what and know
nothing about the who. There's a big difference. I know
whom I have believed. You gotta begin with knowledge. You cannot believe what you do
not know. But along with knowledge, there
is also persuasion. Look what he says. I know whom
I have believed, and I'm persuaded. I really believe that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. You
really believe he's able. Now, do you believe I'm able to pick
up that glass of water? Do you believe that I'm able
to do that? Of course you do. There, I did it. Picked it up. Do you believe I'm able to pick
up that piano and hold it over my head? No, you don't believe
that. What do you believe regarding
his ability? 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 also to perform. Those blind men came up to the
Lord, and the Lord asked them this question. Do you believe
that I am able to do this? You know what their answer was?
Yeah, Lord. We believe. That's what faith
is. It's not just knowledge. I mean, you know stuff and not
believe it. There's belief. There's persuasion. I'm persuaded
he's able. But did you know that you can
have knowledge and you can have persuasion without having saving
faith? Look what it says in verse 12.
For the witch cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm
not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him. against that day. Committal. Usually when people
think of commitment, they think of how committed they are, how
faithful they are, how much they do and so on. And I wouldn't
take away from the importance of that. But that's not what
this commitment is he's talking about. Here's the commitment
that he's talking about. You're in a building on the fifth
floor, it's on fire, and you know that there's a bunch of
firemen down there. What is that thing, what is it, Mitch, you
all, the circle thing, you know, you catch people and they jump
out the window, what's it called? Just a net, okay, a net. Good. I thought it would be something
more complicated than that. You know, they got a net out
there. They got a net out there. The fire is coming. You feel
the fire. And you know that those firemen
are down there. You begin with knowledge. You
know they're down there. And you believe that they're
able to catch you. There's 10 of them. They can
hold up the weight. They're holding that big net for you to jump
out five stories down. You believe they're able to catch
you. But you know, you can still perish in the fire. you have
to jump out the window and commit. All your hope, all of it, is
in them catching you. You don't believe you can flap
your arms and you don't have anything to do with this. If
they don't catch you, you'll be dead. But all of your hope
is in them catching you and you commit to the air. You jump out
the window and you commit. If they catch you, you'll be
saved. I've jumped out the window. If
Christ catches me, I'll be saved. If He does it all, I'll be saved. I've committed my salvation to
Him. I'm not looking anywhere else.
I'm not looking to myself. I'm not looking to you. I'm looking
to Him. That's commitment. You know,
believing in works is a failure to commit. You got an ace in
the hole somewhere. Well, if that doesn't work, this
will work. No, you commit everything regarding the salvation of your
soul to Him. Now, why does faith avail with
God? When you have faith, you've committed
the salvation of your soul to Him. You're relying on Him only. You're relying on Him for righteousness. You're relying on Him for your
sin payment. You're relying on Him to give
you life. You're relying on Him to give you faith. You come to
Him for the faith. You're relying on Him to cause
you to persevere. You know the only way you'll
persevere is if He causes you to by invincible, irresistible
grace. You're relying on Him for that.
You're relying on Him when you stand before God in judgment
for Him to represent you. I'm counting on Him to answer
for me. When my name is called, I'm counting
on Him only. Now why does this thing of faith
avail with God? Why does it have such power with
God so that the Lord Jesus Christ stopped when he was on the road
to Jerusalem to hear the cry of the poor blind man? What is
it about faith? Why does it avail with God? Well,
let me give you three reasons. Paul said in Romans 4.16, therefore
it is a faith that it might be by grace. That's why. That makes salvation
all by grace. Not your doing, but His doing. All by grace. That's the only way it can all
be of grace. Therefore, it's a faith that it might be by grace
to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed. The
only way it's going to be sure is if it's by grace. But here's
a second reason that God has put his mark of approval. Well,
actually, faith is his work. Faith is his work. He gives you
the... But here's the second reason. Listen to this scripture.
For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You see, faith excludes human
boasting. There's no reason for boasting
He did it all. Where is boasting? It's excluded. So, faith is that it might be
by grace. Faith is that all boasting might
be excluded. But here's what I like the best.
Faith is so suitable for the sinner. Do you find this suitable? To
him that worketh not, but believeth, on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness." Now that's a gospel for me. Someone
who works not, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly. Now faith works. On the one hand, it doesn't work,
but on the other hand, it works mightily. Now let me give you
an example of this. God has promised that the Messiah
will come through Isaac. That's God's promise. God says,
take Isaac, the one I've promised the Messiah to come through,
your only son, the one you love, you take him, And you offer him
up as a burnt offering to me. You cut his throat and put him
on the, catch him on fire and offer him up as a burnt offering
to me. And the mountain I'll tell you
of. Now, what if Abraham would have said, I can't do that because
then God's promise would not take place. If I kill Isaac,
then who's the Messiah going to come through? Why God's word
wouldn't come true. I mean, I know God said that,
but it wouldn't happen if I did that. You know what Abraham would
have proved by that? That he didn't believe the word
of God. He proved he believed the word of God when he took
up the knife to slay his son, believing that God would raise
him from the dead. That's what Hebrews says. He
believed that God would raise him from the dead. Now you look
at the mighty works of faith that enabled Abraham to do something
like that. Faith works. And faith works
by love. You cannot believe on Jesus Christ
the Lord and not love Him. It's impossible. If you believe
on Christ, you must love Him. Faith does not work by law. It's not spurned by fear, or
guilt, or hope for reward, or fear of punishment. It works
by love. Faith worketh by love. We love Him. Because He first
loved us. But we love Him. The love of Christ constrains
us. Now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three. But the greatest of these is
love. Now what is it that will make a man deny himself. That's a hard thing to do, isn't
it? Deny self? What is it that will make a man
deny himself and to take up his cross, the confession of the
Lord Jesus Christ and all the problems that are associated
with it? and follow, pursue the Lord Jesus Christ wherever he
goes. What is it that'll make a man deny himself, take up his
cross, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ? He loves him. He loves
him. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I love everything about him.
I love His way of saving. I love His way of saving by grace.
I love His way of saving through faith. I love the fact that He
causes me to continue. And I see His loveliness without
regard to me. And this is how lovely that I
see the Lord Jesus Christ. And every believer will feel
this way. If I ended up being sent to hell,
I'd have this one consolation. He is altogether lovely. In Christ Jesus, circumcision
avails nothing, nor uncircumcision, that avail anything either, but
faith, which worketh by love. Let's pray.