Look in Galatians chapter 2. One chapter back from where we
were this morning. I want us to begin here in verse
11. Let me say this. The Apostle
Paul up until this time had been defended his apostleship, his
authority as an apostle. He starts that way in verse 1,
called an apostle, not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus
Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. He's
not the apostle of man, neither by man. Man didn't call him,
and man didn't teach him. He's an apostle of Christ, called
to be an apostle of Christ. And he tells us here in chapter
1 when God had revealed Christ to him, he says in verse 17,
Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before
me, but I went unto Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then
after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode
with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw
I none, except James the Lord's brother. He said when the Lord
Saved me. He said, I never went up to Jerusalem.
And there's a reason he didn't do that. He didn't need to learn
anything from Peter or John or James or any other of the apostles.
He received all that he knew by direct revelation. Either
God taught him directly by revelation or he taught him from the Old
Testament scripture. And I love what Paul says here
in chapter two. And if you remember, he's defending
his apostleship. I imagine what happened was that
there were people, self-righteous, legalistic Jews, were following
Paul around. He'd go preach at a congregation
and they'd follow him there. And what they would come down
and say, either these two things, what I get from this epistle,
they would say, one, Paul didn't tell you the whole story. He
didn't preach the whole gospel to you. And if he was here now,
he would tell you there's more than just Christ. He would tell
you now how to live and go back to the law of Moses and so on.
And when they found out that didn't work, they said, well,
who is he anyway? Who is he anyway? He wasn't up
in Jerusalem. He wasn't one of the original
apostles. So he winds up here defending his apostleship. And
I love the way he does it in chapter 2. He tells us here in
chapter 2 that there are men come in unaware to spy out our
liberty which we have in Christ. And he tells us here in verse
5, to whom we gave place, chapter 2 verse 5, to whom we gave place
by subjection. We didn't submit to them, he
says, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you. But of these who seem to be somewhat,
whatever they were, It makes no matter to me. He said, I don't
care who they were, who they claim to be, whether they were
apostles or not. He said, I don't care. God accepts
nobody's person. God accepts nobody's person.
For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to
me. And boy, he give you and I, us
simple people, us common people, he give us reason to say we don't
have to listen to anybody. I don't care what kind of initials
they have in following their name. I don't care how well educated,
how well known they are, how rich and famous they may be.
You and I have the gospel plainly preached unto us in His Word. And I don't care who they are.
It makes no difference. It makes no difference. And you
know something? When God teaches us His gospel
from His Word, we're not subjective. We won't subject our liberty
to anybody. I don't care who they are. I
don't care who they are. I love the way Paul says that.
I don't care who they are, he says. I don't care who they are.
It's a wonderful thing to have the gospel written to us in God's
Word that we may know it for ourselves. And then, in the light
of this, he comes here in verse 11 now, and he tells about Peter
falling. when Peter came to Antioch, here
in verse 11, when Peter was come to Antioch, that's that place
just north of Jerusalem. Most of them, the way I understand
it, at least a bunch of them were Gentile believers. And Peter
left Jerusalem and came up north to Antioch. And Paul says here
in verse 11 of chapter 2, when he was come to Antioch, I withstood
him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before that
certain, certain Jews came down from James, there at Jerusalem.
Peter did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew
and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews, dissembled,
they separated themselves likewise, insomuch that even Barnabas was
carried away with their dissimulation, their hypocrisy. But when I saw
that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the
gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If you, being a Jew,
live after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews,
why are you compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who
are Jews by nature are not sinners of the Gentiles. The whole problem
here with these Galatian believers, they were justified by faith
in Christ. They had received the gospel.
They were justified by faith in Christ. But their problem
was, were they to live by faith in Christ? Or was it necessary
now to command them to keep the law of Moses? And here he mainly
deals with the ceremonial law. They had been justified by faith.
Now should they be circumcised? Should they keep these holy days
and feast days and not eat certain meats and not have certain company
like the Jews? That was the whole controversy
with the Gentile believers here in Antioch. Let me give you an
overview here of verse 11 that I read to you. There was a time
when I didn't really understand this passage, what it was all
about. But let me give you just a little
overview here of what this means. Peter was set in here at Antioch.
It was a large congregation. It was the first Gentile church
that sent out missionaries that we know of. They sent out Paul
and Barnabas. It was a large congregation.
They were eating a meal. And Peter and some other Jews
were set in keeping company with these Gentiles. Eating pork,
I would imagine. Eating other things and drinking
things that you weren't allowed to eat if you were a Jew. You
weren't allowed to keep company with Gentiles if you were a Jew. The law forbid that. Here Peter
and these other Jews and Barnabas was there eating with the Gentiles,
enjoying themselves, having sweet fellowship. And Peter looked
off into a distance and he said, who's those fellows coming? And
somebody said, well, that's those guys from up in Jerusalem. And
Peter thought, oh, no. When they get here and see me
eating this pork, And they see me sitting among you Gentiles.
He said, man, they're going to skin me alive. So what he does,
he gets up and separates himself. Now, he knew better than this.
This is why Paul calls it hypocrisy. God had taught him better than
this. Peter, don't you call that which I've cleansed common or
unclean. And when he went down to preach
to Cornelius, he stayed down there for days with those Gentiles
and he ate Stuff that the law forbid him to eat. But here,
because he got afraid, he separated himself from them. Well, what
was the problem with that? He was preaching a message to
them. And his message was contradictory to what he had told them before.
He had sent a letter, remember Acts 15, and says it wasn't necessary
for you guys to keep the law of Moses. You're not bound by
all of these rules and regulations and rights. But now by his actions,
what he's saying unto them, fellas, I've made a mistake here. I shouldn't
be eating these things. I shouldn't be a fellowship with
you folks. And what I'm going to do, I'm going to correct myself
and separate myself and not eat any more of your meat. And what
you need to do is follow me. You need to be converted to my
lifestyle. to the Jewish lifestyle. That
was awful hypocrisy, wasn't it? And so strong was his actions
that not only those other Jews, but Barnabas got caught up in
this hypocrisy, in this assimilation. Peter's actions were speaking
louder than his words. You know what? He could not have
set Barnabas down and talked to him and convinced him to do
what he did. If he had said, Barnabas, listen,
this is not right for you and me to be here. We shouldn't be
eating this. We shouldn't be a fellowship
with these Gentile believers. What we need to do is separate
ourselves. You know what Barnabas said? Peter, that's awful. God's
taught you to be better than that. He could not have convinced
these brethren by his words But I'm telling you, sometimes action
speaks a lot louder than our words. Did you know that? What
we can't teach people with our words, we can teach them with
our action. And something else I saw here
and I thought about as I read this, you never get too big to
fall in. You never get too big to fall
in. Here's an apostle. And up here in verse 9, you know
what Paul called Peter? He says He's like a pillar. He's
like a pillar. He's holding up the churches
by His truth, but now He's like water in Him, unstable as He
can be. He falls. He falls. And sometimes
we can fall when we least expect it. I bet you when Peter got
up this morning and left his couch, and went down there to
fellowship with these believers, he never thought that this would
be the day and the place that he would fall at a fellowship
dinner? Of all places. Boy, we can fall
when we least expect it. Do you know that? Old John Bunyan
used to teach and he said, don't you leave your house until you've
seen the face of God. Don't see another man's face
until you've seen God's face in prayer that morning. Because
when we least expect it, Here was Peter, this great apostle,
and before this day was over, it was said he walked not uprightly
according to the truth of the gospel. There's two ways that
we teach people. We teach them by our words, and
we teach them by our actions. Peter taught good doctrine by
his words. He taught bad doctrine by his
actions. The Lord Jesus said about the
scribes and the Pharisees, He said, they sit in Moses' seat.
All that they command you to observe, that observe and do. But he said, don't you do after
their actions, because they say and they do not. If you and I
want people to be faithful, you know how you teach people to
be faithful. Be faithful yourself. You want people around you to
be gracious, then be gracious yourself. You want people to
be merciful? Be merciful yourself. That's
the way we teach people, isn't it? And you know, we can build
up by our doctrine, by the truth that we teach. And boy, just
one time, by bad actions, we can tear down everything. Isn't
that so? Isn't that so? So that's what
happened here through verses 11 through verse 13. And that's
why Paul rebuked Peter. And here in verse 14, But when
I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the
gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou being a Jew,
live after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews,
why are you compelling by your actions, in your example, Why
are you compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Well, how did the Jews live?
Man, they had a very rigid lifestyle. You could tell a Jew, if you
just watched them a while, when they were born, it began at the
birth. When they were born, the parents
had to take them up to the temple the eighth day and circumcise
them. They offered sacrifices for them. They began to teach
them early in life that they weren't allowed to eat certain
meats. They were always observing these rites and these ceremonies.
They couldn't go into certain company. They had a very, very
rigid lifestyle. And they had so many rules that
Peter said this about it. It's a yoke which neither we
nor our fathers were able to bear. And all of these rites and these
ceremonies and rules, they were taught, ground into these Jews
from their birth. It becomes second nature to them
to do these things. And that's why he says here in
verse 15, we who are Jews by nature and not sinners are the
Gentiles. The Gentiles never observed these
laws. They never had these rites. They
never obeyed Moses and his ceremonial law. Now, what does the law of
Moses, this moral law or the ceremonial law, have to do with
a sinner being justified? That's Paul's subject. It's not
just doctrine, but he's going to illustrate to us. What does
the law of Moses... I mean, you talk about the ceremonial
law, you talk about the moral law. We call them the Ten Commandments.
What does that have to do with a sinner being justified before
God? Nothing. Nothing. Look what he says here in verse
16. Look how plainly he says this. Knowing that a man, Jew
or Gentile, is not justified by the works of the law, but
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 in his sight." Now look at this verse. This is so wonderful. I was reading
Edgar Andrews. He has a commentary on this verse. He offered these two things concerning
verse 16. We are justified by faith in
Christ. That is, we believe in Him. We
trust Him. Everything that He is and has
done on behalf of sinners, we believe in. When He gives us the testimony,
we receive it into our hearts. We believe. That's one way to
look at this when He says we have believed in Christ that
we might be justified. But another way is this. Look
how He says this. Even we have believed in Christ
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. What does
that mean? Well, some say one thing, some
say another, but Edgar Andrews had something very interesting
to say on this, and he said it's this, we're justified by the
faithfulness of Christ. And he said this word faith here
can be translated faithfulness. We're justified by believing
in Christ, but we're justified also by the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. Hold that passage and look over
here in Hebrews. Look over here in Hebrews chapter
3. And look in verse 1. Hebrews
chapter 3 and verse 1. Some places concerning the faithfulness
of Christ. Our faith in His faithfulness.
Look in chapter 3 of Hebrews. Look in verse 1. Wherefore, holy
brethren, for takers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession, Jesus Christ." We confess Him
to be the Christ, the Son of God. And look in verse 2, "...who
was faithful to Him that appointed Him." He was faithful. What does the faithfulness of
Christ have to do with our being justified? It has everything,
doesn't it? And look in chapter 2 of Hebrews,
and look in verse 17. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brother, that he might be a faithful
and a merciful and faithful high priest, look at this, in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. God sent him. God sent him to
make reconciliation for our sin. And in his faithfulness to God,
he did that. And that is what justifies us. We are justified by the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to Psalms 89.1. I will
sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I
make known thy faithfulness to all generations. His faithfulness. How does His faithfulness justify
everything that He did before God? He did on our behalf. And
He did it so faithfully. So obediently. And that's what
justifies us. It had to be done. We couldn't
do it as we said this morning. But He did. He did. And our faith
in Him justifies us. Look back in Galatians chapter
2. And look in verse 17. This is very interesting. Galatians
chapter 2 and verse 17. Remember, Paul is still talking
here to Peter. He has this conversation. Peter
is sitting there with his head bowed and his eyes full of tears
because he is filled with shame. He is heartbroken that he has
denied the gospel by his action. And Paul is still talking to
him. Here is what he said in verse 17. But if Peter while
me and you and everybody around you seeks to be justified by
Christ. Don't you love that? Don't you
love that? We seek to be justified by Christ. That's the way we're seeking
to get into heaven, by Christ. That's the way we're seeking
acceptance with God, being saved is by Christ. Ain't no other
name, no other way, by Christ. Look at this, if while we seek
to be justified by Christ, We ourselves are also found sinners. Is therefore Christ the minister
of sin? What in the world does he mean
by that? Well, he means this. He said, Peter, men, you are
seeking to be justified by Christ. And look at us. We're sinners. Sinners against what? We're sinners
against the law. Weren't they sinners against
the law? You read here in chapter 2 and verse 3. Look at this. Chapter 2 and verse 3. Look here. Paul had sinned against the law. Look here what he says in verse
3. But neither Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled
to be circumcised. Paul said, I took Titus and I
refused to let them circumcise him. He never was circumcised. Isn't that a breaking of the
law? Well, sure it is. Didn't God command Moses to circumcise
his son and was angry at Moses when he didn't do it? He commanded
them to be circumcised. If you're going to keep the law,
you had to be circumcised. And here Paul says he ain't going
to circumcise him. Was he not a sinner then against
the law? Yes, he was. And Peter, when
he sat and ate with the Gentiles and ate things that he wasn't
allowed to eat, wasn't he a sinner against the law? What he's saying
here, Peter, Since you and I are obviously sinning against the
ceremonial law of Moses, has Christ led us to do that? Yes, He has. Yes, He has. The Lord Jesus teaches men to
forsake the law and cleave to Him to be justified. Does He
not? We can't keep the law anyway.
And it was never in God's intentions to justify us by keeping the
law. So the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to forsake the law
and plead to Him to be justified. Well, is Christ teaching us to
sin then? That's what Paul is saying. No,
He's not. No, He's not. That's not a sin
to forsake Moses and to be saved by Christ, is it? That's what
the Jews' whole problem was. They said, you're teaching us
to just throw away the law and come to Christ. And we don't
want to be Christ's disciples. We want to cleave to Moses. We're
Moses' disciples. But if you don't forsake Moses
and come to Christ by faith, Moses himself is going to accuse
you. He's going to judge you. Well,
here's the problem that the Jews have. You just expect us to turn
our back upon Moses. You expect us to turn our back
on circumcision and these holy days and Sabbath days and ceremonies. God's taught us all through the
Old Testament. And now you're telling us that
this is over with and we must be saved by Jesus Christ. He
said, that's what I'm telling you. And it's Christ himself
that led these Jews to do that. Peter, you and I are found sinners
against the law. Is Christ, therefore, the minister
of sin? Why, no. Why, no. Because he's teaching
us this is the only way for us to be saved. But you know it's
not an unjust way, is it? It's not a dishonorable way.
It's not abusive to the law. It's not a discredit to the law
to turn from it to Christ to be saved because Christ has already
honored the law. When we seek to be saved by the
law, it's us that dishonors the law. Now verse 18. Look in verse 18.
For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself
a transgressor. Paul is saying here, when I cease
to trust my own righteousness and believe in Christ for my
righteousness, then I'm right. I'm justified. When I seek to
be justified by Christ, I'm really justified. When I'm justified
by faith in Christ alone without the deeds of these laws, when
I quit observing the ceremonial law, I've come out of that and
I've sought to be justified by Christ alone. He said, that's
when I'm right with God. That's when God is pleased with
me. That's when God accepts me. Now, he says here in verse 18,
he said, now, if after coming to Christ and believing in Christ
and being justified by Christ, now, if I turn back to the law
and begin to build up again those things which I destroyed, then
is when I'm a transgressor. Why did he destroy? Philippians 3 tells us that.
He said, man, I was a Pharisee of the Pharisee. I was circumcised. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
Touching the law, a Pharisee. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, I was blameless. Man, he built a big house, pretty
house, hadn't he? But then he saw that salvation
was in Christ, and he tucked that house down. He took his
sledgehammer and he just beat the walls down and it collapsed. He said, I count it done that
I may win Christ. And now here, he says, if I turn
now after coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, after believing
on Christ to be justified, and I start building up that house
again, he said, that's when I become a transgressor. That's when I'm
a transgressor. If the law was a believer's rule
of life, well, right here would have been a good place for Paul
to have inserted that. Do you know when he said that
we're justified by faith in Christ without the deeds of the law?
And if I start building up my works again, and start teaching
circumcision again, and start attending these rites and ceremonies,
I start building this righteousness on my own back up. I'm a transgressor. Wouldn't it have been a good
place if the law was the believer's rule of life, where Paul said,
now wait a minute, brother. I don't want you to carry this
too far now. You know, this faith business now has its limits.
The law is good. And really, we ought to keep
it. We ought to mix them up together. And don't just start talking
bad about the law now, because it's a good thing. So let's try
to mix Christ with Moses and intertwine them all. He didn't
say that, did he? He said right to the opposite. He said, I have
to be justified by Christ, and you destroyed that way of salvation. And you turn from that, from
Christ to that again and try to mix them up. He said, you're
worse transgressor than ever then. I think these Jews had to be
awful offended in Paul. And you know, I can understand
this. The way he started talking about
the ceremony of the Law of Moses. He had some awful, he set it
forth in an awful, awful light. Listen to what he says about
it. In chapter 4, in verse 9, he said, How turn you again to
the weak and beggarly elements. Now, Paul, wait a minute. You're
calling circumcision, you're calling the Sabbath day, you're
calling the feast days, you're calling the new moons, and you're
talking about the day of... You're telling me the priesthood
and the temple, you're calling these things weak and beggarly? Don't you think that offended
those folks? Listen to what else he said about
it in Galatians chapter 5 verse 1. Stand fast, therefore, in
the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, and don't
be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Listen to 2 Corinthians 3. Paul
says there, and you can read this for yourself, he said, the
letter killeth. He said it's a ministration of
death and a ministration of condemnation. The moral law of Moses, you know
what it does? It kills you. It condemns you. He said, The law worketh wrath,
it gendereth to bondage, it gives the knowledge of sin, and all
it's fit for is a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. And when it's done that, That's
all it can do. When the law humbles us, and
as it humbles us, that's all it can do. It has nothing else
that it can do. No more use. No more use. But what's our relationship to
the law then? I don't care, brethren, if you're
talking about the moral law or if you're talking about the ceremony
law. What is our relationship as believers in Christ to the
law? Well, look in verse 19. He's
going to tell us. Look in verse 19 of chapter 2. Not chapter 2 in verse
24. No, this is 19. I've got the wrong chapter. Look
in verse 19 of chapter 2. Look at this. through the law,
am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I, through the
law, through the knowledge of the law, I am dead to the law. How does the law kill us? The
knowledge of sin. Does it not? Remember Paul said,
I was alive without the law once. At least I thought I was. I rejoiced
in my works, I rejoiced in my abilities, self-salvation. But
he said, when the commandment came, when it came to my conscience
in all of its light, all of its holiness, its spirituality, it
came to me, sin revived in me, and I died. And the law which
is good, it wrought in me all manner of lusts. That's what
the law does, isn't it? It comes to our hearts and shows
us sin. It exposes the sin that was always
there, but we didn't even know it. Remember that old song? Signs, signs, everywhere signs. And the fellow got so tired of
hearing them. Had signs, stay off the grass. Had signs, don't
enter this doorway. Signs, signs, everywhere signs. Don't do this and don't do that.
That's what the law does. Don't you do this? You do that. Then we find out we don't do
it. We find out we do do it. And all our not doing is seeing,
and all our doing is seeing. The law revives this. And what
happens? It kills us to self-salvation. We just die. I, through the knowledge
of the law, am dead to the law. Why? That I might live unto God. We'll never live to God. We'll
never love Him and worship Him and delight in Him or His law
until we become dead to self-salvation. That's what Paul is saying. The
Jews had a saying, those who keep the law live to God. Paul
says it right the opposite. He said those who are dead to
the law, they live unto God. Well then, that brings up a question,
doesn't it? That brings up a question. How
does a believer live then? What's his rule of his life? I'd like to know that, wouldn't
you? If I can't look to the ceremonial law as my rule, if I can't look
to the moral law as my rule, and I'll say this, I probably
ought to lighten up just a little bit on this. The moral law of
God is not the only rule. If it's a rule, here is the rule
that it is to show us our sin, to keep us humble, to keep the
old flesh in check. And it's shameful enough to think
that the law has to come to me and say, you shall not steal.
I ain't allowed to steal your gift, Torrance Wayne. I'm not
allowed to steal anything that's yours. Not your reputation. Not
your good name. I ain't allowed to commit adultery
with this woman. That's Clarence's wife. I'm not even allowed to
think about it. If this law is to be used to
keep this old man in check and humiliate and humble him, all
right, boy, I'll have the law then as a rule of law. But I
tell you what, that law ain't going to help me close to God.
When I look at it and think I'm keeping it, I'm just deceiving
myself. If I look at it and it shows
me my sins and humbles me and sends me to Christ the Savior,
that's wonderful. If we're going to use it like
that, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. But what is
our rule of life then? How do we live our everyday life?
Well, verse 20 tells us that. Look in verse 20. He tells us. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me, and the life which I now live in the flesh." Now, he's
not talking about justification here, is he? He's done well with
that, but he's going further now. He's talking about his daily
life that he lives in this world. Getting up in the morning, going
to work, supporting his family. Living a life in this world,
how do I live? By faith in the Son of God who
loved me and gave Himself for me. Isn't that a good rule? Faith? I've got a little comment here
from old William Huntington. I'm hesitant even to recommend
this book because it's so laborsome to get through. But he deals
with the believer's rule of life. And let me read you just a few
things he says about faith. He says, Paul says, he that cometh
to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. In the light of this, he says,
Faith is our rule of coming. How do we come to God? By the
works of the law or by faith? Faith is our rule of coming.
We have access, the Apostle says, by faith unto this grace wherein
we stand. Then faith is our rule of approach
unto God. The Apostle says that the just
shall live by faith. Then faith is the just man's
rule of life. for he lives by it. The Apostle
said we walk by faith, not by sight. Then faith is the rule
of our walk. The Apostle also says that thou
standest by faith. Then faith is the rule of the
believer's standing. Whatsoever you ask, believing,
you shall receive of him, Christ said. then faith is the rule
of that branch of worship wherein we ask and receive. By faith
in it, have this testimony, that he pleased God, but without faith
it is impossible to please him, then faith is the rule by which
God is pleased. That's a pretty good lie, ain't
it? By faith. Whatever is not of faith is sin.
then faith is the perfect rule of holiness. All that believe are justified
from all things, then faith is our rule of righteousness. It
is by faith we overcome the world to lay hold on eternal life.
It is by faith we overcome the world and lay hold on life. It
is the good fight of faith According to Paul, I have fought the good
fight of faith. I have finished my course. I
have kept the faith. Faith is our rule of warfare. And on and on he goes, page after
page, teaching us that the way to live our life is by faith. It's by faith. There are three
wonderful principles. When I think of a person's rule
of life, there's three wonderful principles that I love to think
about. And you know we want to live by principles, don't we?
When we're raising our children, we try to instill into them not
just do's and don'ts, but we try to instill principles. If
you can instill principles in your children, they can work
their way through these do's and don'ts. But if you try to
just instill in them, don't do this and do do that, when they
get out of way for me, they won't do right. They need principles. And there's three principles
that the Scripture teaches us to walk by, and one is faith. How does faith work upon the
heart? Acts 15 verse 9 says, He purifies our hearts by faith. I'm telling you what, you believe
God, It affects your heart. It will affect your whole attitude,
how you treat your family, how you work on your job. Look at
the saints of old, what they did because they believed God.
Noah built an ark, worked 120 years by faith, by faith. It had never rained. Abraham
left his father's house and his land and his possessions when
God called him through faith. Abel, poor guilty Abel, took
a lamb and put it between his guilt and a holy God and was
justified by faith. I tell you, faith will work on
our hearts. Those who say faith is not enough, I tell you, if
I was them, I'd reexamine my position. I want more, don't you? And then
there's that thing of love. Love. I think I said to you just
last week that where the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts, boy, there are things you just won't do. The love of
Christ. What does it do? It constrains
us. It constrained those Jews in
the early church to sell their property. and give everything
they have to the poor. The love of Christ has constrained
men and women to leave their country and go off into strange
land and risk their life and limbs just to help other people
and preach the gospel to them. The love of Christ constrains
us. Brothers and sisters, if the
love of Christ don't constrain us to abstain from certain evil
things and embrace good things, Moses ain't going to do it. Then there's hope. Oh my, what will hope do for
a man? It will make you let go of this world. Do you know that?
John said, He that hath this hope in him purified himself. He's got a hope beyond this life,
beyond this world. He has treasures laid up in heaven
untold for value and worth. And I'm telling you, in comparison
to that world that's to come, in comparison to be with Christ
whom He loves, this world is nothing. It's nothing. Fade,
fade each earthly joy. Jesus is mine. Christ is mine. He that hath this hope. And you
get these principles within the heart of faith and love and hope,
and see how they rule your life. See how they guide your life. God bless this Word. Let's pray.