Turning again in our Bible to
Galatians, the fifth chapter. Galatians, the fifth chapter.
Now, you just hold your Bible open there for just a moment,
and let's make these introductory remarks. Paul, having plainly
established that sinners are justified, cleared of all guilt
before the throne of God by the doing and dying of the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Christ alone, by His sovereign
grace alone. And Paul warns all who will hear
the truth of God not to be entangled with the yoke of bondage and
ceremony, rather resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, rather seeking
salvation by the blessed blood atonement of our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us here in verse 1,
that believers, having been set free by His marvelous, saving,
sovereign grace, we are to stand fast for that liberty, stand
fast for that freedom, stand fast for that faith that was
once delivered unto the saints. To stand fast. Consequences of
not doing so, He gives these judgment upon
those who think they can go it alone, or those who try to mix
works and grace. He said in verse 2, Christ shall
profit you nothing. He says in verse 4 that Christ
has become of no effect unto you. He says if you go that way,
in verse 3, that you are debted to do the whole law. And then he says in verse 4,
you have actually turned your back on Christ, spit in the face
of God Almighty, and you turned back to your own works, you departed
from the message of grace. You remember over in chapter
1 what he said, of those who come with another gospel, another
message, turn back over there to Galatians chapter 1. This
is the way that Paul starts with this warning. Galatians 1 verse
6, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is
not another. But there be some that would
trouble you and would pervert or change the gospel of Christ.
Now look at the consequence. Though we or an angel from heaven
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached,
let that man be cursed. Let that man be condemned. And
he said, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach
any other gospel unto you than that which you have received,
let that man be cut off. Let him be accursed. Now, this
is a warning that he gives us here. We are to remain steadfast. And I know that believers will.
Believers, having been saved by his grace, having been set
free, But having this blessed liberty we have in Christ Jesus,
believers do stand fast in Christ. They are determined to preach
the Lord Jesus Christ. They are determined, that is,
God's servants and His people are determined to hear no other
message than Christ and Him crucified as all of our salvation. Not
part of it, all of it. Now look at verse 5. For we,
for we, as believers who have been set
free, those who are standing fast for the gospel. For we through
the Spirit, that by the blessed work of God the Holy Spirit,
it's God the Holy Spirit who has quickened us. It is God the
Holy Spirit who has revealed Christ unto our heart. The natural
man doesn't understand the things of God. I can preach, and preach,
and preach, and read, and read, and read this Word, and preach,
and preach, and preach Christ, preach the truth, but it takes
God Almighty to open your eyes, to reveal Christ to your heart,
and to quicken you, to make you alive in Christ, to cause you
to hear Him, to love Him, to taste of Him, that He is gracious,
and you will say in your heart, He is altogether lovely. For
we, through the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit revealing Christ
unto us. He said, our Lord, when He, the
Spirit of truth has come, remember what He said? He'll take the
things of Christ and reveal them to your heart. Reveal them to
you. He'll open up your heart and
show you the beauty, honor, and glory of the Lord Jesus. And
you will say, as others have said, to you who believe, Christ
is precious. He's precious. For we, through
the Spirit, by the Spirit, not by the law, not by my doing,
not by my works. For we, through the Spirit, what
do we do? We wait. We wait on Him. Now His blessings are worth waiting
for, aren't they not? Everything pours down from the
throne of God by the power of God the Holy Spirit, by the means
that God has ordained, and we wait for this blessed hope. You
know what's called a blessed hope? It's called a good hope. It's a good hope through grace.
Also, we read this in Scripture. You know what our hope is? Our
hope is a person. The Lord Jesus Christ, He's called
in 1 Timothy 1, 1, Christ our hope. He is our hope. He's a
blessed hope. He's a good hope. And this is
what God the Holy Spirit reveals unto our heart, that Christ is
everything in salvation. We Look what he said, verse 5. We through the Spirit wait for
the hope, this good hope of righteousness. And this is the righteousness
that's received by God wrought, God given faith. The hope of righteousness. What
is the hope of righteousness that we receive by faith? It's
His glorious person. It is the Lord who is our very
justifying righteousness before God. I'm not trying to establish
a righteousness of my own by my doing to justify myself before
God. I'm simply resting and waiting
in that blessed righteousness that's freely given. Remember
what he said in Romans 4? Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will impute righteousness. I like that word impute. freely
give to you righteousness without works." That's a blessed man.
That's a happy man that's finding all of his hope of righteousness
by faith. You know the faith of God's elect
is God-given. The faith of God's elect acknowledges
that salvation is all of God's grace. And the faith of God's
elect has a foundation. What's the foundation of faith?
Well, you know, I just feel good. That's a sorry foundation. Feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. My want is the
Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing. So the foundation of faith is
not feelings. Foundation of faith is God's
Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. And
the object of faith, what is the object of faith? looking
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. For we, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness. Oh, and we receive this by faith. God given, God wrought faith. And that causes me to rest. That
causes me to wait, wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Now look at verse 6. For in Christ Jesus, Now, you've
got to get this first part. Look what it says there, verse
6, for in Christ Jesus. That's everything. That's everything
before God. In Christ is all and in all. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and believers stand complete. I'm completely
justified, completely sanctified in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
Christ Jesus. That's salvation. No wonder the
apostle said, Oh, that I might win Christ and be found in him,
not having my own righteousness, which is by the doing of the
law, but that righteousness which is through the faithfulness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. For in Christ Jesus, that's life,
that's salvation. And that being so, That being
so, in Christ Jesus is everything. We stand complete in Him. He's
made on us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption
for in Christ Jesus. Then it doesn't matter if you're
circumcised or if you're uncircumcised. It doesn't matter. Salvation
is not in what I do. Salvation is in Christ Jesus. It's not being in the right church.
It's not being in a certain sect or denomination. It's not doing
certain things. Salvation is in Christ Jesus. Now that being established, is
that established? Salvation is in Christ. So, it
doesn't matter. It avails nothing before the
presence of God, whether you're circumcised or whether you're
uncircumcised. It doesn't matter because salvation
is not dependent upon you. Salvation is always accomplished.
Now listen to me. Accomplished, determined, and
dependent, and applied by God Almighty, never upon the sinner. Is salvation conditioned upon
what I do? No. If righteousness comes by the
law, then Christ is dead and vain. For in Christ Jesus, Circumcision,
nothing. Uncircumcision, it avails, that
means it counts for nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing whatsoever. But here, look what it says in
the last part of verse 6, but faith. God given, God wrought
faith. No wonder that Peter said, you
remember what he said of faith? Let's turn and read that. Is
that in 2 Peter chapter 1? Turn over there. You know what he says of faith,
this God-given, God-wrought faith? I want to believe Him. By grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is a gift of God. 2 Peter 1, look at verse 1, Simon
Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that
have obtained like precious faith. I tell you, faith is precious. There's not many things in the
word of God that are called precious. We're redeemed with his precious
blood to you who believe he is precious, but he calls here to
them that have obtained like precious faith with us. Now look,
look what it says through, through the means, what it's a means,
the righteousness of God. You can't get away from that.
You can't get away from that. The righteousness that's of God,
given of God. God our Savior, Jesus Christ. That's the way we read that.
God our Savior, Jesus Christ. But this faith, this God-given
faith, what he says back in verse 6 of Galatians 5, true saving
faith, but faith which works by love. Faith is motivated. Faith is energized. Faith is
compelled, faith is constrained by what? Fear? By law? By a big stick? Faith works by faith is obedient
out of love. The love of God has been shed
abroad in our heart. That's the sum of God's law as
it says in verse 13, but by love we serve one another. Faith works
by love, by love, not law, not fear of punishment, not promise
of reward. That's the way this religious
world tries to motivate people by those two things, a carrot
or a stick. Is that what they call that?
That's the way we try to motivate our children sometimes. If you
do good, I'll give you some candy if you disobey daddy. You see,
faith works by love. Works by love. Get a hold of
that. I tell you what, when God gives
that faith, you don't need to browbeat people. You don't need
to whoop up on people. God's people are obedient to
the Lord. You know why? They love Him.
They love Him. They can't wait to serve Him.
And they serve him because they love him. They love him. Now look what he says in verse
7. You did. He said he acknowledges this.
When Paul came preaching the gospel to these people, and God
the Holy Spirit was pleased to do a work in some of their hearts,
there's always going to be tares among the wheat. There's always
going to be some goats among the sheep. And he said, you did
run well. You started right. But who hindered
you? Who turned you back? Who turned
you back that you should not obey and continue in the truth? You did run well. You did run
well. You know, when you run a race,
any of you young people ever had a track meet? You ever run
track? When you start a race, I used
to run track when I was in school. wasn't very fast, but I like
to run. But when you run in a race, whenever
you run a race, even when you run a race that's not a dash
or a sprint, even if you run a race, I used to run cross-country
too, when you run cross-country or a sprint or we used to call
it a 440 or an 880, they call it an 800 now or 400 meters or
800 meters or a mile. But whenever you run, you have
a start And you have a goal. You have
an objective. It is to cross the finish line,
is it not? And this is what he's saying.
You started right. You started well. You started
this race of faith looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. That was
your object. Now who turned you aside? Who
distracted you? You know, one of the things they
taught us when we ran When one of the coaches would teach us,
when you're running, don't ever look behind you. Look straight ahead. When you
look behind you, you break stride. You're going to lose ground.
Keep your eye fixed on the goal, the finish line. That's our race,
looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. You did run well. Now, who caused you to turn back? and look behind you. Are you
going to look behind you for some assurance? Are you going
to look behind you for some confidence? What did the apostles say? Forgetting
those things which are behind and looking forth in those things
which are before us. We press for the mark of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Is that what it says?
Where is that? forgetting those things which
are behind, reaching forth unto those things which are before
us. We press toward the mark. What's the mark? Christ. Don't
let anybody hinder you. Don't let anybody turn you back.
Back to your deeds. Back to your work. Back to the
law. We're looking to Christ. You
see what he's saying here? You did run well. Don't let anyone
turn you away from the truth. Christ. Christ and Him crucified. Don't let anyone distract you,
hinder you, turn you back. Now look at verse 8. This persuasion, this persuasion
of you to look away from Christ, look away from the finish line,
the Lord Jesus Christ, this persuasion, this idea, and this thought didn't
come from God Almighty who called you, did it? Not at all. This persuasion,
this thought, this idea to look back instead of look before,
it didn't come from God Almighty who has called us. He's called
us out of darkness into light. He has translated us out of the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Now he's saying this, don't make
a colossal failure and a ridiculous blunder to trust your deeds and
self instead of looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. This persuasion
did not come from God Almighty. Did not. It wasn't God. It wasn't
from God who called you out of darkness to light. It wasn't
from the Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled the law of God for
us. It wasn't from God the Holy Spirit who revealed the truth
of the gospel unto us. Here's where it came from. And
it was not from one of the Lord's faithful gospel preachers who
were determined to preach Christ. Rather, it was the messengers
of Satan and his ministers who came preaching self-righteousness. It came from the enemies of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back just a few pages to
2 Corinthians chapter 11. Look what he says here, 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13. For
such are false apostles transforming themselves, their deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no
marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore,
it's no great thing if his ministers, if his ministers now, they prayed
as ministers of light, ministers of righteousness, his ministers
also be transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose end will
be according to their deeds, destruction, condemnation. These ministers of righteousness,
how do they hinder us? How would they turn the believer
back? They would try to divert your attention from looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ to something else but Christ alone, grace
alone, faith alone, to the glory of God alone. They would have
you manufacture some sort of righteousness of your own, rather
than looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where this persuasion
came from in that day, and it's no different in this day. He
has His ministers who are still preaching salvation by what you
must do. You know, they say God done all
He can do And now it's up to you. Poor God. Why don't you let God have His
way? Poor God. They've got an idol. The true and the living God speaks
with almighty power. God giving Him power over all
flesh, our mediator, the Lord Jesus, that He should give eternal
life to as many as God hath given Him. He has all power. Now look at verse 9. A little
leaven, Galatians 5 verse 9, he said, a little leaven, a little
leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. Now here's what he's saying,
he's using a rather homely illustration, a homely illustration. Now you
ladies know about baking bread, maybe some of you men do, about
baking bread. But when you bake, when you take
some dough, you mix up the dough, you put a little bit of yeast
in that dough. And that little bit of yeast affects the whole
lump. And it starts to grow and grow
and grow. And when it gets to a certain
size, you bake it, right? In the scripture, leaven is always
used as a type of corruption, as a type and picture of sin. And here's what he's saying.
You add a little bit of creature merit into the scheme of God's
salvation and you have no salvation at all. Now, I used this illustration
recently. Some of our folks here will remember
this. I hope they will. But I used to have a dear friend,
still do, who used to work for Orkin. And he told me one time,
he said, you know, rat poison is pretty good food. Matter of
fact, he said rat poison is 98% good food. That's why the rats
eat it. But you know what the other 2%
contains? Poison. Poison. Now, you can
say someone, well, you know, he said a lot of good things
if he didn't preach the truth. If he preached 98%, thus saith
the Lord, and 2% of what you must do, it's rat poison. A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. Salvation is either all of grace,
all of Christ or all of works. It cannot be both, and it cannot
be a mixture of both. A little leaven, a little bit
of sin corrupts the whole lump. Our Lord said this in Matthew
16, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Men do not mind Christ being
a part Savior. It's the total and complete Savior
that lost religious sinners hate. Little heirs become damning heirs
and must be stamped out immediately. False teachers must not be tolerated
but exposed and expelled." You remember back in chapter 2 of
Galatians, turn back here to chapter 2. You remember what
Paul said of those Judaizers who would have Titus to be circumcised
in Galatians 2 verse 5? to whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for one minute, not for one hour, that the truth of the
gospel might continue with you." We are not going to entertain
any idea or notion of salvation by works. Someone said this,
big errors always begin small, and small errors always turn
into big ones. The only way to prevent this
is to believe exactly what God says and reject even the slightest
deviation from it. In reality, little errors are
like little sin. There's no such thing. No such
thing. Now, you see what he's saying
there? A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Now look at verse
10. Galatians 5 verse 10. He said, I have confidence in
you. I have confidence in you through the Lord, through the
Lord. We are the true Israel, which
worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. I have confidence in you only
because the Lord delights to show mercy. I have confidence
in you through the Lord, because the Lord is determined to be
gracious unto His people. I have confidence in you through
the Lord, because God is determined to save His people and keep them
by His grace, that you will be none otherwise minded. I want
to be single-minded. You know what? I want to be narrow-minded. I want to be single-minded. I
pray that you'd be none otherwise minded than to set your affection
on things above, on Christ alone. But look what he says in the
last part of verse 10. But he that would trouble you
shall bear his judgment, the judgment of God, the righteous
judgment of God. He, that person who would trouble
you by introducing works Deeds of the flesh, deeds of the law,
he that would trouble you, God's going to judge him. And he says
here, it doesn't matter who it is. God will judge him. He is a supreme judge. Now, notice
this. Notice in verse 12 when he said
that I wish those that would trouble you were will bear their
judgment. And then he says in verse 12,
I would I would they were even right now those who would trouble
you and would disturb you." I wish right now, he's praying, God
cut them off right now. Cut them off. Put an end to their
ministry. Put them out of the ministry.
Cut them off. Shut them down. That's what he says here. Now
look at verse 11. Here's what we want to count
for just a minute. And I brethren, and I brethren, Evidently, some accused Paul
of preaching circumcision in some places and preaching grace
in other places. At one time, you remember, when
young Timothy was converted, because his father was a Greek
and his mother was a Jew, Paul was a Gentile, I mean, excuse
me, Timothy was a Gentile, and when Timothy was converted, Paul
had him circumcised. So he would take the offense
away from the Jews so that he could go and preach the gospel.
He didn't have him circumcised to be saved or justified. He
simply removed that offense that he might go among the Jews freely
and preach the gospel. That's just using good common
sense, is it not? And some, because Paul did that
with Timothy, accused him, well, you know, he preaches circumcision
over there, and then when he comes over here, he preaches
grace. And that's what they accused
him of. You remember when he came to Jerusalem, it says in
Galatians chapter 2, that some of those people there wanted
to circumcise Titus, and he refused. Because they made it an issue
of salvation. And he refused. But he says,
if I do preach, as some accuse me of preaching circumcision,
or works, or law, and deeds, and duty, then why do I suffer
such persecution? This man's in jail at this time
in Rome for one reason, because he preached the gospel with an
uncompromising, in an uncompromising way, determined to preach Christ
and Him crucified. Why do I yet suffer like I suffer? Now, we don't know anything about
suffering like he suffered. You read some of his writings,
how he was beaten with rods, whipped, whipped several times,
stoned, drug out of the city as a dead man, and yet he got
right back up and went preaching the gospel. Why do I suffer persecution
if I'm a compromiser? That's what he's saying here.
Then, he said, then is this. Here would be the outcome in
verse 11. Then is the offense of the cross ceased. Now, I said
all that to get to this. I said all that to get to this.
the offense of the cross. What is the offense of the cross?
Well, let me give you four or five things. Let me tell you
and give you several reasons why the message of salvation
accomplished by Christ alone is so offensive to the flesh,
especially religious flesh. Why is the offense of the cross,
and that's what he's saying here, the offense of the cross, if
I compromise Then is the offense ceased. Now, you take the offense
out of the gospel, and you know what you've done? You've got
no gospel. You've removed the power. Christ
crucified. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. Let me give you four or five things here. Why the
offense of the cross is so offensive to lost religious sinners. Number
one, it addresses all men as guilty sinners before God's holy
law and declares them totally helpless to do anything to accomplish
salvation, and this offends man's dignity of self. We think we
are not that sinful or guilty or that helpless. You see, you
declare salvation by God alone that we are guilty and totally
helpless to do anything to change our condition. And that offends
man's dignity. Secondly, the gospel of Christ
and understanding the message of this gospel comes by sovereign
revelation. The natural man receives not
the things of the Spirit of God, They're foolish just unto him,
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
This offends man's lofty thoughts of self and insults his intelligence."
You mean I can't figure this out? No, I'm saying that God
must reveal this gospel to your heart. The gospel is called a
mystery that's not understood by human logic or wisdom. It
comes by revelation, not human reason and research. God must reveal himself unto
us. The third reason is this, the
offense of the cross. Why is it so offensive? The Lord
Jesus Christ and all spiritual blessings are received by simple
faith. God-given faith. This offends
man's wisdom. Salvation is accomplished by
Christ doing and dying. And faith that's God-given simply
looks to the Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation. Salvation
is received by what? How's salvation received? Huh? I know what a lot of folks are
saying. They're saying that salvation and their message is salvation
received by you doing. That's contrary to what the Word
of God teaches. The Word of God teaches that
salvation received by faith alone. Faith alone. Salvation received
by faith alone looking unto Christ. offends man's wisdom, does it
not? Fourthly, the effectual atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the effectual atonement of the cross
offends man's pride. His pride. The Lord Jesus Christ
died to save His people from their sins. And someone will
come up with this and say, well, you mean to tell me that not
everybody has a chance to be saved? Well, you know, salvation is
not by chance, first of all. Second thing is this, the Lord
Jesus Christ died for His covenant people. Call His name Jesus,
He shall save His people from their sin. You mean to tell me?
Did I understand you right? that salvation to the Lord Jesus
Christ did not die to make salvation a possibility for all men, if
they will just exercise their own will to make it effectual? I'm saying that the Lord Jesus
Christ died to save His covenant people, and He justified them
by His blood. Salvation is not by chance, it's
by grace, and it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this offends
man's pride. You mean God will have mercy
on whom He will? Absolutely. Absolutely. You see, if we just
understand this. In Adam, all died. In Adam, all died. All condemned
and judged in Adam. Guilty. Condemned, sentenced,
executed, and judged. Dead. Dead. That's what we all
deserve. Eternal condemnation. God in
His mercy. elected a people unto salvation."
Does that do those who are condemned eternally, does that do them
any harm? No, they're condemned already.
Thank God He's pleased to choose a multitude of sinners known
unto Himself to choose them, to elect them, to justify them,
and to give them to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what
we call salvation by His sovereign grace. His sovereign mercy. Fifthly, salvation through Christ
in Him crucified gives all the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ
alone, and rightly so. And this offends man's desire
for what? Self-glory, self-praise. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. If we seek to remove the offense
of the gospel, we remove the power of the gospel. The very
angles and corners, you look at this top of this pulpit here.
The very angles and corners of this top of this pulpit is its
strength. You take out the angles and corners
of the gospel and you remove the strength of the gospel. Tone
it down, water it down. Take the offense out, and you've
got no gospel at all. You've got no good news. Martin
Luther said this, as long as the church teaches the gospel,
it shall suffer persecution. And I know what goes on in religious
circles today. You know, they got the idea,
well, we'll just all get along. We'll just compromise here and
compromise there and compromise here, and we'll all just get
along. And you've got no truth. You've got no salvation. The
gospel sets forth the glory of God. As long as the church teaches
the gospel, it shall suffer persecution. You take a stand, an uncompromising
stand for the gospel of God's grace, and it'll cost you. The
gospel sets forth the glory of God, and it discloses the malice
and wrath and the hatred of man against God. and against his
truth. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God." Romans 8, 7 and 8. God help us. God help us right now in this
ministry, in this town, at this time in our life. God help us
right now. to take an uncompromising stand
for the gospel of God's grace. And God help us to contend for
that faith that was once delivered unto the saints. And God help
us to never compromise the gospel to get along. Would we dare compromise
truth, the truth of God, to satisfy some poor wiggling maggot of
a creature? Well, we're just going to compromise
a little bit. No, no, no, no, no, my friend. I'd rather, much
rather, much rather offend the sinner than to not glorify God
by preaching the truth. You see what I'm saying? Then
is the offense ceased. I would that they were cut off,
which trouble you. God help us in this day when the gospel is so openly
denied, to stand fast in the truth, stand fast in the gospel
of God's grace.