All right, let's look back at
this 5th chapter of Galatians for a little bit. I spoke for a few minutes Sunday
night on verse 6. I'll go back there for just a
moment. Paul declares in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision availeth anything. The fact that a man
has been circumcised in the Jewish religion doesn't mean anything.
Now, the fact that a man hasn't been circumcised doesn't mean
anything. But what does mean something
is faith, faith in Christ, saving faith, faith alone, rest in Christ,
trust in Christ, believe in Christ, finding all we need in him, resting
there. But it's a faith, faith alone,
but it's not a faith that is alone. It's a faith that works. Now that's what the book of James
is all about. The book of Romans is about justification
by faith, the justification of our souls. Our souls are justified
by faith, or through faith, by Christ through faith. And James
talks about that faith that saves. It's a certain kind of faith.
It's a faith that believes. It's a faith that loves. It's
a faith that gives. It's a faith that forgives. It's
a faith that works. That's right. And it works. What's it motivated? This faith
is motivated, not by law. A lot of preachers try to motivate
their congregations by promising of a reward in heaven. If you
do this, now God will reward you. Well, that's not the motive. That's not how faith works. A
lot of preachers try to motivate their congregation by fear. If
you don't do this, if you don't tithe, God will take it out the
back door in a coffin. Or this, they say, well, if you
don't tithe, you'll lose your job. If you do tithe, you'll
get a better job. That's not the way faith is motivated. Faith is not motivated by law,
it's motivated by love. Faith worketh by love. A believer
has works, for by grace are you saved through faith, that not
of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works lest any
man should boast. But we're his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus on two good works. I'm not saved because of work,
I work because I'm saved. I'm not born again because I'm
I'm not saying born again because I believe, I believe because
I'm born again. Believing is the result of the new birth.
Labor of love is the result of faith. It's a faith that worketh
by love. That's the reason Paul said over
here in 1 Corinthians, he says in verse chapter 13, He's been
talking about the gifts, gifts of healing and speaking in tongues
and their teachers and so forth. He says, though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, well, I'm
just a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift
of prophecy and can preach and understand mysteries and have
knowledge and have faith to move mountains and have not love,
I'm nothing. that believes, that receives,
and that is blessed of God and the gift of God, it's a faith
that works. But it works motivated by love. It's the same thing that motivates
a mother to fix meals for her children. Not love, but love. It's the
same thing that motivates a daddy to go out and work all day and
come in the and do it again the next day, and do it all his life
for 40 years, to give his children the best he can give them. Why?
Because it's the law? Because he's afraid he's going
to put them in jail if he doesn't? Because he loves them. Now, you can't
beat that. That's just it. That's where
it is. That's the reason I don't preach tithing, and I don't preach
stewardship, and I don't preach the ten church or else. I don't
use the law up here as a whip goad people into doing things.
If you love Christ, you'll serve Christ. If you love Christ, you'll
serve one another. If you love Christ, you'll give
and you'll forgive. That's just so. But now these
fellas, these false teachers that come in and say, except
you do this, you're not saved. But Paul says, if you do that
in order to be saved, you're not saved. And he says, you did
run well. Who hindered you? You started
out well, you came to Christ as a sinner, you found in Christ
all you need. God told you, said, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you're complete in
Him. You believed that. I did too. Paul said, you believe
that, these folks in Galatia. You started well. You started
well. You came to Christ. In my hands
no price I bring, simply to the cross of Christ I cling. Could
my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer? No.
These for sin could never atone. Christ must save and Christ alone.
Of God are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us all we
need. We believe that. Well, he said, who hindered you
that you should not obey the truth? Who turned you back to
the law? Who turned you from the freedom
of Christ back to the bondage and slavery of Sabbaths and and
circumcision and feast days and diets and holy days, that you
should not obey the truth. Well, verse 8 says, this persuasion,
what you're in now, didn't come from him that called you. Well,
who called him? Well, God called him. We're called
of God. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom he predestinated,
then he called. Who called? If a man's saved,
God called him. We're the called of God. And
God didn't teach him this, because God takes no pleasure in the
flesh. He said about all those Old Testament sacrifices, in
them he never had any pleasure, never had any satisfaction. So
why would he institute it on these people? Christ said, I come, and the
volume of the book is written of me. And God said, this is
my son in whom I'm well-placed. So God didn't teach him that,
and then the Son who fulfilled all things on our behalf, he
didn't teach us that, and certainly Paul didn't teach him that, and
the Holy Spirit didn't teach him that. So who did? Well, Satan. That's right, and
his ministers. Let me show you something. Turn
to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Satan's
not all-powerful by any means. God's almighty and all-powerful,
but Satan is powerful. He's powerful. I tell you, he
overcame Adam and Eve, and he dealt with Peter. You remember
the Lord said, Satan has desired you, he may sift you. He's a
powerful, formidable foe. Your adversary, our Lord Jesus
said, the devil, goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom
he may devour. But here in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3, Paul said, I fear lest
by any means the serpent, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his craftiness and subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that's in Christ. Look at verse 13. But such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. You know, when he came to our
Lord on the Mount of Temptation, when Satan tempted the Lord,
what did he use? Scripture. That's right. He said, cast yourself off this
temple. He said, it's written, he'll
give his angels charge over thee, lest you dashed your foot against
the stone. And that's what he uses. He uses
Scripture misquoted, misapplied, misinterpreted. Therefore it's
no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. Whose righteousness? Yours. That's right. He promises you
reward for what you do, your righteousness. It'll be rewarded,
your righteousness, your works, your duties. He promises reward
for your righteousness, and his end shall be according to his
works. So that's who misled them. It's
these false teachers, but they're instruments of Satan. He calls
them there in 2 Corinthians 11, ministers of Satan. Over there
in 1 John, John tells us to try the spirits, whether they be
of God. They're false spirits. He said,
when he says try the spirits, he's talking about preachers
who speak with a spirit. And it's not the Spirit of Christ,
it's the Spirit of Satan. And that's who it is. And verse
9 says, Be careful, because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Just a little error. I remember I had a friend down
in West Kentucky, pastor of a church down there. I preached for him
a time or two. Brother Barnard preached there in the early 50s. A preacher came through there,
whom I know, and talked to this young pastor, and he said, Now,
you have the message of Paul. Paul preached grace, grace, grace,
but you don't have the power of Paul, do you? The preacher
added, Well, I guess I don't have the power of Paul. Well,
you don't expect the power of Paul either. Paul was an apostle. God gave him powers you'll never
experience and I'll never experience. But anyway, that's subtlety.
Well, wouldn't you like to have the power? Maybe that's the reason
you're not getting anything done. You've got the message, but no
power in the message. And the power is in the gifts.
So he took him over to Corinthians where you have the gift of healing,
and gift of tongues, and gift of discerning the spirits, interpretation
of the spirits, and all these things. Wouldn't you like to
have that? He said, that's for us today. I'd like to have that." Well,
what you have to do is be baptized with the Holy Ghost. But I have
the Holy Ghost. No, I'm talking about the baptism
with the Holy Ghost, he said. Of course, the Bible says, if
any man hath not the Spirit of God, he's none of this. He talked
that man into submitting to the laying on of hands and trying
to speak in tongues, and he called me on the phone. I was living
over across the Where I live now in the White House, I was
down in the basement one day, and Garth called me the phone, and
I went to the basement phone, picked up the phone. He told
me who he was. He said, Brother Henry, wonderful
things happened. And I said, what? He said, I
got baptized in the Holy Ghost. He said, I don't even read the
Sunday paper anymore. I don't ever watch a football game anymore.
He said, I'm enjoying the Lord like I never enjoyed Him before.
He said, I have an experience that's better than salvation.
I said, son, you're gone. Anything that's better than Christ
is not of God. Isn't that right? The reason I knew where he was
is I'd been experienced some of that years ago, this gifts. I said, you're gone. You're gone
completely. Unless you repent and turn away
from that, you're gone. He said, but I'm just enjoying
everything. He said, I tell you this, anything that eclipses
Christ is not of God. Christ is all! He's all. He's all. Well, he's gone. One meantime at all, and the
whole church is gone. See, a little effort, all you've
got to do is come in. It starts suggesting, you don't
have this, and you don't have that, and you don't have the
other, but you could have it if you worked for it, if you
tried for it, if you sought it, if you, yeah, if you want something
other than Christ, you can find it. You look hard enough for
it. Satan will give it to you. He'll give you another spirit. He'll give you another spirit. He's a little leaven. You watch out for these voices
that come, and Christ is all right, but you just stop Him
right there. He's all. I know you're saved
by grace, but just stop right there. Saved by grace, period. Just stop right there. Don't
look for something better than salvation, better than Christ.
You'll grow in grace in God's good time, by God's grace, by
God's experiences, what He gives you, by trials He gives you.
But don't speed the process up by taking false medicine. It'll
kill you. It'll destroy you. Now, I have
confidence in you, verse 10. Paul says, I've got confidence
in you through the Lord. Now, what's he talking about
here? My confidence is not in your flesh. No, I know that.
My confidence is in the Lord who dwells in you. That's where
my confidence is. is in you through the Lord. My
confidence is in the Lord who dwells in you, that he will keep
you till the river erodes its waters at your feet, and then
he'll bear you safely over where the Savior you'll be." That's
right. I'm confident, he said, that he that hath begun a good
work in you will head you about and keep you. Keep you in Christ. Keep you from the subtlety of
Satan and from the evil spirits that are everywhere and from
the false preachers who are seeking to draw disciples after themselves. They're not after your good and
God's glory, they're after you and what you can enrich them
with. That's exactly right. Hucksters making merchandise
out of people. They want to heal some folks,
why don't they go to the hospitals? The hospitals are full of them.
Full of them. I have confidence in you through
the Lord that you'll be not otherwise minded, but Christ will be all
in all to you. He's my life, my hope, my salvation,
my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He's all in all.
We are qualified, made meet, and fit for glory right now without
any addition of anything or anybody. And I pray this, that he that
troubleth you will bear his judgment, whoever he be." That's what he
said over there in chapter 1. He said, I don't care if it's
an angel from heaven. If anybody preaches any other
gospel than that gospel which I preached to you, let him be
accursed. It doesn't matter who it is,
whoever he be. Now verse 11, some of these false
teachers tried to bring Paul into their scheme of works. They
knew a lot of people held Paul in high esteem, and they tried
to bring Paul into their scheme of works, and they accused him
of preaching circumcision. You remember he had Timothy circumcised
over here in Acts 16? If we read about that, I think
we need to turn there and refresh our memories. He had Timothy
circumcised, and I'm sure they brought this up. They'll find
something to prove their error. They'll find something. They'll
try to prove it with scripture or some way to prove their error.
And here in Acts 16, verse 1, then Paul came to Derbe and Lystra,
and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the
son of a certain woman who was a Jewish and believed. He believed, and his mama believed,
and his grandmother believed, but his father was a And Timothy
was well reported by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth
with him. He wanted to take Timothy with him to preach, to aid him,
to help him, to minister. So he took him and circumcised
him. Some of these false preachers said, see, see, Paul had Timothy
circumcised. We know why. We know he circumcised
him because of the Jews. Not because he needed to be circumcised
to be saved. Not because God required it. Because of the Jews which were
in those quarters. They knew his father was a famous
Greek. And he was a Greek. And he was
uncircumcised. And when Paul and Timothy went
to the synagogue, they wouldn't even let Timothy in, being an
uncircumcised Greek. And they sure wouldn't listen
to him preach. So Paul took him and had him circumcised in order
for Timothy to go to the temple and enable these Jews to hear
him preach. And it was for that reason, not
because he needed that in addition to faith. So Paul says, now brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I suffer persecution?
Why are they after me? Why are they harassing me? And
why are they trying to discredit me if I'm preaching circumcision?
If I preach circumcision, necessary salvation, why do these preachers
and others persecute me? Grace plus works is their message. Why, they wouldn't be persecuting
me. They'd be bragging on me if I was preaching works. You
see, people, listen to me here. People do not object to Christ
as a part Savior. This generation in which we live,
they have no objection to Jesus Christ doing his part and you
doing yours. They don't have any objection
to that. In fact, they believe that's the way people are saved.
You take the first step and God meets you. God's done his part,
all he can do now is up to you. It's a full and complete salvation
by Christ that the religious world hates and that these men
hate. complete in him, redeemed by him, justified in him. The
offense of the cross is in its total sufficiency to completely
save. That's the offense. The offense
of the cross is in its effectual finished redemption. that we're
redeemed not by anything we do before God saved us or after
God saves us, we're redeemed by Christ's perfect life for
our righteousness and his sacrificial death for our atonement. That's
how we're saved, 100%. We're saved just like the thief
on the cross who never walked for Jesus or worked for Jesus
or gave a dime or attended a meeting or was baptized, or circumcised,
or kept a Sabbath day. He didn't do nothing. Yes, he
did do something. He believed on Christ. He said,
Lord, you're not going to stay dead. You're king. And you're
coming into a kingdom. I'm getting what I deserve. Would
you remember me when you come in your kingdom? And Christ turned
and said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And if you
are with him in paradise, you'll be there the same way that man,
by looking to Christ. Now if he had come down from
that cross, he'd have followed the Lord in baptism. If he had
let him down from that cross, he'd have worked. He would have
walked for Christ, he would have witnessed, he would have given,
he would have been a changed man. Any man who is in Christ
is a new creature, because he's in Christ. He's not in Christ
because he's a new creature, he's a new creature because he's
in Christ. Isn't that clear? The offense of the cross is not
in the cross, it's in the message of the cross. This world has
no objection to the cross. They've got them on the buildings.
She got them around her necks. The football players got them
on their earrings. Every time they go up to bat,
they do this. A little boy asked his daddy one day, he saw that
ball player do like that, and he said, will that help him?
His daddy said, it would help him if he can hit the ball. I'm not exaggerating now, I'm
telling you, we're saved by grace alone, Christ alone, plus nothing,
minus nothing, by looking to him. Anything we do after God
calls us is because he called us, because he gave us a heart
of love and a heart of grace. and a heart to forgive. We show
mercy as we have received mercy. We love as we have been loved.
We forgive as God, for Christ's sake, forgave us. Not for anybody
else's sake, but for Christ's sake. Now in 50 years of preaching
the gospel of Christ, I've found that religious people are not
offended by a cross or by blood shed on that cross. or by the resurrection, or by
the fact Christ is at the right hand of God, interceding or making
advocacy. They're offended by what that
cross declares, the gospel of that cross. Now let me show you
four things, and I'll let you go. Number one, the cross of
Christ declares four things. Number one, it declares that
all men are totally depraved. How people treated Christ on
that cross reveals what we are. Who is he? He was perfect holiness,
God in human flesh. And men despised him. He went
about doing good. No man could find any fault in
him, even his judge at Pilate's hall, I find no fault in this
man. And yet we spit in his face,
laughed at him while he died, nailed him to a cruel Roman cross. What we did to Christ reveals
our nature. Now watch this. What God did
to Christ on that cross reveals our nature, because He is us. He's numbered with the transgressors.
He wasn't there for his sins, he's there for yours. And Almighty
God put him through an ignominious, shameful, disgraceful, dishonorable,
despicable, degrading, humiliating experience of death and hell
because he was you, and that's what you deserve. And that's
what God thinks of you and me, what he did to Christ. And the only reason he's not
going to do it to us is because Christ did it for us. That's
right. That's exactly right. Secondly,
the cross of Christ declares what we are. The cross of Christ
secondly declares God's absolute sovereignty in the redemption
of sinners. The death of Christ was planned
by God, not by men. Isn't that right? He's the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. Before we were on the scene,
God planned the death of his Son. Acts 4 says, they did to Christ
what God determined before to be done. It says the death of
Christ was executed by God. No, no, the Roman soldiers nailed
him to that, begged your pardon, begged your pardon. It pleased
God to bruise him. God made his soul an offering
for sin. They couldn't touch his soul.
Those Roman soldiers didn't even know he had a soul. They worked
on that body, but God made his soul an offering for sin. That's
right, God did it. It pleased God to bruise him.
My God, why have you forsaken me? I'll tell you why, your sins
have separated you and your God. His sins, my sins. The cross
reveals that God's sovereign in salvation, the death of the
cross was planned by God, it was executed by God, and it was
accepted by God and approved of God on behalf of his elect
because he raised him from the dead. He said, I'll let all men
know. in that erased him from the dead,
that he's accepted, and you're accepted in him. That's right. Before the world began, Almighty
God determined who would die for sinners, how he would die
for sinners, and he showed pictures of it through the whole Old Testament.
Raising serpent, the lamb slain. Where he would die? Jerusalem,
outside the wall. That's right. They took the sacrifice
without the care. Why he would die? That God may
be just and justify. That's what Job said. Deliver
him, I found a ransom. Don't put him in a pit." I found
a ransom. By whose hand he would die? He
said, they pierced my hands and my feet, and they walked around
my cross and laughed while I died. That's what they did. By whose
hands he would die? Jewish and Romans. And for whom he would die? He
was numbered with the transgressors. He bared the sin of many. and
made intercession for the transgressors. Died for sinners, for whom I
am chief. Thirdly, the cross declares.
This is what men hate. It's not a cross. It's not this
sort of hullabaloo. It's what happened on Calvary.
That's what they hate. The message of that cross. Thirdly,
that cross declares a full and sufficient atonement This is
what our Lord prayed in his priesthood prayer. He said, I finished the
work he gave me to do. Nothing needs to be added. I
finished it. On the cross, he repeated, he
said, it's finished! He bowed his head and gave up
the ghost. But this is not what they're preaching today. They all agree Christ died on
the cross for our sins. Oh, yes, sir, he shed his blood
for our sins. They agree he died under God's
judgment on the cross. They quote that scripture, My
God, why dost thou forsake me, just like I did. They agree that
he arose from the dead and he ascended to heaven and he intercedes
and is an advocate of that. We have an advocate at God's
right hand. Christ died for our sins. He took the judgment of
God for our sins, he arose from the grave, he's ascended to heaven.
Then I'm justified. No. Now wait a minute, what did
you say? No, you're not. Why? You've got to be baptized. Come
on now! Are you telling me that the covenant
of Almighty God, the purpose and will of Almighty God from
all eternity, regarding the sacrifice of his Son? It's not effectual
or able to say until this puny little peanut son of Adam gets
baptized? Oh, come on now. You're not serious. Yeah, that's what they say. Christ died for our sins. The
judgment of God fell on him. He arose from the grave. He's
accepted, ascended to heaven. Then I'm sanctified. No, you're
not. Not yet. You've got to keep the law. You've
got to start tithing. You've got to give 10% to the
church now, we couldn't keep this program going if you didn't.
And you've got to be in every service, you've got to be a five-star
Christian, Sunday school, Sunday morning, BTU, Sunday night and
Wednesday night. If you start missing, you lost.
You're telling me now that the perfect life of Christ is no
avail. The suffering and death of the
Son of God for my sins, his exaltation, being accepted of God, his divine
intercession, is to no avail until I start tithing?" You know
what you're telling me? That's what these fellows were
saying, and Paul got upset. I'm upset. In other words, they're preaching
that all that my Lord did. in order to be effectual depends
on what I do for him. Depends on what I do for him. I thought what I do for him and
what I have and what I am and what I shall be depended on what
he did for me. That's what I was under that
understanding here in the world. That all that I am, I am what
I am by the grace of God. I have what I have by the grace
of God. I shall be what I shall be by the grace of God. Has nothing
to do with what I do, by his grace, all in Christ. That's
the gospel. And this other is not the gospel.
It's another gospel. The cross declares a full, free,
sufficient, complete payment for all our debts, saved by the
grace of God and the blood of Christ. promote love and thanksgiving
and adoration and praise unto him who loved me and gave himself
for me, unto him who washed me from my sins in his own blood
and made me a priest and a king to God, unto him be all the glory
and the praise both now and forever." That's a confession of nothing. That's the song of heaven. Fourthly,
and I quit, the cross declares that since Christ perfectly obeyed
the law and accomplished a full redemption.
There's none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. There is no other way to God. I don't care if it's Muslim,
Muhammad, Confucius, Buddhist, Baptist, Nazarene, Pentecostal,
Catholic, what it is, there's none other name. except the name
of Christ. There's no righteousness but
the obedience of Christ. There's no atonement but the
blood of Christ. There's no hope except in the grace of God through
Jesus Christ. No other way. No man can come
to the Father, he said, but by me. That's my conclusion. And that
was Paul's conclusion, for he said in Romans chapter 3, After
all this, he said in Romans chapter 3, verse 28, Therefore we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without, without the deeds of
the law. One of the old writers said,
Firm as the throne his gospel stands, my Lord, my hope, my
trust. If I am found in Jesus' hands,
My soul can never be lost. His honor is engaged to keep
the weakest of his sheep. All whom the Heavenly Father
gave, his hands shall surely keep. Nor death nor hell shall
ever remove his people from his breast. Within the bosom of his
love they shall forever rest." Isn't that a wonderful gospel?
Free grace. That's the only way it can be
grace, is to be free.