Now this is a very, very important
subject that I'll be dealing with today. The title of the
message is Faith Worketh by Love. Now remember that faith, true
faith, saving faith, worketh, it does work, but it does not
work by law, by rules, for reward, to gain favor with God. True
faith works by love. Now, I'm going to read from Galatians
chapter 5. I wish, oh, how I would like
for you to get your Bible, find the Bible, and open to Galatians
chapter 5, how important it is for you to see these scriptures
for yourself. You know the Bereans. God's Word
says they were more noble than some more folks, because they
searched the Scriptures to see if these things be true. They
searched the Word of God. They heard the Apostle Paul.
And they still went home and searched the Scriptures to see
if he was telling the truth. Now, they weren't insulting Paul.
Our faith must not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power
of God, in the Word of God. And it's no insult for me Or
to me for you to search the scriptures to see if I'm telling the truth
I want to know the truth and I want you to know the truth
and if you just open your Bible now to Galatians chapter 5 Galatians
5 I'm going to read six verses six verses from the fifth chapter
of Galatians and as I read these six verses I'm going to point
out four statements for you Which ought to catch our attention?
which ought to catch our attention and hold it, our interest, and
hold it until we determine what the apostle is saying. These
are four vital statements in these six verses. Now, let's
start with verse 1, Galatians 5. Now, you follow as I read.
The apostle Paul says, and he's writing to believers, he's writing
to the people of the church at Galatia. And he says in verse
1, stand fast. Therefore, in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage, behold, let me have your attention, he said,
behold, I Paul, the minister of the gospel, the apostle of
Christ Jesus, I Paul, One who's seen the Lord and got my gospel
straight from God. I, Paul, say unto you, you believers,
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." What
did he say? Well, he said, if you be circumcised
to gain favor with God, circumcision included all the doings and denials
and duties and devotions and days of religion. under the law. If you do this to find favor
with God, Christ will profit you nothing. All that Christ
did in covenant mercies from the foundation of the world mean
nothing to you. All that Christ did in righteous
obedience walking on this earth in the flesh representing a people
means nothing to you, profits you nothing. All that Christ
did on the cross, his suffering and dying, his soul agonist,
His intercessory prayers mean nothing to you. All His mediator
glory means nothing to you. If you be circumcised, Jesus
Christ and all that He's done and all that He is shall be of
no value, no profit to you. Now that's serious, isn't it?
You know why I said that statement ought to catch your attention?
If I'm guilty of what Paul's dealing with in this book of
Galatians, The letter to the Galatian church. If I'm guilty
of what Paul is talking, what he's condemning, what he's talking
about in these verses, then Christ Jesus profits me nothing. That's too horrible even to think
about. His death, His intercession, His righteousness is of no value
to me at all. Now this is serious, but it gets
more serious. Let's read on, if it's possible.
Verse 2, For I testify to every man that is circumcised, that
goes into this law business, this keeping the law to find
favor with God, to gain any acceptance with God. I testify to every
man that keeps days and duties that he's a debtor to do the
whole law, the whole law. And Christ is become of no effect
to you who try to be justified before God by the law. What did
he say? Well, he said, Christ Jesus is
become of no consequence to you. No effect. His death is all in
vain, and it will not help you at all. Now this is serious,
isn't it? He says, and this, when I read
this, Christ shall profit you nothing. Christ is become of
no effect to you. Then he made another statement.
Listen to this in the third verse. You've fallen from grace. You
have departed from grace. You have departed from the only
way that God saves a sinner, by grace. For by grace are you
saved. And you've departed from grace.
The only way God redeems, accepts, and justifies a sinner is by
His grace. And you've departed from grace.
Christ profits you nothing, is become of no effect to you, and
you've departed from grace. Fallen from grace. And then the
fourth statement, verse 5, he says, for we through the Spirit
wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus,
now watch this, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. Doesn't help a man to be circumcised
or not to be. But faith worketh by love. But
faith worketh by love. Circumcision doesn't profit anything.
Striving to obey the law doesn't profit anything. And not obeying
the law doesn't profit anything. But faith worketh by love. True
faith does not work because of duty, or for reward, or for acceptance
with God, but solely, totally, completely motivated by love. Well, let's go back over this
scripture now and see if we can find some answers here. Paul
makes four tremendous statements. Christ will profit you nothing.
Now, I don't want to be in that condition to you. Jesus Christ
is become of no effect to you. I fear that. And you've departed
from grace. I've heard that all my life,
fallen from grace, fallen from grace. You know, I hear somebody
say, well, about somebody's committed some sin and transgressed, and
they say, well, he's fallen from grace. No, he's not the one that's
fallen from grace. The man that's making the statement
is the one that's fallen from grace. Falling from grace has
to do with trying to find favor with God by your goodness. It
has nothing to do with your sins. Your sins will never keep you
from Christ. Your works will. Your sin will
never prevent you from coming to Christ. Christ delights to
show mercy. He's the friend of sinners. He
died for the ungodly. But your righteousness will keep
you from Christ. People who've fallen from grace
are guilty of trying to establish a righteousness. It's not the
man who sinned that's fallen from grace. It's the man that
thinks he hasn't. He's the one fallen from grace.
And faith worketh by love. All right, let's go back to the
start here. Go back to verse 1. Let's work this out here and
see what Paul's saying. Stand fast. Stand fast in the
liberty the freedom, wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
don't become entangled again in the yoke of bondage." Now,
the people to whom Paul was writing, like many of us, had been brought
up under the laws and rules and duties of religion. They were
brought up in Hebrew homes and Jewish homes and religious homes,
and they kept the Sabbath days. They kept the feast days. They
kept the holy days. They kept the ceremonial days.
They paid tithes, 10% of even their herbs, 10% of everything. And they offered sacrifices.
And the men were circumcised as a seal of the covenant. And
they read the law. They had specific days on which
to read the law, read it to their children, try to keep the law.
They did all this to find favor with God. They did all this to
establish a holiness before God. They did this to win eternal
life. They thought by doing these things,
and keeping these ordinances, and keeping these statutes, and
keeping these laws, and walking in morality, that they would
gain eternal life. But Christ our Lord has come.
God sent His Son into the world. And representing us, representing
every believer before God, Jesus Christ, made of a woman, made
under the law, walked this earth in the flesh, tested, tempted,
tried in all points as we are, yet without sin, in perfect obedience,
and went to the cross of Calvary and bore our sins and died for
our transgressions, was wounded for our transgressions. And by
his obedience, he has imputed to us a perfect holiness, a perfect
righteousness, a perfect sanctification without the law, without our
obedience to it, but by His own. And by His death, He's reconciled
us to God and honored the justice of God and brought us to God
and given us a perfect holiness. And He is our rest. He is our
Sabbath. He is our sanctification. He
is our holiness. He is our acceptance. Now, Paul
said, Christ has set you free, free from the law, free from
its curse, free from its penalty, free from its power. He has delivered
you from the curse. Don't get back under that doings
and denials and deeds and days and works. Don't become entangled
again in the duties and the laws of religion to find favor with
God. Don't do it. If you do, Christ
profits you nothing. Isn't that what he's saying?
Behold, he said. Now listen to me. Let me have
your attention. Behold, I Paul. And he knew all
this because he came out of works. He listed all of his works under
the leadership of Gamaliel, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee, a member
of the Sanhedrin, blameless in regard to the law. And he said,
I count these things but dumb that I may win Christ and be
found in him. Behold, I Paul say unto you,
If you be circumcised, and nothing wrong with being circumcised,
but circumcision here is a summary of religious duties. In other
words, the male Jew was circumcised to show that he was in obedience
to the law, that it was a seal of the covenant, that it was
a token that he was different from other men. He was under
the Sabbath law and the tithing law and the feast laws and the
laws of days and duties and so forth. And Paul is saying here
now, if you do anything in religion, any denial, any duty, any doing,
if a person does any of these things to find favor with God,
then Christ profits him nothing. Because as far as favor with
God is concerned, Christ is all. Christ is all and in all. Paul
said, in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of God. All the
fullness of the Godhead bodily is in Christ. And you're complete
in Him. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And if you add anything to Christ,
then you count Him out. He's going to be all or nothing
at all. He's going to be Lord of all
or not Lord at all. He's going to be all of our redemption,
all of our sanctification, all of our holiness, all of our acceptance,
accepting the Beloved. He's not going to have any part,
and you stand on your own. For I testify, now watch this
next verse three, I testify unto you, I Paul say unto you, and
I testify further unto you, that these duties, ceremonies, Sabbath
days, sacrifices, tithes, whatever, to find favor with God, to win
acceptance with God, to find a reward with God, then you're
a debtor to do the whole law. Once you get on this law road,
You've got a long road ahead of you. Once you get on this
personal righteousness business of finding favor with God by
what you do, by what you give, by how you act, you've got a
tough road ahead of you. You've got the whole law to keep.
If you choose to meet God on the basis of anything other than
Christ, Sabbath keeping, tithing, keeping the law, then you're
obligated You've obligated yourself to keep the whole law in every
jot and tittle as perfectly as Jesus Christ kept it or perish. That's what he said. You see,
Christ kept the whole law. There was no, he knew no sin.
He did no sin. He had no sin. There's no fault. The heavenly father said, I'm
pleased. And he could never say that about you. But he better
be able to say it about you if that's the way you're gonna stand
before him at the judgment you'll stand in Christ or on your own
footing and Once you start on this thing Christ is become of
no effect to you Whosoever you are that are justified by the
law Christ has become of no effect because you've fallen from grace.
You've departed from grace You've chosen the law road You've chosen
salvation but works And if you choose the law and you choose
salvation by works, then you've got to keep it all perfectly.
God can't be satisfied with any less than perfection. You can't
mix law and grace. If salvation by works, it's not
of grace. If salvation by grace, it's by
pure grace, and works mean nothing. Righteousness before God, holiness
before God, acceptance with God for a sinner is only in Jesus
Christ. through Jesus Christ and because
of Jesus Christ and that's grace, grace, grace. Now if I try to
add anything to what Christ did, doesn't matter what it is, if
I try to recommend myself to God by keeping a day, well I
believe in Jesus but I believe you better keep the Sabbath day.
Wait a minute now, if you do that to find favor with God,
Christ has become of no effect. You've fallen from grace. You've
taken the works road. I don't care if it's 2%. Or by
paying a tithe. I know people pay tithes. They
pay 10% so diligently. Why are you doing that? Well,
because it's required. You're on the law road, and you've
got a long road. You've forsaken Christ. He's
become of no effect. You're doing this out of duty. You're doing this because it's
a law. You're doing this to find favor
with God, and you're on the law road. You've fallen from grace.
Doing good works. Why are you doing these good
works? Well, I believe if I do enough good works, I'll go to
heaven. You're on the law road. Christ's prophet, you know, you've
fallen from grace. Fallen from grace. Look at the
next verse 5. Paul said, now, but we We, through
the Spirit, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, through the
regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, through a knowledge given
us by the Holy Spirit, of the liberty in Christ, of the grace
in Christ, we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness,
the hope of holiness, not by works, but by faith. You mean
a man is declared righteous and holy and perfectly accepted of
God only by faith? Only by faith, in Christ Jesus. Because he's everything. We're
complete in him. Complete. That's what the word
says. Complete. What's our hope of righteousness? Christ. What's
our hope of acceptance? In the beloved. What's our hope
of resurrection? He said, because I live, you
live. What's our hope of eternal life? I am come that they might
have life. It's all in Christ. You can't add even an atom. Not an atom. I say unto you,
Paul said, if you be circumcised to find favor with God, that's
what I'm saying now. Now, wait a minute. Watch this
last verse. Now, for in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision,
that's work. See, circumcision is a sign of
all the works, Sabbath day, tithing, feast days, holy days, keeping
the law, all these things. That doesn't avail anything.
No uncircumcision. The fellow said, well, I don't
do any of those things. Well, you haven't got anything either. But faith
works by, faith what? True faith works. It works. It labors, it strives, it sacrifices,
it gives by love, motivated by love. What's this say? Well,
Paul's saying this, the man who keeps the Sabbath to find favor
with God will not be accepted. Because he's a debtor to do the
whole law, and he can't do the whole law. He's born in sin,
he's shapen in iniquity, he's brought forth speaking lies,
and his righteousness will come short of the glory of God, and
he'll not be accepted. But neither will the man who
doesn't keep it. They'll say, well, I don't believe in Sabbath
day, I don't keep it. Well, you're not accepted either. Well, who
is accepted? The man is accepted who worships
God. because he loves God. That's who's accepted. The man
who knows God and worships God because he loves God. It's not
a matter of one day out of seven. He loves God every day. He worships
God every day. Every day's the Lord's day. Christ
is his rest. Christ is his true Sabbath. But
he loves God and worships God. Not to gain favor with God. Christ
gained that favor. purchased that redemption. Christ
worked out that righteousness. We worship God because we love
God. I don't have to go to church.
I don't have to read the Bible. I don't have to worship God on
the Lord's Day. I don't have to. And if you have to, and it's
a duty with you, you're under law. But we do it because we
want to. That's where we want to be. That's
the people with whom we want to be. That's what we want to
do. We love God. The man who tithes,
the man who tithes, diligently tithes to find favor with God,
he won't be accepted. If he does it out of a duty,
if he puts aside the 10% because it's ordered and under law, tithing
is not taught in the New Testament anywhere. It's all under the
Mosaic Levitical economy. The man who tithes is not accepted.
But the man, another fellow says, well, I don't tie. I don't believe
in tying. You're not accepted either. Well, who is accepted? The man who's generous and the
man and woman who gives because they love Christ. Faith worketh
by love. Because they love God's people.
Because they want to share what God's given them. They give out
of love, motivated freely and fully because they love Christ. not to gain a seat in heaven. The moral man will not be accepted. I'll tell you this, I've lived
a clean life and I've paid my bills and I've never done this,
that, never killed anybody, never stole anything. You're not accepted.
You've got a lot more to do than that. You've got to please God
in every jot and tittle from the sole of your feet to the
top of your head. You're not accepted. Well, preacher,
I'm not a law keeper. You know that, and you're not
accepted either. But who is accepted? The man
who loves God's Word and loves God's commandments and to whom
the commandments of God are not grievous, but he obeys his Lord
because he loves Him. He loves Him. He loves to please
Him. He loves to glorify Him. He loves
to magnify His name. True faith works, not for reward. but because of love. True faith
gives, not for reward. I hear these preachers always
talking about the reward that people are going to get in heaven.
Christ is our reward. He's all the reward we need.
He's all the reward we want. He's all the reward we expect.
Christ is our reward. And faith does work, but not
for reward. It gives, not for reward, but
because of love. And true faith worships. True
faith worships. I don't have to go to a building
to worship God. We go to the building because
that's where the people of God meet together. That's where the
people of God assemble together, and we delight to worship Him
and fellowship with them. But true faith worships God out
of love for God, loves the presence of the Lord. I was glad, David
said, when they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord.
Bella didn't come say now this is a Sabbath day and you better
be in the house of God or you're gonna lose your reward and If
you go to the house of God God look with favor on all he said
I was glad I was glad faith worketh by love true faith witnesses
Witnesses you don't have to organize a visitation to get put God's
people to visit you don't have to organize a visitation to get
God's people to witness a You don't have to get up in the pulpit
and browbeat people who love God to get them to tell others
about their Lord. They love to talk about Christ.
They delight to talk about Christ. They'd rather talk about Him
than anything. Oh, to find somebody willing to listen, to find somebody
who wants to listen is a delight to the redeemed soul. He loves
to. That's his joy. True faith is
obedient. Not perfectly. Not perfectly. We know that better than anybody.
Not perfectly. But I tell you, it wants to be
perfect. Wants to be like Him because we love Him. And true
faith reads the Word of God. And you don't have to sign daily
Bible readings either to get people who love God to read God's
Word. They'd like to read God's Word.
You see what he's saying here? This is so important. He goes
back here and he says this, and I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, If you be circumcised, if you're doing your religious duties
to find favor with God, Christ profits you nothing. I don't
care what that duty is, please listen to him. Paul said, I,
Paul, say unto you, if you're doing these duties to be accepted
of God, to find favor with God, Christ will profit you nothing.
He said, if you're doing this to find favor with God, you're
obligated to keep the whole law. You're obligated to live perfectly
before God because you've departed from grace. You've taken the
law road. You've left the free road. You've taken a toll road,
and you've got nothing to pay. The free road is Christ. It's
Christ Jesus. But he said, so in Christ, and
he said, we wait. We wait expectantly, joyfully. for the hope of holiness and
righteousness in Christ Jesus by faith. For he said, in Christ,
and that's where all acceptance is and joy is and redemption
is, in Christ. In Christ, neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision. And that destroys both of these
positions. If a fellow says, I do this,
God will accept me. If a fellow says, well, I don't
believe in that type of religion, God will accept me because I'm
a free soul. He won't accept either one of you. Neither one
of them. Circumcision doesn't avail anything.
Sabbath-keeping doesn't avail anything. Nor Sabbath-breaking
doesn't avail anything. But faith, true faith in Christ,
that faith that loves Him and leans on Him and believes on
Him, it'll work. It'll work. It'll worship. It'll
witness. It'll give. It'll be obedient. But it's motivated solely and
completely by a love for Jesus Christ, a love for the Son of
God. Now, if you want this message, I have it on a cassette tape.
It's entitled, Faith Worketh by Love. And you order it, send
$2. Now, I made you this tape and
the one I'm going to bring another sermon next week on faith, the
faith of Abraham. Abraham believed God. Write for
this tape, Faith Worketh by Love. Send $2. Here's the address.
Until next week, God bless you.