The Liberty In Christ

Bibles, we say that so often,
don't we? Open your Bibles. Our Lord said to the Pharisees,
you do search the Scriptures. You do open your Bibles. And
you read them. And you search them. And you
examine them. For in them you think you have
life. Well, the Bible says this, everybody
starts his argument with, I know my Bible. But they are they which testify
of me, of me, and you will not come to me. You'll open your
Bible and you'll do all these things that you think it says
do, but you won't come to me. That you might have life. Life
is not in the Bible, it's in Christ. Eternal life is not in
the church, it's in Christ. Eternal life is not in the law,
it's in Christ. And I don't know when in all
these years that I've been more impressed with that glorious
truth than in preparing these messages for you today. I've been especially blessed,
and here in Galatians chapter 5 there are two statements. I wish we could read the word
and that the Spirit of God would make these sentences more than
just words, but make them come to our hearts with power and
conviction and understanding And there are two statements
here in Galatians 5 that certainly ought to catch the attention
of the careful reader and catch the attention of the person who
is concerned about a saving relationship with God in Christ. The last
line in verse 2, verse 2, the very last line. Christ shall profit you nothing.
Christ shall profit you nothing. Now he's talking to a church,
he's talking to the churches of Galatia, he's talking to religious
people, he's talking to people who heard him preach,
and people who had a profession of faith, and people who were,
I guess, like we are, comfortable in that profession. Christ will
profit you nothing. And then another statement in
verse 4, the first line of verse 4, Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Christ, Jesus, the Son of God,
has become of no effect to you. What does this mean? What do
these two statements mean? Why, preacher, would that cause
you concern, and why should it cause me concern? Well, when
he says here, Christ shall profit you nothing, and Christ is become
of no effect to you, he's talking about his perfect righteousness.
His righteousness which he worked out on the earth, in the flesh,
by full obedience to the Father's will, and a full obedience to
the law of That robe of righteousness, Bob, you read about a while ago,
clothe me with the robe of righteousness. It says that that profits me
nothing. If Christ profits me nothing,
I have no part in this covering, in this robe of righteousness,
no part. And it has no effect, no advantage
to me at all. It's as if it didn't even happen. Now you think about that. And
then secondly it means this, that his ransom. Job cried, deliver
him from going down into the pit, I've found a ransom. Well
the ransom of Christ, if he profits me nothing, if he's no effect,
then I have no ransom. And go on, deliver him to the
pit. And it has no effect, this atonement, this blessed atonement
which he accomplished on the cross. All his life, all of his
life, he talked about his hour, his hour, his hour, and finally
he said, Father, the hour has come. This is it. And he went
to that cross, and he bled, and he suffered, and he died, and
they took him down from the tree. And that atonement which he accomplished
on that tree profits me nothing. Something Paul is saying here,
something so vital and so important, That if I don't understand it
and lay hold of it, that atonement profits me nothing, nothing,
nothing, nothing, nil, as if it hadn't even happened. I have
no ransom, no atonement, no propitiation, no mercy seat, no covering, just
naked open guilt before God Almighty. That ought to bother us. It certainly
ought to bother us. I don't see how we can read statements
like that without just digging into what's being said. What's
he talking about? Christ shall profit me nothing.
This is not written to the drunks and the street people and the
harlots and the slum dwellers. This is written to the church.
To the church. Christ shall profit you, Paul
says, to the church nothing. Christ is become of no effect
to you. No effect. his righteousness,
his blood, and then his intercession, thirdly, his intercession at
the throne of grace. Prophets mean nothing. It has
no effect as far as I'm concerned. In other words, God says there's
one God. There's one God. And we somehow
have a tendency to look up when we're talking about God, but
there's one God. David said, whither shall I flee from thy
presence? I don't know why we look up. Because he said, Whither
shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, thou art there. If I take
the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea, thy hand shall guide me there. God's everywhere. But
there's one God. There's one God. He's not far
from any of us. In him we live and move and have
our being. There's one God. But with that God, there's one
mediator. With that God, there's one door.
With that God, there's one intercessor, there's one high priest. And
if he doesn't intercede for me, I don't have a mediator. I don't
have God. I'm without hope and without
God in this world. I'm without God, religious though
I may be. But whatever he's talking about
here, if I don't understand it, then I don't have a mediator.
This one mediator is not my mediator. And so there you have it. The
three essentials, the three essentials. I face the danger of losing all
three. Christ shall profit you nothing,
has become no effect to you, no righteousness, no atonement,
and no mediator. How? Well, what we've been dealing
with all day, this morning and again tonight. If in any way
I try to mix my works, my religion, my profession, my deeds, my morality,
in any way, if I try to add that to the person and work of Christ,
by approaching God, seeking a righteousness and acceptance, on anything that
I do or say, anything except in Christ, through Christ, by
Christ, and because of Christ, then Christ becomes of no effect. And prophets mean nothing. Before
we read Galatians 5, I want you to turn to Philippians 3. Now
this is what the Apostle Paul says about this. In Philippians
chapter 3. Now I want you to look at this.
This is a man who called himself a pattern. A pattern of converted
people. A pattern of believers. This
was a man who was brought up in religion. A man brought up
in the Jewish heritage. And he says in verse 3 of chapter
3 of Philippians, we, for we are the circumcision. We are
true Israel, we are the people of God, who worship God in spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in this flesh,
no confidence at all in this flesh. Now he said, though I
might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh
he hath, whereof he might trust in the flesh, in the flesh, in
my works. in my heritage, in my background,
in my profession. I run into people all the time
and they say this, well, you're not going to talk me out of my
profession. You're not going to shake my foundation. I made
my profession back yonder years ago. And it doesn't matter whether
I heard what you're preaching or somebody else preaching or
what. I knew I was there when it happened. I had my profession.
And I made my profession. And I'm going to hold to it.
or I was brought up in a Christian home, and I was brought up in
church, and I read the Bible, and I believe in God, and I did
all these things, and I was baptized, and I was sprinkled as an infant,
and I was catechized, and I did all these things, and I've given
my money, and I've paid my tithe, and I've attended church regularly,
and I've done these things, I've tried to live right, And I've
tried to support the church, and I've taught Sunday school,
and I've done all these things. Well, Paul said, do you have
some reason to glory in the flesh? I'm more, he said. Much, much
more. For he said in verse 5, I was
circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. I'm a son of Abraham. I'm a son
of Abraham. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin.
The beloved tribe. I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. As touching
the law, I was a Pharisee. I was a Pharisee, exceeding many
my peers, my equals. Devoted, devout, dedicated. I was concerning zeal, I persecuted
those who disagreed with me doctrinally. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, I was blameless. You want to talk about your profession?
You want to look back at something you have or were given or did
or held to or were dedicated to? You want to look back to
any of those things? Your baptism? Your profession of faith? A man
told me a few days ago about an experience he had, you know,
and he said it's just, it's real. It's real. Don't you think these
things were real to Paul? The years he sat at the feet
of Gamaliel, the years he studied the Bible, the years he He studied
all of the types and the pictures and the sacrifices and the ceremonies,
the Sabbath days he spent carefully putting aside his time with zeal
for God and devotion to God. Don't you know those things?
But what things were gained to me, these things that were important
to me? These acts of the flesh, these
religious acts, these things were gain to me, these were important
to me, they were my life. These things were gain to me,
those I counted loss. I just wiped them off the record. I just, as far as I'm concerned,
they didn't even happen. They didn't even happen. My mother
and father and their dedication to me, I was their brightened
son and they were just wrapped up in me and they were careful
to raise me right and they brought me up in the synagogue and they
sent me off to school and they sacrificed and I labored and
I studied the Bible and I walked before God in honesty and morality
and I was dedicated to the temple and the synagogue. I count these
things but loss. loss as if they didn't even happen
for Christ. I exchange everything I was and
did and accomplished for one thing, for Christ. Yea, doubtless. I count all things but loss for
the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I want
to know Him for whom I suffered the loss of all things, everything. My family, my heritage, my background,
my deeds, my law, all these things. And I do count them, but, oh,
this is a strong word, dumb. Rubbish. Rubbish. That I may win Christ and be
found in Him. Now that's how strongly the Apostle
Paul put it. Not having, not having my own
morality and holiness and righteousness and perfection, Not having anything
to bring to God, nothing in my hands I bring, naked before God
I come. But that which is through the
faith of Christ, the obedience of Christ, the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection. Oh, that I may know him and the
fellowship of his suffering. Oh, that I may be conformed to
the image Christ, to his death, if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. Now go back to our text,
let's see what we're talking about here. Now this is where
I want to be, where Paul is writing here in Philippians 3, where
I must be. So he tells us in verse 1 of
chapter 5, where he tells us, stand fast. Don't be entangled,
don't be moved, don't be persuaded. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made us free. Free from what? What has
Christ freed us from? What's he freed us from? Just
think about it. He's made us free. Free from what? Free from
sin. Free from the penalty of it.
There's therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Free
from the penalty of sin. Free from the dominion of sin.
Sin shall not have dominion over you. free from the guilt of it? I
think every one of us are prone to think this way. We have a
bad day. We have a bad day. Our old flesh
seems to take over. And when we do have such a day,
here's the first thing that sometimes enters our mind. Well, I'm just
not saved. You ever do that? It's just I'm not a child of
God. Now, wait a minute. You stand
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you, he took
your sins and paid for your sins, past, present and future. All
of your sins, not some of your sins, not some, all of them,
they are paid for, they are put away. He said I'll separate your
sins from you as far as the east is from the west to be remembered
no more. I'll bury them in the depths of the sea. I'll cast
them behind my back. I don't remember them anymore. So we're free from sin, Christ
has freed us from sin. But I tell you this old works
ethic, this old self-righteousness just creeps in to our thoughts
and our minds and we try to mix the work of Christ and our deeds. If these deeds are good, we feel
real saved, and if they're bad, we feel lost. And instead of
just forgetting them, Christ just paid for them, put them
away. They aren't there anymore. Just look to Him and Him alone.
And then it doesn't change. He never changes. That's what
she just said. Look to Him. Don't look to these
things. Stand first in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you
free. Free! Free! from the guilt of sin,
the penalty, the dominion of sin, free from the ceremonial
law. I tell you, we've got these days. It's like the old Jews had their
Sabbath day and their feast days and their holy days. We have
made idols out of days, haven't we? Easter and Christmas and
Sunday and all these days, days come into our thoughts, days. I've got to handle this day right,
you know, this day. And when I don't handle this
day right, then I have a problem. Christ has freed me from the
bondage of days. Your Sabbath days, your new moons
and all these days, Christ has fulfilled all the ceremonial
And then the moral law. The moral law as a covenant of
works. The moral law hasn't changed. It's still the same. It requires
all that it ever required, but I cannot find acceptance with
God in obedience to the moral law. Christ has delivered me
from that. Stand fast. Don't become entangled again
in any way, even in thoughts, in a system of works. and ordinances
and laws and rules to find favor with God. He said in verse 1,
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free and
don't be entangled. Don't, it doesn't matter whatever
or whomever says otherwise, don't be drawn back into that. Don't
do it. Don't do it. Be drawn back into
this system of works and this thing of finding favor with God
by what I do and what I say and where I go and where I don't
go. We find favor with God only in Christ. That's right. Now watch this next verse. And
he starts it with, Behold. Behold. God uses this word often
in the Word of God to announce some startling and vital truth.
Behold! Behold! Now if the Son has made
you free, Stand there. If the truth has set you free,
stand there. Don't waver. Don't be drawn into
the world's religion, into their ways. Don't be entangled again. Don't even touch these things.
You stand there. For behold, behold, you know
he said, Behold a virgin shall conceive. He's fixing to announce
the birth of his son. He says, Behold my servant in
whom my soul delighteth. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God. Christ said, behold, I come quickly. Now behold, I talk,
saying to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit
you nothing. In other words, if you seek acceptance
with God, favor with God, a righteousness before God, anywhere but in Christ,
in anything but Christ, he profits you nothing. Now circumcision
here, circumcision at one time was commanded. Did you know that?
It was commanded. In fact, circumcision was the
seal of the covenant and it was so important, it was so vital
and so important that God almost killed Moses for not circumcising
his boy. Did you know that? That's how
important circumcision was. Here's a picture. It was a circumcision
of the heart, it pictured. It was a seal of the covenant,
and that's what the seal of the new covenant is, a heart left
for Christ. The heart broken, smitten, rendered by Christ. Now let me show you this in Exodus
chapter 4. This is interesting. Exodus chapter 4. This is how
important it was to these Jews. Paul, this is so important to
these Jews because they knew this story. Now remember Moses
was down in Egypt and he left Egypt, went out in the wilderness
and stayed there for 40 years. He was 80 years of age and then
God appeared to him on the mountain and God spoke to him and said
you will lead my people out of Egypt. In the meantime he had
married. During those 40 years he met
Jethro the priest of Midian and married his daughter Zipporah
and they had a son. Moses didn't have him circumcised.
They had a servant. I forget his name. It's listed
here somewhere. But anyway, they had a boy and
he didn't have him circumcised, which was a seal of the covenant,
which was a mark of the people of God, the Jewish nation. And
God had talked to Moses about leading the people out of Israel.
He'd sent him down to Egypt and he was on his way and he stopped
in an inn in Exodus 4 verse 24. And it came to pass, by the way,
in the end, that the Lord met him. Now, the Lord met this man
Moses, to whom he had talked previously about leading the
people out of Israel. You going to lead them out? Exodus 4, 24. God met him, and
God sought to kill him. Then Zipporah, and they had talked
about this before, his wife knew what to do. God was about to
kill Moses. evidently beyond talking or something. She saw him lying there. And
so she took a sharp stone or a knife and she circumcised her
son and cast it at Moses' feet. She was angry. She was angry. Moses had bent to the will of
his wife. Moses had submitted to the will
of his wife, hadn't circumcised that boy. They had this, they'd
had a quarrel over this before because she was She's angry about
it. She knew God was angry. And Moses
was about to die. So she circumcised that boy and
cast it at his feet and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou
to me. And God let him go. And God let
him go. And God let him go. And she said, A bloody husband
art thou to me. because of the circumcision.
But yet, you see how important it was here, and yet over here
in Galatians 5, turn back to our text. And you know a person may, you
know, it's like all these things that come in, you know, your
circumcision, and you know these Jewish people, they knew all
of this in the Old Testament, how important it was, and yet
Paul is saying to these people, Christ has fulfilled that, And
if you have a weakness of faith and you feel, well, I believe
we ought to do this, circumcise or keep the Sabbath day and pay
the tithe and do these rules in order to appease God, he said,
Christ shall profit you nothing. That's how serious it was with
the Jew, this thing of circumcising their sons. They'd done it for
all these hundreds of years. And they've done it toward God.
They've done it as a seal of the covenant. It was a picture
of Christ. As a Sabbath, there was a picture of Christ. As all
these other ceremonies and rituals, there was a picture of Christ.
Now Christ has come. And He is all and in all. He's
my wisdom, righteousness. He's my sanctification. He's
my redemption. I find everything in Him. But
I feel uneasy. If I don't do this, maybe God
will be angry and I ought to... Christ will profit you nothing.
See how serious it is? Christ is the fulfillment of
all things, and in order to do anything, even be baptized. For
acceptance with God is to discredit the work of Jesus Christ. It's
to discredit. And this is the problem I have
with these fellows that make a Sabbath out of Sunday. There
are a lot of preachers in our country, some grace preachers,
reform preachers, who put some emphasis upon Keep it Sunday,
but now keep it if you want to, but don't do it to appease God. Don't do it to find favor with
God. If you want to pay the tithe, pay it, but don't do it to gain
favor with God. If you want to fast, do it fast,
but don't do it to gain favor with God. Christ is our, is that
not right? Christ is our favor. And you
see, all these other things, circumcision was important. But to do it in order to appease
or find favor with God, then Christ is out of the picture.
And then verse 3, watch this. Here's the whole problem, because
you're putting yourself in another bracket. You're putting yourself,
I testify again, like I said before, to every man that does
this. Now if you keep a day, if you're
circumcised, or if you fulfill an ordinance, If you can come
to the Lord's table, or if you keep the law, in order to cleanse
yourself, or make a decision, come to the front, pray at the
altar. Praying is good, praying, we have an altar to which we
come, Christ is our altar. Praying is good, fasting is good,
but not to find favor with God. Christ is our favorite. Christ
is our righteousness. Not to make myself acceptable. Not to make God love me more
or accept me more. Christ is my acceptance. I'm
accepting the beloved. For he said, verse 3, I testify
again to every man that is circumcised for righteousness, that he is
a debtor to keep the whole law. You put yourself in another bracket.
You put yourself under another covenant. You put yourself under
another requirement. Here's what he's saying. That
you put yourself in an obligation to keep the whole law. If you're
going to keep part of it, you've got to keep all of it. In other
words, here I am, a son of Adam, a sinner. I've got to find my
full righteousness and favor with God in Christ. Plus nothing,
minus nothing. Through Christ, in Christ, because
of Christ. If I slip over here into works
in any way, I forfeited this privilege, I forfeited this position,
I'm over here now, God judging me, not on the basis of a little
law, but a whole law. I'm obligated to keep the whole
law. Let me show you that in Romans chapter 9. Now listen
to this. Romans chapter 9. In verse 30.
Romans 9.30. Listen. And what he's saying is this,
the preacher of works, the preacher of works, has no business with
Christ. He has no dealings with Christ.
It's the law, the whole law, and nothing but the law, or it's
Christ, the whole Christ, and nothing but Christ. It can't
be both for salvation. It can't be both for acceptance
with God. It's got to be one of them. Is that not right? Look
at Romans 9, verse 30. What shall we say then? that
the Gentiles, the pagan, the heathens, the Galatians, that
the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness, they didn't
have a tabernacle or a temple or a mercy seat or a law or prophets,
they didn't follow after righteousness but they've attained a righteousness.
They didn't circumcise their sons, they didn't keep a Sabbath
day, they didn't keep the Feast of the Tabernacle, they didn't
fast, they didn't sacrifice a Passover, but they attained to righteousness.
Even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, religious
Israel, dedicated Israel. which followed after the law
of righteousness, which kept the days, and the feast days,
and the appointed sacrifices, have not attained to the law
of righteousness. Wherefore, why? Because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were, by the works of the
law. The Jews sought it through religion.
The Gentiles didn't seek it at all. God gave it to them in Christ,
through Christ, by Christ, as a free gift. And they're righteous. And here's the plotting Jew over
here, doing all these things to serve God. It's like the religious
people in our generation, doing things to serve God. And they
have not attained to righteousness. Now watch verse 4. Christ is
become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, by your obedience, by your righteousness, by your
goodness, Christ is become of no effect. Watch this now. You're
falling from grace. I guess when I was growing up,
I heard that quoted and referred to a thousand times. Falling
from grace. They talk about a fella in the
church that committed a sin, he's falling from grace. They
talk about somebody who wasn't coming to church anymore, well,
he's falling from grace. Let me shock you and tell you
something. It's not the man who commits sin that's falling from
grace. It's rather the man who thinks he hasn't sinned that's
fallen from grace. Isn't it strange how we get things
gummed up? It's not the man who commits
sin that's fallen from grace at all. It's the man who thinks
he has no sin that's fallen. He's fallen from grace into works. He's fallen from the truth of
redemption in Christ, forgiveness in Christ, salvation in Christ.
He's fallen from grace to finding acceptance with God by his deeds.
Wouldn't that shock old granny if you said that to her years
ago? When she was running around talking about somebody falling
from grace and you said, well it's not that fellas falling
from grace, it's you. You've fallen from grace granny.
You follow from grace, you keep talking about how you served
the Lord, how you dedicated your life to the Lord, how you raised
your children right, and how you worked for a living, how
you washed clothes and wore your hands to the bone, and how you
went to church on Sunday, and how you never was caught dead
in the bathing suit, and how you did this, that, and the other,
and how you had your reward in the mansion, and you're the one
that's following from grace! You're the one that's trying
to find acceptance with a holy God by what you're doing and
what you've done and what you've given. You've fallen from grace,
not that poor sinner. That poor girl who's had depression,
she ain't fallen from grace. That's her only hope's grace.
You've got another hope. You see what I'm saying? This
is the truth. And it's so far removed from
where religion is today, it shocks me. And Paul comes back to us,
he said, you better stand in that liberty. They may call you
apostate and antinomian, but you better stand where he's preaching.
He's preaching Christ. You better stand there. You better
not be moved. You better not move. I'm telling you, he said,
I'm saying to you, these fellas come preaching baptism or some
of these other things, say you've got to do this. He said, you
better not. Christ will profit you nothing.
Because you put yourself over here under the law, and if you
start in any way, I don't care even a glimmer or a glitter of
trying to find favor with God, even that old profession, even
your old dedication, even your service, even your preaching,
even your anything, if you try to find acceptance with God in
anything you do, Christ is become of no effect. And you are a debtor
to keep the whole blessed law in every jot and tittle before
a holy God, and he'll try you before his judgment bar. You
don't have Christ to please. I'm full of affliction and full
of sin and full of troubles and all these things, but I have
a perfect righteousness in Christ. A perfect righteousness. I'm
not going to bring any of these filthy garments before God. The person
who seeks sanctification or righteousness in any way has fallen from grace. That's it. Fallen from grace. And then verse 5. Now watch this
very carefully. For we, through the Spirit of
God, through the revelation of the Spirit, through the regeneration
of the Spirit, through the Spirit's teachings, we wait. We wait. for the hope of righteousness,
for the hope of holiness, for the hope of acceptance, for the
hope of eternal glory, we wait for the hope of righteousness
only by faith. Now let me show you something
in Romans 3. I want you to turn over there. I'll tell you this.
I'm not afraid to walk by faith alone. I'm afraid not to. I'm not afraid to look to Christ
alone. He's able. I'm afraid not to. I'm afraid
not to. I want you to turn to Romans
4. And I want to make this as clear
as I can. Romans chapter 4. Romans the
fourth chapter. Now listen, beginning with verse
3. Now, Paul uses the example of Abraham. Abraham was called
a friend of God. A friend of God. He talked of
Abraham, he said, as his friend. Abraham was a friend of God.
He's called the father of the faithful. Now Paul said in verse
3 of Romans 4, what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him for righteousness. This is before
the Levitical law. This is before circumcision.
This is just Abraham and God. He believed God. He believed
God. Counted to him for righteousness. He didn't have a church to go
to. He didn't have a church to go to.
He didn't have a Levitical law. He didn't have copies of the
Ten Commandments to hang on the wall. If the law is the rule
of life, what was Abraham's rule? He walked with God, like Enoch.
He believed God. And it was counted to him for
what? Righteousness. What is that righteousness? Holiness,
Paul. That's utter, absolute holiness. And now to him that
worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. You're trying to charge God wages.
But to him that worketh not, worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted, imputed,
reckoned for righteousness, holiness in Christ. Even as David also
described it, the blessedness, the happiness, the contentment,
the blessed state of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without any works. That's plain as I can read it,
without any words. Righteousness without any words.
Without any consideration of anything you've ever done, ever
given, ever said. That's right, Herman, that's
what he said. Righteousness without any consideration at all toward
you, of anything you've done, good or bad. only considered
Christ, saying, verse 7, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. Now, does this blessedness come
upon the circumcision only, the Jews, or the uncircumcision also? We say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. When was it reckoned? When he
was in circumcision or uncircumcision? No sir, before he was ever circumcised. God called him out of his father's
house, he believed God. Fifteen years before he was circumcised,
God said he was holy. Then how come he didn't be circumcised?
God commanded him to. Now this brings me to Galatians
5, the next verse, and that will bring me to a close. Galatians
5, the next verse. Then how are you going to get
people to yield and obey and love each other and walk before
God in holiness? treat each other right, live
like they ought to live, worship God. How are you going to get
them to? Verse 6, For in Jesus Christ neither works or no works,
neither baptism or no baptism, neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision. Well, what is it? It's faith
in Christ. Faith, faith, faith. Believing
the Lord. And that faith works by love. That faith produces
obedience. That faith produces godliness.
That faith produces a right attitude. Our Lord Jesus Christ sat down
with Peter there before the fire, and he said, Peter, here's... Peter denied him. Peter had gone
fishing. Oh, you know all the problems
Peter had. I know he's bringing that up, but here they are. Here's
the sinner and the Savior. Here's the servant and the master.
Here's the guilty man, and here's the redeemer man. And they're going to have a discussion.
And you know, it's kind of a one-string conversation. And he took that
and said, Peter, promise not to do that anymore? No. You promise
not to doubt again? No. You promise you're going
to walk straight from here on? No. He said, Peter, do you love
me? Do you love me? Lord, you know
I love you. Will you feed my lambs? You love
me? Lord, I love you. You know I
love you. Then feed my sheep. Do you love me? Peter was grieved. He asked him the third time and
he said, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. Then feed
my sheep. And that's the very thing that Paul is saying right
here. Faith worketh by love. Do you see this? If I could do anything for myself
or you tonight, I would, and I wish I had the power and the
ability to set forth this thing like I'd like to. But Jesus Christ
the Lord, in his person and work, is our
full acceptance with God, our full righteousness, our full
atonement our full sanctification. And that goes for, that goes
for the man that served like John, the Beloved John, the Beloved
John, what a glorious person he was, the Beloved John. So
tender and kind and so submissive and so lovable, leaned on the
Master's breast, that's Beloved John, who lived to be ninety
some odd years old, writing the scriptures and preaching and
died in exile on the Isle of Patmos. But he has no more to
plead before God than that thief on the cross who knew Christ
30 minutes before he died. That's the truth. No more to
plead. And it doesn't matter whether
someone hears. Just don't pay attention to what
you've done or given. It's nothing but filthy rags
if you look into it for acceptance. It's Christ now. And whatever
you have to do with what's gone before, I don't care how sacred
it is to you, and how real it is to you, and how precious it
is to you, if it in any way trespasses on the rights of Christ as your
full representative, you better forget it. You better consider
it as if it didn't happen. Or Christ will profit you nothing.
Now, I'm dead serious. I know there's some who We're
going to treat this just like you did any other thing that
you've heard preached. You're going to go right on.
You're going to go on, you know, around your routine. Surely God
wouldn't send me to hell. Well, you know, Christ a prophet,
you're nothing. Christ become of no effect. This
is the very, this is the heart of God right here, the person
and work of his son, and he will not allow it to be trifled with. You're not allowed to be trifled
with. I'm dead serious about this now. And I hope you are. I want to find in him all I need. All I need.

The Liberty In Christ

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Liberty In Christ

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book