I want you to turn now with me
to the book of Galatians, chapter 6. Before we celebrate the Lord's table, I
want to make a few comments from the sixth chapter of Galatians.
Someone mentioned a moment ago, I believe it was Brother Joe
Terrell in the study when he offered prayer, he said, I suppose,
he said, the time we come the closest to worshipping God is
when we're observing the Lord's table. I think the reason for
that may be this, that this is our chief glory, this is our
hope, this is our foundation, this is life for the sinner,
the broken body and shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
this is what Paul is saying in Galatians chapter 6. If you look
beginning with verse 11, now let's begin with verse 11 of
Galatians 6. The Apostle had great affection
for this church. The Apostle had great affection
for the believers at Galatia. If you look over across the page
at verse 19 of chapter 4, he said, My little children, speaking
to this church, of whom I travail. That word is taken from the birth
pains that a woman suffers when she's bringing forth a child.
Wanting Christ to be formed in you is like, to me, is like a
woman giving birth to a child. I want it so badly, I travail,
I suffer the very pains of giving birth until Jesus Christ be formed
in you. That was his deep and sincere
affection for these people. He wanted them to know Christ.
He wanted them to have not just doctrine and church affiliation
and rules and regulations. He wanted them to know the Redeemer.
He wanted them to walk with Christ, to talk with Christ, to fellowship
with Christ. And down here, he says in verse
11, now, you see how large a letter. Here's another proof of his affection
for them. You see how large a letter I've
written unto you with my own hand. Now, there were longer
epistles than this one, which Paul wrote. Many of them were
longer than this. But I believe this is one of
the only ones that he wrote with his own hand. Let me show you,
if I can show you proof of the fact that he dictated these epistles. Turn to Romans 16. Now, this
doesn't make it any less the Word of God because Paul dictated
it. This is the Word of God. All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Holy men of God spake
as they were moved, motivated, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
But the Apostle Paul, some people said he had terrible eyes, and
it was a very painful task for him to write anything. I don't
know about that. That may be true. He mentioned
something one time about they loved him so much they would
have plucked out their eyes and given them to him. That may be
where they get this, that Paul's eyesight was so poor, so bad,
that some of the people said, we wish you had our eyes. But
down here in Romans 16, verse 22, this man, I, Tertus, who
wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. In other words,
this man was writing the epistle while Paul dictated it, and Paul
was telling them about the different ones in verse 21, Timotheus,
my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and all these others greet
you, and this fellow said, I'm writing it, and I greet you too. You see that? I'm writing this.
So Paul says over here to the church at Galatia, I didn't give
this task to someone else. I wrote this epistle myself with
my own hand. You see how large an epistle
I've written to you with my own hand because I love you, because
of my deep affection for you. But Paul was so disturbed by
the errors to which this church had been exposed. Even he said
another gospel. Go back over here to chapter
1 a minute. He called the things that these
false preachers and teachers were teaching in the church another
gospel. He says here in Galatians 1,
verse 6, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him, that
is, from me, that called you into the grace of Christ unto
another gospel. It's not another gospel. but
there be some that trouble you and pervert the gospel of Christ."
He was so disturbed about the errors that had come into this
church at Galatia, he sat down and wrote this epistle with his
own hands. Now, you'll see in verse 12 and
13, there are two basic errors that prevail among these false
teachers that trouble this church. And this is true today. Here
are two basic errors. He said in verse 12, As many
as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. That's the first
desire. They desire to make a fair show
in the flesh. They desire human recognition,
human applause, and human praise. That's the first thing wrong
with these preachers. They seek not the honor that
comes from God. Bob came over today to change
the billboard out front. Turn to John chapter 5, and he
came in the office and told me, he said, this is what I'm putting
out there on the billboard, John chapter 5, verse 44. And this sums up one of the great
problems of preachers and churchmen of this day. John 5, 44, how
can you believe which receive honor one of another? That's
what you're seeking. And you do not seek the honor that comes
from God only. You're not seeking the honor
that comes from God, the praise that comes from God. You're seeking
honor that comes from men, and that's what false preachers are
doing. And that's what he's saying here in verse 12. These fellows
desire to make a fair show in the flesh, and they constrain
you to be circumcised so that they might glory in your flesh.
They might say to other Jews, look, I've made this proselyte
and this proselyte and this proselyte. I've brought hundreds of Gentiles
into the Jewish fold. I've had them all circumcised.
Today they say, I've had them baptized, we've won them to the
Lord, we've brought them into the church. Look at the last
line in verse 13, that they may glory in your flesh, that they
may glory in your flesh. I said this the other day, I
don't know whether here or someone else, but here are the two questions
that are asked most today, most frequently in church circles.
How many and how much? Isn't that right, Gerald? How
many do you have in Sunday school? How many baptisms did you have?
How many decisions did you have? How much is your budget? How
much is this? How much is that? That's the
reason we keep these boards on the church wall with all the
numbers. What we had this year, and what we had last year, and
what we had last Sunday, and what we expect to have next.
They desire to make a fair show in the flesh that they may glory
in your flesh. Now here's the second error.
Back in verse 12. This is the second problem with
a false teacher. First, he seeks human honor.
First, he seeks human glory. First, he seeks human applause.
First, he seeks human praise. And you can't do the will of
God if you're seeking the well-done of men. You can't do it. And
secondly, here's the other error, and it says, verse 12, the last
line, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. They want to avoid the offense
of the cross. and they want to avoid the persecution
that comes upon all those who preach the what? Total sufficiency
of the cross of Christ. That's where it is. There's the
two basic errors. Number one, we want to impress
men, and number two, we're not willing to suffer the persecution
and affliction that come from preaching the total, absolute
sufficiency of Jesus Christ. But Paul says in verse 14, now
he comes down, but he says, God forbid, God forbid. And this was a saying that was
characteristic of Paul. When he would present something
that was utterly ridiculous, like for example, he says, shall
we sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Does the preaching
of the cross of Christ lead to sin? God forbid. And here he
says, God forbid that I, that I should glory, God forbid that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Now,
what is it to glory in something? When I was working on this message,
that's the first question that came to my mind. I see in this
Paul's deep, deep love for these people, his deep affection. how
he travailed till Christ was formed in them, how he was willing
to sit down with whatever pain it caused to write this long
epistle to them with his own hand, to warn them of these false
teachers. He said, they're after you. They
come in to destroy the flock, to scatter the sheep. There's
two things, he said, they desire the glory of the flesh, the praise
of men, and they're not willing to suffer for the cross of Christ
for the total sufficiency of Christ and His blood. But he
said, God forbid that I should glory. What is it to glory in
something? What does it mean to glory? I
think four things. You may add other things to these,
but these are the four things that I think glorying in something
means. First of all, you won't glory
in anything unless you approve of it. I approve of it. I hardly put my approval upon
it. If I glory in something, if I
glory in someone, if I glory in a cause, if I glory in a flag,
if I glory in a country, if I glory in a government, if I glory in
a political candidate, I put my approval on that thing, whatever
it is. I approve of it. Secondly, I
rejoice in it. I believe if a person glories
in something, he rejoices in it. He rejoices in that thing. Thirdly, it's to place great
value upon it. Unusual value. I glory in a thing. I glory in it to me. Say I glory
in fame. And I put value. Say I glory
in money. I put value upon it. Say I glory
in my education. I'm putting great value upon
that at the expense of anything else. I'm saying that's what's
important. That's what's important. If I glory in it, Charlie, I'm
saying that's what's important. Great value. Fourthly, it is
to place my confidence in it. You see those four things? God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. I approve of the cross, wholeheartedly, completely approve.
I rejoice in it. I place great value upon it,
and I put my confidence in it. I glory in the cross. Now, everybody's
going to glory in something. I don't care who you are here
tonight. You're glorying in something. Turn to Jeremiah 9. This lists
some of the things in which men glory. Jeremiah chapter 9. Everybody's
going to glory in something. Sure you are. You're going to
glory in something. Men glory in their wisdom. You
know that. They glory and they're smarter
than other people. And they just glory in it. They
take great pride in it. It causes their chest to swell
out and look down their noses at other people. They're smarter.
They're wiser. They've got more education. They glory in that. Some men
glory in their strength. You see them walking around,
you know, flexing their muscles and showing folks how strong
they are. They're glorying in that. That's
just so. I'm glad men are strong, and
I think you ought to take care of your body, but let people
glory in that. And they glory in riches. We
show off our riches. We wear diamonds, and we wear
fancy clothes, and we drive big automobiles, and we build homes
too big for us and too fancy, but we're glorying in those things.
You go to visit somebody, and they want to show you their home,
you know, take you through all the rooms and out on the patio
and all this. They're glorying in that, that's true. They're
glorying it, place great value upon it. They rejoice in it,
that's right, and they approve of it, or they wouldn't have
gone in debt $250,000, they approve of it. Me and Gloria and their
families, Gloria and the children, they show pictures of their children,
they tell, we get these Christmas letters. I don't know whether
you do or not, but we get these Christmas letters every Christmas
from different ones of our friends. And they start out, dear so-and-so,
well, we haven't written since last year. But this year, George
graduated from college, and he finished top of his class. And he had also a grant and a
loan to continue his master's degree, after which he'll earn
his PhD, after which he'll teach at MIT. And then little Susie,
you know, she graduated from high school. She's a valedictorian. And then George, he He was number
one on the baseball team, knocked 10 home runs. They never tell
anything bad these kids do, you know. They never tell anything. George got a divorce, you know,
from his third wife this week. They don't ever do. It's always
bragging, you know. And I wish they wasn't sending
me. I'd just be much obliged. And
men glow in their accomplishments, and they glow in morality. That's
right. They glow in everything. They
glow in anything. In Jeremiah 9, let's listen to
this scripture, Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23. Thus saith the Lord,
let not the wise man... Now the Lord's saying here, there
are some wise men. No question about that. There's
some wise men building this bridge down here across the river. I'm
glad they're not leaving that up to me and John Halston to
build. Nobody here'd cross it. I wouldn't want you to cross
it. I'm glad they're not leaving it up to Art for you to build
that bridge, too. I appreciate you not doing it,
you know. There are some wise men. There are some wise men.
But he says don't let the wise men glory in his wisdom. That's
not the thing to glory in. Neither let the mighty men glory
in his might. There are some mighty men. I'm
glad there are some mighty men. I thank God for mighty men. But
don't glory in it. That's not the rich man. Glory
in his riches. There's got to be some men with
finances to have these big companies to give us jobs. Somebody's got
to have some collateral. Somebody's got to have some capital.
You've got to have big companies. You've got to have men with wisdom,
men with education. You've got to have teachers.
But don't glory in those things. That's not the thing to glory
in. He's not saying, let not a man
have wisdom, let not a man have riches, let not a man have strength.
He said, don't let him glory in it. That's what he's saying. Don't
glory in it. Don't find your delight in that.
Don't rejoice in that. Don't put great value upon that. It's going to crumble with everything
else. It's just a temporary thing.
That's all it is. Whatever we hold in our hands,
whatever we wear on our backs, whatever we eat, whatever we
possess is temporary. It's soon going to be gone. It's
like a flower that fadeth, and the place thereof will know it
no more. Don't glory in those things. After all, what does
a man have that he didn't get from God? Do you have anything
you didn't get from God? What do you have you didn't receive?
Now, if you received it, why do you glory? If you got it as
a gift, if God gave you the brains, and God gave you the strength,
and God gave you the wisdom, and God gave you the riches,
you just got it as a gift, what are we going to glory in? Verse
24, Let him that gloweth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knows me. Now, brother, that's something
to approve on. That's something to rejoice in.
That's something to place great value upon. That's something
to have confidence in. It can't ever change. God never changes. His promises
never change. His purpose never changes. Let
that man glory. Let him glory in this, that he
understand God hath come, the Son of God hath come and given
us an understanding, and he knows me, that I am the Lord which
exercised what? Lovingkindness. and righteousness
in there, these are the things in which I delight. And I want
to find my delight in the things in which my God delights. If
my fellowship with Him, I'll delight in the things in which
He delights. Now, let's go back to Paul's statement here, God
forbid that I should glory. Now then, I understand this more
on my, really I'm not being, I'm not trying to be humble here
now, I'm trying to tell the truth. I understand this more on my
part than I do Paul's, because Paul had many things in which
he might have glowed. It means a lot more for Paul
to say this than me to say it. It really does. And for most
of you. God forbid that I should glow
with saving the cross. Now, it means more for Paul to
say it, because Paul might have glowed in a lot of other things.
Let me just give you a few. He might have glowed in his burnt.
He was born of the tribe of Benjamin. He was born of a Hebrew father
and a Hebrew mother. He was a direct descendant of
Abraham, Paul was. He might have gloried in his
education. He had an education. In fact, there was a king sitting
on a throne that said this to him, Cecil. He said, You've studied
so much, you've lost your mind. That's what he said. Much learning
hath made thee mad. Isn't that what he said? Paul
might have gloried in his religious background. He said, if any man
have confidence in the flesh, I'm old. He might have gloried
in his call to be an apostle. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave Paul
a special revelation of himself on the road to Damascus. a special
view of the God of incarnation. Yes, he did. He made a special
revelation to the apostle Paul, took him into Arabia, and personally
taught him the gospel. Personally taught him the gospel.
Paul might have gloried in his visions. Paul's the only man
I know that was taken to the third heaven and allowed to look
around and come back to the earth. only man in the history of mankind. He said, I saw things it's not
possible to tell you. He might have gloried in his
writings. He wrote more books in the Bible than anybody else.
He might have gloried in his sufferings for Christ. I don't
mean to be a smart aleck here, but I see these books on the
bookstore all the time about people who suffered in concentration
camps, and I saw a preacher with his shirt off and scars on his
back, and he told how he'd suffered for Jesus. I don't find Paul
doing that. I don't find him glorying now,
glorying in these things. I know there are men who suffered
for Christ, and I hesitate to say this because I never suffered
for Christ that way. But I'm telling you this, the
Apostle Paul summed up all these things. He summed up all these
things and he said, I count them but lost for the excellence of
the knowledge of Christ. And God forbid that I should
glow in my birth or my education or my ancestry or my heritage
or my call or my revelations or my visions or my writings
or my suffering. My only glory is in the cross
of Jesus Christ. That's something. Here's a man
who could have. possibly could have really gained
applause and fame and recognition and he could have boasted, no
end to the boasting he could have expressed. But he said,
I glory in Christ. Go out in the woods, go out in
the woods and be real quiet someday and listen to the birds. And
you'll hear the birds, and you'll find out that each bird has its
own song. I don't know much about birds.
We were out in the woods, Darcy and I, up at Twin Falls State
Park last week. And we were walking along one
of the trails. We stood real still. You can hear the quiet,
really. It's so perfect. And she said, listen to the birds.
And we listened to them call different places. And she said
to him one time, she said, Edgel used to love to watch birds,
didn't he? He loved birds. He might have known their calls.
I don't know their calls. And I said, each one has his
own call. A robin, people who know birds
can recognize. A robin will call like a robin.
A whippoorwill, like a whippoorwill. A mockingbird like a mockingbird,
a crow like a crow, they've all got their distinct sound. And
each can be identified by its song, did you know that? Each
bird can be identified by its song. And this is what I'm saying,
that a true minister of Christ, you listen, you be still and
listen. You listen, there are a lot of
them out there, a lot of voices, a lot of people saying a lot
of things, a lot of people claiming a lot of things. But a true minister,
and you can't be fooled if you listen, a robin's a robin. a
whippoorwill's a whippoorwill, a mockingbird's a mockingbird,
and you listen to preachers, and a true minister of Christ
Jesus will be identified by the sound, by his message, your glory
in Christ. I guarantee you, every time,
you'll hear that note, you'll hear that song, Christ and Him
crucified. Because the Holy Spirit, the
Scripture says, when He's come, He'll glorify me. You can recognize
the Holy Spirit's voice. He speaks of Christ. That's right. Paul was a true minister of the
gospel. He said, I preach Christ and Him crucified. I preach Christ
and Him crucified. He told those Corinthians with
all their philosophy and education and wisdom and logic, he said,
I'm determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Now you hear that note? That's
a minister of the gospel. Somebody said last week that
all I preached was grace, grace, grace. You want to hear something
else? Well, you go somewhere else. If you want to hear works,
works, works, we're not going to preach it here. Maybe you'd
like to hear grace, works, grace. That would make a good combination,
wouldn't it? Now, Paul said you can't do that. It's either all
of grace or all of works. He says it's works, there's no
more grace, isn't there? Well, if it's grace, there's
no more works. How are you going to do that? How are you going to
preach grace, works, grace? I just know one thing, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace,
grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, That's his song while he lived. He said,
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not walk. That's his song when
he died. This be the last words of David.
God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, order in all things
ensured. This is my salvation and my desire,
and this will be his song in heaven. They sung a new song
and said, thou art worthy, for thou hast redeemed us out of
every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven. Thou art
worthy, O Lord, for thou was slain, and thou hast made us
unto our God, kings and priests. That's his song. When I stand before God's throne,
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
when I love thee with an unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully
know how much I owe. Chosen not for good in me, wakened
up from wrath to flee, hidden in my Savior's side, by His blood
I am sanctified. Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
and not till then, how much I'll owe Him." Here's an interesting
observation. Now quit. Back to the text. Galatians
6, verse 14. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
cross. What are we talking about the cross? We're not talking
about the wood. That's not what we're talking about. I'd rather
just not have those things around, crosses and emblems and symbols
and things of that nature. But he was talking about the
whole sacrifice of Christ for sin. He was talking about the
death, the shedding of the blood, the redemptive work of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now someone said this, the highest
glory of our Christian faith is the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the highest glory of our Christian faith. I know that
the grace of God begins before the world began, and the grace
of God continues throughout all eternity. His grace is glorious
in choosing a people. His grace is glorious in identification
and incarnation. His grace is glorious in representation. His grace is glorious in mediation. His grace is glorious in His
eternal reign. But in the middle of all, in
the middle of it all and rising to the highest peak stands the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Between the two eternities is
one hinge, the cross of Christ. of past decree and future glory,
there's one high point. Christ died for our sins. That's
what we're saying. I'm saying His choosing us is
glorious. His identification with us, incarnation,
is glorious. His representation, His resurrection,
His mediatorial work, and His eternal reign, all of these things
are glorious, but the pivotal point, the highest peak, Calvary. Somebody said great is Mount
Sinai, clothed with its clouds, covered with smoke, flashing
lightning. There the law of God was written
with the finger of God himself. Great is Mount Horeb, where Moses
put off his shoes and God talked to him from the bush that burned
and was not consumed. Great is Mount Pisgah, where
the mighty Moses viewed the promised land and journeyed into the presence
of God. When from Mount Pisgah's lofty
heights I view my home and take my flight. Great is Mount Carmel,
the scene of Elijah's victory over the prophets of Baal. Great
is Mount Moriah, where Abraham endured the greatest trial God
ever called upon a man to endure. But Calvary, what of Calvary? Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was secured for
me. Calvary. There Christ died for
my sins. Calvary, their god with the power
to destroy his enemies with just a word, permitted them to nail
him to a tree. Calvary, where God, who delights
to show mercy, poured out his wrath upon his beloved son. Calvary, where God, who clothed
the lily, left his son to hang naked under a burning oriental
sun before the gaze and laughter of the multitude. Calvary, their
God, who hears the raven cry, would not respond to the call,
I thirst, I thirst. Calvary, their God, who never
leaves us alone, answered not that lonesome cry, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? I found the greatest glory. It's the cross of Christ. I've
found the greatest truth that's ever been spoken from eternity
to eternity. Christ died for my sins. I've
found the song of the ages, and this is my gospel, and this is
my glory, and this is what Paul is saying. God forbid, having
seen it, having felt it, having experienced it, God forbid that
I should ever glory in these trinkets. in these soap bubbles,
in these sand castles.