Now let's open our Bibles again
to the book of Galatians, the fifth chapter of Galatians. I'm
going to read verse 1 for our text to begin our message on
the liberty of Christ. Galatians 5, 1, Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Now the apostle
that wrote this passage, the man that wrote this particular
portion of God's Word, was at one time the strictest, most
legalistic, ceremonialist, and Pharisee an advocate of salvation
by works. The man that wrote this, the
liberty of Christ. You stand in the liberty of Christ
and don't become entangled in the bondage of ceremonialism
and legalism and religion. You stand in the liberty of Christ
wherewith he made you free. Now the man that wrote that was
at one time the strictest. He said, I was a Pharisee of
Pharisees. He was one of the strictest ceremonialists
and legalists who ever lived. Let's read some of his testimony.
Turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, verse
5 and 6. Listen to him. He said in verse
5 and 6 of Philippians 3, I was circumcised the eighth day. of
the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of
the Hebrews. I was, as touching the law, a
Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, I was blameless. Now turn to Galatians 1, verse
13 and 14. The same man says here in Galatians
1.13, you heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews' religion,
how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and wasted
it, and I profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals
in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions
of my Father. This man was a traditionalist.
a ceremonialist, a legalist, and a Pharisee. And yet, he became
the champion. He became the very voice of salvation
by grace. He became the very voice of justification
by faith. Most of the New Testament is
given to his epistles. He wrote, I believe, fourteen.
of the 27 books in the New Testament. God used him. The scriptures
God breathed, it's given by inspiration of God, but God used men, holy
men of God, spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, all
scriptures given by inspiration of God. But this man, who became
the champion, the very voice of salvation by grace, of justification
by faith, most of the New Testament is given to his writings, and
the most prominent subject In all 14 of his epistles is righteousness by faith alone.
Now I've just picked up a few verses here and there in Paul's
writing that just shall live by faith. He said that I believe
three times, that just shall live by faith. And then he said
this, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God. And again he wrote, for by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. He
said, we know that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith of Christ. And again he wrote, not by works
of righteousness, which we've done, but according to his mercy
he has saved us. He became the very voice of justification
by faith. This man who was bound up in
legalism, this man who knew the bondage of the law, this man
who knew the traditions of religion, this man who was himself a slave
to ceremonialism, who knew the emptiness of self-righteousness, God used him to become the very
voice of justification, righteousness, salvation by faith alone. The
Apostle Paul knew what it meant to be made free by Christ. If
the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And my friends, the theme of
this man's ministry and the principal subject of his writings, I believe
is the very, listen to me, I believe this with all my heart. Justification
by faith is the very lifeline of Christianity. It's the very
lifeline, it's the very door of the fort. If I remember correctly,
they used to claim that if they could just, in those old forts
over the country, if they could just secure the door and keep
the enemy from the door, there was just one entrance into those
forts, and if they could secure the door, if they could hold
the door, there at the door, the battle was won or lost. If
the enemy took the door, they could overrun the whole fort.
But as long as the door was held, the rest of the fort was secure.
Well, I say this without fear of contradiction, at least from
the Scripture. I'm sure from men, but not from
God's Word. Justification by faith. He that
believeth on the Son of God hath life. We're justified not by
works, not by the deeds of the law, not by any merit or righteousness
of our own, but by the faith of Jesus Christ alone. That's
the door of the fold. That's the very lifeline of Christianity. There the battle is fought, and
there it's won and lost. And as long as that door is secure,
all the other truths are secure. But if that door be overrun,
if that principle be surrendered, justification by faith alone,
And this is what I'm saying, that Jesus Christ alone, Christ
alone, plus nothing, minus nothing, Christ alone is the complete
and sufficient Savior. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son hath not life. He that believeth on
the Son of God hath life. He that believeth not on the
Son of God shall never see life. He that believeth on Christ is
forgiven, is pardoned, is justified, though his sins be never so many. He that believeth not on Christ
is damned, though his sins be never so few. That's it. That's justification by faith.
That's righteousness by faith. And that's their door. And that's
where the battle is won or lost. And that's where the church is
secure or fails. And that's where all the truth
of God That's where it all is either kept or surrendered, right
there. Justification by faith alone. Righteousness by faith
alone. Now then, human nature always
did, does now, and always will, fight against salvation by grace
alone. Human nature can't stand it,
can't tolerate it, can't permit it, can't stomach it. Even religious
nature, religious human nature can't take, especially. We are
redeemed by nothing we do but by Christ. My sins are pardoned
not by prayer, not by works, not by holy living, not by giving,
not by any contribution on my part whatsoever, but my sins
are pardoned, paid for, forgiven because Christ loved me and gave
himself for me, and that's the only reason. That's justification
by faith alone. I want to be understood what
I mean. That the thief on the cross who repented in his 11th
hour, who believed on Christ in his 11th hour, who looked
to Christ in his 11th hour, is a saved and secure and pardoned
and free and a son of God just as much as Moses who served God
120 years. just as much as David who was
a man after God's own heart, just as much as Paul who died
a martyr. That man who died for his crimes
is as much forgiven as Paul who died for his Christ. You believe
that? That's what the Bible teaches
whether you believe it or not. That's justification by faith.
I say that's the door. I say that's the very, that's
the very, that's the very narrow paths that must be defended at
the cost of our lives. It must be defended because to
surrender there is to surrender the whole, the whole scripture. Justification by faith. Now even
some professing believers, even some preachers, they raise objections
against this kind of preaching. What they claim is this, they
claim zeal. Now listen to me, you may be
guilty. I'm sure somebody here is guilty of this. They raise
objections. They say, Preacher, you just
must not tell people that the salvation is in Christ alone.
You'll give them an excuse to sin. You must not tell them that
Christ alone is the complete, sufficient Savior. You've got
to offer them some reward in heaven. You've got to offer them
some incentive. You've got to. You've just got
to offer something. You go ahead and offer it, if
you want to. That's not the gospel. I'm going
to preach the gospel. And I'll tell you what this is.
It's a zeal. They claim it's a zeal for holiness. It's a zeal for the deeper life.
You want me to tell you what it really is? It's a convenient
method to cover your legalism is what it is. It's a smokescreen
to cover your self-righteousness is what it all is. That's what
it is. You don't think you're as much
a sinner as other folks are. You don't think you're quite
as lost as everybody else is. You feel like that people must
have some other motive than Christ. Any man who thinks that a man
must have some other motive for holiness than Christ doesn't
know Christ or men. Any man that thinks a person
has to have some other motive by which to serve God, and by
which to walk in righteousness and by which to give himself
to God other than Christ. Some other motive other than
Christ. Doesn't know Christ. There's none so beautiful. There's
no motive so compelling. Paul said the love of Christ
constraineth me. Justification by faith, my friend,
doesn't need defending. It needs preaching is what it
needs. It doesn't need your defense. I don't think God's Bible needs
me to defend it. I don't think Christ's righteousness
needs me to defend it. I don't think the merit of my
Lord, the atonement of the great Redeemer needs this poor, frail
flesh to defend it. It just needs preaching, that's
all. Just preach it. Just preach it. It's true. There's
not a doubt about it. The Holy Spirit does convict
of sin. Every man that comes to Christ
comes to Christ as a sinner. He comes to Christ weeping. He
comes to Christ convicted. He comes to Christ broken. He
comes to Christ convinced of his sins. But his conviction
and weeping makes no contribution to his conversion. It's Christ
that saves the soul. The terrors of hell and the terrors
of sin and the weeping and conviction of the heart makes no contribution
to salvation. You may be under conviction for
five minutes or five years, but it's still Christ that saves. It may take God in his mercy
five years to bring you to faith, but you'll be brought to faith
or you'll perish. It's Christ that saves. A man may weep over,
you say, I went through hell itself getting to Christ. Well, whether you go through
hell or whether you go through Mud boric. It's Christ that saves. It's not how you come to Christ.
It's not how long it takes you to get to Christ. It's not the
mess you're in before you get there. It's Christ that saves. You see what I'm saying? It's Christ that saves. Oh, I
struggled and wept and mourned for years. I was brought down
to the very pit of hell itself. I went through the slew of the
spawn. I went through all... That doesn't save. Christ saves. Christ saves. And it's true that
sinners call on Christ. The publican said, Lord, be merciful
to me, a sinner. The thief on the cross said,
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But it's
not the calling that saves, it's Christ that saves. He's the Redeemer. His blood makes atonement for
our soul. His blood cleanseth us from all
sin. His righteousness covers us like
the light of God's glory. Unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood, to Him be the glory. Oh, it's
true that believers pray. You needn't expect a man to live
spiritually who does not pray any more than you expect a man
to live physically who does not breathe. For John Newton said
prayer is the breath of the believer. But prayer never saved anybody.
You see, prayer didn't die on the cross, Christ did. And prayer
doesn't intercede, Christ does. And prayer didn't obey the law,
Christ does. And Christians give and Christians
witness. But our witnessing doesn't save
us or the people to whom we witness. It's Christ that saves. I'm going
to keep hammering this till somebody hears it. I'm going to keep preaching
it till somebody believes it. It is true that redemption produces
holiness. If a man's a believer, he is
an honest person. You can believe him when he tells
you something. A man who's saved is a man who
is a good father and a good husband, who loves his wife and children.
Yes, he does. He's kind to them and considerate
to them. You show me a an overbearing,
proud, arrogant fellow that mistreats his wife and children, I'll show
you a lost man. I don't care if he's a preacher,
a deacon, or whatever he is. He's lost. He doesn't know Christ.
You show me a man who won't work on the job, a lazy person that's
hired by a man to do a job, and he won't work and draws his pay
and won't put out any sweat? Well, he's a lost man. He's not
saved. He never met the Lord. Christians
work as unto the Lord. They work like Christ is their
foreman. That's right. You show me a person
that's got a foul mouth, I'll show you a lost man. That's right. A man with a blasphemous, profane
mouth that swears and curses, he's missed Christ. He's not
saved. You show me a man that's greedy and covetous and won't
give and won't support the minister of the word, he's a lost man.
He's not saved. Nothing's saved about him. I
don't care how much doctrine he knows. He knows this doctrine,
that doctrine. The Pharisees are doctrinalists
and orthodox. They've missed Christ though.
They've missed Christ. It's true. Redemption produces
Meekness, and joy, and faith, and patience, and godliness,
and gentleness. Show me a man that's not gentle,
I'll show you a lost man. Show me a woman that's in rebellion
against her husband, I'll show you a lost woman. That's so. They just soon rebel against
Christ as they rebel against their husbands. In fact, they
do when they do. They do. All powers of God. When you resist the power, you
resist God. That's right. And people who are saved have
been broken. Their spirits have been conquered. They've got contrite
spirits. They've got broken hearts. But
broken hearts never saved anybody. And contrite spirits never saved
anybody. It's Christ that saves. It's
Christ that saves. Not the labors of my hands can
fulfill the law's demands. Could my zeal know respite? No. Could my tears forever flow?
These for sin could never atone. Christ must save, and Christ
alone. Nothing in my hands I bring,
simply to the cross of Jesus Christ I cling. Naked I come
to him for dress. Helpless I look to him for grace.
Bail I to the fountain fly. He'll wash me. or I'll die. That's so. That's the door. That's the rock on which this
whole thing built. Salvation is in Christ. We're complete in Christ. I'm
redeemed by Christ and Christ alone. And I know Christ produces
faith and Christ produces Obedience in Christ produces prayer and
the very character and nature and fruit of Christ's spirit.
If any man has not the spirit of Christ, he's none of his.
But it's Christ that saves. You don't begin with the doctrine,
you begin with Christ. You don't arrive at Christ through
doctrine or through religion or through ceremony, you arrive
at those things through Christ. He's first. All right, let's
look at this text now just briefly. What's Paul saying? He's saying,
verse 1, you stand fast. Timothy, Titus, all the rest
of you, Galatians, you stand fast. What does that mean? That
means to highly esteem, to maintain, to defend, to defend the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. And don't become entangled
again in the bondage of ceremonialism, the bondage of tradition, the
bondage of custom, the bondage of all these rituals of religion. Don't become entangled. Christ
has freed us. Freed us from what? Well, he's
freed us from sin. Not from the indwelling nature
of it. Have you felt the motions of sin this morning? I have. I hadn't killed anybody this
morning. This is the problem. You take the Ten Commandments
as, they say, a rule of life, and as the motivating rule in the believers. Now let's
think a minute. I haven't worshipped any graven
images this morning. I can feel pretty comfortable
as far as the Ten Commandments are concerned, John. I hadn't bowed down to any graven
images, and ever since earlier this morning I've been talking
about the Lord. I've been reading this Bible
and talking for the last hour and a half about the Lord. And
a Sabbath day, that was yesterday. I blew that, you know. But Sunday,
and I've honored my mother and father, and hadn't committed
adultery today, and hadn't lied today, the knowabouts. Just the
Ten Commands, I'm not making fun, believe me, I'm just saying
that I felt the motions of sin this morning in my nature, haven't
you? My thoughts? And I haven't glorified
God or prayed like I ought to. I've preached a little, but not
with the enthusiasm and fervor and heart-weeping and the motions
of sin. I wish, what I'm trying to do,
what I'm trying to say, I wish that some way And I know this
is the rule, the Ten Commandments in the hands of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the Holy Spirit. Fine. If we could see they demand
inward as well as outward obedience, attitude as well as action. But
listen to me. Christ has freed us from sin.
Not from the nature of it, and not from the motions of it, and
not from the inward working of it, and not even from the indwelling
nature of it, not even from the temptation unto it. unfortunately,
for us. We will be someday, but not yet.
But he sprayed me from the guilt of sin. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them who are in Christ. He sprayed me from
the dominion of sin. Sin shall not reign. It shall
not reign over you. He sprayed me from the damning
power of it. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. I'm conscious
of sin. I'm conscious of its indwelling
power, of the motions of sin within. And you are too, but
thank God I can say, by Christ I've been redeemed from the guilt
of it, from the dominion of it, from the power of it, and Christ
hath redeemed me from the ceremonial law. From sacrifices and feast
days. I tell you, he that believeth
not on Christ better go back and pick up some of these feasts
and start doing them. If Christ is not the Messiah, if Christ
is not the fulfiller of the Old Testament scriptures, some folks
better get some lambs and sacrifice them. Till he comes who does
fulfill it. Isn't that right? But he has
delivered us from meats and drinks and from washings and from feast
days and from Sabbath days and from all of this When I see preachers
dressed in funny looking hats, you know, and with robes, and
all these different colors, and going around with all these things,
shaking them, and carrying crosses, and making signs, Christ has
delivered me from all that. Now in the Old Testament those
things had some meaning. The high praise something written
on his forehead, and the hat he wore, and the certain kind
of white linen he wore, and the certain things that he did, the
lighting of the candles, and the supplying of the bread, and
the burning of the incense. These things meant something
then. They were pointing to Christ. And his intercessory prayers,
Christ the bread of life, Christ the light of the world, the candle,
Christ Jesus the intercessor, Christ the great high priest,
Christ bearing our names on his forehead, in his hands, all men,
it means nothing now. It's nothing but ritualism, ceremonialism,
and Christ has freed me from that, and he says you stand fast
in that liberty and don't go back into that junk. And if you're
worshiping in a church where they're walking up and down the
aisle carrying these things and going through these motions,
you better get out of there and get out of there real quick. Don't become, Christ freed us
from the ceremonial law and Christ has freed me from the moral law
as a covenant of works. Not from the obedience to it
as it's held by Christ. I read it quite a while ago.
Look at verse 14. All the laws fulfilled in one
word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. That is
the law of Christ. Bear ye one another's burdens
and fulfill the law of Christ. This is my commandment that you
love one another. That will answer all of your
needs. Now look at verse 2. Now he says in verse 1 of chapter
5, Brethren, stand fast, maintain, highly esteem, defend with your
very life's blood. The liberty of Christ. Christ
has set you free. Free from the guilt of sin. Free
from the dominion of sin. Free from the damning power of
sin. Free from the ceremonial law.
Free from feastings and Sabbath days and ritualisms and holy
days and traditions and customs and all of these things. Free!
Christ has set us free. And don't you become entangled
again. Behold, I, Paul. Now watch the seriousness of
it. You say, well, the fellow wants to do that all right. Now
wait a minute. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, if you be circumcised,
Christ the prophet, you're nothing. Now if you're not with a study
of God's Word on this, you won't know what this means. You young
couples that have male children born, any doctor, most any doctor
will tell you it's wise for that child's good to have that young
man circumcised when he's eight days old or however old they
do it now. But he's not saying circumcision is profitable in
some regards, medically speaking. But here's what Paul is saying.
If you submit to any part of the law, whether it be circumcision,
whether it be a Sabbath day, now listen to me, and you think
there's nothing wrong with these folks who are still keeping the
Sabbath day, seven-day Adventist, now wait a minute, listen to
me. If you submit to any part of the law, circumcision, Sabbath
days, feast days, holy days, Lent, anything to gain acceptance
with God, that's what he's saying. If you do this, to gain acceptance
with God, to find favor with God, to make yourselves holy
before God, to make yourselves appear unto God as being a willing
subject Then Christ profits you nothing. That's what he's saying
right there. Circumcised, if you tithe to
gain God's favor, Christ profits you nothing. That's right, that's exactly
what he's saying here in verse 2. Behold, our Paul is saying
to you, if you be circumcised, Now here these Gentiles were
being converted, and these Jews were saying, now back in the
Old Testament, circumcision was a mark, a token of the covenant.
Every male in Israel was circumcised, therefore, now there's no way
you can run around here as an uncircumcised Gentile and be
accepted of God. You've got to be circumcised.
Paul said, you do it. You just do that. You just submit
to that, and Christ profits you nothing. And that's what these
fellows are saying. You've got to be baptized. You
can't be a Christian unless you're baptized. You do that in order
to be accepted of God, and Christ profits you nothing. Well, you can't be saved and
not tithed. You've got to tithe. You do that. You just do that. You just start setting aside
10% of your income to please God, to be accepted of God. Christ
profits you nothing. You know you can make an albatross
around your neck of the most precious things. You pray. You get up four o'clock in the
morning and pray in order to make yourself acceptable to God
and Christ profits you nothing. I don't care what it is. Christ
is received and depended upon as the only sufficient, complete,
effectual Savior. And if we add anything, no matter
how good it is, anything, no matter how scriptural it is,
anything, no matter how precious it is, if we add anything to
Christ, in order to gain some favor with God, or to make ourselves
acceptable to God. We're not trusting Christ only. Joe, that's so. We're not trusting
Christ. I follow the Lord in believers'
baptism to show forth my identification with Him, my relationship with
Him, my unity with Him, my oneness with Him in His death, burial,
and resurrection. Baptism is a precious ordinance.
It's an ordinance our Lord told us that he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. Go teach all nations and baptize
them. Sure. But brother, don't you do it
in order, in order to, or for the benefit of, your own righteousness. For you're adding something to
Christ and he profits you nothing. You see, Christ is all or nothing. Alright, what's the next verse?
I testify again to every man, every man that is circumcised.
Now here's one Paul throws at you, that he's a debtor to do
the whole law. Now here's how serious it is.
Here's a fellow that says, well, if this is what's commanded,
then I'll do it in order to make myself acceptable with God. Here's
what Paul is saying. You've got a whole lot more to
do now than that. A whole lot more. You're going
to have to keep the whole law of God. You've got to keep the
whole of God. Brethren, here's what I'm saying
that's so beautiful about the liberty of Christ. Christ alone,
Christ my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, Christ
my holiness, Christ my mediator, Christ everything! Christ my
life, my love, my hope, my heaven! Christ! If you add anything,
even a little simple thing like circumcision, even a simple little
thing like keeping a day, Even a simple little thing about submitting
to a certain rule in order to find favor with God. And Christ
prophets you nothing. And you've got on your hands
this. If you're going to look to one phase of the law or one
jot or tittle of the law, you're now under obligation to keep
it all. That's what it says. Turn back
to Galatians 3. I'll show you that here. Galatians
3, verse 10, I believe it is. For as many, Galatians 3.10,
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them. And he said in verse 21 of Galatians 4, tell me, tell
me, you that desire to be back under the law, do you not hear
the law? Do you hear what God's law says?
Perfection. Perfection in spirit, in thought,
in imagination, in dreams, in actions, in deeds, in words,
in walk. Perfection. I don't want any part of it.
I'll just tell you, I don't want any part of this thing of salvation
by law, or sanctification by law, or justification by law,
or acceptance by law, or anything by law. I just got to have Christ. Give me Christ or I'll die. I've
got to everything, Lord God of glory, look on Christ and not
on me. If I wear, let me tell you this,
if I wear a certain uniform of religion in order to show forth
in some way that I'm a believer, in order to appease a holy God,
in order to to appear to be religious, then it's not Christ. All right, what's the first four?
Christ is become of no effect to you. No effect. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, if you're justified by the law, all of you that are
seeking justification in any shape, form, or fashion before
God by obedience to any law, you've departed from grace. you've
fallen from grace. Now keep this verse into context.
I've heard preachers preach on falling from grace. They say
that means a man's saved today and he can be lost tomorrow.
That verse of scripture has nothing whatsoever to do with a saved
man, a redeemed man, a saved man who's in Christ. This is
talking about folks who are trying to be redeemed. This is not talking
about folks who went out and got drunk and fell from grace.
No, this is talking about people who are sick in heaven. These
are the most diligent folks in the church here that have fallen
from grace. Are you with me? Now watch this. This has got
nothing to do with the fellow that quit coming to church. This
fellow is there for the preachers every morning. This is not talking
about a fellow that won't be baptized. He was baptized. It's
not talking about a fellow that's not tithing. He's tithing. It's
not talking about a fellow that's not keeping the Sabbath day.
He's keeping the Sabbath day. It's not talking about a fellow
that's not circumcised. He is circumcised. He's done
everything. But he's doing it in order to
find favor with God. See? And he has fallen from grace. He's the one that's departed
from grace. He's the one that's left the grace of God. He's the
one that's left grace and gone to works. Now if you don't see
that, it's cause you got your eyes closed. If you don't see
that, it's cause you got your mind closed too. If you don't
see that and understand it, it's because you can't be taught anything.
You're not teachable. You read that just like it's
read. Look at this verse. Start at verse 1, chapter 5.
Brethren, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and don't become entangled again in the bondage of ceremonialism
and Sabbath-day keeping, feast days and ritualisms and ordinances,
and become entangled in these things. I say to you, Paul, I
say to you, he said, that if you be circumcised, Christ won't
profit you one thing. If you're doing this in order
to find favor with God, or you're doing this to fulfill the law,
you've gone back under the law. I testify to you now that every
man that does this is a debtor to do the whole law. You don't
only have one law to keep, you've got all the laws of God to keep,
not only outwardly but inwardly. And therefore Christ has become
of no effect to you. of no benefit to you, of no blessing
to you, whosoever of you that are seeking to be justified by
the law, by works, by deeds, by your own obedience and righteousness,
you are the ones that have fallen from grace. That poor old sinner out there
that's stumbling around, he's not the one that fell from grace,
it's you, boy. It's you. It's you in the pulpit
there. It's you clean, whitewashed,
moral, law-keeping, Sabbath-keeping folks. You're the ones that's
fallen from grace. It's you good so-called Christians
and tithers. You've fallen from grace. You're
trying to find favor with God by what you do, and you've fallen
from grace. Huh? If that ain't clear, words
aren't on paper. Sure it's clear. You know it's
clear. Either salvation is all of grace
or it's all of works. And Paul says we're not going
to let just one-tenth of one-hundredth of one percent in there of works. It's going to be pure grace,
undefiled grace, unmixed grace. It's going to be Christ plus
nothing minus nothing, even the best of things. It's going to
be all works. We're not having any mixture
here. And bless God from this pulpit, by His grace there's
not going to be any mixture. I know what a sinner is. At least
I know partly what one is. I'm going to find out a whole
lot more one of these days. I know in part, but the part
I know needs Christ. The little I know about this
thing of sin, I know it needs Christ. And I know I'm not going
to try to dabble with a holy God or a righteous throne, an
immaculate, immutable, infinitely holy throne by bringing some
silly little old law up there, a ceremony of prancing around
here in these silly looking uniforms and holding up these wooden crosses,
you know, and all that foolishness, burning a silly little old candle
before the throne of holiness. I just want to get off there
in the corner somewhere and let Christ go up there all by himself,
all by himself and deal with the Father for that wretched
sinner. I don't want to present anything,
but thank God I don't have to. He is able to keep you and present
you faultless with exceeding glory in God's presence. I'm
going to turn it over to him. Let him represent me. All right,
verse 5. For we, here we're closing, we
through the Spirit, by the revelation of the Spirit, by the regeneration
of the Holy Spirit, by the teaching and power of the Holy Spirit,
we wait, we wait for the hope of righteousness by faith alone. What is our hope? It's a spiritual
hope. It's through the Spirit. It's a single hope. It's on the
merits of Christ. It's a special hope. It's by
grace alone. And the substance of that hope
is righteousness before the law, before God, and before justice. Righteousness. I'm waiting for
the hope of righteousness. And the certainty of that hope
is because Christ loved me and gave himself for me. I expect
to die. But I expect just surely as I
die to rise again And I expect just surely as I rise again to
stand in his presence because he loved me and gave himself
for me. Turn to Job chapter 19. I'll read one passage and I'll
quit. Job believed this. This was his
hope. This was his hope. He says in Job 19.25, I know
that my Redeemer liveth. The Church is not my Redeemer,
the Law is not my Redeemer, the Preacher is not my Redeemer,
my Redeemer liveth. Job 19.25, And he shall stand
at the latter day on this earth, and though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me. That's your hope, my Redeemer. Let me give you two testimonies,
and I'm just going to let you make the application. Here's
one testimony. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works, and
in thy name cast out devil? Here's the other. Unto him who
loved us, and washed us from our sins, and made us kings and
priests to our God, To him be glory both now and forever. Do
you see any difference? That's grace and works. And there's
no mixture. No mixture. We either depend
fully on one or fully on him. And that's what he said in those
first five verses. I wish you'd read them again. Our Father, this morning, that we have attempted to deal
with, and bless that which is glorifying to thy name, and that
which is honoring to Christ. But this, we believe, that we've
tried to deal with, is the very essence, it's the very foundation
and substance, it's the very lifeline of Christianity, of
our hope, of all things. The liberty of Christ, that we
stand in him We are redeemed in him, we are justified in him,
we are sanctified in him, we are already in him glorified.
That all that we have, are, know, ever hope to be is because he
loved us and gave himself for us. Grant, O Lord, that even
in our prayers we shall seek to praise him. That nothing,
nothing in our thoughts or deeds shall be set forth in any way
as competition or any contribution to what Christ has done. Receive
us for his sake, forgive us for his sake, love us for his sake,
wash us for his sake. In his name and for his glory
we pray, amen.