Galatians chapter 6 verses 11
through 14. The title of my message this
morning is The World and Me. The World and Me. What prompted this message was
actually spending a little time on Facebook this week. There's
two things I don't talk about on Facebook. I never talk about
religion. I never entered into the discussions
that these fellows have, and they get into some... I read
them. Probably shouldn't even do that,
but I read some of the things that people say. And I never get in
a political situation and never do. I found over the years that
people think, and myself included, that somehow what matters to
their little realm matters to the world. But no matter your
political position on any particular subject ecology or anything else,
or finances. We live in a nation with just
330 million people, and there are probably 330 million varying
opinions on everything. But if you come to your decision
about this or that, fine, stick with it, vote for it, fight for
it, whatever you want to do. But realize this, there are 5
billion people in this world. And as big as your thing is to
you, it doesn't mean anything to 99.9% of the universe. But what I did find in reading
was a desire to write this down. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Jesus Christ. I just wanted to write it so
many times over the years. And especially as I read these
religious things that people say on Facebook. Paul wrote two letters that were
really hard on legalist religion. Now all of them are pretty much
Romans and all of them are pretty hard on legalist religion. Anytime
Grace is mentioned, legalism has a whack upside the head. But two books were written after
he had made that effort to do a Jewish ceremony in the Book
of Acts so he could have more influence among the Jews, and
that fell flat on him. That fell flat, and he ended
up actually worse off than he was before. He wrote the Book
of Colossians, the Book of Galatians. And he was never more straightforward
and hard and scathing in his language than in these two books,
Colossians and Galatians. And it was also never more tender
and gentle and loving to the believers that were in these
situations. This entire letter is a letter
of love. In verse 11, he says, You see
how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
Now when he uses the word of mine on hand, that means Paul
wrote the whole letter himself. Now Paul was a fellow who had
servants, which was common in those days. And one of his servants
was a secretary, if you will. Or one of the young preachers
would oftentimes, Paul would dictate a letter, it would be
written by the person to whom it was dictated, and then Paul
would sign it. But that's not the case here.
Paul wrote this letter with his own hand. That's how important
this church was to him. He was saying, by saying, I've
written this letter with my own hand, that the subject and the
people addressed were close to his heart. It was important enough
for him to write every word down himself. And they were close
to his heart because they were in trouble. Now I call my mother
once a week, sometimes twice a week, But I notice if she's
sick, I call her more. In these last three weeks, she's
called me on average two to three times a week, checking on me.
Why did she do that? Because I was sick. Because I
was sick. I remember on Phil Donahue years
ago, there was a woman who had like 19 kids or something ridiculous
how many children she had. And she said, and Phil Donahue
asks, which one is your favorite or which one do you love the
most? She said, the one who's sick. And that's always the way
it is, isn't it? And this church was suffering.
Well, the churches in Galatia were suffering. There was a virulent
sickness that had insinuated itself into the belly of this
assembly. And throughout these churches in Galatia, and this
disease was self-righteous, legal religion, which was called at
the time and even now in Judaism. Now what it was, was Paul had
preached in Galatia and Colossae and places like that and those
Gentiles had been converted, God had saved them, they'd come
to know the knowledge of the truth, they were just happy as
if they had good sense. But you see, religion don't want
folks to be happy. or to be at peace, or to be at
rest, or to be content. Religion wants them troubled
and guilty, and wants to keep them in a situation where they
can keep them in church by guilting them in the situation. And those
among the Jewish religion who said they were believers in Christ
still held on to a lot of the old Jewish traditions, especially
the Law of Moses. And it galled them. under their
robes. It galled them to see a person
who simply was trusting, holy in the merits of Jesus Christ.
It just galled them. And it galls religion today too.
All you have to do is tell somebody That you're trusting wholly in
the marriage of Jesus Christ and nothing about yourself or
from yourself or of yourself. And they're going to start telling
you about what religious things need to be done or what religious
things they do. They can't help themselves. They
can't help themselves. And that's what was going on
here. These Judaizers had come in and they had entered into
this body, covertly, called spies in one place by Paul in this
book. disguised as friends. They disguised, they came in
with their robes and they looked holy and austere and they came
in and said, we're here to help these poor believers of grace
who had not yet reached the goal that they had in salvation because
they had never been brought under the holy law of Moses, which
is the ultimate in what it is to be a Christian, they said.
They said of these Christians and Galatians, these poor, deluded
believers had not yet discovered the joys of the law. The law
that would give them power and sway over men. The law that would
exalt them to the place where they could judge men's lives
and behaviors and grow in their pipe dreams of self-worth and
personal merit. And when anybody comes to you
with the law, that's their design. That's their design. They want
to exercise power over you and control over you, and they want
to get you in a position. And then find somebody who you
deem less than you so you can feel power and control over them,
and then you'll feel good about yourself. And you may not have
reached this place of merit, but you got here, and poor old
Joe Blow, he ain't got a hope. He ain't got a hope. That's their
design. These Judaizers spied out their liberty, Paul said. The liberty of these believers.
And they watch in jealousy and disdain as the grace believers
rested in joy and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing
scarier to a religion, to religion today. And I know people all
the time talk about believing. But you ain't a believer unless
you believe the truth. It's that simple. Unless you
believe the gospel revealed in this book, you ain't a believer
in the biblical sense. But they look at believers, and
there's nothing scarier to religion in this world than a true believer. There's nothing scarier. Now,
they'll all say, I believe. And they do believe something.
They have a natural faith. They believe they belong to Jesus. They believe because they pray.
They believe that they can produce evidence that they are. But for
a person to believe, just and only believe, is one of the scariest
things that can happen to religion in this world. I remember when
I believed, they didn't want anything to do with me anymore.
Now, when I was guilty and confessing and walking down the aisle about
every three or four weeks and crying and moaning and carrying
on, they thought I was just, you know, but when I found out
that Christ actually saved me, those people that once liked
me, they didn't even want to talk to me anymore. Why? Because I
believed. because I believe what the Bible
says. Joy and happiness was anathema to these stern and austere, pitch-faced
Judaizers who wanted nothing more than to steal the believers'
freedom and enwrap them in the chains of darkness and bondage
of the law. They actually cared nothing for
the law. Paul says that in this very passage. They believed the
law to be a tool to exalt themselves while they despised others. Feel
good about yourself is okay if you've accomplished something.
There's nothing wrong with that. If you've done something well
and you feel good about it, that's fine. That's fine. Ain't a thing wrong with that.
But to feel good about yourself because you've destroyed or diminished
others is the epitome of malignancy. It's a canker on the soul and
the putrefaction of personal merit. Paul in these verses sets
things aright. In verses 12 and 13, He's declaring
that these legal eagles, they glory, and they talk about glory,
and they talk about glory. But they glory in something other
than what ought to be gloried in. In verse 12, He says, as
many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. In the flesh. There you have it. The reason
is always the same. To bring attention to themselves
by showing the effect they have on others. To glory in themselves
as their flesh because they've controlled somebody else's flesh.
And that's what the Pharisees did. That's what the Pharisees
did. They did what they did to be
seen of men so they could take the Moses seat and be called
in the marketplaces, Rabbi, Rabbi, you're the Rabbi, you're the
teacher, you're the teacher. But our Lord says, you search
heaven and earth. You encircle heaven and earth
to find one convert, and you turn him into twofold more the
child of hell than you are yourself. But they're busy, and they got
things to do. Paul said they constrain you
to be circumcised. Now these Gentiles, they hadn't
been circumcised. And circumcision was given to
Abraham, and remember the Abrahamic covenant is not the covenant
on Sinai. Two different covenants. Genesis
chapter 11 is a whole lot different from Exodus chapter 14, 15 or
chapter 17 actually through 20. A whole lot different. Completely
different thing. The covenant with Abraham was
a covenant of promise. It was a covenant of promise.
Those things that were promised to him he never saw except by
faith. Never saw them except by faith. We, as Abraham was,
are the children of promise, Scripture says, those who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. But these are talking about the
Sinai Covenant. Part of that covenant was circumcision,
but it was only added to that covenant as a token because that's
what it was to Abraham. Why was Abraham to circumcise
his children? Did that somehow make them holy,
to cutting off the foreskin of their organ? Did that make them
holy? What about the women? They weren't circumcised. Well,
they're God's children, too. What was this? It was a token
of an already established relationship with Abraham. He said, Abraham,
circumcise the foreskin of your heart. Circumcise your foreskin
to show people that you're mine. You belong to me. So make you
mine. Just to show them that you are
mine. You are mine. But these had taken
circumcision and said it was an actual, because it was the
cutting of the flesh, was an actual cutting away something
that was unholy about you. And that's just stupid. Because
Paul even says in Romans chapter 4 that, he says, if that were
true, if they left the law, then their circumcision would become
uncircumcision. How'd that happen? That's a virtual
impossibility. The idea of circumcision was
they were saying, you're saying you're a child of God, you're
saying you're a believer, you're saying you're a Christian, but
you know the law says you have to be circumcised. And so unless
you're circumcised, you're not a real Christian. You're not
a real believer. Like that old lady told Jim Byrd
one time when he went to the hospital talking about one of
the men in his church. The old lady was in the holiness ilk. Holiness Church, back when holiness
ladies wore black hoes and black dresses. I used to say that the
men all dressed like used car salesmen and the women all dressed
like used cars and that's pretty much the way it was. But she
was the holiness persuasion and Jim Byrd was talking about a
man who in his church had received Christ. He was a nephew or something
of this woman. She told Jim, she says, well,
if he ever is a real Christian. This woman laying on her bed
dying, she's straightening out people's lives. She said, if
he's ever a real Christian, he'll lay them cigarettes down. He'll
lay them, if he's a real Christian. I said, what do you say to your
real Christian? You're going to have to be circumcised.
They constrain you to be circumcised. They pressure you to employing
tactics. By employing tactics to make
you feel guilt, to turn your eyes to self, to take your eyes
from your true and only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what they do. Get your eyes off Christ. Well, they promise you
blessings if you keep their version of the law. They make it your
duty to live by their standard of righteousness. Why? So they
won't be persecuted. Well, who gets persecuted? The
people who won't do any of this. The people who refuse to be circumcised.
The people who refuse to be brought back under the law. The people
who refuse. They won't. They'll be persecuted. So they do this so they won't
be persecuted. They have you do it so they won't
be persecuted. That's what Paul said. Only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. Persecution for the cross
of Christ. And when you see the word cross,
it's not talking about that plus sign that people drape around
their necks and put on their ears. That's not what that is.
It's talking about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That's what
it's talking about. Christ crucified. And this is the main goal of
what they do. This is their end game. They want to avoid persecution. But not just any persecution.
They don't mind if the world persecutes them because they're
always out there bothering people. They would gladly suffer and
even would relish suffering if they thought it would merit something
before God. It is the fear of diminishing
and disowning and discounting self altogether. That's fearful. And that comes
with preaching the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Preaching
Christ and Him crucified. You see, that message is not
like any other message. That message doesn't say, if
you'll do this, God will do this. That doesn't say, if you'll just
try or take the first step, God will take the rest of the steps.
Listen, if you can take the first step, you can make it all the
way. Go ahead. You don't need God. Their message is that of probability
and possibility. The gospel message, that glorious
message, that good news declares in absolute, absolute terms that
your life, no matter how well it is lived,
no matter the mark you might leave on history, no matter the
high thoughts you entertain concerning the value of yourself and the
worth of your works, none of it plays any part in the salvation
of your soul. None of it. None of it plays any part in
righteousness before God. None of it plays any part with
acceptance before God. And to these legalists and 99%
of religion, which is legalism, The gospel is a scandal and it's
offensive. It's offensive. If you don't
think so, just keep harping on it. Just keep saying, my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Christ alone is my righteousness. Christ alone is my salvation.
I am nothing. I have nothing. I can do nothing.
I can offer nothing. I have nothing to offer. My very
best deed that I might ever do is of absolutely no value in the salvation of myself or
my acceptance before God. Paul said back in chapter 5 and
verse 11, I and I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. He said, well, if I preach circumcision,
nobody would persecute me. That's what these fellows, they
preach circumcision, nobody persecute them. Paul says, I refuse to
preach circumcision. I preach the cross, I preach
the gospel, and men hate me. They want to kill me. Why? Because of what it says
to you and what it says about you. These men held that the salvation
that required nothing from the one saved, took nothing from
the one saved, garnered and counted as no works that could be recorded,
no lives affected for good, no evidence of godliness. You mean
a person like that can rest in peace in the Lord Jesus Christ
who doesn't have anything to offer? That's the only person
who can rest in Jesus Christ. That's the only person. They
say, well, it preached that, it would open the floodgates
of sin, it would scandalize the very holiness of God. No, it
don't. It honors God. It honors God for you to take
your headquarters in the dust and claim nothing for your salvation
save the person and work of His Son. That honors God. The minute you say, I'm going
to do something for Jesus, you can forget honoring God, you
honoring you. You honor you. What a doctrine. What a doctrine. You see, the preaching of Christ
costs something. It costs everything, actually. It costs you yourself. If you
believe the gospel, you're gone. Your pride, your marriage, your
wisdom, your sense of self-worth, all those things go right down
the drain when you believe the gospel.
The gospel, when you hear it, It teaches you that you are nothing.
You have nothing. You have done nothing. You will
do nothing. You can do nothing to please
God. And yet God is pleased with you because of what somebody
else did. Nobody wants to hear that. You
may not know about what I did. You don't know me. What means
something? What Christ did? Everybody wants
to be saved. But are you willing to be saved
completely and totally based upon the merits of what someone
else did? Because that's what the gospel
is. Salvation by grace alone through
the work of Jesus Christ alone. These men didn't believe that
doctrine. They hated that doctrine. But
that's what the gospel teaches. The gospel is unreasonable, it's
not right, and it's untenable to the flesh. The flesh will
never like it. The flesh will never like it.
Verse 13 says, For neither they themselves who are circumcised
keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may
glory in your flesh. Now these men are not overt transgressors. Their law-keeping was the same
manure, the sanctified scat that Paul described in his unadulterated
confidence in the flesh in Philippians chapter 2 or chapter 3. Paul, you're talking about a
religious guy. Paul was hyper-religious. What he did for God, not many
of us would be willing to do. He went out killing people for
God. Those folks in the East, they still do that, you know.
They still kill people for God. But he went out for God with
letters from the synagogue to go out and kill those who believed
on Jesus Christ and to take that name and destroy it from the
face of the earth and wreak havoc in the church, putting men and
women in jail for preaching the gospel. Paul was a good man. Paul was not a drunk. He was
not a cheat. Of course, he didn't have any
TV not to watch or any cards not to play or any cigarettes
not to smoke. But nonetheless, he was still a good man. By all
standards, I'm guaranteed you would have looked at Paul's life
and said, this is a fine fellow. I don't want to live like him.
It would drive me crazy to be around a guy, but I'm telling
you, he's a good man. And he said, I was a good man. He said
in chapter 3 of Philippians, though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I have more reason to trust than any other
man. That's quite a statement. If a man can please God in the
flesh, I can outdo anybody. That's what he said. He said,
I was circumcised the eighth day. I was keeping the law before
I even could spell law. I was of the stock of Israel.
I wasn't no Johnny come lately, no Israelite, Gentile, Canaanite
mix. I was of the stock of Israel.
I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I
could trace my lineage all the way back to the original first
Hebrew. I don't know who that was. It
wasn't Abraham. Abraham wasn't a Jew. He didn't
keep a Sabbath or do anything. As touching the law, I was a
Pharisee. I wore the right clothes. I said the right things. I quoted
the right Scriptures. I sat in the Moses seat and laid
burdens on me. And when I walked down the street
there, people said, there's Saul. There's Saul of Tarsus, buddy.
There's the man. Hey, Rabbi Saul. He says, concerning zeal, I killed everybody that didn't
agree with me. Don't mess with me. I'm working for God." And
he was. Touching righteousness, which
is in the law. Look at that word. Blameless. What are you going to do with
a fellow like that? Compare your life, old Christian, how do you
do? How do you stack up? What is that stuff? But what
things were gained to me? What things were pleasing to
my flesh? What I believed about my confidence in the flesh? Those
I counted loss. All those things were actually
in the loss column. They were of no value to me whatsoever.
They were a negative value to me. Yea, Dallas, I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, or manure. that I may win Christ. Everything!
And then he says, everything before Christ is nothing but
done. Then he goes on to say that everything after Christ
that I do is nothing but lost. It's just Christ, you see. It's
just Christ. These men in Galatians were pretenders
of righteousness who lived to control others from the Moses
seat. For it says, but desire to have you circumcised that
they may glory in your flesh. glory in your flesh. Their ministries,
so called, are designed to display their successes and disdain the
effects of preaching the cross and believing Christ alone. Their
churches boast of the numbers they have, the things that they
do for God. Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy
in thy name? Didn't we cast out demons in
thy name? Didn't we do great wonders in thy name? And He said
unto them, depart from me ye that work iniquity, I never knew
you. And they do their iniquity in the name of Christ. Paul discounts
the whole shooting match. He says there's nothing to them.
Ain't nothing to them. Thee does those whom he wished
were cut off, castrated, he says in chapter 2. Those for whom
he would not give the space of an hour. Well, let's have a religious
debate. No. Debate the Scriptures. That's the silliest thing in
the world. These aren't debatable. This is God's Word. It's to be
declared and leave it with people. Debate it? Baloney. If you can
debate it, it's debatable. And if it's the best one in the
debate, it's going to be the winner. And the winner tells
you what it really means. It really means what it says
it means, and it's to be declared and not debated. Paul said, but
God forbid that I should glory. And this is not only a statement
of Paul's utter aversion to anything that is not pure gospel, and
that version exists. Had a version exist in chapter
1 of verse 8 and 9. He says, if any man, whether
an angel from heaven or any man upon the earth or beneath the
earth come up and tell you any other thing than the gospel I
preached to you, let him be accursed. And he said, just in case you
didn't get it the first time in verse 8, I'll tell you again in verse
9. Let me say it again. comes and preaches any other
gospel than that which I've heard, or that which you've heard, that
which I've preached, and you let him be accursed. What is he saying?
You preach another gospel, go to hell. That's what he's saying. So he had an aversion to any
other gospel. There's no doubt about that. In Paul's statement,
God forbid that I should glory save the cross of Christ. And
it's not only determined to preach nothing else but the gospel,
because Paul had that. Paul said, I'm determined to
know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians
2. Then in chapter 9 and verse 16,
he says, necessity is laid upon me. Woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. It is a declaration here that
God forbids anyone to glory in anything or anything other than
His Son. and what his son accomplished,
Jesus Christ. And God forbid that I should,
Lord, save in the cross of Jesus Christ. God forbids that. God
forbids that. There alone was all that was
involved in salvation forever settled. When? Two thousand years
ago on a tree, on a hill called Golgotha. in a few hours on a
cross, our Lord Jesus Christ settled all that has to do with
your eternal soul. Not everybody's, but those whom
He had called and those whom He has given faith to believe. There, the elect were redeemed,
sanctified, perfected. Even the appointed time for them
to hear the gospel was set. There, the time for them to receive
faith through the gospel and believe. There, the time for
granting of repentance. There, the day of the eyes would
be opened and ears would be opened and heart would be opened to
receive. There, everlasting righteousness was brought in. The death, there
took a death blow. There God was glorified in all
His attributes. There all the Old Testament types
for prophecies were fulfilled. And there everything pertaining
to salvation was forever settled and all for whom Christ died
were saved eternally there on that cross by the One who hung
on it, the Lord Jesus Christ. Want to glory in something else?
What? God forbid that I should glory.
saving the cross of Jesus Christ. And he says, and that something
did something to me and did something for me. And it changed things
somehow when the Lord revealed who He was to me and revealed
what I am. He says, by whom the world is
crucified unto thee. On the cross of Christ, the world,
its religion and its damning power and its flesh-pleasing
influence, were revealed, disclosed, and exposed for what they were,
and nailed to that cross. You're not fooled. The elect
cannot be fooled. Isn't that right? If it were possible, it would
deceive the very elect, but it's not possible to deceive the elect
of God. These fellows come on TV and they talk that stuff. I'm not fooled by that. I'm not fooled by that. People
stand up there and tell me they're telling me the truth. I know
they're not telling me the truth because they don't know the truth to
start with. The cross exposes that. Because listen to folks. They don't talk about Christ
and what He did and how it secured salvation. They talk about what
they do. They talk about changing the
world. They talk about social issues.
That movie that just came out, Son of God, all I saw was the
trailer on TV, but I knew I'd never watch it. That one that
Mel Brooks put out, or Mel Brooks, not Mel Brooks. He'd probably
be good at Mel Brooks if he put it out. Mel Gibson put out. I didn't watch
it. The lady gave me one, and I said,
I'll file it. And I did file it in that realm file beside
my desk. That's where they'd find it, up in the garbage can.
One thing, I had this guy with me. That guy, handsome wasn't he? Have you
seen that? Good looking. A little too Caucasian for me. Christ was not comely that men
should desire him. Outwardly he was not a handsome
man. Probably a Jewish man with dark skin. Looked like most of
the Jews and Arabs do over in the east, not the ones that live
in America. The ones who are over east. sizable protuberance, probably
had black wavy or curly hair, probably short in stature. And we know he looked old because
he wasn't but in his thirties when he said, before Abraham
was, I am. And they said, well, you ain't
even fifty yet. So he looked older than thirties. And he wasn't
a handsome man. But this guy on this movie, he's
pretty. Perfect teeth. Smile. Had a man by the head. The man
was looking up at him lovingly into his eyes. The man says,
what are we going to do? He said, we're going to change
the world. And I knew it wasn't Christ,
because Christ had no interest in this world whatsoever. My
kingdom is not of this world. My people are in the world, but
they are not of the world. I pray not for the world. I pray
for them that Thou has given me. Has given me. But he looked good. I'm here to save the world. He
said, I came to glorify my Father by my death. and finish the work
that my Father has given me to do. That's why He came. What was that? To save His people
from their sins in a manner that God would still be just and able
to justify sinners through the perfect sacrifice and death of
Jesus Christ. by whom the world is crucified
unto Me." The believer does not glory in
passing things. You know, the older you get,
if you notice these new things you buy, the glow goes off of
them in like ten minutes. I remember when I used to get
a toy, when I was a boy, I could play with it for hours and hours
and hours and hours because I didn't get that many toys, but you know,
you get a toy, it's a great thing. Now I get one of these toys,
you know, and I'm glad. Heck, I'll put it on the shelf five
minutes after I get it on and think about it. I'm not interested in neither
is any child of God in the world that's passing away. It's not
going to last. As much as I love every one of
you, my joy will be to know that I will spend eternity with you
in glory. That's a wonderful thing. But I'm not counting on
you to count on me. I'm not going to be here. I'm
going to pass off the scene. And Jesus Christ died on Calvary.
The world was crucified under me. The believer does not plant his
roots in the disappearing world. He glories in that which will
not end. Will not end. And he said also,
and I was crucified under the world. The world was crucified
under me and I was crucified under the world. When a believer
is brought to faith in Christ alone by the Gospel, the world
is done with him. The world is done with him. It
just writes him off. He is hated and despised because
he refuses to give credence to anything but the Lord Jesus Christ.
He refuses to participate in the world's religion. He openly,
confidently confesses that he had nothing to do with his own
salvation. That he has nothing and can do nothing that will
recommend him to God in any way, whether before or after he was
saved. He looks at his life before knowing
Christ as nothing, and the life he has after knowing Christ as
having nothing to do with his acceptance with God. He disdains
his own righteousness. He claims that Christ is his
righteousness. He refused to even claim faith as a thing that
he had anything to do with. God gave it to him. He denies
his work, his worth, and his words, declaring that Christ
is all things to him. He proclaims for all to hear
that the best thing that He's ever done is full of sin and
iniquity. He's glad to say that. His lifelong
mantra is, Lord save me or I'll perish. And the world hears Him
and thinks He's saying that they're not saved. But He's not saying
that. He's not saying that. He is crucified
to the world. Crucified to the world. Verse
15 says, For Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision availeth anything, but a new creature in Jesus Christ.
What does that mean? What you don't do and what you
do don't matter. That simple. In Christ, because
of His crucifixion and death, what I do or don't do is not
even remotely considered. Those who claim a righteousness
by the law are nothing. Their lives are of no consequence.
Those who boast that they were never under the law are nothing. Their lives are of no consequence.
God has concluded Jew and Gentile alike all under sin. To look
at yourself in any capacity pertaining to the accomplishment of salvation
is to avail nothing. If you and I are saved, it will
take the act of the Creator. Making something entirely new.
Salvation is the act of sovereign creation in Jesus Christ. And
since it is the act of the Creator, you are not involved. What you do or not do does not
avail. Well, I'm not under the law.
I'm under grace. Good for you. It don't matter. I don't go to the law. I'm glad
you don't. But it don't matter. I keep the
law. Fine for you. But it don't matter.
What matters? Christ. Christ alone. We're not even in the equation
of salvation except as recipients that we don't find out about
it until many years after it's already taken place. 2000 and some for me, for you too. And this sets forth a simple
and plain rule of life. You know, we're the kind of creatures,
we kind of need a rule. And he says, "...as many," in
verse 16, "...who walk accordingly to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel
of God, the church of the living God." What rule? You want a rule? I'll give you
a rule. God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I am crucified unto
the world. You live by that rule, peace
and mercy will be upon you. Straight from that, toil and
trouble is all you'll have. Father, bless us for understanding.
We pray in Christ's name. Amen.