Galatians 6:7-18

[0:00] morning. In the New Testament, this morning of the book of Galatians chapter 6.

[0:13] We'll be picking up a few verses into chapter 6. The first six verses of Galatians 6 covers a very sensitive topic.

[0:31] The topic of a fallen brother or fallen sister in Christ. However, you let's see that. A fallen fellow believer. That's kind of a sensitive topic. It was in Paul's day and it's just a sensitive nowadays.

[0:48] But that's the gist of the first six verses of Galatians chapter 6 and how we, believers, are as in verse 1.

[1:00] It says, you which are spiritual, how we are to react to that. We're not to act with... act in a bad manner, we're not to act negatively. In fact, verse 1 says we're to restore them with the spirit of meekness. So many times that's not the case. And I've seen it. You all probably seen it in churches that, you know, the brother or sister will fall into sin somehow, some way.

[1:35] And the first thing they want to do is kick them to the door. And folks, there are complete chapters in the Word of God that are dedicated to exactly how the church is to handle such things. But anyway, I said that's the first six verses of this. We're going to pick up in verse 7 here and with verse 7 here in just a moment, with the Lord's help preach through the end of the chapter. The book of Galatians though, one thing I like to point out every time I teach a preach from Galatians is that it is not a letter written to the church in Galatia, it is written to the churches in Galatia. It's written to several different churches. You find this in chapter 1 and I was guilty as anybody for sometimes saying Paul's letter to the church of Galatia. But it is written to several churches and it would have been sent to one particular church and it would have been read and it would have been sent to another church or another congregation or flock, however you'd like to phrase that, and read there as well. But the main content of the book of Galatians is Paul is retorting and rebuking teaching that it come in by the Judaizers of the law, reintroducing the law into the gospel of grace, the gospel of Jesus

[3:00] Christ. And basically it was Jews that were coming in and you find the same thing a couple of times in the book of Hebrews. But there were Jews coming in saying that Jesus Christ is great, Jesus Christ is fine, and He's well, and I'm all for Jesus Christ, but we still need the law. We've still got to keep the law to a team. We've still got to have circumcision. We still need to keep the feasts.

[3:25] We still need to follow all of these ordinances and all of these ceremonies and folks, grace is grace and grace from God, that's exactly what it is. When I got saved, it wasn't because I done anything. It wasn't because I kept any certain law or any set of laws. It wasn't because I kept any certain feast days or anything along those lines. God looked down upon me and saw a law center that was headed for hell and God reached down and He saved me when I come to faith and repentance in Jesus Christ and that is grace. And salvation is purely, totally, and utterly by grace and these Jews that come in and try to add to the law and folks, we've got churches now, Christian churches, that do the exact same thing. They'll try to say, you know, you can have salvation, you can have Jesus Christ, but we also need to add this and that is deluding the blood of Jesus Christ and it is deluding the grace of God. It doesn't need delusion. I'm glad that the gospel of Jesus Christ is all-powerful to save. I'm glad that it's nothing but the gospel of Jesus Christ and the blood of

[4:41] Jesus Christ that saved my soul and it's the blood of Jesus Christ and it's the gospel and it is it is cross work that will keep me and that will give me home one day after a while. But that's what most of the book of Galatians is about, is Paul rebuking these Jewish people that have come in and tried to reintroduce the law to some people. If you read in the book of Hebrews sometime, you'll see that that book was written largely to a group of Jews that had accepted, I mean, they had accepted Jesus Christ, they'd accepted the gospel, they had been saved, but they were sliding back into their old ways and their old customs and that's what these Jews that Paul was writing to here in the book of Galatians, that's what they were introducing into the church and folks, we must beware of such things. We've got to beware of doctrines outside of salvation by grace through faith and Jesus Christ alone and per the scripture alone. We've got to beware of such things. So here in the book of Galatians in chapter six and y'all realize we rolled the clocks back last night so I got an extra hour to preach, right?

[6:04] I won't do that to you. God bless you. Galatians chapter six, we'll begin reading at verse seven. It says, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever remains so with that shall he also reap, for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting, and let us not be weary and well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not, as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. You see how large a letter I have written unto you with my own hand, as many as desire to make a fair shoe in the flesh that can strain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh, but God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world, for in cross Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature, and as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them, and mercy and upon the Israel of God, from henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus, brethren the grace of our Lord Jesus

[7:39] Christ be with your spirit, amen. And we'll go back to verse 7 here, it begins with a verse, or we began with a verse here that's probably familiar to most of us, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, for he that soweth to his flesh shall have the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall have the spirit reap life, everlasting. Folks, I appreciate the truth of the Scripture, I appreciate the truth that is found all through the Scripture, the fact that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, I appreciate all of these things, but this is a true statement here that we have read just as true as anything else that we find in the Scriptures, that one, that God is not mocked, and it doesn't say God may not be mocked or God might not be mocked, it says that God is not mocked, he absolutely will not be mocked, but it goes on to say whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, and this is the true statement in the Scriptures, it is something that not only applies to the Christians, to those that have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and born again, but folks this applies to the world as well, it applied to me before, I was a born again Christian, it applies to me now that I am a born again Christian, that whatsoever I sow, I will reap whatever it is that I sow, and the next verse talks about sowing to the flesh, and if we sow to the flesh that we will reap corruption, but if we sow to the spirit, we shall reap life, and not only laugh but laugh, everlasting, that life that comes only from Jesus Christ who is life, Jesus Christ the beginner of life, Jesus

[9:32] Christ the one who began life, when Adam and Eve were in the, or when Adam was created in the, there in the, before he was placed in the garden when God took dust and the clay up in his hands, and he molded Adam, and he breathed into him the birth of life, God being the originator of life, God being the beginner of life, he breathed that life, and Adam and that life that you and I have now, it comes from Almighty God, we stand here or we sit here, we are here today together by the divine appointment of Almighty God, we all have breath in our lungs, we all have blood in our veins, and that is all because of the doings of Almighty God, God is the one that gave us that life, God is the one that imparted that life to us, but folks it is how we use that life toward God, whether we be lost or whether we be saved, it is how we use our life that will ultimately decide whether we reap corruption if we sow to the flesh, and most of your hair lost today,

[10:38] I've got news for you all, you know how to do, it's to sow to the flesh, you cannot sow to the spirit, for the spirit does not abide within you, you can't sow to the things of God, you can't, you can't do anything of the things of God if you have not God, abiding within your heart, and abiding within your soul, if you don't have the spirit of God, abiding within you, guiding your steps, and guiding your speech, and guiding your actions, it is an impossibility for you to sow to the spirit, so all you will do for all of your 10 or 20 or 50 or 80 years of this life outside of Jesus Christ is sow to your flesh, you'll sow to the things of this world, you'll sow in the hopes that your money will get you to heaven, you'll sow in the hopes that your deeds will get you to heaven, you'll sow to yourself, you'll sow for you other people, you will sow to this world, but in the end you will reap corruption and nothing but corruption, right, hallelujah though, if we sow, praise God, if we sow to the spirit, that's for us that are saved, that's for you church, if we sow to the spirit, we will replant everlasting, now does this mean that us church folk, that it's impossible for us to sow to the flesh, absolutely not, it's not an impossibility for us to do that, but folks Paul here is giving the warning, remember what I told you, that the book of Galatians, the main gist of the entire book is the people that were trying to reintroduce law, or introduce the law I should say, into the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, into the gospel which teaches that man has no part of his salvation, into the gospel that teaches that God is the originator of salvation, it was God's plan from the beginning, Jesus crossed according to John's words, in the book of Revelation was the Lamb slaying before the foundation of the world, and this plan was in place before any of you, or myself, before any of us were ever born, before the foundation of the very world, wherever lay Jesus Christ, it was planned that he would die for lost sinners, the plan is completely of God, salvation is completely of God, the sowing to the Spirit, it is completely of God, and the life everlasting that we shall reap, if we sow to the

[13:18] Spirit, is completely of God, it is totally, utterly, and completely of Almighty God, we have nothing to do with our salvation, that's something that us Christians need to keep in mind, otherwise we'll get a holy spirit about us, we'll get prideful about ourselves, what's the Bible saying about that, pride go up before destruction, and a holy spirit before a fall, we need to be careful thinking that it's something that we've done, these Jews here, all over the region of Galatia, they were coming in, they were saying we need the circumcision, we need the feasts, we need this, and we need that, no folks, they needed Jesus Christ, and nothing but Jesus Christ, if you're here and you're lost today, I got news for you, you can't turn over a new leaf and get to heaven, you can't make yourself better, and get to heaven, praise God, the Bible says, Jesus says that he came to seek and to save that which was lost, Paul, broke the Timothy, they said Jesus Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief, Jesus Christ came to bring your soul unto the Father, to bring the Father, glory Jesus Christ made a way through his suffering on Calvary Tree, that you wouldn't be lost anymore, but that you will be a sheep in the fold of God forever, and forever this is the life everlasting that we will reap if we sow to the spirit, hallelujah, God made a perfect plan, made a perfect plan, Lord help me to preach this, verse 9, let us not be weary and well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not, let us not be weary and well-doing, again this goes to the church, this ain't the lost folks, let us not be weary and well-doing, lost folks you can do well-doing all day, and you might keep some spunk about yourself while you're doing, you might have all the energy at the end of the day that you need to get up and do the same things tomorrow, you can go feed the homeless, you can go clothe the naked, you can go help the poor and the needy, all you want to lost folks, but that is not sowing to the spirit, you are still sowing to the flesh when you do that, but when we, the people of God, when we obey the commandments of God, when we see someone naked and we clothe them, when we see someone that's hungry and we feed them, when we see someone that is lost and we give them the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we are doing that inside of Jesus

[15:47] Christ, we are sowing seeds to the spirit, we are sowing seeds that will reap life everlast and hopefully if we give someone a gospel track, if we tell them about the goodness of God, if we tell them that there are a richet sinner in the eyes of God, but that God through Jesus Christ made a way that they could be saved and they accept this when they've seen the darkness that is their life, when they see the flesh that they sown to day today, when they see these things, but they see the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ before their eyes, or they hear the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ preached and they accept his sacrifice and his sacrifice alone for their salvation, they have sown seed to this big as have we. Praise God. It's a two-fold day. Hallelujah.

[16:40] But let us not be weary and well-doing folks. We'll get tired along this way. I spoke about in Sunday school this morning. It gets awfully irritating and downright discouraging when you know that you're telling people the truth, when you know you've preached the gospel, when you know you've preached that man is a sinner, but God is a mighty and a glorious savior, when you know that you've told people these things and they continually rejected, they might mock at you, they might scoff at you, I've learned to just brush that off my shoulders when it happens. It's the rejection of the gospel that breaks my heart. It's their rejection of the only thing that can save them, the only thing that is hopeful for them. It's their rejection of the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ. It's that rejection that discourages me and if we're not careful, we'll grow weary and that well-doing will say, why do I go out and give out tracks? Why do I tell my family about Jesus Christ? Because it's doing no good. Folks, that's growing weary and well-doing. Hey,

[17:47] God never promised us in his scripture that everybody that hurt the gospel come from our lips would be saved. God never promised us that one out of every 500 would be saved or one out of every thousand or every 10,000. For that matter, the commandment of the scripture is to go ye into the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, teaching them and preaching to them and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost of Almighty God. This is the commandment and scripture that we go. Amen. Don't grow weary. Don't grow weary. Praise God, why not?

[18:25] Let us not be weary and well-doing. For in due time, we shall reap if we fend not. We are promised to reap something of this. We are promised to reap a harvest here in the Word of God. Don't grow weary in your well-doing, folks. And we've got to remember it ain't for our glory anyway. It's not for Spencer's glory to present people with the gospel. And it's not for Spencer's glory that souls get saved. It's to the glory of Almighty God and His glory alone. Hey, it belongs to Him anyway.

[18:56] We might as well just let Him go ahead and have it. We don't need that glory. God doesn't need it, but God wants it and it is due to God. For that glory, all glory is due under God and He will have all glory one of these days after a while. Don't grow weary in your well-doing and it's promised in the scriptures of God that there will be a harvest that we will reap if we fend not.

[19:20] Hallelujah. Verse 10, And as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, but especially unto them who are of the household of faith. At first glance, it seems like God's given us permission to be a respecter of persons, does it not? Even though the Bible teaches God as no respecter of persons and also teaches that we're not to be a respecter of persons. That's not what this scripture is getting at at all here folks. I mean, just the way it begins implies that as we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men. Folks, this is tied right back to love thy neighbor as thyself. Let us do good unto all men. It ties directly into love thy neighbor as thyself. And folks, let me tell you, if you love God, if you're truly loving God, you will love your neighbor. And if you love God and you love your neighbor, it's going to cause you to do the things of God. It's going to cause you to sow to the Spirit. It's going to cause you to not grow weary in your well-doing. It's going to cause a harvest of these things as promised to come, a harvest of the glory of God, a harvest of souls, a harvest of righteousness, a harvest of everything that has to do with Almighty God. These things are promised here in the scriptures, but as we have therefore opportunity, now this speaks a warning to me as well about being careful to create opportunities for ourselves. If we ain't careful, we'll do that. And if we do that, we might do it in pride. We might do it in pride to create an opportunity to be good to someone.

[21:09] But folks, what the scripture here is getting at is as we have opportunity to do good works unto all men, as we have opportunity, if we see someone in need, if we see someone that needs something, if we see someone that needs prayer, or whatever the case may be, if we see that opportunity, we need to seize upon that opportunity because it may not come again. It may not come again for us.

[21:36] It may not come again for that person. Hey, that might be the last, we might run across somebody on the sidewalk, or we might run across someone in the store, or at work, or school, or wherever it is, that we may be, that's just having the worst day of their life, they're down on their luck, they're down on everything, they're depressed, they feel lonely, they feel like there's no hope left in this world. And if we see that, that's an opportunity for us to do good unto all men.

[22:04] Hey, regardless, I don't care what they look like, I don't care how many piercings they might have, I don't care what kind of t-shirt they might be wearing, or what tattoos they might have on their arm. If you see someone that is in need of prayer, if you see someone that is in need of God, if you see someone that is obviously in need of the gospel of Jesus Christ, shame on you if you don't take the opportunity to present it. To help those people, I say, well, there's a lot of folks out there, there's a lot of Christians like that, they don't look as good as me, I ain't gonna help them.

[22:41] They don't smell as good as me, I ain't gonna help them. Folks when God looked down on me, all he saw was black wretched, filthy, wicked sin. And yet, he helped me. And if God can do that for me, and if you're sitting here saying he saw the same thing on you, if he can do it for you, and did do it for you, what makes us think that we're so good that we can go pray with an obvious unbelief, that we can go offer them some help of some kind. I ain't saying, you know, give him every dime in your wallet, I ain't saying let him live in your house or whatever the case is, just go offer him some hope. What hope do we have? Hey folks, Peter, he talks about being prepared to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. Hey folks, if I go to someone and they're in need like that, I can tell them about that hope that lies within me. I can tell them about my own time in my own life when I was hopeless, when I was out in sin, when I was lost, when I didn't feel like I had anyone including Almighty God. I can tell them about that time and I can tell them how God gloriously and wonderfully ruts down and saved my unworthy soul. Present the gospel when you can,

[24:03] Christians. First 11, you see all large a letter I've written under you with my own hand, I'm going to really expound this a whole lot here. There's a debate in the theological realm over this verse, whether Paul's talking about the length of the letter that he wrote, which kind of goes against some of the other letters they wrote, particularly the letter to the Romans, Romans in 16 chapters long, and deals with a whole lot of the same subject matter that the book of Galatians does.

[24:37] It was a much longer letter than the book of Galatians is. So is he talking about the length of the letter? Talking about a large letter? Or is he talking about maybe his sights growing to him and the size of the letters that he was having to use? That's the debate in the theological realm. I would go with the latter of those two things, but I said I here to debate that, y'all go home and study that and you can see what you come up with there. But what Paul is getting at here, he says, you see how large a letter I've written under you with my own hand. Most times, Paul dictated to someone else what to write. In fact, going back to the letter to the Romans, there's a man named Tertius that he dictated to. Tertius wrote that letter. In fact, Paul there at the end evidently gives Tertius, he says, if you want to go ahead and sign your name to this, you go right ahead and that man does. But normally he would dictate to someone else what he does. But Paul here, what's important in this line is not whether he's talking about the length of the letter or the size or for younger folks the font size that he was using to write the letter. What's important, he says, I've written this letter with my own hand. That was personal for Paul. He's saying this is personal for me. It was something that was so important to Paul. Paul was grieved with the churches in Galatia because not only had these Judaizers come in and they were introducing the law and the law was getting in the way of grace and it was distorting the gospel in the minds of the churches in Galatia. He was grieved with this and it was important that he get this letter to him and maybe he was at a point where nobody was there that he could dictate what he wanted said to them and they could write it down for him. So Paul just sat down by himself and he wrote the letter himself. This shows the love that Paul had for these people. This shows the love that he had and it shows that he was willing to do all men, to do good works under all men, but especially under those that are of the household of faith as we read in a previous verse there. He says, you see how large a letter I've written under you with my own hand verse 12, as many as desire to make a fair shoe in the flesh they can strain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Here we have the reason that these Judaizers that come in, like I said in the introduction to this or whatever you'd like to call it, these people it's not that they say we have the law and that's all we need. They were saying yes Jesus Christ is great,

[27:24] I'm glad that he came and I'm glad that he died for me, but we still need the law. This is what these Jews were saying, but he says here that he desired, or I'm sorry, he says here as me, he's desired to make a fair shoe in the flesh that can strain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. They were worried about the Jews that have rejected Jesus Christ and they were worried about those Jews persecuting them for accepting, so that's why they were trying to mingle the law and mingle, brace together and folks let me tell you now the law and grace do not mingle well together. It is either by grace or it is by the law and we cannot ever, we have not ever been able to and we will not ever be able to be saved by the law.

[28:12] In fact in Galatians chapter 3 you can flip over there if you want to Paul talks about how there was never a law given that was able to save our souls. It was impossible for us to be saved by keeping any law that God had put forth, so Jesus Christ comes. Jesus Christ offers up himself a ransom for many and in that Jesus Christ has become the new testament and the new covenant that is made with Almighty God and that we as people we can be saved, we can be born again, but it is by faith in Jesus Christ nothing to do with keeping any laws.

[28:54] But these people are coming in saying yes Christ but circumcision, yes Christ but the feast days, yes Christ but this and yes Christ but that it is yes Christ period, yes Christ period that is the only thing that can save our souls. But he says as many as desire to make a fair shoe in the flesh that can strain you, they can strain you to be circumcised, they're convincing you, basically almost they're forcing you to be circumcised but he tells why only unless they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. In other words these people were going and they were telling the Jewish leaders that had rejected Christ, look we're a pod of Christians over here, we're a flock of believers in Jesus Christ but I have gone to these folks and told them you must still keep the circumcision and what did that do for those Jewish leaders? It caused them to leave them alone. They said well they're still keeping the law so they're all good. Folks listen there are hundreds of cross that are presented in the world today. There are literally hundreds of cross that are thought of today. There is only one true cross and that is the cross of the scriptures, that is the cross of the holy Bible but there are hundreds of other cross that are presented in churches, they're presented on street corners, they're presented in pamphlets, they're presented in books, they're presented in movies, they're presented in people's own minds.

[30:25] There's possibly thousands of cross out there that people have made up in their own minds. They'll say well you know I want to go to heaven, I want to have a relationship with God, I want this and I want this but I want to continue in my sin, I want to continue going out to the honky tongue, I want to continue my drinking, I want to continue my dopant, I want to continue my fornication, I want to continue all these things and folks that the cross that saved my soul is the holy spirit that abides within me will not allow a born again child of God to do those things.

[30:59] He will not allow them to sink that far back in their sin, he will not allow them to go that direction without some sort of conviction in their life so these people that swear up and down that they're born again, these people that say I was saved at 15 or 20 years of age but now they're out at the bars every weekend, now they're out doing this and doing that and there was never a change made in their life, they are contradicting the scripture that says if any man be in cross he is a new creature, all things are passed away and behold all things are become new. When God saved my soul he made a new creature, I don't even have the desire to do those things anymore and that's not of me, that's not me turning over a new leaf, that's not me trying to do better, that's not me trying to save face for myself, that is God making an eternal change in my heart and in my soul and if you're here born again praise God, he made the same change in your soul and in your heart.

[32:03] Hallelujah, that's the workings of Almighty God but these folks here they were doing this, they were wanting to keep the law to appease people, to appease people and that's, there's many false cross that are presented in many congregations and many churches now to appease people, that's why we don't hear about sin much anymore, that's why people will preach against certain things, people will preach against things that the scripture brings up, they will preach against sin, they will preach against immorality, why is that? Because they're brother and their numbers were higher, because they'd rather there are more people to put more money in the offering place so that their salary is higher or so that their building can be bigger or so that their windows can be prettier or so they can pay a crew to come in and clean their 10,000 foot square foot facility, whatever the case is and I ain't down in big churches at all, hey there's some good bigger churches out there where the gospel is truly preached but this is why people try to appease others with a false crust, it's to try to try to comb people with a false cross, it's to appease a whole other crowd, that's dangerous for neither they themselves or circumcised keep the law but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh that they may go to them and they may say well yes we're a group of Christians over here, we've kind of taken over this synagogue, our apologies but hey I've caused every one of these folks over here to be circumcised before, there were about 12 maybe 15 men meeting in this synagogue but now there's 100 of us over there and we're having to put metal folding chairs outside of it so that people can hear the message and every one of them folks has been circumcised because I told them to, that's what these people were doing, that's what they were going to the religious leaders and say and the religious leaders were fine with that as long as the law was being kept, folks I don't want anybody here thinking you can keep the law and be saved, I don't want anybody thinking that you can keep the thou shalt have no gods before me, thou shalt not worship any grave and image, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, I don't want you thinking that you can keep those commandments and get to heaven, listen to me it is an impossibility for you to keep those commandments, that's the whole reason that Jesus Christ had to come, because man is so corrupted with sin, man is so dark within himself and within her so, man is so wicked within within themselves that Jesus Christ is the only one that can make a way,

[34:39] Jesus Christ is the only one that could be a perfect sacrifice, he's the only one that could be a perfect savior and bless God, he's the only one now that can do so, but you faith in him, not in yourself, not in yourself, but God forbid, praise God, this is what we've been working toward, but God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and die unto the world, God forbid, Paul says God forbid, now you turn over to the book of Philippians sometimes, you read a report that Paul gives about his qualifications, about things that he had accomplished in his life, he was a Pharisee, a Pharisee, he was basically a Jew of the Jews, he's of the tribe of Benjamin, he was circumcised the eighth day, he was this and he was that, but folks you go on down through the Scripture and you'll see where Paul says, I counted all his dung, I counted all his dung to know Jesus Christ and we have to have that same attitude, we as Christians, we as believers, folks it was nothing that I did, it was nothing that you did and it's nothing that we could do or can do that God has saved, it was a complete act of God that saved my soul and Paul says, praise God, he says God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and he's not talking about the wood piece, he's not talking about the actual cross that Christ had on, folks that would be idolatry, he is talking about the work that was accomplished on the cross there, he glories in that, he glories in the work that was accomplished there folks and praise God, it's a finished work that Jesus Christ performed for you and for me, for all of mankind, for all of those that would accept this finished work that he accomplished, for all of those that would believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ and repent of their ways and trust in him and him alone for redemption, for reconciliation, back to the Father that had cast off all of you, all of humanity, that's what he's glorying in, he's glorying in the work that was accomplished there on that cross, God forbid I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world, folks let me tell you something, if you're sitting here in the world and the world has not been crucified to you, you're not saved, if you're not crucified to the world, you're not saved, what does this mean, what does this mean, he says I'm crucified to the world, the world has no use for Paul, in other words that's what Paul's getting at there, he doesn't have good relationships with a good relationship with the world, well what does that do about if the opportunity arises, doing good to all people, folks that doesn't mean that doesn't give us permission to stop doing good to all people, to stop loving our neighbor, that's not what it's getting at here at all, but what it's saying is the world hates Paul's guts, he says

[37:50] I'm, he is crucified to the world, the world is crucified under him, Paul doesn't hate the world, but the world hates Paul and folks if you're here and you're born again, the world hates you, the world hates you, why, because you contradict what the world wants, you go against what the world wants, you go against their lives when you live a holy and a righteous and an upright life in the in front of the world, they hate your guts for it because they know deep down inside that that's how they should be living, they know deep down inside that they should live a clean and a holy life as well, it contradicts the thoughts of the world, the Paul says I'm crucified in the world, the world is crucified under me and folks it is ever that way in the life of a believer, the world must be crucified to us, it must be dead dust, I promise you there's nothing out there in this world, there's nothing out there that can take the place of Jesus Christ, that's why the world should be crucified to the believers, it is useless to the believers as far as eternity is, as far as salvation goes, it is useless and yet will do worse than Judas Iscariot, sometimes Judas sold out

[39:08] Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and praise God we'll sell them out for far less than that sometimes, I'm talking about believers, I'm talking about believers we'll sell them out for far less than that sometimes, God help us, God forbid that we do that, God forbid that we glory in anything, save the cross, these people in the verse previous to this, they were glorying in their own accomplishments, the ones that Paul was talking about, glorying in that they've caused X amount of people to be circumcised, they were glorying in their own things, in their own ways, in their own deeds and Paul here says it's like glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, nothing to do with Him but all of what cross to accomplish on that cross, for in Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature, praise God this says two things, for in Christ neither for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, folks that tells me and what Paul was telling these Jews here that were reading this letter, your circumcision is nothing more than a useless ceremony that you are depending upon for salvation that you're depending on for your relationship with God, I believe I've already brought it up maybe in Sunday school this morning that that's all it was, it was it was an act, it was a ceremony that they did, it wasn't even the covenant itself, it was a sign or a seal of the covenant, God Himself had made the covenant with Israel through the man Abraham, he had done this himself, it had nothing to do with Abraham, it had nothing to do with Isaac or Jacob or any other Jew that had lived, God made that covenant with His people, and you know what God makes the new covenant from Jesus Christ with His people, we didn't make it, we didn't write it, we didn't plant it, God deal with it, but he says in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, so the useless ceremonies are out the window, but he says nor uncircumcision, folks that tells me there is no barrier to the Gentiles, he's talking about the Jews in the first part, circumcision avails nothing for them, and in the next part nor uncircumcision, he's talking about the Gentiles, so regardless of the ceremonies that the Jews are doing, and regardless that the

[41:32] Gentiles have never performed or never partaken in these ceremonies, that is not a barrier to them, it doesn't mean that they can't be saved, he says but a new creature and this is what salvation is, I've already quoted seven Corinthians 5 and 17, God will make a new creature in Christ to anyone that repents of their ways and believes in the gospel, oh Jesus Christ, God makes a new creature for His glory and for His honor, He doesn't do it because we deserve it, He doesn't do it because I'm a good boy, you're a good girl, He does it to bring Himself glory, therefore when God saves our souls we should live lives that bring glory unto God, just give me a few more minutes folks, and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God, as many as walk according to this rule, now you could go all the way back to the beginning of the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter 1 verse 1 and apply this rule to where he says that here,

[42:37] I mean personally I think he's talking about the verse immediately preceding this, the one that we just read that says, for in Christ neither circumcision avails anything nor circumcision but a new creature, that's what I think he's getting at there, that's the rule that he's talking about, he says and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God, and I'm not going to get into the Israel of God, there's a lot of debate about that as well in the theological realm, I can tell you though that he is talking about born-again believers in this section of this scripture and in this letter he's writing to born-again believers about people that are trying to infiltrate the faith that they have in Jesus Christ, but I'm not going to get into the Israel of God here with you this morning, from henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear my body to the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul here saying let no man trouble me, he says I bear my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, let me tell you Paul was not talking about what's popularly known here is stigmata, he's not talking about that at all, you can read the letter to the Corinthians that Paul wrote, he talks about what he has suffered for the cause of Christ and he doesn't do it boastingly, I mean folks many of us could stand as Christians and we could say you know my family's disown me, they could say my wife or my husband they left me or my boyfriend or my girlfriend, my kids take my guts but calls on my Christian, we could all stand and talk about some sort of minor persecution that may have come our way, but Paul here saying I bear my body the marks of the

[44:19] Lord Jesus Christ, what he is telling them is I am writing the truth to you, in these six chapters that he wrote to the churches in Galatians, he is saying I'm writing the truth, he said if you don't believe me I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ, he wrote to the church of Corinth, he said I was whipped three times, five times I took 40 straps saved one, he said I was stoned, I was in the deep for a day and for a night, I've been shipwrecked, I've been all of these saints and all of it was for the cause of Jesus Christ and don't you think for just one second that if Paul didn't believe what he was writing to these Galatians that he wouldn't have put up with all that and folks that to me is confirmation that Jesus Christ is true, not only did Paul suffer for the cause of Jesus Christ but you've got all of the original apostles that suffered for the cause of Jesus Christ, you've got all of them saved Judas Iscariot that suffered, martyred him, brother John, he was dipped in bowling hole, Peter was crucified upside down, there's so many things that they suffered and not one of them recanted their faith in the man Jesus

[45:35] Christ because they believe the words that they preached, they believe the words that they said, they believe the words of the Old Testament that prophesied this man Jesus Christ and they knew what they had saw and none of them recanted, folks I know what I've experienced in God, I know that he saved my soul, why would I recant that, you don't have to look at my body to see any scars that I might bear, I might have some on the inside, the friends that left me when I got saved and all of us have probably got those but Paul here is saying look at my body, if you're not believing the words I'm saying, if you're believing these Judaizers instead of me, look at my body, look at what I've suffered, I bear the marks of Jesus Christ, Jesus had some whipping marks on him too, Jesus had some gouges in his flesh, praise God he says, I bear the marks of Jesus Christ of our Lord Jesus, verse 18, brethren the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, amen.

[46:38] Paul here closing his letter, these folks with a prayer of grace upon them, hallelujah which is how he closed a lot of times, sometimes it was grace in this and grace in that or that in grace but either way he's closing with a prayer of grace upon them, why? Why grace? Why not peace? Why not mercy? They need a grace just like you and I need grace, folks if you're here born again you still need the grace of God, folks if you're here lost you need the grace of God, he's praying grace why because these people are coming in trying to change their minds and they needed the grace of God to get them through that, they needed the grace of God, they needed the guidance of the Holy Spirit in their lives which is given by grace by the way, thank you, God's nowhere obligated to give us that he gives us the spirit by grace but he wanted grace for them to lead them through what they were being told by these Judaizers, God bless you all that's the message for us tomorrow night, appreciate your attention.