Galatians chapter 5 tonight, and we'll go ahead and read verses 1 through 6. Galatians 5 verses 1 through 6 says, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, stand firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are being justified by law. You have fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, by faith, are eagerly waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love. The title of my message this evening is, Taken from the Text. And so I've entitled this, very simply, Severed from Christ. Severed from Christ. Paul is not holding back with the Galatian churches about the severity of the error that they're stepping into by following these Judaizers and their error. And so last Wednesday, we looked at verse one. and that was all we really considered. It's such a rich verse. It was for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore stand firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. If you really pay attention to what Paul is doing here, I think that We would learn a lot in our present day on how to deal with the errors that we come into contact with. Truth is narrow. And what happens is a lot of times people will, a lot of times, go off one side or another. The answer to legalism is not antinomianism. The answer to antinomianism is not legalism. His argument that he's setting up here to these legalists is not antinomianism. If you read the epistle here and get that, you've missed the point. What he's doing is he's pointing them to Christ. And on the flip side, if their error was antinomianism, The answer would not be to bring them to the law. No, no. The answer is Christ. He's telling them it was for freedom that Christ set us free. We are free in Christ. We can't forget that. Why should we go back to the yoke of slavery? This slavery of the law, this slavery of man's tradition, this slavery of whatever that it may be. I mean, we mentioned how that man always is prone to slavery, slavery of sin, slavery of self, slavery of Satan. There's nothing back there for us. Galatians 5.1 is, as one commentator put it, should be included as an exhortation. Stand firm against false teaching and bullies in the church. Christ has set us free. Therefore, Stand firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. You will not go wrong standing in the freedom that we have in Christ. And so as he continues writing, he says, behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. What he's writing here brings a bit of a shock value to a child of God who knows that Christ is everything. But bear in mind that context is everything. Paul is not opposed to circumcision, in fact, And just as a reminder, in Acts chapter 16, Acts chapter 16, verses one through three, when he was with Timothy there, it says, now Paul also arrived at Derbe and at Lystra, and behold, a disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. and he was well spoken of by the brothers who were in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted this man to go with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. So Paul had Timothy to be circumcised, why? For the gospel sake, okay? He had him circumcised for the sake of the gospel. In Philippians chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3, verses 2 through 5, Paul rehearses some things to the Philippians there, and he says this. Philippians chapter three, verses two through five, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee. So Paul himself had been circumcised. But as he goes on in this, he says in verse seven, whatever things were gained to me, those things I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, verse eight he says, I count all things to be lost because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith. So in other words, here's what's going on. Paul was not opposed to circumcision in and of itself. In fact, he had Timothy circumcised, so that this would not be a great distraction when they were working in and among the Jews. Timothy was half Jew, and they knew that this would be a great distraction, and so he had him circumcised. They knew his dad was a Greek, and so this would have been a great distraction, a great hindrance. to them sharing the gospel. Paul himself was circumcised, yet he said in this very, very plainly that it was not something that he would glory in. It was not something that he would boast in. He would count it as loss. As he wrote there, for the sake of Christ, because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the law. And so what he's saying in Galatians is consistent with the message that is throughout the Bible, throughout all of the New Testament, throughout all of Paul's writings, and that is this. His objection to circumcision is that it does not have any spiritual benefit. It does not have anything to do with salvation. It does not have anything to do with justification, and it has nothing to do with sanctification. If a person trusts in the work of the law, and this is what he's saying here in Galatians chapter five, when he says, if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you, he's saying if you receive circumcision, for salvation, if you receive circumcision as a means of justification, if circumcision is part of your sanctification, then Christ and his finished work on the cross is of no value to you. Very blunt words there, but this is the reality of it. And he's going to move on with that argument. In verse 3, Galatians 5 and verse 3. This is serious stuff. Verse 3, he says, and I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. He is under obligation to keep the whole law. Every man who receives circumcision, he is under obligation to keep the whole law. God has set a very high standard when it comes to the law. This is why there is no hope to be found on Mount Sinai. That's why there's no hope to be found under the old covenant. It's not like a person can pick a portion of the law to think that's enough. James said it this way in James chapter 2. James chapter 2 verses 10 and 11 says, But for whosoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said do not do not murder now if you do not commit adultery but murder you have become a transgressor of the law God demands perfect obedience The law demands perfect obedience. A failure to keep even one part of the law falls short of the standard. The Galatians, the churches of Galatia, they needed to understand this truth that legalists today need to understand. You can't have it both ways. The law is not something that you can pick and choose from. If you accept circumcision, then you've got to take the rest of it. You've got to, well, you've got to put to death those who have violated the Sabbath day. You've got to stone rebellious children. It's there in the law. You've got to stop eating certain meats, you see. So on and so forth. It's nonsense, but more than that, there's no hope there. The children of Israel cannot go into the law like they were over at the Golden Corral Buffet or like they were over at the Old Times Buffet and walk up to it and pick the things that they liked. Leave the things they didn't like. Take what they wanted and leave the rest behind and walk away like they were doing something great. You know, people do that today. They think that they're doing it. They think that they're living a the way that God would have them to do. This buffet-type legalism, this concordance-type legalism where they have their list of favorite laws that they're going to keep. With the rest of it, they'll leave behind. They're no different than the Judaizers, these churches of Galatia. What does Paul say to them? Well, in this text, in no uncertain terms, he says, behold, I, Paul, say to you, that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. You have been severed from Christ. You who are being justified by the law, you have fallen from grace. What a terrible, terrible thing to say. But he's, again, painting this picture, in no uncertain terms, the problem that they have put themselves into. This is where I pulled the title from. Verse one, Christ has set us free, but now we see the predicament that they have put themselves into, and that is they have been severed from Christ. There's freedom to be found in Christ, but they find themselves severed from Christ. What's this mean? They're severed from Christ, fallen from grace. Is he telling them that they've lost their salvation? No, that's not what he's teaching. That's not what is being taught here. What he's talking about is that any attempt to be justified by the law is to reject salvation by grace alone through faith alone. To be severed from Christ is to be alienated from him. The reality is, that justification is either all of Christ or none of Christ. There is no in-between. There is no hybrid approach. And while we may look at the world and we may say, well, there's hundreds of religions, we may say there's thousands of religions, however way we want to count it, The reality is there's only two religions. There's either the true Christian religion as found in the scriptures, or there's a works religion. One's of grace, the other's of works. One is of Christ, the other is of God. the law, you see. This is the reality of it here. These churches, they started out right. They were being taught by Paul. They were being taught through the scriptures, but then they were being led astray in this works-based religion away from the teachings of Christ. And Paul is being very blunt with them. In fact, in fact, he says there in verse five, he says, for we through the spirit by faith, are eagerly waiting for the hope of righteousness. There's only hope to be found through Christ, through the Spirit. If you're truly saved, there is hope. We have the imputed righteousness of Christ. We have that now, that's great. But there's more. There's more. What we have here now is only for a season. This isn't all there is. We are waiting for the completed and final righteousness to come and glorification. In fact, he says it this way in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 18. Romans chapter 8 and verse 18. says, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Verse 21, he says that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Yes, we're free. We're free now. We're free from the penalty of sin. One of these days we'll be free from the presence of sin. What a joy it will be, he says there as we look forward to that. As we consider this, there's no hope to be found in the law. We through the spirit by faith are eagerly waiting for the hope of righteousness. And then in verse six, he says, for in Christ Jesus, Neither circumcision or uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. In Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Under the law, Circumcision meant something. It meant a lot, actually. But in Christ, in Christ Jesus, circumcision or uncircumcision means nothing. Whether you're circumcised or not, whatever you've done in the flesh or not done in the flesh, no matter what your background is, Jew or Gentile, could be somebody like Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor of churches, Chiefest of sinners, like Saul was. Great blasphemer, like John Newton was, the writer of Amazing Grace. Or maybe, maybe you look back on your life and say, well, I wasn't that bad. Whatever your background was, whatever you've done in the flesh or not done in the flesh. However well you kept the law or didn't keep the law. Maybe you kept religious ceremonies pretty well. As they used to say in Kentucky, that sort of thing don't make a hill of beans. The reality is none of that makes difference in your relationship with God because we all stand before Him in need of a Savior. We're all sinners. It's in Christ that we have our hope. And saving faith proves its genuine character, not by circumcision, not by the keeping of the law, but by works of love. Over in Matthew chapter 22, Matthew chapter 22, Verses 37 through 40. And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments saying the whole law in the prophets. The person who lives by faith is internally motivated by love for God and Christ. which supernaturally issues forth in reverent worship, genuine obedience, and self-sacrificing love for others. But guess what? We also realize something else. That is this. No one, not you, not me, not anybody else, has ever kept even these two commandments perfectly, except Jesus Christ. And so our hope rests in Him. And so the message is clear. The standard is very high. The law is too high for us to try to keep and manage ourselves The message that Paul is laying forth is very clear. You're either going to live by all of the Old Testament laws and be judged by them and consequently condemned by them, or simply trust by faith that Christ lived by them all for you and was judged by them all in your place. He died on the cross for your sins and my sins. He was buried and he rose again, conquering death, hell, and the grave. He's living forever, making intercession for us. Jesus is the only safe way, the only way to get to heaven. All you'll find in trying to keep the law by yourself is failure and an eternal hell. Ephesians chapter two, to bring us to a close. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 For by grace you have been saved through faith This not of yourselves. It is the gift of God Not of works So that no one may boast Salvation is the grace of God through faith, and that's not even of ourselves. It was the gift of God. We have nothing to brag of, nothing to boast in. Not of works, not of works. Let us boast, let us glory only in the finished work of Christ. And let us As our text said, let us stand firm in the freedom that we have in Christ and not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. It's a terrible place to be, to be severed from Christ. Don't fall for the legalism. Don't fall for the modern day, modern day Judaizers. We have a great place to be in God's word and in his promises. Thank you for your attention tonight. I trust it's been a blessing. Let's dismiss with a season of prayer and I'll ask, I'll ask Isaiah to start us out and Brother Barry and then I'll close.