As we continue in worship this evening, I invite you to turn with me in your copies of God's word to Galatians chapter six. Galatians chapter six. We'll commence our reading there at verse 12. Sorry, verse 11. Galatians six and the 11th verse. The word of our God. You see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only less 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 save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace beyond them and mercy 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 Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Beloved, we come to the end of this epistle. We've spent months meditating on the themes that the apostles presented to us as the spirit's penman. And tonight we bring all of those meditations really to a close. And as we look at these verses before us this evening, that's precisely what the apostle himself does. In short form and very concentrated ways, the apostle summarizes really the chief practical arguments that he's made in the preceding six chapters. Here from verse 12 to the end, we have something of a summary of what's gone before. But I will emphasize that this is not a summary of the theological system. that he's given to us. This is not a summary of the broader theological arguments that he's made. This is the summary made by a pastor who's approaching a congregation of whom he stands in doubt. And so this summary is eminently practical. It is a summary, but it is the distillation, if you like, of all of those practical implications from the theology he's just advanced. He brings that distillation here to bear on his readers as really the final word in this dispute. This is a practical conclusion. Now, as you notice the form, you'll recognize immediately that this is all quite personal. All of the subscriptions to the epistles, of course, conclude in a very personal way. These were pastoral letters written to churches by yes, men who were inspired by the spirit of God, but by men who were pastors. men who are called to be under shepherds in the church. And so our epistle is no different. The apostle concludes very personally. He comes to the churches in Galatia and he comes with his heart as it were on his sleeve. But what is somewhat strange, what is really unique to this epistle is that as you move from the 11th verse and on, the apostle does not only reference himself, he brings in a contrast. He says, I have written unto you this epistle, but immediately afterward, he talks about them. They constrain you, he says. Of course, he's speaking of the interlocutors, his Judaizer opponents. And so from the 11th verse to the end, the apostle makes a contrast between himself and the Judaizers. That's how this epistle ends. It ends with the apostle, as it were, standing on one platform and describing himself while also describing the Judaizers that have sought to lead the churches here astray. You remember why that contrast is so important. If you remember back to our first moments in this epistle together, you'll remember that the Judaizers aimed, first of all, to repudiate the apostles' apostleship. They wanted to deny that the apostle Paul was in fact duly called by Christ to that office. And so in the first chapter, the apostle demonstrates that his calling indeed was of God. But then as you move forward, you'll recognize again that not only were the Judaizers interested in repudiating his calling, they were also interested in alienating the affections of the Galatians toward the apostle. And to some extent they succeeded. They succeeded. primarily because they contradicted the gospel Paul preached. And so in chapter four, you remember the apostle says this, am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth. You see the Judaizers have been making this contrast all along. They've been comparing themselves with the apostle Paul and all to the end of contradicting, repudiating and alienating the apostle. To deal with the apostle from chapter two, really to the 10th verse of chapter six, shows that the gospel that he preached was indeed the gospel of God. But now at the end, these last several verses, he makes the contrast himself. In other words, he brings the Galatians as it were into the audience and says, here, you'll see a picture of myself and these opponents. And so you must make a decision. In verse 12, he does this by first of all, referring to himself. Verses 13 and 14, he refers back to the Judaizers. Verses 15 to 17, he returns by describing himself once again. Now, in one sense, that stands to reason, we can get our minds around that, but could there be something more here? I would submit to you that there are. There are themes here that go even beyond what we've said. If you remember chapter five, that chapter being really a running commentary of what you had at the end of chapter four, The apostle is pressing home to the churches in Galatia that they themselves need to engage in self-examination. The apostle stands in doubt of them, he says that in chapter four. But in chapter five, he really asks them the question, which one do you resemble more, a child of promise or a child of the bond woman? You look more like Isaac, or do you look more like Ishmael? And that really continued right to the 10th verse of chapter six. Well, in our verses here, the apostle really is continuing that same kind of thought. You see, when the apostle brings himself to us as an example, he's obviously an example of one who is walking by the spirit, how he describes the Christian in chapter five and verse 16. But in our text, it's not just an instance where we're supposed to marvel if you like, at the apostles walk, as though that were something that we could intellectually understand and leave as it were, without any implication for ourselves, not at all. In verse 16 of our text, he says, as many as walk according to this rule, these ones know God's blessing. In other words, beloved, the apostle here is showing us the rule by which he walks. And yes, he's making this contrast with the Judaizers, but he's doing both things because that is of existential importance to you and to me. If you and I expect God's blessing, we must emulate what we find the apostle demonstrating for us in our text. Conversely, if we don't find that, we are the Judaizers. Now beloved, as we look at this text, the theme that comes before us is quite straightforward. And unsurprisingly, it's a theme that we've orbited time and again through this epistle. And that is that the Christian and the legalist are actually distinguishable. A real contrast can be made between the Apostle Paul and the Judaizers. A real contrast can be made between the legalist and the Christian. And in these last verses of this epistle, the apostle rounds off this diatribe by showing us that they are distinguishable in terms of benevolence, their boasting, and also their bearing in this life. So I want us to look, first of all, at the benevolence that you find here exemplified in the apostle. We find it, first of all, in the 11th verse. He says, you see how large a letter. Friend, he's not referring to the grapheme on the page. We're not supposed to understand that the apostle was writing in big letters. Some commentators these days take it that way. Very naturally, the apostle's emphasizing the length of this epistle. And he's doing so for a very particular reason. And he tells us that he did it with his own hand. And all of this is supposed to remind us that this epistle, though acerbic, though terse, though filled with rebuke at times, was nonetheless a labor of love. The apostle poured himself into this work, yes, as he was the spirit's penman, but it was a labor of love from the start. If the Galatians needed a token, an evidence of his affection for them, they had it. What are the Judaizers? while they constrain you to be circumcised, says the apostle. And all that so that they can make a fair show in the flesh, lest they suffer. You see, you see the contrast that the apostle makes. He's engaged in this labor of love. He is one who could say, I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, chapter four, verse 19. The Judaizers on the other hand, They zealously affect you. They would exclude you that ye might affect them. The Apostle Paul, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them that are of the household of faith. Does he not demonstrate that in this text? If he demonstrates what it is to engage in this work. Friend, what do the Judaizers represent? The Judaizers, he says in our text, they themselves were circumcised. They do not keep the law. What is he referring to there? Friend, it does go back to this idea of love, this idea of charity. You remember in 5.16, the apostle told us how the law was fulfilled. All the law, he says, is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And then you remember in chapter 6 in verse 4, the apostle reiterates the same thing, but makes it the law of Christ. He says, "...bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Substantially the same things. And so when he says, they who are circumcised don't keep the law, generally of course that's true. But specifically in context, what is the apostle referring to? He's saying, they don't demonstrate. That kind of love that the law promulgated at Sinai and the law that comes to us with the law of Christ, they do not keep that law. They don't demonstrate a love for the people of God. They look like Ishmael, not Isaac. If charity is a mark of holiness, as the scriptures clearly teach, then which, asks the apostle, It's truly holy. You see, this teaches us so very clearly that the Christian and the legalist are distinguishable in their love for the church. You know, it's striking, isn't it? That as the apostle has addressed this theme, really from the end of chapter four, he's done so by referring us once and again to this idea of a household. We are together children of promise. We are together of, as it were, Sarah, if we're of the household of faith. And again, that's how he refers to the church, the household of faith. And the idea then behind this is that then the church, those who are truly the children of promise, they act like it. Ishmael was not going to inherit. He was not to have the blessing that Isaac was. And that bore its own fruit in time. Those who are not children of promise, who do not have the same inheritance. Well, friend, the apostle is clearly indicating that also will demonstrate itself in time. Do we act and do we live bound together in love as a household? Friend, if I can extrapolate just for a moment, This shows us, doesn't it, that the church is actually supposed to be, it's supposed to be the first picture the world receives after Christ of the renovated man, the renovated humanity. If the church is bound together in love as a household, it becomes a picture. Yes, a flawed picture in this life, but a picture nonetheless, of the glory that awaits the children of promise hereafter. And so friend, if that love is missing, the apostle is not simply saying that there is, as it were, an incidental problem. It's not just one problem, he's saying it's existential. And friend, an example of what this charity looks like, I think comes to us so very clearly in just this epistle itself, doesn't it? I mean, remember what the apostle was confronted with. The apostle was dealing with those who referred to him as their enemy. The apostle was dealing with those whom maligned him, and he remembered simply because he tells them the truth. Of all men, beloved, the apostle was wronged by these churches. And even though this letter is filled with rebuke, note the affectionate language. Time and again, he refers to them as brethren. Together, he refers to himself and them as children of promise. And even when you come home to that harshest rebuke that we encounter in this epistle, it leads only to the point where he says, I stand in doubt of you. Where is the vindictiveness? Well, where is the self-serving spleen venting that you and I would expect? You don't find it. even its most terse moments, as the apostles already demonstrated, are given here as a labor of love. That vindictive spirit, you simply don't encounter here. And yes, of course, the spirit of God has inspired this text, but he used the heart of the apostle to do so. The apostle again in this epistle is demonstrating the very thing that he's here exemplifying. He's saying very pointedly, the church of God, must be that which is a household bound together in love. And this is a mark of true holiness then. Beloved, how you and I think of the church, our disposition toward her, determines whether or not we are the legalist or the Christian. But thirdly, secondly rather, there's the issue of boasting. Here, the Judaizers are brought to the fore. He says, they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. That is that literally they may boast in your flesh. What about Paul? He says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. Again, beloved here, you and I are reminded that this is intended to be a clear contrast, the apostle against the Judaizer. But what does he mean when he says, that by whom, that is Christ, the world is crucified unto me. In the history of interpretation of this text, various explanations have been given, but I want you to recognize that verse 15 actually interprets that for us. In verse 15, he joins together this as an explanatory clause. He says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything. The idea is that there is nothing Nothing but Christ that avails. The world is, as it were, dead to him. In this case, beloved, that phrase that the world is crucified unto Paul is just a simple statement that Paul's affections are now alienated to worldly glory. And that contrasts significantly to the Judaizers who would glory in the conversion of the Galatians. No, the apostle says, I glory only in this, only in the redemptive work of Christ. The Judaizers, they have all kinds of causes in which they might make their boast. The apostle has one. They boast in effecting things, I only in the redemption of Christ and given freely. And beloved again, this contrast is to leave us with a question, well, which one is truly holy? the one who boasts in the work of God, or the one that would make their own labors the cause of their glory. We read 1 Corinthians 1, because here the apostle commands a holy kind of boasting. He says, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Friend, the sense of that is so straightforward. It is that the believer in his disposition finds nothing of value in this world. Nothing that has intrinsic worth, as it were, that could at all compete with the Lord. It is God and God only that has made his boast. You see, the legalist has so many other things that he'll fix his mind and heart upon. But for the apostle, it is, as we've just read here, the cross of Christ that stands over all. And this raises a question, you can't miss this. You know, we in our society, we don't encounter the Judaizer on a daily basis, but we do encounter the legalist. And in an evangelical context, what does the legalist do? What do they boast in? The legalist will boast in their experiences, their religious experiences and their religious devotions. And so the question is, which do we boast more in? Beloved, which warms our heart more? Our spiritual meltings or activities or reflecting on the redemptive work of Christ? Beloved, that will always be the mark between an evangelical legalist and a true believer. And thirdly, and finally, we come to how these two bear differently in the world. The apostle says, I, that is, I am crucified under the world, in which case he's emphasizing there's a mutual alienation. The world holds nothing for the apostle. And as far as the world is concerned, the apostle holds nothing for them. In other words, he could put it this way, understanding worldliness in the sense of worldly glory. The apostle says, I despise it. and it despises me. And the evidence of that comes to us here in verse 17. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. The apostle is a scarred man. He was a persecuted man. And beloved, that was because as far as the world was concerned, that was all that he deserved. The world hated him. just as he despised worldly glory. Again, a final contrast is made here. How does this distinguish him from the Judaizers? Well, if you go back to verse 12, you find the contrast clearly. They urged what they did upon the Galatians, lest they should suffer persecution. One was self-serving and had escaped persecution from the enemies of Christ. The other one was scarred. And that leads the apostle to make a statement that it's breathtaking. It's one of those statements in the scriptures that if you read it and you keep it in its context, it just takes your breath away. He says, let no man trouble me for I bear in my body. Remarks of the Lord Jesus. For the apostle, this is the end of the discussion. This is a definitive conclusion to the controversy, at least with regard to his own apostleship, which looks more like Jesus. The Judaizer who has made friends with Christ's enemies, who has escaped persecution, who has no cross visibly to bear. Or the apostle who evidently looks like a man of sorrows, who was despised by the world. And so beloved, well, lastly, the apostle concludes in this note saying that these two, the legalist and the believer, they're distinguishable in suffering. The saint will be hated for Christ's sake, as John 17 reminds us. They will undergo chastisement through providence, as Hebrews 12 reminds us. And the world, as Psalm 73, Psalm 10, Other Psalms remind us, the world often goes on merrily, at comfort, at home. Again, these two are distinguishable. The saint is a pilgrim. As a pilgrim, he's willing to undergo all kinds of hardship because he doesn't count the journey arduous when he remembers what awaits him in his true home. The legalist, that is the one who is not a pilgrim, who makes his home here, beloved, he will do all that he can to evade suffering, because this is all that he has. This is all that he hopes in. The apostle here is markedly different. And so as we close, not only this text, but this epistle, the apostle raises a question of examination. And this entire epistle has in a sense been an epistle devoted to this work of examining one's state, whether they are in Christ or not. He says that what matters really at the end of the day is, is it true that you've been made a new creature? And then in these last verses, he gives us those three tests. How does that reflect itself in your benevolence to the church? How does it reflect in that which you boast? And how is that reflected as well on how you bear in this world? He says, those who walk according to this rule, who demonstrate these selfsame qualities we find in the apostle, these and these only know the blessing of God. And so beloved, as we leave this text, we have to raise these questions. Not to sow doubt unnecessarily, no. But because these things are the very things that we ought to meditate on. if we are to die more and more to the world, we might live unto God. But as we close, there is a promise in this text and we should take it as a promise. To those who walk according to this rule, the apostle says, peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. He's saying pointedly to the Galatians who were not ethnically the children of Abraham, he says, you are the Israel of God. And of course, that contradicts so much of the Judaizing mantra, that the only way to be a true Jew was to approximate physically as much as you could, the likeness of Abraham's ethnic descendants. No, says the apostle, as he said in chapter three, if you are Abraham C, then you are Christ and vice versa. But he noted this, he says, peace and mercy are yours. As you are the Israel of God, these are yours. And Christian, just meditate on that for a moment. If this is a promise, that means that peace and mercy belong to you more surely than your own breath. You and I will draw our last breath at some stage. We will never exhaust the peace and the mercy that is promised to the Israel of God. You and I will one day part with our family. our closest loved ones and our most prized possessions, but never peace or mercy. You and I will part with our health and all of those things that are closest to us, but never what here the apostle says belongs to the Israel of God. And beloved, that ought to be for our encouragement and comfort. You and I will bid adieu to all other things. but to the grace of God that is found through Christ Jesus. The exhortation for us having this is that we walk according to this rule. This epistle urges us to live in Christ. And that means to be dead to the law. That is, we renounce any meritorious work that we could have ever imagined. We throw ourselves entirely upon the finished work of Christ. and as we work dependent upon his grace, we do so as those who are crucified to the world and the world to us. Beloved, that is the epistle, it's exhortation to us as we leave it. That is to die to the law, to be crucified to the world, that in Christ we indeed may live unto God. Amen.