If you would turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 6. We've come this morning to the end of our study of this letter from the Apostle Paul to the churches in Galatia. And it's a little bittersweet for me with Stephanie Dew any day now. I really did want to finish this series out before the year ended and I'm out of the pulpit for who knows how long. And in the Lord's mercies, he has brought us here today. So with his help, we're going to be looking at the closing section of this letter, which is verses 11 through 18. Galatians chapter six, verses 11 through 18. And as you're turning there, I do want to draw your attention to verse 11. Paul says here, see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. As we begin this morning, I wanna remind you of the context of this letter. Paul and Barnabas had just returned from their first missionary journey where they had preached the gospel and established several churches in the regions of Galatia. And we get the sense in the way that Paul kind of comes out of the gate firing in this letter. We get the sense that Paul and Barnabas were barely able to finish their report out of this first missionary journey to their sending church in Antioch before word reaches them that a group of legalistic Judaizers had infiltrated these new churches in Galatia. And Paul hears that these Judaizers had brought with them a false gospel, a false gospel that claimed that justification before God was not by faith alone in Christ alone. Yes, certainly they would say that is necessary, But to seal the deal, the Gentile believers in Galatia must first receive the Old Covenant sign of circumcision. Once they submitted to this Old Covenant sign, then they would truly be right with God. In other words, to become Christian, the Judaizers were teaching the Gentile Galatians that they first must become Jews. And this, of course, undermines the purity of the gospel, and it renders Christ's work on the cross as insufficient to save sinners. And Paul was not going to stand for it. So he sits down, he picks up his pen, and he begins writing this letter. Now normally, Paul would dictate his letters to a scribe or a secretary and simply sign his name at the end as a symbol and a seal of the letter's authenticity. But here in Galatians, he cuts out the middleman entirely and he writes this letter himself as a man on fire to the Galatians, declaring the gospel, defending the central doctrine of justification by faith alone. And as we come to verse 11, Paul once again arrests the attention of the Galatians by commanding them to see, see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. And as he closes out this epistle, it's as if Paul is using bold faced or italicized and underlined text to ensure that they listen and hear his final words. And friends, we too, as we come to the close of this letter, we would be wise to heed and to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Well, let us pray and ask for God's blessing and we will read our text together. Father, we need your Holy Spirit as has been prayed. We are here not to hear from a man, but we've gathered this morning to hear from God. Speak to us, your servants, who are here to listen for your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Galatians chapter six, verses 11 through 18. Hear the word of God. See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble. For I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. And to that, we can add our own amen. Well, there is a line in the hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, and this is a hymn, Lord willing, that we will sing at the close of our service today. And the line that I'm referring to in this hymn says this, Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God. Our passage today, no doubt, was in the mind of Isaac Watts when he wrote this hymn some 300 years ago. And this passage presents us with two types of boasting. There is boasting in the flesh, in those external things which are within our power to manipulate. And there is boasting in the cross and in the power of the cross to transform sinners from the inside out, making them a new creation. And the choice is clear. We must reject the outward boasting of the Judaizers that simply seeks the approval of men. We must reject this type of boasting and instead implant the words of Paul and the words of Isaac Watts upon our hearts and say with them, forbid it, Lord, that I should boast. save in the death of Christ my God. I want us to examine our text this morning under three headings. First, in verses 12 and 13, we see the Judaizers craving human praise. Second, in verses 14 and 15, Paul proudly declares that he is boasting only in the cross. And third and finally in verses 16 through 18, Paul pronounces his apostolic blessing upon all those who like him are walking as a new creation. So our three headings, once again, craving human praise, boasting only in the cross, and walking as a new creation. Well, let us begin firstly with craving human praise, where the apostle exposes the false motives of the Judaizers. Look with me again to verse 12. Paul says, it is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised. Paul refers to these Judaizers as those who want to make a good showing in the flesh. The English words here, to make a good showing, these are derived from a single word in the Greek, which essentially means to look good. The NIV, I think, captures this well when it translates this as those who want to impress people. The Judaizers wanted to look good. They wanted to impress people by means of the flesh, by non-spiritual means. And the immediate application in this verse is certainly in reference to circumcision, but more generally, the flesh here means anything which is external in matters of religion, as opposed to that which is internal. From the Judaizers' perspective, the core matter of religion was not an internal heart change that then leads to external conformity to the moral law of God. That was not their perspective. To the Judaizers, what mattered most was external conformance to the ceremonial law of the old covenant, and most particularly, circumcision. Essentially, we could consider the Judaizers the new covenant equivalent of the Pharisees. They were, so to speak, caught up so much with washing the outside of the cup, while inside they were full of greed and self-indulgence. If you will remember, the very first church council that is recorded for us is found in Acts chapter 15. This is where the apostles meet to defend the very doctrine that Paul was defending in this letter, the doctrine of justification by faith alone. And in Acts 15, we read of what prompted that first church council. Luke records this for us in verse one of that chapter. He says, some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. The some men mentioned here in Acts 15 are men from the Judaizers. They were Jewish converts who claimed that faith in Christ was not sufficient to save Gentile sinners. They claimed that Gentiles must add circumcision to the work of Christ in order to be saved. Again, the focus for them was on the externals of religion, on the signs and the ceremonies of the old covenant. And Paul gives us two reasons why the Judaizers were so insistent upon circumcision. The first is found here in verse 12. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. The Judaizers insisted upon circumcision for Gentile believers because they did not want to be persecuted on account of the cross of Christ. We might say that the Judaizers were ashamed of the gospel. Speaking on the meaning of the cross of Christ, one commentator rightly says this. The cross stands for the whole doctrine of salvation through the crucified Jesus as against that of justification by works of the law. So in seeking to avoid persecution for the sake of the cross, the Judaizers were not simply avoiding the social stigma that surrounded crucifixion as a form of capital punishment in their day. Yes, they were put off by that, but that's not principally what they were trying to avoid. Instead, they were seeking to avoid the persecution that would come from the doctrine which the cross symbolized. They were ashamed of justification by faith alone. They were ashamed of the gospel. When we think of persecution in the early days of the church, it can be easy for us to get consumed with the tyrannical reign of the Roman Emperor Nero and how he took great personal delight in persecuting and in torturing Christians. But the Bible makes it clear that the most ardent persecutors of the church in those early days were not the Romans. Remember that even the Roman leaders, Pontius Pilate and Herod, even they could find no fault with Jesus. Even they were unwilling to put him to death of their own accord, but it was upon the insistence of the Jewish leaders that Pilate sentenced Jesus to death. And the Bible's clear, the most ardent persecutors of the early church were the Jews. Paul himself was an example of this, and he confesses it to us in chapter one of this letter. He says in verse 13 of chapter one, for you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And we also see the Jewish persecution of the church in many other places in the book of Acts. There's three places in particular in Acts 13 and 14 where Paul is on this first missionary journey in Galatia. And we read of three different accounts where the Jewish people of the city stir up the Gentile believers to persecute Paul and Barnabas. And we could go through the rest of the book of Acts. We could find many other examples, not to mention the many references to Jewish persecution that Paul inserts into his other epistles. So needless to say, the vast majority of persecution in the early church was at the hands of the unbelieving Jews. This is what we need to get our heads around here. It is these unbelieving Jews whom the Judaizers are afraid of and seeking to placate by insisting that the Gentile believers in Galatia be circumcised. Consider this for a moment. If the Judaizers were to fully embrace the cross of Christ, then they would have to come to terms with the fact that they too would be targets of Jewish persecution. And this was a price that they were not willing to pay. My brothers and sisters, the question is forced upon each of us this morning. Are we willing to endure persecution for the sake of the gospel? Do we treasure the pure gospel that Christ lived and died and rose again for sinners, that he is to be received by faith alone without any mixture of works? Do we treasure this gospel enough to suffer for it? Christ tells us that it is the foolish person who would seek to follow him without first counting the cost. He tells us that they persecuted him before us and that we should not be surprised when they persecute us who bear his name. Are you willing to endure persecution for the sake of the gospel? Will you cling to the cross of Christ even when it means rejection, scorn, abuse, mistreatment, harassment, injustice, even death? Now in God's mercies, these things have been largely withheld from us in our time, but we cannot be blind to history. We cannot expect for this respite to go on forever. Will we, when the moment comes, refuse to be ashamed of the gospel? Well, I want us to see now the second reason that Paul gives for the Judaizers' insistence upon circumcision. Look at the second half of verse 13. They, that is the Judaizers, desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. Not only did the Judaizers want to avoid the wrath of the unbelieving Jews, they want their praise. They want bragging rights amongst these group of unbelieving Jews. And scripture is crystal clear that we are only to boast in God and the work that God does. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 17, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. What's more, God's intention in the cross of Christ was to remove any room whatsoever for human boasting. Speaking on the cross being the central focus of his message, Paul says this in 1 Corinthians, we preach Christ crucified. "'a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.'" He continues, "'But God chose what is foolish in the world "'to shame the wise. "'God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. "'God chose what is low and despised in the world, "'even the things that are not, "'to bring to nothing the things that are, "'so that no human being might boast "'in the presence of God.'" in the verse that Pastor Jerry read for us this morning. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God. The text continues, Christ also became to us righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, why did Christ become for us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? So that, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. We have nothing to brag about. We have nothing to hang our hat on, except for the cross of Christ. Now, Pastor Jerry asked this question last week, and it's worth asking again. Believer in Jesus, if you are here this morning and you are trusting in Christ, consider this question, who made you to differ? If you are in Christ, you have heard the gospel and you have believed the gospel, what made you to differ? Who made you to differ? Are you somehow better than others? Do you have room to boast in your own free will, in your own intellect, in your own obedience, in your own religious activities? Did these things somehow put you in Christ when you were yet a stranger to him? And the obvious answer is no. And because of that, our boast must be in the cross alone. We cannot dress up the boasting of the Judaizers over circumcision in modern garb, and instead of circumcision, we insert something else. We cannot dress up their boasting over circumcision in an attempt to hang our hats on it. We must only boast in the cross of Christ and not in ourselves or in anything that we might do for the kingdom of God. And sadly, how many churches today boast in the number of members that they have, the number of baptisms that they perform, in their annual budget? And friends, in God's wisdom, ministers of the gospel generally don't get famous because of their faithfulness. If a minister of the gospel is famous, it's largely because of scandalous sin or boasting in some form of human achievement. So let us all beware of any boasting that is not in God and in the cross of Christ. Let us remember who it is that made us to differ and to give all glory and honor and praise to him because he alone is worthy of that. Well, the last point I wanna make under this heading is about the Judaizers' true feelings regarding the law of Moses. Look again to verse 13. Paul makes this observation, for even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they might boast in your flesh. The Judaizers don't keep the law. Now understand here, Paul is not making a statement of ability. Certainly they don't have the righteousness in and of themselves to obey the law. We understand that, but Paul here, what he's saying is that they're not even trying. Their zealousness for the law, their zealousness for circumcision, it's not even genuine. It's not even a zeal that's born out of real conviction. If it were, they would keep the law better. Commentator FF Bruce makes this observation. He says, quote, Paul implies that the Judaizers' concern was not for the law as a matter of principle, but for the sake of boasting about those who followed their teaching. The more Gentiles they could notch up as having been circumcised, the weightier the evidence which they could claim of their zeal for the law. Their obsession with the law isn't even over the law itself. It's over what they think that the law will do for their reputation. And brothers and sisters, I would submit to you that there is a potential hazard here for us. We have these great doctrines, these great truths in the Reformed faith, but do we genuinely love them? Do we have a genuine zeal for the Reformed faith because we believe that this is the most accurate representation of God's truth? Because the Reformed faith shows us more of who God is and it pours out more of his grace upon us than anything else? Or do we love these truths because that we think that they make us look smart? Because they make us different than the average evangelical and that's good. by God's greatest, let us always hold on to these great truths of the Reformed faith, but let us do so because they are true and not because what we think they may add to our reputation. So we've seen that the Judaizers, by propagating their false doctrine of justification by faith plus circumcision, we see that their motive is simply craving human praise. But as we move now to our second heading, the self-motivation of the Judaizers is contrasted with the God-word motivation of Paul, who is boasting only in the cross. Look with me to verse 14. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul does a 180 here. as he makes a stark contrast between the Judaizers and himself. The Judaizers may boast in the flesh of others, but far be it from me to do the same. The New King James translates this as God forbid. God forbid that I should be as the Judaizers are, or the NASB. May it never be. May it never be said of me that I make my boast in others. God forbid that I should boast in the flesh of others. May it never be that I would boast except. Except in one thing and one thing only. God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, the Apostle Paul was a man who was obsessed with the cross. For Paul, the cross was absolutely The cross was the paradigm through which all matters of true religion should be understood. Paul was a man who was obsessed with the cross because he knew what the cross stood for. The cross is a symbol of the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is that which opens the way for hell-deserving sinners like you and me to be justified by faith alone. Listen to how Paul spoke of the cross in his ministry, and this is only a small sampling. 1 Corinthians 2, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Colossians 1, for in him, that is Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Ephesians 2, Christ himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God through the cross. 1 Corinthians 1, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross be emptied of its power. Paul was not ashamed of the cross, and therefore Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Commentator Philip Riken makes this helpful observation. Quote, when it comes right down to it, although there are many religions, there are only two religious options, glorying in ourselves or glorying in the cross. The cross of Christ is the all-sufficient ground for the salvation of sinners. It claims to be sturdy enough to support the whole weight of our guilt all by itself. Therefore, to boast in the cross properly at all means to boast in the cross alone. Brothers and sisters, would to God that you and I would make our boast in the cross alone. Let us put off any self boasting. Let us put off any boasting in others and let us make our boast in the cross of Jesus Christ alone. Because as we see next, the cross is powerful. It is effectual, it is potent, it is forceful. Verse 14, far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. The world here refers to all of those earthly things that were once our primary aim and focus in this life. The pleasures, the riches, the praises of men, the world's corrupt morals and ethics. All of these things and more have been crucified to you if you are in Christ. As we saw from Galatians 5.24, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified, past tense, the flesh, with its passions and desires. And as those who have been redeemed by Christ, we are not to be conformed to this world, but we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. We are not to be friends with the world because to be a friend of the world, to love the world, to make ourselves a companion of the world is to be an enemy of God. Believer in Jesus, through the cross, the world has been crucified to you. That is a statement of fact. But that's not all. Through the cross, you have also been crucified to the world. You have been made dead to those worldly things, to the pleasures of the world, the riches of the world, the praises of the world, the world's corrupt system of morals and ethics. You have been crucified to all of these things and more if you are in Christ. Believer in Jesus, you have been crucified with Christ. You have been buried with him in baptism. You have been raised with him to walk in newness of life. Through the cross, your desires have been renewed. You've been set free from the power and the dominion of sin. You have the Holy Spirit within you who is producing his fruit in you. Through the cross, you now manifest the fruit of the Spirit as he leads you and as you keep in step with him. If you'll remember from chapter one, verse four, Paul says this, Christ gave himself for your sins to deliver you from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. Believer in Jesus through the cross, you have been crucified to the world. Again, it's a statement of fact. And these two crucifixions, they're really two sides of the same coin. The world has been crucified to you and you've been crucified to the world. One commentator puts it this way. This statement means that I no longer value what those who do not trust in Christ value, and they don't value the things that I value. The world's been crucified to me. I've been crucified to the world. Because of the cross, you don't think the way that the world thinks. You don't feel that the way the world feels. You don't behave in the way that the world behaves. Believer in Jesus, do you see yourself in this way? Do you think of yourself as having been crucified to the world and the world having been crucified to you? Does your life bear this truth out in some measure? The Apostle John says this in his first epistle. He says, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Believer in Jesus, the cross is powerful. It is crucified the world to you and you to the world. And we need to act like it. We need to live in that reality. As we move to verse 15, we see further proof of the power of the cross. Because of the cross, the preeminent sign of the old covenant has been made meaningless. Verse 15, for neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Remember here that the Judaizers are the ones who are obsessed with circumcision. They're obsessed with the externals in religion. For them, this is the dividing line. For the Judaizers, circumcision is what separates the saved from the lost. It's what separates the blessed from the cursed. But Paul says, no. Circumcision in and of itself counts for nothing. And as a matter of fact, uncircumcision in and of itself counts for nothing. Both are completely irrelevant in the new covenant. What does matter, however, is a new creation. What does matter is a heart change. And Paul is speaking here of the grace of regeneration. when the Holy Spirit produces a heart change in a sinner, where he grants a sinner the gifts of repentance and faith, and the sinner exercises those gifts and enters through the narrow gate of conversion. And with that grace of regeneration, with that heart change, it comes new desires, new values, new affections, new behaviors. The grace of regeneration brings about, as the text says, a new creation. Now the classic text here is 2 Corinthians 5.17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Brothers and sisters, the old has passed away. This is not simply a cleaning up of the externals in religion. This is not simply being baptized or becoming a church member or partaking of the Lord's Supper or, you know, by golly, I'm really gonna nail down my morning quiet time and I'm gonna read the Bible more often. I'm gonna pray more often. It's not this. It's not being more intentional about doing good things to others. It's not committing to being less angry than you were yesterday. It's not about any other external thing. That's not what is central in this heart change. Regeneration, it's not about turning over a new leaf. Regeneration is about God making you a completely different book altogether. The old book gets thrown away, and there's a new book set down in its place. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. And here in verse 15, Paul is simply repeating what he has told us earlier about circumcision and uncircumcision from chapter five, verse six, where he says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything. But here in verse six, he says, but only faith working through love. In both of these verses, he makes the point that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision count for anything. In verse 15, here in chapter 6, he says what counts is regeneration, a heart change, a new creation. That's what matters. Verse six of chapter five, Paul says that what counts is faith working through love. And there's an obvious linear relationship here between these two things. When a sinner is regenerated by the sovereign grace of God, when they are made a new creation, their purpose in life being freely justified through faith in Christ, their purpose in life is now to put that faith to work through love. Christians are called to freedom from the law. If we learned anything in this letter, it is that Christ has set us free from the bondage to the law. He set us free from the curse of the law, from its penalty. But he has set us free, not that we would use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but that we would use our freedom to, through love, serve one another. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything but only a new creation, only faith working through love. In other words, God's sovereign act of regeneration leads to the synergistic work of sanctification. The Holy Spirit producing his fruit in our lives and leading us on our Christian walk. and where we actively walk by the Spirit. We actively keep in step with the Spirit, showing and unveiling His fruit in our day-to-day living. Friends, this is what the cross does for sinners. This is what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. So is it any wonder that Paul would make his boast only in the cross? It's not. Well, thus far, we've seen the Judaizers craving human praise that leads them to boast in fleshly things. Contrary to this, we've just seen that the Apostle Paul does not boast in anything other than the cross of Christ that is powerful. and transform sinners into a new creation. And as we enter into our final heading, we're going to see that because of God's sovereign act of regeneration, because we've been made a new creation, our life is now to be marked by walking as a new creation. Look with me to verse 16. And as for all who walk by this rule, Peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. This rule that Paul refers to here points back to his statement in verse 15, for neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. The rule that we are to walk by is that we are to put all our hope and trust in Christ and in Christ alone. We are not to boast in the flesh because the flesh counts for nothing. But instead, we are to make our boast in the cross. We are to walk by this rule. That is to say, our life is to be guided by this principle that salvation is through the cross. We are to live our lives according to the reality of the cross and all that it stands for. That sinners are justified by God's grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. This is to be the rule by which we regulate our lives before God. And if we walk by this rule, as we've already alluded to, our lives will be marked by love. This is what Paul has been speaking to over these last two chapters. Those who walk by this rule, in other words, those who have been justified by faith, And I'm gonna chronicle here for you several things. So if you just wanna look back to chapter five, you can follow along here. Paul is gonna say, those who have been justified by faith, they are, chapter five, verses 13 and 14, they are serving one another through love. They are fulfilling the law as they love their neighbors as themselves. Those who have been justified by faith, chapter five, verse 16, they are walking by the Spirit. Those who have been justified by faith, chapter five, verse 18, they are being led by the Spirit. Those who have been justified by faith, chapter five, verse 25, they are keeping in step with the Spirit. Those who have been justified by faith, chapter five, verses 22 through 23, they are manifesting the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They are growing in love, in joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those who have been justified by faith, chapter 5, verse 24, they have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. They are by the Spirit putting to death the works of the flesh. Those who have been justified by faith, chapter six, verses one and two. They are bearing one another's burdens in a spirit of gentleness. They are fulfilling the law of Christ. And finally, those who have been justified by faith, chapter six, verses six through 10. They are doing good to all, and especially to those within the household of faith. What I'm saying, brothers and sisters, is something that we've said throughout this entire study. Justification before God is apart from any works whatsoever. Justification is in no way, shape, or form dependent upon your obedience to God, what you render unto God. Not at all dependent on that. Justification is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, and Jesus Christ alone. Do you hear me? But the faith that justifies is never alone. The faith that justifies, a true and living faith, is always accompanied by good works. We are not saved or justified by our good works. They are the fruit of our justification. God regenerates us, he makes us a new creation to walk in these good works that he has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Paul and Titus talks about God regenerating sinners, creating a people who are zealous for good works. This is what he has made us in Christ to be. Justification is through faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone. to use some of the wording of Galatians, for freedom Christ has set us free. But we are not to use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love we are to serve one another and so fulfill the law of Christ. These are not my words. If this rubs you the wrong way, it's not my, you gotta take it up with God. This is not my invention. Paul is laying these two things out for us. You wanna be right with God? Put your faith in Christ alone. His obedience, his death, the cross of Christ, that's where you boast. A free gift, there's nothing you can do to earn it. You wanna show that you've been justified by faith? Then this is how you live. This is the paradigm that we see before us. And Paul says, for those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them. Instead of being at enmity with God, if you have been justified by faith, you are at peace with God. And that peace has been made for you by Christ in the blood of his cross. Instead of receiving justice from God due to your sins, if you are justified by faith, you are a recipient of God's mercy in Christ. God has imputed the righteousness of Christ to you and he has imputed your sins to Christ where the penalty for those sins has been paid in full on the cross. If you are justified by faith, if you walk by this rule, God's peace and mercy be upon you and upon the Israel of God. Now, translators and commentators differ on how to understand this last statement. Some, namely our dispensationalist brothers, view these as two distinct groups of people. They would say that the church are those who walk by this rule of justification by faith alone, and they would say that the believing Jews are the Israel of God. Now we, of course, do not see these as two distinct groups of people because the Bible doesn't see them as two distinct groups of people. In fact, the word and here in this verse, it can also be translated as even. For all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, even the Israel of God. I appreciate how the NIV renders this verse. Pastor Jerry, forgive me. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule to the Israel of God. They nail it. All who follow this rule and the Israel of God, it's one people. Commentator JB Lightfoot makes this observation. The Israel of God is an implied contrast to the Israel after the flesh. It represents not only the faithful Jewish converts who have been circumcised, but it represents the spiritual Israel in general, the whole body of believers, whether Jew or Gentile. And in reality, the Judaizers, despite their being both Jewish and circumcised, the Judaizers are not the Israel of God. As Lightfoot comments here, they are the Israel after the flesh. It's the believing Gentile Galatians and all true believers of all time with them who are the Israel of God. And this is what Paul has labored so intensely to tell us in this letter, particularly chapter three, And he summarizes this a little bit for us in chapter three, verses 28 and 29, Paul says this regarding justification, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. In other words, as it concerns justification, there are no ethnic distinctions, there are no economic distinctions, there are not even gender distinctions as it relates to justification, because we are all one in Christ Jesus. And listen to this, he says, if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. The true Israel of God are all men and women and children everywhere who have been justified by faith alone in Christ alone. It is those of faith who are the children of Abraham. It is those of faith who are adopted as sons of God and heirs according to promise. And the apostle, declares for all who walk by this rule, all who were justified by faith, all who boast only in the cross, peace and mercy be upon them, the Israel of God. Looking now to verse 17, we see that Paul, being part of the Israel of God, bears in his body the marks of Christ. As we've already seen today, Paul was a victim of Jewish persecution for the sake of the cross. Many times was he assaulted and harassed and pursued because of his faithfulness to Jesus. In fact, when the Judaizers came into Galatia shortly after Paul left, part of their preaching included slandering Paul's character. Now we don't have any copies of the sermons that the Judaizers were preaching, but what we do have is Paul's rebuke of them. And we can infer from that that he's addressing particular things that they were saying about him. They were suggesting that Paul was a people pleaser, that Paul was the type of man who would just go along to get along. And they did their best to convince the Galatians that this is why Paul didn't tell them about the need to be circumcised, because Paul was afraid that they might just reject him and his message altogether. So he left out that part about Gentiles needing to be circumcised. And Paul fires back at those claims several times in this letter. Chapter one, verse 10. He asked the question, am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Or chapter five, verse 11. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, In other words, if I'm a people pleaser, like the Judaizers are saying, and I'll preach circumcision where it's convenient for me, and I'll withhold it where it's convenient for me, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed. In other words, if I came around preaching circumcision to Jewish people, they'd love me. There'd be no persecution. We'd get along just fine. But the reality is that the Judaizers were the true people pleasers. They were the ones seeking the praise and approval of men. That's the exact reason for their obsession with circumcision. They thought it would win them favor with the unbelieving Jews of the day. And Paul says to them, don't cause me any more trouble. I'm the one who has the marks of Jesus on my body. I'm the one who has been imprisoned, stoned, whipped, persecuted because I boast only in the cross and I make no provision whatsoever for the flesh. Friends, this is what it means to be a Christian. As I've already said, I thank God that he has protected us from so much of the persecution that has been part and parcel with the Christian faith throughout the ages. But if he chooses to allow such persecution in the future, how will we respond? Brothers and sisters, we must respond as Paul did. We must suffer gladly for the sake of Christ and for the sake of his gospel. We need to be like the apostles in Acts 5 who having been flogged, having received repeated lashings on their backs because of Christ, because of the preaching of the cross of Christ and their refusal to abandon it, they left the scene of their punishment rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ. Can you even imagine that? Can you even, can we even put our modern selves in the shoes of these apostles. For all they knew that was gonna be their last day on earth. And they leave rejoicing. Not that they got out, but that they got out with scars. That they got to suffer with Christ and for Christ. That was their joy. We need to have the same mindset. Jesse preached to us not long ago, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. If God brings persecution, brothers and sisters, we're in good company because they persecuted the prophets. They persecuted the apostles. They persecuted Christ himself unto death. That's good company to be in. Well, as Paul ends this letter to the Galatians, he offers a benediction of grace to the believers there, verse 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. In many respects, this letter to the Galatians is the harshest letter that the Apostle Paul ever wrote, and rightfully so. He has been defending the faith once for all delivered to the saints. He has been guarding the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. He has been protecting the true gospel that sinners are saved only by God's grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ. And defending something so valuable, friends, it demands an uncompromising spirit. It demands intensity. It demands pointedness. It demands straightforward speech. And all of these things Paul has delivered in spades. But having done all that he can do in this letter, he now leaves the Galatian believers in the hands of Jesus. He blesses them with the grace of Christ. He addresses them as brothers. and I'm sure puts down his pen and enters into a season of earnest prayer that the God of all grace would bring them to repentance. that God would have mercy on them and keep them from embracing this false doctrine of the Judaizers, and that they would cling as tightly as ever to the true gospel of Christ, and that they would spend the rest of their days boasting in the cross of Christ and walking as new creations in Christ. And for those of us here who are believers, for those of us Here who have been justified by faith in Christ, this too should be our response. We likewise should spend the rest of our days clinging ever so tightly to the true gospel of Christ. boasting only in the cross and walking as new creations in Christ. So we've seen in this closing section of Galatians that we must reject the outward boasting of the Judaizers that craves human praise. We have to reject this type of boasting and instead take our stand upon the cross of Christ. And on the cross alone, we must say with the Apostle Paul, far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we close, I want to remind you of the title of this sermon series. The title is No Other Gospel. And it's drawn from chapter one of this letter where Paul writes these powerful words starting in verse six. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed, let him be damned. Friends, I want you to hear in these words the clear declaration. There is only one true gospel. There are not many gospels. There is one true gospel. The gospel that Adam heard in seed form in the garden. The gospel preached in the types and shadows of the old covenant law. The gospel preached by the prophets as they looked forward to the coming Messiah. The gospel that Christ himself came preaching. The gospel of the apostles. the gospel of the fathers, the gospel that was recovered in the Reformation, the gospel of the Puritans, the gospel that lives all the way down to this present age where faithful men called of God stand behind a pulpit week after week opening the Bible and saying to all who will listen, there is salvation in no one else besides Jesus Christ for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. So my brothers and sisters, I implore you, hold on to this gospel. Do not let anyone or anything wrench it from your hands, for there is no other gospel except this one, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, that he lived and died and rose again for sinners, just as the scriptures declared that he would. and that all who turn to him by faith are forgiven and freely justified in the sight of God, apart from works of the law. Hold on tightly to this gospel and never let it go. And if you're here this morning and you have not believed this gospel, why not? There is no other. You can spend your life looking to other religions, looking to the philosophies of this world, looking to modern psychology, looking to alcohol or drugs or the fleeting pleasures of this world, but nowhere besides the free offer of Jesus Christ and Him crucified will you find an acceptable solution for your sin. And you can't work for it. You can't be born into it. You can't be baptized into it. You can't do anything at all to make yourself qualified for Jesus. If you are outside of Christ, listen to me. You can't do anything to make yourself qualified for Jesus. All you need to know is that he's well qualified for you. He's well qualified for sinners. Sinners aren't well qualified for him. Sinners need him. And he stands ready this morning to receive you, to give you peace with God, to give you his righteousness in exchange for your sins. What a transaction. To have my sins removed. and to have a righteousness that I cannot earn, that does not come from me, given freely to me. What a gift. Jesus stands ready to give you complete and total forgiveness, to free you from the bonds of legalistic slavery, to make you a new creation, zealous for good works. Jesus stands ready to do all of this and more for you this very day, if you would, but turn to Him by faith. Let us pray. Father, bless your word to us now. We thank you and we praise you for the gospel of Christ. We thank you, oh Lord, that we have been privileged to have your word put into our language that we might read of this gospel. We thank you for faithful ministers who proclaim week after week to anyone who will listen this gospel of Christ. Help us to treasure it. Help us to guard it. Help us to never compromise for anything, for anything physical, for anything from a reputational standpoint. Lord, help us to suffer if necessary for the sake of this gospel. Because there's nothing else in the world we can hang our souls on. There's nothing else in the world that we can launch out into eternity on besides the gospel of Jesus Christ. for those who are lost here this morning. Open their eyes, oh God, we beg you. Have mercy on those who are lost here this morning. Would you give them eyes to see, ears to hear, grant them the gifts of repentance and faith. Save them for your glory, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.