Okay. Is everybody ready? The elect of God who made it out on a freezing cold, dark night. Has anyone else here got sick kids besides me? Came home and, I'm sorry? Oh, like. Oh, okay. Yeah. No, you're all, you're all like that. But yeah, Lily went and like, gave her a hug, she's sitting in a chair all wrapped up in blankets, and her head was like, against my shoulder. I'm like, oh no, she's got fever, so. Okay, well let's go ahead and pray, and we'll get right into Galatians 3. Father, thank you for this time to be together, and thank you for each person who's here. We pray for those that are ill, and pray you'd help them to feel better, and thank you for those who have recovered, and we pray you bless us now as we look at Galatians 3, and bless our time of study together, What a blessing it is to have the Bible in our language and to be able to read and study it together, free from persecution and harassment. I pray for all of our church's covenant children, for all of them, that they would be saved at a young age and that you bless their parents with perseverance and with patience from on high to be consistent and self-controlled in instructing them and correcting them when they go astray. And we pray you'd help us to love all of those little ones and help them to come to know Christ But we trust in you fully that only you can do that. So please, we pray that you would do that. And bless this time of study together in your word and this great epistle that you inspired through Paul to that region of churches in Galatia. Help us understand it and grow from it. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, Galatians chapter three. And before we, Dig into Galatians 3, let's look back just to, I just wanna read the beginning of verse 16 of the previous chapter, just so we see the context here. And just by way, a real quick review. Remember, Paul is really emphasizing that the content of his gospel message that he preached is something he got directly from Jesus Christ. It's not something he learned from the other apostles. This is something that is straight from the Lord Jesus. And then he goes into the whole issue of Peter had withdrawn from eating with Gentiles. And Paul knew that Peter knew better than to do that, because Paul had seen him eat with Gentiles and eat the unclean foods. So he knew that Peter knew better, but he was pointing out doing that was sending the message that these works of law are necessary to be saved, to be justified before God. And Paul lays into him publicly and says, you can't do that. Okay, and look at verse 16, part of his rebuke here. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not. For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, die to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. And remember, I warned you all last time about people who try to limit works of law to merely ceremonial or dietary works and things like that. That's very popular. The Roman Catholic Church does that. The New Perspectives on Paul does that. Some of the federal vision writers do that. And I asked you all last time, why do you think they do that? Works of law, that just means dietary laws and circumcision. so they can control people, and also so they can insert what other stuff from the law into what saves you. What? Works. Our own goodness, our own obedience to the Ten Commandments. What you need to understand, please hear me, when Paul wrote Romans, remember how many times he says the same things in Romans about justified by faith and not by the works of the law, and he says it over and over and over again? Before he says that in Romans 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, in Romans 2, he says, you who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who preach against idolatry, do you rob temples? You who preach against adultery, do you commit adultery? Question, what part of the law is stealing, idolatry, and adultery from? The Ten Commandments. Are those ceremonial works? Dietary laws? Again and again and again, I've gone through this with people that try to find ways to put works, our goodness, our keeping of the Ten Commandments into the equation. Works of law, this is just mosaic ceremonies. I'm like, no it's not. Stealing, idolatry, adultery, that's in the Decalogue, that's in the Ten Commandments. When Paul uses the phrase works of law, he means everything in it. Okay? So if someone ever hands you a 10,000 page book by N.T. Wright trying to argue against that, what are you going to say? No thanks. Give me Romans 2, 3, 4, and 5 over this any day. Okay? It's not hard to understand. Don't let people try to insert works into the gospel by limiting the phrase works of law to just certain bits and parts of what's in the Old Testament. Okay? Vitally important. Vitally important. Okay. Verse 21. That's right. That's right. They include the Senator's obedience in what faith is. Just bizarre to me. If you take the time to read their stuff, yeah. Yes, it is. It is. That's right. That's right, birds of a feather flock together. It's also why the Federal Vision guys also like who? Guess who? Who? Who? Piper. They all like him, too, because he teaches the same thing. Initial justification by faith, final salvation by works. But they don't label. They don't tell you. And by the way, by the way, that's not new. Look back at Galatians 2 verse 4. Here's the principle, listen, the Holy Spirit of God wants you to know this. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Has that stopped happening since Paul wrote this? Happens in every generation. Every generation has to deal with this. Okay? Yeah, he's a New Perspective writer. He's James D.G. Dunn, him and N.T. Wright and the whole New Perspective gang. Yeah, their starting point, they don't even believe the Bible's inspired or the word of God or anything like that. They believe that everything Paul ever wrote is about ecclesiology. It's all about the church. In fact, justification is about the church. It's about who is in the church versus who's outside of the church. Anyone here ever read the book What St. Paul Really Said by N.T. Wright? Anyone ever read it? I have to show you my heresy bookshelf on my study. But yeah, I read that years ago. It came out in 1997, and I got it from the public library in 2004. I actually have a copy of it now. But I got it from the public library and read this book, because it was all the rage. It was like, everybody's talking about this. You know, even in reformed circles, N.T. Wright's being praised, and I'm like, what is this book all about? I thought, what an audacious title. What St. Paul really said. And he's arguing in that book that nobody has understood what Paul said until he got here, until N.T. Wright got here. It kind of is. He's like, Rome and the Reformation, you're all wrong. Because what justification is really about has nothing to do with sin, has nothing to do with being made right with God or getting saved. It's about who's a member of the church. I remember finishing that book. I remember laying on my bed, finishing that book and looking at it and going, this man's understanding of Christianity can be what it is if Jesus Christ had never lived, died or rose from the dead. And there's no possible way this man has ever had a day in his life that he felt convicted of a sin. And also, why did Jesus even need to die if this is true? If the whole Christian faith is just about everyone being together and being able to eat at the same table together. That's all it is. Everything is about ecclesiology. Everything is about the church. So justification has nothing to do with sin, nothing to do with the wrath of God, nothing to do with Forgiveness, nothing to do with righteousness being imputed to us. N.T. Wright mocks that idea. Can you all explain to me why is he popular in some reform circles? Does anyone know? I don't know why. What? Yeah, I don't know. I got a bunch of other books by him too, and I've read some of those and have just been like, Catholics, because of the way he speaks, and their lack of, kind of like Romans 10, zeal for God, but they lack knowledge. Yeah, but not according to knowledge, yeah. And so, they think they have it. They've read the Bible. So, he fits into those categories, and people follow what he says, because he can put into place how they should act as people. I think that there's something, Americans have always wanted the approval of a British academic. Like C.S. Lewis filled that void for a long time and people liked him, and now it's N.T. Wright, a bishop in the Church of England who, lo and behold, he thinks Jesus rose from the dead. He does. He believes in the resurrection. He wrote a thousand-page book defending the resurrection of Christ. And it's like, okay, well, that's great, but he's still totally confused about what the gospel is. And reading a few more of his books, N.T. Wright does not even believe in hell. In fact, I'm not even sure if he believes in an afterlife, to be honest with you. It's just everything to him is about social concerns and about the transformation of this age and this world and how he really is kind of socialist in his vision of economics. So anyway, how did we get on that? That's kind of how I felt, because from day one when I read what St. Paul said, I'm like, this is wall-to-wall heresy. But you know who said that straight up? R.C. Sproul did. Someone asked him at a conference, is NT rights understanding of justification and imputation heresy? You know what Sproul said? He said, if it isn't, there's no such thing as heresy. I was like, yay. Every formed guy got it right. Like, good job, man. So you're good to go. Yeah. So it doesn't matter what. Yeah, no matter where you are, as long as you're baptized and say you have faith in Jesus, you're quote-unquote justified, i.e. a member of the visible church. But yeah, he doesn't believe that in the imputation of Christ's righteousness, he just discards that altogether. In fact, he says the gospel has nothing to do with how a person is saved. I don't think he thinks we need to be saved. I don't think he believes that God even has wrath against sin. But he's one of those individuals, like many others, who will try to limit works of law or change the definition of it altogether. Just remember, when Paul says, look at verse 21, it's such a great summary. I do not nullify or set aside the grace of God. If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. Okay? Isn't that so clear? It's such a crystal clear Bible verse. If anything I did could save me, Jesus didn't need to come then. He didn't need to come and do everything that he did. Okay, isn't that such a clean, clear argument? I love how men write these hundreds and thousands of pages of books, and it's like you've got a couple Bible verses here that just blow them out of the water. So. Yes. Yeah, not your Christian works, not the spirit-born works or anything like that. Yeah, but it's, what Paul's excluding is the law, all of it. What we do has no role in getting us into heaven, okay? We do good works, the fruit that grows on the tree does not make the tree the kind of tree that it is. And that's the biblical imagery, okay? All right, so then he goes into chapter three of Galatians, Galatians 3 verse one. And he begins by saying, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified." And that's a very interesting way that he says that. He begins by really kind of laying into them there. I mean, the word, what is it? Anat-etoi means, what is it? How does BDAG define that? Foolish. Dull-witted, unintelligent. It's an insult. He is saying, like, what's wrong with you? And now look at what he says. You see what he says in the next sentence? Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? That's actually a term, an occultic term for casting a spell on someone. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified, You see how that functions in his mind? The fact that he preached Christ crucified excludes the idea of our works playing any role in saving us. That's the argument he's making. Didn't I preach that Jesus was crucified? That should answer this whole confusion. Oh, oh yeah, of course you did. So of course we're not gonna believe in our works because it's Christ's death that does this for us. Does that make sense? You see how he's saying that? Look at verse two. This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? You see, in his mind, works of law and faith in Christ are opposites. When it comes to being right with God, being justified before God, works of law, faith in Christ are total opposites to each other. Okay? You see that? He says, look at verse two again, this only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? That verse right there does away with all false versions of Christianity that teach you start out by grace and then you finish by works. And there are many that teach that. that it starts out, yes, it's all gratuitous, even the Roman Catholic Church's response to the Reformation and the Council of Trent. Your initial justification is entirely gracious, works have no part in it whatsoever, it is solely the grace of God. And then your final justification at the end of your life is gonna take into account your works, your fruit, and all that stuff. But Paul, what does he say? Look at verse three again. What was the first question he asks? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Having begun trusting in the finished work of Christ, you think you're gonna do it yourself? Or finish the work by your works? Or finish saving yourself by what you do? That is what he's saying. So that verse right there really takes care of most forms of pseudo-Christianity I've ever run into. Having begun on the spirit, are you not being made perfect by the flesh? Having begun with grace, are you not gonna get in by works? I mean, have you guys heard that kind of thing before? You're in by grace and you maintain your status by your good works or by what you do and then you're finally saved in some way, there's some kind of vindication of your whole life by what you did or whatever. Piper says that, yeah. That's Arminianism, sure. That's right. And he's just hammering the point home. Look, I preached Christ crucified to you. How could you think this? In other words, the fact that I preached the Gospel to you, that itself should have told you, your works play no role in this whatsoever. None at all. And then he says in verse 4, have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? What is he saying there? Why does he ask him that? That's right. He's questioning whether they're even Christians at all. That the suffering they endured for their profession of faith was in vain if they don't understand the gospel, if they don't really believe it. Isn't that so offensive? He's saying, were you guys persecuted for nothing? He's saying to them, if you guys don't understand this, you're not Christians. I mean, that's really what this whole book is saying. If you do not trust only in the finished work of Christ, you're not a believer then. You've suffered in vain, whatever you suffered for being a Christian, or you really weren't a Christian to begin with. Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? And then he goes on, verse five, therefore he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? You see what he's saying there again? You can't mix the two things. You cannot mix your works with faith in Christ and it still be a gracious salvation. You cannot mix those two things together. They're like oil and water in a mason jar. You can shake it all day long. When you set it down, they separate from one another. Works, doing any kind of works to save yourself is a person that faces that direction and goes that way. Faith in Christ faces that direction and goes that way. And the two cannot go together. If it is by faith in Christ, it is not by works, in any way, shape, or form. So what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? I mentioned to y'all last time, someone left a comment on one of my videos saying that you are an antinomian. Remember what I told them? He said, you just made my day. Because people accuse the Apostle Paul of that all the time. Now, allow me to answer that charge the way Paul does. Not the way that neo-legalists do, not the way the New Perspective does, not the way the Federal Vision does, but the way Paul does. We are regenerated, we are made new creatures, we are not the slaves of sin, the old man was crucified, and we cannot live a life of sin anymore. That's the biblical answer. That's the biblical answer. It's not to hinge final salvation on works or fruit or to find some way to get our works into the salvation equation. That's not the answer. Okay, so please, please remember that. He's just using illustration after illustration after illustration. Look at verse five again. Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? It can't be both, it's gotta be one or the other. And it's clearly by faith. Verse six, just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. What is that a citation from? Genesis 17? 15. 15. Genesis 15, six. Remember that story? Remember what happened in Genesis 15? God had promised Abram, you're gonna have a son, your wife's gonna have a son, and did they have a son yet? And how old were they? Old. They were real old. At that point, yeah, that's right, yeah, he was, he was. But they still had another like 25 years to wait before it actually happened. So even when God told them, you're gonna have a son in your old age, even then it was already too late. And he makes them wait another 25 years before it actually happens. And Abraham says, Lord, the heir of my estate is Eleazar of Damascus, and you've not given me a son yet. And what does God tell him? Come outside, Abram. Look up in this, look at the stars and count them if you can. So shall your descendants be. And then it says, and Abraham believed. He believed the promise and was justified before God. It was accounted to him for righteousness. Now Paul is gonna key in on that. When did that happen? Abraham's being justified before God like that. When did that happen in relation to the giving of the 10 commandments and the law? Long before, right? So there's no way Abraham could have been justified by keeping the law, hadn't even been given yet, right? And that's constantly his argument, is that Abraham was justified by faith alone in God's promise. And that's why he, that's like Genesis 15, six is like Paul's favorite Bible verse. He quotes it constantly. Look at verse seven. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. What does Paul mean when he says, those who are of the works of the law and those who are of faith? What is he talking about? Those who are of the works of the law and those who are of faith. What is the difference between those two? It's why you see the serpent seated with the two lions. Sure. That's part of it, sure. Those who are of the works of the law are trusting in what? Their works. And those who are of faith are trusting in what? Christ alone, period. And so what does he say in verse 7? Look at how hard he's just hitting this point. He hits it every single verse. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. So what's he saying? Anyone that's trusting in their works, are they saved? No. Are they sons of Abraham? No. Because Abraham believed and was justified. Same with us, we believe in Christ and are justified before God. And that is our salvation, that is the final judgment. Okay, on the last day is done. We are saved, we are justified before God, nothing can ever be charged against us. Okay, look at verse eight, I love this. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, in you all the nations shall be blessed. Okay, so what did Abraham have preached to him? The gospel. Really? So Abraham understood the gospel. What did Jesus say? When Jesus was arguing with his Jewish opponents at the Feast of Tabernacles in John chapter eight, He tells them about Abraham and says, Abraham rejoiced at the thought of what? Seeing my day. Indeed, he saw it and was glad. What was Abraham looking forward to? Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham's faith was in the promise of God that he would send a savior in the world. And this is one of the reasons I'm not a Baptist. Paul was a covenant theologian. Abraham had the gospel preached to him. Israel had the gospel preached to them. We have the gospel preached to us. What's the difference between us and them? We know more of the details than they did. And that's really it. It's not a difference in kind. It's not like, well, there used to be one plan of salvation and now there's a new one. It's the same plan of salvation. They didn't know as much about Jesus as we do, but they were looking forward to him. David was looking forward to him. Abraham was looking forward to him. Daniel, the prophets, they all knew one day the seed of the woman was gonna come and was gonna crush the head of the serpent and bring them salvation. Okay, so Abraham had the gospel preached to them. I remember when I was really struggling with covenant theology and trying to understand baptism and everything else, and reading A. A. Hodge's commentary on the Westminster Confession as I was riding the bus to my computer programming job. It was a 45-minute bus ride one way. So I had 90 minutes to read every day on the bus. And I was sitting there reading that, and I remember having my, back then, anyone here ever have a Palm Pilot? Remember that ancient form of technology? But I was using my little stylus to look up Bible verses. I thought it was so cool. Like, ding, ding, ding, ding. So I was reading all these passages, and A. A. Hodge walks you through this. Galatians 3, 8, Abraham had the gospel preached. Hebrews 4, verse 2, Israel had the gospel preached to them. And he makes the point, it was therefore not a difference in kind, but only a difference in how much they knew about it. It just kind of came bearing down on me. Of course, God had to save everybody the same way, because man's fallen condition before Christ comes is the same as it is now. God's character is the same. than as it is now, it's gotta be the same way of salvation. The only difference is how much they knew about it. Does that make sense? Yeah, I guess that's a whole lot less excuse if we turn our back on that. That's right. We have so much more light. We have the New Testament and all this information that they look forward to having. They really look forward to having. Okay, so then he gives another citation from Genesis, Genesis 12. Remember what happens in Genesis 12? Remember Genesis 1 through 11? Creation, fall, the flood of Noah, the table of nations. What happens in Genesis 11? No, no, the chapter before that. Genesis 11. Tower of Babel. And then right after that, all of a sudden, God breaks the silence and does what? He just talks to Abram one day. You, go out of your father's house to a land I will show you. And he tells them, in you, all the nations shall be blessed. Okay, and that's the gospel. Blessed as opposed to what? What's the opposite of being blessed of God? Cursed. Okay, in Galatians 3.13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, so that we could be blessed. Okay, so what he's pointing out here, Abraham understood that, he understood this is the gospel, and that this is how a person can be blessed of God as opposed to cursed. Okay, look at verse nine. So then, those who are of faith, meaning they're only trusting in the finished work of Christ, are blessed with believing Abraham. Okay, so as soon as you add works of law to that, you're not a child of Abraham, you're not blessed. Okay, do you see how serious this is? I hope y'all understand why I'm so hardcore about this. It's because the New Testament is. And when this stuff gets distorted, you're destroying the gospel. You're destroying the only weapon we've got to bring about culture change. That's the thing that has blown my mind for all 20, almost 22 years I've been a ruling elder now, is how many times I have seen men that I used to trust sell out the gospel to have bigger coalitions to fight culture wars. And I keep thinking, you're not going to win any of these culture wars with a false gospel. That is the only hope we've got, is that people would hear the true gospel, that we're justified by faith alone, apart from our works. Without that, our culture's not gonna be regenerated, born again. We're not gonna see the end of abortion. We're not gonna see the end of all this perversion and filth and everything else. Does that make sense? All right, verse 10. Here he's, again, for as many as are of the works of the law, that means people who are trusting in their good works to save them, are under the curse. Every person who's trusting in what they've done, their works, is under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in what? All things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Where is that citation from? Deuteronomy 27 26 So at the end of Deuteronomy the summary of the law is if you want to be saved by it You got to continue in everything in it all the time And is there anybody that does that? Is there anybody even with the help of God's grace that can do that? Is there anyone that even come remotely close to doing that? No Verse 11 see it but that no one is justified by the law and the sight of God is evident in for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. So to be saved by keeping the law, you have to do the law. Perfectly. You know what else that would mean? That would mean you'd have to start out sinless, just like Adam and Jesus did. So what are our chances of actually pulling this off? Zero. Because we start out what? Already sinners. Okay, so the law always only inflicts the curse of God on us. And that's why Jesus had to come. The ultimate testimony to justification by faith alone is the fact that the incarnation happened. Jesus' coming into the world is because justification by law keeping is no longer possible. As soon as Adam rebelled, as soon as he rebelled against God, that is off the table. It's not even possible anymore. Because to be justified by the law, what does it say? Always go back to the scripture, verse 12. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. In order to do that, I've got to start out sinless, maintain that sinlessness, and produce the righteousness God requires in His law my whole life, and die in that condition, having never broken the law or failed to conform to it, even for a second of my life. Then I can go to heaven that way. But nobody can do that because Adam rebelled and fell into sin. Okay, and then the glorious gospel announcement, verse 13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Okay, so Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, against our sins and our disobedience, by becoming a curse for us. And y'all need to understand, that is the greatest argument against salvation by any kind of works or law keeping. Jesus died on a cross. That's the end of the argument. My works cannot play any role in saving me whatsoever. None. Okay, so we've got to keep that clear in our minds. When someone is dying, if any of you are dying and I'm there, as I've been with people here at church who have died, you want to find out what they're relying on. What are you trusting in? And if someone says back to me, well, I think I've Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I believe in Jesus. But I think I've done pretty good. I'm gonna fall over on you if you say that to me. It's gotta be Christ alone, that's it. I promise you that, that even if I'm comatose or something, that I died trusting only in the finished work of Christ. Any good works I ever did, it was an act of gratitude to God, and no part of me was trusting in them, no part of me did them thinking that they played any role in saving me or doing anything for me. It's what Christ did on the cross. That is what redeemed me from the curse of the law. And that is the only thing that we can trust him to save us. Does that make sense? And then he says in verse 14, in order that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we would receive the promise of the spirit through faith. So in Paul's thinking, there's faith in Christ and there's works of law. So what about people who try to say, Yeah, it's faith in Christ and works of law. Faith in Jesus plus our works. What about that? It has to be one or the other. And in fact, I want to skip over something real quick here. Turn to Galatians 5. I just want you to see this. Galatians 5, 1 through 4. When I was in seminary, I wrote my Greek exegesis paper on this passage. In the conclusion of that paper, I made the comment, if Christians understood just this passage, no one would ever get away with preaching a false gospel again, ever. No one would ever give them the time of day, no one would ever believe it. Look at what he says, verse one. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. What does he mean by that? What does he mean by a yoke of bondage? What is that? I'm sorry? No, no. No, that's true, but that's not what he's talking about here. Adding any kind of works to the gospel. That's bondage. He's saying, hold fast to Christ alone, by faith alone. Do not let anyone add anything to that. And look at what he says in verse two. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Why is he saying that? That's right. If a person is relying on what they've done, what are they saying about the death of Christ? It wasn't enough to do it. And he says, you do that, Christ will profit you nothing. So it's either you rely on the finished work of Christ, or you get to save yourself, buy your own works, and Christ is off the table. Isn't that amazing? I mean, look at verse two again. I, Paul, say to you, if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Verse three. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. He's saying, you take one step in the direction of works righteousness, Christ is off the table and you get to save yourself by keeping the whole law. Good luck. So, do you understand why I go so apoplectic about this? Because I really do want everyone here to go to heaven, I really do. Like the people I preach to, I'm like, you know, if you guys end up in hell, it's not my fault. Because I have seriously, I have seriously tried really hard to make this clear and to not allow any kind of confusion about the matter. What your confidence needs to rest on to get you into heaven is the finished work of Christ. And the moment any works of any kind are added to that, what you're saying is that what he did is not enough to save you, And in fact, Paul says, if you do that, Christ would be of no benefit to you. Christ will profit you nothing. And in fact, you're a debtor to keep the whole law. You guys get circumcised thinking it's gonna make you right with God. You're a debtor to keep the whole law and Christ is out of the picture for you. And the thing is, that is always true. Whether the church is excited about it or has kind of brushed it aside for a bigger tent More more numbers or whatever. This is always true. Just remember that please truth remains true whether men esteem it as such or not What scripture says is the truth remains the truth whether people are excited about it or not doesn't matter yes, sir Just not to justify him or anything, not because he thought that. It was more so not to give offense to Jewish people because Timothy's father was a Greek, was a pagan, and that's why Timothy was not circumcised. It was just to not put an unnecessary stumbling block in front of Jewish people. They were going into the camp. They were going in. Paul was taking him with him, correct? Right. To the Jews. Yeah, it was just to avoid that. That's a good question. Many people have raised that question before. Why did he do that, if he notices that? The main thing is doing it because you think it makes you right with God, which obviously he didn't, but. It was a matter of removing a distraction. That's right. An unnecessary stumbling block that would have been a hindrance to conversation about the gospel. There was a missionary who went to China and the people she was trying to teach were so distracted by her European clothing, she started dressing Chinese. She said, we've got to get this clothing issue out of the way so we can get to the gospel. It's really what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 9 when he says, I become all things to all men, that I might win them all. Not that you become everything evil in your society, but don't put unnecessary stumbling blocks in front of people. Yes? Why didn't Paul say, Well That's right the whole law he uses isn't the term halas that you there halas namas halas namu whatever there In verse at the end of verse three You can. And even in verse 10 where we just were. Yeah. All things in the book of the law. Yep. It is halas. It is halas. What does it say? Halas namu. Yeah. The word halas means whole or entire. So yeah, the entire law. That's a great point. And the same thing with Galatians 3.10 there, that cursed is the one who does not continue in all things in the book of the law. Yes. that obviously, I'm trying to, I can think of things perfectly in my head, and I can never say them, but is it fair to say that, you know, someone's, like if people could have practical ways to use it, you could be practically sort of trusting in your words, I don't know, in a way that you are safe, but there are gonna be times when you look at yourself and you realize that the ways you're thinking That's a great point. We can fall into what I would call the performance trap where we base how close we have the right to feel to God on how we're doing. And certainly, if we're struggling with our besetting sins and we're going through a low time or a spiritual drought, yeah, that is gonna hurt our assurance. But always remember, I think one of the things that's key about this, a true believer in Jesus Christ who's been affectionately called by God, they are taught by the Holy Spirit to trust in Christ alone. And they always will. That's something John Owen, in his book on justification, he wrote this, I don't think John Owen ever wrote a short book. It's like 600 pages long. I read the first 200 or so pages, and I just couldn't stand it anymore. But it was well worth reading the first 200 pages, because he makes the point. People have said, you know, the Christians haven't always articulated this correctly. And Owen says, but the elect of God have always known how to trust in Christ alone, because they're taught by the Holy Spirit to do that. I've even thought from the day I was converted, there is nothing in me that has ever thought that my walk with Christ would play a role in getting me into heaven, never. Now, there's been times that, yeah, I've struggled with sin more than at others, and I haven't felt as close to God, but I've always known in my heart of hearts that the only thing that's gonna save me in the end is the blood and righteousness of Christ. But yeah, we can become practical legalists with ourselves. Like, remember I told you about my friend in college that would put himself in exile if he sinned, and he would deprive himself. He was punishing himself. And later on, as I grew in my understanding of theology and history and everything, I'm like, it's kind of like Protestant penance he was doing. Like, I've got to torture myself. I can't eat ice cream for three weeks because I'm struggling with this sin. You certainly don't want to do that. It cheapens how much sin is an offense to God. I'm sorry? Yeah, yeah, yeah that really does trivialize you got to come up with something a little more severe than not even ice cream Yeah There's a whole history of that still like have you ever read the history of monasticism and every they said they had torture devices They would have you ever heard of Elmo's belt st. Elmo's belt You ever seen one of those? Oh my goodness, there are these belts with spikes on them. They would tie these things with a leather strap around their leg and pull them tight until the spikes were digging into it, and would wear them for a week. Of infection, who knows, yeah. Sleeping in the freezing cold with the blanket. But that was all because they didn't understand this stuff. Luther didn't understand this until he read the Bible, and then he, it's like, what God demands from us in his law, we cannot do. But what he demands from us in the law, he freely gives to us as a gift in the gospel. That's why one of my favorite Bible verses, Romans 5, 17, I think about this verse all the time. Much more than those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in the one, reign through the one Jesus Christ. You think, do you have that gift of righteousness? I love that, the idea of a gift of righteousness purchased by the blood of Christ, achieved by his life, and it's simply put it into my legal account before God, and I will always and forever be justified before him, adopted into his family. I can never lose that. It can't be grown or increased or decreased by anything that I do. And that's why I've tried to belabor the point. What motivates our Christian lives is gratitude, thankfulness. Westminster confession, you know, it's clear on that we manifest our thankfulness to God by doing good works Yes Yes, the reason nothing can separate us from the love of God is because if you're clothed in the righteousness of Christ You can't send your way out of the kingdom You can't it's impossible He will not let you. You can try to run from him and he'll come and get you and pull you back. So I remember listening to a debate years ago on the perseverance of the saints. Can we lose our salvation? And this Protestant theologian, his opening quotation was from someone, I can't recall who the author was, but he says, Jesus Christ is accountable to his father. for the salvation of every individual that was given to him before time began. And therefore we need not doubt that he will employ all the powers of his Godhead to secure the salvation perfectly of every individual that was given to him by his Father." I thought, wow, never thought of it like that. After I heard that debate and read John 6, 37 to 39, like 85 times, people ask me, you know, as a pastor, can we lose our salvation? My answer is only if it's possible for Jesus to fail. So do you believe in a failing Savior or a successful one? I think he succeeds. He says, of all you have given me, I will lose none. So what do you think? Tried real hard? Lost a few of them? Or they send their way out of his hand? It's a totally man-centered way of looking at everything. Everything that comes to pass is for the glory of God, all of it, especially the salvation of his church. He's the one that goes after people and gets them and secures them. And he says, no one can snatch them out of my hand. I remember hearing a Roman Catholic, that's right, no one can snatch God out of his hand. That doesn't mean you can't jump out. I'm like, Wow, should have flunked out of Bible college for that one, grief. Okay, look at verse three again of Galatians 5. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. Verse four, you have become estranged from Christ. He's not saying you lost your salvation, he's simply saying those that profess to know him are estranged from him now. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. Severed from Christ, yeah. Okay, so, you see the point he's making there? Is it clear enough? Is it clear enough? Yes, sir. When I read that, I'm sitting, and I imagine my mind should go that direction, but I'm sitting here thinking, there's probably some, and I want to call them Christians, who fell into deep, dark sin and had themselves circumcised. reading Paul or hearing Paul's letter, and they're broken. That's true. So he doesn't say it, but I assume that there were those there who had fallen into that state and Yes. Yes, I'm sure they did. And it was because they were led astray by the poor example of like Peter. So yeah, people could, I mean, they even said earlier, remember, even Barnabas was carried away by his hypocrisy. A lot of people followed him into the era of no longer eating with Gentiles and things like that. But in their heart of hearts, I'm sure they weren't really trusting that this was gonna save them. But it does say, though, look at chapter six, verse one. And this is often, in fact, anyone here ever heard of Lewis Ferry Chafer? the founder of Dallas Seminary. Lewis Barry Chaffer was a big proponent of the higher life. He was a dispensationalist. He was kind of Arminian-ish in his theology. But he also taught that there were like two tiers of Christians. There were those that were like kind of second class Christians, and then there were those that were spiritual Christians. Look at verse one. Yes. That's right. Yeah, it's the second work of grace, and there's a second work of grace after you're saved, and then you enter into the higher life, the victorious Christian life, whatever. B.B. Warfield wrote two large volumes refuting all that stuff. So. Maybe that's where Joe Morecraft got the, what he said one time, is that all carnal Christians are going to hell. That's right, because they're not Christians at all, that's right. The best line ever, B.B. Warfield was like, I don't even know if the guy had a sense of humor, but. Brilliant scholar, and he said, anytime a man tells me he's entered the higher life and has attained sinless perfection, I quickly push him aside and begin discoursing with his wife. But look at verse one there of chapter six, and we'll end here. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, and Jim, that might be people that did that. You who are spiritual, meaning you who are Christians, there, Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." So yeah, they could be restored, sure, but they would need to repent of that error and be encouraged to remember it's Christ alone that saves us, and your works cannot play any role in that at all. So, isn't that amazing? Last thing I'll share with you. John Calvin's successor was a fellow named Theodore Beza. Anyone ever heard of him? He was a brilliant theologian in his own right, and he's just eclipsed because Calvin was such a giant. But Beza, there's a quotation I've read from him that's used a lot in different reform books. He says, the law is in us by nature. The law is in us by, we gravitate towards works righteousness. So the law is in us by nature. The gospel is not at all in us by nature and has to be preached and emphasized constantly so that we get it. You ever notice that? I always think of the gospel, I've described it to our seminary guys. It's like the nail on your back porch that just keeps coming up and you have to go out there with a hammer and hammer it back in every two weeks. That's the way that we tend to drift. We tend to drift and not have as much assurance. We tend to drift and not think as much about the finished work of Christ as we should. And so you just gotta hammer it constantly. But Beza's point is right. The law is in us by nature. We all get that part. But the gospel is revealed from heaven. It's not in us by nature. It's something that comes from the outside of us. It's gotta be hammered and hammered and hammered again and again and again. Yeah. The things of the law, that's right. Yeah, they show the laws written on their hearts. The gospel is not written on our hearts. The gospel comes from the outside of us. And that's why you got to go back and look at these passages and just soak them in and memorize them and read them and think about them all the time. Because a lot of days I get up and I don't feel that close to God. I have a question. Yes, sir. And I couldn't agree more with what you're saying. It has to be constantly driven. And I think everyone in this room kid on it is in my faith is clear, same as yours. So I'm not challenging anything. But those that aren't as fortunate to have someone like you drive that in us all the time, that may still be believers or not, you know, a lot of people in my in my fear is that, well, they don't get it. They're not driven that way. But they still have faith in Christ. They're just insecure about their faith, because they never think they're good enough, which they're not, you know, they're never going to be good enough. That's a good a very good point a couple things I would say in response to that For the first thing is anyone who dies believing that they're good enough to go to heaven. I don't care who they are. They're lost We have to say that if someone actually believes that by their works, they're gonna get past the final judgment into heaven They're not a Christian Okay, okay, okay listen to this passage with John 10 27 and following my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand now someone could be in like the medieval church and and they'll hear the Apostles' Creed recited at church, and they'll hear readings from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Holy Spirit can use that to make them alive in Christ. I've talked to people in the Roman Catholic Church in Cincinnati when I was doing all that pro-life work there. There was a lady, this lady had overseen and done counseling for like 15 years at a pregnancy care center right near an abortion clinic in downtown Cincinnati that she knew of. She had talked 738 women out of having abortions. And it had actually held many of those babies in her arms. And I remember talking to her. She was a devout Roman Catholic. And I asked her, do you think you're gonna go to heaven when you die? Yes. Why? And I thought for sure she'd say, because of all this stuff I've done. She said, because Jesus died for me. And I really pressed her. I was like, so what about all this pro-life work you do? And it just blew me away. Her answer, I just do that because I love Jesus. And I'm thankful he died for me. Really That's right All of it I mean a Mormon could sit and read sit down and read as King James But I read the book of Ephesians and come to know Christ There will be people in heaven that come out of churches that you would think are formally heretical, but the Holy Spirit always gets their man, always gets his man, always gets his woman. He's going to get the people that God elected before the foundation of the world, because no matter how many other voices are squawking at them, the sheep of Christ hear his voice. Right, so they could be confused or not theologically sound and still be able to get into heaven, even if they don't get it. Yes, right. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Although in their hearts, they won't be relying on anything other than Christ to get them into heaven. They have to get the gospel. I'm sorry? They have to get the gospel. They have to get that. If a person is trusting in something, well, the scripture answers it. If you do anything in addition to Christ, if you're trusting in that, Christ will be of no benefit to you. That's the apostolic position, that's what we have to hold to. But, yes sir. I will say, talking to people sometimes, it's really hard for us to know, and sometimes maybe you don't know what exactly they're trusting in. I've talked to people on the street, and you'll ask them two questions, two different ways, and part of it is, I think, sometimes you ask a question a certain way, and it triggers things that they've just been We don't all we can evaluate is what they say But what I'm talking about like with Adams question if in their heart they really are relying on what they've done They're not a Christian That's not me being a rock-ribbed Protestant or mean. That's the apostolic position. And if they are, we want to call them to believe in Christ alone. And, you know, you have to do that with people. You've got to point out to them heaven's a free gift. You know, it's a free gift. I'll say if they're afraid they're not going to go to heaven because they're afraid and they haven't been good enough or they've been so terrible, they're still looking for assurance in the wrong place. That's right. They're struggling with, still, their own actions, whether they're good or bad. That's right. And that's where we encourage. And that's where we encourage the people. Yeah, well, that's why we need to get it right. That's right. And encourage them to understand what resting in Christ means. That's right. And that's why this... He does it over and over and over. He does it over and over and over. It's like, this is his hobby horse. And that's why it really should be the hobby horse of every pastor, too. We should be hitting this all the time, making sure people understand gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel. Because it's so important that you want people That's right That's right That's right because we're seeing it too much among people that we should trust that's right believe the same thing we believe and they don't we need to be keen on those slight little alterations In fact, we're even told in scripture to watch out for subtleties of speech, artifices of speech, smooth words of flattery. Okay, you know, I should probably stop here. I've been talking for over an hour. I've got more stories I could tell you, but. You wanna hear one more? Okay, all right, all right. One thing that is fascinating to me is about church history. When the Arian controversy happened, did I tell you about this last time, the Arian controversy over the deity of Christ, when that controversy took place? There was a bishop named Arius who taught that Jesus Christ is not God, that he's like God, he's similar to God, but he's the first creation that God made, exalted creation. Now what is the difference between the infinite God and the most exalted creation that he made? but infinity, okay? Now, when the first Nicene Council met in 325, it was called by the Roman Emperor Constantine, because he realized this is a big controversy. All these people are fighting about this. At that council, the Arian party that denied the deity of Christ, they kept saying, we believe the deity of Christ. Really? You guys believe in the deity of Christ? Yes, we do. Really, you think Jesus is God? Yes, he's God. You think he's God in the fullest sense of that word? Yes, he's God in the fullest sense of that word. And Athanasius and Alexander and all these guys who are the Orthodox, they're sitting over here in a huddle going, we know they're not telling the truth. And so they're like in this huddle. How can we draw them out here? To this day, no one knows who suggested this. It may have been Constantine, it may have been another bishop. Somebody leans over and says, see if they will affirm that Jesus Christ is homoousios, the same substance as the Father. So they put that on the table. that we believe in, he is light of light, God of God, very God of very God, the same substance as the father. The whole Aryan party backs away. They won't sign it. And to this day, to this day, we still use that word. Isn't that glorious? I love that story because the bad guys, the heretics, the false teachers have always been willing to affirm the words of scripture. To this day they do. Every false teacher in the Federal Vision Movement says they believe in justification by faith alone. All of them say that. Do they? No, they don't. So really, they're just playing word games? Yes, they are. Same thing with the Aryan Party, and that's why those extra-biblical terms like that, they're vitally important to preserve orthodoxy. Think about question six of the Shorter Catechism. How many persons are there in the Godhead? the Son and the Holy Spirit and these three are one God. the same in substance, equal in power and glory. They're getting that same substance from an argument 1,700 years ago, because that was the term that the Aryans did not like. And it communicates perfectly what we're saying, because we believe Jesus is the same substance as God the Father. And yet they were willing to say, oh yes, we believe Jesus is God, oh yeah, we believe he's God. And a lot of Christians are like, hey, look, they believe he's God, let's all go home. And the Orthodox said, we know they're not telling the truth. And that's why you've got, you have to be discerning enough to recognize people play word games all the time, okay? They contradict themselves. In fact, look, turn your Bible real quick to 1 Timothy 6. And then I promise you we'll stop here. 1 Timothy 6. Verse 20. Oh, Timothy. First Timothy 6.20, O Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and, what's the next word? Contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, by professing a sum of stray concerning the faith. So false teachers tend to do what a lot? They contradict themselves a lot. They contradict themselves a lot. and they'll say one thing in one place, and they'll say one thing in another, and they'll say one thing to be accepted by this group, and they'll say something to be accepted in another group, and then we stand up and say, hey, you're not being consistent, and then I get told all the time, well, you're just uncharitable. I'm like, that's right, when it comes to the gospel, I'm not charitable, because the apostles weren't. Charity's off the table when someone attacks or muddies the gospel, okay? I can see it, what's on your mind, man? Yeah, that's what all the revoice people kept saying like when we would when we were talking about it We were refuting everything and they was they would say we don't like your tone. You guys are mean Really and you guys are Girl Scouts No, you melted I intentionally got Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses to stop coming to my house, which I didn't intend to. I was enjoying talking to them, but I just say, who do you say Jesus is? They go on with their, but I just stop them and say, we need to talk about who Jesus is. And then I've told the Mormons, you're not a Christian church. And they're very offended at that, but they need to be told, you're not teaching the truth. But it's a very subtle, Yeah You know a representative of the Mormon Church was actually interviewed in I think it was time magazine back in the 1970s or 80s and they answered a series of questions and they were asked do Mormons believe in the Trinity and This representative of the church said yes. I The Latter-day Saints accept the Godhead as three literal distinct personalities, God the Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Now what do we know about what they mean by that? They think God the Father is a dude that lives in outer space with a harem of wives. Do they really believe in? No, we're just using words with different definitions. So you gotta watch out for this stuff. I mean, the devil does not play by any rules. He will lie, contradict, and his agents and his ministers don't play by any rules either. Okay, all right, let's go ahead and close in prayer. Father, thank you for this time to be together. I thank you for my brothers and sisters in Christ here, and thank you for the clarity of your holy word. Lord, help us remember, from first to last, our salvation is by faith. It's not by our works, it's not by our transformation. There is no vindication of our faith by our works at the last day, it's another lie, it's just another repackaging of the Galatian heresy. So I pray that all of us together would trust in the finished work of Christ, and as Paul said so beautifully in the text in Galatians 2.20, indeed, we have been crucified with Christ and it's no longer us who live, it's Christ who lives in us. And so the life of faith and the life of obedience to you that we live, that is our sacrifice of thanksgiving and gratitude to you that does not save us in any way, shape, or form. and help us to articulate that clearly to those that we know, those that we come in contact with. And I pray that you would bless the ministry of the gospel here and around the world, that people would come to believe in Jesus and trust only in him for their salvation. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.