Do Not Submit Again to a yoke of Slavery

[0:00] You can be turning to the book of Galatians, book of Galatians chapter 5. Book of Galatians chapter 5.

[0:21] I'm going to, we're going to be reading, or I'm going to be preaching from chapter 5 verses 1 through 6. But I am going to back up to chapter 4 verse 28.

[0:33] Because Paul uses a couple of words in the first part of our reading that are referring back to this. Really verse 1 is connected to the verses before and connected to the verses after.

[0:47] As you can probably see in your Bible it's separated as a paragraph. And so I'm going to read before to carry the thought and the flow through on down into verse 6.

[0:59] Let's read together Galatians chapter 4 verse 28. Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

[1:12] But just as at the time he was born, just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, so also it is now.

[1:25] But what does the scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.

[1:36] So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman. For freedom Christ has set us free.

[1:47] Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

[2:01] I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law.

[2:14] You have fallen away from grace. For through the spirit by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

[2:34] Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for what we're going to look at today. It's such, it's something we deal with so much, and we don't often realize it.

[2:52] It's a peril that is all around us as Christians. I pray that you would be with us, that we would see the truths that are here. And I pray that it would cause us to be careful to be standing in our freedom.

[3:08] And Lord, I pray that you would be with us, that also it would cause us to see our Savior. He's here, and he's done amazing things. We pray that you would bless, that we would be drawn close to you.

[3:22] And Lord, if there's any here who don't know you, that today they would see what this Savior has done. See what, that which is around us, that so many, most all, fall prey to.

[3:36] I pray that you would help them to see their need of the sacrifice of Christ. And pray that you would bless, be it as we look at your word, in Jesus' name.

[3:48] Amen. And Paul's been arguing for the true purpose of the law through the book of Galatians here.

[3:58] Because there had been this group that had came and told them, You guys need to start keeping the law along with trusting Christ as Savior. And Paul wrote this letter because he was adamant that the law plays no part in us earning our salvation.

[4:15] To trust the law, to trust in the law, even if only in part is to be forsaking the only means of salvation. That's what, it's something I'm reviewing now, but this is where we're going to be today.

[4:29] And that thought is important. He's been making this argument because heresy has been taught in the churches that he planted. He's, he fears people he loves are in danger of being deceived.

[4:44] And so he writes this letter to protect them. We saw Paul bear his heart to show the love he has for the people of Galatia. He entreated them to depart from this damnable heresy.

[4:58] A heresy that would enslave and ruin them. He reminded them of the love that they had for him and wondered where it went. And lastly, he warned the Galatians that the Judaizers were just using them.

[5:14] Last time we saw Paul turn the Judaizers' argument of being adopted, or I'm sorry, being related to Abraham, he turned that argument against them, showed that their physical connection to Abraham didn't count for anything.

[5:30] It was the by faith connection to Abraham that counted. Well, today we're going to see the perils of trying to add, keeping the law, trying to add keeping the law to the requirements of salvation.

[5:47] Paul uses some puns, and he uses some vivid language, and this is not a slight warning. This is not something that is light. This is Paul at the peak of his argument.

[6:01] At this point, he's closing his theological argument with an exhortation to act. And from this point on, he will continue to bring forth application so that they live in the manner in which he's teaching them here.

[6:20] So we read the first five verses of Galatians chapter 4, or six verses of Galatians chapter 5, and he starts out in the first verse, the first half of the verse, and says, For freedom Christ has set us free.

[6:36] Now I admit, to me, this sounds like something the forefathers of our country would have said when they wrote the Constitution. It's not.

[6:46] It's Scripture. For freedom Christ has set us free. And he's making a declaration. He's wanting them to live where Christ has put them.

[7:02] Christ has made us free. He wants people to live there. The connection this verse has with the verses in chapter 4, some of which we just read, and even with chapter 5 and verse 13, which Lord willing we will get to next week, the connection this verse has with those two sections shows that the freedom that Paul is speaking of here is freedom from civil and ceremonial law.

[7:30] As I mentioned, the Judaizers had come and said, Oh, you have to keep this Old Testament law. Sure, you can trust Christ as Savior, but you have to keep the Old Testament law if you're going to really be a Christian.

[7:40] After all, we're people from the Jerusalem church, and all the Jerusalem Christians have kept the law, and they're circumcised, and that's what you need to do. Well, of course, they kept the law and were circumcised because they had been under the Old Covenant, and when they came into the New Covenant, it's difficult to undo circumcision.

[7:59] And they had to learn to let go of the feasts and festivals and sacrifices, and that did happen in time. But these people came saying, Oh, no, you've got to do this.

[8:10] You've got to include this. And so Paul is making that connection here that the freedom is a freedom from the civil and ceremonial law.

[8:21] The civil and ceremonial law does not have to be kept by Christians because Christ has not just cast it away, he fulfilled it.

[8:34] All the aims and things that that law was pointing to, Christ came and did. He didn't come to say, Yeah, I'm tired of this.

[8:45] He came and fulfilled it. And so it was done. It's done away because it's done. It's fulfilled. And he set us free from it. And so Paul is reminding these people that circumcision does not have to be kept by Christians because Christ has fulfilled the thing circumcision was pointing to, Christ fulfilled, and he set us free from that.

[9:09] And so Paul is showing us that as Christ has set us free from all these Old Testament regulations, we need to stay there.

[9:22] We need to protect that freedom. We need to live in that freedom. So he goes on. He starts out by saying, For freedom, Christ has set us free.

[9:35] So you could say that that phrase is a summation of what he's going to get at through the rest of this. Not just what I'm going to speak on today, but the rest of the book.

[9:46] We'll be able to be tied back to that in many respects. So he's telling them, You need to be careful. What those Judaizers are telling you, that's nothing you have to deal with anymore.

[9:59] It's all taken care of in Christ, and you must guard that thinking. Now you may be saying, Guard that thinking? Why, we're 2,020 some odd years removed from that thinking.

[10:15] Why would Galatians apply to us today? Well, I think it's going to become very evident as we go through, and we're going to make it apply to the things today.

[10:26] No stretch, no twisting. We're going to see how that is something that we ourselves are struggling with today. We are people who would tend toward wanting to listen to the Judaizers.

[10:40] leaders. And we must be people who are very careful to protect the freedom that we have. And so, he, in the last part of verse 5, gives us two commands.

[10:53] They're parallel commands. Two commands in regard to freedom. He says, Stand firm in your freedom. And he says, Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

[11:07] First of all, stand firm in your freedom. It's going to be a battle to keep from reverting to the slavery Christ delivered us from.

[11:18] You say, I have no desire to go do sacrifices. Why, why would you be saying it's something that's a battle to keep me from going back to that? Well, the truth of the matter is, we were built to be law keepers.

[11:33] We were built to try to earn our way to heaven. You say, no. Yes, Adam was put in the garden.

[11:44] And what was the one thing he was to do? He was to obey God's command and God would bless him. Adam was built to be a law keeper.

[11:57] Of course, Satan come along and deceived him. And so, he transgressed that one commandment that God had given him. And now, he's a law keeper who's broken the law.

[12:12] And he had a wife and he had children and lo and behold, all those children were born people who were wanting to be law keepers but had the guilt of Adam's sin upon him.

[12:28] And not only that, they themselves were now in rebellion to God and they themselves were law breakers. But they still had in their mind, I'm supposed to obey.

[12:41] That's the way it's supposed to be. And so, Paul has to tell us to stand firm in our freedom because we're built to be law keepers.

[12:52] We're built to be people who try to earn our salvations. organizations. And not only are we built that way, there are all kinds of people around us who want to make organizations based on that law keeping stuff and they're glad to come around and say to you, you know, if you eat pork, you're not really a Christian.

[13:14] Maybe you've heard something like that. Or, if you do this, you're not really a Christian. What are they doing? They're setting up a law. They're setting up a standard.

[13:25] This is what you have to do to be a Christian. You say, well, I'm not much affected by that. We're getting there because it's a plague that you and I face in so many areas of our lives.

[13:37] We set up standards and say, this is what it is to be a real Christian. And we hold these standards and we're setting up this way of trying to work our way to heaven.

[13:52] And so we must be careful to stand firm in our freedom. The book of Galatians was Paul's first epistle. And Paul, and what Paul was addressing was not only one of the first heresies, it is the most enduring heresy.

[14:13] If you go to any religion, any religion, what do they have? Rules. Rules that you must keep in order to be a Christian.

[14:26] Rome says all kinds of things. Keep these seven sacraments. Go to Mass. Be married to Catholic marriage. Go to confession.

[14:37] Various other things. They're rules. They're things that are said that this is what you must do to be able to go to heaven. heaven. And so there are people all around us that are wanting to thrust upon us rules and saying, yep, no, this is what a real Christian must do in order to get to heaven.

[14:57] So it's not just the Judaizers coming in saying, you must be circumcised because that's what the Jews at Jerusalem did. And that's what real Christians must do. There are people all around us who say, these are the standards you must keep if you're going to heaven.

[15:14] And we must be people who do not submit to the yoke of slavery. It is so important that we learn the truth of the gospel and stand firm in it.

[15:30] So important that we know the truth of the gospel and stand firm in it. Just as a side, it's not my notes, but just what is the gospel? Christ did everything.

[15:44] He paid for all of our sins. He lived a perfect life so that we're acceptable before God. We don't have to do a thing. A good understanding of the gospel, knowing that Christ has done it all, brings us back to this Romans chapter 5, Romans chapter 6 dilemma, where people say, well, if you don't have to do anything, well, it's sin that grace may abound.

[16:08] If you don't have an understanding of the gospel that brings you right to that point that there's absolutely nothing you can do to be a Christian except trust in the work of Christ, then you've not understood the gospel right.

[16:23] Now, don't think I'm saying that you can sin and bring glory to God. Paul says, may it never be. We who love Christ will want to do what he commands, but we don't do it to earn our salvation.

[16:41] So we've got to stand firm. We're built to want to make rules. The people around us, every religion in this world is built with rules in mind to try to get you to earn your way to heaven.

[16:57] So, stand firm. And then he says, do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Don't go back to the law. Now, those in Galatia hadn't been under the law.

[17:07] But the Judaizers were trying to get them to go to that. And so he's cautioning them, don't go back to the law. Don't submit.

[17:18] Don't give in. Now, why does he say this? I think he says this because of personal experience. We're going to find this a little later in this chapter.

[17:29] We're going to find it more in the book also. But Paul suffered greatly for preaching the gospel. This gospel of trusting the work of Christ alone. We'll see in just a few verses that all his suffering would go away if he would just add law keeping back to his message and stop preaching about that cross.

[17:53] And so we've got to be on guard. We can't let ourselves go back to the law. We can't go back. The price is too high. If we go back, what we will pay pay.

[18:06] It's way too high. So he says do not submit to the yoke of slavery. And you might be saying, yeah, Paul's preaching to Galatians.

[18:17] They had been worshiping pagans. And Paul earlier in the beginning of chapter three equated keeping the law with going back to pagan principles. Because it's just like the religions of today.

[18:30] Some of them are Christian, some of them are not. All of them have rules. And all of them are trying to get you to earn your way to some sort of heaven, some sort of nirvana. They're all trying to do that. And so they're no different in one sense.

[18:44] And people might say, oh, but the old covenant is God's old covenant. And so that would be a great thing to go back to. No, no. Christ fulfilled it all. The going back is way too dangerous.

[18:59] In fact, those in the old covenant weren't saved by keeping that covenant. They were saved by trusting in the promised one, the one who would come. The old covenant simply pointed to what Christ would do.

[19:15] So don't go back. Even if it's pagan religion, don't go back. It's the same yoke of slavery only to false god. It'll bring the same condemnation. So in verses 2 through 6, we're going to find why we should not submit again to a yoke of bondage.

[19:32] What's the cost? What's the price? What's going to happen if we do? He says in verse 2, if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

[19:46] No advantage to you. And it's interesting, some have talked about, well, let me just, I'll skip that. some have said, did they do it?

[19:57] Had they already been circumcised? The grammar is such, rather than going into all of it, the grammar is such that they hadn't. They were faced with it, they were tempted towards it, they were being urged to being circumcised, but the grammar is such that they hadn't.

[20:14] They hadn't yet. So that's a good thing, but they were thinking about it. So, if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

[20:28] I think the first question is, what advantage is Christ to the sinner? Well, I'm only going to quote themes from this book, chapter 2, verse 16.

[20:41] What advantage is Christ to the sinner? He justifies us by faith. What advantage is Christ to the sinner? In 3, verse 22, life is given to those who believe.

[20:53] 3, verse 26, we're the sons of God through faith. 4, verse 6, we're sons of God by the work of Christ. 3, verse 13, he redeemed us from the curse of the law.

[21:06] And that's only a partial list. I haven't even done all the things that are in the book of Galatians. Then we could go to the book of Romans and add a few things, and we could go to Ephesians and add a few things, and we could go to Revelation, and we could sing praises of the things that Christ has done.

[21:22] What advantage is it to have Christ? Well, every advantage. It is the only way whereby we can have eternal life. He's the only one who could provide it.

[21:34] He's the only one who did provide it. If you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. The salvation of God's people rests on the work of Christ alone, and if you turn to something else, to trust in something else, even if you're just adding it to the work of Christ, Christ is of no advantage to you.

[21:58] If we try to make even 1% of our salvation rest on what we do, we forfeit all that Christ provides. Christ will not say, I'm content to do 50% of your salvation, and I'll let you do 50% of your salvation.

[22:15] No, it's not, it's much more perilous than that. I'm content to do 75% of your salvation, you can do 25% of your salvation. No, Christ will not allow that.

[22:27] I'm content to do 99% of your salvation, and you can do 1% of your salvation. No, Christ will not have it. If you turn back to law keeping, then Christ is of no advantage to you.

[22:41] You cannot stand before the Father and say, Father, I should be in heaven because Christ has paid for 98.6% of my salvation, and I didn't murder anybody, because that's the commandment everybody says they didn't do.

[22:58] And God will not look at you and say, well, that's pretty good. He'll say, depart from me, you wicked sinner, into utter darkness. if he did 99.9% and you were somehow to add .01% to your salvation, you would still hear, depart from me, ye who work in equity.

[23:24] So stand firm in your salvation. Otherwise, stand firm in Christ. Otherwise, Christ is of no use to you. He avails you nothing.

[23:37] If you accept circumcision, this is verse 3, if you accept circumcision, then you are obligated to keep the whole law. He says, I'm reminding you of this, and so he's patching in something he's already taught.

[23:51] But he says, if you begin in one little way, if you say, I'm going to provide .01% of my salvation, God says at that point, you're now liable for the whole law, the whole kid and caboodle, and he'll hold you accountable for all of it.

[24:11] You cannot require just one little part of the law as a requirement for salvation, even if you pick the part of the law that you like. That's what we all do.

[24:25] Like I said, I hope nobody has. I'm going to say it. We've not killed anybody, anyone in here. So we're all good. But no, we don't get to pick one little part.

[24:37] Because we've all hated and committed murder in our hatred, and we're vile sinners in God's sight. If you try to keep the law, you're obligated to keep all of it.

[24:51] If you choose to add just one little obedience to the requirement of your salvation, then in God's eyes you're trying to earn your salvation, and God will require that you must obey the whole law perfectly.

[25:04] there are only, no matter how many religions, no matter how many things people may say, there are only two ways of salvation. Either you earn it, or someone earns it for you.

[25:15] That's it. And the minute you try to be one who earns any little bit of it, you've not earned it, you've lost it, and you have no hope. So stand fast in the liberty we have, for freedom Christ has set you free.

[25:31] liberty. He goes on in verse 4, you who would be justified by the law, take note of what God declared to be true through Paul.

[25:43] He goes on to say, if you would be justified by the law, you are severed from Christ. Now, I mentioned that this passage has a pun, this is it.

[25:58] And I can't get too detailed. Okay, Paul is purposely using language. These Judaizers are coming in saying you need to be circumcised.

[26:10] Paul turns the pun around and says that if you try to trust in the law, you're going to be severed from Christ.

[26:24] You get to be that which God cuts off. You get to be that which God throws away as unclean. You get to be that which is no longer part of the body.

[26:36] If you try to get to heaven by keeping commandments, you're severed from Christ.

[26:49] Just as the foreskin is cut off and thrown away, so those who would try to be justified by keeping the law, even if requiring just the smallest little obedience, those ones will be severed from Christ.

[27:05] We can't. There's no way we sinful people can do anything to gain favor in the sight of a holy God. And so any little try is an abomination and he would sever us from Christ.

[27:24] if you would be justified by the law, he says, you have fallen from grace. Let me just clear up something here.

[27:36] This is not a verse that people can claim that says that you can lose your salvation. Romans 8, 31 to 35, what shall we say to these things?

[27:47] If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

[28:01] Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or stress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

[28:25] Yea, in all things, these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. We can't lose our salvation. When he says you have fallen from grace, it is not that grace has been taken away from someone who had been trusting in Christ and now is trusting in the law and now the grace is snatched away.

[28:48] Those who would be justified by the law are turning their back on grace. They're saying, I don't need that. I'm doing all right by myself, thank you.

[29:04] And Paul goes then to say, I'm going to show you the difference. He's saying here, these are the dangers of trying to keep the law in order to get to heaven. You're cut off from Christ, you're severed from Christ and I lost the other word.

[29:21] You've fallen from grace, but those who are justified by faith, verses 5 and 6, he says, it's the work of the spirit, it's not our work. Those who seek to be justified by the works of the law have to keep track of everything they do.

[29:38] You ever thought about that? If you try to earn your way to heaven, you have to keep track of every single thing you do. And if you fail once, it's done. It's not, you get three strikes.

[29:53] It's not even one strike. One strike and you're done. It can't fail once. And the thing is, those who would try to keep the law, the fact is, they failed before they began.

[30:09] Romans 7, 10, the very command that promised life proved to be death to me. sinning. We were born sinners and we came into this world sinning.

[30:22] And so Paul says, those who are justified are justified by faith. Jesus Christ provided salvation. Romans 8, 3, and 4, for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

[30:36] By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

[30:56] That's not saying those who walk and do everything right. It's saying those who walk trusting in God by means of the spirit. Same thing Paul's getting here at Galatians and not those who walk according to the flesh.

[31:08] The Holy Spirit has done all the work of applying it. Romans 8, 2, for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

[31:19] And then we read it already this morning, Galatians 4, 29, but just as at that time he was born according to the flesh, persecuted him who was born according to the spirit.

[31:30] So also it is now making mention of the fact that the person who is saved is saved by the work of the spirit. He goes on in verses 5 and 6 saying we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

[31:49] We eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. Now he's not saying I hope when we get to heaven we'll make it.

[32:01] That is not what is being said here. What is being said here is we wait in hope. Not I hope so but God has promised I stand on that.

[32:15] It's as sure as God's word. I stand on that. And the comparison that Paul is throwing out here he's been saying that salvation is the work of the spirit.

[32:27] Now he's saying we're eagerly waiting for the hope of righteousness. In other words we're trusting in a promise. We're not trusting in what we do. and yet these people who are adding the law back are the kinds of people who are wondering all their life if they've done enough.

[32:45] We are righteous now because we trust the work of Christ but we struggle with sin. But right now we're declared righteous. One day we will be made righteous.

[32:59] All our sin will be gone. We will be made to look like Christ. We will have no desire to sin. Now our sin is all paid for now. It's removed from us as far as the east is from the west.

[33:11] But I still struggle with it. I'm sorry we still struggle with it. But someday we won't. And that's because of the work of Christ.

[33:23] It's because trusting Christ's work alone. And so Paul gets towards the end and he says in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts.

[33:34] for anything. Circumcision or the lack of circumcision is no benefit to the Christian. I'm going to add myself.

[33:48] 1 Corinthians 8.8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat and no better off if we do. Romans 14.17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

[34:07] It doesn't matter if we are circumcised or uncircumcised. And I'll say this because I've had many people ask me this. Well, my parents circumcised me.

[34:19] What do I do? Nothing. Nothing. We're free to choose circumcision or uncircumcision. As long as we don't do it to earn our salvation either is frying.

[34:35] That's what the verses in Romans, 1 Corinthians and Romans I was reading is all about. Can I eat this food or not eat this food? As long as I'm not trying to earn my salvation I'm free to eat it.

[34:50] So the only thing that counts he says is faith working through love. Paul's not laying the groundwork here for the Roman Catholic notion that faith the Roman Catholic foundation of faith and the Roman Catholic foundation of faith is salvation grows as we exercise love towards God and man.

[35:14] I only did a little bit of reading on this but I wanted to mention it because many of you have come from the Catholic Church and from my understanding they teach that your love for God and that relationship grows I'm sorry your faith in God grows as your love for God grows.

[35:31] Like I said I didn't do a lot of reading maybe more of you familiar with it than I am and they use this verse to say that but that is not what this verse is getting at here. He's not laying the foundation for how our faith is to grow.

[35:46] Paul is saying that true faith is demonstrated by love to God and to man. James 2 17 so also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead and then John 14 15 if you love me you will keep my commandments.

[36:04] There's nothing about earning salvation there that's the response of the work of Christ. I can imagine you're sitting there thinking at this point well you have said something that I'm waiting for and you may be thinking well you said that we have this same problem today and I've dabbled in a couple of things that maybe I think you could see where this is true.

[36:33] Paul's dealing with circumcision here in relation to Galatians but this principle of adding law to our salvation can relate to anything we might try to add as a work to our salvation.

[36:50] I'm not knocking reading your Bible and saying this but there are people who say if you don't read your Bible enough how can you be considered to be a Christian?

[37:06] There are people who say if you don't feel like you're praying enough are you really a Christian? I'll finish this and I'll come back and read it and you might recognize the way I put it.

[37:21] If you don't feel like you're keeping the law good enough maybe you're not a Christian. I set it up I'm sorry I set it up the way Jeff Foxworthy would have said it.

[37:34] If you don't feel like you're praying enough to be a Christian then instead of you might be a redneck you might be depending on the law to be a Christian. If you feel like you're not keeping the law good enough to be a Christian you might be dependent on the law for salvation.

[37:56] Regardless we need to give glory before I get to this I'll tie this back in just a second. We are people we're built to be law keepers we're built to be obeyers and we're people who tend to set up standards and say if I am this or if I do that that's what makes me a Christian.

[38:22] And so we read our Bibles great thing it's something we all should do but if you look at it as a standard whereby you achieve salvation or measure your salvation then you've made that a law and you're going down the path that these Judaizers are going.

[38:45] Same with your prayer time same with all kinds of things that you can say are good principles but if we become people who depend on doing those things we could be looking towards trusting in what we do for salvation.

[39:00] let me point us to Christ and then I'll come back to this standpoint. We need to give glory to God for the wonder of Christ and his work.

[39:14] What if he had let us do something? In other words what if he'd said go ahead I'll let you work a little bit.

[39:27] Those who say that you would have to read your Bible to be a Christian how are you doing with that? If he said okay I'll let you do a little bit of work and you determined what that work would be.

[39:39] Let's just say you're the person who says real Christians read the Bible every day. How are you doing at that? Real Christians don't say this or real Christians don't do that.

[39:53] How are you doing at that? Some of the things I most do not want to do I do some of the things I most want to do I fail at doesn't that sound like a chapter out of Romans?

[40:11] And so in the midst of all this the thing that just blows me away is this whole idea that Christ came and did it all.

[40:24] And as I hear these instructions Christians I can look at a Savior who's come and he totally obeyed the law and then he took my sin where I failed to keep the law upon himself and he suffered and died.

[40:44] And now as I'm trusting him as you're trusting him it's all taken care of. I can be that friend of God that Mr.

[40:56] Noldum was talking about today because of the work of Christ. What do I do if I've done this?

[41:07] What do I do if I've been the kind of person who says oh yes we must be circumcised in order to be saved? You're saying I would never say that. What do I do if I have picked some part of God's law?

[41:22] What if I said real Christians don't eat pork? What do I do if I've said real Christians read their Bible every day? And that's what a Christian has to do to be saved.

[41:35] What do I do? Is it too late? What do I do? I won't go into it. There was a young man where I went to college who heard something about circumcision and felt so burdened about it he literally circumcised himself.

[41:56] What does he do? Has he lost any hope of salvation? Is it too late? Is there nothing he could do? Praise God there is something he can do.

[42:09] He does what all of us do. He repents saying father forgive me for trying to trust in what I can do. And then rests on the work of Christ because Christ has done it all.

[42:28] The good news is that Christ died for this sin also. If you repent of trusting in anything that you're trying to earn your salvation and trust only in the work of Christ the salvation he provides is sufficient for you.

[42:47] We must always remember that Christ has provided salvation for us. It is something completely outside of us. There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn or add to our salvation.

[43:00] Our being able to earn or add to our salvation is the oldest and most prevalent heresy there is. So let's heed Paul's exhortation.

[43:13] For freedom Christ has set you free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

[43:24] Trust Christ only. Let's pray. Thank you Father for your word.

[43:34] I thank you that this is here because I can confess that I have been a person who has tried to earn my way to heaven and I knew I was failing and I was almost without hope but thank you that the gospel came.

[43:53] Thank you Father for the work of Christ and Lord here today if there are those who are trying to earn their way to heaven and they're starting to hear that it's insufficient it will never work they will be severed from Christ they will be fallen they will have fallen from grace they will turn their back on that which could help them Lord if there are those here like all of us who trusted Christ at one point were may they turn from trusting in themselves to the one who's done everything I thank you father for providing a perfect salvation help us to be people who stand firm because we're always bent on trying to earn I want to be shown that I'm acceptable I want to be shown that I'm good enough Lord help us to stand in that freedom help us not be entangled again with that yoke of bondage help us to rest in you help us to stand firm in the freedom of the gospel we pray that you would be with us in this in

[44:58] Jesus name amen take your hymnal or you can look at the screen 461 I'm going to read just the first verse 461 not what my hands have done we'll sing that in praise to the Lord as we close not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole not what I feel or do can give me peace with God not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load let me just read the last verse I praise the God of grace I trust his truth and might he calls me his I call him mine my God my joy my light tis he who saveth me and freely pardon gives

[46:02] I love because he loveth me I live because he lives let's stand as we sing way what could do tell God see each time dance I want my hands out God, and save my guilty soul.

[46:35] Not what my toiling flesh has borne, and make my spirit whole. Not what I need or do, and give me peace with God.

[46:54] Not all that present sighs and tears can bear my awful load. My worth, the love of Christ, can ease this strength of sin.

[47:12] Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace with Him. Thy love to be your God, not my Lord to be.

[47:31] And with me of His heart, I'll rest and set my spirit free. Thy grace alone, O Lamb, to me can pardon me.

[47:49] Thy blood alone, O Son of God, and His storm on His grave. No other curse may lie.

[48:03] No other law will do. No strength without which is divine, can bear me safely through.

[48:17] I bless the rest of God. I rest on love divine.

[48:27] And with unfaltering, live and mark, my holy Savior mine. His cross dispels His love.

[48:41] I bear in His tomb. He's father, the unbelief and fear. He's made with shade of blue.

[48:57] I praise the God of grace. My justice, truth and might. He calls me His, I call Him mine.

[49:11] My God, I enjoy my life. His He will save the need. And freely by Him is.

[49:26] I love because He loved me. I live because He lives.

[49:37] Receive this benediction. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

[49:53] The Lord bless you. the Lord bless you next time. Thanks for your son's 마지막ed list. We hope God Narrated for you and God has horns for us.

[50:04] $om, please! From what you怎, in God's Do! The Lord bless you and go to your Son to be ! It's very useful, once you He always pray together, and I'll remove your tongue every day. Finally we Fa pied! You're the מהen man!

[50:15] And I'll sense his strength to be Weg.