GALATIANS 6 WALKING IN GRACE GLORIFIES JESUS2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Galatians 6 Walking In Grace Glorifies Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. Galatians chapter 6 is where we are this evening and we're going to be finishing up the book of Galatians. Looking at verses 11 through 18 here of Galatians chapter 6.

And so let's begin by reading through the passage and then we'll get into Paul's closing thoughts here for the Galatians. Galatians chapter 6 verse 11 says, See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law.

Verse 17.

From now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Well, here we get to conclude this book of Galatians and this intense focus on the grace of God.

And the grace of God is that is found in the gospel message, but is not just for the beginning of our Christian walk, the beginning of our relationship with God, but is also essential for us to continue to walk in faith

as we develop and grow and seeking to draw near to God and walk with God and be pleasing to God and all that God has for us, that we need to continue to maintain this place of grace, this position of grace, that we would never approach God on the basis of our efforts.

That we would never seek to be right before God by keeping a set of rules or doing certain things or by staying away from certain things. That that would not be the basis for which we draw near to God or try to relate to God. But that we would always keep coming back to the person of Jesus Christ.

and his work upon the cross, and that we come to God, and that every blessing that we desire from God, every work that we want God to do in our lives, every need that we have from God, that we would always seek those by faith in Jesus Christ and his work for us. As Paul closes out the letter, he finishes out the letter writing it himself.

The rest of the letter, like most of his letters, was dictated. He was speaking it to somebody and then he said, give me that pen. And he wrote the rest of these verses, verses 11 through 18 himself.

to add his closing remarks, to put his signature on it, and to make one final push, one final emphasis on the reality of the grace of God and the importance of it. I've titled the message this evening, Walking in Grace Glorifies Jesus. As Paul finishes off the letter, he says,

He again continues to focus on the grace of God and the central place of Jesus Christ. In the plan of God, in the work of God, in the grace of God, everything revolves around Jesus unless

you are caught up in legalism. Unless you're caught up in a works-based relationship with God, then it doesn't revolve around and center around Jesus. And that is a key signature, a key distinguishing characteristic of legalism versus grace. And it's important for us as we desire to walk with God, walking in grace glorifies Jesus. And so we can always come back to use this as a reminder and as a test of

to where our hearts and minds are at with the doctrine of grace. Does my life, does what I believe, does the way I live, does it glorify Jesus? Well, there's four points we'll look at as we work our way through these verses. Verse 11 and 12 give us point number one, and that is legalism diminishes the cross of Christ. Legalism diminishes the cross of

Now, starting in verse 11, Paul says, see with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. And so this isn't really about the point of legalism or grace, but this is Paul now just introducing himself as the writer. He has been dictating up to this point. We don't know exactly who has been the actual pen, you know, meeting the parchment for him. Sometimes he introduces us to the person writing on his behalf and,

Usually, though, in writing a letter, he would just do one final verse or one final sentence or one greeting at the end. But here he actually spends some time and writes out this whole paragraph for the Galatians. And there's a couple of thoughts to consider along with that. As Paul is writing about and confronting the Galatians,

Judaizers who have been trying to sway the people to a works-based relationship with God, that Paul sees fit to say, look, this is my writing. This is what I say, you know, my signature on this and making sure that the Galatians know that it's, you know, it's well known that this is not somebody masquerading as Paul, but it's

that he, you know, indeed wrote this letter and approved the content of this book. In 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 17 says,

Paul writes to the Thessalonians and says, the salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle, so I write. And so he would sign, usually just, you know, a signature, just, you know, one last greeting or salutation, he says. And it was his signature, his mark to authenticate the letter, right?

And so he would do that. And so he's doing that here with the Galatians. But he also spends some time writing and recapping some of his thoughts, kind of summarizing his points about grace. Because the Judaizers, you remember from a couple times throughout the book, we saw they were kind of claiming that Paul agreed with them.

that Paul was now teaching circumcision, that Paul was calling people to circumcision. And so Paul here is going back and kind of summarizing these things with his own handwriting because he says, look, these things are important and you need to understand this is what I am teaching. This is what I believe. This is what the Lord revealed to me. It is a walk with God by his grace.

And so Paul authenticates the message in verse 11. And then in verse 12, he says, as many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. And so now as Paul takes the pen and begins his summary, he begins to speak about these Judaizers, these false teachers, these people who have come in and said, look, you need to start following the rules of Moses, the laws of Moses and

And Paul kind of reveals, he cuts open and reveals the motivation that's happening within the hearts of these people. He says, many has desired to make a good showing in the flesh. The people who are bringing this teaching, here's what their motivation is. They want to put on a good show in the flesh.

They want to put on a good show in the physical realm, in the earthly realm. They're looking to put on a good presentation, a good showing in the flesh. Their focus, Paul is saying, is not on the spiritual, not on the eternal, but it's on the flesh.

It's on the keeping of laws and rules and regulations. And these things Paul has been, you know, showing throughout the book that those things are the things of this life, of the flesh, not of the spirit. And so those who are desiring to put on a good show, they want everything to be in order. They want it all to line up and be nice and everybody to be, you know, kind of, you

all the same, you know, fitting in with their, their perspective and their idea. They're, they're wanting to put on a good show on the flesh. He says, these would compel you to be circumcised. Now the word compel, it speaks of a forcefulness. So there's the heaviness that they would come in and say, you know, you guys, you need to, and there was this great pressure being applied and,

But also this word compel, it speaks to some manipulation going on as well. It's not just a lot of peer pressure, but some manipulation, some deceitfulness, some working of the emotions. Don't you want to be right with God? Wouldn't you want to be more spiritual? And there was this manipulation of the people trying to get them

to become circumcised and begin to follow this works-based relationship with God. Now, if a person wanted to be circumcised, there was nothing wrong with circumcision in and of itself.

But the issue was whether or not that makes you or puts you in a better position before God because now you have become a Jew and so now you have better access to God. And Paul is saying, look, they're trying to convince you. They're trying to compel you and it's not beneficial, right?

It's not helpful. It's not what the Lord is requiring of you. So not only does that one thing not really help you, but it starts you down a path of works that keeps you from God. And so they're trying to just put on a good showing in the flesh. And when we get caught up in works and we're trying to get other people to follow our system or we're trying to apply our rules and regulations upon people, we're focused on God.

the wrong things. We're looking for a good showing in the flesh. But they're not just trying to put on a good show in the flesh. He also goes on to say in verse 12, their other motivation is they don't want to suffer persecution. And the reality is preaching the grace of God and the gospel of grace can and often does result in persecution.

You might remember the letter to the Hebrews that was written. And there's a great deal of insight there to kind of correspond with this. Because the Hebrews were Jewish believers who had believed in Jesus Christ, but were tempted to go back to the old covenant and try to relate to God on the basis of that.

And the author of Hebrews, you know, goes through great detail to make sure, no, no, no, don't, the grace of God and the relationship with God that we have by faith in Jesus Christ is far superior. But there's this implication throughout the book of Hebrews that applies here. And that is that one of the reasons why they're tempted to go back is because of the persecution. The other Jewish people around them,

would not be so offended by them if they were convincing people to become Jews. And okay, well, if you want to believe in Jesus too, you know, well, that's okay. You know, we prefer you didn't, but at least you're, you're getting people to be circumcised. And, and so there was a, you know, hey, we can fit in at home better. We can fit in with our own people better if we

participate with you and you guys are all circumcised. That there was this, you know, kind of self-protection. We don't want to be separated from our people. We don't want to experience persecution or separation or discrimination from our own people. And so in order to protect that, they were like, okay, well, let's try to do both. And so they

Believing in Jesus, but insisting on circumcision.

There's also some ideas that different scholars and commentators put forth that in the Roman Empire, Judaism was accepted as a religion and protected as a religion. And so there would be less persecution for that than for something new and different, which is what Christianity would be. And so there also would be persecution in the Roman culture for the gospel of grace and

as well as in the Jewish culture for the gospel of grace. And so Paul kind of cuts to the core of these guys. And he says, look, their focus is on the flesh to put a good showing on the flesh that they would not suffer persecution. And then specifically verse 12, persecution for the cross of Christ. And this is what it comes down to, the cross of Christ. And legalism is,

will always diminish the cross of Christ. Whenever there is an emphasis in our hearts upon works, upon our efforts, when there's an emphasis upon our failures that, you know, would keep us from God or our successes, you know, that should reward us before God. Whenever we have this works-based relationship with God, it is a diminishing of the cross of Christ that,

in our esteem, in our hearts, in our attitudes and minds. And they were, by their desire to put on a good show in the flesh, by their fear of persecution, diminishing the cross of Christ. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way. He says, "...all attempts to gain righteousness or favor from God on the basis of our good works is an essential rejection of Jesus's work on the cross."

That you can't have it both ways. And the Judaizers were trying to have it both ways. Our works are important and vital and making us right before God. And Jesus, he did good stuff too. And you can't have it that way. It doesn't work that way. To rely upon and trust in my own works is a rejection of the work of Jesus upon the cross. It's a diminishing rejection.

It's a reducing. It's a slight really against what Christ has done for us. And so walking in grace glorifies Jesus. That's the focus of our passage here this evening.

But first we see that legalism doesn't do that. Legalism doesn't glorify Jesus. Legalism doesn't glorify the work of Jesus. It diminishes it. It reduces it. It says Jesus's work is not sufficient. Therefore, you must keep these things. You must stay away from those things. You can't be right with God unless you, and there's all this, you know, whatever list that we come up with, whether it be our own list, somebody else's list, an Old Testament list, whatever it is.

If the work of Christ is not sufficient, we are declaring the work of Christ to be less than it actually is. And so legalism diminishes the cross of Christ. Moving on to verse 13 and 14, though, we get point number two, and that is grace magnifies the cross of Christ. So here you have the contrast. You dive into legalism, works-based relationship with God, and there's a diminishing of the value and importance of the cross, right?

When you come to God by grace and you trust in the work of Jesus Christ and by faith receive the work of Jesus Christ and you come before God, even though you're unworthy, even though you, you know, do don't measure up to all of the, you know, successes that you wish you could have had, or all of the victories that you wish you would have had, you don't measure up. Or even though you, uh,

fall short and fail, you know, repeatedly or miserably, but you still believe God at his word and come to God by faith in Jesus Christ and grasp hold of the grace of God, it magnifies the cross of Christ when you do that. Going on into verse 13, Paul says, "'For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.'"

but God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Grace magnifies the cross. And Paul says, God forbid that I should boast in anything except for the cross of Jesus Christ.

We need to be careful to never put ourselves in a position where we have something to boast of that is not the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I would suggest, you know, that this is something that every believer needs to have kind of an antenna up for, to be watching out for ourselves, that we are not in a place where we're giving ourselves credit for whatever God does in our lives, right?

Well, how do you have, you know, such an awesome marriage? Well, let me tell you, I work hard and I do this. And here's what, you know, here's my techniques. And well, how do you have this kind of thing? Or how do you stay away from those? How come you don't struggle with these things? Well, let me tell you, I'll give you my 12 point system, you know, and we can easily find ourselves in a place where we have something to boast of that is not the cross of Jesus Christ, right?

But when we begin to boast of anything aside from the cross of Christ, we have moved from the position of grace to the position of legalism. And there's a huge problem with that because what Paul points out in verse 13, not even those who are circumcised keep the law.

And it's kind of humorous for me to think about this, right? So here's this big push, right? This crowd comes in trying to convince and persuade and compel people to be circumcised. We need to follow the law of Moses. You need to become Jews and approach God by this way. And then come to find out, but wait a minute, you don't even keep the law that you're trying to persuade everybody to follow. And that is the reality for any type of works or legalism.

that even the strongest proponents of it don't keep it. And we can say that with great confidence because none of us can keep the law. And again, whether it's a Old Testament law or some law that is man-made, self-imposed, Paul points out in the book of Romans, we violate our own conscience, right? We can make up laws and we won't even keep our own system of laws. We just, we can't.

And so these Jews who were arguing fiercely and persuading people to be circumcised, they're picking out one piece of the law that is their favorite piece. And they're saying, look, this is really important.

While they're ignoring other parts of the law. And it was the same thing that the religious leaders did, right? Jesus continued to rebuke the religious leaders because they held on to their favorite pieces, their favorite parts. They liked the good showing in the flesh. There's lots of parallels between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the legalists that are found in Christianity as well.

And there's the, you know, this is my favorite part of the law, but I don't keep all of the law because nobody can. And so there is a failure. And if you don't keep all of the law, then you're guilty of breaking the law. And it's not a valid way for you to approach God because, well, you break the law. Even if you keep your favorite parts, you still break the law. There's some people today who insist we must keep the Sabbath.

And there is this focus on, well, the Sabbath, you know, it's holy and it's the seventh day and some people take it to farther extremes than other people, you know, but there is this, you know, singling out of this one thing as if all of the law rests upon that.

But that's not what all of the law rests upon. All of the law rests upon love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. That's the law. That's the law and the prophets, the summary of it all. But keeping the Sabbath? Okay, well, you can try to do that if you want to, but that doesn't mean you can keep all the rest of the law. It doesn't put you in any better position in relationship to God by the law, by the keeping of the Sabbath, because the

Well, even if you keep the Sabbath, you break all the rest of the laws. And so, you know, you can't approach God that way. Even those who are circumcised, not even those who are circumcised, keep the law, Paul says. But they desire, he goes on in verse 13 to say, to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. So they don't keep the law. But what they want is to be able to go and say, hey, I got Roman to be able to sign up for my system.

And Roman is now following me. He's my disciple. And, you know, I signed up these four people and I baptized these ones and I circumcised those ones. And, you know, all these people agree with me and they wanted to be able to go back and boast to all their circumcised friends about all the people that they got to join their club. Essentially, that's what Paul is saying here. They desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

Pastor Warren Grisby says their main purpose was not to win people to Christ or even to help the believers grow in grace. Their chief purpose was to win more converts so they could brag about them. And sometimes that happens within the church. There is some movement, some, you know, uh,

doctrine, some truth, some lie, you know, some thing that becomes really popular and there's this persuasion and everybody get on board and there is this attempt to draw people to themselves around one person or one thought or one group or a concept. The apostle Peter talks about false teachers and false apostles drawing people to themselves. This is not

helping us in our relationship with God and our standing before God. It's not a magnifying of the cross of Christ. It's a diminishing. But grace, when we throw all those things out and approach God in the way that he has prescribed us,

Grace magnifies the cross of Christ. And so Paul says in verse 14, but God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. All of those fleshly things, all of those fleshly principles and those earthly things and those legalistic things, I've been crucified to those. They've been crucified to me. We're dead. We're separated. I no longer have

I'm trying to approach God on the basis of those things. And God forbid that I would go back to have something to boast about except for the cross of Jesus Christ. Boasting in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ probably means something a little bit different to us than it did for the Galatians and Paul as he was writing this. Because the cross for us

We're very familiar with it and we've sanitized it in a lot of ways in our minds and in the emotions that we have tied to it. F.F. Bruce, a great commentator, he says this about it. He says,

It says, It says,

It wasn't commonplace like it is today. People didn't, you know, wear cross jewelry and earrings and necklaces and have it tattooed on their body. And, you know, it wasn't something that we glory in the cross a lot easier today than other people do. But we glory maybe more in the symbol more than the actuality of the cross. But the point is when Paul says he boasts in the cross, this was at a social cost, right?

This was not going to be popular. This was not going to be acceptable in, you know, all circles of society. This was not going to be something that everybody could get on board with and that even unbelievers would be like, oh yeah, that's good principles, you know, great ideas. No, to boast in the cross of Jesus, that was something that the world just did not understand because, well, the cross was so horrific. Pastor Gail Irwin says,

He always likes to challenge us to think about this a little bit. And so he says, you know, take your favorite hymn or song that speaks about the cross and put in some other type of execution method in there, you know. And so, oh, the electric chair, oh, the electric chair, where I first saw the light, you know, like he sings that song. And that maybe helps us a little bit to think about it.

But even the electric chair, you know, hey, in our society, we have very strict rules about even when we put someone to death, it has to be humane. It has to be, you know, as gentle as possible, essentially, right? The cross was exactly opposite of that. And so the electric chair gives us maybe a little snippet of an idea of what that was like, you know, for Paul and the Galatians in that day. But again,

but with not as much shame and horridness as it would have been for them. To boast in the cross, you know, sometimes we can be very weak on the cross. The cost for us is far less than it was for Paul and for the Galatians. Walking in grace magnifies the cross of Christ. It looks...

At the method, it looks at the event of the crucifixion, all of the shame, all of the horror, all of the pain and the agony and the injustice and says, Jesus went through that. He did all of that on my behalf. That work was so complete that all sin is paid for, past, present, and future, and that I can come to God now because of what Christ did for me there.

In talking about the cross in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul talks about the Jews and he says, the Jews want a sign. The Greeks, they're seeking after wisdom.

But we preach Christ crucified. So looking at kind of the two predominant cultures that they were dealing with, right? Greek Roman culture, they were looking for wisdom and they really honored and, you know, all of the philosophers of their day, they sought after wisdom. The Jews, they sought after a sign, right? The Jews were always asking Jesus, show us a sign. But Paul says, we preach Christ crucified. And to the Jews, he says, that's a stumbling block.

That causes them to stop and say, whoa, that's a horrible thing. You know, that is not something that they would be open to receiving. And to the Greeks, that was foolishness. Like they weren't as offended by it as the Jews were, but they weren't impressed by it either. It was like, you know, hey, you're telling me that the hero of your faith was executed, you know, in Egypt.

by, you know, the Roman government, you know, executed. He was put to death. He had committed some crime worth death and now you love him and you're following him and you're trying to get me to follow him. Like that's foolishness. Like what, like that's just nonsense. And so for the Jews, that was a stumbling block. For the Greeks, it was foolishness. But Paul goes on to say, but to those who are called, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Grace magnifies the cross of Christ.

And we need to keep ourselves in a place where we have nothing to boast of except for that our Savior, Jesus, who is God, who became man, endured the shame, the horror, the agony, the pain, the penalty of sin upon him on the cross on my behalf. And what more can I boast of? I cannot approach God with my efforts. And I shouldn't stay away from God because of my failures.

No, the value of the cross, the power of the cross, the importance of the cross needs to be magnified and we need to hold fast to that. The work of Jesus Christ is what it's all about. That gives us point number three, founded verse 15 and 16 this evening. And point number three is the work of Christ is what really matters.

In verse 15, Paul says, The work of Jesus is what really matters. Warren Wiersbe points out that

the name of Jesus is mentioned at least 45 times throughout the book of Galatians. That means that at least once every three verses, Jesus is referred to and talked about. You can see Paul is focused on Jesus throughout this letter. As he talks about the grace of God, as he refutes, you know, the efforts of approaching God by our own efforts or staying away from God because of our failures and

He is centering our minds and our hearts upon Jesus because the work of Christ is what really matters. And so he says in verse 15, in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything. If you're circumcised or uncircumcised, you don't have better or worse access to God either way. You don't have better or worse, you know, spiritual opportunity either way.

Now you could replace circumcision with any other act, you know, or work. So baptism. Well, I've been baptized and you haven't. That means I have better access to God than you do. No, that's not what it means. Well, I didn't sin today and you did. That means I have better access to God than you do. No, that's not what it means, right? You could put anything in there. It avails nothing in Christ Jesus, right?

Our efforts, our works, whatever, you know, we want to put in there. Well, I don't watch rated R movies. So that's why I'm more spiritual. That's why, you know, this is better in my life. That's why I have greater success. This is why I experience more blessing because I don't watch that. And you do. And so there's this, no, that's, that's not the way that it works. God does not relate to us. And we can't relate to God on the basis of our efforts, right?

In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. But, he says, a new creation. Here's what really matters. Not whether you're circumcised or not. Not whether you've been baptized or not. Not whether you've performed some ritual or whether you partook of communion last month or, you know, whatever. Not minimizing those things that the Lord has called us to, but also not maximizing them and making them the basis for relating to God.

No, those things don't avail anything. We still have the same access to God and same opportunity to walk with God. That's not what matters. He says, what really matters is a new creation, a new creation. So it's not about whether or not you've been circumcised or whether or not you've been baptized. What really matters is, are you a new creation? That's what matters. Now, how do you

Become a new creation. Remember Nicodemus asked Jesus that, right? In John chapter 3, Jesus and Nicodemus had the conversation about how to have access to God, how to enter into the kingdom of God. And Jesus said, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus is perplexed. Like, how do I do that? How can a man be born when he is old, he says? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born again?

Jesus, what you're saying doesn't make sense. How do I do that? And that's kind of the point. Can you make yourself a new creation? You know, sometimes we talk about someone reinventing themselves, right? And that usually just means, you know, they have a new attitude. They put on new clothes. Maybe they got a new job. You know, it's not a very deep level of reinventing ourselves. Can you make yourself a new creation? Can you just completely reinvent

transform yourself into something new and different? No, that's the point that Jesus is making. How do I enter into the kingdom of God? You must be born again. Well, how do I make myself born again? How do I, do I go back into my mother's womb? No, don't be ridiculous. You can't do that. It's not your efforts. How are you born again? Well, Jesus goes on to explain it's the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not something you do. It's something you receive. That's grace. You receive grace.

God's work in your life. And by believing in Jesus, you are born again by the Holy Spirit. A new creation. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, right? If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. This is the work that happens when we believe in Jesus. It's the work of Christ that is what really matters. And going back to Galatians 3, verse

Paul says, having begun in the spirit, will you be made perfect in the flesh? That's how you started, right? You were born again. And you were born again, not by some effort, not by something you did, but by receiving the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf, by believing God at his word and receiving that, you were born again. Now, for the rest of your life, the work of Christ is what really matters. Not your work.

not your efforts, not your measurement against, you know, some level or some system, not your performance of some, you know, method or rituals. The work of Christ is what really matters. It's not my efforts. It's not what I can do. It's not my failure to keep laws or rules or regulations either. What really matters is Jesus died upon the cross for me. I have been born again by the work of Jesus Christ.

By the work of the Holy Spirit. I have the promise of the Holy Spirit. I have the invitation into the presence of God. None of that changes whether or not I take communion this month or not. This Sunday is Communion Sunday, right? Hopefully you'll be here. Maybe you're going to miss. You still have opportunity to walk with God, to hear from God, to receive from God, to be blessed and to, you know, whether or not you partake, whether or not you...

There's blessings in partaking and there's, you know, things that God has called us to, but at the same time, none of those things rise to the level of now we are, you know, in a better place of access to God or better place of blessing before God, or we're able to walk with God in a new way. It doesn't rise to that level. The work of Christ is what really matters. That's

the thing that we must hold fast to. And so Paul goes on to say in verse 16, as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. If you can agree to that, it's the work of Christ that really matters. Paul says, peace and mercy be upon you. Hey, we may disagree about different things.

Maybe there's some other doctrines. Maybe there's some other ideas. There's some things that we, you know, we just have different perspectives on and we can think differently about it. No problem. As long as we both agree to this, it's the work of Christ that really matters. Not my works, not my efforts, but anybody who will come to this conclusion, it's the grace of God given to us on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ for us upon the cross.

Paul says, peace and mercy to you. Well, finishing it up in verse 17 and 18, we get point number four, and that is the gospel of grace is worth suffering for. Verse 17, Paul says, from now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Paul says, from now on, let no one trouble me. All right? I've made my point. I've established the truth.

This is the doctrine of grace. This is the gospel of grace. And I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Now this is not, there is some very ritualistic and kind of superstitious ideas of the stigmata, right? Like the actual wounds of Jesus appearing on people. Paul is not saying that he had the actual wounds of Jesus from the cross on his own body.

What Paul is saying is, I have believed, I have preached, I have held fast to the grace of God, and it's not popular, and it has cost me. I've been beaten, I've been hurt, I've been wounded, I've been scarred, and I bear in my body the fact that I preach the grace of God. It's the work of Jesus Christ that really matters, and I've suffered for it. I've always been impressed by people

what Paul writes in second Corinthians chapter six there in second Corinthians, Paul is dealing with another group of false teachers and not exactly the same, uh, as these Judaizers that the Galatians are facing, but, but these false teachers in a similar way are drawing people from Corinth to themselves and belittling Paul and, you know, trying to say that he's not really called and all of that. And they had one of the things that was, you know, uh,

noteworthy about these false teachers in Corinth was they had all these letters of commendation. All of these people testifying of how great they were, how awesome their ministries were, and how well they should be accepted and followed. And so they had all these public and noteworthy people saying, this is a good person, you should follow them and listen to them. And Paul in 2 Corinthians 6 says,

Takes a different approach. He says in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God. So they have these letters of commendation. And here's how they declare themselves to be ministers of God. And they have all these you know.

affirmative type things. Here's how we prove that we are ministers of God, Paul says. In much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings, by purity, by knowledge. He goes on and on and on in 2 Corinthians 6. And he says, here's how we prove that we are ministers of God.

And it's not by all of these accolades and awards and all of those things, but it is our willingness to suffer for the truth, for the message, for staying steadfast to the grace of God and the promises that God has given. And it's going to cost a lot. And so there's going to be sleeplessness and imprisonments and stripes and it's worth it. It's worth it.

The gospel of grace is worth suffering for. Earlier, we saw that these Judaizers in verse 12, they didn't want to suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Paul says, no, I'm going to suffer for the cross of Christ. The message of the cross, the gospel of grace, it's worth suffering for.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, beware of that religious leader who lives in his ivory tower and knows nothing of battling against the world, the flesh, and the devil, who has no marks to show for his obedience to Christ. Watch out for those who have no marks to show. Look, I have suffered for the truth. I believe the truth. I believe what God has said. I hold fast to the grace of God. And

It hasn't come cheap. It's cost me. Paul said, it's worth it. But these Judaizers, well, they weren't as convinced that it was worth it. And so they turned back to the law. They turned back to legalism. They turned back to their efforts and works and tried to persuade people so that they would not have to suffer persecution. It's a diminishing of the cross of Christ. Listen, when we hold fast to grace,

It magnifies the cross of Christ. It's foolishness to some people. It's a stumbling block to other people. But the reality of what Christ endured and the shame and the scorn and the pain, the penalty, that is what enables us to have access to God by grace. And so as we finish up this evening, walking in grace glorifies Jesus.

And we can always use this as a test in our minds and in our hearts to evaluate. As I've shared many times throughout our time in the book of Galatians, we have a tendency to be drawn towards works and systems and legalism. And maybe even with good intentions many times, maybe, you know, not with such, you know, intentions.

Things like the religious leaders here, you know, like we're just in our pride. You know, maybe we even genuinely are just trying to walk with God better. And we think mistakenly that we can if we go back to, you know, these things or apply this system and we can focus on that. And the problem begins to be revealed when we are no longer glorifying Jesus. But now we're glorifying our systems.

I used to struggle with that. I used to have that issue. I used to have that problem. And then I, and I, and I, and follow me and hear what I have to say. And let me tell you what I did, you know, and, and there's this boasting about things that are different than the cross of Christ. And the reality is we've turned from the cross of Christ to our own efforts and

Legalism diminishes the cross of Christ. It reduces the value. It says it's not as worthy and valuable as it actually is, but grace magnifies it. You know what? I'm not worthy of God to work in my life in this way. I'm not worthy of God to invite me in. I'm not worthy of hearing from God. I don't deserve for God to do this. I don't deserve to receive from God. I don't deserve, I don't deserve.

but by God's grace. It magnifies the cross of Christ. When I approach God and hold fast to drawing near to God on that basis, the work of Christ is what really matters and it's worth suffering for. So let's hold fast to the grace of Christ. And Paul concludes in verse 18 saying, brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. And I pray that for us. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

May you walk in the grace of God. May you always draw near to God on the basis of what he has done for you. May you never stay away from God because you don't measure up to some rule, some regulation, some system that you think is important or valuable. May you get up every day and throughout the day repeatedly

Call out to God, ask God for help, serve God, worship God, and seek to know God. And over and over and over again, do that on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done for you. That's the gospel of grace. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us, and I pray that you would establish in our hearts, Lord, this truth, this reality. And I pray, God, that you would help us to catch, Lord, is there anything in our lives that

Lord, we would boast of ourselves or our efforts or our systems instead of boasting in your cross and what you've done for us. Help us, God, to recognize those things, Lord, that we might turn from them and come back to the place of truth. And Lord, there are things that you call us to walk in and you do call us to obedience. And so those realities exist, but I pray that you would protect us, Lord, from making those things

into these new systems and new rules and new regulations. And now we're approved because we do, or we're approved because we don't. And now we're approaching you on the basis of our efforts. Help us, God, to see the distinction, to recognize the difference, and to keep in high esteem the value of what you have done for us. Help us to appreciate more and more, Lord, you and your work. Lord, that we would not approach you

Because we do or because we don't. Lord, we would come to you because you have done. May we boast in you as we walk in your grace. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.