WWUTT 1798 Large Letters, Part 3 (Galatians 6:11-18)

A person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Jesus in order to be justified by faith and not by works, when we understand the text.

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. Well, we finish up our study of Galatians today with the final part of the message that we've been listening to.

Let me begin with Galatians 6, verses 11 through 18. This is the word of the

Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the churches in Galatia. See what large letters

I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.

For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the

Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. Here is part three of the message entitled,

Large Letters. Paul wrote to the Galatians with large letters, reminding them of the truth of the gospel.

The Spirit continues to speak to us through this letter even today, facing all the different false gospels that try to ensnare us.

In Galatians 6 .12 we read, It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.

See, here's the thing about a gospel of works. No one disagrees with it. The false gospel of good works offends absolutely no one.

If you say the gospel is feeding the poor, guess what? The world is going to belly up to the trough.

If you say the gospel is love one another, the whole world will say, Amen. Because the world's idea of love is to tell someone that their depraved desires are okay.

And if you say they're not okay, that's unloving. As long as you don't stand between the world and their sin, you can even buy them a pizza and entertain them for a little while and put on a good show.

And you know what? The world will love you for that. But when you tell the world that the wrath of God is coming against all sinners and it is only by faith in Jesus Christ that they can be saved, that is a loving message.

But you will be hated for it. That's what Paul is talking about here.

Those who came to the churches in Galatia preaching a gospel of works do so because they don't want to be persecuted.

But as Paul concludes this letter, I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. In other words, his own scars tell the story of what the true gospel will cost you.

You will be hated for it. Some of us will even face serious persecution for it.

But as Paul has said over and over, we share in the sufferings of Christ.

When the Southern Baptist Convention finds itself in a sex abuse scandal being covered by multiple secular news outlets and the president of the convention says something like, the core of the gospel is

God's commitment to protect the vulnerable, what this looks like is that such a statement was made to appease the watching world.

Why would any worldly person want to disagree with a statement like that?

But as Paul said in Galatians 1 .10 at the start of this letter, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?

Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Back to chapter 6 verse 13, Paul says, for even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

In other words, these false teachers don't actually care about you. You're just a number on their scorecard.

And I think it goes without saying that we Southern Baptist churches, we love our numbers.

I hear it at every Southern Baptist gathering that I go to, whether it's a local, state or national, we're always talking about the numbers and hey,

I don't discount that. I don't look down on that in any way. I think it would be great if every seat in this room was filled with a person.

I would love it if we were dunking people in the baptistry every weekend.

But if we desire these things, if this is what we desire as a church, preaching the gospel, adding to our numbers those who turn from sin and believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ, coming and attending church here, getting dunked in our baptistry, if these are the things that we desire as a church, let us desire them for the right reason, not to make us look great, but because we rejoice to see

God being glorified among His people. In verses 14 and 15,

Paul says, but far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our

Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

I am reminded again of Galatians 2 .20, where we read, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer

I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh,

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, we no longer live to ourselves. We certainly no longer live according to the passions of the flesh.

And let us not live in any malice toward one another and let us not treat each other with prejudice.

How shallow and how unchristian is it to judge anybody by their appearance, let alone the color of their skin.

We do not need secular philosophies to diagnose the problem that exists in mankind.

We know what the problem is in mankind, it's sin. And the only solution to it is the wonderful, loving, gracious gospel of our

Lord Christ who died for us so that we would not perish in our sin, but we would be clothed in his righteousness and we would have fellowship with our heavenly

Father. That message has brought us together.

That message has saved us and it will save a perishing world. Hold fast to the true gospel of Christ.

We used to be dead in our sins and our transgressions in which we once walked, but that old man or woman is dead and gone.

We have been born again to live for Christ. Colossians 3 .10,

we have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of our

Creator. Verse 16 says, and as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the

Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble. As Paul is saying, please don't let me hear about this nonsense from you again.

Repent and return back to the true gospel. You ever said as a parent, don't let me tell you again.

Well, you say that because you want your child to do the right thing so that they may not have to be warned again or therefore punished for the wrong that they continue to do.

And that's what Paul wanted for the churches in Galatia. For I bear on my body, he says, the marks of Jesus.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. He doesn't start the letter by calling them brothers, but he ends the letter that way so that they may know he has no animosity toward them, but only affection and love.

As we bring our study of the book of Galatians to a close, let me ask you this.

Do you believe that Jesus is enough?

Does he satisfy your soul? Do you delight in the word of Christ and does it fill your heart with good things?

When your heart yearns, does it yearn for Jesus? Do you long to be in heaven above where Christ is?

Do you ask that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven? Are you seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?

All this past week at VBS, we've been teaching our children to store up treasures in heaven for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

And I put it also to you. Moms and dads, brothers and sisters, make

Christ your greatest treasure. He is the ultimate treasure.

Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

Well I hope that you enjoyed this series and that it was a blessing to you. This was one of my favorite series that I did, preaching through the book of Galatians.

And in fact, in playing some of these sermons, I heard from two people from my church back then three years ago, way back then, right?

It seems like it, ever since COVID has happened, it seems like we've already been through a whole other decade, right?

But anyway, a couple of people from my church contacted me during this series and said, boy, it's hard to believe that was just three years ago.

One of them said, I remember it like it was yesterday. And the other one said, it seemed like it was a whole age ago when we went through Galatians together.

Whenever I would finish up a series through a book in the Bible, I would have two more messages before we jumped into the next series.

One message would be going back through the entire book. So as we finished Galatians, we would have another sermon where I went back over the structure of the book and we would do a review.

And I would encourage everyone to bring a pen or a highlighter, whatever their favorite instrument was for highlighting key passages.

Bring it with you on that Sunday, because we'll go through this and together highlight or underline or star or put a bracket around some of those important passages that we considered in our study through the book of Galatians.

So that's one sermon I would do at the end of a study. The second sermon would be a

Q &A and it wouldn't even really be a sermon, but all the other elders would join me on stage and we would respond to questions from the congregation.

Now those questions wouldn't just like pop up from the congregation. They submitted those questions in advance, either on note cards or we received emails or something like that.

The questions that we would answer first would be those that pertain to the series that we just finished, in this case, the book of Galatians.

And then if we had opportunity and time, we would answer questions on other theology subjects.

Well, Becky and I do a Q &A on Friday. So if you have any questions, you can submit them to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

and we'll come back to those questions at the end of the week. What I'd like to do with the time remaining for this lesson is going back over Galatians very briefly here, looking at an outline, the structure of the book, and then highlighting some of those key passages.

So what is the main theme of the book of Galatians? I think that we've narrowed it down to understanding the gospel is you have been justified by faith and not by works.

The key verse in that then would be Galatians 2 16. We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified.

So what had happened in the churches in Galatia? They had come to believe in a gospel of faith plus works.

They still believe that you're justified by faith, but they also believe we are justified by doing works.

So they were pairing justification by faith with works. And Paul was saying, that's a different gospel.

And that's what he's confronting in these churches. The fact that they've so easily so quickly strayed from the sound gospel that was preached to them at the first.

And so I believe one of the first passages you may want to underline, the first pair of verses in Galatians is in chapter 1 verses 8 and 9, where Paul warns the

Galatians. First of all, he says in verse 6, I'm astonished that you've so quickly deserted him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another one. But there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

And so then Paul gives this warning, Galatians 1, 8 and 9, even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached, let him be accursed as we have said before.

So now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Now another verse that I have underlined is verse 10, because I use it quite a bit where Paul says, for am

I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man?

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul then shares his testimony about coming to the Lord Christ. I love verse 15, when he who had set me apart before I was born and called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his son to me.

So there Paul saying that before I was born, God had appointed me for this task.

And so for you and I, brothers and sisters, we were appointed for this faith.

God had called us to this, or he had predestined that we would be called to this through the gospel.

He predestined this before we were born, before the foundation of the world and through what

God had done in the apostle Paul, he says in verse 24, they glorified

God because of me. This was all the work of God, but because of what

God had done through the apostle Paul, many came to faith and glorified God because of what they had heard had happened in Paul.

Another great passage to underline Galatians 2, verse 16, the one that I quoted to you at the beginning, which is really the key passage.

This is the whole theme of the letter that Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia. But then also following that is verse 20.

And you surely know this verse and perhaps even have it memorized. I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

If you don't have that verse memorized, I would encourage you to do so. In chapter three,

Paul gives the example of Abraham, just as Abraham was justified by his faith and not by his works.

So we as children of Abraham are justified the same way. We are justified by faith.

In fact, salvation has always been by grace through faith, whether in the Old Testament or the new.

That's the argument that Paul lays out there in chapter three. So you'll want to underline in verse seven.

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

Underline also verse 11. It is evident that no one is justified before God by the law for the righteous shall live by faith.

Paul had quoted that verse also in Romans 117. At the very conclusion of that chapter, in the example of Abraham that Paul gives, he says in verse 26, for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith.

And then in verse 29, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

In chapter four, I've underlined verse four and five. But when the fullness of time had come,

God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

And you may want to add to that verse six. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying

Abba father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God.

Later on in chapter four, I've underlined verse 16. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Paul so passionately appealing for these Galatians that they would come back to the sound gospel that was first preached to them.

Is Paul doing this? Having become an enemy of theirs? He is their friend. He is a brother.

He desires to see them walk in truth. And so he appeals passionately contending earnestly for them.

Chapter five, verse one, he says, for freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

In verse seven, he says, you are running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

And in verse 12, I've underlined it because it is just such a strong rebuke. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.

Those who have been saying to you that you have to be circumcised in order to be saved. I wish they would go the whole way and just cut the whole thing off.

They would cut themselves off from the church rather than leading you astray. So he says in verse 14, the whole law is fulfilled in one word.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now the fruit of the spirit section is just so good that I drew a bracket around verses 16 through 26.

But you may want to underline the fruit of the spirit in verses 22 through 24. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Last couple of verses I have underlined are in chapter 6, verse 1. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourselves, lest you too be tempted. Verses 7 and 8, do not be deceived.

God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.

Paul's letter to the Galatians breaks up pretty evenly into three parts. You have in chapters 1 and 2, the gospel defended personally.

Then you have in chapters 3 and 4, the gospel defended doctrinally. And then in chapters 5 and 6, you have the gospel defended practically.

So that's an easy structure to remember. You have chapters 1 and 2, then chapters 3 and 4, and then chapters 5 and 6.

And the main theme that I had set forth from the very beginning and even finished with is understanding

Christ plus nothing equals everything. If you have this equation, Christ plus blank equals salvation.

Whatever you put in the blank is the thing that you worship, and you've created a false gospel.

So leave the equation exactly like that, Christ plus nothing equals everything.

We are completely satisfied in Christ our Savior, who is sufficient for our every need.

Amen. My friends, join me again next week as we begin a series in the book of Hebrews.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a

New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.