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00:06 Good morning. It's great to be back. Uh this church has been such a blessing to me over the
00:12 past uh five months, 6 months, whenever, however long I've been in involved here.
00:18 So, I I enjoy coming. It's a warm place of Christian fellowship and and uh and I
00:24 really appreciate it. The last time I was here was maybe six or eight weeks ago. And if you remember that I was not
00:32 in very good health, right? Uh I had I was quite ill and and about six, seven
00:39 different things were going on at the same time and and I really struggled through my sermons. But uh praise God, I
00:45 I hope you use those. So, you know, it it kind of reminded me of this gospel
00:50 track. If anyone's familiar with the four spiritual laws that Campus Crusade for Christ, Bill Brightite, developed
00:56 back in the 50s, the the first law is uh God loves you and has a wonderful plan
01:03 for your life. Now, is that a law? Uh I think so. But when we think about God's
01:10 wonderful plan for our life, it may not always be wonderful according to our own
01:16 perception, right? God's plan for our life may not be what we ask for. It may be giving us things that we would rather
01:23 he not give us, but we trust in God's sovereignty that he only gives us what
01:28 is best for us and what we need. And that was by and large the the message of my sermon on suffering uh the last time
01:36 that I was here. And I'll give a bit of an update. Um, you know, I for for
01:41 whatever reason, the Lord has chosen this season of my life to be one of continual suffering. And I've had an
01:49 extremely difficult last six or eight months and was just sick over and over
01:55 and over. And each time it was worse and worse and worse and took longer and longer to recover from, and there was a
02:01 shorter and shorter time before the next sickness came. So that's God's wonderful
02:06 plan for my life at this moment. But for those of us who believe that God is good and God is sovereign, uh we can receive
02:14 these gifts from him with open hands, knowing that this is exactly what we need. And I can tell you that my faith
02:21 has been uh uh challenged and it's been strengthened as it never has before in
02:28 my life during this season. And this culminated about 3 weeks ago
02:34 when I experienced the worst round of sickness that I've ever had in my entire
02:39 life. Uh my body was laid low to put it lightly. I was in bed day and night for
02:47 five or six days with an extraordinarily high fever. I couldn't eat. Uh I could
02:52 barely sleep. I had no energy. It was not a nice time. And after I I regained
02:59 a a bit of energy, I literally drugged myself to a car and went to the hospital
03:06 to get a blood test because I thought something serious has to be going wrong. I've been sick so many times. So I go
03:12 get a blood test and later that afternoon the results come back that uh
03:18 I have markers for several proteins and different things in my body
03:24 that are associated with lymphoma cancer. Okay. So I hear this and uh the
03:32 doctor orders a biopsy on my lymph nodes because my body acted like it has cancer. It responds to blood tests.
03:39 blood tests show that it ought to have cancer. And this is at the end of months of of suffering and sickness. So, two
03:46 weeks ago, Friday, so it's it's almost my anniversary here, I I enjoyed a a
03:52 luxurious night with six other guys in a room in in a hospital in Bangsar. And I
03:58 I saw a surgeon who sliced open my neck, took out a huge
04:03 lymph node, and I I was sent home, and I I waited upon the results. for a week.
04:10 And if you've been in this situation with yourself or with a loved one, you know, waiting on the results for cancer
04:16 is uh it's a time that uh you're really tested, right? You're really tested. So,
04:23 the week went by and I went into the office to hear the results and
04:29 good news, it's not cancer. Okay? Lots of people were praying for me all over the world. It's not cancer, but my
04:36 immune system is a is a wreck. and uh if this keeps up, it may develop into
04:41 cancer. So, that was good news. Okay, it was good news. It's not cancer, but but I'm not well. And you know, in the midst
04:48 of all of that time, when my body was destroyed, my will was destroyed. My my
04:54 faith seemed to be destroyed. I was laying in bed suffering. At one point,
05:00 it really hit me. Uh my body's failed. I have no strength. All I have is Christ.
05:07 All I have is Christ, right? And I I felt that with every cell in my body.
05:13 But I was reflecting on that the other day. All I have was Christ at that time of suffering. And then I I thought, you
05:20 know, do we really ever have more than Christ?
05:25 Of course, it seems like it when we have good health, wealth, prosperity, a successful job, but really, do we ever
05:31 have more than Christ? And I think as a Christian, we don't as a Christian, we
05:38 never have more than Christ. And I think that uh that's the main idea of our
05:44 passage here this morning when Paul wraps up his his letter in Galatians. He I put the main idea here from 6:14. Far
05:52 be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which
05:57 the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. So, as Christians, do do
06:03 we do we ever have more than Christ? Not really. He sustains us and the gospel is
06:09 all that we need and and Jesus Christ is more than enough. Right? As the the Chris Tomlin song went several years
06:15 back, Jesus Christ is is more than enough. But as Christians, do you
06:21 struggle with that? Right? Does Jesus seem like enough? Does the gospel seem like enough in your life? Are you
06:27 constantly tempted to do to add to the gospel, to perform for Jesus, to earn
06:33 his his acceptance, right? To do things that make yourself look good before
06:38 others, to add to the gospel. And I think, you know, you you've been in this series in Galatians for I'm not sure how
06:44 long, but a while. And this is Paul's message over and over and over in the book of Galatians. You cannot add to the
06:50 gospel. The gospel is enough. And we're all tempted to add to it. But when we
06:57 take the gospel plus Jesus plus, we cancel out the gospel. We cancel out out
07:03 the gospel. So as Paul wraps up his letter here in 6 11-18, it's really a a
07:11 seven verse summary of the whole book. He begins in in verse 11, see with what
07:17 large letters I'm writing you with my own my own hand. And the common practice for the way that these apostles wrote uh
07:24 these letters that became the New Testament was often they had a a scribe or a secretary. They would sit down
07:30 together and the apostle would speak out loud. Would essentially dictate the the
07:36 letter to to the scribe and the scribe would write it out. But occasionally, uh, Paul would take the pen himself and
07:43 maybe write a few words or say, you know, I Paul with my own hand as a as sort of a seal that it was his his
07:50 official word from God, right? People could maybe recognize his hand handwriting. Maybe he wrote excessively
07:56 large like some people are are prone to do, whatever the case. So here Paul at
08:01 the end of uh of his letter, he picks up the pen and he begins writing out the
08:07 rest of of the letter, right? And I think uh perhaps Paul this got really
08:13 personal for him at this point, you know, and and he he had poured out his life for the Galatians and he wanted to
08:19 close with what to him was the most important thing which was a summary that Jesus Christ is enough that the the
08:26 gospel is enough. So, has this series changed you? You know,
08:32 you you've heard this message over and over and over, haven't you? Uh, throughout these weeks, constantly, Paul
08:38 is saying, you cannot add, you cannot add, the law does not save you, works does not save you, circumcision does not
08:44 save you, outward expressions of your faith does not save you. So, how has
08:49 this series in Galatians affected you? Uh, has it moved you away from measuring
08:54 your walk with God by your performance, your ability to keep the law? Has it moved you to clinging to Christ? Has it
09:02 moved you away from performance-driven Christianity? And has it moved you to gospel- centered Christianity? I hope
09:10 so. I hope you will will think a bit, take some stock of your life and say, "Has the word of God changed me over
09:17 this series?" And I hope that it has. So, that's how Paul begins. And then I
09:22 think he he divides this passage into into two main sections. One is the mindset of the legalist which he's being
09:29 reinforced all along and then the mindset of of the new creation and these
09:34 are diametrically opposed ways to approach God to think of Christianity
09:40 and this is the very essence of what the gospel is and this was this is uh the
09:46 summary of the whole book really right right here in the end. So the first point I guess if you call it that I
09:51 don't know that I want to talk about this morning is Paul describing the mindset of the legalists in 6:12 and 13
10:01 he says it is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised and only in
10:08 order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves
10:15 keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in
10:20 your flesh. So the mindset of the legalist, right?
10:25 These are people who must substitute morality, their own performance, their
10:30 own good works. They they substitute their own efforts for the cross and this
10:36 is how they attempt to live life. You know, and sometimes uh people who are prone to legalism, they they might do so
10:44 because they want to look good before others, right? If you, you know, seem to
10:50 be a a very godly person and you you read the Bible a lot and you're always talking about these kinds of things and
10:56 and you're telling people about how you give to charities and and you go out of your way to do all this, sometimes you
11:04 might be tempted to say things like that because you like the response that people give you. It makes you feel good
11:10 about yourself. If you're prone to live life and do and say things and act a
11:16 certain way and and maybe not do certain things around people in public, you
11:21 might be prone to a legalist mindset where you're driven by this desire to look good before others. So that's one
11:29 uh implication of the mindset of a legalist. Uh another one is is people want want to avoid the foolishness of
11:36 the cross and the ridicule and the persecution that it brings. It says in
11:43 the passage here that uh they want to make a good showing in the flesh and only in order that they may not be
11:49 persecuted for the cross of Christ. Right? This time in the New Testament there was the Judaizers. there was a
11:54 number of of people that were really struggling with how does uh Jesus fit
11:60 with the Jewish law, especially circumcision. And Paul, you know, he said, "You do not have to be circumcised
12:06 in order to be saved." But there was a number of influential men and women in in the Jewish movement that disagreed
12:13 with this and were trying to force people to add on to the gospel through this circumcision. And Paul would go
12:19 around to the synagogues and say, "No, you don't have to be circumcised." Jesus Christ is enough. And people hated him
12:27 for this. They beat him. They drew him out. They they persecuted him. So
12:34 if you didn't want that, you could preach the gospel, but add on circumcision. You know how I if I preach
12:41 the gospel, I preach Jesus, but I but I add on circumcision. You know, no one's going to get upset about this because
12:47 they're already believing that this is necessary. So what you've done is actually denied the power of the gospel
12:53 in order to please men and not be persecuted.
12:60 So can't do that, right? Paul said elsewhere, I endure all things for the
13:06 sake of the elect. And he did endure beatings and all kinds of persecutions
13:11 to preach the true and pure gospel that Jesus Christ alone is enough. So
13:18 sometimes, you know, in our lives, uh, we we want to deny the gospel possibly,
13:23 the way that we talk, the way that we act, the way that we speak, because when we talk about Jesus with our friends,
13:29 our family, our co-workers, have you ever been there? You know, they they start they they roll their eyes or, "Oh,
13:35 oh, here we go again." Right? Or they they want to uh make you feel,
13:41 you know, like less. I remember in college I lived on a on a dorm floor with about 45 other guys and I was
13:49 leading a Bible study in the basement of our dorm and everybody knew that I was
13:54 the Christian, right? I was the Christian and and I had it's like I had this this big mark on me and most of the
14:01 time, you know, people would would treat me all right, but every now and then they just took it upon themselves to give me a hard time, right? To give me a
14:08 hard time. And I didn't really appreciate that because they seem to be double-minded friends to me. But I remember one day uh all the way at the
14:16 end of the hallway was a dorm room with two guys who I've been trying to invite to this Bible study for a long time. It
14:22 was kind of like an alpha type Bible study. And finally, they decided that they would come. Okay. So, I go get them
14:30 so I can take them down to the to the Bible study. And I mean, you couldn't have orchestrated this in a better or
14:36 perhaps worse way. I start at the end of the hallway. We have to walk the whole length of the hallway, this gauntlet to
14:42 get to the stairs to go down the basement. I'm no kidding. Every single door along the way. All the residents of
14:49 my dorm floor stood in their doors and ridiculed us. Ridiculed us as we walked
14:54 by. Oh, Bible study. You're going to get Jesus, are you? All right, have fun with
14:60 that. Right. And it pretty much drove these two guys away. They couldn't stand
15:06 to face this persecution and ridicule, right? So, they didn't even go to the Bible study. It's like, man, you know,
15:12 that was tough. So, those of us who are Christians and who are who are uh wanting to share our
15:19 faith, we we're going to experience these kinds of things, right? And it's all too easy to just uh not talk about
15:27 it in order to not face this kind of ridicule. But that's in a way it's it's a legalist mindset. It's saying, "I
15:33 don't need Jesus in my life. Uh, I don't need the gospel in my life. I'm going to keep silent about the gospel. I'm going
15:39 to keep silent about Jesus." And it gives the impression that he's not important. He's not essential for
15:46 salvation. So, apparently in in some of these people that Paul was dealing with,
15:51 this is this is what happened. people wanted to add on circumcision so that
15:56 they could avoid the ridicule and persecution of the synagogues and the Jews that were in the area because when
16:04 when Paul said you don't need circumcision, he experienced ridicule and persecution.
16:12 Interestingly enough, uh legalism doesn't work. Have you have you tried
16:17 that? Have you tried to perform? Have you tried to earn your your way before God? you know, how how's this how does
16:23 that go for you? Right? How how many times have you maybe set out, I'm going
16:28 to read my Bible every morning for 15 minutes, or I'm going to do this, this, or that, or I'm going to stop doing
16:34 this, this, or that, and you really put your all into it. But how I mean, how does that go for you really? Right? We
16:40 we cannot keep the law. It's very clear throughout the whole Old Testament, New
16:46 Testament, we we can't keep the law, but people still keep trying. We see here in
16:51 verse 13, it's these are the the ones that are pushing all this this circumcision and adding the law into the
16:57 gospel. And and Paul says, look, even those who are circumcised don't keep the
17:03 law themselves, but they they they desire to have you circumcised so that they can boast in your flesh. So
17:12 all of us at some point are prone to legalism, but it just doesn't work. It just doesn't work. But what does it do?
17:18 Well, it lets you compare and boast, right? Legalism, worksdriven
17:24 Christianity, lets you compare your performance, your good deeds with others and maybe think you're a little bit
17:30 better than them. And people that are prone to prideful disposition will often point out the failures of others or
17:36 think that uh you know, I've done really well this week, right? I've I've not done these sins. I've I've done these
17:42 good things. So if some people are pride driven and they want to look at others and compare that you're doing better but
17:49 a lot of us are guilt driven which is a form of legalism as well. And for for
17:55 those of us that are that are guilt driven we feel like we can never measure up. We look around at our brothers and
18:01 sisters in church and we think ah they're so much more godly than me. Their faith is so much better. They
18:06 probably read the Bible and pray a lot more than I do. And I I need to I need to work harder at this. Right? I I I
18:12 need to read the Bible more. I need to pray more. This is what I need to do. Right? And as soon as you start to think
18:18 like that, you've become a a legalist. You're adding to the gospel. I have to do all the these things to somehow be
18:25 better to somehow earn the favor of God or earn the favor of my brothers and
18:30 sisters, the church. But legalism doesn't work. It doesn't bring refreshment, blessing, joy to our lives
18:39 that the gospel brings. It can only bring pride if we think we are doing so
18:44 well or despair and hopelessness if we feel like we're failures. And the gospel
18:50 says no to both of those, right? No to both of those. So some legalists, you
18:56 can see that they're they're driven by fear of rejection. Fear of rejection. They're afraid of the opinions of others
19:04 in their church and in their workplace, in their home. They're they're driven by
19:09 fear and criticism. Uh I'll be honest, I I struggled with this uh just two days ago. So I teach at
19:17 Methodist College in the American degree program and some time back they had uh
19:22 set up this Christian fellowship camp, CF camp, and they they asked if I would speak at it
19:30 right before I knew the topic. Never never never agree to speak at something before you
19:36 know the topic. Okay. I said, "Okay, sure, whatever." You know, I I I'll be happy to serve. And it was sometime
19:42 later I found out the topic undivided, which was nice. But it was five sessions
19:48 on the most divisive issues in the history of the church. Where did all these denominations come from? You know,
19:55 why is there so many church splits in the world? Why do some people interpret the Bible literally and others not? Is
20:02 aren't there errors in the scriptures? How do we know this? Session two. Session three, Calvinism,
20:09 Calvinism and Armenianism. Does God save us? And what's our role in this? Uh, session four, what about the gifts of
20:17 the spirit, right? What do we just think about speaking in tongues and healings
20:23 and prophecies and dreams and visions and words? Words from God. Session five,
20:29 the sacraments. You know, who takes them? Does baptism save us? What about the Catholic view of the sacraments?
20:37 Fun times, right? So, I don't know how you there's no way. I mean, there is no way. And and my my goal, so they said,
20:44 was teach on the most controversial his uh topics in the history of the world, but do so in a way that brings everyone
20:50 together so that we can see how much we have in common. I'm like,
20:56 okay. So, I give it my best shot, right? And after the the the session on
21:03 Calvinism and Armenianism, God's sovereignty and and does he choose us to be saved? Do we choose him? All this. I
21:11 mean, I tried my best, you know, but I I had half the group furious at me. Oh,
21:17 you you know, you were so biased towards your position and all this and and uh
21:23 the other half was furious that I was biased towards the other position, which I was like, okay, how can I be biased?
21:30 and have an agenda to prove one side or the other when every half of you think I was trying to prove one and the other
21:35 and the which that's actually what I was trying to do. I was trying to present both sides objectively. It's almost
21:41 impossible. All right. Anyway, what am I getting at here? Fear of rejection, fear of man, you know, legalist mindset. All
21:49 this criticism I started, of course, nobody in, you know, it's it's Asia, they don't come up to you and say, "That
21:54 was terrible. Uh, you were unfair. You're biased. I hate you." But of course, you hear about it from everyone
22:01 else, right? We call this indirect communication. But
22:06 it still smacks me in the face when I hear it, right? And I struggled, you
22:11 know, when you fe when you get criticism from your employers, your family, your
22:16 church members as pastors. I mean, people are always criticizing you as a pastor. You know, oh, you should have
22:22 done this or you you you know, you preach too long, you preach too short, whatever. It's tough and we can fall
22:28 into this legalist mindset where criticism just affects us so much
22:35 because it's like it attacks the core of who we are, right? It shakes our
22:41 foundation. At least that's what happened to me. I I wanted to argue back. I wanted to defend myself. I wanted to basically make myself look
22:48 good after this Christian fellowship session. What I wanted to say was, "No, no, no, no. You were wrong. I wasn't
22:55 biased. I didn't do that. And then reexplain it again and again and again until I beat them into submission.
23:02 Right? But then I thought, you know what? I have Jesus Christ. My foundation
23:07 is firm. My foundation is secure. Uh it doesn't matter what people say about me.
23:13 It doesn't matter what people think about me, if I did a good job or not, if I was biased. I mean, I I went at this
23:19 as as best as I could. And you know, I told my wife, I said, "At the end of the
23:24 day, I felt like Martin Luther. Here I stand, I can do no more." Right at the
23:29 at the Reformation when people wanted to kill. So that's that's legalism. That's legalism.
23:36 When you're driven by the fear of man, criticism of others, where it really shakes you and you you want to respond
23:43 to this and argue back and defend yourself. That's legalism. That's not
23:49 resting in the gospel. that saying it's not enough for me to be accepted by God because of the gospel. I need to be
23:56 accepted by everyone else. Everybody needs to think I'm so great, you know, and when they when they have a problem
24:01 with me, it crushes me, right? That's the legalist way of living. So, some
24:06 legalists are driven by fear and rejection from others. Uh some are driven by love of praise, right? we we
24:13 you know you you're not actually doing this but somebody's like oh you you're the band the worship team you guys
24:20 sounded really good today right and secretly inside you're like yeah you know tell me more I like this right tell
24:26 me more and uh we we just love to secretly often we love to be recognized
24:34 for our actions right we we we we crave this recognition when we do something we
24:40 want our boss to notice us and tell us how great of a job we did. We want our spouse to know something. Now, as
24:46 Christians, we we ought to be encouraers, right? We ought to sh to, you know, to compliment people and to
24:52 say, "Wow, you know, praise God. You you guys did great today. Praise God, pastor. That was a a great sermon. Thank
24:58 you for that." That's fine. But there's a there's a fine line in there when we're receiving this praise. And and all
25:04 of a sudden, our heart perks up. It's it tickles our ears. It sounds good, right? We want this. We want more, more, more.
25:11 And that's the legalist mindset. It's saying, "Look, Jesus Christ isn't enough. The gospel isn't enough. I need
25:17 the praise, adoration, the the affections, the confirmation of others,
25:23 the affirmation of others to make me feel good about myself." And that's the
25:28 legalist mindset that Paul was trying to crush in these churches.
25:36 So we see for legalists the cross is a stumbling block and a humbling block
25:42 right legalist they don't they don't want to be humbled and realize that the
25:48 gospel is enough they don't want to be humbled and say you know what I can't add to this performancriven Christianity
25:55 is not Christianity at all legalists they like to to do you feel driven to do
26:03 to add to earn And when somebody comes to you and they say, "No, rest in Jesus.
26:11 Rest in the gospel as our song. It is done. Your salvation is complete.
26:16 Rest in that. Glory in that. Boast in that." A little part of you says, "No,
26:23 it's not enough. It's not enough." And it and you stumble over the simplicity, the utter simplicity of the gospel.
26:30 People don't like that. That's why they say Christianity is a crutch. It's It's for weak people. Yeah, it is for weak
26:38 people. I'm weak. I can't do it. I never can do it. I'm a failure. But Jesus
26:44 Christ never failed. I am weak, but he is strong. So, it's a stumbling block to
26:52 the world. But for us who know the power of the gospel, what a comfort. What a comfort.
26:59 So Paul addresses first the the mindset of the legalist, those who are wanting to add on to the gospel and then he
27:07 addresses the the mindset of of the new creation which is in opposition to the
27:12 mind of the legalist. Verse 14 after he just said all this about people adding on to the gospel. But far be it from me
27:20 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. So
27:28 Paul says look I I have Christ and that
27:34 is enough. I have Christ and that is enough. He says the world is crucified
27:40 to me. What does that mean? I think it means look the the world in all of its pleasures, fame, glory, riches. It
27:49 doesn't have power in my life anymore. I don't live for the praise of others. I don't live for that title. I don't live
27:55 for that promotion in my workplace. I live for Jesus. The
28:01 world and all of its pleasures is they're crucified to me. They don't control me. They don't bind me. You
28:07 know, they I'm not a slave to to my job anymore. I'm not a slave to these things, but I have Jesus Christ. Money,
28:15 title, prestige, honor, man's praise. These things, they don't hold my
28:20 affections any longer. But Jesus Christ holds my affections. In fact, the world
28:25 and its pleasures, they're a waste. It's an empty pursuit. You know, Solomon says
28:31 that it's it's vanity. Utter vanity. He he tried everything that the world had
28:36 to offer. Hundreds and hundreds of women uh all the money that you could ever
28:42 think of, food, luxuries, banquetss, dancing, singing, he had it all. And at
28:49 the end, he said it's all vanity. It's it's just like the a vapor that vanishes. And for Paul, this is what
28:56 he's he's realized. The world holds no power for those who have been crucified with Jesus. It doesn't control us. It
29:03 doesn't control us. It's a waste. It's like rubbish to me compared to the surpassing glory of Jesus Christ. So the
29:11 world is crucified to me. It holds no power over me. But the flip side, I as a
29:17 Christian am crucified to the world. What does that mean?
29:22 Well, if the cross looks foolish to the world, uh a cross boaster, a Christian
29:28 looks foolish to the world. Does he not? Does she not? This is my whole life in
29:35 ministry in some people's eyes. Uh you know that when I I've had some mishaps
29:42 in my day. When I was 14 years old, my skull was crushed by a brick. You can see this bad haircut I have right now.
29:49 You can the scars here. And all these bone fragments punctured the membrane around my brain and and drove into my
29:55 brain and caused all these uh you know blood problems. And I went to the the
30:01 hospital in my hometown, which is really small, and they didn't realize my skull was crushed. So, they just gave me eight
30:07 stitches and sewed up the skin. Well, I go home and over the next 5 days, my head and my face was swelling up and uh
30:16 I didn't know this, but what happened was all of the the blood vessels that were pierced from those bone fragments,
30:23 a blood clot started developing that turned out to be 1 kilogram and was half
30:28 the size of my skull. So, my brain was compressed to half its normal size. I had this huge blood clot, all this.
30:34 Anyway, I go back to the hospital looking like some kind of psycho from, you know, a horror movie. And the
30:40 doctors are like, "Oh, something's not right there." And they do a CAT scan and they see this blood clot. And then I get
30:46 rushed to for emergency brain surgery where they saw my skull open, you know, and tilt it forward like this and pull
30:52 out this blood clot, tilt it back, click, and screw in six titanium clips.
30:58 give me 97 stitches and uh a month of life that was lost. You know, I don't
31:04 remember any of it. It took me a month to recover anyway. Um
31:09 yeah, so uh yeah, I I've had uh I've had many many
31:16 mishaps there. But after that, I had to go through all these psychological evaluations and to see if I had brain
31:22 damage. And I didn't. I was sitting with my parents. The doctor said, "Look, this young man, he's gifted, he's talented,
31:29 he's smart, he's got no brain damage, and he can do anything he wants in life.
31:35 The world is his oyster, you know." And that's seated in my mom's mind. Ah, he he he's going to go places. And she
31:42 started in her mind developing what that meant, right? And I go to college and uh
31:49 halfway through college, I decide that I was called into ministry. And I break this to my parents, right?
31:57 What a waste. You're gonna What a waste of your life. What a waste of your talents. Don't you remember that doctor?
32:04 You can do anything in life. You're going to be a a missionary. What a
32:09 waste. Some years later, you know, I graduate from one of the most prestigious seminaries in the world, and my dad
32:17 asked me, "Uh, so would would Harvard hire you?" And I said, 'Well, I don't think so, but
32:25 it's because my seminary and me actually believed the Bible and their divinity school doesn't.
32:32 And that was all it took. You know, he he wrote off my my seminary. He wrote
32:37 off a PhD. It was it was worthless. A waste a waste of I mean, a waste of his
32:43 life. He worked his whole life so that we could have anything we wanted as his kids, right? That that's what drove his
32:48 life. And when I didn't do all the things that he thought I should do, I
32:54 died to him for a time. Right? And this is what Paul's talking about. I'm crucified to the world. The world looks
33:01 at a cross boaster. You're an idiot to them. What? Why don't you want to earn
33:07 more money? What do you mean you gave up this job here to go live in Malaysia? This doesn't make any sense to the
33:13 world. This is the same world that crucified Jesus, right? It's the same
33:19 world that crucified Jesus. And and when we are crucified to the world and we
33:24 boast in the gospel, we are foolish to people. People think we're a joke.
33:29 People think that our life is a waste, that our life is rubbish. This is the very thing that Paul said of the world,
33:35 right? And this is sometimes what we experience from people when we boast in
33:41 the cross. When we boast in the gospel, a cross boaster looks foolish to the
33:47 world. But this is the mindset of the new creation. Verses 15 and 16, uh, for
33:55 neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule,
34:01 peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. So Paul says, you know, neither circumcision or
34:07 uncircumcision, I mean, whether you you're it doesn't matter. What matters is a new creation. That you're born
34:14 again. That you know Jesus. That the Holy Spirit has sealed you. That your dead soul as described in Ephesians 2
34:21 has been regenerated and brought to life because of what the spirit has done in
34:26 you. That's what counts. Not circumcision, not uncircumcision. And this reiterates two parallel statements
34:33 in in 220 and 56. Again, Paul is summing up the whole book in this in these last
34:38 verses here. circumcision, uncircumcision, these don't save you. These don't add to your standing before
34:44 God. These don't give you extra spiritual power. These external things, they don't really matter. What matters
34:50 is that you're a new creation in Christ. And this is the new Paul who used to
34:56 boast in his ability to perform, to keep the law. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a
35:02 Pharisee among Pharisees. And that was his boast for probably 40 years of his
35:07 life. And he was the best. He was the best at keeping the law. And at the end
35:12 of the day when he met Jesus, he saw what an utter delusion I was under. And
35:17 he calls himself the chief among sinners. Now he boasts in his weakness, not in his ability to do. This is the
35:25 new Paul. He's no longer a Pharisee. He's a he's a c cross boaster. He depends on Christ. He walks humbly. He
35:33 brags, all right? But he brags in Jesus, not in his own goodness and abilities.
35:38 He boasts in being dead to the world. This is the new Paul. This is the new
35:43 creation that is available for all who trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. This is the
35:50 life of joy. This is the life of contentment. This is a life where no
35:56 matter how bad you've done or how good you've done, you go to bed at night and
36:02 you sleep because you know you belong to Jesus. And it doesn't matter what people think of you, you failed, but Jesus
36:10 Christ is enough. And you sleep to sleep of one who belongs to Jesus. And this is
36:15 the new creation. And I think this is the rule that's referred to in in 6:16.
36:21 This is the new creation brings mercy and peace with God. Performancedriven
36:28 Christianity rejects the mercy of God. And it certainly doesn't bring peace to
36:33 our life. We are either filled with pride from our ability to do or we're crushed by guilt from our unability to
36:41 do. And it's nothing like the sweet peace that we have when we believe in the gospel. This is the mindset of the
36:49 new creation. You're familiar with the matrix, right, from some years back. Uh,
36:54 this is the choice, right? Paul lays out these two lifestyles. Do you want the mindset
37:01 of the legalist where you're constantly on a roller coaster, you know, up and
37:06 down, driven by how well you've done at keeping the law or how badly you failed?
37:12 Are you driven by the the desperate need for people to affirm you and you're crushed when they don't when they
37:18 criticize you? Do you want the hand of worldly pleasures, luxuries, and comfort that ultimately leads to despair,
37:24 destruction, and death? Or do you want the hand of crucifixion which leads to peace and mercy with God? And this is
37:31 this is the two lives that Paul lays out here at the end. And this is what he struggled for lot of his life to defend
37:39 and to teach the the Galatians and others. So this is the two mindsets that he that he presents.
37:52 And then curiously, and I'd like to skip this. In fact, lots of people do skip this when they teach this. He throws in
37:57 this odd phrase, but uh in case you ask about it, I want to make some comment. Verse 16. And in all, for as all as for
38:05 all who walk by this rule, this is this new creation living. Peace and mercy be upon them. Okay, we're good now. And
38:12 upon the Israel of God. Whoa. What's that mean? Right? Why does he just throw that on? Well, I don't really
38:18 know, but uh I thought about this a bit. And you know, this this could be an entire sermon. We're not going to get
38:23 into all this theology of Israel, but uh possibly he's referring back to Galatians 3:23-29
38:32 where he says this, "Now before faith came, we were held captive under the
38:38 law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed." This was Jesus. So
38:43 then, the law was our guardian. uh until Christ came in order that we
38:48 might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus,
38:54 you are all all you all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as
38:59 were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There
39:05 is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's
39:12 offspring, heirs according to the promise. And just before this, he went through all this theology of Abraham
39:18 from the Old Testament. So possibly he's referring to all people, Jews,
39:23 Gentiles, Israelites, the non-Israelites. We're all found in Christ, the true Israel and the faithful
39:30 one. And he kind of narrows this down. He says, "Now that the gospel has come, there's no distinction between ethnic
39:36 Jews and Greeks. were all one through faith in Jesus Christ. And even though
39:42 for a lot of the Old Testament, it appeared that, you know, who's going to be Abraham's offspring. Well, eventually
39:48 it was, you know, Jacob's offspring and Israel's offspring, Israelites. But now
39:54 that Christ has come, if anyone is in Christ, Jew or Gentile, you're in the
39:59 family of God. You're Abraham's offspring. You're the true Israel, heirs according to the promise. So possibly
40:05 that's what he means here when he says uh peace be upon you and upon the Israel of God. Perhaps it's just all who know
40:12 Christ. Or perhaps it you know Galatians was primarily written uh well anyway it
40:21 he may have had in mind Jews who had been circumcised because if you were Jewish you would have been circumcised a Jewish man but no longer boasted in
40:27 their flesh. So maybe he was presenting this argument for the new creation that circumcision doesn't have value. And for
40:35 those that understand this, peace be upon you, even upon the Israel of God, even upon those who formerly relied in
40:41 their circumcision and trusted in that, now you're trusting in Jesus, the new creation. So peace be upon you, too,
40:48 Jews and Gentiles. Uh could be either one. I'll just leave that there. Either way, those experiencing the new creation
40:53 have peace and mercy with God.
40:59 All right. So now he concludes uh from now on let no one cause me trouble for I
41:05 bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Perhaps the Galatians have been giving him a hard time. We know we don't really
41:10 know. I know in 4:16 he says, you know, have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? And he spends a
41:18 significant portion of a small book defending himself and his right to tell him these things, establishing his
41:24 authority as an apostle. Maybe he's tired of all that and just wants him to listen to some good news and some good
41:30 sense and says, "Look, I've suffered enough for Jesus and for you. So just listen to me. Stop giving me a hard
41:36 time. Just listen to me." He's look, I bear in my marks the body of Jesus. Come on, just listen to me. Could be. All
41:42 right. All right. So, some application as we conclude here. Uh, it's sort of a
41:48 a two the two ways again. Are you tempted to try and make a good show before others? probably at some
41:55 point all of us are of your Bible knowledge, right? Your Bible knowledge,
41:60 your your spiritual disciplines, your prayer life. You know, I I'm privileged to be friends with some of the uh the
42:07 the best Bible scholars in the world. Not because of anything in that I've done and in me, but I I know them.
42:14 They're good, godly men. And you know what? You would never know they were worldrenowned Bible scholar. In fact,
42:19 one of them has a a funny phrase where he, you know, for for when he preaches,
42:25 he doesn't really, you know, cite the Greek and all this, even though he's an expert in Greek. He says, "Look, I do
42:30 all that ahead of time, and when I get up to preach, uh, you know, Greek should be like your underwear. It's there for
42:36 support, but nobody should see it in public." So, when he preaches,
42:42 you wouldn't know he's a worldrenowned Bible scholar, right? He's not showing off his Bible knowledge. But some people
42:47 like to do that, right? They like to constantly bring up how they, you know, they've done all this and this and this.
42:52 Well, people, are you trying to make a good show before others? Do you crave the affirmation of leadership or others?
42:58 You know, or do you make trouble for others who attempt to point out your sin and pride, right? Uh could be, right?
43:05 This is a legalist mindset. If if somebody says, "Look, I I seem to see some pride in the way you you're
43:11 speaking." Uh and you get offended by that, right? You're probably guilty of
43:16 the very thing that your brother or sister was trying to bring before you. Or do you find your satisfaction in
43:22 Christ? Do you rest in Christ? Do you not need to be driven to please others and gain their applause?
43:29 Do you fear rejection and persecution from others more than you cherish the cross?
43:36 You know, if so, you might keep quiet about your faith around some kinds of people and even be pulled into
43:42 activities, you know, at work, discussions. This is like the the filthy talk and
43:49 slander, things like that that you'd rather not, but you're afraid to stand up for your faith because you know
43:55 you'll be ridiculed. So, you go along with it or you sit there in silence, right? Because you're afraid of the
44:00 fear. I mean, you you know the the fear of man here. This is a legalist mindset. You're not resting in the gospel, but
44:07 you're you're driven by you're molded by what other people think of you. So, you stay quiet. Or do you ex expect and
44:13 accept persecution for your faith because it's the same world that crucified Jesus?
44:21 Do you regard outward forms like circumcision or whatever else as the essence of the Christian life? You know,
44:28 how you dress, how you look when you praise. You know, this is always the joke about
44:35 Baptist churches, right? Nobody wants to raise their hands because what are people going to think about me?
44:42 Uh, you know, half of you, I I know you despise wearing the ties, but you're I'm not saying you're a legalist, but you
44:47 know, so you're in the bathroom before church tying your tie on because, you know, you'd rather not wear it, but you're supposed to. Some people can feel
44:54 extra good about themselves sometimes and how they dress. So, you know, are your public prayers lofty? Uh,
45:02 yep. Anyway, I I I can't tell you if you're being a legalist or not. That's the thing. That's the difficulty of it.
45:07 Only you know in your heart, right? And your brothers and sisters might know if they know you well. So anyway, do you
45:13 regard outward forms as the essence of Christian life? Or do you regard the new
45:18 creation, the gospel, as the essence of Christianity? Those who exalt themselves
45:23 can always clean up and look good on the outside, but that performance cannot cut
45:29 the root of pride that drives their legalism.
45:37 And finally, do you avoid the stumbling block and the humbling block of the cross by plowing through life on your
45:44 own, living performance-driven Christianity, constantly on a roller coaster with your
45:50 spiritual life dictated by how well you've kept the law last week, you know, how how many times you read the Bible or
45:58 what you didn't do. You know, I I remember in uh in college, I I struggled with this. I I had I think I was like a
46:06 borderline alcoholic probably when I was about 18 or 19 years old. I had been drinking heavily since I was 14. And I
46:12 became a Christian at 18, but I couldn't it was not I couldn't just give up that kind of drinking. It was it was too
46:19 strong. It took some time to weed that out. And I remember, you know, in the midst of this like telling myself so
46:25 many times, "Oh, it's it's been five weeks since I've gotten drunk this time,
46:30 right? Five." and and you can slowly start to kind of feel good about
46:36 yourself like this, you know, avoiding this sin is it I I I must do it, right?
46:42 And the and the better that I've become at avoiding it, the better I feel about myself. But eventually that crashes
46:48 down, right? And you sin or something, you know, some other sin comes up. And I think that that can lean towards a a
46:55 performancedriven Christianity, right? When you're when you're saying, "Ah, you know, I haven't done that sin and five weeks now, six
47:02 weeks now, right? And you feel good about yourself. So that you know, so if you fail, you're the lowest of lows. If
47:09 you've kept the law, you're the highest of highs. This is a sign that you're avoiding the the stumbling block of the
47:15 cross and living this performance-driven Christianity. Or do you embrace the
47:20 cross, boast in it even, and acknowledge your weakness, your failure, your
47:27 constant need for the gospel? Are you proud to be crucified
47:34 because your only boast is in Christ? That's the message that Paul brings us
47:40 throughout the whole book of Galatians, especially in these last seven verses. And this is good news. This is good news
47:47 for the sinner. This is good news for the saint. And this is what we need. And
47:52 I hope it's taken root in your life over these past weeks. It's not easy. We need each other. We need the church. And uh
47:59 we need the gospel. So let me close in prayer that God would give us the uh his
48:04 spirit to keep us close with him and and resting in the gospel. So let's pray.
48:12 Oh God, thank you for giving us exactly what we need in life. You do have a
48:17 wonderful plan for our life and primarily that centers upon the man Jesus Christ who died to unite us with
48:24 you that we might have forgiveness of sins. Lord, thank you that you know us
48:30 so well that we could never keep the law. We could never earn our way back to you. And Lord, you're not asking us to
48:36 do that. All you're asking is that we acknowledge our sin, acknowledge our failure, that we're grieved over our
48:44 inability to love you as we should. But what good news is the gospel? All that
48:49 you require of us, you provide in Jesus Christ and in the gospel. Lord, let that
48:55 sink into our hearts as good news. Would give us rest, joy,
49:01 mercy, and peace that we rest in the gospel. We don't add to it. We don't
49:07 take away from it. But Lord, help us to know, experientially know that Jesus
49:13 Christ is enough, Lord. And may that be all that we need whatever comes our way
49:18 in life. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
49:24 Thank you Dr.
