Galatians chapter 5. You'll notice we're looking at verses 1-15. These verses basically compose a whole in the thoughts of the Holy Spirit as He is laying out for us this segment of the Word of God in Galatians chapter 5. We're going to be looking essentially though today at verses 1-6. We're not going to take the time to read this entire paragraph, but we will be looking at these verses over the next several weeks. Before we read the Scripture this morning, let's look to the Lord in order of prayer. Father, we come before You. We are thankful that You are a sovereign God, that every inch of this planet and every inch of this universe, which is vaster than even our human minds can comprehend, Every inch of it belongs to You. And yet, Father, in Your amazing sovereignty, You have allowed us as human beings this profound ability to relate to You and even to rebel against You. You've given us that freedom. And Father, I pray that by Your Spirit today, if there's someone in our midst today who has been resisting the work of the Lord in their life, And they've been living in rebellion. Maybe it's a Christian father who rather than submitting and doing what you would have them to do, they've been walking in the flesh and their lives have been governed and dictated by their sinful impulses and they're miserable because of it, that your Spirit would break through their heart and they would submit to Christ. Perhaps it's a person who has never believed and trusted in the grace of God. Your Spirit. would penetrate that heart today, that the love of Christ would set them free. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Galatians chapter 5, let's look at verses 1-6. Therefore stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. Do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. We studied that verse last week. And Paul begins to build on that thought concerning freedom with some contrasts that bring us into bondage. This bondage of a legalism that leads to oppression and repression. A legalism of thinking that we can be justified by our works. And so Paul says in verse 2-6, these verses that will really key in on this morning, Indeed I, Paul, say to you, if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he then becomes a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace. For we, the believer, for we through the Spirit are eagerly waiting for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love." You'll notice the The title of the message this morning is Britain Law. That is the Hebrew term. It is the Hebrew term which speaks of the covenant of cutting or the covenant of circumcision. And so today as we begin to look at these verses, Paul is really delineating as a contrast justification by grace through faith alone with a justification which is an attempt to justify oneself before God by the deeds of the law or by personal righteousness and he uses the covenant to Abraham, and that was handed on to Moses, Brit Millah, as a perfect illustration of an attempt of a human being to seek to justify himself by what he does. Now, you'll notice with me in verses 2-4, we have a counterfeit means of justification, which would be circumcision. In verse 5, we have the genuine means of justification, which is faith. When He says to us, therefore, we through the Spirit are eagerly waiting for the future hope of righteousness. There is a future orientation when we are ultimately made righteous and all of that becomes ours through faith. And so there's a counterfeit means, there's the genuine means. Now, we'll notice this morning as we talk about the counterfeit path, which is circumcision as a means to righteousness. You will notice what he says in verse 4, because here he is really clarifying this whole concept. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen, from grace. That is the counterfeit path. An attempt to be justified by the works of the law. Now the consequences of pursuing that counterfeit path are all through these verses. And there's four of them. I'm going to mention them real quickly. We'll come back to them. There are four consequences. If you're here this morning and you are attempting to be saved or be justified by what you do, this is what happens to you. Number one, Christ, His work on the cross, will profit you nothing. That's what it says in verse 3. Secondly, he says, you then become a debtor to keep the entire law. You can't pick and choose. The law is in the smorgasbord. It's not a cafeteria line. You go through and you say, I'll have a little of this and a little bit of that. If you choose the law as a system by which to be justified before God, you choose the entirety of it. You can't pick and choose. And so he says, you become a debtor to keep the whole law. Thirdly, you are estranged from Christ. And then lastly, he says, you then are become fallen from grace. We'll come back to those things a little bit later in the message. There's the consequences of pursuing the genuine path. That's in verse 5. We're not going to take a lot of time with that verse this morning, but the consequence is there is a future hope of righteousness. There's a hope within our heart based on the faith and the trust of the believer in Christ. The concluding argument is in verse 6 when basically what he says to us is, in Christ Jesus, circumcision does not matter. Uncircumcision does not matter. What matters is faith working through love. This is the very same thought as Paul will develop in chapter 6 verse 14. Read this verse with me. Notice what he says. In verse 15 of chapter 6, he says, for in Christ Jesus, Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. But what matters? A new creation. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come. Now here he is talking about a willful departure from the gospel of grace, which is a fearful thing. And that is why all through this letter he uses language that is extremely scary. When he says in Galatians 1, verses 8 and 9, even though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which you have received, let him be accursed. Now to begin with, we need to understand the counterfeit mentality in legalistic, ritualistic circumcision. And I want to contrast that for you this morning with what is done today. When we think of circumcision today, it is not Judaistic, legalistic, ritualistic circumcision. It is more along the lines of what we would think of as a hygienic circumcision. And the first thing I want to say about this as we begin to look at these verses, when he says in verse 2, I say, if you become circumcised, Christ will not profit you at all. And the first thing I want to say about that statement is, this is not a categoric prohibition. And what I mean by that is this. There are, as you read through the Scripture, you'll come to many places in the Bible where it says, Thou shalt not. Thou shalt not make unto yourself a graven image. Thou shalt not bow down before Him. Thou shalt not worship Him. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not steal. Those are categoric prohibitions. That is not what this is. If it were, if it were a categoric prohibition, than most men in the United States of America are on their way to hell. So it is not a categoric prohibition. Let me explain to you what it is for a few minutes this morning. Why don't you take the time, put a bookmark here in Galatians and go to Acts chapter 16. And I want to show you something in Acts 16. This is in Paul's missionary journeys. And I want us to understand this. It is very important we understand what Paul is talking about here. In Acts 16, I want you to notice Paul's practice concerning circumcision and its relationship to the Jewish covenant. In Acts 16, verse 1, it tells us, Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, which I don't know if you remember this. This is Galatia, the book of Galatians. Behold, there was a certain disciple who was there named Timothy. The son of a Jewish, a certain Jewish woman. From 2 Timothy chapter 1, we know that this Jewish woman and her mother are believers in Christ, Eunice and Lois. They raise him in the faith. They are wonderful people. They love the Lord. And so, there is a man named Timothy. He is the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. That's not a reference to his nationality. That is a reference to his religion. He is a pagan unbeliever. He has not accepted Judaism nor Christ. He, this is Timothy, was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted to have him go on with him. So Paul took him, notice this, and he circumcised him. Why? because of the Jews who were in that region. Because they all knew that his father was a Greek. Now, put that in your mind and go back to the book of Galatians. And I want you to go to Galatians chapter 2. And I want to contrast what Paul did with Timothy in this very same region. And then in Galatians chapter 2, in verse 3, we've already studied these verses. He says in verse 3, "...yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised." So, notice the change here in Paul's action. Timothy, he has him circumcised because of the Jews who were in that region. But Titus, who was a Gentile, he says, no, he is not going to be circumcised. And in fact, to circumcise him would be an attack and an affront on the gospel. Why the difference? 1 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul says this, in verse 17 to 20, and we're only reading a part of it. Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing. Uncircumcision is nothing. But keeping the commandments of God, that is what matters. Why the difference? Paul has Timothy circumcised because of the Jews, because Timothy, having a Jewish mother, was regarded by the Jews as being Jewish, but incompletely Jewish, because he had never been circumcised. He was forbade to enter with Paul into the synagogue and to minister there. And so Paul says, for Timothy to be able to minister with me, he needs to be circumcised so the Jews will allow him a platform of an opportunity to preach. Titus, who was a Gentile anyway, who the Jews aren't going to trust, they're not going to believe in, they're not going to listen to him. It doesn't matter. Circumcision doesn't matter. The keeping of the commandments does. Now, I want to illustrate. Go back to Galatians chapter 5. Here's the main point of what we're talking about. I want to illustrate to you this idea, because this is very foreign to us. When we think of circumcision and righteousness, this is a foreign concept to us. We don't really understand how anybody could think of circumcision as making someone right with God and being able to go to heaven. So I'm going to put a different word there. I'm going to substitute a different concept, and I want you to listen to this. And I want us to think of it in a way that we can relate to today. During the middle of the week, someone calls on the phone. And I answer the phone and they say to me, Tim, I want to be baptized. My first question, whenever somebody asks me they want to be baptized, my first question is always, why? Why do you want to be baptized? So the person on the other end of the phone says to me, Pastor Tim, I really want to be baptized because I want to go to heaven when I die. You know what I say to that person? My friend, if you are baptized, Christ will profit you nothing. If you are baptized, Christ will profit you nothing. If you are baptized with that mindset, then you are estranged from Christ. You are fallen from grace. Do you understand the reason? Do you understand the importance of this concept? If this person thinks that their baptism will save them, then they are sadly mistaken. Now, should you be baptized? Yes. But not any. Just any baptism will do. You must be baptized, and only God knows the heart, right? You must be baptized for the right reason and built upon the right foundation of faith. And if you are baptized for any other reason, then your baptism will rise up against you at the last day and will testify against you and say, damn him, for he was trusting in me and not in Christ. Because baptism doesn't save, neither does circumcision. Now, let's think about this for a minute. As we build on this concept, we need to understand circumcision. I did a lot of reading this week on the internet, on Jewish websites, about circumcision. I wanted to understand their mindset. It's called Brit Milah, the circumcision of cutting. The covenant of cutting. Now, when we think of this, when we think of circumcision in the Bible, we need to understand some things about it. First of all, the covenant of circumcision predates the Mosaic Law. It goes back to Abraham. It is the seal of the Abrahamic covenant. It is given in Genesis chapter 17. Greek chronology, Genesis 15, Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him to be righteous. Last week we talked about, two weeks ago, we talked about Hagar and Ishmael. That is in Genesis chapter 16. And it was a huge disobedience. on Abraham and Sarah's part. God comes in Genesis 17 and reiterates the covenant and He gives to them the covenant of circumcision, or the sign of circumcision, which in Romans 4, verse 11, the Bible says He received the sign of circumcision which was a seal of righteousness. It was a seal of His faith. By the way, that is why it is very picturesque of true biblical baptism. It is a sign and a seal of faith that predates it. Now, the second thing that's true about circumcision, it is a central tenet of the Levitical law. It is reiterated in Leviticus chapter 12, 1 through 3. Without it, a Jewish person was forbidden to enter the temple, the synagogue, or the place of worship and to be involved. And so it is a central tenet of Levitical law. It is also, all through the Old Testament, even in the New Testament, it is symbolic. It is a symbolic representation of a spiritual reality. That is why it says, even in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy chapter 10, in verse 16, Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. In the first century, in first century Judaism, we understand from the New Testament, the mindset. In Jewish tradition, there's a story that was written about this very same time when an evil Roman ruler comes to him, a Jewish man, his name was Ternus Rufus, comes to Rabbi Avika with a question. And he comes to the rabbi and he says to him, why do the Jews perform circumcision? If God wanted men circumcised, why would He not create them that way? And here's the mindset we need to understand. Rabbi Avica answers the Roman ruler. God provided circumcision as an act for men to improve himself. Something that even God cannot do for him. And that is the mindset. For it to be valid in Judaism, there are all sorts of regulations that will make it either effective or defective. It's not just circumcision. On one website that was very interesting was a question and answer by Orthodox Jews on why circumcision. Now we know biblically, we've already looked in Genesis, but there were some questions there. One of the questions on this website is, why circumcise a baby? And this will help us understand. And I want you to put this in your mind and think of it with baptism. The answer on the website says this, The circumcision is performed when a child is not aware of what is happening. This is because the Jewish connection with God is intrinsic. Whether or not our minds believe in God, whether our hearts love God, our soul knows God. We can join in the covenant with God and never be consciously aware of it. That's the mindset. You see, in that system, faith is irrelevant. Faith is irrelevant. It is a ritual that is performed on you. As I was reading that, it made me think of another book. I have part of a book written by a guy named Ludwig Ott. I'm going to read you three quotes from Ludwig Ott. Ludwig Ott is a definitive scholar in Roman Catholicism. He wrote a book that is called The Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma. And I'm going to read to you three quotes from this book. And I want you to think about what he says. First of all, on page 356, he says this, baptism by water is since the promulgation of the gospel necessary for all men without exception for salvation. What does that sound like? That sounds like the Jews saying without circumcision, You cannot be saved. What is he saying there? Baptism by water is, since the promulgation of the Gospel, necessary for all men without exception for salvation. Second quote. This is on page 359. Faith, as it is not the effective cause of justification, need not be present. The faith which the infant lacks is replaced by the faith of the church." What does that sound like? Circumcision on a baby. Page 328, he says this, the Catholic Church teaches that the sacraments themselves have an objective efficacy. That is an efficacy independent of the subjective disposition of either the recipient or the minister. The sacrament itself confers grace without the mediation of any faith. You take the pill, you get eternal life. And this is the legalistic mindset that Paul is dealing with in Galatia. What does this do? I think it is important we understand anytime we add any condition to the Gospel, we have departed from the Gospel. It is by grace through faith alone. It is not of works lest any man should boast. And so Paul mentions four. Christ will profit you nothing. You then become a debtor to keep the whole law. You are estranged from Christ. You have fallen from grace. It is important we understand the mindset of the legalist Judaizer is antithetical to Christianity. It is not complementary to it. It is another gospel. It attacks the sufficiency of the completed work of Christ. When He cried out from the cross, it is finished. I've said this before. It's important we remind ourselves of this thought. In order for you to be saved, in order for me to be saved, I have to disregard all the financial advice that's out there. What do we do in finances? You diversify. You put your eggs in many baskets. You get some hedge funds. You make sure you've got some backup plans and you've got something for a rainy day. If you are going to be eternally saved, you must put all of your eggs in the one basket which is Christ's grace. And if you have any backup plan, you are not saved. When someone asks you, if you stood before God today and He said to you, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? If you would say anything besides the truth, Jesus died for my sin and I am trusting in Him and Him alone that you are damned. That is the Gospel. Christ is it. It is Christ alone. There's a long list of consequences. Christ prophets us nothing. We become a debtor to keep the whole law? This is a direct contrast with the freedom of verse 1. In verse 1, Christ has set us free. Why would you put yourself back into being in debt to the entire law? The law for righteousness is not a smorgasbord that we can pick and choose. It's not a cafeteria line. It is all or nothing. And thus we become estranged from Christ, we have fallen from grace. Fallen from grace like a leaf that is falling from the tree. And once it is severed from the tree, there is no life in it. If you fall from grace, there is no life in you. You must be in Christ and Christ alone. And so Paul brings it to a conclusion in verse 6 when he says to us, in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. The word avail there means to be powerful. It's used in James chapter 5. The fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful. And he says here, if you are trusting in anything besides Christ, there is no power in it. So he says, neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything but only faith that is working through love, or faith that is energized by love. Notice that phrase, faith energized by love. Where does saving grace come from? Where does saving faith come from? It is energized by love. And that is why it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, for the love of Christ constrains us. Because we judge thus, that if Christ died for all, then all had died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but for Him who loved them and gave Himself for them. You see, it is the love of Christ that energizes our heart and gives us the faith to trust Him and to believe in Him for salvation through His grace and faith in Him alone. And so it is the love of Christ that constrains us. We love Him because He first loved us. And so what are you trusting in today? Are you trusting in some deed that you have done? some perfect attendance record you had in Sunday school when you were a child, or some mission trip you took. If you are not trusting in Christ and Christ alone, the Lord knows that. The Lord knows where our faith is. And it must be in Him. In Him alone that we might be saved. Father, we come before You thankful that, Lord, there's not some high work that You have called us to in order to attain to Your love. It is just the lowly look of a contrite sinner that saves. When we turn from ourselves and we turn to Christ, and Father, I pray that if there's someone here and they've been just really looking at life through the lens of this legal righteousness of trying to kind of cook the books in their favor, so when they stand before You, that You are appeased with them. Help them to see that, Father, if they're in that system, it's a take-it-or-leave-it in its entirety when it comes to the law. And to stumble in one point is to be guilty of it all. Father, may our names be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. The Lamb's Book. The One who was slain from the foundation of the earth, who rose again triumphant over the grave, that we might have eternal life in Him. Lord, for those in our church or in our community that don't understand that gospel, may we share it with them in love. Faith energized by love, reaching out to our neighbor with this good news you've given us. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand together, sing together as we close.