The Only Thing That Counts (Galatians 5:1-12)

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Well, good morning church. You can go ahead, grab your Bibles, open up to Galatians. Chapter Five. We’re in Galatians five this morning, first 12 verses at least as you’re turning to Galatians five, a pastor and author Sam Albury tells a story of when he returned to his high school, where he grown up in England, and was asked to speak in an assembly about what he was doing at that point. So he’s there, and, you know, he says he’s walking the same hallways, he’s sitting in the same assembly hall and stuff. And he says that, you know, it felt like I was 15 again, and it really did, because at one point, the headmaster at the school yelled, stand up or sit up straight. And immediately Sam was like, okay, like, I’m sorry, you know, kind of thing. Realized the headmaster was not speaking to him as a 35 year old or whatever, but the kid next to him. But it’s interesting just how quickly we fall back into those patterns. Like it took him a moment to realize, Wait, like, I’m not under this guy’s authority anymore. He’s not my headmaster any longer. I don’t have to do what he says. Make it be tough to live in new freedom that we haven’t experienced, which I think is why churches and Christians can become so legalistic so quickly. By legalistic, I mean making good stuff, essential stuff, ultimate, necessary stuff, making gray issues black and white issues. And so you find you may have met, you may have been at some point in your life, hopefully not now, people who are as passionate about the music style up front or the website graphics or the carpet color in the fellowship hall, certainly not the NPR the fellowship hall, as you’ve ever been about Jesus. And it’s irksome to be around people like that. It irks us. It should irk us like we can feel that something is amiss in those moments. We’re making too much out of too little, and that’s the point Paul makes in our passage this morning. He says, really, only one thing counts, but we’re in danger of losing that one thing always because of what’s really nothing at all. So I want to give you the big idea up front. We’ll kind of keep in our heads as we go through this passage, and then we’ll we’ll look at what it means as we go. The big idea is, make Christ count. Make Christ count. And how do we do that? We’re gonna get these three ways that your outline this morning. There are three ways that we do it. So we’re gonna make Christ count, first of all, by clinging to grace. Clinging to grace. So Galatians five, one to four, our first point. Cling to grace. Paul writes this, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words. I Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again, I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law, have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. I love the opening sentence here. This would fall in the category of things that shouldn’t have to be said for 200 Alex, like it is for freedom that Christ, that you Christ, set you free so that you would be free. Everyone tracking with the argument so far or not complicated now, what freedom are we talking about here? We’re talking about freedom from self salvation everything that we’ve looked at in the last few weeks, freedom from having to prove yourself, to earn it before God, which, of course, you can’t do anyway. And you think this is such blessed freedom. Why would we go back? Well, there are these internal and external pressures to return to slavery so that we can hear the headmaster shouting, and we all start sitting up straight again just like that. Now there’s an internal pressure, especially it’s psychological really, we feel like we need to earn it. Grace is too good. The good news is too good for us to believe. It’s unbelievable. Always feel like we need to do something. I was having a conversation with one of our missionaries, and so somebody serving, you know, a continent away from here, having this exact same conversation with somebody in their life this week, going, I’ve been sharing the gospel with so and so, and he just feels like, no, like, That can’t be right. I’m gonna I’m gonna take care of this. I’ll earn it. And it was the idea that we saw when we talked about the evening the prodigal son last week. You know you’re coming back and you’re going I messed up so badly. So of course, I can’t be welcomed as a child again. I get that. Dad just make me one of your hired hands. And that’s the internal psychological pressure that we feel as well. That’s why Paul. Tells us to stand firm. Stand firm in the freedom of the gospel. We got these hurricane force winds of pressure trying to blow us off track. You got to plant your feet in the Gospel. Stand firm so you do not lose it. And Tim Keller, in his commentary on Galatians, he compares it to political freedom, which, if you know anything about the history of the world, especially in the last 100 years or so, you know that there are these countries that moved towards freedom and democracy, but if the population isn’t vigilant and responsible, there’s this slow drift back into authoritarianism. And Paul saying, if we are not vigilant, we’ll revert to this old authority that we used to have as well, to relying on ourselves, to relying on law keeping and so we will be burdened again by slavery’s yoke. If you know anything about the words of Jesus, you know how awful that sounds. What did he say? He said, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. The yoke that’s the bar that connects two oxen together when they’re pulling a cart and Jesus is basically saying, look, take my yoke. I’m going to carry it, or you just need to, like, stand next to me in it, but I’m doing all the heavy lifting here. The yoke he takes is the cross, of course, that’s a bar he’s got on his back. And then we’re saying, no, no, no, no, no. That doesn’t feel right, like I’ll just carry the thing myself. That’s how foolish we are, this crushing weight that we take on. Why? Because it’s in our nature. Again, if you know anything about history, you know that when the slaves were freed in this freed in this country, for a long time afterwards, there was this like, well, I better do what they tell me still, like, almost couldn’t live in that freedom. That’s how we feel as well. That’s why even amoral, immoral atheists, when they get religion, can become scrupulous moral conservatives putting themselves under that slave, same slavery, the basic principle of the world that we looked at last week, right? You need to earn it. You need to do something. So maybe somebody used to prove themselves worthy, significant by sexual conquest and salary. Then they get religion, and so they go, Oh, I don’t have to do that anymore. Instead, I’m going to prove myself by tithing and cutting out R rated movies and alcohol. It’s that same slavery I just I need to do. I need to show you that I’ve earned it. We get to verse two. And verse two is the kind of verse that an editor would have issues with, because Paul says, mark my words. I Paul tell you that. And none of that’s really necessary. He could have just said, if you let yourselves be circumcised, but he says all this, he’s he’s trying to marshal his whole weight as an authority, as an apostle. So this is moment where he’s going listen, pay attention to what I’m saying. So what is this issue that’s so important that he’s going pay attention when I say this? It’s circumcision, which we haven’t talked about in a long time. We haven’t hit circumcision in this letter since chapter two, verses three to five. And even then, it was this little aside, almost, about how Titus wasn’t compelled to be circumcised because he was a Gentile and not a Jew. And yet circumcision, we’re beginning to sense, is the issue that’s been driving all of this this whole time. So it’s been lurking in the background of the Letter to the Galatians the whole time, like, like Boo Radley and To Kill a Mockingbird. You know, you don’t see him for a while, but his presence is just like over the story. That’s what circumcision is in Galatians. Now it’s a real issue too. I could make the case for circumcision that Paul’s opponents here would be making. If you go back and read Genesis 17, we’re not going to it’s pretty clear, if you want to be a part of Abraham’s covenant, then you, if you’re male, at least, must be circumcised. And this is an eternal covenant. So it’s this really convincing argument, except that we know that the covenant with Abraham finds its fulfillment is all covenants, all promises do in Christ, Jesus. And so the reason why Paul hasn’t gotten to circumcision earlier is because he needed all of chapters three and four to make the salvation history argument. Like let me show you how Abraham Moses, they all culminate in Christ. So his opponents at this moment are telling the Galatians, is the way John Stott put it, Moses must be allowed to finish what Christ began. Does that sound wrong to you as a Christian like No, you said that backwards. Christ finishes what Moses began. But they’re saying no. No, no, no. Moses has to finish what Christ began to which Paul screams, absolutely not. If you submit to circumcision, we’re not talking about whether or not you’re circumcised. That’s not the issue. But if you submit, that’s a key word to circumcision, in order to keep the law and justify yourself before God. Prove yourself before God. You cut yourself off from Christ, His life, death, resurrection can have no value for you any longer, no benefit to you. Christ would count for nothing because you’re basically saying, I need to do this for myself. I need to earn this. And so you put yourself back in slavery to law reliance. And that reminds us what we learned in Galatians three. If you put yourself under the law, you also put yourself under the curse of the law, because if you’re going to keep the law, you have to keep the whole law, which no one can do, especially inwardly. And so you’re bringing condemnation on yourself instead of embracing the help, the salvation that is freely offered. It’s like you’re, you know, touring in some national park, and you take a stumble, and you go off the edge of a cliff, and you’re there, you’re clinging to, you know, a little branch that’s sticking out, and you’re realizing the roots are started coming out of the cliff, like you’re going down at this point. And for reasons that I can’t explain, it’s also covered in oil, which means you’re not getting much of a grip on it. And also, you haven’t been able to do a pull up in 35 years. And then there’s Jesus right next to you. He’s an expert climber, and he’s hooked into everything. He’s got all the cables. He’s going, why don’t I just clip the carabiner on you, like you’re gonna be good, and we’re going, No, thanks. I got this as you’re losing your grip on the tree that’s getting pulled out anyway, so you bring condemnation on yourself instead of embracing help. And the problem is, it’s one or the other, like you actually have to choose in that moment, I’m going to do this on my own. I’m going to accept the help that’s offered. If you rely on the law, you are no longer in the realm of grace. You cannot do salvation by grace alone, plus works. That doesn’t make sense. So if you’re trying to earn it, you can’t receive it. And Paul says, then you have fallen away from grace, which sounds every bit as bad as it is, this is a real warning to people. It’s a warning to the sorts of people who show up to church every week. This is not a warning for the world. This is a warning for us. If you are here to prove yourself and not to magnify Christ and His salvation. Now, Scripture is quite clear. We’ll look at some of these promises later in the sermon. Even scripture is quite clear that those whom God saves, he saves to the end. He will get you there. It’s the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. It’s really important, right? He gives us His Spirit. We’ll look at this next week. In fact, He gives us His Spirit, and it’s the spirit who ensures that we persevere to the end in Christ. So what’s the point of the warning? Well, there are two things to think about. First of all, we all know that we can think God saved us and even look like it for a little bit, when in fact, it’s not true. Even Jesus shared a parable of four soils. You get the seed of the gospel. It’s tossed on the beaten path, and the birds just come and eat it. Okay? That person never looked like they were Christian. You get the seed that falls on good soil, and it produces this harvest across the ages. Okay? That person’s a Christian. You get these other two soils. Falls in, rocky soil falls in, weedy soil comes up for a little bit, little shoots, and then the sun scorches it, or the weeds choke it out. And you go, okay, that person was never actually a Christian. So it shows us that we never really trusted in grace. So it’s a warning for us to examine ourselves. Are we actually clinging to grace, or do we think that we’ve earned this? But then also the warning itself is part of how God helps us persevere. That’s how warnings work. Tom Schreiner shares the story of some friends over from out of town, and they had parked their van on the street, but kind of at the end of the driveway. You know what happens when people park at the end of your driveway, right you’re backing out, and you just forget and you just forget that. I got to look this time. And he even said it. He said, All right, I’m going to forget that it’s there. I’m a back into my friend’s car at some point. Sure enough, he’s back, and he’s talking to people whatnot, and his son screams, Dad, look out. He remembered so he didn’t hit the car. That’s the warning. That’s the warning. Look. Out. So Paul’s yelling at us right now. Will you look behind you and see what you’re about to hit on? What do you rely I get it. We all want to think that we can do it ourselves, that we can prove ourselves. No one wants to hear you’re not good enough. But there are there are two options, and two options only cut yourself off from Christ or cling to grace. So let’s make Christ count, show his value, the value of his life and death and resurrection, and cling to grace. Second, let’s make Christ count by committing to love. Let me keep reading verses five and six. For through the Spirit, we eagerly await by faith, the righteousness for which we hope for in Christ. Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. I love the shift here. Paul’s optimistic, he’s charitable. We just dealt with some hypothetical you that’s trying to save yourself. But then it gives way here, in this moment, to we like Paul saying, I know this is true of us here by faith, clinging to grace, not relying on ourselves by faith and in the spirit. Who is that deposit the proof of our inheritance? We’re waiting in hope, waiting in hope for righteousness, which is an interesting phrase, waiting in hope for righteousness. We’ve got to say a couple things about it. First of all, we have to remember that in biblical thought, hope is different than how we use it in the English language. For us, hope is a wish. Arsenal is seven points clear with eight matches to go, I hope Arsenal wins the title. I am not confident yet. I’ve been hurt too many times. You guys are Cubs fans. You know what that’s like, right? Even worse, some of you are White Sox fans. So you really know what that’s like. That’s not the hope we’re talking about here in biblical thought, hope is a guarantee what you’re hoping for. You know it’s coming. It’s a question of when, not if. Second thing to say, though, is Okay, wait. I thought we already were righteous. How are we waiting for righteousness? In hope? We looked at this in chapter three. We quoted Genesis. At that point, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, right standing before God by faith. We’ve got that faith. So why are we hoping for what we already have? We’re already righteous in Christ. Nobody hopes for what they already have. You’re not there at the beach for six hours swimming and playing, going. I hope it’s a nice day today. You already have the nice day. So you’re not hoping for it. What is Paul talking about? Well, Paul’s talking about the final day. So the hope here is that, and then this hope that we have with assurance, is that when we stand before the judgment seat on the last day, when that gavel pounds, we will hear righteous in Christ, if you’re clinging to grace, by the way, that’s your hope. And just think for a moment how sweet it will be to rest in that blessed assurance. Paul even draws out the sweetness you get two implications to this truth in verse six, this rich, deep truth. So he says, neither circumcision or uncircumcision counts for anything. They don’t have any value. That’s not what matters. It’s not the external, the outward that matters. Why don’t they count for anything? Well, first, they don’t count toward your relationship with God. That’s the most important one. They don’t count toward your relationship with God. They don’t count toward that intimacy that we can have with the Father. They don’t count toward our adoption as His children. The whole basis of our relationship with God is Jesus and nothing else. It’s Jesus Christ, He did what we were supposed to do, live the perfect life we were supposed to live, keeping the law perfectly inwardly and outwardly. And then he died under the curse that we were supposed to die under. And so he took our punishment, and we get his reward by grace through faith, which means your good performance doesn’t make you any more right with God, but your bad performance doesn’t make you any more lost or hopeless. Thank God. It brings such peace. I mean, with every other relationship that you have. Life, when you mess up, you go in the dog house. Some of you in the dog house right now, I can feel it. You’re driving to church today, going, I’m in trouble, and I don’t know how to make this right. It’s going to happen eventually, not with God, not with God. We sometimes go sleep in the dog house, and your father is going, I’m here. Your forgiveness is already won. Just come. We don’t need to do that. You don’t need to two days of penance before you’re welcomed back in my presence, not with God, because Christ’s death counts all the dog house stuff he already took so you get welcomed as His child. So they don’t count circumcision, uncircumcision, any works, they don’t count for your relationship with God. Second, the works don’t count. They’ve got no value for true transformation. In fact, your works done in the wrong spirit will actually make you worse. Think about that for a moment, your self improvement project is making you a worse person. Because if you are depending on your works of any sort, again, these could be religious works. These could also be really irreligious works, like the secular approach to salvation, if you depend on works for your sense of worth and significance, you will grow more selfish and insecure if you need that promotion to feel good about yourself and you’re vying with other colleagues for it. Do you think that’s going to make you a nicer person toward them, especially internally or, like, put your back self back in your high school context. You want to be part of the popular crowd, because that’s how you know that you’re you made it. What does that require of you? You have to cut down others. You have to criticize clothes and looks and all the rest. Selfishness and insecurity is not a recipe for true love. It’s like all the guys in the Jane Austen novels, Wickham Willoughby, guys like this come to mind. They’re running out of money, or they never had any money to begin with, and so all they want to do is marry a woman with a big dowry comes with a lot of cash. Do you think she’s going to feel loved in that marriage? If we’re keeping laws for our own salvation, it means we’re using God. We don’t want him, we just want the reward that he gives. But after the hope of the gospel, we know that we already have the reward, and so we understand how much we’ve been loved at what cost we were loved, and that love fills us up to overflowing, so we overflow with love toward others. Jesus didn’t die for you because of what you could bring him. You have, if I can quote Galatians here a little bit, no value to him. In that sense, spiritually speaking, you have no dowry. You are not bringing anything to the table except debt, the debt that Christ took on, and yet he loved us, and he loved us for our sakes. Love like that changes us, frees us to love God and to love others for their sakes too. So faith expresses itself in love. We’re going to hit this a lot more next week, but that also means this faith expressing itself in love. Is this guardrail against licentiousness, the guardrail against thinking, well, if my works don’t matter, then I can do whatever I want. No, we do love, and that constrains us, because faith will express itself in love. So we are saved, yes, by grace, alone, through faith alone, but the faith that truly saves won’t remain alone, because our hearts are changed by God’s love, and if your heart is changed, your behavior will change as well. We don’t need the law to keep us in check, because we’ve got love to direct our steps, your works, moral or not count for nothing, but faith in love does so make Christ count. Commit to love. Third, make Christ count by completing the race. Let’s finish up our passage. Verses seven to 12. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth. That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. I’m confident in the Lord that you will take no other of you the one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty, brothers and sisters, if I’m still preaching circumcision. 10, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves. So here in verse seven, we get the shift from that internal pressure to return to slavery to the external pressure to return to slavery, Paul now tackles the influence of the opponents there in Galatia. Like Paul knows this wouldn’t have happened to the Galatian church if they didn’t have help to get thrown off course. They were running a good race, and now they’ve stumbled, clearly a track and field analogy, but we just did the Winter Olympics. You know what I picture here, speed skating. You watch speed skating, it’s an insane sport. They’re going, you know, 180 miles an hour with razor blades on their feet, and they keep smacking into each other because they’re supposed to change lanes periodically. And so I actually watched, I’d watch very little Winter Olympics, apologies, but did. And the one time I saw it, sure enough, they came like this, and the one got in front of the other person, and they slipped, and they go flying. Thank goodness the pads are made out of like cotton candy, or else they’d be dead in an instant. They hit the them so hard, but they so that’s what Paul saying. Like you were, you were doing fine. You had a good race going, and then all of a sudden, somebody smacked into you. I said, No, you don’t get to change lanes. You go back in the Moses needs to finish what Christ began lane. So that’s what’s happened here. It’s only because of the false teachers that they’re contemplating circumcision. So what to do about that? They get these rapid fire responses in verses eight to 10. They’re almost it’s tough to see the argument even, because it just feels like one off lines. So let’s look at them one at a time. So verse eight, first of all, Paul says, Keep in mind that this isn’t coming from the one who called you, because how could it be coming from the one who called you? And think back even you, those of you who are in Christ, been saved by grace. Did God call you because you earned it? I think back to what I was like when God plucked me from death and brought me to new life. It was not because I had my act together. Quite the opposite. I was a very foolish teenager at the time. It’s not because you earned it. It’s not because your life is in order, it’s only because he set his affection on you and called you by grace. Great encouragement to us in this room, especially those of you who may not believe again. I talked to somebody just this week who said I’m not good enough to get to heaven. Yeah, that is absolutely correct. You are not good enough. You don’t have to be good enough. He saves us when we are not good enough. That was our call. So if that’s how God called you, by grace alone, then his message now can’t be you. Better get your act together. This is why, also, we test everything by Scripture. Think that’s what Paul is saying, like, let’s go back and see what does the word of God say. We can know the one who called us and know what he was thinking when he called us, so we test everything by Scripture. It’s why I, personally, I get really nervous when people come at me with God told me, unless they’re about to quote chapter and verse, everything else, I go, what’s a little more humility here? Because whatever you say, I’m going to test it by this anyway. So let’s just start with the word of God. It’s so dangerous, and that’s why, in verse nine, he says, this needs to be cut out. You need to cut out these wicked, pernicious influences in your life. Declare war on heresy. It’s like buckthorn growing in your backyard. You don’t trim it so that it matches your nice lilac hedge, like you hack it to the ground, dig it out and then poison the roots. Paul’s saying, that’s what you do with heresy also. So take stock of your influences. I mean, right now, in this moment, take stock. What are the voices that you’re listening to? What are they saying? Does it sound like the one who called you or not, and if not, cut it out. Stop listening to it. Don’t watch that. Don’t read that any longer. Who’s pulling you away from God’s gospel? Be done with him. And then, as long as we’re taking stock, look at verse 10. Look at the second half of verse 10. First through, are you throwing others into confusion? We don’t need to worry just about what people are saying to us, but what we are saying to others as well,once again, never contradict God’s word. You think, of course not. I go to a Bible believing church. I would never. Contradict God’s word, yeah, but the temptation is there. I think of parents in particular, but really this is for all of us. Of course, like I know how many kids leave Christianity because their parents added to the gospel message. We’re saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and so you want to worship Jesus, plus, as soon as you get that plus in there, you’re the yeast working its way through the batch of dough, Jesus, plus, might be the same sorts of legalism we see here. You got to do this. You got to keep these standards. You’re not saved by grace. You’re saved by grace. And doing all of these rules that I have for you, I think one of the most dangerous ones today. And believe me, I have seen people in this church leave the faith because of this one. It’s political purity, it’s Jesus plus the right political platform, and we’re in a mostly white church. That means for most of us, it’s going to be the danger of Jesus was a Republican. We’re in the black church, would be the opposite. Jesus was a Democrat. You know what Jesus is saying? I’m a monarchist. He’s neither. He’s king. He knows he’s king. He knows neither one of these platforms is his platform. But think of how easy it is to say. You got to vote right. You got to think right if you’re gonna be right with Jesus. And so you start to go, we gotta stay with our party here, party above all. And so we’ll compromise. Maybe it’s on sexuality and gender. We’ll contradict God’s word to stick with our tribe. Maybe it’s the wanton cruelty toward immigrants that will excuse because we got to stick with our tribe and make defenses for them, that’s the danger. So by all means, cut the bad yeast out of the dough, but first stop adding bad yeast to others, though that’s the lesson Paul would have us learn here, except Paul isn’t worried, and that’s the first half of verse 10. I do love this. He expresses confidence. Now by expressing confidence, this is itself an act of persuasion. It’s a little bit like a parent sitting down with a teen before they’re going off to do something, and I know you’re going to make the right choices tonight, and that’s part of them. You better make the right choices tonight, so that’s part of the persuasion. But here’s the thing, that parent is going, I know you’ll make the right choices tonight, and then they’ve got the tracker on the phone. Still, there’s not a lot of confidence always, but not Paul here, because his confidence is where it’s a true confidence, because he’s confident in the Lord, which just goes back again to it’s not you, it’s not you, it’s him. He’s the one who does it’s my confidence is in the Lord. My confidence is in the promises of God, the God who says things through his word like He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ. Jesus. Philippians, one, or First Thessalonians, five. May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through, so your whole spirit, soul and body may be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, listen the one who calls you is faithful and He will do it, or Jesus Himself, in John chapter six, I’ve come to do the will of my Father. You want to know what the Will my father is, that of all those he’s given me, I will not lose even one. That’s our confidence in the Lord. Can I say this, as your pastor who loves you. I have no confidence in any of you. If it were up to you, not a single one of you would make it to glory. You would all fall away, and I would lead the charge out the exit door. But it’s not up to us. It’s by grace and in His Spirit, this is why, in prayer we plead the promises, isn’t it? God, you said you’re gonna use you said I’m faithful. I’m gonna do this. Would you do it in my life? I know your Word will never fail. We get a slight shift in verse 11 actually feels a little bit abrupt if you think about it. That’s probably because we’re listening to one side of the phone. One side of the phone conversation, and so you get that weird. I’m not sure what just happened right there. Apparently, Paul is being accused of inconsistency on the issue of circumcision. Didn’t have Titus circumcised. We know that later on, he will have Timothy circumcised for the sake of mission. So maybe something like that has already happened, and they’re going see like Paul doesn’t even know his own mind on this issue. He is preaching circumcision because he’s going to tell somebody like Timothy to get circumcised for the sake of mission. But Paul’s saying, look, if I was preaching circumcision, still there would be no reason to persecute me like the stumble. King Black would have been removed, and yet here he is getting persecuted still, because the offense of the gospel and the scandal of the cross remains. It’s a good word for us who will always be tempted to preach an easy gospel, just to smooth the rough edges of God’s truth, so that people accept not it, but you, so people accept you as you bring a false gospel. That’s where the compromise that we talked about earlier, and issues like immigration or sexuality and gender come in. But never mind the cultural issues you want to know, the roughish, roughest edge of the gospel. It’s just the Gospel itself. The cross of Jesus, Christ says you’re a sinner under condemnation. You can’t do anything about it. There’s only one way out. There’s only one door that leads to salvation. His name is Jesus. You preach that gospel, you will be mocked, rejected, slandered Absolutely. So maybe we preach works instead. Help everybody feel better about themselves, by no means, because it destroys people eternally, puts them back under that yoke of slavery under which they will perish for all time. Hence, Paul’s anger in verse 12, it is a strong statement, if you read it this week and we’re like, I don’t know, did he get a little too angry there maybe, I mean, he basically just said, Forget circumcision. If you’re going to be like this, you should just castrate yourselves. It’s a strong statement. Here’s the thing, if we knew and loved the Galatians, as Paul did, and saw the damage that was being done to them, we’d be angry too, like imagine a parent watching a daughter succumb to a heroin addiction. How do you think that parent would feel about the friends who are buying her, the drugs, the dealer who’s supplying them? Can you imagine the loving rage that you would feel if you saw and felt all that you you would also wish those evil doers, and in this case, evil speakers, would cease from the land, because that’s what Paul is saying. These people are so bad. I hope they don’t get to multiply. We don’t need more of this around. Don’t give into external pressure, even if it costs you. Instead, complete the race, make Christ’s life and death count. Keep going. There is all this pressure to return to slavery. There’s plenty of pressure on the inside. I can do it. I can earn this. There’s plenty of pressure on the outside. You need to do it. You need to earn it. Don’t give in for a moment. Don’t give in for a moment. If you do, you’ll cut yourself off from Christ. You’ll make his death pointless. Jesus came to set us free. Love like that changes us from the inside out, gives us all we need to live well, stand firm and the freedom of that gospel. Make all that Christ did for you, the fact that he showed up, he left glory to clothe himself in human weakness and frailty, make His perfect life, His substitutionary death, his triumphant resurrection, the fact that he’s sitting at the right hand of the Father, praying for you at this moment. Make that count. You cling to grace, commit to love, complete the race. And so when the headmaster inside of you or in the world shouts, sit up straight. You can say, Whoa, I graduated. I got a new boss. Now let’s pray to Him, Jesus, we worship you for what you have done for us, knowing that what you did for us, we could not do for ourselves. If it had been up to us, we had to earn it. We never would have made it. We know that in our heart of hearts, we now see too clearly the wickedness that’s inside of us, the selfishness that pulls us away from doing what we ought to do, or leads us to do what we know we shouldn’t do. We know we couldn’t do it on our own. We know that you demonstrated your own love for us in this that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, called us, saved us. If we know all that Lord, why would we go back? Why would he go back to what won’t work and what would make that act, of love? Your death count for nothing? We won’t Lord so strengthen us by your Spirit to live in grace to the glory of your name. Amen.