See What Large Letters I Am Writing!

Well, Galatians chapter 6, and there's no one visiting here for the first time or the 2nd time, so you all know then that we're doing a Verse by verse study through the book of Galatians and as we continue. In our study of this book, we come this morning to Galatians chapter 6 verse 11, and my goal this morning is to cover verses 11 through 17, and the title of the message, for lack of a better one, is see what large letters I am writing. See what large letters I am writing. I was pondering yesterday the fact that as a parent God has given to me and to all parents an amazing gift, and that is the ability to speak at various levels of volume to our children, and we get to make those decisions over what volume level is necessary given the circumstances that we are confronted.

with our children may not appreciate that particular ability or capacity that God has given to us, but nonetheless it is essential if your child is playing in the street and it's time to come in for dinner and there's no urgency, you might go out front and calmly say to your child and say, Billy, it is time to come in and eat, so come inside and get your hands washed and be ready for dinner. However, if you see your child playing in the street and there is a car that is hurtling down the street towards your child very rapidly, you certainly would not say, Billy, it's time to get off of the street because there is a car that is speeding towards you very rapidly and it just might kill you if you don't get off the street.

No, you would not speak calmly. You would deliver an exclamation.

You would raise your voice. In order to arrest your child's attention from whatever it is that they are doing so that they would sense the urgency of the moment and respond immediately. And also, ideally, our children should obey whenever we give them a command the first time. That is the ideal.

That's actually how we should train our children. We should train our children to obey when we give a command without raising our voice, right? However, in the course of parenting, it is inevitable that we give a command to our children. For example, we say get upstairs and go to bed.

And our children do not obey what we have said, and it is at that point that we as a parent, make a decision to ratchet up the volume and speak that same command to them, only this time it is a higher level of exclamation in order to convey to them that I really mean what I'm saying. I'm actually passionate about you going to bed at this time, so please go and obey my command. We also need to use various levels of volume by way of affirmation of our children. When our children do something great, we don't say, Well, that's really good, Billy, that you did this and that you were nice and loving to your sister.

No, we want to raise the volume and enthusiastically, passionately express our affirmation of them and the good thing that they have done. So we as parents have that capacity to use various levels of volume and to go into exclamation mode when the situation requires it. Now we can do that verbally, but in writing it's a little more tricky. Fortunately in the English language we have a convention called the exclamation point that we can put at the end of a sentence to denote.

That we are delivering an exclamation and that in writing we are raising our voice either out of excitement or in frustration, anger, or what have you. what's interesting to note is that in Paul's day, They did not have punctuation. They did not have the exclamation point in which to denote that someone was raising their voice. However, there were some ways to denote an exclamation.

One of those ways was by putting the Greek word, which is the equivalent of our English word behold, in front of a certain Greek expression that usually indicated that something surprising. It is being stated something that often would include an exclamation point in our translation of that. Also, there are times where in Greek, where if you wanted to denote an exclamation, you would put the Greek word, which is the equivalent of our English word oh, all right, like oh, I would love some water.

All right.

And by the way, the Greek word that means oh in our language is pronounced like this oh all right. And we actually find that in Galatians 3:1 where Paul says, You foolish Galatians, that is an exclamation. He's basically saying, Oh foolish Galatians is the idea. Paul is clearly raised.

His voice and we know that by his use of that vocative o at the beginning of that statement. However, there's one other way, an unusual way admittedly, but one other way to denote that the writer is very passionate about what he's saying and that the writer is raising his voice and he's exclaiming, and that is Similar to our language, by writing letters in a larger form, essentially in all capitals. You ever been writing an email and you're writing in a normal font and then all of a sudden you write a sentence that's all capitals like God is awesome or something?

That, that's an exclamation just stating that sentence in larger or all capital letters, and that is exactly the convention that Paul is using as we come into verse 11.

This is actually extremely unusual. It's unprecedented, and we find this nowhere else in any of Paul's. It was normal for Paul at the end of an epistle to take the pen from the scribe. He'd been dictating the letter.

And to sign a greeting and give a benediction at the end. But for Paul in Galatians, beginning in verse 11, Paul takes the pen from the scribe that he had been dictating this letter to Paul then begins to write in very large letters, and he doesn't just write in very large letters, but he tells the Galatians, Please take note of the large letters that I am writing with. So I want you to imagine that you're reading the original copy of Galatians and it's a nice beautiful cursive font written by a professional scribe all the way up through verse 10 of chapter 6, but then all of a sudden you get to verse 11 and it's all capitals and not only is it all capitals, but Paul in verse 11 says, See, take note of With what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.

And if you observe that, man, this is all big letters the rest of the way out, that ought to tell you that what follows is extremely important and something that Paul is very passionate about.

Listen to what some writers say about this, the fact that These verses are written in Paul's own hand and are written in unusually large letters as an indication of their special importance, so it's alerting us to the fact that what he's about to say is extremely important. Another commentator says the boldness of the handwriting answers to the force of the apostles' convictions. It tells you that what Paul is about to say is something that he has a lot of conviction and passion about.

And another commentator says in addition to authenticating the letter as genuine and attesting that he had meant what he said, Paul wanted to underscore and reemphasize both the central message of the letter.

And his own personal investment in it, and he does this by writing in very large letters. And so as we come into verse 11, we basically know right away that this section is very intense. It's very personal. Paul takes the letter from the scribe and he starts writing himself and all of us would want to look over his shoulder like what will Paul write at this point of the letter now that he has the pen in his hand.

It denotes that Paul is very earnest. It denotes that what we find here in this passage is very important. In fact, one commentator says verses 11 to 17 are the most important words in all of Galatians. In fact, you can go back and interpret all of Galatians based on these words.

In fact, these verses serve as a Reader's Digest version of the Book of Galatians. And as you read verse 11 and following. The words are to be spoken loudly. Paul is raising his voice.

He's delivering exclamations and everything he says in verses 11 through 17. And so with the time that we have, I want us to look at what amounts to 6 exclamations that Paul makes with a raised voice, with great passion and personal investment. exclamations that Paul very much wants the Galatians to hear this time. Around.

Paul may actually be a touch sarcastic. That you guys have missed this. I've said all of this before. I'm going to say it again and to make sure you don't miss it, I'm going to write in very large letters to make sure that you don't miss this.

What are the exclamations? Well, let's begin working our way through them. Exclamation number one that he really wants the Galatians to get now that he has the pen and he's about to cross the finish line of this book and to finish this letter before he closes off the letter, Paul wants them to know that the Judaizers are not what they seem. These guys that you look up to, that you're being led astray by, they are not what they seem to be to you.

Look at what he says in verse 12. He says, those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised simply so they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in Your flesh. He basically says 4 things about the Judaizers that the Galatians really needed to hear.

All right. Number 1, the Galatians in trying to get you circumcised, are simply serving themselves. They're simply trying to make a good showing in the flesh, literally they're trying to put on a good face. They want to be able to go back to Jerusalem and brag to the people in Jerusalem about the fact that they got you to be.

Circumcised. They want to be able to go to the people in Jerusalem and say, Yeah, I was just in Galatia for a month or two, and I was able to persuade 12 Galatians to be circumcised. They want to look good in front of the Jews. And not only that, but Paul also lets the Galatians know that they are compromising the gospel in order to avoid persecution.

He says they're doing this simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. These Judaizers know that if they can just go to the Jews who would want to persecute them for believing in Christ and say, listen, yeah, we do believe in Jesus, but hey, we're we're all about circumcision, we're all about obedience to the law, even the ceremonial aspects of the law, and see, look at these people that We persuaded to be circumcised. And this is what we teach in our ministry.

Yeah, we embrace certain aspects of Paul's gospel, believing in Jesus.

And yes, the cross has value, but we also teach that Gentiles must be circumcised and hence become Jews in order to be saved. And all the Jews needed to hear was that. It's like, oh, OK, you require that in addition to believing in Jesus. OK.

We'll leave you alone. These Judaizers are simply trying to save their own hide. And avoid persecution. Paul goes on to say that they're hypocrites.

They don't even keep the law themselves. They try to get you to be circumcised, saying if you obey this provision of the law, then you can be saved. But the very law they're calling you to obey on that one point, they don't heed the law. They violate the law over and over again.

They're hypocrites. They don't even keep the law. Nobody keeps the law perfectly. And so they're trying to get you to obey the law to be saved, but they don't even obey the law consistently.

And then lastly, he wants them to know that they simply want to boast in your flesh. They want to go back to Jerusalem. Tell the Jews there how many converts that they had to the right of circumcision, how many people they converted to become Jews through circumcision. And when he talks about boasting in their flesh, it's not just going to other people and boasting to them about, hey, I was able to convince this guy to get circumcised.

It's also this boasting that once a Judaizer has persuaded someone to be circumcised, the Judaizer then says to that person, I want you to know that because you have undergone this rite of circumcision, therefore you are saved. And, and, and, and you, you are saved. You are now a Christian. You are on your way to heaven because of this deed you did in the flesh, and they're essentially boasting in that act of the flesh that this person has just done as if their salvation depends upon it.

And so Paul is exclaiming this in a in a loud voice speaking against these false teachers of a false and a compromised gospel. what guys, I'm going to say this one more time. We've said this throughout the book of Galatians, but again, this is a recapitulation of the book. This is a Reader's Digest version of the book, and so all the themes in this passage we've seen before.

But if you are passionate for the gospel, you will be equally passionate against false gospels, right? If you are passionate for the gospel, you will be just as passionate against those who preach false gospels. As we've gone through the book of Galatians, there have been times where we've had to mention denominations and even leaders within Christendom who have advocated. A false gospels.

That have misled many within Christendom. We don't like bringing up names and denominations and doing that. But nonetheless, guys, if we're passionate here at Cornerstone for the gospel, we must equally be passionate against false gospels, and we need to call those gospels what they are and expose those that are preaching those gospels. In fact, you can measure a church's passion for the gospel by observing their passion against false gospels and those who teach and preach those false gospels.

And so yes, we speak the gospel, we speak for the gospel, but in so doing, we must follow Paul's example and speak against false gospels and against those who preach false gospels. Listen to Charles Spurgeon, a man who was passionate for the gospel. Listen to him. this is in a message called Recruits for King Jesus.

And listen to what he says here. He says there are some cringing, fawning spirits in this world who must always go with the majority. What everybody says, they say. They take their cue from those who lead the fashion of the.

they dare not swallow down their spittle till they have obtained permission to do so, cringing, fawning sycophants of all that is fashionable, scarcely could a soul be found in them if they were searched through and through with a microscope. Shame on men of that sort who are called Christian ministers. They believe in Christ, but it is a Christ without His crown, His atonement, His judgment seat, or even His Godhead. They mock us with orthodox phrases from which the essential truth is gone.

They pretend that they believe in the atonement, and when we listen to their atonement, we find that it does not effectually atone for anyone. It is a mere fiction and not a fact. It saves nobody but is a mere sham. Think not that they are honest.

Their designs are far other than appear upon the surface. And he goes on to say their design is to throw the atonement into the ditch. He says they have eviscerated the gospel, and then they hold up the empty carcass and claim that they are Christians still. Yet we are entreated in our charity to hug such traitors to our bosom.

We shall do nothing. Of the kind. We can all pray that more men like this with a backbone of steel and a passion for the truth of the gospel. will be raised up in our generation and the generation to come, men and women who love Jesus, and they love the gospel so much so that they have an equal passionate hatred against false gospels, and even a passion against those who preach false gospels.

You look at all of these descriptions Paul gives of the Judaizers, all of them. Pretty much have to do with the fear of men. They want to put on a good face before others. They don't even keep the law, but they want to look like they do keep the law.

They want to boast in your flesh. They simply want to avoid persecution. These guys are simply in it for themselves, not for the good of those that they're preaching to. And Paul exposes their motives.

That's the first exclamation. The second exclamation that Paul delivers is this. Let's word it this way. May I never boast, or may I ever boast, only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is an exclamation. He says in verse 14, May it never be. And generally, this expression may it never be just by itself without the large letters Paul is writing in, would indicate an exclamation. He says, may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul is expressing A desire. This is, this is in a sense a prayer. Paul is saying, God, may it never happen to me. God forbid that a day ever come when I, Paul, ever boast in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is, this is what I want to be my only, my only boast. You see, guys, again, we've talked about this before. we all needed to be saved and so how in the world could we be saved? Something needed to be given so that we might be saved.

Some contribution needed to be made. And so, as Paul says in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 4, he says Christ gave Himself. Christ said, Alright, here's what I will contribute to your salvation. I will donate myself.

I will contribute my in. Self in death on the cross. He gave all of Himself, all of his life, donated Himself. He gave Himself over in death.

That is his contribution. And if Christ is infinite in His holiness, in His righteousness, in His love and His power, then that means that His donation to our salvation is an infinite donation. Amen. So that is his contribution.

How in the world could we look at that contribution and say, Wow, that's great as far as it goes, but I think I need to add my own contribution, and that is circumcision. People who stare at the cross, and who really see Christ's contribution of their salvation would never ever think of donating anything on their own, contributing anything to complete something that is lacking in Christ's contribution to their salvation. Paul says that's why I boast in the cross, and that's all I boast in.

I boast in Jesus.

I boast in Christ. I boast in His finished work on the cross, because that is all the contribution that needs to be made for a person to experience salvation. So when I go to the lost, I boast in the cross. I tell the lost, you won't believe what God has done so that you might be saved.

And I tell them the story about the cross, and I brag about what the cross can do, what God has done for them through the cross, and what the cross itself, the death of Christ, can do in their lives in terms of contributing to their salvation to an infinite degree. When I evangelize, all I'm really doing is I'm just bragging about the cross to the lost. Paul would also say, when I speak to the saved like you Galatians. All I do to you is I boast in the cross.

I brag about the infinite donation of Christ through the cross for your salvation. That is my only boast when I speak to my brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact, as you Go through the book of Galatians, you see that this is the theme. Paul hammers from beginning to end and chapter 1, verse 4.

we get into the body of the letter and boom, right off the bat, Paul says he, Christ, gave himself for our sins. Speaking of his death. On the cross. In chapter 2, verse 20, he speaks of being crucified with Christ.

Chapter 3, verse 1, he speaks of Christ as crucified. Chapter 3, verse 13, he says Christ redeemed us, and he redeemed us by becoming a curse. In what sense? He says cursed.

Anyone who hangs on a tree, that's the cross. Chapter 5, verse 11, he speaks of the stumbling block of the cross. Chapter 5, verse 24, he uses the word crucified. Chapter 6, verse 12, he speaks of the cross of Christ.

And now in chapter 6, verse 14, he speaks again of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is his boast from the beginning of the letter all the way to the end. It's all about Jesus and his contribution to our salvation. It's all about his finished work on the cross.

That and that alone is what accomplishes our salvation. There is nothing that ever needs to be contributed, in addition to that, to our salvation or anyone else's. Paul would say, when I speak to the lost, I boast in the cross. When I speak to the saved, I boast in the cross.

He would also say, whenever I talk to myself. And think within myself, I boast in the cross. When I preach the gospel to myself, Paul would say, I boast in the cross. That's where my focus is.

When I'm having a really bad day. And I'm realizing, man, even just based on my behavior today, the good I want to do, I'm not doing, the evil I hate, I find myself doing just based on my behavior today I deserve to be in hell. But thank God for the cross because of the cross I enjoy God's favor today as much as I Do any other day. Paul would also say on my good days where I've been leading people to Christ and preaching great sermons to the multitudes and and planning churches and choosing righteousness over sin, even on my best days spiritually, I still boast.

In the cross, and not in myself. And I'm saying to myself, the only reason that I am being used is because of the cross. The only reason people are being saved through my ministry is because I boast in the cross. That's where the power is, not in me myself.

Paul would also say the only reason that I am being transformed and find myself choosing righteousness and saying no to sin is because of the power of the cross to produce this transformation in me. On my good days, and on my bad days, I am boasting in the cross in my thoughts, when I speak to myself, when I speak to the saved, when I speak to the lost. one of the devil's old tricks in our lives as believers is on our good days to get us looking at ourselves and boasting about ourselves like, man, I'm doing really well.

I must really have it in good with God.

God must really like me. I've had my devotion 7 days in a row and I've abstained from this besetting sin. And we began in our thoughts to boast about ourselves, and that's when the rug gets pulled out from underneath us. And we end up collapsing spiritually.

Guys, on your good days and on your bad days, you keep your eyes focused on the cross and brag about the cross. Just speak even when we speak to one another in our care groups tonight as we fellowship with one another in whatever setting, let's boast about the cross. Let us relish this salvation that is ours by virtue of Jesus and what He has done, not by what we have done. We're getting a little behind on the time, but write down Philippians 3:3 through 9.

Paul says, what, I had a lot of reason to boast from a human standpoint, circumcise the eighth day Hebrew of the Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin, and a Pharisee and esteem by so many people. And I used to be impressed with that. And I thought all of that would contribute to my salvation. And so I brought that to the table to contribute that.

My salvation. I was once impressed with that. But then I met Jesus and I saw his perfect righteousness on display in the life he lived in the death he died. And after getting a glimpse of his righteousness, I looked at this monumental contribution of my own to my salvation.

And suddenly it looked like a pile of manure, compared to his righteousness. And so Paul says, we glory in Christ. That's who we boast in. That's who we glory in.

We do not glory in anything we do, anything that we ever might contribute to our salvation, because we cannot contribute anything. It's all Jesus and all his work in saving us. Make your boast in the cross. There's a third exclamation that Paul utters.

And let's word it this way, the world is a dead thing to me. And I am a dead thing to the world. The world is a dead thing to me, and I am a dead thing. To The world.

He says, but may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I. To the world Paul says through the cross. A crucifixion has taken place on the cross. Jesus not only died there.

But the world was crucified there to me. And I was crucified to the world. That's another way of saying that through Christ and the cross, I became a dead thing to the world, and the world became a dead thing to me. this week, on Monday, I believe it was, my son Brendan and I were driving in the Mission Grove area.

And we're going down a residential street. And up in the distance I saw two ladies who were doing a power walk thing, and at least they were dressed for that. It seemed like that's what they were doing, but as we were approaching from a distance, the first notice I had of these ladies is they were both adult women, but one of the women was clinging to the left arm of the other one and just looking like she was freaking out and she was like jumping up and down. And I thought that's really bizarre.

And so as we, as we got closer, I was very interested to find out what was causing this lady to react this way. And as we approached, I was able to see the sidewalk, and right where they were standing right in front of them was about a 3 ft snake that was dead. Obviously it had gotten scalded and burned on the hot sidewalk because it was hot that day. And so it's dead.

It's just laying there and it's really flat too, like it had cooked in the sun, just a disgusting looking thing. And so this one lady was clinging to the arm of the other. She was totally grossed out and she's jumping up and down, freaking out about it. The other lady was more brave.

She was looking at it, walking around it, and then she leaned over and spit on it in a ladylike fashion and I don't know why she did that. I guess that's a brave thing to spit at a dead snake, but she, she may have been wanting to see if it's really dead and if it would respond, but it didn't. It just laid there flat and burnt and, and dried out. But I thought about that in connection with this, because what, if I were driving with the apostle Paul, He may have said something like this, Hey, Milton, you see that snake?

And what that snake is to that lady. Who's freaking out and grossed out. What that snake is to that lady, that's what the world has become to me. It's a dead thing.

And when something's dead in the Jewish mindset, it's unclean, you don't want to touch it. You don't want anything to do with it, because it's defiling. Paul would say what that snake is to that woman, a dead, disgusting, repulsive thing. That's what the world has become to me.

Which is really interesting. Because like in First John 2:16, Paul says all that John says all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. The boastful pride of life, and by the way, that expression pride of life could be translated the pride of goods.

That word life is used elsewhere in First John to speak of, if someone has this world's goods. It speaks of the pride that we take in the possessions, pride in our car, pride in our house that it's bigger than other people's, pride in our possessions, in our stock portfolio. It's pride and confidence in this world's goods rather than God. It's the lust of the flesh.

It's the lust of the eyes. It's covetousness, all those things that we often find so desirable. Paul says that Has become a dead, disgusting thing to me. He also would say that What that snake is to that woman.

That's what I've become. To the world. The world is repulsed by me also. They're disgusted by me.

They don't know what to do with me. I preach the message of the cross. That is my only boast to the Jews. That's a scandal.

They hate that message. They hate me, so they stone me. They throw me in prison. They scourge me.

They beat me with rods. And the Romans don't know what to do with me either, because in the Greek Roman mindset, this message of the cross is stupidity. So the world, I've noticed that my relationship with the world is different. People either they're, they're furious at me, or they just look at me and brush me off as an idiot.

My relationship with the world has dramatically changed. I am a dead disgusting thing to them. And the world is a dead disgusting thing to me. The question is what is accomplished that dying.

What is it that crucified this love affair with the world? What is it? It's the cross. Look what he says in verse 14.

May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which, through which, through this cross, something has happened, and that is that the world and I have had a major breakup. You ever seen a couple, a guy and a gal who break up and it's an amicable breakup? They just realize, what, we've grown apart. So, let's not date anymore.

But they're friends, they see one another, they can say, oh, yeah, they wish each other the best. Then there's the nasty breakups where just, they don't have any good feelings towards the other at all. Paul would say, The world and I, we had a very nasty breakup, very nasty. We've been crucified to one another.

It's actually quite ugly. I am a dead, disgusting thing to the world, and the world has become a dead, disgusting thing to me. And it's the cross that did such violence to my relationship with the world and the world's relationship to me. Now if you're like me, you read verse 14 and you're like, wow.

That's an amazing thing to state. Paul uses the perfect tense. In other words, through the cross, I have become a dead thing to the world. The world has become a dead, repulsive thing to me, and it all seems like, man, Paul has arrived at this point where he's just totally disgusted with the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.

And certainly that's largely true, but let's remind ourselves that Paul was not perfect. And he himself said, the good I want to do I don't do. The evil I hate, I often find myself doing. Paul is speaking in succinct expressions here.

This is an exclamation, and he doesn't throw in all these qualifiers, but nonetheless, Paul, to a large degree. This was indeed his experience. I am disgusted by the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, boastful pride of life. And if you're like me, you read this statement by Paul, and your question is, how can I get to this place?

Because what, for me, I've been really frustrated with my own heart lately. It's like, do I really hate the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and boastful pride of life? I'm not so sure I do nearly to the degree that I should. I don't know that I'm fully persuaded sometimes in my weaker moments that the world is really passing away, and it's something I don't want anything to do with in terms of banking on.

Or finding satisfaction in the lust of the flesh and the eyes and the boastful pride of life. But the question is, well, if, if I'm not experiencing that, if I'm not as disgusted by the world as Paul seems to be, if the world is not a dead repulsive disgusting thing to me like it is to Paul, how can I get myself to a place where I do view the world that way? Here's the answer through the cross. If you as a believer, spend time every day just in front of the cross keeping Christ portrayed as crucified in front of you, if you live at the foot of the cross, if you're living and breathing the atmosphere of the gospel, and you're receiving all that God has for you through the gospel, you will come to see the gravity of your sin and hence the sin of the world.

The lust of the flesh and eyes and boastful pride of life, you will also come to understand the magnitude of the love of God and the love of God for you through Christ will so blow away anything that you can experience from the world that it will wean you off of the world. The more enraptured you are by the love of God for you in Jesus through the cross, the more You break away from the world, the more this crucifixion actually occurs. And so what Paul is saying, essentially, guys, is that something came between me and the world, and that's the cross.

And we as Christians need to keep the cross between us.

And the world. Keep your eyes on the cross. Keep boasting on the cross. Keep preaching the death of Christ to yourself.

Stay absorbed in the gospel, and you will find yourself viewing the world the way that Paul evidently did, as he expresses it here in verse 14. We need to rush on, guys, there's a 4th exclamation that Paul gives, and that is that a new creation is the only thing that matters. A new creation is the only thing. That matters in the eyes of God.

It's the only thing that matters to me. Look at what he says in verse 15, for neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Let's try to put this succinctly. Paul is saying any contribution that people might think they can make to their salvation, that means nothing.

Circumcision means nothing when it comes to salvation. Uncircumcision also amounts to nothing. It means nothing when it Comes to contributing to a person's salvation. The only thing that means anything in a saving way is a new creation, and both the word creation and new are loaded with meaning.

When he uses the word creation. What he's saying is he's speaking of God as the Creator doing a creative act, and when he says new, he's speaking of God completely disregarding the old and making a completely new creation. The only thing that has any saving value is God supernaturally intervening in a person's life and creating them anew. It's not a person engaging in behavior modification.

It's not a person saying, Well, I will reform myself, and they bring their old self to this effort, and they make some changes and they dress up their lives and remove this and add a few things and get circumcised. all they're basically doing is circumcising the old, the old man. But in order to be saved, a person needs to renounce the old and be created by God through the regenerating work of the Spirit, and to be made completely new, to become a new creation. Paul's point is that God is the one who accomplishes salvation through the cross and through his creative genius.

That is what saves a person. And it is God's work, God's contribution. It is God alone and nothing that we contribute from our old selves. A new creation is the only thing that means anything.

In the eyes of God when it comes to salvation, there's a 5th exclamation. And that is that peace and mercy be on those who walk by this gospel standard. Again, Paul is speaking loudly here. He says in verse 16, and those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God.

Notice verse 16 very carefully, those who walk by this rule, literally by this canon. and that's one end, not the cannon you shoot things from, C A N O N. Those who walk by this cannon, peace and mercy be upon them. What is the cannon?

This word canon speaks of a rod or a reed or a measuring stick. If I had a, a 1 yard yardstick up here, I would use the Greek word canon to describe this yardstick. It's something used for measurement, and it came to have the idea of standard. The question is, what is that standard?

most commentators would say that standard is the gospel. The gospel canon, the gospel standard, the gospel rule, or it could speak of Paul's example that he's just modeled, and that is boasting only in the Lord Jesus Christ and glorying only in the new creation. That's the only thing that contributes to salvation. It's a complete looking to God to be the author and the finisher of one's salvation.

Which ultimately is another way of saying the gospel. Paul is saying those who will walk by this gospel canon, peace and mercy be upon them. Paul would say, there's no peace and there's no mercy from God upon those who don't walk by this rule. But only those who walk by this gospel standard that I have presented in this book and even in the last few verses here of this section, Peace and mercy be upon them.

Those of you Galatians that are walking by the gospel that I have preached, and those of you that even are convicted by this letter, and you say, what, I'm coming back to the true gospel. Paul would say, with so much passion, I want you to experience the peace and the mercy of God. May God's peace and may his mercy be lavished upon you in abundance as you walk by this gospel rule. This is not just Paul speaking.

This is the spirit inspiring Paul to say this, meaning this is not just Paul's desire, but this is the Holy Spirit's desire for those of us who walk by the gospel standard, who walk in the good of the gospel every day. God, the Spirit wants God's peace and his mercy to be experienced by us as we stay inside the gospel. At the end of verse 16, Paul says, Upon the Israel of God peace and mercy be upon them who walk by this gospel standard and upon the Israel of God, a difficult expression there.

I do not believe at all that he's saying that the church is the Israel of God.

In all likelihood he's just speaking of anyone who is in national Israel who decides to abandon the law and to put their trust in Christ and to walk by the gospel standard. Paul has said a lot of things in this letter. A lot of things in this letter that would be viewed by the Jews as being anti-Israel, and Paul is wanting them to know, listen, I'm not against Israel. Anyone who is of national Israel, a physical descendant of Abraham, who will be willing to walk by this gospel standard.

Peace and mercy be upon them. Just as much as anybody else. The last Exclamation of Paul, and we'll close with this. This is a negative way to end, is don't cause me any more trouble.

Don't cause me any more trouble. Paul says, from now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear in my body the brand marks of Jesus. Paul is basically saying, hey guys, I want you to stop and take note of the fact that you have caused me a huge amount of trouble, and this trouble that you have caused me is completely unnecessary. I have experienced labor pains.

I have been agitated. I have been concerned. I have been perplexed. I am now having to write this letter to you, and I've had to think about how am I going to write this letter, and now I'm dictating the letter.

Now I'm writing with my own hand. There are other things I could be doing right now in the place where I am. There are people I could be. to, but instead I'm being bothered with this because you who knew better have strayed away from the gospel.

When I was with you not too long ago, I gave you the true gospel. I also warned you about the Judaizers. I told you they were going to come. I told you anyone preaching any different gospel than what I have preached, let that person be damned.

That is your attitude. That's what I called upon you to think about those coming to you with a different gospel. I instilled in you an understanding of the gospel. I grounded you in it.

I publicly portrayed Christ as crucified. I gave you all the tools necessary to avoid the trouble that you've gotten yourselves into. But nonetheless you've allowed yourself to stray. And I just want to serve notice on you.

You've caused me a huge amount of trouble. A huge amount of trouble. That was completely avoidable. And I've written this letter and I've said what I've said.

I definitely mean what I say and what I have said here is the final word. Don't bother me about this again. You come back to the true gospel, you walk according to the gospel canon, from this point on, and don't cause me any more grief or trouble by moving away from the gospel and getting yourselves into the difficulties that you're in by straying from the truth. Let me just end with this quote from Hendrickson.

He says, troublesome churches and also troublesome individuals at times forget that while their own misbehavior is bad enough in itself, They also deprive others of the attention that could have been bestowed upon them. Besides, on the part of the person who must set them straight, they often require energy that is exhausting, we all need help from one another. but here's the deal. Don't just go throughout your week and never read your Bible, never pray, never preach the gospel to yourself, never even think about the cross, and then you end up doing really stupid stuff and getting yourself in a whole heap of trouble, and then calling a brother or sister or a pastor saying, Hey, I really need your help, definitely do that if that happens.

But the point is it's so avoidable. Just realize, what, I want to save people as much trouble as I can. And so what I will do is I'll be in the word, I'll be in the gospel. I'll walk in the good of the gospel every day.

I will walk according to the gospel standard. I will live at the foot of the cross, and I will not go astray. And I will experience the peace and the mercy and the grace and the goodness of God as I do that. And not only that, but I will have much to give to other people rather than draining from them, because I am constantly making wrong choices and allowing myself to stray from the truth.

Let me ask you to bow your heads. We don't want to be troublesome Christians. We want to be Christians who have much to give. Who have the peace and the mercy of God in great abundance lavished upon us.

And so when we relate to others, we just have tons to give them rather than constantly draining because we're not practicing the disciplines and walking in the good of the gospel. Let's pray together and let's ask God. To help us to walk according to this, Gospel standard. Lord, you.

have done all that needs to be done so that we might be saved and might daily, moment by moment, experience lavish portions of peace, mercy, and grace from you. If we lack for the abundant experience of these things, it is because we have strayed from the cross. Help us to assume responsibility for the choices we make, to walk in the good of the gospel, to experience these things from your generous hand through Christ and through Him alone. Help us to position ourselves in the spot where all of this provision is, which is in the gospel and to consciously be mindful of the gospel and to walk in the gospel each day.

That we might experience these things and then as we relate ourselves to others. We would have much, Lord, to give. Rather than being a trouble. A bother, an unnecessary bother to others.

Lord, as we Give these offerings to you. We give to you, Lord. With hearts that are grateful for what you have given to us. And we ask that you would bless the giving of our hearts to you at this time and the giving.

Of our money to you also for the furtherance of this gospel. Which is full of so much provision and grace. In Christ's name we pray. Came in.