Finish the Course, Keep the Faith

Transcript

GR 1164
11/28/1999
Finish the Course, Keep the Faith
Galatians 5:7-12
Gil Rugh

We’ve been studying the book of Galatians on Sunday morning at Indian Hills and it is a book that is very, very pertinent and up to date. I don’t know how many of you read the article on salvation in yesterday’s paper. There you see that the issues being grappled with are the same ones that were grappled with in the days of the reformation 500 years ago, and those are the same issues being dealt with in the book of Galatians, the relationship of faith and works. Paul is dealing with the problem of the Judaizers, Jews who profess to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior did not believe that that was enough, but that it was also necessary to be circumcised and keep the Law, which in effect was saying faith plus works equals salvation. And these false teachers have made their way in among the churches in Galatia and were successfully confusing the people there, and keeping them from progressing in their walk with Christ.

You know this is not something new. It’s an issue dealt with repeatedly in the scriptures. Turn over to the book of Peter if you would, II Peter, Chapter 2, toward the back of your New Testament, II Peter, Chapter 2. At the end of Chapter 1 of II Peter, Peter has talked about the revelation that God had given through the Old Testament prophets, and those prophets had been men that were moved by the Spirit of God, so that they really spoke the words of God to men. But then Chapter 2 begins, “But false prophets also arose among the people.” So not only were there God’s genuine prophets who had a message from God to deliver to His people, but there were also among the people false prophets.
He’s not talking about pagan prophets in the surrounding nations, but he is talking among the Jews, the Israelites, there arose false prophets to confuse and mislead the people. Then Peter goes on to say, “just as there will also be false teachers among you.” So there he warns the believers that he is writing to, that false teachers will infiltrate among the people of God, in the churches, just as the false prophets did among Israel in the Old Testament, and they will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

Paul will move to the same point in a section we’re in Galatians today, when he’ll talk about the judgment of false teachers. But what I want you to note here is the assurance from God that we will have to deal with false teachers, and what will make it so difficult is these false teachers will come in among us, professing to be part of us. The Judaizers are an early example, men who profess to be believers in Christ but said that faith in Christ was not enough. Back in the book of Galatians, in Chapter 2, verse 21 Paul had told the Galatians “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Now you remember Peter said these false teachers would deny the Master who bought them. Paul said these Judaizers are doing that very thing. If the message of the Judaizers is true, then there was no need for Christ to die on the cross. We can be saved by our good works. So even though the Judaizers don’t come and say we don’t believe in the sufficiency of the work of Christ, that’s what they were declaring. They came saying, oh, no, we believe in Jesus as you do, but we want you to understand and enjoy the fullness of what God intends for us as His people, and faith in Christ is wonderful and necessary, but the true blessing of God’s righteousness comes when you not only believe in Christ, but you also keep the Law, which He gave. And so in doing that, they really made salvation by works rather than salvation by faith.

In Chapters 3 and 4 Paul had dealt basically with the doctrinal issues involved in this dispute. Now in Chapters 5 and 6 he is going to move to talk about the practical outworking of that doctrine, how God’s people live in grace by faith, through the power of the Spirit. In the opening 12 verses of Chapter 5 Paul really reiterates the issues involved and draws attention to the contrast between believers and the false teachers, between himself and the Judaizers and lays the foundation for how believers are to live their lives as God’s people.

Let me just review for you what we looked at in the first six verses. In verse 1 Paul established first of all, Christ redeemed us for a life of freedom. Christ set us free that we might live in freedom. Now what that freedom will all entail will be further discussed in Chapters 5 and 6 regarding how we live, but you understand Christ set us free so that we would live freely, not go back into slavery, the Law and a works system. So he gave the command in verse 1, “therefore keep standing firm.” That our responsibility as God’s people is to stand firm in the position we have in Christ and not subject ourselves to the false teachers and the slavery that they would bring. Verse 2, he emphasized that salvation is secured by faith alone and if you add to that faith circumcision, Christ is of no value to you. You cannot have faith in Christ plus circumcision for salvation. In our day you might say we cannot have faith in Christ plus baptism for salvation. Anything you add to faith in Christ destroys salvation by faith alone. In verse 3 he told us you cannot submit to only part of the Law. If you receive circumcision, you’re under obligation to the whole Law. This is very important. Some people today want to break the Law, the Mosaic Law, down into pieces, the Civil Law, the Ceremonial Law, the Moral Law, and say we’re not under the Ceremonial Law, but we’re under the Moral Law. We’re not under the condemnations of the Law, we’re under the commands of the Law. But you understand, you cannot be under part of the Mosaic Law. When you are under part of the Mosaic Law, you are under all the Mosaic Law. That was verse 3, you’re obligated to keep the whole Law if you’re under any of the Law.

In verse 4, Justification is by grace alone through faith alone, “You’ve been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law. You have fallen from grace.” You see what Paul is driving home, you cannot mix works and grace. You cannot mix Law and faith. Justification is by grace alone through faith alone. In verse 5, how do we live then? We live through the Spirit by faith, waiting for the hope of our righteousness. Salvation, past, present, and future is through the Spirit by faith. We entered into this salvation through the Spirit by faith in Christ, and we live through the Spirit by faith, waiting for the hope that was promised to us and the righteousness we were given in Christ. And when that is ultimately realized with the glorification of our body, it will too be through the Spirit by faith.

In verse 6, External rites do not affect our blessings in Christ. In Christ circumcision is nothing, uncircumcision is nothing. So Paul is driving home the point, the issue of circumcision, but the issue is the issue made by the Judaizers, that circumcision is necessary for righteousness before God. Well in that sense, circumcision then, as we’ll see, is paganism. It’s salvation by works. But circumcision as a physical act is neither good nor bad, and for the Jews who wanted to practice circumcision as part of their religious heritage, social heritage, cultural heritage, national heritage, fine. The issue with circumcision comes when you say it is necessary in order to have righteousness before God. External rites don’t affect your blessings in Christ. They don’t add to, they don’t take away, because it’s through the Spirit by faith that we have been blessed with every blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. And then in verse 6 he concluded by saying justifying faith produces love in our lives, and that will be an issue with how we live. We live through the Spirit by faith, waiting for the hope. Faith working through love enables us to accomplish what God would have us accomplish in life. We don’t need the Law to guide us in living.

Now what Paul is going to do with verse 7 and down through verse 12 is continue this same emphasis. He’s going to express his concern for what is happening to the Galatians, as they’re being turned aside from faithfulness of devotion to Christ by these false teachers. And he’s going to draw the contrast very starkly as he focuses attention on the false teachers themselves and reveals them for what they really are, pagans, bringing trouble and confusion and turmoil into the churches of Jesus Christ. Note how he picks up in verse 7, “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Paul is rather fond of this picture of the Christian life as running a race and you entered that race when you believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior. That’s when you joined the race so to speak. And now we, as believers, are running toward a goal. That goal is the hope of our righteousness, what God has promised for all those who love Him.
And the intention is that we run the race well. You know the Christian life is not viewed as a sprint, you know, an initial burst of speed and then you’re done. Many people start out, oh wonderful, I want to trust Christ. Yes, I want to follow Him. I’m going to give everything. And they go like this, take off like a rocket, and then they come straight down. It’s over.

Paul says concerning the Galatians, You were running well, you were running the race well, you were doing well in your life as God’s people. “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” What happened? Something has come in and cut you off, interrupted your progress. That word “hindered,” a word that originally was used in a military context, where they would break up the road to keep an advancing army from progressing, to hinder their progress, similar to what we would do. You watch a news reel from WWII and they blew up the roads and blew up the bridges. Why? To hinder the progress of the enemy, to prevent them from advancing. The word here comes to mean anything that prevents your progress, that hinders you. So in a run, running the race someone interrupts this progress, cuts him off, throws something in his path. “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”

Go back to Acts, Chapter 20. The apostle Paul used this analogy of running a race of his own life. In Acts, Chapter 20 he is saying his goodbye to the Ephesian elders. And the Spirit of God has made clear to the apostle Paul that all that is before him is trouble. He’s going to Jerusalem and all he can look forward to is a rest, imprisonment, afflictions. He noted this in verse 23. He said I don’t know what’s going to happen to me in Jerusalem, but the Spirit has testified to me that in every city, bonds and afflictions await me. But that didn’t deter Paul. Note what he says in verse 24, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course.” See there’s the picture of the runner in the race. I have a course set before me, and what really matters is I finish my course and the ministry, which I receive from the Lord, and if it costs me my life to complete the course, so be it. Afflictions don’t deter me. Imprisonment doesn’t deter me. The potential loss of my life doesn’t deter me. I am consumed with one passion, finish my course.

Turn over to his last letter, II Timothy. II Timothy Paul writes in the shadow, if you will, of his impending execution. In fact he says the process has already begun, which will culminate in his execution. And you note what he says in verse 7 of II Timothy 4, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course.” How could he say that? Well at the end of verse 6, “the time of my departure has come.” You know, it’s a concern for me for myself personally. It’s a concern of mine for the people of this church that we finish our course. Paul says in II Timothy, I have finished my course. How do you know? The time of my departure is at hand. It would be like I was on my deathbed, the doctor says you have a very short time. Then I could tell you I have finished my course. You know, as a side, I think it is very important that we as God’s people keep the biblical perspective on finishing the course in mind. It is different than the model that the world sets down. The world says you work hard and looking forward to what, the time when you quit, relax, enjoy it. That’s your blessing. The tragedy is the church has followed the model of the world. The model of the scripture for God’s people is we run all out to the end of the course. How do I know when I’m at the end of the course? When the time of your departure arrives, when you face death and you’re leaving this life, because, you see, we have all eternity to relax, so to speak, to enjoy the blessings, the enjoy, if you will, the fruit of our labors and the rewards that He has promised for those who love Him. What a tragedy that we, as God’s people, not finish the course, because we’ve modeled ourselves after the world. We’ve worked, we quit, now we retire and relax. We must finish the course, then we will enjoy the blessings of eternity.

Paul’s concern for the Galatians, they hadn’t finished the course. They were running well but they didn’t finish well. The race wasn’t over. It would be like I joined a marathon that’s going to be for 20 miles or whatever and I run the first 100 yards and I quit and I turn around and say, “Boy, didn’t I do good. Did you see how I came out of that start, did you see how I past them up.” You say, “Wait a minute, you just got started. This wasn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, not the 100-yard dash. The goal is to get to the finish line.” Galatians, you were running well. “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” The truth is the truth of the gospel, referred to the truth of the gospel in Chapter 2, verse 5. The truth of the gospel, again in Chapter 2, verse 14, and that’s the truth he is talking about, the truth of the gospel. But you note, the gospel is not just something to be believed to enter into God’s salvation. It is something to be obeyed in the race of life as God’s child. “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Who’s put obstacles in your way to keep you from continuing on in obedience to God’s word? That’s what the Judaizing teachers were doing. They were turning the Galatians aside from faithful obedience to the gospel of God’s grace. For you see, it was not only a salvation entered into by grace, but it’s a salvation lived out by grace through faith as well. “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Verse 8, that’s what the false teachers do. They turn you aside, they hinder you from being faithful.

Verse 8, “This persuasion did not come from him who calls you.” “This persuasion,” a word that Paul coins here, not used elsewhere in the New Testament, refer to the persuasiveness of the Galatians. This persuasion did not come from the one who calls you. Back in Chapter 1, verse 6 Paul said, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who calls you, by the grace of Christ.” See, God’s call is always in the context of His grace. Now let me tell you, this persuasion that has now come to influence your life in an attempt to change your thinking, your way of living. The object of your faith from Christ alone to Christ plus works does not come from the God who calls you to salvation by grace through faith. A reminder that this is not God’s work in their lives. You know we have to sort things out. Some things come with very persuasive power. They seem to have an attractiveness to it. They seem to have a logic to it. But it’s not from God, because it turns you from the truth.

Turn back to I Corinthians, Chapter 2, look at verse 2. When Paul came to Corinth he said, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” That’s contrasted with verse 1, where he said, “I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God.” He did not come to try to persuade them and influence them with his own powers and abilities. Back in Chapter 1, verse 17 he said that Christ sent him “to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.” So back in Chapter 2 of Corinthians, verse 4, “And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom,” (a different word for “persuasive” than we have in Galatians, but the same idea) “but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God.” Again we’re reminded that the greatest tool in the hands of the false teachers is their persuasiveness. The greatest tool in the hands of God’s people is the message of the cross, because that is the power of God for salvation. That’s why we have to be so careful of our methodology. We begin to use the persuasive methods of the world to influence people, and we get results. The problem is those results are people whose faith is in the wisdom of men not in the power of God.

So the Judaizers were very persuasive with the methods of men, with the wisdom of men. They were very convincing and you come back to Galatians, Chapter 5. Paul doesn’t argue with their persuasive powers. He simply says that persuasion does not come from God, it’s not a work of God in their lives. It is a work of man, influencing them, and moving them away from faithfulness to Christ. The warning in this in verse 9 is “a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.” There are always people whose argument is, “What’s the big deal, I’m not abandoning Christ. And you have to admit the Mosaic Law was given by God. It is a part of the divinely inspired word of God. Can it be so bad that these teachers say believe in Christ and also keep the Law. They haven’t brought something from outside the scripture, you know.” They’re not even in the error that has been accepted in the church today that all truth is God’s truth. So even truth outside the bible is necessary for salvation or for growth in the Christian life. The Judaizers remained within the confines of scripture, believe in Christ and keep the Law, which is part of the divinely inspired word of God. Can that be so bad? Is that such a big issue?

What’s Paul say? “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” The point is simply false teaching like yeast put into dough. It permeates the whole lump of dough. You don’t say, “Look, I just put a little yeast in this little lump, it’s only a little yeast. I won’t put it in the whole lump, I’ll just put it in this part of the lump.” What happens to the lump? The yeast permeates. That’s the picture here. False doctrine has a permeating effect.

Jesus told His disciples in Matthew, Chapter 16, verse 6, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Down in verse 12 we’re told the disciples understood He was speaking of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. There Jesus used their doctrines and their teachings and He said it’s like leaven, watch out for it. It will come in, it will infect and permeate your life. In I Corinthians, Chapter 5, verse 6 the apostle Paul is dealing with the sin of immorality that’s tolerated in the church at Corinth, and he said it has to be removed. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” So whether it’s false doctrine or its sinful practice, it has to be dealt with. This is an ongoing battle. I’ve been a pastor long enough to know it will be the same battle we will face the next time and the next time and the next time. There are always people who say you’re making something big out of something little, you’re blowing this out of proportion.

You know, what happens if you go to the doctor and you get an exam. I go in and I get an exam and he says, “Gil, you’re in wonderful condition, my, what a specimen of manhood, and I could elaborate but I won’t. But then he says but there’s one problem, I found a spot on your lung.” “Say doctor, do you have to be a nitpicker? Here I am in health from the tip of my toes to the top of my head, everything is good and what do you want to talk about. You want to talk about one little speck on my lung, why are you such a nitpicker.” You know, we don’t view it that way, why? Because we know that that speck that he found, that spot in one place, if not dealt with could be fatal. Why? Well, if it’s a malignancy it will spread. The best thing to do is what? Get it as early as possible, when it’s as small as possible, and find out how to tolerate it. No, get rid of it.

I read you from Martin Luther. As you are aware, Martin Luther was one of the great reformers 500 years ago. He was effective in the reformation because he understood the point that Paul is making. Listen to Luther from his commentary on Galatians. “To tolerate a trifling error inevitably leads to crass heresy. The doctrine of the bible is not ours to take or to allow liberties with. We have no right to change even a little of it. Let others praise charity and concord to the skies. We magnify the authority of the word and faith. Charity may be neglected at times without peril, but not the word and faith. When it comes to faith and salvation in the midst of lies and errors that parade as truth and deceive many, charity has no voice or vote. Let us not be influenced by the popular cry for charity and unity. If we do not love God and His word, what difference does it make if we love anything at all?” And that understanding is eluding the evangelical church today. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. You cannot tolerate false doctrine because it’s not a big issue now. It’s not influencing many people. It’s not a major point.
There’s an Evangelical seminary today, Bethel Seminary in Minneapolis. I understand from my reading they have a professor, a pastor in the area, who has adopted process theology. Put it into print, that that’s his view. Now the seminary is in a position of how do they deal with this, denomination is in a situation of how they deal with this man. You know what process theology is basically, God is in process. God doesn’t even know what you’re going to do this afternoon, because He can’t know it until you do it. He doesn’t know what you’re going to say, what you’re going to do, because you’re a free person and He doesn’t know the actions of free people until they do it. Now this school and denomination is in the spot of having to deal with this person. They could say, look, it’s only one person of the whole faculty, only one person in the denomination. We’re big enough to tolerate that. What do you think would the end result be? It’ll just go away. Never happens, never happens. What happens? It spreads and corrupts everything. That’s the way false doctrine works.

Look at Chapter 5, verse 10, “I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view.” That almost comes like out of the blue, doesn’t it? You’re hammering away, you were running well. Who hindered you? This persuasion doesn’t come from Him who calls you. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” I have full confidence in you. Sounds like we were going down the road that Paul was despairing. But I have full confidence in you in the Lord. And it’s a settled confidence, a verb, “confidence” is in the perfect tense, denotes a settled conviction. I have a settled confidence in you in the Lord that you will not adopt any other view. Literally, that you won’t think in any other way, that you won’t be changed from your commitment to a gospel of grace.

How could he be so convinced? Well, his conviction and confidence in them is in the Lord. Paul is confident that they really believe the gospel when he came and preached it. He shared something of that in Chapter 4, verses 12 and following. Their gracious response to him and to the message he preached. And he is confident that God will work in them. He wrote to the Philippians in Chapter 1, verse 6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you, will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” So I am confident in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view. And that confidence is rooted in the fact that he is confident they have really believed the message, so that they are in Christ, and so that God’s sovereign work in their life cannot be thwarted by the enemy. And you will adopt no other view. Christians can be confused, all of us can. We have had some conflicts here. Had a pastor who asked me a while back, didn’t you have so and so in your church at one time? Yes, I did. Weren’t you showing films by so and so in your church at one time? Yes, we were. What were you thinking? I was deceived, I was deluded, I didn’t really understand the issues. I wish I could tell you, you know when issues have come up at Indian Hills, boy, I have seen it right at the beginning. One thing about me you can’t trick me. When false doctrine comes, I get it right away. I didn’t get it right away. I didn’t even get it a little bit right away. It took me a while. But you know, there is something that ought to be characteristic of God’s people, and I think Paul is dealing with it here, when he says I am confident in the Lord you will adopt no other view.

When believers are presented with the truth and explain the truth by virtue of the fact the Spirit of God dwells in them and they have the mind of Christ, they are able to discern all things as Paul told the Corinthians in I Corinthians, Chapter 2. And so believers ought to respond to the truth when it’s presented. That’s what Paul is telling the Galatians. I am settled in my confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view. Why? Because I’m presenting to you clearly the issues involved in the gospel of grace, God’s truth. I am confident as those who have believed in Him, you won’t change your mind about the gospel of grace. And I have to be very honest, I have serious concerns about the genuineness of the salvation of those who continue in the pursuit of Judaism of the Judaizers. I can use that analogy when they have been presented with the issues from the word of God. True believers don’t change their mind about the grace of God and the sufficiency of Christ. Any of us can be confused and deluded, but true believers when confronted with the truth, are brought back on track. That’s what Paul says about the Galatians. I know, I’m confident enough about your salvation that you won’t change your mind on this. That’s the way God works in the lives of His people.

But he, or the one who is disturbing you will bear his own judgment. You note, Paul does not have a defeatist attitude, does not look its hopeless. He’s convinced genuine believers will not be swept away, but he is also convinced judgment will come to the false teachers. The one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment. Peter referred to this when he referred to false teachers, their coming judgment. Paul told the Corinthians in II Corinthians, Chapter 11, verse 15 that the end of false teachers will be according to their deeds. Constant reminder, God will bring judgment on the false teachers. I sometimes wonder, Lord, why do you let the heretics live so long, why do these false teachers get old with silver gray hair and parade around as though they were statesmen in the church, when they’re the corrupters of the church? Why do the heretics live to be 80 and 90 and can continue on a ministry? Then we’re reminded, judgment will come. Paul is not going to live out his life to a normal end. It’s going to be cut short with martyrdom. Does that mean that the false teachers won? No. It means God will judge them in the end. And that’s the assured outcome and we have to be willing to leave it there in that sense.

Verse 11, “But I brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?” You know what we find out here is something of the character and workings of false teachers in this section. Now here we find that one of the tactics of the enemy, the Judaizers at Galatia was to slander Paul and accuse him of duplicity in this issue of circumcision. I already know this because Paul spent the first two chapters defending himself, his apostleship and his message. Now we find out that the Judaizers even were accusing Paul of duplicity. He really does preach circumcision. That’s one of the great tools of the devil, to slander and undermine people’s confidence in the messenger of the gospel. And the attacks are relentless. I tell men who want to go into the ministry, if you’re concerned about your reputation find something else to do, because if you’re going to preach the truth are people going to do that want to discredit the truth? Discredit the messenger. You can’t trust him, he’s not reliable, not consistent, he’s two-faced and on and on it goes. What, Paul? Here he’s telling you not to be circumcised, but Paul believes in circumcision, he preached circumcision. You know, there are always the insiders, these are Judaizers that traveled around and so on. What? We’ve been with Paul in a lot of places, we’ve watched Paul in a lot of places, we’ve been in Jerusalem, we’ve followed him from city to city. Let me tell you, Paul preaches circumcision. Did you know that after the Jerusalem conference, Paul circumcised Timothy, Acts 16:3? Yes, he did. Now you’re telling me Paul doesn’t preach circumcision. Of course he preaches circumcision.

Now sometimes when he goes to the Gentiles he’s not consistent. You know he sort of goes with the flow. He probably thought you, Galatians, wouldn’t respond well to his message on circumcision so he played it down. But Paul’s a Jew, he was circumcised. When he wanted Timothy to join the ministry, the first thing he did was circumcise him.
Beside, Paul, you know, he doesn’t preach against circumcision that often, and you know he’s already said in verse 6, in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. In I Corinthians 7 he wrote to the Corinthians and says, whether you’re circumcised or not doesn’t matter, remain in the condition you are, be satisfied.

So Paul wasn’t on a crusade against circumcision. In I Corinthians 9 he says when he was with the Jews he practiced as the Jews did. I become all things to all men. So in all of this they end up trying to convince the Galatians that Paul himself practiced circumcision, failing to deal with the issues at hand. Paul never okayed circumcision when the issue was righteousness before God. As a practice of a Jew, as part of his culture, part of his national heritage, fine, go ahead, do it. As a requirement for righteousness, absolutely not. But you see the attack on his character. Paul’s question is very simple, if I still preach circumcision, why am I persecuted, why does the persecution go on? I’m saying the same thing as the Judaizers, why don’t they like me, why am I suffering? And the Jews did lead the way in the sufferings that Paul endured.

“Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished,” and you ought to underline that. That is the issue. “The stumbling block of the cross has been abolished,” perfect tense, “abolished.” It has been permanently removed. You know what the issue in the cross of Christ is, the narrowness, the exclusiveness. Why is it that in a pluralistic society, people are comfortable getting together with Catholics, with Moslems, with all branches of Protestants, with whoever, but Evangelical Christians grate on them? You know why, Evangelical Christians preach Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Him. And you what? That “by Him” is by faith alone in Him alone.

You know what Paul said? All the issue would be dissolved if I would preach Jesus Christ and also require circumcision. You see how some people could say, “Boy, we could dissolve all of our animosity, all of our disagreement.” Just like these Lutherans and Catholics that got together and signed an agreement and said, it is by faith in Christ, we’ve dissolved all of our conflict. Praise God there’s some Lutherans, Missouri Synod, Wisconsin Synod and some others who have opposed that. They have seen that the issue is not faith in Christ, the issue is faith alone in Christ. And as to this here, Paul said what? The issue of the cross is dissolved. The stumbling block of the cross, the offense of the cross will be abolished, permanently removed if I would preach circumcision. People aren’t opposed to the message of Jesus Christ if it’s a message of Christ plus your good works, but when you preach a message of Christ and faith in Christ alone that becomes the issue.

Let me read you what one writer wrote who is now with the Lord, but had a ministry for many years over seas. “The stumbling block of the cross cuts the ground from under every thought of personal achievement or merit where God’s salvation is in view. To be shut up to receiving salvation from the crucified one if it is to be received at all, is an affront to all notions of proper self-pride and self-help and for many people this remains a major stumbling block in the gospel of Christ crucified. If I myself can make some small contribution, something even so small as the acceptance of circumcision, then my self-esteem is uninjured.” And that’s really the issue. For the Judaizers it was circumcision plus faith in Christ, because then I’m contributing something of my works. For people today it’s something else. Believe in Christ, yes, but don’t tell me my works don’t count. My works contribute. But faith alone in Christ alone, now it’s biblical Christians against the world, and there is no compromise.

So you see, it’s a little thing. But if Paul hadn’t dealt with it in the churches at Galatia, what would we have to preach today. We would be preaching the gospel of works. It would have permeated everything but for the grace of God. Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. There could be no compromise. Even a little compromise on the issue of works abolishes the stumbling block of the cross. That’s the temptation. Paul, do you realize you can remove the suffering and persecution from your ministry? You could go everywhere with freedom, just preach Christ plus circumcision. Can’t do it, in fact Paul’s going to conclude this section with what one writer said is the crudest and rudest statement that Paul ever gave.

Verse 12,” I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.” Pretty strong statement, folks. This is no way to heal the differences and bring people together. You know what Paul says here? Those who are preaching circumcision might well go all the way and cut it off. There’s no delicate way to put this. If Paul came and did that today, we would be going, “oh, I don’t go to church to hear those kind of crude remarks.” This is a serious issue. You know what Paul was saying? Circumcision when preached as necessary for righteousness is just pure paganism. He may have had reference to a cult that was prominent in Asia Minor. In fact it had a city in Northern Asia that was a center of this cult, Sibylee, a mother goddess cult, and the priest and loyal devotees of this cult practiced castration. Other religions and mystery religions of the day did the same thing. Basically what Paul was saying is that circumcision when practiced for righteousness before God is a form of pagan mutilation, and you might as well be following the practices of castration of the pagans. In fact this word for mutilation is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for castration and related things in Deuteronomy, Chapter 23, verse 1. You think, well, Paul got carried away here. You know some times, you know, he got a little emotional about things. Not so, he’s writing under the inspiration of the Spirit. In fact he said basically the same thing to the Philippians. In Philippians, Chapter 3 he’s dealing with the Judaizers again in the church at Philippi. You know what he says? Now here he’s writing to a church, a letter that’s going to be read to the church. Can you imagine, the battles we’ve had, conflicts, if I started out by, and said, beware of the dogs and everybody knew I was referring to those who were teaching the things that I am opposing. That’s what Paul does in Philippians, Chapter 3, verse 2, beware of the dogs. And he goes on to say, beware of the false circumcision. He uses the word there that means mutilation. Beware of the false circumcision.

Then he goes on in verse 3 of Philippians 3 to say, we are the true circumcision and there’s a play on words. The false circumcision is katatome, the true circumcision is peritome. Beware of the mutilation, those who cut if off, those who castrate. That’s what that circumcision for righteousness is. It’s a form of pagan practice. It’s not true circumcision. That’s pretty strong statement. One writer put it this way. “His sentiment sounds to our ears both coarse and malicious. We may be quite sure, however, that it was due neither to an intemperate spirit, nor to a thirst for revenge, but to his deep love for the people of God and the gospel of God. I venture to say that if we were as concerned for God’s church and God’s word as Paul was, we, too, would wish that false teachers might cease from the land.” We think we are more refined, more educated, more mannered than Paul was and we wouldn’t speak in such a coarse and unrefined way. But I think this writer has said it right. What really we are lacking is the same passionate commitment to God and his truth, that creates in us an intolerance for those that would corrupt His truth, that would oppose His truth. Is it not of utmost seriousness that they would prevent God’s people from continuing to obey the truth, that we are so nice and refined that we are careful not to say anything that might be found offensive?

Paul has no such restraint under the direction of the Spirit of God. I wish they’d mutilate themselves, reveal themselves for the pure pagans that they really are. They’d be less danger to the church of Jesus Christ.

Let me just summarize what we’ve covered quickly.

l. Verse 7, we must finish well. We must finish well.
2. We must not allow ourselves to be influenced by false teachers, verse 8.
3. Verse 9, false doctrine spreads. Remember it the next time we have to deal with an issue. Well, is this a major issue? The issue is, is it true or is it not. Is it biblical or is it not. If it is not, it must be dealt with. False doctrine spreads.
4. True believers will think biblically. Verse 10a, you will adopt no other view, I’m confident. True believers will think biblically, no other view. You will not think otherwise.
5. False teachers will be condemned, the last part of verse 10.
6. Salvation by faith alone is the stumbling block of the cross, verse 11. Salvation by faith alone is the stumbling block of the cross.
7. Works righteousness is pure paganism, verse 12. They might as well mutilate themselves. It’s pure paganism. It’s not a form of Christianity. It’s pure paganism.
Even though you add faith in Christ to your works, it’s pure paganism. It must be identified and revealed and exposed by the light as such.

May God, Number 1, give us clarity on this, that we are trusting in Christ alone for salvation. And Number 2, to give us such a passion and commitment to Him and His truth, that we will stand for that truth against all who oppose, no matter who they be. Let’s pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for the revelation you’ve given of yourself, that is a precious treasure entrusted to us. May we guard it and defend it in the strength and power of your Spirit. Lord, may we take to heart the truths that were communicated to the Galatians. May we be a people who continue to run well, that we might finish well, and in all that we do, may we be passionate, but our love and service for you until we’re called into your presence. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.