Galatians 6:15-18
Notes
Transcript
October 30,2022
October 30,2022
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Today we finish the great book of Galatians. As I said last week, that as we finish this book, I pray that you are enriched by what we have studied. I pray that you have a deeper understanding of the Cross of Christ and the importance of keeping it the center of your faith. I pray that like Paul that you see the danger of turning to other things in your Christian walk and can now spot danger when it arises. I pray that you have a desire to learn more and have more of Jesus, and that you become less enchanted with the things of this world and are becoming more hungry for the things of God. That you see the need to share what you have learned with those around you. That when you hear someone tell you about the latest thing that they are reading that is just so “great” that you can lovingly share that the Cross of Christ is all that they really need. It is not new. It is not a fad and it will not fade out. But it is not popular.
Paul begins verse 15 with the phrase “For in Christ Jesus”
This is the key. This is the entire plan of Salvation. If only the people will believe in the whole of who Christ Jesus was and is and what He did at the cross, all will be mended. All was forgiven, all was defeated. But only if they Believe. And everything was paid at such a high cost that it is an insult to even suggest that something can be added to that work that could even come close to helping.
But man is not satisfied to accept God’s perfect plan of salvation, which only requires that man have Faith, but rather attempts to substitute his own. No man would rather contort his body into such a shape as to need special equipment to sit on and meditate to alleviate his problems. No joke. Just today I saw an add for a special chair to sit on that helps you to sit cross legged for a longer period of time so that one can spend time in meditation. I’m sorry you may find a little calmness by doing that, but the minute you go back into the real world you are going to be combated with the same thing you were trying to block out and that peace will be long gone.
But what God requires is simple. We don’t have to contort our bodies into an uncomfortable shape, we just have to exhibit faith in a savior and admit that we need saving. But man is not satisfied with that, he wants to do something more. He doesn’t want to believe that he is so bad, so depraved as a result of the Fall, that he cannot save himself. So he keeps trying, and keeps failing.
That is the reason that there is such animosity in the world against Christ Jesus. It refuses to admit that Jesus is the only Way to Salvation and the only Way to eternal Life, and the only way to peace with God. Jesus alone is the door and there is no other. Jesus himself taught this in Jn 10:7-11
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
All others are fake luminaries and pitiful substitutions.
But you may say well people don’t reject Jesus. They don’t reject Jesus the Teacher, or Jesus the Miracle Worker, or even Jesus the Prophet. But they do reject Jesus the Savior. The cross of Christ is repugnant and offensive to self-righteousness. It was a stumbling block to the Jews and it was foolishness to the Greeks. It is an offence to man simply because it shows how ugly, how evil, and how wicked man actually is. Only the most vile could have nailed the only good man who has ever lived to a Cross. I’m not referring to just the Jews. We all nailed him there. The cross showed what man actually was and is, it portrayed the fact that man could not in any way save himself.
But man is totally uninterested in the price that God had to pay, to redeem fallen man. He is completely uninterested that He had to give his only son, to shed his blood on Calvary. That moves man not. And man is offended that the cross shows him just how evil he actually is. And that the cross shows him that he cannot save himself. And that he should be able to act however he wants, love what ever he wants, do, say act, feel how ever he wants and that should be just fine. Pride wraps man in an ugly cocoon, and as a result of the fall man is loathe to admit such.
But yet to be saved, he has to admit that he is a sinner, a lost sinner. It must be confessed. That is so repugnant. How dare you say that there is anything wrong with me. I am just fine just the way that I am. I don’t need anyone telling me any different. No darling. You are not fine. You need a savior. I want to scream this most days at school. I see so much. I hear so much. I watch boys and girls alike come dressed like… you name it all in an attempt to be who they want to be. But not so much an attempt to be who Jesus called them to be.
But I digress...
“Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision”
In Jesus Christ it doesn’t matter what you do. He has already done it all. If you are in Jesus Christ he will change you into what you need to be. No religious ceremony. Nothing can change you except Jesus.
But remember it was a prideful thing for the Jews to be circumcised. That is what they felt set them apart from the rest of the world. And the Gentiles were prideful that they were not circumcised. But Jesus came and said it doesn’t matter whether you are or are not, what matters is if you place your Faith in what I did for you not in what you can do for yourself.
Now if the Galatians of Paul’s day, who were not far removed from the actual presence of Jesus Christ can be moved to stray from His teachings. How much worse off are we now. Paul would write in I Timothy 4:1
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
We are living in these latter times. We must understand that the seducing spirits and doctrines of devils are right out in the open right now. Righteousness and Holiness have gone out the window and the Holy Spirit is even rejected in Pentecostal circles and as Paul said in II Timothy3:1-5
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
So what are we to do in these last days? Well we are to get our face out of Facebook and into the face of Jesus. We are to look to him. We are to keep our faith in the cross. And be what the last phrase says “but a new creature”
This is what we are to be. Paul points this out in II Corinthians 5:15-19
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Reformation, and rehibilitation is not what man needs. He does not need to be a better version of himself. He needs to be completely transformed into a new creature. Now transformation, that word is interesting. Let’s look at it a minute.
Transformation means “to change in character or condition”.
Webster’s New collegiate Dictionary defines transformation as “the genetic modification of a cell by introduction of DNA from a genetically different source.”
The Bible calls it “regeneration” as in Titus 3:5
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
It actually means to be re-gened. So from a scientific point of view, it explains the born again experience.
As it regards this verse “Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” it is interesting to note the other two times Paul uses this same type phrase. We have already seen it in Galatians 5:6
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
and in I Corinthians 7:19
19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
In our text it is “but a new creature”
In the earlier text in Galatians it was “faith which worketh by love”
and in I Corinthians it is “keeping the commandments of God.”
It paints a great picture. That once we are a new creature by accepting Jesus Christ and him crucified, that Faith which worketh by love a new being in us that the sign of that work is our outward keeping of the commandments of God.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
“And as many as walk according to this rule”
“walk” in the Greek is “stoicheo” and means “to direct one’s life, to order one’s conduct”. Nothing could be more important than this. This has to do with our victory, our life, our living, our prosperity and whether we live a life of defeat or as an overcomer.
“rule” in the Greek is “Kanon” and means here “a principle” The Principle is the cross and all that goes with it in the New Testament Economy, including the Ministry of the Holy Spirit.
So those who order their lives by the Holy Spirit’s control constitute the True Israel of God. Not the Jews who only have the name of Israel but are only children of Abraham after the flesh. Really they are equal to the other children of Abraham’s flesh the muslims, till they accept Jesus. So we translate here “even the Israel of God” as identifying those who “walk according to this rule” How much clearer can you get?
“peace be on them, and Mercy”
This phrase proclaims that only those who have their Faith in the cross are guaranteed “Peace and Mercy” from the Lord. This peace is not the justifying peace which comes at Salvation but it is “sanctifiying peace which all believers can have, but regettably don’t. Outside of the cross we cannot have this peace. We will feel labor and heavy laden as Jesus spoke about but we will not find Peace. That will come only by Sanctifying peace by placing our Trust in him. and it will be the rest that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
The mercy comes when we realize that we have no strength on our own but that we have to rely on Him.
17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
If anyone knew the price of being a minsiter of the Gospel in that day it was Paul. II Corinthians 11:23-30 gives us just a taste of what Paul endured.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
They could do no more to him than what had already been done. And if they continue in the way of the Judiazers it would only add to further the scars he had already suffered for Jesus.
And further why would he have suffered this much torture if it weren't for a noble cause. If he didn’t believe it with his whole heart to be the truth.
Now the idea is not that a person has to suffer to be saved, or that a person has to suffer to minister, but the fact that he went through with such things, to undergo such a thing, if he were not really who he said he was, an apostle, called by the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not called or subjected to the stripes and scourgings of his day, but let us have some marks of our own attachment to the Lord Jesus. Meaning a holy life of self denial, victory over evil passions and by zeal in the cause of truth. There must be evidence that We are HIS.
Finally:
18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
I like what the commentary has to say about this. Pardon me while I read.
Galatians Grace
Masters branded the bodies of their slaves with marks showing proprietorship. The Apostle’s body was horribly disfigured by the deep wounds caused by the many scourgings he had suffered.
When groaning under the agony Satan may have whispered to him “There is no God; and if there is, He has no power to deliver you; in any case it is evident that He does not love you.”
But as each burning lash tore the Apostle’s flesh, triumphant Faith said “Another mark for Jesus”; and that this triumphant Grace is available for all, even for the feeblest Christian, is declared in the words: “The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, Brothers.”
Brothers. He softened the tenor of the blow with calling them brothers. They were not his enemy or his subjects, but his brother. And he addresses the spirit of Man. The spirit of a man is the part that Knows. I Corinthians 2:11
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
The Spirit is the intellect, will, mind, conscience and other invisible faculties that make man a free moral agent and rational being.
Both the sol and spirit of man are immortal. And they are closely related and hard to distinguish between them. But there is a difference. Two scriptures shed light here. I Thess 5:23
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
and Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The soul Feels. Job 14:22
22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, And his soul within him shall mourn.
With the Physical body man addresses himself to the world.
With the Soul, he addresses self,
with the Spirit he addresses God.