Galatians Chapter 6 Part 2 | Chris Osburn

Again, it's good to see those who have made it back this

afternoon. Certainly a little smaller in

number than we hope for, but that's Okay.

We'll do the best we can to glorify God in our in our

meeting this afternoon. We're going to continue in

Galatians picking up in verse 11 and we'll finish up the chapter

tonight and finish up the book of Galatians and this has been a

really encouraging. Study for me and going through

the book of Galatians and just getting a deeper knowledge of

what God is trying to teach us and and what was dealt with back

in the 1st century with some of the Judaizers and and how that

was dealt with. So I'm thankful that I was able

to to study some of these things a little more.

Picking up in in verse 11 of Galatians chapter 6 it says this

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

is Paul writing. See what large letters I use as

as I written to you with my own hand.

Paul most likely dictated most of his letters that he wrote to

the churches and and some of the other letters that we spoke read

in the Bible. He spoke and somebody else was

writing them down and sometimes though he would get to the end

and just like anybody who is maybe dictating a letter or or

at least you would pick up at the end and and maybe sign at

the very least their name. Maybe even write a couple of

notes and sign it. Most scholars seem to think and

debate kind of what's going on here.

Or, you know, most of them think that Paul actually takes the pin

out of the out of the scribes hand himself and writes this on

his own. He says, basically Paul saying

I'm going to write this last point, I want to make sure that

I'm writing this myself to you Galatians.

So he wants them to really understand and hear that.

And he continues. In verse 12 he says as many as

desire to take a good showing in the flesh.

These would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may

not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ, for not even

those who are circumcised keep the law.

But they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast

in your flesh. And here it is in verse 14 that

we're going to spend a lot of time on.

If you don't have this highlighted or marked in your

Bible, this is a really, really important verse, he says.

God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord

Jesus Christ, boasting in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has been crucified to me and I to the world.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision

avails anything but a new creation.

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be

upon them, and upon the Israel of God, God of Israel.

For now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the

marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Amen. Galatians 3 showed us the

supremacy of Christ of all, the Old Testament of Abraham, Moses.

Everything pointing to Christ himself, Everything flowing from

Christ in Christ alone He is the object of our faith.

Justification by grace through faith in Christ alone means this

is. This is why we boast in the

cross alone. And it's truly remarkable,

especially in verse 14. It's really kind of a bold

statement that Paul gives here, especially being a Jew and

especially being in the 1st century.

He doesn't say that, that that the cross is one of the things

that he boasts in. There's a lot of things that you

know that that we could be proud in.

I want to boast in this, I want to boast in that.

And that word boast in in even in the original language of the

New Testament doesn't really have a comparable English

definition or translation that we know of To think.

Does it mean boasting or bragging?

It really means if we put it all to 1:00, we we boast in with

glory in we rejoice in we we're consumed by, we're obsessed

with. Our life is is consumed by that,

by that one thing, all of that in one word, boast in the cross.

And he says it's not just one thing I boast in.

He says it's the only thing that I boast in.

He doesn't want to boast in anything else.

There's no ground for boasting in anything but the cross.

Now that doesn't seem maybe very bold for us today to say

something like that, but we're 2000 years removed from what the

cross actually did, from what it was.

We have the the culture that we live in today tends to glamorize

the clock, the cross. You know, we were sometimes, you

know, we see, like we've mentioned the past, you know, we

put the cross on a necklace. Sometimes we see it on the wall

in somebody's home. You know, that's not something

that was done in the 1st century because it was such a image of

death. It was such a gruesome way, a

horrible means of execution, torture.

It was meant to humiliate and to degrade.

You know, they wouldn't take a a man and strip him, make him and

put him on a tree and put stakes in his hands and his feet and

hold him up for everybody to walk by and and spit on him and

curse and mock him. And even the worst Roman

criminal wouldn't get treated that way.

There's laws today against things like that happening.

And if you go back a couple chapters to Galatians too, I

want us to see. How we see the word crucified

and cross building up to Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

If you want to underline them in your Bible or highlight them or

however you want to do it. But if we start in Galatians 2

Galatians 2:20

verse 20, it says there I have been crucified with Christ.

It says I've been crucified. He's given us this language and

it and it just kind of comes off the page when we realize what

what horror and what. What was all associated with

with a word like that? With crucified with Christ and

force. Galatians 3 verse one says You

foolish Galatians who has bewitched you before your very

eyes. Jesus Christ was clearly

portrayed as crucified. This was an embarrassment.

It wasn't good to be crucified. We're not proud of somebody

being crucified. Then we get the verse 13 It says

Christ redeemed us from. The curse of the law by becoming

a curse for us, for it is written curses, everyone who

hangs on a tree. Not the same word crucified, but

hanging on a tree is what it's referring to there And then we

come to Galatians 5 and 11, Paul writes.

And I, brethren, if I have still preached circumcision,

circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution?

Then the offense of the cross has ceased.

Paul knows that the cross is offensive and then we get the

1st 24 it says, and those who are Christ's have crucified the

flesh with its passions and desires.

And then we come of course to verse 12 in chapter 6.

second-half of the verse says only that they may not suffer

persecution for the cross of Christ.

And then in verse 14 what we've talked about, but God forbid

that I should boast in. Except in the cross of our Lord

Jesus Christ. The book of Galatians is filled

and saturated with with grace that we can read about, and it's

centered around the cross. And this is is really big.

And when and we're going to look at reasons in Galatians 6 why we

actually want to boast in the cross, There's reasons why.

It's more important that whatever job advancement we can

get, or what salary we can make, or what house we could live in,

or or What Car you can drive the cross boasting in the cross is

so much better than all of those things.

So I want to look at a few reasons why we boast in the

cross. I've come up with four.

There's probably more, I'm sure the reason number one we We

boast in the cross because the cross confronts us.

With the reality of our sin. We've seen this all the way in

Galatians up to this point. Remember, the Judaizers were

saying you need to be circumcised in order to be

saved, not just being baptized for the remission of sins.

But now you got to Now we want to still keep circumcision

involved. You need to follow these Jewish

rules and rich rules and regulations.

And the Judaizers weren't saying that Jesus didn't die on the

cross. They weren't denying that at

all. They said Jesus did die on the

cross, but what they were doing is they were saying, OK, Jesus

died on the cross, He did his work here and now we're going to

keep doing our work over here. So we're going to finish what

Jesus started and that's not what scripture teaches us.

We understand that. So we want to think about the

realities that Paul has built up to this point In in in Galatians

6, the first reality we are slaves to sin.

At the end of Galatians 3. Talks about prisoners of sin,

Galatians 4. Eight different times in

Galatians 4 talks about slavery, slaves.

It's mentioned over and over and over again in chapter 5 of

Galatians and the first chapter. It says we are no longer slaves

to sin. We're slaves under a new we're

we're slaves to sin under the new law.

And then when we go to Romans 6-7 and eight, we can see we

were slaves to sin all over the place.

It's mentioned multiple times there.

We were slaves to sin. Second reality that Paul has

built up to this point is we are dead in sin in Galatians 3

versus 10 through 13 it says we're cursed before God,

condemned before God because of our sin and our inability to

obey the old law and if even if you look over into Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. The the the first verse starts

off Paul talking about what we were before we came to Christ,

he says. And you were dead in trespasses

and sins. Dead to our sins.

Next we are unable to save ourselves.

Paul's been saying it over and over and over again up to this

point in Galatians, Paul says. You know, you could do all these

things you could do. You can have your circumcision.

You can do whatever other rituals you guys have been doing

for years. But all that work still doesn't

do what Christ has done for you. You still can't make the final

judgment on yourself. Jesus Christ is the one who has

done that. What slave can pay the price to

sell himself free? What dead man can bring himself

to life? What person who is dead can

choose life? And that's that's why it's so

offensive about the cross sometimes.

Because the the cross confronts us with the reality that we

can't do anything without it. We need the cross of Christ.

And that's the whole picture. You know, we can talk about

grace, you go into that, but we don't have time.

God is telling us, go to the cross and look at my son.

Look at the divine wrath, the divine weight of sin poured out

on my son. For your sin and and when we see

that we don't walk away from the cross saying thank you, we're

going to go ahead and keep living our lives now.

No. When we understand the weight of

what the cross has done for humanity, then we go about

living our lives in a completely different way.

The what the words of the hymn rider said nothing in my hand.

I bring simply to thy cross I clean.

What we need is supernatural regeneration.

The cross confronts us with the reality of our sin and offends

our pride at the core and says we need to do we need God to do

something for us that we cannot do ourselves.

We need to give our life to Him and he does it by the cross.

And what I mean by when I say the cross, I'm talking about

what Jesus accomplished at the cross with his death.

So we boast. We say yes, that's where my

glory is. That's where my joy is.

Because that leads to the second reason why we boast in the

cross, Not just because it confronts us with the reality of

our sin, but because the cross comforts us with the provision

of our Savior. When you get down into verse 12

of chapter 6, those who want to make a good impression

outwardly. We're trying to compel you to be

circumcised. They want to make a good

impression outwardly, They want to look good on the outside is

what it comes down to. The Judaizers we're focusing on

Okay, what can we do outwardly to please God and and man and

the and the cross undercuts the efforts of those Judaizers

really, really quick. So we know we're done with the

outward impressions before God and before men, Paul says.

We no longer live for the applause of man, he says here in

verse 12. As many as desired to make a

good showing in the flesh. These would compel you to be

circumcised. And then we get down to verse

13. And he says, For not even those

who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire that you

have that use, but they desire to have you circumcised.

The motive behind the Judaizers was is that that they could

boast in the flesh. That was their motivation.

They wanted to boast in the flesh they they want to boast

in, in glory. And how many guys have been

circumcised, How many have been certain, how many have done what

has been prescribed, what you know they wanted?

It's all a number count for them.

They wanted, they wanted to get as many people circumcised and

say look at what we've done. That's what it came down to.

We no longer live for the applause of man because we now

live with the pleasure of God. Paul is saying that we are free

to rest in him. We don't need the applause of

men, even religious organizations or or anything

like that. We do not look for the applause

of man. We have the pleasure of God in

us through Christ. The third reason we boast in the

cross is because the cross reminds us that our safety is

not found in this world. We saw this in a little bit in

Galatians chapter 5, verse 11. And if we look at the

Galatians 5:11

second-half of verse 12, here in verse in chapter six he says

about the Judaizers, He says the only reason they do this is to

avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

And we need to understand that if you were a Jewish person in

the 1st century and you embrace the cross like Paul is teaching

us, here is saying here. That basically crosses

everything. And you say circumcision.

We don't need that anymore. If you're a Jew and you're and

you're clinging to the cross now and you're getting rid of the

old ritualistic parts of the law, then all of a sudden you

find yourself basically turning your back on the Jewish leaders,

the Jewish teachers and all the teachings.

And I think you would find yourself ostracized.

And that's what Paul is, has experienced himself.

You find yourself kicked out of the synagogue, kicked out of

your household. Probably you find yourself at a

social as a social outcast, maybe facing financial ruling or

maybe worse. And when we think about the

persecution of Christianity in the early centuries of the

church, we often think about Roman persecution.

But the reality that the New Testament teaches us is that

persecution of the church. Didn't begin by the Romans.

It actually began by the Jewish people.

Jewish people started persecuting Christians.

First we get to act seven. We can read about Steven, first

Christian martyr that we can read about stoned by Jewish

ruling council. And then of course Paul.

In Acts 8 he was a Jewish man leading Jewish people from house

to house persecuting Christians. So there was a there's a cost.

There was a cost. If you embrace a cross like

this, then there's a cost. Paul saying, Paul saying these

guys are wimps, these Judaizers. They don't want the persecution

that comes along with holding onto the cross and boasting in

the cross. There's a price that comes with

that. We get down to verse 17 and Paul

says. Kind of a play on images, he

says. From now on that no one trouble

me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

And it's a great picture here. Paul's talking to a group of

people who are saying, well, this is what you need to do to

your body to be saved. That's what the Judaize you're

saying, you got to do this to your body, to be saved in order

to please God. And Paul says, no, no, no, I'm

going to show you what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I'll show you what happens when you follow God, he says.

Let me show you the bruises on my arms and my leg from when I

was stoned in Lystra, one of the cities that was in Galatia, he

said. Let me show you the marks that

show my identification, my identification with Christ.

If we go to 2nd Corinthians 11, if you want to turn over, I'll

have it up here on the screen too. 2nd Corinthians 11 will

certain verse 23, Paul starts describing what he had been

through. As a follower of Christ, he says

there as the ministers of Christ, are they ministers of

Christ? I speak as a fool.

I am more and labor's more abundant and stripes above

measure in prisons more frequently in deaths, often from

the Jews. Five times I received 40

stripes, minus one. Three times I was beaten with

rods, Once I was stoned, Three times I was shipwrecked a night

and a day. I have been in the deep.

In journeys often in perils of waters and perils of robbers, in

perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles.

In perils in the city, in perils of the wilderness, in perils in

the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil

and sleeplessness, sleeplessness often.

And hunger and thirst and fastings, often in cold and

nakedness. Besides the other things, what

comes upon me daily? My deep concern for all the

churches who is weak and I am not weak, who is made to

stumble. And I do not burn with

indignation, Paul is saying. This is what I have gone

through, becoming the follower of Christ.

I've left my I've left the old law of.

Of the Jewish law and the traditions.

And now I'm clinging to the cross, Paul is saying here in in

Galatians 6 is a truth for all of us who identify ourselves

with Christ. He says we do not fear

suffering, we do not fear suffering.

These false brothers were teaching false doctrines in

Galatians 6 and we can tell because the way that they were

avoiding persecution. The way that they were running,

scared of identification with the cross.

Those who are identified with the cross don't fear suffering.

In fact, when we're identified with a crucified Messiah, we

expect suffering in some way or another.

Paul talking about boasting in in crucifixion saying you can

tell I'm identified with Christ because of what I've been

through. It's like what he says in.

Philippians won when he says it has been granted to you on

behalf of Christ to suffer. It's been given as a gift to

you. In the language of the New

Testament, Philippians won. It's a gift to suffer.

If you want to paraphrase it, we're not identified with a

savior who lives in a five star resort or is dressed in really

fine clothing or had a home, anything like that.

Were identified with the Savior who has been mocked and beaten

and scourged and spit upon and nailed to a cross.

If we think about it, what was God?

You know God's strategy for showing His love most clearly to

the world. His way of showing love was

giving a suffering servant to us.

In his divine wisdom, he ordained A suffering servant the

self sacrifice of his only son. To be the means by which he

would say that I love you and I'm compassionate for you and

I'm gracious towards you. We can see this through history,

of course. After the cross we see the New

Testament letters that are written to Christians who are

suffering in that time. The book of Acts, Persecution

and suffering We see Christian history tells out tells us that

10 out of the 11 disciples were martyred and.

You know, God's strategy, I don't think has necessarily

changed a whole lot. God's showing us his love most

clearly through the world. By showing us that his followers

suffered. They went through a lot.

We don't fear suffering. We do not.

We don't. Not that we look for

persecution, we don't look for suffering.

But the reality is, you know, what do we expect?

Sometimes we need to be prepared for it.

Talking about the cross and what it does for us, we don't want to

minimize that the cross keeps us from wasting our lives in this

world. When you get to verse 14, Paul

says may I never 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 is Paul's basically saying

here I'm dead to the world and the world is dead to me.

And when he came to Christ, his entire relationship with the

world changed. He's saying this world has

nothing for me anymore, nothing for us.

If we're a Christian, all the things in this world mean

absolutely nothing. We don't live for the joy that

this world can provide us. It doesn't.

We don't have any satisfaction there.

There's no source of joy there. Philippians 3 when Paul says.

You know, he comes up, he comes up with a list of things that he

has in this world. And he says, you know, you put

all those things together and they're trash.

They're rubbish compared to one thing, compared to knowing

Christ. Paul says take everything, even

the best things of this world has to offer me.

And as long as I have Christ, I have everything that I need.

The world has nothing for us because Christ is everything to

us. One scholar said the baptized

Christian has ceased to belong to the world and is no longer

its slave. He belongs to Christ alone, and

his relationship with the world is mediated through clock

through Christ. This changes the way that we

live. We don't run now after the

pursuits of this life, the pleasures of the world.

We don't look for joy and satisfaction in the world.

We're free from those things. Christ is everything to us now.

Of course we when we say the world has nothing for us, that

that doesn't necessarily mean that everything in this world is

bad, you know, if that's the case, you know our families are

bad, our children are bad, our friends are bad, you know, we

know that's not true. That's not what it's saying.

It's not saying that's world bad, Paul said.

He's crucified of the to the world, but he's still in the

world. So what does that mean?

What does it mean? Boasting of the cross related to

everything else in this world. And it leads us to the last

reason why we boasting the cross.

Because it this is where it gets really, really good, I thought,

because the cross supplies us with every good thing that we

have. The cross supplies us with every

good thing about that we have. You know, what about our spouses

or our children? Are we allowed to be proud of

that and to boast in that? Are we allowed to find joy in

them? And what I want to try to do is

show the correlation between the cross and maybe even just a

simple parent's pride. You know what?

The cross we realize that it that.

If the cross was not there, we have nothing but condemnation

from God. If the cross is not there, a

Sinner standing before a holy God receives nothing but, of

course, judgment and condemnation.

And now we begin to realize that it's only because of the cross

that we have the opportunity to enjoy our children or our

family. That's the only source.

If the cross wasn't there, we couldn't enjoy that.

We we wouldn't want to. You know, teach those around us

or raise our children up to show that love, good things, and and

sometimes even the bad things that God uses the turn to good.

And every single one of those things is possible because of

the cross. We look at verse 15, realize

that this is a Jewish man stating for in Christ Jesus

neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything

but a new creation. God has not given us better

lives because of the cross. He's not said Here's the cross

Now go on to maybe go buy some books from the Christian

bookstore and start reading those and learn how to be a

better you. That's not what he's saying.

He's not. It's not to improve our lives or

give us better lives. It's given us a new life,

completely changed and different from what we used to be because

of the cross. We've been recreated by a spirit

and are being recreated and continue being recreated as we

study the word we're ruled by the gospel, verse 16 says.

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be

upon them and upon the, I believe it's supposed to say God

of Israel. It actually says Israel of God,

finally. Paul closes the exact same way

he began in Galatians 13 Grace and peace to you from God our

Father and Lord Jesus Christ. And then we come to verse 18.

Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, with

your spirit. Amen.

We are all recipients of that same grace that Paul is talking

about in Galatians today. It's the same grace that we can

receive. The cross will always be our

reservoir. From which that grace comes

from, from what Christ did for us on the cross.

So that's why we boast in the cross, because of what it is

done for us, what Jesus did for us.

That's the one thing we live for.

That's the one thing we count on.

That's why we are obsessed with the cross.

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