Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

For legalists, it is not enough to be saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone.

Our minds cannot grasp the concept that salvation is free for the taking.

We tend to live by the rule, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

we always expect that someone wants something in return for giving something away.

If that be the case, then things really aren’t free for the taking.

What do you think the apostles would have considered one of the most outlandish accessories that we wear today would be?

Arguably it would be a cross.

To them, the cross was a torture and execution device.

With it brought the idea of humility and pain and suffering.

The Jews despised the cross and Paul echoed that sentiment in as he quoted when he said “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”

To be crucified was to be put to shame.

Salvation is a completely different story.

It is grace (unmerited favor) that God has bestowed on us the opportunity to attain perfection.

Nero used crucifixion as a deterrent.

He would mercilessly crucify Christians and light their carcasses on fire to light his garden and the roadways.

Crucifixion was usually so horrible that bodies would hang for day and wild animals would pick the bones of the victims clean as people would walk by them on a daily basis.

There is nothing we can do on our own power to achieve right standing with God.

Eternal life rests solely on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf.

Our salvation rests solely on the sufficiency of Jesus Christi and His atonement on the cross.

Once we are saved, there is nothing we can add to that that will keep us in right standing with God as we live our lives.

While our brains operate well with rules and regulations, knowing what is right and wrong, for the Christian, we have a freedom that no one else will ever understand.

We are no longer chained to a system of do’s and don’ts in the church.

We must understand that faith is God-ordained while religion (and the religious establishment) is man-made.

Over the years, some great theological minds have tried to distill the teaching of scripture and glean as much truth from it as possible, because people tend to throw in their ideologies, the basis of faith gets corrupted.

Paul faced this very same issue with the churches at Galatia.

He would have a group of men follow behind him (called Judaizers) who were of Jewish background, and they would tell the believers that in order for them to maintain their salvation, they had to adhere to the law of Moses as an outward sign of their faith (namely circumcision).

Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians specifically to refute this point.

Paul makes it very clear in chapter one that if anyone adds to the gospel of Jesus they were to be “accursed” (set aside for destruction) (1.8-9).

This is a pretty heavy call for those that add to the gospel.

This also shows how far Paul was willing to go to preserve the purity of the gospel.

Paul wrote this letter to defend what we call the doctrine of Justification by faith.

That means that it is only through faith in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that a person can be declared righteous before God.

Before we place our faith into that message, we are held before God guilty of sin and rebellion against God, and once we place our faith in the work of Jesus, we are declared not guilty (justified) in God’s eyes.

Paul now closes the letter to the Galatians out writing by his own hand in our text this morning:

Galatians 6.

Normally, letters were dictated to what was called an “amanuensis.”

They were skilled at writing proficiently for other people.

Paul would dictate his letters to this person and they would write it down for him as he dictated the letter.

Under normal circumstances, the author would then sign it in his own handwriting, and Paul makes an exception here.

He closes the letter out with a personal benediction in our text.

Paul makes it known that he is writing this last part in verse 11 by saying, “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.”

Paul began the letter in chapter one by stating his authority to be heard and ends the letter with reestablishing his authority and recapping personally what he has just sent to the churches at Galatia.

It is interesting to note here the word “large.”

Some scholars argue that Paul was writing in bigger letters at this point because of possibly his eyesight was failing, and others will argue that he is writing with larger lettering because of the importance of what he is saying.

It would be the equivalent of sending a text message or email in ALL CAPS.

IT MAGNIFIES THE IMPORTANCE OF WHAT THE AUTHOR IS TRYING TO CONVEY TO THE READER.

Whatever the case may be, there are some takeaways for us from this closing passage to the Galatians.

Self-Righteousness breeds self-imposed rules

Paul writes in verse 12 a final warning against what the Judaizers were teaching.

He writes, “it is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.”

The Judaizers taught that a person had to become culturally Jewish in order to maintain their salvation meaning they had to submit to circumcision and adhere to all the laws of Moses in order to maintain their right standing with God.

Paul has already refuted this argument by stating that the law was a guardian/tutor (3.23), and that if you adhered to the law, you had to meet ALL of the law and if you were guilty of one apart of the law, you were guilty of breaking the entire law (cf.

3.10, 5.3).

The Judaizers knew that due to the high rate of persecution in that time for Christians, if they were culturally Jewish, there wouldn’t be any persecution to the Jews because of the fact that Judaism was accepted to be practiced in Roman territories, and they wouldn’t be persecuted.

Paul knew that adhering to the law would not save a person, or even keep them saved, that it was only God’s grace that protected believers from the persecutions of this world.

Paul understood that the law promoted self-righteous behavior in people and it became practically a competition of who could be religiously better.

One word to note here is the word “forced.”

It can also mean “compel.”

This was the Judaizers way of getting people to fall into the corrupt gospel by saying that they weren’t truly saved if they didn’t adhere to the requirements of the law.

Regardless of where we stand in our walk with the Lord, there will be persecutions of some sort.

Jesus even said so:

As a Christian, we will face persecutions in some way shape or form.

While here in the United States, we don’t have to worry about dying for our faith, what about worrying about what our friends think?

It is normal human behavior to want to be accepted by all people, but the truth is, because of our beliefs, we won’t be accepted by all people.

Now, let’s move this to a more relevant point: legalism.

Legalism can take many forms, more than likely it takes the form of who’s doing what and who’s not doing what within the church.

Many times people are quick to point out the faults in others which then draws the attention and focus away from those that have issues they deal with.

This is usually done in an effort to keep the heat off of themselves so people don’t find out the faults that they have.

This is the boasting that Paul is referring to.

When we establish rules and regulations on people, we tend to follow after those people and pointing out their fault so that people don’t see where we fall short.

Even Jesus was very clear that we should steer clear from this type of behavior when he faced the religious leaders with the woman that was caught in adultery.

Deep down, we know that whatever rules and regulations we lay down as being “biblical truth,” we know that many times we will not even be able to stand up to those requirements ourselves, and this is what Paul addresses in verse 13.

Self-righteousness begets pride

Paul points out that “even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law.”

What he is telling the reader here that the reason why others were being put under a system of rules and regulations regarding salvation was so that they themselves would not be considered unworthy of salvation.

The truth of the matter is, not a one of us are worthy of salvation, that is why it is called grace.

We did nothing of our own power to warrant salvation, and when we set down rules and regulations within the church, we use those as a measuring stick to determine just how much of a Christian a person really is.

We say things like, “they have been a member of this church since it was conceived, and they have paid their tithe faithfully, so they deserve certain benefits,” or “so and so has been seen outside the church doing this or that, they must not be a Christian like they say they are.”

What I have learned over time by being a people watcher, is we do things like that to draw away from our short-comings, and usually focus on things that others are doing that are similar to the sinful habits in our own lives so that we can feel better about ourselves and keep the attention focused on others because we don’t want the attention to come back on us.

I have seen it time and time again, spiritual leader after spiritual leader that preaches so much against adultery and the evils of pornography, and then one day, they stand accused of the same things they have been preaching against so vehemently.

When we focus on the short comings of others, we must take great care not to make huge productions about them because there is usually always something that we may be struggling with on the inside.

The cross of Christ levels the playing field

Paul goes on in verse 14 reiterating a point he made in 2.20 where he wrote, “I am crucified with Christ...” Ultimately, it is the cross of Christ that puts each and every one of us on a level playing field.

It is only through the power of the cross that we are made righteous before God, and it is only through the power of the cross and the Holy Spirit that we can get through life.

There are no need for rules and regulations in the shadow of the cross.

Paul knew where the source of boasting SHOULD come from in a person’s life, and that is only through the power of the cross, and not through anything we have been able to do on our own.

Christianity is not about our achievements, it’s not based on how good we have been in our lives.

It’s not about what we can do for God.

It’s about what God has done for us, in us, and through us.

When we come to that point in our lives where we come face to face with our sinfulness and realize that we need a redeemer because we can’t get there on our own that we can truly boast in what God has done for us.

Through the cross, we are changed

Paul states in the last part of verse 14, “the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”

This falls into line with what he wrote in 2.20 about being crucified with Christ.

He wrote, “It is no longer I who live, but Christi who lives in me.”

When we come to the cross, there is an exchanging of lives: our life for the life of Christ.

Jesus stood condemned in our place, on our behalf.

He bore that curse that we could not bear so we did not have to bear the punishment that we deserved.

When we trade lives with Christ, we become dead to this world and they systems by which it operates, and the world has no bearing on how we live any longer.

It is through the cross alone that we are considered dead to sin and the life that we had under that old sinful nature that we can then become the new creation through Jesus.

Our deeds count for nothing in light of the cross