Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today as we complete our series on Paul's epistle to the Galatians, we meditate on the first verse of chapter five, the first verse in this morning's epistle reading. In this verse Paul very forcefully summarizes his main teaching to the Galatians, justification through Christ alone, and not of ourselves.
If you were to die tonight, do you think you would go to heaven? Now anyone who has had any kind of exposure to the evangelism explosion techniques of Dr. D. James Kennedy has heard that question before. But now let me ask that question in another, even more forceful way. If you were to die tonight, are you SURE you would go to heaven?
About five hundred years ago there lived a man by the name of Martin Luther. And the one distinguishing thing about Martin was that from a very young age, he was scared to death of not going to heaven. He spent nearly every waking moment doing whatever he could to assure himself that he would not suffer eternal damnation. He became a monk. He tried to follow all the rules of the church at the time. He did everything he was told, but he still wasn't sure that he was going to heaven. In fact, the harder he tried to do what the church taught, the less sure he became that he would ever make it there. That is, until one day when he stopped asking the church what to do, and instead started asking God. Martin turned back to God's Word and, especially here in the epistle to the Galatians, he finally found what he was looking for. He finally knew for sure that his eternal future was secure.
So are you sure that you're going to heaven? Good! God wants you to be sure. But the next question is, "What makes you sure?" You see, biblically there are only two possible answers to that. A couple weeks ago, as you recall, we referred to them as Plan A and Plan B. I'm sure I'm going to heaven either because - I follow the rules (that's Plan A), or I follow Christ (that's Plan B). God does not give us any Plan C.
Now, the Jewish Christians in Galatia thought that they had another sure way to heaven. They told themselves over and over again, "I'm sure I'm going to heaven because I follow Christ and I follow the rules." And by rules, they meant all the ceremonial laws given to them through Moses. And the biggest and most important of these rules was the rule to circumcise every male in the household. And very often these Jewish Christians demanded that everyone else, including all the Gentiles, follow their rules as well. That's what was happening when Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians. You see, as soon as Paul had left them, these people went to work trying to convince everyone that, while faith in Jesus was certainly important, the only way to be sure of heaven was, in addition to faith, to follow all the rules of Moses. Especially those rules regarding circumcision. You see, these people were still living under the Old Testament Covenant, by which the act of circumcision marked them off as God's distinct people.
Now unfortunately, many churches after the days of Paul also tried to convince people that the only way to be sure of eternal life with God, was to follow the rules. For instance, the medieval (pre-reformation) church built its walls and foundations on the idea that you must add your own meritorious works of salvation to God's Grace, in order to earn your way to heaven. For every serious sin you committed, you must specifically confess that sin. And for every sin that you confessed, you must do a penance. And that penance was the meritorious work of salvation that you were responsible for doing. In other words, your contribution to your eternal future. You had to do so many good things to make up for all the bad things you've done, and thus balance the scale. And that was the whole idea behind Luther's becoming a monk and going off to live in a monastery. It gave you more ways to earn favor with God, and more time to focus on following the rules.
And still today you can find people all over, desperately trying to follow all the rules, specifically so they can earn God's favor (or at least gain for themselves some assurance of that favor), instead of joyfully living a life of obedience to God, by serving others in his name.
Now what about you? As we close our series on Galatians I ask you. "Are you sure you're going to heaven because you follow the rules? Do you think God should show favor to you because you're such a good Christian? Let's make a list of the things that a good Christian does. He goes to church regularly. Maybe even to Bible class as well. He serves on the Church Council, or some other board or committee. He's helped out around church numerous times. He gives regular and generous offerings. He sends his children to the local Christian school. He prays before he eats and before he goes to bed. He follows all the rules, right! So, of course that means that God will take this good Christian to be with him, doesn't it? And to this, Paul screams NO! All of that's an example of human thinking! And that's not what the Gospel is all about!
Trusting in the rules instead of Christ (or even in addition to Christ) is not a sure way to be justified before God. In fact, Paul makes it very clear that this is instead a sure way to remain in slavery, and in bondage to sin. Listen again to what Paul says in our verse to the people of Galatia. "It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." And two versus later, Paul elaborates on what he means by slavery with the following words. "I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised, that he is then obligated to obey the whole law. You, who are trying to be justified by law, have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace."
Paul here makes two very, very critical points. First, if you want to get to heaven by following the rules, you have to follow all of the rules. All of them, all of the time. God says, "Be holy because I the Lord your God am holy". If you want to get to heaven by following the rules, you have to follow all of them. You have to be holy! Now, for the Jewish Christians in Galatia, that didn't mean just getting circumcised and following all the ceremonies and traditions, but it meant doing everything written in the Law of Moses. And in the same manner, for you and I, that doesn't mean just coming to church on Sunday and all these other things we talked about. It means being perfect. Perfect in everything you do. Perfect in everything you say. Perfect in everything you think. Perfect, not only from today on, but perfect from the instant your life began. No exceptions allowed!
But Paul goes on even further. His second point is, if you want to get to heaven by following the rules, then forget about Christ. Then he is of no value to you at all. In Paul's specific words, "you have been alienated from him." Here's the whole point of the epistle right here. To take security in following the rules means that you are choosing to be on your own. It means that you believe that you don't need Christ. Remember, there is only Plan A and Plan B. Either he does it all, and that means nothing of you - or you do it all, and that means nothing of him.
And please don't fall into the trap of trying to earn God's favor by following the rules as best as you can, and when you fall short, only then asking him to make up the rest. There's a name for that type of thinking. It's called the "God of the gaps theology." It's one of those phony man-made plan C's to salvation we talked about. I do my best, and then God "fills the gap" between my best, and perfection. In effect, that's taking what God in his grace is willing to give you as a gift, free and clear, and throwing it back in his face saying, 'I don't need all of this. I can do some of it myself.' No, to even begin down that path is to discount Christ's work for your own, and therefore to be on your own. To take your security in following the rules is, in Paul's words, to put yourself back under the yoke of slavery, and then, just like Martin Luther in the monastery, to be in constant doubt.
Let me be very straightforward and forthright with you. For me, I could never be sure that way. Why? Because, no matter how hard I try, I can't follow all the rules. Not even for one single day! Instead, very painful experiences of failures in my own life have taught me, that I can't do it on my own! And yet, I stand here today and testify to you, that I'm sure that I'm going to heaven. It's just that it's for a different reason. I'm sure I'm going to heaven, because I follow Christ.
Paul says, to follow Christ is the only sure way to freedom. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," are his exact words. God says that I must be perfect to get to heaven. But if I can't be perfect on my own, because I can't follow all of the rules, then how can I get to heaven? Ahh, but the answer is there. To paraphrase a snappy commercial you've all seen one must simply look in the book. (God's book that is.) What a novel idea! Rather than asking the philosophers and even the theologians how to get to heaven, why don't we ask God himself? And God gives us a much better answer. He tells us that he will make us perfect, perfect through his Son, Jesus Christ. Just think about that last sentence. And if you take nothing else from this sermon series on Galatians, remember this. Who is the one who is doing the act of making perfect? In other words, who's doing the verb in the sentence? Not me, but God. And here's the whole point. It has nothing to do with me. It's all about him. And it has always been, all about him!
God sent his Son to keep all of the rules in our place. God never said that he would overlook the rules, that he would forget about the laws that he gave, or that he would sweep our sins under the rug. God is just. God demands perfection. However, God is also loving, so he provides perfection to his own. (Again who's doing the verb? Who's doing the providing?) Because we can't keep his rules ourselves, God came down to us, to keep them for us. When Jesus lived on this earth as a man, he lived with the same rules as every other man. He lived under the authority of his parents, under the authority of his government, and under the authority of his God. And when he lived on this earth, Jesus kept God's law perfectly.
And then God made the greatest and most wonderful exchange ever known to man. God took our sin, our disobedience, and our failure to follow the rules and gave all that to Jesus, who then paid the penalty for us when he died on the cross. And as a result, God forgave our sins. But wait! That's not all! In exchange for our sinful live, which he gave to Jesus, God took Jesus' perfect life and gave it to us. That's the exchange. And as a result, in God's eyes, we are perfect. Perfect through the righteousness of Christ, which we receive by faith alone.
Friends, this is the unbelievable and, apart from God's revelation in his Word, totally incomprehensible good news of the Gospel. Think about it! Just when all hope was gone, and the blackness of eternal damnation was about to envelop us, then you and I received Christ's righteousness. And in an instant of time, all that abject fear and total hopelessness, turned into total and complete joy. In Christ you are perfect! Therefore, you can be absolutely sure that you are going to heaven. You can say with complete confidence, 'I'm sure I'm going to heaven because I follow Christ.'
Paul said it this way, "But by faith we eagerly await the Spirit of righteousness, for which we hope." And that righteousness is the perfection that God demands and the perfection that God gives us through Jesus. Now, that we "hope" for that righteousness does not mean that we merely wish for it, but rather that we expect it because none other than God has promised to give it to us. By faith we trust God's promise and therefore we are sure.
And that hope, the certainty that we have is what gives us that freedom. Listen one last time to Paul's words in today's verse. "It is for freedom, that Christ has set us free". That freedom is the freedom from the curse of the law, which is eternal death. That freedom is the freedom from the burden of the law, which is perfection. And that freedom is the freedom from the agony of doubt. The freedom to never again have to wonder if I've been good enough so God will love me, and let me into his kingdom. That freedom is being able to say, "I'm sure, I'm going to heaven." And that freedom is also another freedom we never find as long as we put our security under the law. It is the freedom to live a life of joyful obedience to the will of the one who set us free.
And Paul also encourages us to live in this freedom with these words, "Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." The people of this world will try to rob you of your freedom. Count on it! They will try to take away your certainty of salvation. They do not want you to think that you can be so sure that you're going to heaven. That's an insult to their worldly sense of justice. After all, what makes you so much better than them, that you can be so sure? They don't get that its all about God alone.
As an example of what I am saying, look at what happened to those in the Old Testament who stood firm. Let's take Daniel, for instance. When he was told he couldn't pray to his God, he did it anyway. He practiced his freedom. And he was willing to pay the price of being thrown into the lion's den. But because of his freedom, he wasn't afraid. He knew that even if he should die, he would go to heaven. Just look at what Jesus told his disciples. "Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over…and flog you…and all men will hate you because of me." Don't give in! Stand firm! Don't let men, who are wise in worldly ways, tell you that you must follow the rules in order to win favor with God. Don't let them take away your freedom.
Rather, stand firm in Christ. Live every day confident that if it is your last day on earth, you'll spend the next day in heaven. Stand firm as many before you have done. Thank God for men like the Apostle Paul, who refused to let anyone take away his certainty. Stand firm for your children and grandchildren and the many that will come after you. Let them see and hear you say, 'I'm sure I'm going to heaven, not because I follow the rules, but because I follow Christ. And until the time that I go to be with him, I will follow him. Not with fear as under a cruel taskmaster, but with joyful obedience, because the one I follow is my redeemer and my Lord. Amen.
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.