THE BELIEVER’S BOAST

Photo taken from B Smith's patio

 

74 - THE BELIEVER’S BOAST

December 3, 1961

Henry F. Kulp

 

 

Galatians 6: 11-18  As we look at the 11^th verse, I think it lets us right into the heart of the Apostle Paul. Do you want to understand the Apostle Paul better than what you do? This verse will tell you much about him. He was some distance away from Galatia when word came to him that the Judaizing teachers had come in among the different assemblies there, and they were spreading the Gospel of works. Discrediting him and the Gospel he preached.

 

1/  The Apostle was so much disturbed by what he heard that he sat right down and penned this letter. It glows with a white hot heat of his burning zeal for the Gospel of God. It was not the usual thing for men to write their own letters in those days. Letter writing was a distinct occupation, as it still is in the different cities of the East. And if a man had a great deal to do, he would engage one of these professional letter writers. Just as a man here today engages a stenographer. He would not attempt to handle it himself.

2/  And so, ordinarily, the Apostle dictated his letters to various persons. He wrote them out and signed them and sent them on. But in this case there was no one close at hand that he could dictate to, and he was so stirred in his spirit that he thought he could not loose a moment in getting this letter off, so he sat right down and wrote it himself. He refers to this in verse 11.

 

3/   Compared to the Roman Epistle, this is a very short one. It is not more than a third the length of I Corinthians, and only about half the length of the second epistle to the Corinthians. Compared to the other writings of the New Testament it is indeed brief.

4/   If you were to go back to the Greek you would see that he did say, you see with what large characters I have written unto you with mine own hand, and that indicates not only that he was not used to letter writing, but also he had some kind of affliction with his eyes that he was not able to see well.

  

5/   You remember the time he was on trial in Jerusalem and the High Priest commanded him to be smitten on the mouth. God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. I think you will find this in Acts 23: 3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

And someone said, do you speak evil of God’s high priest? And at once he apologized and said, I did not know that he was a high priest. He ought to have known for there Ananias stood, no doubt in his priestly robes, but if Paul were at the other end of the room with his poor eye sight, he may not have recognized the man.

6/   And there are other suggestions in Scriptures that tell us the same thing. He had already said in this letter, Galatians 4: 15 I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. They would not have wanted to do that unless his sight was poor. I take from all this that he had an affliction of his eyes that he had to endure for many years. So therefore, when he sat down to write, he was like a half blind person, writing in big sprawling letters. He realized that he was not sending a neat manuscript, such as folks who made a profession of letter-writing would, so he apologized for it by saying, “You see with what large characters I have written unto you with mine own hands.” 

7/  I think that manuscript with its large letters ought to have touched the hearts of the Galatians, should have made them realize how much he truly loved them and how he was concerned about them. THOSE GALATIANS SHOULD HAVE RECOGNIZED WITH HIS OWN HAND AT THE COST OF PAIN, AND EFFORT HE HAD WRITTEN TO THEM BECAUSE HE LOVED THEM.

8/  You will notice the contrast here in verse 12. The Judaizers were not concerned for the Galatians spiritual well-being. Their motives were not pure, they merely sought to make a fair show in the flesh.

9/  And then you can make another contrast. Not only did these folks want to make a fair show in the flesh, but they were afraid of persecution. That is something that Paul never feared in his life. Paul never shrank back from being persecuted. He was willing to pay the price of taking a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. Just contrast this with Galatians 6: 17 where he says, from henceforth let no man trouble you, for I bear in my body, now notice, the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn’t afraid to suffer persecution for these Galatians. He wasn’t afraid that he would be beaten. These Judaizing teachers who went into the province of Galatia knew that when you fought someone who believed in legalism you were putting your very life on the line. And you can always see that hatred of those who are legalistic. They tear you apart with words if they can’t tear you apart with their own hands. They tear you apart. There is nothing graceful, there is nothing loving about a person who is legalistic, and these Judaizing teachers knew if folks could get their hands on Paul they would kill him, and if they took sides with Paul they would be killed or maimed  perhaps.

10/  Galatians 6: 13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

Paul goes on to expose these men even more when he says, neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. In other words, the very thing they have been telling you to do they haven’t been able to do themselves, because no one can live up to the law. 

Folks say to me, well, the Sermon on the Mount is good enough for me – I’ll live by it. Did you ever see a man who has done that or is able to do that? 

Read Matthew 5 & 6 and see, test yourself honestly. Test yourself and see how far short of these wonderful portions of Scripture you fall.

11/  Then notice, he says they glory, they boast in your flesh. I read once where a certain worker said, The boast of a man, measures a man. What is meant by that is whatever one glories in reveals what he is. That which he esteems most important or valuable in his life reveals his innermost character. These folks, these Judaizing  teachers, boasted, glorified in the flesh , and flesh is corrupt. 

  

12/  But Paul says, God forbid I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said I never boast about flesh, or in flesh. I only boast about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

   

13/  Everyone who submitted to circumcision became a feather in the cap of these false teachers. Another success for them, because they would boast – so and so, he believes that grace Gospel and he has been circumcised. But Paul said that is not true – when I lead one to the Lord through the Grace Gospel, I just glory and boast in Jesus Christ and what He has done by the cross to make it possible for man to be saved. 

14/  Notice, in verse 14… But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 

…the cross does not even have a close competitor. Paul is very emphatic for he says here, but God forbid that I should glory. In other words there is nothing even close that Paul would consider. 

15/  Now come with me and stand at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will see at the cross of Christ that it reveals the hatred of man for God. Mankind has ever despised God. Before Christ went to the Cross of Calvary. 

Matthew 27: 22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

They didn’t want Him – they hated Him, but the cross proves the hatred of mankind when Jesus Christ was upon earth. He had done nothing but good in that day, but still they hated Him.

You can see what men thought of Christ when He was on the Cross. 

Matthew 27: 39 - 43 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

First the crowd, approximately a million strong passed by the cross when He hung there for six hours, and they said, come down from the cross – they didn’t want the Christ. Then the chief priests those who were raised from childhood to do the ceremonies and sacrifices there in the temple, all these ceremonies and sacrifices pointed to Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection, but they mocked Him and said, Come down from the cross. 

The Scribes who copied the Bible were so careful as they translated the Bible, they said Come down from the cross. The elders, those who were the ruling body of the nation Israel said come down from the cross and we will believe Him. They hated the cross. These Judaizing teachers may have said, Oh, we believe Jesus Christ died for us, but they in reality, hated the cross, they proved it by their viewpoint of circumcision being added to the cross of Jesus Christ. 

 

16/  It hasn’t changed one iota today. There is not one bit of difference in or present day and age. 

I Corinthians 1: 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Man today doesn’t think any differently about it, he doesn’t want to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t want to be redeemed with that precious Blood. He wants to be saved with what he can do, what he can offer to God.

17/  Then as you look at the cross of Jesus Christ, and at these wooden beams that held Him there, but the cross and all it stood for, His death for sin, we not only see the hatred of man but we see the awfulness of sin. The world says sin is a mistake, but God says, no, it is terrible. He tells us the wages of sin is death. It is so bad that My Son had to pay the price of the wage of sin so that sinners can be free and be in My Presence.

18/  And then this verse reveals to us the glory of God. The cross not only reveals the awfulness of sin, but it reveals the Glory of God. Remember what the Psalmist said?

Psalms 19: 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

The heavens declare the Glory of God. That word, declare means make known—but in the cross there is the Glory of God that outshines the stars. They are cold and lifeless things while the cross of Jesus Christ is warm and it is life-giving.

19/  Now the heavens reveal the hand of God. The hand of God in Creation, and what a powerful hand it is, but the cross of Jesus Christ reveals the heart of God, and what a heart. 

You have folks say when they are touched by your generosity, your love for them, they will say, you are all heart. When I look at the cross, and I see the glory of God in that cross, I say God is all heart to take the vile sinner like Henry Kulp and save him by that death, because He gave His Son to die for me.

20/  Let us notice in I John 4: 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

And how did He love us? By sending His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. The cross reveals the love of God to me. The glory of God and the cross reveal how much God loves me even though I am certainly unlovable.

21/  Galatians 6: 14  But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Then the cross of Calvary shows me that it is a means of separation. All who believe in Jesus Christ by the cross are crucified unto the world—they are separated from the world, they should be dead to the world. There is an Old Testament illustration that I think fits in here so well.

Remember about Israel. They had been slaves to Pharaoh there in Egypt, and god had called them out of Egypt, and had separated them, and had driven Pharaoh to let them go, and as they were escaping from the Egyptians, and the Egyptians were pursuing them, wanting them back regardless of the fact that they had let them go, there is old Pharaoh on one side of the sea, crying, You come back here and serve me—put your necks under the yoke of bondage again, and I may be using a sanctified imagination, but I think I can use it here. I think I hear the Israelites saying, Goodby, Pharaoh, goodbye Pharaoh, we want no part of you, and then the Red Sea rolls between them. 

They had been crucified to Egypt, and Egypt had been crucified to them. The waters of the Red Sea rolled between them and destroyed the Egyptians. 

Just so it should be with the world. Not just the wicked things, but even the beautiful, cultured things.

22/  The Israelites could not go back. Remember they trembled when they stood at the shores of the Red Sea—ow could they get across? And God made it possible for them to get across, but how could they get back to Egypt if they wanted to get back? They donut not because the Red Sea now stood between them and their return to Egypt. So it should be with the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ—we have been crucified to this world.

23/  Then Paul elaborated, Galatians 6: 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Crucified and separated, for he says, As many as walk according to this rule—what rule? He has not laid down any rule. Yes, he has, for he has said we are a new creation. That is the way to test everything that is put before us. Is it of the new creation or is it of the old creation, so we can judge whether we should be dead to it, or it should be dead to us.

24/  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy.

Peace and mercy come through the Cross of Jesus Christ.

AMEN

Ref: 12/03/1961/ 74 - THE BELIEVER’S BOAST / June 25, 2020