‘If You Be Circumcised’
\nJoe Terrell<\/p>\n
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall
\nprofit you nothing. (Galatians 5:2)
\nIt is a man\u2019s guilt that makes Christ necessary for Him; but it is a
\nman\u2019s righteousness that will render Christ ineffective for him. The
\nblood of Christ is the remedy for a man\u2019s sin, but what shall avail for
\na remedy for a man\u2019s righteousness? Only the sovereign work of the Holy
\nSpirit of God is able to overcome a man\u2019s resistance to the grace of the
\nblood and to make him despair of even his righteousness. But, to refine
\nthe point even more, it is the Holy Spirit\u2019s work in revealing the
\ntestimony of the blood of Christ that breaks the self-righteous will of
\nman and makes him submit to Christ as his only righteousness before God.
\nSo it is the blood poured out by Christ that remedies the sin of a man,
\nand it is that same blood revealed by the Holy Spirit that remedies the
\nrighteousness of man.<\/p>\n
The offence of the Cross
\n\u201cAnd I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer
\npersecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased.\u201d Galatians 5:11<\/p>\n
The preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ is offensive to the natural
\nman. We that believe look at the cross and we see grace, mercy, love,
\nforgiveness, and hope; but this world sees a \u201cstumbling stone and a rock
\nof offence.\u201d I want to look at this by asking one question:<\/p>\n
What is the offence of the cross of Christ?<\/p>\n
First, it offends the wisdom of men. This world and its religion believe
\nthat man can by wisdom know God. That by sincere and heart felt study,
\nman can know His creator in such a way as to bring him to heaven. They
\nthink the preaching of the cross is foolishness and that they by wisdom
\nunderstand that there are better ways to save sinners. But the preaching
\nof the cross tells us that this message, and means, was ordained of God
\nfor the salvation of His People apart from the wisdom of this world.
\n(1Cor 1: 17-31)<\/p>\n
Second, it is offensive to man\u2019s ability. This world believes that all
\nmen have a \u201cfree will\u201d in this matter of salvation. That man is the
\nsovereign of his destiny, and he will come to Christ if all the right
\ncircumstances exist. But the preaching of the cross of Christ, tells us
\nthat no man can come to Christ unless the Father draw him. (John 6:44)
\nThis is because all men are born dead in trespasses and sins, which make
\nmen both unable and unwilling to come to God by Jesus Christ. The only
\nhope for sinners is that God the Holy Spirit quickens their dead souls
\nto life and faith in Christ. This too is offensive to the natural man.<\/p>\n
Third, it offends the merit of men. All men by nature believe that they
\ncan by their will, works, and self righteousness merit the favor of God.
\nBut the Psalmist asks, \u201cWho shall ascend to the hill of the LORD . . .?
\nHe that hath clean hands and a pure heart\u2026\u201d (Ps. 24: 2-3). But the
\ngospel of the cross teaches us that \u201cthere is none righteous, no not
\none.\u201d (Rom.3:11-20) The gospel teaches that the only way for man to
\napproach unto God, is to have the \u201crighteousness of God which is by the
\nfaithfulness of Jesus Christ to all them that believe.\u201d (Rom 3:21-22)
\nThis is offensive to the natural man.<\/p>\n
Therefore, how foolish is it for men to oppose the only hope for their
\nsalvation. It is like a drowning man despising the rope that is his only
\nlife line. Though Satan, devils, and all men oppose this gospel, it
\nshall prevail to save all of God\u2019s elect. It will save all those who
\nbelieve on Jesus Christ, and see His cross as their only glory. (Gal
\n6:14) Believers let us not ever be ashamed of this gospel, but rather
\nproclaim it to all and mind not their offense of it.
\nDon Fortner.<\/p>\n
The Will of the flesh
\n… Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
\nthe will of man, but of God.” John 1:13
\nThe so-called “free-will” of man being the determining cause of
\nregeneration is at the heart of all false doctrine. The supremacy of the
\nnatural will is the delusional dream of the demented mind of depravity.
\nThere is not one verse or context of Holy Writ that even suggests man is
\nempowered with an ability to move himself to Spiritual life or has a
\nnatural desire for the True and Living God.<\/p>\n
The will of the flesh is the god of the flesh. Man’s natural ungodly
\nwill is concerned with and in bondage to self in three areas which
\nconstitute the whole man – “For all that is in the world, the lust of
\nthe flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
\nthe Father, but is of the world” 1John 2:16. Man’s will is only
\nfunctional in the realm in which it is in captivity, and that is the
\nrealm of spiritual death and darkness. Man’s spiritual demise forbids
\nhim to move to the Light and to Life – “And this is the condemnation,
\nthat light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
\nlight, because their deeds were evil” John 3:19; “And ye will not come
\nto Me, that ye might have life” John 5:40. Spiritual birth, or
\nregeneration, is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
\nwill of man, but of God .<\/p>\n
What part does man have in regeneration? NONE! Here is the determining,
\nsufficient and efficient cause of a once dead sinner being alive unto
\nGod – “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw
\nhim: and I will raise him up at the last day” John 6:44; “And I give
\nunto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any
\nman pluck them out of My hand” John 10:28. Any message that is not clear
\nas to God’s free-will in the salvation of the elect and the bondage of
\nman’s will to sin and self is blasphemous in content and damning in
\nconsequence. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power, in
\nthe beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew
\nof thy youth” Psalms 110:3. This is the work of God!
\nTommy Robbins.<\/p>\n
How can a man be a new man, and yet be constantly sighing because he
\nfinds in himself so much of the old man? The Holy Spirit guided the
\nApostle Paul to instruct us upon this matter. There is the new man
\nwithin us, which leaps for joy because of the heavenly life; but, alas!
\nthere is also the old man. Paul calls it \u201cthe body of this death.\u201d There
\nit is, and you know that it is the older of the two, and that it will
\nnot go out if it can help it. It says to the new nature, \u201cWhat right
\nhave you here?\u201d \u201cI have the right of grace,\u201d answers the new nature;
\n\u201cGod put me here, and here I mean to stay.\u201d \u201cNot if I can prevent it,\u201d
\ncries the old nature; \u201cI will stamp you out, or I will smother you with
\ndoubts, or puff you up with pride, or kill you with the poison of
\nunbelief; but out you shall go somehow.\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d replies the new nature;
\n\u201cout I never will go, for I have come to stay here.<\/p>\n
I came in the name and under the authority of Jesus; and where Jesus
\ncomes, he comes to reign, and I mean to reign over you.\u201d He deals some
\nheavy blows at the old nature, and smites him to the dust; but it is not
\neasy to keep him under. That old nature is such a horrible companion for
\nthe new nature, that it often makes him cry, \u201cO wretched man that I am!
\nwho shall deliver me from the body of this death?\u201d But even while he is
\nthus crying out, he is not afraid of the ultimate issue; he feels sure
\nof victory. The new nature sits and sings; even, as it were, within the
\nribs of death, with the stench of corruption in its nostrils, it still
\nsits and sings, \u201cI thank God though Jesus Christ our Lord,\u201d and triumphs
\nstill in him. We are not going to be overcome, beloved. \u201cSin shall not
\nhave dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.\u201d
\nBut, my brethren, it is a tremendous struggle; and if our Lord had not
\ninstructed his servant Paul to tell us about his own experience, some of
\nus would have been obliged to cry, \u201cIf it be so, why am I thus?\u201d Christ
\nknows all about the inner life of his people, and his Word explains what
\nmay appear mysterious to you; so, when next you feel this conflict
\nraging within your spirit, you will understand it, and say, \u201cIt is not
\nbecause I am dead in sin; for, if I were dead, I should not have this
\nstruggle.
\nCharles Spurgeon.<\/p>\n
The Glory of the Lord shall be revealed
\nAnd the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,<\/p>\n
and all flesh shall see it together:<\/p>\n
for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
\n(Isaiah 40.5).
\nThere can be no sweeter sight to the eye of the child of God than to see
\nHis Savior glorified in the sight of all flesh. To the child of God, the
\ntruth of the gospel is not merely doctrine to be debated and defended,
\nor even just a body of settled truth to be confessed as a matter of
\northodox religion. No, to the believer the gospel of the Lord Jesus is a
\ndeclaration of the glory of the One who loved him and gave Himself for
\nhim. It is a portrait of his Beloved, and he could no more tolerate a
\ncorruption of the truth than a woman could tolerate that a picture of
\nher beloved husband should be desecrated in her presence.<\/p>\n
What patience does the church exhibit as she sets forth the truth of her
\nheavenly husband and lovingly instructs the children of the Kingdom
\ngiving time for them to absorb and come to terms with the truth. But see
\nher kind face flash with anger when her Husband is insulted by a
\nrebellious refusal to acknowledge His sovereign rights. Many
\nreligionists become upset when their particular form of religion is
\nassaulted for they take it as an insult against them. But for the church
\nof the Lord Jesus, it is not her own glory for which she is jealous, but
\nfor the glory of the One Who loved her and gave Himself for her.<\/p>\n
It may be tempting to establish theological benchmarks and test all men
\nby these. The danger in such a system is that it easily taps into our
\ninnate self-righteousness and can make us act as theological legalists.
\nInstead, let us be enamored of the glory of the Lord Jesus. Then, as we
\nmake our way in this religious world we will know who it is that has
\nseen the same Savior as we have seen, and we will be fit to defend His
\nglory in this world.
\nJoe Terrell.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
‘If You Be Circumcised’ Joe Terrell Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. (Galatians 5:2) It is a man\u2019s guilt that makes Christ necessary for Him; but it is a man\u2019s righteousness that will render Christ ineffective for him. The blood of Christ is the remedy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4121,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4120\/revisions\/4121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}