The Cross: Where Liberty Begins – P1 – Liberated by Faith – Pt 13 – Dr. Charles Stanley
Are you trusting in Jesus or your good works? Dr. Stanley continues his examination of Paul’s letter to the Galatians in “The Cross: Where Liberty Begins—Part 1,” as he guides us through Galatians 6:11-18. The heretical teachers in Paul’s time claimed the way to salvation was by submitting to the sacrament of circumcision plus good works. But Paul refutes them by asserting that “neither circumcision means anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15). Dr. Stanley reminds us that the only way to salvation is to become newly created, or born again, by our faith in the cross. That’s where the shackles of the law are broken and liberty begins. This message is part of the series “Liberated by Faith: A Study of Galatians” Liberated by Faith: A Study of Galatians: CD Series: https://store.intouch.org/purchase/li… Part 1: A Declaration of Freedom – 
• A Declaration of Freedom – Liberated … Part 2: Relapse from Liberty – • Relapse from Liberty – Liberated by F… Part 3: In Defense Of Our Liberty – • In Defense Of Our Liberty – Liberated… Part 4: The Foundation of Our Liberty – Pt 1 – • The Foundation of Our Liberty: Part 1… Part 5: The Foundation of Our Liberty – Pt 2 – • The Foundation of Our Liberty: Part 2… Part 6: The Key to Liberty – Part 7: Liberated By Faith – Part 8: Liberated Unto Sonship – Part 9: A Personal Plea for Liberty – Part 10: Standing Firm In Your Liberty – Part 11: Liberty, Not License – Part 12: The Obligation of Liberty – Part 13: The Cross: Where Liberty Begins – Pt 1 – Part 14: The Cross: Where Liberty Begins – Pt 2 – Part 15: Liberty’s Brands – For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch
[Music]
with a message from God’s word here’s
Charles
Stanley if you’ll turn to Galatians
chapter 6 and let’s begin reading in
verse
11 and the title of this message the
cross where Liberty begins Paul begins
to end it by saying in verse 11 you see
how large a letter I have written unto
you with my own hand as many as desire
to make a fair show in the flesh they
constrain you to be circumcised only
lest they should suffer persecution for
the Cross of Christ for neither they
themselves who are circumcised keep the
law but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh but
Paul says but God forbid that I should
glory in anything except the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world
is crucified unto me and I unto the
world for in Christ Jesus NE the circum
cision ath anything nor uncircumcision
but the fact that we are new creatures
in him and as many as walk according to
this rule peace be on them and mercy and
upon the Israel of God from henceforth
let no man trouble me for I bear in my
body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ
Brethren the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with your
spirit now let me remind you of where we
started that Paul
was writing to the churches of
galatia and because the judaizers had
come up from Jerusalem and saying that
in order to be saved you must not only
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your
savior but you must likewise take upon
yourself the bondage of keeping the law
and of course we’ve been through these
chapters as Paul has described that and
he comes to this last part and verse 11
he says you see how large a letter I
have written unto you with my own hand
now Paul uh though he is the one through
whom God spoke all these letters turn to
Romans chapter 16 if you will just a
moment let me show you something here
Paul was not usually the one who wrote
them in his own hand so when he says you
see how larg that I’ve written that
doesn’t mean how long it was but rather
he’s speaking of probably this the size
letters he used and more than likely had
some kind of an eye problem and so uh in
the formation in which he wrote this he
wrote it in large letters and they just
sort of all ran together if you look in
Romans chapter 16 and of course this is
Paul’s letter and for somebody who may
be a doubt if you just let me just
remind you of something look in chapter
one of verse one of
Romans and Paul is saying Paul a servant
of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle
separated into the gospel of God which
he promised the four By His prophets and
the holy scriptures and so forth then he
moves on down and um verse six says
among whom are you also the call of
Jesus Christ all that be in Rome beloved
of God Called to be Saints grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ first I thank my God
through Jesus Christ and so forth but in
chapter 16 verse 22 it
says I terus who wrote this epistle
salute you in the Lord gay M host and so
forth so what Paul had usually was an
amanus who one who wrote the letters for
him that is they pinned what Paul
dictated to them and of course the
spirit of God speaking through Paul Paul
spoke to the man who wrote and so this
is why he says in Galatians here he says
you see how large a letter I have
written unto you with my own hand so
Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians
and more than likely one of the reasons
he did is that he was so fired up and so
concerned about what was happening to
the churches of galatia he wrote it
himself so that’s what he means here
when he says he wrote it with his own
hand then in order to sort of set the
stage for the key thing he’s going to
say in these verses he says as many and
many as desire to make a fair show in
the flesh they constrain you to be
circumcised only lest they should suffer
persecution for the Cross of Christ so
what he’s referring to now if you’ll
recall that the judaizers from Jerusalem
came up to the churches there in galatia
and we’re trying to put these Believers
back in bondage live up to the law
here’s what God expects and and so they
were in a state of great discouragement
and so Paul is referring to them here
now and he
says as many as desired to make a fair
show and this is the only time that word
there in the Greek is used in the New
Testament and what he saying is as many
as desire to make a show before others
and that is to stand well with men he
says as many as desire to make to show
off really in the flesh they constrain
you to be circumcised he says these
judaizers are coming up here and he says
they’re not concerned about you they’re
just trying to make a big show that they
were able to convince you and persuade
you that you should be circumcised and
that is in order to keep the law and add
that to your faith in Jesus Christ and
what that would do as these judaizers
would go back to Jerusalem they just pet
themselves in the shoulders and say well
we straighten out all those Christians
up there who will listen to uh Paul and
we’ve got them under the law and now
everything is going to be all right
he says lest they should suffer
persecution for the Cross of Christ what
he’s saying is in order of that these
judaizers coming up from Jerusalem
because they didn’t want to face their
crowd back in Jerusalem and they didn’t
want to be persecuted because of of what
they were teaching what they were doing
they were putting the law on others
getting other people under the bondage
and causing them to compromise to save
their own hides that’s exactly what he
was saying so he says in verse 13 for
neither they that themselves who are
circumcised keep the law but desire to
have you circumcised that they may glory
in your flesh he says and not only are
they a big showof not only they want to
Pat themselves in the back he says but
not only that he says they want to
escape persecution themselves and he
said besides that they don’t even keep
the law and of course Paul knew that
because he knew that no man can keep the
law the law wasn’t given to keep but to
expose the wickedness of man’s heart too
expose man’s inadequacy that will drive
him to to death insiration to the cross
of Jesus Christ to have his sins
forgiven and to trust in the grace of
God and not in the works of man he says
so they come to you they don’t practice
what they’re preaching they’re a bunch
of cowards they’re scared they’re going
to be persecuted besides that they want
to Heap on you something that they can
glory in themselves and he says what
they really want to do is to glory in
the flesh now God isn’t going to allow
any of us the glory in the flesh and
I’ll tell you one way he cut that out to
begin with he said for by grace are you
saved and that not of yourselves not of
Works lest any man should boast Jesus
Christ by the grace of God plus nothing
gets a man to Glory so he says here they
are gloring in the flesh he said that
won’t get you anywhere and you see he
already said that all through the first
five chapters here he says a man is
Justified not by works he’s not declared
righteous and eyes of God by works but
by the grace of God through faith in
Jesus Christ he says so they’re going
back to glory in the flesh flesh in
their accomplishment so they think and
then Paul makes a statement and I want
us to stop right here just for a
moment because we’re going to have to
face something tonight that a lot of
people don’t want to
face in
fact we’ll do just about most anything
to keep from facing it because you see
the vast majority of Christians like
this kind of living they don’t want to
be too hot and they don’t want to be too
cold they don’t want to be accused of
being Fanatics and they certainly don’t
want to be accused of being Wicked so
what they want to do is they want to
walk right down the middle of the road
they don’t want to be evil they don’t
want to be Fanatics they don’t want
anybody to accuse them of being goody
goodies so what they try to do is take
the righteousness of Jesus Christ and
the wickedness of the world and stir it
up and get just enough color in there so
that’s it’s not black of white but it’s
delightfully
gray and the reason they are weak is is
because there is no power in
compromising with
righteousness and the reason they looked
upon his Hypocrites because they ought
to get on one side of the other so what
they do they just go down the middle of
Life waving to the church crowd waving
to the worldly crowd and what they want
is they want the approval of the Lord
and the approval of the
world and we’re going to have to face
something tonight it’s going to be tough
on us and I want to tell that before we
ever read
it because there’s a statement here that
not only is is the confession of Paul
but I believe God Almighty wants every
single one of his children to be able to
say
this verse 14 but God
forbid that I should
glory in anything but the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world perfect passive indicative in the
Greek has been
crucified unto me once in the past and
the effect of that crucifixion in the
past is still operative and effective
and bearing fruit in my life at the
present time that’s what that tense of
the verb means something that happened
once in the past and the effect of that
is still presently going on in my life
right now Paul says by whom the world
back Yonder once was crucified unto me
and I unto the world now I want to
explain what that verse means
what did he mean when he says God forbid
that I should glory in anything but the
cross of Jesus Christ God forbid that I
should
boast in anything but the
cross and you see sometimes we
Christians are prone to boast about
things Paul said and remember where he
came from here he was a Jew of
Jews here he was a man whom at the time
believed that he absolutely and
completely kept the law until he was
saved by the grace of God and was able
to look back and realize nobody could
keep it but he was giving himself
totally to the law the law was the
Paramount thing in his life it was the
Zenith and the Pinnacle of all of his
interest he gave himself to the law he
obeyed the law he was willing to
persecute and to slay Christians in
order that no one would interfere with
the law the law was almost his God
here he was a Statesman among his people
standing Head and Shoulders intellectual
among all the people around him he said
he was second unto none didn’t mind
bragging about his credentials as he was
a Jew and a keeper of the
law but having lived through all of that
and then having gone back in one of the
other books of the Bible to talk about
all the things he had to boast of he
said he said but I only will boast in
one thing and that is in the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ every everything
else in life pales into Oblivion he says
when I look at the
cross so the cross wasn’t just an
incident in Paul’s life the cross became
the heart of his life the cross became
to him what once the law was it
represented everything now the cross
became the turning point in his life the
cross became the pivotal experience in
his life it was the crucial turning in
his life Paul looked at the cross as the
one experience in his life that made the
difference in the future of his
existence in fact his eternal
existence now what does he mean by that
simply this that when he saw Jesus
Christ for who he was and Christ’s death
on the cross as man’s Only Hope of
Salvation and not only that but the
cross of Jesus Christ which was the gift
of God it was was God who arranged the
death of his son it was God who arranged
the crucifixion of Jesus it was God who
arranged the whole Affair at Calvary and
when Paul saw that he understood that
his whole life was wrapped up in the
cross of Jesus Christ because that’s
where he found life and that’s where he
found Liberty because you see before
then his whole life was burdened down
with keeping the LA
trying to do good being acceptable going
through all the ritual trying to be
acceptable before God not making any
mistakes walking so far on the Sabbath
not doing this not doing that living up
to this and living up to that he was in
bondage to the law but he says at the
cross the shackles of the law were
broken and he says for the first time in
his life he became a freed and liberated
man now I want you to listen to me
carefully because Paul not only
understood that his
salvation was found in the cross but his
life of Liberty thereafter was found in
the
cross so that everything in his life was
wrapped up in the cross of Jesus Christ
that’s where he discovered life for the
first time it is the only place any man
has ever discovered life since that
time it is the only place to find
everlasting life it is the only place to
have your name written in the Lamb’s
Book of Life it is the only place where
man can exchange death for life it is
the only place where man’s hope of
Eternity can become a living vital
reality within this life it is the only
place where men can be liberated to be
everything that God intended them to
be and because it was all of that to
Paul here’s what he
said he says
speaking of Jesus Christ by whom the
world perfect passive indicative has
been crucified to me and I into the
world and here’s what he means he says
because of what the cross
means there came a time in my life Paul
says when I
died to the world’s
Pleasures the world
allurements the world’s pull its
magnetic powerful tug at my
heartstrings he said I died to that I
died to its
Pleasures I died to its promises I died
to its pull its tug its offers I died to
its praise and its honors and all that
it has to offer he
said I was crucified to that
that is he said there came a
time when I died to what the world had
to offer that is the world lost its
touch with me it lost its appeal to
me it
lost its
magnetic strong tugging pulling churning
of my heart he says I died to it and he
said not not only
that but when I died to the world he
says the effect of that was the world
died to
me now my friend let me tell you
something with all of my heart I want
you to listen to
me God the Father who saved you through
Jesus
Christ it is his heart’s
desire that every one of us could say
that I have been crucified with Christ
which all of us who are saved
have but can we
say as he says
here I have been crucified to the
world that is an
execution took place in my emotional
affections in my
mental thinking
in my will whereby the shades came down
and I died to the world’s Pleasures to
its tug its pull its appeal its praise
and its honor I died to
that don’t you and I know that the
biggest battles we have even after we’re
saved is still the tug and the pull and
the allurements and the magnetic pull of
the world
you turn on the radio and they just
bombard you with all the junk they have
turn on the television it’s the same
story walk down the streets whether it’s
the Billboards the magazines you name it
the world is constantly doing this the
world is telling us over and over and
over again how we need it we can’t do
without it we must experience this we
must have
that let me ask you
this would you agree that we’ve probably
compromised the whole lot more than we
want to
admit that the world has a much stronger
appeal to us than we want to
admit Paul said I died to
it doesn’t have any more appeal to me at
all what does the world have to offer
tonight that has its strongest appeal to
you then let me ask you this are you
willing to die to that for the cause of
Jesus
Christ you know month or so ago the Lord
was just dealing in my own heart about
something and I kept reading this verse
and
um I kept coming back to
it and the Lord required me to yield
something that I’m sure I might consider
legitimate
nons sinful however you want to put it
and the Lord kept coming back to me to
say but I want you to die to
that and I sort of beat around the bush
a little bit and told him gave him my
opinion on the matter that didn’t count
much and every time I’d get out to pray
it’s just like he’d
say you’ve got to die to
that you’ve got to get on the cross to
that and die to that once and for all
that means you’ve got to walk away from
that and not walk away and come back but
walk away from it for
good and I want to tell you I had a very
difficult time with
that and it’s like God brought me to a
place where he had brought me once
before to
say you die of
that are one of these days you’re going
to wonder what I would have done with
you had you been willing to die
to
that and what it is is not important to
you it may not even seem important to
you but to God it was so very important
to him in my life that he just held my
feet to the fire every time I got down
to pray in this same
verse the world is crucified unto
me willing to have a relationship to
Jesus Christ whereby willing for God to
pull the sh sh down on the world that
doesn’t mean you not have a good time
and enjoy life you enjoy life a whole
lot better at the tug of the
world but here’s what I want to ask you
what we have to ask is this and this is
what God just confronted me with do you
want my best for your
life do you want my maximum potential in
your
life or do you just sort of want to plot
along and get by and God knows I can’t
stand the thoughts of just getting by
Paul said that had to come a time in his
life when he died to the
world that is he lost all of his
thirst all of his hunger and all of his
desire for what the world had to
offer but I just want to ask you the
question is there anything in your life
tonight that would keep you from
saying I am crucified to the world and
the world unto me the only thing I boast
in in this life is Jesus Christ and his
wonderful blessed Eternal
cross you see because the
cross must not only be the pivot of our
life but it must be the life that we
live now let me just put it this way
here’s what Paul said in
essence when he
said the world has been crucified to me
remember what Paul did first of all the
cross means the cross is a provision for
my salvation
but that’s only part of it Paul said if
you recall back in Galatians chap 2:20
he said I am crucified with Christ
nevertheless I live yet not I but now
Christ lives in me and the life which I
now live I live by faith in the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself on me
Paul said I was
crucified that is he
exchanged the old Saul of
Tarsus for the new
Paul and what he was saying is he says
I’ve exchanged my whole life for a new
life and when I did Paul
said the world lost all of its appeal
and Jesus Christ became everything in my
life and when the world lost its
appealed to me and Jesus Christ became
everything all of my worldly friends
choed me off for not only have I been
crucified to the world but the world cut
me
out and I want to ask you
again what is the strongest appeal that
the world has to you
tonight is it the appeal of
money doesn’t mean you have to do
without
it but is there something about the
world system that lures you
on could it be just the pleasures that
the world has to offer that often times
would require you in an environment that
is so ungodly and un
Christlike is it to fulfill some sensual
desire that you
have is it what you look
at where you go or with whom you
go is it what you listen to is it the
type of music you listen to you see
people say oh there’s nothing wrong with
the type of music I listen to bet your
bottom dollar there
is because it has a message that is born
out of hell and has nothing to do with
Jesus Christ
whatsoever it is the appeal of the world
it appeals to the flesh it satisfies
something other than what is Godly
within
us and Paul said there had to come a
time in his life when all of the appeal
and all the pleasures and all the Honors
that was his he said he had to die to it
and I believe there needs to come a
time in our lives somewhere and not just
once but many times when God brings up
something and the Lord says I don’t want
that in your
life rather than said Lord I’m going to
give that to you I think Paul’s way of
saying it’s better and that is we need
to die to now
listen if you were a dead person tonight
and you were in a casket right down here
and everybody knew you and they all
spoke to you one of them said glad
you’re
gone the other one came by weeping with
tears somebody else says great gal great
fellow and everybody in he expressed
their opinion let me ask you what kind
of effect would that have on you not a
bit in the world because you see when a
man or a woman is
dead the pray praise doesn’t affect them
nor does the persecution affect them
they’re dead to that that’s why Paul
could go from City to
City harassed by the Jews everywhere he
went you know while they couldn’t kill
the real
Paul because the day he fell on the
Damascus Road and accepted Jesus Christ
as his savior he belonged to Jesus from
that day
on wouldn’t it be great the day you and
I had gotten saved if somebody had
explained the whole Christian Life to us
and you and I could have claimed that
crucifixion right there 30 minutes after
we received him as our
savior but most of us didn’t because
nobody ever told us but I want you to
think about this
tonight the power of the holy spirit
will only work where there is purity of
heart
he just won’t work any other
place he won’t do
it and I wonder if one of the reasons
the Church of Jesus Christ is so weak
and so flimsy and feeble and so
powerless is
because we’re cting the world on this
side and God on that side and we don’t
ever really want to make the final death
break and that’s why we who are parents
need to teach our children very very
very very very early in life to obey
God because after the world gets its
tentacles around them its claws in them
and it’s hook deep down inside then Mom
and Dad you tried to pull them out of
the world
and friend the deeper into the world our
children
go the more difficult it is for them to
die to it but the same thing is true of
you and
me he’s only going to use somebody
you anybody
you to the maximum of your potential if
you’re willing to call
it all off with the
world maybe somebody here tonight you’re
dating somebody and you know in your
heart that’s not good for your Christian
life I want to tell you if somebody is
pulling you away from God you better
break that off right
fast if you say oh I’m going to get them
converted I’ll tell you what you let God
convert them and if they love you
they’ll come back and if they don’t you
don’t want them
anyway are you dating somebody tonight
that’s pulling you away from God are you
working around
somebody and their influence is so
powerful in your life they’ve already
begun to lead you into activities or
thoughts thought patterns that you know
that’s not healthy not of
God are you in business with
somebody that you know if you listen to
them you’re going to violate the word of
God are you running with a group in your
social
life that acts like they have it all
together and you’re a vital part of the
group in fact they love your being
there but you know to run with them
you’ve got to compromise your
convictions in some maybe small little
ways and God’s saying to you I want you
to
die and I want to ask res you somebody
because I’m here to tell you there’s
somebody here tonight that God has his
finger right in your heart and he’s
telling you you need to die now before
you get yourself in so much trouble it’s
going to be too
late you say well how do you
die here’s what you do by faith you tell
God that you accept your position on the
cross which is where he placed you
when he took you as one of his
children and that you’re willing for him
to work his work of surgery in your
life and by faith you claim death to
everything in your life that displeases
and dishonors God or will lead you into
a place and a
position to hurt your testimony
disappoint true believers who love you
and who
will grieve the heart of
God you see to yield my I must yield my
life to the cross and listen to this
Definition of
yielding it is the voluntary
transfer of total
possession
total control and total use of my life
to
God that’s
death that’s death to the world and all
of its
allurements and all of its
offers and what we do is we exchange
what the world has to offer but what God
has to
offer you see there comes times in our
lives and not just once but there’ll be
many times in our life When God
says it’s time for you to face this and
I want you to die to
it and then you and I have to
decide it w God’s
best want God to use us to the
maximum and I want to tell you something
that kind of dying is the most
freeing liberating joyful experience I
know because it is amazing how
instantaneously what tugged at your
heart five minutes ago
is as if it no longer
existed and I simply want to leave you
with this
question what is the
strongest tug in your life toward the
world and are you willing to die to that
for
Jesus to become what he wants you to
become and to put yourself in a position
whereby he can use you to the maximum of
your potential and you see here’s what
we do we sort of rationalize our
compromises now watch this if we can
compromise a little bit and it doesn’t
sting our conscience too bad we go back
again and again and again and again
until finally we don’t even feel it
anymore but I want to tell you when you
lose your feeling that’s the worst thing
that can happen you may not feel bad
about what you’re
doing but you’re getting in so deep that
the worst thing they could ever happen
is to be able to sin and not feel it
anymore and I simply want to ask you are
you willing to say with Paul the
Apostle I want to be
crucified to every allurement of the
world that would endanger my use before
God
hinder my testimony before my brothers
and sisters and hinder God using me to
the maximum of my
potential let me ask you one last
question I close what in your
life could be so important to
you that you would be willing to hold
to and
lose the
experience of knowing and having and
enjoying God’s Eternal
best let’s
pray father I pray in jesus’ name for
somebody here this evening for I know
you’ve got your eye on
somebody somebody who must be heading
close to
disaster somebody who may be on the
verge of making a decision of giving
themselves over to something
father I want to pray for
somebody that you have already provided
an
exciting Wonderful Life of usefulness
and service to
you and you know that unless they make
the break
now they’ll waste 10 20 30 years of
their life playing with the world trying
to Cote its pleasure and it praise and
its prominence and its
position only to end up one day in the
greatest sense of disappointment and
disaster in
Grace send down your
penetrating
pricking prodding conviction of the holy
spirit that there might be confession
and repentance but that’s not nearly
enough death is your requirement to the
cross with everything that would draw us
away from
you father I ask that you so surround
somebody that in your loving way of
pressuring because you know the future
would you move into that somebody’s
heart until they’re willing to say Lord
with Paul the Apostle I say from the
depths of my spirit I am crucified
from this moment on to the world as best
I
know and I want the cross to be the
standard bearer of my life living the
wonderful exciting life of
death which is life at its best is my
prayer in Jesus name