The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: And if you and I give ourselves to the Lord, I mean truly give ourselves, ask him to come into our heart, take out the desire and crucify the desire of the world, this is what he's going to give you: peace, mercy, and grace.

Guest (Male): Today’s message is focused on grace. Pastor Morris takes us to Galatians Chapter 6 to explore this marvelous work of our heavenly Father that creates a path to a personal relationship with him through Christ’s sacrifice for us. Let’s now join the congregation at the Largo Community Church and discover these wonderful truths from God’s word.

Pastor Jack Morris: The whole purpose in this book of Galatians was to talk about Jesus and the wonderful grace that he gives, that he continues to give. Now if you have your Bibles and you're following along, Paul now is concluding. We read the text, Galatians 6:11 through 18. Look at verse 11 and read that one with me. Verse 11 in unison: "See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand."

Now Paul had been dictating to a scribe, to a secretary, and the scribe was writing and writing. Then finally, when Paul comes to the conclusion, he asks the secretary to step aside. He said, "Give me the parchment, give me the pen." He said, "I want to conclude this with my own hand. I want to put emphasis on this. These are my people, these Galatians, and I want to close it with my own hand."

And then he said, "See what large letters." It was thought perhaps that he had eye problems. He had a disease of the eye. And though God used him to bless and to bring healing to many, yet this was perhaps a thorn in the flesh that never came to him. In one place, he said, "You would have plucked out your own eyes and given them unto me." So there was something wrong with his eyes, although he didn't go into a whole lot of detail to tell us about it.

But notice what he said, "See what large letters." It meant he made a big A and a big C and a big D. Large letters that I write to you with my own hand. He's trying to get a message across. That's the whole point. He wants to do it himself. He doesn't want a secretary now, even though the secretary is writing the very words that he's speaking.

But he's trying to say something. And the Holy Spirit is seeking and endeavoring and trying to say something this morning to you and me. I pray in Jesus' name that our hearts will be open, that we'll hear and we'll receive just as those Galatians did because God cares for us. Jesus is our savior, and we're part of the church triumphant. Can you say praise the Lord? God is with us to hear and answer prayer and to do great and mighty things.

Now what happened was Paul went to Galatia. Galatia was a province of the Mediterranean area, which is now Turkey. And Paul preached the gospel. The gospel, this good news. It's Jesus, it's salvation, it's his death, Jesus' death, and his resurrection. And those Galatians, Gentiles, heard and they believed. And they formed a congregation or several congregations.

When a person is saved, you want to be with other people who are saved. When you're in sin and you're living a raunchy life, you want to be with other sinners and other raunchy people. You know how it was. Some people said, "Oh, I can serve the Lord and not go to church." Friend, no you can't. Jesus said, "I will build my church." And if he can't build you into it, then you're not into it at all. Oh, don't get too quiet. No, not at all.

So Paul had preached the wonderful message of Jesus and people heard and their hearts were gladdened and they formed these churches. Well, soon after Paul left Galatia, some Judaizers came. You know what a Judaizer is? A Judaizer is a person who is a Jew and a Christian, but neither a Jew nor a Christian. I mean, you've got to be one or the other, but you can't be a Christian and tack something else on.

And these Judaizers came in and disturbed the church. They started telling these new converts that, "Hey, you're really not saved at all, because if you are going to be saved, you first have to become a Jew. You have to be circumcised, you have to have all the rites and the ceremonies and the rituals of the Old Testament. And when you become a thoroughly converted Jew, now you take the second step and you become a Christian." So to become a Christian, it's a two-step process.

And Paul wrote back and he said, "Nonsense! Absolutely not. You can start wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever condition you're in, and go right from there right into the kingdom of God." There's no intermediate step at all. But these Judaizers came in and they had their doctrine and they got the people all upset. So Paul now is writing this letter. That's why he put down the pen and asked the scribe to put down the pen, he took it up. He said, "I've got to get through to those Galatians who are born-again Christians. These Judaizers are disturbing their faith and sowing seeds of doubt." And so he writes to them.

Now these Judaizers also talked against Paul. They started telling the people, "He's not a good pastor. He is a deceiver. He didn't tell you you had to become a follower of Moses and then become a follower of Jesus. He's no apostle at all." This is what they were telling them. So Paul writes this last part and there's two purposes in writing this letter. He writes to them and tells them that faith in Jesus is essential. Nothing more, nothing less. That's what you need to become a Christian: faith in Jesus is essential. That's it.

Secondly, he tells them that he is indeed an apostle. And the message that I preached last week, he tells them that he now says, "For I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." Remember last week's sermon? He had been beaten in three different cities, put in jail, starved, shipwrecked. And he said, "Now I have evidence that I'm a follower of the Lord."

He said, like the illustration I told you, like the cowboys down in Texas who branded cattle to show everybody who those cattle belong to, Paul said, "I want you to look at my back and my arms, my legs, my head, and my face, and you see the marks." He said, "This is my brand. I belong to Jesus. I've been bought with the blood of Jesus. I'm not my own. I have a master, and Jesus is my master." We have to ask ourselves who's our master, because everybody has a master. Everybody's following something or somebody.

And Paul said, "I am indeed an apostle. I have evidence that I'm an apostle." And he asked them, "Let no one trouble me about this any further." He said, "I have proof." And like last week, I talked about the stigma, the scar. In the original, it's called stigma, and scars plural, stigmata. And he said, "I have the stigmata. I have the evidence. I have the outward demonstration. I have the life, I have the proof."

And last Sunday when I preached, I asked the question, "What evidence do we have in our behavior, in our lifestyle? Can we point to something and say, 'I'm a Christian, the Christianity that is in my heart has now become part of my behavior and the life that I live'?" It started on the inside, it worked itself out on the outside. I love like Jesus, I serve like Jesus, I give like Jesus. I'm Jesus again in the flesh with the spirit of God in me.

So now watch what he says. We're going to go to verse 12. Look at verse 12: "Those who want to make a good impression outwardly." You don't become a Christian, it doesn't start on the outside and work its way in. No, you can't say, "Well, I joined the church, I've been baptized, I take communion, I've done all these things, I certainly must be a Christian. I go to church, I'm pretty faithful." And you point to all of those things. No, not at all. It doesn't start on the outside and come on the inside. It starts on the inside and then it works its way out in our behavior and in our changed lifestyle. This wonderful religion.

Now one of the reasons, one of the big reasons Americans are having a problem accepting Jesus is that Americans are hard-working people. We work hard for what we get. Now there are those freeloaders out there who are lazy and won't work at all. But for the most part, America has become America because of what we have done. You've heard that saying, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." You get what you pay for. That's been our theme.

And so when we think of Jesus coming and just giving us a gift, we're too proud to take a gift. I can work for it, I'll labor for it, I'll do something to earn it, but I'm just too proud to just take a handout. Jesus said you're going to have to take a handout. The gift has already been earned. I earned it on the cross for you. I labored and travailed in the spirit in Gethsemane. I went to the cross and I earned it. Now it's a gift given.

And Americans are having a hard time taking this gift, this handout. But that's what it is. We want to work for it, we want to go to church for it, we want to be baptized for it, we want to take communion for it, we want to do some community service for it. We want to do something. Friend, you can't do anything at all but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. That's the only way. There's no other way. There's no other name but through Jesus.

It's one of the easiest things in the world to become a Christian. You don't have to do anything but believe on the Lord, confess, repent, just believe. And you could do it right now if you're not a Christian. Wherever you are, you can do it. Jesus is there to bless.

So that was the first reason he was writing to them, telling those Galatians, "You don't have to become a follower of Moses and then a follower of Jesus. You become a follower of Jesus, you start where you are, you start from nothing, you go into everything." The second reason was the cross. Look at verse 14. He said, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the world."

He said it was the cross. The cross. And he said he died on that cross for me. And he said, "I'm going to boast about that cross." He said that cross killed the world to me and the influence of the world upon me. That cross killed in me my desire for the things of the world. He said, "I'm crucified to the world, the world's crucified to me."

The things of the world—money, prestige, pleasure, lust, sex, whatever—it really had a big attraction, but he said, "I'm dead to it." He said, "It's still there, it's still coming, but it doesn't have any power over me anymore." And he said why? "Because I died when Jesus died. I was crucified with him. I'm one with him now." And he said, "The world is crucified to me and I'm to the world."

A fellow told me one time, he said, "Oh, I still go to those same old places and I hang with the same old crowd. Do you know why, Pastor Morris?" I said, "Well, no, why?" "I'm trying to win them to the Lord." No, friend, they have already won you back. They're winning you; you're not winning them. Not at all. It's Jesus. It's serving the Lord, serving God. Paul said, "I'm a new creation. I'm a new man in the Lord," and all because of the cross. Do you know what really counts? What counts with you? What counts with me? He said what counts is a new creation.

Now Paul, he was something before he received Jesus. Why, he used to brag about it, he used to boast about it. He said, "You know, I was born on the right side of the tracks. Not the wrong side, but the right side." He said, "I was born into the right family." He said, "I was born into a family that had the right connections." He said, "I became a Pharisee. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews."

He said, "I had a lot of zeal for Israel. I used to even imprison Christians and consent to them being murdered." He said, "I was really something and I was very popular in Israel. I sat at the feet of Gamaliel. I had the very best of education. I had it all." Like someone said, he had the world by the tail on a downhill pull. "I had it all."

But he said, "You know what? I've got more now." He said, "I gave it all up. I didn't give it all up; I died to it all. I died to that power and those connections and that prestige and the influence and the pride of the education." He said, "It means nothing to me. The only thing that means anything to me at all is Jesus. Is Jesus. And I love him and he loves me." And he said, "Yes, I'll take these scars and I'll take them again," for Jesus.

Friend, I want to ask you something. Does he mean something to you? What really counts? Is it Jesus? Many Christians today are passive. They're lackluster. They do and then they don't do, and then they do again. But Paul said, "I'm crucified to Christ, I'm crucified to the world and unto the Lord."

Now here was the result of his dedication to Christ. And if you and I give ourselves to the Lord, I mean truly give ourselves, ask him to come into our heart, take out the desire and crucify the desire of the world, this is what he's going to give you: the very thing that you want, the very thing that you've been longing for and looking for. He's going to give it to you and that's this: peace, mercy, and grace. Look at what he says, verse 16: "Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God," the people of God, the new Israel of God. Peace, wonderful peace.

In Philippians 4:7, that scripture talks about peace. A peace that transcends all understanding or surpasses all understanding. A peace that comes in when you receive Jesus. It's got to be peace. He's the Prince of Peace. He's the King of Peace. When he comes in, that peace comes in.

But here comes Jesus, and he comes today into the Largo Community Church, knocking at your heart's door, knocking at your heart's door, my heart's door, to give us peace, to give us mercy, and to give us grace. There's not a more beautiful word, tender and loving, in the Bible than the word grace. Grace comes at salvation when we accept Jesus. God came in lovingkindness.

He didn't come to judge me or condemn me or to rebuke me or to hurt me. He came in lovingkindness. That's how he comes. That's how he comes. Listen, he comes every day. He comes every moment in lovingkindness to us to help us in our predicament. And he comes that way, and that wonderful grace comes in. But here's—and I've got to close right now. But this is it, and I preached all this message to bring this to the saints here at Largo.

Grace is not just a one-time experience when you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Grace came to that minister that I talked to you about who was a great gospel preacher. Matter of fact, his messages are still being heard all over the world even though he's been gone for years by radio, his messages. There's sometimes things will happen in our life, even after we are a believer, that will disturb our peace, that will cause us to worry and fret and be confused.

But that grace comes again. And you know when it comes? When we look to the Lord and we ask like that minister, "God, I want you to make yourself real to me. I want you to come into my heart today. I want you to impart that grace, that lovingkindness." You see, God takes out all of the evil out of our hearts, but he doesn't leave our hearts a vacuum. He puts in lovingkindness, he puts in peace, he puts in grace. And he comes to do that today.

But listen, some of us here this morning were born-again Christians and if we died tonight, we'd go to heaven. If the rapture took place, we'd go to heaven. But there are problems in our home, in our family, in our career, in our finances, and it's causing us some real serious concern. When that happens, the peace isn't there. You can't have confusion and peace. Bitter water and sweet water just doesn't work. But that sweetness that comes from the Lord.

Friend, what I'm asking you to do today and God's asking you, he wants to give you this peace. He's the Prince of Peace. But you have to fine-tune. You have to do a little tweaking today, spiritually speaking. You have to say, "Lord, I don't know when all this confusion came, but it's in my heart, in my mind. I didn't even feel like coming to church today, but here I am and now I know I'm here because I needed to hear this message. And now I'm going to fine-tune, I'm going to tweak, I'm going to call on you to reveal yourself in a very special way."

And you know what'll happen? The peace of God that passeth all understanding will move into your heart, blessing your life, bringing joy to you. This is the message for you. I don't have anything more to say. You've got it, I've told it. To God be the glory, to you be the healing. Amen. Would you look at the screen and read the conclusion in unison.

Grace is God's love that saved me by giving me wonderful salvation. Grace is God's love that continues to hold me and keep me from falling. Grace upon grace, he giveth and giveth and giveth again. Grace and more grace. Won't you open your heart to the grace of God today? Shall we bow before the Lord. Let us bow our heads.

Father God, Abba Father, Father, Father, there are children of yours in this congregation today who need your grace. They're saved, but their life isn't on that level where it once was and where you would have it to be and where they would like it to be. Their life just isn't there. I pray that they will turn to the Lord, call upon God, confess to Jesus. If they have gone astray, they'd confess and repent and come back. Lord, whatever it is that is troubling them, oh I pray the cross of Jesus would crucify it and that Jesus would rise in their heart and in their life.

Now friends, I know you're here. God gave me the message. He wanted me to preach this to you. I didn't go down in the woods and preach it to trees. He knew you were coming and he wanted me to tell you that he loves you and he wants to restore and give back. His grace is sufficient for that trial, for that difficulty, whatever it is. His grace is sufficient. Talk to him now. I'll wait while you pray.

Guest (Male): Isn’t it wonderful to know that God’s grace is there for you and me? And the same loving God who sent his son to be a sacrifice for our sins waits eagerly for us to turn to him. If today’s healing word message has spoken to your heart, we invite you to reach out to God in prayer right now and praise him for his love and mercy for us. If you have not accepted Jesus as Lord and savior, we invite you to pray and ask him to come into your life and provide the peace that is so needed in the world today.

If today’s message strengthened your faith, we invite you to stand with The Healing Word through your prayers and your generous support. Every gift helps us take the gospel to more people who desperately need to hear that Jesus still saves. Join us tomorrow for another healing word message. Until then, blessings on you.