I will Boast in Jesus Christ
Galatians Series
Sunday
November 9th, 2025
Introduction
- Conclusion
- Consummation
- Summarization
. . . and a Powerful Principle!
Today we come to the conclusion of the Epistle to the Galatians. It is a consummation in every sense of the word. This passage summarizes all that has gone before, and leaves us with a powerful principle to live with going forward.
Postulation
In Galatians Paul writes about three things:
- Against False Teachers
- Law and Gospel
- Defense of Apostleship
All three are here addressed and concluded.
Read Galatians 6:11-18
11 See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! 12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. 17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. 18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. (NKJV)
Prayer
Exposition
11 See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!
All or part of the Epistle to the Galatians was penned by Paul himself.
Paul usually used an amanuensis, likely due to his poor eyesight. Hence, the large characters of his Greek script.
False Teachers
Conceited
12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised,
Cowardly
only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
Confused
13 For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
True Christians
Committed
14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Crucified
by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Created
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
- Creation - κτίσις - the act of founding, establishing, building - of individual things, beings, a creature, a creation
Paul’s Apostleship - Convincing Evidence
17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. 18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Explanation
Circumcision
A Sign of Bondage
Paul’s apostleship was made evident by his suffering for the cross of Christ. The false teachers that were leading the Galatians astray ran from that same persecution and sought to place their mark, so to speak, upon the Galatians. They had no desire for the ‘stigmas’ of Christ.
Christ's Stigma
A Bage of Honor
True Christians live a crucified life. The stigmas of Christ are a badge of honor, showing that they are truly dead to this world and alive to the world to come. Christians are, literally, new creations in Christ.
Illustration
A 'nice looking' scar!
I remember once hearing someone say to me that I have a ‘nice looking’ scar. It was the doctor who did a hernia surgery I had about 10 years ago. Of course, he would say it was ‘nice looking’ since that was in his best interest. And, I had no way of arguing the point as I hardly have the desire to go around comparing scars with folks. So, I took his word for it. I was thankful for the job he did, after all.
I'll always bear it.
Though that scar isn’t something I started out in life with, it is uniquely my own now. It has faded over the years, but I’ll always bear it. Indeed, the only way to remove that scar would be to make a bigger one, which doctors do sometimes if conditions warrant. It is a part of me, and I am different because of it.
Application
- Changed Forever
- Absolutely Necessary
- True Transformation
You must belong in heaven. “You must be born again!” (John 3:7)
Christ has had a much more profound effect upon Christians than any old scar ever could. He has changed us forever into something altogether different. And He alone may do that. His work on the cross is absolutely necessary because you must die to this world. The message of Galatians then is, above all else, that it is not ‘law keepers’ that inherit eternal life, but those who have been transformed by Jesus Chirst. In other words, no amount of good-doing is going to get you into heaven. You have to belong there. You have to be a citizen of that eternal city. You have to be adopted as a child of God. In the words of Jesus I will say: “You must be born again!” (John 3:7)
Invitation
Christians
We march behind the cross of Christ!
This Epistle leaves us with the encouraging principle that we are committed, crucified, and re-created. Let me state it very clearly for you from our text. Look at verse 16. We are to march in line with this canon: The Cross of Christ!
Non-Christians
Will you be born again?
You have heard the message of Galatians. It is a gospel message. Will you be born again? If you think you can ‘make it’ some other way, you’ll have to ignore the Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans for sure, and with them, the rest of the Bible. Do not tell yourself that you believe the Bible, and then think you can be saved without being born again.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
- Rule - κανών - straight piece of wood to which any thing is fastened to keep it straight, principle of investigating, judging, living, acting
- Walk - στοιχέω - proceed in a row as the march of a soldier, direct one's life
- The word ‘rule’ chosen here is the word from which we get our English word ‘canon’ which refers to something that conforms to the accepted standard.