This speaks of a problem at the church of Galatia. There were some who wanted to change from the pure gospel and conform to a religious, secular Christianity. It was about traditions of men. Paul summed it up with verse 14—the Calvary Rule. It’s all the rule we need. We are to live by it. Everything is summed up in Calvary, in Jesus Christ. We are to study the Bible but we don’t have to memorize Genesis to Revelation. If I can remember, if you can remember Jesus, if we remember Calvary, everything else will fall into place. The law of Christ is the rule that brings everything else together.
Galatians 6: 12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.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.15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
I’m thankful for how this is worded. We live in such a regulated time. Every day new rules come into being. As American citizens we’re supposed to enjoy freedom. That doesn’t come without following some rules, but many rules and laws are not good. We should commit to the Bill of Rights and the constitution. Some new rules just mean that anything goes. If we go by common sense, Biblical rules we are punished by the world. Doing wrong is rewarded. That’s how upside down we are in the United States.
As sinners we fail in saving ourselves. As people of God, we grow in the Lord. Some Galatians grew in the Lord but were put down by those who wanted to do it another way. They put pressure on them. This was one of the prison epistles, written while Paul was in jail in Rome. He told the people not to worry about the rules of Rome. We see those same rules today. Go along with how the government sees things or be punished. You must know you’re right with God. That means to submit to the rule of Jesus Christ. That’s why Paul said 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.
Paul could have boasted, but that’s what the lost do. They try to keep rules and beliefs and concepts, a self-styled religion. Any path to God that doesn’t go through Calvary will end up in hell. There is nothing to boast about. I get some things right, but I get many things wrong. I fall short. Paul said he needed Jesus and Calvary. If he needed it, we do too! There is nothing in us to boast of. Dignitaries and politicians and the in-crowd praise each other all the time. It’s sacrilegious to put others up as super people. Many imagine themselves better and smarter than others. The Bible says that professing to be wise they have become fools. There is a lot of yakking going on. There are people with more degrees than a thermometer, but the only degree we really need is from Calvary. To know God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and that the son—Jesus—came to be crucified is all we need. We have no credentials to merit ourselves before God. In our sins we fall under the curse of sin. There is still nothing in me to glory in. We CAN praise God and his son. Paul said it is only in the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s the Calvary Rule.
Rule #1 of the Calvary Rule is that you and I, in ourselves, are lost. We cannot save ourselves. We can’t build a relationship with God in ourselves. Rule #2 is that we need a Savior. Rule # 3 is a Savior has been provided. Jesus came because he wanted to do so. He saw our only hope was in him. Jesus—by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. This is what Jesus accomplished. Jesus didn’t come to visit and sight-see. He didn’t come to make the world a better place. He didn’t come just to give us good teaching. Jesus came for one reason: to be crucified. We were going to die in our sins. Nothing we could do would change that. If Jesus had not come all of us would have to pay for our sins. Jesus came for us to the world, the poor, the rich, the soldier, the civilians are all represented. God forbid we take credit for anything with our relationship with the Lord.
Jesus was crucified for me, unto me. When we accepted Jesus Christ a new rule took place. We became new creatures. Rites and regulations of man may make people feel good for a while but they really do nothing for the soul. When we accepted Jesus we didn’t put on a Jesus layer like a coat. It wasn’t a layer of Christianity. When we came to Jesus as the Christ who died for us and trusted him to be our Savior, something happened. The old man was changed; we were born again. Jesus became the center that comes out.
Jesus is the only human every born into the world who was unaffected by the world. We can still be affected if we let ourselves be. The devil, the religious crowd, and the unsaved try every way in the world, but Jesus took the sins of Adam’s race to himself on Calvary. When I confessed I was a sinner and believed he was crucified for me, I was then crucified to him. He took on Calvary so that when I called on him in 1972 I found release. I found pardon from the sentence to the lake of fire and got eternal life. Jesus bore sins so that anyone could be saved. That’s the rule that saved us. It identifies us to God. If we stick with Calvary and Jesus, we can make it through this old world and the world to come. Through him I can be crucified to the world. I don’t have to suffer defeat. I can follow Jesus Christ. The world doesn’t have to regulate us. We can show the world the way. The Calvary Rule applies to others just as it does to us. We can live in happiness and peace and enjoy being alive all because we’re alive inside. Our answer to the world is to show them the Calvary Rule. If they follow that rule they can have life everlasting.
How do you sum up the Calvary Rule? With amazing grace. I once was lost but now I’m found. I once was bound but now I’m free. I once was dead but now I’m alive. Others can be too. Anyone who walks according to this rule can have it. I’m glad to be under the Calvary Rule. We’re part of a kingdom that won’t be moved. Let’s purpose to follow him. Let’s purpose to trust him and hope and live according to the Calvary Rule.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 