Gal 6:11  Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
Gal 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.
Gal 6:13  For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
Gal 6:14  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.
Gal 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Gal 6:17  From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Gal 6:18  Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. 

Listen, theres a depth to Paul’s words here that goes way beyond just Jews and Gentiles, and physical circumcision, and the carnal ordinances in the law of Moses.  Theres an eternal truth Paul is talking about here, that He’s using to discern justification, and the dispute of circumcision and the works of the law, between Jews and Gentiles.  Paul words here would have deep meaning in the account of Cain and Abel.

Paul says in Christ Jesus neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails any thing.  He says the only thing that avails something is a new creature. 

When Paul talks about something availing or something that avails.  What he’s talking about is for something to be full of power.  He’s talking about something having the strength or the force to serve you with the life of God.  What Pauls doing is he’s explaining where the power to be justified with life, and experience the fruit of the Spirit comes from. 

When we think of being justified, there’s what God does to justify us, and theres the effect it has in our hearts.  

We feel justified when we have life.  We know we were created to have a beautiful life.  Theres something in our hearts thats says the right thing is for us to have a life that is filled with all loveliness and goodness. Theres a strength that comes alive in us when we see ourselves as possessing a beautiful life.  Theres a confidence that comes alive in us when we see ourselves as possessing a life that is full of loveliness and goodness.  If we see ourselves as having the life we should have, it produces peace, and love, and joy, and meekness, and patience in us.  It produces the fruit of the Spirit in us.  If we dont see ourselves as having the life we should have, theres something in us that says its not right.  What happens is we feel ashamed and an accusation pops up in our hearts to try and condemn us and take us from rest.  

One of the meanings of justification is to be declared innocent.  God works innocence in our hearts by gifting us His life.  His life dwells in us declaring our innocence from the accusation in the world that tries to tell us we don’t have the life we should have.  

Paul says something interesting.  He says neither being circumcised or not being circumcised is of any force to give you the beautiful life you know you were created for.  Neither getting circumcised or not getting circumcised can keep your heart from the accusation in the world.

When Paul talks about circumcision or uncircumcision, he’s talking about what the scriptures call the strength of the flesh.  He’s talking about the strength that can be seen in a persons flesh, or in their life.  He’s talking about trying to derive the strength to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit by beholding in your flesh, the thing you say is right.  Its about looking to what you see in your flesh, and in your life, and whether what you see there is right or not, to try and be persuaded the life you have is beautiful and just and right and as it ought to be.  

Lazarus and rich man.  The riches of the rich man is what the strength of the flesh would be.  The poverty of Lazarus would be the strength that could be seen in his flesh.  Which the strength that could be seen in lazarus was called weakness by the world.  Neither having riches or not having riches can ….. Lazarus wasnt justified with life on account of his deep poverty.  If we think that its looking on the strength of the flesh.  

If I look at my intensity.  I’ve always had an intensity.  That’s something that can be seen in my flesh.  That would be the strength that is of my flesh.  Neither being intense or not being intense has the power to justify me with a beautiful life and keep my heart from the accusation in the world.  In the beginning of the ministry here I was trying to believe I was a good preacher by convincing myself that my intensity was good.  That was never able to justify my heart from the accusation that I was a bad preacher.  I was looking to the strength of my flesh to be justified.  

We’ve all developed a picture of what a beautiful life looks like.  We all have a picture of what we want our life to be and what we want our life to look like.  We all have a picture of the kind of life we think has the strength to produce the fruit of the Spirit in us.  The problem is that a lot of times the picture we have is built on the perishable things of this world.

You know the reason we hold on so tightly to the picture, and judge ourselves as having the life we ought to have or not by the picture, is because we think its the picture that avails.  The reason we have the picture to begin with is because we think it has the force to give us the beautiful life we know we’re supposed to have.  We get caught in the trap of trying to make the life from the world avail.  We get caught in the trap of trying to make what is seen in our flesh and in our lives avail.  

If I think of myself.  I thought running and being in the olympics and winning a gold medal and what I could gain and accomplish in running could avail.  I thought the strength to have life, and to be seen as having a life that was beautiful and as it should be, and be clothed in the fruit of the Spirit, was contained in the goodness I could gain from running.  I had a picture of what I thought my life should be.  Unbeknownst to me the picture I had for my life was built upon perishable things that didn’t have the strength to satisfy the desire in my heart for a beautiful life.  

So Paul says the strength that can be seen in your flesh.  The strength that can be seen in the life that consists of the riches and glory of the world availeth not.  The power unto a beautiful life that is altogether lovely and filled with all goodness, that can fill you with peace and love and joy, and remove fear and shame from your heart, isn’t found in the life thats in the world, or in what you see in your flesh.  

Paul says in Christ Jesus the thing that avails; the thing that is full of force to justify you with the life you say is altogether good and lovely, and fill you with the fruit of the Spirit, is a new creature. 

When Paul says in Christ Jesus he’s talking about the faith that was revealed in Jesus on the cross.  He’s making a reference back to galatians 2 when he says he lives his life in the world by the faith of the son of God, knowing that a man isn’t justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ.  Paul says in Galatians 3 we began in Christ Jesus by the hearing of faith and we continue in Christ Jesus by hearing the faith.  Paul equates Christ Jesus with the faith revealed at the cross. 

Paul says the faith we are busy with; the faith that was revealed in Jesus on the cross is not about the strength that can be seen in the flesh of a person.  Its not about a person gaining life from the things in the world.  He says this faith isn’t about being circumcised or not being circumcised in your flesh.  That’s the worlds way.  The world thinks life is found in the strength that can be seen in the flesh of a person.

Paul says the faith that was revealed in Christ Jesus is all about God manifesting His life in you by making a new man.  Its about the power of God to create us in the image of Christ.  Its about GOD forming His life within us, by creating us anew, free from the death and corruption thats in the world, where our lives are born from above, where Christ is in the bosom of the Father, and we are in the Father’s bosom with Him, and we walk in this world beholding our life in the glorified man Jesus.  

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 

God created everything by the Spirit of Faith.  The faith that was in Jesus’ heart; the faith that he is; the faith of the son of God; the faith known as Jesus Christ; the faith of God, brought forth a new man.  A man whose life isn’t of this world.  It isnt born from the dust of the ground.  A man whose life hasn’t been fathered by the world; a man whose life is from above; from the Father of Lights Himself.  God brought forth a new man in the likeness of His immortality.  A man who is separated from sin and death once for all time, never to be able to be corrupted by sin and death gain.  

Paul says in Ephesians 2 we are God’s workmanship.  God’s the only one who can give us the beautiful life we know we were created for.  The beautiful life we know we were created for is the life we see in the resurrected Jesus.  The grace and the faith that is able to create us after the likeness of the life we see in Christ Jesus was manifested at the cross, and proven to be full of power to serve us with the beautiful life we know we should have, by the resurrection.  

In Christ Jesus the thing that avails; the thing that can produce the fruit of God’s life; the fruit of the Spirit in you, is for you to put on the new man, whose been made anew free from the death in the world, in the likeness of Gods immortality.

Paul says God forbid I should boast in anything save the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God forbid I should boast in anything except for the wisdom and power that was revealed in Jesus Christ on the cross.  Paul says by whom the world is crucified unto me and I to the world.  

When Paul thought of what had the power to serve him with the beautiful life he knew he was created to have, he thought of the faith that was revealed in Jesus on the cross.  Paul saw Jesus on the cross, and it made foolish the wisdom of the world that says the strong, the noble, the wise according to what is seen in the flesh, is what avails towards the end of having a life that is altogether lovely and good and just and right.  And that graced him to give up the ghost.  It filled him with the grace of God.  It filled him with the strength to follow Jesus, and take up his cross.  He saw the strength that was in the life from the world couldnt avail.  He saw it couldn’t justify him from the accusations in the world, and he layed it down, so he could be intimate with the beautiful life that manifested in Jesus’ resurrection.  

Prayer for Christ to have its full effect ….