Are church members who never miss Sunday service really trusting the finished work of the cross?
Not necessarily. Church attendance or never missing a Sunday service does not itself prove trust in the finished work of the cross. Paul says if salvation depends on anything done in the flesh, Christ shall profit you nothing. Any flesh-works plus the cross cancels the cross’s work.
Les explains that Paul is warning the Galatian believers not to fall victim to the legalizers who were making inroads into the congregations Paul had established in Asia Minor. In Galatians 5:1, Paul writes, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” That yoke is legalism, the law, Judaism. Then in verse 2, Paul says that if they be circumcised—and he is talking about salvation—if they depend on something they can do in the flesh for salvation, then Christ shall profit them nothing. Les says this shook him up and scared him, because there are millions of good people, church members who would not dream of missing a Sunday morning service, and yet they are depending on something of the flesh they have done rather than relying totally on the finished work of the cross. But this is any one thing plus the cross: you cancel it; you cancel the work of the cross. So the warning is that if you do anything in the energy of the flesh, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.