Freedom: Standing Firm in Your Freedom
Freedom: Justification by Faith; Book of Galatians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 311 viewsDon't let legalism steal the grace that set you free
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Stop Thief!
Stop Thief!
Paul is making a shift for the last 2 chapters of Galatians from doctrinal to practical. The reality of the book then and when look at churches today, the Judiazers were trying to steal the grace of God away. Legalism today is trying to do the same thing.
10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Satan is a thief and he uses many ways to try to steal away the grace of God. He uses religion to try to do it in the form of legalism instead of relying and trusting in the grace of God and the sufficiency of the Cross. He wants to kill your freedom and destroy your walk, but Christ can go give you life and give you life full and free.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
The Judiazers had hundreds of years with a system they were accustomed too and here comes Paul preaching grace. Change is hard, that Jesus was a good teacher but we still need our high standards. We better not teach anyone about the freedom they have in Christ they may abandon our creeds, our doctrines and there will be religious anarchy could be said today.
Christians who live by faith, are justified by faith are not going to be anarchists (rebels). Quite to the contrary they are going to experience inner discipline of God rather than outer discipline of man-made rules. No man could become a rebel who depends on God’s grace, yields to God’s Spirit, lives for others and seeks to glorify God.
Christians who are surrendered to Christ who depend on the power of the Spirit are not denying the Law of God, or even rebelling against it, they are fulfilling it. As you can read in Rom8:1-4.
A quick outline of the closing two chapters it will be easy to see the flow.
I am set free; no longer in bondage to Law (5:1-12)
I need someone to control my life from within, Holy Spirit (5:13-26)
Because of the Spirit’s love, I want to live and serve others (6:1-10)
I love my liberty, I want to live it to the glory of God (6:11-18)
No matter how we look at it legalism then, and today is insidious and is dangerous to the health and unity of the church. When you abandon grace for law or try to add to grace you always lose.
Our section tonight we are looking at what is at risk, what we can lose when we turn from God’s grace to man-made rules and regulations.
You Lose Your Liberty
You Lose Your Liberty
(insert Freedom Slide)
You more than likely remember the movie Braveheart and the iconic words “they may take our lives but they will never take our freedom!” Well, it is for our freedom that Christ came.
Paul has already shown what the law is previously
A schoolmaster/guardian (Gal3:24)
A bondwoman (Gal4:22f)
Peter used the same imagery
10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
So how about what can steal our liberty?
1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
The yoke of the law, Peter said they nor fathers could bear it; and Paul calls it a yoke a slavery. Maybe today it is not the law of Moses that people yoke themselves too, but other forms of legalism (you need Bible and this book or magazine) Maybe people are following a leader and not the Bible, they are turning to what man says instead of what God says. That is a yoke! Christ came asking us to take His yoke upon ourselves.
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The yoke of Christ is easy, His burden is light, He is kind and gracious and His yoke sets us free to have life full and to live for His will and good pleasure. The yoke of law enslaves us. To the unsaved person they have a yoke of sin (Lam1:14) and to the Christian legalist it is a yoke of bondage (Gal5:1) - don’t lose your yoke of freedom that you received when you were justified by faith and you put Christ
Christ has made us free, set us free, by taking on the curse of the law by dying on the tree
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—
We are no longer under any law but under grace
14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Now don’t think because we are under grace that we are free to sin; we are freed from the bondage of sin, free to live for Christ and to have the freedom He died for us to have.
No external force (law) is needed to help us keep God’s will and to know God’s will. We have have the eternal leading of the Holy Spirit.
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
DON’T DO IT!
Don’t do this, don’t do that (law)
Paul commands, issues an ultimatum “Don’t be entangled again in a yoke of bondage, take your stand for liberty!
So stand for liberty. Paul loves that term stand. Are we standing in our liberty. How about some other standing we can, should do.
27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Stand firm - one spirit, one mind for faith of the gospel. The gospel of grace through faith.
13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Stand firm - taking up the full armor of God so can resist in the evil day - the days are evil, people want to take away our christian liberty from outside and even from inside the church.
You lose your wealth!
You lose your wealth!
Paul asserts his authority as an Apostle, as the one who taught them the gospel and they responded to in this section about what they are going to lose, the wealth of their riches in Christ. This is a strong section with heavy implications.
2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Gal5:2
Gal5:4
5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
When you turn from Christ, when you trade the grace of God for any form of legalism then.
Christ will be of no benefit to you (v.2) - expand on this
You become debtor to whole law (v.3) - When we were unsaved we were debtors and had a debt we could not pay, but Jesus took it on and paid the ransom, paid the price of redemption and when we turn to the law we must keep it all, for there is no justification under the law
You have been severed from Christ (v.4) -Take time and expand on the next two points and there are differences of opinions on being severed. Is this literal, is this spiritual, is this just a warning or is this a reality?
Finally, you have fallen from grace (v.4) - expand - if we try to add to grace it is no longer grace, it is no longer a gift that is freely received by faith. Works (law) and grace do not mix, cannot mix, they are mutually exclusive.
PARABLE OF TWO DEBTORS (LK7:36-50) - SUMMARY
Both men owed a debt, both could not pay the debt, both were forgiven the debt.
We all owed a debt we could not pay, but Christ forgave the debt
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
It does not matter the amount of the debt, to some it maybe more, but remember we all fall short we all need God’s grace through Faith in Christ Jesus.
We are rich in Christ Jesus, through faith, we are justified by faith, our riches are shown through the scripture, don’t trade them, don’t let the thief steal them.
Riches of God’s grace (Eph1:7)
Riches of God’s glory (Eph1:18)
Riches of God’s wisdom (Rom11:33)
and the unsearchable riches (Eph3:8)
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col2:3)
We are made complete in Him
10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
Remember He came to give us life and life full or abundantly!
Paul shows them there and we can learn now that the law adds nothing to our lives for when we live under grace there is nothing that can be added. His grace is sufficient!
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
You break the law if one way, you break it all
(Insert illustration of a traffic ticket)
Point being no amount of obedience in other areas can make up for act of disobedience in any area
THE GALATIANS JOURNEY
The Galatians were bewitched (Gal3:1) they were moving toward another gospel (Gal1:6-9); they were turning back to old ways, religious ways, elementary ways that could not save them, that we weak and beggerly (Gal4:9) and the results were they were entangled with a yoke of bondage (Gal5:1) and were falling from grace (Gal5:4)
Living under grace you live under power of the Spirit (vv.5-6) you depend on that power vs. your own power and your own effort.
It is not for grace that you work, you work from grace (Jam2:14-26) - faith works through love (v.6) Love for God and love for others.
Oh as we walk in grace, work in grace, love in grace we look forward to the hope we have (v.5) the hope of righteousness when Christ Jesus comes back for our final salvation!
Remembering Paul is writing to believers who are in danger. He has shown us the Christian who chooses legalism robs himself of the spiritual liberty and the spiritual wealth we have in Christ Jesus and the bondage under the law is severe and severs us from the grace of God.
Lose your Direction
Lose your Direction
7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. 10 I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.
gal5:9-
Who cut you off?
Paul uses a term “who hindered you” in the Greek the translation is who cut in on you, or using athletic term who cut you off. You have a race to run, you are in the lane of grace, you are racing for the price and someone tries to cut in on your lane and cut you off. This has nothing to do with salvation, but who cut you off from grace. See to participate in the Roman games, or the Greek games you have to be a citizen already. So you are a citizen because of your faith, you were justified because of your obedient faith.
They were running well, they were doing fine until someone cut in on them. Are there people who are trying to detour, discount, derail, discourage, dismay your faith and tell you that you need something more? When these things start to happen they can fester or they can grow like yeast in a lump
A LITTLE LEAVEN
A LITTLE LEVAVEN
Paul’s next illustration is yeast (leven), starts small but spreads out through the whole lump. Maybe the yeast is gossip that this person is not living perfectly. Maybe the yeast is this person is not growing at an expected rate. Maybe the yeast is the person is not participating. All of these types of yeast are legalism
Spirit of legalism does not suddenly overpower, overtake a church it happens over time and secretly for the most part.
Paul wishes that the ones who are causing division, the ones who are cutting in; trying to persuade would just mutilate themselves (v.12)
In Galatia, southern part there was a religion known as Cybele, men who wished to minister, to be priests there would severe themselves, castrate themselves. Paul is so graphic here that if they are going to say circumcision why not go all the way with castration?
Paul’s love was sincere, he had made all the different arguments, defences and he was concerned for his spiritual children.
But there still is a hidden jewel back in v.10 I want to point out before we close.
10 I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.
Paul had confidence in the Lord! May you have the same confidence!
(Lead to encouragement/invitation)