The Law of Liberty
Notes
Transcript
Good morning Church!
Announcements:
Tonight is our monthly business meeting, and we will be voting on a new Church Constitution. It is also our yearly meeting where we are voting on our new positions. There are still several positions that have no one signed up for them. There are also several people who have signed up for several different positions, so if you are thinking about serving this next year, do not hesitate to put your name in the box, for we have plenty of things for you to do.
The swimming party that was rescheduled because of weather will be next Sunday, 9/18.
Women’s night at OBC is on 10/6 at 6PM. If you are planning on attending, the deadline is today. They are ordering T-Shirts, so make sure you give your size to Keshia by then.
We will be having our Harvest Festival here at the church on 10/29 at 4:30. We will provide more details as we get closer to the date.
I want to thank those who stayed after church last week, to discuss the upcoming youth trip. I am excited to announce that we decided to attend and that this is going to be a wonderful time in the Lord!!!
Praise Reports:
Prayer Requests:
Tithes
Children’s Church
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart that I might not sin against God! Amen!!!
Open Bibles To: Galatians 5:1-6 / James 1:21-25
I love the Word of God. The Word of God is amazing. It is living and powerful and it always meets us where we are. Because it is living and powerful, it is paramount that we make it a part of our everyday lives.
Last week, we spoke on the The Foundation of Salvation. We looked at how Christ is the “end of the law for righteousness to all who believe.”
The Word of God is so important, because it shows us how to be saved. I want to take some time this morning and discuss exactly what that means. What does it mean to be saved? What are we being saved from?
I want us to dive into a verse from last week, so that we fully understand what is meant when it says that “Christ is the end of the law.”
For many people, understanding the idea of grace is a challenge. When we acknowledge God’s free gift of grace by placing our faith in Him, this means that we are free from the law.
But wait.....does this mean that we are to longer follow God’s law? Does this mean that we no longer have a standard? If there is a standard for those who have been freed from the penalties of breaking God’s law, what is it?
Does God’s grace nullify the law? Is it abolished? Is it forever gone? If so, how are we to know what God’s expectations are for our lives?
Listen to some of these verses, all from the New Testament, and you will see how some struggle with this concept:
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So, we have some verses that seem to say Christ abolished the law, but then have other verses plainly stating we are to keep the commandments of God. Without a proper understanding of how all of this comes together, this can and will create a point of great confusion for many.
What exactly does it mean that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to all who believe?”
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Let’s pray!!!
Context
Context
Verse 2 plainly tells us who the author of this letter is. As with most of the NT epistles, it is Apostle Paul. Paul is writing this letter unto the members of the Church at Galatia.
The main genre of the entire letter, in my opinion, is one of exhortation. Paul is clearly bothered by something that he has heard taking place in Galatia, and the purpose of his letter is to persuade them otherwise.
As with most of the New Testament churches, it was made up of Jew and Gentile believers. Jewish converts would join the church, as well as Gentile believers who believed in the Gospel of Christ.
Though their belief in Jesus was genuine, certain people within the church felt that all of God’s people should be circumcised. Circumcision was a commandment of God in the Old Testament for all of Israel. It was a sign that meant the individual was a child of God.
Paul challenged this belief, as it was a part of the law that pointed forward to Christ. Christ was the ultimate fulfillment of this sign, as the saved individual is circumcised of the heart, not the flesh.
The entirety of the letter addresses how one is freed from the law when they place their faith in Jesus, who ultimately fulfilled it.
Listen to all of these verses from Galatians:
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
From the beginning of the letter, Paul reassures the believers of Galatia that they are no longer held to ceremonial laws that pointed forward to Christ, but were set free from those things and obtain their righteousness in Jesus.
Content
Content
Paul urges these people to “Stand Firm”!!! The idea of standing firm is to get low, plant your feet, get sturdy, dig your heels in, because there is coming some stuff that is going to try and knock you down.
Notice what it is that they are to stand firm in: Their freedom. This is not a physical planting, but a spiritual one. Paul is telling them to prepare their hearts, and ready their minds. He is letting them know that temptation will always be there, and this situation is no different.
The Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible Galatians 5:1
Galatians 5:1
τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἡμᾶς Χριστὸς ἠλευθέρωσεν στήκετε οὖν
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Instead of “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore,” many later witnesses have “Stand firm therefore in the freedom by which Christ has made us free.” In the first, freedom is the purpose for being set free and the reason to stand firm. In the second, the standing firm is enabled by the freedom given through Christ.
The freedom that Christ has given unto us, is the very thing that allows us to stand firm. We are no longer bound to trust in something that will never accomplish its purpose. We are free to serve Christ and Him alone.
The more you understand your bondage, the more you appreciate your freedom.
IT amazes me how quicly we forget the desperation we once had for freedom, once it has been obtained.
Israel constantly cried out for freedom, but within weeks they were begging to go back.
We must have an honest remembrance.
The devil wants us to be focused on our current struggles so much that we forget what the struggles of bondage looked like.
10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
The devil also wants to strip us from all joy of salvation, so that our current position of freedom does not look so rewarding.
If you are not reading daily and building a relationship with Christ, you are missing out.
If you are not witnessing to others and seeing their lives change for the cause of Christ, you are missing out.
If you are not being obedient to the Word of God as it speaks to your heart, then you are not growing in Christ. Therefore, you are missing out on the joy of that process of sanctification.
If you are not leading others to Christ, you are missing out on the joy that comes from being used by God to make an eternal impact in someone else’s life.
If I am missing out on the joy of my freedom, then I will be more prone to go back into bondage, where I can find joy for a season. You can find joy in the flesh, but it will never last. It is only temporary.
We must remember how we became free to begin with. It is Christ that made us free.
Remember what it took to gain our freedom.
He was raised on the road, moving many times during His childhood because someone was always trying to kill Him.
He was mocked and despised by the masses for His teachings.
He was publicly shamed and hung naked on a cross, where He was crucified for our sin.
They put a sign over His head as a mockery saying, “Here hangs Jesus, King of the Jews.”
They killed Him for doing good. They only ever had three charges against Him:
He healed on the sabbath.
He was a friend of sinners.
He claimed to be the Son of God.
Once in the grave, He kept fighting. He went to hell, took the keys to the bottomless put from Satan, preached to all of those who had died and gone on before.
Three days after being laid to rest, Jesus was raised back to life by God. He rolled away the stone from that tomb and walked out a free man. Free from sin and death. Free from temptation and spiritual hardships. He came back with a glorified body, a perfect body, a heavenly body.
He now sits on the throne at the right hand of God, still working on our behalf. He makes intercession for our prayers, so that they will be heard by God.
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
If you choose to trust in the law, then everything that Christ went through profits you none.
You are required to keep all of the law.
You are estranged from Christ.
You have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Commitment
Commitment
Stand firm in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.