From Slavery to Freedom
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Were the Spirit of the Lord is there is Freedom!
1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. 2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you.
Vs.1 - Now make sure you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Vs. 2 - If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be no benefit to you.
Old covenant vs. New covenant.
Old covenant
7 “I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” 9 Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. 10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
New covenant.
17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.
What does John mean? Does he mean there was no grace in the Old Testament? Does he mean there is no law in the New Testament? Obviously not; he is making a relative contrast. Scottish Theologian John Murray said that John is making a relative contrast in absolute terms. There was so much law under the Old Testament that it appears as though the old covenant added laws relative to the state of Israel as an infant and a teenager.
I remember when we first allowed our children to be at home alone. Tammy and I went to to go on a date night. We told our children four hundred things they were not allowed to do until we came home, but the number one thing was, “If someone knocks, do not answer the door.” My children are now in their twenties. I don’t give them any laws at all, but I do expect them to live in relative obedience to some standards. That’s a way of saying that the old covenant was an administration for teenagers and the new covenant is an administration for adults.
3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. 4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
Vs. 3 - If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised you must obey every reg in the whole law of Moses.
Rabbi Isaac of Corbeil, listed 320 commandments that can apply today. One would have to add 293 commandments that applied while the Temple stood that would be a total of 613.
Imagine a motorist driving down a city street and deliberately driving through a red light. He is pulled over by a policeman who asks to see his driver’s license. Immediately the driver begins to defend himself. “Officer, I know I ran that red light—but I have never robbed anybody. I’ve never committed adultery. I’ve never cheated on my income tax.”
The policeman smiles as he writes out the ticket, because he knows that no amount of obedience can make up for one act of disobedience. It is one Law, and the same Law that protects the obedient man and punishes the offender. To boast about keeping part of the Law while at the same time breaking another part is to confess that I am worthy of punishment.
5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. 6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
There is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised.
7 You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? 8 It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. 9 This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! 10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. 11 Dear brothers and sisters, if I were still preaching that you must be circumcised—as some say I do—why am I still being persecuted? If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended. 12 I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves.
Would mutilate themselves - ESV: Emasculate / cut it all off. - Dang Paul… you serious.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.
Vs. 13 - But don’t use your freedom to satisfy you sinful nature.
Christian liberty is not a license to sin but an opportunity to serve.
This leads to a commandment: “Instead serve one another in love” (Gal. 5:13). The key word, of course, is love. The formula looks something like this:
liberty + love = service to others
liberty − love = license (slavery to sin)
“I have an extra day off this week,” Carl told his wife as he walked into the kitchen. “I think I’ll use it to fix Donna’s bike and then take Larry on that museum trip he’s been talking about.”
“Fixing a bike and visiting a museum hardly sound like exciting ways to spend a day off,” his wife replied.
“It’s exciting if you love your kids!”
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
Vs. 16 - Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
Cartoon when I was a kid. Devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. - Donald Duck
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Idolatry is simply putting things ahead of God and people. We are to worship God, love people, and use things, but too often we use people, love self, and worship things, leaving God out of the picture completely.
The word sorcery is from the Greek word pharmakeia, which means “the use of drugs.” Our English word pharmacy is derived from this word. Magicians in Paul’s day often used drugs to bring about their evil effects.
Anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. - Paul is not talking about an act of sin, but a habit of sin. A life full of sin.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
Vs. 24 - BOLD
Christ not only died for me, but I died with Christ. Christ died for me to remove the penalty of my sin, but I died with Christ to break sin’s power.
20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.