48 Preaching Teaching/ Galatians 5:1-15: Freedom Second Time
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Fight for Freedom: fight Legalism
Title: Freedom: Apart from the Law
Text: Galatians 5:1-14
CIT: Every Christian should live in freedom by avoiding the dangers of legalism.
Proposition:
Interrogative: Why?
Unifying Word: dangers
Major Objective:
Specific Objective: Receiving God grace allows us to have freedom and experience freedom.
Introduction:
Braveheart clip of FREEDOM. Talk about Braveheart. Talk about how they were slaves: Scottish Lords were sell outs.
I loved Braveheart growing up, I could actually quote the movie. ‘I came back to raise crops and God willing a family.’ Every Man dies, but not every man really lives.
In the movie there is a noble Scotsman who wants to follow Wallace and he wants to be free but he is scared to lose his land and his pull with his family.
But Robert the Bruce wanted to follow him but was scared to follow him and was not always willing to pay the price to follow him.
Freedom is not the word that most people who grow up in Church would say that comes to mind. As a matter of fact I when I was a non believer I would not have associated the word freedom with Christianity.
Since I have become a believer I have experienced freedom in ways I did not even know possible. However sometime I can relate to this character in Braveheart who wants freedom and has even experienced it but finds himself sitting in the middle missing out on the freedom God has for me.
This is a freedom not just from sin but a freedom to serve God wholeheartedly. However there are times when I don’t walk in this freedom that God has given me.
Is freedom a characteristic that would define your relationship to God?
Are you willing to fight for freedom that Jesus secured for you?
Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
Fear of losing his stuff and his life were keeping Robert the Bruce from living in Freedom.
There are two things that will keep us from freedom two extremes. License vs legalism. License says I have God’s grace so I can do whatever I want to do. Legalism says I have to follow a certain code of ethics to earn God’s love. Legalism elevates the tradition over the cross. There is a tension with grace.
LEGALISM DEFINED: The belief that salvation demands or depends upon total obedience to the letter of the law.
Legalism is when we take something good and make it the law.
Let me demonstrate.
I have to go to church once a week to be a good christian. This turns into I have to go to church three times a week to be a good christian, plus serve in a ministry + give this amount and the list keeps getting longer and longer and before you know it you are not even worried about Jesus you are just worried about a long list of stuff and you are definitely not living in freedom.
But legalism can keep us from freedom. IT IS DANGEROUS!
License is equally as dangerous.
This says because I am saved by grace I can do whatever I want. I can act like everyone else and if I sin it is no big deal because I am saved by grace and before we know it we look more like the world than like Jesus.
T.S.: Let’s discover why we must fight for our freedom:
1. The first reason we must fight for freedom is because the alternative is slavery (1-3).
1. The first reason we must fight for freedom is because the alternative is slavery (1-3).
Body:
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Both the noun and the verb are the word “freedom”; freedom is both the means and the end of the Christian life! Everything about the Christian life is freedom. Jesus whole mission was an operation of liberation. And the verb translated “has set us free is in the aorist tense. In Greek this refers to a single, past action that is now completed.
Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
How do we fight for our freedom?
a. Stand Firm
Audience from John MacArthur
“All the people to whom Paul was writing had made a profession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord or they would not have been part of the churches of Galatia. Many, perhaps most, of them had genuinely trusted in Him for salvation. The truth Paul presents here applied to both groups. To those who were not saved, he was saying that they could not be saved, they could not gain any eternal, saving benefit from Christ if they trusted in circumcision. To those who were saved he was saying that such behavior was inconsistent with their salvation and that certainly they could experience no benefit of growth in their spiritual lives if they began trusting in circumcision in addition to God’s grace (cf. 3:1–3).”
The word used here is STAND FIRM, στήκετε, the nabs actually says STANDING. It is an imperative, present and active. that means that it is not a recommendation. This word is used elsewhere in the Bible- 1 for 16:
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
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;
Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
for now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
Illustration: Gladiator story movie gladiator comes to mind when I think about standing firm. The scene where they are in the colosseum and Maximus is leading them and they are getting spears and weapons thrown at them. And they are saying hold it. We have to daily hold on to the gospel to experience this freedom that we already have.
How do we fight for our freedom?
b. We ride with Jesus
There are two systems we can use: Religion or Relationship
Would it not be crazy if we have a relationship with God if we did not tap into him.
We can literally not tap into Jesus even if we are a believer.
Look at what this passage says.
Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
What is this talking about-
There were a group of people called the Judaizers who said it is not enough to believe in Jesus.
You have to obey + be circumcised to be a Christian.
There is one major problem with this: this is not the gospel.
Now you don’t hear this as much today, but don’t we hear similar things.
You have to believe + be baptized
You have to believe + fill in the blank
But the way someone is saved is by believing in Jesus. He is enough.
Adding to the gospel takes our freedom away.
Tim Keller
Keller again says:
‘Second, he warns that this freedom we have in the gospel can be lost. It is important that Paul mentions this, because the emphatic, triumphant declaration of the first half of verse 1 might lead us to believe this gospel freedom is so great and strong that it can’t be lost. Paul says, though, that despite its divine source, our freedom is fragile and can slip from our grasp.
IN Christ we have freedom, complete freedom but just because we have it does not mean that we live it. How many Americans live in the land of the free as slaves. The command stand firm (Contrast Galatians 5:2-mcArthur)
And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
v.3 Because the Law is a unit, obedience to it is all or nothing. Can you picture being a Jew thinking you had to follow all 613 rules from the Old Testament in order to be pleasing to God. Why did they want them to circumcise? They did not think God loved them based on what he did on the cross. They thought it was the cross plus. Now we have to remember it is not bad to have convictions as a matter of fact Paul circumcised Timothy, but we need to remember why he circumcised him. Not for salvation but because he wanted him to be more effective in ministry. However Paul did not circumcise Mark, (MOTIVE) because of who he was ministering to, test case, and also to prove the gospel is salvation alone by grace. We still add to the gospel today: Jesus + baptism, Jesus + saying the sinners prayer, Jesus + nothing = everything. How do we walk in this freedom in this grace. proposition.
I was at a church one day and they had these three things that were required for their leadership: show up all the time, tithe and don’t drink alcohol. This is more about rules and regulations than it is about Jesus Christ.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
Application:
Are you standing firm?
Principal: The Even as believers we tend toward legalism. Each day we have to cling towards the gospel. The motive that these people had to be circumcised was to either earn favor with God or to earn favor with these men. The greatest thing about the gospel is we don’t have to earn his love we already have it.
We don’t stand firm to earn God’s favor we stand firm because we already have God’s favor in Christ and we have his Holy Spirit. even as believers we need to preach the gospel to ourselves everyday.
Illustration: Many slaves after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation went back to live as slaves after they were free. Connect the slaves identity with believers identity. You don’t have to teach us how to sin. Possibly tie in Stumo how legalism looked like for me there.
Application
Warren Wiersbe
“Legalists in our churches today warn that we dare not teach people about the liberty we have in Christ lest it result in religious anarchy. The Christian who lives by faith is not going to become a rebel. Quite the contrary, he is going to experience the inner discipline of God that is far better than the outer discipline of man-made rules.”
S.Lewis Johnson
We are not under a lower standard but a higher standard, the Holy Spirit.
T.S.: Let’s discover why we must fight for our freedom:
2. The second reason we must fight for freedom is because are prone to Fall (4-6).
2. The second reason we must fight for freedom is because are prone to Fall (4-6).
Jack Lelane-
We don’t accidentally walk with Christ
You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Exposition: Someone asked C.S. Lewis one time what is the difference between Christianity and everything else, that’s easy grace.
This word κατηργήθητε-katagero -you have been alienated, you have cut yourselves off, you are estranged, 37.136 καταργέομαιa: to cause the release from an association with a person or an institution on the basis that the earlier obligation or restriction is no longer relevant or in force—‘to be freed, to be released.’ ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνήρ, κατήργηται ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ἀνδρός ‘if her husband dies, she is free from the law concerning her husband’ or ‘… from the law that bound her to her husband’ Ro 7:2. In a number of languages it may be difficult to speak of being freed from a law which stipulates the relationship a woman has to her husband. Accordingly, it may be appropriate to translate this statement in Ro 7:2 as ‘if a woman’s husband dies, the law no longer ties her to her husband’ or even ‘… the law says she is free to marry someone else.’ A great preacher said a Christian can fall from Grace but not from salvation.
ETERNAL SECURITY The issue in eternal security is not our ability to hold onto what God has given us but his ability to hold on to us. The phrase “you have fallen away from grace” should be understood, not in the sense that grace has been taken away from the Galatians, but in the sense that they have turned their backs on it. When we decide to try to live by works, we adopt a mindset that keeps us from benefiting from God’s goodness. He cannot show his goodness to us when we hide from him behind the wall of legalism. In that sense, we have fallen from grace. ASSURANCE OF SALVATION IS NOT POSSIBLE IF WE THINK WE MUST EARN OR EVEN MAITAIN OUR SALVATION BY OUR EFFORTS.
Bible Knowledge Commentary
“such a person would not be living in a sphere where Christ was operative.”
Why would we not want to live by the very grace that saves us?
Here is what that KJV says, 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you,.’
Here is what that KJV says, 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you,.’
Why would we want to believe in what Jesus died on the cross and then not want him to be continually work in our life. That is exactly what these people were doing if they were going to be circumcised.
How do we keep from falling from grace?
b. We Wait by faith.
For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.
Can you remember as a kid when you had to wait for a present.
Ninetendo-
I had a hunch I was going to get one, but I had to be good because Santa was coming.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
SANCTIFICATION: We are saved by grace, god is saving us by grace and we will be saved by grace. How we pursue our sanctification can reveal what we believe about justification. Could how these Galatians are pursuing there sanctification really reveal that they are not believers. Sanctification How are you justified in your sanctification by works evidence of what you believe with your sanctification. v. 4 contrasted to v.5. Characteristics-through the spirit-waiting. What is the hope of righteousness? 5:5.
BIBle Knowledge commentary,
“In contrast with legalists, true believers by faith (not works) eagerly await (apekdechometha; used seven times in the NT of the return of Christ: Rom. 8:19, 23, 25; 1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 9:28) the consummation of their salvation (cf. Rom. 8:18–25). Then the righteousness for which we hope will be fully realized (cf. 1 Peter 1:3–4, 13). At the coming of Christ believers will be completely conformed to all the requirements of God’s will. The inward and forensic righteousness which began at justification will be transformed into an outward righteousness at glorification. God will then publicly acknowledge all believers’ full acceptability with Him.’
God’s view of salvation is so much more than the sinners prayer. Glorification-Wait for the hope of righteousness we dno’t achieve righteousness by our efforts . We wait on God to do it.
How do we keep from falling from grace?
b. Walk daily by faith through the spirit (4-5).
Illustration: Opposite illustration. Because God loves me I obey. I obey so God will love me. People of israel were saved from the red sea and then wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and did not grow. The obedience vs Failure test. When we succeed we should say: But this success does not increase Christ’s love for me. In fact, it is only because of His love for me that this has happened, not the other way around. [This turns our desire into a get to instead of a have to]. Then when we experience a failure, we should say; I I had not failed in this way, that would not make me any more loved and accepted by God than I am at the moment![Because of what he has done on the cross]. The people of Israel God parted the red sea and then instead of continuing to believe they walked in the wilderness for forty years and did not get to where God wanted to take them. What about us are we allowing our growth to be hindered and not allowing God to take us where he wants to take us.
Application:
How big of a view do you have of salvation?
Is it just something that is going to happen one day?
Or is it past, present and future?
3. The third reason we must fight for freedom is because spiritual growth is awesome (7-10).
3. The third reason we must fight for freedom is because spiritual growth is awesome (7-10).
You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?
This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.
A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.
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.
Exposition: verse :Discipleship becomes dangerous when we are more worried about the person becoming like us instead of like Christ. God’s desire in discipleship is to mold us into his son. These judaizers were more worried about them becoming like them than like Jesus. A person affected them distracted them from what happened in the past. This person was most likely the leader of the Judaizers. What are things that hinder people in [life, sports, families, and faith]. Verse 8-Who did it come from- Judaizers. Who are people who try and hinder us today. Contrast from God who calls them by grace.
How can we can we continue to grow in Christ?
a. Be God pleasers
Why were people able to hinder their growth in Christ. They were more worried about pleasing man than pleasing God. Who hindered you from obeying the truth. We can please man or we can please God and right now these Galatians were more worried about pleasing man.
But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased
to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,
How can we can we continue to grow in Christ?
b. Pursue good doctrine
Charles Ryrie
v. 9-false teaching in one area can easily lead to defection in most areas, in this case affecting the doctrines of grace. Paul was confident in there salvation, they were not. Sometimes we need people in our lives who believe in us more than we believe in ourselves.
4. The last reason we must fight for freedom is because the cross is enough (4-6).
4. The last reason we must fight for freedom is because the cross is enough (4-6).
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.
I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.
Exposition: Verse 11-The cross is what should be offensive. Why the cross is offensive is because it is what saves and condemns, there is no middle ground but here we see that the cross is no longer offensive.
The word for offense is skandalon which means “that which gives offense or causes revulsion, that which arouses opposition, and object of anger or disapproval, stain, etc.” (BAGD, 753).
The cross is offensive, there is no middle ground, it either saves you or condemns you and all glory of it does not go to man to God. The gospel Paul preached all glory went to God. Have you ever noticed people usually either love Jesus or they hate him. Paul’s gospel was offensive because it said that man is sinful and will perish on his own accord. That only through Jesus can you be saved no glory for us but all for him.
IVP commentary-5:11. If Paul were simply converting Gentiles to Judaism in the ordinary manner (circumcision for the men, baptism for both men and women), he would not be experiencing Jewish opposition—to which his opponents in Galatia, more sensitive to their own culture’s expectations than to those of the Galatians’ culture, have succumbed (6:12–13). (If his readers are in South Galatia, Acts 13–14 records some of the persecutions.)
5:12. “They were cut off” (KJV) or “cutting themselves off” could mean to cut themselves off from the community, but most commentators take the words as meaning “mutilate” (NASB), “emasculate” (NIV) or “castrate” (NRSV, TEV) themselves: while they are circumcising others, they ought to make a full sweep of themselves and remove the whole organ. Although Paul’s language purposely avoids being explicit, there is no reason to think that such an insult is beneath him; witty insults were the mark of good public speakers in the heat of debate, and Paul is far more impassioned in his criticism of his opponents than in his blame of the Galatians themselves. Many pagans thought of circumcision as a form of mutilation, and the Roman emperor Hadrian later outlawed it under an anticastration law. But as Paul knew, Jewish people particularly abhorred eunuchs, castrated men (Deut 23:1).
The Cross was offensive to the Jew therefore because it set aside the entire Mosaic [law], and because it offered salvation by grace through faith alone without the added factor of works performed by the sinner in an effort to merit the salvation offered. All of which goes to show that the Jew of the first century had an erroneous conception of the law of Moses, for that system never taught that a sinner was accepted by God on the basis of good works (Wuest, Galatians in the Greek New Testament, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1944, 146).
Illustration:
Conclusion:
But after William Wallace dies he takes the lead and at the end there is this really powerful seen where he is shouting. Freedom.
The Scotsman did not want to fight for their freedom until William Wallace showed up. SO many people do not want to fight for their freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ. GOSPEL
How are you going to fight for freedom?
Stand firm in the grace of God: maybe for you that is preaching the gospel to yourself daily that you are saved by grace and a child of God because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for you.
Possibly you need to stop living like a debtor- maybe you are living like a debtor because you have never trusted in what Jesus Christ did on the cross for you.
Fallen away from grace =maybe you have never had grace
Authentic-Be who God created you to be. AA. Free to worship, to be honest, to love and serve God and others like he has called you to. We are to love God but the only reason we can love God is because he loved us and the more we experience that love the more we will be able to love others.
Discipleship-that makes you like Jesus and not like another man.
God wants us to live in the freedom he already purchased, Lets not sit on the fence anymore let’s turn away from legalism.
