Stand - Galatians 5:1-15

Already everyone stand up....

run in place

now walk in place

keep walking.....

last few weeks Paul has been proving to us

how we are free in Christ from the law

and are sons of God.

stop walking

This is what Paul is talking about in chapter 5

v. 1 Stand

v.7 Run

v. 16 Walk

Now of course Paul is not suddenly trying to be a workout coach

but there is something we are to stand in, run in, and walk in.

hint love has a place in them all.

but is not what we stand in, run in, or walk in.

which we will learn about in the next couple weeks.

Before we get started lets clarify 2 things:

The Law

to the Galatians is speaking towards the OT

to us speaks towards the OT & the NT (since there are commands to us in both).

There are many laws christians try to keep (whether 10 commandments, sexual purity, not judging others, loving enemies, forgiving someone, whatever)

Circumcision

is a part of the law... that the Galatians were trying to keep after Jesus.

to us represents ...any part of the law... we are trying to keep. ( 10 commandments, sexual purity, not judging others, loving enemies, forgiving someone, whatever)

Knowing that lets pray and we will get started with

Stand Gal 5:1-6

Pray

STAND (Galatians 5:1-6)

Paul is going to be talking about a conflict

all believers face within our hearts.

after we have accepted Jesus.

I am going to describe 3 different stages we do

that are wrong after accepting Jesus:

My prayer for you is that you will be able to identify which one you are most prone to.

So after accepting Jesus....

1. Many try to keep the law and obey God to not sin.

While they may be aware if they sin they still continue focusing on trying to perfectly obey the law

like 10 commandments, sexual purity, not judging others, loving enemies, forgiving someone, whatever

These people are often very focused on not sinning

Normally these people are pretty tense.... because they are trying to do something they can never do....

& what Jesus already did

Often people like this

if they even realize

they cant be perfectly righteous like Jesus

they... with many others will do the second stage:

2. Some try to handle their own holiness and closeness with God by keeping the law.

like 10 commandments, sexual purity, not judging others, loving enemies, forgiving someone, whatever

These people may be doing devotions, Bible memorizing, prayer meetings, serving at church

to appear holy or close to God.

They may be trying to outweigh their sin with pleasing God

Or they may be depending on their devotion to be close to God.

The scary thing is that many people are doing this

because they either don’t realize they are doing this...

or they continue to do this because they receive praise from people,

or because they are seeking the praise of others.

When I do this I burn out of being a Christian…

and I used to think just keep pushing .... run the race (out of context)

but every chance I could i would take off my Christian hat when I thought people weren't noticing

which brought me to the 3rd stage...

3. Some fail and because of the law they condemn themselves.

These people realized that they keep sinning after Jesus

Sometimes they think God doesnt love themanymore

Sometimes they thing God doesn't forgive them anymore

Some think they are no longer saved.

Some may just think they are a bad Christian.

Paul is going to now show us that all 3 are wrong

because we are free from the Law because Jesus set us free..

Okay lets now look at v.1-4...

and as we read I want you to write down

whenever Paul says circumcision

to add in the part or parts of the law you have been pushing in your walk with God…

this is not a sin your adding ...

but a part of the law.

so it may be 10 commandments, sexual purity, not judging others, loving enemies, forgiving someone, whatever

if you want to take it a step further you’re welcome to comment what area of the law you have been bounded by

but i do recommend just writing it in the Bible wherever it says “circumcision”

Galatians 5:1–4 NKJV

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.

wow!

Well the main part of this section is not about quitting the part of the law you are bound by

it is about standing in the liberty of Christ.

What is the opposite of standing?

Well in the original language in Greek here from v.1

The Greek word for Stand - means a firm stand

so the opposite is to fall.

the picture here is like

being unable to be knocked down.

so we are to not be knocked down from freedom.

This is what I picture:

play video of jaydee and blake jousting

to be fair

here is a video of me losing bad while up against the youth pastor of cc Chino Valley

so the law is trying to knock us down from the freedom Jesus has given us from the law

and

when the law knocks us from Jesus’s freedom… we:

1. Have fallen from grace (v.4)

Look you are either saved & kept

by grace or works

Romans 11:6 NKJV

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.

you have to decide

is your salvation based off the grace of Jesus, or your efforts?

when the law knocks us from Jesus’s freedom… we:

2. Estranged from Christ (v.4)

estranged here means wiped away or destroyed

so keeping the law destroys you from Christ.

someone may be thinking that you have done this and does it mean your not saved anymore?

not if your trust is placed in Jesus.

when the law knocks us from Jesus’s freedom… we:

3. A debtor to whole law (v.3)

trying to keep one part of the law makes you have to keep the whole thing

James 2:10 NLT

10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.

when the law knocks us from Jesus’s freedom… we:

4. Christ will profit nothing (v.2)

What is the point of Jesus fulfilling the law and dieing for our sins

when you just live by the law again

that will condemn you again and again because you’re not perfect.

when the law knocks us from Jesus’s freedom… we:

5. Entangled in a yoke of bondage (v.1)

Here is a video on what a yoke is

play video of OX with yoke

The law is a yoke of bondage that we can get ourselves entangled in

which sound terrible

But to be real … many of us our weighed down with the yoke of the law

bringing us down to guilt, shame,

or to some making you so self righteous you are weighed down from Jesus

So Paul is pretty descriptive about what the law does to us it:

Entangles us with a yoke of bondage,

makes Jesus worthless,

makes you a debtor to the whole law,

destroys you from Jesus,

and causes you to fall away from grace

The question is do you really want to live by the law?

with it either condemning you, or making you self-righteous?

Or you can be free from the law by Jesus

Now to the person who is thinking in their head right now

well what do I do when the law tries to knock me down with self-righteousness or guilt?

100 gold stars for a great question

That is what Paul actually is speaking about in verse 5-6

Galatians 5:5–6 NKJV

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.

So what do we do when the law that is trying to keep us from Freedom?

verse 5 gives the first thing.

1. Wait for the hope of righteousness (v.5)

Okay so Positionally we are righteous through Jesus

practically I am still a stinking sinner

and the law is constantly proving that

because of Jesus positionally giving us freedom we have the hope of being practically righteous.

Its like if you applied for a job to be a barista at Black Velvet Coffee, you interviewed, and you get the call you are now the official barista of Black Velvet Coffee.

now you positionally are the barista and so you have a secured hope in working as the barista.

Same for us positionally we are righteous and we have a secured hope that one day we will be righteous.

So when the law is taking you down you have the hope that one day the law will have no power over you.

because you will be perfected.

not just positionally but practically

2. Know that keeping or not keeping the law accomplishes nothing (v.6)

because Jesus already accomplished the law by being perfect.

So when the law tries to take away your freedom in Jesus

know that whatever the law is trying to do accomplishes nothing.

So if the law is trying to make you self-righteous by causing you to do something

whether ( 10 commandments, sexual purity, not judging others, loving enemies, forgiving someone, whatever)

then that you will be accomplishing nothing by following the law… or remaining condemned by it

3. Know that faith working through love accomplishes all thats required.

Okay so at this point it better be so dang clear that

faith in Jesus being all that required makes sense.

If not next time I see you i will kick you in the pants

but what in the world is up with faith working through love?

I thought this whole point is freedom from working?

well Paul is deepening our theology,

Paul is now moving forward from speaking about

our relationship with God positionally

to now speaking about our relationship practically

we learn more about this in the next section that has to do with Run

basically here is just what you need to know now...

God has forgiven you because He loves you right?

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

so from love you have been forgiven…

and because we have been shown love.... we show love to others

We will study this more next week.

The message today is about our position with God and that is that

Jesus can set you free!

Pray