Galatians: True Freedom

Text: Galatians 4:8-20

Theme: Believers must passionately proclaim that true freedom is found only through faith in Christ.

Date: 07/26/2020 File Name: Galatians_05.wpd ID Number:

Last month we all heard about a holiday known as Juneteenth. My guess is that few outside of Texas knew about it. I commemorates the day in 1865 when slaves in Texas were told that they were free. That day, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order Number 3, an order that partially read, "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor." With the end of the Civil War on April 1, 1865 all slaves had been officially made freedmen, but they didn’t know it, and remained living as slaves until told on June 19th that they were actually free. Can you imagine being free, but not knowing your free? Or can you imagine being made free, but then desiring to return to your former slavery?

The Galatians had been freed by the Gospel that Paul preached to them. They had come into the wonderful light of Christ, and been redeemed by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Now, however, Paul had received word that they were contemplating adopting a gospel that wasn’t a gospel—the false gospel of the Judaizers who had come behind Paul telling the Galatian congregations that Jesus wasn’t enough. To accept this new false gospel would be surrendering their freedom and liberty in Christ, to become slaves to the law. Can you imagine? Knowing true freedom in Christ, and then turning to the bondage of legalism.

I. THE PROBLEM

“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” (Galatians 4:8–11, NIV84)

1. in these verses the Apostle Paul is going to fully expose the folly of listening to the Judaizers

a. surrendering to legalism is no better than going back to the idolatry of their paganism

b. in fact, legalism actually is a sophisticated idolatry, but idolatry all the same

A. CHRIST CAME TO SET US FREE

1. one of the primary themes of the Christian faith is the believer’s freedom in Christ

a. that freedom is multi-faceted

2. 1st, there is freedom from the penalty of sin

a. the Bible tells us that, when a believer accepts Christ, he or she is baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection

1) at that moment, the believer is born again and ceases to be a slave to sin and becomes a servant of righteousness

“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” (Romans 6:17–18, NIV84)

2) this is what the glorious, eye-opening gospel does for us

b. it’s a freedom that begins at a point in history—our conversion—and carries us into eternity

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36, NIV84)

3. 2nd, there is freedom from the domination of sin

a. upon your conversion, the Holy Spirit immediately begins cleaning house

ILLUS. C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity talks about the work of the Spirit in the believer’s life. “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

b. the reason Christians become servants of righteous is because the Spirit of Christ himself is in us, freeing us from the domination of sin

1) this is our sanctification

“But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13, NIV84)

4. 3rd, there is freedom from the yoke of slavery to the law

a. before Jesus died on a cross, God’s people lived under a detailed system of laws that governed every part of their life, serving as a moral compass to guide their lives

b. the Law, while meant to point people to their need for the grace and forgiveness of God symbolized in the ritual sacrifices for sin, had become a means to an end

1) many Jews believed that a fastidious obedience to the Law itself was that which made one right with God

ILLUS. In one of his many criticisms of the Pharisees in Matthew, chapter 23, Jesus pronounces a “woe” upon the Jewish religious leaders for their attention to religious minutia while neglecting what is really important. ““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” (Matthew 23:23, NIV84)

c. this was the yoke the Judaizers were attempting to fit the Galatian believers with

1) Paul was earnestly attempting to keep that from happening

2) just a paragraph later in his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes ...

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1, NIV84)

5. 4th, there is freedom to live in Christ’s life and liberty

a. freedom in Christ is not the freedom to do what we want

ILLUS. Unfortunately there is a school of thought in some circles of Christianity that living as you please, without any regard to the Scriptures, is the kind of freedom Christ has given us. It’s ... and I used this word a couple of weeks ago ... it’s an antinomian view of the Christian life. It’s a view that I can do anything I want, live anyway I please because I walked forward in Church one Sunday and made a profession of faith. The preacher told me that every sin I’ve ever committed and every sin I ever will commit has been forgiven.” Which is true, but there is SO much more to genuine Christianity.

1) too many professing Christians use Jesus but don't follow Jesus ... they want Jesus as Savior but not Lord

2) the prevailing view of what constitutes saving faith continues to grow broader and more shallow, while the portrayal of Christ in preaching and witnessing becomes ever more fuzzy

3) the gospel call to faith presupposes that sinners must repent of their sin and yield to Christ’s authority

b. freedom in Christ, therefore, is not the freedom to do what we want, but the ability to do as we ought

“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. 24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” (1 Corinthians 10:23–24, NIV84)

ILLUS. Here is one of the biggest paradoxes of the Christian life. True freedom in Christ means willingly becoming a slave to Christ.

1) this is the freedom the Galatians will lose if they surrender to the false gospel of the Judaizers

2) to add the religious trapping of Judaism as a necessity for salvation would indicate that Christ’s life had not been sufficient to provide salvation

3) if the Galatians followed the Judaizers’ teachings, they would be trading their old master named “sin” for a new master named “the law”

5. Christ came to set them free ... why would they want to surrender that freedom and take on the yoke of legalism?

B. CAPTIVITY TO THE LAW WOULD BE A RETURN TO IDOLATRY

1. in Galatians 3:8 Paul refers to that time in their lives when the Galatians had not yet heard the gospel

a. he reminds them of their days of paganism when they did not know God

b. the Galatians had been ignorant concerning the true God, and thus were separated from Him

1) they had gods, to be sure, and they worshiped them and were bound to them, but they were no gods at all; they had no real existence

2) their belief in and obedience to these gods was their past bondage

2. now, by listening to the legalists, all they had done was exchange one form of bondage for another

a. he contrasts their enlightenment—You have come to know God—with their new enslavement— ... whose slaves you want to be once more?

3. in vs. 9 he accuses them of turning back to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world

a. that’s a translation of a single word that Paul uses

b. it’s a word that literally means the ABC’s of the universe

1) no one translates it that way because it wouldn’t make any sense

c. let me try to illustrate what Paul is saying this way ...

ILLUS. “You Galatians, before the gospel came to you, you were slaves to the simple ABC’s of spiritual truth. You thought you were worshiping God, but you worshiped in the flesh and in error. You were barely literate in spiritual matters. Then you heard the gospel, and it was like graduating to a graduate level literature class. Now you’re reading Homer’s Iliad. You were literate in the great themes of the gospel—including freedom in Christ. Now the Judaizers have arrived, and you’re ready to return to “Dick and Jane” (or whatever the ancient Greek version of it might have been)

1) to surrender to legalism is like returning to the idolatry of your past

2) it’s a sophisticated idolatry, but it is an idolatry all the same because you’re depending on it and not Christ for your salvation

d. it is astounding what Paul is saying— that being incredibly biblical and incredibly moral and having all your doctrine right and being thoroughly orthodox, being morally scrupulous, and being sexually pure, and all the rest that comes with legalism is just as enslaving as was your outright paganism

1) idols can be made out of anything!

e. Paul is so frustrated with the news coming out of the Galatian congregations he planted that he very publically opines, “I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” (Galatians 4:11, NIV84)

4. so this is the problem— by adding the religious trappings of Judaism as a necessity for salvation they are actually returning to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world—which is essentially a return to idiolatry

II. THE PLEA

“I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong. 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14 Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.” (Galatians 4:12–14, NIV84)

1. Paul is prepared to use every weapon in his arsenal to rescue his beloved converts from their peril

a. he does not hesitate to make his appeal personal, vs. 12 “Brothers, I entreat you ...”

1) the word entreat conveys intensity

2) it was also a word used of prayer and could infer that the Apostle is earnestly pleading with the Lord—begging the Lord—that the Galatians would not surrender to legalism

b. Paul will use doctrine, reproof, sarcasm, logic and the Scriptures to defend the true gospel to the Galatians

2. Paul’s plea is become as I am

a. what Paul means is that they remain free from legalism’s restrictions, and heavy burden as he had remained free

b. in his testimony to the Philippians, Paul wrote that if anyone, in all of Judaism, had reason to boast in the flesh it was him

“though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” (Philippians 3:4–9, NIV84)

3. Paul also says, “I also have become as you are”

a. he means that when he became a Christian, he put aside the Law’s perceived advantages, and in that sense lived like a Gentile

ILLUS. I don’t have any Scriptural evidence for this, nor do I have a revelation from God, but I have little doubt that Paul reveled in his first taste of pulled-pork.

b. Paul had been raised a Pharisee, a zealous Jew, a Hebrew of Hebrews

1) he had been trained to be a rabbi

2) he knew the law backwards and forwards

c. then he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and his life was forever changed

1) he is commissioned as an Apostle to the Gentiles

2) he laid aside all the advantages of his birth, his background, his training to take his place among the Gentiles that he might win them to faith in Christ

d. and so he pleads ‘become as I am”—a convert to Christ ... saved by grace alone ... freed from the Law, free from all its rites and rituals, and free from it rules and requirements ... free from all the burdensome baggage of Judaism

ILLUS. In John Bunyan’s classic The Pilgrims Progress, we find the central character—his name is Graceless in the beginning—we find him with a burden and a Book. The more Graceless reads the Book the greater his burden becomes. In time Graceless comes to hill called Calvary. He has a vision of One who died there on a cross to set him free from his burden. Behind him is an open sepulcher, and he see the risen Christ. At that moment, his burden is loosed, and falls from his shoulders, and tumbles down the hill and disappears into the open tomb forever. Immediately his name is changed to Christian. His burden is gone and he is free. He then begins his journey toward the Celestial City. He has a spring in his step and a song in his heart.

4. this was Paul’s experience ... and this was the Galatian’s experience ... and if you’re in Christ, this was your experience

5. all this is the result of the preaching of the Gospel

“As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.” (Galatians 4:13, NIV84)

a. Paul reminds them that when he first ventured among them with the Gospel, he had been greatly handicapped by illness

1) all kinds of ideas have been advanced as to what his illness was

2) bottom line; we haven’t a clue

b. but Paul preached through the infirmity, won converts, and planted churches

6. but now the Galatians were about to trade their glorious freedom in Christ for a mess of pottage cooked up by the legalists— a poisonous brew of self-effort, dos and don’ts, religious requirements, and man-made laws

a. his plea to the Galatians is Don’t do it!

III. THE PASSION

“What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!” (Galatians 4:15–20, NIV84)

1. Paul’s passionate desire for the Galatian congregations is found in vs. 19, “O, that Christ would be formed in you!”

a. these were converts Paul and Barnabas had made during their 1st missionary journey

1) in the cities of Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium they had won both Jews and Gentiles to the gospel of Christ

“They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.” (Acts 14:21–23, NIV84)

b. as their spiritual father, the Apostle has a deep emotional attachment to these converts, and they to him

1) in vs. 15 Paul says “you would have plucked out your eyes for me”

c. but now the Apostle is concerned that the Judaizers have turned the Galatians against him

“Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16, NIV84)

1) the Judaizers are courting the Galatians, and attempting to woo them over to their false gospel

A. LEGALISM CONFORMS US TO A CODE; GRACE CONFORMS US TO CHRIST

1. by his sovereign grace Christ paid our dept to God, and by his sovereign grace he is conforming us into his own image

a. saving faith is resting in that sovereign work of Christ in us, past, present, and future

1) in one sense, saving faith is the easiest thing in the world—as easy as being clay in the potter’s hands

2) in another sense, saving faith is the hardest thing in the world, because human clay hates being shaped and formed by Christ so that he gets all the glory for what we become

2. when Paul writes “become as I am” he means “let Christ be formed in you”

a. how do we know? ... he’s already told them

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NIV84)

b. he’s telling the Galatians, “Die to self as I have died to self” ... “let Christ live in you as Christ lives in me” ... “live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you, just as he did for me”

3. legalism conforms you to an outward code of conduct

a. with legalism as your guide you can look really good on the outside, but be thoroughly unrighteous on the inside

““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:27–28, NIV84)

4. grace conforms us to Christ

a. grace shapes us from within which is then manifested on the outside

b. just as it is the Spirit who saves us, it is also the Spirit who sanctifies us

1) when Paul expresses his ardent hope that Christ be formed in you he’s saying

“May you Galatians grow in your faith until your whole inner being proclaims Christ’s being and his ways. That you will become so like your Savior that you will be like him in your thoughts, wishes, and aspirations. That you will reflect him in the common words you speak, in the way you look at the world, in your behavior with your beloved ones, and everyone you meet.”

ILLUS. When Michelangelo revealed his monumental statute of King David as a shepherd boy to the city fathers of Florence, it’s magnificence took their breath away. Even then they knew they were looking at one of the world’s great pieces of statuary. When asked how he managed to carve such a masterpiece, he replied, "I did not carve David. I saw David in the stone and I simply let him out."

5. Christ is in you, and spiritual formation is simply letting him out

a. that’s the difference between grace and legalism

b. legalism will make you looking really good on the outside, but it leaves you spiritually destitute on the inside

c. grace transforms you on the inside, and seeps to the surface so that what you are inside can’t help but be revealed on the outside

1) Are you hungering and thirsting for God's kind of righteousness?

2) Are you daily putting on the new man that you may be more and more conformed to the likeness of Christ?

3) Are you allowing the Word of God to renew your mind so that you are transformed into the image of Christ.

4) Are you daily taking up your cross so that Christ becomes the center of your life?

b. these are the ways that Christ is formed in you

Christ has set you free. If you are free you are free indeed. Don’t give in to the temptation to switch over to a legalistic form of the Gospel which is really not the gospel.