Standing in the Spirit's Freedom

I grew up in South Mississippi where raising cattle was common practice. The temperature was such that the cow generally had a calf in the field and cared for it in the field. But farmers from northern states tell me that you can’t do that where temperatures are cold because the new born calf will die. So they house the baby calves in the barn. They say that it was exciting to see calves that have been couped up and raised on in the barn and separated from the outside world for almost a year let free for the first time. They open the gate for the calves to go free into the field into their the new world.

The problem is that they rare ran through the gate into freedom. They usually didn’t know what to do with it. Some would buck and run around the pen and never leave. They would run right up to where the gate use to be and throw on the brakes skidding to the edge. They might inch up to the invisible barrier like it was a snake and then jerk back like they had been bitten. They says that it will sometimes takes hours for them to get the nerve to leave the pen. They are terrified of their sudden freedom usually preferring the safety of their small pen to the unknown freedom found in the pasture.

These calves are a lot like legalists who prefer the limitations of “do this and don’t do that”, the law, than the real freedom of walking by faith and living in the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Why would anyone want to stay in the barn when all the freedom and sunshine are right outside the door?

That is the question that Paul is asking the Galatians churches. They have been freed from the law, the bondage of having do’s and don’t define their acceptance by God and their life with God. Paul’s question is why would they want to go back to the barn.

If you have come from this background where you have been taught that God only loves and accepts you when you are good, Paul wants you to know that Jesus didn’t come so that you could live a life chained by guilt, always wondering whether you have done enough. The gospel tells us that Jesus has done everything needed to make us right with God. We step into freedom when we repent of sin and trust him by faith. He wants you to live in freedom.

Galatians 5:1 ESV

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Freedom means that Christians are heir of Sarah, the free woman, of Genesis mentioned in Galatians 4.

Paul is serious about this, “Stand Firm.” “Don’t submit to the yoke of slavery.” Yokes where what they put around an ox’s neck to pull a plow. Don’t be chained to the law. The gospel is freedom to live to the glory of God without concern of whether I’m good enough. I’m not good enough, but Jesus is.

I. Consequences of returning to the chains of the law. (vv. 2-12)

A. It makes the cross powerless to save you.(v.2)

Galatians 5:2 ESV

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

There are two ways of being made right with God. The law (symbolized by circumcision) or faith in the work of Christ given by grace. If you choose the law, your goodness and works, you are not choosing Christ. You can’t have it both ways. And if you aren’t choosing Christ, then Christ’s work on the cross won’t be applied to you.

B. Those that choose the law, must keep the whole law. (v.3)

Galatians 5:3 ESV

3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

When you choose the route of the law, good works to be made right with God understand that you have to be perfect. You have to keep the whole law. You must get it all right with no mistakes. If you break part of it, you break it all.

*The average person thinks that when it comes to God you getting a grade based on how good you are. The law is like the test material. For us most people think about the moral law. Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t cheat, don’t get angry, etc. The question then becomes, “What’s a passing grade?” I once saw a Larry King interview with a Jewish Rabbi, a Catholic priest, and Evangelical Pastor John MacArthur, where this question was posed. The Jewish Rabbi said, “Well, I would think that God will accept 70%. That’s good enough for the school system. I’m sure that’s works for God. That’s when MacArthur stepped in and said, “Well not exactly.”

How much sin is God going to let into heaven? None. That’s why you have to be perfect. You say, “Well wait a minute, ‘I can’t be perfect!” That’s why you don’t need to rely choose the law, your good works to make you right with God. You need to choose the righteousness of Christ. Not your own righteousness.

C. It removes you from the sphere of grace. (v. 4)

Galatians 5:4 ESV

4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

This verse is probably the most misinterpreted verse in the book of Galatians. People point to this verse all the time to argue that once a person is saved that they can loose their salvation. I want to take a little time and argue why that is not what Paul is talking about. Look at the context. Paul is not talking about choosing grace, being saved, and then sinning so much that you loose your salvation. He’s contrasting a choice that you have in being made right with God, the law verses grace.

Remember what is going on in Galatians. The Judaizer are trying to get the Galatian Christians to combine being justified by faith in Jesus Christ and keeping the law, i.e. being good. They were saying it takes both, Jesus’ Death and resurrection and your obedient life to earn the credits to be made right with God. And Paul is saying, “No. It takes Christ alone!” His righteousness is enough.

And remember what Isaiah says about our righteousness.

Isaiah 64:6 ESV

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

So Jesus is perfectly righteous and our best works are filthy. You can’t produce perfect cleanliness by adding filth to it.

So you have to choose Christ’s cleanliness or your filthy works to make you right before God. You can not mix the two.

When Paul is saying, “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” (v.4) he is saying, “to those who are choosing the law, your filthy works, to make you right with God, you are turning your back on Christ’s offer of grace.”

You must choose your works or Christ’s grace. If you choose your works, you remove yourself from all of the benefits of his grace.

-That’s what Paul is saying in this context. I want to add a couple of other passages that show there is not way that he is saying that a person saved by grace can loose salvation.

First, if you could do something to loose it, that means that you had to do something to gain it. That’s not grace.

Second,

John 6:37 ESV

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 6:39 ESV

39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

All those who are given are raised. He loses none of us.

Jesus adds to this:

John 10:28 ESV

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

The devil can’t snatch us out.

I have heard some say, “But we can take ourselves out.” I would say, “You are not holding on to him. He’s holding on to you, and he doesn’t let his children go.”

You would let go of the hand of your child in a busy street, and God will not let hold of you. Even if you backslide, the Spirit will pursue you and bring you home. If he doesn’t, then you need to check your heart to see if you are really his child.

Third, another argument that I sometimes here is, “Adam and Eve fell from grace. There sin got them kicked out of the garden.”

Adam and Eve did not fall from grace. They fell from perfection. They were not living in a covenant of grace. They were living under the covenant of works in the garden.

Genesis 2:15–17 ESV

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

If you obey you continue in the blessing of God, but if you disobey the result of your disobedience is death. That is approval based on works not grace. There sins were not covered by the blood of Christ at this point. There sin separated them from God.

But listen to what Paul says about the believers sin.

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Don’t trust in your works, choose grace.

Galatians 5:5 ESV

5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

What righteousness do believers eagerly wait for?

We wait as we are being slowly transformed, purged of sin more and more day by day showing the righteousness of Christ in our lives.

We wait eagerly for the Lord Jesus to return and make right what is wrong in this world. At that point we will be transformed from these lowly bodies into the image of Christ, no longer struggling with sin and temptation. But, we will be fully living in the righteousness of Christ.

To the Jew, the sign of circumcision mattered a lot. But, Paul says it’s meaningless to God. What really matters for the Christian is that our faith displays itself in love.

Galatians 5:6 ESV

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

What displays who we really are in Christ? Love. Jesus said,

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

D. It hinders spiritual growth and development. (vv.7-10)

Paul uses a metaphor of running a race and being tripped.

Galatians 5:7 ESV

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

You were starting to living the Christian life so well. But someone hindered you. Told you that you were not accepted just as you are, but you have to meet the mark. They hindered you. Got in your way. Tripped you and caused you to doubt and stumble.

+Has someone tripped you in your faith. Were you once running so well trusting Christ, but someone told you that you were too filthy for God to love? Did someone tell you that you didn’t measure up. I want you to know that in Christ, God sees you just as righteous as his own son.

Next he mentions the metaphor of leaven and dough.

Galatians 5:8–10 ESV

8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

Just as a little leaven affects all of the dough. When a little legalism begins to take affect in a church. It can affect the whole body. I have seen a few legalist in a church affect the whole atmosphere of a church. Sometimes its one of the most well known members in a church. That might be what Paul is referring to here when he say, “whoever he is.” I think Paul knows who he is. I think Paul is referring to the fact that this is a high ranking member in the church, probably put there from Jerusalem. I think Paul is saying, may God judge him regardless of who he is.

We should reject anyone in the church that turns us away from grace. I don’t care who they are.

E. It removes the offense of the cross. (v.11)

Galatians 5:11 ESV

11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

Paul is being accused of still preaching a Jewish gospel by some. Paul says that is ridiculous because I’m being persecuted because of what I believe about the cross. What is the offense of the cross? It is believing only the cross of Jesus Christ has the power to take away our sins. Trusting in your works makes light of what God did to save us on the cross.

F. It angers those who devote themselves to the gospel. (v. 12)

I’m glad I’m out of time on this verse so I’ll just quickly mention it.

Galatians 5:12 ESV

12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

These guys are telling you that the law says that your actions of circumcision are required to be saved and not faith in Christ alone. Paul says I wish they wouldn’t stop with circumcision. Scholars point to a number of different things that Paul might mean here. But, I think it’s fair to say that he’s clearly mad. We ought to be mad at anyone who will undermine the gospel so clearly as to teach that our works are enough for a righteous God. They are not. Only the righteousness of God’s son is enough for God. And God gives his righteousness to us through faith.

You don’t have to be saddled with fear that you are not enough. In Christ you are. It was “for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do no submit again to the yoke of slavery.” (v.1)