IT WAS FOR FREEDOM (GALATIANS 5:1-6)

Introduction

Thomas Jefferson wrote these very familiar words in the United States Constitution which was ratified 245 years ago, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Our founding fathers understood that our freedoms did not come from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, as important as they documents are. Our freedoms are inherent in the Creator. They are divinely given. That is what we recognize today.

I believe that Thomas Jefferson might have been thinking our text this morning as he wrote the words of the Declaration of Independence. When we think of freedom we think of political freedom, those freedoms that are being attacked today. Some of us might even think of psychological freedom, a freedom from worry and anxiety and the presence of peace and calm of mind. Neither one of these are the freedom I will address today. The freedom I will speak of today is the ultimate in freedom. It is the freedom from spiritual bondage. It is the freedom found only in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our text will reveal to us today three aspects of the ultimate in freedom.

I. The Person of Freedom (5:1)

Jesus Purchased Our Freedom (1a).

Jesus is the ultimate provider of freedom . It is Christ who has made us free. Since coming to Christ we have been made free. Before coming to Christ. Christ is the great Liberator who has set believers free from bondage.

Jesus Commands Believers to Defend Our Freedom (1b).

We have a responsibility in this freedom that we have been given. The Roman Empire was a culture where slavery abounded. Paul is not talking about literal slavery in the text. Paul is talking about a spiritual slavery . After trusting Christ, the Galatian believers were freed from this “yoke” of bondage. Because of this freedom, they were to “stand firm.” The term “stand firm” is a military term. It carries the idea of “standing one’s ground” or “holding a position.” We are in a war where Satan wants us back in his clutches of bondage. Further, we are called upon not to “submit again to a yoke of slavery.” The word for submit literally means, “to hold a grudge” or “to bear ill will.” Here it carries the idea of “being subjected or being forced to experience or suffer something.” The Galatians are being warned not to willingly go back into spiritual bondage that Christ’s work on the cross provided. We have been set free, do not be so foolish as to willingly go back into bondage. That is just nuts!

What does this verse mean by “a yoke of slavery.” Literally, a yoke was an instrument that bound oxen together for the purpose of accomplishing a task. It pulled the heads of the oxen downward in servitude. Spiritually, we were in spiritual bondage and that yoke of bondage was that sin which we were born into that kept us bound down. We were enslaved by our own passions. We were bound to the desires of the world and to our own flesh. Yet, Jesus has set us free from that bondage. Jesus took that bondage upon Himself. Jesus declares in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The burden Jesus was referring to here was the extra demands of Judaism and the Pharisees were trying to place upon the people. They were always coming up with new rules and regulations. Such rules were a bondage and were wearing the people down. It was a burden that was beating them down. Jesus states that He would provide rest and rejuvenation from such unnecessary burdens.

Principle #1: Our liberty is protected by the sovereignty and sufficiency of Christ.

What Christ has accomplished on our behalf is enough to gain for us freedom and liberty from the bondage and shackles of sin. When we come to Christ through surrender to Him and repentance of sin, we are set free to be who God has set us free to be. Here is the problem. We have allowed others to come into the church and the heresy of a works-based salvation. We have taught people that you must do something for Jesus to appease Him. It heard the following statement in one of the church’s I was attending when I was a young person. “Now, you better be a good boy so God will love you.” The implication is that we must do something in order to earn God’s favor so that He will love us. When we do wrong, then we must balance the scales and do something right. Somehow we must do more good than bad in this life. To live like that is the closest thing to hell that I know of. The truth is that you and I can never do enough to deserve God’s love. It is all of grace.

Too much of the time we in the church are scared of grace. More specifically, we are scared of too much grace. Yes, you need enough grace to be saved. Yet, if that new Christian experiences too much grace, he might not do what I want him to do. In other words, it’s fine to experience saving grace, but too much grace will make it impossible for me to control him. This is the spirit of witchcraft to hold someone in spiritual bondage. “Pastor, what if they live in too much grace and live however they want to?” The Bible says toward the end of chapter five, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

We cannot keep the parts of the Bible we like while ignoring the parts we don’t like. The Bible is not a “this is what it means to me” book. The Bible is the “this is what God said, period, end of conversation” book. Christ for freedom’s sake has liberated His people.

The Perversion of Freedom (5:2-4)

Legalism Invalidates Christ’s Work on the Cross (2).

Paul has been addressing a group of believers who had been impacted by bad theology. They had been told in essence, “Jesus is good, but He is not good enough.” There were false teaches known as Judaizers who had come into the church and insisted that to be truly saved, you had to continue to observe the strictly external practices of the Mosaic Law. Paul comes along and says, “Hogwash! Having an operation will not make you any closer to God!”

We have some of that same confusion in some churches today over baptism. Some people believe that you have to be baptized in order to be saved. It is interesting that Baptists have never believed in a doctrine of baptizmal regeneration. Yes, we believe in believers’ baptism by immersion only. You are saved by the blood of Jesus, not the water in a baptistry. We don’t get baptized to get saved. We get baptized because we’re saved. We don’t get baptized so we can go to heaven. We get baptized because baptism is our public confession of faith in Jesus Christ to show people we are going to heaven. We can never add our own works to what Jesus Christ has done. To attempt to do so is to say that what Christ has done is not good enough.

Legalism Initiates an Overwhelming Obligation to Works (3).

Paul is stating here that you cannot choose the parts of the Bible to obey and which parts you will ignore. There is no such thing as a “Buffet Bible.” That is, there is no such thing as taking a little bit of this and whole lot of that. No, I don’t want any of that.

Principle #2: Once you head down the road of trying to do more to earn favor with God, you will soon discover that you will never be able to do enough.

Here is the point. When you get right, you will do right. It is not about doing right until somehow you magically get it right. It is about being right. When you are right with God, you will desire to do right out of the overflow of your love for Christ. Inner transformation that is genuine always leads to the external manifestation of that transformation on the outside. Too many churches have overburdened people with doing without teaching them that you first must abide in Christ. It is both/and, not either/or. Yet, it must begin with the abiding. That is why John 15:4-5 declares, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

The doing comes easy when you understand our purpose begins with being (abiding). Our walk with Christ is not about what we do. It is about what Christ has already done.

Legalism Severs the Lifeline of Grace (4).

This s one of those verses certain denominational systems use to try to prove that one can lose their salvation. Yet, their argument is based on ripping this verse out of its literary context. You cannot take a verse out of its context or worse, take a portion of a verse out of that same verse and try to force it to say what you want it to say. You cannot try to force the Bible to say what you want it to say. Let the Bible speak from its own authority.

Paul is not saying that these Galatian believers had possessed salvation and fell from it. What he is saying is that such a person has never appropriated the grace of God for salvation to begin with. Why? Because such a person is not believing in God’s amazing grace to save. Such a person believes they must do something to help Jesus affect their salvation. The problem with that is you are trying to work your way to heaven. Guess what? it doesn’t work that way. To fall from grace does not mean one loses their salvation. It means that you do not truly understand what grace is to begin with.

Principle #3: You cannot lose what you did not earn in the first place.

Jesus did the work, you didn’t. I did not do anything to earn my salvation. Therefore, it is not up to me to keep my salvation. If it is up to me to keep my salvation, I most certainly lose it. I lose my cell phone fifty times a day. Yet, I do not have to worry about losing my salvation because the Bible declares that it is kept secure in heaven by the one who purchased my salvation. “But pastor, what does it mean when the Bible says I am to work out my own salvation?” While the Bible does make that statement, it does not mean that I have to work to get it. It means I prove that I got it by the works that I do. Salvation is not by works. However, when you get it, it really, really works.

Churches in America are filled with people who do not understand the concept of salvation. A salvation that isn’t big enough to keep you isn’t big enough to save you. Salvation that doesn’t change a man can never save a man. Here is a good word. I am not bothered by the person who is continually bothered by their sin. I am bothered by the person who is never bothered by their sin. A true believer can never get away with what we used to get away with. Beware those who would seek to pervert your freedom in Christ to bring you back in bondage again.

The Power of Freedom (5:5-6)

The Power of Freedom is a Life of Faith That Is Led by the Spirit (5a).

“For through the Spirit, by faith”

Principle #4: The Holy Spirit is the protection and the perfection of our righteousness.

The Spirit of has been given to us as a down payment. He has been given to us to remind us that better things are coming. The way things are is not the things are going to forever be. When you got saved, you do not go from being totally pagan to being totally perfected. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of better things to come. You still live in this body of flesh in which the enemy tries to cause you to doubt and even deny God and His Word.

The Power of Freedom is a Life of Faith Lived in Confident Expectation of the Future (5b).

“we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness”

The Holy Spirit has been given to us to remind us that the flesh that burdens now will one day be gone. One day we will be declared fully righteous, not by our attempts at righteousness, but the fulfillment of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us.

The Power of Freedom is a Life of Faith that Brings Union with Christ (6a).

The freedom that Christ brings causes us to be in union with Christ. So many things seek to divide the people of God. If we allow them to do their divisive work, we will focus on what divides rather than what unites us. Our unity must be on two things and only two because of our union with Him. First, we must be united on the foundation of the person, work and lordship of Jesus Christ. The second follows from the first. We must be united under the authority of the Word of God, the Holy Bible.

The Power of Freedom is a Life of Faith That Is Lived Out in Mutual Love (6b).

The faith that we possess is one of mutual love for Him and love for others, especially other believers. The evidence of genuine faith will be genuine love because genuine faith in Christ inevitably will be expressed by love. The freedom Christ has given to us does not lead to legalism (keep rules and keep making more) and neither does it lead to libertariansm (freedom to live anyway I want). True freedom is loving God and loving others because of what Christ has done.

Everything that is true of the believer is not true of the spiritually lost person. For the lost person, this world is as good as it is going to get. Things are only going to become progressively worse. [read verse 6 again]

Principle #5: Our faith grows as we genuinely love and serve others.

If we are not investing and sacrificing our time, resources and energy into people, our faith is worthless. Faith cannot work without the demonstration of God’s love that is to be resident within us. Love is the proof of our spiritual state. I know people who read their Bible and go to church every time the doors are open. Guess what? Some of those are the most selfish people who have ever walked the earth.

Conclusion

Are we loving each other? Are we serving each other? Are we supporting each other? Are we serving the community where God has placed this church? The reason the American church is in such a fog in our day is because we have bought the lie that church is about perpetuating our programs and not about people. May I remind us today that we exist to bring glory to God and to positively impact other people. God is more concerned with the quality of His people than He is about the quantity of the people in the sanctuary on Sunday morning. In essence, if we’re not serving, if we’re not loving, we’re not growing. The Bible clearly declares that our faith works through love. We mature and grow as we love God and love others by putting both before us.

In the account of the Good Samaritan we see the different perspectives of people, which is indicative of many today. Those who you would have though would have shown the mercy to the beaten and wounded man didn’t. The thief had the perspective of selfishness. “What you have is mine.” The Good Samaritan had the perspective of selflessness. “What I have is yours.” Jesus asked the the lost lawyer in this account, “Which one of the men in the story is the real hero?” The lost lawyer replied, “I suppose the one that showed mercy.”

Which one was truly free? It was the one who by their actions demonstrated that freedom. Let me ask you, “Are you truly free?” It was for freedom that Christ longs to set you free.