Let Freedom Ring.docx

Galatians 5:1-6 (HCSB)

Freedom…what does it mean to you?  (Share time)

From the video clip, it is apparent that our founding fathers and great leaders down though out country’s history have recognized that possessing freedom was always worth the price …even the price of  standing up and dying for.

So, when we hear the words, “Let Freedom Ring”, we’re hearing the proclamation of not just liberty, but of its price…of the sacrifice required, of its value, and of something worthwhile to hang onto.

Paul writes of freedom in Galatians 5 as well.

Listen to what he says…

Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm   and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.  2 Take note! I, Paul, tell you that if you get circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all. 3 Again I testify to every man who gets circumcised that he is obligated to keep the entire law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace!  5 For by the Spirit we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness from faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.

This says to me that freedom is not just some nice little concept that individuals can have by just saying or thinking the word freedom.

Paul is writing not of nationalistic freedom here, but of the freedom that was paid for by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross for our sins.

Christ died for our sins.

Christ set us free… Jesus spoke this himself in Luke 4:18-19, when He said the “Spirit of the Lord is upon me,  to proclaim the good news…(Let Freedom Ring)…to proclaim freedom…to set the captives free (Let Freedom Ring).”

But we’ve got to answer a very important question…what kind of freedom did Jesus liberate us to?

Was it freedom to do as we please? (Home of the free, land of the brave, do as I please!)

Does the freedom that Jesus bought us, give us the right to say we’re Christians, and maybe, if we’re not too involved in something else, we’ll show the World we’re Christians on Sunday, and then we’ll live like the devil is in us Monday through Saturday…because in Christ, we’re free indeed?

Does to be free mean that we can choose whether or not  to be in a small group?  Was that the freedom Jesus was talking about…the Freedom Jesus is talking about certainly has nothing to do with choice.  Or Was it the freedom of the Christian to choose whether or not to fellowship and study His word with other Christians, and have the right to ‘forsake the fellowshipping together.”

Was this freedom a freedom to do as we wish when it comes to our finances and time and our lives?  Did that freedom grant us the right to not tithe nor give special offerings, or to NOT serve Christ’s church, or to NOT minister to others?

No…friends, NO!

You see, the freedom to which Jesus Christ sets us free to, in verse 1, that Paul is talking about here, is the freedom to live a Life of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit, and not be handcuffed to a system of man’s works to try to get into some sort of favorable position with God.

Friends…this is so crucial to fully understanding the freedom Paul is writing of here…we’ve really got to get a grip on this theological truth…because regardless of what various writers, commentators, and some preachers and teachers may say, God’s definition of righteousness has never changed, nor has God ever re-defined righteousness according to the modern times.

That’s because God’s standard of holiness has not changed, sin is still sin…adultery is still sin, stealing is still sin; sleeping around is still sin; homosexuality is still sin; pornography is still sin; child abuse is still sin; taking an innocent life is still sin; lust is still sin; sin, friends, is still sin. 

God has not re-written His Bible, and because God’s Word does not change, neither has His definition nor His standard of righteousness been changed along the way to make it more comfortable for 21st Century Americans…

And that simply means that no personal interpretation of God’s Word and His Standard, by some commentator or some religious leader’s book, or some denominational or local church body re-write of it in order to be more ‘inclusive’ or more ‘relevant’ or more ‘appealing’ really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans when it comes to God’s standards.  All of Creation, like it or not, or admitting it or not, still falls under the same rules, of Almighty God, Himself.

Now…recall, that we went through the Sermon on the Mount several weeks back.  I hope you didn’t miss that series, because it was a foundational building block for us. 

So, hopefully, you remember that Jesus makes it perfectly clear in His Sermon on the Mount, that God still…the Sermon on the Mount reiterated this over and over…God still requires righteousness, and the righteousness that God requires is not simply some outward performance of goody two shoes acts, but instead, it is an inner perfection.

And the bad news was, as we found out, was that we don’t have the individual ability to do it ourselves.

We come up pitifully short when we try.

And because God knew that, i.e., He knows us better than we know ourselves…and why not, He is the Creator,…so God, does something here for us…

God steps in because of His love for all of us, and He sends Jesus Christ to die for our sins…so that through faith and faith alone, as we’re convicted of our sins by the Holy Spirit, and we then turn to God, and away from our sins, and asking God’s forgiveness, and accepting this gift of salvation through Belief in Jesus Christ, God does something else…

Once we accept Jesus as our Savior and life-manager, Jesus sends us the Helper…the Holy Spirit.

And it is only through the Holy Spirit of God Himself, that you and I who are believers have the ability to live those lives of perfect inner righteousness.

That’s because Christ set us free…Jesus paid the price for our freedom.

Let Freedom Ring!

So, just like the soldiers who have died and who continue to die for freedom, Jesus paid the price for us…a different price, though…a price that guarantees eternal freedom and eternal life with Jesus in Heaven.

Jesus set us free.

Well, Paul then continues and says, “Therefore stand firm and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery. “

Stand firm, and don’t submit again to the yoke of slavery.

That carries both a warning as well as a military command.

Our forefathers had to stand firm against the Tyranny of the King of England. 

Had they not, our national drink might have been Earl Grey Tea.  (maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, since I sort of like Earl Grey Tea…just like Jon Luke Piccard of Star Trek)…

Our soldiers on the battlefields down through time, have had to stand firm against the enemies of democracy and freedom.

Had they not, we all might have been speaking German as our national language.

Friends…so too, we must also stand firm against our enemy today as Paul commands here.

So, not only did Jesus give us freedom, but it tells me that someone else wants to snatch that freedom away.

So there is an ongoing battle…Satan, our enemy, simply does not want God’s people to experience that kind of freedom.

That’s why the Bible tells us that our battle is not against human enemies but against the spiritual powers and principalities in the heavenlies (Eph 6:12).

Now…Can you imagine what the non-Christians of the world would say if they continually saw Christians living the ‘set-free’ lives that were purchased for us, instead of living lives full of sin, or lives all bound up in works of trying to please God?

Paul just puts it plainly enough…stand firm, and don’t submit to that yoke of slavery that the devil is trying to slip over your neck.

How many times do we get guilt trips laid on us because we think we need to do something else for Jesus? 

So in order to live in the freedom Christ bought for us, we’ve got to stand firm and not submit to the yoke of slavery that the devil tries to get us to put back on.

What will enable us to stand firm?

1)     You’ve heard me say it before…spend time with God.  Talk with Him, read His Word…use a good devotional that helps you put His Word into your heart.

2)    Pray without ceasing.  Don’t just talk to God at meal time…talk to Him like you would your best friend, or your best telephone buddy.

3)    Worship regularly with your church family…Jesus Himself demonstrated the need for such worship in His own life…He went to the synagogue regularly…not just on special occasions.  He went to worship, not to pick a fight with the Jews.  Today more than ever Christians need to NOT forsake the gathering together (Heb 10:25)…we need each other.

4)    Get connected in a small group.  We’re going to be starting training of small group leadership in the next weeks and out of that we’ll be starting a brand new dynamic small groups ministry where people can fellowship, build relationships and apply God’s Word in their lives.

Stand firm…don’t give the devil a chance…

Let the freedom ring in your life that Jesus bought and paid for with His own life…Enjoy that freedom that will not end.

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. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. 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 shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. Would that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. (5:2–12)

This passage begins the third section of the letter. After defending his apostleship ([1]chaps.1–2) and his message of justification by faith (chaps. 3–4), Paul now applies that doctrine to practical Christian living (chaps. 5–6), emphasizing that right doctrine should result in right living. His subject is the sanctification that should result from justification. The life of genuine faith is more than the belief in divine truth; it is also the bearing of divine fruit.

Especially in chapter 5 (vv. 5, 16–18, 25), the apostle emphasizes the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, without which genuine Christian living would be impossible. It is the Holy Spirit who makes the life of faith work. Were it not for the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, the life of faith would be no more spiritually productive or acceptable to God than the life of law.

The freedom for which Christ sets us free ([2]v.1) is the freedom to live a Life of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s standard of holiness has not changed. As Jesus makes clear in the Sermon on the Mount, it requires not simply outward performance but inner perfection. Through His Holy Spirit, believers have the ability to live internal lives of righteousness.

The final two chapters of Galatians are a portrait of the Spirit-filled life, of the believer’s implementing the life of faith under the control and in the energy of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit-filled life thereby becomes in itself a powerful testimony to the power of justification by faith.

In making his appeal for living the Spirit-filled life of freedom rather than reverting to the futile works-bound life of legalistic self-effort, Paul begins with the negative, a warning first against false doctrine (vv. 2–6) and then against false teachers (vv. 7–12). He shows the spiritual dangers of the first and the corrupt character of the second.

The Dangers of False Doctrine

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. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. (5:2–6)

The basic doctrinal error of the Judaizers was works righteousness, the same error that is the heart of every other man-made religious system. Jews were often referred to simply as the circumcised (Acts 10:45; 11:2; Gal. 2:7), because that was their most distinctive outward mark and the one in which they had the greatest pride and confidence. Rather than looking on circumcision as God had given it-as a symbol of His covenant of promise (Gen. 17:9–10)-most Jews looked on it as having spiritual value in itself. To them it was not a reminder of God’s gracious and sovereign blessing but a means of humanly guaranteeing His favor.

It should be noted that the symbolism of cutting off the male foreskin was to be a constant reminder to all generations of Jews, for whom God desired to cut away the evil from their hearts ([3]cf.Deut. 30:6; Jer. 4:4; 9:24–26). Every child circumcised was a dramatic symbol of God’s desire to cleanse the heart by faith in Him and to impute His grace to the believer.

Paul’s objection here is not to circumcision in itself. Like all Jewish boys, he himself had been circumcised as an infant (Phil. 3:5). He did not object to a Christian’s being circumcised if, as in the case of Timothy (Acts 16:1–3), the act would open doors for ministry. Because Timothy was hail Jewish, Paul had him circumcised in order that they might together have greater opportunity to witness to Jews. And had he known of the possible health advantages of circumcision, he would not have objected to it for that purpose either.

Paul’s warning about circumcision pertained only to the false idea that in itself it carried spiritual benefit or merit. The Judaizers were saying, in effect, that faith in Jesus Christ, although important, was not sufficient for complete salvation. They taught that what Moses began in the Old Covenant and Christ added to in the New Covenant had to be finished and perfected by one’s own efforts-the centerpiece of which was circumcision.

The Jerusalem Council was convened to deal with this false teaching, which declared, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. … It is necessary to circumcise them [Gentiles], and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses” (Acts 15:1, 5).

As he combats that heretical notion, Paul points out four of its tragic consequences. The person who trusts in circumcision forfeits benefit from Christ’s work on his behalf, places himself under obligation to keep the whole law, fails from God’s grace, and excludes himself from God’s righteousness.

Christ is of No Benefit

Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. (5:2)

Behold I, Paul, say to you undergirds the apostolic authority (see 1:1) by which Paul makes this serious assertion. He may also have been emphasizing his own Jewishness, indicating that he, Paul, a former Pharisee and “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5), was obviously not speaking against trust in circumcision because of any personal or racial bias against Jews. Both as an apostle and as a circumcised and redeemed Jew, he declared that to receive circumcision for the purpose of gaining merit before God was to make Christ … of no benefit. The atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, perfect and complete though it was, cannot benefit a person who trusts in anything else, because that something else, whether circumcision or any other human act or effort, then stands between him and Christ.

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).

To trust in Jesus Christ for salvation is to acknowledge that one cannot save himself. To trust in circumcision or any other personal effort as a means of grace is to supplement His divine work with human work; and a supplemented Christ is a supplanted Christ. To trust in human effort is to trust in law which is totally incompatible with grace.

A person becomes acceptable to God only by placing his full trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, and after he is saved he perseveres in living a life acceptable to God only by continuing to trust in Christ alone. Whether before or after conversion, trust in human works of any kind is a barrier between a person anti Christ and results in unacceptable legalism.

Paul explained to Roman believers “that Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works” (Rom. 9:30–32). The Gentiles who were not seeking righteousness nevertheless found it when they believed in Jesus Christ, whereas the Jews who were zealously seeking righteousness did not attain it, because they were seeking it in themselves. The believing Gentiles gained Christ’s righteousness, which is perfect, whereas the unbelieving Jews had only their self-righteousness, which was worthless.

Obligated to Keep the Whole Law

And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. (5:3)

A second consequence of trusting in circumcision is that the person who does so obligates himself to keep the whole law. To live by part of the law as a means of attaining righteousness demands living by all of it.

Marturomai (testify) often carried the idea of strong protestation, and that seems to be Paul’s meaning here. Again could refer to the previous verse, to a previous occasion, or to both. In any case. this declaration is given with added urgency.

“Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point,”James says, “he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Because gods standard is perfect righteousness, fulfillment of’ only part of the law fails short of His standard. Even if a person were somehow able to keep all of the law for all of his life, if he broke a commandment during his last minute on earth, he would forfeit salvation. Or if he managed to keep all of the laws perfectly except one, he would suffer the same fate. It is easy to understand why Paul declared that “as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them’” (Gal. 3:10). Because God’s standard was so obviously impossible to attain, that truth quoted from Deuteronomy 27:26 should have driven every Jew to seek His mercy.

Fallen from Grace

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (5:4)

A third consequence of seeking to be justified by circumcision or any other form of the law, is that it causes a person to become severed from Christ and thereby become fallen from grace. Severed is from katargeō, which, when followed by the preposition, means to be separated or loosed from (cf. Rom. 7:2, 6). Fallen is from ekpiptō, which means to lose one’s grasp on something. Simply stated, a person cannot live by both law and grace. To attempt to be justified by law is to reject the way of grace.

Paul is not dealing with the security of the believer but with the contrasting ways of grace and law, works and faith, as means of salvation. He is not teaching that a person who has once been justified can lose his righteous standing before God and become lost again by being circumcised or otherwise legalistic. The Bible knows nothing of becoming unjustified. Those “whom [God] predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).

Paul’s primary point in this passage, as throughout the letter, is that law and grace cannot be mixed. As a means to salvation they are totally incompatible and mutually exclusive. To mix law with grace is to obliterate grace. For a believer to start living again under the law to merit salvation is, in fact, to reject salvation by grace. Contrary to the teaching of the Judaizers, to add circumcision and other works of the law to what Christ accomplished by grace is not to raise one’s spiritual level but to severely lower it. Legalism does not please God but offends Him. It does not bring a person closer to God but rather drives him away.

Applied to one who was really an unbeliever, the principle of falling from grace has to do with being exposed to the gracious truth of the gospel and then turning one’s back on Christ. Such a person is an apostate. During the time of the early church many people, both Jews and Gentiles, not only heard the gospel message but witnessed the miraculous confirming signs performed by the apostles. They became attracted to Christ and often made professions of faith in Him. Some became involved in a local church and vicariously experienced the blessings of Christian love and fellowship. They were exposed first hand to every truth and blessing of the gospel of grace but then turned away. They had “been enlightened,” had “tasted of the heavenly gift,” and had even “been made partakers of the Holy Spirit” by witnessing His divine ministry in the lives of believers. But they refused to stand fully with Christ by placing their trust in Him, and they fell away, losing all prospect of repentance and therefore of salvation (Heb. 6:4–6). They came to the very doorway of grace and then fell away, back into their works religion.

Applied to a believer, the principle of falling from grace has to do with a person who genuinely trusts in Christ for salvation but then outwardly reverts to a life of legalism, of living under external rituals, ceremonies, and traditions that he carries out in his own strength, instead of living with a spirit of obedience to Christ. He exchanges life by grace for life back under law, life by faith for life again by works, life in freedom for life back in bondage, life in the Spirit for life back in the flesh. It is a major matter of concern to God whether we live in outward obedience and submission to the externals of religion or in heart obedience and submission to the internals of righteousness. In the former way, a person is prompted and sustained by the flesh to try to earn righteousness. In the latter way, a person is prompted and sustained by the Spirit to demonstrate righteousness.

Obviously true Christians will not reject the true way of salvation, but they confuse themselves and others when they try to live by works, because the mark of true discipleship is continuing obedience to Christ (John 8:31). The security of salvation from the divine side is guaranteed by God to His own (cf.v. 10; Rom. 8:28–39; 11:29), but from the human side it is manifested by perseverance in grace (see John 8:31; 15:4–9, Acts 11:23; 13:43; 14:21–22; Rom. 2:7; Heb. 2:1; 3:14; 4:14; 10:23; 1 John 2:19). Paul is here calling for such perseverance in grace by the genuine believer.

Contrary to justifying grace, sanctifying grace is interruptible. Living by the flesh interferes with living by the Spirit, and living by the flesh may even involve doing the right things for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way. For example, to worship God from the heart and for His own sake is to live by the Spirit. But to worship Him only outwardly or to impress others with our supposed spirituality is to live by the flesh. To witness to a person while trusting in God to convict and convert him is to live by the Spirit. To witness with the intention of converting a person through our own knowledge of Scripture and powers of persuasion is to live by the flesh. No matter how worthy and God-ordained a person’s outward activities may be, to perform them by the flesh is to live by the way of law and to forsake the way of grace.

Excluded from Righteousness

For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. (5:5–6)

A fourth consequence of trusting in works is to be excluded from the righteousness for which the believer has hope, to forsake the true life of blessing God desires for His children.

The Judaizers’ hope of righteousness was based on adding imperfect and worthless works of law in a vain attempt to complete the perfect and priceless work of Christ, which they assumed to be incomplete and imperfect. We, that is, true believers, Paul says, through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness that is based on God’s grace.

Believers already possess the imputed righteousness of justification, but the yet-incomplete righteousness of total sanctification and glorification still awaits them. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us … The creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:18, 21). In this life, believers are still waiting for the completed and perfected righteousness that is yet to come.

Paul here mentions three characteristics of the godly life, the life that continues to live by the grace through which salvation was received. First of all, it is a life lived through the Spirit rather than the flesh. Second, it is a life lived by faith rather than works. And third, it is a life lived in patient waiting and hope rather than in the anxious uncertainty of bondage to the law.

Nothing that is either done or not done in the flesh, not even religious ceremony, makes any difference in one’s relationship to God. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. The outward is totally unimportant and worthless, except as it genuinely reflects inner righteousness.

Life in the Spirit is not static and inactive, but it is faith working through love, not the flesh working through self-effort. Believers are “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). But their working is the product of their faith, not a substitute for it. They do not work for righteousness but out of righteousness, through the motivating power of love. In so doing they “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might” (Col. 1:10–11).

Love needs neither the prescriptions nor the proscriptions of the law, because its very nature is to fulfill the law’s demands. As Paul declares a few verses later, “the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:14: cf.Rom. 13:8). A person does not, for instance, steal from or lie to someone he truly loves. He certainly does not kill someone he loves. The person who lives by faith works under the internal compulsion of love and does not need the outward compulsion of law.

The story is told of an aspiring artist who was commissioned to do a large sculpture for a famous museum. At last he had the opportunity to create the masterpiece he had long dreamed of. After laboring over the work for many years, he saw it grow not only in shape but in beauty. But when it was finished he discovered to his horror that it was much too large to be taken out a window or door and that the cost for tearing down part of the building in order to remove it was prohibitive. His masterpiece was forever a captive to the room in which it was created.

That is the fate of all human religion. Nothing a person does to earn God’s favor can leave the room of this earth where his self-made works are created.

[4]

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chaps. chapters

v. verse

cf. confer (Lat.), compare

[4]MacArthur, John: Galatians. Chicago : Moody Press, 1996, c1987, S. 131