Freedom

Today is the Forth of July. It is a day when families get together, cook hot dogs and hamburgers, and enjoy the display of fireworks across the land.

But it is much more than that, just as the fireworks that we all enjoy represent something much greater than just pretty colors and loud noises.

We live in a unique country. A country which we often take for granted. Just the fact that we are gathered here today, in this house of worship, is an indication of the kind of freedom that we have that is not enjoyed in most of the world today.

We are truly blessed to live here today. But the freedoms that we have came with a price. 250 years ago, many men with a vision of what was possible died to bring about the kind of freedom we have today.

Then 160 years ago, many more died in a great civil war to free a segment of our population which had been enslaved and marginalized in this very country.

Back when our nation was struggling to become a nation, the path was not always clearly marked.

As a matter of fact, in the 13 colonies that started that move for independence, it is estimated that around 25% of the population of those colonists were Loyalists or Tories. These were people who were loyal to the Kind of England and did not want freedom from the crown. They wanted things to stay the way they were.

It kind of reminds me of the Israelites who were fleeing captivity in Egypt. When they saw how difficult the journey was, they implored Moses to let them return the Egypt and rejoin their old lives as slaves of Pharoah.

Can you imagine all the whiners Moses had to contend with?

Moses we’re tired of walking all day.

Moses, we’re tired of sleeping outside.

Moses, we’re tired of eating manna.

Moses, we want to go back and become slaves again.

As we celebrate the birthday of our nation, we will note some parallels between our freedoms in this country and the freedom we have in Christ.

John Quincy Adams sixth president of the United States stated:

“In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”

Today we will be looking at an account from Galatians, Chapter 5, where Paul is addressing the topic of our freedom.

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.

Liberty G1657 eleutheria. Let’s stop and think for a moment about liberty. Is liberty and freedom the same thing? We certainly use those words interchangeably sometimes, but do they mean the same thing?

A common catch phrase is, “it’s a free country.” We consider ourselves a free people, but are we really?

When you are a youngster, you think of freedom as that time to come when you have your own car, and you can go anywhere you want without having to ask someone’s permission. You think how wonderful it must be to be an adult and have that freedom.

Then when you get to be an adult you long for those days of freedom in childhood when you didn’t have so many decisions to make, and problems to face, and a job you had to be at, and bills you had to pay.

Am I free to do anything I please? If I chose to, can I go outside, pick up a rock and throw it through our next-door neighbor’s front window?

I suppose I have the freedom to do that, but I would find my freedom severely curtailed in short order. Sister Audrey would probably have me arrested and hauled downtown.

We don’t have total freedom because we live under the law. The municipal law, the state law, the federal law.

But do I have liberty? Even though we use the words interchangeably, the concept is different. Liberty means I am not bound by the law. The law no longer applies to me.

After Paul established the churches in Galatia, word reached him that the people there were coming under the influence of a group called the Judaizers.

These were Jews who had become Christians but were teaching the false doctrine that for the Gentiles of Galatia to come to Christ they first had to commit to following the Jewish Mosaic law.

One of the things the Judaizers were requiring of the Christians of Galatia was that in order to come to Christ they first had to be circumcised, as was required in the Mosaic Law. But what does Paul say about this? Verse 2:

2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

Paul is saying if you have to follow the Mosaic Law then there is no point in seeking Christ. Christ came to deliver you from the penalty of the law, from that yoke of bondage, but you have chosen to place yourself right back there again.

3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

If you chose that system that depends on following the law, you have to follow the whole law, and you have to follow it perfectly to earn your salvation.

The entirety of the Old Testament shows us what folly it is to think that we can follow, perfectly, the Mosaic Law. We didn’t have the capability to follow the law because if required perfection from our weak, sinful, flesh.

4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Paul uses some pretty strong language here. If you are justified by the law, you have fallen from grace.

Following those rules that the Pharisees followed will not save you.

Following those dictates of the Mosaic Law will not save you.

Following those rules of what you can eat and what you cannot eat will not save you.

What will save you? Only the death, burial and resurrection of Christ will save you. Only putting your faith in the One who died on the cross for you will save you.

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

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Romans 8

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

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Back to Galatians:

6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

To be circumcised means nothing, to not be circumcised means nothing. The only thing that means something is faith.7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

Paul says, “things were going fine here, what happened to change things?” What changed was certainly not because of Christ, the one who called you. And then Paul says:

9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Anytime you see leaven mentioned in scripture it is talking about sin. It is talking about how just a little bit of sin corrupts the whole lot.

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Matthew 13

33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

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Paul gives an illustration of the same thing we see in Matthew, Chapter 13. The Gentiles had the truth, but add just a little of this false doctrine, this leaven to it, and you corrupt the whole lot.

When I was in the Marine Corps I served in a helicopter squadron. Those Huey helicopters were a very complicated and sophisticated piece of machinery. On the instrument panel was a series of lights called chip lights. The engine and transmission of the helicopter contained sensors that would illuminate the chip light if it detected even a small piece of metal in the oil or transmission fluid. Just a small bit of foreign material could be enough to stop the engine or transmission with obviously catastrophic results. Just a little bit of false doctrine can have a similar effect.

10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

Paul now softens his tone toward the Galatians. He is saying, I have confidence that you will see this issue in same way I do.

But then a warning. Without naming any individual or making any accusations against a specific person, Paul says whoever is spreading this false teaching will pay the penalty for it in the end.

11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.

Perhaps Paul had been accused of inconsistency, because he had circumcised Timothy, or they may have been accusing Paul of preaching circumcision as he did before his conversion, in any case Paul says if I still preached circumcision, I would not be in the position of being persecuted by the Jews and they would not take issue with me preaching the cross as the fulfilling of the purpose of the law.

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1 Corinthians 1 (tab 3)

22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

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12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

Paul has no tolerance for those who would teach false doctrine to the Galatians churches. I think that we can find that Jesus also had little tolerance for those that would harm His children:

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Luke 17:1 KJV 1900

1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

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13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Here is one of the key verses of the passage. Do not use liberty for an occasion of the flesh. Liberty is not license to sin.

We see so many people today who will lean on this excuse. We have all known someone who says, well I put my trust in Jesus, so now it doesn’t matter what I do, I’m still saved.

My counter to this is that if you have put your trust in Jesus, but you have no fear of the consequences of direct disobedience of God’s word, then you were never saved in the first place. There is no security in your relationship with the Lord, without fear of the Lord.

Today we have a false doctrine taught in churches all across the land. Many people like to preach of the love of God, and they like to say things like “Jesus is my friend,” but how many sermons do you hear about fearing God, about the consequences of disobedience, about the wrath of God toward those who cause the weaker person to stumble.

Those are not popular sermons.

Those sermons don’t grow mega-churches.

Those sermons don’t inspire millions in donations.

I think a lot of people are going to be surprised on judgement day when the Lord tells them “Depart from Me for I never knew you.”

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

The liberty that we are given is not given to us to us for our own selfish reasons. Now instead of being bound by the dictates of the law, we are free to love one another as Christ loved us.

15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Paul addressed the potential harm of partisan strife incited by doctrinal disputes among the Galatians over the teachings of the Judaizers. Un-tempered by love, such bitterness is fueled by the flesh, not by the Spirit.

Seeking to attain status with God and man by mere observance of the law breeds a self-righteous, critical spirit, I’m talking small s spirit, not capitol S Spirit.

Getting back to our founding fathers:

Benjamin Franklin once said: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”

Why would Mr. Franklin say this? Because he knew that people who are unrestrained will bite and devour one another. He is speaking about those who are not living in the Spirit and loving one another.

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

You see, the freedom we have as one who is in Christ is more than the freedom of speech, it is more than all the freedoms we have guaranteed by our constitution, it is freedom from sin and death.

Outside of Jesus, we are not free; we are slaves to sin, slaves to our own flesh, doomed to eternal separation from God.

Our Founders understood this, and they knew the government was not the giver of Freedom, but rather the protector of the freedoms God has given to us in Christ.

As a country, we are at war over many social issues, but those issues are really just a symptom of a deeper problem.

People are enslaved by sin, or they are allowing themselves to be pulled back into sin.

The founders of this great nation overcame overwhelming odds to create a nation that would stand as an example of freedom to the entire world.

We cannot let our freedom in Christ be taken away be allowing ourselves to turn back to the old self.

And as a nation, we cannot back down. We must stand firm and defend what we believe it.

It is not okay to remain silent in the public square just because our voice will offend those enslaved to sin.

And finally, for our voices to be heard, our life has to reflect the God we serve, because our voices will never be as convincing as our actions.