Galatians 5:1-6

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.

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

FREEDOM AND LIBERTY

• Christ has made us free

GRACE – UNMERITED FAVOR

GOD’S RICHES AT CHRIST’S EXPENSE

GOD’S REDEEMING ACT CONCERNING EVERYONE

In the Old Testament, Moses continually offered sacrifices.  In the New Testament, Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice once and for all time.

• Free through His shed Blood – Freedom in Christ

Romans 10:13 – For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.

Galatians 5:1 – Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Freely given, freely bestowed, yet if we do not believe, we cannot receive!

John 8:32 – And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

• Free through believing on His name

Romans 10:9 – …if you confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus…

Romans 6:18 – And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 

Acts 4:12 – Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

• The verse above does not mention, nor does any other verse in God’s Word indicate, that there is another name whereby we can be saved.  In fact, it states emphatically there is no other name.  To whom do we confess?  God and God alone.  Since He provided the “Way” (through His selfless sacrifice), He paid the cost (His own blood) and completed the work (IT IS FINISHED), then it seems very apparent that it is to Him and only Him that we confess our sins.

• Free through confession of sins

Romans 10:9 –  if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

• Free through walking by faith

2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.

• Do not become Entangled Again in Bondage

Romans 8:2-3 – For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin:  He condemned sin in the flesh

2 Corinthians 5:21 – For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

I Corinthians 7:22 – For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman.  Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave.  You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.  

Galatians 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)…

I Peter 2:24-25 – who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes we were healed.  For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

I Peter 3:18 – For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit…

• Sin is bondage

Romans 6:7 – For he who has died has been freed from sin.

• Bad habits are bondage

We often start our list with drinking, smoking, etc., but what about envy, greed, self-righteousness, lying, gossiping…    Should I stop now?

• Deliberate failures are bondage
• Deliberate omission of right doing is bondage

Galatians 5:1 – Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Galatians 5:1 – Christ has set us free to live a free life.  So take your stand!  Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.  The Message

THE LAW FAILS

• Keeping a list of rules fails

Matthew 23:4 – For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Galatians 3:26-27 –“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Galatians 2:16 – …knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Acts 15:10 – Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither your fathers nor we were able to bear? 

Galatians 13:38-39  – Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified form all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 

• Walking away from Christ fails

Romans 6:5-8 – For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.

Hebrews 10:26 – For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

FAITH IS THE ANSWER

FAITH – FORSAKING ALL, I TRUST HIM

Romans 5:1 –  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God though our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

I Corinthians 3:11 – For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

I Timothy 2:5 – For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 

Hebrews 11:1 –“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

All through the eleventh chapter of Hebrews we find the beginning of verse after verse with the phrase “by faith”, “by faith”, “by faith.”   Whether individuals or circumstances…it was “by faith.” 

• Faith in the shed blood of Jesus

• Faith in walking in love

• Faith in the name of Jesus

• Faith in the Word of God

• Faith through the power of the Holy Spirit

THANK GOD FOR THE FAITH WE HAVE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.