“Set Free for Freedom”
(Galatians 5:1-6)
Series: Set Free To Be Free (Galatians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
Amen! Please be seated and let me invite you to open your Bibles to the Book of Galatians, chapter 5, as we resume our study of Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia.
We’ve been blessed with great preaching from Jonah and Ruth in our morning services and now we return to our series of verse-by-verse messages through Galatians, our series: “Set Free to be Free.”
You were just standing so let me invite you to remain seated as I read the test this morning, Galatians 5, verses 1-5.
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.
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Let’s pray. “Dear God, thank you for your life-giving Word. Thank you for this great congregation of believers. We love gathering together and worshiping You. Please meet with us today in power and presence. Many of us are hurting, are broken, and every single one of us is a sinner in need of your salvation. Change us as we study Your Word. We want to see You today. Bless us by way of Your Holy Spirt, in the name of Your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And everyone said, Amen.”
I just want to jump right into our study this morning. I mean I haven’t preached in 9 Sundays, so I’m eager to get at it! I invite you to follow along in your Bibles as we just go through this passage, verse-by-verse and read about the freedom that is ours through Christ.
Verse 1 is one of those great “summary verses,” encapsulating the entire letter! It’s a summary of the whole Book of Galatians and, in some sense, it captures the essence of the gospel. In the New King James Version, verse 1 reads:
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.
The first part of this verse is better translated, “For freedom Christ has freed you,” or, “It’s for freedom that Christ has set us free.”
The implication is that before we trust Christ, we are not free. We are not free, but in bondage. The second part of the verse says, “and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” So, before Christ sets us free, we are in bondage.
Now that raises the question, “Bondage to what?” It what sense are we bound, shackled, or entangled? Bondage to what? Well of course, someone says, we were in bondage to sin. That seems the reasonable answer. Christ has set us free from the bondage of sin.
Well, that is true, Christ has seen us free from sin—but that is not primarily Paul’s concern here. He does not have in mind so much our bondage to sin so much as he has in mind our bondage to the law. Context verifies this as Paul has written in the previous chapters, most recently chapter 4 where he contrasts the two ways people try to get in favor with God. He illustrated from the Old Testament using Hagar and Sarah, showing that some people try to get in right relationship with God through performance-based law-keeping. And then there are those who are in right relationship with God through faith in His promise, a promise of favor that culminates in Jesus Christ.
So let’s expand upon this now and note this first main truth about Christian freedom.
I. We are Set Free from the Tyranny of the Law [1-4]
Why “tyranny?” Isn’t the law good? Yes, the law is good (Romans 7:12). In what sense then is it tyrannical, or oppressive? It becomes oppressive, heavy, and burdensome when we begin to think of it as the means by which God accepts us, loves us, or approves of us.
We read commands and regulations such as, “Do this” and “Don’t do that” and we feel the weight of the law because we’re always struggling to meet these high and rigorous standards. We never seem to “measure up” to what the law requires.
But the law, in and of itself, is good. The very first of the 10 commandments, for example, God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” That’s good. But if I am thinking of the law as the means by which God accepts me, loves me, or approves of me—well, now what about the 1st commandment? How many times as recently as last week or last night did I fail to love, worship, and adore God? By sheer volume of time alone, how does the way I use my time indicate where my heart has really been? Could someone accuse me of worshiping something or someone else? Too often, more than most of us would like to admit, this is the case.
So I’ve only got as far as commandment one—a good command—and I feel the sting of the law’s condemnation. I am conscience-stricken. I feel guilt. I feel the law’s oppression, weight, burden. Why? Because I am thinking of the law as the means by which God accepts me, loves me, or approves of me. When I do this, I feel the law’s condemnation. You may wish to jot that down as a sub-point here.
A) It’s Condemnation (1-3)
When we think of the law as the way to get right or to be right with God we will feel only its condemnation.
Thankfully—everyone say, “Thankfully”—thankfully the law was not given as the means by which God accepts us, loves us, or approves of us. He is pleased when anyone keeps it. And things seem to go better with us when we do, but the law was never intended to be the means by which God accepts, loves, or approves of us.
What then is the means by which God accepts us? I mean, given that we are sinners and never can measure up to the rigorous demands of the law, how can we be sure that God accepts us, loves us, and approves of us? The answer is: we may be absolutely certain God accepts, loves, and approves of us when we place our faith, our trust, our love in Jesus Christ alone. We are saved—not by the law—but by God’s grace through our faith in Christ alone.
Now this is why Paul says what he does to these people in Galatia who were being influenced by some false teaching. Remember Paul got these churches started in Southern Galatia and then, after he left, other teachers came along and said, “Hey, Paul wasn’t telling you everything you need to know in order to be right with God. If you really want to be right in God’s sight, you’ve got to believe in Jesus—yes—but you also have to do some law-keeping, namely ceremonial laws like the rite or ritual of Jewish circumcision. You’ve got to add this work, this ritual procedure, if you really want to be right with God.”
What does Paul say to that? Verse 2:
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
If you include something else to faith in Christ, if you believe that you are saved, accepted by God, loved by God, approved by God, if you believe you are saved by grace through faith in Christ—plus something else, doing some good deeds, keeping the law—then “Christ will profit you nothing.” Christ becomes to you profitless. No value. No benefit.
Why? Because you will never be free from your sense of the law’s condemnation. You will continue to feel the guilt, the weight and burden of the law’s requirements. See, Christ fulfilled the law perfectly for us. If we believe in Him, trust in Him, place our faith in Him, believing that He fulfilled the righteous demands of the law for us—then we get the credit for what Christ has done. That’s a great benefit, isn’t it?! That’s credit! That’s value!!
So Paul says, “Look, if you add something to Christ, if you add works of the law as a means by which to get in God’s good graces, Christ will profit you nothing.” You are trying to earn God’s acceptance, love, and approval by what you do—by works—and the problem with this kind of law-keeping is you will never know when you have done enough good works to earn God’s approval. What a burden! What a weight! What continual condemnation we will feel.
Paul really makes clear the desperate situation we would be in if we tried to go about it this way. He adds in verse 3:
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
In other words, “If you are trying to find favor with God by having this ritualistic surgical procedure, this human work, well that’s just one of all the other laws you’ve got to keep! You must obey every single other regulation in the whole law of Moses!”
So if you think becoming a Christian and making sure you are right with God means you add something to Jesus—like have faith in Christ, but also add works to your faith—if you try to add something to Jesus, you end up subtracting Jesus. Faith in Christ plus religious performance equals zero. So you don’t have Jesus at all. That means you’ve got to keep the law yourself—all of it consistently and perfectly.
Galatians 3:10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (cf Deuteronomy 27:26)
So if you were already feeling you weren’t measuring up and had to do some work or keep some law to earn God’s love—well, you’ve got a lot more measuring up to do! A lot more law to keep. Condemnation. We feel it when we try to earn God’s approval through human effort, religious performance. But not only will we feel the law’s condemnation, there is also the problem of separation:
B) It’s Separation (4)
Paul teaches that if we hope to be accepted by God through our human effort, our works, keeping the laws, commands, not only is Christ no value to us, but we actually become separated from Him, cut off from Him. Verse 4:
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Again, “If you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Jesus! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”
Now thankfully—everyone say thankfully—thankfully a true Christian will never be cut off from Christ because the true Christian is resting in Him, believing in Christ, placing his or her faith in Christ. That’s why Paul says what he does down in verse 10, “I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind,” or no other view.
Paul is addressing those who are not doing that, namely those who are adding to Jesus, adding good works, religious performance, law-keeping. Paul is saying, “If you’re doing that, then you are attempting to be justified by law,” you’re attempting to get right with God through your performance, and the law was never intended to be the means by which you are accepted, loved, and approved by God. CHRIST is the means!! We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.
Good works, like keeping the law, are not the things we do to “get” saved, they are the things we do once we’ve “become” saved. They are not the way “in” to right relationship with God, they are the “result” of a right relationship with God. If we are saved, true Christians, we will live out moral commandments because we want to, because we’ve been changed, given new desires.
We have been set free from the tyranny of the law. Set free “from” something to be set free “to” something else—set free from the tyranny of the law, set free to treasure the Lord.
II. We are Set Free to Treasure the Lord [5-6]
We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. In Christ alone, we are secure and in Christ alone we are satisfied. Let’s take them one at a time. First:
A) In Christ alone we are Secure (5)
Verse 5, Paul says:
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Paraphrase: by faith we know where we are going and we are not afraid. Paul says, “we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” The word “righteousness” there refers to what we need to be able to stand before the Lord, and know we are accepted, loved, and approved.
Think of righteousness as a special coat that you have to be wearing. It’s not a coat that you make, through human effort. It is a coat someone else made and put on you. It is the coat of Christ’s goodness and righteousness, a completely right record of law-keeping. And when God puts that coat on you, you get credit for what Christ has done. His medals are pinned to your chest. The Father looks at you and sees you wearing His Son’s righteousness. So God thinks of you as having done what Christ has done.
If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, God has put this “invisible,” if you like, coat on you, the coat of Christ’s righteousness. You’re wearing it now. And you definitely want to be wearing it on the day of judgment, when you stand before the Lord. Paul says in verse 5, you need not worry. You are secure: “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”
The word “hope” there in verse 5 is biblical hope, certainty. It doesn’t mean hope as in our common English usage, which is really more like, “hope so,” indicating uncertainty. The word translated “hope” in verse 5 and elsewhere throughout the NT means “Absolute Certainty!” No question!
So underline the word “hope” in verse 5 in your Bible and let’s read verse 5 and insert “Absolute Certainty!” for hope. Let’s do this together. Ready? I’m reading the NKJV.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY of righteousness by faith.
The verb back up in verse 1 where it says, “Christ has made us free” is in a verb tense that conveys a singular, completed action. It is done once for all time. We still benefit from that action. Like, “I married my wife.” Once. But I still benefit from the action of marriage—huge benefit, by the way!—and I trust she still benefits from it too, but that’s another message.
We live today in the freedom of knowing that we are “not guilty” in the sight of God! Because of Jesus we are not only okay today, but we’re okay tomorrow, and we’re okay next year, next decade, and whenever we die—by sickness, tragedy, or sudden catastrophe—we’re still okay! God will accept, love, and approve us as much then as He does now.
No one other than the Christian can do this. There is no other person on the planet who can look into the future and say, “I will be received warmly by God on the day of Judgment.” No one else. I’m okay now because I know where I’m going. No worries.
Religious people who are counting on their performance, their good deeds, can’t say verse 5. They can’t. They’re perpetually anxious and worried about their religious failures. They are motivated by guilt and shame, and consequently are often insecure, guilt-ridden, miserable and unpleasant.
Of course an atheist cannot claim verse 5, either. Nor can the agnostic. He cannot look into the future and confidently say, “Well of course I am okay even if there is a god or some kind of judgment.” He cannot say that because he is not wearing the righteousness of Christ, the “invisible” coat, a perfect record of Christ’s performance.
But we, if we are Christians, we not only wait, we “eagerly” wait, we look forward to this time, we joyfully anticipate with absolute certainty that we stand before God in the righteousness that has come to us by faith. Saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. That’s security! In Christ alone we are secure. And then, verse 6 teaches:
B) In Christ alone we are Satisfied (6)
This truth is implicit in verse 6 where Paul again kills any notion that we are put right with God based on a works-based, religious performance kind of acceptance. He says:
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
In other words, religious rituals and other works don’t make us right before God. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. An outward deed done as a way to find favor with God, some work done in the hopes of gaining acceptance, love, or approval from God does not “avail anything,” does not earn anything, or count for anything.
What does “avail” for something? What does “count” for something? Last part of verse 6: “faith working through love.” Faith! Saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
And that faith in Christ alone expresses itself through love. Faith results in changed behavior, good deeds, good works. See that at the end of verse 5? What avails, what counts? “faith working through love” or, “faith expressing itself through love.”
So, when I believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, I am placing my faith in Christ Jesus, and that faith, my belief, my trust in Jesus, is a faith is expressed through my love. Or, my love—love for God, love for others—is the product of, and proportionate to, my faith.
When I trust in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I rest in Him alone as my Savior, believing and realizing that this action of believing in Christ is all that is necessary for me to be declared righteous by God, then what happens? LOVE! I grow in my love, my love for God, my love for others. And all the good works I do flow from a right relationship with God, they are not the means of salvation, but the byproduct, the result of salvation. Faith working through, expressing itself, through love.
Faith produces love, because by faith I am using my head and I am thinking, which means I remember who I was without Christ and who I am in Christ, and where I’m going because of Christ, and my heart EXPLODES in love!!!
But it’s a discipline, you see. I have to work at it. I have to be intentional. I have to set my head and heart to it. I have to think. I have to remember. All of that takes place in faith, believing, thinking: “Faith working through, expressing itself through love.”
You can’t help but have love when you really put your mind to thinking about what Jesus has done for you. You can’t help but love God and serve Him when you spend time thinking about how he accepts you, loves you, approves of you—not just at the point of your initial faith, but all throughout your Christian life, through all the ups and downs He loves us just the same, He approves of us just the same, He accepts us just the same.
NEVER look to your performance as a means of acceptance with God or the tyranny of the law will entangle you again and you’ll lose your joy of freedom. Listen to this. I found this during my study. Tim Keller wrote this, listen:
A Christian, when he or she has just experienced a success, should say: But this success does not increase Christ’s love for me. In fact, it is only because of His love for me that this happened, not the other way around! And a Christian, when he or she has just experienced a failure, should say: If I had not failed in this way, that would not make me any more loved and accepted by God than I am at this moment! My performance is irrelevant. In fact, God is always working for my good (Romans 8:28)—He has allowed this to happen because He loves me, not because He doesn’t. What a radical principle!
With your faith comes love. You focus on ballooning your faith (which really comes by thinking, trusting, remembering Christ), you’ll see the ballooning of your love. You think about, mediate on, who you are and what you have in Christ, your love will skyrocket! You will love others!!
And you will be set free to be free. Set free from bondage to the law. Set free from bondage to sin. Set free from sin’s inferior satisfactions. Set free from sin’s ultimate emptiness, misplaced desires. You will have a new love. Treasure Jesus Christ!
I’d like to give you three action steps for this week. Three easy to remember words.
Action Steps: Think, Thank, Take
Think—Think about what Christ has done for you and that God is in you
Think with head and heart: Justified. Adopted. Galatians 3:26, “For you all [Christians] are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
If you are a Christian, God loves you, accepts you, approves of you always. Don’t chain yourself to some substitute love, acceptance, or approval. Don’t define your identity by worldly standards—popularity, job success, money, approval from friends, workmates, school friends. If you are a Christian God accepts, loves, and approves of you in His Son, Jesus.
What Christ has done is credited to you. Think about that often. Think about the fact that because of your faith in Christ, God indwells you with His Holy Spirit so you can live in freedom. God is in you. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. God is in you. Think about that and it will help you walk in freedom, freedom from sin.
Often people talk about their struggle with some recurring sin and they’re like, “God, deliver me!!” And they pray and ask others to pray. I really believe sometimes we need to do less praying and more thinking! God is IN YOU!!! Believe that? The way you live will determine how much you really believe that. He is in you! Live in the power, joy, and wonder of knowing that wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, you are not alone. This loving God, this all-loving, life-giving, joy-granting, ever-saving, wonder-working, freedom-granting, loving Lord Jesus Christ is in you!! He’ll never leave you. He is the object of your heart’s deepest desire. Love Him. Think.
Thank…Thank God for where you are headed. Remember verse 5: “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope [ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY] of righteousness by faith.”
There’s a worship element here. Thank God regularly for the hope of righteousness by faith. Thank God for that absolute certainty that you are wearing Christ’s righteousness. That you eagerly await that day when you will be in a better place, that place called heaven, where there is no more sin, no more sickness, no more sorrow. Thank God.
Can you? Maybe you can’t thank God for that certainty, because you don’t have it. There’s no other way to be accepted by God, savingly loved by God, and approved by God, but by faith in Christ alone. You’ve got to be saved.
If you’re not saved, you are “estranged from Christ,” separated from Christ. If you’re hoping to get into heaven by some way other than fully trusting in Christ, then “Christ will profit you nothing.”
If you are counting on your best attempts, or church membership, goodness, good works or deeds; mowing your neighbor’s grass, helping build a house, sponsoring a poor child, giving money to underprivileged countries, if you’re hoping on those things to make you right with God, Christ will profit you nothing; be of no benefit to you.
Trust Christ!! Believe in Him. Be saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. And you’ll have something for which to thank Him. Think, thank, and:
Take…if you’re a Christian, I’m challenging you and myself to take this good news to one person by Friday. There are many souls in Henderson who need to hear what we have studied this morning.
Take this good news to others. Take Jesus to the kind woman who lives across the street from you. Take Jesus to the unpleasant neighbor at the intersection. Share your faith with the classmate when school starts. Witness to the co-worker whose office is next to yours. Take Jesus to folks you meet tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday. Take this good news to souls in Henderson. Pray this way in the morning: “God, when I look at people today, help me see them as people with souls.”
It’s just the natural “living-out” of verse 6. It is “faith working through love.” You think about what God has done for you. You thank God for what He has done for you. And you take that good news to someone else.
If you were in the hot, dry, dusty desert and you had a canteen full of water, and you’ve been able to drink from that canteen to satisfy your thirst—and you came across another person who was so dry, so weak, so in need of life-giving water, you’d be a pretty hard-hearted person to keep that water to yourself. You’d give ‘em a drink. Well, we’re going to be meeting a lot of folks who need the life-giving water of the gospel. Don’t keep it to yourself. Give them a drink.
Maybe you’re one of those people who needs the water of life. You need Jesus. You need to be saved this morning. I want to invite you to Christ today. Some of you need to trust Jesus this morning.
And as we move into a time of responding to the Word of God, I’m asking you to give your heart to Jesus Christ. Some of you are here and you want to be baptized. You have trusted Jesus. You are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone and you want to be baptized. We’re having several baptisms this evening and you can be baptized as soon as tonight. But you come in a moment and just say, “I want to be baptized.” Or you’ve been visiting this church and you’d like to join, we welcome you with open arms. Come forward in a moment and I’ll pray with you and give you some helpful information about joining our great church family.
In a moment we’re going go sing a hymn of response. God is inviting us—every single one of us in the room—God is inviting us to respond to His Word.
You want to join the church, or be baptized, or you have questions and you need prayer, you come during this time and I’ll meet you up front here. Come as we sing our response song and I’ll meet you up front here and we’ll seek God together.
In a moment we’re going to sing that classic hymn of John Newton’s, “Amazing Grace.”
Newton was just 7 years old when his mother died. Then just four years later at the age of 11 went to sea. In time he became a crusty sea captain involved in the African slave trade and a host of other immoral actions and activities. He blasphemed God without a second thought. Then one day at the age of 23 his ship was rocked in a horrendous storm. Newton feared for his life and cried out to God to save his soul. And God did. And John Newton never forgot it. He never got over the fact that he was once in bondage, but by Christ had been redeemed and set free to be free.
To help himself remember, John Newton had the words from Deuteronomy 15:15 written in bold right above the mantelpiece of his study where he would see them every day: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you…”
If we’ll take time throughout the day to think, to just stop and think, remember where we once were and that we have been set free, we can live in that freedom. Remembering that we are righteous in God’s sight and that God is in us, we will grow in our love for God and for others.
Let me invite you to stand and as we sing, you respond however the Lord is leading you.
“Amazing Grace”
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