Enjoying our Freedom in Christ - Bible Survey Part 7

Today I have got a hay wagon full of hay to dump on you in the book of Galatians so just pay attention and we'll have the CD for you next week. We've done Romans. We've done 1st and 2nd Corinthians. We're ready to do Galatians, which I think actually is probably one of the most significant books for Christian living in all the New Testament. So I'm very excited to share with you the book of Galatians.

Just a little bit of background. If you remember the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 13, the Holy Spirit called him to begin his first missionary journey. And the bulk of this journey was in southeastern Turkey in a region we call Galatia. And he went through the cities of Perga, Pisidian, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, kind of like in a little fish hook shape. And then he doubled back through those cities and went back to Antioch on the Orontes, which was his home city, his home church.

He established churches in all these different cities. But when he got back to Antioch, he began hearing about theological error that was being taught in these new churches. And so he writes a letter to them to counteract, to confront this theological error. And that's the book that we know of as the book of Galatians. Alright, you got it?

Alright, so let's dig in. Chronologically, the Apostle Paul's letter to the Galatians was the very first of his New Testament letters written in 48 AD. And in order to understand the book, we have to first understand the theological error that he was writing to correct.

And we talked about it a little bit last week. We said that the guys propagating this error were called Judaizers. And the error was in their plan of salvation and their plan of the Christian life. They were preaching a different plan of salvation and a different approach to the Christian life than Paul and the rest of the Apostles were preaching. The Judaizers' plan was Jesus' blood plus human works for salvation. And they told the young Gentile Christians there in Galatia, yes, trusting Jesus' work on the cross is a good thing, but it's not enough.

In order to get into heaven, in order to get eternal life, you've got to also become Jewish and keep the Old Testament law. And this false teaching incensed the Apostle Paul because it put people back into a plan of salvation that was based on human works. And as you know, because we've said this here, every plan of salvation in the world except the biblical plan of salvation is based on human works of one kind or another. So I suppose this is a good moment for us to stop and ask the question, what is the problem with a plan of salvation that's based on human works? Well, there are really three problems and Paul tells us about them in the Bible.

Problem number one is that because we're all sinners, none of us can make this kind of plan of salvation work. Look what Paul says, Romans 7, he says, for God's law is spiritual, but I am fleshly a slave to sin, for I agree that the law is good, Paul says, in my heart. And I have the desire to do what is good and obey the law, but I cannot carry it out because I'm a sinner. And this is true for every human being alive because of our intrinsic sin nature that we all inherit from Adam. We can all endorse God's law in our heart like Paul did, but none of us can carry God's law out because we're slaves to sin.

Everybody with me? All right, that leads to problem number two with a plan of salvation based on human works and that is that because of this, a human works plan of salvation curses and condemns everybody who tries it and makes this their way to get to heaven. Look what Paul says, Galatians 3 10, for all those who rely on observing the law, that is a human works plan of salvation, are under a what? A curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not obey, say the next two words, all things written in the law to perform them. James says in chapter two, for whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking it all. Folks, we must understand that a human works approach to salvation is an all or nothing deal in God's holy sight. The first time we break a single rule, we're cooked.

Now, who can make a plan like this work? Well, no sinner can. I mean, just take the Ten Commandments, for example. Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal or lie or you must honor your parents. You need to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, 365 days a year, you know, every moment of every day. I mean, who can do all of that?

Friends, we are cooked by the time we are two years old, right? And this is why the Bible says that we're under a curse. This is why Paul says, Romans 3.20, that by trying to observe the law, no one shall ever be justified in God's sight.

The law is good, we just can't do it. And that leads to our third problem with the human works approach to salvation, and that is it holds people in hopeless bondage. I mean, if you're trying to work your way to heaven and eternal life, how do you know when you've ever worked enough? I mean, if you go to one mass a day, how do you know that you don't need to go to two masses a day? If you pray to Mecca five times a day, how do you know that you shouldn't have prayed to Mecca six times a day? If you're Jewish and you keep kosher and you fast for Yom Kippur and you observe the Sabbath, is that enough? Do you have to do more?

And what happens if you mess up? You live in mortal fear that you're going to do something wrong and mess it all up. This is bondage. I remember when we were in Israel last fall. We were staying in Jerusalem in a hotel and it was the Sabbath. And many ultra-orthodox Jewish people move into the hotels there in Jerusalem on the Sabbath because, you know, they're not allowed to work of any kind. And so by living in the hotel, somebody else fixes their meal, somebody else, you know, cleans their room.

You understand, they don't have to do it. And so while we were there, one of the ladies in our group had an orthodox woman approach her in the lobby and say, could you help me? And the lady on our tour said, sure, what can I do? She said, would you come to my room with me?

And so they went up and they came to this orthodox woman's room and the woman on our tour group said, what can I do to help you? And she said, would you kindly flick on the light switch? This woman was not allowed on the Sabbath to turn on the light switch without endangering her salvation. And she had forgotten to turn it on before the Sabbath started and wasn't allowed to turn it on. Folks, this is bondage. Do you understand that?

You can't turn on the light switch. This is bondage. And this is why Galatians 2, 4, Paul writes and says these false teachers want to bring us back into what? Bondage.

So let me summarize. What's wrong with a plan of salvation based on human works? Well, number one, as sinners, we can't make it work. Number two, because of that, this kind of salvation system curses and condemns everyone who tries it. And number three, this kind of plan of salvation holds people in bondage. Now, this is why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, 4 that these men, these Judaizers preach another Jesus whom we have not preached and another gospel.

Do you understand now what he's saying? This is not the gospel of the Bible. So having said all of that, let's go now to the book of Galatians and let's actually see what Paul says to the Galatians in response of this error being taught to them.

Four quick things I want you to see. Number one, Paul says first of all to the Galatians, my gospel, which is faith in Jesus' blood plus no human works, that's how you get to heaven, is the right gospel, Paul says. Galatians 1, 11, for I would have you know, brethren there in Galatia, that the gospel I preached among you was not according to man, for I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

For when God was pleased to reveal his Son in me, when was that? On the road to Damascus, Acts chapter 9, right, that I might preach his Son among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia for three years. And in Arabia, Paul spent three years alone with the Lord Jesus Christ, just like Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights alone with the Lord up on Mount Sinai. And it was here, Paul says, that the Lord Jesus himself explained to me the true and the right gospel. Then later, Paul says, I went to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus, a Gentile believer, along with us also, and I submitted to them, that is to Peter and the apostles, the gospel that I preached among the Gentiles.

And what is that gospel? It's that salvation is through faith in Jesus' blood, plus no human works. And watch, but not even Titus, this Gentile believer, who was with me, even though he was a Gentile, was compelled by the apostles in Jerusalem to be circumcised.

Now why is that important? What's Paul's point? His point is that I told Titus that he would be saved simply by trusting the blood of Jesus, plus no human works. And when I told the apostles that and they saw Titus, they obviously agreed with me, or else they would have made the man go get circumcised, but they didn't. You with me? You understand what Paul's saying?

They didn't. And so Paul says, the gospel message that I preached to you Galatians is the right one because it was given to me personally by the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was certified by the rest of the apostles, and therefore ipso facto, the gospel that these Judaizers are preaching to you is the wrong gospel. Yeah? Okay, number two, the second thing Paul says in his letter is that the gospel I preach, the right gospel, redeems people from the curse of the law, redeems people from the curse of human performance in their relationship with God. Look, Galatians 3 10, we read it a moment ago, for all who are under the law are under a curse, for it's written, cursed is everyone who does not obey all things written in the law to perform them. And what that means is every single one of us is cursed.

Yeah? None of us have been able to keep all things in the law, have we? Have we?

All right. But, next verse, but, gosh I love this word, but, hallelujah, hallelujah, what a great word, but Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us on the cross, watch, so that we might be saved by human works. No, of course not, that's what God has cursed to begin with, that we might be saved by faith in Christ plus no human works. Praise God for that, huh? Amen?

Yeah. And that leads to the third point that Paul makes in the book of Galatians, which is since Jesus redeemed us, God can now adopt us. See friends, God couldn't adopt us into his family when we were cursed, when we were under his judgment, when we were condemned. We couldn't be his family members, but once Jesus redeems us from all of that, God is free then to adopt us.

Look, Galatians 4, 4, but when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, in order that he might redeem those under the law. Watch now that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters for through faith in Jesus Christ, you are all sons and daughters of God. Do you understand, my friend, that when you come to Christ, you join a brand new family? You are no longer in the family of Adam with all of the bad stuff that that brings. You and I switch families and now become part of the family of God as an adopted child through Christ. You got that?

Yeah? And that leads to our fourth and final thing he tells the Galatians, which is as God's adopted children in Christ, we are now free. We are now free.

We are now what? Free from the bondage of human performance in our relationship with God. Galatians 5, 1, it is for, what's the next word?

Freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm against these Judaizers and do not let yourself be subjected again to a yoke of bondage. And what Paul means by a yoke of bondage is do not let yourself be pulled back in to a relationship with God that is based on human performance. That is bondage. God saved you from that.

Don't go back there. Look, Galatians 4, 5, for in Christ we have received the adoption as sons and daughters, which means, Romans 6, 14, that we are no longer under law. We are no longer under a performance system with God, but we are under grace. You know, I have four children, and I need to tell you that my children are not on a performance system with me as their dad. My children don't have to perform any certain way.

They don't have to keep any certain rules. They don't have to keep any certain laws in order for me to love them and in order for me to favor them and in order for me to accept them because my love for them is not based on their performance. They have my love. They have my favor because they are family. Right?

You got that? Now, friends, once we've come to faith in Christ, we become family with God, which means that God's love for us isn't based on our performance anymore. As God's adopted children in Christ, we have God's love. We have God's favor. We can never lose it, and we are no longer in bondage to how many masses we go to, to how many times we fast on Yom Kippur, or to how many light switches we do or don't turn off. Yeah? Can I get an amen or something?

We're not in bondage to any kind of human performance. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord and praise the Lord.

Yeah. So let's summarize four things Paul says to the Galatians. First, my gospel is the right gospel. Second, my gospel redeems people from the curse of the law. Third, Jesus redeemed us so that God could adopt us. And fourth, as God's adopted children in Christ, we are free from the bondage of human performance in our relationship with Almighty God. That's what he says to these Galatians. And, man, how important is that to know in our Christian experience?

Now you say, well, Lon, I got one question, though. Why in the world did God give us the law if the law is so bad? Well, friends, the law is not bad. The law is spiritual. The law is good. The law is perfect. The problem is not with the law. The problem is with you and me.

We can't keep it. Nothing wrong with the law. In fact, Paul answers this question. He says, why the law then? It was added for the sake of defining sin. For I would never have realized what my sin was except for the law, for I would not have known about coveting, Paul says, if the law had not said, thou shalt not covet. You see, the purpose of the law was to give us God's perfect standard of righteousness so that we could compare ourselves with it, so that we could understand how far short we fall, so that we could be convinced that we are utterly unable to earn our salvation by keeping God's law, so that we would look for another way and turn to Christ and what He did for us on the cross. My friends, the purpose of the law was to help us realize our need for Christ. Paul says, Galatians 3 24, therefore, the law was our tutor to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith, but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

If you're a believer in Jesus, the law has done its job with you and you are free from it. Got it? Amen? All right. Now, we have one question to ask before we're done. So let's ask it quickly. Everybody at all our campuses, you ready? Here we go.

One, two, three. Yeah. You say, Lon, so what? What difference does all this make? Oh, it makes a huge difference. Galatians 5 1, Paul says, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, stand firm in that freedom.

As followers of Christ, I came here this morning to call you to freedom, to the freedom that belongs to you as an adopted child of God, the freedom to know that you can leave here today and you can go flick on and off as many light switches as you want. You can go mow your grass on Sunday if you want. You can have a glass of wine at dinner.

You can smoke a cigar to welcome your new baby into the world. You can go to the movies. You can play bridge. You can take your wife dancing.

Friends, you can go to Red Hot and Blue and eat all the pork barbecue sandwiches you want. Praise God, you are free from the law. Praise God. And doing this won't make one bit of difference in how God feels about you. Not one. Listen to me carefully. He won't love you one bit less if you do all these things, and he won't love you one bit more if you don't do these things.

You got that? Now it took me two decades of my Christian life for me to believe that. Because I come from a Jewish background where we were told growing up that it was all about what you do and what you don't and earning your way into heaven. And it took me decades to get over that and really believe that God doesn't love me more or less based on what I do. And some of you who are from spiritual backgrounds with a bunch of dos and a bunch of don'ts, I mean, this is a hard thing for us to wrap our heads around. And many of us struggle to really believe this, but you make no mistake about it, my friend. In Jesus Christ, you are free. And God wants you to believe that, and God wants you to enjoy being free in your relationship with Almighty God. But, you say, I knew there was a but in there somewhere.

Wait a minute. But there is some balance here that we need to add. And it's our memory verse. Remember our memory verse? Our memory verse says, For you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh.

And this is what we're going to talk about next week. There are some times and there are some places that God tells us about in the Bible, where He says we are to limit our freedom because of reasons we understand and because we do it voluntarily out of our love for and our devotion to Christ. We're willing to limit our freedom because the Lord asks us to in certain areas. And that's the balance to all of this.

Our freedom in Christ is real, but it is not without requested limits by Almighty God. So next week, you don't want to miss it because you don't have the whole truth yet. You only got half of it.

It's a good half. But there's another piece of this we got to put together to get balanced biblical teaching. You with me? And we're going to talk about that next week when we talk about those places where God asks us to limit our freedom in Christ for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of other people, and in some cases, for our own sake.

He asked us to do that. So I hope you'll be here and we'll talk about that. But none of that changes the fact God wants you to enjoy being free in Christ when you mess up, when you do something wrong, when you don't get it right. Hey, folks, it doesn't make a bit of difference in God's love and favor for you. You are no longer on a performance system with God. You are family and you are favored and loved just like you favor and love your children because they're family. You got it? Hey, is this beautiful to be in this kind of relationship with God?

Is this great? All right, some of you still don't believe me. I'm telling you, I understand why, but believe it because this is what the Word of God teaches.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for teaching us truth today. And we realize that a lot of people, a lot of churches won't teach this because they're afraid to teach this truth, afraid of what people might do with it.

So they skip the book of Galatians like it's not in the Bible. But Lord, that's not how we do it here at McLean Bible Church. We teach truth.

We teach balanced truth, which is why we have next week's message, but we teach truth because we cannot grow to be mature followers of Christ unless we do. So God, encourage our hearts today that you love us and favor us regardless of our performance. What an amazing thing.

We are not in bondage to our performance anymore. And may we revel in that. It is a beautiful thing to have freedom in Christ. And Jesus gave his life so we could have it. Lord, thanks for teaching us today. Encourage our hearts and make us more mature in our walks with Christ. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. What did God's people say? Amen. Ah, come on. What did you say? Amen. Amen.