Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell. Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Galatians 5.1 tells us that it is for freedom Christ has set us free. Paul continues the verse with a warning Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery. We are no longer slaves, burdened under obligation to a code.
But instead, sons and daughters walking with our perfect hero, our father. in a loving apprenticeship to become like him. What a beautiful picture. Listen with us as Pastor Ridge unpacks Galatians 5.1. Morning everyone.
If you would. And if you'd like to, please turn in your topic of the scriptures to Galatians chapter 5, or if you'd rather, you can follow along with the screen as I read. Beginning. In verse number one, For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Look. I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ. You who would be justified by the law.
you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit By faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything. but only faith working through love. Let's pray.
Father We know that you are sovereign. That you are seated in heaven. And like It was said in the prophet Isaiah, We cry out to you, holy, Holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Lord, we know that your name is hallowed and holy in heaven and on earth. Lord, we pray that your will be done in this service and in our lives generally.
Ward. As it was prayed by Dwight earlier. There are some things that go on in the world that are difficult to understand. We do not know why some things happen. We don't understand them.
We can understand them. But we know. that you are sovereign, and that your will works together. for our good. whether we understand how that's happening or not.
Lord, we pray that you would give us the word that you would have for us today, that you would help it take root and grow in us. Because we know that we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. and today we have the opportunity to hear that word. and to receive what we need. And I pray that we would be receptive that we would hear the things that you have for us.
There are things that may stand in the way of us hearing things that we've done Things that we've thought. And we pray that you would forgive us for those things, for those thoughts. Help us to forgive others for the things that they may have done that have distressed us or made us Separate from you, we would, because of our bitterness or our difficulties that we've suffered. Lord. We pray f that we would have the strength to forgive.
so that we might be forgiven in turn. Lord. Once again. We know that you are high and holy and lifted up. We praise your name.
We come together in part to day. not just to hear your word, but to praise your name, as we've been doing already. Lord. Help us to do that not just on Sunday morning, but throughout the week, as we live our lives. Lord, to remember.
to lift you up, to put you first. And to follow you, so that your will might be done through us as we go through the week we have ahead of us. Lord, we pray for Pastor Rich as he brings your message, as he brings us the word of life. Lord, that you would give him what he needs, Lord, to bring it to the best of his ability. Lord, we know that that is His prayer as well.
Make us ready to receive. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right, here we go.
Okay. We're in chapter five now. Our text today is one verse. Chapter 5, verse 1, and this is the key verse. In this whole book.
Rich, I thought 2.20 was, well that one too, but this is a key verse. This is the whole point. that Paul is making. The title for today's message is Stand Firm in Freedom. Stand firm in freedom.
We had a really good message last Sunday from Pastor Adam: our solid ground. Our solid ground is God Himself, His very being, His very character. And so As Paul is presenting this to us today. May we be ready to receive what the Lord has for us, as Nathan just prayed for us. I am convinced that God wants to do a work among us.
He wants to do a work in his church. that will rescue us from the default path that many people of faith take. And that is legalism. We are naturally legalists. It is a natural way to think that God is God and I am not.
Therefore, I have to do what I'm supposed to do to make God happy with me. Listen to me. That's not grace. That's not the gospel of grace. A little bit of backstory.
For those of you who aren't here from the beginning and maybe for our guests today, Paul writes this letter to the churches, plural, of Galatia, it's a region in Asia Minor, churches that he planted. And then after he came, discipled them and taught them for a while, then moved on in his missionary endeavors. Other teachers came in who were telling them: listen, if you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ, You have to keep the law of Moses. That's what it means when it uses the word circumcision. That is the symbol that you are indeed keeping the law.
Paul's response to that was: that is not consistent with the gospel of grace. That is not what the gospel is about.
Now, I know that we here today in the 21st century, we haven't really struggled with keeping the law of Moses. But Many of us do struggle with The lists that we have in our lives. I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to do this. And sometimes churches present lists, sometimes they're written, many times they're not. Many times they're just understood.
Many times they're saying, well, the Bible says you have to do this. And indeed, there are commands in Scripture, but we look at it as a list of the Bible commands, the Bible commands, the Bible commands. And if that's the only way we see the Bible is that it's full of commands for me to do, we are missing the gospel of grace.
Now bear with me as I get passionate about this. I grew up a legalist. I've been around a lot of legalists. I can smell it a mile away. Um It's oppressive.
And I've seen so many who grew up in that. And because they got so tired of it, they just take the pendulum, swing all the way to the other end. Want nothing to do with Christ. We sang a song this morning. Help me now to live a life that's dependent on what?
Your grace. Listen to me. You're not just saved by grace. In the Gospel, you also Live by grace, and that's what I want you to grasp this morning. Grace isn't just the diving board that you dive off of into the pool of salvation.
Grace is the pool that you dive into. You live in the grace of God. And this is why Paul says, stand firm in your freedom. Look at verse one with me. We'll just cover one verse today.
For freedom, Christ has set us free. There's in this verse, there's a declaration. And then there's an appeal. Here's the declaration. Christ has set us free.
Say that with me. Christ has set us free. That is in the Greek, that's an aorist indicative. And some of you are looking at me like, Rich, so what? What that means is the Aristindiga is Greek is a beautiful language for the New Testament.
An aorist indicative. A lot of times people think of it's in the past tense, but it's like a snapshot.
Something begins past, but it's a snapshot and it's an indicative. That's me, it's not a command. This is not a command. Christ has set us free is not a command, it's an indicative. In other words, it's saying this is true.
In Christ, you are free. Christ has set us free. Now we have to remember As Paul uses the phrase, in Christ we are free, we have to remember that there's two sides to the freedom: there is the freedom from and the freedom. Two. Because if all you know about freedom is freedom from But you're not freed to anything.
you'll end up right back in the bondage that you were freed from. What are we freed from? Listen to this very carefully. A lot of people say, well, we're freed from sin. Yes, but that's not Paul's point here.
Let me say that again. That's not Paul's point here. He's not talking of this freedom right here and in the Galatians. He's not talking about necessarily the freedom from sin. That is true.
But that's not what he's talking about here. What are we free from? We are free from duty to a code. We are free from duty to a code. Now, I want you to envision with me for a second.
It's take yourself back to the early 19th century, right, before the Industrial Revolution, and you're plowing a field. You can take your bathroom all the way back to first century Palestine, right? How did they plow fields? You get an ox. And you put a plow behind the ox.
And what does the ox have to have on it? A yoke. Right? It has to have a yoke on it. And then to keep the ox moving, and to keep the ox moving in a straight line, you've got the yoke, and then they've got the goad.
Right? And the yoke and the goad and the whip, they keep the ox moving and moving forward in a straight line. That's what the law does. It keeps you moving forward in a straight line according to the demands of God's holiness. And here's what happens if you veer off course.
You get poked or you get whipped. That's the curse of the law.
Now listen, there's a lot of churches that operate that way. There's a lot of Christians today who think God operates that way today. That I need to stay on the path, and if I veer off the path, God's going to whip me. Stop it. That's not the God of grace.
That's not your heavenly Father.
Now, if you are not in Christ, indeed you are still under the curse of the law. But if you are in Christ, Christ has set you free.
Now, he has set us free from duty to a code.
Now, again, we're not talking about the law of Moses. We are talking about the law of Moses, but we're not struggling with that today. What we are struggling about is all this that I have to do. Oh, what are all the commands? The Bible says I have to do this and this and this and this, and then I don't do this and this and this and this.
And if that's your walk of faith, you have missed the power and the point of the gospel. This is why Paul is so passionate. It says, stand firm in the freedom. Christ has set us free from that. Know the point and the power of the gospel.
So he set us free from duty to a code to delight in the Creator. To delight in the Creator. What did Christ accomplish? On the cross. Through faith.
One word. Reconciliation. In Christ, listen to me. If you have surrendered yourself in faith to Jesus Christ, you are. reconciled to God.
That's God's heart. That's what he wants. That's what he set out to accomplish in Christ. And because you are reconciled to God, You are now free to. Commune with him.
Walk with him. Delight in it. And I'm not just talking about knowing about him. I'm talking about knowing him, interacting with your creator. He is a person.
He's not a force. He's not a concept. He is the person. And he created you so that you could interact and commune with him. That is your freedom.
Okay. That is also the source of your transformation. I'm not talking about do and do and do and do. I'm talking about you communing with the one who made you and made you for himself. That's what we need to learn through this study in Galatians.
This is what Paul is talking about. Imagine, if you will. In the 18th century, a son who becomes this man is a tradesman and he's very, very skilled at his trade. Let's say he's a leather worker, right? And he has a son, and he wants his son to follow in his steps.
And so he brings his son into the shop with him. And his son just absolutely loves his dad. And he wants to be like his dad. And he lets his son, the more he grows, the more he lets his son work with him. And he learns the trade and the craft with skill.
Because he, the more time he spends with his dad in the shop, the more he becomes like his dad. And his dad is his hero. Because he's a good dad. That's the idea here. That's how grace works.
Yeah. John R. W. Stott said it this way. The freedom of which Paul speaks, he says it is the freedom of acceptance with God and of access to God through Christ.
That's the freedom that we're talking about. It's the freedom of acceptance with God and of access to God through Christ. That's our acceptance with God is our status. Access to God is our resource. Listen to me.
Christian, in Christ, you have this resource that an unregenerate person does not have. They don't have access to God. Not until they're reconciled to God. And it's through Christ he's the means.
So Paul is emphasizing the truth that is already communicated here, is that we are children of promise. We're not children of the flesh. Who we are and what we become is God's work. In us, we are children of promise. We are, as he says in 4:28, children of promise.
In 3:26, he says, if we are in Christ, we are sons of God.
Sons of God. John says we are born of God. In other words, what he's talking about, this is a supernatural birth here. And so, your means of becoming what God designed and desired you to be is a supernatural work in you and through you. And here's the main point that he's making.
He says, we have a relation to the Father. If you are in Christ, you have a relation to the Father. You have been reconciled to Him. Therefore, you have a relation to Him. Look at chapter 4.
Look, we're going to be back at chapter 4. Turn to your Bibles chapter 4 and look at verses 5 through 7. Beginning at verse 4. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, verse 5, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Isn't that a powerful truth? All of that in there. This is who I am. In Christ.
This is how God sees me. This is my status. This is my identity.
Now there are four implications. A whole lot more than four, but I'm going to focus on four of them right here because of this. Because I have a relation to the Father, because I am a Son of God. A child of promise. As Paul says in chapter 3, verse 27, I have put on Christ.
I have put on Christ that robe of righteousness. In other words, his righteousness now is mine. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. It's not a righteousness I have achieved, it is one I have received. There's no boasting in this.
But I have put on Christ. When the Father sees me, he sees the righteousness of his perfect Son, Jesus. Isn't that awesome? Know that. Not only have I put on Christ.
But Christ lives in me. The first one is more positional. The second one is very practical. Christ lives in me. Galatians 2.20.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Those two truths, here's a third one: number three: I am dead to sin.
Now I'm quoting Romans chapter 6. I am dead to sin. Dead doesn't mean completely incapable. Dead means separate.
Okay. Dead me.
Some of you are saying, Rich, I know I've sinned here pretty recently, right? And you're a Christian. You know that. How can I be dead to sin? It means you're not bound to it.
you have a very different relationship with sin that a non-believer has.
Okay. You are not bound to it. I am dead. This is Romans 6. The King James says, reckon yourselves.
They were southerners, okay? Reckon yourselves. Consider yourself to be. Dead to sin, that's the from. And what?
Alive to God. Connection. Connection. In other words, we gave our grandson a little remote-controlled car for his birthday, Hudson. I got a remote control, right?
And there's the controls and then there's Thank you. Then there's the the vehicle. cool little thing, right? Yeah. There's a battery, there's batteries involved, but also there's a receiver in it.
And it has to be turned on. in the vehicle. And here's what happens when you surrender yourself in faith to Jesus Christ. God turns on. that connector so that you can receive the signal from him.
Great stuff. That's freedom. Stand firm in that freedom.
Okay, so you're dead to sin, you're alive to God.
So, all this status and all this. Here's the point I'm trying, I'm getting to a point here, all right. This is why Paul is saying this. All this status and this resource that I have, I have put on Christ. It is Christ who lives in me.
I am dead to sin. I am alive to God. Therefore, it is not sin management to which I am called. And that's what legalism is. Legalism is sin management.
That's why we are all naturally legalists. Because we think, I just have to manage my sin, which means I just need to stay away, stay away, don't do this, and I need to do this, and don't do this. That's sin management. That's not grace. That's not freedom.
It's oppressive. And some of you, many, all of you know that. Right? Say mm-hmm. It's oppressive, and some of us have come through systems that build on that.
And it is an oppressive way. to live your faith. That's not freedom. And this is why Paul says, stand firm in the freedom that Christ has set us free. Is what he says in chapter 3, verse 3: He says, Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Implied answer? No, you can't do that. It's a supernatural birth. It's not like God regenerates you and then sets you off walk and says, Good luck. Hope you do well.
No. We live by the grace of God. Imagine a sailboat, if you will. Get it out on the open seas. And it's a perfect day.
The sun's shining, the wind is blowing in the right direction. And what do you do? This is not a hard question. Yeah, okay. You hoist the sails.
Right? It's because it's a sailboat. That's what makes the sailboat move. But instead You get a paddle out. And you start paddling the sailboat all by yourself.
That's legalism. That's sin management. Yeah. I don't want the wind to carry me in the wrong direction, so I'm just going to paddle to make sure I'm in control and doing what I'm supposed to be doing and not doing and not going where I'm not supposed to be going. Do you see the difference in power and resource and status there?
If you hoist the sails, And you direct them, you can move that boat, and it glides beautifully on the water. It it it it It's a proverbial image of freedom, isn't it? To be sailing out on the waters. Why? Because the wind is in the sails.
Let me tell you something: the wind's not in the sails until you hoist the sails. We're not called to be paddling the sailboat. We're called to hoist the sails. We're going to talk about that here in a minute. Uh This is a verse I've asked you to memorize.
This is the difference. This is the contrast that Paul makes. Romans chapter 7, verse 6. I want you to read this with me, okay? Ready?
Here we go. But now you are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit. and not in the old way of the written code. Hoisting the sails versus paddling the sailboat. on your own.
Which would you rather do? Paul is saying, listen, God, the Lord in Christ has given you sails. Hoist the sails so that you're drawn along by the wind. We have uh grandkids at our house often and my wife knows every song in the book for kids. And we listened to Ellie Holcomb and one of her best known books is Don't Forget to Remember.
And there's a line in there that just goes perfectly with this. Don't forget to remember.
So it's a song, but there's also a book that goes along with it. Don't forget to remember, and what the line in there that really grabbed my attention is: and just like a sailboat. Let me try this again. And just like a sailboat, that fills up with wind. We feel most alive.
when we're filled up with him. That's what Paul's calling us to this morning. Are you paddling your boat? Or have you hoisted the sails? Christ has set us free.
That's the declaration. Here's the appeal. Stand firm.
Now Christ has set us free is an aorist indicative. Stand firm is a present. active imperative. Keep standing firm. Keep standing firm.
It's a command. It is action that we need to take to stand firm. Rich, how is standing taking action? That's a good question. He says, Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
This yoke of slavery that he's referring to is in fact the law. And if you look, if you were to look in Acts chapter 15, where they called the Jerusalem Council, where this very issue was being tackled for the first-century Christian churches. Because they were countering against the Judaizers, the legalizers who wanted to bring everybody under the law of Moses. And the leaders of the church in the first century said, no, new converts that are Gentiles are not to be brought under the law.
Okay. And Peter put it this way, placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear. We are called to realize a very key and a very important difference here in understanding this freedom in Christ. We are called to realize the difference between the impotence of mere duty. Mere the impotence of mere duty.
I have to do this. I'm supposed to do this. That's duty. Right? What happens when a life of faith is built on Fulfilling the duty I'm supposed to do.
Let me tell you what happens. you begin to compare yourselves with each other. You also, if you're good at it, If you're good at keeping the list, You get pride, prideful. You get prideful. And then, as you're comparing yourself with others, you become judgmental because other people aren't keeping the lists as good as well as you are.
And that pride will lead you into self-delusion. Saul knew about that. Paul knew about that when he was Saul. Remember, what was he? He was a Pharisee.
And he considered himself with regard to the law, he considered himself what? Blameless. You know what that is? That's delusion. Because it is just said up here: a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear.
Nobody can do it. No man in his own effort can rise up to the demands of God's holiness. It's not possible. The law made that abundantly clear. And so it turns into self-delusion.
And then, because of that, with the pride in the comparison, our walk of faith becomes more about keeping up appearances. I just need to be concerned about what other people think of me and how they think of me when they see me. What goes on in private, that's my business. But when I'm in public or with other people, people need to make sure that they think I'm a good and spiritual person. You've been in systems like that, haven't you?
Maybe many watching even now. Or we'll watch this later on. Maybe you're in the system like that. You need to be rescued from that, because that's not the grace of God. That's not how grace works.
Because it all becomes focused on my effort. And if my walk with God and my status with God and his pleasure with me is contingent upon my effort, then I have cause to boast. There's no grace in that. No grace in that at all.
So We are called to realize the difference between the impotence of mere duty and A loving, delighting relationship. A loving, delighting relationship. Many of you in here today are married. Your relationship with your spouse. Is it based upon mere duty?
Don't answer that. Just sit there. Because some of you might have to say yes. I'm sorry for you. It means you're not in a happy marriage.
I'm right, aren't I? If your relationship with your spouse is based entirely on mere duty, you are not happily married. My relationship with my wife is not based on mere duty. I delight in her. I want to please her.
I want to see her smile. I want to see us working together. being resourceful together. Because we love being in each other's presence. We're empty nestors.
It's a good thing we're friends. But there's a difference between the impotence of mere duty and a loving, delighting relationship. Why do I need to be kind? Tell me, why do I need to be kind? Because.
God is kind. You know what the legalist would say? Because that's what a Christian's supposed to do. Do you see the difference? The second, the legalist position, all depends on my effort.
The grace-filled position is all about who God is and what he has done. That's the difference. Help me live, help me now to live a life that's dependent on your grace.
So let's talk about standing firm because this is the appeal. This is the imperative now. This is the command from scripture. But listen, you cannot do the command until you first come to grips with. be indicative.
This is the truth. Christ has set us free. You need to know what your freedom is. You can't stand firm in your freedom if you don't know what your freedom is. How do we stand firm?
in the freedom. It's like you're a sailor. And I'm telling you, this is how you hoist the sails. What is the point of being a s uh a sailor on a on a sailboat if you don't know how to hoist the sails. There is no point, is there?
How do you hoist the sails? To stand firm in your freedom. Number one, No Contemplate and remember your status. Contemplate and remember your status. I'll stop and think there for Stop and think there for just a minute.
I'm going to be pastoral here for just a moment, okay? This is going to be hard. How many of you right now, if I could say, what is your status? Before God.
Some of you might struggle to be able to answer that question biblically. You need to get there. I mean, by get there, I mean, be able to answer that question biblically.
Okay. You need to know your status. Ignorance is not your friend here. You need to know, you need to contemplate, think through it, understand it, chew on it, appreciate the beauty and the power of it. And remember your status.
What is the status?
Well, go back to those four implications we just talked about. You have put on Christ. Christ lives in you. You are dead to sin. You are alive to God.
You are reconciled to God. Why? For the stuff you can do for him? No. So that you can actually walk with him and delight in him.
No. Contemplate and remember your status. Meditate. That's why the Bible calls us to meditate. We don't meditate on our list of things we have to do.
At least I hope that's not what you meditate on. Right? The Bible calls us to set our mind on what? Things above, Colossians 3. Set your mind on the things above.
What is that? That's knowing and contemplating and remembering your status. your status and your resource. This is how, this is, listen, this is how we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. What have you set your mind on?
It's your choice. This is where hoisting the sails begins, so that you feel most alive when you're filled up with Him.
So, standing firm in your freedom.
Now point number one. is to know, contemplate, and remember your status. Number two, Draw near and abide in him. Draw near and abide in Him. Why should I draw near to God?
This is. You're going to love this answer. Why should you draw near to God? Because you can. That's why.
And I'm speaking to you if you are in Christ. Listen, if you are not in Christ, you're listening to me this morning, and you are not in Christ. I have news for you. You cannot draw near to God. You cannot.
Only in Christ can you draw near to God. You have to be, if you're going to draw near to God, you have to be reconciled to Him first, and that requires surrender.
So draw near to him, abide in him. This is what Jesus commanded his disciples. the night of his betrayal. Abide in me, for without me you can do...
Some things Nothing. Is he just talking platitudes there? Is he just talking hyperbolically? No, he means what he says. He says, abide in me.
What's that? Hoisting your sails so that you're freely gliding on the top of the water instead of paddling the boat on your own. Because the news is if you're paddling the sailboat, you're probably not going to get where you'd want to go.
So commune with him, delight in him. Because you can. You've been reconciled to him. Listen, listen, folks. When it comes to our walk of faith, this is where you need to be labor-intensive.
A legalist will tell you, it will give you the list. This is you have to do this and this and this. Just make sure you're doing this and you're not doing this. And all they focus on is the commands of Scripture. And they never talk about the indicatives of Scripture.
They never talk about our status in Christ. The resource that we have in Him, the grace of grace. They always talk about just do this, do this, do this. Where you need to be labor-intensive is in abiding in Christ and drawing near to God. I want you to think about that for a moment.
How do I be labor-intensive in drawing near to God? And abiding in Christ. Because both of them are commands in Scripture. And you see the cross. Because the more you become like him, just like the apprentice's son spending the time with his dad, the more time he spent with his dad, the more he became like his dad in character and in skill.
And that's the same with us. The more you become like Christ, The more time you spend with Christ, the more you become like him. That's where you need to be labor intensive.
So the cross, it's got the vertical, you've got the vertical relationship here. That's drawing near to God, that's abiding in Christ, that vertical relationship. And then you've got the horizontal relationship. That's your relationship to your fellow man. This relationship is the outflow of this vertical relationship.
The more time you spend with Christ, walking with Christ and abiding in Him and drawing near to the Father, the more you become like Him and the more it will be noticeable in your horizontal relationships with your fellow man. That's how grace works. That's how transformation happens. Warren Wearsby said this, it was well put. He says, We no longer need the external force of law to keep us in God's will because we have the internal leading of the Holy Spirit of God.
That's a very good statement. That's the freedom of which Paul speaks. We no longer need the external force of the law to keep us in God's will because we have the internal leading of the Holy Spirit of God. Was it not Jesus who said, He said to his disciples, it's to your advantage that I go away? Why?
So that I can send the Holy Spirit, and He will be. In you. And Jesus was saying, my spirit in you will be an advantage over me walking beside you. Isn't that wild? This is why, in the rest of chapter 5, Paul really talks about the work of the Spirit in our lives.
And I want us to come away from this chapter knowing what the ministry and role of the Spirit in our lives is, so that we know how to. Walk in the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit.
So that we indeed will be a beautiful church. The church that God designed. Where am I?
Okay, standing firm. Standing firm involves no contemplate, remember your status. Number two, draw near. and abide in him. Number three, surrender to him daily.
I'm not saying get saved all over again every day. That's not what I mean, but surrender to him daily because you are a natural legalist. You need to surrender to him. Help me now to live a life that's dependent on your grace. What I recommend to you is when you get up, make this habit now.
Every morning when you get up. You need to recite that line from that song, Help Me Now to Live a Life That's Dependent on Your Grace, and then quote Romans chapter 7, verse 6. Because I want to serve in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way of the letter. I don't want to be a legalist. I don't want to be just following a list.
Am I supposed to do this? Am I not supposed to do that? There's no grace in that. I want to walk with Christ. I want to draw near to the Father.
I want to abide in Christ. Because as I abide in him, I become like him. Surrender to him daily. What did Jesus say? In Matthew 11.
Take my Yoke upon you. Rich, that doesn't sound like freedom. It's counterintuitive, isn't it? But you know why it is freedom? Because there's no such thing as a freedom without any restraint or boundaries at all.
There's no such thing. It is a delusion. It is a lie from the adversary of your soul. Everyone has a master. The question is, is your master the benevolent sovereign?
Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you. It's surrender. That's what that is.
So daily surrendering him to him, Jesus, today I will walk with you. When you get up in the morning And even before you look in the mirror, and fall back, right? Jesus, today I will walk with you. I will follow you through. Whatever you have for me.
Can you do that? It's freedom, folks. That is freedom. Walking with Jesus doesn't mean your day is going to be easy. He says, My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
But he's not saying that that's going to circumvent all the struggles of life. Jesus, today I will walk with you. I will follow you through. The hurtful things that people say to me at work. I will follow you through.
This pain that I've been dealing with for so long. I will follow you through this, Jesus. I will walk with you today. Because when you surrender to him daily, it mitigates two things. Number one, distraction by other yokes of bondage and control.
When you take his yoke upon you, That saves you, that rescues you from distraction by other yokes of bondage. and control. And they are aplenty. But it also mitigates drift into self-righteousness. Drift into self-righteousness.
Remember this. We find our greatest freedom in surrender. Mm-hmm. We find our greatest freedom in surrender to Him. Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and you will find what?
Rest unto your souls. There's the freedom. You will feel most alive when your sails are filled with him. He is our benevolent sovereign. We were created by him.
And we were created for him. Therefore, he alone is my highest good and my deepest satisfaction. Practically speaking, it looks like this. A truly free person. lovingly serves.
You want to be like Jesus? Jesus had a very, very clear. and practical and poignant. Example and illustration for his followers. What did he do?
He washed their feet. The stinky Dirty job. that usually only slaves would do. And he did it. And what did he say?
This is John chapter 13. He says, I've given you an example that you should do as I have done. And then he says this. Blessed are you. Happy are you.
If you do it. That's freedom. The truly free person. lovingly serves. Was there anybody who was more free?
than the Son of God himself. Mm-hmm. In human terms. That's why Paul says in Philippians 2. have this mind which is yours in Christ.
To consider others more important than yourself. The truly free person lovingly serves. Because you know what the opposite of that is? Living for self. And that's the bondage from which you've been rescued.
Christ has set us free. How did he do that? Second Corinthians 5:15, he died. He died. The truly free person lovingly serves.
He died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves. That's our natural bondage. And legalism, listen, legalism is living for yourself. Rich, how can you say that? Because you're focused on your effort so that God will be pleased with you.
That's living for self. He died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sakes died and was raised. The truly free person lovingly serves. as Christ did and left us an example. This is your freedom.
Christ has set us free. Stand firm in that freedom.
Hoist the sails. Bow with me for a moment, please. Here we are in the company of the Father. Through his son. By the Holy Spirit.
God knows and sees your heart and mind. There's nothing hidden from Him. Would you ask him today to rescue you from any remnants of legalism? that are in your life. Would you ask him, please?
to rescue you. From any Crumbs and remnants of legalism. that are in your life. Would you tell the Lord Jesus? I will walk with you.
Will you resolve in your heart? When you get up in the morning. To say, Jesus, today I will walk with you, and I will walk with you through whatever you take me. Would you please be willing to contemplate before the Father? How You will walk with him?
What does that look like? One habit, one habit daily for you to develop. Say, Lord, I want to hoist my sails.
So that you Your wind is driving me instead of me trying to paddle the sailboat. I will continue, I will develop, I will establish this habit, Father.
So that I am hoisting the sails. And every day I am walking with Jesus. Father, we are so grateful. For the freedom that you have accomplished for us. Father, forgive us.
For when we do not live in that freedom. But we resort to our own efforts, to legalism, to thinking we can do it all on our own. And we don't live a life dependent on your grace. Father. Teach us.
Our true status of freedom in Christ. Draw us to yourself as we draw near to you, Father. and abide in Christ. that we will stand firm in the freedom. to which you have called us.
And may we, Father. Be the beautiful church. that you have called us to be, Compelling. to a dark world in bondage. May we indeed, Father, be Feeling most alive.
When we are filled up with you. Thank you. For this freedom, thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for your Holy Spirit in us. Amen.
This message titled Stand Firm in Freedom was first preached on July 13, 2025 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. It's from our Galatians series titled Our Freedom in Christ. Look out for the next message Mondays here at www.delightingrace.com.
