Relapse from Liberty

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, June 8. Today we return to the first chapter of Galatians to learn that, in Christ, believers are free to love and serve God. Many of God's people are hung up in bondage about what people think about them, about the expectations they believe that God has over them, and they're living in constant defeat, not recognizing that they're their own personal problem.

And the vast majority of God's people are living there. So that is not where the Lord wants us to live. In this second paragraph of Galatians, chapter 1, verse 2, or beginning in verse 6, is an incident where the Galatians relapsed from the liberty that the Lord had provided for them. And so I want us to read verses beginning in verse 6 through 10. So Paul says, having introduced the whole book, he says, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that troubled you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed, anathema. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men?

For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. So in this passage, he's talking about the relapse from liberty. So the first thing I want us to notice here is this, and that is the realization of this relapse. Here's what Paul realized. When he got word from the churches there in Galatia, he realized something was going on, that these people whom he had won the Christ, who had indoctrinated them in the faith, they were beginning to talk about going back and keeping the law. They were beginning to talk about the necessity of circumcision. And he realized that something was going on, and that something was they were about to be entangled again, once again in the very bondage from which Jesus Christ had delivered them. And so he's writing this to speak to them. And so let's look at two or three things here. First of all, the defection. He says, I marvel that you are so soon removed.

Now when he says removed, what he's talking about here is this. Watch this. He says, I marvel. He said, I'm surprised. In fact, he says, I'm really surprised that you are so quickly having been saved by grace, having known the truth and having not been saved very long, that you are so soon doing what? He says, removing yourself from grace back into law, which is to say, you are turning your back on what?

A life of grace means a life of unmerited, undeserved favor and acceptance from God. You've been adopted into his kingdom. You've been redeemed by his love. You have the inheritance of Jesus Christ.

You have all that God has provided for you, and you didn't do anything to get any of that. So he says, what you're doing is you have received the gift of God. You have received the life of grace, which is the life of freedom and liberty, all of God's work.

We are simply responding by receiving his gift. He says, you've turned your back upon that, and now you're contemplating, and some of you have already begun. He says, you're going back into a life of bondage. He says, what you're doing is he says, you're leaving the life of freedom and liberty and going back in the same old entanglements from which God saved you through the cross.

He's saying to them, do you realize what you're doing? That the one thing that you wished for and dreamed of and never believed could possibly be true, you found in Jesus Christ. And now you have allowed somebody to misinform you, and now you're creeping back to your old way. And he says, what you're doing is you're leaving the life of grace and going back to the life of law.

Now, there are a lot of Christians who do the same thing. You hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and somebody says to you, how will you save? They say, for by grace are you saved God's unmerited love and favor towards you, the power to receive God's goodness and love and mercy. You just received by faith, all that God has given to you on the grounds by which we to receive that salvation.

Then what do we do? Having received it by faith, we do the natural normal thing, then we try to figure out what we can do to deserve it. Now we don't realize that we don't use that terminology, but we start doing things whereby we can deserve to be saved. So he said, then he said, I'm amazed at you. He said, I instructed you, I taught you and you, you receive the message that I gave you.

And now you're going back, circumcision, keeping the law and all the rest. And he says, all of that is in absolute vain. Now notice the word he uses here in verse six. He says, I'm marvelous.

I'm surprised that you are so quickly, so quickly removed. That is you have the word removed here means to become of another mind. Your mind has been changed. He says from him that called you into the grace of Christ onto another gospel. Now listen, when he says he called, look if you will in Romans chapter eight for just a moment in verse 30, he says he called you into the grace of Christ in Romans chapter eight, verse 30.

Listen to what he says. He says, moreover, whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified. Look in second Timothy, look at this verse before we talk about it. Second Timothy chapter one and verse nine, because the word calling here isn't just, Hey, come on.

It isn't that kind of a word. He says in second Timothy chapter one, verse nine, speaking of the Lord who had saved us and called us with a what kind of calling a holy calling, not according to our what works, but according to his own purpose and what grace which was given us in Christ Jesus when before the world began. Now listen, God through Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit has called us into a life of grace. And when I comprehend the meaning of the life of grace, I will not work for God for his acceptance. I will not work for God of the motivation of fear. I will want it and desire to work for God.

Why? Out of the motivation of love driven by love because I love him because of what he's done for me. Not because if I don't, God is going to do something real drastic in my life. God doesn't want us living in fear and under bondage. He wants us to live in perfect freedom. Listen, you and I have been accepted on the basis of what according to second Timothy one nine upon what basis have we been accepted? The grace of God, the pleasing purpose of the Lord. So we don't have to go run in bondage. Now listen, that doesn't mean you shouldn't tithe and you shouldn't attend church. We ought to do all of those things and a lot more things, but motivated by love, not because we're afraid of what God's going to do and if this is going to happen and that's going to happen.

Our motivation ought to be loved. So Paul is saying, you Galatians, he says, I'm absolutely surprised that you have moved so quickly from the unmerited favor and freedom and liberty of Christ into another gospel. Now listen, Paul says, here's why I'm disappointed. Here's why I'm surprised.

I'm surprised first of all, because it's happened so quickly. And secondly, he says, I'm surprised because you have moved from the truth of the gospel into a heretical doctrine. Now here's what he's saying. You have removed yourself. You have deliberately walked away from freedom, absolute freedom in Jesus Christ, liberty in him.

You walked away from that back into the entanglements and bondage. And he says, what you've done, he says, you've gone into a false doctrine because what you've heard is not really another gospel at all. It is error. It is heresy. He says, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now I want you to notice the word here when he says, when he speaks of the gospel, verse seven, which is not another gospel, but there be some that would trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. That word is euangelion, which means the good news.

Now watch this. Let me show you why you can't have but one gospel. He says, verse six, I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that calls you into the grace of Christ onto another good news.

Let me ask you something. How many of you know any other good news besides Jesus Christ? So there can be, but one gospel verse seven, which is not another good news, but there be some that would trouble you and would pervert the good news of Christ. He says, what they're doing is distorting, twisting it, turning it just a little bit in order that you may be subverted. So Paul is saying to these people, he says, what's happened here is that instead of having one gospel, now you're talking about two. There is only one gospel.

Everything else is heterodoxy. That is, it is false doctrine. And he says, you're to stay away from it lest you get entangled once again. All right, now the reason for their relapse, why were these people going back into bondage?

Let me ask you this. How many of you could anybody ever convince you that you were unsaved? Here were some people who received the truth, but the scripture says that something had happened. Now there are two reasons they were willing, listen, two reasons they're willing to give up freedom and go back to the law, trying to keep the law and trying to do all these things. Number one was the appeal of the troublemakers from Jerusalem. And you'll recall we mentioned that the Judaizers who believe that Paul, what they were saying of Paul, they said, Paul, you're preaching an easy gospel. You're simply saying all they have to do is to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and his death on the cross and they can be saved. We believe that is the atoning death of Jesus Christ plus circumcision plus keeping the law.

And that's the only way a person can be saved. So he says the problem here is the appeal of the Judaizers who have come to pervert. Now listen, the word pervert there means to reverse it. That, and that's exactly what they did.

Watch this. The word here means to reverse it. Paul's preaching had been by grace he is saved not by man's works. He says they have perverted, reversed the truth. Now the word would here means they desired to do it. They willingly did it. That is they came in purposely. Look if you will in Galatians chapter two and verse four. He says, and that because of faults brethren, unawares brought in, that is they slipped into the church and nobody knew who came in privately for the purpose of spying out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage. Paul says, I'll tell you why they came. They came for the sole purpose of putting you back into bondage. So I want to say to you, and you need to say to your children, you need to be very, very careful what you hear.

And if it isn't balanced with a word, then you need to throw it out. Let me tell you a second problem they had here. Listen, the appeal of the Judaizers, first of all, people slipping into the church and distorting the truth.

The second appeal here is the appeal of the flesh. Now watch this. You can be saved for 40 years and live in bondage all 40 years if you live under the bondage of believing that your acceptance before God is on a momentary minute by minute or decision by decision basis. Accept it now, but I blew it then. If my acceptance were based on conduct, do you know what that means? That means that my acceptance may change every time I have a thought or every action I commit.

You know what our problem is? Do you know what has us in bondage? What has God's people in bondage is our inability or unwillingness to accept what God proclaims is absolute truth. What is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is before you were ever born in Christ Jesus, you were accepted in spite of everything he knew about you. You and I have been accepted in the beloved. Listen, he didn't accept you on the basis of what you do.

He accepted you on the basis of a relationship with Jesus Christ, the living Lord. So you see, you can't ever change that. And so Paul says, these folks are perverting the truth.

And so you and I may feel more comfortable wanting to do something, but we can't. Look, if you were in Romans chapter 11, the two verses here, I want you to check on Romans chapter 11. He says now, and if by grace, then is it no more of works? Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.

You see, he says you can't have both. If you're saved by grace, can't be work. You're saved by works, can't be grace. Those two things like oil and water, they're absolutely and totally incompatible.

All right. If you will look into Galatians chapter two in the last verse of this chapter, look if you will. He says in verse 21, when you and I try to mix grace and works, I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

That means Dorian in the Greek, which means to no purpose at all. That is, if we're saved by works, then Christ's death has no purpose behind it. So he says, first of all, the reason for their relapse was the appeal of the Judaizers and secondly, the appeal of the flesh.

The third thing I want you to notice here is his response to their relapse. How did Paul respond? Look, if you will, in Galatians chapter six, verse 17, let me show you something. In the 17th verse, next to the very last verse of the book, Paul says from henceforth, let no man trouble me. He says, you know, enough of this stuff for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

The Greek word is stigmata, which means the brands. He says, my life is proof within itself that I'm not an easy gospel preacher and that I'm not letting anybody off the hook and I'm not making it easy for him because he says, if I were trying to make it easy and please men, I wouldn't be a bond slave to Jesus Christ. And let me tell you what a bond slave was. A bond slave was the lowest abject type of slavery. It is one who was born into slavery. It is one who is bound unto death to his master.

A person who had, listen, who had the branding marks of a red hot branding iron, the marks of his master's name and his sign in his body somewhere. So when he says, if I were trying to persuade men, I couldn't be the servant of Jesus Christ. He says, because I voluntarily have been born into slavery to Jesus Christ. He says, I'm bound to that slavery to death in my body. I bear the stigmata, the marks of my relationship to him. He says, my will has been swallowed up in the will of my master. And he says, I remove my desires, nor that I may please the desires of my master.

That's what a bond slave does. And Paul says, I am giving you the gospel truth. And he is defending his ministry here by saying, I bear in my body, the marks of my obedience and my persecution and my devotion to Jesus Christ. And if I were trying to give you the easy way out, I would not have been suffering for our Lord. Go back, if you will, to chapter five, because here's the whole theme. Verse one. Once you've discovered the truth, don't relapse. Don't go back. He says, stand fast.

That is, entrench yourself. Dig in right where you are in the liberty where with Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Friend, you have been accepted in the beloved before you were ever born. You and I are living in grace. We sing on Christ the solid rock I stand.

All of the ground is sinking sand. All of our hope is built in Jesus Christ. Nobody can attach anything to that. Nobody can put us in bondage, any kind of entanglements in a yoke, because God has liberated us. And listen, Jesus Christ was absolutely free. And he says, you and I have been placed into him who is free.

And he who is free has been placed in us. We have been liberated from the yokes of bondage. Listen, a yoke of bondage, false guilt, a yoke of bondage trying to please men, a yoke of bondage that I'm having to accept, make myself feel accepted before God, a yoke of bondage that I've got to carry out the rules in order to get God's favor. Those things, he says, we're to throw them off, throw them off in order that we might receive and enjoy the liberty we have in Christ Jesus.

He says, don't go back from liberty and freedom back to bondage. And my friend, some of you walk out of here tonight and you'll go home and lie on the bed and think in your own heart, am I in bondage? It's just like the Spirit of God would say, you are. You dress to please others. You act a certain way to please others. You have an enviarity feeling. Your life is based on what other people think.

And that is one of the worst types of bondage. And I want to tell you before we get through Galatians, God's going to show you how to just shuck all of that and learn to be free for the first time in your life. If you want to be free, the only freedom that you'll find that last is freedom in a warm, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. But with the knowledge, listen with the knowledge of all that relationship has provided for you. Thank you for listening to Relapse from Liberty. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.