Freedom and Liberty are concepts we as Americans hold dear.  In recent days the increase of restrictions on where and when we can move about in the country has given us a taste of what the rest of the world faces – daily in some nations – and has made me appreciate the freedoms my country provides.  

This nation was founded as a nation under God and I still believe that a majority of its’ people serve that God regardless of what some people would try to say.  

Today, I want to talk about spiritual freedoms. There is a freedom found in Christ that breaks every yoke of bondage.  This is spiritual liberty.  The everlasting liberty that comes when our hearts are turned to God. 

36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

John 8:36 New King James Version (NKJV)

If you have believed in your heart and confessed with your mouth Jesus is Lord, then you are free indeed (Romans 10:9-10).  

So then let’s look today at our text – Galatians 5:1-6.

Our Text

5 Stand[a] 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 [b]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.

Galatians 5:1-6 New King James Version (NKJV)

Stand fast in Liberty…

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

Galatians 5:1

It is very easy to become entangled with the yoke of bondage.  To once again let it slip around our necks as Christians.  But Paul is saying watch out because it IS easy to do that.  

Then how do I do that? How do I become entangled with that bondage in the first place?  If the Son makes you free am I not then always free?

YES, but having freedom available and walking IN that freedom are two totally different things.

Liberty not Earned by Works

“Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.  And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is [b]a debtor to keep the whole law.”

Galatians 5:2-3

These verses are not talking about actual circumcision, but about the heart behind what a man does.  The problem is what this action represents.  It represents following the Law.  As evidenced by what he says at the end that you are a debtor “ to keep the whole law.” 

You are trying to win or earn your standing with God and you never will.  

Justified by Faith Alone

“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

Galatians 5:4

It says that when you try to go to the law instead of grace in Christ you turn to yourself estranging yourself from the salvation you have in Christ.

You’ll always get an Ishmael instead of an Isaac when you turn to what you can do instead of what God has done.  

He says you become estranged from Christ because in effect you are trying to change the family you were born into.  When you became a Christian, you were born into the family of God by grace you were saved and not of works so that no man can boast about it (Eph. 2:8).

When you then turn to what you know how to do, you willingly put on the yoke of bondage Christ freed you from and saying I want to be married to the law instead of Christ.

Verse 5 & 6  

“For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”

Galatians 5: 5-6

Again he reiterates that it is only by faith that we are saved.  He saying that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters (Jews or some other nationality)  – it doesn’t matter.  The only thing that matters is that we have “faith working through love”.  

Walking by faith through love will always cause us to stand fast in liberty.

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