Freedom in Christ

1. Read: Galatians 5:13-16

2. About the Text:

1) The churches of Galatia were plagued with false teachers.

2) They were teaching that gentiles had to keep the Law of Moses to be saved (Acts 15:5).

3) This was not what God desired, and not what Jesus died for.

4) They were no longer under a system of law, but under a system of faith (Gal.3:2).

5) In turning back to a system of law, they were falling from the grace of Christ (Gal.5:4).

6) To be under Christ is to be free from a system of law.

7) To be under Christ is to have real freedom.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Free from systems of law.

1) The purpose of law is to condemn violators of the law (Gal.3:19).

2) When a person is found guilty of violating the law, he transgresses the whole law and is under the curse of the law (Gal.3:10).

3) Systems of law cannot make a person righteous (Galatians 3:21).

4) Only a system of faith can bring salvation (Galatians 3:22).

5) Christ frees us from the law so that we can be saved by faith (Galatians 3:24).

2. Free from bondage to sin.

1) John 8:31-36

2) Romans 6:16-18

3. Free from condemnation.

1) Romans 8:1-4

2) John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

1. Every person has carnal desires.

1) Our bodies are temporal.

2) Our carnal desires come from our body.

3) “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14-15).

2. But, every person is a spiritual being.

1) Our spiritual selves are eternal. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor.4:16).

2) The spirit cannot be served by pursuing carnal desires.

3) “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom.8:6).

4) The sinful man pursues these desires unregulated and calls this freedom.

5) It is actually bondage to the carnal self.

6) “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Peter 2:19).

3. To seek to satisfy the spirit with carnal desires brings death.

1) You can’t feed the spiritual with the physical.

2) “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

3) Carnal people will consume one another with selfish desires.

4) “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (Gal.5:15).

5) The lusts of the flesh will not provide entrance into the kingdom of God (Gal.5:19-21).

1. We all have choices to make in life.

1) “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deut.30:19).

2) “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mat.7:13-14).

3) We have a choice every day between the carnal and the spiritual.

4) Our freedom was given to us to choose the spiritual.

2. The spiritual self can only be satisfied with pursuing spiritual choices.

1) This is what the fruit of the spirit is – the fulfillment of spiritual desires (Gal.5:22-26).

2) “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal.6:7-8).

3) We have life and peace when we pursue spiritual things.

4) “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom.8:6).

3. Grace gives us freedom.

1) Without grace, we would still be condemned under the law and beholden to the rudiment elements of the world. “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances” (Col.2:20).

2) Without grace we will still be under the law. “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Gal.2:21).

3) We would still be in sin. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

4) With grace we are free from debt/obligation and therefore free to choose. “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom.4:4-5).

4. We can now use this freedom to love without fear.

1) “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).

2) “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (1 Tim.1:17).

3) “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Gal.5:13).

1. Freedom!

1) We are free in Christ.

2) Do not use freedom to pursue carnal desires.

3) Use your freedom serve one another in love.

2. Invitation