Authentic Christianity Means Freedom in Christ

Really enjoy being with you this morning and singing these wonderful hymns of praise to God and hope and eternity. We appreciate Tyler so much for leading us in these songs today. Well, today we’re going to continue our discussion of authentic Christianity from the book of Galatians. It’s been our theme throughout the year, and we just had a wonderful gospel meeting. And I’m not going to try to improve upon anything that Brother Bonner said or anything, But we’re just going to continue some thoughts from Galatians. And this morning, thinking about authentic Christianity means being free in Christ.

And when we remember the purpose of the book of Galatians, there were some coming down from Judea and teaching that you had to be circumcised according to the law of Moses. And that if you didn’t do that, you couldn’t be saved, is what they were saying, according to Acts 15, verse 1. And so when we see what Paul has to say about that, he says, no, that’s not the case. In fact, Jesus justifies us from all things that the law of Moses couldn’t justify us from, Acts 13, verse 39. And so authentic Christianity means then not living by the law of Moses or by any other human standard of behavior, for that matter, but rather letting Christ define us, letting Christ set the standard for our lives. And why are we talking about authentic Christianity this year? Because there’s so much inauthentic Christianity out there in the world today. So many copycats, so many who are purporting to be Christians who are not Christians.

And we see in the book of Galatians, Paul focusing in on those issues, focusing in on what a Christian is versus what a Christian is not. And so as we’ve studied through the book of Galatians, we’ve noticed several things in that regard.

Well, this morning we’re going to think about how to restore that which is broken by coming back to authentic Christianity. We do that by going to the Word of God, the Bible, which is God’s plan, so to speak, for our being His children. That’s how we get back to being authentic Christians, by going by the Bible. If we do that, we can know that we’re authentically in the family of God.

So this morning, let’s think about being free in Christ. Authentic Christianity means freedom in Christ. And as we mentioned, the churches of Galatia were plagued with these false teachers, and they were bringing in teachings and doctrines that God did not want the church to be observing.

A different gospel, Paul tells us, it was in Galatians chapter 1. A mix, if you will, of Judaism and Christianity. Nope, that wasn’t what God’s plan was. He didn’t want us to mix the two. In fact, He didn’t want us to be under a system of law at all, but rather a system of grace by faith.

And so when we read in the book of Galatians that we are free from the law, that gives Paul the opportunity to talk about what Christian freedom really is. And so that’s what we’re going to discuss this morning as we think about Galatians chapter 5, verses 13 through 18.

Freedom in Christ. “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

So we have some freedom in Christ that Paul wants to discuss in this passage. Liberty, he calls it here. And liberty is designed to enable us to serve one another through love. Liberty as God designed it, freedom as God intended it to be, was not supposed to be used for fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, but it was supposed to be used and it is supposed to be used for us today to love one another as God wants us to do.

So, let’s think about this topic this morning. First of all, we are free in Christ. And what does that mean? “Brethren, you have been called to liberty.” We’ve been called to freedom. And the purpose of freedom is so that we can be independent of certain things.

And one of the things that we are independent from as Christians is systems of law, and particularly the law of Moses. The purpose of the law was very clear. It was intended to condemn. Galatians chapter 3, verse 10 says, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.’” And so the law was intended to condemn. It was intended to curse. But you see, it couldn’t do what Christ did. It couldn’t justify. And that’s what we needed. That’s why we’re not under the law anymore, but we’re under Christ. We have justification under Christ. There was no justification under the law.

Galatians chapter 3 and verse 21 tells us that these systems of law cannot make a person righteous before God. Look at what Paul says: “Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.”

Now, he’s talking about any and all systems of law here that could possibly exist. He says there wasn’t one, there never was one, and there couldn’t even be one. Any system of law would have, if it had made one righteous, then righteousness could have been by the law. But he says, nope, that’s not going to happen.

And so, to be under the law is to be bound. It’s to be in bondage to something that can help us, ultimately, in our relationship with God. Only faith can bring in salvation. Remember this picture from last month’s lesson about the bondage that was associated, the yoke of bondage, you know, that they were going back to because they had left the grace of Christ, and they had returned back to this yoke of bondage.

And that’s what we do when we don’t practice authentic Christianity. When we are not engaged in doing the things that are authentic to Christianity, we go back to this yoke of bondage. We go back to this slavery, as it were, either to the law of Moses or to some other system, or here to the bondage of sin.

Even sin enslaves us. Jesus said in John 8 and verse 34 that “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” And so we have Christianity, authentic Christianity, so that we should not commit sin anymore. Romans 6 and verse 6, “Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

And so we’ve been freed from the law. We’ve been freed from the bondage of sin. We’ve been freed from condemnation. There’s another area in our life where we have Christian freedom. Romans 8 and verses 1 through 2 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

And we have freedom in Christ. And there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. This is freedom from condemnation. That’s a wonderful place to be. You know, if you think about just this past weekend, I think President Trump commuted someone’s sentence, and I don’t remember all the details or anything, but what if you were under condemnation? Just think about that for a minute. You’re under condemnation for some crime or some thing that you’ve done wrong, and then the president comes down and he signs a pardon.

You’re free now. You’re free from condemnation. You can get out of jail and go live your life the way that you want to live it. Well, in Christ Jesus, we are free from condemnation, free from the law of sin and death, free from being shackled to sin, free from the bondage of the law of Moses.

But freedom, as we mentioned earlier, isn’t freedom to just do whatever we want. It’s freedom to live in the way that God wants us to live, and that’s the beautiful thing about it. John 5 and verse 24, “Verily, verily,” Jesus said, “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 into life.” And we have wonderful life now because of the freedom that we have in Christ.

But we need to make this clear, that freedom in Christ does not mean that we are free to fulfill carnal desires. And this Paul makes very clear here in Galatians chapter 5. Look at this language: “do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.”

Don’t use your Christian liberty for that. Don’t use it to bite and devour one another. Don’t use it to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Don’t use your Christian liberty to do those things. That’s not what Christian liberty is designed for.

Now, here’s the problem. Each one of us has carnal desires. James chapter 1, verses 14 and 15 says, “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust” (or that’s the same word for desire) “and enticed. Then, when the lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” The picture here in the Greek language is one of a fishing lure, and it’s the idea of being lust and desire is out there. It’s a lure. It looks attractive to us, and we want to go after it, but then what happens? That fishing lure, you know, when you go bass fishing and you use a lure like this, all the bass can see is that fish that he thinks is a fish there. He doesn’t see those hooks, you know, Because the color of the hooks is not the same as the color of the fish, and why is that? So that the bass won’t see the hooks. And that’s what sin does to us, and lust, and desire, and temptation. It’s like that. We only see what’s attractive to us, we don’t see the hooks, right?

And that’s what Paul is trying to get us to understand. If you use your freedom to go after this, you’re just going to be ensnared again. You’re just going to be caught again. You’re going to be enslaved again. Don’t use your freedom to fulfill carnal desires. Every person is a spiritual being. We’re not carnal beings. We’re spiritual beings.

2 Corinthians 4, verse 16 says, “Our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” We don’t want to be carnally minded. That’s death, according to Romans 8, verse 6. “But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Peter talks about those who “promise them liberty,” but “they themselves are servants of corruption.” That’s the carnal mentality.

And that brings us into bondage. It’s not freedom to pursue things that will take you into bondage. That’s not freedom. Well, we can’t feed, if we’re truly spiritual beings, and we are, we can’t feed our spiritual selves with fleshly things and expect to have life.

It’s like saying, well, you know, what’s the most innutritious thing that you can eat? I would say paper, all right? There’s not any nutrition in paper, right? But what if you said, I’m just gonna eat paper for the rest of my life? Somebody might look at you and say, well, you know, that’s not gonna help you very much, right? You need protein, you need carbohydrates, you know, all the things that the dieticians tell us we need for our body.

Some of you know a lot more about that than I do, so I’m not even going to try. But we need those things. If we were to just eat a diet that doesn’t give us nutrition, then we’d be in a lot of trouble.

Well, we understand that when it comes to our physical bodies, but do we understand it when it comes to our spiritual being? If we just feed our spirits a diet of carnal things, our spirits are never going to get the nutrition that our spirits need to grow.

We need to feed ourselves with the Spirit, not with the flesh. And that’s what Paul is talking about here. Think about what Jesus said in John 6, in verse 63. “It’s the Spirit that” (and this is an old word) “quickeneth,” but it just means makes alive. It’s the Spirit that makes one alive.

“The flesh profits nothing.” And then what does Jesus say? Here’s the food that you need to feast on to keep your spirits alive. “The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.” That’s the spiritual food we’ve got to take in. The words that Jesus Christ gives us.

What happens when we feed on carnal things? We end up like animals biting and devouring one another, Galatians 5, verse 15. And ultimately, if we continue to just feed on carnal things, we’re going to lose entrance into the kingdom of God because the works of the flesh don’t provide that. They can’t feed our spirits. Only the gospel can.

And so, freedom is not to be used to fulfill carnal desires, but rather, freedom is to be used to serve one another with love. And that’s what freedom is all about. Loving one another and serving one another. That’s how we can truly be free in Christ.

Not by pursuing carnal desires, not by making those things the object of our liberty, but rather making the object of our liberty the spiritual well-being of one another. Now, that’s what we need to be focused on more than anything else.

Your spiritual well-being, my spiritual well-being, our spiritual well-being. We got a lot of distractions in this world that takes us away from that. It’s very easy to pursue those distractions and to let those things fill us up, and then all of a sudden our spirit is starved to death.

Well, if we let that happen, we’re going to be in trouble. We need to use our freedom to love one another. And that’s what this is about, Galatians 5 here. Through love, serve one another. Love your neighbor as yourself. Walk in the Spirit. Be led by the Spirit. And when we say, walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, we’re not talking about carnal feelings.

The Spirit leads us by the Word of God. If you think that your carnal feelings are associated with the Spirit of God, you’re wrong, first of all, because a lot of people will say, well, the Spirit led me to do this, or the Spirit led me to do that, and then they’re just talking about their own feelings is what they’re talking about.

The Spirit doesn’t lead us by feelings, folks. The Spirit leads us by His Word. That’s how you know where the Spirit wants you to go, by listening to the Word of God. If your feelings tell you one thing, and the Word of God is telling you something else, your feelings aren’t being led by the Spirit, because the Spirit of God isn’t going to contradict His revealed Word.

Now that’s super important for us to understand. The world does not understand that. Inauthentic Christianity does not understand that. You can go to all kinds of religious bodies today in this world, and you can see, get all the feels, as they say. That’s not Christianity. That’s not Christianity. That’s not being led by the Spirit.

That’s your own feelings. And when you go there to do that, you’re just worshiping yourself. That’s all you’re doing. You’re not worshiping God. We’ve got to come back to authentic Christianity, folks. And that means being led by the Spirit, not by the flesh. God gives us choices. We’ve got a choice to make, every one of us. We’re free to choose. God wants us to choose what is right.

Deuteronomy 30, verse 19, “choose life.” Matthew 7, 13 through 14, Jesus says, “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leads unto life.” Choose that way. You’ve got a choice. What are we going to choose? Our spirit desires to be fed, and it needs to be fed by the fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, 20-26. We know what that is. When we look here and read what this fruit is, that is what is spiritual. That is what is right. That is what is good. And what is it? “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

That’s what we need to feed on, the fruit of the Spirit. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to the flesh shall reap of the flesh, reap corruption. But he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” We don’t want to be carnally minded. We want to be spiritually minded, because that is what life and peace is. Romans 8 and verse 6. The grace of God gives us freedom. Don’t frustrate the grace of God, though. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 21. Don’t frustrate it. Don’t work against it. Don’t use God’s grace to commit sin. Romans chapter 6 and verse 1. Don’t do that.

“Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you’re not under law but under grace,” Romans 6 and verse 14. And so let’s use the grace-given freedom that we have to make good choices. And that means we’re free to love without fear.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love,” 1 John 4, verse 18. So much we give in to our fears instead of loving other people like God wants us to love them. God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of sound mind. Where does that fear come from? That comes from the flesh. That comes from our carnal self.

Our carnal desires. Love is opposite of fear. Galatians 5, verse 13 says, “Brethren, you’ve been called to liberty; only do not use your liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Authentic Christianity means that we’re free in Christ and freedom means that we’re free to love one another like Christ loved us.

Now that’s a high standard, and that’s something we got to work on every single day, is loving one another like Christ loved us. And that is challenging to do. But that’s what authentic Christianity calls us to do. Not to use that freedom to pursue carnal, fleshly desires, but to use our freedom to love one another.

How are we living in this life? How are we using the freedom that God has given us today? I hope that we use it to do good things for one another throughout this week and all of our lives. Maybe you need to make a change this morning from pursuing those carnal matters and toward pursuing spiritual matters.

If you need prayers to help you in that regard, we’d be happy to pray for you today. Or maybe you need to get out of being carnal altogether and get into the love of Christ by becoming a child of God.

This morning you can do that through hearing His Word and believing it, repenting of your sin, confessing Him as Lord, and being baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Death, burial, and resurrection, you can come into the likeness of it here in this watery grave of baptism this morning, and your sins will be washed away, and then you can rise up in a new life, free to pursue the kinds of things that God says make you truly free, the kinds of things that won’t bring you into bondage, The kinds of things that are going to make for edification and peace. The kinds of things that are going to bring you joy and peace and love.

Would you make that decision this morning? You can use that freedom to do that. And you can do it right now while together we stand and while we sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!