Christ Freed Us: Stand Firm
Galatians 5:1-4 · Roger Henderson · Oct 6, 2019
Galatians (2018-20), No. 42
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926191630463

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Well, good morning. Well, today we're going to kind of backtrack just a slight bit. I mean, Mike finished up chapter four about the about the two women last week, and then he started into verse one. And then we talked a little bit on Tuesday. We meet every Tuesday, Mike and I. And I have thought about this, too, that boy, verse one is just really jam packed with really super information. So I'm going to kind of backtrack a little bit and cover verse one.

Then go into verse 2 and then in the following weeks We're going to go through 3 & 4 and then on to 5 & 6 little chunks small little chunks each week So let's look at so I've titled this Christ freed us stand fast or stand firm So I really like Macaulay for his outlines just outstanding if I find actually if I if I look at Macaulay's outline I And then I start reading the verses. It really helps me to kind of get my feet in the ground, how it fits in. So I use them for Sunday school and also for the main service here.

So he's entitled, Macaulay's entitled this section of 5, 1 through 12, Freedom of the Christian Life. So we're going to see that, well, sort of in spades, if you will. We're going to see the wonderful freedom that we have in our Savior. As contrasted with, Paul's going to contrast, just like we have the contrast of the two women, the one who was in bondage, the woman in bondage, and we have the free woman, we're going to see that contrast that Paul is going to bring forward here.

So the first section is the transition. Verse 1 is a transition. Some have said it's one of the most significant transitions, certainly in the book of Galatians, but it really is one of those kind of eye-opening transitions between, you know, most of Paul's epistles, he'll lay out doctrine, he'll lay out positional truth in the first part of the epistle, then he'll move to the practical section. Well, this is the verse.

5.1 is where he switches from to the practical aspect of our Christian lives. So for you guys who have been waiting for the to-do list, here we go. But in Paul's typical fashion, it's going to be Paul's to-do list, which is a wonderful grace to-do list. And it's only possible as we walk in fellowship with the Lord.

So 5.1 actually has two parts. It has the declaration of being free. Christ freed us in the A part of the verse. And then an appeal to stand in that freedom, to stand firm, don't be moved by all these Judaizers which are trying to convince you that you need to have, you know, two things the Judaizers were about, right? Circumcision and about obeying the Mosaic Law.

Those are the two biggies. Can't you imagine if we had some brothers or sisters come into our midst and said, you guys at Holly Hills, you got it, boy, you got wonderful doctrine. But you know, there's a couple of things you're missing. You're missing. And we know about this. We have Jewish roots, brothers and sisters. That's basically what it was. These guys were coming and saying, we love you, brothers, but you're missing two vital things.

Got to be circumcised all the men have to be circumcised and you have to obey the Mosaic law get those two together and you'll be You'll be in great wonderful shape. Well, Paul's going to say if you do that, you're going to be in terrible shape You're gonna be an awful shape. You're going to deny Christ's work on your behalf. So it's this it's significant it may seem like we march through this week after week, but this this issue about about the Mosaic Law and about circumcision, Paul just, he continues to show it to be of no value, and certainly we're going to see it today, where it's of no value to living the Christian life.

Okay, so the part, then we start in what he calls the tragedy of legalism, two through four. We're only going to cover the A part here in verse two today. We'll pick up with the last part in the week coming. So we're about sidelining Christ, putting Christ offline, making Christ of no value.

You think, how in the world can I make Christ of no value? Well, actually, it's pretty easy. And do we do that today? Do we minimize Christ? It's possible we could do that. And then Mike's going to follow up in a couple weeks on verses 5 and 6. Okay, so let's... So I want to kind of give an overview of verse 1, because it's so significant. It's this wonderful transition verse.

So the A part reads, it was for freedom, or you could say liberty. It actually helps to read that as liberty sometimes, because you've got two forms of the idea of free or freedom. You've got a verb form, Christ sets us free, and you've got a noun form, which is freedom. So you read, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. At least my mind gets a little bit turned around. If I put liberty in there, it sounds a little bit better. It was for liberty that Christ set me free.

It's the same concept, and the word can be translated either way. So the B part, therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject to a yoke of slavery. We're going to see this yoke of slavery. It's pretty important that we understand what the Judaizers are trying to do.

Okay, so a couple of statements. This verse is a summary of what has gone before, like I mentioned. Some have said, well, it's just chapters 3 and 4. It could be more. But it's all about what Paul's been ministering to the Galatian believers about their freedom in Christ. So it could be the entire rest of the previous part of the book, really, I think.

And it introduces us to what is to follow. We're to walk in the fact of our freedom. The verse states that as a believer, we are free. And the purpose of our freedom is to share in Christ's liberty. The second part of that verse states that it was because of freedom that we stand firm so that we won't return, I missed that part, to our former life of slavery. So I was kind of thinking, you know, it's important to realize that before we became a believer, we were actually slaves, right?

Scripture tells that very clearly. Here's some verses that kind of point that out. For you have not received the spirit of slavery, leading to fear again. If you think about, and actually this could be much more, I looked at this and I thought, well I could have added so many more verses here, but this is just taking that verse for freedom and kind of tracing down that path.

We no longer have a, you know, when we're in our Adamic birth, we were under the constant fear of You know, it talks about we are slaves of sin. We had no choice but to sin, whether we thought of it or not. So we were slaves to sin, we were slaves to the fear of death, which is going to be the next verse.

Hebrews 2.15, it might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. But before we were believers, we were in slavery. So Paul is saying, don't return to slavery again.

That's what he's kind of pointing out. So the part 5.1, the part A of that verse, focuses, we can look at these parts as, first of all, that's our, like I said, that's the positional truth, the unchanging truth about every believer in Christ, our liberty. And part B is about our Christian walk, our moment-by-moment walk in our Savior.

Okay, so now let's just look at that phrase, I liked, I like sometimes to kind of arrange things in subject, verb, direct object, and then modifier. So the interlinear is good for that because it translates every word. So I kind of flip the interlinear around, which I'm not sure you're supposed to do that, but I did it. I put the subject first.

So you have to, you know, in that the subject is actually Christ, which is Christ freed us. Wonderful, wonderful message. Wonderful positional truth. Christ freed us. Christ is a subject. Freed as this word could be translated to make free issues of deliverance from sin, the law, or bondage, or corruption. And it's aristant, a past point fact, it's reality. And Christ performed the action.

And it's true of every believer. There's no believer in the word Jesus Christ that he has not set free. He didn't just set free the elders and the deacons and whoever else was around. Every single believer. from what we would consider the weakest believer to the strongest believer has been set free.

And he wants us to believe that and act upon that. And in this context, Christ set us free. It's the Galatians in the immediate context, certainly Paul. And you could tack your name on the end. He has set you free. So what does that mean? And it's interesting. Christ set us free for freedom. Wow, that's kind of confusing. So hopefully we can explain that. What has Christ freed us from? Okay, so to answer that question, I thought the best thing to do is just try to go through some verses. Okay, first verse, John 8, 36, and this is wonderful. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

You know, God's freedom is not like man's freedom. God's freedom is not doing what you want. You know, we think of freedom, well, I have freedom, I can do whatever I want. That's not God's freedom. God's freedom is different than that. And that's kind of trips people up sometimes. Why want to be free? Well, first of all, if you're unbeliever, you're not free. You're a slave of sin. So people are all kind of tangled up, mixed up about this. So God's freedom is through his son. Secondly, a couple of beautiful verses here, Romans 6, 18, having been freed from sin or the sin nature, you became slaves of righteousness. Think about this.

You trade your slavery to sin to slavery to Jesus Christ. A wonderful, the most wonderful deal you'll ever get. Better than any deal on eBay or anything else. That's the most wonderful freedom from sin to freedom from slaves of Jesus Christ. Because he is the absolutely righteous master who loves you and cares for you. So that's a wonderful deal.

Then in Romans 6, 22, But having been freed from sin, here it is, and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification, the outcome eternal life. Obviously, being freed from sin and being enslaved to Jesus Christ, we have eternal life. As he lives, we will live also.

Then lastly, Romans 8.2, for the law, of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

You could translate that, I think, principle, probably when you guys went through that, I think that could be translated principle, I believe. The principle of sin and of death, we no longer need to fear death. Like as Bob says, we might fear the part leading up to it, and that might be kind of tough. And it is tough many times, you know, and I pray for our brothers and sisters with, you know, and it's very tough. But the end result of that is that there'll be no more sorrow. That will all be gone. All that suffering that you may incur up to death will all be taken away.

So it's a marvelous thing. No more fear of death. OK. So now we're going to answer the second part. Christ freed us for the freedom. Sounds kind of sing-songy. For the freedom. And for the freedom modifies the verb freed. Freedom is translated either liberty or freedom, it's a noun. And it has a definite article, for the freedom.

So the question, you see a definite article, what's the special kind of, he's talking about freedom, what special kind of freedom is he talking about? And to answer that question, I looked at Wiest, and Wiest kind of, to try to bring that out, he used the idea of the aforementioned freedom, He kind of looked at that, and I think I agree with him, that it's the freedom that's been mentioned before. You know, we spent weeks on the two women, right? Maybe you got tired of the two women. I want two different women. I'm tired of those two women. I'm sorry about that. That's a little bit off. But anyway.

It is the freedom or liberty that has been mentioned before. So, we're going to go back to the two women again, just for a little bit. Because I think that's, if you look in the context, this verse follows that, and Mike did a great job, he kind of tied it in with the end of the two women discussion. So, if he says that Christ freed us for the freedom, and if you think of that being what was mentioned before, well, what was mentioned before? It was a long discussion about the two women. So here are the verses that we looked at in past weeks.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. You know, if you look at that word free woman, it's actually the idea of being free-born. Because actually that word, the same Greek word, can be a free man. It can be free in a couple of other situations. So it's actually the idea of being free-born, not encumbered.

So in this context, You know, Paul makes the case that Sarah, the free woman, because she was Abraham's wife, she is a woman of promise. God made a promise to Abraham and to her about having a son. That kind of comes forth in the next usage, it says, but the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. So we keep seeing that what he's referring back to is the fact that he built this case here, Through God's promise, Sarah was a free woman, and here's all the things that happened as a result of the free woman.

And then actually it's used of the Jerusalem above being free. Then it talks about casting out the bondwoman. In what Paul relates, the bondwoman and the free woman can't coexist. The free woman's the heir, the bondwoman is not. And then lastly, it ends with, So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free woman. So Paul's point here is that we are free. We're free, and I've showed you that from this allegory of these historical facts.

And I want you to live in the light that you're free, that Christ has set you free. Stand in that freedom. Okay, so that's the A part of the verse. We've gone through Christ has set us free. and for freedom or for liberty. So now he's going to talk about, I want you to do something based upon that. So he starts off, therefore, some envision this verse as like a road leading uphill. You got therefore at the top, Christ set us free. Then you have coming down the other side is you're going down the mountain.

Now you're to do something. Keep standing firm and do not be subject to a yoke of slavery. Therefore, based on our liberty in Christ, so this is basically in the present tense, keep standing firm. It's the idea to be constant, unmovable. Don't be influenced in the context of that situation in Galatia there. Don't be influenced by those Judaizers. Stand firm, be immovable.

So actually, I had several verses here that kind of use this idea of standing firm. So what I found is, before I say that, the first thing you need to think about is, can I stand firm in myself? Can I grip my teeth? Can I say, boy, Christ has set me free. I'm going to write that in the refrigerator, on my steering wheel, on my door. Christ set me free. I'm going to remember that. Christ set me free.

Is that the way we're to do it? Good Holly Hill. Parishioners would say no Okay, so actually the several verses here that talk about Be on the alert stand firm in the faith, you know The operation of the Christian life is by faith who began by faith were to live by faith were to walk by faith So it says stand firm same word act like men be strong. So ours is not Ours is standing firm in the faith in our Savior and what he has done what he's declared.

I And this verse here, this talks about standing firm in one's spirit. This is more speaking of unity. I kind of realized that after you kind of review your stuff. Oh, I made that verse. This is standing firm, which is good. But then this verse is better. The next two verses are really good.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, this is Philippians 4.1, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved, For now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord.

So the point here is that we stand firm in our Savior. We stand firm in the truth that he's revealed to us. We stand upon that truth. And it's the situation we're going to see is about what do I know about who I am in Christ? I act upon that. So kind of expanding upon that idea, let's look at this. Our standing firm relates our condition being in line with our position.

Where have we heard that before? Hopefully you've heard it a few times before. So this is like with so many truths in scripture. God declares a truth about us. Christ has set us free. Do we believe that truth? Do we act upon that? Do we rely upon that? So this standing affirm can only happen as we rely upon the fact that we are free in Christ.

And I borrowed this, I didn't mark it, I borrowed this little section from Hal. Remember our position in Christ is that we share in Christ's liberty. Who we are in Christ. Our position in His liberty is immutable. It can't change. It's impossible. Our position in His liberty is our eternal possession.

These truths that we have, Christ set us free, that is ours. We own that. You know, if somebody comes along and says, well, you aren't free. There's something else going on, and you say, no, I am free. Scripture declares that. And you stand upon it, just like you're a child of God or any other wonderful truth. We own that truth, because God has declared that we do.

But we may not stand firm in our condition or our Christian walk. Paul's now going to talk about how we might get entangled by this yoke of slavery. I was looking around for some pictures, and I actually found one. Hopefully it'll be helpful here. We'll get to that in a second. Okay.

So the next part is, do not be subject again. So we had, therefore stand firm, and do not be subject again. Be subject is the idea to get entangled. Don't be entangled again. Don't go back to where you came from. Don't go back to being slaves of something. Slaves to sin. Slaves to fear of death. And I said, notice this is not the first time that Paul, he's reminded that they've been there before, to a yoke of slavery. So what is, what is the yoke of slavery? So let's look at the definition first.

A yoke is this, serves a couple, two things together, metaphorically of the law and of salvation. They wanted to convince the Galatians that they knew the law as a means of salvation, of true salvation, in their idea, but they were false. I found two comments from Constable talking about the yoke and the Jewish mindset. The yoke was used in the current Jewish parlance in an honorable sense for the obligation to keep the law of Moses. So the yoke was a good thing. And the Judaizers may well have urged the Galatians to take on the yoke of the law, take the yoke of the law upon themselves.

So with that in mind, I said, I'm not much of an artist, but I found this picture online about a yoke for animals. And I added a little bit to it. So see what you think here. So here we have. Actually, Bonnie helped me with this. I had several iterations of this. The only iterations is what you put in those two. So I thought, this is good, right?

What the Judaizers were saying is, you need the law. It's great that you believe in Christ, but you need to be yoked to the law. They're asking the Galatians to be yoked to the law. Is that what the Christian life is about? Is the Christian life about being yoked? Even though the Lord said about being yoked, as a believer, don't we have so much closer relationship? We have Christ in us, right?

Earlier in Galatians, the wonderful message of Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. This yoke picture is not for us, and it's not for the Galatians. They don't need to be yoked to anything. They're in Christ. So the yoke has its place. But it's not for the belief in the Lord Jesus.

And that's what the Jews kind of thought. And actually, a couple of comments. So Paul calls this slavery. And wouldn't you think that's slavery? If you're yoked to the law, that looks like slavery to me. You're not going anywhere. The law is your constant companion in the physical sense.

One cattle bee over here couldn't go where cattle A didn't go. They couldn't. They can't. They've got to go together. And in the context? You can't be saved by the law or living the Christian life by the law. Neither one works. So hopefully that was helpful. All right.

So now we're going to start in the section where he's going to get even more detail here. He's going to say, I want to give you some examples about circumcision and how Destructive circumcision can be circumcision is not for the believer Because as you guys are saying it was for the but I want you know they were every male should be circumcised and you know to be a you know and It's going to have a negative impact and he assumes He assumes that you will not stand and you may you may give in you may say okay, brother I was kind of thinking about this. Have you ever heard the expression that says well, you know, I I'll cover my bases. You know, I hear what you Christians say.

I'll accept that. But then I'll accept what, maybe what the Jewish people, I'll accept what Judaism says. I'll accept all of them. So I'll cover all my bases. I'll just accept them all. Then if one of those pops as being right, I'm good to go, right?

Well, that's not the way it works. It doesn't work that way. And Paul's going to point that out. Once you accept circumcision as being significant in your Christian life, You know, something awful happens to you, and that's what he wants to point out. So 2 through 4 is going to point out the things that can happen to a believer, the Galatian believers and us, if we...

Now, we obviously are not going to accept circumcision, at least I'm not going to accept circumcision. I'm not sure about you guys out there, but I'm not going there. First of all, I already have been circumcised. So anyway, okay. Okay, get me a personal here, okay Okay, okay, let's start over again here.

All right, okay Okay, first two so here's his argument Behold I Paul say to you that if you receive circumcision Christ will be of no benefit to you So what in the world does that say? So do you you lose your salvation? Oh That sounds pretty scary. Is that possible? Can I lose my salvation by being circumcised? Well, you probably know that's not true. Okay, so what does it mean?

Let's see if we can figure it out here. So first of all, Paul kind of introduces himself. And actually, I like Darby's translation here. Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you are circumcised and Christ shall be, shall profit you nothing. That was good. So I'm going to use that from now on here. Behold, I, Paul, Amplify. Notice this, Paul. He's like saying, listen to me.

It's like if you're writing, you know, how do you do like a text message if you really want to, you know, you put little smiley faces and a little mojo. I don't know what I'm talking about, to tell you the truth. I know I text so very little. Anyway, you put little highlights.

You say, notice, that's me. I'm talking. This is Paul. This is not Joe Blow. This is Paul. This is important. Listen to me. He says that other places in Corinthians, he says, now I, Paul, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. So he's saying, this is important, listen to me, don't miss this. Say to you Gentiles, say to you Galatians. So Paul's saying in an emphatic manner, behold I, Paul, say to you, that if you are circumcised, if you are circumcised.

So what's interesting here is that It's in the present tense. And it's in the tense that says, maybe you will and maybe you won't. Maybe you'll succumb to this and maybe you won't. And it's in the case where it's probable that you will, but maybe you won't. So he's saying it's in the present tense.

So he's going to talk about, so obviously circumcision is a one-time event. So Paul is implying by the present tense that they were counting upon the fact of circumcision for fellowship with the Lord. So they were saying, Paul's saying, you're counting upon that circumcision that you're pleasing God, you please God to be circumcised, and you continue to God to be circumcised. He says that's just not, and actually we kind of capture that in the fact that if you go on being circumcised, obviously you can't be, you know, one time is it, But you're counting upon, you're relying upon it. And you get that from the present tense. So the parallel to that, I was trying to think, well, what's a good parallel? Because you know, circumcision is not on the table now. So what's a good parallel? And the one that occurred to me, that kind of jumped out at me, is baptism.

Hopefully I won't step on too many toes here. There are groups of believers. I assume they're believers, the best I can tell. You know, they say that if you're not baptized, you're not saved. They're totally convinced of that. I think scripture teaches differently, but they're totally convinced upon that. And they count upon that baptism as a sign of God's acceptance, that God is pleased with them.

But scripture teaches that, you know, true, we had a baptism here earlier, true water baptism is an indication of something that's already happened, something that's already occurred, right? We have brother Mike Maloof. He gave testimony that he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he was baptized. And we see throughout scripture, it's always believe and then be baptized. Believe and then be... So it follows. It's important, but it follows. It follows a belief. So that's what kind of occurred.

If you latch on to baptism, is that, I'm going to latch on to that and that's what gets me into the kingdom of heaven, baptism? Well no, your belief gets you into the kingdom of heaven. Baptism is a symbol that you made that decision. So that was the closest parallel I could kind of come across that people might get involved in.

Okay. So here's the last part. Christ shall profit you nothing. So what does that mean? Okay, so the word profit is to increase. And nothing is not even one thing, not even one iota. So I think it could be rendered, will not increase in the things of Christ. And that made me think of this verse.

Second Peter 3 18 the a part it says But growing grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ So it seems to me that what's going on here if you buy in to this for the delay if you buy in the circumcision you buy into baptism as being your your ticket into the kingdom of heaven or your that you're pleasing God because that you have been baptized and then your spiritual growth is going to be impacted. You're not going to be able to grow in grace and the knowledge of Him because you're not going to increase. The idea that profits you nothing or increase in that, you won't increase in the things of the Lord. You'll miss out. Your growth will stop. People, I've seen different charts, and I don't know, there's charts about spiritual growth. It's always this and it flattens. It does all kinds of things. There's all kinds of charts you can make up.

But this just simply says that it comes to a halt. If you start counting upon circumcision or baptism as a means of your salvation, then your spiritual growth comes to a halt. And that's just a tragic thing. Okay, I had one closing chart here. I couldn't, I can't, I apologize for using HALS material a lot, but I just, it's so, so wonderful. I get, you know, I get excited about it. And this just kind of wraps it up really nicely.

If we embrace a law system, I'll define that in a little bit, Living the Christian life then our spiritual growth is zero Not a pretty practical not a good thing Christ will profit or or increase our spiritual growth nothing not one bit That's why the exhortation in Galatians 5 1 stand fast by faith Remember it stand fast by faith in Christ's Liberty then we can grow spiritually God isn't asking us to do any kind of I Gymnastics for him. He's asking somebody to exercise faith in what he has done. He set us free if not standing firm we get entangled with a yoke of slavery and There is no spiritual growth. And so the definition and this is kind of me. I kind of added this little definition the Christian law system is that you you try to you tackle you get something that's really good prayer is wonderful and But if you make prayer, if you elevate prayer, that's what makes me more pleasing to God than anything else. More prayer, more giving, more witnessing, more surrendering, or any other action you come up with, other than simple faith and trust in our Savior and what He's told us, that's going to impact where you're at.

God simply wants us to exercise faith in who He is and what He's done. Okay. Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for this message. Father, it's kind of a sobering message that our spiritual growth can kind of come to a halt, but we pray that you would show it to us and that we see that our focus is to be totally upon you and what you accomplished on Calvary. In Christ's name, Amen.