All right, take your Bibles,
turn back with me to Galatians chapter five. Entitled this message, Steadfast
Liberty. Steadfast Liberty. The apostle here says, stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free." Always when you see the word therefore you
want to know what it's there for. And the Apostle has now
come to a crescendo in his argument, in his message. You see previously
from verses 21 down through the end of the chapter 4, the Apostle
Using the scriptures, the very word of Moses, he puts the law
in its context. He tells us that there are two
covenants before this, a covenant of grace and a covenant of mercy
and a covenant of law. Two covenants. A covenant of
promise and a covenant at Sinai. He told us the purpose of those
covenants. The purpose of the covenant of
promise was salvation by grace through Jesus Christ, through
the faith of Christ, applied by faith in Christ, and the covenant
of law was simply this, to expose sin. That was the purpose. And
now he takes us back to the word of God, to Moses. He said, do
you that desire to be under the law of Moses, do you not hear
what Moses wrote in the law? The law is just not confined
to Exodus. The law is the whole book, the
Pentateuch. The first five books of the Bible
were written by Moses. And so he takes them to Moses
in order to see these two covenants. And he tells them in verse 22,
for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman,
the other by a free woman. But he that was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he that was born of the free
woman by promise. Which things are what? An allegory. An allegory. And he begins to
show us that they are pictures. These two women and their sons
are pictures of the two covenants he had been talking about. Hagar was a slave and she is
a picture of the law. While Sarah, the free woman,
is a picture of the church, of the covenant of grace. Covenant
of grace. And their sons are pictures.
Ishmael, being born of the bondwoman, is a picture of all those who
are under the law. All those who are in bondage
under the law. And we know this, that Ishmael
was heir of nothing. Conversely, Isaac is a picture
of all of us who are under the covenant of grace. He was born
of promise. And this covenant of promise,
as God promised Abraham that he would have a son from the
womb of his wife Sarah, even so God has promised to bring
many sons to glory. He has promised Salvation to
His elect people. And behold the greatness of God's
love toward the elect. In this covenant of promise,
this is you who are born of the free woman. You who are under
the covenant of promise. The covenant of promise is a
wonderful thing to hear. That God in love decreed that
you should be holy. He decreed it! that you should
be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by one means by the work of another
by Jesus Christ that he should be our high priest our mediator
our surety And so then as God made this covenant, swore to
this covenant of your salvation, he made Christ responsible for
it. Isn't this glorious? The responsibility,
the fulfillment of this covenant totally rested upon the success
of Jesus Christ. If he had not succeeded, there
would be no salvation. All of it was dependent upon
him. And so according to the eternal
covenant of grace, Jesus Christ was born into this world to be
our kinsman redeemer. I like to think of this, when
Christ came into this world, he was a man, he was a man. He
walked on this earth as a man for 33 years. He lived in this
very world as a man, doing the work and will of this covenant.
Everything he did was according to this covenant. He was obtaining
for us righteousness by every step that He took in this life. He was making our righteousness. He was fulfilling the scriptures.
He magnified the law and made it honorable. When men saw Christ
walk in, they were watching the law of God being lived out. Ain't
nobody in the world ever done this. He's the only one that's
ever done this. He perfectly honored the law
with every breath and every thought, with every word and every deed.
He honored it. He magnified it. And he never left any doubt as
to who he was. They said, tell us if you be
the Christ. And he said, I told you. I've already told you. How
many times do I got to tell you? Yet you believe me not. And if my words aren't good enough,
my deeds testify of who I am. Who was he? He said, I am God. Before Abraham was, I am. Who told Abraham about this covenant?
Who do you suppose came down and told Abraham he's going to
have a son? Who was that? The Lord Jesus
Christ told him. Abraham rejoiced to see my day,
and what'd he say? And saw it and was glad. He came down, he's the one that
told him. So when he came down, he made no doubt about it that
he was God manifest in the flesh. And then even his death was according
to the word of the covenant of grace. His death was no accident,
was it? His death was on purpose. The
apostle said, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. Was there any chance he would
miss this death? He told him several times, he
said, for this purpose I came into the world. Peter said, Lord,
he went and cut that guy's ear off. He would say, no, you're
not going to take him. He said, look, this is why I
came here. This is the purpose. It's a covenant that I've got
to fulfill. And Christ, by His death, fulfilled the covenant,
satisfied the law of God's demands for His people. So in His life
and death were purposed of God by an immutable covenant that
Christ should accomplish the salvation of His people, which
He did. He did accomplish. And though all of his people
were born in sin, dead, like Sarah's womb. Sarah's womb was
dead. There was no life there. And
this is how God found us. It's an allegory, isn't it? He
used that woman's dead womb to give a picture to us of how we
come into this world. We come into this world not by
natural means. We come into this world by spiritual
means. to life and faith by spiritual
means. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. None of the elect, this is the
hope of the covenant, now listen to this, none of the elect are
going to miss it. None of the elect are going to
miss this. Everyone named in this covenant is going to receive
it. No one's going to miss it. Our Lord said, I am the good
shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth his life for one group
of people, the sheep. The sheep. He said, I'm the good
shepherd, and I know my sheep. Well, he knew us because we were
named in this covenant. And listen, I'm known of my sheep.
As the Father knoweth me, so know I the Father. I lay down
my life for the sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them I also must bring, and they shall hear
my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. That
sound iffy to you? That sound like it might not
happen? Or is he emphatic about this? Lord Jesus Christ never guessed
at anything. You and I guess at stuff all
the time and are wrong most of the time. Even a broken clock's
right twice a day, isn't it? But our Lord Jesus Christ wasn't
wrong. He knew this, that he has one fold and one shepherd,
and I'm gonna bring them. Them I also must bring. Why? Because it's part of the
covenant of grace. What about those that don't believe?
Jesus said that in John 10. He said, You believe not because
you're not of My sheep. You weren't named in this covenant.
That's why you don't believe. Why is it the myriads and millions
of people will not believe on Him? They're not named in this
covenant. They're Ishmael. They're Ishmael. And so Jesus made this statement
in John 6, All that the Father giveth Me. What are they going
to do? They shall come to me. And when they do, I don't care
how bad they are. I don't care where they've been.
I don't care how vile a sinner that they are. When they come
to me, I will in no wise cast them out. Why? I came to do not
mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is
his will. This is a covenant. This is the covenant of promise.
That of all he hath given me, I should lose nothing. Therefore, just as sure as Isaac
was to come into this world. Was there any chance there would
not be an Isaac? No. God promised there would
be an Isaac. God swore there would be an Isaac.
It didn't matter how dead her womb was, and it didn't matter
how old Abraham was. That had nothing to do with it.
God swore it would happen, and it happened. And so it is with
you. God swore He would save you, He saved you, and then He
let you know about it. Isn't that something? You were saved before you knew
about it. For you experienced it, your salvation was secure,
was safe. And even so, he says down there
in this verse 29, he says, you know, O Ishmael, he persecuted
Isaac. Well, he really made his life
hard. He said, well, that's how it
is with all the sons of Ishmael will persecute you. You'll be
persecuted. So the children of promise, the
elect, those redeemed by Christ, all of them shall be born, not
after the flesh, but after the spirit. All of our births are
spiritual births. Therefore, we are children of
promise, children of an eternal covenant. So as Isaac was, so
are we. So are we. What about the children under
the bondage of the law? Look at verse 30, nevertheless.
Even though they're going to persecute you, even though they
seem to be stronger than you, listen to what's going to happen.
Nevertheless, what sayeth the scriptures, cast out the bondwoman
and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with
the son of the free. Therefore, the scriptures teach
that grace and works cannot abide together. They cannot abide together. They will not abide together.
Now, it's not our business to go and point out who Ishmael
is. Our Lord said, tares will always
grow up with the wheat. In the church, there's always
going to be those who make professions of faith and those who actually
haven't. They're going to grow up together and you're not going
to be able to tell the difference. It's not our job to pull out the tares. but in the end they shall be
separated. And so these two covenants are
distinct and separate and so are those who follow them, those
who are under them. And so he says, so then brethren,
he makes a distinction here, he says, so then if you're brethren,
if you're my brethren, listen, we are not of the bondwoman,
but of the free. We are not under the law, but
under grace. not under the law, but under
grace. So then I ask you, are you under
the law or under grace? Are you saved by the law in any
measure, any measure whatsoever? This is vitally important because
if you're saved by any measure of the law, you're Ishmael. If you have any hope of your
salvation dependent upon what you do, then you're Ishmael. because these two covenants can't
abide together. Paul says in Romans 11, it is either of grace
or it is of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
If you say it's of grace and works, then grace don't mean
grace. And if you say it's of works, then that don't mean anything
either. Can't change the definition of
these things. And so then are we children of the bondwoman
or children of the free. Paul says, we that believe on
Christ, we are children of the free woman and sons of God, heirs
of the promise of God. Now that you that know you are
sons of God, you that believe, listen to the exhortation given
in our text. Therefore, you can put that in
the front if you want to. Therefore, stand fast. Hold fast to this. Hold fast to what? The liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. Stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ, and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage.
The apostle with all his soul and heart exhorts these sons
of God who have been made free that they should stand fast,
they should anchor in this, not be moved from it. Don't be moved
from this. What? The liberty that we have
in Christ Jesus. And he gives one of the best
reasons why you should not move from this. Because to move from
this is death. Look at what he says in verse
2. Behold, I pose saying to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. For I testify again. I love the
way he just keeps going over and over and over this. Why? Because it is life and death,
friends. This is vital. I testify again. To every man. I don't care if
you're a member of the Church of Galatia or not now. I'm testifying
to everybody. That if a man is circumcised,
he is a debtor to the whole law. And that's a principle, friends.
It's not just circumcision. It's any part of the law. You
put any part there, you won't do ten commandments. tithing,
Sabbath day worship, whatever you want. If you are under the
law in one part, listen, you are a debtor to every part of
it. You know, people want to be under the law. They don't
like that. They don't like that. That's why Paul said, I'm going
to tell you again, to every man, I don't care who you are. Listen,
that's what he says in the next verse. Christ become of no effect to you. I
don't care who you are. I don't care if you're a professor
in the greatest theological school in the world, if you're the pope,
if you're a preacher, if you're a deacon, I don't care what you've
done for the church, if you are hoping to be justified before
God in any measure by the law, Christ shall profit you nothing. Nothing. The Apostle of Jesus Christ by
the Holy Spirit testifies, if you do not stand fast in Jesus
Christ, to add one thing to him, you have fallen from grace. That's
what he said. He said, you are fallen from
grace. You're no longer testifying.
I was in my office today and this thought came to me. Well,
preacher, you know what? I'm not seeking to be justified
by the law. I'm seeking to be sanctified
by it. Oh, you great theologian. You've obviously not thought
this through. How can a man be justified and not be sanctified?
Can you be justified without being sanctified? Is that possible? Can you be justified without
being holy? That's what I'm asking. Because being sanctified means
you're holy. Can you be justified and not be holy? No, all of these
are inclusive. That's why Paul writes in, I
believe, 1 Corinthians 6, he says, but you are washed, but
you are justified, but you are sanctified. If you are washed and you are
justified, but you are not sanctified, you are not saved. You still
need to progressively be sanctified by, made holy by your actions. Your Ishmael. Christ shall profit you nothing.
That's a good reason, isn't it, State? Good reason. Friends, we must be clear, we
must be plain and bold about this point. Any religion that
adds anything to Christ, Christ shall profit you nothing. Can you imagine how troubling
and divisive these words were in the Church of Galatia when
Paul wrote it? It's just as troubling and divisive as it is now. They say, well, you know, oh
Joe, he professed to be saved by grace, but you know, he just
likes to try to keep the law, you know, he wants to be a better
Christian. Listen to me, if he's trying
to keep the law in any measure, for his salvation, for his acceptance,
for his obedience, his justification, sanctification, redemption, wisdom,
whatever part of it he wants to keep the law for. Paul said
this, Christ shall profit him nothing. And so then, Paul says anyone
who does this is lost, and they're under the curse of the law. turning
back to the law or the flesh to finish our salvation only
manifest this truth that we were never true believers to begin
with. He turned back. Now listen, I want to preface
this because many in Galatia did turn away from Christ. Many
of them did turn to the law, but I know this, that some turned
back. So we can fall into this error. That's why he's telling us, stand
fast. Don't fall into this error. But
if you do, listen, stand fast in it again. Repent. Turn back. Because that's death. That's
death to follow after the law. And so this is the hope that
we have. Everyone that is in this covenant of grace, everyone
who is a true child of God, that has been set free. Listen to
this, Christ keeps us free. It's Christ that keeps, listen
to what he says, stand fast in liberty wherewith what? Christ
hath made us free. Who made you free? If you're
free from the law, free from sin, we're gonna see these things.
Who made you free? Who keeps you free? It's Christ,
isn't it? It's Christ. He made us free
by His obedience and by His faith as our substitute, by the gift
of grace and the new birth. Do you still stand fast in liberty?
Do we have any room to boast? If you're in liberty, if you're
free, do you have any room to boast? Could Isaac boast of his
birth? What could he say? By what merits
was Isaac born? None. Same with us. There's no
boasting here. So we're made free. We seek to
worship and honor and serve Him. And if we do, it's because of
the grace and power of God to keep and sustain us as believers. And so now when he says stand
fast in liberty, wherewith Christ has made us free, I want to give
us some things to consider that we're free from. What are we
free from? If you're at liberty, what are
you at liberty to do? First of all, you are, as we've
seen many times, you are free from the law. You are free from
the law. We cannot state this truth emphatically
enough, nor can we state it too often. The Word of God is very
clear that believers' relationship with the Law. It states it very
clearly. Go to Romans chapter 6. I want
you to see your relationship to the Law. Romans chapter 6, verse 15. The Apostle says, For sin shall
not have dominion over you, Because, and why is it that sin is not
gonna have dominion over you? We're gonna see we're free from
sin in a minute. The reason that sin does not have dominion over
you is because you are not under the law. Is that clear enough?
I just, I don't think we, we could be in elementary school.
and understand those words. They're not so deep that you
can't fathom the words. You are not under the law, but under grace. You are not under the law. How
is it that we are free from the law? Listen, because we're dead
to it. You take a man and it's on death
row. And he's executed. What more can the law do to it? I remember this happening. Wycliffe,
who wrote the scriptures and translated them into English,
they hated him so much that after they killed him, they dug up
his bones years and years later, dug up his bones and burned him.
Like, they're really going to get him now. We're going to get
him. It couldn't do nothing to him.
He was dead. What could the law do to you, friends? The law,
it just curses everyone that continue with thought and all
things written in the book of the law to do them. Well, I'm
glad I'm not under that. That's good. Why? I'm already
dead. He's already dead to the law.
Romans 7, Wherefore, brethren, you are become dead to the law.
How? By your death? No, by the death
of Christ, by the body of Christ. That's how you're dead to the
law. He died to it. He died in your stead. And listen, we have become married
to another, even to him that raised up. That's Romans 7, 4.
Sorry, in case you're flipping through. I've moved over. You're
dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married
to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that you
should bring forth fruit unto God. Use an illustration here,
you got a woman, you got a bad husband. She's faithful to that
husband. She's under bondage to that husband.
All of a sudden, that husband up and dies. You know what? She's free from him. And she marries another, and
she marries a good man. A gracious man, a kind man, a
man who loves her. What does she owe the man that's
dead? Does the man that is dead, can he have any more authority
over her? No! She has a new husband! So
it is with us! We are not under the first husband,
we are under a new husband, Jesus Christ. And he's a gracious husband. He's a glorious husband. He so
much loved us. that he gave his own life to
save us. And now he lives in glory, having
all power, so that he should keep us under his grace. You got that? You're under grace.
What is grace? It's unmerited favor, isn't it?
It's something that you're under that you never merited. You're
never going to earn it. You're under it. You receive
it. It's yours. Why? You're not under
the law. Romans 10, 4, Christ's the end of the law. What does
that mean? The fulfillment of it. What can
the law do to a man that's always fulfilled it? Matter of fact,
if he's always fulfilled, he don't even need it. I got these, my, know people
that drive big trucks. You've got these governors on
these trucks. You know, they come and they've got tired of
getting speeding tickets. They put these things on the truck
where the truck can't go over the speed limit. It only goes
so fast. So you can put 70 mile an hour signs all over the place,
but it can't go over 70. Push the gas and it just stays
right there. So what do you need those signs
for? You need those signs for people that can go past 70. No need for them. We're free
from the law, friends. Christ is the end of the law.
He's the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. And we are in union with Christ.
As our representative, He honored the law for us and by His sins.
Listen to this. He blotted out our sins. You have a ledger book full of
sins. Can you count your sins? So many things I thought were
righteous were full of sin. Couldn't even tell you how many
times I've sinned. And yet our Lord Jesus Christ,
by his own blood, blotted them out, God says, as a thick cloud. You get that liquid paper, used
to put that stuff, we got it deleted now on the computer,
but used to, you had to put it on your liquid paper, blot something
out, That was wrong. But you know, you take a pencil,
you probably just lightly go over it and it was still the
wrong words still appear. No, God said, I blotted out.
You can't do that. It's so blotted out that God can't see it. I
can't ascertain to how how much that should give us joy. And so now back to Romans 6 and
verse 15, what then? What then? If sin has no more
dominion, we're not under the law, but under grace. What are
you going to say to that? I can't tell you, I can't be
emphatic enough of how free of the law you are. I just can't
tell you how much you are free from that law. I just can't overemphasize
it. Paul emphasizes it so much that
this is going to be the question. Listen, what then? Shall we sin
because we're not under the law? I mean, that's the conclusion
of the world. Well, if you tell them they're
not under the law, then what are they going to do? They're
going to go out there and just sin and sin. What then? Shall we sin because we're not
under law but under grace? God forbid. God forbid. How that we who are
dead to sin live any longer in it? Is that possible? Therefore, what motivates the
sons of liberty to keep from sin? The law is how religion
tries to keep you from sin. What is the motivation of the
believer to keep from sin? It's the love of Christ. Look
at this. Mark this in your Bible. Go to
2 Corinthians chapter 5. Because I want you to see the
motivation to stand fast in this liberty. To stand fast in this
liberty. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And look at verse 14. Notice what the apostle says
about believers. What constrains us from sin? What keeps us from
living after the flesh? He said, for the love of Christ
constrains us. So what constrains us? It's not my love for Christ that
constrains me. Do you suppose your love for
Christ is going to keep you from sin? Has it? No. What's the motivation then
to Sons of Liberty? It's this. It is the love of
Christ. Why do you think we preach Christ
all the time? I'm testifying to you of his love. And it is
with a view of his love for us that moves us not to see it. It constrains us. Paul says in
Romans 12, I beg you by the mercies of God. By the mercies of God. That you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. holy and acceptable unto the
Lord, which is just your reasonable service." Isn't it reasonable?
When you view how much He loves you, isn't it just reasonable
to offer yourself as a living sacrifice? It's reasonable, if you see His
love. And so then, what does His love
tell us? It tells us this, that we are free from the law. That's
what His love did for us. It freed us from the curse and
bondage of the law. How'd it do that? Well, this
is the second thing it freed us from sin. Sin. Now, I want to preface this by
saying not the presence of sin. You, the believers, you know
that by experience. That we who are born again of
the Spirit still have the old man of sin. The old man of sin
still present with us. Now this old man was not made
better by the salvation that God has given us, yet the new
man is what God has created out of love. He's given us a new
man, a new heart that cannot sin. Therefore, there is in every
child of God two distinct natures in one man. We're going to see
this more clearly as the apostle goes through this, talking about
the fight between the spirit and the flesh. And every believer
experiences this fight. So when I say you're free from
sin, I'm not saying you're free from the presence of it. This
is our true experience. But here is our confidence that
we are freed from its dominion, its power, and the guilt of it. Guilt of sin. That all our sins,
past, present, and future were charged to Christ and in His
body He was punished. And He made full satisfaction
for our sin. So when I say you're free from
sin, you are free from sin because of one thing. of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is the only reason that
we are free from sin. Now, how perfect was his death? It was so perfect that God, there
was not one sin of yours that was missed. All of your sin was charged to him. All of it. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin. And God clearly punished all
our sin. The scripture says he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Those who are named in that covenant
and sanctified by the will of God, he perfected them. You are perfected. You're perfect. You're made perfect by his death. So much so that God can't see
them. Jeremiah 15 verse 20, And that
day the sins of Israel shall be sought for and there shall
be none. How many sins is God going to
charge you with? None. Why? Because Christ's death and
therefore sin has no more dominion over you. So that as once I was
a slave to my unbelief, I am now at liberty to believe. Can
you believe? Can you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Can you? Jesus said, no man can come unto me except
the Father which has sent me. It's an impossibility for men
by nature to believe on Christ. Impossible. How is it you believe? Why are you so free to believe
on him? Because you are at liberty. You
are free from the sin of unbelief. Whereas once I loved sin, now
I love Him. In the same chapter in Romans
6 he says, Likewise reckon indeed yourselves to be dead unto sin,
dead free from its power and free from its guilt, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ. And so then here's the exhortation
to all who are alive unto Christ. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body that you should obey the lust thereof. Neither
yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but
yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the
dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For
sin shall not have dominion over you. Why is it not going to have
dominion? Because you're not under the
law. By the law, sin ruled, but the
new man under grace is dead indeed to sin and alive under God, which surely motivates us to
yield our members to God because in Christ there is therefore,
listen, now no condemnation. Do you feel condemned? I do often feel condemned. Why do you feel condemned? Isn't
it because of sin? You feel as though sin has dominion
over you. It has some power to condemn
you. But this is the joy of the gospel,
is that we are free from condemnation. Look at Romans 8. Look over at
Romans 8. When you feel the guilt of your
sins, the best thing, listen, if we sin, confess your sin.
For he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. Yes, can
we confess it? We don't ignore that it didn't
exist or that we didn't do it. We're not pretending. But listen
to what he says about condemnation of it. The power of sin to condemn
you. Listen. Verse 31, what shall
we say then to these things? Romans 8. If God before us, who
can be against us? We spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all. How shall he not freely with
him give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who's going to charge you? Before you're condemned, you
have to be charged, right? God said, listen, they can't
even charge you with it. Why? God justified us. Who is he then that condemneth?
If you can't be charged, how can you be condemned? Listen,
it is Christ that died. Christ was condemned. How can
you condemn me when my sin has already been condemned? Christ had died, yea, rather
is risen again to show that condemnation is done. Who is even at the right
hand of God, whoever liveth to make intercession for us. So
then, believers, I want you to know you're free from the guilt
of sin, the power of sin. Sin doesn't have as full sway
as it once had. There's a new nature. The Spirit
of God is in us. It does not have that dominion
and power over us that it once had. Do we sin? Yes. Because
that's all the old man can do. But we have a new man that can
do nothing but righteousness. Why? Because we're free from
sin, free from its guilt, free from its power. Listen, and one
day, listen, you haven't experienced this yet, one day we're going
to be free from its presence. I don't know what it's like to
live in a sinless world. I don't know what it's like to live in
a sinless body. I have no clue what it's like. I know what it's
like to live in this one. And thirdly, you're at liberty
to life. You're at liberty to live. Listen, when God gave you life,
spiritual life, no one can take that life from you. Nobody. Believers, we will, in
this body, die. But when a believer dies, he
does not die. Death to the believer is nothing
more than a channel to give us what God promised. That's all
it is. It's an avenue by which we receive
the full inheritance. And so then, isn't sin the reason
we fear death? What gives sin power? It's the
law, isn't it? The strength of sin is what?
The law. Well, you're free from the law.
You're free from the guilt of your sin, the power of your sin,
the dominion of your sin. What's left? Life. If there's
no condemnation, then there's no what? Death. You're at liberty
to live. Therefore, it is the heart's
desire that of every believer's heart to live after God. To live in service to God. What constrains you to live in
service to God? It's not the law. I'm not constrained
to serve God based on the guilt I feel. Of sin. I'm not constrained to serve
him by merit, to merit something. I'm constrained because I see
his love set me at liberty. And now I'm at liberty to serve. I'm at liberty to love and to
believe on Christ Our Lord said this, I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. The Father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of his hand. I and my Father are one. They're one in will deity in
power and purpose. And what is that? To give you
eternal life. That is their will. So now you're at liberty to what?
Live. Not as a slave, but as a son. What'd he say? If a son, then what? An heir. Heir of who? God. There's one
thing to inherit things, isn't it? You inherit the one who created
all things, who owns all things. He's your inheritance. And so then, believers, I would
pray that God would continually, because we're going to be, I
want you to see that this church was no different than ours. It's
no different than ours. Many of these people believed
in this covenant, and they held fast to this covenant for a long
time. Yet many were swayed to leave. They would not leave the
church, leave the gospel. They wanted to go under a law.
And this is very tempting to our flesh, and I'm putting this
out there because you've got to hear it. None of us are exempt
from this sin that these people endured. Why do you think he's
telling you? Stand fast. Stand fast in the
liberty. And be not again entangled with
the yoke of bondage. I'm going to conclude with this
story. There was a soldier who was in the jungle in a swamp
area. And he fell in. And underneath, there
are all these vines. And he was trying to get out.
And he was entangling himself. dangling himself in his vines.
One of the soldiers ran to the officer and told him, the officer
came and he's pleading with the young man, calm down, calm down,
because the more he struggled, the more the vines were pulling
on him and sinking him down. Well, he ended up, the soldier
died. He drowned. In his struggle, the vines pulled
him down and he drowned. When they pulled him out of that
swamp, his teeth were clenched to show the intensity of his
struggle. This man really wanted to live. In his hands, the vines were
clenched into his hands. As he tried to pull himself out,
the more it pulled him down. And so when the apostle says,
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, this is what
it is with someone who is under the law. They're striving. They're
working. I don't doubt their sincerity.
They grab a hold to the law, and they're trying to pull themselves
up to God. Friends, the only thing the law
can do is kill you. Don't be entangled again with
the yoke of bondage. There's no life there. Instead,
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you. Who made you free? Why are you
free from the weeds of the law? Why are you not pulled under
by the curse? I'm not under the law. How can it pull me down if I'm
not under? Under grace. Why are so many cast down to
hell because of their sin? I'm free from sin. Christ bore
my guilt. God was satisfied. God cannot
demand twice payment. There is therefore now no condemnation
of those who are in Christ Jesus. I'm free from sin. Well, don't
you fear death? Why? I'm at liberty to live. Christ gave me life. Not just
this life, but eternal life. I'm at liberty. Now then, look,
stand fast in those things. Don't be tangled with that yoke
of bondage, because we're all prone to it. May God keep us
from it. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Terrence, dismiss us, brother.