Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles with today's message, I'll be preaching from the book
of Galatians, Paul's letter, epistle to the churches of Galatia. And I'll be in chapter five,
beginning at verse one. And the title of the message
is Standing Fast in Liberty. Standing Fast in Liberty. This
is where in the The Apostle Paul writes to these professing believers
in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1. He says, stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now in order to understand
this, the liberty that he's talking about, what he's talking about
is spiritual liberty. He's not talking about physical
liberty, but spiritual liberty. And to understand what this spiritual
liberty really is, you have to understand what the yoke of bondage
is. He says, don't be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Now bondage, you know what bondage
is, being tied up, being contained, being limited as far as your
freedoms go. The bondage that he's talking
about here is the bondage of legalism. Now what is legalism? Well, legalism is that religion
or any religion that places the salvation of a sinner conditioned
on that sinner. In other words, what you do or
what you don't do. People today, for example, it's
common for people to measure righteousness, for example, based
upon what they don't do. Over in the book of Colossians,
Paul dealt with that when he's talking about taste not, touch
not, handle not. So in other words, if I don't
do this and don't do that and don't do this, that makes me
righteous. And Paul said that's not true, that's worldliness.
Righteousness does not consist of what we don't do, but righteousness
does not consist in what we do. In other words, a person says,
well, you know, I'm gonna do my best to be moral, to be good,
to be kind, to be generous, and all those things are things we
should do. But they don't measure up to
righteousness, you see. Righteousness is something that
can only be found in the perfection of the law attained by the Lord
Jesus Christ. See, we have to understand that.
People have such a skewed view of righteousness They think,
well, it's a person doing the best they can. You know, when
the Bible says in Romans 3.23, it says, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Well, what is the glory
of God? We miss the mark. We don't hit
the target. And the target is the glory of
God. Well, what is the glory of God? Well, the glory of God
is found in Christ. It's in His glorious person.
and in the finished work that he accomplished in his obedience
unto death on the cross to die for his people. He died, he was
buried, he arose again the third day. The fact of his resurrection
is the stamp, the great evidence that he finished the work of
paying for the sin debt of his people, putting our sins away,
and establishing perfect righteousness. The book of Hebrews, in Hebrews
7, 11, calls it a perfection that could not be accomplished
by the law. Could not do it. But only Christ
could accomplish it. And so, when it says, all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God, it means we've
missed righteousness. even with our best efforts. The
Bible says man at his best state is altogether vanity. In other
words, no matter how hard you try, how diligent you attempt
to make yourself acceptable to God by your works, you will not
make it. I will not make it. That's why
salvation is by grace and not by works. Those people who insist
on seeking to establish their own righteousness by their works,
they're in bondage. They're legalist. It's all law
works. And the law was given to Israel
through Moses to show them the impossibility of doing that,
to show them their sinfulness. That's what the law was given
for. Now here in Galatia, you had professing believers, and
what happened was certain Jewish false professors, they claimed
to be Christian. These were men who claimed to
be Christian, but they were Jews, but they were false professors
because what they were trying to do to the Galatians is they
were trying to incite the Galatians to go under the law for some
part of salvation. It would be like saying, well,
I know we're saved by grace, but you must do this or do that
or don't do this or do that in order to really be saved. And
it's the same situation, now let me tell you this, don't miss
this. It's the same situation when
people say, well, we're saved by grace, we're justified by
grace, but our works determines our rewards in heaven. My friend,
that's just as much bondage It's a Christ plus religion. The religion of grace is Christ
alone. Christ is made of God unto me
to be my whole wisdom, my whole righteousness, my whole sanctification,
my whole redemption. Christ is all. and in all. I have no righteousness but Christ.
And that's what Paul had originally preached in this area called
Galatia. He preached the gospel, and through
him God established several groups of believers, and now they were
being attacked by these false professors, false prophets, these
Jewish legalists. And you remember Paul back in
chapter one, he said, that's another gospel. And it's the
Greek word another, which means another of a different kind,
not another of the same kind. And if any man come unto you,
preach another gospel. The we are an angel from heaven,
he said. Preach another gospel, let him be anathema. So here's
the exhortation, verse one of chapter five. Stand fast, stand
firm, immovably firm, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. Don't even think about returning to that legalism. Legalism is deadly. Legalism
is false. Legalism is dishonoring to God. The liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free, and I mentioned this last week, it's liberty,
it's freedom from sin. Now don't get me wrong. When
God saves a sinner and brings that sinner into a spiritual
union with Christ, faith union, God-given faith, that doesn't
mean you're free from sinning. You stop sinning then. I'm only
a sinner saved by grace. I still sin because nothing I
do measures up to the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ. But how am I free from sin? Well,
I'm justified before God, based upon the blood of Christ. That
means this, that means that my sin, the debt of my sins, all
my sins, have been paid for completely, not by anything I've contributed,
but only by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ satisfied
God's justice against me for my sins. He took my punishment. The Lord has laid upon him the
iniquity of us all. You know what that means? That
means the Lord imputed, charged, accounted my sin debt to Christ. And therefore he cannot and will
not impute my sins to me. That's why David said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. I'm
free from any power of sin to condemn me. Now, I'm not free
from sinning yet. I will be when I leave this world,
leave the flesh behind, and go to be with Him. And then in glory,
when Christ returns, I'll be glorified and given a new sinless
body, sinless mind, all of that. Then I'll be totally liberated
even from the presence, the power, and the contamination of sin.
But right now, I'm standing firm in the liberty where with Christ
has made me free, my sins cannot condemn me. Now somebody says,
well, that just means you can go out and sin all you want.
No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. Because there's more to this
liberation, this freedom. than the legal aspect. But that
legal aspect is the ground of it. It's the joy of it. It's
the power of it. It's the source of it. So I'm
free. Stand fast in that. I'm to fight
sin knowing that my sins cannot condemn me because of the righteousness
of Christ imputed, charged, accounted to me. Now I'm free from the
deception of sin or the deception of Satan Because where I once
was lost, now I'm found. I once was blind, now I see. That's the work of the Holy Spirit
to liberate me from the deception and darkness of unbelief. God has given me faith to believe. And though I'm still a sinner,
saved by the grace of God, I see that my only hope is in Christ. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. You see, I've been
given eyes to see, ears to hear. Heart, a new heart, that's the
new birth. The Holy Spirit has given me life from the dead. I'm free from spiritual death
because I've been made alive in Christ. I'm free from the
law. The law cannot condemn me. Because
sin is not imputed to me, I have Christ's righteousness imputed
to me. And so how do I know that? What is the evidence of all that?
God the Holy Spirit indwells me and brings me to believe the
gospel and to persevere in the faith. You see, it's not a situation
where I see Sins cannot condemn me, therefore I can go out and
sin as much as I want. It's a situation of where I see
sins cannot condemn me, righteousness is being imputed to me, and that
righteousness is the source and power of spiritual life within. whereby the Holy Spirit inspires
me and motivates me to be an obedient servant of God, not
trying to make myself righteous in order for God to accept me.
I aim towards righteousness. But my righteousness, the righteousness
by which God accepts me is a finished work. It's not a progressive
work. It's finished. It was finished
on the cross. John 19.30, Christ said, it's
finished. And that's what he meant. And
so the Holy Spirit inspires me to be an obedient child of God,
a willing, loving bond slave of Christ, and not in bondage
to the law. In other words, to obey God motivated
by grace and love and gratitude, and not by legal fear of punishment
or mercenary promise of earned reward. That's bondage, you see. So stand fast in that liberty. And look what else he says, look
at verse two. He says, behold, I, Paul, say
unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Now, one of the biggest things that these Jewish false preachers
were teaching is that for the Gentile males who claim to be
believers, that they must be circumcised. They would say, well, you're
a believer, You're saved by the grace of God, but in order to
be really saved, in order to be really righteous in God's
sight, in order to earn your rewards in heaven, you've gotta
be circumcised physically. And Paul's saying here in verse
two, if you be circumcised for those reasons, you're denying
Christ. Christ will profit you nothing. You profess to be a believer
in Christ. You profess that all of your
salvation is by him, but you submit to that legal bondage
to be circumcised in order to be saved or to be more righteous
or to earn your rewards, your profession of Christ means nothing.
He'll profit you nothing. Listen to what Paul wrote over
here in Galatians chapter six and verse 14. Now listen to this. He says in verse 14 of chapter
six, but God forbid that I should glory And that word glory there
means to boast. That I should boast, save or
accept in one thing the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
finished work of the God-man. The finished work of Christ.
God manifest in the flesh as our surety and substitute and
redeemer. save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. In other words, glorying only
in the cross of Christ has changed my whole relationship with this
world. And look at verse 15, he says, for in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature or a new creation. Christ has brought me into a
new state A state of grace. Whereas I was blind, and I was
ignorant, and I was rebellious and unsubmissive to the gospel,
in that state of legal bondage, now I'm in a state of grace. And that's what he's saying,
stand fast. Look back at Galatians five, in verse three. He said,
for I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that
he's a debtor to do the whole law. Now what he's talking about
is every person, every man who is circumcised, in order to gain
or maintain salvation, or in order to establish their own
righteousness before God, or to earn their rewards with God,
what he's saying, you're a debtor to do the whole law. You're still
under that legal bondage. That's what the law requires.
The law doesn't require, listen, the law of God does not require
you to do the best you can. Now, you hear what I'm saying?
Should you do the best you can in morality, in responsibility,
good citizenship, good family members? Should you do the best
you can? Yes, but that's not what the law requires. The law
requires perfection. Righteousness. You see, that's
why the judgment of God is by the perfect law, as fulfilled
in Christ. I quote this verse all the time
on this program, Acts 17, 31, which talks about how God has
prepared a day, he has appointed a day in the which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
in that he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead. You see, Christ did what was
required by the law. Remember he told the Pharisees,
he said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law, I come to
keep the law. Every jot and every tittle of
the law. Now, that's what the law requires.
And so, yes, we're to do the best we can, but we're to recognize
that the best we can do will not save us. We look to Christ
for salvation. We're to do the best we can in
thanksgiving and gratitude motivated by grace to him. So he says,
if you're circumcised for that reason, in that legal bondage,
you're a debtor to do the whole law. Over in Galatians chapter
three, Just back one page. In verse 10, listen to what he
says here. He says, for as many as are of the works of the law,
trying to be saved by works of the law, are under the curse. Why is that? Well, it's written,
this is back in Deuteronomy chapter 27, cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. And so he says in verse 11, but that no man is justified,
What is it to be justified? It's to be forgiven of sins,
it's to be declared righteous in God's sight. But that no man
is justified by the law, that is by his works. In the sight
of God it's evident, for the just, the justified shall live
by faith. Now what is it to live by faith?
It's not to live by the power of faith. It's to live looking
to Christ as the author and finisher of our faith. You understand
that? You know, some people today make
faith their savior. In other words, they believe,
well, Christ did his part, now I gotta do my part and seal the
deal, or make it effectual by believing. Oh no, Christ did
it all. And if he did it all for you,
let me tell you what's gonna happen. You're gonna be brought
to faith in him, to look to him, rest in him, and his finished
work, his blood, his righteousness alone, For Christ is the end
of the law, the fulfillment, finishing of the law, for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Romans 10.4. And that's what
he did. We'll look back at Galatians
5. Now this is standing fast in the liberty. Standing fast
in the liberty of Christ. Verse four, he says, Christ is
become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified
by the law, for you are fallen from grace. You may claim to
be saved by grace. You may claim that Christ is
your whole salvation. But if you think your salvation
and your justification before God, the forgiveness of sins,
the righteousness which entitles you to heaven's glory, to eternal
life. If you think that your works
under the law aren't any part of that, you're falling from
grace. Now that doesn't mean you lost
salvation. What he's saying here when he
says you're falling from grace, it means you're denying what
you profess. You profess salvation by grace.
but you're literally denying it. I'm gonna tell you something
now. This is a huge problem in today's, in a lot of places that
claim to be Christian. It's not salvation totally by
God's grace based upon totally Christ and what he finished,
but it's salvation based upon what Christ did plus what you
do or what you decide. And that's a denial of grace.
You claim to be saved by grace, but grace to you is just a jump
start. It's just like jumping a car
with battery cables, giving you the start, now you keep it going.
And I'll tell you one of the most subtle ways that people
buy into that legalism, that bondage, is when they believe
that salvation is by grace, but you're kept or preserved by your
works. And they'll say this, they'll
say, well, you can be saved, but if you do this, do that,
or don't do this, do that, you can be lost again. That's why
we talk about salvation is an eternal security because of the
finished work of Christ. And no, that doesn't give any
true believer a license to sin. Any person who uses grace as
an excuse to sin is an unbeliever. And men and women will abuse
anything. So you can't go by them, you
gotta go by the scripture. But those who believe you can
be saved one day and lost the next, they're in bondage. They're
not standing fast in the liberty of Christ. They're denying grace. They claim it's by grace, but
grace to them is just a jumpstart. It's just a hell. It's kind of
like what the guy said, God helps those who help themselves. That's
not in the Bible, but that's what most people believe. So
he says you're fallen from grace. But look at verse five. For we
through the Spirit, that's the Spirit of God, wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith. Now, the hope there is not wishful
thinking into the future. Well, I hope I can make it. The
hope here is the certain assurance of righteousness by faith. And
what is righteousness by faith? It's the righteousness of Christ,
His finished work, His merits, His righteousness imputed, which
we receive by the Spirit through faith. And waiting here is believing. That's what it is. Persevering,
I know that I'm sure for salvation because of the righteousness
that Christ worked out on my behalf as my surety, my substitute,
my redeemer. He is at the right hand of the
Father ever living to make intercession for me. I will not be lost, I
cannot be lost because he won't let me go. That's grace, saved
by grace, kept by grace. and ultimately glorified by grace. And so in verse six, he says,
for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. And there's the key. It's not
faith that is dead, as James says, but it's faith that works,
not in order to be saved, not in legal bondage, but by love,
serving God as a willing, loving bondservant. Most of you know
the law of the bondservant back in Exodus 25. You know, when
a person got in debt to somebody and they couldn't pay the debt,
Then they became a slave to that person until the debt was paid. And after the debt was paid,
they had the choice as to whether to stay with their master or
to go out free. And those who loved their master,
even though their debt was paid, They stayed with their master.
And you remember how they bore their ear with an awl to show
that they were a bond slave. In other words, I believe in
most cultures, in the Jewish culture, they put a ring in their
ear. And what that meant was this person was serving his master
or her master, not out of a legal debt, but because of love. Serving God out of love, grace,
gratitude. Paul made the statement, In 2
Corinthians 5, he said, the love of Christ constraineth us, constrains
me in my life. That's Christ's love for me.
And because of His love for me, we love Him. Here in His love,
1 John 4, 10, here in His love, not that we love God, but that
He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation, the sin-bearing
sacrifice who brought satisfaction, the propitiation for our sins.
Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. If He's
made you free, then you know that it's all by the grace of
God that reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.