Well, let's open our Bibles to
the book of Galatians chapter 5. I want to, this morning, you
know, it being Memorial Day, people are talking about liberty
and freedom, and certainly we do thank God for the liberties
and the freedoms that we have in our country. The liberty and
freedom to worship God as He leads us without hindrance and
opposition from man, legally that is. I know we have opposition,
but not It's not by the government stopping us like the disciples
in the early church had to suffer through. So we do thank God for
those freedoms and liberties that men have died for, men and
women both have died for. But what I want to talk about
is take this opportunity to do a study in liberty. I've entitled
this Our Liberty in Christ. And I'm not going to bring anything
new to you, but I want to just go through the scriptures here.
Quickly as I can, not to keep you too long, but I want us to
look at several passages. And what I want to end up on
is the issue of how believers are free from the power of sin,
because that seems to be an issue that people deal with and are
so confused about. Many are deceived. Most are.
But look at Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1. He mentions the
word liberty. Stand fast, firm. immovable,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Now, you know
about the book of Galatians, how false preachers had crept
into these churches where Paul had preached the gospel of God's
grace in Christ, salvation accomplished fully by Christ on the cross,
and how he set us free from the bondage of the law. and how his
people are not condemned, are not under any obligation to the
law as to attaining or maintaining salvation. That Christ paid the
debt in full, and so we're free, we're liberated. And these false
preachers had challenged that. They challenged it by their doctrines,
subtly, and as time goes on, as it gets more open, you know,
They would say that Christ is our salvation, that we're saved
by grace, but you have to add something to that. You have to
add your works. Specifically, Paul mentions circumcision,
which is indicative of an entrance into a covenant, a law covenant.
And he would say that they would, these false preachers would say,
you have to do this in order to be really saved or to be more
saved or to be assured. And that's legalism. And you
know, legalism is any notion of salvation. Conditioned on
the center. In any way, at any time, in any
form, and to any degree. Whatever the condition is, whether
it's keeping the law, whether it's circumcision, whether it's
baptism, whether it's walking an aisle, or whatever men want
to put on it, you know. And that's why Paul said in verse
2, Behold I, Paul saying to you that if you be circumcised, Christ
will profit you nothing. In other words, if Christ And
his blood and righteousness are not all your salvation as to
accomplishing everything that God requires of me in order to
be saved and to be preserved and to be glorified. If Christ
didn't do it all, then he'll profit you nothing. And if you
have to do anything under any law or any system or any condition,
Then you're a debtor to do the whole. That's what he says in
verse three, and that's bondage. And so he says Christ in verse
four has become of no effect on you, whosoever are justified,
that is declared not guilty, declared righteous by the law. You're falling from grace. In
other words, you're denying grace. But he says, stand fast in the
liberty where with Christ. Now that word liberty there means
exactly what it says. It means liberated. It's a liberation. It's a freedom from sin, it's
a freedom from bondage. And down in verse 13, look down
there. Now he talks about Christian
living. How do we live as Christians? He says, for brethren, you've
been called unto liberty. Now it's the same word that he
used back up here in verse 1. Standing fast in the liberty
where with Christ has made us free. You've been called unto
liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.
The flesh Meaning fallen, sinful human nature, the desires of
the flesh. And he says, but by love, serve
one another. So in other words, he's saying
here that our liberty in Christ, our liberation in Christ does
not give us license to sin. But it gives us liberty to serve
Christ and to serve one another. In other words, freedom. Now,
in order to understand all that, turn back to Romans chapter six.
He Paul talks a lot about liberty here. He first in Romans chapter
six uses the term free or freed in verse seven. Look at that
term free verse seven of Romans chapter six for he that is dead. Now what he means there is, you
know, we're not physically dead. So he's not talking about physical
death there. We will experience physical death, but that's just
a passage for the believer. But dead mean meaning dead with
Christ. He's talking about our union
with Christ there, our union with Christ in his crucifixion. And he mentions that in verse
five. Look at that. He says, for if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, in other words, when Christ died
on the cross, he didn't die for himself. He died for his people.
He died for his sheep. He died as a substitute, a surety,
a representative. So that in the sight of God,
under the law, when Christ died, all his people died with him.
When Christ was buried, all his people were buried with him as
he is the representative. When Christ died, when he arose
again, all his people arose again with him as a representative.
And that's what we confess in Believer's Baptism. That's why
we do it by immersion. Because we confess that we We
died with Christ were buried and rose again with him. So he's
our representative. And so he says, if that if Christ
died for you, then you shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection. You're going to be resurrected
too. So his death is the assurance of our new birth. His death is
the assurance of our glorification. Our resurrection in the last
day. So he says in verse 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. So Christ died. Not that we should
serve sin, but that we should be free. So he says, for he that
is dead is freed from sin. Now the word free there is justified. That's the legal term of justification. That's not liberation like he
used in Galatians 5.1. Stand fast in the liberty. That's
liberation. That's an actual experience of
liberation. That's like the prisoner being
set free in Galatians 5.1. But the word free here means
to be justified. And it's talking about our justification
by the death of Christ on Calvary. That God justifies his people,
meaning that he declares them not guilty and righteous Because
Christ died on the cross, Christ took our punishment. Our sins
were laid upon him, he was made sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. That legal exchange, that's our
justification, and that is a freedom. That is a freedom. But now go
down to verse 17 of Romans 6. He says, but God be thanked that
you were the servants of sin. Now servant means to be a slave
there. but you have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you literally it
should be which you were delivered to now the form of doctrine is
the gospel it's the James called the gospel the perfect law of
liberty liberty there in the book of James chapter two being
the same word at Paul used in relation five and it says here
the form of doctrine which is the gospel that perfect law of
liberty It was preached to you. It was preached to me, but you
were delivered to it. God brought you to it. It was
God who brought you under the preaching of the gospel by his
sovereign power. And so you believed it from the
heart. Now, what is that? That's the new birth. That's
being born again of the Spirit. You wouldn't believe it from
the heart. A man of his own will will not believe it from the
heart. He may give mental agreement to it, to a point, but he won't
believe it from the heart. But look at verse 18. He says,
being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
Now, the word free there is a different word than the word free back
up here in verse 7. Remember in verse 7, it's justified. In verse 18, it's liberated again. In fact, it's a form of the same
word that Paul used in Galatians 5 and verse 1. This is the freedom
that we experience when we come to a saving knowledge of Christ.
Christ said in John chapter 8 when he said, If the Son, therefore,
make you free, you shall be free indeed. The truth shall make
you free. The same thing there. Look down
at verse 20 of Romans 6. He says, For when you were the
servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. In other
words, The construction there is a little bit confusing, but
what he's simply saying is that when you were servants of sin,
you were not servants of righteousness. You were in bondage to sin. And
so look at verse 22. He says, but now being made free
from sin, and that term keeps coming up, free from sin. I want
to ask you a question. Do you feel like you're free
from sin? Well, no. But it's not a feeling. All right,
hold on. Be now made free from sin and
become servants to God. You have your fruit unto holiness
and the end everlasting life. What is this talking about? Free
from sin, free from bondage. Well, that's what I want to show
you from the scriptures, how this how this works out. I want
you to turn first to Hebrews chapter two. How is a believer free from sin? Believers are free from sin.
But how? Well, to be free from sin is
not to be free from sinning. Because we're still sinners.
In fact, I told you to turn to Hebrews 2, but let me read you
a verse there in Romans 7. In Romans 7, he says in verse
14, He says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm
carnal, sold under sin. And then, you know, from then
on, he talked about the believer's struggle with sin. In other words,
if we were free from sinning, or if there were any part of
us that were sinlessly perfect and could not sin or be contaminated,
then that statement would be a lie. Paul couldn't say we're
carnal, sold under sin. What's Paul talking about? He's
talking about the fact that he, even as a believer, he even as
a justified sinner, cannot stop sinning. You say, well, what's
wrong with Paul? Did he have a problem? Yes, he
had a problem. Same problem you have. Same problem I have. And
that is that sin within us has not yet been eradicated. We still
have the flesh. Now the flesh, you can describe
it in a thousand different ways, and people do, but the flesh
would be equivalent to everything that is opposed to the glory
of God. Everything that is opposed to
the revealed will of God. It's ignorance, it's unbelief,
it's self-love, it's self-righteousness. Sometimes the Bible, when it
talks about the flesh, it's talking about the human body. But the
human body is not sinful in and of itself. You see, Christ had
a human body, but his human, he was sinless. You see, he was
made of the seed of David, according to the flesh. And here in Hebrews
chapter two, look here. In Hebrews chapter two, look
at verse 14. It says in verse 14, for as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. Now there
he's talking about the physical body, just flesh and blood. He, that is Christ, also himself
likewise, or in the same way, took part of the same. Christ
had a human body. Now his human body wasn't generated
from Adam. His human body was created for
him in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit. The angel
called him that holy thing. That wasn't a derogatory remark.
That was a statement of how unique this person who was going to
be born of this virgin, how unique he is. He's the God-man. He's God in human flesh. The
word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. And so his human body
was sinless. Adam had a human body before
the fall, and his human body was sinless. So the flesh can
sometimes refer to that. Sometimes the flesh just refers
to human weakness. For example, in Hebrews chapter
4, When he's speaking of our great high priest, he says in
verse 15, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, our weaknesses, but was in all
points tempted like as we are yet without sin. In his humanity,
he had the same weaknesses that flesh and blood have. He got
tired, he sorrowed, he got hungry, all of those things, you know.
But he was without sin. So sometimes the flesh refers
to the weaknesses of the body that we have. But most of the
time, and Paul uses this in Galatians 5 when he talks about the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit, the flesh is talking about the
power of sin that resides in the fallen human nature. as born
in Adam, and that would go to ignorance, unbelief, self-righteousness,
self-love, all the fruit of the flesh, the works of the flesh
that he mentions later on. Okay? Now, Christ didn't have
any of that, but we have all of it. We have all of it. But in the new birth, we're given
the Spirit of God, and we're given a spirit from God that
gives us new desires. And a lot of people describe
that as the new nature. Now, I don't have any problem
with just using that term, but some people go too far with it.
And you can't do that. For example, Paul said in Romans
7, I have a desire to be like Christ, to follow him perfectly
with no contamination. Now, that desire is the spirit
that was given to him by the Holy Spirit in the new birth.
He didn't have that desire before he was born again. His one mindset
before he was born again was to wipe the name of Jesus of
Nazareth off the face of the earth. You remember Saul of Tarsus. He had no love to Christ. He
had no desire to be like Christ. He had no faith in Christ. So
the spirit, I'm talking about not the Holy Spirit now, he does
indwell believers. But the spirit that is given
to us in the new birth is the spirit of love to Christ, love
to God's people, faith in Christ. repentance, all of those things,
humility. That's the spirit. But now we
cannot do any of those things perfectly because of the presence
of the flesh. So then how are we delivered
from the power of sin? Free from sin does not mean freedom
from sin. Period. We do sin. And those who would say, well,
I'm free to do anything I want to do now, you see, that's not
freedom. That's bondage. That's what Paul
said. I'm sold under sin. I'm carnal. That's a bondage.
In other words, if you think that you can use grace as an
excuse to just go out and sin as much as you want to, you may
call that freedom, but the Bible calls it bondage. In fact, it's
deception. It's hypocrisy, isn't it? But
it's a bondage. You see, the believer, we're
to see the fact that we cannot be perfectly like Christ as a
bondage. All right. Now, one day we're
going to be delivered from that bondage. We've already been delivered
from the bondage of the law and the curse and the debt. Christ
took care of that. And his taking care of that has
assured that one day we'll be delivered from the bondage of
even the remaining presence and influence and contamination of
sin when we're glorified, when we're glorified and be like him.
But let me give you these things now briefly, and how is a believer
delivered from the power of sin. We're not delivered from the
power of sinning. We're delivered from the power
of sin to condemn us. That's number one. Sin can no
longer condemn us. Romans 8.1. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. No condemnation. Sin's power to condemn us is
gone. You say, it no longer has that
power. We were in Christ before the
foundation of the world. We were in Christ in the mind
of God. We were in Christ at the cross
and he brings us into Christ in the new birth. And there's
no condemnation to them that are in Christ. The scripture
says, who shall lay anything? Romans chapter eight, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died, yea rather He's risen again and seated at the right
hand of the Father. So we're free, number one, from sin's
power to condemn us. Secondly, we're free from sin's
power to separate us from God. Now look over at 1 John chapter
3. We've been talking about this
passage, Jim and I, over the phone and we talked about it
Saturday morning, me and Jim and Winston and Aaron. And look
at 1 John 3. In 1 John 3, he had talked about,
or 1 John 2, he talked about those who claimed to be believers,
who claimed to be saved by grace, but then they left the gospel.
Totally left it. That's over in 1 John 2, 19.
They left it. And what does he say about it?
Well, look at verse 19 of 1 John 2. He says, They went out from
us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, if
they had been truly saved, born again, they would no doubt have
continued with us. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. What's he saying
there? He's saying that if you're in
Christ, you're going to stay in Christ. He's going to keep
you. His hold on you is going to keep you. And though he says
in verse 20, but you have an unction from the Holy One and
you know all things, that's the power of the Spirit in the new
birth. But go over to 1 John 3. And he says in verse 9, this
is the verse that a lot of people debate over, what it's about
and everything. But look at verse John 3, 9.
He says, Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Now,
I believe what he's talking about there is a specific sin, not
just all sin. If he's saying that if you're
born of God, you don't sin anymore, then I guarantee you, none of
us are born of God. And nobody outside these walls
is too. Because there's no person on the face of God's earth that
does not sin. What's he talking about? He's
talking about a specific sin. Some people say that there's
a definite article there does not commit the sin. Now, some
Greek scholars agree with that. Some don't. All right. But it
doesn't matter. In the context, it shows us exactly
what he's talking about. He's talking about apostasy back
over here in 1 John 2, 19. They left the gospel completely
and renounced it and turned against Christ and his people. They never
were saved. But those who are truly born
of God cannot do that. Sin doesn't have that kind of
power over you now. And you know why? It's not because
you're so good or you're so powerful or so great. It's because of
the grace of God in Christ. You're washed in His blood and
clothed in His righteousness and you can never be unwashed
and you can never be unclothed. He's given you faith to lay hold
of Christ and not let go of Him. And here's what he says. Look
at 1 John 3 9. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. He will not fall away like those
who left and went out from us. For his seed, that is Christ's
seed, and I believe that word seed there refers to the people
of God that Christ, that God chose, and that Christ redeemed
on the cross. They remain in him. They remain
in Christ. And it says, and he cannot sin. He cannot fall away. Because
he's born of God. So sin doesn't have the power
to separate you from Christ. Romans chapter 8 goes on to say,
who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ? Nothing. And that's what the answer is.
So that's the second way. Sin's power to condemn us is
gone. It's totally taken away. Sin's
power to separate us is gone. Thirdly, sin's power to deceive
us concerning the issue of our sin is gone. Turn to Romans chapter
7. Look at Romans chapter 7. Paul
says here in Romans chapter 7 and verse 7. Romans 7 and verse 7 he says
what shall we say then is the law sin God forbid nay I had
not known sin but by the law where I had not known lust that
is unlawful desires except the law had said thou shalt not covet
meaning the law reaches to the heart in the words and the law
just doesn't simply forbid sinful outward actions but it forbids
sinful thoughts sinful attitudes sinful motives sinful desires
You see, that's sin, all right? But sin, you know, and James,
you remember what James said, to be guilty of one is to be,
to offend in one is to be guilty of all. Why is that? Somebody
said it's because the law is not like a pile of sticks. You can pick up one and break
it and leave the rest intact. The law is like a window pane,
a pane of glass. You break it and the whole thing's
gone. Cracks. And so it reaches the
heart. But he says, but sin, verse 8,
taking occasion by the commandment, worked in me, wrought in me all
manner of concupiscence, that's lust. For without the law, sin
was dead. For I was alive without the law
once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to
be under death. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me. and by assuming you see in before
Paul was born again by the Spirit. The sin had power to deceive
him to where he didn't realize that he deserved damnation based
on his best work. Best attempts to keep the law.
He thought he thought the issue of sin in his life was already
taken care of because he was working hard to keep the law.
That was a deception. But when the Holy Spirit came
and enlightened his mind and slew him by the law and convinced
him that sin, because he believed not in Christ, Paul then said
that I wasn't deceived. Look at verse 10. He says, And
the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death.
The very commandment that I was using, trying to keep it in order
to be saved, I found it was death. For by deed the law shall no
flesh be justified in God's sight. And so he says that sin deceived
him. Not the Lord him deceived him,
sin did. But God the Holy Spirit took that law and by that law
slew Paul. Just like it did you and me when
he showed us that our best efforts to keep the law will not make
us righteous before God. Will not save us. And before
then we were to see so since power to deceive us about about
seeing itself is is gone. Now another way turn to see what
sense power to this to keep us in a love of darkness is gone. Let me show you that turn to
John chapter 3. Usually I have my notes typed
out. Sometimes I can't read my own writing. But look at John chapter three.
I'm sorry, John chapter one. That's it. OK, that's what I
was trying to figure out. Look at John chapter one. Let
me put it to you this way, it may be easier. Sin's power to
keep me from resting and believing in and trusting Christ is now
gone. This is what I'm saying. Now,
we don't believe perfectly. We don't rest in Him perfectly.
Sometimes we lose sight of Him. And our doubts and our fears,
and that's sinful. But sin can no longer keep us
from running to Christ, ultimately for relief, for salvation, for
rest, for peace, and for comfort. Look at verse 11 of John 1. It
says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Now,
most people say that's his own nation, and that's true, but
that's us, too. By nature, we wouldn't receive
him. And verse 12 says, But as many as received him, to them
gave he power. Now, the word power there is
right and privilege, the right and privilege to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born
not of blood. It's not by natural pedigree
or generation. Nor the will of the flesh is
not of the free will of man, for his will is not free, it's
in bondage to self and sin. Nor the will of man, it couldn't
be by the will of others, but of God. And then turn to John
3. Here's what I'm asking. Whatever
you're going through, whatever state your mind is in, or at
any given time, you may be on a mountain, you may be in a valley,
Highs and lows. You may be going through a real
severe trial or whatever. Here's what I'm asking. What
is or who is your only hope of salvation, of righteousness and
eternal life? It's Christ and Him crucified,
isn't it? Now, sin's power over you before
the new birth would keep you from that. You may say something
similar to that, but you didn't really mean it. But sin no longer
has that power. Look at John chapter 3 verse
19. He says, this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light. At one time you loved darkness
and hated the light because your deeds were evil. Your best efforts
to serve God. You see, thinking that they would
gain points with God or earn his blessings in some way. Those were evil. For everyone
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved, uncovered, and discovered, and
exposed for what they are. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light. You now come to the light. That's
why you're here this morning. You want to hear the Word of
God preached. You want to hear Christ exalted. You don't want to hear
a guy stand up here and brag on what you can do for God. You
want to hear him brag on what, like John the Baptist, he must
increase, I must decrease. And he says that his deeds may
be manifest that they are wrought the work of God. Turn to 2nd
Corinthians chapter 4, one very familiar to you. You see, at
one time sin and Satan had the power to keep you in unbelief. Look at it in verse 3, 2nd Corinthians
4. He says, But if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. They
were blinded because they believed not. Lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your service for Jesus' sake. Look at verse 6. For God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see, at one time, sin had
the power to keep you and me from seeing the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
It doesn't have that power now. Now again, we may lose sight
of it for moments, for days, or whatever, but it doesn't have
the power to keep us perpetually in that state. Because the Holy
Spirit. Speaking with our spirits to
our spirits will always bring us back to Christ. And his blood
and righteousness and then one more turn to. Romans 10. Romans 10. Send. before the new birth had the
power to keep us under the bondage of legalism. And that's what
Paul is talking about in Galatians chapter five. Here he speaks
up in the last part of Romans nine about the Jews who sought
after righteousness by their works of the law. Well, that's
what we did as we were deceived by sin under the power of sin.
until God the Holy Spirit showed us the glory of Christ on the
cross, his death, burial, and resurrection under righteousness. He established, and it says in
verse 1 of Romans 10, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, verses 2
and 3 describes us under the power of sin, describes the Jews
under the power of sin, but it describes us too under the power
of sin. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. Now, how many of you had a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge before you heard the
gospel? That's right. We all did, didn't
we? At some stage, in some degree. I mean, even people, even people
who don't go to church, you know, mostly you think about a lot
of people who go to church. But, you know, even people who don't
go to church, they have their moments, too. They have their
moments, you know, when they get down and all, you know, I
better seek God, you know, I better pray. Lord, if you get me out
of this one, that kind of thing, you know, I'll not do it again.
That's the zeal of God, too, and that's not according to knowledge. You know, every person by nature
has what Calvin called that God-shaped void, you know, Ecclesiastes
3, and they all feel it some way. You know, even the ones
who are steeped in materialism and that kind of thing, a lot
of times they'll attribute it to God. So we had a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. So sin's power to keep us ignorant,
see? Not according to knowledge. We
were ignorant. Well, what were we ignorant of? Verse 3, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Sin had the power
at one time to keep me ignorant of God's righteousness, he said,
and going about to establish their own righteousness. We were
trying to work our way at some stage to some degree in some
way into God's favor and blessing. And he says, have not submitted
themselves under the righteousness of God. Sin had the power to
keep us unsubmissive to what? To the righteousness of God.
What is that? Verse four. For Christ is the end, that is,
the finishing, the fulfillment, the completion of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes. I can remember a time
when I was ignorant of Christ's righteousness imputed. And I
can remember a time when I was unsubmissive to it. Sin had that
power in me. But you know what? Sin doesn't
have that power to keep me unsubmitted. Because God has broken me. God
has brought me just like he brought Saul of Tarsus down into the
dust on the Damascus road and blinded him to his own goodness
and showed him the glory of Christ and him crucified and risen again.
And that's the issue, you see. That's the issue. In other words,
it goes and all goes back to this. I mean, we may go through
hard times, bad times. We may lose sight of it. We may
doubt and complain and all that. But ultimately, sin does not
have the power to keep this sinner from resting in, running to,
and looking to Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary for
all my salvation. For he is my all and in all,
the scripture says. And so that's how the power of
sin has been broken in a believer. It's not power not to sin, we
still sin. But it's power to keep us from
Christ is broken.