of chapter four, verse thirty-one,
Paul writes, So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman. We are not under bondage. Those who are in Christ, those
who believe the gospel, are not under bondage. You're free. I
would to God that we could really, in this Enter into that, that
liberty, that freedom that we have in Christ. I know we enjoy
it to a measure, but not nearly as much as we can enjoy it. I
don't think we enjoy it nearly as much as we can. The liberty
that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then here in chapter
5, Paul writes, in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free. This is a battle cry. I never
really saw it that way until I was studying this again. This
matter of staying fast is a battle cry. Have you seen the movie Gladiator?
Russell Crowe saying, hold the line. He said, hold the line. That's what Paul's saying here. Hold the line. Stand fast. Do not give an inch. Do not budge
one inch. You hold the line. We are in
a battle. The scripture teaches us that
we are in a spiritual warfare. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness. It is
a spiritual warfare, and Satan is so subtle, and he knows our
weakness. He knows our weakness, and if
he can find a chink in the armor, he'll shoot it. He will exploit
that chink. You can mark it down. He will
exploit that chink, like here in the Galatians. These Judaizers came in, and
they were not trying to institute now the whole law again. They
weren't trying to do that. They were just picking some things
out of the law, like circumcision, one of them, even though circumcision
was given before the law to Abraham. But they were trying to pick
out this one or two little things, you know, we'll institute this,
and there's nothing wrong with that. Yes, there is everything
wrong with it. Anytime we add to Christ, And one writer said, you un-Christ
him. You destroy the whole thing.
When you start to add, it's over. And so he says, stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Freedom is
something we value highly in this country. And I think maybe
after having it so long, we kind of lose the value of it until
it becomes under attack. But we do value freedom. We value it so highly we send
men and women to the battlefield to fight even unto death. And the freedom that our soldiers
are fighting for is temporary. It's temporary and really it's
carnal. You know, we have some freedoms
in this country, and I thank God for it, but we're not living
in this world. You're not really free. You're
bound to the things of this world. You're bound to this flesh. You're
bound to sin and the things that goes on. But I thank God for
the freedom we do have. But the freedom that we have
in Christ is a real spiritual freedom that's eternal. It is
eternal. We are free from the curse of
the law. We read that earlier in Galatians. Christ has made a curse for us,
and he has set us free from that curse. He has redeemed us from
the curse of the law, the scripture says. We are free from the power
and dominion of sin. Sin cannot condemn me. We're free from the guilt of
sin. We're free from the dominion of sin, that is the reigning
power of sin. Before the gospel, before Christ,
believing the gospel and the new birth, before that happened,
sin ruled you and it ruled me. It had its way. It's like a dog,
you know, he runs out there and then you whistle for it and it
comes back. Sin just whistles and we just
cow down to it, fall down to it. But not now. Not now. Sin does not have that dominating
power over us. It doesn't have it. Then you're
free from the power of darkness. Turn over to Colossians chapter
1. It says in verse 12, giving thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light. He's made us sit to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness. Everyone whom God has
saved and shall save before he saved them are under the power
of darkness. We're not our own. At no time
in this life are we our own. The believer has been bought
with a price. He belongs to the Lord, and the unbeliever out
there is under the power of darkness. He's under the power of Satan.
who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son, or the Son of his love.
And then we're free from Satan's power. We're no more under his
power. We're under the power and influence
of the Holy Spirit. Greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. And then we're free from death. Death has no sting for us. O death, where is thy sting? The believer has nothing to fear
from death. Death is something this world
as a whole dreads. We do everything and spend money
to live just another day longer. But the believer, when it comes
time to die, has no fear of death. Death has no dominion over us.
Death cannot hold us. It's just a vehicle, you might
say, out of this life into eternity, into God's presence. We have
no fear of death. We're free from death. It has
no claim on us. Then we're free to enjoy the
blessings that we have in Christ. That's why the Lord said, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. Learn of me. The more we learn of Christ,
the more we hug up to Christ. Oh, my. You know, when you really love
someone, you can't get enough of them, can you? You can't be
with them enough. You just can't be with them enough. I remember I used to, and I shouldn't
use that word used to. I used to couldn't wait until
I got off work when Vic and I were dating to go see her. Well, we
work together now, so I don't have to worry about getting off
work. But I would just be watching the clock. I'd watch the clock. I was ready to get off work and
go to Hurricane. When you love someone, you just
want to be with them. And the more you learn of Christ,
the more you learn of Him, the more you want to be with Him.
The more you want to be around His people, the more you want
to hear of Him. Because being around His people
is being around Him. Where two or three are gathered
together, my name's there, and mine's in the midst. Is the Lord
here this morning? If there are two or three gathered
together here this morning to worship the Lord, to hear Him,
He's here. He has promised His presence.
And then we are free to come to the throne of grace, free
to come into the presence of God. The Israelites of old did
not have that freedom to go into the Holy of Holies. Only the
high priest, once a year, could do that. We have that freedom
to do it at any given time, to come to the throne of grace,
to cast our cares. We have the freedom to cast our
cares upon Him, for He cares for us. And we have the freedom
this morning to worship God in spirit and in truth. We don't have to go through certain
ceremonies and rituals and rites. We have the freedom, whether
we're here or at home or wherever we are, we have the freedom at
any given time to worship God in spirit and in truth through
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have that freedom. The Scripture
says, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. We are truly a free people. We are truly a free people. Now
that being so, that being so, be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. Paul says, do not go back under
that, what he calls a yoke of bondage, the law. Don't go back
under that. A yoke is something, back in
those days, that they put on the neck of an ox to plow with. It was a heavy burden and it
represents servitude. Worshipping Christ is not a burden,
is it? Take my yoke upon you, my yoke
is easy and my burden is light. You put that yoke upon that ox
And it was a heavy yoke. And that ox had to pull. You
know, when we first moved on the farm, dad plowed with horses. He had horses. He didn't have
a tractor at that time. Around the early 60s, somewhere
in there in the early 60s. And I remember watching those
horses, I mean, get down and plow. And they would pull, some
of them would, I mean, they'd almost, they'd bend down, down. You'd watch them get almost on
their knees at times, pulling, pulling a log. They'd get right
down next to their knees and start pulling a log. I've watched
them do it. That's strenuous. I don't want
to do that. I don't want the worship of God
here to be like that. Do you want to come to that kind
of service? He's saying that's what it's
like under the law. Any religion, any religion, apart from the
true religion of God, which is Christ, grace, His blood, His
righteousness, anything apart from that, any religion apart
from that is bondage. It's bondage, it's servitude,
it's a heavy, heavy burden. That's what it is. And he says
here, don't be entangled. Have you ever seen an animal
entangled in a fence? Or a fish entangled in a net
that they just can't get out of? And he's saying here, you're
entangling yourself into this, and it's hard to get out of.
Don't do that. He's saying don't go there. And
the issue here In verse 2, Paul gives the issue. Behold, I, Paul,
say unto you that if ye be circumcised, this was the issue at that day,
if you be circumcised for the purpose of being accepted of
God, having favor with God, if you're doing this for a religious
purpose, Christ shall profit you nothing. If you're doing it for that purpose,
as a part of salvation, Christ will mean nothing to you. His work, His righteousness,
His blood will have no avail for you. None whatsoever. To the Jews, circumcision was
their induction into the covenant. It was their right to it. It
was a right to the inheritance. And in our day, this could be
anything that we might do to find acceptance with God, whether
it be baptism, prayer, fasting, anything, anything we might do to get a little more favor, to
add to This is how serious this is.
He said, Christ shall profit you nothing. It's all Christ,
it's all of grace, or it's nothing at all. It's nothing at all. In verse 3, for I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, for religious purposes now, for
this purpose of acceptance with God as a part of salvation, that
he's a debtor to do the whole law. If you're doing it for the
reason of being accepted, he says, you're a debtor now. He
said, now listen to me. Hear me. You're a debtor through
the whole law. You know, we break down. We break
down the law as a ceremonial law. We break it down as a moral
law. We break it down as a civil law.
And we break it down. But you know, to God, it's only
one law. It's just one law. And he says
here, if you're going to do one part of it, you've got to do
it all. You've got to do it all. If you're going to go down that
law road, you better obey every traffic sign. And that ain't
going to happen. That's not going to happen. Look here in verse 4. You're a debtor to the whole
law. There in verse 3, he said, Christ is become of no effect
unto you. No effect to you. No hope. If you have not Christ,
there's no hope. And His righteousness, His blood,
His work, His person will do nothing for you if you continue
down that road. If you continue down that road.
Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are
justified by the law, listen to this, You've fallen from grace. And here's why he's saying, he's
saying, you have left the grace of God. You have left the way
of salvation. You have left the only Savior. You've left the only name given
under heaven whereby men must be saved. You've left it. That's
what he's saying. And if you can leave it, you
never had Him. If you can leave, you never had
Him. Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of
you are justified by the law, you're seeking justification
by the law, you've fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
And here's what he's saying, through the regenerating work
of the Holy Spirit, by His power at work in us, we wait, expecting
the fulfillment of the promise of eternal life through the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not waiting on righteousness
because in Christ we are righteous. We are waiting for the fulfillment
of the promise eternal life through the personal
work of Christ. We're waiting for it. Waiting
for it. For in Jesus Christ, neither
circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision. It's meaningless.
That's what he's saying. It's meaningless. Doing anything. Anything. to gain God's favor is meaningless. It's meaningless. Now, we do what we do. We work
out of love. We do not work to be accepted.
We work because we are accepted. He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. We work because He's done a work in us. We work because we're motivated
by love. You know, I can say that I take
care of my family because I love my family. I don't feel like
I have to get up and go to work because I'm under obligation
to take care of my family. I don't feel that way at all. I get up and do this because
I love my family. And the believer's work, his
motivation, is love to Christ. And that love is nothing more
than a response to the love of God shed abroad in us by the
Holy Spirit. It's a response. What it is. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith, you see, faith which
worketh by love. You know what the evidence of faith is? Faith is evidenced
by love to one another. That's how it's evidenced. He says here in verse 7, you
did run well. You were You were running well. You were running the race well. Who did hinder you?" And over
to Lamar, he says, drive you back. Drive you back. You did run well. Who hindered you that you should
not obey the truth? And he's saying, here's the seriousness
of it, you're not obeying the truth, you're disobeying God,
you're disobeying the gospel. You did run well, you came to
Jesus Christ as needy sinners. I tell you what, we come to Him
as needy sinners, we live out our lives as needy sinners, and
we die as needy sinners. in need of the mercy and the
grace of God. At no time, at no time do we
ever reach a point that we don't need grace, that we don't need
mercy. At no time do we run this race
in the energy of the flesh. It's not so. It's not so. You did run well. Why are you
turning around? You know, you enter a race. You
start the race, the finish line is up there in front of you. And then all of a sudden, you
turn around and you're running back. You're running back. It's not
back there. The finish line's up there. He said, you turn around and
you're running backwards. Turn around and go back forwards
to Christ. This persuasion comes not of
him that called you. This is not of God. Oh, that
we could be quick to recognize that which is not of God. He
said, this persuasion is not of God. He's not the one who
called you. And here's the problem. Here's
the problem. A little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump. You say, well, it's just circumcision.
They're not going to offer the sacrifices no more. They're not
going to offer the lambs no more. They're not going to keep the
Passover no more. We believe the gospel, but we're just, this
is, what's wrong with circumcision? What's wrong with this little
ritual? Everything's wrong with it. Everything. Anything we do to
add to destroys the whole thing. It's poison in the pot. It's
what it is. Now, I have confidence in you
through the Lord that you'll be none otherwise minded." He
said, I believe you are the Lord's people. And here's the confidence. Now, we can get off-kelter. Now,
we can. We can get twisted up. We're in this flesh. We can get twisted. We can get
off. We can stumble. But Paul says, I have this confidence.
I have confidence in you through the Lord. through the Lord, that
you'll do the right thing. You'll get this matter straightened
up. He said, I have confidence in you. You'll get it straightened
up. But he that troubles you shall bear it in judgment. God
will deal with it. God will deal with this, whoever this person
was that came among them, this Judaizer came in there and tried
to institute all this stuff. He said, God will judge this
man. He will judge the instigator, whosoever he be. And I, brethren,
I'm getting ready to close here. And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, and here's what he's saying. They accused Paul,
some of them accused Paul of preaching circumcision because
he had Timothy circumcised. You'll remember Paul had that
done. But the reason Paul had it done was not under pressure.
It was not under pressure from any of the Jews, because Timothy
being a Gentile, There was no pressure put on Paul whatsoever,
but Timothy, he was going to preach to some of the Jews, Paul
in private, and no doubt he's in private with him, Timothy.
And he said, Timothy, there's going to be an issue that we
can avoid here. He said, we can avoid this issue
if you're going to preach to the brethren, those weaker brethren
among the Jews that believe the gospel. He said, we can avoid
an issue that I know is going to come up. This is under no
pressure from anyone on the outside. And he says, let's take care
of this matter of circumcision here, and it won't be a problem. He says, you can preach to them,
it won't be a problem. But here in Galatia, they made
it an issue of salvation. And Paul says, that ain't going
to happen. No, it's not going to happen, because it's not an
issue. And our brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution, if that was my ministry? Then if the offense of the cross
ceased, I would," and I'll close with this, Paul said, I would,
they were even cut off, which troubled you, I would that God
would cut them off that has come into this Galatian church or
any church and try to twist the gospel. How would God cut them off? Destroy
them? That's what he's saying. How
would he destroy them? Get rid of them? But the message
is this. Stand fast. Hold the line. Do not budge an inch. Stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. And
do not add anything to it And don't let anyone else add anything
to it. Don't you let anyone come in
those doors and say, well, we need to do this too. No, we don't
need to do anything. Believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And leave it there.