Stand Fast In the Liberty of Christ

I feel some liberty of the Spirit
to bring this message tonight. It is a difficult message because
it will not be understood by religionist as such, it will
not be understood by those who do not have a heart understanding
of redemption, how Christ saves sinners. It is easily misunderstood. And when we talk about Christian
freedom, Paul wrote in Galatians 5.1, Stand therefore, stand fast
therefore in the freedom or liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. When we talk about Christian
freedom, we're not talking about, as some people suppose, freedom
from Christian principles and duties. We're not talking about
that at all. And if that's the way that it's
interpreted and that's the way that it's pounced upon and used,
then it will be the wrong interpretation. Christian liberty is not liberty
from Christian principles and duties. And then Christian liberty
is not a liberty to sin. Now look down at verse 13. He clearly says that here in
verse 13 of Galatians 5. He says, Ã¬Brethren, you have
been called unto liberty, freedom only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another." So a man who is
looking for a reason to sin, or looking for justification
for his sins, better look somewhere else than to Christian liberty,
because that's not what it means. We're talking here about the
liberty of grace. We're talking about the liberty
that is ours when we are emancipated by Christ Jesus, when we are
set free. Christ hath made us free. Ye
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If
the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now
here is a six-fold definition of Christian liberty. If you
want to jot them down, you're welcome to do so. Weigh them,
think about them, study them. Look them up in God's Word. But
this is what I mean by Christian liberty. This is what Paul is
talking about here in chapter 5, verse 1. Stand fast. Hold
fast. Don't lose your liberty. Don't
let anybody take it away from you. You have a liberty in Christ.
Christ hath made us free. He hath made us free. If the
Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now, first
of all, this is a freedom from sin. That's just exactly what
it is, a freedom from sin. Not the indwelling of sin. Because
every one of us wear the title, Chief of Sinners. The other day
a dear black lady called me after the Sunday morning message on
television. I didn't talk to her, but Darce
did. She heard the message on how man can be justified with
God. And she gave a good testimony. She told Doris that you just
didn't hear that kind of preaching today. And she understood how
a man could be justified with God through the blood of Christ,
and how that it just wasn't being preached today. And Doris said
something about, well, it's the good news for sinners, and we
sinners appreciate it. And she said, well, don't call
us sinners. Don't call us sinners. But that's what we are. We wear
the title, Chief of Sinners, and we're made more aware of
our sinful nature every day. This freedom from sin is not
freedom from indwelling sin. Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Well, what kind of freedom from
sin are we talking about here? Well, we're talking about freedom
from the penalty of sin. We're talking about freedom from
the dominion of sin. Sin shall not reign. Sin shall
not have dominion over you. We're talking about freedom from
the power, the reigning power of sin. We're talking about deliverance
from the practice of sin. The bent of the will, the tenor
of the life is holiness unto the Lord. But sin is there. The
indwelling presence of sin is there. But this freedom from
sin is we have a freedom from the penalty and from the power
and from the dominion and from the practice of sin. And with
his spotless garments on, we're as holy as God's Son, and in
Christ there is no sin. In the sight of God, in the presence
of God, there is no sin. Now, my sins are ever before
me, but they're not ever before God. And they may be evident
to you, but they're not to God. He has separated us, our sins,
from us as far as the East is from the West. He has cast him
into the depths of the sea. So we have a freedom from sin.
All right? Secondly, this Christian liberty,
Christian freedom, which Christ has given to us, is freedom from
the ceremonial law. Freedom from the ceremonial law,
from all of its burdensome rituals, from all of its ordinances, from
all of its holy days and feasts, from all of its sacrifice, from
all of its requirements, I found out something today that I'd
like for you to look into. When Paul is talking so much
about the law in the book of Galatians, he is mainly talking
about the ceremonial law. That's mainly what he's talking
about, is freedom and deliverance from the ceremonial law. We have
been delivered, we have been set free. That law has no claim
on us whatsoever. The ceremonial law of Moses,
the law of Sinai, has no claim on us whatsoever. And then thirdly,
there's freedom. Stand fast in the liberty with
which Christ hath made you free. It's freedom from the moral law
as a covenant of works. This is freedom from the moral
law as a covenant of works, from its condemnation, from its curse,
but not from obedience to it as held forth by Christ our Lord. Now, remember what I'm saying
here, that when Christ set us free, he set us free not only
from the moral law, not only from the ceremonial law, but
from the moral law, the Ten Commandments, as a covenant of works. free
from its condemnation, free from its curse, not from its obedience,
as it is sent forth and held forth by Jesus Christ our Lord. And we'll get to that in just
a few moments. Fourthly, this Christian liberty
is freedom from the fear of death and the fear of judgment and
the fear of condemnation. The believer is not to fear death. He is not to fear judgment, he
is not to fear condemnation, because there is therefore now
no condemnation to them who are in Christ. Christ has delivered
us from that fear, to be absent from the bodies, to be present
with the Lord. For me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain.
Christ has delivered us from that terrible fear of death,
and fear of judgment, and fear of condemnation. We're free.
And then in the fifth place, this is freedom. to come boldly
to the throne of grace through Christ our Mediator. We have
a freedom, a freedom of access to God. When Joe stood up here
tonight and led us in prayer, that's something that he could
not, must not, would not do in Old Testament day. He would have
first gone to the priest, he would have taken his sacrifice,
he would have waited outside until the priest took the blood,
went into the holy place, made intercession, made petition to
God, prayed for forgiveness, came out, and so forth. But now
we have liberty, we have freedom of access to the very throne
of God through Jesus Christ our Mediator. To call God our Father,
to come and offer our sacrifices, Just like the priest of old offered
their sacrifices of blood, we offer sacrifices of praise, of
faith, of love. We have freedom, freedom of access
to the throne of God himself. And then in the sixth place,
this is a freedom to use those things which are called by the
old timers indifferent things, such as meat and drink, all meat.
such as marriage, home and children, clothing, hairstyles, activities,
social entertainment, the use, the free use of things created
by God, things called indifferent, things which are not specifically
forbidden in the writings of the apostles, so long as they
are done in faith. Now, that which is not of faith
is sin. So long as they're done in faith,
so long as they're done in moderation and temperance, so long as they're
done with thanksgiving to God and without disturbing the unity
and the peace and the edification and the conscience of true believers. Now that's so. The Apostle Peter
talked to the Lord about never having eaten certain meat because
it was unclean, it was a controversy, in the book of Corinthians about
eating certain things, the controversy about so many steps on the Lord's
Day, washing hands before eating and all those things. This freedom
is the free use of those things which are indifferent, such as
meat and drink, such as marriage, home, children, clothing, hairstyles,
entertainment, activities, so long as it's done in faith. Now
remember that. And so long as it's done in moderation
and temperance, with thanksgiving to God, we'll read that in just
a few moments in the book of Timothy, and without disturbing
the unity, we're not to look on our own things. We look on
the things of others, so long as we do not disrupt the peace,
so long as we do not offend the conscience, the true conscience,
not of a person who picks at things and finds fault by nature,
but the true conscience of a true believer. Now, we have this liberty. Now, that's what he's talking
about. That's a definition of Christian liberty. And, Paul
says, you stand fast in that liberty. You stand fast in that
liberty. Where do we get that liberty?
Freedom from sin. Freedom from the ceremonial law.
Freedom from the moral law as a covenant of works. Freedom
from fear. Why shouldn't I fear death? I'm
going to die. Why shouldn't I fear judgment?
Scripture says, "...all shall stand before the judgment seat
of Christ." Why shouldn't I fear condemnation? Freedom, access
to the throne of grace, and freedom to enjoy the creatures which
God has made, which he pronounced good. All right? Here's why we have that liberty.
Turn first of all to Romans 8. In Romans 8, now, it says plainly
that you stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you
free. First of all, the reason we have
freedom from sin, the reason I have no sin in the sight of
the Father, the reason I am holy and pure in God's sight, is because
Christ died for my sins. In Romans 8, verse 30, listen
to it, verse 31. Romans 8, 31. What shall we say
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us, He that spared not his own son, but delivered him
up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Christ died for my sins. Christ paid for them. The Scripture
says He blotted them out. He covered them. Christ paid
my sin debt. I don't have any sin. Christ
perfected me by one offering. Now turn with me to the book
of Hebrews chapter 10. I want you to look at this with
me, Hebrews chapter 10. Now back in the Old Testament,
The priests brought the sacrifices. There was the Passover lamb,
and the Lamb of Atonement, and all of these different lambs
that were slain, and the blood was shed, and the blood was put
on the mercy seat, and they had the morning sacrifice and the
evening sacrifice. There were rivers of blood, just
literally rivers of blood in the Old Testament. There were
multiplied thousands of sacrifices and thousands of lambs slain. Now, if these Old Testament sacrifices
could have put sin away, as Christ put sin away, they would have
ceased to have been offered. In other words, when a person
brought the lamb and slew the lamb and put its blood on the
mercy seat, if that took sin away and put sin away, there
would be no need to put another sacrifice, or killing another
lamb or spilling another drop of blood. That's what he's saying
here. Now look at Hebrews 10.1. For the law, having a shadow,
of good things to come, and not the very image of those things,
can never, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers down to perfect or
without sin. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? Because if the worshipers once
purged would have no more conscience of sin. In other words, if these
Old Testament sacrifices could have put sin away, you wouldn't
have offered them anymore. Christ came and died once. He
offered one sacrifice and he did put sin away. He totally,
effectually, sufficiently put it away. Therefore, he need not
die again. No more sacrifice needs to be
offered. Now look at verse 11 through
18. That's what it says here. Hebrews 10. 11 through 18. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected, and that word
means just what it says, perfected. He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us that Christ has put our sins away, for after
that he had said before, this is the covenant I will make with
them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law into
their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission
of sin is, there is no more offering for sin. Our sins are gone. They are no more. We are perfected. We are sanctified. We are holy. We have no sin. Look back at
Hebrews 9.26. In the last line of Hebrews 9.26
it says, But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared
to put away sin. How? By the sacrifice of himself. We're free from sin. We have
no sin. That's the reason we want to
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. He hath
put our sins away. They don't even exist. Now, if
you don't believe that, you better get you another sacrifice. Because
that's what they did in the Old Testament. They just kept on
bringing these sacrifices because these sacrifices couldn't do
the job. They were pictures, they were
types, they were not effectual sacrifices. They kept bringing
them. And the reason they kept bringing them is because sin
was never purged by those sacrifices. If there had been, they would
have quit bringing them. But when our Lord came, the Lamb
of God, when Christ came, He took our sins in His body on
the tree and died for them. And the debts paid, and the sin
is cancelled, and God says, I remember them no more. Now, if that's
not true, we'd better hunt us another sacrifice. We'd better
hunt us another sacrifice if that's not true, because it clearly
says right here in God's Word that this man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice, sat down, having perfected every one of his people. All right? Secondly, stay in
Hebrews 10 there a minute now, this ceremonial law, the Mosaic
law, the Levitical law and so forth, all of these types, the
tabernacle, the priesthood, the incense, the slaying of the animals,
the washings and fastings and feastings and holy days and Sabbaths
and all these things we're talking about here, Christ has fulfilled
every one of these ceremonies, these types and requirements
of the ceremonial law. Look at Hebrews 10, let's begin
with verse 5. Hebrews 10. Wherefore, when he
cometh into the world, He said, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sins, the millions of them, thou hast no pleasure. Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book is
written of me. He died for our sins according to the Scripture.
He was buried and rose again according to the Scripture. He
intercedes according to the Scriptures. All of it was according to the
Old Testament. To do thy will, O God, above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither hast pleasure therein which are offered by the law
of the ceremonial law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God, he taketh away the first, that he may establish
the second." What was the first? It was the ceremonial law. It
was the pictures and the type. That was first. The picture of
Christ came before the revelation of Christ. The prophecy of Christ
came before the personal coming of Christ. All of these were
pictures, but when he came, he takes away the first and establishes
the second. And there is no, absolutely no
requirement laid down in that ceremonial law that is binding
on a believer today. Circumcision, Sabbath-keeping,
holy days, Ritualism, ordinances, ceremonies, feasts, every bit
of that has been fulfilled by Christ. And we're not to seek
that bondage. We're not to fall back into that
bondage and hope by performing those things to find favor with
God. It's just not that Christ fulfilled it. Totally incomplete. Turn to Galatians 3. Let me show
you something here. Now, if you read the book of
Galatians with that in mind, that he's talking mainly Not
about the Ten Commandments, but the ceremonial law, the laws
of types and shadows and ceremonies and rituals. Look at Galatians
3, verse 23. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, under the ceremonial law. They must fulfill
and obey those things. Shut up unto the faith which
should afterward be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster. to teach us of Christ, to bring
us to Christ, to reveal Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. After faith has come, we are
no longer under the schoolmaster. Don't go back. Don't let any
man put you back. Look at Galatians 2, verse 11. Galatians 2, verse 11. Go back
there a moment. And this is what happened in
the early church there when Paul rebuked Peter. In Galatians 2
verse 11, now when Peter was come to Antioch, Paul said, I
withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. Now let's
look at this, and let's not be too hard on the Apostle Peter
if we're guilty of the same thing, putting men under another dispensation
of works. Galatians 2 verse 12, For before
that certain came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But
when these fellows were come, he withdrew and separated himself,
fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews
dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas was carried
away with their dissimulation. And when I saw, Paul said, that
they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I
said to Peter before every one of them, Now if you being a Jew,
live after the manner of the Gentiles and not as do the Jews.
In other words, you're not following the ceremonial law. You're not
following these requirements, circumcision and so forth. Why
do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews? We who are
Jews by nature are not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified." I said, Peter, you know that. And if,
while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also
have found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God
forbid! If I build again the things which
I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." So Christ has delivered us from
that. Look at Galatians 4 a moment. One other scripture here. Galatians
4, verse 9 through 11. And this is writing about that
same ceremonial law. But now, after that you have
known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to
the weak and beggarly elements? Why would you want to go back
to these days and feasts and ceremonies and rituals and baptisms
and circumcisions? Why would you want to go back
to the weak, beggarly elements? Whereunto you desire again to
be in bondage? You observe days and months and
times and years. I'm afraid of you, Paul said.
lest I have bestowed upon you labor and vain." And I'll tell you another verse
here in Galatians 4.21. Here's a good question. Tell
me, you that desire to be under the law, you don't hear the law? Do you hear the law? Do you know
what that law requires? It doesn't require just what
you can do. It requires what you can't do. It doesn't require
just what you think, but what you don't know anything about,
too. It doesn't require only what you can meet, it requires
what you can't meet. Christ has delivered, he has
fulfilled us, fulfilled for us every ceremony. Thirdly, now
here's where we get into something that needs to be discussed. Matthew
5. Here's the third thing. Christ obeyed the moral law and
gave to us a perfect righteousness before that law, before that
moral law. Now then, let's look at Matthew
5, verse 17. Let's everybody go there now.
Matthew 5, 17. You got it? Christ is speaking
here, and he says, Think not that I am come to destroy the
law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but
to fulfill. What law is he talking about
there? The moral law. He's talking about, Thou shalt
have no other God before me. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. Thou shalt not bow down to a
graven image. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet. This is
the moral law he's talking about here. And the reason I say it's
the moral law is because of what follows. And we're going to read
what follows. Now listen to it. He said, I
didn't come to destroy the law. Barnard said, what people think
today is God used to be holy. But now, he has made it a little
easier, he's whittled that law down and made it a little easier
for people to be redeemed by their works. That's not so. Now
listen. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass,
not one jot or one tittle, that's just the marking. except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
God." Now, this Ten Commandments he's talking about here, our
Lord said, I didn't come to destroy the law of God, the perfect holy
law of God, the moral law of God, I didn't come to destroy
that, I came to fulfill it. Why, till heaven and earth pass
away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from God's law till
it all be fulfilled. And this law, this moral law,
was the Pharisees' standard of righteousness. That's what they
held to. That's how they believed that
they were accepted by God. They did not kill, they did not
steal, they did not commit adultery, they did not lie, they did not
bow down to images, they did not break the Sabbath day, they
fulfilled. You remember Paul said, I was
a Pharisee, and concerning the law I was blameless? And that's
the way they thought they had favor with God, by keeping that
moral law. But here Christ said now, but
wait a minute, this can't be your standard of righteousness
because you've got to have a righteousness that exceeds theirs. Now turn
over to the next page in your Bible, verse 21. And Christ interprets
the law. Christ Jesus, our Lord, sets
forth the spiritual meaning of the law. Now let's look at it.
You've heard it said by them of old times, thou shalt not
kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.
But I say unto you, whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Whosoever shall
say to thy brother, Bainfellow, in other words, you hold him
in contempt, shall be in danger of the counsel. But whosoever
shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. In other
words, the Master is saying here, this law that says, thou shalt
not kill, if you're seeking to have a righteousness that will
be accepted of the Father based on that law, thou shalt not kill,
you can't even think an evil thought toward a brother. You
can't even hold him in contempt. You can't even wish him evil. You've got to have a perfect,
not only action toward him, but attitude toward him. So you see
the impossibility of human nature ever fulfilling that love. Now
look down here at verse 27. You have heard that it was said
by them of old times, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say
unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her,
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. So
here, this sin is a heart sin. It's an attitude. It's a spirit. And then you go on and read down
here in verse 33, and again you've heard it said by them of old
times, I shall not forswear thyself, but shall perform unto the Lord
thine oaths. In other words, if you vow a
vow to God, you better keep it. Well, he says, I'll go further
than that. I say, you swear not at all. Neither by heaven, it's
God's throne, nor by the earth, it's God's footstool, nor by
Jerusalem, it's the city of the great king, nor by your head,
because you can't make one hair white or black. Just let your
communication be yay, yay, nay, nay. Anything more than that,
come it of evil. You've heard it said by them
of old time, verse 38, a knife and iron, a tooth for a tooth.
I say resist, not evil. Anybody slaps you on one cheek,
turn the other. He takes away your coat, give
him your cloak. If he makes you walk a mile,
go two. Verse 43, you've heard it said, Thou shalt love thy
neighbor and hate thy enemy. I say, love your enemies. Bless
them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you. Now, let me tell you
something. When preachers labor hard and
long to set forth the Ten Commandments as the rule of life, I say they're doing the same
thing that the Pharisee did. That was their rule of life.
They thought they had life by keeping that rule. They thought
they had righteousness by walking according to that law. And our
Lord Jesus Christ came along and said that our righteousness
has got to exceed theirs, and then he translated and interpreted
the law. And he said this holy moral law
of God, like I said now, it's still, in effect, He said, you
can't break the law and teach men so. We're not supposed to
kill and steal and covet and lie and commit adultery and blaspheme
and use vulgar language and these things. No, sir. We're to walk according to holiness
of life, but the law goes deeper than that. The holy law of God
requires perfect love. It requires me not only to love
my friends, but to love my enemies. And that's an impossibility for
me. So I'm under the curse, unless
somebody obeys that law. So Christ came and fulfilled
that law perfectly. When they slapped him, he turned
the other cheek. When they despitefully used him,
he answered not again. He loved his enemies. He prayed
for them which despitefully used him. He did exactly what that
said. He fed them when they hungered and he gave them drink when they
were thirsty. His eyes never flashed in anger. He never thought. One thought
of sin. They took his coat and he gave
them his cloak. They compelled him to walk a
mile, dragging a cross, and he walked it. That's so. And he actually, but now this
is the thing about this rule of life business. is that, yes,
our rule of life, Ronnie, is this interpretation right here.
That's our rule of life. It's the rule of love. To love
God with all my heart and my neighbor as myself. Now, if you
stand up here Sunday after Sunday and just write the Ten Commandments
up there and say, walk by them, well, if that's all they say,
I'll do it. I'll do it. But they say a whole
lot more than that. They say something to the heart.
They say something to the imagination. They say something to the thoughts.
They say something to the whole being of man. And I'm free from
that law and its curse and condemnation and its charges and its convictions
because before God right now, I kept that law in the person
of His Son. I kept it. Now, as far as the
rule of life is concerned, the way we walk today, And I would
go on record, if anybody hears this message by tape or anywhere
else later on, any man that takes the Ten Commandments and breaks
them and teaches men to break them is a fool. He doesn't know
God. But to say that a man can attain
a righteousness and an acceptance with God by keeping those laws,
he too is a fool. But to say that Jesus Christ
has fulfilled and given us a perfect, spotless righteousness before
the Father is a wise man. All right, the fourth thing,
that Christ has delivered us from the fear of death because
he died. Turn to John 12. John 12. You know, if you're going somewhere
that nobody's ever been before, now that's fearful. That's fearful. I don't want to inspect a cave
nobody's ever been in. But if somebody's gone there
before I did and I see his footprints and he's hung some lights along
the wall, I'll be glad to go. And that's what my Lord's done.
He's already walked the valley of death. He's already gone down
into the tomb and he left his footprints going in and coming
out. And he also put a light in there,
his word. And I'm not afraid. In John 12,
In John 12, verse 21, Lazarus had died, and Martha said, Lord, if you'd been
here, my brother would not have died. Is that John 12? I've got the wrong
one. But anyway, she said, my brother
would not have died if you had been here. And our Lord said
to her, he said, don't you believe that I am the resurrection and
the life? And he that believeth on me shall
never die. Now turn, if you will, to 2 Corinthians
5. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1 through
8. Listen to this, 2 Corinthians
5, 1 through 8. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, We have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
In this body of this tabernacle we groan, earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our houses, our house which is from heaven.
It so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For
we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not
for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality
might be swatted up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for
the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest
or promise or token of his Spirit. Therefore we are always confident,
knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent
from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight, and we are confident, I say, and willing rather to
be absent from the body than to be present with the Lord."
We have that promise, that confidence. I've got to move along. All right,
turn to 1 Timothy 4. In the 6th place, in the 5th
place, Christ has given us freedom to come to the throne of grace.
1 Timothy 4. Christ has sanctified for the
believer all things which he hath made that to be received
with thanksgiving. Moderation, templates, faith,
and so forth, like I gave you a while ago. But let's watch
this now. 1 Timothy 4. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly. that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their
conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding
to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received
with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For
every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if
it be received with thanksgiving. Remember when in Genesis 1.31
he pronounced everything good that he made? For it is sanctified
by the word of God in prayer. And if you put the brethren in
remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister
of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith, good doctrine,
whereunto thou hast attained. Now don't go back to our text
in Galatians. Paul says, let us stand fast
in this liberty. wherewith Christ has made us
free. And let's not become entangled again in the yoke of bondage. John Gill said this, now listen,
any action, whatever, even if it be reading my Bible a certain
number of chapters every day, even if it be arising at a certain
hour of the day to pray, even if it be distributing my goods
to the poor, even if it be selecting and setting apart a certain part
of my income, called the tithe. Any action, whatever, performed
in a religious way in order for acceptance with
God, or to find favor with God, or to give me peace and comfort
in my soul, is a yoke of bondage. How do you think about that?
It's a yoke of bondage. And that's why Paul is asking,
why would a man turn to these things? You know why? I'll give
you three reasons, and I've got to give you this as part of the
message. First of all, this is Satan's strategy, to take you
away from the simplicity of Christ. There's nothing Satan had rather
we do than get bogged down in trying to establish for ourselves
a righteousness before God. This is also the ministry of
false prophets. Go back in Galatians 2.4. Turn
back there a minute and listen. Galatians 2.4. And that because of false brethren,
unawares, brought in who came in privately to spy out our liberty
which we have in Christ that they might bring us into bondage. That's their purpose. Now I'm
going to give you something else here. Why would a person become
entangled in some kind of efforts, some kind of religious action
that makes, trying to make ourselves accepted by God, or find favor
with God, or give peace to our hearts, make us feel religious
and holy? Well, Satan, that's his strategy.
And secondly, the false prophets, that's what they build on. They
don't know Christ, they can't point you to Christ, so they
have to point you to something to do. But now watch, this will
amaze you. Our own flesh is the enemy of salvation by grace. That's right. Not only Satan
out there is using this strategy to get your mind off Christ and
keep you from trusting Christ wholly and completely, bringing
you to rest on something else, but your own flesh. Let me show
you something here. Human nature always did kick
against salvation by grace alone, and it always will. Even Christians
like to find some reason in themselves To feel good. That's right. And to feel holy. And to feel
saved. And to find some assurance. Even
believers, even right here and up here. This human flesh does that. Christ is our hope. Christ is our foundation. Christ
is our reason for acceptance with God, only Christ, but yet
that's not enough. The Bible says we're complete
in Him, we're justified in Him, we're accepted in Him, we're
redeemed in Him. But oh, how good it feels when
we pray the good prayer, when we preach the good sermon, like
when we sung a good song, when we've made our contribution,
when we maybe helped somebody bear their load, or maybe we've
gone through the day without losing our temper, or we've done
these things, we feel real good. We've studied, we've read the
Bible a whole lot, and our flesh is an ally to the enemy. But here's what Mr. Spurgeon
said, now you listen to it. Our hope of acceptance, of redemption,
stands on pure grace alone, sovereign grace, grace unqualified. God
blesses us because He's good, not because we're good. God saves
us because He's gracious, not because we're gracious. God accepts
us because of what Christ has done, not for anything we've
done. God blesses us according to His great love wherewith He
loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sin, not because
of any contribution we made to Him since that time. Can you
take that? That's the only basis. Now let
me show you something else. I'm preaching too long, I know
that, but let's go back to Galatians 5, our text. If you learn this,
if we learn this, it's something that has to be relearned all
the time. But if you learn it, you've got a foundation for some
assurance, for some confidence, for some peace. Now go back to
verse 1. Let's look at it. Galatians 5.
Now you stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made you free. And you, those six things I told
you are free for. Don't become entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Don't submit to Satan or false
preachers. Don't even let anybody intimate.
that baptism makes any contribution to your acceptance with God,
or a sacrament, or a holy day, or a tithe, or a Bible reading,
or a good life. But I know they have their place,
but not before God for justification. Christ hath made us free, you
see that? You don't do it, Christ did it.
Now look at the next line, Behold I, Paul, say unto you, Now, here's
the seriousness of it. If you be circumcised, Christ
profits you nothing. Now, here's what Paul is saying.
There was fellows that came in that Gentile church and said
to those Gentiles, now, Christ died for us, that's right. But
now, back here in the Old Testament, back here, it commanded every
son of Abraham to be circumcised. Now, so you better do it. You
better do it. And they preached this. Preachers
today are preaching Holy Spirit conviction to the point that
they make it a work, Charlie. They make it a work. And they
tell you, you've got to grieve so long, and mourn so long, and
beg so long, and seek the Lord so long, and that very thing.
That's because they did it, see. This fellow back here did it.
The old Puritan did it. Somebody else did it. They mourned
a part. They wept a part. And they make
you do what they did. The same thing, and they're requiring
certain things, even the sprinkling of an infant. Any action, any
religious action that you take in order to be accepted with
God or find favor with God becomes a yoke of bondage. It becomes
a ritual just like circumcision, and you listen to what it says.
If you do that, I tell you, Christ will profit you nothing. Boy,
let me tell you something, that's something to think about, isn't
it? That's what Paul told that church at Galatia. All right,
you go on and do what those preachers tell you to do. Go on and be
circumcised, but I guarantee you, when you do, he says, you
wipe out the benefits of his blood. He'll profit you nothing.
Not that there's anything wrong with being circumcised. According
to some doctors, it's wise for a young boy or baby to be circumcised
for a lot of reasons. But not for acceptance with God.
It's alright to be baptized, take the Lord's Supper, and give
your income, and attend church, and read your Bible, and pray,
and go through all these things. Alright, but not for salvation.
If you do it for that, that's what motivates you. Alright,
look at the next verse. Verse 3, I testify again to every
man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole
lot. All right, this preacher goes
to preaching tithing. If I get up here and start saying,
you can't be saved if you don't tithe. Everybody takes that,
everybody believes it. You better buy him an Old Testament
and go study it, because he's got a lot more to do than that.
He's got a whole lot more to do than that. He's got a whole
lot of full faith. He'd better find out how many
steps they walked on the Sabbath day. He'd better find out how
many lambs to bring every year, because he's got to bring them.
He'd better find out all these things. He's a debtor. I testify
to you that every man that takes a religious action in order for
God to smile on him, he's got a whole lot more to do. And when
he's done it all, God'll send him to hell, because he's left
something off. It's serious. Verse 4, "...because
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
justified by the law, you've fallen from grace." You've departed
from grace. You've left the gospel of grace. You're back under the old dispensation
and the mosaic economy, and you'll never be saved. That's the seriousness
of it. So these fellows that come along
here and talk about, oh, certain things, you're not, if you're
not, don't do this, you're not saved, you don't do that, you're
not saved, you don't do something else, you're not saved, I tell
you, there's just one way to be saved, and that's by believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 5. For we through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Not by words. Not by deeds. It's been a long message, and
I've said a whole lot and read a whole lot, but I tell you,
I've never preached a more important message, have I? Never have. I never have. Now, I tell you,
and we talk about good moral people and religious people.
I'm sure there's some fine ones, but I'll tell you this. The only
way to be accepted in God's sight is by faith in Christ, that's
all. Justified by faith, as a message of the Reformation, as a message
of the Apostle Paul. And God took the man who was
the deepest, steeped in these rituals, and made him the champion
of justification by grace. He took the Apostle Paul, who
was the deepest, steeped the deepest, educated the deepest,
bound up the tightest, walking the most rigid way of trying
to justify himself with God and establish a righteousness, he
took that very man and made him the champion of what I'm trying
to preach to you tonight. You better stand in the liberty
where with Christ it made you free. And I mean free. Not free
to practice sin, you know better than that. Not using your liberty
as a cloak for lasciviousness, you know better than that. Not
freedom from Christian principles and practice and duties and responsibilities,
you know better than that. But to do anything. If we're
going to have a meeting here next week, and we say, God will
help us if we'll all meet here and pray all night. Well, forget
it. That's right, Bob. Now, we may
be burdened to pray all night. That's a different story. You
may be burdened to pray all night, and you may pray all night because
you're burdened, and God blessed. But if you do it and organize
it in order to gain God's favor, God only looks to Christ. That's
where I find God's favor in Christ. And the same thing is true of
giving. That's the reason this thing is, it's got to be, like
I said, I'll make some folks angry with this because it has
to be revealed by the Holy Spirit. But as we give, I believe in
tithing. I believe in giving you offerings
above the tithe. The Old Testament saints could
tithe under that dispensation. The least I can do is give as
much as they gave under the gospel. But brethren, not for favor with
God, but because I want to. Say your child is sitting at
the table, and he's made a dollar cutting grass, and he's got ten
dimes there, and you pull one dime out and say, that, son,
that belongs to the Lord. And he says, well, I don't want
to do that, that's my dime. No, son, it belongs to the Lord.
Let the boy have his dime back. Unless he wants to get it. Unless
he wants to get it. Because God's not going to bless
him. You took it away from him. You took it away. He didn't give
anything. You made him do it. You forced him to do it. You
drove him to do it. God's not going to bless that. So I don't
know how to explain this. It can't be explained. It has
to be revealed. But walking with Christ is motivated
by love for Christ, because we love Him. And I'm not going to
tell you to go out and win souls. If you love Christ, you will.
If you don't, you won't do any good. I notice I don't harp on
people coming to church. You can come if you want to.
If you love Christ, you will. But if you come in order for
God to bless you, stay home. The Lord's not going to reward
your deeds. He's going to reward His Son.
The love of Christ constrains me. In any action, don't become
entangled in Jewish bondage, because Christ has set us free.
I'm free. I'm free." That old bird's free to fly.
God's given him wings, and he soars through God's heaven, because
that's where he likes to be. Our Father in Heaven, honor Thy
Word. Give us some understanding how
complicated is human religion, how bound up are men in human
tradition. How desperately we by nature
seek favor with God, acceptance with God by what we've done,
but when we look into our hearts we see nothing but sin. Even
our repentance needs to be repented of, and our tears need to be
washed in the blood of Christ. There's nothing good about us.
In the flesh no man can please God. But we look to Christ. We look to Christ. He is our
wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption.
In Him we have all things. Quite a refuge, quite a hiding
place. Deliver us, O Lord, by the precious
blood of Thy beloved Son. In His name we pray, Amen.

Stand Fast In the Liberty of Christ

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Stand Fast In the Liberty of Christ

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