Bibles this evening to Galatians
chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, and we will
be looking tonight at verses 13, 14, and 15. It's been a couple of weeks now, but
we ended last time with verse 12. And I made this statement
that Paul's love of Christ, his love of the gospel of the grace
of God, and his love for the believers in the churches of
Galatia to whom he wrote this letter was such, was so much
his love that he desired the false teachers to be cut off. I would they were even cut off
which trouble you. Remember this is the same one
who said concerning his countrymen that he could wish himself accursed
from Christ that they might know him. And now these disturbers,
these false teachers, he says I wish or I would that they were
even cut off. these men that trouble you. False
prophets, false teachers are plague to the church, a plague
to God's people. We see that all through the Old
Testament, all through the New Testament, we are warned that
there will be many who will come in Christ's name, but they're
deceivers. They're wolves, even though they
are dressed in sheep's clothing. They're hirelings. Now tonight
we begin looking at the words of Paul, in which he shows that
liberty, that is the liberty that believers have, is not to
be misunderstood, to be licensed, to be a license to sin. You know
in verse 1, if you look back to verse 1 of this chapter, he
told those of us who trust in Christ to stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. Stand fast therefore in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now in Verse 13,
he says, For brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only
use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve
one another. For all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one
another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. First, tonight as we look at
these three verses, first let us think again of the liberty
to which believers are called. Notice the text says, for brethren,
you have been called unto liberty. He addresses them as brethren.
We've pointed this out all along, that Paul, writing to the churches
of Galatia, considered these to be true believers. But they
had been turned aside. They had been deceived. or taken
advantage of by false teachers. But all along, Paul addresses
them as brethren. That is, as part of the family
of God. The household of God. Isn't it
wonderful to be born into the family of God? The family of
God. The household of God. And that's
the way Paul considered and addressed these. A few weeks ago we thought
about Christ proclaiming liberty to the captives and loosing the
prisoners. You remember that verse of scripture
in Luke chapter 4, when the Lord Jesus Christ came back to Nazareth,
the city in which he had lived as a youth. He had been baptized
of John in the river Jordan. He had been in the wilderness
being tempted of Satan for 40 days. And then he returned to
Nazareth and he took the book on that first Sabbath. After
he returned, he took the book, and he found the place where
it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach, now here it is, to
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty. Notice those two things, to preach
deliverance to the captives. Only captives need to be delivered. And liberty, to set at liberty
them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. As sinners, and all of us are,
by nature. We come into this world, the
scripture says that we go astray from the womb, speaking lies.
No one other than Adam has ever become a sinner by sinning. The rest of us, we have inherited
a sinful nature and we come into this world as sinners and that
means that we are captives. that we are prisoners. But yet
the Apostle Paul here tells us, for brethren you have been called
unto liberty. As sinners we were captives,
we were prisoners, but Christ has called us to set us free. Now this call that we read of
here in our text, for brethren you have been called unto liberty,
We know that this is what we call that effectual call, that
irresistible call of God's grace. Everywhere the gospel is preached
and every time the gospel is preached, there's a general call
that goes out to all men, to everyone who hears. And if that's
the only call a man or a woman hears, it will always be rejected. Why? Because man is dead in trespasses
and sins. But we know that there's also
an effectual call, irresistible grace. And when God calls irresistibly
His people, He said, My sheep hear My voice, and they follow
Me. Keep your place here, but look
over a few pages to 2 Timothy chapter 1. We love to think about this call,
this gracious call, this efficacious call. In 2 Timothy chapter 1
and verse 9, let me begin with verse 8. Be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor
of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God. Who hath saved us? God. That's the antecedent of
who, right? Who has saved us? Salvation is
of the Lord. It's not a joint operation between
God and man. Salvation is the work of God
Almighty. Work of the triune God. The Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Notice, who have saved us and
called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. This is that effectual,
irresistible call. He called us by His gospel to
Christ, to His Son, to trust in Him, to believe in Him as
our Lord and Savior, to follow Him, to obey Him. We were, of
course, spiritually dead under the curse of the law. We lived
in fear of death. We were under the rule of Satan. We were in bondage to sin. But
when Christ called us, and if He's never called you, you still
tonight are in bondage. You still are a captive. But
if Christ has called you to trust in Him, then He has loosed you. You were a prisoner. You were
a captive. But he has delivered you from
the bondage of sin. He has set you free. That's the liberty Paul is speaking
of in our text. For brethren, you have been called
unto liberty. Now this liberty, I know I haven't
said anything thus far that you haven't heard. before that you're
not familiar with, and I probably won't the rest of the message,
but pay attention. This liberty or freedom that
Christ gives us does not mean that we are never tempted again
to sin. It does not mean that Satan will
never present his ugly self again to tempt us And it certainly
does not mean that we will never be guilty of sin. In our Lord's prayer, the model
prayer that he gave his disciples when they asked him to teach
them to pray, you remember two of those requests, lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And God's people
will continue to pray that prayer as long as we are in this world. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. That's what the
Apostle John tells us. Sin does remain, but now here,
listen. Sin does remain in every believer,
even though he's been called to liberty, he's been set free
from the bondage of sin. Sin remains, but it no longer
reigns. It is no longer in that place
of reigning in the heart of God's people. The Apostle Paul in Romans
chapter 6 said this, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body, that you should obey the lust thereof. In every child
of God, every one of us here tonight who are truly saved,
we have a new nature. It's referred to as a new man.
But we also continue to have what Paul here in our text refers
to as the flesh. Look at the text again, Galatians
5 and verse 13. For brethren, you have been called
unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. The flesh. Now he's not talking
about this body of flesh. That's not what he means. He's
speaking about what he calls in another place, the body of
sin. In another place, the old man. There's one verse of scripture
where he uses both of these terms together. In Romans chapter 6,
in verse 6, he said, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. Notice he
mentions both, our old man and the body of sin. The old man
is crucified with him that is with Christ that the body of
sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin. I remember a man several years
ago the Lord saved and he was under the impression this has
been several years ago but he was under the impression that
when the Lord saved him he would never sin again and you can imagine
his disappointment. His disappointment because Solomon
said there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and
sinneth not. There are just men upon the earth.
There are those who have been justified. There are just men
upon the earth but there's no just man upon the earth that
doeth good and sinneth not. You're well aware of this, I
know. The Lord Jesus said that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. It was born of the flesh and
it will remain flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. That which is born of the Spirit
is the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness. But until we leave this world,
until We leave this world in death or the Lord comes for us.
Every believer, every child of God, we will have to continue
to deal with the flesh, the old man, the body of sin. We're going to continue to deal
with that as long as we remain in this world. There's no quick
fix. You know, everyone would like to have some kind of an
experience, you know. and all of a sudden we've left
that old man behind. Look over in Colossians. We saw
this Sunday in the Sunday school class in Colossians chapter 3. where the apostle exhorts, verse
17, whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of
the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. And then there's a list of admonitions
that we are to do. And look in Ephesians. Ephesians
chapter 4 and verse 22. Ephesians 4 and verse 22. That you put off concerning the
former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lust. And be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. So, the first
thing we see, let us think, again of the liberty to which believers
are called. We are freed, we're no longer
captives to the fear of death, to the curse of the law, to the
rule of Satan, or to the bondage of sin. When Christ called us,
he set us free. If you've heard his voice in
the gospel, he has set you free. Now second, back in our text,
let us acknowledge our need of words of caution. For brethren, you have been called
unto liberty only. Use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh. Words of caution. The Apostle
Peter, turn with me, keep your place here if you will, but turn
with me to the Gospel of John. And let's look in chapter 21, beginning with verse 15. This
is when our Lord appeared to the disciples after his resurrection. So when they had dined, Jesus
saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed
my sheep. Now notice, two times, two times,
here's the third time when the Lord asks Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me? Now notice, Peter was grieved. He wasn't grieved the first time.
He wasn't grieved the second time. But the third time when
our Lord asked him, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter
was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou
me? And he said unto him, Lord thou
knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith
unto him, feed my sheep. The Lord in his wisdom knew what
was best for Peter in his restoration. Even so, here's my point, even
so we should know that we need these words. We as God's children
We, as being set free or called unto liberty, we should recognize
that we need these words of caution. We do. As believers in the grace
of God, we must not confuse liberty with libertarianism. In the letter of Jude, we are
told that there were certain men associated with the gospel
who were guilty of this very thing. They would turn the liberty
that we have in the gospel of the grace of God into lasciviousness
or licentiousness. Now, in their case, if you want
to look in Jude, it's verse 4. In their case, they were lost
men. There's no question about this. Because the apostle tells
us so. Jude verse 4 says, For there
are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ. They were lost men in reality,
but the point is they turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. In other words, they took the
truth that we are saved by grace apart from any works on our part. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. We are saved by grace, and grace
alone through the work of Jesus Christ. But to take that message
and then to imply that it doesn't matter how we live. It makes no difference how we
live, how we conduct ourselves in this world because we are
saved by grace. In fact, It seems that the Apostle
Paul, we know he was accused of teaching such a doctrine that
the more people sin, the more they experience the grace of
God. That's the reason you see several times in the letter of
Romans that very strong denial, God forbid! God forbid that I
would ever teach such a thing, that I would ever imply such
a thing. No, no. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid! That's how Paul answered
that, isn't it? God forbid! How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? Every believer is dead
to the condemning power of sin, but no believer is dead to the
tempting power of sin. And you know this is so in every
New Testament letter, every New Testament epistle, and usually
it's in this order. First you have the doctrine,
the teaching, and then the practical that grows out of the doctrine,
the teaching. In every New Testament letter
there's space given to admonish believers to live as becomes
the gospel. There's practices that just do
not become a person who confesses Christ to be their Lord and Savior. Just like their clothes that
we might say just do not become an older person. You know, the
same clothes might look well for a younger person, but they
just don't become an older person. Well, there are things, there
are practices, which just do not become a believer in Jesus
Christ. Living a sinful lifestyle does
not complement the gospel. In Philippians 1 and verse 27,
the apostle said, only let your conversation, and you know he's
not just talking about our speech, that's included of course, but
our lifestyle. Our lifestyle. Only let your
conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. I was thankful
the other day at the funeral home that the funeral director
made a comment to me, something like this. She said, she said,
the people who are coming dress appropriately. And I said, yes,
most of them are members of our congregation. And she said, well,
you wouldn't believe some of the things that we see at funerals.
I said, yeah, I believe it. I believe it. I have no trouble
at all believing it. Why? Because most people think,
as they call casual, casual. There's nothing casual about
worshipping God Almighty. Now that's just so. And yes,
even our clothes, the way we dress. should testify that we believe
in the gospel of the grace of God. It doesn't give us a license. This is the point we're making.
Paul is warning and giving them these words of caution. Only
use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh. Look with me in
Romans 6. Romans chapter 6. And Paul deals
with this subject in Romans 6 and 7, doesn't he? He deals with
this through these two chapters especially. But in Romans chapter
6, with verse 15, he asks this question, what then? Shall we
sin because we're not under the law but under grace? Shall we
sin because we've been called unto liberty? Doesn't the gospel, doesn't Christ,
doesn't Christ make a difference in our life? We sang that hymn just a few
minutes ago and I was impressed again with the words, my faith
has found a resting place not in device nor creed. I trust
the ever-living one, his wounds for me to plead. Christ, yes
the gospel of Christ, but Christ himself. Shall we continue in
sin? Shall we sin because we're not
under the law but under grace? God forbid, there's that emphatic
statement again. Know you not that to whom you
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to
whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto
righteousness? But God bethanked that you were
the servants of sin. Now he's writing to believers,
he says, you were. That's true of all of us. And
it may still be true of you tonight. If you have not been set free,
you still are a servant of sin. God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. What does that mean?
You've believed the gospel, that form of doctrine, that teaching,
the gospel of Jesus Christ. The substitutionary work of Jesus
Christ in the place of sinners, for he who knew no sin was made
to be sin. For us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. You have obeyed, you have believed
that form of doctrine. You have believed the gospel
that was delivered unto you. And what happened? Being then
made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
I speak after the manner of men. because of the infirmity of your
flesh. In other words, Paul says, because
of our condition, I'm just using an example that all of us can
understand. I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded
your members, servants, to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity,
even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto
holiness the believers power to reject sin comes from the
Holy Spirit who now lives and dwells in every child of God
now back to our text number three let us receive this exhortation
by love serve one another it appears from verse 15 that there
was strife and contentions and backbiting already in the churches
of Galatia. What is the remedy? What is the
remedy for such conduct? It needs to be dealt with because
if it is left unchecked, it will destroy the peace and the union,
the tranquility of God's church. Well, it's not dealt with by
pointing men to Mount Sinai. That's not the way to deal with
this problem. But it is dealt with by pointing
men again to Mount Calvary, to Christ, to the cross, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. All the law as
to our relationship with others, the apostle tells us, is fulfilled
in one word. One word. Verse 14. For all the
law is fulfilled in one word. Even in this thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. He will say more about this love
as we go on through the chapter of the Lord willing. But this
love is love that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And the liberty
that Christ has called us to and in which we are to stand
is that we might serve one another in love. Now Christ in this,
as in everything, is always our example. The Bible says, for
even Christ pleased not himself. Paul said, for I say through
the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to
think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. As God's
children, as members of his family, as part of this church, All of
us, we have a responsibility, not just to look at ourselves,
how does this please me? How does this benefit me? How
does this serve me? But we are to look at others,
our brothers and sisters in Christ, and see how this may please them,
how this may help them, how this may benefit them, or how it may
not benefit them, my conduct. Now the love which is a product
of the Holy Spirit is described in 1 Corinthians 13 as love that
suffers long, is kind, does not envy, is not easily provoked,
is not puffed up, and does not behave itself unseemly. Now I want you to turn to one
other place. We see this love in Christ. The scripture here,
let me read the scripture again before we look. But, For brethren,
you have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh. But, this is the liberty. Use your liberty like this. By
love, serve one another. Now in John chapter 13, We'll just read a portion of
this for time's sake, but beginning with verse 3, John chapter 13,
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his
hands. Did you hear what he said? Jesus knowing that the Father
had given all things into his hands. He's the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. Him knowing that, and that he was come from God
and went to God, he riseth from supper and laid aside his garments. What are we talking about? In
love, serving one another. Christ, who is King of Kings
and Lord of Lords, laid aside his garments, took a towel, and
girded himself. After that he poured water into
a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Now look down
to verse 12. So after he had washed their
feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said
unto them, Know you what I have done to you? You call me master
and lord. And you say, well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and Master
have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example
that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither
he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know
these things, happy are you if you do them. It's not just knowing
these things, is it? It's doing these things. The
Lord Jesus performed a needed service for his disciples. He saw a need. No one had met
that need. Their feet needed to be washed.
That was customary in that time. He saw a need. And he met that
need. He in love serving one another. You see what I'm saying? We see
this in the example of Christ. Now, happy are you. Happy are you if you do these
things. May the Lord bless this message
to all of us here this evening.