I pull it up to the house with the keys in it.
I go inside, I grab him, I pull him outside,
and I show him the new car.
I say, all right, pal, it's all yours.
Take her for a spin.
Enjoy your newfound freedom.
But instead of hopping in and peeling off,
let's just say he looks at me and he says,
thanks, Dad, could you give me a ride
to the movie theater in the van, please?
If not, that's fine, I can walk.
I give him a puzzled look and I say,
but I don't think you understand.
I bought you a car.
It's yours.
I got it so that you can use it and enjoy it
and help others with it.
You have a car now, so get into it and drive it.
Why are you choosing not to experience the goodness
of the freedom that I've given you?
Now, you might be thinking,
that is the most unrealistic story ever.
No 16-year-old would receive such a gift
and not enjoy it.
And you would be right.
But unthinkably,
we as believers
can often miss out
on the goodness of a much greater gift
of freedom
that we have been graciously given.
Like Samuel,
in my rather ridiculous story,
those of us who have trusted in Jesus
have been given a marvelous gift
of freedom.
And just as Sammy chose to receive it,
but not enjoy the full experience of it,
we can do the same.
Believers in Jesus
can possess the gift of freedom in Christ,
but not hop into it,
not stand firm in it,
not embrace it,
and enjoy it,
and use it to the full.
And that is Paul's major concern
in Galatians chapter 5.
And actually,
it's one of his major concerns
in the whole letter.
He is simply flabbergasted
that these dear people
would retreat away
from the most precious thing
they have ever been given
and choose not to fully embrace it
and stand firm in it.
So to boil the passage
we're about to dig into together
down to a sentence,
this is what the Spirit of God
is saying to us.
If Jesus has set you free,
stand firm in your freedom.
If Jesus has set you free,
stand firm in your freedom.
Well, let's unpack that sentence
in the three main parts of this passage.
In verse 1,
it's the main point.
It's the command.
Stand firm.
So we're going to look at that briefly.
The command.
And then the next two sections,
verses 2 to 6
and verses 7 to 12,
there are two ways
that Paul is giving us
to live that command out
in real life.
To flesh that command out.
One of those ways
in verses 2 to 6
has to do with our hope.
And the other way
in verses 7 to 12
has to do with truth.
So the command,
something that has to do with hope,
and then truth.
So let's start in verse 1
by looking at this command
to stand firm in our freedom.
For freedom,
Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore,
and do not submit again
to a yoke of slavery.
So Paul gives a command here.
Actually, it's two commands.
They're really just two sides
of the same coin.
Stand firm,
do not submit again
to a yoke of slavery.
But before we kind of
dig into that command,
we need to back up
and hear the statement
that provides the basis
for the command
at the very beginning
of the verse.
For freedom,
Christ has set you free.
Now as 21st century Americans,
we hear the word freedom,
and we either think
of William Wallace
riding back and forth
on his horse
telling the Scottish freedom,
or we think of
fluttering American flag.
We think of human rights,
of democratic liberty
for individuals.
That's what we think of
when we think of freedom.
That's not what Paul's
talking about here.
How do we know that?
Well, this statement
is not just coming out
of nowhere.
Paul has been mounting
a theological juggernaut
of an argument
in chapters 3 and 4
that he's been building
momentum towards this point
for two chapters
that talk about slavery
and freedom
in a very specific way.
It doesn't have to do
with democratic human rights.
As important as those are.
Remember,
the whole issue
for the Galatian Christians
was that some influential
Jewish people
have been making their rounds
in the region of Galatia
and the churches there,
and they have been
patting the backs
of the newly minted
non-Jewish Christians
and saying,
oh, I am so happy
that you are believing
in the God of Israel
and his Messiah, Jesus.
This is wonderful.
Now, you're almost there.
You have nearly become
a part of God's covenant people,
but you're missing something
to really be in
in order to really join the club
and really be okay with God.
You need to observe
the law of Moses
to its full extent.
You need to celebrate
the Jewish Holy Days
and eat kosher food,
and if you really want to belong,
guys, I'm sorry,
but you've got to get circumcised.
Then you'll have
complete confidence
that you are righteous before God
and that he approves of you.
That's how you're fully in.
Well, all of this
actually sounded
kind of appealing
to the Galatian Christians
in one sense.
They were leaning towards it
because those are practical,
visible things
that you can check off a list
and say,
okay, I'm good.
I know I'm okay
because of what I've done
to make sure I'm good with God.
But the problem with this
is that it turns back the clock
on what Jesus has done.
The whole reason Jesus came
was that human beings
have never been able
to keep God's holy law
that he gave to Moses.
Israel never once came close
to achieving the standard
of holiness that God requires.
Look back at chapter 3,
verse 21.
Chapter 3, verse 21.
Is the law then contrary
to the promises of God?
Certainly not.
For if a law had been given
that could give life,
then righteousness would indeed
be by the law.
So Paul's saying here,
the law's not bad.
It's not an evil thing.
It simply has no power
to make you righteous.
It can't give you life.
It can't give you
a right standing with God.
In fact,
all those who relied on the law,
according to chapter 3,
verse 10,
for all those who rely
on works of the law
are under a curse.
For it is written,
cursed be everyone
who does not abide
by all things written
in the book of the law
and do them.
No one can actually
keep the law
and so all those
who rely on the law
were cursed,
were doomed
to be unrighteous
in the law's sight.
But when Jesus came,
as chapter 4,
verse 4 puts it,
he was born of a woman
and he was born
under the law,
under which he actually
kept it.
He's the only one who did.
And then he willingly
became a curse-removing
substitute
for those of us
who broke the law.
And by doing that,
he released all of us
who were under
the curse of the law,
who were enslaved
under the law,
and set us free
from its shame
and its condemnation
and the futile attempts,
the hamster wheel
we have effect
of trying to be right
with God on our own.
And in the passage
immediately before ours,
as Pastor Mack
preached last week,
the Galatians,
by trying to go back
to the law
as a way to be right
before God,
were denying
their true identity
as free sons
and daughters of God.
And they were going
back to slavery.
So what's the freedom
that Paul's talking about?
What's the freedom
for which Christ
has set us free?
It's freedom
from depending
on our own moral efforts
to get right
and stay right
with God.
We're free from that.
Free from any need
to get right
and stay right
with God
on our own,
through our own effort.
And notice what Paul says.
It's for this freedom
that you got set free.
I mean,
it's kind of a
redundant statement.
He doesn't,
it's kind of a duh.
You didn't get set free
to go back to slavery.
You get set free
to be free.
You are to remain free,
to stay free,
to fully experience
the goodness
of that freedom
that Jesus purchased
for us.
It would be unthinkable
to go back.
So that's what the therefore
in verse 1
is there for.
Because Jesus set you
free by grace
so you can actually
remain free
and not return
to your own efforts
as a way to get right
with God,
stand firm.
Stay in it.
Don't go back
to a yoke of slavery
when Jesus has removed it.
So we are free
from depending
on our own efforts
to be right with God
and we must stand firm
in that freedom
and not go back
to slavery.
That's the command.
That's just pretty plain
and simple
and kind of obvious.
But perhaps you're thinking,
okay,
I think I got that.
That makes sense.
What does that look like?
How do I do that?
How do I stand firm
in my freedom
that Christ has purchased
for me?
For the rest of the passage,
Paul gives us two ways
to stand firm
in our freedom.
First way has to do
with hope.
Second way has to do
with truth.
The first way
is in verses 2 to 6.
It's this.
Don't hope
in your visible
human effort.
Hope
in Christ's
unseen righteousness.
Don't hope
in your visible
human effort.
But rather,
hope in Christ's
unseen righteousness.
Right in verse 2,
the big issue
comes out.
for the first time
since chapter 2
of Galatians,
circumcision
gets mentioned.
And apparently,
a whole bunch
of the hullabaloo
going on in Galatia
had to do
with this very
specific,
concrete
ritual
of getting
circumcised.
The non-Jewish
believers
are not
circumcised.
The Jewish
people influencing
them to get
circumcised
were saying,
in order to
really be in,
you've got to
get circumcised.
You've got to
go under the
knife.
At least all
the men
needed to.
But look at
Paul's sharp
warning in verse 2.
If you get
circumcised,
then Christ
is of no
advantage to you
at all.
The false
teachers are saying
they could somehow
mix the grace
of Christ
with human
effort to
produce a recipe
of getting
right with God.
And Paul says,
nope.
God does not
share his glory
with human effort.
It's either
all of grace
or not at all.
It's all of works.
And this is why.
Look at verse 3.
He gives us the reason.
If they get
circumcised as a way
of getting right
with God,
what does he say?
You're obligated
to keep the whole
law.
It means you
have to submit
yourself through
the entire system
of the law
of Moses,
which requires
that they
perfectly obey
the whole law
in order to be
righteous before God
and no one
has ever done
that except
Jesus,
which is the point.
It's got to be
by faith in him.
And he puts it
really starkly
in verse 4.
If you're trying
to get right
with God
through your
obedience to the law,
then you're
severed from Christ.
You're fallen
away from grace.
You've fallen
off the grace train.
The only one
who can save you
then is you.
And then you're
up a creek
because you can't.
You know,
sometimes Paul
is a little bit
hard to understand.
Not here.
It's super clear.
He's repeating
himself over and
over and over again.
It's like,
grace or not grace.
I don't think
you guys get it.
It's this or this.
You either go back
to a slavish dependence
on your own ability
and your own effort
to get right with God
and you hope in that.
But if that's true,
then you have nothing
to do with Christ.
One writer
puts it this way.
If the Galatians
get circumcised,
they are crossing
a border
into occupied territory
where the law
rules
and not Christ.
The Galatians
were in grave danger
of seceding
from the kingdom
of grace
and therefore
removing themselves
from the blessings
of the king
of grace.
So basically,
Paul's saying,
don't hope
in your human effort
to get right with God.
If you bank
on your moral performance,
you're sunk
because it cuts you off
from the only true hope
you have,
which is Christ.
And that's now
where he turns
in verse 5.
He shifts gears
and he starts looking
at our true hope.
Paul throws
the drifting Galatians
a rescue line
of appeal
in verse 5.
For through the Spirit
by faith
we ourselves
eagerly wait
for the hope
of righteousness.
Notice how he
goes from talking
directly to the Galatians
with you,
the you pronoun,
and then he shifts
by using we.
He's inviting them
to rejoin
the we
of all those
who have trusted
in Christ alone
for true righteousness.
Don't you love
what Paul's
implying here?
He's saying
that our hope
is not in a checklist
of visible
human effort,
but in an unseen
reality
that we participate in
and wait for
by faith
through the Spirit.
Let's unpack that
for a moment.
when you realize
that you could
only be right
with God
through Jesus'
work on your behalf
and you trusted
in Jesus,
then God
effectively
and eternally
pronounced you
to be righteous
in his sight.
it was a
verdict
that was
pronounced
in eternity
and it was unseen
in one sense
in this world.
But one day
it is our
certain hope
that our
very real
righteousness
which we
is still unseen
and we
partially experience
now in terms of
seeing that
worked out
in our lives,
one day
it will be
on full display.
it's totally
ours.
We have it.
We are declared
righteous,
done
from now
and forever.
And that starts
gradually getting
worked out
in our lives
from the present
all the way
into the future.
Let me illustrate
it this way.
People have often
said I look
like my dad.
Now my likeness
to my dad
in one sense
it's always been there
ever since I was a baby.
You would probably
be able to spot
some similarities
perhaps to my dad
and my baby pictures
and elementary
school photos
but I was a baby.
I was a little kid.
I wasn't a spitting
image of him
as he is now.
But as I've grown
and matured
that likeness
has increased
in more ways
than one.
I've taken on
his physical
characteristics.
I'm taller.
I'm losing my hair.
I even cough
like my dad.
We have the same
cough.
It's weird.
But also
in our character.
I've begun
to become
more and more
like him.
I'm more patient
than I used to be.
I hope.
I'm wiser
than I used to be
I think.
And in that sense
that likeness
was slow
to emerge
and I'm certain
though
that when I'm 60
I will look
even more like
my dad
than I do now.
It's in my DNA
to become
more and more
like my dad.
That's
the hope
of our righteousness.
It's in our
spirit encoded
DNA
that we are
are becoming
and forever
will be
righteous
as Jesus
is righteous.
That's our hope.
And it's not a
I hope
it's a maybe hope
it's a certain hope.
it's happening
now
and it will
happen
in the future.
So we wait
for it
patiently
eagerly
expectantly
actively
and Paul
clenches it
in verse 6
for in Christ
Jesus
neither
circumcision
nor uncircumcision
counts for
anything
but only
faith
working through
love.
So
he's saying
here
whether you're
a circumcised
Jewish person
or an
uncircumcised
non-Jewish
person
that's
pointing to
whether you
make this
religious
checklist
or not
the only
thing that
actually brings
about righteousness
is not the
visible human
effort
but faith
and genuine
faith in
Jesus
faith that
justifies
also brings
about the
evidence
of righteousness
which is
love.
As someone
else has
said
we are
justified
by faith
alone
but not
by faith
that remains
alone.
As we
continue to
trust in
and rest in
and value
and get to
know Jesus
by faith
then the
family resemblance
of truly
belonging to
Christ starts
to emerge
in the form
of love.
I'm not
going to
steal much
from Pastor
Mike's
sermon next
week in
verses 13
to 15
but it's
helpful
that Paul
right here
doesn't want
the Galatians
to think that
human effort
doesn't have
a place.
Oh it has
a place.
We don't
just say
I believe
and then we
sit back
and do
nothing.
No we
say I
trust in
Christ alone
for being
made right
with God
now and
forever.
It's nothing
I do
at all.
that makes
me right
with God.
It is only
what Christ
has done
and therefore
because of
what Jesus
has done
I'm going
to expend
all my
energy
in gratitude
fueled
obedience
to the
God of
grace
by loving
the people
around me
for Jesus
sake.
So if
love is
the fruit
then faith
in God's
grace
is the
root.
Our hope
is not
in the fruit
not
in what
we do.
That's not
our hope
for getting
right with
God.
But in
the reality
of righteousness
that God
has granted
us by faith
and through
the operation
of the Spirit
in us
to bring out
that righteousness
DNA.
Isn't the
irony of
this verse
beautiful?
Our
unseen
righteousness
shows up
visibly as
love.
And it's
only possible
through the
non-effort
of faith
in the
effort
of another.
As the
hymn says,
my hope
is built
on nothing
less than
Jesus'
blood and
righteousness.
I don't
trust the
sweetest
frame,
but wholly
lean on
Jesus'
name.
Our
true hope
of being
one with
Jesus by
faith,
justified
both now
and forever
is too
precious a
thing to
lose.
And Paul
is warning
us here
that if
we embrace
our own
human effort
as our
hope,
then we
lose our
only certain
hope of
experiencing
true
righteousness.
Well,
we're not
Galatians,
we're
Kenosians,
so how
does this
fit with
us?
How do
we respond
to this?
Do we
just say,
oh,
glad circumcision
isn't a
thing anymore?
No.
We must
not distance
ourselves too
quickly from
this text just
because of the
circumcision language.
There's a very
important principle
here that we've
been working on.
It's not human
effort,
it's Christ's
grace.
And it needs
to strike us
as bluntly as
it struck the
Galatians,
because we too
are very prone
to rely on our
moral performance
and our human
effort just as
much as they
were.
How do we
do that and
why do we
do that?
Well,
it's because
moral performance
is our
default.
We know
we're not
okay.
Everyone
alive has
this sense
of,
eh,
I'm not
alright.
We do
things that
are wrong,
we feel
the shame,
and then
what do we
do with
that?
We have
this sense
of,
I'm not
complete,
I'm not
okay,
there's
something
missing.
Why am
I not
okay?
It's down
on the
inside of
us and
we can't
escape it.
So what
did our
ancestors do?
Well,
Adam and
Eve in
the garden,
they messed
up,
their shame
told them
that something
was wrong,
something was
off,
they weren't
okay,
told them
that they
were naked,
so what
did they
do?
They stitched
some fig leaves
together,
they covered
themselves up,
it was a
self-salvation
project based
on human effort
and it
failed miserably.
In our
American culture
in 21st
century,
we are
exactly the
same.
We are
all about
helping
ourselves,
becoming the
best version
of ourselves,
giving ourselves
self-care and
self-love to
try to address
the deep down
sense that
we're not
okay.
That's why
Oprah is
rich,
it's the
gospel she
preaches.
But the
fact is,
we aren't
okay.
And no
amount of
telling ourselves
that we
are okay
and we
got this
can make
us okay.
If we put
our hope
in ourselves,
we lose
our only
true hope,
which is
our true
righteousness
that we
have by
faith in
Jesus Christ
who loved
us and
gave himself
up so we
can be
okay.
So dear
friend,
what are
you hoping
in?
Where is
your hope
that you're
going to be
okay somehow?
are you
assured of
and hanging
on to
the certain
hope of
righteousness
that Jesus
accomplished
for you?
Or are
you hoping
in a
hamster
wheel of
a maybe
hope?
Maybe if
I run
hard enough,
maybe if
I do
well enough
today,
I don't
know about
you,
but I
wake up
as this
is my
default.
I wake
up with
this sense
of,
okay,
I've got to
make sure
I get
things in
order.
However that
manifests itself,
whether it's
in having a
long enough
devotion,
or I'm
praying enough,
or whether I
do a great
job as a
dad that
morning,
or if I'm
loving toward
my wife that
morning,
but I get
this sense
default in
me,
I might be the
only one in the
room,
I don't know,
but I get this
sense of like,
I've got to make
sure I'm okay.
But what I
have to do
every morning
is I have to
say,
I'm okay,
now and
forever,
because of
Jesus.
That's where I
rest.
It's a deep
level sense
of trust.
It's extremely
hard to live
there.
Depending on
who you are,
I don't know,
that's how it is
for me.
You might be
trying to be
okay or stay
okay on the
basis of whether
you're succeeding
in your job,
or whether
people approve
of you,
whether you're
being the best
version of
yourself today,
or whether
you're a good
parent,
or whatever
it may be,
we all want
to be okay,
but the fact
is we're not.
And Jesus
has secured
our only hope
of making us
okay through
his death and
resurrection.
So rest.
Rest in this
certain hope
with the Spirit's
help and get
off the hamster
wheel of
human effort.
But maybe
for some of you
you've been
listening and
you're like,
that isn't me
at all.
I'm not feeling
that.
Well,
maybe the other
side of the
coin that Paul
points out in
verse 6 needs
to hit you.
Perhaps your
faith is too
casual.
Perhaps your
faith is flippant
and it's not
showing up as
love.
You're not
taking sin
seriously.
You are
centered on
self and
you're okay
with that.
This is not
standing firm
in freedom.
Being free
in Christ
doesn't mean
you're free
to do
whatever you
want.
It means
you're free
to not
sin.
We need to
stay away
from the
slavery to
sin just as
much as
the slavery
depending on
our human
effort.
So if you're
not taking
sin seriously,
then it's
worth examining
your faith.
Is it a
true and
repentant faith
that gets
worked out
into love?
Not perfectly.
Don't be under
a sense of
condemnation here
if you have
true faith,
but it is
worth asking,
is my faith
sincere?
Is it getting
worked out in
love toward
God and
toward others
in my life?
Is it
producing the
fruit of the
righteousness that
God requires?
Only genuine
faith latches on
to our true
hope of being
right with God.
Flippant faith
will ultimately
not produce the
fruit of
righteousness.
So if that's
you, then hear
and obey Paul's
words to
Timothy and
2 Timothy 2.
Flee youthful
passions.
Pursue
righteousness,
faith, love,
and peace along
with all those
who call on the
Lord from a pure
heart.
So that's the
first way that we
can live out what
it means to stand
firm in our
freedom.
We have to latch
on to the only
hope of Christ's
unseen righteousness
both now and
forever.
So what's the
second way?
The second way
that we can stand
firm in our
freedom in Christ
that Paul points
us to is this,
has to do with
truth.
Zealously hold to
the exclusive truth
of the cross.
Zealously hold to
the exclusive truth
of the cross.
look at verse 7.
You were running
well.
Who hindered you
from obeying the
truth?
Something had
happened to the
Galatians.
They were on a
good course.
They were running
the race well,
but someone got in
their way.
And instead of
pushing them over
and keep running
the right way,
they diverged.
Paul wants to
know who is
responsible for
hindering them
from following
the truth of
the good news
of the gospel
of the cross.
And it's not
because he's
curious.
It's because he's
ticked.
In fact, this
whole section on
the surface,
Paul's kind of
off his usual
style.
It appears a
little bit like
disjointed at
first.
It's not his
kind of usual
steady logical
self.
As one writer
puts it, it's
like Paul is
uttering snorts
of indignation.
His temperature
is running
hot, but it's
not the
Galatians.
It's at those
who steered
them away from
the truth of
the cross.
Paul wants
them to know
in verse 8
that this line
of thinking,
this persuasion
that they need
to get circumcised
to get right
with God,
it's not from
God.
It's not from
him who calls
you.
God called
them to be
free from
the curse of
the law,
free from
futile,
hamster wheel,
human effort.
God called
them to
experience and
to enjoy and
stand firm in
the freedom of
a right
relationship with
God through
faith in
Christ.
He did not
call them to
go back into
slavery again.
He called
them to hop
into the car
and take
off.
And in
verse 9, we
see that this
thinking has the
potential to
spread and
corrupt the
whole region of
Galatia and
affect all the
churches there.
And the
Galatians need
to be aware of
this.
A little
leaven leavens
the whole
lump.
Almost in
the same
breath in
verse 10, he
appears to
calm down and
communicate a
real confidence
in the Galatians.
You can tell
of his affection
for them.
He is not so
concerned about
them that they
are going to
abandon their
freedom in the
end.
He is persuaded
in the Lord,
helpful phrase,
in the Lord,
that their
thinking will
line back up
with the truth.
That phrase in
the Lord is
very helpful.
Paul isn't
necessarily
confident in
the Galatians
themselves, but
in God's
ability to
protect his
people from
error and
to persuade
his people of
the truth from
the heart.
But the
opposite is
true for
those who
are persuading
his people to
abandon their
freedom.
Look at the
last half of
verse 10.
And the
one who is
troubling you
will bear the
penalty, whoever
he is.
This is a
reference to
God's judgment
judgment.
In the end,
those who
persist in
persuading God's
people away
from the truth
of the cross
will be the
recipients of
God's hot
judgment.
This is a
big deal in
Paul's mind.
And we get to
the crux of
the matter in
verse 11.
Apparently,
these false
teachers were
saying that
Paul himself
was preaching
that circumcision
was a way to
get right with
God.
I guess,
even though
this is a
flat lie,
perhaps it
was potentially
to add more
credibility to
what they
were saying.
And Paul
totally denies
this, but he
gets at the
heart of the
issue as
well.
If I still
preach circumcision,
why am I
still being
persecuted?
Later on in
chapter 6, he's
saying, I bear
on my body the
marks of Jesus.
Let everyone
else leave me
alone.
He's like,
my message of
the truth is
real, and I
have the marks
to prove it.
These false
teachers were
offended by
the cross.
They did not
like the idea
of being
persecuted, and
so therefore
they watered
down the
message, the
exclusive truth
of the cross.
Look at that
in verse 11.
In that case,
the offense of
the cross has
been removed.
Apparently, they
were okay with
the crucified
Messiah, but
they didn't like
the fact that it
was grace and
grace alone that
justifies a person
through the cross
of Christ.
They were
offended.
They couldn't
add to the
cross.
And here's where
we come to the
heart of all
kinds of false
teaching.
There have been
scores, hundreds
perhaps, of
deceptive false
messages, false
gospels, which
sound very similar
to true
Christianity from
the very first
century all the
way to now.
How are you
supposed to tell
the difference?
What's at the
heart of all
false teaching?
Well, it's
verse 11.
It's any
teaching that
takes offense
at the
exclusive claims
of a crucified
Messiah.
That's how you
can tell false
gospel from real
gospel.
Anything that
says,
eek,
crucified Jesus,
I have to
follow him?
He's the only
way?
He paid it
all?
Eh.
Anything that
flinches in the
face of the cross
is false teaching.
So whether it's
Jehovah's Witnesses
teaching or
Mormon teaching or
Roman Catholicism or
the prosperity gospel
or the self-help
gospel, they all
have one thing in
common.
That the message of
Christ crucified is
not enough to
justify a sinner
before God.
All of them
smuggle in some
form of human
effort as a
condition to
benefit from God's
grace to us in
Christ.
And in case we
were in any doubt
how Paul feels
about this.
Look at verse
12.
I wish those who
unsettle you would
emasculate themselves.
Wait.
Did Paul just say
that he wished these
false teachers would
castrate themselves?
Yes.
Yes, he did.
He just said that.
That's in our
Bible.
You think reading the
Bible is boring.
No, there's
castration in the
Bible.
Wow.
Why is he saying
that?
Well, as we've
said before, he's
ticked.
He's feeling pretty
hot under the
collar here.
There is righteous
anger in Paul
towards these false
teachers.
And he's basically
saying this.
If these guys are
so obsessed with
cutting off pieces
of flesh from that
part of the body,
then why don't they
just go all the way
and cut everything
off?
At least that would
expose them for the
frauds that they are,
thinking that the more
they cut off, the more
righteous they'll be.
I just love that this
is part of my Bible.
But let's feel how it
hits us.
If Paul took this so
seriously, and he was
so zealous for the
truth of the cross, and
for God's people's
trust in that message,
then how much more so
does God take it
seriously when people
mess with his gospel
and with his bride?
We must zealously hold
to the exclusive truth
of the cross.
Because any other
persuasion is false.
And it's opposed not
only by Paul, but by the
God of truth.
And he fiercely loves
his church.
This is how to stand
firm in our freedom.
By assuming a firm,
defensive position around
the exclusive truth of
the cross.
Like Matt said last
week, like a coach,
football coach, holding
up a blocking pad, and
with a good physical
firm stance.
We need to do that
around the truth of
the cross.
Well, how should we do
this?
Well, personally, we need
to savor the cross.
We need to ask ourselves
the question, what if
there was no cross?
What if Jesus had said
no to the Father in
Gethsemane?
What if Jesus had never
gone to the cross?
What would that mean for
my current relationship
with God?
The answer to that is
chilling.
It would mean that I
would be under the
righteous wrath of God
now, in real time,
because of my rebellion
against him.
Because my sin is that
bad, and God is that
good.
It would mean there
is no way out.
There's no other way
out except through the
cross.
It would mean that God
is against me, not for
me.
It would mean that I
await an eternity of
experiencing God's holy
anger and hot judgment.
We need to savor the
cross.
And that would make us
assume a firm defensive
stance against it.
But not only should we
seek to zealously hold
fast to the truth of
the cross personally,
but we should also,
as the church, take the
truth very seriously.
It's truth that's built
around the cross.
In verse 7, it's evident
that Paul was ticked,
really ticked, about how
this twisted teaching of
self-salvation had
infiltrated the church and
turned the Galatians away
from the truth, from
obeying the truth.
And we should be too.
That doesn't mean we go
around with knives in our
hands and threaten
encastration for anyone
who says something
differently than the
Bible.
That's not the point of
the passage.
It does mean that we
must speak the truth,
even if the truth
offends.
The message of the cross
is offensive.
It offends human pride.
It offends a human
sense of control.
And we must try to do
speak that truth in an
inoffensive way, always
with love, but like yeast,
falsehood can spread and
infect quickly.
So we must take the truth
seriously.
Not get floppy on it.
We must pray for
discernment to be able to
recognize falsehood and
pray for humility as we
address it.
But address it we must, as a
church.
And it's not just for
pastors and leaders to do
that.
Paul tells Timothy in
first Timothy, the church
of the living God is the
pillar and buttress of the
truth.
It's not just pastors.
It's everybody.
So we must stand firm in
the zealously so in the
exclusive truth of the
cross of Christ.
It is our certain hope and
our freedom.
And we must stand firm in it.
This last week, Brass
Community School, which is
where my kids go to school,
hosted a commemoration of
the arrival of African
slaves in the Americas, which
occurred 400 years ago in
1619.
It was a great way to build
an awareness of our history,
our nation's history.
Jess and two of my kids went
to it, and they learned a
lot about the stage in our
nation's past.
And at the event, there were
quotes by African slaves
posted on the walls.
And one of them was a quote by
Elizabeth Freeman, who was a
former slave.
It's a powerful quote.
Any time, any time while I was a
slave, if one minute's freedom
had been offered to me, and I
had been told that I must die at
the end of that minute, I would
have taken it.
Just to stand one minute on God's
earth, a free woman, I would.
What if, church, what if true
freedom in Christ were as
precious to us as earthly freedom
was to Elizabeth Freeman?
Let's take the keys.
Let's hop into our freedom of
knowing and belonging to Christ
by faith, hoping only in him, and
guarding the truth of the gospel,
faithful, and enjoy and experience
and stand firm in our freedom,
because that's why he set us free.
Let's pray.
Father, you know how hard it is for
us to live in the freedom that
Jesus purchased for us.
Lord, we ask that you would help
us to identify false hopes and to
shift all of our real and true
hope onto Christ.
Help us to do that not just now on
Sunday morning.
Help us to do it tomorrow.
Help us to do it the rest of this
week.
Help us, Lord, not to lose our joy
in the freedom that you've
purchased for us.
Guard us from hamster wheels of
human effort.
Help us, Lord, to speak the truth
to one another, to remind us to
place our hope where it belongs.
Give us the grace, God, to zealously
hold to your truth.
We need your help, God.
Help us to delight in your amazing
grace.
In Jesus' name, amen.