A sermon preached on 5th June by Pastor Enoch Awuku Anti
Galatians 2:4
You may have encountered Christians who are all about do’s and don’ts. What you can wear and what you cannot wear. Where you can go and can’t go. What music you can listen to and what music you can’t listen to. What movies you can watch and cannot watch. You should be out there evangelising rather than watching movies. These people are so serious they have no time to enjoy life. That’s even another problem. Can a Christian enjoy life? Perhaps you may have acted like that yourself sometime before. The lives of these people consist of a tall list of regulation. What is not a problem in the faith, they make it a problem. These people are called Legalist. They are in the error of legalism.
Legalism is, by definition, an attempt to add anything to the finished work of Christ. It is to trust in anything other than Christ and His finished work for one’s standing before God. 1
Now the opposite of Legalism is another word which simply means against the law: antinomianism. Antinomianism teaches that because we are under grace, we don’t need law. For the antinomian (one who believes in antinomianism), we don’t have to speak about obedience because we are under grace.
You may have encountered such people also. They also come saying, wear what you want to wear. Go where you want to go. Listen to whatever music you want to listen to. Watch whatever movies you want to watch. It doesn’t matter if the lyrics of that music or movies is x-rated. The antinomian says I am under grace, away with rules.
These two are errors in the Christian faith which robs us of the true meaning of grace. They rob us of our freedom in Christ. They rob us of our Christian liberty. This brings us to our title for this morning. Freedom In Christ. I will further address the title from three perspectives by looking at what Christ has freed us from. Freedom From Bondage Of Sin, Freedom From The Curse of The Law, Freedom From Pleasing People.
Whenever we speak of freedom, it is in the context of deliverance from something. The text we read presents us with two opposites: Freedom and Slavery. We can further expand these opposites as Liberty and bondage. Grace and Legalism. One of the wonderful expressions in the New Testament for me is the phrase “in Christ” or other variants of it “in him”, “in whom”. These expressions point out to us that the source of every promise and benefit of the gospel is in Christ. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:3 saying “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”
In Colossians 2:9-10 also, Paul says “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority” I like how the King James puts it: “Ye are complete in him” Again in Acts 17:28, we read that in him(that is in God) we live and move and have our being. In our 2nd Scripture reading also, we read Christ saying “apart from me, you can do nothing” This is a loaded statement. Everything we will receive from God as Christians is in Christ.
Now the idea of Freedom in Christ, is well spoken of in other parts of Galatians:
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman (Galatians 4:28-31).
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
These verses presents us the same idea of what Paul speaks of in Chapter 2:4….Freedom, Slavery. The whole matter in Galatians is a matter of grace and law. These false brothers insist Gentiles must be circumcised according to the law of Moses before they can be saved. They are simply advocating for Legalism and robbing the Galatians of their freedom. That’s what false teachers do, they rob us of our freedom in Christ. They are enemies of the cross and the gospel.
Let’s now look at some of the Freedoms we have in Christ.
Freedom From The Bondage of Sin
Core, basic Christian doctrine about human beings is that all human beings are naturally sinners. No exception. All of us are born into the world as sinners—dead on arrival. This is biblical doctrine
But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed (Galatians 3:22-23).
“Imprisoned everything under sin” We were held captive by sin. We live our lives to please the desires of the flesh. All we know is to sin. Sin is natural to human beings. Pleasing God is unnatural to us. Before we came to faith in Christ, we were held in bondage to sin, we were helpless and hopeless lost in sin. We were under the control of Satan and under the wrath of God.
But God in his mercies has given us freedom from sin. He has delivered us from the present evil world. Before we came to Christ, we lived and breathed sin. But for everyone of us who has come to faith in Christ, we’ve been delivered from this bondage. Sin shall have no more dominion over us (Romans 6:14).
Is this your reality? Have you come to Christ to be delivered from the bondage of sin? There’s freedom in Christ and this freedom comes by faith in him. Jesus Christ is the only hope for those who seek deliverance from sin. You cant’ help yourself from sin by self-will. Christ came to seek out sinners and deliver them from their sins. Is there any sin Christ cannot forgive? No! He throws an invitation to sinners:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
Dear friends, all the benefits of the gospel is in Christ. In Christ we are justified. In Christ we have peace with God. In Christ we are not condemned. In Christ we are adopted into the family of God. In Christ we are called children of God. In Christ the chains of sin have been broken. Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age (Galatians 1:4).
Freedom From Bondage To The Curse of The Law
There are moralist out there who trust in their morality to save them. These people believe they will be saved or make it to heaven by their good deeds. They even go to the extent of saying they’re better than Christians.
Now the question that rises is that how much good should one do to be saved? How much good is good enough? It is believed that there are about 600 plus laws in the Mosaic law alone and here is where the problem is. When Scripture speaks about curse of the law, it is not that there is a curse in God’s law. No, the law of God is holy and just. However, the curse of the law points to the demands the holy law of God places on us. The curse is our inability to keep all what the law demands. The curse is that our obedience to the law must be a 100%, nothing less than that will suffice. Breaking one law is breaking all the law
For all 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 (Galatians 3:10).
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it (James 2:10).
Dear friends, how can anyone live with this? It is excruciatingly painful to put our trust in our performance. The law of God was not given to save us. It was given to restrain us from evil. There’s no grace in the law. Look at the terror that accompanied the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was (Exodus 20:18-21)
This terror is the same terror that will strike your heart if you make the law your standard of justification. You look at the demands of the and fear grips your heart. Dear friends, Christ has released us from the terror of the law. sure. Christ has done for us what the law couldn’t do. He didn’t only die for our sins. He lived the life we couldn’t live. He fully obeyed the Father on our behalf. Theologians call this Christ’s active obedience Grace throughout the Scriptures is contrasted with the law: the law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus (John 1:17)
Does this mean indifference to to the law? No, rather, it means freedom and the ability to obey the law. When we were unbelievers, God’s law was a chore. But now it is a joy. Obedience to God’s law now is not demanding. It is a pleasure
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).
Amen!!
Freedom From The Bondage Of The Fear Of Men
“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” (Proverbs 29:25). The fear of man is a snare. It breeds hypocrisy. And one of the greatest fears we can live with is the fear of people. You can’t speak your mind, you can’t take a stand, you vacillate between the opinions of men. And this will torment the believer who is afraid of people and wants to please them. Paul clearly points out he is not called to please people (Galatians 1:10). Last week I pointed out how serious the influence of these false teachers was that even Peter and Barnabas were swayed. Peter clearly was guilty of the fear of men. (Galatians 2:11-12).
If you and I are going to please God then we must break the fear of people. This doesn’t mean we must be arrogant and rude to people. Scripture also calls for us to speak the truth in love. This will also not mean that we will not take rebuke and feedback. But the bottom line is that we must be guided by Scripture.
Having heard everything I have said, the question I want to ask you is “have you experienced this Freedom In Christ”? If you haven’t, I plead with you. Call on Christ. Ask him to forgive you of your sins. Pray to open your heart to the truth of the gospel.
Notes
- Legalism Defined, Nicholas Batizig, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/legalism-defined
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