Set Free to Be Free (Galatians 5:1-14, Leviticus 25:1-12)
Rev. William L. Barron, September 25, 2022Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Paul moves ahead with an ethical section of his argument, principally an application regarding freedom from sin to freedom to enjoy the love of Christ and one another. We remember that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. We are freed from the guilt of our sin in Christ. Christ frees us from the power of sin. We are part of the resurrection of Christ, who is the firstfruits. Freedom is life in the Holy Spirit. We bear one another and serve one another. How are we freed from the law of God? There is no condemnation (Romans 8). In Christ, we are no longer under condemnation for breaking God's law. In Christ, the law shows us how we are to live as redeemed people. We must not regard the law in a spirit of legalism or antinomianism. Our faith is useless if we go back to the old ways of legalism claiming the way of salvation. The grace of Christ is offensive to some people. They think they can save themselves through their goodness. We are going to face hindrances: persecution, broken family relationships, etc. We are not to let these discourage us from finishing the race. We have come into the kingdom by grace, and we are to live in the kingdom by grace. A little bit of false teaching can hinder us if we don't guard our liberty.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « Bond or Free | None | Walk In The Will Of God » |
Galatians 5:1–14 (Listen)
5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
(ESV)
Leviticus 25:1–12 (Listen)
25:1 The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.
8 “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.
(ESV)