Good evening to everyone. You can turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter five. After a long break from the book of Galatians, we're back in the book of Galatians.
It's been a long time since we've been back there. We'll try to remind ourselves of some of the things that we have looked at in our preaching through the book of Galatians, but I'm going to read Galatians five, verse one to verse six. And then we will have a look at that particular passage. This is Galatians 5, beginning in verse 1, the Word of God.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed, I Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law.
You have fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love. Amen.
Let's go to God in prayer. Heavenly Father, we rejoice again in your goodness to us that we can engage in this act of worship, the preaching of your holy word. We thank you that we've been able to sing hymns and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We thank you that we've been able to come to you, approach you in prayer, and we thank you for the reading of the holy scriptures and the commenting upon the same.
We thank you for these elements of worship that we can engage in the worship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one and only living and true God, and that we can, as a gathered assembly, rejoice in Jesus Christ, the Savior of man. We do pray that you'd help us in this time of preaching to honor you, to hold you high, to count it a high honor to be gathered in the name of the triune God. We do pray that you'd help saint to be edified, that you would, by grace, save sinners, and that this whole exercise would be unto the praise of your glorious grace. And we pray in Christ's name, amen.
Introduction
Well, here we have in Galatians 5 something of a transition. As we see in every epistle in the New Testament, we see usually two things. If we were to boil down epistles and their structure to a two-fold reality, We would see theological content and then we would see exhortative content. Implications or applications of the theology stated.
And we see that here in the book of Galatians as well. 1 through 4, by and large. is theology presented Paul's defense of justification by faith alone over and against the pernicious error that was affecting the churches, which was justification by faith plus works, which Paul calls no gospel at all, but a perverse gospel that deserves everlasting destruction. And so Paul has been arguing for justification by faith alone. And now we see this transition to the exhortative content, exhortation, Paul, the apostle, bringing the theology to bear. And we see that with the very first clause.
Essentially, what we have here is the entire confluence, the entire, well, we could say all of the streams of Paul's argumentation arriving at this exhortative confluence, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. Remember, a reminder with regards to where we have been in this particular epistle, we began by rehearsing the gospel's liberty, Paul rehearsing that Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, that opening to the letter, essentially setting the stage for the reality that it is by Christ alone that any man or woman, boy or girl, is saved and not by the deeds of the law. We continued by looking at the gospel's irreplaceable value, Paul's defense of the one gospel and his vehement opposition to its perversion, largely in that anathema that he pronounces upon anyone, even himself or an angel from heaven, if they preach any other gospel. We looked over the course of a number of Sundays at Paul's autobiographical defense.
Remember autobiographical, someone writing about themselves. Paul's autobiographical defense of the true gospel, recounting his life prior to conversion, his life post-conversion, that by God's grace he was commissioned as an apostle to defend the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ, whether against errorists or even against those who were not perverting the gospel, but affecting its simplicity and glory, such as when he opposed the apostle Peter to his faith. So we looked at his defense of the gospel via his own life and ministry. We saw the center of the true gospel, which is Christ and the cross, Christ redeeming us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, that blessed language of Galatians 3.
We've rehearsed the promise of the covenant of grace. The inheritance of covenant benefit comes not by law, but by promise, by faith in the one who came in the fullness of the times to redeem us from our sins. And the last time we were in Galatians, We opened up the mystery of the two mothers and the two covenants. Christians are not children of the bondwoman, but children of the free woman.
And so with the weight of all of that, the Apostle Paul comes to this point now where he writes, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. So
Sermon Overview: Three Heads
we're gonna look at the gospel's precious liberty under three simple heads, and those are these, the command of liberty in verse one, the forfeiture of liberty in verses 2 to 4, and the exercise of liberty in verses 5 to 6. So first, the command of liberty.
The Command of Liberty
Note that there are two imperatives driven by one indicative. That simply means that there are two calls to action based upon one statement of truth. The two calls to actions are, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Those are the two imperatives, or the calls to action, and they're both based upon the one glorious indicative, which is the liberty by which Christ has made us free.
So these two calls to action come to the Galatian churches and by extension, though not immediately written to us, by extension to us as Christians. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled in a yoke of bondage. So we have this flowing from not just Galatians 4, 21 to 31, which is the immediate context, but the entire weight of the apostolic theology that has come in the book of Galatians. Let's just do hopefully a brief exercise with regards to the weight of these things, this language of stand fast therefore in the liberty.
If you back up with me to Galatians 1, the Apostle Paul here is writing this exhortation writing these imperatives, and he's not doing it simply based on Galatians 4, 21 to 31, but upon the weight of his entire argumentation. We could read Galatians 1, 4, speaking of Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, and then immediately, if you will, for the weight of application, go to the exhortation, stand fast therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. We could go to Galatians 2.16 and read that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.
For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Galatians 2.21, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.
We could read the verses such as Galatians 3 and verse 9, so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. That blessed Christ Christ and cross-centered text in 3.13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for as it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Verse 29, and if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. We could read 4.4, But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Verse seven, therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and do not be entangled again. with a yoke of bondage. I love the cadence of the old King James.
The cadence of the new King James is great with this passage, but I must say that the cadence of the King James is just a little bit better. And it sounds, this is an epic verse. in the Bible. There are, of course, many of them. It's divinely inspired, and so the whole Bible is epic.
But there are these verses that really come to the Christian heart, come with the weight of apostolic tears, of apostolic love, of apostolic warnings, of apostolic clarity, setting forth the glory and the exclusivity of Christ for the salvation of sinners, that come with the weight of all of that, and that hit the Christian heart with such glory and such emphasis and such weight. So here we have this exhortation, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty.
Christ as Liberator
What is this liberty? Well, first of all, we see that it is Christ who is the liberator. Christ is the deliverer. And you can turn with me if you don't want to.
You can just let me read it. But Isaiah 61, if you have fingers at the ready to navigate through your Bibles, notice the Old Testament speaks of, in fact, not just in Isaiah 61, of course, but when we go back to Genesis 3.15, we see that the entire History of man is a mission of liberation by the Son of God and Son of Man, the one Christ, who would be the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. The entire history of mankind is a rescue mission on the part of the triune God through his appointed mediator. But notice in Isaiah 61 at verse 1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to, note, proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. The Old Testament promised a coming deliverer, and Christ, in that wonderful picture in the Nazarene synagogue, stands up and he reads this particular verse from Isaiah 61, from the scroll of Isaiah, and he says, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Christ himself, read of himself in the Old Testament, and by the Spirit given to him without measure, knew that it spoke concerning him as the one who would come in the fullness of the times to liberate his elect." Christ as deliverer is clear, of course, as we come to the pages then of the New Testament. When we come to the New Testament, we see the Old Testament fulfilled in its promise of a coming deliverer, and we see Christ himself speaking of himself as that deliverer.
We already noted in Luke, with regards to Luke 4, but notice in John 8 as well, at verse 34, Jesus answered them, most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever. but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." What glorious words of certainty upon the lips of the one who only ever spoke verity and truth. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Not just a possible freedom, or a maybe freedom, or a freedom that will ebb and flow, you'll go through stages where you're a slave again, but then be liberated if you do well and you adhere to the law, you adhere to certain statutes, you adhere to certain principles.
No. The Son makes you free and it comes with the weight of indeedness. It comes with the weight of the glory of the Redeemer who only does anything to the uttermost perfection. We see as well in the book of Romans the reality of liberation or freedom, not in a weird 1960s socio-economic, cultural sense, but in the sense of sin and redemption from sin and the punishment and the condemnation and the dominion of it.
Notice in the book of Romans, in Romans chapter 6, with regards to this reality of liberation, Romans 6 verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not.
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, that you are the one slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." As well in the book of Romans, at Romans chapter 8, we see this similar language. The Apostle Paul there as well, The author of the book of Romans speaking with regards to liberty, verse 1 of Romans 8, Pastor Butler spoke of this text in the context of Jesus Christ being the one who is our righteousness.
There is no condemnation for those who are in him. And that's what the Apostle Paul says here, verse 1 of Romans 8, there is therefore now No condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Now notice verse 2, "...for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." The liberation that Christ brings, notice verse 21 as well in Romans 8, similar language with regards to liberation, but this time speaking in the context of creation itself being liberated, connected to the work of Christ, because creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. When you, or maybe do you, as Christians, reflect upon your former bondage, not in some sort of weird self-loathing way, but in the way that the Bible actually informs, God himself reminds Old Covenant Israel that they were once slaves in Egypt. He reminds them of their former bondage in order to bring them to reflections upon the glory of the God who liberated them.
The same thing does apply with Christians, as we'll see. It's okay to reflect upon our former bondage so that it might be an exercise wherein our souls are lifted up to glorious reflections upon God, upon Christ, who liberated us, who redeemed us, who delivered us from the dominion of sin, from the power of the devil, from the lusts of our flesh. Paul himself uses the language of, and such were some of you, after rehearsing a number of different sins and types of sinners, you know, murder, homosexuality, sodomy, adultery, all of these things, Paul says, and such were some of you, you were in bondage. You were slaves to sin, yet Christ has redeemed you.
You were sanctified. You were justified by the power of Christ and the glory of the God of grace. And so this liberty is clear. One more passage that speaks to the glorious reality of our liberation.
You can turn with me or you can listen to the book of Colossians at chapter one. In Colossians chapter one, we have this wonderful, powerful depiction of Christ as the cosmic conqueror, the one who delivers his people. And it's Colossians one, beginning at verse 13, beginning right out of the gates with the language of deliverance. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. it's good for us as Christians to reflect upon our former bondage so that we might, with warm and joyful Christian hearts, then move to sweet contemplations of our Deliverer, of the One who has redeemed us, of the One who has liberated us.
Our status in Christ is one of having been liberated. And moving back to the book of Galatians in our text, Chapter five and verse one. Continuing with the question, what is this liberty? We've touched upon it already in looking at Christ as the deliverer, as the liberator, but
Liberty From: Sin, Devil, Ceremonial Law
this liberation is seen first in liberation from, so stand fast, therefore in the liberty, liberty from what? From the dominion, guilt, and condemnation of sin. And I don't think we won't, not that I don't think, I know that we won't exhaust the possible contemplations of the weight and the colossal nature of that dominion, that guilt, and that condemnation. If we were given a true picture of our sin and what our sin deserved, it would be terror upon terror. our violation of the law of God, our transgression of the one who is perfect in His holiness, perfect in His glory, perfect in His majesty.
The fact that not just occasionally, but every day, and every day we violated every jot and every tittle of the law of God in our opposition to Him, prior to coming to Christ, And then having come to Christ by grace, still having, not reigning sin, but having that sin that still plagues us as the children of God, until that day we're brought home in glory. We've been liberated from the dominion, the guilt, and the condemnation of sin. We've also been delivered from the grip of the devil, from, as Gil says, the captivity and the tyranny of Satan. we have been set free from that one to whom or who was our father. Remember that in John chapter eight, while the immediate context is the unbelieving Jews, we are not to think ourselves as somehow outside of the scope of the condemnation that you are of your father, the devil and the desires of your father, you want to do. in the Christian once was in that status or in that place, or that was once their reality, children of their father, the devil, doing the desires of their father, not doing the desires of the one who created us, not doing the desires of the one who sustains us, not doing the desires of the one who would, in due time turn out to be our redeeming God, but rather doing those things that were evil in his sight.
Christ has liberated us from the grip of the devil, the devil as well. And as well, we see Christ has delivered his people from the yoke of the ceremonial law. This is the language that has been used before in the book of Galatians. And that's used here as well at the end of verse one, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
This is the language of the ceremonial law, the Comments by Gil are the following, for by yoke of bondage, he means, Paul means, the law, which the Jews frequently call the yoke of the commandments, particularly the ceremonial law as circumcision, which Peter represents as a yoke intolerable, The observation of days, months, times, and years, the multitude of sacrifices, and which could not take away sin, but proclaim their guilt and obligation to punishment, and handwriting of ordinances against them, and obedience, and thereby They were held and kept in bondage. And such a yoke is the moral law as delivered by Moses, requiring perfect obedience, but giving no strength to perform, nor pointing where any is to be had, showing a man his sin and misery, and accusing, pronouncing guilty, cursing, and condemning. Hence, such as seek for righteousness by it, are in a miserable subjection to it, and are sadly implicated and entangled with the yoke of it." Remember that this is what is in view in the book of Galatians in Paul's opposition to the perverse gospel that was going on, particularly the ceremonial law as circumcision. This is why he will say immediately after in verse two, Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
It's the opposition to circumcision as a means to be accepted before God. Remember, yes, Christ is good, but he's not enough. That's the Galatian error. Christ is good, but you must also be circumcised.
You must also adhere to the days, to the months, to the years of the Mosaic calendar. Ultimately, you must be entangled in the law in order to be ultimately accepted by God. Remember that the Apostle Paul will have nothing of it, but rather upholds and defends the free grace of God and the salvation of sinners exclusively by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 5 language of liberty.
Confession Reading on Christian Liberty
I want us to just read here, I will read from our confession of faith where it defines what Christian liberty is. And it touches upon both of the things, or all of the things that we have stated. The liberty from the dominion, guilt, and condemnation of sin, from the grip of the devil, and from the yoke of the ceremonial law. Listen to our confession.
The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin. the condemning wrath of God, the rigor and curse of the law, and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan and dominion of sin, from the evil of afflictions, the fear and sting of death, the victory of the grave and everlasting damnation, as also in their free access to God and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a childlike love and willing mind. And then notice this additional language with regards to this yoke of bondage or the yoke of the commandments. All which were common also to believers under the law, that is in the old covenant, for the substance of them, but under the New Testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law to which the Jewish church was subjected. And in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, communications of the Spirit of God than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.
I hope it's an exercise often, if not, perhaps it will become one. I hope it's an exercise often for you, and I'm speaking to me as well, to reflect upon the reality of our former bondage, that it was actual bondage. The weight of our issue was not a small one. It was a significant one. to reflect upon our former bondage, but then very quickly to reflect upon our liberator and our reality of liberation.
That we have been set free from bondage to sin, bondage to the devil, from any yoke of ceremonial obedience, we've been set free to freely worship Christ, to freely worship God, by grace, through faith in Christ. What a blessed position we have as the sons and the daughters of liberty. And
How Christians Stand Fast in Liberty
perhaps the question may be asked, how do we stand fast in it? First of all, maybe just a brief minute and 37 seconds on stand fast. This is an exhortation that's often used, perhaps not the same Greek words, though that same Greek word used in other epistles, but this idea of standing fast upon the truth of Christ. The Christian is exhorted on a number of occasions in the New Testament to stand fast in Christ. and on Christ Jesus.
It is to continue in an established position, to stand fast. It's two words in the English, one word in the Greek, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. You can just turn with me for a moment to 1 Corinthians, just to see the repetition that Paul uses with regards to this exhortation. 1 Corinthians. And right at the end in chapter 16, notice the hopefully familiar exhortation, a familiar exhortation to all of us in 1 Corinthians 16 at verse 13.
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. This is an exhortation that the same author is writing to different churches, to a different church, but nevertheless, similar application or similar exhortation. Watch, stand fast in the faith. Be brave, be strong.
Don't be those who ebb and flow. Don't be those who waver. Don't be those whose knees buckle at every opposition, at every contention. Don't be those who fall prey to every wind of doctrine that flows within the doors of the church or is cast upon the winds of ideas, but rather watch, stand fast in the faith, Be brave and be strong.
We would also note a famous one as well, a familiar one in Philippians chapter one at verse 27. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. This language of stand fast is replete. We could note as well, 2 Thessalonians 2.15, but we won't go there.
Back to Galatians 5, how do Christians stand fast? We get the exhortation, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again by a yoke of bondage. How do we then stand fast? If the question is asked, how do Christians stand fast in this liberty, what is the answer?
And in case you're worried, don't worry, we will end without considering the rest of this because we don't wanna be here until 7.30. How do Christians stand fast in this liberty by which Christ hath made us free?
By Knowing the Liberty
First, I think we could answer that question by saying, by knowing the liberty that they have. How do we stand fast in something if we don't know what it is? being established in the doctrine of justification by faith alone is a manner by which we as Christians can stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. We stand fast in that liberty by knowing that liberty that we have. As well,
By Being on Guard
we stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free by being on guard in that liberty. by being on guard in that liberty, not giving ear to any system of acceptance other than that free grace of God, that justification by faith alone. This was the problem with the Galatians. They were not standing fast. They were not being on guard in that liberty by which Christ has made them free.
They were entertaining at being stolen away to believe this idea that they must be circumcised and that they must adhere to Mosaic law in order ultimately to be accepted before the living and true God. We, as Christians, stand fast in the liberty by thirdly, daily living upon the ground of acceptance. Your salvation in the first did not depend upon you, so neither does your ongoing acceptance before God depend upon you. It can be common for the saint of Christ to be confident after good days and to be cowering after bad days.
Why? Because their orientation or they've come to believe, whether by others or by themselves or both, that their acceptance before God depends upon their own performance. Their acceptance with God depends upon the one who has only ever been acceptable before God, as we heard this morning from Pastor Butler, that Psalm 18 man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one perfect in his righteousness, perfect in his act of obedience unto the whole law, and his passive obedience in his death for our whole and soul righteousness. Standing fast means daily recourse to Christ and his righteousness as the sole ground of acceptance with God.
Don't listen to others. Don't listen to your own, you know, dirty heart that occasionally can rise up and say, you've done terribly, therefore God now hates you. Christ has done perfectly, therefore God loves you in him, and by his grace, seek to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of grace, but it is not that conducting that commends you to God, and it is not that conducting that is the ground of your ongoing acceptance.
By Standing with Other Liberated Believers
We can stand fast as Christians in the liberty by which Christ has made us free by standing in the company of other free men and women. By standing in the company of other liberated ones. When the Apostle Paul gives these exhortations, stand fast therefore, it's never in the singular to one person. Perhaps with the exception of maybe when he's writing to Timothy.
But when in these epistles he's writing to churches and he says, stand fast therefore in the liberty, or when he says stand fast as one man and one spirit striving for the faith of the gospel, he's writing in the plural. We're not so many maverick Christians who navigate this lower world in the context of our Christianity by ourselves and for ourselves. But rather, we are the churches of Corinth, the churches of Galatia, the church here in Chilliwack where with other free men and other free women, we are to stand fast in Christ. Paul's exhortations to stand fast in Christ are always plural.
Liberty is held within the ranks of a gospel preaching church. That's where it's held fast in coming into these two doors and sitting in these pews in the midst of this band of brothers and sisters and glorying in the God of liberty and rejoicing in the Christ of blessed deliverance. Standing fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free is done by standing in the company of other free men and women. It's also done, it's also carried out by,
By Unyielding Contention
it's also seen in an unyielding contention. Standing fast is usually not an activity that takes place on a calm beach. Standing fast is something that takes place, that is expected to take place in the midst of contention, in the midst of opposition, with affliction, in the face of opposers, in the face of those things that are in opposition to God and His Christ. Remember, or just going back to Galatians 2 at verse 5, the apostle Paul, speaking of himself, And Titus, he says, to whom?
Let's just back up and read the context. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage." Now notice this unyieldingness in the face of contention. To whom we did not yield submission, even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
While there might be sometimes breaks between battles, sometimes God in his blessed condescension gives us a respite, gives us a time of peace and a time to catch our proverbial breath. But this lower world is going to be marked by contention, by opposition to the church, by opposition to the liberator, Jesus Christ, and opposition to those who have been liberated by his perfect redeeming work, Christians. And so we stand fast by an unyielding contention, expecting assault. We should, as Christians, expect assault.
There is an assailing devil. There is a lusting flesh. And there is an opposing world. And all of these three seek the end of the Christian's profession.
We stand fast, therefore, in the liberty. wherewith Christ hath made us free. How do we stand fast in it?
By Remembering Former Bondage
Sixthly, by remembering the bondage. We've already noted this. The one who forgets their former bondage can grow careless with their present liberty. The one who forgets who they were before Christ made us who we now are in Him, can grow complacent, can be one who grows careless with their liberty.
Again, Deuteronomy 15, 15, 1 Corinthians 6, 11, we are to remember our former bondage and to swiftly fly in blessed reflections to the one who has liberated us. And seventhly and lastly, not exhaustively, but
By Being Upheld by the Spirit
seventhly and lastly, how do Christians stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free? By being upheld by the Spirit. The standing man or woman is not sustained by the sheer power of their own will, but he or she is sustained by the Spirit through the means of grace. You know, as Christians, we're not in this battle, we've already noted, we're not in this battle by ourselves, we're not in contention by ourselves, but rather we stand with other free men and other free women.
We do that by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, and it is mostly done through the context of the local and the gathered church. Through the proclamation of the Word, the reading and the preaching of it, through prayer, through songs and hymns and spiritual songs, and through the sacraments. If you've ever asked the question, you know, I'm struggling in my faith, I'm struggling in my profession, I'm weary, I don't know what the answer is, cry out to God, cry out to the Triune God and the Christ of our profession. Chapter 14, in summarizing the Word of God, speaks this way with regards to this point of standing fast in our liberty by being upheld by the Spirit.
The grace of faith whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word, by which also, and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened. Yeah, that shouldn't just be the rote recitation of confessional language. That should be, this should be the very heartbeat of Christianity. What do we do?
How is this faith in our liberator, our redeemer, our deliverer, Jesus Christ, how is it to be increased and strengthened? We ought not to scratch our heads because the Word of the Living Christ gives us the answer. It's ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word, by which also the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened. How do we stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free?
Lastly, we are upheld by the Spirit, sustained by that blessed Spirit through the means of grace, word, prayer, and sacrament. in our faith that works outward in love and we'll look at this next time because obviously the text continues and I don't want to keep us too long but notice just in closing here how the Apostle Paul continues with this argumentation and we'll look at it in in fuller display next time but just in closing in a in a matter of a couple of minutes here
The Forfeiture of Liberty
we see this language of indeed i paul say to you that if you become circumcised christ will profit you nothing and i testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law you see the weight of not standing fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. We become estranged from Christ, verse 4. We fall from grace, that is, not salvificly, but if we say that we are not justified by faith alone, but must also keep upon ourselves other things that commend us to God, then Christ prophesies nothing. We're debtors to keep the whole law.
We become estranged from Christ and we've fallen from grace. So all of that to say in closing, what's the application? It's verse one, that we could not get past in our preaching exercise tonight.
Application: Stand Fast
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. We're free from sin. We're free from the devil. We're free from any yoke of bondage that either ourselves or others heap upon us.
The heaping of bondages, the heaping of yokes upon our necks is not confined to the apostolic pages. It's present in our own day. The hearts of men are corrupt and will always seek to steal us away from the liberty we have in Christ. So, brethren, as we seek to go home on this Sunday evening, stand fast, immovable, by the Spirit, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.
And don't be entangled by men's madness, by the madness of the flesh, by the madness of the devil, by the assailings of that enemy. and certainly don't be dragged down by the world and all its allurements, but stand fast in our glorious one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came from on high to our lower shame in order to liberate us, in order to redeem us, in order to deliver us from that bondage to sin, that bondage to the devil, and that bondage to man's implements, which never bring us to acceptance with God. If you're here and you're outside of Christ, Right now you can't stand fast in the liberty because it's not yet obtained. You don't attain it. God, by His grace, gives it through the gift of faith.
Christ came down from on high that He might redeem a multitude of sinners that no man can number. And your only hope, your only respite, your only peace is to be found in that blessed Deliverer, in that blessed Liberator. And the biblical simplicity is this. It should come from the mouths of every preacher under God's good heaven.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And saints, glory in your liberation. Rejoice in your liberator. Rejoice in your redeemer.
And always stand fast in all of these ways, daily living upon the ground of your acceptance, which is not yourself, but which is the glorious Christ. Let's pray in his name.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your truth. We rejoice in your goodness to us. I thank you for all that you show us in your word as it points chapter after chapter, page after page towards Christ upon the cross, working out the salvation of men, that he has liberated a multitude from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Help us to stand fast in him.
Help us not to be carried away by every wave of doctrine, but to stand fast in the blessed truth of justification by faith alone, that we might by the Spirit stand immovable upon that blessed rock which is our Christ. We pray that we would daily avail of Him, seeing Him as the ground of our acceptance, and from that vantage point seeking to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of amazing and victorious grace. Just do go with us now, edify your people, strengthen your saints, save sinners by spirit and gospel, and throughout every corner of the world, we do pray that you, our blessed triune God, would vindicate your name, and that you would bring honor and glory to you, that you would save sinners, that you would strengthen your people, and God, that your people, between this Lord's day and the next, would live in a manner worthy of the gospel of amazing grace. And we pray in Christ's precious name, amen.