June 30, 2024
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The Shepherd's Voice Podcast
Our Liberty In Christ: Part 1
Turn your Bibles, we are going to be in the book of Galatians chapter 5 to start off with. Book of Galatians. And the other day I was cleaning out my shed, getting ready for the 4th of July when I found some of my daughters baby doves kind of packed away in the corner. I pulled them out and I put them on the grill because we're having a barbecue. Getting ready for a barbecue, right? Could have been. Amen. This morning I want us to consider liberty. I want us to consider freedom. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to set the captives free. That word captives literally means prisoners. He came to set the prisoners free. However, Satan wants to keep us in bondage. He wants to keep us slaves to sin. Now we live in a society that touts freedom, but anymore knows little about it. We hear the term freedom of speech, but that only applies if we have a liberal point of view today. They have the freedom to attack truth, to attack Christianity, but we have to be tolerant of all religions. We hear the term freedom of the press. All that means today is that I can write whatever I want, regardless of integrity and truth. We hear the term reproductive freedom, but all that means is that we can sleep around because now women can get an abortion upon demand. In reality, society's idea of freedom is simply freedom from God and freedom from accountability. But praise God, Jesus has come to set us free, amen? Let's pick up Galatians 5. Let's just read the first verse. Even fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. So the question is, from what are we liberated? From what are we set free? Now to answer that, we need to go back to the beginning of the book of Galatians. We need to go all the way back to Galatians chapter 1. So let's see what God has to say this morning about from what are we liberated? First and foremost, we are set free. We are liberated from the bondage of legalism. Galatians 1, let's skip down to verse 6. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him Christ who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. Think about those verses there. In verse 6, we see those who are deserting the gospel, and then in verse 7, we see those who are perverting the gospel. They were deserting the gospel because they were perverting the gospel. Do you see that correlation there? Satan is a pervert and the father of it. We need to understand that. He has no revelation. He has no accomplishments on his own. All he can do is take that which is holy, that which is true, that which is pure and perverted. That's all he does. He's already tried and he's failed to deny the gospel, so now he perverts it to deceive as many as he can in order to keep them from truth, to keep them in bondage, to keep them in slaves to Him and His world system. Look at verse 8. But even if we, now this is the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Galatia, he's talking about the Apostles, even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you, then what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. That word accursed literally means condemned to be damned. Now this may seem harsh, but keep in mind we're not talking about one's personal preference here. We're talking about one's eternal destination. It would be better for us to go through life declaring that one plus one equals five than to pervert the word of God, amen? Plain and simple. We're not talking about denominational differences. We're not talking about personal convictions. We're talking about matters of eternal consequence. No dire that God repeats it again in verse 9, look what he says, "As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you, then what you have received, let him be accursed. Let him be condemned. Let him be damned." Now one thing that we also need to understand is that it's not the messenger that validates the message, amen? As pastor, I'm the messenger, but I don't validate the message. What validates the message I bring? This right here, amen? The messenger does not validate the message. Suppose an actual shining in glory angel walked into our church and he declared, "It is a blessed day. I have a new gospel for you. It's a modern gospel. It's better for you today." What is God telling us here? God is telling us here that His wrath and that His judgment will be upon that angel for declaring that there's a new gospel, amen? That's how dire, that's how important this is for us to understand. Let's go to verse 10, "For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men? Or if I still please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." The apostle Paul is telling us here, "Look," he says, "I'm an ambassador of Christ. I'm not a politician. I was not called to sit here and tickle your ears and please you." He said, "I was called to declare the one and only gospel of Jesus Christ and the heart of that gospel is that Jesus is the one and only way to heaven, plain and simple." Now there's some out there, actually there's quite a few out there that think that that's narrow-minded, but listen, truth is always narrow-minded, isn't it? One plus one is always what? Two, it's never three, it's never five, it's never ten. One plus one is always two. Truth is narrow-minded. When my doctor sends in a prescription for me, I want him to be narrow-minded and only send the correct medication over to the pharmacy, amen? When I go to the pharmacy to pick up that prescription, I want that pharmacist to be narrow-minded and only put the exact medication that the doctor prescribed for me in that medicine bottle, amen? So when it comes to something as gravely important as our eternal destination, I don't know about you, but I want to know the narrow-minded truth. I want that one and only answer, period. We need to understand that all roads do not lead to heaven, for there is salvation in no other name than that of Jesus Christ, amen, period, plain and simple. Salvation in only one name, there is only one gospel, and it is salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. So what authenticates the gospel? What lets us know that it is the true gospel, in a time where there is great deception and there is a great fall in a way from truth, how do we know what authenticates the gospel? Well, the first is its source. Where did it come from? Let's look at verse 11, "But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man, for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it from man, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ." You see, the true gospel is not of mankind. The apostles didn't just think the Bible stories up. It's not from their imagination. We need to understand that the gospel is divinely given by God himself, amen? Look at 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16. You see, we're all familiar with John 3, 16. We also need to know 2 Timothy 3, 16. It tells us that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, how much Scripture? All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, 1 Corinthians 2, 13. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, amen? Because this book is inspired by God, and we can only understand it through the Holy Spirit's wisdom. It's not man's invention, it is God's revelation. I've heard Christians tell people, "Look, as long as you go to church, that's all that matters." Well, that's not quite true, amen? The main thing is that we go to a church that preaches the true gospel, amen? You don't have to go to this church, but make sure you go to a church that preaches the true gospel, period. We're not the ones that decide what is right and what is wrong, amen? Sovereign God has spoken and he has declared unto us what is truth, and that truth is the Bible, the very Word of God. So the first test is the source test. Where did it come from, amen? Secondly, we need to understand its salvation. How are we saved? Go back to verse 6. Galatians 1 verse 6. For in Christ Jesus, neither, I'm sorry, we need Galatians 1, I'm in Galatians 5, my bed. Marvel, that you are turning away so soon from Him Christ who called you into the grace of Christ to a different gospel. Any other gospel that is not the gospel of grace is not the true gospel, amen? The Bible makes it very clear. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and that is not of ourselves, has nothing to do with us. We can't buy it, we can't earn it, nor can we learn it. It's freely given by God and it was paid for by Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, amen? We can't take from it, nor can we add to it. It is Jesus plus nothing, amen? Some things that we need to understand that salvation is not. Number one, salvation is not a creed. We can't believe in salvation, or we can believe in salvation still go to hell. We're not saved by the plan of salvation, we are saved by the man of salvation Jesus Christ. Basically salvation is not only not a creed, it's also not a code. We can't just decide and wake up one day and say, "Well, I'm just going to start living right and earn my way into heaven." Galatians 2, 21, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." So salvation is not a creed, it's not a code, and salvation is not a cause. It's not saying, "Well, I believe in just loving everybody." The Bible says that God is love and if I do that, then I'll earn my way into heaven. What is true, God is love, but the Bible also tells us that God is judge. And I can guarantee you this, if we go around pointing fingers at everybody, judging everybody, we're not doing the will of God, are we? So it's not a cause. We also need to understand that salvation is not a church. As much as I love our church family, being a church member or of this church or any other church will not get us into heaven. Church attendance, church membership, even water baptism will not give us access to heaven. Salvation is not a creed, it's not a code, it's not a cause, it's not a church, salvation is Christ. Amen, and this leads us to the final test. You see, we have that source test where it came from, the salvation test, how are we saved? And lastly, it's the subject test, verse 7, the last part. There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of who? Of Christ. The gospel of Christ, we need to understand that Jesus is the subject and it's all about Him, period. 1 Corinthians 15, 3, "For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Listen, that's the gospel right there, amen? That is the gospel right there in those two verses. Jesus is the subject, it doesn't just refer to Him or mention Him, He is the center and He is what it's all about. Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. You see, this is why there is so much religious chaos in the world. People have met creeds, they have met codes, they have met causes, they have met churches, but they have failed to meet the Christ, Jesus Himself, amen? Salvation is not believing in something, it's about receiving someone and that someone is Jesus Christ. The source is of God, the salvation is by grace, and the subject is Christ Himself. That is the true gospel. Acts chapter 4, 12, "nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Period, amen? Christ plus nothing. So how does that liberate us? How does that set us free? Well, if we don't understand that we are saved by the grace of God, we're going to always be in the bondage of legalism. We understand that? We will stay slaves to legalism, we will remain entangled in self-effort, we will remain entangled in trying to earn our salvation. We will never know the peace of our salvation and know without a shout of the doubt that we are saved. We would be in constant worry. We would live in constant anxiety, wondering if we, you know, did I do enough to earn my way into heaven? Did I do enough to please God? Did I do enough good to offset all the bad that I've done, all the sins that I've committed? That is no way to live, and that is not the life that God wants us to live. I mentioned last week, the one command that Jesus gave His apostles more than any other was do not be afraid, do not worry because He wants us to live in peace, amen, not in anxiety and worry. He doesn't want us to live in fear. He wants us to live in the peace and the blessed assurance that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and that's it, amen? Salvation is the free gift of God. We didn't earn it. He didn't give it to us because we were so great. The Bible says that God proved His love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and that assurance is not confidence in ourselves, it's confidence in the grace of God through Jesus Christ. That's our blessed assurance, amen? We're not slaves of God. We're now sons of God, Galatians 4-7, therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Now I want you to think about that slave-master relationship and that son-father relationship. You know a slave or a servant is accepted on the basis of what he does, right? But a son, a son is accepted on the basis of who he is, and we are the sons of God through Jesus Christ, amen? That's who we are. A servant can lose his position, but a son is eternally secure. Now I don't know about you, but I understand that is true freedom. That is liberty, amen?