back to index2016-06-26 True Meaning of Freedom
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All right, if you would turn your Bibles over to the book of Galatians chapter 5. 00:00:17.080 |
Pastor Peter has been going through the series in the book of Romans and there has been a 00:00:20.800 |
lot of talk of salvation by grace and grace alone through faith, right? 00:00:27.520 |
That salvation is truly of God and it's something that we take part in only through faith. 00:00:33.480 |
And the book of Galatians is in many ways on the same vein, teaching the same thing. 00:00:39.960 |
But we're dropping into chapter 5 because a connected theme to that idea of salvation 00:00:49.360 |
And I'm going to read to us starting from verse 1 down to verse 6 and then we'll take 00:00:56.640 |
And it says in chapter 5 verse 1, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free. 00:01:02.460 |
Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. 00:01:07.340 |
Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will have no benefit 00:01:13.780 |
And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to 00:01:21.100 |
You have been severed from Christ and you who are seeking to be justified by the law, 00:01:27.540 |
For we through the spirit by faith, we are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 00:01:31.500 |
For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith 00:01:41.780 |
All right, God, we want to thank you for your precious word and we really ask, God, that 00:01:46.740 |
you bless us in this time with truth, with wisdom, with understanding. 00:01:52.340 |
But also, God, we pray that as we're talking about a vital concept in the scripture about 00:01:57.940 |
the freedom you give to us, the gift that you afford to us, I pray, Lord, that we would 00:02:06.020 |
And I ask, God, that ultimately we will continue to receive and to experience the blessings 00:02:19.220 |
Well, part of the reason I decided to speak on this topic was because I realized as I 00:02:27.580 |
was going through the book of Galatians, whereas before I saw it as simply like a rebuke against 00:02:32.780 |
anybody who tried to be legalistic, I actually realized the concept of freedom is actually 00:02:42.000 |
It's actually like encompasses the whole letter, where if you were to read it from front to 00:02:47.820 |
end, that would be the message you would get. 00:02:50.620 |
Not so much a, "Hey, let's not be legalistic, but let's be free." 00:03:01.820 |
And as I think about what 4th of July means for us, actually that day is for many Americans 00:03:11.220 |
Now some of us, that's a very near and dear concept. 00:03:17.580 |
We're really well aware that freedom is not a common experience for all of mankind, even 00:03:33.480 |
But on the other end, truthfully speaking, I mean, it's been a really long time since 00:03:36.340 |
we fought against the oppression of England as a nation. 00:03:40.760 |
And what's more, even when we talk about freedom in this day and age, a lot of Americans, I 00:03:44.500 |
feel, perhaps don't really get what freedom really means. 00:03:49.940 |
And actually, every time I think of 4th of July, I don't know why, I think of this one 00:04:00.660 |
It says, "If tomorrow all things were gone," I'm not going to sing it, I'm just going to 00:04:05.060 |
"If tomorrow all things were gone, that I worked for all my life, and I had to start 00:04:09.520 |
again with just my children and my wife, I thank my lucky stars to be living here today." 00:04:14.460 |
Because the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away. 00:04:19.180 |
I'm proud to be an American, for at least I know I'm free. 00:04:23.140 |
I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me, and I'd gladly stand up next 00:04:28.060 |
to you and defend her till today, because there ain't no doubt I love this land. 00:04:34.140 |
I'm going to be honest, I really feel like that song is really cheesy. 00:04:38.380 |
Every time I hear it at a baseball game or some big event and I hear it sing, it sounds 00:04:42.140 |
a little hokey, and it's like, "At least I know I'm free." 00:04:47.500 |
But at the same time, my point in bringing that up is the concept of freedom is actually 00:04:58.900 |
And even in a political, government, and national sense, that freedom is highly valuable. 00:05:05.780 |
As a matter of fact, in most recent years, and right now in current events, that kind 00:05:15.740 |
We hear of people, refugees, people who are escaping and fleeing on boats, risking everything, 00:05:23.180 |
just to have a taste of freedom in a distant land. 00:05:28.460 |
And so, there's a sense to which we actually should look into this concept, because for 00:05:33.300 |
us as Christians, not just in nationality, not just when it comes to government or politics, 00:05:41.080 |
but spiritually, that's one of the major concepts by which the Bible describes the gospel and 00:05:54.200 |
I just want to give a warning that as I'm going to go through this sermon, typically 00:05:59.020 |
my go-to is I have like four points or five points that are numbered and you guys can 00:06:04.480 |
Unfortunately, today, it's just going to go verse by verse to verse. 00:06:08.040 |
So, I'll just tell you the section as we go, and this will help you take notes that way. 00:06:16.200 |
And it says, "For freedom, Christ has set us free. 00:06:22.480 |
Stands firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." 00:06:27.400 |
That first verse, as I looked at it and I took some time to meditate on it, I realized 00:06:34.280 |
just the point that I'm making, the concept of freedom is much more relevant and vital 00:06:39.360 |
to our Christian theology than I first presumed. 00:06:42.960 |
That it says, "Christ in his work to set us free." 00:06:50.040 |
Meaning this tells us that freedom as a gift that God is giving to us is vitally important 00:07:00.280 |
It's the gift to which God has labored to give to us. 00:07:04.600 |
It's the valuable thing to which God has been working for, is to make us free. 00:07:11.200 |
And there's all these questions I started to think about. 00:07:14.200 |
I started to ask myself the questions, if it's that valuable, if that's the purpose 00:07:19.140 |
to which why he's been laboring, if that is grand in the scheme of God's redemption, 00:07:29.880 |
Do I experientially know, am I aware of what that entails? 00:07:42.240 |
But I'm going to be honest on an experiential level. 00:07:44.520 |
I guess day to day as a Christian just walking, more so than anything, I actually feel a frustration. 00:07:52.640 |
Because there are days when I'm frustrated with my own battle. 00:07:58.360 |
I mean the fact of the matter is, if I look at current circumstances, it doesn't feel 00:08:03.680 |
It actually feels like, "Yeah, we're fighting and we hope to get there sometime." 00:08:08.840 |
And that's partially the reason why I read the passage that I read this morning in the 00:08:12.120 |
book of Romans, because it says that all of creation, and we included, we want freedom. 00:08:24.360 |
But experientially, do we know what all of that means? 00:08:28.960 |
Well let's take a look at verse two and four, as he talks about the kind of freedom that 00:08:35.360 |
he wants us to experience, or that he's addressing here. 00:08:39.760 |
In verse two to four he says, "Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, 00:08:48.560 |
And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to 00:08:56.560 |
You have been severed from Christ, and you who are seeking to be justified by law, you 00:09:04.720 |
Now there are a lot of important things to draw from that section. 00:09:08.920 |
You see, my experiential frustration, that is the frustration when Jesus described in 00:09:15.080 |
John chapter eight, he said, "He who sins is a slave to sin." 00:09:20.440 |
So typically my experience of the lack of freedom is the frustration with sin. 00:09:26.640 |
And so I'm frustrated, like I wish I could be free from the sin of arrogance, where sometimes 00:09:31.300 |
I see in hindsight what I said, and how I thought, and I'm like, "Ugh." 00:09:35.880 |
And I have to go back and repent, you know, "I'm really sorry for thinking and saying 00:09:40.240 |
So whatever it may be, like various sins of desiring stuff, and sensuality, or whatever 00:09:45.240 |
the sins may be, those are typically what we think of slavery, you know? 00:09:56.520 |
The freedom that God has for us is a freedom from the bondage of sin. 00:10:01.520 |
But here and now, he hones in on the kind of freedom that he's actually dealing with 00:10:14.880 |
It is legalism as a system to which they have looked to as a means to deal with sin, so 00:10:29.460 |
And then there was this system of law, ceremony, ritual, penalty, reward, whatever it may be, 00:10:38.080 |
that was attached as a solution to that problem. 00:10:41.240 |
And that in of itself, again, was another form of slavery. 00:10:47.960 |
Because if you look at the details of this, he says very clearly that once you do an act 00:10:53.280 |
of circumcision, you are now obligated to observe the whole thing. 00:10:59.600 |
And I'm going to use the analogy of coming into a nation a lot. 00:11:04.480 |
You can't go to a nation and be like, "I'd really love to join your nation. 00:11:07.360 |
I'm an immigrant here, but I only like your articles one through three. 00:11:14.840 |
If you want to come in, you abide by all of it, right? 00:11:18.080 |
Likewise, Apostle Paul is saying that circumcision is one act, but it's representative of the 00:11:24.320 |
Once you're in it, it's going to be a taskmaster over you, and now you are what? 00:11:33.280 |
There's going to be restriction requirement, and there's going to be such a penalty to 00:11:36.560 |
which if you do not abide by all the stipulations of the law, you will die. 00:11:50.380 |
And so Apostle Paul starts to describe this slavery that's going to now then ruin you. 00:11:55.840 |
You think by doing that circumcision and buying into the law, you think it's helping you. 00:12:03.340 |
It's helping you deal with the problem of sin. 00:12:09.920 |
Verse four, you're going to be severed from Christ, and as you seek to be justified by 00:12:24.000 |
Remember Apostle Paul is talking to Christians. 00:12:29.320 |
People who have already at least said they're Christians. 00:12:32.480 |
People who have at least proclaimed the name of Christ, and they're in the context of the 00:12:37.480 |
And in the context of the church, there are these false teachers who come around and start 00:12:43.360 |
And then Apostle Paul gets incredibly mad at them. 00:12:56.200 |
This persuasion did not come from him who calls you. 00:13:03.040 |
And he says, "Little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. 00:13:05.440 |
I have confidence in you and the Lord that you will adopt no other view, but the one 00:13:09.600 |
who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. 00:13:13.920 |
But I, brethren, if I preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? 00:13:18.160 |
Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. 00:13:21.200 |
I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves." 00:13:26.320 |
I'm not sure if you get the wow, but you see what he's saying? 00:13:31.920 |
That the people who are persuading you and the false teachers, he says, "I wish they 00:13:41.580 |
Because if you go to chapter one, I think you guys have heard this passage before, verses 00:13:52.080 |
That even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to 00:13:58.120 |
what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. 00:14:03.540 |
As we have said before, so I say it again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel 00:14:07.500 |
contrary to what you receive, he is to be accursed. 00:14:22.080 |
And so we got to ask the question, why is the Apostle Paul so upset? 00:14:28.600 |
Why is he so riled and enraged that these people would come across and say, "Hey, I 00:14:32.640 |
know you're in a church, I know you're a Christian and stuff, but you got to get circumcised 00:14:39.280 |
And we're going to deal with that a little bit. 00:14:41.480 |
Well, first and foremost, as we look at this passage, very clearly we know that by law 00:14:56.340 |
What I'm saying is this, and this is really important. 00:15:00.720 |
Earlier, I'm talking about a concept of bondage. 00:15:05.680 |
Whenever you have a problem, but you have no solution, you feel like you're in bondage. 00:15:13.200 |
Well, the fact of the matter is the old covenant, the old saints, the Jewish people, they look 00:15:26.520 |
Let's put our hands on the animal, send him out, let's shed the blood, let's do all this 00:15:30.320 |
stuff, because those were the stipulations that were sent. 00:15:36.640 |
Let's abide by the law, put on stuff like that. 00:15:38.740 |
And so now that's how the Pharisees conducted everything. 00:15:41.540 |
When they would minister to the people in their synagogue, the way that they would minister 00:15:45.480 |
to prevent sin, to deal with sin, their solution was law, legalism. 00:15:49.680 |
Don't walk, don't carry, don't do this, don't eat, don't touch. 00:16:00.120 |
And we know from scriptures, it teaches us the law was never meant to be the solve-all, 00:16:05.240 |
the solution for that sin, but rather that law exposes to you that's how sinful you are. 00:16:12.920 |
And so here is a law that was purposed to distinguish you as a nation and then to show 00:16:19.800 |
And here you are saying, but we keep going to this law, save us, do something, prevent 00:16:32.080 |
And so I say, you know, I'm not against rules and discipline. 00:16:36.040 |
As a matter of fact, especially if you're young, especially for kids, rules are necessary, 00:16:49.760 |
As a matter of fact, if you listen to this, it says, do not handle, do not taste, do not 00:16:56.320 |
touch these rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with us are 00:17:02.200 |
based merely on human commands and teachings. 00:17:05.120 |
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, 00:17:10.640 |
their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body. 00:17:14.480 |
But they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. 00:17:17.800 |
That's Colossians chapter two, verse 21 and down. 00:17:22.920 |
It says these rules and regulations are not effective in controlling the desire that's 00:17:30.000 |
The sin that's inside and internal cannot be dealt with by external regulation and law. 00:17:39.040 |
It rather only binds you in the knowledge of your sin more. 00:17:45.080 |
I want to make a really important transition now to what I like to get at. 00:17:51.920 |
Apostle Paul in context is teaching Christians who are being tempted by the teaching of going 00:17:58.280 |
back to legalism as a means to get right with God. 00:18:06.480 |
At face value, it seems like it's so upsetting because it just doesn't work for us. 00:18:15.100 |
As a matter of fact, I look back on my sermon about three months ago and I said exactly 00:18:19.160 |
those words like, "You can't be a legalist when you feel dry." 00:18:25.260 |
Some of us in this room, I know we've had moments where we didn't deal with God. 00:18:30.560 |
And then someone asks like, "Well, you need to get your act together." 00:18:32.880 |
And you're like, "Yeah, what I need to do is X, Y, Z." 00:18:35.520 |
And then you think, "I'm just going to come back to church. 00:18:38.000 |
I'm going to serve and it's going to be right." 00:18:41.080 |
And then I would say, "That kind of legalism is wrong." 00:18:44.680 |
Because it makes you feel guilty and it makes you feel more guilty and the next thing you 00:18:51.880 |
The greatest reason why I see from the study of the book of Galatians why legalism is so 00:18:56.520 |
bad is not because of what it does to you or how it lacks to help you. 00:19:03.880 |
Obviously, the greatest reason why legalism is wrong is because it offends our Father. 00:19:12.760 |
The greatest reason why legalism is wrong is because it absolutely offends our Father. 00:19:21.320 |
Because if you turn back over to Galatians chapter one, turn back to Galatians chapter 00:19:25.760 |
one, it says in verse six, as he is riled up and enraged by what the church is in danger 00:19:34.240 |
of doing, he says, "I am amazed," this is verse six, okay, chapter one, verse six, Galatians, 00:19:39.640 |
"I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by grace of Christ for 00:19:46.760 |
a different gospel, which is really not another." 00:19:51.080 |
Do you notice that little nuance of what he's saying? 00:19:53.240 |
He's not saying, "I'm so surprised you forgot what I said." 00:19:55.920 |
He says, he doesn't say, "I'm so surprised you're neglecting this sacred doctrine. 00:20:01.560 |
He says, "I'm so surprised you're abandoning our God." 00:20:05.920 |
It's offensive to our God because when you practice, whether it's a formal, whether it's 00:20:12.520 |
a practical legalism, you offend and deny God. 00:20:19.600 |
Well, again, for me, as any other human being, typically if I have sinned or if I have done 00:20:28.400 |
something that is not right before God, I go through the litany of all the sinful responses 00:20:34.000 |
to it where I try to distract myself and not think about it, so I go off and do work. 00:20:43.440 |
I sometimes hide, I neglect, and then I start thinking I should fix it, so I'm going to 00:20:46.880 |
just go do this and that and that, I need to go do a good work, so to speak. 00:20:51.200 |
I go through all of that and I have to sit there like, "Oh, you know you're not supposed 00:20:56.160 |
Well, in the midst of that, again, there is a subtle thought, there is this subtle, deep, 00:21:05.320 |
arrogant, false humility thought, "I am going to fix it by rectifying this relationship 00:21:19.280 |
Because the reality of the relationship that we have. 00:21:22.400 |
I want to pose to you a kind of scenario, okay? 00:21:26.840 |
Let's say, again, you wronged your father, but you had a sense of conviction and you 00:21:33.520 |
knew it was wrong, so you wanted to go back and reconcile that relationship, and so you 00:21:37.680 |
decide, "Dad, I know you sacrificed for me since we were young. 00:21:43.560 |
Sometimes you sacrifice your own well-being, your own health for our well-being. 00:21:47.400 |
You cared for me, I realize, for such a long time, decades, literally, and I know I wronged 00:21:54.400 |
you, so here, I got you this teacher that says, 'Best Dad.'" 00:22:02.080 |
Obviously, the father would kind of sit there and be like, "This is weird. 00:22:07.840 |
I don't know how in any way you thought this would actually solve the situation. 00:22:14.560 |
You know, maybe a better analogy is this, okay? 00:22:21.880 |
Try going to your mom, and if you wronged her or if you've done anything, even if you 00:22:26.960 |
didn't wrong her, you wanted to go and you wanted to thank her in some way, and so you 00:22:33.680 |
go to her house and she's cooking all this meal, and then you say, "So, how much for 00:22:49.520 |
I would imagine your mom would do one of these, "Oh, yeah?" 00:22:56.960 |
You cannot dare say that to a parent, as though in your gratitude, you would dare try to pay 00:23:04.640 |
or do something by which you would all of a sudden say, "Okay, now I'm going to pay 00:23:08.640 |
for you to make this all right, to make it all worthwhile." 00:23:13.800 |
That is a false humility and a false arrogance. 00:23:16.240 |
Sorry, that's arrogance at its core, but it's so subtle. 00:23:25.280 |
It's not so much because it affects us and our guilt. 00:23:28.920 |
We need to stop thinking of ourselves even in the way we deal with sin. 00:23:34.320 |
Even in the way we deal with sin, we realize legalism is wrong because it offends our holy 00:23:37.840 |
God and that's why in the book of Galatians, he goes at length to describe, "Look, you 00:23:46.640 |
And if you're a son, you have a relationship with God where you cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" 00:23:53.160 |
And if you are a son, then you have all the privilege of a son and you have the inheritance 00:24:04.360 |
And that's the encouragement Scripture asks for you. 00:24:09.920 |
Apostle Paul is battling legalism and his first offense to battle legalism is, "You 00:24:25.680 |
And so, Apostle Paul makes this strong admonition that we need to be thinking carefully about 00:24:34.200 |
how we approach not just what we believe to be sin and how we deal with it, but even the 00:24:42.120 |
secondary idea of how do we respond in all of that to God and sin. 00:24:48.320 |
My point was, the Jews looked at the law and saw it as a solution. 00:25:03.080 |
The Spirit convicting and moving and guiding. 00:25:06.720 |
The Spirit allowing us to cry, "Abba, Father." 00:25:10.000 |
The Spirit allowing us to have that relationship. 00:25:13.920 |
It's a bit of something that we can't necessarily exhaustively describe into words, but it's 00:25:19.680 |
an experience that you and I should all be aware of when we think of what is this freedom, 00:25:25.440 |
what is this ability to come back to a restored relationship with God based not on external 00:25:30.840 |
law, but based on what God is doing inside of us. 00:25:35.120 |
Now as you think about that, by way of transition, the Jews accused Apostle Paul and said, "You 00:25:49.160 |
You must be one of these libertarian, we do whatever we want, anti-Gnomean, there is no 00:25:56.840 |
And that's what the Pharisees and the Jews would regularly attack Apostle Paul with. 00:26:04.520 |
And they would say, "Don't listen to this man. 00:26:06.760 |
He rejects the laws, he rejects the temple, he rejects God." 00:26:11.640 |
Because in Apostle Paul's saying, we've been freed from that law, the bondage of trying 00:26:17.200 |
to do something that you're not capable of doing. 00:26:21.280 |
And you only have this fear of utter judgment because that's what the law states. 00:26:28.520 |
And so a bunch of people are sitting there like, "So we just do whatever?" 00:26:36.760 |
So earlier I asked this question, "Well what is freedom? 00:26:40.400 |
And we're getting glimpses and pieces of that. 00:26:42.920 |
And right now what Apostle Paul is going to do is say, "This is what freedom is not." 00:26:46.280 |
So please turn your eyes over to verse 13 through 15. 00:26:54.160 |
What freedom is not, as a means to define what freedom actually is. 00:26:59.560 |
He says this, "For you were called to freedom." 00:27:09.560 |
But then he says, "Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. 00:27:21.880 |
In the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 00:27:25.160 |
But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another." 00:27:32.040 |
So essentially what I'm going to say is this. 00:27:35.400 |
First and foremost, yes, you as a Christian, we have a freedom. 00:27:40.600 |
But it is not the same definition as the world currently describes it. 00:27:44.880 |
If you look up freedom in the Webster Dictionary, it's going to say, "The power or ability 00:28:00.480 |
You have no hindrance to whatever you want to do. 00:28:04.840 |
Is that the freedom to which God has called you? 00:28:09.120 |
Actually, God has called you to a great restraint in freedom to which you do not make your freedom 00:28:15.600 |
a platform for sin, selfishness, and the flesh. 00:28:21.520 |
He says, essentially, another way to put it is, "Your freedom is conditioned by the holiness 00:28:28.320 |
Just as discipline, regulation, and law without holiness is absolute hypocrisy, your freedom 00:28:35.080 |
without holiness is absolute flesh, hedonism. 00:28:45.240 |
You've been called to freedom, but this freedom is not like the world." 00:28:48.760 |
Our generation in America says, "I get to say whatever I want. 00:28:55.400 |
And then they expect, "And you better defend my right to do that." 00:29:01.040 |
That is not the kind of freedom the rest of the world is thinking about. 00:29:03.840 |
That is not the kind of freedom the Bible is thinking about. 00:29:06.400 |
That is the kind of freedom only a privileged, very few in a, you know, entitlement kind 00:29:16.440 |
The scripture says, "Your freedom is one that is conditioned by the holiness of God, and 00:29:23.960 |
Please turn your Bibles to 2 Peter 2.18 as another reiteration of this truth. 00:29:33.720 |
I'm going to go to verse 22, and this is what the passage says. 00:29:38.920 |
2 Peter, "For speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh 00:29:44.400 |
those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 00:29:48.000 |
They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. 00:29:51.480 |
For whatever overcomes a person to that, he is enslaved. 00:29:54.760 |
For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our 00:29:58.680 |
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. 00:30:04.480 |
The last day has become worse for them than the first. 00:30:07.400 |
For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness, than 00:30:10.960 |
for after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 00:30:15.960 |
What the true Proverbs says has happened to them, the dogs return to his own vomit, and 00:30:19.560 |
so, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire." 00:30:27.440 |
I want to just say a couple things about that. 00:30:31.320 |
The first thing I want to say is, again, we're talking about right now what freedom is not. 00:30:37.120 |
And you know how earlier I said legalism, okay, would really offend God. 00:30:42.840 |
This passage in 2 Peter is telling us, on the opposite, if you turn your freedom into 00:30:54.040 |
For somebody to have received the grace of God, somebody to have received the freedom 00:30:58.360 |
of God, somebody to have received the provision of God, then to after that turn that into 00:31:03.880 |
a springboard for their selfishness, that actually offends God even more. 00:31:11.200 |
And we think about that in the analogy of the father again. 00:31:15.520 |
Somebody outside of your house, somebody outside of your circle, the privileges of your organization, 00:31:22.040 |
of your nation, whatever it may be, they're trying whatever it may be, and they're doing 00:31:26.200 |
whatever they want to, okay, you're not a part of us. 00:31:31.000 |
But if you come in saying, "I'm going to abide by your law, I'm going to abide by your 00:31:35.160 |
grace, I'm going to abide by what you expect, I'm going to abide by what you're pleased 00:31:38.600 |
by," and then once you receive that, then you go off and make that a rationale, an excuse 00:31:44.320 |
to indulge your flesh, God is even more offended. 00:31:48.360 |
And he says the second state has become even worse. 00:31:53.360 |
But it's an interesting condition that we have where we do that. 00:31:58.280 |
We have freedom, and then we turn it into a license. 00:32:02.240 |
I remember there was a time in my first year in seminary, we were learning Greek, and everybody 00:32:09.600 |
And we said, "You're going to get through it, man. 00:32:16.640 |
But our professor was one of these crazy, hard professors, and he had an exam every 00:32:25.200 |
And so people were up all night Thursday to study for their exam on Friday. 00:32:29.680 |
Well halfway through the semester, he realizes all these students are grumbling, and they're 00:32:33.120 |
just like, "Oh my gosh," and they're not doing well on their quizzes. 00:32:35.840 |
And so he decides on Friday, "Guys, I have great news. 00:32:40.280 |
Everyone's looking at each other like, "Yeah!" 00:32:49.400 |
Third week comes along, Thursday, nobody studies. 00:32:52.960 |
Friday comes along, he's like, "Okay, guys, we have quiz." 00:32:55.960 |
Like a bunch of people bomb the quiz, you know? 00:33:01.680 |
The fact of the matter is, we're just accustomed to allowing for a platform of grace, a platform 00:33:09.040 |
of freedom, and we use it for an abuse of freedom. 00:33:15.520 |
And that's many ways this generation and this culture in America, right? 00:33:21.960 |
And I wish if God would bless America, God would bless America by conviction we have 00:33:25.760 |
become an incredibly self-abusive culture, where we take the freedom that we have and 00:33:32.440 |
I don't care if you have a problem, I don't care if what I'm doing is gross, perverse, 00:33:42.760 |
And then the media, and then everything that's coming out through this generation is that 00:33:50.760 |
Was that freedom used for greater service, greater humility, greater acts of benevolence 00:33:58.640 |
Was that freedom used for greater righteousness? 00:34:02.440 |
Most of the stuff, when they say, "Hey, we have the freedom of speech!" 00:34:09.960 |
And the Apostle Paul says, "That is not the kind of freedom God has called you to." 00:34:14.880 |
And what's more, I want to say that our freedom is conditioned by a love for others. 00:34:20.880 |
And we see that coming back to Galatians chapter 5, the second half of verse 13. 00:34:26.440 |
He says in the second half of verse 13, "But through love serve one another, for the whole 00:34:34.640 |
In this statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself, but if you bite and you devour 00:34:38.560 |
one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another." 00:34:43.360 |
So the idea here is, what I'm saying, you guys get what I'm saying, is this is a caricature 00:34:52.260 |
of the freedom that a lot of people think they're supposed to have. 00:34:56.400 |
I should have a freedom where I'm not bound, or I should have a freedom where there are 00:35:00.160 |
no restrictions, where there are no burdens, where there are no hindrances. 00:35:05.820 |
But now I'm making the point that the freedom, paradoxically, that the Scriptures call us 00:35:09.960 |
to is not a kind of freedom by which we're just free from all things. 00:35:13.640 |
It's a freedom though that is actually very well confined by God and by others. 00:35:19.680 |
See this world again says stuff like, you know, whether someone else's freedom is hindered 00:35:29.360 |
And I don't want to bring up too much of current events or whatnot, but it just appalls me 00:35:34.180 |
that for the freedom of right to express oneself for very few, then the freedom of a bunch 00:35:40.560 |
of other people are just going to be squashed. 00:35:43.400 |
You guys probably know what I'm talking about, this whole idea with gender neutral bathrooms 00:36:00.240 |
But the fact of the matter is, that is the way this generation espouses the practice 00:36:06.460 |
But Apostle Paul and God teaches in the Scripture that our freedom is actually very well conditioned 00:36:14.520 |
To the degree that in other parts of Scripture, for example, Romans chapter 14 and 1 Corinthians 00:36:20.960 |
chapter 8 through 10 says that our liberties, our freedoms, are actually constantly held 00:36:28.040 |
And Apostle Paul says, "I would actually sacrifice some of the liberties that I have to the degree 00:36:36.220 |
I wouldn't even eat meat should it hinder somebody else. 00:36:39.520 |
If it's not beneficial to my fellow brother in the church, and it rebukes the church, 00:36:43.560 |
you think you're so mature because you know something? 00:36:49.520 |
And your liberties and your freedoms need to be conditioned by this love. 00:36:54.960 |
So the point that I'm making is, the freedom that we have is conditioned by God and by 00:37:04.560 |
To me, at that point, I'm going to be honest, when I was reading the book of Galatians, 00:37:13.440 |
To what can we write as a definition for freedom? 00:37:18.920 |
And what's really interesting is, I want to read to you the next passage or the rest of 00:37:24.160 |
the chapter in hopes that Apostle Paul would give us the definition. 00:37:29.120 |
Well this is what he says, verse 16 down to verse 24. 00:37:37.420 |
So in contrast to that kind of pagan freedom that people think you have, rather, verse 00:37:45.360 |
And you will not carry out the desire of your flesh. 00:37:48.040 |
For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. 00:37:51.280 |
For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you 00:37:56.000 |
But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. 00:37:58.520 |
So far I have, walk in the spirit, be led by the spirit. 00:38:02.240 |
And verse 19, now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, 00:38:07.360 |
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, 00:38:13.000 |
factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I have forewarned 00:38:17.400 |
you, just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit 00:38:23.200 |
But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 00:38:31.880 |
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with his passions and 00:38:37.440 |
If we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. 00:38:41.040 |
So far in the rest of the chapter, all that he said is, be in the spirit, be led by the 00:38:48.120 |
Walk in the spirit, be in step with the spirit, have the spirit, be in Christ. 00:38:53.600 |
And now I've got to start drawing some dots and lines and saying, how does this all connect? 00:38:59.160 |
He's utterly destroyed my false concept of freedom, which I believe is why I was so frustrated. 00:39:06.280 |
Because I thought my freedom was supposed to be, I shouldn't have experience of burden. 00:39:12.280 |
I thought my freedom was supposed to be, I should be free from that kind of anxiety, 00:39:16.680 |
free from stress, free from the fight, free from the struggle. 00:39:22.840 |
There's actually more conditions that I have to abide in God's holiness, I have to abide 00:39:27.360 |
in love towards others, and now he says I have to abide in the spirit. 00:39:36.960 |
And I sat there and I just kind of wondered, like, and do I even know how to experience 00:39:43.960 |
And how would I explain somebody else to experience this freedom? 00:39:46.920 |
And I realized what's happening in the world right now is a great analogy for what this 00:39:54.480 |
I've actually been sometimes up late at night just watching videos of the kind of crisis 00:40:05.000 |
We've been hearing about Syrian refugees for a long time now. 00:40:07.960 |
And we've been hearing and seeing videos, and sometimes, you guys could probably relate, 00:40:12.880 |
watching those videos is actually very difficult. 00:40:18.280 |
And then I come back because it's just wrenching my heart. 00:40:21.960 |
Where you watch the videos of the Syrian refugees land on the shores of whether it be Germany, 00:40:26.120 |
England, or whatever it may be, and you see, like, not all of them make it. 00:40:31.380 |
You see moms holding kids and the kids don't make it. 00:40:35.220 |
And you see them just, in their explanation, they're like, "We had to go." 00:40:44.480 |
And then, I don't know if you're aware, but these countries in Northern Africa, like Libya 00:40:48.520 |
and all that kind of stuff, or Liberia, the situation is just as severe. 00:40:54.160 |
It's just not read about because it's so poor and it's been going on for so long, people 00:41:02.120 |
But supposedly, the coast guards catch, like one coast guard catch about four different 00:41:15.560 |
And you have people either hanging on the side, or it's so packed, everybody side to 00:41:21.060 |
And essentially, the coast guards would follow this boat. 00:41:23.700 |
And the reason why they can follow this boat is because they can follow the trail of bodies. 00:41:28.500 |
And on these boats, they would find kids, they would find people in the boat who are 00:41:34.700 |
And they said that right now, in just one of the Northern African countries, over 3,000 00:41:42.740 |
And I watched the videos and I'm just appalled. 00:41:44.700 |
Just to think, like, what conditions are you living in that you think having no water, 00:41:50.940 |
no food, just clothes on your back, and going out into the ocean is better? 00:41:58.060 |
And then so they get interviewed and they ask, "What do you want?" 00:42:06.840 |
But they don't say, "I want the freedom to express myself. 00:42:09.340 |
I want the freedom for all the sexual provisions that I want. 00:42:12.260 |
I want the freedom to do and say whatever I want to." 00:42:31.940 |
It is not complete liberation from all kinds of influence. 00:42:35.580 |
It is actually the care of a greater nation over them. 00:42:42.860 |
To have the benevolent, loving God care for us, and to be under Him. 00:42:55.580 |
And so in my mind now, that makes very clear sense what it means to be free, truly free 00:43:01.180 |
You were once under the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan. 00:43:11.180 |
Not that you are liberated from even God and all kinds of other influences. 00:43:16.260 |
But now you are actually all the more restrained under Him. 00:43:27.700 |
That even in the law, in Exodus chapter 21, it states that amongst a random list of laws, 00:43:35.060 |
that a slave who is a Jew would serve for six years, and on the seventh year he would 00:43:42.260 |
But that slave has the right, if he so loves his master, can say, "Master, I love you. 00:43:51.060 |
And so that master would take that slave, take his earlobe and pierce it into the door. 00:43:56.500 |
And say, "Essentially now, you are affixed to this house. 00:44:00.100 |
You are now underneath the protection of this home." 00:44:02.540 |
And that slave is now doing the same thing, but he is now in the house. 00:44:14.900 |
And so sometimes I sit there and I think, "Ah, silly Mark. 00:44:20.780 |
You're so frustrated, not because God didn't give you freedom. 00:44:26.180 |
You're so frustrated because you have still yet to submit to the oversight of God, to 00:44:34.420 |
And for some odd reason, you still want to make it on your own. 00:44:41.780 |
You still want to do your own thing, and you're not willing to let go. 00:44:48.100 |
That's a world of hurt, and you're going to hurt yourself for the long run." 00:44:58.020 |
The best thing for us is to see that this is spiritual reality. 00:45:03.380 |
And when I do not embrace and receive the promises that He has, and when I come to the 00:45:08.620 |
table, even if you're already a Christian, and even if you've been struggling, and you 00:45:13.060 |
say, "You know, I come not because, 'Oh, I believe Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:45:18.300 |
I believe Jesus Christ is divine, and I believe He's the Savior because He sacrificed.' 00:45:28.580 |
I've been doing all this, tithing, all this kind of stuff. 00:45:36.260 |
I come because you've promised, and I'm taking you up on your promise. 00:45:49.860 |
Father, Lord, we want to take a moment to repent of the fact that oftentimes it could 00:45:59.340 |
be just simply we are so small in our perspective, God. 00:46:05.100 |
We don't understand exactly what we're doing, but we thank you then that you reveal to us, 00:46:12.020 |
This is not our sin, our plight in life, this life that we live in the flesh. 00:46:21.420 |
Father, God, we need to come to you and be under your care. 00:46:25.580 |
So I pray that we would experience that freedom, truly being underneath you, in your care, 00:46:34.440 |
And I ask that this whole week, if there are things that we are holding onto in this world, 00:46:39.920 |
If there is legalistic tendencies and prideful acts of self-righteousness, I pray we let 00:46:44.140 |
it go, so that, Lord, we would experience you to the full. 00:46:48.580 |
And Lord, by your grace, would you continue to forgive us and guide us.