All right, if you would turn your Bibles over to the book of Galatians chapter 5. Book of Galatians chapter 5. Pastor Peter has been going through the series in the book of Romans and there has been a lot of talk of salvation by grace and grace alone through faith, right?

That salvation is truly of God and it's something that we take part in only through faith. And the book of Galatians is in many ways on the same vein, teaching the same thing. But we're dropping into chapter 5 because a connected theme to that idea of salvation by grace is a message of freedom, okay?

And I'm going to read to us starting from verse 1 down to verse 6 and then we'll take some time to pray. And it says in chapter 5 verse 1, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will have no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. You have been severed from Christ and you who are seeking to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace.

For we through the spirit by faith, we are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love." Let's take a moment to pray. All right, God, we want to thank you for your precious word and we really ask, God, that you bless us in this time with truth, with wisdom, with understanding.

But also, God, we pray that as we're talking about a vital concept in the scripture about the freedom you give to us, the gift that you afford to us, I pray, Lord, that we would both understand and experience it. And I ask, God, that ultimately we will continue to receive and to experience the blessings you have for us.

Father, we thank you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Okay. Well, part of the reason I decided to speak on this topic was because I realized as I was going through the book of Galatians, whereas before I saw it as simply like a rebuke against anybody who tried to be legalistic, I actually realized the concept of freedom is actually the major concept in the book of Galatians.

It's actually like encompasses the whole letter, where if you were to read it from front to end, that would be the message you would get. Not so much a, "Hey, let's not be legalistic, but let's be free." And I felt that it was very appropriate. Why? Because 4th of July is just a week away.

And as I think about what 4th of July means for us, actually that day is for many Americans like day of remembering we're free. Now some of us, that's a very near and dear concept. And we value our freedom. We're really well aware that freedom is not a common experience for all of mankind, even in this day.

But rather it is something to be cherished. It is something of a great privilege. But on the other end, truthfully speaking, I mean, it's been a really long time since we fought against the oppression of England as a nation. And what's more, even when we talk about freedom in this day and age, a lot of Americans, I feel, perhaps don't really get what freedom really means.

And actually, every time I think of 4th of July, I don't know why, I think of this one song, "God Bless the USA." Do you guys know the lyrics to that? Well, if you don't, here it is. It says, "If tomorrow all things were gone," I'm not going to sing it, I'm just going to say it again.

"If tomorrow all things were gone, that I worked for all my life, and I had to start again with just my children and my wife, I thank my lucky stars to be living here today." Because the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away. I'm proud to be an American, for at least I know I'm free.

I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me, and I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her till today, because there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA. I'm going to be honest, I really feel like that song is really cheesy.

Every time I hear it at a baseball game or some big event and I hear it sing, it sounds a little hokey, and it's like, "At least I know I'm free." But at the same time, my point in bringing that up is the concept of freedom is actually to be cherished.

And even in a political, government, and national sense, that freedom is highly valuable. As a matter of fact, in most recent years, and right now in current events, that kind of freedom is sought after with life. We hear of people, refugees, people who are escaping and fleeing on boats, risking everything, just to have a taste of freedom in a distant land.

This is amazing. And so, there's a sense to which we actually should look into this concept, because for us as Christians, not just in nationality, not just when it comes to government or politics, but spiritually, that's one of the major concepts by which the Bible describes the gospel and the salvation that we receive.

We are people freed. We have a freedom in God. I just want to give a warning that as I'm going to go through this sermon, typically my go-to is I have like four points or five points that are numbered and you guys can follow and take notes. Unfortunately, today, it's just going to go verse by verse to verse.

So, I'll just tell you the section as we go, and this will help you take notes that way. Let's take a look at verse one. And it says, "For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stands firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Okay? That first verse, as I looked at it and I took some time to meditate on it, I realized just the point that I'm making, the concept of freedom is much more relevant and vital to our Christian theology than I first presumed.

That it says, "Christ in his work to set us free." Why did he do it? "Is to actually set you free." Meaning this tells us that freedom as a gift that God is giving to us is vitally important in God's eyes. It's vitally important in God's program. It's the gift to which God has labored to give to us.

It's the valuable thing to which God has been working for, is to make us free. And there's all these questions I started to think about. I started to ask myself the questions, if it's that valuable, if that's the purpose to which why he's been laboring, if that is grand in the scheme of God's redemption, A, do I know what it is?

B, do I experience it? Do I experientially know, am I aware of what that entails? Right? And do I know what it's all about? And do I know why it's so important? But I'm going to be honest on an experiential level. I guess day to day as a Christian just walking, more so than anything, I actually feel a frustration.

Because there are days when I'm frustrated with my own battle. I mean the fact of the matter is, if I look at current circumstances, it doesn't feel like I'm necessarily like, "Yay, freedom!" It actually feels like, "Yeah, we're fighting and we hope to get there sometime." You know what I mean?

And that's partially the reason why I read the passage that I read this morning in the book of Romans, because it says that all of creation, and we included, we want freedom. And that is God's promise to us. And that's what is held before us. But experientially, do we know what all of that means?

Well let's take a look at verse two and four, as he talks about the kind of freedom that he wants us to experience, or that he's addressing here. In verse two to four he says, "Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. You have been severed from Christ, and you who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace." Now there are a lot of important things to draw from that section.

You see, my experiential frustration, that is the frustration when Jesus described in John chapter eight, he said, "He who sins is a slave to sin." So typically my experience of the lack of freedom is the frustration with sin. And so I'm frustrated, like I wish I could be free from the sin of arrogance, where sometimes I see in hindsight what I said, and how I thought, and I'm like, "Ugh." And I have to go back and repent, you know, "I'm really sorry for thinking and saying that to you." So whatever it may be, like various sins of desiring stuff, and sensuality, or whatever the sins may be, those are typically what we think of slavery, you know?

The yoke of bondage of sin. And that's absolutely true. The freedom that God has for us is a freedom from the bondage of sin. But here and now, he hones in on the kind of freedom that he's actually dealing with in the book of Galatians. And you all well know what it is.

It is a system of law. It is legalism. It is legalism as a system to which they have looked to as a means to deal with sin, so it's all connected. Does that make sense? There was a problem, the sin. I feel bound to it. And then there was this system of law, ceremony, ritual, penalty, reward, whatever it may be, that was attached as a solution to that problem.

And that in of itself, again, was another form of slavery. That's essentially what he's saying. Because if you look at the details of this, he says very clearly that once you do an act of circumcision, you are now obligated to observe the whole thing. And I'm going to use the analogy of coming into a nation a lot.

I'm going to use that analogy now. You can't go to a nation and be like, "I'd really love to join your nation. I'm an immigrant here, but I only like your articles one through three. The rest of them is pretty garbage." You don't say that. If you want to come in, you abide by all of it, right?

Likewise, Apostle Paul is saying that circumcision is one act, but it's representative of the whole system. Once you're in it, it's going to be a taskmaster over you, and now you are what? Obligated. You're going to be bound. There's going to be restriction requirement, and there's going to be such a penalty to which if you do not abide by all the stipulations of the law, you will die.

That's what it said. And that there is a problem. That there is a slavery. That there is a bondage. And so Apostle Paul starts to describe this slavery that's going to now then ruin you. You think by doing that circumcision and buying into the law, you think it's helping you.

It's helping you get right with God. It's helping you deal with the problem of sin. It's helping you, but it's not. As a matter of fact, it's going to ruin you. Verse four, you're going to be severed from Christ, and as you seek to be justified by the law, you're going to fall from grace.

Whoa. Now it's getting a bit serious. Remember Apostle Paul is talking to Christians. People who have already at least said they're Christians. People who have at least proclaimed the name of Christ, and they're in the context of the church. And in the context of the church, there are these false teachers who come around and start saying stuff.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then Apostle Paul gets incredibly mad at them. Check out how mad he gets. Take a look at verse seven through 12. You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from him who calls you.

This is not of God. They're calling you in and persuading you. And he says, "Little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in you and the Lord that you will adopt no other view, but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

But I, brethren, if I preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves." Wow. I'm not sure if you get the wow, but you see what he's saying? That the people who are persuading you and the false teachers, he says, "I wish they would mutilate themselves." You know what?

That's not even the worst of it. Because if you go to chapter one, I think you guys have heard this passage before, verses eight and nine. Okay, chapter one, verses eight and nine. That even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.

As we have said before, so I say it again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you receive, he is to be accursed. The term anathema. They should essentially be damned. They should be judged, cast out. Wow. And so we got to ask the question, why is the Apostle Paul so upset?

Why is he so riled and enraged that these people would come across and say, "Hey, I know you're in a church, I know you're a Christian and stuff, but you got to get circumcised in order to be right with God." Why? Okay. And we're going to deal with that a little bit.

Well, first and foremost, as we look at this passage, very clearly we know that by law no man is going to be justified. It is completely futile. It doesn't work. Right? What I'm saying is this, and this is really important. Okay. Earlier, I'm talking about a concept of bondage.

Whenever you have a problem, but you have no solution, you feel like you're in bondage. Right? Well, the fact of the matter is the old covenant, the old saints, the Jewish people, they look to the law like a solution. How are we going to deal with our sin? The laws of atonement.

Let's sacrifice the animal. Let's put our hands on the animal, send him out, let's shed the blood, let's do all this stuff, because those were the stipulations that were sent. How are we going to restrain our sin? Let's abide by the law, put on stuff like that. And so now that's how the Pharisees conducted everything.

When they would minister to the people in their synagogue, the way that they would minister to prevent sin, to deal with sin, their solution was law, legalism. Don't walk, don't carry, don't do this, don't eat, don't touch. But we know that does not work. It just gets you mad.

And we know from scriptures, it teaches us the law was never meant to be the solve-all, the solution for that sin, but rather that law exposes to you that's how sinful you are. And so here is a law that was purposed to distinguish you as a nation and then to show you that you need a greater sacrifice.

And here you are saying, but we keep going to this law, save us, do something, prevent our sin. It doesn't work. It leaves you only wanting more. And so I say, you know, I'm not against rules and discipline. As a matter of fact, especially if you're young, especially for kids, rules are necessary, discipline is necessary.

Is law good? Yes. Is it a solution to your sin? No. Right? As a matter of fact, if you listen to this, it says, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch these rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with us are based merely on human commands and teachings.

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body. But they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. That's Colossians chapter two, verse 21 and down. It says these rules and regulations are not effective in controlling the desire that's placed in your heart.

The sin that's inside and internal cannot be dealt with by external regulation and law. So it doesn't help you. It rather only binds you in the knowledge of your sin more. Okay. I want to make a really important transition now to what I like to get at. Apostle Paul in context is teaching Christians who are being tempted by the teaching of going back to legalism as a means to get right with God.

Why is that so upsetting? At face value, it seems like it's so upsetting because it just doesn't work for us. It's not good for us. And I've preached that before. As a matter of fact, I look back on my sermon about three months ago and I said exactly those words like, "You can't be a legalist when you feel dry." Let's say you backslid for a little bit.

Some of us in this room, I know we've had moments where we didn't deal with God. We neglected God. And then someone asks like, "Well, you need to get your act together." And you're like, "Yeah, what I need to do is X, Y, Z." And then you think, "I'm just going to come back to church.

I'm going to go into worship. I'm going to serve and it's going to be right." And then I would say, "That kind of legalism is wrong." Why? Because it makes you feel guilty and it makes you feel more guilty and the next thing you know you're going to be in a pit.

That's all true. The greatest reason why I see from the study of the book of Galatians why legalism is so bad is not because of what it does to you or how it lacks to help you. Obviously, the greatest reason why legalism is wrong is because it offends our Father.

Let me say that again. The greatest reason why legalism is wrong is because it absolutely offends our Father. Why do I say that? Because if you turn back over to Galatians chapter one, turn back to Galatians chapter one, it says in verse six, as he is riled up and enraged by what the church is in danger of doing, he says, "I am amazed," this is verse six, okay, chapter one, verse six, Galatians, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another." Do you notice that little nuance of what he's saying?

He's not saying, "I'm so surprised you forgot what I said." He says, he doesn't say, "I'm so surprised you're neglecting this sacred doctrine. I'm so surprised you're leaving our church." He says, "I'm so surprised you're abandoning our God." It's offensive to our God because when you practice, whether it's a formal, whether it's a practical legalism, you offend and deny God.

How so? Well, again, for me, as any other human being, typically if I have sinned or if I have done something that is not right before God, I go through the litany of all the sinful responses to it where I try to distract myself and not think about it, so I go off and do work.

I clean, I do whatever it takes. I go talk to people, whatever it is. I sometimes hide, I neglect, and then I start thinking I should fix it, so I'm going to just go do this and that and that, I need to go do a good work, so to speak.

I go through all of that and I have to sit there like, "Oh, you know you're not supposed to do this, all this stuff," right? Well, in the midst of that, again, there is a subtle thought, there is this subtle, deep, arrogant, false humility thought, "I am going to fix it by rectifying this relationship with God by some work." Why is that offensive?

Because the reality of the relationship that we have. I want to pose to you a kind of scenario, okay? Let's say, again, you wronged your father, but you had a sense of conviction and you knew it was wrong, so you wanted to go back and reconcile that relationship, and so you decide, "Dad, I know you sacrificed for me since we were young.

Sometimes you sacrifice your own well-being, your own health for our well-being. You cared for me, I realize, for such a long time, decades, literally, and I know I wronged you, so here, I got you this teacher that says, 'Best Dad.'" Okay? Obviously, the father would kind of sit there and be like, "This is weird.

I don't know how in any way you thought this would actually solve the situation. I don't even want to wear your shirt." You know, maybe a better analogy is this, okay? Try going to your mom. Try going to your mom, and if you wronged her or if you've done anything, even if you didn't wrong her, you wanted to go and you wanted to thank her in some way, and so you go to her house and she's cooking all this meal, and then you say, "So, how much for dinner?" She's like, "What?

I didn't buy it. I cooked it." She's like, "Oh, no, no, I know. You cook, and I'm so thankful. I just want to... I mean, 10 bucks? 5 bucks?" I would imagine your mom would do one of these, "Oh, yeah?" Just like raise the hand. You cannot dare say that to a parent, as though in your gratitude, you would dare try to pay or do something by which you would all of a sudden say, "Okay, now I'm going to pay for you to make this all right, to make it all worthwhile." That is a false humility and a false arrogance.

Sorry, that's arrogance at its core, but it's so subtle. We do it all the time. And you see, why is it so bad? It's not so much because it affects us and our guilt. We need to stop thinking of ourselves even in the way we deal with sin. Even in the way we deal with sin, we realize legalism is wrong because it offends our holy God and that's why in the book of Galatians, he goes at length to describe, "Look, you are not like a regular slave in the house.

You are a son. And if you're a son, you have a relationship with God where you cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" And that's all of chapter 4. And if you are a son, then you have all the privilege of a son and you have the inheritance of the Father. Why are you acting like a slave?

You are a free person. And that's the encouragement Scripture asks for you. And I find that to be so insightful. Apostle Paul is battling legalism and his first offense to battle legalism is, "You are free. Stop thinking like a slave. Stop putting yourself under the same yoke." But it's something that we do sometimes.

And so, Apostle Paul makes this strong admonition that we need to be thinking carefully about how we approach not just what we believe to be sin and how we deal with it, but even the secondary idea of how do we respond in all of that to God and sin.

My point was, the Jews looked at the law and saw it as a solution. For us, the solution is not external. The solution is not outside of us. The solution is going to be Christ in us. Amen? The solution is going to be internal. The Spirit convicting and moving and guiding.

The Spirit allowing us to cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit allowing us to have that relationship. It's a bit of intangible. It's a bit of something that we can't necessarily exhaustively describe into words, but it's an experience that you and I should all be aware of when we think of what is this freedom, what is this ability to come back to a restored relationship with God based not on external law, but based on what God is doing inside of us.

Now as you think about that, by way of transition, the Jews accused Apostle Paul and said, "You go against our law? You go against Moses? You must be one of these libertarian, we do whatever we want, anti-Gnomean, there is no law above us, anarchists." And that's what the Pharisees and the Jews would regularly attack Apostle Paul with.

And they would say, "Don't listen to this man. He rejects the laws, he rejects the temple, he rejects God." Because in Apostle Paul's saying, we've been freed from that law, the bondage of trying to do something that you're not capable of doing. And you only have this fear of utter judgment because that's what the law states.

You're free. And so a bunch of people are sitting there like, "So we just do whatever?" What is Apostle Paul going to say to that? Of course not. So earlier I asked this question, "Well what is freedom? What does it entail?" And we're getting glimpses and pieces of that.

And right now what Apostle Paul is going to do is say, "This is what freedom is not." So please turn your eyes over to verse 13 through 15. Okay? Verse 13 through 15. What freedom is not, as a means to define what freedom actually is. He says this, "For you were called to freedom." Right?

So he reiterates this idea. God has called you to freedom. He wants you to experience it. He wants you to have it. It's a gift from the Lord. But then he says, "Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. But through love serve one another.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. In the statement, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another." Okay? So essentially what I'm going to say is this. First and foremost, yes, you as a Christian, we have a freedom.

But it is not the same definition as the world currently describes it. If you look up freedom in the Webster Dictionary, it's going to say, "The power or ability to think, say, and do whatever you desire." Now that is freedom on a general definition. You have no encumbrance. You have no hindrance to whatever you want to do.

Is that biblical freedom? Is that the freedom to which God has called you? No. Actually, God has called you to a great restraint in freedom to which you do not make your freedom a platform for sin, selfishness, and the flesh. He says, essentially, another way to put it is, "Your freedom is conditioned by the holiness of God." Just as discipline, regulation, and law without holiness is absolute hypocrisy, your freedom without holiness is absolute flesh, hedonism.

It's just as bad. Okay? And so Paul says, "Don't get me wrong. You've been called to freedom, but this freedom is not like the world." Our generation in America says, "I get to say whatever I want. I have the right." And then they expect, "And you better defend my right to do that." That's this generation.

That is not the kind of freedom the rest of the world is thinking about. That is not the kind of freedom the Bible is thinking about. That is the kind of freedom only a privileged, very few in a, you know, entitlement kind of culture demands. But that is not of the Bible.

The scripture says, "Your freedom is one that is conditioned by the holiness of God, and it cannot be a license for the flesh." Please turn your Bibles to 2 Peter 2.18 as another reiteration of this truth. 2 Peter 2.18 and down. I'm going to go to verse 22, and this is what the passage says.

2 Peter, "For speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person to that, he is enslaved. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome.

The last day has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness, than for after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true Proverbs says has happened to them, the dogs return to his own vomit, and so, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire." I want to say a couple things about that.

Okay? I want to just say a couple things about that. The first thing I want to say is, again, we're talking about right now what freedom is not. And you know how earlier I said legalism, okay, would really offend God. This passage in 2 Peter is telling us, on the opposite, if you turn your freedom into licentiousness, you are actually worse.

For somebody to have received the grace of God, somebody to have received the freedom of God, somebody to have received the provision of God, then to after that turn that into a springboard for their selfishness, that actually offends God even more. Does it not? And we think about that in the analogy of the father again.

I mean, it makes sense. Somebody outside of your house, somebody outside of your circle, the privileges of your organization, of your nation, whatever it may be, they're trying whatever it may be, and they're doing whatever they want to, okay, you're not a part of us. But if you come in saying, "I'm going to abide by your law, I'm going to abide by your grace, I'm going to abide by what you expect, I'm going to abide by what you're pleased by," and then once you receive that, then you go off and make that a rationale, an excuse to indulge your flesh, God is even more offended.

And he says the second state has become even worse. But it's an interesting condition that we have where we do that. We have freedom, and then we turn it into a license. I remember there was a time in my first year in seminary, we were learning Greek, and everybody was just dying.

Everybody was just like, "I can't do this." There was a guy that actually cried. And we said, "You're going to get through it, man. It's just school." But our professor was one of these crazy, hard professors, and he had an exam every single week. And so people were up all night Thursday to study for their exam on Friday.

Well halfway through the semester, he realizes all these students are grumbling, and they're just like, "Oh my gosh," and they're not doing well on their quizzes. And so he decides on Friday, "Guys, I have great news. Quiz canceled." Everyone's looking at each other like, "Yeah!" And the next week, he does the same thing.

"Guys, I have great news. Quiz canceled." And everyone's like, "Great relief." Third week comes along, Thursday, nobody studies. Friday comes along, he's like, "Okay, guys, we have quiz." And everyone's like, "Oh, that's not fair!" Like a bunch of people bomb the quiz, you know? The fact of the matter is, we're just accustomed to allowing for a platform of grace, a platform of freedom, and we use it for an abuse of freedom.

And that's many ways this generation and this culture in America, right? And I wish if God would bless America, God would bless America by conviction we have become an incredibly self-abusive culture, where we take the freedom that we have and we just run with it. I don't care if you have a problem, I don't care if what I'm doing is gross, perverse, it's my freedom!

I'm just gonna do it! Watch me! And then the media, and then everything that's coming out through this generation is that kind of rank abuse of freedom. Was that freedom used for greater service, greater humility, greater acts of benevolence and kindness and humanitarian efforts? Was that freedom used for greater righteousness?

Most of the stuff, when they say, "Hey, we have the freedom of speech!" Now it's a lot of gross immorality. That's an abuse! And the Apostle Paul says, "That is not the kind of freedom God has called you to." And what's more, I want to say that our freedom is conditioned by a love for others.

And we see that coming back to Galatians chapter 5, the second half of verse 13. He says in the second half of verse 13, "But through love serve one another, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word." In this statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself, but if you bite and you devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another." So the idea here is, what I'm saying, you guys get what I'm saying, is this is a caricature of the freedom that a lot of people think they're supposed to have.

I should have a freedom where I'm not bound, or I should have a freedom where there are no restrictions, where there are no burdens, where there are no hindrances. But now I'm making the point that the freedom, paradoxically, that the Scriptures call us to is not a kind of freedom by which we're just free from all things.

It's a freedom though that is actually very well confined by God and by others. See this world again says stuff like, you know, whether someone else's freedom is hindered or not, I still have rights to my own. And I don't want to bring up too much of current events or whatnot, but it just appalls me that for the freedom of right to express oneself for very few, then the freedom of a bunch of other people are just going to be squashed.

You guys probably know what I'm talking about, this whole idea with gender neutral bathrooms and all that kind of stuff. To me it's just absolutely ridiculous. It's like, I don't care, I have my right. That is an incredibly selfish way to think. But the fact of the matter is, that is the way this generation espouses the practice of freedom.

But Apostle Paul and God teaches in the Scripture that our freedom is actually very well conditioned by the love of other people. To the degree that in other parts of Scripture, for example, Romans chapter 14 and 1 Corinthians chapter 8 through 10 says that our liberties, our freedoms, are actually constantly held in check.

And Apostle Paul says, "I would actually sacrifice some of the liberties that I have to the degree that I would not even eat meat." I wouldn't even eat meat should it hinder somebody else. If it's not beneficial to my fellow brother in the church, and it rebukes the church, you think you're so mature because you know something?

Why don't you know how to love? And your liberties and your freedoms need to be conditioned by this love. So the point that I'm making is, the freedom that we have is conditioned by God and by love for others. To me, at that point, I'm going to be honest, when I was reading the book of Galatians, I was confused.

How is that freedom then? To what can we write as a definition for freedom? And what's really interesting is, I want to read to you the next passage or the rest of the chapter in hopes that Apostle Paul would give us the definition. Well this is what he says, verse 16 down to verse 24.

Or I'm going to read to 25. But I say walk in the spirit. So in contrast to that kind of pagan freedom that people think you have, rather, verse 16, walk in the spirit. And you will not carry out the desire of your flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.

For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. So far I have, walk in the spirit, be led by the spirit. And verse 19, now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I have forewarned you, just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires. If we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit.

So far in the rest of the chapter, all that he said is, be in the spirit, be led by the spirit, right? Walk in the spirit, be in step with the spirit, have the spirit, be in Christ. And now I've got to start drawing some dots and lines and saying, how does this all connect?

He's utterly destroyed my false concept of freedom, which I believe is why I was so frustrated. Because I thought my freedom was supposed to be, I shouldn't have experience of burden. I thought my freedom was supposed to be, I should be free from that kind of anxiety, free from stress, free from the fight, free from the struggle.

That's actually not the case, is it? There are a lot of conditions. There's actually more conditions that I have to abide in God's holiness, I have to abide in love towards others, and now he says I have to abide in the spirit. How is that freedom? How in the world is that freedom?

And I sat there and I just kind of wondered, like, and do I even know how to experience it then? Do I know what it entails? And how would I explain somebody else to experience this freedom? And I realized what's happening in the world right now is a great analogy for what this freedom is.

I've actually been sometimes up late at night just watching videos of the kind of crisis that is happening for the world around us. We've been hearing about Syrian refugees for a long time now. And we've been hearing and seeing videos, and sometimes, you guys could probably relate, watching those videos is actually very difficult.

Sometimes I just have to turn away. And then I come back because it's just wrenching my heart. Where you watch the videos of the Syrian refugees land on the shores of whether it be Germany, England, or whatever it may be, and you see, like, not all of them make it.

You see moms holding kids and the kids don't make it. And you see them just, in their explanation, they're like, "We had to go." Right? "We just had to go." And it just breaks my heart. And then, I don't know if you're aware, but these countries in Northern Africa, like Libya and all that kind of stuff, or Liberia, the situation is just as severe.

It's just not read about because it's so poor and it's been going on for so long, people don't know about it that much. But supposedly, the coast guards catch, like one coast guard catch about four different boats per day. And each boat has about 40 people in it. And these boats are actually wooden boats.

They're just inflated rafts. And you have people either hanging on the side, or it's so packed, everybody side to side, and people have fall off. And essentially, the coast guards would follow this boat. And the reason why they can follow this boat is because they can follow the trail of bodies.

And on these boats, they would find kids, they would find people in the boat who are drowning. And they said that right now, in just one of the Northern African countries, over 3,000 people die in the water every year. And I watched the videos and I'm just appalled. Just to think, like, what conditions are you living in that you think having no water, no food, just clothes on your back, and going out into the ocean is better?

And then so they get interviewed and they ask, "What do you want?" Do you know what they say? We want freedom. But they don't say, "I want the freedom to express myself. I want the freedom for all the sexual provisions that I want. I want the freedom to do and say whatever I want to." That is not what they say.

They say, "I want freedom. I want protection. I want rights. I want to be cared for. I want an opportunity to work and labor." Right? So what is freedom in their eyes? It is not complete liberation from all kinds of influence. It is actually the care of a greater nation over them.

That is our gospel in Jesus Christ. To have the benevolent, loving God care for us, and to be under Him. To be under His protection. To have His rights. His oversight. His freedom. Does that make sense? And so in my mind now, that makes very clear sense what it means to be free, truly free in God.

You were once under the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan. You were oppressed. Now you are in the kingdom of His Son. And there is your freedom. Not that you are liberated from even God and all kinds of other influences. But now you are actually all the more restrained under Him.

You are in Him. You are controlled by Him. You are provided for by Him. That is our freedom. And one of the interesting truths is this. That even in the law, in Exodus chapter 21, it states that amongst a random list of laws, that a slave who is a Jew would serve for six years, and on the seventh year he would be let go.

It is freedom. But that slave has the right, if he so loves his master, can say, "Master, I love you. Keep me in your house." And so that master would take that slave, take his earlobe and pierce it into the door. And say, "Essentially now, you are affixed to this house.

You are a part of this home. You are now underneath the protection of this home." And that slave is now doing the same thing, but he is now in the house. In the house is our freedom. Does that make sense? That's the gospel for us. And so sometimes I sit there and I think, "Ah, silly Mark.

You're so frustrated, not because God didn't give you freedom. You're so frustrated because you have still yet to submit to the oversight of God, to the leadership of the Spirit in your heart. And for some odd reason, you still want to make it on your own. You still want to fix your problems.

You still want to address your own issues. You still want to do your own thing, and you're not willing to let go. That's frustration. That's a world of hurt, and you're going to hurt yourself for the long run." The best thing for us is to trust. Is to trust our Savior.

The best thing for us is to see that this is spiritual reality. He is our loving Father. And when I do not embrace and receive the promises that He has, and when I come to the table, even if you're already a Christian, and even if you've been struggling, and you say, "You know, I come not because, 'Oh, I believe Jesus Christ is Lord.

I believe Jesus Christ is Messiah. I believe Jesus Christ is divine, and I believe He's the Savior because He sacrificed.' Can I come in?" That's your theology. And if you say, "You know what? I've been coming back to the church. I've been coming back to do this. I've been serving.

I've been doing all this, tithing, all this kind of stuff. Can I come in?" No. What you need to say is, "I've got nothing. I never have, don't have now. I come because you've promised, and I'm taking you up on your promise. Receive me." That's the way we come.

That is the way God is honored and pleased. Amen? Let's pray. Father, Lord, we want to take a moment to repent of the fact that oftentimes it could be just simply we are so small in our perspective, God. We don't understand exactly what we're doing, but we thank you then that you reveal to us, Lord.

This is not our sin, our plight in life, this life that we live in the flesh. These are not issues we overcome on our own. Father, God, we need to come to you and be under your care. So I pray that we would experience that freedom, truly being underneath you, in your care, abiding in the Spirit, and being led by him.

And I ask that this whole week, if there are things that we are holding onto in this world, I pray we let it go. If there is legalistic tendencies and prideful acts of self-righteousness, I pray we let it go, so that, Lord, we would experience you to the full.

And Lord, by your grace, would you continue to forgive us and guide us. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen.