There are several games out that are based on word association. One person says a word and the next person must say a word they associate with that word. If I say refrigerator you might say milk, or cold, or food. Even though it is a game, word association is thought to reveal something of your subconscious mind. So when I say the word “Christian”, give me some words that you associate with that.

Does the word freedom or liberty come to mind? My purpose this morning is to bring you to a place, where you associate freedom with the Christian life, and you stand firm in your freedom.

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When you are saved or when you want to get serious about following the Lord, usually you are given a list of things to do, and a list of things to not do. You get the idea right away, that you are not free at all. But Paul said in Galatians that Christ set us free, and we are NOT to be entangled again by a yoke of slavery (or bondage). We aren't saved in order to live a life of mechanically following a list of rules or laws. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. We are like mature sons of God, who have been given our freedom, AND the Holy Spirit to lead us.

The very word religion causes people to think of performing rituals, keeping regulations, laws or rules, performing duties at a certain time, in certain way. Yet Paul's message is that Christianity is NOT bondage. Christianity is not slavery to a religious system. Christianity is freedom. Shortly after Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis on the door of the church in Wittenburg, he wrote a book called Concerning Christian Liberty. In which he said the Christian man is the most free person of all.

Theodore Epp, who founded the Back to the Bible radio program, said, “We have a whole new life from God, which is Christ himself living in us by his Spirit. And we cannot take this life and put it under the domination of rules and regulations....The Christian Life must be free to express itself and not be held down by man-made regulations and resolutions.” “We possess a life so divine, so ideal, that it cannot be forced in a mold of external regulations”.

In Galatians, Paul says, forcefully, that we are free from every kind of external bondage, to law or ritual. And it is not just that you can be free, it is that you MUST be free! Verse 1 says, “It is FOR freedom, that Christ has set us free.” It is not just that it is permissible for you to be free, not just that it is an option for you to be free – But Christ wills you to be a free man or woman.

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What is this freedom?

In Galatians, Christian freedom is freedom from the law; freedom from the tyranny of living under a legal system. It is freedom from the oppressing and terrible awareness that we do not measure up to God; It is freedom from the pressure and frustration of trying to keep commandments and laws in order to be accepted by God; Freedom from having to strive and struggle to earn acceptance with God; It is the freedom of being justified by Christ alone, apart from works. It is the freedom of being made right with God by what Christ has done, not on what we have done.

Second: It is the freedom that comes from having the Holy Spirit at work in us. In place of laws written in ink, or on tablets of stone, we have the continual, immediate, inspiration of the Holy Spirit to make us new people! We are free in the Spirit, free to live out from within. Free to function in just the overflow of the Spirit. Instead of trying to please God through striving and grinding out a performance in our own flesh, the Holy Spirit is producing his fruit in us, giving us a desire and a power to please God.

The single great promise of the New Covenant is the Spirit! Gal 3:14 “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, so that, by faith, we might receive the promise of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, given to us to take the place of Jesus physical presence, is our New Covenant blessing! The Spirit, daily and hourly, stirring and working in our hearts is how we NOW live! The Holy Spirit manifesting the life of Jesus in us, the Spirit bearing fruit through us, the Spirit, always speaking, always leading, always sanctifying, that is our new life.

Galatians 3:25 says, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. We have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and set free from external restraints.

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Paul says this Liberty is to be vigorously defended! Going back to verse 1, “It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” And chapter 4 verse 30, “Cast out the slave woman and her son (the law)”. Get rid of... Throw out...

Why is Paul SO adamant about standing in your liberty? Why is he so worked up about this? Because law and grace cannot exist together. Law and the Spirit cannot live in the same house! Galatians 4:21-31 is an allegory to show this. Abraham had a slave, named Hagar, and a wife, Sarah who was a free woman. Abraham had a son, by his slave Hagar, and a son by the free woman, Sarah. One was born in the ordinary way, one was born by the power of the Spirit. Vs 29 says, “The son born the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit.” It is the same now – IE living by the power of the Spirit is in conflict with living by the demands of the Law.” They cannot be in the same house together!

Living by the power of the Holy Spirit can only work when a person is free from external demands, pressures, laws and condemnation. The life of the Spirit can ONLY be experienced when you are responding the internal, indwelling inspiration of the Spirit! That is why it says so forcefully, “Cast out the slave woman and her son.” Paul concludes this allegory by saying, “Therefore brothers we are not children of the slave woman but of the free”.

Paul is worked up about this because there is an enemy to this freedom. There is a spiritual virus that attacks the glorious freedom we have in Christ. Instead of infecting our computers, it infects our hearts and crushes our joy and weighs us down with a load that makes the Christian life feel heavy, oppressive and burdensome. That is legalism.

Paul is concerned because: You can be set free by Christ and yet be drug back into bondage by your own willingness or by the seduction or pressure of others. Others can steal your liberty if you let them. This was what was happening in Galatians. Others were trying to pull them back into some kind of legalistic bondage.

Liberty is crushed sometimes even by pastors or other sincere people who in their zeal to have people follow what they think you have to, undermine you liberty in Christ. Many Christians and even pastors feel the only way to control people behavior is to take away the freedom of God's Spirit and his grace. They believe the only way you can keep people from sinning is the law.

Paul's concern with the Galatians is that, as believers in Christ, who had the Holy Spirit, they were considering turning back to keeping the law of circumcision. They were free in Christ to go live life, to serve Jesus, to love one another, without any kind of religious laws and they were considering giving that up!

The message in Galatians is a warning: Don't exchange the precious gift of the Spirit for legalism or law based living. Don't leave the liberty of the Spirit for ANYTHING! Don't let others pull you back from from Father/son intimacy to a rule book mentality.

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What is Legalism? Legalism is any departure from trusting solely in Christ for your salvation and status with God AND any departure from living by the Spirit as the power of living for Christ. You can recognize legalism by spoken or unspoken expectations or rules: Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, what Paul calls human commands and regulations, harsh treatment of the body, forbidding marriage, abstaining from foods, keeping days and weeks. The focus is always on the external. Therefore, one of the marks of legalism is conflict with other believers over external things like, dress, and food, spiritual disciplines, over days and holidays.

Paul denounces legalism for two reasons: One legalism, or restricting people's freedom in Christ, devalues the cross of Christ. It fails to appreciate the total forgiveness, acceptance, the glory of our standing with God. It is a denial of the value of what Christ did for you! It is such a critical error that In verse 2 Paul says, “I tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you.” If you look to anything else make you acceptable to God, to give you peach with God, Christ cannot help you.

Second: It devalues the reality and work of the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit you don't need to be under laws to please God. You want to! You are inclined to please him.

The issue with the Galatians was circumcision. Paul said “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision not uncircumcision means anything or counts for anything”... That can be said about a lot of external things that Christians get taken up with. “The only thing that matters is faith working through love”. Christianity is not outward imposing something upon yourself but it comes from the inside, from faith and love, placed in your heart by the Holy Spirit. That is what controls us and urges us on.

And the surprising thing is: Those who live by the Holy Spirit will soar to heights of love and service for Jesus that a law cannot produce. We only thrive and grow and become useful to God, in this freedom in the Spirit. We only experience the joy and glory and dare I say fun of being a Christian when we are walking in this liberty.

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Applications:

One: You are free to make choices without fear of being condemned by God. Paul understood this when he said, "I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus Christ that nothing is unclean in itself.” You are free to make choices with food, with money, with time. You can chose to drive a car or a pick-up or an SUV. This afternoon you can watch a basketball game or spend that time reading your Bible - and you can do both in the presence of the Lord, and be pleasing to the Lord. I have to know that I am as acceptable to God when I am eating popcorn tonight as when I am preaching his word this morning. (I am not saying they are equally important)

In Romans 14, Paul talks about one man who is a vegetarian and another eats everything, one man considers one day more sacred than another, another man considers every day alike. While Paul clearly states that it is the stronger believer who has more freedom , yet he also demonstrates how two different choices can be made and both be glorifying to God.

Look at giving: 2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” You are free to make a decision what you give, or even whether you give at all to a certain situation. Generosity is the principle of the new life but it is not turned into a law.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9: “Am I not free? Do I not have the right to bring along a wife with me, as do the other apostles, the Lord's brother and Peter.” Although he did not USE that freedom, he said I am free to do that. The other apostles did use that freedom to bring along a wife. Do you see the freedom of choice, for one to choose one path, for another to chose another path, and both are acceptable and pleasing to God.

You are free to fast from food for 3 days or enjoy the best thing on the menu at Cheesecake Factory. God accepts you in Christ either way. I Corinthians 8:8 says, “Food will not commend us to God; we are no better off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” Christ is what commends us to God!

You can take a vacation or not take a vacation. You can send your kids to public school or Christian school or home school. You can celebrate Christmas or not.

I mostly listen to Christian radio, sermons, Also free to listen to turn over and listen to sports talk.

Two: You are free to enjoy things. God has created much for our enjoyment. I Timothy 4:3,4 Addresses the problem of people who don't want you to enjoy things! Vs 3 “Men, who forbid marriage” (you can't be spiritual and enjoy the physical pleasures of married life -that's law!), “and advocate abstaining from foods” (certain foods and drinks are off limits in order to please God, or you reach a higher level of spirituality if you don't eat this or that), but Paul said these are “things which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

God created the good things in this world for HIS people, those who believe. Where do we get the idea that Christians are not to enjoy things in this world? We are to make an idol out of nothing!! But if we receive it with gratitude, all things are ours to enjoy.

Three: You are free to obey, to give, to love and serve others by free choice, not under a law.

Martin Luther said,“A Christian has no need of any work or law to be saved since through faith he is free from every law and does everything out of pure liberty and freely..... Thus from faith flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a cheerful, willing, free spirit, disposed to serve our neighbor voluntarily, without taking any account of gratitude or ingratitude, praise or blame, gain or loss.”

“We Christians are kings and priests, and lords of all things, and may be confident that whatever we do in the presence of God is pleasing and acceptable to him. Whose heart would not rejoice in it inmost core at hearing these things? Whose heart, on hearing so great a consolation, would not become sweet with the love of Christ, a love to which it can never attain by any laws or works.”

Luther saw our complete freedom from sin, law and commandments as such a powerful motivation for living life! You can only do with delight, that which is not a law. “Who then can comprehend the riches and the glory of the Christian life? It can do all things, it has all things, and is in want of nothing! It is lord over sin, death and hell, and at the same time is the obedient and useful servant of all.

Considerations:

*Not all things equally profitable. 1 Corinthians 10:23 “Everything is permissible, but not everything is profitable; not all things edify, or not everything is constructive.” After watching 10 hours of basketball it you may want to do something else because it isn't profitable. Not that you make a law that I can only do this or that for 15 minutes but the Holy Spirit will give you wisdom to choose things that are more profitable.

*This is not freedom to be selfish, or to sin or to do ungodly things. Paul said in Galatians 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love”.

*Love for your brothers and sisters is to guide your use of freedom. 1 Corinthians 8:9 “Be careful however that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to another person”. When your freedom may hurt another person then you voluntarily refrain from it out of love. Not because of a law but because you love people! So how do I know when to stand firm in my freedom? When a brother may be hurt by our freedom we do not do it in his face, but we restrain our freedom out of love. BUT when someone is a committed legalist, Paul says, “let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or days...do not submit to decrees such as do not taste, do not touch...

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There is the Law Road and the Spirit Road. There is the legalistic road and the freedom Road. There is the slave woman and her son, and the free woman and her son. They can't live in the same house! They cannot co-exist in the same life!

The problem with going down the Law Road is that, Christ will profit you nothing. I know this applied to circumcision and may not have a direct application to most of us today, but I like what Theodore Epp said, “any attempt to get back under the law in any way turns off the power of Christ. It is just like turning off a light switch”.

What is the cure for legalism and our tendency to go back to law based living? Two things: Focusing on the cross of Christ and the reality of the Holy Spirit is the cure for legalism.