Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: Gal. 5: 1-12 March 9, 2025

Message: “Our Freedom in Christ!”

 by Pastor George Gnade

Introduction:

1. As most of you know, we are studying the Book of Galatians, and today we want to especially zero in on Gal. 5:1. 

a. Most of the first 12 verses in this chapter are repeating what we learned in Gal. 1. It is all about some Judaizers who insisted that new Christians had to also be circumcised and become good Jews. 

b. Paul is warning the Christians to avoid these teachings. And he goes so far as to call the Judaizers “agitators.” And in vs. 12, he adds: “I wish they would go all the way and emasculate themselves.” 

2. Circumcision would only put the new Christian back under all the laws of the O.T. While God’s law is good, it can’t save anybody. It was given, not to save the Jews, but to point the Jews to Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to save us and, in the process, set us free.  

a. That is what we want to discuss today. In Gal. 5:1, Paul wrote: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

b.. What does it mean when it says: “For freedom, Christ has set us free?”   I would like to share six ways with you today that my sister Beverly actually shared with me. 

A. To begin with, since we are saved by grace in Jesus Christ, we do not have to work our way to heaven. 

1. Under the law, you had to keep the whole law to earn your way to heaven. None of us could ever do that. Only Jesus could and did that.

a. On Heb. 4: 15, it says: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet He was without sin. Therefore, we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we can receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

b. In other words, Jesus did what we can’t do, and now we can “approach the throne of grace with confidence.” 

2. I like that phrase: “the throne of grace.”  Instead of approaching the throne of God in fear of condemnation, we approach the throne of God in grace, not worthy, but accepted, because of what Jesus has done for us.

a. We who believe in and accept Christ no longer have to work for our salvation.

b. It is simply a free gift from a gracious God who loves us and understands us.

B. Secondly, because Jesus died for us, we have also been set free from the penalty of sin.

1. In Rom. 6:23, it says: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” When you work for something, you get paid. The wages of sin result in death. That is the penalty that we all deserve.  

2. Now God is a righteous God. He can’t just shut his eyes to our sins. So He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He sent His own Son to die in our place.

a. In plain words, God did not ignore our sins, and out of love, save us anyway.

b. Not at all, He sent Jesus to die in our place. That is why He can and will forgive all who come to God through Him.

3. Do you know I John 1:9? God says: “If you will confess your sins, He is faithful AND JUST to forgive your sins  and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.”

a Yes, God is justified to forgive our sins because Jesus paid the penalty for us.

b. So, through the Lord Jesus Christ, we were set free from the law’s demands that we work our way to heaven and also set free from the penalty of our sins.

C. Thirdly, in Christ, we have been set free from the guilt of sin.

1. I like what it says in Isaiah 1:18. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

a. Our sins seem like fun until we get caught. Then we are embarrassed to death. To solve that problem, the world just claims that all our sins are not sins. And the more people they can talk into doing them, the more convincing they sound.

b. But God doesn’t act on the majority opinion. He rules by the laws of God. When the whole world only thought of evil things continually, God destroyed the world with a flood (Gen. 6:5-8). Dear friends, sin is very sinful.

2. But when God sent Jesus into the world, the Lord Jesus took all of our sins upon Himself. In II Cor. 5:17, it says: “He, who knew no sin, became like sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  

a. No wonder, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus shed as it were drops of blood as He prepared Himself to suffer in our place. No wonder we who are clothed in His righteousness can suddenly feel clean and good about ourselves because of Him.

b. To show our appreciation, God now asks us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Rom. 13:14).  Having had our guilt removed, God calls us to now show the world we are different.

D. This leads to the next gift, because in Christ, we are also given the power of the Holy Spirit, who sets us free from the power of sin.

1. In Rom. 6:1, it says: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid.”  Salvation is not an excuse to live like the world. It is an opportunity to live for Jesus.

2. Paul wrote in Rom. 6:11, “Count yourself dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” And again, in Phil. 4:13, he wrote: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  That included the power to overcome sin and live a new lifestyle for Him.

E. Fifthly, Jesus has set us free from the fear of death.

1. Many people live in the fear of dying. But the Bible says the Christian “eagerly awaits” the coming of the Lord because we look forward to seeing our Savior.

2. After all, while “the wages of sin is death, the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Again, in I Cor. 15: 52, it says: “The dead in Christ shall be raised imperishable, and we will be changed… Death shall be swallowed up in victory.”

3. So for the Christian, the fear of death has been replaced by the joy of someday living with Jesus.

F. Finally, because of Jesus, someday we will actually be set free from the very presence of sin. 

1. Sin and death will be conquered once and for all.

2. There will be no more sin in that place that God calls “the new heaven and new earth where only righteousness dwells” (II Peter 3:17). How amazing that will be!

In conclusion: Praise God for our freedom in Christ.