Galatians Chapter 5 (Part 1) — Chip Brogden

Rejoice and be glad in it. Hello again everyone, this is Chip Brogdon coming to you with this week's webcast. We're streaming online at www .watchman .net and we are progressing through our study of the book of Galatians.

Galatians 5 and the New Covenant of Freedom

This week we are in Galatians chapter 5. So grab your Bible and join me in the book of Galatians chapter 5 beginning in verse 1 and we'll go to the Lord right now in prayer and ask him to bless this time that we have together.

Thank you Lord for your word and for the message of freedom in Christ and living by grace. We thank you Father that you have saved us from being in bondage to the works of the law, for being saved by works of law.

I thank you Father for the freedom that is ours in Christ and I pray Lord as we study these scriptures that you would stir something up on the inside of us and that we would be challenged and encouraged and strengthened Lord to live and walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh or according to man-made rules or traditions of men or philosophies.

I thank you Father that where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and there is freedom. I thank you for every son and daughter of God today that has the spirit of Jesus living on the inside of them and Holy Spirit we trust that you will open our eyes and open our hearts and our ears to hear and to see and to know what you are speaking to us.

I pray Lord Jesus that you would be increased as we are decreased and I thank you Father for the freedom that we have in Christ. Bless this time that we have together and bless the ministry of your word to us in Jesus name.

Amen. Praise the Lord. Well it's a rainy and kind of chilly cold day here in North Carolina. It's a great day to be indoors and a great day to be studying the word of God. We've been progressing for the last several weeks through the book of Galatians and we have been discussing the issue of law versus grace.

When a Christian comes to Jesus, when they are born again, does God expect them to live under the law, under the Mosaic commandments, under the Mosaic covenant? Or is there a new covenant which is based on walking after the Spirit?

I think Paul has done a very good job here of distinguishing the difference between what it means to follow Christ versus living according to the Old Testament. Folks, we have a new covenant, a New Testament, which is established upon better promises, which is established upon the reality and the person of Jesus.

I got something in my email this week that was very good from T. Austin Sparks. And I encourage you, if you've not checked out that website, it's austin-sparks .net. And there you'll find the online library of the writings of T. Austin Sparks, who, above all things, his ministry is characterized by his faithfulness to proclaim the preeminence of Christ just as what we strive to do here at watchman .net.

He had an article or a piece of writing that he put together that was sent out this week that I received. It's really good and it talks about how Paul got this revelation of Christ and now instead of this system of rules and regulations and ceremonies and commandments, instead of this Jewish system, all of that had been replaced by a person, by a personality, replaced by Jesus.

And that, to Paul, was the end of the system, the end of the covenant as far as the Old Testament, trying to strive and obey God according to that is concerned. All of that system, that regulation, those ceremonies, those feasts, those holy days, those outward observances, all of that was replaced and summed up into a person, a living person, a living individual, a living personality summed up into Christ.

And that is why Paul is trying to get these Galatians, who started out on the right path, he's trying to get them back onto the ground of Christ. And off of this ground of obedience to law, obedience to the Jewish ceremonies of circumcision and keeping the Sabbath, and we might not have a big struggle with that today, but we use the example of tithing, how that's one aspect of the Old Testament law that it seems like Christians in general seem to think still applies to them today.

It's all part of that same covenant, that same Old Testament, which had a time and a place and a season in God's plan, but that purpose according to Scripture and according to Paul here in Galatians was to point us to Christ, and now that we have Christ, we are free in Him, not free to live any way that we please, but free to serve God and walk by the Spirit, which will in essence and in fact fulfill all of the obligations that the law ever required anyway, and not only that, we'll go beyond what the law required, and we'll actually do a work on the inside of a person, not just regulate their outward activities.

Standing Firm in the Liberty of Christ

So, as we begin here in Galatians 5 verse 1, Paul, see, he has gone through this entire letter, he has given them evidence, and he has given them all kinds of reasons why they should not and they could not turn away from Christ and go back into a system that was meant to point us to Christ, now that Jesus is here.

There's really, what would be the point? That would be a step backwards to go back under the Old Covenant when we have a New Covenant that's been established. And so Paul now, he is going to sum up everything that he has said so far, and he's going to make some of his most boldest statements right here in this Galatians chapter 5.

So, let's begin reading Galatians 5 verse 1. Paul says, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. Praise God. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.

And do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. And folks, it doesn't matter what the bondage is, it might be a Jewish bondage, it might just be religion in general, but the point is Christ has made us free.

Don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage, a yoke of slavery to religion, to Hebrew roots, to trying to observe the commandments in a fleshly sort of way. Instead, he says, verse 2, Indeed I, Paul, say to you, Now get this, If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

You see? And it's not just the point of, you've got to get behind the principle here. Paul is saying if you're trusting in circumcision to save you. And not only that, if you're trusting in circumcision to please God, or if you're trusting in circumcision to maintain this walk of grace and this walk of faith, he says Christ will profit you nothing.

Nothing. And see? A lot of people will say, and they've gotten pretty smart with this, they say, Well, we know that we're saved by grace, and we know that Jesus is the only way that we can be saved, but now that we're saved, God expects us to obey his covenant and his laws.

So then they try to put the Sabbath, or it might be Sabbath, it might be tithing, it might be eating certain foods or not eating certain foods, it might be observing the feasts, or it might be calling God Yahweh and saying Yeshua instead of Jesus.

And it's not that those things are wrong, but you need to look at the motivation. Why are you doing these things? And so Paul is saying, if you become circumcised, if you follow after this other gospel, if you try to add this, that's the point, if you try to add this to the gospel of Jesus Christ, he says, Christ will profit you nothing.

And folks, if we would get as consumed and obsessed with the person of Jesus Christ, as I see people getting consumed and obsessed with all these other religious nuances, we would grow up spiritually, we would enjoy all the benefits of being a son and a daughter of God under this new covenant, and we would not walk around in bondage.

And what happens when people are in bondage is they bring other people into bondage. See, I'm in bondage to this belief system that says you're supposed to do things a certain way. You know, people, usually they don't just keep that to themselves.

They bring themselves into bondage, and then they feel it's their duty to bring everybody else into bondage around them. Then they begin to try to bring them under that yoke of bondage that they are under.

And it's almost as if the more people they can get into bondage with them, the more it reinforces that they are correct. And people are no different today than they were back in Paul's time. They were doing the same thing back to the Galatians, back in the days of the early church.

They came up from Jerusalem. They took these Christians, and they said, It's great that you're saved by grace, but now God expects you to obey his covenant and keep his laws. And tried to bring them into the very bondage that they were in.

And Paul says, Look, if you become circumcised, if you try to obey the law or the covenant, you will not profit anything of Christ. Christ will profit you nothing. And get this in verse 3, And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

Hallelujah. And I just, you can take that principle. Now see, I've been making statements all along. And you might think, Well, where did he get that from? Like, if you obey this, you have to obey all of it.

Well, you're going to see some of these statements, and you're going to see here in Galatians 5, where I got those statements, and how I can say that. See, Paul is saying the same thing. I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

And I testify to you, Christian brother or Christian sister, if you become, if you base your relationship with God, on tithing, on keeping the Sabbath, and I'll go further than that, if you base your relationship with God's people, on Sabbath keeping, or paying tithes, or circumcision, or whatever the case may be, if you become that, if you practice that, let's say, let's put it that way, if you begin to practice circumcision, if you practice keeping the Sabbath, folks, it doesn't matter if it's on Saturday, if it's on Sunday, if it's on Wednesday, it doesn't matter what you call it, if you begin to practice that as a religion, Paul says, you are a debtor.

You are obligated to keep the whole law. How do you like that? And that's what Paul and I, and the Spirit of God, are trying to convey here, is that in Christ, we've been delivered from that Old Testament covenant.

And if you keep one point of the law, based on the law, you are obligated to all of the law. In fact, earlier Paul says you're under a curse. Tithing brings you under a curse. It brings you into bondage, to fear, that if I don't tithe, then my finances won't be blessed, and I'll be under a curse.

And preachers go to Malachi, and they take that scripture out of context, and they try to tell you, you're under a curse unless you tithe. And according to this, Paul is saying, if you tithe based on the Old Covenant, you're under a curse.

See, if you keep one part of the law, you are obligated to keep the whole law. You are a debtor. And not only that, verse 4, you have become estranged from Christ, separated from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.

See? To me, it's just black and white. I see things in terms of black and white. I don't see any gray here. Paul says, if you try to be justified by the law, you've fallen from grace. So obviously, if you're saved by grace, and if you're going to walk by grace, then you have fallen from the law.

And if you don't understand the difference, I suggest you go back to the beginning of this study, and just pick up again, and listen to it again, because the difference is night and day. Now, here's the thing.

Grace, Faith, and Walking by the Spirit

It is not just being saved by grace, and then trying to keep the law. It is, stand fast, therefore. In other words, continue in the liberty. Continue in the grace. And we're going to see that as we go on.

You're not just saved by grace, and then it's up to you to work out the rest of it in your own strength and by the flesh. And that's where we're going to get into walking by the Spirit. And that will be the theme from Galatians 5 and 6 on through the end of Galatians here.

He says, if you try to keep any aspect of the law, circumcision, tithing, Sabbath day, feast day, don't call God, God, call him Yahweh. Any of these little nuances that have to do with the Old Testament covenant, Paul says, you're going to be obligated to keep all of them, and you've fallen from grace.

Okay? Now, verse 5, we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Verse 6, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.

And see, that's the whole point of the New Covenant. It's not to give you a list of do's and don'ts. It's to say, look, be conformed to the image of Christ, love God, love one another, and you will fulfill the law.

That's what we're getting at. You're not going to please God by trying to obey the commandments. You please God by loving God and loving one another. Verse 7, you ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

Verse 8, this persuasion does not come from him who calls you. And verse 9, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. It's getting towards the end of this epistle, and Paul's got to be very direct with them and say, look, you were running well, but this direction you're going in towards keeping the covenant, obeying the Hebrew and the Jewish rules and regulations and what you can eat, where you can go, what you can do, when you do it, you are...

This is just leaven that is trying to leaven through the whole lump. Now verse 10, he says, I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever it is.

See, that's apostolic authority. To just passively sit back and let people just do whatever they want to do and never hold anyone accountable is simply irresponsible. Paul saw that people were coming in, they were teaching another gospel, and he's already set the precedent in Galatians 2, when Peter came in and he was eating with the Gentiles, but then when these Jewish brothers, these false brothers, Paul says, came up from Jerusalem, Peter withdrew himself because he was afraid of what other people would say.

Jews aren't supposed to eat with Gentiles. But Paul says, when I saw that he was not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, he says, I said to Peter before them all. And I just like that about Paul.

The Offense of the Cross and the Danger of Returning to Law

See, the issue is not who's right or who's wrong or can I or can't I. The issue is, where does Jesus fit into all of this? And for Paul, all of that system, again, had been replaced by the person of Christ in any attempt to go back and reconstitute or reinstitute those commandments and those regulations on the basis of some outward thing that we do is simply taking away from the preeminence of Jesus in someone's life.

And we just can't stand by and let that go unchallenged. However, he's confident, he says, that you will have no other mind. And he is again laboring until Christ is fully formed in them and praying that they will get beyond this.

In verse 11,. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. See, because some of these false brethren were saying that, hey, Paul preaches circumcision.

Yeah, we know Paul preaches Jesus. But Paul also says that you're supposed to keep the law. Well, Paul says, if I'm preaching that, then why are they fighting me? Okay. And then verse 12, I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off.

And depending on which translation you read, that's a pretty strong statement there. And it's kind of a play on words with the circumcision. It's kind of like they want you to be circumcised so bad, I wish they would go ahead and emasculate themselves.

So Paul is really stirred up to righteous indignation here. And I can understand that as well because he sees these Galatians as his children. He's trying to teach them to be conformed to Christ and not be conformed to the Jews' idea of God.

Christian Liberty Expressed Through Love

Okay. Verse 13. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. And see, here's the answer to the question that we are posing.

Is a Christian under law or under grace? And then freedom from law does not mean freedom to live any way you please. It's freedom to live as you should. That's so good, I think I'll repeat it for somebody.

Freedom from law does not mean freedom to live any way you please. It means the freedom to live as you should. To live. To love. To love God. To love one another. And in so doing, fulfill the law. But that's how you fulfill it.

You don't fulfill it by saying, okay, there are 630 some odd commandments, rules, regulations, ordinances in the Old Testament covenant, and I'm going to fulfill the law by checking off every single one.

You can't do it. History proves it. Scripture proves it. You can't do it, and even if you could, Paul says, if you try to do it that way, Christ profits you nothing. What is the point, if you could obey the law and find righteousness with God in that way, what is the point of Christ coming at all?

See, the entire Old Testament covenant, the Mosaic law, all of that, Paul says, was meant to point us to Christ. And one way it points us to Christ is it shows us how little and how nothing we are without Him.

Without Him. See? So he says, Brethren, you've been called to liberty. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. So this freedom from law is not freedom to live any way that you please.

And you know, especially in the 80s, and I guess the 70s were no different, but the 80s is when I was a young Christian. And you hear people talk about, yeah, I'm free from the law, and I do whatever it is I want to do because I'm free in Christ.

That is not freedom in Christ. That's living according to your flesh. And Paul is going to make that distinction here soon after where he talks about the works of the flesh are, and he lists them all out.

See, freedom from law and freedom in Christ does not mean freedom to do anything I want with no consequences. Oh, well, it's all under the blood, so it doesn't make any difference. Oh, yes it does. It most certainly does.

But see, here's the thing. Freedom from the law and freedom in Christ means freedom to live as I should. And people don't like to hear should, but see, I mean freedom to live as I should live as someone who has the Spirit of God living on the inside of me, as someone who has taken up the cross to follow Jesus, as someone who is proclaiming the preeminence of Christ, someone who is saying Jesus is the Lord of my life.

There is a certain manner of living. The King James Version calls it conversation. But really it's your manner of life, the way you live. It is different when you are born again. It is different when Jesus is living on the inside of you.

You don't just live any way that you please and then say, well, I'm free in Christ. I can do whatever I want to. No, it's freedom to live as you should. It's freedom to live as a son and a daughter of God who has the Spirit of Jesus living on the inside of them.

And that is characterized by certain evidences, by certain fruit, as we will see later on in Galatians 5. I don't think we'll get to the end of Galatians 5 this week because it just looks like our time is going to run out.

But again, Brethren, you've been called to liberty. Yes, you've been called to freedom in Christ. But, and there's a condition here, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. In other words, just because you're free in Christ, it doesn't mean that you just go and you live for yourself.

That's absolutely contrary to the Gospel of Christ. Jesus said, you've got to lay down your life. Lay down yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. So what kind of liberty is it? It's the liberty to live by the law of love.

By love, serve one another, Paul says. And in verse 14, for all the law is fulfilled in one word. All the law. And see, Paul and I are very similar in that Paul is kind of a bottom line, big picture person.

And so am I. I don't want to hear all the nuances. I don't want to hear 3 ,000 points and explanations. Just give me the bottom line. Just sum it up. And he says, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Because, again, here's the point. If you love your neighbor as you love yourself, that love on the inside will teach you how to treat your neighbor. People under the old covenant did not have the Spirit of God living on the inside of them.

They didn't have a spirit of love. They weren't set free by anything. They had to have laws to keep them from killing one another and robbing one another. And even with those laws, it still did not prevent them from breaking them.

It certainly did not change them on the inside. For example, in your country and in my country and in most countries in the world, there is a speed limit for your automobile. You get in your car and you drive and there is a speed limit.

Now, does that speed limit prevent you from breaking the law? Absolutely not. If the speed limit in my country can be 55 in some places, it can be 65 or 70. But there is nothing preventing me from getting in my car and flying down the road just as fast as I want to go.

But guess what? There are consequences for breaking that law. And you know what? If I love other people, that love for other people, first of all, loving myself enough, and then loving my family enough and the people who are riding in my car, and then loving those around me, that love will tell me when I'm going too fast.

And it will say, slow down. You see? Now, my wife says, I drive like a grandpa. Well, I've had a couple of speeding tickets before. I broke the law. And because I broke the law, I had to pay consequences.

And because of that, I learned not to break the law. Or at least, I learned that I did not like the consequences of breaking the law. And so, I have chosen not to speed. Or at least, I try not to. So, my point is, laws in and of themselves do not prevent us from actually breaking them.

If you could find a law that would prevent people from breaking it, then you would be a genius. You would solve all the world's problems. Now, we've got lots of laws on the books. It doesn't keep people from breaking those laws.

Walking in the Spirit Rather Than the Flesh

But see, when you have this love on the inside, and this love comes to live within you, because love is a person, love is patient, love is kind, it will teach you how to drive down the road, folks. It will teach you not to speed.

It will teach you not to tailgate. It will teach you not to make obscene gestures to other people who cut you off. And even when you do, when you break that law of love, something on the inside convicts you.

There's no policeman around. There might not be anyone around. But you know when you have broken that law of love. And that's just maybe a silly example, but it's a good example from daily life. There is a law of love that fulfills all of the law, Paul says.

Love your neighbor as yourself. And along with that, of course, is love God. You know, if you love God, you're not going to take His name in vain. If you love God, you're going to give Him the first place.

You're not going to worship anything else. So you're going to fulfill all of those laws that were written down. They are summed up in love God. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Verse 15. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.

Now, does that not describe where a lot of us are today? Does that not describe very succinctly the reason why churches are in the condition that they are in? Doesn't it describe why we are having such a hard time?

The answer, folks, is not more obedience to law. It's not more covenant. It's not more religious instruction. It's not trying to go back under the Mosaic covenant. It's trying to understand who we are under the new covenant.

It's trying to understand who we are in Christ and who Christ is in us. And it is allowing Him to conform us and to change us from the inside so that we will love one another. So, verse 16. Paul says, I say then, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

See, all those laws are written to keep us from fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. Well, Paul says, if you will walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. See, if you walk in the Spirit, you're not going to be walking after the flesh.

That's the difference between freedom in Christ, which is a freedom to live as I should, which means walking after the Spirit, versus the kind of pseudo-freedom that I take upon myself to say, well, I'm free to do whatever I want to do.

That's the difference, folks. It is a freedom to live as I should. A freedom to live as I could. A freedom to live out of who I am in Christ. And that's what it means to walk in the Spirit. Well, praise the Lord.

I said I didn't think we'd be finished with chapter 5 and we're not. But this is a good stopping point, so we'll take up again here next week. This is Chip Brogdon, streaming online at www .watchman .net.

Thank you again for joining us and I look forward to taking up our study in Galatians chapter 5 next week. God bless you. Have a good week and we'll see you then.