A Declaration of Freedom - Part 1

Welcome to the intense podcast with Charles Stanley 919 think it means to be free in Christ. If you've ever wondered about that. Look at the leasing through God's grace. Believers are liberated by faith. If you turn the Galatians chapter 1 for this evening in this little moment is a little background of what's happening here. What is it the 2000 years ago called to write a lot of it is just as applicable to most of the maybe even more so in some ways that it was 2000 years ago. So let's read those first five verses together, which is sort of introduction to the whole book, Paul and apostle, not of men made a barman, but by Jesus Christ and God the father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren, which are with me on the churches of Galatia grace leader you and peace from God the father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God our father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

I want you to turn to Luke chapter 4 for just a moment is a mercy I want to look at Luke chapter 4. You recall that Jesus stood up in the temple went down the Sabbath day and he stood up for reading the Bible says in verse 17 there was delivered under him. The book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he opened the book, he found the place where it was written.

Listen to what Jesus said.

Jesus said the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he had and wanted me to preach the gospel to the poor. He had sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to liberate mankind to free them the freedom from the bondage of sin from the captivity of sin. The captivity of disease. The captivity of sorrows that captivity apartheid Jesus Christ came as man's liberator.

He came to free mankind. That would be great to say that when Jesus Christ went to the cross. He took care of all of man's bondage Barrantes and no book in the Bible could be more applicable than the book of Galatians to the bondage in which we are in, you can be a believer and being all kinds of bondage because you see people are in all kinds of bondage that people who are in bondage to habits. Habits of their own making their people who are in bondage to the opinion of others. Most of what governs what they do and how they do it where they go and how they dress and what they say is the opinion of other people there many many areas aspects of bondage. But one of the areas of bondage is religious bondage and mean you go to church and get in bondage and the many people today who are in as the intrinsic bondage today as they were in the day in which Jesus said I've come to deliver them at compass set them free outcome to liberate this whole generation of the people. Today in bondage in the real truth is some of your bondage in terrible bondage, so you have been there. I know what it means to be saved and preaching the gospel, but to feel the bondage of something in my life. I did not know how to break out of. You see, sometimes were in bondage and don't even realize and sometime when we do realize that something is not right. We can't quite put our finger on, but even after we put our finger on the we disabled up. How do we break this ivory. I read the Bible. I pray I go to church. I give I do all these things, but I still feel bound by something limited something from of all of my heart. I want you list God doesn't want you walking on eggshells. He doesn't want you pulling the chains behind. He wants you free free to become the total person he want you to be free to love him free to worship him free to ignore him free to praise him free to be everything he created you to be in the hold impact of what Paul is saying in this six chapters of Galatians is that Jesus Christ came to make you a free man.

As we go through these chapters you going to discover something you going to discover that you are in bondage to things that if anybody also told you you'd say no way.

That's why the spirit of God. Most of the convicting. You see, once God begins to for you and your spirit in your attitude about yourself and your attitude about other people in your attitude toward God and your attitude about what you think he expects of you and your attitude what you expect for yourself. You go to see something really begin to happen in your life and what he says all over this book is simply God want you free, and he'll make you free. If you follow his word was. Here's the problem.

We swing from one of you and all of us have probably to some agreement on the sideways they will not be what God says. The that is, we try with all the effort we know how to obey the Lord to be strict in our obedience to him. We want to live up to what Jesus Christ said in the sermon on the Mount. We want to keep all the 10 Commandments. All these things and people expect the policy and so we wait we try to do that all of us to some degree have tried and after a while we come to this terrible feeling. The thing that I've been trying for years and the real truth is not say it's a shock when you realize that you've been trying to be good in trying to live up to these expectations and obey God for 34 years in Iraq is not working.

The truth is not know better than I used to be a minion of the real truth were known, that is, if nobody else knew you think all kinds of things. So here's what happens a lot of people who start out right in the Christian faith.

They try nobody instructs the progress of a trotting read the Bible to pray the trust only have mobile temptation meet the needs all these things. Some comes along that one failure here. Failure over here the feet over here nothing over here after mother sick is something wrong it's not working and what happens is they feel more more guilty. So here's what they do you know when you start out you not making it. You are pure temple just a little bit. You don't make it you feel more guilty than you. Obviously you feel more give you trauma how you feel more guilty so that you frolic in the place you think man this thing is not working on get more and more guilt. I'm not getting regular forget the whole what happens they swing to the other side makes it well. Here's what I really I believe that once Jesus Christ saves you menu for our Salamat dearest friends in the ministry.

He became so disenchanted because he could live up to the expectations he thought got up at all. And somebody came on something. You don't have to do that you knew anything you please that you become a Christian because you free so they finally convince them he can do anything you please he could drink. He could read Stephanie should be written before long he's going all the way to the Messiah, so he swung from legalism to absolute license. Legalism says you can't do anything right license. As you can do anything wrong and so that's what we have we got a whole generation of people just like that the we got churches Boulevard to say, if a woman wears makeup man she's had somebody else's.

You not only can wear makeup you dress anyway you please don't make it different you free, no laws, no restrictions told licensor whatever saying is I want the privilege to do what I please.

Anyway, please on the blessing of God.

You got to extreme that God doesn't want us living in either one of those extremes, why it is there any old thing you please because you say one of God's children, nor does he policies he wants is that is there, neither one represents Jesus Christ. Neither one is indicative of the Christian life.

Both of them are forms of bondage. One becomes bondage back to old habits and sin and wonders bondage to a religious legalism, and must not do this and I must do the evil one is just about as bad as the other and I want to just look through here because here's what I want. The solution all that's right. In this book Mrs. look through this book for just a moment, let me just mention several verses because all through I hear we we find out here. His talk about fame in verse four he says that Christ gave himself for us that he might deliver us from our present evil world that is the 3Rs and the Liberator in the first chapter verse six he says I marvel that you so soon removed from him the college and the grace of Christ, that is, here they are retreating from their freedom and going back to the old way again. Then in chapter 2 verse 20 here's the whole key to freedom pulses.

I found the key to freedom is the key to freedom. The key to freedom is, I can't do any better. I can improve myself. I tried I tried I tried but I discovered that I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live yet not, but Christ lives in me.

The life which I might now thereby live the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me and once a man is able to grasp the true meaning of verse 20, you begin to understand how to live totally free and him.

Then in chapter 2 we could just go down through many verses there. He talks about the key to freedom.

He talks about failing from freedom. He talks about being born free in chapter 5. There he talks about the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus and the 13 verse he talks about are called to freedom for brother you've been called unto liberty only use not your liberty, fornication to the flash, but by love serve one another. He says that you been called the freedom he says Melissa if you misuse your freedom. What he says you're over here on the in the area of license in bondage to legalism a license to do as you please.

He says neither one of those is correct all through your chapter after chapter will see him talking about freedom and liberty so Paul as he traveled on his missionary journeys establish these churches up in Galatia and he taught them the truth of the world you can imagine him a meeting with a few people instructing them, bringing them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ next missionary journey around he goes by and sees them again and then something happens down in Jerusalem. The Pharisees who were professing faith in Jesus Christ. They heard what Paul was doing. They heard that Paul was offering the gospel to Gentiles and saying them. All you have to do is receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior by faith and you can be same there because they were strict in their religious believes and because they practice all kinds of religious ceremonies. They believe in the rite of circumcision that was absolutely essential in order to complete salvation. So what I do.

They just go up to the churches of Galatia may similar we hear that the Paul Saul of Tarsus is Beneke telling you that you can be saved. All you have to do is express faith in Jesus Christ and that is not so if you going to be saved and you have got to go, undergo the exerciser of circumcision. You can be same, what they were doing is that they were adding a law to God's grace. Adding law to God's grace, a legalism a system of ceremony all kinds of things they wanted to add to grace so when Paul writes this letter. This is it.

One of those love letters like Philippians. This is a very tense letter because he realizes that there's a war going on in those churches and that is that there are Judaizers, who were there who trying to disrupt the grace of God who trying to add to the grace of God and say no you cannot be saved unless you add a law degree.

If you don't have a lot to grace that you'll never be saved because it is not that simple wherewithal heard about that he was probably currently wrote these six chapters in this book, and he wrote this in order to remind them of the freedom that they had in Christ.

Well, they were so vicious and so hostile when Paul writes this letter he spends part of his time defending his apostleship. So some of the parts of this, you will see here is Paul defending his apostleship here is Paul explaining over and over and over again. Why you don't have anything to raise money*what did you add to your faith in Jesus Christ to be safe and again church membership when you go to some church in Europe that have alleviated baptism you go to some churches the veto and baptism you not say you see, it is amazing what man has added to the grace of God and causes he says do not frustrate the grace of God by adding to it. What does not belong that what you have to ask is this listen we have to ask ourselves the question. Could we be blind truth is God trying to say something to ours that we have either been unwilling to accept or afraid to accept. I we bound by tradition and we parameters around us that we do not break out of. Is there a freedom and a liberty in the spiritual life that we never tasted obvious to know are you up to some know about up to 30 I just want you to think about your life. I want you to think about what Jesus Christ has asked I'm simply saying that for generations minute been bound in blindness and tradition steeped in tradition and because they were listed and disconnect because we get comfortable in our tradition, we get comfortable in our thoughts and if somebody comes along and pushes us out. We are so comfortable in our work.

We become very fearful and rose something missing.

God will not get you out about and not talk about getting off on tangents that no changes with God.

God keeps his people perfectly and beautiful but balance you now know that because Jesus was. He never caused any confusion.

Jesus was perfectly balanced and I believe there is a freedom and a liberty for God's people in beautiful, exciting, rejoicing a happy content think joyful balance, like we've never known before. But if we are going to receive that into accept that we have to ask the Lord to show his equipment so would you just do yourself a big favor as we go through this. As you pray today would you ask the Lord, Lord, show me if there's an area of my life in bondage. Show me if my thinking has been bound in some way and I believe as you do that, you'll find out that there may be something there that you never thought about. Let's look at these first three verses level and there were the four verse primarily here. He says Paul, an apostle, that is one who has been sent by another with a certain commission who has the credentials of the one who sent him. So that doesn't mean that Paul was just another speaker and he begins by saying, possibly because you see, he must defend himself of these believers and they are upset the people in the churches in Galatia therein confusion because these Judaizers have come up and said you can't believe Paul they attacked him as a person and their tact is the other two. Notice Paul's response to that is that I don't mind you attacking my person, but if you attack my credentials, which is an apostle of Jesus Christ, then you are attacking the gospel I preached and I want to give you have no right to attack the gospel so he begins by saying Paul one who is sent by the ambassador of ambassadors who bears the credentials of the son of God himself, and notice what he said, an apostle, not of men. He said Minden make an apostle. Neither barman.

I'm not going in the behalf of men.

He says, but by Jesus Christ and God the father who raised him from the dead, which is his way of putting emphasis to who is he says I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. He said I shared my faith with you on those missionary journeys. He said I was sent by Jesus Christ I gave you the message of Jesus Christ and he says what I'm writing this letter is the message of Jesus Christ. Are you he says Grace be to you and peace from God the father and from our Lord Jesus Christ now and many of the letters that Paul writes he has a beautiful salutation, commending them on different things, but in this letter there's no commendation, he says, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and therefore less regular personal. He says that Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world. Now that one phrase that one verse, verse four. Here is the heart of the gospel that Jesus Christ gave himself Aristide's once and for all at the cross. The Bible says he gave himself, but I want you to see something he says that he gave what himself. Jesus Christ voluntarily. The Bible says that God so loved the world what he do he sent his only begotten son and he saying of Jesus that Jesus voluntarily gave himself, that is, he voluntarily came to lay down his life and suffered the sacrificial death on the tree on the cross, the atoning death in order that he may do something front and in essence what he saying is that he may deliver us, liberate us free of break the bonds take away the bondage of what I want you to do is ask the Lord through this series delivery to free you and to show you that there is an area of your life in bondage, anything you're thinking you're in bondage. If you had limited God's work in your life because you are a brave believe the whole word of God, thank you for listening to a declaration of faith is in touch ministries continues to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ like to encourage you to visit our 24 seven web radio station join us at any time@intouch.org for great biblical teaching and encouragement is typecast as a presentation in touch ministries Atlanta, Georgia