SERMON SEEDS ARCHIVES
GALATIANS
Through no fault of our own, about 5 years of Sermon Seeds was deleted from the Website of the First Baptist Church.
We decided that it was time to begin archiving them in a different way.
Please be patient as we gradually archive these outlines.
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GALATIANS 5:1 – STAND FAST!
Galatians 5:1 - Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
I knew a lady who had a very rough childhood. Her father abused and ridiculed her, showing no love to speak of. Her father passed away, so technically she was free from her father. But because of her failure to forgive, the lady was still in bondage to her father. She still lives with pain.
I knew another lady who was a schoolteacher. Her first principal mistreated her. She was fired. Since that time, she held other teaching positions very responsibly. She was free from the first principal, and yet she was not free because she failed to forgive him. She had a hard, sad countenance.
I knew a man who wrestled with the doctrine of salvation and finally came to know Christ as Savior. The man was now free to serve God as a Christian. However, because of a critical spirit, which made him continuously dissatisfied. He really wasn't free.
The people I have just mentioned are examples of a difficulty with which all born again Christians wrestle at one time or another. It is the problem of being set free, but being in bondage. The people I just mentioned were free because they were forgiven. They were free because they were going to Heaven, and free because they had potential victory over sin. They were free, but they were still in bondage to a critical or unforgiving spirit.
In the Book of Galatians Paul deals with a similar problem. The Galatians, who were mostly Gentiles before being saved, were set free from the bondage of sin and the rules and regulations of Gentile religion. But now, they were listening to false teachers called Judaizers, who were teaching the Galatians that they needed to observe Jewish Old Testament Law to be good Christians. They were trying to bring the Galatians back into bondage.
God has a wonderful plan for the life of every Christian. It is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in freedom all our days. We are free to do what He wants us to do, when He wants us to do it, and in the way he wants us to do it. We have freedom to do what is right!
God's enemy, Satan, wants us to be in bondage to law keeping, to guilt, to unforgiveness, to a critical spirit, to anger, to worry, to habitual sin of any kind. He wants anything possible to keep us from serving God freely.
The good news is that there is freedom from bondage for the Christian. This freedom is found in Christ as Galatians 5:1 explains.
DECLARATION - …Christ hath made us free,
When Paul talks about being free he talking to those who have accepted the free gift of salvation found in Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9, John 1:12
We are free from the penalty of sin. Romans 5:6-9, Romans 8:1-2
We are free from the problem of law keeping. This is the context of Galatians 5:1. We are not dependent upon law keeping to get to Heaven.
We are free from the power of sin. Romans 6:14
When Christ comes we will be free from the presence of sin. 1 John 3:1-2
(The above outline is not original with me. I have seen it often with the exception of the word "problem".)
DANGER - …be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Christ had set the Galatians free. But now they were in danger of being entangled or entwined with a yoke. A yoke was a big piece of wood placed around the neck of an animal to keep that animal under control. When the Galatians tried to add law keeping to their faith in Christ, they were putting on a new yoke of bondage. When a person is trying to keep religious law, he is in bondage to detail, trying to keep everything perfectly. He is also in bondage to guilt if he breaks that law.
There is a better yoke than the yoke of bondage. There is the yoke of Christ. Matthew 11:28-30 Allow Christ to control you through His Spirit. If He is in control, you will do what is right. His yoke is easy! His burden is light!
DELIVERANCE - … Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,
When a person is saved, he is saved by faith. Romans 5:1
The work of the Spirit of God (John 3:1-7, John 16:8-11, 1 Corinthians 12:13) in our lives based on the work of Christ on the cross gave us freedom to serve God properly. Just as the Spirit of God did the work that convicted us and saved us, the same wonderful Holy Spirit is present to keep us and empower us. Ephesians 1:13-14, Galatians 5:16, 22-23
We are delivered from bondage as we stand fast in the same original liberty that set us free in Christ! As we stand fast in the control of the Holy Spirit we will delivered from bondage in our daily lives. Ephesians 5:18
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