Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 1

· Stand fast doesn’t sound like tough work, it sounds like relaxing, but its not. Standing here today is not difficult but let the tempest come, let the earthquakes come, let the crowds come, let the currents and tides come… Have you ever tried to stand still in a wave pool? It’s actually not possible so what you find yourself doing is constantly losing it and then resetting over and over again!

· It’s the same concept in what Paul is telling them and us to do! Stand fast! Stand and be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and when you get pushed, swayed, influenced, removed…, get back to position ASAP! FAST!

· And that position is that Christ has set us free unto liberty! We have a somewhat shaded/jaded view of liberty. We think of liberty as doing whatever we want, whenever we want but just consider for a moment, that is the liberty Satan delivered to Eve. If I am flawed, (which I most certainly and entirely am), if doing what I want to do all of the time is liberty…, then liberty means the freedom to live in error. The freedom to perpetuate my inherent flaws into my own personal reality as much as I want all the time. That doesn’t sound too great…

· True liberty is the vision, desire, ability and license to live as I should, not as I please. Let me try this… God is good. He is perfect. His ways are above that which is found in me or this world. And He has designed me to live unto Him. And in so doing, all cylinders fire. My heart and life flood with love, joy, peace, grit, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And in so doing, trusting in Him, in my relationships, dealings, business, ministry, all the things…, He makes all my crooked ways straight.

· AND, my flesh, the enemy and the world system are constantly working to keep me from that. Bind me in from all sides with issues, problems, tests and temptations to keep me from all of that. That is a formidable trap and impossible to escape and everyone is caught in it… Christ, He comes and sets you free. The liberty we have in Christ is to cast off the yoke of the law, the yoke of the flesh and to take upon His yoke and have and experience life as the Life Designer designed it Himself!

· Let me help you with this idea of the flesh. It’s not like my physical body and urgings. That’s not it. It’s actually a darkness. Think of a buffet where you go and eat SO much because you paid for it and its there! And your body starts saying, “No more!” But you haven’t even hit that desert section yet! The body is overly satisfied! Even to the point of audible complaining! HA! And yet you still glut! That’s the flesh. Never satisfied.

· You want to know how sick the flesh is!? People lick toads to get high! Here’s the flesh…, who’s the first person that discovered that!? And who’s the second person that believed him! HA! That’s the flesh! It’s unreasonable, unwise, never satisfied and always pulling us towards a position of less than what we can and ought to be… The flesh is a trap! It’s anything apart from the Lord…

· So, stand fast in what He has done for you and when you begin to wrap up again in the trap of the cell that’s been designed specifically for you, remember, the door is open because Jesus dissolved the locking mechanism like acid with His blood… He’s not in bondage, He beat the grave, He’s not confined, bound, suppressed or overcome…, He doesn’t dwell in the prison cells of sin. So, when you are stuck by the things of the world, just walk out and go to where He is… YOU ARE FREE TO DO THAT NOW! That’s the liberty you have!

Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 2

· In Judaism, the observing and following of the law in order to be accepted by God, for the male, circumcision was the first step. It signified a commitment to keep the law and for the gentile, it was required to convert to Judaism.

· Paul says here that if you go that route, seeking to be justified by the law, then Christ will profit you nothing. If you believe, if its your doctrine, that you must work unto acceptance by God then you have to let go of Jesus. He is no longer the Agent of your salvation, you are. It’s either grace through faith or works through faith but it cannot be both. And if you start leaning towards works, there is nothing for you in Jesus…

· Works based religion teaches you that God grades on a curve, because NO ONE achieves the full law. Legalism then by nature is competitive! It breeds a comparing, because not a one hits the standard perfectly, and it always sows strife. Legalism has us compared to each other, whereas grace compares us to the One above! Leads us right to praise, worship, appreciation and even obedience!

· Oh man, and I could go on and on about the profit of placing your trust and hope and all your marbles, going all-in on what Jesus has done for you! A heart swamped with gratitude! A spirit filled with praise and worship! A mind inspired by freedom and righteousness learning its full potential and a life graduating progressively unto holiness! Just figuring it all out more and more and more and more as your days of walking with the One who loves you incredibly perfectly come and go… Enjoying every bit of it, even the challenges!

· And then I could go on and on about the costs of placing your trust and hope in yourself and being enough to earn audience and approval of God Almighty! You end up hating Him and yourself because you’re never enough, you know it, and you hide it. And you look for people to placate into your life and tell you that you are enough just to ease the pain and if they won’t, you grow bitter and harsh towards them… And back into the drudgery of working for pennies mentally day after day… There is GREAT profit in receiving the grace of Jesus unto close relationship with God!

· Just think about the two on the crosses there with Jesus. One trusting in Him and inherited everything. One trusting in himself and lost everything….

Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 3

· If you ascribe to one element, one part of the law as a dependency for righteousness, a requirement for right standing with God, if you do that for one part of the law then you by implication must adopt the entirety of the law. If not, then even by keeping the law, you are a law breaker because you are breaking it apart!

Galatians Chapter 5 Verse 4

· There’s an interesting phrase. We think that when we transgress, when we sin, when we walk in the flesh, we fall from grace but that’s actually not true. That’s counter actually to how grace works. Grace without works is still grace! It’s actually when you tread into legalism that you essentially fall from grace because you are literally departing the acceptance of grace as a free gift of God through the blood of Jesus.

· And just one short note on the term legalism. Strictism is not legalism. Fundamental Biblical Christianity is not legalism. If someone tells you that you shouldn’t drink now that you’re a Christian or that every Christian should tithe, that’s not legalism. Legalism is the doctrine of salvation through works. The doctrine of godliness through works is solid in the Bible, the doctrine of salvation through works is heresy. The legalist is heretical. The fundamental Christian is just strict on themselves which is good but they tend to project that strictness onto others which is problematic.

Galatians Chapter 5 Verses 5 – 6

· This is strictly circumcision for the purpose of right standing with God. Just like baptism. If you are being baptized to be right with God, skip it. Be baptized to honor and to love and to worship and to obey Him because you can! When Timothy got saved, what did Paul do? Acts 16:3, “He too him and circumcised him…” Why? Not for salvation but because of salvation. Paul thought that the right thing to do because Timothy’s father was Greek and folks were stumbled because of that… So, circumcision is not being forbidden here, in fact it’s a good thing… It’s the situation between legalism and grace that is being addressed.

· Ah here in these verses we have a further revelation of the best and most profitable investment strategy for life. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith,” and here he continues the formula for winning by saying and its, “faith working through love!”

· Just a pattern here, a truth, a recipe for inward victory and outward success is to open your heart to Jesus Christ, accept Him and His atoning work on the cross and be saved by grace through faith and then work (works) that faith out into the world through love! Then we get 1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith!” Grace on one side, love on the other, faith in the center!

· See, here’s one example of why Christians gets beat up and life treads so many down. The tail wagging the dog. One of those three elements is missing. It’s either reliance on works for right standing with God, then faith and love and you have a Christian that can’t get it together internally. Or its grace, faithlessness and love and you have this ineffective cheap grace life that has no testimony of the strength of God on a life. Or its grace, faithfulness and short on love and you have a cynical harsh Christian that gives a poor example of a God that loved people in 100% sin so much that He gave His only Son… You need all three or a two-legged stool is unstable!

· In Christ Jesus, nothing, NOTHING avails anything but faith working through LOVE!