My Family and
my Hope story
Hope Academy
A Quick Look at the last couple weeks
Slave Woman
Free Woman
Ishmael
Isaac
According to flesh, human Through promise, waiting
effort
for God
Hagar
Sarah
Slavery
Freedom
A Quick Look at the last couple weeks
Slave Woman
Free Woman
Ishmael
Isaac
According to flesh, human Through promise, waiting
effort
for God
Hagar
Sarah
Slavery
Freedom
Trying to be right with God through
religion is nothing but slavery
This Week’s Message
Galatians 5:1-6
Galatians 5:1-6
New International Version (NIV)
Freedom in Christ
5 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.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be
circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare
to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to
obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the
law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from
grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the
righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that
counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Stop 1: Freedom
Galatians 5:1
5 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.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be
circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare
to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to
obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the
law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from
grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the
righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that
counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Stop 1: Freedom
Two Parts to Verse 1 –
1. We have been freed to live free
Freed from:
• Guilt of sin
• Slavery to law
• Condemnation of sin
• The “Already”
Stop 1: Freedom
Two Parts to Verse 1 –
1. We have been freed to live free
Freed from:
• Guilt of sin
• Slavery to law
• Condemnation of sin
• The “Already”
Freed to:
• Trust in grace
• Know we are sons and heirs
• Obey by the Spirit
• Love others
• The “Not Yet”
Stop 1: Freedom
John 8:31-36
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my
teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have
never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set
free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to
sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son
belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free
indeed.
Stop 1: Freedom
Two Parts to Verse 1 –
2. To protect this freedom we must stand firm
• We must continually monitor our lives to
ensure that we are trusting in Jesus + nothing.
• We cannot lose our salvation, but can lose this
freedom from enslavement
The Galatians were in danger of going under this yoke. But the startling
word in this last sentence is the word “again”. The Galatian Christians
had been pagans, who were under the slavery of literal idolatry—”the
basic principles of the world” (4:3, 8-9). But here Paul once more makes
his radical claim that pagan idolatry and biblical moralism (ie: keeping
the laws of the Bible) are basically the same thing. The Galatians had
been amoral liberals, and now they were about to become very moral
conservatives.
Paul is saying that these boil down to the same spiritual slavery! Under
circumcision, the Galatians will experience once again the anxiety, guilt
and burdened life they knew before as pagans. They will never be sure
that they are being good enough. Their lives will be as fear-based and
proud and guilt-ridden as they were before; in fact, probably more so!
They will fall into the touchiness, insecurity, pride, discouragement and
weariness of people who are never sure that they have worth (ie:
righteousness).
Tim Keller ~ Galatians for You
Freedom Can be Lost!
Galatians 5:1-6
5 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.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be
circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare
to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to
obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the
law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from
grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the
righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that
counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:2
Freedom Can be Lost!
2 Mark
my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves
be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
• Judaizers – You need to be circumcised and keep the law in order
to be saved
• Paul – If you listen to them and do this, you cannot be saved –
Christ is of no value
Freedom Can be Lost!
Galatians 2:4
This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our
ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us
slaves.
Freedom Can be Lost!
Jesus
Circumcision
And Law
Judaizers View
Not Enough
Not Enough
Jesus
Circumcision
And Law
Hopefully Enough
Paul’s View
Definitely
Enough!
Jesus
“you can’t add
to Christ
without
subtracting
Christ. He is
either all of
their value, or
he is without
value”
~Keller
Freedom Can be Lost!
Galatians 5:3
Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is
obligated to obey the whole law.
Romans 2:25
25 Circumcision
has value if you observe the
law, but if you break the law, you have become
as though you had not been circumcised.
Galatians 3:10
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are
under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is
everyone who does not continue to do
everything written in the Book of the Law.”
Galatians 5:1-6
New International Version (NIV)
Freedom in Christ
5 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.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be
circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare
to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to
obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the
law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from
grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the
righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that
counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Alienated from Christ
• “Severed” in ESV – “Cut off” or “Made ineffective”
• We can’t earn salvation by what we do – it’s Jesus’s performance
that matters, and that’s done
• We also can’t un-earn our salvation by what we do
Because………
Alienated from Christ
• “Severed” in ESV – “Cut off” or “Made ineffective”
• We can’t earn salvation by what we do – it’s Jesus’s performance
that matters, and that’s done
• We also can’t un-earn our salvation by what we do
Because………
• We have been set free.
• Christ is of advantage to us.
• He’s given us grace and freedom
For just as someone on a ship is drowned
regardless of the part of the ship from which he
falls into the sea, so someone who falls away
from grace cannot help perishing. The desire to
be justified by the law, therefore, is shipwreck;
it is exposure to the surest peril of eternal death.
What can be more insane and wicked than to
want to lose the grace and favor of God and to
retain the law of Moses, whose retention makes
it necessary for you to accumulate wrath and
every other evil for yourself? Now if those who
seek to be justified on the basis of the moral law
fall away from grace, where, I ask, will those
fall who, in their self-righteousness, seek to be
justified on the basis of their traditions and
vows? To the lowest depths of hell!
~Martin Luther
Stop 2: Faith – How Freedom is
Maintained
Galatians 5:1-6
5 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.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be
circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare
to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to
obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the
law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from
grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the
righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that
counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Stop 2: Faith – How
Freedom is Maintained
Galatians 5:5
5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the
righteousness for which we hope.
Hebrews 11:1
11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and
assurance about what we do not see.
What is it that we “eagerly
await”?
Romans 8:18-25
18 I
consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory
that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the
children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration,
not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in
hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our
adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were
saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already
have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
What does this mean?
• The believer can have complete confidence in their
future.
• We can look forward to eternity with eagerness
• We are as loved now by God as we will be in eternity
with him
• The Spirit enables us to have a heart attitude that
continually delight in all that we have in the Gospel and
Christ
Galatians 5:1-6
New International Version (NIV)
Freedom in Christ
5 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.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be
circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare
to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to
obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the
law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from
grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the
righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that
counts is faith expressing itself through love.
What is truly important?
NOT circumcision
NOT uncircumcision
What is truly important?
Galatians 3:28
28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor
free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one
in Christ Jesus
Colossians 3:11
11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is
all, and is in all.
What is truly important?
Galatians 5:13-14
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But
do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve
one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled
in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as
yourself.”
What is truly important?
Paul ties together three things that are at the core of
following Jesus:
• Faith
• Hope
• Love
Gospel Application
Questions
• What things in your life are opposing your freedom in Christ and,
potentially, cutting you off from God’s grace?
• Do you believe Paul’s message of what truly matters (faith
working through love)? If so, how is this being worked out in
your life?
• How much of a difference does the fact that your hope is certain
make in your everyday life?