A Man Set Free

Tonight we begin a series of studies in Galatians. Galatians is one of the most dangerous books in the New Testament.

Most Christians don't want to believe what it says. So if you'll open the word of God to Galatians. Tonight I want to cover all of chapter 1. There are three books in the New Testament written to explain one verse of Scripture.

That verse of Scripture is Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 4, which says the just shall live by faith. Now, that verse is so important, the just shall live by his faith, that the Holy Spirit of God has written three New Testament commentaries on that verse. Romans explains the just.

Galatians explains shall live. And Hebrews explains by faith. You'll find Habakkuk 2.4 quoted in all three of those books.

The just shall live by faith. You'll find it in Romans 1.17, the just. You'll find it in Galatians 3.11, shall live.

And you'll find it in Hebrews 10.38, by faith. Now, the theme, the key verse of Galatians is chapter 5, verse 1. And you must keep in mind that he's writing to Christians. He is not writing to unbelievers when he says, stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

In other words, the danger in the Christian life is that we lose our liberty. And this is happening all over. The danger of legalism is ever with us.

And unfortunately, there are many Christians who don't really understand what it means to be free. Now, we Christians are usually guilty of going to extremes. We're like Peter.

Peter said, thou shalt never wash my feet. And Jesus said, if I wash you not, you have no fellowship with me. Oh, in that case, wash my feet and my hands and my head.

He goes from one extreme to another. And Christians do that. The one extreme is legalism, which robs us of true freedom.

The other is license. There are those who say, you are living by grace, therefore live any way you please. God is always there to forgive you, and after all, you don't live by law, you live by grace.

Now, we don't want either extreme of license or of legalism. We want true, mature Christian liberty. And alas, many Christians don't know what that is.

This is why Galatians was written. Now, Paul opens the letter with two chapters of biography. The first two chapters of Galatians are personal.

The next two chapters, chapters three and four, are doctrinal. The last two chapters, five and six, are practical. This is a good way to write a book.

He begins with the personal. He says, this is what happened to me. I speak to you not from some other authority.

I speak to you from what God has done for me. Personal. Then he moves into the doctrinal.

He said, now let me explain to you what the scriptures have to say about Christian freedom. In chapters three and four, he deals with that. Then having explained the doctrine, he says, now let's make it practical.

Here's what it means to you. Here's how to live it in your everyday life. In this first chapter, Paul tells us about his conversion experience.

And in this chapter, Paul tells us this. He says, when I was converted, I experienced four wonderful freedoms. And these four freedoms are spelled out for us in Galatians chapter one.

Now, if you are a Christian tonight, these four freedoms are yours. Now, if you're not a Christian, of course, you have no freedom at all. The first freedom is freedom from the bondage of sin.

Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Paul, an apostle, and all the brethren who are with me under the churches of Galatia, grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins. I marvel, he says in verse six, that ye are so soon deserting from him, God, that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel, which is not another, but there are some that trouble you and would pervert or reverse the gospel of Christ.

But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Here is the first freedom Paul experienced, the freedom from the bondage and the penalty of sin.

Now, I don't have to tell this congregation that the greatest bondage in the world is the bondage of sin. The terrible thing about the bondage of sin is this, the people who are sinning really think they're free and yet the more they sin, the more bondage they incur. That's the dangerous thing about sin.

This is what Hebrews calls the deceitfulness of sin. Here's a person who is indulging in sin and he says, I'm free, I'm so glad, I'm free to sin, I can do all these things. What he doesn't realize is that the more he does them and the more he wants to do them, the more he gets into bondage.

There is a physical bondage to sin. People develop appetites that have to be satisfied and the tragedy is the more they satisfy them, the less satisfied they are. There is a mental bondage to sin.

There are people who are obsessed with sin first thing in the morning. That's what they think about last thing at night and all day long. There certainly is a terrible emotional bondage to sin.

I have yet to meet a person who can honestly say, Pastor, I am a better person because I've sinned. Usually what they say to me is I have problems emotionally, I have problems mentally and physically. The slavery of sin.

Now the Apostle Paul was a religious man before he was saved. He was Saul of Tarsus and if you had looked at Saul of Tarsus and measured him by the Ten Commandments, you would have said that man is going to heaven, but he knew better and when he saw the holiness of Jesus Christ and heard the voice of Jesus Christ and fell on his face before Jesus Christ, then he realized how sinful he was and that all of his righteousnesses were his filthy rags. Paul did not have to give up his sins only to get saved.

Paul had to give up his righteousness. Now Paul gives to us here the Gospel. Look at it.

Verse 4, who gave himself for our sins, Christ died for our sins, he was buried. Verse 1, who raised him from the dead, there's the Gospel. Paul says there is no other Gospel.

We declare unto you the Gospel, which is this, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture. He was buried. He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

He was seen of witnesses. This is the Gospel. The good news.

The good news that because he died, I don't have to die. The good news that because he died for my sins, I don't have to bear my sins. The good news that because he arose again, went back to heaven, I don't have to be afraid.

He can take me to heaven. He's opened up the new and living way. Now Paul gives us in these first four verses the Gospel.

Who gave himself for our sins, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for the remission of sin. The first freedom that Paul experienced was the freedom that comes when you believe on Jesus Christ and he forgives your sins, the freedom from sin. In verses 6 through 9, Paul makes it very clear there's only one Gospel because the Galatian churches had been invaded by a group of false teachers.

Those people are still with us. They go by different names, but they have the same basic theology. It goes like this.

Oh, there's nothing wrong with believing in Jesus. Oh, yes, we believe that Jesus died for our sins, that he arose again, but you're saved by believing on Jesus plus, plus. Some people say you're saved by believing on Jesus plus keeping the Ten Commandments, especially the Sabbath day, the dietary laws.

There are those who say you're saved by trusting Jesus Christ plus baptism or church ceremonies of one kind or another. Watch out for those people with a plus. Paul says if anybody, including the Apostle Peter, whom we're going to meet in chapter 2, preaches any other Gospel, then what I've preached to you, let him be accursed, let him be anathema.

That's one of the strongest indictments, one of the strongest words of condemnation Paul could use. Literally, he is saying, let him go to hell. That's serious.

There's only one Gospel. There are many Gospels that claim to be Gospels. There's the Gospel of good works.

There's the Gospel of church ceremonies. But Paul makes it very clear, there's only one saving Gospel. That's the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. The freedom from sin and its penalty. Now all of this is by grace.

One of the key themes in Galatians is grace. Chapters 1 and 2, grace and the Gospel. Chapters 3 and 4, grace and the law.

Chapters 5 and 6, grace and the Christian life. It's grace from beginning to end. He greets them with grace in verse 3. Grace be unto you.

In verse 6, I marvel that you are deserting him that called you into the grace of Christ. Over in verse 15, when it pleased God, who called me by his grace. All the way through this book, it's grace.

In fact, it ends with grace. Paul not only starts with grace, but he ends with grace. Chapter 6, verse 18, brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Now if you've been saved any other way than by grace, through believing on Jesus Christ as given in the Gospel, you're not saved. You may say, well, you people at Moody Church are awfully dogmatic and narrow-minded. When it comes to the Gospel, yes, we are.

Because there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. The second freedom that Paul experienced is given to us in verse 4. Freedom from this present evil age, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us. And this word delivered is used only here in the Apostle Paul's letters.

He never uses this word any place else. That he might deliver us from this present evil age. The word world there means not the world of matter, but the world of time, age.

That he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of God. Have you ever gone through your Bible to discover what the Bible says about this present evil age? I don't care when you were born, you were born into an evil age. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 32 that one of the things that chokes the word of God, the cares of this age.

In Luke 16, 8 he says, the children of this age, not the children of God. The children of this age are wiser in their generation than are the children of light. Romans 12, 2 says, be not conformed to this age.

You see, the unsaved person is a child of this age. He carries the cares of this age. He is conformed to this age.

Whatever this age loves, he loves. Whatever the age lives for, he lives for. First Corinthians 2, 6 talks about the wisdom of this age.

Second Corinthians 4, 4 makes the devastating statement, the God of this age has blinded the minds of them that believe not. Now we who are Christians don't belong to this age. Ephesians 2, 2, who walked according to the course, the age of this world.

That's literally what it says, the course of things. There is in this society a power and an organization and a set of values and goals and philosophies. The Bible says that's this age.

Now when I was unsaved, I belonged to that and I thought it was great. I measured my success by this age. How much money do you have? How recognized are you? I measured my pleasures by this age.

I did what this age does. The unsaved person is being squeezed by this age. Now Paul says when you're saved, you are delivered from this present evil age.

A Christian does not live the way unsaved people live in this present evil age. That's why Peter writes and says to those Christians who were suffering, says your unsaved friends, they think it's strange. They think you're weird.

They think it's strange that you don't run with them in the same excess you used to run. They think you're strange people. In fact, when Peter writes them, he calls them the strangers scattered abroad.

Now the unsaved world thinks we're strange. We don't think the way they think. We don't spend our money the way they spend theirs.

We shouldn't. The pleasures that we live for are not the pleasures of sin for a season. They are the pleasures that we find in Christ.

In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. Freedom from this present evil age.

That is a tremendous thing. I tell you to be able to get up in the morning and know that you're not caught in the drift of this age. Now, I want you to know it's rough to fight the drift of this age.

Any old log can float downstream, but it takes some muscle to swim upstream. But thank God we've been delivered from this present evil age. And Jesus Christ did it on the cross.

This word that he uses in verse 4, deliver, has two basic meanings to it. It means, first of all, to rescue from danger. Secondly, it means to deliver from bondage.

It's the same word that's used when Peter was set free from prison in Acts chapter 12. He was delivered, that's the word that's used. What happened? He was set free from danger.

The next morning, he was going to be beheaded. He was set free from danger. And when Jesus Christ saved you, he set you free from danger by setting you free from this present evil age.

People who are living for this present evil age are in danger. In danger of what? In danger of losing everything, including their souls. Peter not only was delivered from danger, he was delivered from bondage.

He was guarded by four soldiers. He was behind locked doors. He was wearing chains.

He went sound asleep because he knew he wasn't going to be killed. The Apostle Peter went to bed that night. He knew he wouldn't be killed because Jesus had told him how and when he would die.

When you are old, they're going to carry you on a cross. So Peter's sound asleep. He's so sound asleep, the angel has to hit him to wake him up.

Imagine having an angel for an alarm clock. Only the saints of God have privileges like that. And the angel woke him up and said, get up, and the chains fell off.

He said, follow me, and the doors opened. That's freedom. How marvelous it is when you trust Jesus Christ and you are set free from this present evil age.

Hebrews chapter six verse five says that we Christians have tasted the power of the age to come. Dear friend, if you are living for and on this present evil age, you must be miserable. But if you're a Christian and you're living on the power of the age to come, that's tremendous.

Mr. Spurgeon used to say, little faith will take your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul. That's what Paul's talking about. Set free from this present evil age.

We aren't worried about what they say about us, what they do to us. We are free. They are the ones that are in bondage.

Now Paul experienced a third freedom, and he explains this in verses 10 through 21. First, the freedom from sin, its penalty, its bondage. Second, from this present evil age, from men.

Did you notice how many times Paul talks about men in this chapter? Verse one, Paul an apostle not of man, neither by man. Verse 10, for do I now seek the favor of man or of God? Or do I seek to please man? For if I yet pleased man, I should not be the servant of Christ. For I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

For you've heard of my manner of life in time past, in the Jews' religion. How that I beyond measure persecuted the church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father's. But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles.

Immediately I conferred not with man with flesh and blood. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them who were apostles before me. But I went into Arabia, returned again to Damascus.

And then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days. But other of the apostles saw I none except James, the Lord's brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.

The emphasis in this section is, I have been set free from men. Notice please, in Paul's unconverted days, he had lived to please men. First of all, himself.

Paul could look in the mirror every day and say, you are the leading rabbi among the young men. You are really making track. They're going to be writing you up one of these days.

You're going to be a great rabbi. He lived to please himself. Why was he persecuting the church? Because it helped him in his religious ladder that he was climbing.

He lived to please other people, his peers. He said, I was more zealous than all of my equals. You know, the unsaved person has his life wrapped up in pleasing himself and pleasing other people.

And sad to say, there are many Christians who have handed their freedom over to someone else, and their lives are being run by other people. Now, I'm not talking about deserting discipline. Children in the home obey their parents.

Members in the church obey those who have spiritual rule over them. Students in a school, there is obedience to be shown. Paul's not talking about that.

Paul is saying here that when he got saved and experienced the grace of God from now on, his life was lived to please God, not to please people. Notice, please, his ministry didn't come from man. It came from God.

Verse 1, Paul, an apostle, not of man, neither by man. Now, that's the problem Paul used to face. These Judaizers, this crowd that went around saying you've got to be circumcised to be saved.

Got to keep the law of Moses. Okay to believe in Jesus, but got to keep the law of Moses. These Judaizers said, wait a minute, where did Paul get his credentials? Did you ever ask him to open up and show where he was ordained? Did he get his credentials from the Jewish council in Jerusalem? Was he one of the original 12 apostles? No, he wasn't.

So you can't listen to Paul. Paul said, wait a minute, I didn't get my ministry from man. I read church history and biography and I've noticed something interesting.

That very often God bypasses the authorities and picks up somebody who doesn't have his credentials. Martin Luther would have a rough time getting credentials. John Wesley, John Wesley was not even permitted to preach in his own churches.

He had to start preaching out of doors. George Whitefield, here were men who had credentials with the authorities, but the authorities wouldn't accept them. Now they do.

God lays his hands on a D.L. Moody. God lays his hands on a Billy Sunday. Paul is saying my ministry didn't come from men.

My ministry came from God. Now many of you listening to me right now are planning on a ministry. You're training for a ministry.

I want you to hear me. Your ministry had better come from God. If the only reason you minister is because of some credential somebody gave you, you're in trouble because the devil is going to fight you and that credential is not going to carry you through.

You'd better know you're called of God. His ministry did not come from man and his motive did not come from man. Verse 10, do I now seek the favor of man or of God? Or do I seek to please men? Now Paul is not saying here I'm not kind.

Paul wasn't a loner. Paul was not an isolationist. Paul was not an ultra-separationist.

Paul believed in working together with people. He talked over here in verse 18. He went to see Peter.

He went to see James. Jesus Christ, when he changed Paul's life, didn't make him an isolationist. He brought him as a part of the body.

But Paul's motive for Christian living and service was not to please men or to get the approval of men. One of the sad things in our evangelical world today is you've got to jump on a bandwagon. There are all sorts of people who have all kinds of religious bandwagons and if you don't belong to this group, you're criticized.

If you don't belong to that group, you're crucified. This is tragic. I have said from this pulpit many times in the last six years and you're going to hear me say it many more times.

I am no man's disciple. And I want no man to be my disciple. I want no one to ever say, oh, I believe that because Wiersbe believes it.

Oh, I preach that because Wiersbe preaches it. You better have your own convictions and your own message. I am no man's disciple.

I bow down to no man on this earth. I show respect to all men. Paul said my motive for Christian living is not to please men.

I have seen some Christian organizations completely reverse their policies and principles because a donor wrote a letter and criticized them. Afraid of men. We dare not do this.

Somebody might say something. Now, we must be careful here. We must be careful.

This does not mean we just flagrantly, carelessly do what we please and let quote the chips fall. Christian love says I am concerned about you and I'm concerned about my influence on you. Paul was not a bull in a china shop.

Paul was not a Don Quixote out tilting at windmills. The apostle Paul knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. But he said my motive is not to please men.

The fear of man bringeth a snare. His ministry did not come from men and his motive did not come from men and his message did not come from men. Verses 11 and 12.

The gospel which was preached by me is not after man. For neither I received it of man. Well, Paul, where'd you get it? I got it from Jesus.

The Lord Jesus appeared to me and he spoke to me and he gave it to me. His message didn't come from men. You, young man, as you're training to go out and preach, be sure you get your message from God, not from men.

A publisher contacted me many months ago and wanted to know if I would write a book of sermon outlines. I said, for what? Oh, he said, this really sells. I said, well, heaven help any preacher who's got to get his outlines from somebody else.

Trying to build a fire with borrowed wood. Trying to build with borrowed bricks. I read many sermons.

I average reading a sermon a day of other men. But woe be unto me if that becomes my message. Now, we milk a lot of cows, but we make our own butter.

Some preachers are like ants. You know, the ant gathers this and gathers that and stores it up and then uses it. But preachers ought to be like bees that digest what they take in and then make the honey.

Paul said, my message didn't come from men. I don't get my message from men. No one tells me what to preach.

He was free from men. Now, Paul recognized the other apostles. Paul was not a rebel.

He was not a revolutionary. But he dared to be himself and preach his own message. We're going to see next week, the Lord willing, in chapter two, that there are two kinds of people that we have to be afraid of.

There are two dangerous people who will rob us of our liberty. And they're given in chapter two. One is the false brother who comes in from the outside.

The other is the fearful brother who goes out. And there are men who would rob us of our liberty. And Paul says, stand fast in that liberty that Christ has given to you.

Paul was free from men. You know, it's interesting. When you're free from men, then you can serve men.

When you're free from all, you become the servant of all. When you're free from somebody's bondage and you have only a bondage to Jesus Christ, then your heart is filled with love for everybody, even if they don't belong to your group. The disciples came to Jesus one day and said, we saw a man casting out demons in your name.

He doesn't belong to our group. We told him to quit. He doesn't come to our conventions, doesn't even read our magazines.

And Jesus said, don't you tell him to quit. No man's going to use my name carelessly if he's casting out demons in my name. We have a lot of that today.

What group do you belong to? What badge do you have? What label do you wear? Paul said, I'm free from that. And because I'm free from it, I can serve everybody. There's a fourth freedom that Paul experienced in verses 22 through 24.

He was free from the penalty and the bondage of sin. He was free from this present evil age. He was free from men.

And he was free from his past. Look at verse 21. Afterward, I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by faith under the churches of Judea, which were in Christ.

But they had heard only he who persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me. Paul said, I am free from my past.

Now, this is what Christian freedom is. Christian freedom does not mean God sets me free to do what I want to do. If I did what I wanted to do, that'd be the worst bondage in the world.

Christian freedom means God set me free to become all that I can become. Salvation is much more than just being forgiven and set free from the bondage and penalty of sin. Salvation means now you are free in the grace of God to become all that you can become in Jesus Christ.

Verse 15, Paul dares to say he'd been set apart from his mother's womb. Paul says this business of grace even starts before you're born. God had a plan for me before I was born.

In verse 15, he was called by grace. In verse 16, by grace, God revealed his son to Paul and Paul was changed. There are many people listening to me right now who are still shackled by their past.

Every problem you have comes from your first birth. I was born to the wrong family. Yes, you were.

We all were. The Adam family. Wrong family.

When I was born the first time, I was born a loser. But thank God, when I was born the second time, I was born a winner. Whatsoever is born of God, overcome it.

Paul is telling me here that he was... Now, let me make a little matter clear here, please. God changed Paul's personality. There are some churches where everybody walks alike, carries their Bible alike, talks alike, sings alike, prays alike.

It's sort of a cookie cutter affair where everybody comes out the same way. They just got to wear uniforms, wind them up before the service and turn them loose. God never meant for it to be that way.

When Jesus called his 12 disciples, they were as different as people could be. You had Thomas who was morose and unbelieving and he was the crepe hanger in the group. He was always seeing the dark side of things.

Let's go and die with him. You had Judas who was a phony. Had Peter who was outgoing.

He was Mr. Personality, courageous, outspoken, opened his mouth to change feet. Now, when you read about Peter in the book of Acts, it's the same fella, but better. As you grow in grace, you become more of what God wants you to be by becoming more of what Jesus is.

As my character becomes more like Jesus, my personality becomes more of what he wants it to be. There are lots of people trying to change personality without changing character, and the only way you can change character is by grace. Galatians 2.20, Christ liveth in me.

My friend, you major on your character. God will take care of your personality and you'll become all that God wants you to become. Look at the changes in Paul's life.

From law to grace, I profited in the Jews' religion. He was in bondage to law. The law told him what to eat and what not to eat, where to go and where not to go, what to wear and what not to wear, what day was holy and what day wasn't holy.

Now, Paul, when he became a Christian, began to honor them for their convictions from law to grace. Jew to going out to preach to the Gentiles. That word there in verse 16, imagine how a man was changed to going out and loving the Gentiles, the dogs.

He was changed from promoting himself to glorifying God. They glorified God in me. What have you been doing up till now, Paul? Glorifying myself, profiting more than anybody else in my religion.

I was in who's who's among the Jews. He was changed from being a persecutor to being a preacher. That's a good change.

Some of the preachers are persecutors. He was changed from destroying to building. He's now preaching the faith he wanted to destroy.

A lot of folks go through life destroying. A child can destroy. It takes maturity to build. What a remarkable change in Paul.

He was set free. The law didn't do this for him. Rules and regulations didn't do this for him. Grace did this for him.

And my friend, if you are good, because there's a rule that says you have to be good, you haven't yet reached goodness. Because to Christians, goodness means it comes from your heart by the grace of God. Freedom from the past.

We're going to see as we go through the book of Galatians that legalism keeps you a baby. Legalism keeps you in bondage; legalism robs you of your wealth; legalism ties your feet so you can't run and make progress.

We're going to see that grace doesn't make you a baby. Grace lifts you to being an adult. Grace sets you free so you can become all that you can become in Christ. To me, the greatest thrill in the Christian life is the joy of becoming. We've never arrived. Paul said, I've not yet attained. I haven't reached that goal yet. I'm still going on.

But as many as received him, Jesus, to them gave he the power to become. That's what it means to be saved. God gives to you salvation. He sets you free. Now, he says, I want you to become all that I want you to become.

That includes changing personality by changing character. It means changing destiny, it means changing activity, it means changing values. Oh, it's a beautiful thing! Just to grow and grow in the sunshine and the love of the grace of God.

Some people are afraid of freedom. I read about a man who had been in prison for so long, when they turned him loose, he said, Please put me back, I can't stand it. Some Christians are this way. They've got to have someone tell them what to do and where to go, and what's right and what's wrong. They're afraid of freedom.

Don't be afraid of freedom. When you got saved, God set you free! Now live in that freedom to the glory of God.

Some of you have never been set free. I think I may speak to some here tonight, and you've never trusted Christ, and you've never been set free. I would plead with you tonight to come and be set free.

Christian friend of mine, if you're trying to live by rules and regulations, that won't work. You've got to live by the grace of God. Let him bring out from you all that you can be. You're free from the bondage and penalty of sin. Marvelous! You're free from this present evil age that wants to put pressure against us. Wonderful! Set free from man, the fear of man. Living to please God and living for his approval. And set free to become all that you can become. Free from the past. What a glorious thing it is to experience the grace of God.

Thank you, Father, for this marvelous freedom. We realize that Jesus had to come and be bound and treated like a criminal and die under the curse of the law that we might be free.

And we would say, thank you, Father. Thank you that he paid the price to make us free. And I pray now that we will experience this freedom, enjoy this freedom, enlarge this freedom.

Oh, God, give to us that beautiful joy that comes with the liberty we have in Christ. And may our liberty help others to grow. Thank you, Father, for the wonderful grace of Jesus. Help someone here tonight experience that. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.