This is Real Freedom

We've been walking through the book of Galatians. And man, we're doing good, y'all. We're in Galatians chapter 5 today. This is one of the most important chapters in the whole letter of Galatians. And if you've missed any of the previous messages, get our MyFFC app or go to our YouTube or website. You can see all the messages there, as well as all the sermon notes for today's sermon or any other sermons in our app. But Pastor Jim, he taught a great message last week on Galatians chapter 4, and we've even covered the book of Ephesians as well here recently, so you can catch up there. But today we're going to be looking at Galatians chapter 5, and we're going to be talking about freedom. Everybody say freedom. Yeah, there you go. How many of you like your freedom? Anybody here like your freedom? Come on, it's not a quick trick question. I think we all agree, man. We want to be free. We want to be free from pressure, free from people's opinions, free from guilt, free from stress, right? We've all been chasing freedom for a long time. Do you guys remember when you were a kid and you think, man, when I get my driver's license, then I'm finally going to be free, right? And you finally get that license and you're like, man, now I have responsibility, like paying for gas or picking up your siblings because your parents ask you to, right? Like, I'm not free. I'm just an Uber with chores at this point, right? Or maybe, you know, you think, man, when I graduate from school, I'm finally going to be free. And then you finally graduate and you realize now you have more responsibility and you have bills to pay and everybody asking you, what are you going to do with your life, right? You're like, I don't know. I just got free, right? Some of us, we're still trying to get free from a group text we were putting three years ago, right? How do I get free from this without upsetting these people? The truth is, freedom is something that every single one of us wants. But the problem is, many of us, we don't always truly understand what freedom means. Some people, they think freedom just means I can do whatever I want. But if you've been around a while, that's not really freedom, right? That often creates more issues in your life than it does Freedom, simple example. If you decide, now that I'm grown, I'm just going to eat whatever I want. I'm going to eat as much Taco Bell and pizza rolls as I want. How many of you know you're probably going to be a slave to your health, right? Or to the bathroom, one of the two. It depends where you are in life today. But Paul writes Galatians chapter 5 because he wants us to understand what real freedom looks like. How do I actually live in real freedom? How do we live without continually getting tied up in things that create ******* in our life. Can we be honest this morning? Do you tend to get tied up in things in life sometimes, right? I know I've been around long enough to know that you can carry your Bible on Sunday, but still carry ******* during the week, right? But Paul says, listen, it doesn't have to be that way. He said, you can live in real freedom. And that's what Galatians 5 is all about. So today we're going to talk about this is real freedom. Everybody say real freedom. Real freedom. Galatians chapter five, verse one. Let's dive in together. Paul says, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened against a yoke of slavery. Here's the first thing I wanna talk about today is this. Real freedom is built on trust. Can you say trust with me? Everybody say trust. See, Paul says it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. That means that freedom isn't just a side benefit of our relationship with Jesus, but man, freedom is the main point, right? Paul says Jesus came so that you can have freedom. Jesus didn't come so that you can live under anxiety. Amen? Jesus didn't come so that you can constantly wonder, you know, am I good enough? Am I one mistake away from losing my salvation or from everything falling apart? No, Paul said, listen, Jesus came so that you can live in freedom. But then he says, you got to stand firm. Everybody say stand firm. You got to stand firm. Why does he say that? Because how many of you know sometimes it takes effort to live in freedom, doesn't it? It's very easy sometimes to want to drift back to the things that keep us captive. We see it throughout scripture, right? One of the most famous examples is in Exodus. The Israelites are freed. God miraculously uses Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. But when they get out into the wilderness and things start getting difficult, what are they talking about? Man, I don't want to go back to Egypt, right? It wasn't good, but at least it was comfortable. Have you ever wanted to go back to Egypt in your life sometimes? Go back to the things in your life, man, that are keeping you captive. I think if we're honest, all of us, we do that at times in our life. God frees us from needing the approval of others, but we go right back to having a people please, right? God wants to free us from our shame, but we start rehearsing our past and seeing our life through the lens of who we used to be. God wants to free us by His grace, but we start feeling like, man, we have to prove ourself. We have to be worthy. We have to earn it. You know, some translations, they say that it says, do not be entangled, by the yoke of slavery. And I think that's a good phrase because how many of sometimes ******* in our life, it doesn't just happen right away, right? Have you ever tried to untangle Christmas lights before? Come on, you think this is going to take about 5 minutes, right? And then 45 minutes later, you're frustrated, questioning your salvation, questioning whoever put these lights up last year, which was probably you, but you don't want to admit it, right? That's what happens in our life sometimes. That's how ******* works. It's not always something we necessarily notice at first, but it can be one small compromise, one small mindset, one little voice that we listen to, and before long, we're entangled. So Paul says, don't let that happen. He says, stand firm. One more time, everybody say, stand firm. And then Galatians 5, 2 through 4, he continues with this. He says, mark my words. I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again, I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. Now most of us, we didn't wake up this morning worried about circumcision, right? If you did, we have counselors and a prayer team available for you if you need that. But why was Paul talking about this? Well, this was a massive issue in the early church, right? So God made a covenant with Abraham in the Old Testament, right? And part of that, with the law and part of that, circumcision was a sign, a visible sign that set apart God's people in the Old Testament, right? So the Jews, they were circumcised as God's people. But when Jesus came, that changed things, right? And so there were false teachers who were coming to Galatia and they were teaching, you know, Jesus is great, but you still need the law. You still need to follow this covenant. You still need to be circumcised. You still need to do these things. And these Gentiles, they weren't, right? And so Paul came and said, hey, listen. He said, Jesus alone is enough. The minute you start adding to the grace of Jesus, that's not the gospel anymore. Aren't you thankful that we're saved by the grace of Jesus? Now, most of us, we're not tempted by circumcision this morning, right? But we're tempted by other things. We can apply this to all kinds of things. If I can just do good enough, If I can just do the right things, if I can just say the right things, then maybe I'll be good enough. Then maybe I can make it to heaven. Then maybe I'll be saved. How many of you know it's important to want to do the right things, right? It's important to want to say the right things, right? To be part of church, to do all these things. But the point Paul's making here right now is those things are great to help us go, but how many of you know they're not our Savior, right? Church is great. Church helps us grow. But how many of you know church isn't our Savior, right? Jesus is our Savior. It's great fruit, but it's not our foundation. So the question Paul is posing here is this. Where is your trust? Everybody say, where's your trust? Where's your trust? Because if you trust Jesus for salvation, then your obedience becomes a blessing. It becomes a thankful response. But how many of you know if If our obedience is replacing Jesus, it becomes ******* in our life, right? It becomes *******. So some of us, we've spent our whole lives trying to prove what Jesus already settled. You ever go to lunch before and your friend offers to pay for lunch? Some of you need some new friends. You're like, that's never happened to me before. You go to lunch and they offer to pay for lunch. You're like, no, I'll get it. They're like, no, I insist. Let me get it. But you still kind of do that little awkward reach for your wallet because that's what you're supposed to do, right? Some of us, we need to stop reaching for the wallet today and we need to understand, man, that Jesus paid it all. Amen? And we just need to live thankful. We need to live grateful. Amen. Give him a good hand this morning. God, thank you for saving me. Thank you for paying the price. God, I serve you. I obey you. I follow you. Not because I'm trying to earn what you already gave me, but God, because I want to be used by you, because I'm thankful. Right? So Paul says, man, it starts with trust. You're going to see it in a minute. He's all about obedience and serving God and pleasing God. But he wants us to know from the beginning that if you're going to live in real freedom, it's going to start with trust. Do you trust that Jesus alone is enough for your salvation? Do you trust that all the good you're going to do in life is not because you have to prove that you're worthy, but it's because now you have the freedom to live that out, to serve Jesus? So it starts with trust. One more time. Everybody say trust. Real freedom starts with trust. The second thing Paul shows us is that real freedom is expressed through love. Galatians 5, 13 through 14, he continues. He says, you, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. Use that freedom to serve one another in love. The whole law is fulfilled in keeping this command, love your neighbor as yourself. Paul's answering this question right here. Since I'm free, Can I just do whatever I want? How many of you know some people like that, right? Well, God forgave me already. I'm going to heaven anyway. So what does it matter? How many of you know you may go to heaven, but you're going to go through a lot of hell before you get there with that attitude, right? So Paul says, listen, you might make it to heaven that way. He said, but if you want to live in freedom, in real freedom, then I want you to be motivated by love. there's two ditches that we can fall into that are outlined in Galatians chapter 5. The first one is legalism. Everybody say legalism. I have to, legalism is, man, I have to earn what God's already given me. I gotta try to earn it, right? The second is this, license. It's using God's grace as a permission to just do whatever I want, right? And Paul says both of these are *******. Legalism, I have to prove myself. That's ******* right? License, I have to please myself. That's *******. It becomes a cage. It becomes a trap in our life. So Paul says, listen, I'm going to give you a third L. Don't be driven by legalism. Don't be driven by license, but be driven by love. You say, what does that mean? I want you to want God's best for everybody. See, the biblical love Paul's talking about, it's not people pleasing. It's not enabling. It's not having no boundaries, but it's getting it to a place in your heart where you can say, man, I want God's best for others. Sometimes it means we serve. Sometimes it means we forgive. Sometimes it means that we care enough to confront and have difficult conversations. But can you say in your heart, God, I want your best for others? This principle is all through scripture. Paul talks about it in Romans 12:10. He says, be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Again in Philippians, he says, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but to each of you to the interest of the others. And then Jesus himself says this in Matthew 5, he says, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. You say, Michael, why is it so important that we live this way? I heard this phrase said one time. Someone once said, man, if you want to live in bitterness and envy and unforgiveness, it's like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Have you know that doesn't work, does it? Have you ever been so upset, so mad at somebody that you just lose sleep over it? Meanwhile, they're sleeping like a baby having no idea that you're upset at them, right? Scripture says, man, don't live that way. Man, if you live like that, bitterness, frustration, all these things will start to form like plaque in your heart, right? And they'll start to affect you. But if you'll live fueled by love, if you'll live wanting the best for other people, that's really living with true freedom. Now I know today that some of us, man, we have loved and we've been hurt. We've been betrayed. So I just want to say today, I'm not talking about the kind of love that the world talks about sometimes. I'm not talking about submitting yourself to abuse or enabling wrong behavior. Sometimes we have to protect ourselves. But what I'm talking about is, can we get our heart to a place where we truly want God's best for other people? Amen? You know, sometimes keeping our heart to that place, that's a tough thing, right? That can be difficult. Trust me, there are people in my life where I have to work extra hard to do this, right? Don't look at anybody this morning, but you know what I'm talking about. So I want us to think about that today. Are there areas in our life where we're not living in freedom? Maybe because we're holding on to unforgiveness. Maybe we're holding on to comparison. Maybe we're holding on to wrong ways of thinking or selfishness in our life. I believe Paul would tell us, listen, if you wanna live in real freedom, it's gonna start with trust. then it's going to be lived out by love. And then the last thing Paul shows us in this scripture is that real freedom is fueled by the Spirit. Everybody say the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Paul answers this question. How do we actually live this out? If you know it's one thing to say you trust Jesus, it's another thing to actually live that out, right? It's one thing to say, man, I'm going to love people, It's another thing to love people when they hurt you, when they disappoint you, when they mess up your order at the drive-thru, when they drive 55 in the fast lane on the highway, right? It's not always easy. So Paul, he doesn't just tell us what to do, but he tells us how to do it. He says, we got to plug into the source. Everybody say the source. You got to plug into the source. Galatians 5, 16. So I say, walk in the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. I love that word walk because Paul doesn't say it's a sprint, right? He doesn't say it's just one moment that's going to fix everything. He says you got to walk. We walk every day, don't we? One step after another, nothing special, just making one decision, one step. That's how freedom is lived out. It's not just one big moment. I think many of us, we want our spiritual maturity to just be one big moment, right? Like a microwave. Anybody like me, sometimes the microwave isn't even fast enough. Two minutes, really, right? We just want to say 30 seconds, patience. Congratulations, your patience. How many know it doesn't work like that, right? Paul says you got to walk it out. Fruit has to be grown, right? Fruit takes time. And Paul says the way that happens is when you walk with the Spirit every day. One step at a time, one decision after another, day by day. Now Paul, when he's talking about the Spirit, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. Many of you know, when Jesus went to heaven, he said, I'm gonna leave you a helper. My presence is gonna dwell on the inside of you and it's gonna give you strength. It's gonna give you direction to power to live in freedom. You say, why did he do that? Because he knows we can't do it in our own strength, right? Listen, you may be the most patient person in the world today, but I can promise you there will come a point where someone pushes you past your limit, right? And that's when you need the Holy Spirit. That's when you need that strength to make the right decision. That's when you need to be reminded of God's promises. You ever been in a conversation where you know what you want to say, but you also know what the Spirit wants you to say? Like be humble, be gentle, don't bring up what happened in 2017, right? You're like, man, but my flesh wants to, right? But we have to be led by the Spirit. Paul says this in Galatians 5, 17 through 18. He says, for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They're at war with each other. They're in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Paul says, if you want to live in freedom, we have to be led by the Spirit. Everybody say, I'm led by the Spirit, not the flesh. I heard a story about a grandfather and he was with his grandson and his grandson was struggling with his temper like kids do, right? Like some adults do too, right? And the grandfather told him, he said, listen, grandson, he said, every day I have two dogs at war on the inside of me. One of them is full of anger, full of selfishness and bitterness. He said, the other one is full of love and joy and peace. He said, they're fighting with each other every day. And the grandson said, well, grandpa, how do you know which one's going to win? He said it's going to be whichever one I feed. Can I ask you this morning, what are you feeding? How many of you think if you want to live in freedom, if you want to live led by the Spirit, you got to feed your spirit, right? Are you feeding your flesh more than your spirit? Are you consuming more trash on TV and on your phone than you are scripture and the word and worship? Am I stepping on toes? That's a good time to say amen, all right? How many of you know that's something to think about, isn't it? There's all kinds of things that want to feed our flesh. But man, we got to feed the Spirit. Paul says this. He lets us know how to know if we're being led by the Spirit. You may be thinking, Michael, this sounds great, but how do I know if I'm doing this right? How do I know if I'm being led by the Spirit? Well, Paul outlines it for us and he says this. He said, you're going to know it by your fruit. You're going to know it by what your life tastes like, right? So he says this in Galatians 5.22. He gives us some markers for a life led by the Spirit. He said, but the fruit of the Spirit is love. Everybody say love. If you went to Sunday school, you might know these with me. Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Can I ask you, are those things that work in your life? I love that Paul calls it fruit because fruit is grown, right? You have to cultivate fruit. If a tree is healthy, if it's connected, if it's rooted, then it's going to grow fruit. If we're rooted in Jesus, if we're connected to the vine, then we're going to grow fruit. So are you living today with love? The ability to seek good for other people? Are you living with joy, not just happiness when things are right, but a deep gladness rooted in God? Are you living with peace, not the absence of problems, but the presence of God in the middle of them? Are you living with patience, the ability to stay faithful under pressure, even with difficult people? Are you living with kindness, strength expressed through tenderness? Goodness, a life that reflects the character of God? Faithfulness, being dependable and steady, the kind of person who keeps showing up. Gentleness, strength under control, submitted to the right leadership. And are you living with self-control? The ability through the Holy Spirit to say no to things that want to keep you back to *******. Paul says, listen, that's the fruit of the Spirit. Does your life taste like that? Your life can taste like that, amen? See, real freedom starts with trust. God, I trust that you're enough. God, I don't serve you, I don't obey you out of obligation trying to prove myself, but out of thankfulness for the grace that you've shown me. It's expressed through love. God, I'm not free so I can serve myself, but man, you've given me the freedom to love the people around me. I don't have to be held by the ******* of envy and unforgiveness and comparison, but I can be free. And then finally, it's fueled by the Spirit. God, I know I can't live this life on my own strength. God, would you grow in me? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Let me walk in the fruits of the Spirit. This is the life that God invites us to walk in. Before we close, I want to just close with this story. I heard about a man who was in prison for a long time, for several decades. He finally got out of prison. And when he was released, he walked out of the facility of freeing man. But when he got home, things were still kind of strange. He found himself going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time he always did, kind of going through his routine like he always did. He didn't really trust himself to make decisions. He was technically free, but learning to live free was a process. And I feel like that's true for us spiritually as well. The moment we put our faith in Jesus, aren't you thankful we're free. Our past is behind us. Sin and shame do not have the final word in our life. But how many of you know, just even though Jesus has set us free, learning to walk in that freedom is a process, right? And we have to learn to walk with the Spirit so we can learn to walk in freedom. Learn to trust. Learn to walk in love. I learned to walk with the Spirit. Here's my closing scripture for today. 36, So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. Anyone thankful you're not partly free today? You're not almost free today. You're free indeed today. Amen? Amen. You're not only free on Sundays like Chick-fil-A, right? You're free indeed. Here's what I want to ask you to do before we close and they come and we worship and we do the blessing here. I want to just take a moment for all of us to ask this question as we go into this week. Let's ask ourselves, where am I tempted to trade my freedom to go back into *******? Maybe it's legalism. Maybe we just feel like we have to prove ourself, like we have to earn it. Maybe we have trouble receiving God's grace. Maybe it's license. Maybe we're using our freedom for the wrong reasons. Our flesh, a pattern, a habit, a way of thinking, comparison. I want to give us a moment just to think about that area in our lives. And as we go into this week, I just want to encourage all of us, let's start making steps towards freedom. If it's legalism and performance, every morning let's say, Jesus, I thank you that you're enough. God, help me to live out of thankfulness, not out of insecurity this week. If it's bitterness, God, help me today to forgive. God, help me to pray for the difficult people in my life. Maybe there are some things that you're allowing to feed the wrong parts of you and you need to say no. I want to encourage you this week, let's take steps to feed the right parts, to feed the spirit this week, because that's how freedom is lived out. It's step by step, day by day, one decision at a time. So this week, let's trust God fully. Let's love each other freely. And let's walk with the Spirit day by day, because he who the Son sets free is free indeed. Amen. Can we thank God for his word today? Give him a good hand of praise.