Galatians 5:1-6
Lillie Baltrip is a good bus driver. In fact, according
to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of June 17, 1988,
the Houston school district nominated her for a
safe-driving award. Her colleagues even trusted
her to drive a busload of them to an awards
ceremony for safe drivers. Unfortunately, on the
way to the ceremony, Lillie turned a corner too
sharply and flipped the bus over, sending herself
and sixteen others to the hospital for minor
emergency treatment.
Did Lillie, accident free for the whole year, get her
award anyway? No. Award committees rarely
operate on the principle of grace. How fortunate we
are that even when we don’t maintain a spotless
life-record, our final reward depends on God’s
grace, not on our performance!
Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 215.
Last week we looked at the last few verses of Galatians 4
where Paul painted a picture of the difference between
law and grace by reminding the Galatians that they are
sons of the Promise, they are free and no longer sons of
a slave.
Today we are going to be looking at Galatians 5:1-6.
Galatians 5:1-6
Galatians 5:1
Verse 1 includes both an assertion and a command.
Paul’s assertion to the Galatians is that Christ has made
them free. They are not free because of anything they
have done. Christ has set them free. And they remain
free while the Holy Spirit guides them.
Remember Paul’s words to the Roman Church.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of
life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of
sin and death. For God has done what the law,
weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4
Even though Paul was well aware of the freedom that
Christ brings, the Galatian churches have been infiltrated
by the Judaizers who were attempting to lure them away
from Paul’s sound doctrine of salvation by grace through
faith.
Acts 15:1 tells us the false teaching that the Judaizers
were spreading. “But some men came down from
Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you
are circumcised according to the custom of Moses,
you cannot be saved.’”
This is so blatantly against the gospel that teaches that
we are saved by grace through faith, not by works.
Paul’s command to the Galatians is for them to stand
firm in their freedom and not submit to the yoke of
slavery.
Stand Firm in your Christian Liberty
Paul calls the legalism of the Judaizers the yoke of
slavery.
Let’s talk about the different yokes people wear.
An unsaved person wears the yoke of sin. They are
slaves to sin, but they are happy in their sin.
A religious legalist wears the yoke of bondage. They are
slaves to keeping the law and trying to earn forgiveness
from their sin.
A Christian walking in grace wears the yoke of Christ.
Listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:29-30 “Take my
yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and
lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Why would anyone want to give up grace for legalism?
Listen to this illustration:
Legalism’s lurking presence in our lives reminds me
of a bizarre incident at one of the park district
pools in the Chicago area. A nine-year-old boy went
down a waterslide, plunged into the pool, and
bumped into the dead body of a woman near the
bottom of the pool. Much to everyone’s horror and
disgust, however, they discovered that the body
had been in the pool for several days, even though
the pool was open, lifeguards were on duty, and
people were swimming. Health inspectors
explained that because the pool was so murky no
one could see the dead body submerged several
feet under the surface.
A dead body lurking in the murky waters of a
pool—that’s the way legalism works in the life of a
church and in the life of a Christian. This is because
legalism lurks in the corners of every Christian
heart. And it is often the case that the most
susceptible are the most intensely religious.
Todd Wilson, Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living, ed. R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway,
2013), 171–172.
Paul understood the dangers of turning to legalism and
that is what the next verses are about.
Galatians 5:2-4
The Dangers of Legalism
Paul lists 4 dangers of legalism in verses 2 through 4.
First, Christ will be of no value to you.
Legalism says I can do it.
The Gospel says Christ has done it.
Walter Hansen puts it this way,
“When you put your trust in your own position or
performance for God’s blessing, you are indicating
that who you are and what you have done has more
value than who Christ is and what He has done.”
2nd, they obligate themselves to obey the whole
law.
Apparently the Galatians thought they could just keep
some of the laws and enjoy the blessings the Judaizers
promised.
Paul makes it clear that if they intend to leave God’s
grace and go under the law, they will be required to keep
all of the law.
The whole purpose of Jesus dying on the cross and being
raised on the third day is so that we could live in the
freedom of Christ.
More on this is just a moment.
3rd, they have been severed from Christ.
4th, they have fallen from grace.
These two go together and they might not mean what
you think they mean.
At first glance it sounds like Paul is writing that if they
turn to circumcision they have lost their salvation.
That is contrary to the Scriptures that assure us of our
salvation.
What it means is that those who turn to the law and
circumcision cease to live in the sphere of grace.
Law and grace don’t mix.
Thi is, however, a clarion wake up call for the Galatians
to return to grace and give up legalism.
Paul then goes on to explain what it means to live
through faith, not works.
Galatians 5:5-6
Living By Faith
In contrast to trying to keep the entire law, Paul writes
that believers live through the Spirit.
Because of grace, we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit enables us to wait patiently, eagerly for
the hope of righteousness. It isn’t dependent upon us, it’s
all based on what Jesus did on the cross.
Paul wants the Galatians to know that they should be
filled with the Spirit and not keep trying to earn God’s
forgiveness by being circumcised or keeping the law.
What is this hope of righteousness that Paul writes
about?
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be
sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus makes us righteous because of His sacrifice on the
cross.
Paul also mentions that circumcision or uncircumcision
doesn’t matter. What matters is our faith working through
love.
The Bible tells us that God is love.
Jesus told us that we should love God with all of our
heart, with all of our soul and with all of our mind and
with all of our strength.
Jesus also told us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The Holy Spirit enables us to love with agape love,
unselfish, unconditional love like Christ does.
The Holy Spirit also provides us with the fruit of the
Spirit.
Every believer receives all 9 of the fruit of the Spirit at
the moment of their salvation.
APPLICATION
Our application this morning is to;
Enjoy the Yoke of Jesus
As I mentioned earlier
We can be slaves to sin
We can be slaves to legalism or
We can be slaves of Christ.
In many of his letters, Paul refers to himself as a
bondservant of Christ.
We don’t have to live the way we used to live before we
were saved by Jesus.
We have been set free and Christ wants us to have
abundant life.
Thankfully Jesus tells us to put down our heavy burdens
and carry His load because it is easy.
Because He fills us with the Holy Spirit who strengthens
us.
What burdens are you carrying today that you need to
lay down at His feet?