How to Walk in True Freedom in Christ | Galatians (Part 9)

Well, good morning and welcome to church, everybody. Hey, we're glad you're here. Stand with us. We're going to lift up Jesus in this place and give Him the praise that He's due. So come on, I want you to join with us as we sing to Him this morning. I'll praise when I'm sure. I'll praise when I'm doubting. I'll praise when outnumbered. I'll praise when surrounded. Because praise is what my enemies drown in. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I'll praise when I'm feeling. I'll praise when I know. I'll praise because I know you're still in control. Yes, you are. I'll praise His weapon. It's more than a sound. I'll praise His shout that brings Jericho down. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. And I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Oh my soul. Oh, we're going to sing, D.C. Come on, let's declare some things this morning together. Let's lift His name. Here we go.

And I'll praise because you're sovereign. Praise because you reign. Praise because you've done. Yes, you did. I'll praise because your faith. Praise because you're true. Praise because there's nobody greater than you. I'll praise because you stop. Praise because you reign. Praise because you rose and defeated the grave. I'll praise because you're faithful. Praise because you're true. Praise because there's nobody greater than you. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise, we praise, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul. We praise you, we lift your name. You're worthy of it all. Come on, let's give him a shout of praise in this place this morning, because he's worthy. Come on. We get the joy this morning to lift up Jesus, first of all.

Amen? First of all, it's the first thing. The second thing is this. We have people coming this morning who have made professions of faith in Jesus Christ. They're saying this, I'm in. I'm going to follow Jesus. So here's the thing. We're going to baptize people this morning. Baptism, we believe, doesn't save you. It's just a profession, saying, I'm following Jesus all of the days of my life. And we need people like you to be praying for us, that we would be strong, we'd walk, we'd learn, we'd grow. So here's what we do at Abundant Life. When we baptize them and put them under the water, this is their death and their burial. And when they come out, it's a new life. So here's what the gig is. Y'all should shout and celebrate and lift up Jesus in this place. And if you don't, God's gonna be angry at you. I'm kidding. That's a joke. We're gonna celebrate Jesus this morning. We're gonna celebrate with his people. So let's do this together as we watch people take some steps in the walk with Jesus. ♪ Good enough was enough for me ♪ ♪ But it always left me empty ♪

♪ The truth had run after me ♪ ♪ On a path that I couldn't see ♪ ♪ And it was your grace that found me ♪ That's my testimony today. Come on. ♪ Oh, it was your grace that found me ♪ ♪ No other word, no other way ♪ ♪ Jesus, the hope of my soul ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel, there's no other God ♪ ♪ There's no other name, it's Jesus or nothing else ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel, amen, it's only Jesus ♪ ♪ You came to redeem my all ♪ ♪ All the cause where you bought my freedom ♪ Thank you, Jesus. I will boast in your name, I will boast in your name alone. Hallelujah. ♪ Hallelujah, the song I'm singing ♪ ♪ There's no one else, no one else who could take my place ♪ ♪ No one else has a heart as big ♪ ♪ Nothing higher than the name of Jesus ♪ Nothing higher than your name. Nothing higher than your name. ♪ Jesus, there's no other word, no other word, no other way ♪ ♪ Jesus, the hope of my soul, there is no other gospel ♪ ♪ There's no other God, no other name, it's Jesus or nothing else ♪ ♪ There is no other gospel, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ It's only Jesus, only Jesus, this is the good news ♪ ♪ This is the good news, the gospel is the story of a God ♪ ♪ Who isn't far off or hostile, but a Savior who stepped down ♪ ♪ And broke the chains of every captive, made a way out of the darkness ♪

♪ There's no other word, no other way, there's no other God, this is, oh, this is the good news, the gospel is the story of a God ♪ ♪ Who isn't far off or hostile, but a Savior who stepped down and broke the chains of every captive, made a way out of the darkness ♪ ♪ There's no other word, no other way, no other God, no other name, no, oh, just Jesus, just Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other word, no other way, no other God, no other name, no, oh, just Jesus, just Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no other word, there's no other way, Jesus, the hope of my soul, there is no other gospel, there's no other God, no other name, it's Jesus or nothing ♪ There is no other, you're the hope, Jesus, the hope of my soul ♪ ♪ There is no other God, Jesus, or nothing at all ♪ ♪ There is no other God, oh, thank you, Jesus. ♪ Thank you, Jesus. ♪ You are the Lord, you're the Lord of my life. ♪ Come on, lift that up with us. ♪ You are the Lord, you're the Lord of my life, Jesus Christ. ♪ ♪ You are the Lord, you're the Lord of my life. ♪ Yes, you are. ♪ The Lord of my life. You are the Lord, you're the Lord of my life, Jesus Christ. ♪ ♪ Oh, you're the Lord of my life. Oh, yes, you are. You're the King. We stand and worship you, Jesus. Oh. ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow, every tongue confess, but it's my joy to do it now, Lord Jesus. ♪ ♪ Every eye will see you in your glory, but I get to see it now, Lord Jesus. ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow, every tongue confess, but it's my joy to do it now, Lord Jesus. ♪ ♪ Every eye will see you in your glory, but I get to see it now, Lord Jesus. ♪ ♪ There will be a day when tears will be no more. The angels and the saints will worship and adore. ♪ ♪ I'll enter heaven's gates, forever sing your praise, but I get to sing it now, Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, I get to sing it now. ♪ ♪ I lift your praise right now, Jesus. Oh. You are the Lord of my life. You are the Lord. You're the Lord of my life. Oh. ♪ ♪ You are the Lord. You're the Lord of my life. Oh, there will be a day when tears will be no more. The angels and the saints will worship and adore. ♪ ♪ I'll enter heaven's gates, forever sing your praise, but I get to sing it now, Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus, I get to sing it now, Jesus. Yes, I will. ♪ ♪ Forever sing your praise. ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh. ♪ ♪ Forever, forever, forever. ♪ ♪ To reach...

We give you all the glory We worship you, our Lord For you are worthy to be praised Come on, give Him the glory We give you all the glory We worship you, our Lord For you are worthy to be praised We give it all to you We give you all the glory We worship you, our Lord For you are worthy to be praised Come on, sing it one more time Give Him the glory today We give you all the glory Jesus, we worship you, our Lord For you are worthy to be praised Come on, give Him all the praise this morning You're worthy, Jesus Isn't that the best thing ever, y'all? Just to see people taking that step and to praise Jesus along the way It's amazing Give Him praise one more time He's worthy He's the King of glory Can't wait to see what He's gonna speak to us this morning Before we take our seats Why don't you meet somebody new this morning Take 30 seconds, find a new face I grew up around legalism Making sure I had to check every box

Give that 10% tithing every week But once I realized Jesus was enough and He was everything That's when I experienced what true freedom in Christ was really all about I started going to church, I think I was 17 when I officially started going So it was a Southern Baptist church 10% and then you give extra when other people come You give more to missionaries You give more to other ministries and things like that And they had the giving envelopes And they'd actually ask you, did you give this week? And if you didn't, well, sometimes you'd lie about it Because you felt bad Then I just stopped Because I'm like, I can't keep up with this I can't pay my bills I can't pay this I'm just gonna stop The New Initiative for the A-Life It was that first week If you're not giving out of joy, don't give That's what he said Robin and I, we went home and we looked at our budget And we said, okay, let's take tithe out for a minute See where our bills are at Because we were struggling Close to the wire So when we added tithe, we were over budget The freedom from having to give That's where the Lord just opened it up for us, for both of us

It grew his faith And it grew my trust more in him even For one, reaching out and finding out that information Being open to and teachable The A-Life to me is like a movement to want to be part of Where you're not just going and listening on Sunday morning You're starting to live it You know, you want to get involved with the discipleship You're getting involved with other groups And getting to know people So experiencing that freedom in Christ Instead of trying to follow a prescribed method So it's fun It's you want to do things You want to go You want to be part of stuff You don't feel like you have to Now we're more on fire too Let's get our finances in order So we can give more We had like three things we're going to pay off And then when we shifted our thinking We went back to pay those things off And we paid off five things Don't give because you have to Pay off debt Don't hurt yourself with what you're doing Pay off your debt Put some money in the bank But then the Lord will take you through the process

And then give back out of abundance Because you're so grateful for where he brought you from Praise the Lord I'm so proud of you Tim and Robin You are living the A life Bringing the A life to others And they really are exemplifying our study in Galatians In many, many ways Would you open your Bible to Galatians? chapter five, what we're learning is you cannot stand before God based on a list of things you do. And somewhere along the way, in 2,000 years, whatever denomination, church affiliation, in some way we've been taught a man-made system, a condition, like to be a really good Christian. In Tim's case, it was tithe, give a full 10%, give to other things too, check all the boxes. What we're learning is that Jesus has done everything for you, that you can't add one thing to what Jesus had done to be accepted anymore, to be loved anymore by the God of heaven who came and died giving his son. Galatians five and verse one. And I'm thankful for all of you, like Tim and Robin, giving to the A-Life, because we are taking the A-Life to others. As a matter of fact, I was preaching last Sunday, it's great to be back, at a church we planted in the Northland of our city, Discover Church, in 2018. And one of the A-Life initiatives,

plant 200 churches all over North America, because that's how we push back the darkness, that's how we advance the gospel. And that is how, in the early days of Christianity, the gospel was taken to the ends of the earth, just in a century. It's what took the Apostle Paul to the region of Galatia, that he now writes this letter. It's the mid-40s A.D., the Apostle Paul, an early Christian missionary, has gone to what is now Turkey, what was then called Asia Minor, and many pagans have come to faith in Jesus, and they're turning to him, they know that he died for their sin, that he rose again. Now he's left, and he gets word that false teachers have come behind him. And they're trying to undo the gospel that they've taught to them. And so now Paul picks up pen and paper, because he wants to bring gospel clarity. What is the good news? These early Christians have been taught that they could somehow, not just simply accept Jesus, to be accepted of God, but now they had to accept Jesus and say yes to Jesus, and now there's some things they gotta do too. They're bringing back the law, and ultimately, Paul calls this bondage. When you start trying to earn the favor of God,

to earn the love of God, and believe it or not, these early Christians are being taught that you gotta go through the Hebrew rite of circumcision to be a true Christian. That it's not Jesus plus nothing equals everything, it's Jesus plus circumcision to get to heaven. Can you imagine? I want you to see 2,000 years later, nobody's hung up on circumcision as a condition of salvation. But over and over again, the gospel faces deception and distortion when we add anything to what Jesus has done. And Paul has been driving this entire letter to, I'm convinced, this verse that we're about to read in Galatians 5.1, as we pick up our study, where we left off. This is kind of the climactic moment of this entire letter. Everything that he's done so far, he's really driving to this moment, and this verse right here, as he really brings this letter to a climax in Galatians 5.1. He says these words here. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. He says stand fast, don't be taken back into that bondage of religion. Remember, this is the A-life discipleship journey.

Each of us together, taking our next steps to pursue the abundant life in Christ. Jesus said in John 10, verse 10, this eve comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I've come to give you life. You can have it more abundantly, and we're pursuing the abundant life in Christ, and the book of Galatians is really all about how to live the A-life, the abundant life, but you understand, every single day, Jesus comes to take the captive and give them liberty, and every single day, Satan comes to take those who have liberty and bring them back into captivity. He's a counterfeiter of all that God does and all that God is, and he counterfeits the gospel over and over again. What Paul is now teaching is that one of the counterfeits of Satan to steal from you the A-life, the abundant life, is religion. Man-made systems and conditions placed upon you that is not in the Bible, that adds to the gospel, so it's no longer actually the gospel, and the apostle Paul calls it bondage. The religion itself is a form of bondage, why? Because it's bondage to try to earn your way to heaven, hoping you've done enough, never really knowing you've done enough, when it's heaven who came to you and his name was Jesus, and there's nothing you can add to what Jesus had done for you. So Paul's now telling these Galatians, these new Christians

that have been led back into the bondage of religion, stand fast, don't go back. He says, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty where the Christ has set you free, and don't be entangled again, and that you'll get bondage of keeping a list of things to do, hoping you've done enough to get to heaven, hoping somehow you can earn the love of God and the favor of God upon your life. Don't go back to trying to earn God's acceptance based on a list of things to do, just another form of bondage. And y'all, listen. in years of church history. It's amazing how little has changed, how much has actually stayed the same. Because what happens over and over again, regardless of denominational affiliation or church tradition, we have a way of adding things to be a good Christian, you know what I'm saying? I mean, you heard what Tim's story was, and the church he was in, you gotta tithe, and then give a full 10% to be a good Christian, and then you gotta give to other things too. And he said, well, you know, check all the boxes. And you heard what he said, if you're listening to his story, it's a great story, because it's so much of our story. Like, eventually, he just gave up, he gave in, can't do it. Walked away, because that's the nature of religion. It's frustration, it's exasperation.

When Jesus came to set us free, remember what he said in John chapter six, if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. So Paul's saying, now, don't go back to that bondage of religion, that system, of trying to earn your way into heaven, or earn the love of God upon your life. You understand that if you're a Christian, a child of God, ransom redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, there is not one thing you can do or not do that's gonna change how God looks at you. Not one thing. Because when God looks at you, he sees you in Christ. He no longer sees you, and that's the phrase over and over again the New Testament describes about you, that now positionally, you are in him. And check this out. God cannot be disappointed in Jesus. And he sees you in Jesus. Which means there's nothing you can do or not do to change your standing with God, because he sees Jesus in you, and you are now in Jesus, and everything that Jesus did for you, there's nothing now that you can add to what Jesus has done already. It's bondage, any other way of living. You see religion as a deception, it's a distortion of what we really need,

which is redemption, redemption. What Jesus has done for us, religion, what we gotta do for him. He's saying don't go back, trying to earn God's acceptance based on a list of things to do, just bondage. He says this, stand fast knowing that God has accepted you completely, based exclusively on what Jesus did on Calvary, that is freedom. Be free. Everybody say be free. Be free. Now listen carefully, legalists by nature, when I say religion, I'm talking about religious legalism. When men begin to add to what God has done, or add conditions of what it means to be a good Christian. Normally, religious legalists, they're compelled for the right reasons. I mean, they're compelled for holiness and Christ-likeness. But what we're learning is real change never happens on the outside. Real change has to be on the inside. And that's what Jesus did. Real change doesn't happen from the outside in, it begins from the inside out. Religion is all about the outside, keeping up a certain persona, checking all the right boxes, but redemption is something Jesus does inwardly that no one can do outwardly. What happened the moment you were saved, you gave your life to Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5, 17,

it says if anyone be in Christ, there's that phrase, if anyone be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And so what we're learning is change has to begin within, that new creation, that transformation that happens at the moment of redemption. I don't know if you've noticed this up here, but this is a living room of sorts. I don't know if you can see it from where you are, but it is a mess. I mean, this looks like a frat house up here. Like, I don't know who lives here, but they are grody. They are messy. I mean, we got Chick-fil-A bags, they must be Christians at least, right? McDonald's bags, maybe not, I don't know. But this is messy. Now listen, this is a metaphor. This living room represents your life. And you understand what we're learning is religion can make you look really clean and pristine on the outside, but on the inside, the part that only you and Jesus see, it can be really, really messy. And this is why I have known church people, guys, and I was born in church, I was raised in church, I now pastor a church. Like, I have known a lot of church people that you really thought was, man, they're godly

and they're mature spiritually. You know, they checked all the boxes, right? Only to find out, wait a minute, they got a divorce? Are you kidding, them? Wait a minute, he cheated on his wife, what? You're kidding me. I'm trying to tell you this is the reason. Because Jesus. Jesus came to do more than simply clean you up outwardly before men, he came to clean up you inwardly. It's the heart condition. You see, your heart has become his home. He wants to take complete possession. And that's what Paul's now teaching. Listen, religion can clean up the outside, but you can still be merely messy on the inside. And Jesus wants more than a cover-up, he wants the clean-up. And that's what it means to be redeemed, to not just have religion, but to have true redemption, the true freedom that comes with knowing Christ. Now listen, we go on, and I want you to see what we're learning. Life transformation happens not outwardly through religion, but then how does it happen? Listen carefully, it happens through an inner crucifixion. And where Galatians 5,1 is one of the climactic verses in this letter, stand fast therefore in the freedom where the Christ has set you free

and do not be entangled again, and that yoke a bondage of religion and keeping a list and hoping to somehow appease God and please God by the things you do, never thinking you've really ever done enough. There's another really climactic moment in this letter where he's trying to tell these religious legalists what true change begins, that true transformation happens, not outwardly, but inwardly. This is how it happens, listen carefully. I've been crucified with Christ, Galatians 2,20. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. What Paul's teaching here is that outward religion can't bring transformation. Real transformation happens through an inner crucifixion. He says I've been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. There's the paradox of the Christian life. I've been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me. See, Jesus came to live inside of you, but now he wants to live through you. And the apostle Pius is recognizing his co-crucifixion with Christ. There's another cross in the New Testament that we almost never hear about. We always hear about the cross on which Jesus died for us, but did you know there's another cross on which you died for him too? And Paul's recognizing that he's crucified with Christ,

his co-crucifixion, because 2,000 years ago, God knew that you would trust him to be forgiven of your sin, and in that moment, as he looked down the corridors of time and he could see you trusting Jesus to be forgiven of your sin, what's called being born again, he placed you in him. And because you were in him when Jesus died, you were crucified with him. And because you were crucified with him, you also rose with him, and Paul's now recognizing this co-crucifixion. What's that mean to be crucified with Christ? It means complete submission. He becomes Lord of my life. Now you give him complete possession of the entire house, and he comes to live inside of you, and he starts cleaning up every room of the house, the living room of your house. Think about it, your heart has become his home. Your heart has become his living room, and he begins taking those parts of your life that are messy, that are chaotic, that are in a state of confusion. And by the way, some of us have lived with the mess for so long that we've gotten used to it. Some of us have lived with the chaos so long that we've just entered into kind of a peaceful coalition with it. And Jesus wants access to every room of your house,

every part of your life, so that the cleanup can begin. And that's the crucified life, when you begin surrendering all of your life to him. The apostle Paul said, I've been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me. Now you're starting to live, not simply the crucifixion, you're starting to live, not simply the crucified life, which is the a-life, but the resurrected life. You're starting to live now in the power and the victory of the resurrection. You don't get the power of the resurrection without first going through the crucifixion. Now check this out, positionally, you were crucified with Christ already in history. But 1 Corinthians 15, 31, the apostle Paul said, I die daily. You see, positionally, you died with him. Now practically, you've gotta do it again and again, meaning every single day, you begin again. Jesus, I give you every part of my life, I surrender wholly, completely to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, let the cleanup begin again. This is how you start to walk it out practically. It's not religion, keeping a list of things to do, but rather redemption. It's what Christ now does for you. Check this out, it's not trying harder. It's not doing better. It's not, well, I didn't mean it last time. I really mean it this time.

I'm gonna white-knuckle myself into holiness. I'm not gonna sin again. I'm not gonna do that again. And then two weeks later, there you go again. Why, because self-determination? Self-reformation, behavior modification, another New Year's resolution. Your willpower will eventually always cave in. And that is why Jesus said, the way you live the A-life, the abundant life. At the end of Mark chapter eight, he put it another way. He said these words. He that will seek to save his life, you'll lose it. But whoever will lose his life for my sake and the gospel, the same shall save it. What Jesus is teaching is that you've gotta let go of the life you have to live the abundant life that he came to give. You gotta lay down your life and let go of your life to live the A-life. Jesus said these words in Luke 9, 23. If anyone wants to come after me, you wanna follow me, let you deny yourself, take up the cross and follow me. Now, when Jesus said those words, a cross is not something you wore, it is something you bore to your own execution. You see what Jesus is teaching. Metaphorically, you're gonna have to lay down your life and die to live the resurrected life

of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul is now teaching. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. This is what I heard Tim and Robin saying. So they were telling their story about giving generously. And kind of what they were telling us is their financial house was in chaos. It was a place of disorder. What did they do? They, in essence, crucified their finances. They surrendered their finances to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They invited him into the house. And what they discovered is that when Jesus entered that house, their financial house, he begins cleaning up the mess. They said we set off to maybe pay off three things. We ended up paying off five things. Now listen, there's a class you can go to as a part of our two-year discipleship journey called the A-Life. If you wanna learn how to do this, which is budget and pay off debt and get control of your financial house, we're gonna be having another class this fall as a part of the A-Life discipleship journey

that you can be a part of. This is what they learned to do. Is simply get a hold and order their house financially. And that happened, why? Because they allowed Jesus into that part of their life. And what they discovered is not only does Jesus begin to clean up the mess and order that part of their life, but they could give generously, not out of necessity. Hey, you heard what he said. Tim said he was raised in a church that taught the tithe. Did you know the tithe is Old Covenant? It's not New Testament. The tithe is never mentioned in the New Testament. But a lot of us that were raised in church, we were taught the tithe, to give 10%. Check it out, that's in the Old Covenant. Just like these Judaizers, these false teachers, were teaching the Galatians, they gotta go through the Hebrew rite of circumcision. Some of us have been taught you gotta get the tithe. That's Old Testament, that's the law. No, you have something called in the New Testament, grace giving, what Paul called grace giving, giving according to the grace God has given you. In fact, it says these words in 2 Corinthians 9 7. The apostle Paul said, each one give according to his own ability, that's it. We haven't all been given the same ability. Each one gives according to their own ability,

as each one purposes in his heart. There it is, that's the standard. As each one purposes in his heart, he said, give not out of necessity or begrudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver. And that's what I love about Tim and Robin's story. Giving now, not out of necessity, check this out. No amount of money that you can give to kingdom priorities. And many of you are giving to the A-Life Initiative. I'm really proud of you for doing that. You're letting us advance the gospel, not just locally, but globally. That's how we do it. But listen, what Paul's teaching there is you don't have to give out of necessity. As a matter of fact, you don't need to give anything. God loves you completely, apart from how much you give or don't give. You can't change your standing at all before God based on how much you give or not give. See, God is not looking at some external metric standard condition of your spirituality. And that's why Paul is teaching now, don't give begrudgingly, because you have to, because you don't have to. See, God loves a cheerful giver. And this is what happens when you begin to surrender every single room in your house. In that case, they surrender that financial part of their house, but there's other rooms in the house.

He wants access to every room in the house. Listen, we all have that closet that people are coming over to the house, and it's a mess, and we're cleaning the house before they come over, because we want to make a great impression, right? We don't want them to walk into this mess, and so we all have that closet that we throw everything away. hang into. You know that closet? The junk closet? Yeah, you got that closet, you know you do. Check it out, he wants the junk closet. Yeah, he wants the junk that nobody sees, but he sees in you. And by the way, if I come over to your house, I'm just telling you, I'm tall enough to see on top of your refrigerator. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Warning, fair warning. Yeah, I can see the dust up there too, just saying. Hey, Jesus wants the top of the refrigerator, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, he can see that too. He wants to be able to access every part of your life that nobody else gets to see, because that's where the cleanup begins.

And Paul's trying to teach us, it's not some religious system of man-made conditions to define your spirituality, or whether or not you're a good Christian. And we all have, if you've been raised in church, or came from church, we all have some things we brought with us that honestly weren't biblical, that we were taught, maybe unwittingly, of what is a good Christian. I mean, for Tim, it was, you know, tithe, give a tenth, and then give the other stuff too, and, you know, check all the boxes, and it's exasperation, it's frustration. Just accept that Jesus did everything for you, you are accepted perfectly and completely in Christ, because of what he did on Calvary. Now look at verse two. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you, that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again, every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. Paul's reminding us here that the law demands perfection. Think of the Ten Commandments as the law. And here's the reality, you might keep some of the Ten Commandments, you might keep most of the Ten Commandments, can't none of us, though, keep all the Ten Commandments, and Paul's trying to tell you,

when you try to approach God based on the law, based on a list, it demands perfection. You may keep some of the Ten Commandments, but if you don't keep all the Ten Commandments in the mind of God, you broke all the Ten Commandments, because heaven is pass-fail. Even one sin one time would keep you out of heaven. And we've learned in Galatians 3, then, that the law was given not for our salvation, but we would see our condemnation. Paul called it a tutor, a teacher, not our savior. It was simply meant to lead us to our recognition that we need Jesus. It cannot bring our salvation, because it demands perfection. Paul's saying, listen, if you decide you're gonna keep one part of the law, it is a curse, it's bondage, because now you're a debtor to the whole law. And there's not one among us that can keep the whole law, not perfectly, not completely. He says it's a curse, don't go back there, stand fast, therefore, in the freedom by which Christ has set you free. He says you become estranged from Christ the moment you add one thing to the gospel, one thing to what Jesus has done for you. He says you become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.

He's teaching, listen, you can't put one fall in the covenant of grace, the New Testament, and put one foot in the covenant of law, the Old Testament. And there's a lot of people that try to straddle this line. Listen, you can't get saved by grace and then stay saved by works. You're not gonna get saved by the grace of God and then somehow earn greater favor by the works that you do for God. Everything is by the grace of God. And the moment you start adding works to God's grace, it's no longer grace, it becomes a distortion, it becomes a deception. And that's why Paul says you've fallen from grace, you've gone back into works. It's one or the other, but it's not both. And there are many modern-day Galatians, I'm telling you, many false teachers today, just as there was 2,000 years ago, that begin mixing the law and grace, that begin mixing the grace of God through faith in the Son of God and the works now that you've got to do. And Paul's saying don't do that, you can't do that, that's a theological impossibility. It's like mixing oil and water, they don't mix. What we're learning is this, all religion can do is clean up the outside of the house. Now who would want to live here?

Isn't that the cutest house you've ever seen? I mean, really, man, I bet that couple, whoever lives there has a perfect life, that must be a perfect family on the inside. I mean, white picket fence, beautifully manicured yard, emerald green grass, I mean, look at the flowers. Wow, a perfect house, must mean a perfect family. Listen, religion does this. The Pharisees of Jesus' day looked like this. The Pharisees, the religious leaders, the one that kept all the lists, they checked every box. He called them whitewashed tombs. Outwardly, they looked white, clean, and pristine, but inwardly, they were full of dead men's bones. I'm trying to tell you, it's all about the. persona outwardly, but Jesus wants access to the house inwardly. Imagine seeing this house right here, but then walking in, and it looks like this. I mean, trash everywhere. I'm trying to tell ya. That's why I play football, not basketball. I'm trying to tell ya, Jesus wants to clean up the inside, not just the outside. And we're about to learn how. Listen, so what is the crucified life? Our co-crucifixion means giving him complete possession. Transformation comes through saying to Jesus, I give you complete possession. You've heard of demonic possession.

Try Holy Spirit possession. I have become the possession of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God has come to live inside of me as he has in you. The moment you receive the Son of God, you receive the Spirit of God. Romans 8, 9, it says this, whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ is none of his. You need to know that your heart has become his home, and your house is now his living room. And transformation happens when we give him complete possession. That's the crucified life. That's the crucifixion. Galatians five and verse five. For we, through the Spirit, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. We're learning everything is by grace through faith. What is Paul teaching now? It doesn't happen outwardly. That just makes the house look good on the outside. What God cares about is the inside. He's saying something happens inwardly now. The Spirit of God makes us righteous by faith in the Son of God. It's when we recognize I am what he says I am. I can do what he says I can do. Your flesh says, oh no, you can't do it. You're addicted to alcohol.

You're addicted to nicotine. You're addicted to pornography. No, listen very carefully. Ephesians chapter one says, I am blameless already. I am sinless already. I am holy already. Now, I'm not practically, but I am positionally. And what we're learning is the Spirit of God in me wants to make my practical reality daily the same as my positional reality is already. That's called sanctification. And this is how it happens. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. He's saying, hey guys, if you wanna get circumcised, do it. You don't want to, you don't have to. It's a matter of personal liberty, your decision. He says, what matters though, but faith working through love. In other words, when you put your faith in the promises of God, when you put your faith in the Word of God, you appropriate then all the power of God and all the promises of God. Faith working through love. It's your faith in God and it's your love for God that begins to set the Spirit of God free to work in your life in ways mere religion never could. It's not lost on me, like June is pride month. All over our nation celebrating pride,

which I find amazing, considering the Bible has nothing positive to say about pride. You know what pride says? Hey, pride says, this is my house. This is my house. I can use my house the way I want to. I'm Lord of my house, I'm king of my castle. That's pride. Guess what 1 Peter 5, 5 says? God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Do you want the grace of God in your life? God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Now I'm not just talking about gay and lesbian sin. Gay and lesbian lifestyle is incompatible with Christianity. I know a lot of false teachers alive today will tell you different, but the Bible hasn't changed. But listen carefully, because you may stop clapping with what I'm about to say. Gay and lesbian lifestyle is incompatible with Christianity but so is looking at pornography. So is sleeping with your girlfriend if you're not married. We all face temptation. Some people's temptation leans this way, somebody else's leans this way, but you deal with it all the same. As a child of God, I become a new creation and that inner new creation, my inward identity, defines my outward activity. Now listen carefully.

How do you deal with it? You invite Jesus into that part of the house. Not just the living room. How about inviting him into the bedroom? And it looks like this. When you face temptation, listen carefully, the Apostle Paul would say these words in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 18. Flee from sexual immorality, for he that commits sexual sin sins against his own body. All other sins are done outside the body, meaning there's something unique about sexual sin. You're sinning against your own body. It changes you within. Then he says, or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? For you are not your own. For you are bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. See, what we're learning is, I can't do whatever I want to with my house. It's not my house. I need to give Jesus complete possession of every room in my house. I need to give him complete possession of every crevice and corner of my house. I need to give him complete access to even the crevices of the couch. Because when you do, it begins to change.

In the face of temptation, this is what you do. Romans chapter 12 and verse one, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Check this out, in the face of temptation, and we all face temptation. We don't all face the same temptation, but we all face temptation. In the heat of temptation, you make an act of presentation. You cannot present your body to him and present your body to sin. It's impossible. In the heat of temptation, you give him complete access. You make an act of presentation. You make yourself a complete possession because you cannot be possessed by sin while you're being possessed by him. That's how you overcome temptation. And he begins to clean up that part of your house. Listen, he may not redeem you from temptation. Why? Because temptation is part of the human experience. As long as we are in these bodies, we will always face temptation. You can be free from sin. You can be free from the activity. Even if you're not free from the temptation, that's the promise. You don't have to go into captivity.

When you give Jesus complete access, and you make him Lord of the house. I want you to see what we're learning. Religious legalism, it doesn't bring transformation. And the Judaizers thought it would bring transformation. Add something on the outside to make them more holy, just a little more Christian. I want you to see today it's not circumcision. 2,000 years later, nobody's hung up on circumcision. It's other things. And this is what I want you to see. When you begin walking in religious legalism by a list, a man-made metric system, of man-made conditions, of what it means to be a really good Christian, I'm gonna tell you what it does bring. It fosters self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and rebellion. It doesn't bring true holiness. It doesn't bring Christ-likeness. It fosters self-righteousness, where we think we're a little better than everybody else. The Pharisees don't think their stuff stink. That's the Pharisees of Jesus' day. Self-righteous, so self-righteous, Jesus said. You like to point out the splinter in other people's eyes while you can't even pull out the log in your own eyes. I mean, I love what Jesus said to the Pharisees. Good grief, man. You swallow a camel while choking on a gnat. That's the Pharisees.

Major on the minors. As a matter of fact, listen, it says in 1 Corinthians 8, one, knowledge puffs up. I've known a lot of Pharisees who were taught a lot of theology, and without a heart of humility, all it does is make them a Pharisee. So proud of how much they know about God. The problem is, it's all in the head. It has an effect to the heart. Legalism, it's hypocrisy. Legalism actually fosters rebellion. This is the age of deconstruction. So we just had a well podcast, our young adult pastors actually had a whole podcast on the well about deconstructionism. This is the age of deconstruction, where so many people raised in a Christian home, raised in church, have deconstructed their faith, and walked away from the faith. Let me be clear about this. You can't deconstruct Christianity because Christianity is built on the resurrection, and you can't deconstruct the resurrection. I can prove the resurrection happened the same way you prove any event in history happened. No, they're not actually deconstructing Christianity. They're deconstructing churchianity, a religious system that eventually was full of hypocrisy, illogical,

and I'm trying to tell you this because it'll change not just the way you live, but the way you raise your kids. Like, so here's an example. Religious legalism, you hope it keeps people from sin. I've told you the definition of religious legalism is drawing a fence around the sin, and then calling it a sin to cross the fence. And so this is. This is how, for example, I was raised. Now listen, I'm not throwing shade, please don't understand, I'm not throwing shade on my mom and dad, who were truly godly, wonderful Christian parents. I'm not throwing shade on the church I was raised in. A really good, godly, Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church. Let me be clear about this. But I'm also telling you, if you were raised in church, you probably have a few things you need to deconstruct. Because unwittingly, you were tossed some things that you thought was in the Bible, but it's not actually in the Bible. So for example, I'm in seventh grade, and my seventh grade youth pastor preaches on alcohol, and we all stand up as seventh graders, raise our hand, and we all take an oath that we will never, ever let even a thimbleful of alcohol pass through our lips. I was taught that having a drink of alcohol of any kind, for any reason, is like a mortal sin.

And so I made a vow. I remember saying, not even a thimbleful. And I kept that vow exactly three years. Took me three years to break that vow. And for the next several years, frankly, I was drunk. See, my youth pastor thought, by drawing a fence around the sin, and telling me it was a sin to cross the fence, it would keep me from the sin of drunkenness. It didn't. And I'm not blaming my youth pastor. It's not his fault. My sin be upon me. I'm simply saying the goal was to keep me from stepping into that sin, so drawing a fence around it, and then telling me it was a sin to cross the fence. It doesn't work that way. Instead of simply teaching a bunch of kids what the Bible says about alcohol, and the dangers of alcohol, and the warning that comes with alcohol, it doesn't actually say having a beer is a sin. It says having a light beer is a sin. Some of you are judging me right now. No, I'm trying to say, alcohol comes with a warning over and over again in Scripture, but it never says having a beer is a sin. It's drunkenness, it's being under the influence. Ephesians 5.18, be not drunk with wine,

we're in his excess. But this was kind of the generation I was raised in, the denomination I was raised in. And I'm trying to tell you, kids today are not gonna play the legalistic game. That's why they're deconstructing. I will never forget when I've said, I'm a recovering legalist. If you're raised in church, we all are in some way. So I was taught, growing up in church, there's no such thing as Christian rock. This was the age of new Christian contemporary music kind of coming and emerging on the, you know, there's this Christian, Christian rock's like Christian cocaine. Christian cigarettes. No such thing as Christian rock. See, what I was taught is all secular music is sinful. So because some secular music is sinful, you shouldn't listen to any secular music. Draw a fence around the sin. Call it a sin, then cross the fence. And I'm telling you, that stayed with me for a long, long time, right? I was a pastor, a young pastor, 20 years ago. Lance Harrington, who's now our Johnson County campus pastor out in Johnson County, was our youth pastor at the time. It's about 2005. We're having an all-nighter in the old building

for our youth, and I walk in, and on the big screen, there's a rap going on, rapper, Christian rap. It's Christian rap. I'm thinking to myself, Christian rap? There's no such thing as Christian rap. That's like Christian rock. That's like saying Christian cocaine. I said, Lance, what are you doing, man? You're bringing the world into the church. Man, turn that off. And guess what Lance did? Being the man of God that he was, he turned it off. Thank you for the grace you gave me in those early days. Now, the lyrics were godly. The lyrics were godly. I just didn't like the music. Now, that began to change. I'll tell you what began to change. About two years later, my son is in the youth group, my oldest son. He's in seventh grade. This is his faux hawk stage. I pick him up from youth group one night. Check it out. He pops a cassette tape into my car and it's Family Force Five. You may have never heard of Family Force Five, but it's Christian rock. I said, son, what are you doing? We're not listening to that.

Get that out of me. But dad, why? It's Christian. That's not Christian. Sounds like rock music. He begins to tell me the lyrics. I can't understand the lyrics. He begins to tell me what they're saying. It's godly. Like, you know, the lyrics are godly, biblical. Like, god glorifying. Now, it sounded, I could've. Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah. That's what it sounded like to me. But he knew what they were saying. I began to realize, listen, I can stand my ground based on my opinion, which is nothing more than legalism, but I realized biblically I could not tell him why he shouldn't listen to it because there's no such thing as ungodly music, only ungodly lyrics. Prove I'm wrong, but use the Bible. See, I'm trying to tell you that if you raise your children in legalistic systems, it's only going to foster rebellion. It's not going to foster holiness, Christ-likeness. I got an email a few weeks ago from a dad over in the Blue Springs campus, a great email, great godly father, wants to raise up his son to walk in the fear of the Lord. Yes, the right goal, to have a godly son, not just a good son, but one who is godly. He said, Pastor Phil, I'm kind of worried. All this grace talk is in this Galatians series. Are we becoming soft on sin? That was his concern, like talking about grace. No, listen carefully. Grace is not freedom to sin. It's freedom from sin. It's like the Apostle Paul knew every question anyone would ever ask about this. Romans 6 and verse 1, what shall we do? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How can we that have died to sin live any longer therein? Jesus didn't die a brutal, bloody, ugly death to celebrate our sin and affirm our lifestyles. He died a brutal, bloody, ugly death to forgive us of our sin and free us from our sin and

change our lifestyles. Listen carefully. It's grace to obey, even when it's costly. It's grace to follow Jesus, even in the face of temptation. But it's the grace of God when you fall, when you falter, when you stumble. It's the grace to get up again and know that you have not lost the love of your Father, that you have not lost the love of God. I am trying to tell you, as fathers, as mothers, listen, Ephesians 6, 4. Fathers, we just came off Father's Day. Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath or rebellion, but raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. One of the things we can do to provoke our children to rebellion is legalism. Previous generations, we'd play the legalistic game. Not these kids today. They want something authentic. They want something that's real. And eventually, not only is it unbiblical, it's just illogical. I give you so many examples in my own life where it began to change the way I train my children, all three of which today are grown adults that know and love Jesus following Him. It is not because I have this external standard of rules and regulations in the home. What Jesus wants is a relationship. He wants to come into the house and be a member of your family. Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hear my voice and answer the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. What's He offering? When He says to dine with you, He's offering a relationship. That's what you do with someone you dine with. He wants a relationship. Not some distant deity that can never be known. A relationship of intimacy, of authenticity. Not built on a rules and don'ts and these and those. A relationship, a family. He says in verse 7, you ran well. Man, guys, you started so well. You're off to such a good start. What happened? Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you a little leaven. Leaven's the whole lump. He's saying, listen, just like a little bit of yeast, leaven's the whole lump of bread. It just takes a little distortion to completely change the gospel into what's not the gospel. Whether it's just one thing. In this case, they'd added one thing to the gospel. It was no longer the gospel. Now listen, you may have come from a religious system that added several things that you got to do. In this case, in the Galatians, they were just told one thing. A little leaven. Just a little leaven. Leaven's the whole lump. I have confidence in you and the Lord that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. He's calling out the false teachers now. He knows these false teachers in Galatia are

going to get a hold of this letter, and they're going to read it, and he is calling them out. He's saying, guys, there's going to be a hot place in hell for you. Your judgment be upon you. I'm going to tell you there's There's a hot place in hell for false teachers that change the gospel, that distort the gospel, that mess with the message. James 3, one says, we that stand before you as Bible teachers that teach the Bible will receive the stricter judgment. How serious this is. And I, brother, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. I could wish that those who trouble you, the false teachers, would even cut themselves off. I'm telling you right now, Paul gets really snarky right here. I could say, hey guys, you're so hung up on circumcision, why don't you just finish the job? Go ahead. I'm not gonna draw you a picture. Hey, he's getting really snarky. Just go ahead, you're so hung up on this stuff, go ahead, just finish it. You know what I'm talking about. I mean, he is so emotionally moved by what's going on. He is showing you the emotion in the heart of God, the Apostle Paul. It makes God mad when people distort the gospel from the clarity, simplicity, to a thing of complexity.

And add things you've gotta do beyond what Jesus has done for you. 2 Corinthians 3, 17, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. You are made for liberty, for freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from the bondage of religion, freedom from keeping a list, hoping to appease God. You are made for the joy of Jesus, freedom, liberty. But listen very carefully. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again in that yoke of bondage. What has entangled you in bondage? Some area of sin? Jesus can set you free. A religious system? Man-made conditions? Jesus can set you free, but listen, to the degree you're submitted to Christ's authority, you will live in Christ's liberty. That's the A life, what Jesus came to give life abundantly. Jesus, I pray for every person now under the sound of my voice that not one would miss the opportunity in this moment to find the true joy of Jesus, freedom, liberty,

from a life of bondage and captivity. I pray your grace be upon every person in this place. At every campus, I want the response team, would you make your way to the platform? Right here in Lee's Summit, response team, would you walk this way? At every church house across North America, there's a church house leader prepared to talk to you and pray with you. Listen, some of you need to walk this way as others are leaving today because you need to know what it means to really be a Christian, free from the bondage of religion, what Jesus called the new birth, the new beginning, a new creation. And these men and women are here today to talk to you about that very thing, to answer your questions, to pray with you, minister to you. Jesus, we thank you that you finished the work needed. There's no further work for us to do. We give you glory. We praise you, precious Savior. In Jesus' name, amen. Church, give him the glory today. Praise him, would you? Praise him, would you?