Stand Fast for Gospel Freedom

Friday 2 weeks ago we had the baptismal service down in

Banbridge and when I was first approached about it and was

informed that, well initially there was well over 30 when I

was informed and then they were splitting it into two nights and

we were very conscious of that. And I was told, well, you'll

only get 30 or 40 seconds to make a few comments and those

that are being baptised won't be able to give public testimony,

but they will be able to give a public declaration that they had

made a profession of faith in Christ.

So basically they were just asked, do you profess faith in

Jesus Christ? And the answer was I do.

And that was the extent of it. And I know that when Brother

David Dobbin approached me about going through the waters of

baptism, I, I was delighted for him and we, we had readily

consented. And I, I felt for him in the

evening, thinking that he no doubt would have wanted to say

something to the many friends that came along.

So I thought it would be good if we invited him some Sunday

evening. And I mentioned this to him on

the Saturday and he very happily agreed.

So we've left it to this evening.

We want to thank you for coming and for those you're visiting

with us. We're really delighted to have

you. So we're going to ask Brother

David to come now and he'll share his testimony with us.

Thank you, David. Well, I kind of privilege to

stand here tonight to have a testimony to give, but I need

the Lord's help here to stand here before you.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank the Lord

for Calvary, Thank the Lord for the great plan of salvation.

Help me here tonight, Lord, to make much of you.

Lord, give us, have us to give you the glory.

Lord, You have said in your word that the redeemed of the Lord

say so, whom he hath redeemed the hand of his enemy, in

Christ's name. Amen.

Turn where we please to Isaiah chapter 12.

Isaiah 12 · chapter mention

In the day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee, though

thou wast angry with me. Then anger is turned away, and

thy comfort is me. Behold, God is my salvation.

I will trust and not be afraid, for Lord Jehovah is my strength,

my soul. He also has become my salvation.

Therefore with joy shall he draw water out of the wells of

salvation, and then that day shall he say, Praise the Lord,

call upon his name, declares doings among the people, make

mention that his name is exalted.

Sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things.

This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout the inhabitant

of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of

thee. My earliest memories of coming

to the schoolhouse next door was for the memorial service of the

Rate Robert Lowe, and then and then in the years later the late

Robert. Late Martin Shanks with a friend

with father and asked to come to the meetings on a Sunday night

then held at 8:30. Then in September 81 Lawrence

and I went to Saint Fred High. There we come, best of friends

and have been ever since. Lawrence invited me and my

brothers to Sunday school where we heard the gospel faithfully

week by week. Like say to young people here

tonight, invite their friends to the meetings.

It's the best thing that you could do for them.

Then in 1984 there was a mission held with the raid, the late

Reverend Whiteside. This ran for two weeks, from the

26th of February to the 11th of March, and in the middle Sunday,

the 4th of March, I came under conviction.

At the close of the meeting, the Reverend Whiteside used in the

words of his benediction will meet them more on earth.

May we all meet in heaven. I knew I wasn't right for

heaven, and I went home to my bedroom and asked the Lord to

save me and forgive me as best I knew how, and He did.

Since then I've found Him to be a friend.

It sticketh closer in the brother.

Although I've let him down many times, he has never left me.

For the Bible says in John 6 and 37 come cometh to me.

I will no wise cast out. As far as I know, I'm the only

person from the church here who has been called to both their

parents death beds from the church, from the schoolhouse.

But praise God even over two different occasions over five

years. But praise God, they are both

saved and ready to go. And I can say when we'll meet no

more on earth, we will meet again in heaven.

Then Fast forward to October 2014.

Joshua was in Orange this Sunday School class and the age of 6.

He asked the Lord to save him. In December 22 I was involved in

a serious car accident so thank the Lord for gracefully

preserving my life and would like to probably thank Lawrence

Nahan for looking after Joshua. When I was in hospital for four

days last year the Lord spoke to me about baptism and I heard

about the baptism service in Bainbridge and put my name

forward and was baptised in the 1st of May and could just finish

with the words of a Psalm. Lord has never failed me.

My Saviour loves me still, keeping every promise, supplying

it endless grace. Thank you on.

Your behalf. We do want to thank your brother

David for sharing that word of personal testimony.

It's not easy giving up in front of people, be easier, maybe

talking 1:00 to 1:00. But we appreciate it all that

he's shared tonight and we rejoice in the knowledge.

And I know folks in Banbridge were delighted to hear that he

was part of the fruit of the ministry of the late at William

Whiteside. And of course he was minister at

Banbridge, but also minister over in Ballygaya for a time.

And it's a great thing to have a testimony to the saving and

keeping power of Christ. And we announced the baptismal

service. I was asked to We had talked

about it as elders and I was delighted then whenever someday

had responded and responded in a very positive way.

And because of that, and this will maybe whet some appetites

and maybe it will not next Sunday morning in the will of

God, I want to preach a message just one sermon on the Christian

and baptism. So just next Sunday morning you

can come and join with us. I'm sure you'll get a pass from

your own church. You want to come and if not, you

can listen on the Internet. But that's for next Sunday

morning. Now my text tonight is Galatians

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 verse one. It reads as follows.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath

made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of

bondage. And I've entitled this message a

call to stand fast in Gospel freedom.

Now last Thursday was the 8th of May and it marked the 80th

anniversary of VE Day. PE Day for the young people is

Victory in Europe Day and the 8th of March is celebrated every

year to mark the date upon which the Allied forces accepted Nazi

Germany surrender in 1945. So if you do the maths 19452025

you get 80 years. Remember, after six years of

war, that's how long World War 2 lasted, 39 to 45, the war that

was instigated by Adolf Hitler. A global war and war is a

terrible thing, the scourge of any society.

World War 2 resulted in some 80 million deaths and to mark the

occasion, the end of the war, Nazi Germany surrender.

Major events were held across the United Kingdom and we did

that deliberately to rejoice in the tremendous God-given victory

as well as to feel the gravity of the 80th anniversary.

You see, news of Germany's surrender spelled the word

freedom, freedom from fear, freedom from a tyrannical rule.

That news of course caused literally 10s of thousands of

people there'd our province to pour out into the streets and

express their unrestrained joy with a variety of St parties.

Remember as we think about World War, 26 years of war, young

people, no one was unaffected. And the lesson, of course, from

the war is this. The true freedom costs.

It costs men blood, sweat and tears.

We learned that true freedom cannot be achieved without

sacrifice. So I believe on Thursday past,

it was right that with profound sorrow we remembered the

sacrifice of all who contributed to the war effort.

We think of the sacrifice of soldiers at the front, we think

of the emergency services in war-torn lands or emergency

services at home. The doctors, the nurses, the

factory workers, the farmers, many individuals had a

tremendous role to play. And together on Thursday past,

we look back and we thank the Lord for His grace and His

mercies. We also took time to look

forward to remind ourselves this, that there could be no

peace without eternal vigilance. Eternal vigilance is the price

of freedom. There can be no peace or absence

of war without sacrifice. We must never take our peace for

granted. We must always learn to trust in

the eternal living and true God for our deliverances,

deliverances nationally, deliverances personally and

deliverances spiritually. Now it's interesting that in

Galatians chapter 5 verse one, the apostle Paul uses the word

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

liberty. We could use a colloquial word

and call it freedom. Here is writing to the church at

Galeta. It's an emergency pistol.

He wrote it with his own hand because the gospel, as he had

taught it, was under attack. Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 to

Galatians 1:6–10

10. And I'll just read a portion.

He says, But though we are an Angel from heaven, verse, he had

preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached

unto you, let him be a curse, 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.

I believe tonight that the key verse of the whole Epistle is

our tax. Galatians 5:00 and 1:00.

Remember, of course, when the Word of God was written, there

was no chapter divisions or no individual verses.

They were added to aid the reader to find the place.

Chapter divisions are an invaluable aid and a great asset

to reading and studying the text of Holy Scripture, but they're

not in the original. You see, there's a call here in

Galatians 5 and one to stand fast, therefore, in the liberty.

For if Christ is made of free and the therefore belongs to the

1st 4 chapters, the teaching and instruction that's found in the

1st 4 chapters is connected to the therefore therefore means in

view of this in in light of this and and Paul here is summing up

and you've got to think of the subject that goes before it and

the subject that comes after it. Now the subject here is an

appeal to God's people that as they live out the gospel,

they're to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ just

made us free and be not entangled again in the yoke of

bondage. The apostle Paul has clearly

stated some wonderful themes. The sole sufficiency and merits

of the Lord Jesus Christ and His personal work has the only true

ground of salvation, the sovereignty of God's will in the

redemption of the Sinner, A full, free and forever

justification through faith in Christ alone.

Listen to what he says in Galatians 216.

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the

law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.

Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be

justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law.

For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Here's another thing, freedom from the curse of the law.

Galatians 3 and 13 says Christ has redeemed us from the curse

of the law being made a curse for us.

For it is written cursed as everyone that hangeth on a tree.

One of the truly outstanding marks of the Christian life in

living out the gospel is a grasp of the Christians liberty in

Christ. The Christians liberty in Christ

is a central truth and as Paul sums up, intending to deal with

the rest of his letter, having said what he said, he wants the

people of God to stand fast and enjoy the liberty that the power

of Christ brings into their life.

I have 4 little thoughts. One the the sorry, the identity

of the liberty. Now what is this liberty?

There's a simple answer. It's a gospel liberty or a or a

gospel freedom. It is the liberty wherewith

Christ hath made us free. You see, the message of the

gospel is a message of freedom, a message of liberty.

The message of the gospel is that Jesus Christ is a great

Redeemer, but he's also the great Liberator.

He's also the great deliverer because in him his people are

set free. Remember what we read there in

John's Gospel and John chapter 8?

John 8 · chapter mention

And he says to them in verse 32, And ye shall know the truth, and

the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We are the

Abraham's seed, and we were never in bondage to any man.

How saest thy ye shall be made free?

Jesus answered them. Verse 34 of Johnny.

And verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is

the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house

forever, but the Son abideth ever.

Verse 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be

free indeed. You see, to whom the Son sets

free is free. Indeed, there is a liberty and a

freedom that belongs to the people of God.

Jesus Christ sets us free from the penalty of sin.

Jesus Christ sets us free from the power of sin.

He breaks the power of counsel. Sin sets the prisoner free.

Jesus Christ sets us free from the curse of the law.

Jesus Christ sets us free from offering a works based

righteousness to God. Remember in Isaiah 61 verse one

and two we read the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because I

thought the Lord had anointed me.

To do what? Listen to this.

To preach good tidings unto the meek 1.

To bind up the broken hearted 2. To proclaim liberty to the

captives 3 and the opening of the prison to them that are

bound, 4-5 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

You see, the gospel is good news.

It's a message of glad tidings. It's a message about the freedom

for the Sinner. And the one that sets you free

is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the sole head and only King of

the church. He is not only the great

Redeemer that has purchased our salvation, but He is the great

Liberator that opens the prison House of sin and sets us free.

So when Paul says here in Galatians chapter 5 and verse

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

one stand fast therefore in the liberty where the Christ just

made us free, he's pinpointing the identity of this liberty.

It is a gospel liberty. It's a message about gospel

freedom. Now you need to understand this.

Why? Well, because a lot of things

are forced into the text that that's not true to the text.

See, I want to tell you tonight, it's not a liberty to go out and

get drunk. Drunkenness is a sin.

This text is absolutely nothing to do with drinking alcohol, but

certainly not a freedom to smoke tobacco.

Or to do drugs. It's not a a liberty to go out

and do as one pleases. Remember the days of the judges.

Every man does that which is right in his own eyes.

Now why do you emphasise that? Because many use this appeal.

They point to the word liberty. Stand fast ever in the liberty

where with Christ has made us free.

And they say in Christ I have a freedom to do these things.

The sad thing is many who use this appeal end up taking the

liberty, the gospel freedom. They turn it into a licence to

sin, a licence to do their own thing.

And they usually end up falling from grace, living again in a

life of licentiousness. And I want to tell you that's

not the identity of this liberty.

That is not liberty. That's a lie.

God's people have no liberty to live and sin.

We have no liberty to lie or to steal or to commit adultery.

Could I just add this? It's not even a freedom to join

with others. And the worship of God is the

true and living God. Now that's included.

That's an opponent part. It's only a small part.

It's not a freedom to take a stand for truth and

righteousness against evil and wickedness.

In our day, though, that's a wider appeal.

Again, that's included. It's not even an appeal to stand

fast against the dog dogmas of Roman Catholicism.

It's not a freedom to go about and aim to establish a workspace

righteousness in order to obtain the favour of God.

It is not that the believer is trying to work up merit with

God. No, Paul is making a summary

here. You've got to feel the force of

the word. Therefore stand fast, therefore,

in light of all that he said in the 1st 4 chapters, and you're

to stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ have

made you free. Paul is saying in light of all

my reasoning, in light of all my arguments, we have a freedom in

Christ, a gospel freedom, and we don't have to go about to

establish a workspace righteousness.

We don't have to establish a righteousness by our own merit.

We don't have to keep the law as a ground of our salvation.

Why? Because of the work of Christ in

the cross. The sacrifice has been provided,

the sacrifice has been offered, the sacrifice has been accepted.

The sacrifice is satisfying. Hebrews 10 and 12.

But this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever,

sat down on the right hand of God.

That's why we sang that lovely hymn there this evening.

Once for all, O Sinner, receive it.

Once for all, O brother, believe it.

Cling to the cross, the burden will fall.

Christ has redeemed us once for all.

The Lord Jesus finished the work on the cross.

The work is done. John 19, verse 30.

John 19:30

It is finished in fact in the Greek it's one word, Teralesa.

It means done complete 2nd Corinthians 521 says for he that

is God that made him that is Christ to be sin for us who knew

no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and

I believe we need to grasp this. I believe we need to understand

this I I believe we need to try and and ponder this why?

Because remember that it was the truth of this gospel freedom

that captivated the hearts and minds of the Reformers in the

16th century. This gospel freedom got a hold

of their heart and mind, and this gospel freedom led to them

being free. This truth, I believe, enabled

and shaped them to become the man that they became sold out to

the Lord. Men of courage, men of vision,

men of commitment, men who would face any fool, men who would pay

any price. These men were free from the

imposition of men, even religious men, to bind their

conscience. Remember Martin Luther at the

Diet in April 1521? Remember he?

He said, before the Prince and before the Pope, and before all

the prelates. He said, My conscience is

captive to the word of God. Here I stand.

I can do none other, so help me God, Amen.

Do you see all the decrees of the popes, the words of the

priest, even me as a pastor, our confession of faith as the

Westminster Confession of faith, all of them must be brought to

the touchstone of Scripture, as I eat and 20 says, to the law

and to the testimony. If they speak not according to

this word, it is because there's no light in there.

And the chief thing for Luther was this, What does the word of

God teach? What saith the Scriptures?

And here's a great message from the Scriptures.

Stand fast, therefore in the liberty, where with Christ has

made us free. Christ has made us free.

We have a gospel freedom in him. And what's the ground?

The ground of his atoning sacrifice.

The ground on the basis of satisfying the law of God.

We are free from the lost penalty.

We are free from the lost power. What?

We are free from the law as a means of earning away and right

to heaven. We are free from perfectly

rendering complete obedience to the law.

We are free from its curse, free from its corruption.

Now that's what he means there whenever he says in Galatians 3

and 13 Christ is redeemed as from the curse of the law be

made a curse for us, for it is written cursed as everyone that

hangeth on a tree. Listen to chapter 2 verse 19.

He says, For I through the law and dead to the law, that I

might live unto God. Do you feel the weight of that?

Can you see the sense of it? Let's listen to that again.

He says, For I through the law and dead to the law, that I

might live unto God. You see, Paul knew, like Luther,

no man could render perfect obedience to the moral law.

The moral law demanded perfect obedience.

The moral law condemned me to eternal judgement.

So on the one hand, the law demanded perfect obedience.

Keep me in your live. And then on the other hand, when

you couldn't render perfect obedience, sinless obedience and

thought were indeed. Then the law rose up to condemn

us for not rendering perfect obedience.

Therein was the dilemma. And what's the answer?

The gospel of Christ is the answer.

Paul says I through the law and dead to the law.

What did he mean? He meant this by a legal

transaction. I am legally dead to the demands

of the law and it's curse upon me.

Notice what he says. He is dead to the law, to it's

demands to it's claims. Hi, because of the perfect

obedience of Jesus Christ. See, Jesus Christ kept the law

of God perfectly for you and me. Jesus Christ paid the law's

penalty for you and me. By His death on the cross, the

law that we had broken, He came in to the world.

Remember Galatians 4:00 and 4:00?

But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth

His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them

that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of

sons. She, the Lord Jesus, came into

the world as our representative. He came in as our prophet,

priest, and king, and He satisfied the law fully,

satisfied His precepts by His sinless life.

He kept the law of God perfectly.

He said, Which of you convinced of me of sin?

He did no sin. You no sin in him was no sin,

and he satisfied the law's penalty by his death and blood

shedding on the cross. And I want to say tonight that's

an integral truth to the Gospel. The cross of Christ is not to be

viewed in isolation. Jesus just didn't do a general

work on the cross. He was doing a specific work.

He, he was doing a special work because when he died, he died as

our prophet, priest and king. He died as our representative

and in him, as your representative, you and I have

kept the law. In him.

You and I have obeyed it fully. In him, you and I have died to

the law. He died as your representative,

He suffered in the cross and shed His blood as your

representative. He rose again from the dead as

your representative. And that's the true basis of the

gospel. The Lord Jesus died in a legal

sense, and therefore, by being in Him and in union with all

that he is, Paul could say I'm crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the

life which I now live by the faith of the Son of God who

loved me, gave himself for me. I am crucified with Christ.

I have been, I am being. There's an ongoing benefit.

Christ died, his people died in him.

When Christ arose, we arise in him, not liberties under attack

and sadly to this day from the counter Reformation, the Church

of Rome was used every weapon at their disposal to crush and

destroy the preaching of the Gospel.

The identity of this liberty. I'd have to be quick, very

quick. Think of the victory of this

liberty. Remember what we read there in

the book of Galatians chapter 2, knowing that a man is not

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus

Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus

Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ

and not by the works of the law, but by the works of the law.

So no flesh be justified. Remember what Paul wrote in

Romans chapter 3 and verse 24. He says being justified freely

Romans 3 · chapter mention

by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ

Jesus. See justification as being

legally declared righteous. Legally declared righteous

before the judgement bar of a holy God, legally declared

righteous and not subject to divine wrath or to the divine

curse. The wrath has been extinguished

by Christ's death on the cross. There's no more wrath to be

poured out against Him or upon Him.

Justified freely means without a meritorious cause.

Justified by His greens. There's the spring of our

justification. That's the way God treats us and

justified through the righteousness of Christ that's

put to our account by faith. That's the heart of the gospel.

And the Reformers got a hold of that truth and that caused them

to be full of joy and full of delight.

And to them it was a precious doctrine and it must be

rediscovered in our day and generation.

I wonder if we went round into Belfast and started talking to

people on their doorstep and ask them, do you know anything of a

full free justification by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ?

For by the righteousness of Christ life and death is put to

your account. They'll probably look at you

think you're an Egypt, but that's the heart of the gospel.

And many preachers don't understand the gospel.

They look upon the righteousness of God and they define it as one

of God's attributes, and it is an attribute of God.

But that's not the gospel. It's not God's essential and

eternal attribute of righteousness that's put to our

account. It's the righteousness of God

that's imputed to us. It's the righteousness of Christ

because of his sinless life and atoning death.

The righteousness of God is put to us by faith in Jesus Christ

because of the righteousness of God in the personal work of

Christ. And that's what Paul meant

whenever he said this in Romans chapter 5 and verse 19.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

For us, by one man's disobedience many were made

sinners. So by the abedience of one shall

many be made righteous. Very quickly, I want you to

think of thirdly, of the spirituality of this liberty.

See, we're thinking tonight past Thursday there, the 80th

anniversary of VE Day. We're thinking of the principles

of liberty. We're thinking of freedom.

Freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech,

freedom to worship and practise one's religion according to the

dictates of conscience, freedom to work.

These are great freedoms. But the greatest freedom is the

gospel, Freedom to whom the sun sets.

Free is free indeed, and the real freedom first and foremost

is a spiritual concept. And it's a spiritual concept

that can be enjoyed. Christians don't have to be

slaves to the world to squeeze it into its mould.

Christians don't have to be slaves to sin and on

righteousness. We are free from sins, dominion

and power. Why?

Because crisis broke the power of sin in our life.

We don't have to be slaves to the devil.

He's a hard taskmaster. You see, we are greatly

privileged. All we enjoy tonight in the

United Kingdom, the values that we have, we hold dear.

The values of all our liberty and freedom, they were one for

us, a tremendous cost. We don't take it for granted.

We don't treat it lightly, but the greatest freedom of all was

the freedom that Christ brings. Think of this.

The apostle Paul is standing before Festus and Agrippa in

Acts 2624. He's in chains.

He's there because of a corrupt political, governmental system

and power. He's there because it pleased

the Jews. Festus remember under Paul's

preaching came under conviction. He was trembling.

He cried out that you're mad. What did Paul say in Acts

Acts 26 · chapter mention

chapter 26 and verse 24? He said this, and as he thus

speak for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou

art beside thyself. Much learning does make me mad.

But he said, I am not mad. Most noble Festus, but speak

forth the words of truth and soberness.

For the king knoweth of these things before whom also I speak

freely. For I am persuaded that none of

these things are hidden from him.

For this thing was not done in a corner.

King Agrippa, believe us. Thou the prophets, I know that

thou believe us. Then Agrippa said unto Paul,

Almost Thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

And Paul said I would to God, that not only thou, but also

that hear me this day we're both almost and all together such as

I am, except these bones. You see, for Paul there was a

day that freedom commenced when he knelt as a Sinner in the

Damascus Rd and there was a day when that gospel freedom took

hold of his heart and continued to propel him.

He says I continue to stand to this day.

And he knew that that gospel freedom had to be contended for

every calls and God's people stand fast.

Therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ is made of

three stand fast because of warfare, we stand fast putting

on the armour of God. Oftentimes this gospel freedom

is misunderstood, is misapplied. Oftentimes people think in

Christ, how much of the world can I have?

How close can I live to the world?

But that's not the gospel freedom.

The gospel freedom is being free from sins, penalty and power,

free from the curse of the law or free from a workspace

righteousness, free in Christ to stand before God with the

perfect righteousness of Christ. That's the freedom and I

finished tonight with this. I've rushed through this, the

vulnerability of this liberty. Notice the end of the text and

be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

The positive call is to stand fast, hold your ground and we

need to do that in our day. Hold fast for gospel freedom.

Here's a negative be not entangled again in the yoke of

bondage. You see with all the propensity

to be brought again into bondage.

Even the psalmist found us in Psalm 126.

The psalmist cried out in Psalm 126 and the verse four he said

turn again our captivity. Oh Lord, he had said in verse

one when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion.

We were like them that dreamed but after a time don't know

season generation had passed. Then they fell back into

captivity once again. That's human nature.

And today we see we're going back and we're going back to

become entangled again in the yoke of bondage.

And that yoke of bondage is connected to a works base

righteousness in order to satisfy and merit favour with

God. Benjamin Franklin was once asked

are we free? And here was his response, yes

we are. We're free now if we can keep

it. You see that is the danger we

all face being entangled again in the UK of bondage.

It's serious stuff and Paul is making the argument and saying

to them, for I testify again to everyone that has circumcised

that he's deader to the whole law.

Christ has become of no effect to you whosoever.

If you're justified by the law, you're fallen from grace.

Christ won't profit. Christ will be no effect despite

your profession. If you become entangled again

and you go bondage and and and and live to justify yourself

through keeping the law, then Christ will be of no profit and

no effect to you. See, that's what happened in the

mediaeval church. The church fell into a state of

decline in bondage. And hasn't there been a

resurgence of that in our day? A bondage to a workspace system,

people living in bondage to sin, bondage to guilt, bondage to all

the allurements of this world. And that bondage must be sensed

and felt. And in that bondage there has to

be a desire where you say I want to break free and you're not

break free by yourself. You need a Liberator.

And that liberator's Christ to whom the sunsets free is free

indeed. And if you want to be set free

from a works based system, you want to be set free from sin and

its power, set free from guilt, set free from a love and the

allurement of the world, then you must sense your bondage and

you must go to Christ and kneel before him and cry.

Lord set me free. Remember what we read in

Galatians 5 and 6. And with us we finish.

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything

to run the circumcision, but faith, that's faith in Christ

which worketh. It's evidence by love.

Love to God, love to Christ, love to the gospel, love to

truth. Christians are not under the

curse of the law, they may be under it's code, and that's a

different subject. The law of love to God, the law

of love to Christ. If any man love not the Lord

Jesus Christ, let them be anathem.

The word anathema means let them go to the lowest hell.

I say to you tonight on this year when we've just celebrated

the 80th anniversary of VE Day, let's think about our freedom.

But primarily think of our gospel freedom.

Think of it's identity, rejoice in its victory, feel the weight

of its spirituality. It's a spiritual concept.

And be aware of the vulnerability of this liberty.

It's easy to become entangled again in the yoga bondage.

We need to point people to. Christ the Lord bless you

tonight. Thank you for coming.

Thank you for listening.