Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 
	Today, we will continue with our discussion and brief summation of the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. This chapter has a main theme in the freedom that we have as Christians. There are a number of aspects that are important in this sense. Some may not necessarily be new information. However, the prayer is that, as each of us ponders the truth of this freedom that is ours in Christ, we will have a deeper understanding of what God has accomplished for us in the giving of His Only Begotten Son.
	We have continually referred to the fact that it was out of the great Love with which He loved us, that God ordained our salvation. That salvation brings us into a very close and intimate relationship with Himself, in Christ Jesus. We are at the core of that reality as we consider the text in terms of our freedom in Christ. It is a freedom to come into the very presence of God Almighty, through the righteousness that we have received in Christ. We are enabled to bring our hearts before God as situations and circumstances are developing around us. In Christ’s freedom we experience a living knowledge of peace and joy in Him no matter what storms are slamming into us. 
	Our freedom entails the fact that we are no longer under the curse of death, as rightly instituted by the Law of Moses. Christ has forever satisfied that death sentence in His complete fulfillment of all that the Law contained. In His death and resurrection, we are given life, freed from our spiritual death and made alive unto God for all eternity.
	This is what the Apostle Paul taught to the Galatian listeners. He had given them the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. He had instructed them in spiritual truth and rejoiced with them in the Lord. He had been with them as they had begun the ongoing race in the Grace of God. He had been satisfied that they were doing well when he left them. Now, however, he is distressed with what he has heard was developing in the Church of Galatia. He was in earnest travail on their behalf and tried to show them, in very concrete and undeniable terms, what constitutes a Life in Christ - how to live as a Christian under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
	Paul appeals to the steadfastness of believers in Christ. In the Grace of God, we have received liberty from the curse of the Law. We have also received liberty from the power and the guilt of sin. That is a great truth of liberty in Christ, when guilt is taken away. In our case, we were under the guilt of our slavery to sin. Our consciences were actively registering our lack of ability to stop from doing what the flesh demanded. Because of that, we had a tremendous build up of guilt at our despicable behavior, which we could not bear. When we came to Christ, and asked Him to become our lives, that guilt burden was immediately removed from us. In that, we found liberty. We also found the liberty to live unto God. We no longer were alienated from God, seeking to find an avenue of our own manner of salvation. We saw the beauty of God’s divine plan and purpose in Christ Jesus, and became complete partakers of His righteousness.
	Paul is exhorting his readers, and this fully includes us, not to put ourselves under the yoke of bondage again. Some have taken that to mean the Law, which is fully part of this bondage. But there is much more involved than just that in this yoke of bondage. We are freed from the ceremonial aspects of the Law, with all its rituals and its confining demands for feasts, festivals, sacrifices, and observances. We are also freed from the curse of moral law. Laws are instituted for restraint, as a means of showing what we can’t do. The freedom that we have in Christ is that we are shown, by His Word and the Holy Spirit, what we can do. It is no longer a matter of what we must do to fulfill some requirements, but rather what we desire to do because that is now our new nature in Christ. Hopefully, this morning, and for the rest of our lives on this earth, this freedom will become more understood as the life that we now live in Christ.
	The Apostle is arguing against the mentality that had been prevalent in the early nation of Israel. Consider back to the journeying of the Children of Israel after their departure from Egypt. What was their seemingly continual complaint? It was that God had led them into the wilderness to die. They longed for the slavery, the yoke of Egyptian bondage, rather than a life of being sustained by the Hand of God. This is the sad state of humanity that Paul is fighting. In some aspects, it is easier to be a slave than it is to live in the freedom of God. In slavery, we can abdicate any responsibility to our slave master, flesh. We make statements that we can’t help doing the things that we do because it is our sinful nature that forces us to sin. We constantly look for someone else to take the blame so that we do not have to face the fact that we are responsible for our actions. 
The freedom that we have in Christ is not easy on our physical lives. Look at all that the Apostle Paul had to bear in his journeys for the Lord’s sake. 2 Cor 11:24-28 Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. 
 However, despite all the tribulations he endured, Paul was filled with the joy of the Lord even in the worst of situations, a joy of spiritual freedom in Christ that slaves to sin will never know.  He knew that even suffering had its purpose when seen in the light of our lives in Christ. Rom 5:1-5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. 
	Because it is in direct opposition to our freedom in Christ, Paul argues against the circumcision that is being preached by the Judiazers. Acts 15:1 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." The argument therefore was not centered in just a physical act. It was against the underlying principle that it entails which was such a perversion that it had to be dealt with immediately and with finality in the church. Verse 2 Now I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. The entire plan and purpose of God in Christ Jesus was being subverted by these false teachers. They were setting aside all that Jesus Christ endured and accomplished. They were proclaiming and instituting again the tenants of a system of religion that could never bring about justification or salvation. Paul was calling forth this awareness from the hearts of his readers. He was showing them the sinister aspects of the choice they were being urged to make in that course of circumcision. He did not want them to be completely unaware of the consequences of what they intended to do. He was point blank stating that if they chose this circumcision, they were rejecting the work of Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the love of Our Heavenly Father. 
	This brings out a very necessary truth which Mathew Henry addresses with the force it is due …Thus, as by being circumcised they renounced their Christianity, so they cut themselves off from all advantage by Christ; and therefore there was the greatest reason why they should stedfastly adhere to that doctrine which they had embraced, and not suffer themselves to be brought under this yoke of bondage. Note,
(1.) Though Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost, yet there are multitudes whom he will profit nothing.
(2.) All those who seek to be justified by the law do thereby render Christ of no effect to them. By building their hopes on the works of the law, they forfeit all their hopes from him; for he will not be the Saviour of any who will not own and rely upon him as their only Saviour. End of quote.
Please realize that those who chose circumcision were cutting themselves off from God’s perfect work of salvation in Christ Jesus. They were, as one translation states, placing themselves outside the realm of God’s grace. This was not God removing Himself from them, but their deliberate choice of seeking salvation, apart from God, through their own empty efforts. To accept this circumcision was to leave the ground of God’s grace in favor of the inferior and utterly hopeless ground of self-righteousness under the yoke of bondage.
This is directly counter to all that God has done in the Gospel of Jesus Christ which Paul had forcefully and joyously proclaimed all the churches. Rom 5:1+2 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 
The Apostle then sets forth a brief, very brief, summation of our life on this earth. Yet it is the most compelling declaration of life in Christ. It is the decisive proclamation of how we live, how we work, how we deal with one another as Christians. Gal 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait for the hope of righteousness. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. One key aspect of this is that we are sealed in our faith by the Holy Spirit. That gift of the Holy Spirit and the manner in which He operates within our lives will be even more defined as we proceed in this chapter. This verse is packed with four very important elements of our life now - The Holy Spirit, faith, hope, and righteousness. 
The Holy Spirit is the One Who gives life to our spirit. That life giving Love of God places us into the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus. We cannot have Christ without the Holy Spirit, and neither can we be indwelled by the Holy Spirit without our faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Rom 8:9-11 But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you. 
We have spent much time on faith over the course of our studies. This faith is the faith that believes in Jesus Christ, and we live in that belief. This faith is the faith that trusts in Christ and all the teachings of Christ, and our lives manifest that trust. This faith is supremely confident faith. The confidence, unshakable and unwavering, is not in us, but in the Word of God by the instruction of the Holy Spirit. We are confident that God will do everything that He has purposed in Christ and we live in that confident assurance of the Lordship of Christ. 
It is an active faith that is centered in Christ Jesus. In it, we have the assurance that we are in right standing with God. This is a key element of our lives. Please consider that, under the Law, in the best works of man’s efforts to find salvation, there was always uncertainty, doubt, and fear of failure. There was no solid assurance of the fact that enough had been done in order to gain a sense of justification before God. There was uneasiness of being and internal turmoil as to what difference, if any, the works of man made in the eternal scheme of things.
Now, however, in Christ, we have no such fears, no such internal conflicts, no trying to second guess if we have done a sufficient job of living lives that could be seen by God as good enough. No, in Christ, we are at rest in our position. We know that we are covered by the righteousness, not of our self efforts, but of Jesus Christ. We have that absolute certainty that we are reconciled to God, because we trust in the One by Whom that salvation was established. We have the inner dwelling of the Holy Spirit testifying to our placement into the family of God, through Jesus Christ. 
Col 3:1-4 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory
Matt. 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father… 
Rom 8:24+25 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Let us now jump ahead to verse 14 in our Galatian text. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The single word spoken of by Paul is love. As Christ, Himself tells us in John 13:34+35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
This is the mark of a Christian. This is the manner in which we should be viewed by others, in the love that is now our life in Christ. In our daily interactions one with another, with our spouses, with our children, with our bosses, classmates, teachers, friends and enemies, love should be the evidence of who we now are in Christ. This love is a love that gives itself in completeness for the sake of another, just as Christ gave Himself up for each one of us. This love is one that stands with another through the worst of trials because this love is not from us, it is from the very nature of the One who indwells us. 
It is seen in service. It is seen in understanding. It is seen in encouragement. It is seen as it wins others unto Christ. It is seen in the unity of the Church in Christ. It is seen in the discipline of our children. It is seen in the correction of our brothers. It is seen in bearing with the faults and foibles of others, and looking at them with the view of the Great Love of God. It is seen as our lives show forth the fact that we belong to God and are indwelled by His Spirit. 
This love is developed in us as we look to Christ, as we live in obedience to His Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Gal 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. Verse 18 But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law. Verse 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. This is how we live a Christian life on this earth. It is as we cherish the work of the Holy Spirit in the manner in which He guides, directs, admonishes, and develops our spiritual life. As that life grows in our walking in obedience to Him, we will find that this love of God is our new nature. We are no longer under the bondage of gratifying the desires of our flesh. Rather, we are seeking to bless our Lord and Savior and live in accordance with what is now true of us. We are alive unto God in Christ Jesus Our Lord. 
If we are led by the Holy Spirit, we are not following the dictates of our human nature, but of our spiritual nature, living in communion with the Spirit of God. We will be strengthened against all the edicts of the flesh that once held us captive. In our freedom in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to choose to crucify that old nature with all its lusts of the flesh. We are free to live our lives in accordance with our new nature, that spiritual nature made alive and directed by the Holy Spirit. 
That brings us to the two lists that the Apostle Paul sets before these Galatian believers and before us. We will not belabor these lists this morning. But it would serve us well to take them before the Lord for His guidance in the vast difference between them. One represents death in the works of man’s hand. The other represents life in the work of the Holy Spirit. What is necessary to know is that these lists are, by their very nature, the evidence of who we are. If we are in bondage to the flesh, we cannot help but do the things that are the natural works of the flesh. Please note the Apostle Paul labels them works, and for a very specific reason. These are the deeds that man does with his own hands and effort under the control of the slave master of sin. These are what man can and will do by his human nature of corruption. 
On the other hand, please note that the Apostle Paul refers to the fruit of the Spirit. He does not pluralize it as in fruits. That cannot be done for a very precise reason. These are not various fruits that develop separately in different people. This is the true substance of who we are now in Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit. This fruit is the essence of the very nature of which we now partake, that spiritual nature of the beauty of our Lord and Savior. This fruit emphasizes the oneness, the harmony, the coherence, and the stability of a life that is lived out from Christ. 
This is completely at odds with the works of the flesh. The fleshly works manifest the tearing apart, the destruction of one another, the attitude of infidelity, wrath, revulsion, and covetousness that enslaves natural man. It presents the disgusting and defiled mess that we were in our human nature.
There is another facet to the reality of the fruit of the Spirit. It points to the person of Jesus Christ. It provides a clear and precise picture of the nature of the One Who now indwells us. Its roots are deep and solid in the Lord and develop that same nature within those who belong to Him. The fruit of the Spirit represents the very basis of why we have been brought into this spiritual life in Christ. Our relationship with Him is based on the fact that this is the essence of Christ, through whom our salvation is established. Just as this fruit is evidenced in Him, so it is an evidence of our life in Christ Jesus. 
Admittedly, we are not perfect in our lives on this earth. We definitely are not intended to be little christs of ourselves. There is only One Christ, Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior. But, by our identification with Christ, this same fruit is now our very nature. The life we live will manifest this fruit as the Holy Spirit is actively at work in us. Each time we fail to love, the Holy Spirit deals with us to crucify that fleshly residue. As we daily die to our self lives, the Spirit of God brings forth more and more, day by day, the fruit of the new nature now indwelling us.
	That is the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. We are free to live by His Holy Spirit. We are no longer slaves to the flesh, but alive in the liberty of our salvation unto God.  Eph 5:8+9 …for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), … 
As we close, we will read Eph 1:16-23, which expresses the very heart of God in what He has done through the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all. 

As this morning’s benediction, we return to Gal 1:3-5
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.