Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Loyalty is an important character trait. Loyalty is not a lack of discernment. Loyalty is based on quality. Loyalty will change over time as a person’s eyes are opened to the truth.
My father was loyal to the Liberal party of Canada all of his life. His reason was that it was the Liberal party of Canada that had been in power when my grandparents brought their young son (my father) to Canada from Russia. My father believed he needed to remain loyal to that party even though he could see they were quite corrupt before he died.
My father was raised in a Mennonite Brethren home. His father had been instrumental in establishing the first Mennonite Brethren church in my home town. The Mennonite Brethren broke away from the General Conference Mennonites in Russia. The Mennonite Brethren broke their loyalty to the General Conference because the General Conference Mennonites did not believe in evangelism. Those who broke away from that group wanted to reach out to the Russian people and witness to them. Even while I was a young person, I observed that the Mennonite Brethren no longer had a concern for reaching the lost with the Gospel. They actually became worse than the General Conference Mennonites. At this present time, they are nothing but a social club without the liquor. They are not worth attending.
My father could see the corruption that was in his church. However, he was not willing to separate from that for the sake of following Christ. I do not know where my father is today. It really does not matter whether I know or not. I cannot change his eternal destiny. What I must do is examine my own walk and make sure I am loyal to God first of all. I must also be sure to teach the Truth.
Loyalty must be to God first of all, if we want His blessing. Every earthly alliance we make needs to keep in mind that loyalty to Christ must come first. If a group abandons faith in Christ, then my loyalty cannot remain with that group. I am saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. I must remain loyal to Him as His child.
In our text, the apostle Paul is addressing saints who did not seem to understand loyalty. Jesus Christ is the faithful High Priest. He is faithful to His promise. He promised to lay down His life for the sheep. He promised to rise again the third day. He promised eternal life to all who would trust in Him for salvation. Jesus Christ has never broken any of His promises.
A true Christian is one who has been redeemed through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and is walking faithfully with Him.
In verse 1 of our text, Paul is challenging the saints to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. We need to stand somewhere. We need to stand fast in Christ. He is the Rock. He is the Truth. He is the Way. He is the Life. No earthly teaching can supersede the Truth. When an earthly group decides they do not want to follow the Truth, those who are born again, choose to stand fast in Christ. They do not hold their noses and allow themselves to be dragged down into compromise.
Paul stated: “and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”. If you are saved, God cut the net of sin off of you. You were set free in Christ. Don’t get tangled in the web of lies again. If you are truly saved, you will not want to get tangled up again. You need someone to encourage you to do what is right. That is what God’s Word is for. That is what men like myself are for. God raises up pastors for the purpose of helping saints to know how to walk the right way.
Pastors do not take the place of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works through the Word of God and a true pastor preaches and teaches the true Word of God.
In our text the main issue of concern was the matter of circumcision. God commanded the Jews to be circumcised. It was not a matter of salvation. It was a matter of identification. It was a matter of the fact that the Jews were to be a separated people. They were to be separated unto God. God commanded Abram to take his wife and to leave his family and follow God to a new land. Abram was reluctant to do that and God continued to work with him until he was separated from his family. God changed his name to Abraham and changed his wife’s name to Sarah. They were blessed with a son called Isaac. The same promises made to Abraham were passed on to Isaac.
Paul stated that if circumcision is the mark of salvation, then Christ is of no value. That was the issue. Circumcision was a work. It was something the Jews needed to do to their sons at the age of eight days. The sons did not circumcise themselves. Their parents needed to have them circumcised before they could even make those types of decisions.
Salvation is something a person needs to make for himself. No one else can make that decision for you. Just because your parents are saved, does not make you a Christian. Just because you go to a church, does not make you a Christian. Just because you were baptized, does not make you a Christian. A Christian is one who has agreed with God, that he or she is a lost sinner bound for hell. That person understands there is a way out of that dilemma. That way is through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. If that person accepts that fact and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, they will receive eternal life. They receive a new nature. As Paul states here, they are no longer in bondage to sin. They have been given liberty to walk with God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The liberty a true Christian has is not the liberty to decide what he or she thinks is sin. The Bible declares what sin is. Biblical liberty is the opportunity and the power to say no to sin and yes to God.
It is liberating to be able to go through the day without living in sin and being able to go to bed at night knowing you are a child of God and you did not spend your day in bondage to sin. You glorified God with your life.
In verse 3 Paul continued to address the matter of works. Those who saw circumcision as the means of salvation, were debtors to the whole law. They needed to keep all of the Ten Commandments perfectly. Circumcision was a one time act. However, it was still a work. It was a law that God gave to Abraham for all male Jews after him, to follow. If a person wanted to consider their circumcision saved them, they needed to understand that the whole law needed to be kept, not just circumcision. The fact is that there was not and there is not a single person who can keep God’s law perfectly. If your righteousness is by law keeping, there is no remedy for breaking the law. It is a guaranteed fact that every person has told at least one lie. Every person has likely stolen something more than once. Every person has disobeyed their parents multiple times. We could go on.
That is why Catholics and many others have no assurance of heaven. They can only hope they will get there. They hope their good will outweigh their bad, but they cannot be sure. That is why they expect their families to keep paying the priest after they are dead so that he can continue to make prayers on their behalf and maybe they will get into heaven eventually. Of course that does not work, but many people think they will be alright because they try to be good according to their definition of the word “good”.
In verse 4 Paul reminded the saints that if justification through law keeping is your way of living, then Christ is nothing to you. You need Him, but you believe you do not need Him. You may talk about Him, but you are not willing to trust in Him alone to save you. You do not believe He can save you and change you into a true child of God. A true child of God cannot live in sin.
Paul says the law-keeper has fallen from grace. You are dependent on what you can do. You are not willing to be at the mercy of God. You are not willing to be saved by grace nor to live by grace. Keep in mind that grace is not the license to sin. It is the power of God to resist sin. Be sure you are standing fast in the liberty found only in Jesus Christ. Only true faith in God will set you free from the bondage of sin.
Pastor Bartel