So, for the past few weeks we have answered the question: Are we saved by faith or by works? Are we made right with God by what we do or by believing in Jesus Christ? Of course, our answer, according to the Scriptures, is that we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone, because Paul said in Galatians 2:16, “we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
In addition to learning that we are saved by faith alone in Christ alone, Paul also taught us that it was never God’s intent to save us by works, but has always been God’s will to save us through His only begotten Son. And that if it was God’s will to save us by good deeds, then the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was absolutely meaningless. Jesus’ death served no purpose, if we could be saved by good works.
This morning we are going to speak about the freedom we have from the law, and there are two things I want you to walk away with. First, I want you to understand there is a right way and a wrong way to use the freedom we have from the law. Secondly, I want you to understand there are real consequences for how you use the freedom you have from the law.
Paul said (Gal. 5:13), “For you were called to freedom, brothers.” God has called us to be free from the bondage of the law. It is not God’s desire that we remain under the captivity of the Ten Commandments. It is His desire for us to be free of trying to earn our salvation by law-keeping. And that is exactly what happens when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, trusting him for your salvation, and submitting to his will for your life.
However, if I am free from the law, then can I use my freedom to do as I please? Since I am no longer having to work for my salvation, am I free to live according to how I choose to live? Answer: No, we are not free to use our freedom from the law to do or to live as we please. Notice, Paul goes on to say (Gal. 5:13), “Only do not use your freedom for an opportunity for the flesh…” That implies as believers, there will be situations that will come about for which we will be able to and want to satisfy the desires of our flesh.
What is the flesh? It is your sin nature, and it’s universal for all men, meaning, it exists in all of us, even as saved creatures. It’s that part of you that makes you rebellious against God. It’s that part of you that desires to sin, again, even as a saved person. Paul even says that the works of the flesh or our sin nature are obvious. He writes in Gal. 5:19 “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (lustful pleasures), idolatry, sorcery, enmity (hostility), strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries (selfish-ambition), dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies (wild parties), and things like these.”
Paul is writing this to the Galatians to help them understand that just because they are set free from the law, it does not mean they are free to live how they choose to live. They are not free to follow their own fallen, sinful desires. They are not free to act in a way that is contrary to God’s moral law.
The same applies to us. If you are saved and set free from the dondage of the law, by faith in Jesus Christ, you are not free to satisfy the desires of your flesh or free to do as you please. We are not free to engage in sexual immorality or lustful pleasures (porn, adultery, sex outside marriage). We are not free to engage in homosexual lifestyles. We are not free to choose what gender we wish to be. We are not free to attend wild parties or to satisfy ourselves with drunkenness. We are not free to let corruptive talk or coarse joking come out of our mouths. We are not free to anger, or to lie, or steal, or covet, or dishonor our parents. And if you truly know Christ and are following him, you will not desire to do so.
Paul wrote a whole chapter in Romans Ch. 6 dealing with this very issue. In Romans 6:15, Paul asked, “Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace?” In other words, since I am saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, can I sin? Can I violate God’s Moral Law, the Ten Commandments, since by faith in Jesus Christ, I am no longer bound to it? Paul’s answer is this, “By no means!” Sin is still sin. There is still a standard to live by. We cannot live our lives in relation to God how we choose or according to our own opinion. God gave us a book, called the Bible, which is the final authority, and in it He tells us how we should live as saved creatures: we are to live with the freedom we have in Christ according to the standards that God has set. So, think of the Ten Commandments as a moral compass. They are not the means by which we are saved, but they are a guide to help us know what sin is; a guide to help us know what not to do and what to do; a guide to help us know what God deems as moral and immoral.
So, if I can’t use my freedom to indulge in my flesh, how do I resist indulging in my flesh? And, if I can’t use the freedom I have from the law to indulge in my sin nature, then how do I use the freedom I have from the law? I have two answers. First, we use our new found freedom, and we resist indulging in our flesh, by serving one another in love. Paul said (Gal. 5:13-14), “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” As saved creatures, while the law does not save us, we still have a moral obligation to follow the moral standards found in the Scriptures, and those moral standards are summed up in this way – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If we devote ourselves to loving our neighbor as ourselves, then we will resist our flesh and use our freedom from the law the way God would have us.
Secondly, we use our new found freedom, and we resist indulging in our flesh, by walking by the Spirit. Paul said (Gal. 5:16), “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” If you strive to live by the Spirit and let the Spirit guide your life, you will not do what your sinful nature craves to do. Why? According to Paul, in Gal. 5:17, the reason you will not indulge your flesh, if you walk by the Spirit, is because “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
In other words, there will come times you will want to indulge in your sin nature. As a saved creature, that old self wants to come back up, and you may have a craving to look at something you shouldn’t, or do something you shouldn’t, or drink something you shouldn’t, or go somewhere you shouldn’t, but if you are walking according to the desires of the Spirit, you won’t because the two oppose one another. You cannot walk by the Spirit and satisfy the desires of your flesh at the same time. If you are walking according to the desires of your flesh, you cannot walk by the Spirit. If you are walking by the Spirit, then you cannot satisfy the desires of your flesh. When you walk by the Spirit, according to Gal. 5:22, you’ll produce “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” The works of the flesh are totally opposite from that: impurity, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, division, and more. One is based on self-lessness, the other is based on selfishness. One displays the attributes of God, the other displays the attributes of fallen man.
Why should you care if you are using the freedom you have to satisfy the desires of your flesh or walking by the Spirit? Answer: One leads you into the Kingdom of God, and the other does not. If you take the freedom you have as an opportunity to satisfy the desires of your flesh, you will not enter into the Kingdom of God. Paul said in Gal. 5:21, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Again, although you have been set free from the law by faith in Jesus Christ, you are not free to indulge in your sin nature. On the other hand, if you take the freedom you have as an opportunity to walk by the Spirit, you will inherit the kingdom of God. Why? Because, according to Gal. 5:23, against such things there is no law.”In other words, there is no law against love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no condemnation for those who use their freedom in Jesus Christ as an opportunity to walk by the Spirit. If anything, those who walk by the Spirit fulfill the law that says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. But there is condemnation for everyone who uses their freedom as an opportunity to deliberately satisfy their sin nature.
If walking by the Spirit leads me to inheriting the kingdom of God, then I want to know how do I walk by the Spirit? Answer: Know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Galatians 5:24 states, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior is the source for a believer to walk by the Spirit, because when we believe in Jesus and trust him with our salvation, the Spirit abides in us. Or, you could say it like this: The fruit of the Spirit is the spontaneous work of the Holy Spirit that abides in someone who has believed and trusted in Jesus for their salvation. Think of the fruits of the Spirit as by-products of someone who is under the control and influence of Jesus Christ. Or, think of the fruits of the Spirit like this: they are the character traits of someone who is abiding in Christ Jesus. This means, we cannot obtain these by-products on our own. If you want the fruit of the Spirit to grow in you, you must know Jesus, and love Jesus, and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
So in summary, there are two ways we can use our freedom from the law with two very real eternal consequences. First, we can use our freedom as an opportunity to satisfy our sin nature, for which we will not inherit the kingdom of God. Or, we can use our freedom to resist the desires of our flesh, to love one another as we love ourselves, and as an opportunity to walk by the Spirit, for which we will inherit the kingdom of God, which I want to encourage you to do. I want to encourage you to resist using your freedom from the law as an opportunity to satisfy your sin nature and encourage you to “keep in step with the Spirit”, as Paul says in Gal. 5:25. That choice is yours. I believe that God has given us free will. Therefore, I believe each day you wake up, from minute to minute, and hour by hour, you are going to have to make decisions to do one of two things: satisfy your sin nature or keep in step with the Spirit. That is the very real battle every Christian faces. Each day the Christian faces a spiritual war between the flesh and the Spirit. I am not arguing that you will live a perfect life, because you will not, but I am arguing that as a follower of Jesus Christ you must make a decision to use the freedom you have from the law to resist the temptation to sin and walk by the Spirit. Therefore, choose this day how you are going to use your freedom from the law: will you use your freedom to satisfy your sin nature? Or, will you use your freedom to keep in step with the Spirit?