Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Everything hinges on what Christ has done for us. That's why Paul says in Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free."

JP Jones: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University.

JP Jones: Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Galatians. Bless us as JP gives us part three of Freedom Reigns.

JP Jones: If you have your Bibles, would you open to Galatians chapter 5. We've been looking at the book of Galatians for several weeks now, and we actually come to a kind of a transition in this book. The first four chapters really lay out our new identity, our new position, our new status before God.

JP Jones: We're saved by grace. We are set free. We are sons of God. We are heirs of everything that God has in terms of his present and eternal spiritual blessings. Chapter 5 and chapter 6 of Galatians is an exhortation to live in the light of what's true about us, to experience new life and live new life, and translate that position into a life of practice, a life that exhibits all that God has actually done for us.

JP Jones: So there are a series of commands in Galatians chapter 5 that call upon us to live in the freedom that's ours in Jesus Christ. You know, freedom is an awesome concept, whether we're talking about political freedom or economic freedom or spiritual freedom. In fact, one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century had to do with this whole point of freedom.

JP Jones: It was delivered by Martin Luther King and he said these words, "I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

JP Jones: "That's our hope. That's the faith that I go back to the South with, and it's with this faith that we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, pray together, struggle together, go to jail together, stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

JP Jones: "This will be the day when all God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, 'My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.' And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-cap Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California."

JP Jones: "But not only that, let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring."

JP Jones: "And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: 'Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.'"

JP Jones: If you can't get shivers in your arms when you hear a message like that, then, you know, something's wrong with you. There is a powerful truth behind this concept of freedom.

JP Jones: Whether we're talking about political freedom, or economic freedom, or racial freedom, there's something powerful about the term, about the word, about the concept. It resonates in our hearts because we're created in God's image.

JP Jones: And what Jesus Christ gives us is far more significant than economic freedom. What Jesus Christ gives us is far more important than social freedom. What Jesus Christ gives us is even more significant than racial freedom.

JP Jones: It's spiritual freedom. Jesus Christ sets us free to be who we were created to be, to be the full reflection of God's image.

JP Jones: And so in John chapter 8, the Apostle John said, "If the son sets you free, you're free indeed."

JP Jones: And the Apostle Paul, unpacking this concept with respect to how we go about pursuing a relationship with God, begins Galatians chapter 5, in verse 1 and he says this, "It is for freedom that Christ set us free."

JP Jones: "Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

JP Jones: It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Christ didn't set us free just to wave spiritual words over us. Christ didn't set us free to put us back into a life of slavery. Christ set us free so that we could live free.

JP Jones: Christ set us free so that we could truly be transformed in the deepest part of our personality. And we could be transformed in our relationships with one another. We could be transformed, first and foremost, in our relationship with him. So, just this one verse, it's the introduction to what Paul is going to say in chapter 5 and chapter 6 as he's summing up how we really live this new life that is ours in Jesus Christ.

JP Jones: Three things that I want to say. First of all, Christ has set us free. Secondly, Christ has set us free so we can live in freedom. And thirdly, we are to stand firm and not be yoked again to any form of slavery.

JP Jones: See, everything hinges on what Christ has done for us. That's the bottom line. It's what I've shared with you many, many times that Bill Hybels shared in a conversation on a summer break with a guy that he was trying to initiate a relationship with God with and he said, "You know what? I only got 30 seconds. Let me make it as quick and brief but as clear as I can."

JP Jones: "Religion is spelled D O, do. Christianity is spelled D O N E, done. Religion is about what we have to do. Christianity is about what Christ has done for us."

JP Jones: Everything hinges on what Christ has done for us. That's why Paul says in Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free."

JP Jones: See, what Jesus Christ did in his in his incarnation and in his perfect life and in his crucifixion and in his resurrection is that he has purchased freedom for us.

JP Jones: It is our spiritual birthright. Every person who comes to a place of recognizing their own spiritual poverty that they can't do it on their own and they cry out to God for forgiveness. They cross the line and become a follower of Christ, believe in Jesus Christ, or as Romans 10 says, "They confess with their mouth, Jesus is Lord. They believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead."

JP Jones: When that happens, they become fundamentally and essentially a new person. And so if that's true of you this morning, you're a new person. You've been set free. If you're here and you're curious and you're seeking and you're trying to put the pieces together in your mind, if you were to become a Christian, even today, if you were to cross the line and believe in Christ, what would happen at that very moment is that you would be set free because you would be able to participate in what Christ has done for you.

JP Jones: Christ set us free. Now in the initial context of this passage, it's pretty clear. Christ has set us free from a legalistic, religious approach to God. That's the whole context of the first four chapters of the book of Galatians.

JP Jones: Paul is writing this book to people who have come to a living relationship with God out of a dead form of religion and legalism, and yet they've been pulled back to what's comfortable. We talked about that last week. We all kind of when the pressure gets built up, want to go back to what's familiar and what's comfortable, even if it's something that we disdained and it's dysfunctional and it's enslaving, because it's familiar, we tend to go back to it.

JP Jones: And so the Galatians were going back to a rule-based, religious-based approach to God, all based on their ability to keep certain rules and follow certain practices. And Paul is appealing to them and saying, "That always leads in condemnation, it leads to guilt, it leads to shame, it leads to death. You've been set free."

JP Jones: Christ has set us free from trying to earn our salvation.

JP Jones: Christ has set us free from trying to work towards being a spiritual person.

JP Jones: Christ has set us free from a religious-based life, a life all about us, rather than a life all about God and others.

JP Jones: That's the initial context. Paul says the same thing in the book of Romans, in Romans chapter 7, when he says, "So my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point. You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, it resulted in death."

JP Jones: "But now we have been freed from the law, for we have died to it. We're no longer captive to its power. We can serve God not in an old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in a new way of living by the Spirit."

JP Jones: That's what Christ has set us free from. He's set us free from legalism and a law-based relationship with God. But Christ has also set us free from the elementary principles of the world. That's what Paul said in Galatians chapter 4 in the previous context.

JP Jones: He says in Galatians 4:3-5, "So also when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights as sons."

JP Jones: In other words, we've been set free from an approach to God that just kind of seems right to us. You know, the book of Proverbs says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death."

JP Jones: So there's all kinds of man-made systems that kind of appeal to us. They seem right. They appeal to our sense of, you know, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You know, God helps those who help themselves. That seems right. There's all kinds of these isms and philosophies and ideas and psychologies out there. They're called, in a general term in the Bible, the basic principles of the world.

JP Jones: What the world tells us is the way to be successful, influence people, and be right with God. We've been set free from that.

JP Jones: We don't have to buy into a system of rules and works and we don't have to buy into just what the majority thinks is right.

JP Jones: We've also been set free from the penalty of sin. You know, the Bible says, "The penalty of sin is death."

JP Jones: We've been set free from that. Romans 6:22 and 23 says, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

JP Jones: You know, nobody here has to be afraid of death. Nobody. Because we can appropriate and receive to ourselves what Christ has done for us in setting us free from the penalty of sin.

JP Jones: And Christ has set us free from the power of sin, not just its penalty, but its power. We don't have to be slaves to it any longer. Romans 6:5-7 says, "For if we've been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the resurrection, for we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been freed from sin."

JP Jones: It's talking about his power over us. We're not victims to any temptation or lustful desire or passionate scenario that plays itself out in our life.

JP Jones: We have choice and we have power. And we have freedom. We can say no.

JP Jones: Because of what Christ has done for us. Christ has set us free from legalism and from religiosity and from worldly philosophy and from the penalty of sin, which is death, and from the power of sin, which is addictive enslavement over our lives. We don't have to be addicts, uncontrollably led by any particular impulse.

JP Jones: We can be set free in Christ.

JP Jones: And we're free from satanic bondage according to scripture. Hebrews chapter 2 says, "Since the children have flesh and blood, Jesus too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those all their lives who had been in slavery to him by their fear of death."

JP Jones: Christ became a man, lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and destroyed the works of the devil and destroyed his power over us, to set us free from bondage.

JP Jones: See, that is what is true of every person who's a believer in Jesus Christ. We actually have we have freedom because we have a new birthright. We have a whole new relationship with God. It's our it's our spiritual identity, you see.

JP Jones: As I was thinking about this, this whole concept of birthright, and, you know, if you are part of Crossline, you know that I have a mind that's kind of a victim of its own ADD syndrome. I'm thinking about the birthright that we have and the power of sonship, and the lyric of a song came to my mind. Now, I know I'm dating myself here.

JP Jones: But it was a song by Creedence Clearwater Revival. One of my favorite groups when I was in high school. Written by John Fogerty. You know, Creedence, you know, Proud Mary, Lodi, Bad Moon Rising, all that. Your parents can tell you about it. Here's here's the lyric to the song, Fortunate Son.

JP Jones: "Some folks are born made to wave the flag, oo they are red, white, and blue. And when the band plays 'Hell to the Chief,' they point the cannon at you. It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no senator's son. It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no fortunate one. Some folks are born silver spoon in hand, Lord, don't they help themselves. But when the taxman comes to the door, Lord, their house looks like a rummage sale. It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no millionaire's son. It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no fortunate one."

JP Jones: "Some folks inherit star-spangled eyes, oo they send you down to war. And when you ask them, 'How much should we give?' Oh, they answer, 'More.' It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no military son. It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm no fortunate one."

JP Jones: The whole point of this song is your birthright. And he talks about the birthright of the senator's son, the birthright of the millionaire's son, the birthright of the military man's son. See, who you're born into, what family you're born into, that's your birthright.

JP Jones: Do you realize that every person who's a child of God, every person who's been born again spiritually, every person who's come to a relationship with Jesus Christ has a new birthright?

JP Jones: They're heirs. The Bible says we are sons of God. We are spiritual heirs of all that God has for us. We've been set free, it's our birthright.

JP Jones: And because it's our birthright, we get to claim it. Because it's our birthright, we get to draw upon it. Because it's our birthright, we get to live in it. So Paul says in Galatians 5, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, do not be burdened again by any form of yoke to slavery."

JP Jones: See, Christ has set us free and we have been set free to live in freedom.

JP Jones: We've been set free to live in freedom. God has given us a new spiritual position so that we can live a new life. God's intention is not just to inform us, it's to transform us.

JP Jones: The goal of this discovery this morning isn't so that all of us can leave here with big heads about our spiritual position. No, it's so that we can live new lives. We've been set free to live in freedom.

JP Jones: And it's that dynamic that is the powerful motivator and hope for every Christian, for every believer in Jesus Christ. If we're just talking here about pie in the sky when you die, who gives a rip?

JP Jones: No, the message of Jesus Christ is real to every person, relevant to every person, dynamic to every person, because he sets us free so that we can live in freedom.

JP Jones: My son's a sophomore up at at Cal Poly. I just had a conversation with him yesterday on the phone because his car needed some work on it and he needed a little money for me to put into his account. Yeah.

JP Jones: You know, every month I I put some I put some money in his account for for rent. He's living with, you know, four guys, five guys living in a house in San Luis Obispo. I mean, this is these are gonna be the best days of his life. You know, he's just remember, he's just having a blast on Dad's dime. Okay.

JP Jones: So I put money in his account every month to pay his rent. Now, let's suppose that he comes back at the end of the year and we're have a conversation, and he goes, "Man, I've been making some great investments and really earning a lot of interest and, you know, really doing some good stuff with with my money." I go, "Well, what money are you talking about?" "Well, you know, that money that you put in my account." I'd say, "Hey, I put that money in account to pay rent."

JP Jones: Do you know God has put spiritual currency into our account, not so that we could squander it and not so that we could ignore it, but so that we could use it to pay rent. What's the rent? Living life, getting up every day, making decisions, living with the people that we love, following God's plan for our life, living in freedom, you see.

JP Jones: We've been set free to live free. God has given us all the spiritual resources that we need to live free. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Living in freedom is based upon our new spiritual position, understanding that we've been set free. Living in freedom means we have an internalized understanding of grace and truth in our life.

JP Jones: We live on a daily basis, filling ourself up with grace and truth, because Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." And grace, you see, grace is the unconditional acceptance by God, that knowledge that we are loved by God and accepted by God, and we live every day in that secure relationship with God.

JP Jones: It says in Romans chapter 5, "Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound." So no matter how much we blow it or fall short or are weak or fail, God's grace is greater. So living in freedom is based upon our new position. Living in freedom is living with an awareness and a reception and an immersion every day in the grace and truth that are ours in Christ.

JP Jones: Living in freedom is becoming a slave to righteousness. How's that for irony? Because freedom is not the permission to do anything we feel like doing. Freedom is the power to do what God wants us to do and to what we really as new people want to do.

JP Jones: Paul described it this way in Romans chapter 6. "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace? By no means. Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey, you are slaves of the one whom you obey? Whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed that form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You've been set free from sin and you've become slaves to righteousness."

JP Jones: Isn't that amazing? You are either a slave to sin or you're a slave to righteousness, and being a slave to righteousness is being set free. If we make choices to do our own thing, to follow our own