"Freedom: Use it or Lose it (Galatians 5:1-15)", Austin Gooch | 10/19/25
Galatians 5:1-15 | 10/19/25 | Austin Gooch
INTRODUCTION
Four point 3 miles off the coast Cape Town, South Africa, stands Robben Island Prison. From 1964 to 1990 it held Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for opposing South Africa’s system of apartheid. In his autobiography, Long walk to Freedom, Mandela describes the prison this way:
“Robben Island was without question the harshest, most iron-fisted outpost in the South African penal system. It was a hardship station not only for the prisoners but for the prison staff. Gone were the coloured warders who had supplied cigarettes and sympathy. The warders, now white and overwhelmingly Afrikaans-speaking, demanded a master-servant relationship. They ordered us to call them baas [meaning Master or Boss], which we refused to do. The racial divide on Robben island was absolute: there were no black warders, and no white prisoners.”
After Mandela’s release from prison, he struggled to live life as a free man.
“I had grown so accustomed to asking permission to do even the most ordinary things that for a time I still found myself asking, out of habit, if I might . . . walk about. . . I felt for some time as if I were still in prison. The routines, the discipline of prison life, they do not leave you at once. I would wake at the same hour as in prison, follow the same rituals without thinking.”
Like Mandela, we who are united to Christ have been set free; however, because of our many years enslaved to the power of sin, we are prone to lose our freedom by returning to the law. We are prone to legalism or licentiousness. But because Christ has set us free, we may live freely. Our text this morning is Galatians 5:1-15.
READING
I then invite you to stand as you are able out of reverence for the reading of God’s Word.
If you don’t have a Bible, please don’t leave here without one. Info bar, in the meantime the words are on the screen, etc.
Hear the Word of the Lord from Galatians 5:
5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
This is the Word of the LORD.
Please be seated.
Manuscript
The big idea for our sermon this morning is that we live freely, because Christ has set us free.
We are in a transition passage in Galatians at the beginning of chapter 5. Paul is headed towards the person and work of the Holy Spirit, but he takes time here to address the riskiest issue facing the church in Galatia: circumcision and the condition of the heart that made it appealing for the Galatian Christians. Let’s see the various ways we respond to Christ because of how he has set us free beginning in verse 1.
The first point we see this morning is that because Christ has set us free, #1 We stand firm in freedom.
Let’s look at verse 1: “For freedom Christ has set us free.”
[Explanation] This first clause could be woodenly translated as: “for the purpose of freedom, Christ freed us.” That is, it is for the free life of the Christian that Christ set his people free. But we need to make sure we don’t misunderstand Paul on this point.
In our American context, freedom of the individual to do whatever they want so long as they don’t harm anybody else is one of culture’s highest goods. It is THIS kind of freedom that Paul does NOT have in view. As we will see as we work our way through the text this morning, Paul is looking at freedom in two ways:
Objectively – that is, because of Christ’s perfect life, sacrificial death on a cross in our place, and resurrection from the dead, those who believe in Him are free from the PENALTY of sin. But we are also freed:
Subjectively – that is we are freed experientially from the POWER of sin.
So what does Paul tell us to do with respect to that freedom? STAND FIRM and DON’T TURN BACK. This verb for stand firm has militaristic overtones to it.
[Illustration] This like William Wallace and all his pals lined up with blue face paint and kilts in Braveheart. I thought about wearing a kilt this morning as an object lesson, but we gotta pay for this building renovation in 2026, and I didn’t want to run half of you off. So, unlike William Wallace, no kilts at the pulpit. But like William Wallace, stand firm.
[Back to the text]. This command to stand firm is somewhat surprising, isn’t it? One might expect Paul to have said, “For freedom Christ has set us free, celebrate therefore!” But he doesn’t. “Stand firm, soldier!” is actually much closer to the point.
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Why? Why does he exhort the Galatians in this way? Because the Galatians – fallen human beings like you and me -are prone to turn back from resting in Christ and the grace he freely gives to MORALISM. We are prone to turn back to eliciting favor from God by our good and upright behavior. More than that we’re prone to do it AGAIN.
Did you see that word in verse 1? Paul says do not submit to a yoke of slavery again. As a reminder, most of the Galatians were not Jewish converts but Gentile pagans. They converted FROM the polytheistic religions of their day TO following Christ Jesus. [Bridge] They were what we today in our Western context consider regular, secular people: spiritual but not religious SLAVES of self-actualization, consumerism, tribalism, nationalism, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. Paul is saying STAND FIRM lest you trade one form of slavery for another.
[Application] You see the mistake the Galatian Christians made by turning to the Jewish Law is the same mistake you and I make when we replace the cross of Christ with our good, moral, legalistic behavior. And the result of that mistake is the same: slavery.
Why is moralism slavery? Because the more and more you and I slip into moralism, the greater we begin to feel God’s judgement against us. Let me ask you this: how healthy of a relationship with the Triune God do you think you’ll have if you live in constant fear of His judgement?
The answer is not very healthy. If you have been enduring the weight of God’s judgement against you, there are three possible reasons: (warning about self-R).
Reason number 1 is that you are far from God and you do not know Him. You know that you are a sinner. Scripture says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” You know that God is holy and just and you deserve His punishment. “The wages (the just penalty) of sin is death.” And the weight of that guilt is crushing you. Call upon the name of the Lord – call upon the name of Christ Jesus who died for sinners and he will save you.
Reason number 2 is that you’re walking in unrepentant Sin and the Holy Spirit in HIS KINDNESS is calling you to confess your sins and the enjoy the forgiveness of God.
Reason number 3 is that like the Galatians you’ve stopped enjoying God’s grace and you’ve slipped into moralism – using good behavior to try to curry favor with God. Come back into freedom and enjoy Christ and stand firm this morning.
If verse 1 tells us to stand firm because Christ has set us free, then verses 2-4 demonstrate that because Christ freed us, we keep the whole Christ.
Let’s return to the text beginning in verse 2.
“Look, I Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.”
[Explain] Up until this point, Paul has addressed works of the law, that is, the law of Moses in general and avoided the greatest issue that needs to be addressed, namely, circumcision. He’s avoided the topic until absolutely necessary.
This is not all THAT different than Pastor Will who, Lord willing, will return next Sunday to exposit one of the most beautiful texts in Scripture: the fruit of the Holy Spirit displaying the manifold expression of the love poured into our hearts, while he left me behind to address 1st century circumcision and Paul’s upcoming comment that the Judaizers should castrate themselves. [He’s been avoiding the issue].
So. Why circumcision? Of all the laws in the 5 books of Moses, why does he zoom in on this particular issue? To answer this question, we need to step into the world of the New Testament and camp out for a few minutes and see the way the problem of circumcision connects us with the Galatians.
Judaism in the 1st century, unlike the Judaism in our time, placed a greater focus upon proselytism – what we call witnessing. New converts would study the law and begin observing its rituals and regulations. We even see evidence of this back in Gal. 4:10 “You observe days and months and seasons and years!” This indicates that some of the Galatians were observing the Jewish festivals.
A potential convert who had reached this stage would be called a “God-Fearer.” They worshipped the God of Israel, the recited the Shema (Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is One), and they observed Jewish customs. Cornelius in the book of Acts is an example of a so-called “God-Fearer.”
But the final step for a gentile convert to become Jewish – the final rite of passage – was circumcision.
Paul is desperately warning the church members in Galatia: if you do this, if you go down this path – you are cut off from Christ. Now you must keep the whole law.
What Paul is NOT teaching here is that a Christian can lose their salvation – verse 6 in this very chapter is about to make that very clear.
The problem with the Galatians need for circumcision goes much deeper.
If circumcision is an infected branch, then legalism is the infected root. But the healing that is needed for the infected root of legalism isn’t just a theology lesson. We could break down the order of salvation using a Systematic Theology textbook and all walk right out of here no less legalist than when we walked in.
So let’s go deeper.
To address the underlying issue of legalism we have to back in the Biblical story. Earlier than the 40s and 50s AD. Earlier than Moses when the law given at Sinai. Earlier than Abraham, who received the sign of circumcision. We have to go back to the Garden of Eden. And what we do see when we get there?
We see Eve. She is sinless, beautiful and whole. She is living life the way it is supposed to be. There is no evil, no wickedness, no distortion of God’s perfect world.
Then come the serpent. He approaches Eve and what does he ask her. . .
“Did God really say?” It is this tragic moment that Eve and all humanity thereafter began to doubt the very character of God.
God can’t actually be as loving, as good, and kind, and true as He claims. Did he really say? Can he really be trusted? And if he’s not as loving and good and kind and true as he claims than – SURELY – anything he has to offer must IN SOME WAY need to be earned.
[Illustration] It is a certain fact that Home Alone belongs in the Top 5 greatest Christmas movies of all time despite its totally secular underpinnings. Typecast Mobster Joe Pesci from Goodfellas AND a heartfelt Christmas movie for the WHOLE FAMILY – not even Rembrandt could have thought of that.
In one of the opening scenes, we are introduced to “Old Man Marley,” the apparently sinister and menacing next door neighbor about whom the kids on the street have whipped up a conspiracy theory. He is “the South Bend Shovel Slayer.” Kevin McCallister, the mischievous and technologically quite savvy main character, eventually comes to learn that all the rumors about Old Man Marly are false. And it’s actually Marly who later rescues Kevin from the menacing Wet Bandits.
[Bond Back] Since humanity’s fall into sin, there is a little Kevin McCallister in all of us who has fallen for the rumor about our Heavenly Father that the Serpent spoke to Eve – did he Really say? So longs as we doubt the Father’s love for us, we will slip out of walking in Freedom and slip into legalism. We will slip into trying to earn what He offers freely.
Sinclair Ferguson comments, “[A] failure to see the generosity of God and his wise and loving plans for us [is what] lies at the root of legalism and drives it.”
But what does Scripture say?
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Until we throw ourselves at the foot of the cross of Christ on Good Friday – the day Jesus died - and we look up and we see the naked, shamed, tortured and lifeless bloody body of Christ Jesus – the Son of God - we will NOT see the Father’s love for us. The cross may be foolishness to a perishing world but to those of us who are being saved it is power of God.
You can accept legalism and keep the Whole Law or you can Keep the Whole Christ. What do I mean when I say “Whole Christ?”
When we doubt the Father’s love for US we will seek to obtain the benefits of Jesus apart from relationship with the risen, living Son of God.
I’ll say this again- when we doubt the Father’s love for US we will seek to obtain the benefits of Christ without the person of Christ.
Justification? That is right standing before God – benefit.
Sanctification? Becoming more like Jesus every day? – Benefit.
Entrance into the Kingdom of God on earth – the church? – Benefit.
Assurance of Salvation? – benefit.
Defeat over the power of sin? – benefit.
Peace and joy in this life? – benefit.
But here’s the problem: none of Christ benefits are available apart from relationship with him. The benefits of Jesus by THEMSELVES are NOT the GOSPEL.
Christ Jesus is not a means to the gospel – Christ Jesus IS the Gospel.
Because Christ has set us free we don’t keep the whole law, we keep the whole Christ: person AND work, redeemer AND friend, savior AND Lord.
But the good news of freedom doesn’t end there. Because Christ has set us free, point number 3, we eagerly hope.
Let’s return to the text in verse 5: “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly await for the hope of righteousness.” Let’s stop right there for a moment.
[Explain] It’s a tragedy that the English world “hope” lacks the force of its Greek counterpart. The Greek Word for Hope has the sense of “powerful assurance.” But in English we say things like:
Will it be sunny tomorrow? I hope so.
Are interest rates ever going to go down? I hope so.
Will the Cardinals ever be good again? I hope so.
This is not even close to the usage of “hope” here in Galatians. I like the way Tim Keller puts it, “The word that means ‘total assurance’ in Greek means ‘not so sure’ in English.”
So whatever HOPE Paul is talking about, he is POWERFULLY assuring it.
And what is that hope? The hope of righteousness. The hope of what we call “glorification” that is, when Christ returns, or we go on to be with him and our salvation is complete. We don’t work for it. We wait for it. And we do so with powerful assurance.
Let’s return to verse 6: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”
As I mentioned earlier, we will look to the fruit of the Holy Spirit next week, but we need to mention the Holy Spirit at this point. There is no shortage of debate surrounding the fruit of the Holy Spirit and, especially, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But if the only thing that counts is “faith working through love” then we need to see how the Holy Spirit is God’s gracious provision for you and me to do just that.
The Holy Spirit comes and writes the law of God on our HEARTS so that we actually want to live our lives in keeping with what the law was intended to do all along: to love the LORD our God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Therefore, it is the indwelling and active work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts that undergirds verse 6: only faith (given by the Holy Spirit) working through love (in the power of the Holy Spirit) counts.
Acts of love don’t make a single impact upon our right standing with God, but they sure do demonstrate our right standing.
This same point is made by James when he says: 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
The life of a Christian – a free life of faith – expresses itself in acts of love while we eagerly and assuredly hope.
Brothers and Sisters, you may rest assured that there is no amount of good behavior you can do for Jesus to love you more than he does right now. There is no amount of bad behavior that you could do for him to love you any less than he does right now. Neither religion nor irreligion counts for anything. No one describes this better than the late Tim Keller, so I’m going to let him do the talking:
“Increasingly, as verse 5 dawns more and more on us, we live out verse 6. The more joy we have in our gracious salvation, the more we are driven by love and gratitude to do good for the sheer beauty of good, for sheer delight in God, for the sheer love of others. If we are reminding ourselves and living in light of our certain hope, we will have a heart overflowing with love. We don’t need to seek righteousness and welcome from others, since these things are already ours; we are free to love others, seeking their good.”
[Transition] But as we eagerly hope, we have to persevere until the end. This is the principle of verses 7-12, which brings us to point 4/
Because Christ has set us free, we faithfully endure. Let’s return beginning in verse 7:
7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!
Do you ever read a few verses of Scripture and wonder “how did that get in there?”
[Explanation] Paul here and elsewhere describes the Christian life as a race. The Galatian Christians began their walk with Christ well, but then someone hindered them. The word for hindered has the sense of cutting in like one athlete getting in the way of another in a race.
[Illustration] It's like driving down 40 between Brentwood and Forest Park at 4 in the afternoon. Everyone’s just CUTTING in front of one another.
[Bond back]
Paul is accusing the Judaizers of cutting in like this and making the journey of the Christian life unsafe. This persuasion of legalism – verse 8 – is “not from him who calls you.”
It is God who calls sinners to salvation. And as we’ve already established, the character of God is NOT one that invites legalism. So if there are teachings to the contrary, they come from somewhere other than God.
And these teachings, these persuasions as Paul calls them, are dangerous to the whole church.
[Explanation]Paul warns that a little leaven – a little legalism here and there – leavens the whole loaf.
[Illustration] When Pastor Will went on sabbatical last summer, he gave several of the elders the opportunity to preach, and I graciously accepted. I immediately panicked because I had no idea how to write a sermon, so I went out and ordered Byran Chappel’s book Christ Centered Preaching. Listen to how we warns preachers of the dangers of preaching legalism:
“A message that merely advocates morality and compassion can remain sub-Christian even if the preacher proves that the Bible demands such behaviors. By ignoring the fallenness of the world and of our best works that necessitate God’s rescue (Isa. 64:6; Luke 17:10), and by neglecting the grace of God that makes obedience possible and acceptable (1 Cor. 15:10; Eph. 2:8–9), such messages subvert the essence of the Christian message. Christian preachers often do not recognize this counter-gospel impact of their preaching because they are simply advocating a behavior clearly specified in the portion of the Bible in front of them. But a message that even inadvertently teaches or implies that our works are all that is required for God’s acceptance inevitably leads people away from the gospel. By themselves, moral maxims and exhortations for ethical conduct that do not lead to godly dependence are not merely sub-Christian but anti-Christian.”
I read this paragraph and immediately panicked AGAIN. Why? What Chappel is saying is that any teaching of God’s word that shows what God REQUIRES without showing His gracious PROVISION is not just SUB-Christian but ANTI-Christian. So who is this warning for? This is especially a warning for those of us who teach: preaching, teaching classes, small groups, etc.
[Illustration] Legalism is prone to spread like runny noses in daycare.
[Application] A little leaven (a little legalism) can spread through our church quickly. We preach law AND we preach gospel. If we wish to continue to faithfully endure the Christian life in freedom, WE ALL must be on guard against teaching that commands obedience but does not PROVIDE the gracious provision of God to meet that obedience.
Let’s return to the text in verse 11:
“But if, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been removed.”
Preaching the cross of Christ is offensive. When we preach Christ crucified for sinners we will offend perhaps to the point of persecution. Christ has freed us to endure this persecution. Here Peter describes how believers are EXPECTED to suffer:
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
The same Spirit that rested upon Jesus and empowered his earthly ministry empowers the church for our mission. Christ has given us his Spirit to endure. If and when you face the fear of criticism, ostracism, or even persecution for the proclamation of the gospel, remember that you do not do it alone but with the Spirit of God. Hear Paul’s words to the Corinthians:
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
[Apologetic] Regarding Paul’s scolding comments in verse 12 that the Judaizers would emasculate themselves, I believe that Paul believes that preserving the grace of the gospel is just that important. He is that pastorally concerned for this little church in Galatia. May we be so zealous for the grace of Jesus – the freeness of the gospel.
[Transition]
Lord willing, Pastor Will will pick up in verse 13 next week, but we will spill over slightly into these next few verses this morning and see, final point, that because Christ has set us free, we love and serve one another.
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15
[Explanation]
We’ve spent a lot of our time this morning talking about legalism and the rotted root in our hearts that supports it. But legalism has another side, called antinomianism or moral licentiousness. If the heart of legalism is that we have to keep the law to earn favor with God, then the antinomian says that the law doesn’t matter. The antinomian says that since God has forgiven me, I can go on sinning as much as I want.
Such a person needs to hear the word of Jesus from John 8:35, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” The antinomian falls for the same lie about the Character of God that Eve did. She doubts the character of God, doesn’t trust that His rules are GOOD for her and not just for PLEASING to Him.
You have been freed from sin – so don’t keep on sinning. The grace of Christ does not give Christians the permission to live however they want. Because of the freedom Christ has given us and the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are slowly but surely freed from the POWER of sin.
Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for envy, deceit, hatred, a lying tongue, sexual immorality, pride, and so forth.
So if we’re not supposed to use our freedom as an opportunity to sin, what do we do instead? “Through love serve one another.”
It is so disappointing that the English language doesn’t share vocabulary as much as Greek. The verb for “serve one another” is the same as the noun in verse 1 for slavery. Through love – “slave” to one another.
Because Christ has set us free from the power of sin, we can love and serve one another without expecting anything in return.
[Illustration] Many of you are in the business world, as I was for 12 years or so. Business relationships can be very friendly and of course, service oriented. But there is always this sense that at the end of the day, we’re really only friends in business so long as we can benefit one another. The kind of New Humanity that Christ is building in His church is the opposite. It’s self-giving love and service.
[Aside] New Testament Scholar, John Barclay, has argued that there was another reason that circumcision was appealing to the Galatian Christians. Unlike our culture where one’s religion is a private matter and cut off from the rest of ordinary life, religion and business, religion and society, religion and culture were intertwined for the Galatian Christians. Undoubtedly, these former pagans would have lost social standing by following Jesus. Being circumcised would help them regain social standing within the Jewish Community. They would be respected at the Synagogue, for example.
[Bridge] Churches like ours are really good and taking Christians who kind of know their Bible and doctrine and making sure they really know their Bible and doctrine. It is a temptation among us to – like those Galatians – want to be respected at church. “I’m a regular volunteer. I’m a teacher. I’m a deacon, a pastor, an elder.” We cannot be free to love and serve one another if wish try to use our Bible knowledge, doctrine, moral behavior, and so forth to be respected at church. We can only be free to love and serve one another if we stay close to Jesus.
As Flannery O’Connor once put it, “the best way to avoid Jesus is to avoid sin.”
The result? We bite and devour one another.”
The only hope we have to love and serve one another is to look to Jesus.
[Vine] Christ Jesus showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, he died for sinners freeing us from them penalty of sin. On the 3rd day he rose again, he ascended to heaven and poured out His Spirit so that we may be free from the power of sin. Because Christ has set us free and given us a new law upon our hearts, we are free to love and serve one another.
Look to Jesus this morning for salvation. And look to Jesus this morning to stand firm in freedom.
Let’s pray.