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May 31 Sermon Notes & Quotes
“Christ Has Set Us Free”
Galatians 5:1-12

Sermon Outline

  • What Says About Freedom
  • What Says About Freedom
  • to Find Freedom

What Culture Says About Freedom

  • Freedom means I can whatever I want
  • Freedom means no rules, no consequences, no
  • Freedom means the (Genesis 3:4-6)

What Scripture Says About Freedom

  • Freedom is not found in the (John 8:34)
  • Freedom is not found in the
  • Freedom means we are ruled by
  • Freedom means we are ruled by

Where to Find Freedom

  • Freedom is only found in
    • “Christ has set us ” (Galatians 6:1)
    • “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36)
    • “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have
      ” (1 John 5:12)
    • “O Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30)

Quotes

  • “Galatians 5:1-6 is unvarnished, direct, heartfelt appeal, warning, and testimony, because the
    audience’s actions carry the gravest of consequences” (Baugh, “Galatians 5:1-6 and Personal
    Obligation: Reflection on Paul and the Law” in The Law is Not Faith, 265).
    “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about
    with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go
    on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the
    sea. We are far too easily pleased” (Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,”).
  • “Love is not the basis of justification, but the fruit of faith, the result of faith” (Schreiner, Galatians,
    317).
  • “The gospel teaches me, not what I ought to do, (that’s what the law does), but what Jesus Christ the
    Son of God has done for me: that He suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel
    requires me to receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. It is the principal article
    of all Christian doctrine, wherein consists all true godliness. It is most necessary, therefore, that we
    should know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually” (Luther,
    Galatians, 103).
  • The Gospel allows you to argue with yourself like this:

“I confess I have sinned.”
“Then God will punish you.”
“No, He will not do that.”
“Why not? Does not the Law say so?”
“I have nothing to do with the Law.”
“How so?”
“I have another law, the law of liberty.”
“What do you mean, ‘liberty’?”
“The liberty of Christ, for Christ has made me free from the Law that held me down. That Law is
now in prison itself, held captive by grace and liberty.”

“By faith in Christ a person may gain such sure and sound comfort, that he need not fear the devil, sin,
death, or any evil. ‘Sir Devil,’ he may say, ‘I am not afraid of you. I have a Friend whose name is Jesus
Christ, in whom I believe. He has abolished [fulfilled] the Law,1 condemned sin, vanquished death, and
destroyed hell for me. He is bigger than you, Satan. He has defeated you, and holds you down. You
cannot hurt me.’ This is the faith that overcomes the devil.”

“Paul manhandles the Law. He treats the Law as if it were a thief and a robber. He treats the Law as
contemptible to the conscience, in order that those who believe in Christ may take courage” (Luther,
Galatians, 48).

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1 I love this quote, but I would prefer to say that Christ has “fulfilled the Law” instead of “abolished the Law” (Matthew 5:17).
Because Jesus Christ “fulfilled” the law on our behalf, we suffer no threat of condemnation.