THE ONLY TRUE FREEDOM

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.

Galatians 5:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

During His ministry on earth, Jesus made this important declaration:

“...if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

Here the Savior of the world was making sure everyone knows that there is only one way to true freedom and it was through Him, Jesus the Christ.

He then made one more statement to reinforce the exclusive access to freedom found in Him:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

With the exception of Jesus, every single human who has ever lived on earth has sinned and therefore fallen short of the glory of God. They are under the captivity of sin and therefore a slave to it, unable to free themselves. This is the worst possible position someone could find themselves in because God, the Master over all creation, hates sin and brings His judgment on anyone who practices it. Since everyone sins, this means that every person is under the penalty of God’s wrath and the greatest manifestation of this comes when a sinner dies.

Now, the deceased sinner may have thought that death is the end prior to their passing, that life is finalized when their final heartbeat and breath happens. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth. For when a sinner, enslaved to their iniquities, dies, they find out they move onto an eternal life, one rife with damnation and torment. During their life, they enjoyed the freedom to live however they wanted, unchecked and unencumbered. They were living with a false sense of liberation because they didn’t accept and believe in Jesus, the only true source of freedom.

At the end of Galatians, chapter 4, we found the Apostle Paul trying to drive home the point that Jesus was the only One who could bring freedom to anyone. Paul had shared the true Gospel, that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son Jesus so that whoever would believe in Him wouldn’t perish but gain eternal life (John 3:16). There was only one way to be saved and that was through Jesus. He was the only One who could bring someone to God the Father.

That was the new covenant, a covenant established by God that replaced the one prior, the old covenant that required perfect compliance with standards God had imposed for His people, standards simply referred to as the Law. The problem with the old covenant was that no one could ever keep it perfectly and therefore no one could find salvation. The Law couldn’t release anyone from the yoke of slavery that sin placed on the transgressor.

This is why it was pure foolishness that any Christian believer would allow themselves to believe that any other added requirements would be needed to be set free from their sins. A group of Jews called the Judaizers had invaded the Christian churches in Galatia and were trying to persuade believers that they were required to comply with the Law in addition to believing in Jesus as Savior. Part of this involved men getting circumcised, a covenant set with the people of Israel through Abraham.

Paul made it clear that following the false teaching of the Judiazers was akin to falling from grace and being alienated from Jesus. Getting circumcised would serve to devalue Christ in their lives because they would have failed to believe all they needed was Him to be saved. He then implored the Galatian Christians as well as us today to not lose sight of the only true source of freedom. For while the world would offer us lots of things and we do have the free will to make choices, we can’t allow ourselves to turn out eyes away from our Savior and the life He lived, the life we get the opportunity to follow, the life that ultimately leads us to eternity where we will abide with God and Jesus forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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