OPEN: How many of you have heard of Harry Truman? No, not the Harry Truman that became President of the United States and lived in Washington D.C.. I’m talking about the Harry Truman who owned 23 cats and lived in the STATE Washington. Harry and his cats lived on the side of a mountain called “Mount St. Helens” back in the late 1900’s. It was a volcano. The volcano had lain dormant for over 150 years but now it was beginning to rumble, and a number of people told Harry he should move because volcano was going to blow. But Harry refused. He said: “I’ve lived here all my life. I know this old mountain better than anybody else. And I’m not going anywhere.”
On May 18th, 1980, at 8:31 a.m., the mountain blew, and the force of the explosion was 500 times greater than the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The debris blackened the sky from Seattle to New York, and as far south as Oklahoma. And nobody’s seen Harry or his 23 cats ever since.
APPLY: Now a question: was Harry free to remain on the side of the mountain? I mean – could they force him to leave? Apparently not! Harry was free to remain on that mountain as long as he liked. But he was not free from the consequences of his decision.
That observation brings us to our text tells us this morning. Galatians 5:1 says “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Or as another version put it: “Christ has liberated us into freedom….” (HCSB)
We are a free people. As Christians, we’ve been freed from the condemnation of sin, and we’ve been liberated from the Old Testament Law with its lists of do’s and don’ts to be acceptable to God. We’re not under the Law anymore. But false teachers had begun to convince Christians in Galatia that they needed to go back to those rules and regulations. They needed to be brought back under the yoke of slavery to the Law.
Nowadays a lot of people don’t understand the Old Testament Law. They probably couldn’t even recite the 10 commandments. But does that mean that they’re no longer in slavery to those rules & regulations? Well… no. You see, they may not know much about the Old Testament and its laws, but they still sense when they’ve messed things up in their lives. It’s like the Law is written on their hearts, and they feel they need to do SOMETHING to pay for those sins. I call it Karma. You see, everybody believes in this idea of Karma. They recognize that the scales of their lives are out of balance. They’ve done so many bad things in their lives and so they need to balance those failures by doing an equivalent number of good things.
I saw a graphic recently that asked: “Can you do enough “good” to deserve to go to heaven?” Well - the problem is that MOST people don’t really think they can. They know they’ve done bad things… and they’re not quite sure that (no matter what they do) that they can do ENOUGH to balance out the scales. And the reason most people don’t think they can do enough is because… the Bible says you can’t. You can’t do enough good to satisfy your conscience, and you can’t do enough good to satisfy God’s righteousness!
So, you’re always going to be dissatisfied, because you simply can’t do enough!!!
Your only hope is to accept God’s grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says to us “you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”
You see, it’s by the grace of God that we CAN be freed from sin; and (by that grace) we CAN be freed from the constant tyranny of DO’S and DON’Ts (the lists) that would run and ruin our lives.
One of the key teachings of Scripture– we’ve been saved to become a FREE people. Jesus said “…If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36) And 2 Corinthians 3:17 says “… Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” And Peter tells us we tells us we should “Live as free men…” (1 Peter 2:16)
But that does raise a question: IF you’ve been set free from rules & regulations, and lists of do’s & don’ts, are you free to live however you please? I mean, if there’s NO list, how can someone say you’re wrong to do what you want?
Well, there are actually people who’ve said things like that.
ILLUS: Back in 2004, there was a very famous televangelist named Robert Schuller. He was especially famous because he preached in Crystal Palace. And because he was so famous and influential he was asked to address a group called National Evangelical Association. This is what he said: “There are some things in the Bible I cannot swallow – but you get saved not by the Book but by the blood. Keep your message positive. Understand God is a God of grace and glory so forget the matter of justice… Repentance is not a healthy response… Jesus never called a person a sinner. Rather He reserved His righteous rebuke for those who used their authority to generate guilt and caused people to lose their ability to taste and enjoy their right to dignity.”
Yep… I’m pretty sure he was wrong!!! Schuller said you don’t have to repent, and that Jesus never called a person a sinner… etc. But, Jesus (and the early church) DID say stuff like that. Jesus said “Go and sin no more.” (John 5:14/ 8:11) And Jesus preached “REPENT for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mt 4:17) And later, when Peter preached the first sermon of the church: “REPENT and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38) And in Acts 3:19 it says “REPENT then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
What Schuller (and others) have preached is something called “CHEAP GRACE”. Cheap Grace is a message that says you can be saved AND you can still live however you want to. It’s heresy. It’s a false teaching. But this kind of theology has been around for years. In 1943 Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a German preacher who publicly opposed Hitler) was asked how it was possible for the Church of that day to sit back and let Hitler seize absolute power. His answer: "It was the teaching of cheap grace. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance; baptism without church discipline; communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”
Basically, CHEAP GRACE is using God’s Mercy as a free ticket to live as we please.
But Paul rejected cheap Grace. In Galatians 5:13 we read: “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.”
Then Paul explained that there’s a price to be paid if you embrace Cheap Grace. Look at Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these…” And notice what verse 21 says: “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
In other words – if you embrace Cheap Grace (if you use your freedom as a Christian) as an opportunity to live according to the flesh so that you can do what you want to do… you can end up going to Hell!!!!
WHOA – WAIT A MINUTE!!!! Jeff, you just got done telling us that God has freed us from lists of DO’s and DON’Ts, but now you’re telling us that there’s ANOTHER LIST??? And if we don’t follow that list we’re going to hell?
Yeah… that’s what I’m telling you. If you live contrary to the will of God, it’s kind of like Harry Truman insisting he could live on the side of that mountain. You’re free to do that… but there are consequences.
You see, here’s the deal - we all know what THE LIST is. Galatians 5:19 says “the works of the flesh are evident.” In other words: It’s obvious. You know these things are wrong, nobody has to spell it out for us.
And (instinctively) we know “Christians” shouldn’t do stuff like that. But when we (or others) do this stuff, we do it because we want to. As a previous minister here (John Rigle) once said “Everybody does what they WANT to do.”
So, if I want to please Jesus, I’ll do what pleases Him, because that is what I want to do. But if I want to please ME… that’s what I’m gonna do. It all boils down to this: Is my faith all about ME/or it all about JESUS?
But let’s get back to that LIST THING again. I make lists all the time – “to do” lists. They are lists of things I need to do. Things I’ve GOT TO get done. But I’ve found that LISTS create pressure, and if I don’t get the things done… I get antsy, I get frustrated, I can even get angry at myself. And that’s just about LISTS I make for myself.
What about lists others (OR GOD) makes for me? If I feel overwhelmed by “TO DO’s” and “TO DON’Ts” on the list, what am I likely to do?
ILLUS: Have you ever noticed how a little child responds when they’re ordered to pick up their toys? What’s that child often do? Well, they moan, and they groan, and they whine, and they complain. They’ll say: “I can’t do it.” And (for the most part) the toys don’t get picked up.
So how do you get that child to pick up their toys? Well, one way is to threaten (that’s what the Law was about). And that works… but it’s a constant battle and no one is happy with the outcome. BUT another way is to help them pick up the toys (that’s what grace is all about). When you help them pick up toys - you don’t want to do it ALL for the child, but you’re not asking them to do it ALL by themselves. So, they’re not as frustrated about it. (make a game out of it)
Look again at Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
This is the famous “Fruit Of The Spirit” passage… but where does that FRUIT come from? Hint: it’s called “Fruit of THE SPIRIT.” Acts 2:38 tells us when we “repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin” you receive “the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In other words, once you become a Christian, the Spirit gets inside you to “help you pick up the toys” (to help you do the “right” things in your life).
Now, He’s not going to do it all for you but you don’t have to do it ALL by yourself.
Someone once called this TRANSFORMATIVE grace. The Spirit’s presence is inside of you to help TRANSFROM you so that you grow to the point where you instinctively do what God wants you to do. It’s not CHEAP Grace… it’s TRANSFORMATIVE Grace. God’s grace gets inside you to transform you.
Someone once put it this way: “Grace is NOT a license to sin; grace is the power of God to overcome sin.” (broanilkumar.com)
CLOSE: The point is this: the law won’t change you, but God’s grace will. Rules and regulations (lists) can only do so much. But in the end – if lists are all you have – you’ll end up frustrated and overwhelmed. You need the Grace Of God. What you need to do is humble yourself before God… seek His forgiveness and grace.
Someone once wrote this poem that explains how this works for the Christian (Kathleen Wheeler)
He came to my desk with quivering lip; the lesson was done… “Have you a new leaf for me, dear Teacher? I have spoiled this one! I took his leaf, all soiled and blotted and gave him a new one, all unspotted, then into his tired heart I smiled: “Do better now, my child!” I went to the Throne with trembling heart; The day was done. “Have you a new day for me, dear Master? I have spoiled this one!”
He took my day, all soiled and blotted, and gave me a new one, all unspotted; Then into my tired heart He smiled: “Do better now, my child!”
