"If I Believe in Jesus, Do I Still Have to Follow the Law?" 7-4-21

Overview

Called to Freedom — But Free for What?

Paul opens Galatians 5:13 with a stunning announcement: "For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters." There is no "if" about our believing in Jesus here—Paul addresses the Galatians as those already adopted into God's family. As he wrote earlier, when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption as children Galatians 4:4-6. We are no longer slaves but heirs. That settles the identity question before we ever ask the obedience question.

Does the Law Still Have a Purpose?

A common but false belief says that freedom in Christ means the law no longer matters. Scripture says otherwise. The law still serves the believer in three vital ways:

• A mirror that reveals our sin: "through the law comes knowledge of sin" Romans 3:20.
• A curb that restrains the outbreak of sin, laid down for the lawless and disobedient 1 Timothy 1:8-10.
• A guide for new obedience: "Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart" Psalm 119:32-34.

So yes—believers still follow the law, but as a gift, not as a ladder to earn standing with God. It points us back to Christ, restrains evil, and trains us to love.

Freedom Is Not Self-Indulgence

Paul's warning is sharp: "do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence" Galatians 5:13. The word translated "self-indulgence" is the Greek term for flesh—not merely the body, but the earthly nature of humanity apart from divine influence, that part of us prone to oppose God. Paul digs deeper than the 600-plus rules of Moses; he confronts the very core of our being that craves its own way. Christian freedom is never a license to feed that nature.

Our culture treats freedom as autonomy, self-determination, sovereignty over self—as if we were our own little gods. But Jesus, who possessed true sovereign freedom, used it to humble Himself, take on flesh, fulfill the law perfectly, and lay down His life. "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" John 8:31-36. He used His freedom to set us free.

Free to Love and Serve

Paul completes the thought: "through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" Galatians 5:13-14. This is counterintuitive—giving up freedom to serve another is the exercise of true freedom. Released from the eternal weight of condemnation, we are now free to show mercy, forgive, protect, and serve our neighbor without fear.

So the answer to the question is yes, the law still matters—but no longer as a master. It is a mirror, a curb, and a guide that leads us into the love of Christ. Cherish your earthly liberties, and even more, cherish the deeper freedom Christ has won: the freedom to love without abandon. Let that freedom ring.

Transcript

If you would please open your Bibles to Galatians the 5th chapter, we're going to be studying 2s

out of Galatians the 5th chapter. 10s

It's Independence Day, July 4th, and this is such a wonderful time to celebrate our freedom, 15s

to celebrate our country, and I love that today we are asking and answering the question, 23s

if I believe in Jesus, do I still have to follow the law? 32s

I tell you what, this was such a fun study, and all week long as I was digging into this question 39s

and digging into these two verses and Galatians, I kept thinking that I wish all of you could have 47s

been in my brain traveling with me because the deeper I went, the more there was to grow 53s

and learn and understand more and more and more. 61s

It was so exciting, and I thought if I cram everything that I have learned this week into one 66s

sermon, it is going to be July 5th before we leave, and you will not appreciate the 73s

independence that you are not given. 80s

Just a really, really exciting study, and so as we unravel today, we're going to dig deeper 83s

and deeper into what we are free from and how we can live in that freedom. 90s

So we're going to just dive right in with just that first little part of verse 13, where Paul 99s

under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes, for you were called to freedom, brothers and 105s

sisters. Now our question is, if I believe in Jesus, so there's this, if I believe in Jesus, 112s

and Paul is starting right out, saying, my brothers and sisters, you are called in to freedom, 123s

the very fact that he is referring to these people in Galatia as his brothers and sisters, 128s

then that means that they believe in Jesus. If you turn back to chapter 4 of Galatians, 136s

verses 4 through 6, Paul wrote, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son, 145s

born of a woman, born under the law in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we 152s

might receive adoption as children, and because you are children, God has sent the spirit of his 159s

son into our hearts, crying, Abba, father, so you are no longer a slave but a child and if a child 166s

then also an heir through God. So the verses that we're studying today, just start out with that 174s

premise of, you believe in Jesus, so that takes care of our, if I believe in Jesus, there's no 183s

if about it. We believe in Jesus, the Galatians that Paul is writing to, believe in Jesus, they are 191s

no longer slaves to the law, but they are free, they are children in God and they are part of God's 200s

family together with Paul, so we continue. For you are called to freedom, brothers and sisters, 210s

only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self indulgence. Now there is this false belief 216s

that salvation or freedom in Christ means that there's freedom in living, however one chooses to 226s

live. It means that the law no longer serves any purpose in the believer's life, but that is a false 236s

belief. That is a lie. There are two things going on here in this verse. We have the law 245s

and we have self indulgence. The law and self indulgence. So we're going to just talk for a moment 254s

about what the law's purpose is. What purpose does the law serve? Well in Romans 3, verse 20, 261s

it says that no human being will be justified in his sight that is in God's sight, by deeds prescribed 271s

by the law. For through the law comes knowledge of sin. So the law acts as a mirror to our sinful 278s

selves. It shows us our sin. So the law has the purpose of showing us and pointing out our sinful 288s

sinful actions sinful nature. Then in first Timothy we read verses 8 through 10 of chapter 1. 297s

Now we know that the law is good. If one uses it legitimately, this means understanding that the law 308s

is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient for the godless and sinful, 315s

for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 322s

fornicators, sawdomites, slave traders, liars, purgerers and whatever else is contrary to the sound 328s

teaching. So the law it shows us our sin but the law also curbs sinful happenings. It curbs 337s

the outbreak of sin. It keeps us from doing wrong out of fear of punishment and that applies 347s

to the believer and the non-believer. We have laws that govern our countries that keeps us curbed 354s

from sin out of fear of being punished for our wrongdoing. So the law is a mirror. It shows us our sin. 363s

It curbs us from an outbreak of sin and then in Psalm 119, we read how it guides us. It's a new obedience. 374s

So the Psalmist writes, I run the way of your commandments for you in large my understanding. 385s

Teach me O Lord the way of your statutes and I will observe it to the end. 391s

Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. 397s

For the believer, the law also serves as a guide. It serves as a way to lead us in that new obedience 404s

that we aren't seeking to indulge our flesh because we are following in God's guidance and 414s

God's law. So we're going to come back to our Galatians text. Do not use your freedom as an 423s

opportunity for self indulgence. In some texts, this self indulgence is written as flesh. And in the 432s

Greek, it's flesh, but it's not only the flesh flesh, like on our bodies and our bodies, but it's 444s

the sensuous nature of mankind. It's the earthly nature of man apart from the divine influence. 452s

So it's that part of our nature that is prone to sin, that is prone to oppose God. 463s

What's really interesting here is that Paul, Paul uses the word flesh or self indulgence instead of sin, 473s

that not that we don't use our freedom as an excuse for sin, but that we don't use our freedom as an excuse 485s

to indulge the desires of our flesh. Sin is against God. Sin is going against God's law, 492s

but Paul takes it a step further. And he says it's not just about those laws, the 600 plus rule 508s

that Moses handed down through the generations. It's not just not doing right by the law, 517s

but it's that very core of our being that we want to indulge the desires, the lust, the whims, 526s

of our sinful nature. And so Paul is saying, don't. Don't use your freedom. You have freedom, 537s

don't use it to just go and sin some more. Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self 546s

indulgence, but through love becomes slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a 555s

single commandment, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 563s

So today we're celebrating freedom. We're celebrating independence day. And freedom is 576s

a greatly valued principle, greatly valued ideology that we hold in America. Our children are 585s

grown up, raised to value the freedom. We have people throughout the entire entity of our 597s

nation's history. We have had people immigrate here in order to enjoy the freedoms that we have as 606s

Americans. We have men and women from the beginning who have died in order to fight and protect our 615s

freedom. We use the term freedom as Americans every single day. We all know what freedom 624s

is. I love thinking about freedom in my time of study. I just went to the dictionary and I looked it up 635s

and what was more helpful than even a definition of freedom were the synonyms and antonyms. 646s

So I'm going to share those with you synonyms of freedom, autonomy, independence, 652s

independence, liberty, self-determination, self-governance, self-government, sovereignty. 659s

The antonyms are dependence, subjection, unfreedom. As Americans, we celebrate our freedom as a certain 670s

autonomy. Through our system of government, God gave us the right to celebrate and have freedoms, 685s

but we've taken it where we think that we have a God-given right where He has given us to ourselves 696s

to be our own little gods, to live holy and completely free from anyone or anything else 704s

that we get to live according to our own minds and our own wills. It's a very narrow view of freedom 717s

and it's a very narrow view of who we are as called children of God. Do not use your freedom 729s

as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love becomes slaves to one another. 740s

It's very counterintuitive to our minds that it's very counterintuitive to who we are 749s

as proud Americans as we should be as proud Americans, but it's very counterintuitive to say 759s

give up your freedom to serve another or live your freedom by serving someone else. 766s

Jesus had ultimate freedom. How did He use it? Well, if we go to the gospel of John, 779s

chapter 8, we read that Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, if you continue in my word, 788s

you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free 796s

and they answered Him, what do you mean by saying you will be made free? Jesus answered them, 803s

very truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a 810s

permanent place in the household, the sun has a place there forever. So if the sun makes you free, 817s

you will be free indeed. Jesus sets those who are slaves to sin free in Himself. 824s

This is what we refer to as salvation because we are all born in the flesh. We are all 838s

born prone to indulge the self, but we are called to be children of God. We are born again 848s

into the salvation of Jesus Christ. He was absolutely free, completely sovereign over all. 861s

What He chose to do with His sovereignty before the very creation of creation itself 872s

was that He would lower Himself, that He would humble Himself, 881s

that He would unite Himself to our flesh and that He would live perfectly under the law, 890s

that He would not sin, that He would not oppose God, but that He would live in full fill, it, 903s

holy and completely. And in His freedom He took His very own perfection and He allowed Himself 912s

to be crucified and He allowed Himself to hang upon the cross, to bleed, to be beaten, to be mocked, 923s

to be humiliated, and it served to free you from sin. It served to free you from self indulgence, 933s

that you would be free to live in salvation. He used His freedom to set you free. 951s

He gave His freedom to you when He died upon the cross and was resurrected. 964s

Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self indulgence, but through love becomes slaves 974s

to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment. You shall love your neighbor 981s

as yourself. So in Christ, as those who have been freed from sin, we are free to serve. 989s

We are free to move in and about this side of heaven, loving and protecting and serving others. 1002s

I love this quotation from Rudolph Bolton, a Lutheran theologian, He said the only man 1015s

who can truly serve His nation is He who has been freed to love by receiving the love of God in Christ. 1022s

God did not create us and give us freedom to live autonomously as our own little God's 1034s

but in true freedom, Christ has released us set us free from the weight and the restraints 1044s

and the burdens of the law eternally. The eternal law of damnation, the eternal law of opposing 1054s

God and receiving His wrath that has been lifted by Christ that no longer reigns over you. 1063s

So you are free and in that freedom we get to serve one another, we get to love one another 1074s

and we get to exercise that salvation by having mercy and grace and forgiveness and helping 1085s

and serving our brothers and sisters. Our question, if I believe in Jesus, do I still have to follow the law? 1097s

Yes, yes we do, we do have to follow the law but the law as believers is a gift. The law 1114s

reminds us and leads us and guides us and in the love of Christ we are guided to love our neighbor, 1125s

we are guided to serve our neighbor and we are encouraged and invited to serve the Lord by serving 1136s

others. We have been blessed and granted complete freedom. It is amazing to live in a country in 1145s

which we have freedom in which we have rights and abilities to live as we choose to believe 1160s

as we believe. That is a privilege and a glorious, glorious country that we live in. 1172s

But even greater than that is the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus. 1181s

The freedom to love without abandon, the freedom to love with all mercy and the freedom 1192s

to love protecting our neighbor and caring for him or her. On this independence day, 1200s

we take freedom to that whole new level and we can cry out as Americans and as a Christian 1210s

people, let freedom ring. 1220s