Old Testament Lesson; Lamentations 3:22-33
Epistle Lesson; Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Gospel Lesson; Mark 5:24-35
Sermon Text; Galatians 5:1, 13-25

We live in the land of the free!

We have some profound freedoms, here, in this great country, the United States of America! Two of the great freedoms that we have, we relish, as God's people:

Number one, in this country, we have the freedom to worship God, according to the dictates of our own conscience. What an awesome freedom that is! We are free to be here in church. We are free to talk about our Savior. We are free to worship our Savior.

Another great freedom we have is the freedom of speech. We are free, in this country, to walk out these doors, to walk up to somebody, and free to talk to them about our faith, unimpeded, and unhindered.

We are protected in those freedoms to worship God as we choose, and to talk about our faith.

Those freedoms have not come at small cost. I am sure there are people in this room, right now, who could stand up and show us the scars they still bare in their bodies from having fought to defend your freedom to worship God, according to the dictates of your own conscience, and your freedom of speech. I am sure there are people sitting here, right now, who could say, "One of my relatives, one of my loved ones gave the ultimate sacrifice, died in battle, defending your freedoms, your rights."

Today, as we speak, there will be people, (most likely), who will die, who will give up their life, at great price.

Your freedom to worship God, as you choose, is being defended.

Your freedom to speak about your faith is being defended.

However, those great freedoms that we have, that have come at great cost, can be abused. Let me give you an example. I was reading recently about a man from China, who recently moved here to the United States of America. He settled in Ohio, with his family. His next-door neighbor would go around the neighborhood and make racial, terrible racial comments, and racial slurs about this family from China. And, this happened week, after week, after week. In fact, this neighbor would go right up to this Chinese man, as he came home from work, and make terrible, terrible racial comments to him.

Finally, one day, one of the neighbors got tired of it and called the police. He told the police "There is this man in our neighborhood, who will not stop making racial slurs about a new family in our neighborhood. We, as neighbors, have tried to get him to stop."

The policeman told him, "There is nothing I can do about it. He is free. It is freedom of speech. And so long as he is not threatening that man's life, or his safety, he is free to say whatever he wants to."

You and I know that is an abuse of freedom.

Freedom has come at great cost.

Today's scripture reading talks about another type of freedom. It is a far more profound freedom. And, it also talks about how this freedom can be abused, or misused. The great freedom that you and I have is a freedom that belongs to us, because we belong, not to this country, the United States of America, but we belong to God's country, to the Holy Christian Church, to the People of God. And, we have a freedom that far surpasses any freedom that this country could ever give us.

We are free, free from our sins!

We are free from guilt.

We are free from condemnation.

We are free from the fear of death.

We are free from the power of the devil.

Those freedoms

belong to us in Christ Jesus.

However, those great freedoms, and what goes along with them, can be abused and misused. In order to look at this, I want to set up a scenario. Let's say we have two people. (And, I am just going to pick randomly.) Let's say we have two, young, teenage girls (It could be anybody, but we will say two, teenage girls).

And, let's imagine that this young, teenage girl, over here, believes in Jesus, as her Savior from sin. She also believes that in order to be saved, she must follow God's Law. She must keep God's Commandments. She must obey what God says. And so, she believes that she is saved partly by what Jesus did, and partly by God's Law, by what she does, by her good works. Again, she believes that she is saved partly by what Jesus did, and partly by what she does.

On this other side we have a young, teenage girl who believes something different. She believes what scripture teaches when it says,

"It is by grace that you have been saved,

through faith,

and this not from yourselves,

it is a gift of God,

not by works,

so that no one can boast."

She does not believe that she is saved partly by her good works. She believes that she is saved only, only, as scripture teaches, by what Jesus has done for her. She believes that she is saved, because Jesus died for every one of her sins. Jesus lived a perfect life, in her place. And, she believes that she is free from the Law. She believes that she does not have to keep the Ten Commandments, to get to Heaven. She believes that if she keeps a commandment, it is not going to get her any closer to heaven. Or, if she breaks a commandment, it is not going to get her any further away from heaven. She is free from the Law, because Jesus paid for all of her sins.

So, as you look at these two young ladies, who believe something quite different from one another, let's present each of them with a commandment. Let's say we say to each of them, "You know what the Fourth Commandment says. The Fourth Commandment says, 'Honor your father and your mother.’"

Honor your father and your mother.

Can I ask you a question? Which of these two, young, girls do you think is more apt to try to keep the Fourth Commandment?

On the one hand, we have this young lady over here, who believes that Jesus paid for her sins, but she also believes that in order to be saved, "In order to be saved, I must follow God's Will in my life. And, if I don't keep His Commandments, I could be condemned. If I don't honor my father and my mother, what might happen to me? I may end up in Hell."

Whereas this young lady over here thinks to herself, "Well, I know the Bible says, 'Honor your father and mother,' but if I do disobey my parents, well, that sin is going to be forgiven. And, if I do honor my father and mother, well, that is not going to get me any closer to Heaven. Jesus already earned my way to Heaven."

Which of these two ladies do you think will be more apt to try to keep the Fourth Commandment? It is the tendency of our heart to look at the first young woman and say, "She is the one who is more apt to keep the Fourth Commandment."

Why would we think that? Because there is more at stake for her, isn't there? Much more at stake, there. Her eternal salvation, she believes, is at stake, if she breaks the Fourth Commandment. And her motivation for keeping the Fourth Commandment, is what? What is her motivation for keeping the Fourth Commandment? It is fear. It is fear that, "If I break that commandment I may not be saved."

Which takes us to today's scripture reading. It says, "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."

This first young woman, over here, is not free. Her conscience is not free. Her conscience still bothers her. It still troubles her. "Have I obeyed my parents, as I should? Will I be saved? Have I been good enough? Have I been kind enough?"

Her conscience is not free. And she is not free. She is a slave to God's Law. She is slave to something that she can never, ever fulfill, something she can never ever keep. Scripture says,

"Do not let yourselves be burdened again

by a yoke of slavery."

That is not freedom.

And, don't let anyone ever tell you that you get to Heaven, partly by what Jesus did and partly by what you do. You will be a slave for the rest of your life – a slave to fear, a slave to your conscious, and a slave to the Law, the Ten Commandments.

Which takes us over here to the second young woman. This young woman knows the truth of the Gospel.

The truth of the Gospel is

absolute freedom

in Christ.

It is freedom from God's Law in the sense that I do not have to, in anyway earn my own way to Heaven. I cannot earn my own way to Heaven. I could never be good enough. I will always have sin in me. Jesus has completely and totally earned my way to Heaven. He died for all the times I have broken commandments. He has kept the commandments perfectly, in my place. I am free, in Him.

So, what is to keep this young lady from saying, "Therefore, since I am free in Christ, free from the Law..." Our scripture reading says, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature."

What if this young woman says to herself, "Boy, I have been saved by Christ, so why, why do I, why would I obey my parents? My mom and dad tell me to be home at midnight, but I don't have to listen to that. I will come home whenever I want to, because Jesus will forgive that sin. When my parents tell me to clean my room, I will just talk back to them, all I want to, because Jesus forgives that sin. I am free from the Law."

But, what does our passage say? It says,

"Don't use your freedom

to indulge the sinful nature."

Peter said, "You are free men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom, as a cover-up for evil."

Jude says that some people have taken the Gospel of Christ and turned it into a license for immorality.

Scripture tells us that is not freedom. If I look at the Gospel of Christ, if I look at Christ's cross, and I say, "Boy, He died for my sins. And, they are all forgiven, therefore I am going to go out and I am going to live according to my sinful nature. I am going to sin all I want to. I am going to follow the desires of my sinful nature. I am going to disobey my parents. I am going to follow the lusts of my flesh. I am going to talk bad about people all I want to, because I am free. I am free."

That is not freedom.

That is still slavery.

That is bondage to the sinful nature.

Christ has set us free. He has set us free. And we are to live in that freedom, as God's People. Think about your freedom. Think about the price of your freedom. Your freedom, here in the United States of America has been purchased at a huge price. But, your freedom in God's Kingdom has been purchased at an even far vaster price.

And what is the price? The price is God, Himself, took on your flesh. He took on human flesh.

God, Himself, claimed for His own,

Ø every single time that you have disobeyed your parents,

Ø every time you have lusted after your flesh,

Ø every time you have said something mean or bad about someone else.

God, Himself, Jesus, claimed those sins as His own, His very own. He claimed them to be His. And then, He went to the cross. And on the cross, He suffered the full wrath and anger of His Father for every time you and I sin against God's Commandments. He was forsaken, by God, on that cross. He suffered the eternal torments of Hell, for you. We cannot even begin to imagine the suffering that Christ went through. And then, He died. He died to purchase your freedom from the Law.

ü You do not have to keep the Law to be saved, because Jesus forgives you.

ü You don't have to keep the Law to be saved, because Jesus kept it for you perfectly.

And that is all yours, by grace, simply by believing in Jesus, as your Savior.

The heart of a Christian, who looks at that says, "Jesus loves me and I love Jesus. I love Jesus! And now, I am free. I want to follow His Will, not because I must, not because I am obligated to, not because I think it is going to earn my way to Heaven, I want to keep God's Law because I am free to keep His Law. I am free to live for my Savior. I am free to serve my Savior. I am free!"

And so this young girl says to herself, "I know I have sinned against God, but Jesus has set me free. He has forgiven my sins. I want to serve Him. I want to show my love for Him by the way I treat my parents. I want to obey my parents."

Will she be perfect at that? No. We all know the power of our sinful nature. Our scripture reading talks about that. We have a sinful nature. And this young lady, at times, is going to fall. In weakness she will fall, and she will disobey or dishonor her parents.

What does a Christian do, then? A Christian then says, "Thank God. Thank God I am not under the Law. Thank God this does not mean I am now going to go to Hell, forever. Thank God I can go to my Savior and I know that sin is forgiven, too. And how I love my Savior. Now I want to rededicate myself to living for Him."

Every one of us in this room can apply this passage to our own life. You don't have to be a teenage girl. Whatever your situation is, whatever your temptations are, you are free, in Christ. You are free from your sin, free from guilt, free from the power of the Law, and you are free to avoid sin. You are free to walk according to the Spirit and serve your Savior.

God grant that freedom to all of us, for Christ's sake.

Amen.