Galatians 5:13

Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever you are, that are justified by the law. You are fallen from grace.

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith, which works love. You did run well. Who hindered you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion comes not of him that calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubles you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off, which trouble you. For you, brethren, have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.

Father, we come humbly before your word. We recognize, Lord, that the one who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, the one whose delight is in your law and who meditates therein day and night, that individual is...

Blessed are those who are like a tree that is planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth fruit in season. Their leaves do not wither, and whatever they do shall prosper. That is what we desire, Lord. We desire to be prosperous for Your namesake. As You spoke to Joshua, You said that the one who meditates on Your word day and night and turns not from it to the right hand or to the left will make his way prosperous and have good success.

Lord, every place that the sole of his foot shall tread upon, he receives as an inheritance. You have given us every blessing in heavenly places. You have seated us with Your Son and given us an inheritance. You have granted us access by Your grace, wherein we stand. We are so thankful tonight for all that You have given to us. You have set us free. As we sang tonight, Lord, You are more than enough. Words fail at proclaiming how awesome and great You are. Your greatness, as Spurgeon said, breaks the backs of words.

As we have worshipped You in song and in giving, we now worship You in the study of Your word. Would You be exalted, Lord? Exalt Yourself through the pages of Your word so that we would be struck by how awesome You are. We ask this in Jesus' name. And all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

We are again taking time on Wednesday nights to seek communion with God. When He redeems us, when He saves an individual, He places them in a position where they now have fellowship and communion with God through Jesus Christ. It is a phenomenal thing. God does not desire that we be solitary in communion with Him. Instead, He takes that individual who now has fellowship with Him, who was once at enmity with Him, and places them sovereignly by His grace together with others to be in community with one another, displaying the gloriousness of God to this world and back to God.

We have God in heaven, and we are like mirrors, shining that reflection back at Him and glorifying Him. That's what He has called us to do as a body, in unity together. There are times when we need to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. When God saves individuals and gathers us together in communion with Him, there isn't instantly community with one another because we are different.

In fact, when you are brought together as the body of Christ, there are probably very few things that unite you with the people you are seated with in this room tonight. You are very different. You come from different backgrounds and different socioeconomic groups. You have different ambitions, desires, and focuses. All these things are different. The one thing that unifies us is Christ, amen?

As He brings us together by His mercy, He makes us who were not a people into a people. This is what we read in 1 Peter chapter 2, where it says, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, God's own special or peculiar people, that you should proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Peter goes on to say that you were not a people, but He has made you a people. You had not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained mercy.

By God's mercy and grace, He has made us one. He has made us the people of God. This does not mean that we agree on every single jot and tittle of the Scriptures. Of course, we have some lively debates about the way we see things and how we interpret them together. However, we have been made one in Christ, and we need to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.

By His mercy, He has made us a people who would probably never associate with one another apart from Christ. I'll never forget when Pastor Eric first started helping me with the youth ministry when I was a junior high pastor here at the church. One day, we were driving around town, picking up stuff for some activity we were going to do, and he told me something that has stuck with me. Eric has a very blunt way of saying things, which I really appreciate. He doesn't sugarcoat anything; it's part of being from the East Coast.

We California natives tend to try to say things in a very nice way, avoiding sharp edges. Eric, however, never does that. He told me, "If it wasn't for Jesus, you and I would never be friends." You kind of wonder how to actually receive that, but what he said was true. It's just really true.

You look around the body of Christ, and there are people that, apart from Christ, you would probably never introduce yourself to. You'd never sit next to them or have any sort of conversation with them. They don't like football; you do. They can't stand the Padres; you do. You can go down the list of all the things that cause you to be different from them, and yet Christ unifies us. In Christ, there is no bond, no free, no male or female. All these distinctions are leveled. There is no Jew or Gentile or Scythian. God unifies us, and it's an awesome thing that He does. It's by His mercy and by His grace.

As we study through the Scriptures on Wednesday nights, we are seeking to discover what it means to be in communion with God and in community with one another. Being in communion with God brings us into community with one another because we would not be a people if it weren't for His mercy. We are looking at passages that deal with how we are to be toward one another now that He has made us a people. When He brings us together, when He saves us, when He redeems us, there are still some sharp edges. We tend to walk in the flesh.

In Galatians chapter 5, verse 17, it says that the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary to one another, so that you cannot do the things that you would. When we come into Christ, He doesn't first clean us up before we come into Him. He sanctifies us after we have been redeemed and begins to clean us, transforming us and changing us more and more into His image. However, when we are initially brought into the body of Christ, there are still some sharp edges. We can upset each other and tick each other off.

For example, you might take someone's seat, and they might say, "Hey, that's where I sit." You could respond, "I didn't see your name on it." They might insist, "I always sit there in the second service." You could reply, "Well, I sit here in the first service, but I had to come to the second today. It's my seat." These tensions are just like those in a family. If you have brothers and sisters, you understand the tension that happens. If you were an only child, you might not grasp this, but if you have siblings, you know the dynamics that can arise.

This tension also happens within the body of Christ. That's why we need to endeavor, by God's Spirit, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He has brought us into fellowship. Jesus has brought us into fellowship with God, and as we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. Community flows from communion with God.

Through commands, God instructs us at the start to love one another. We are to be kind and tender to one another, forgiving one another. It begins as something that God has to tell us: this is what you do. In the same way, we have to tell our kids, "Don't hit your sister." You're supposed to love her, and that love should be evidenced in the way you treat her. You should be tender towards her and take care of her. That's not natural, is it? Parents, you nod; yes, that's not natural. It needs to be instructed.

At the start, when you're immature, it comes through commands: "You do this. Don't do this. Say this. Don't say that." We've been looking at some of these things in the Scriptures, as we did a couple of weeks ago in Ephesians chapter 4. If you have a problem with lying, stop and speak the truth to one another. If you have a problem with being angry, be angry but do not sin. That means be angry for the right reasons and act out in the right way. Be kind and tender to one another.

These commands are imperatives in the Greek. God is telling us to do this. We have one here again in Galatians chapter 5, and it's such an important one. At the end of verse 13, we are told, "By love serve one another." It's imperative; it's telling us that we need to do this.

At the start, the commands of God instruct us on how we are to live. Over time, as we mature in Christ, these things become a joy to do. We begin to think, "God, I want to do this because You are glorified in me doing what You are calling me to do." By love, serve one another. But at the start, we do recognize it's a command.

I think this command is sandwiched between a number of things that are incredibly important. Let's look at the whole of the verse, verse 13 of Galatians chapter 5. He says, "Brethren, you have been called unto liberty." Back up to verse 1 of chapter 5: "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free." The liberty that we have in Christ is awesome. However, it's something that we don't fully recognize. We're not completely cognizant of it when we're first saved. When you first received Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, you may not...

We have been completely aware of what took place in that moment. Theologically, there's a lot that happened when you received Christ Jesus as Lord. You submitted yourself to Him, and He has set you free. The preponderance of Scripture points to this: God has set us free. The more we walk with Him, the more we grasp and recognize what this liberty is all about, what this freedom is all about.

Now, one of the things that sometimes happens in the early stages of our Christian life, when we're still immature or babes in Christ, is that we discover this liberty. Sometimes we have the tendency to overuse the liberty that we have in Christ. That's one danger. We can lay hold of that liberty and say, "Well, Christ has set me free. I can do whatever I want, whenever I please, however I desire." So, I have this liberty; He's set me free.

That's one of the things that can take place, and it's one of the fears that people sometimes have about teaching and sharing the grace of God. When you share what the Scriptures have to say about the grace of God, people may become licentious. They might use that grace and the liberty that God has given them as a license to sin.

On the other side of that, the complete opposite side, the pendulum can swing to another place where you become completely legalistic. He has set me free from sin and death and all that bondage I was in before. Now, I am never going to go that road again, and I am going to set up all these standards and rules. That's kind of what was taking place in Galatia. That's why Paul is writing the letter to the Galatians, saying, "You need to stand fast in the liberty that you have," because now you've moved not from licentiousness, but to the complete other side of the spectrum: legalism.

We were talking about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 a number of months ago on Sunday mornings. We need to find the path of love, the narrow path of love that lies between licentiousness and legalism. You can swing far to the left into a kind of liberal licentiousness, saying, "I have liberty in Christ. I can do whatever I please." Theologically, people have made the case for it, and they can say, "Well, see, this is what the Bible says."

Then you can go all the way to the right and say, "No, we are steadfast, and we are like the Pharisees of Jesus's day. We honor God in every point of the law." So, there are these two extremes: licentiousness and legalism.

And legalism exist in tension with the path of love that God calls us to walk upon. He says that we have been called unto liberty. John chapter 8, verse 34, records Jesus saying, "Truly, truly, or verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin." The word "servant" can be translated as "slave." Therefore, Jesus indicates that whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.

We know that all have sinned; Romans chapter 3 states that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is a blanket statement about all humanity. Everyone is under sin and is a servant, a slave, to sin. From this one verse, we understand that something needs to change; we need to be set free.

The Old Testament frequently uses the illustration of slavery to describe what it is like to be under sin, unredeemed, or unconverted. While it does not always use this imagery, it does so many times because it was something that the people of old could easily grasp. In 21st century America, the term "slavery" or the idea of slavery does not resonate as strongly as it would have in 1st century Rome, where more than 60% of the population were slaves.

However, this does not mean that slavery is completely eradicated today. Many modern-day abolitionist groups are rising to the surface, advocating for the combat against slavery. It is an honorable endeavor to work towards eliminating slavery. Ultimately, though, the only thing that will truly do away with slavery is the second coming of Christ, who is the one who sets the captives free.

Again, the Old Testament uses the illustration of slavery to speak about what it is like to be under sin. In Isaiah chapter 52, verse 3, God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, says, "You, Israel, have sold yourselves for nothing." Here, we see the use of slavery imagery once more.

You sold yourselves into slavery for nothing. Now, how do they do that? If you study through Isaiah chapter 40 and onward in the book of Isaiah, you'll discover that the way they sold themselves into slavery was by their idolatry, by their sin. Through their sin, they had sold themselves for nothing into idolatry.

Isaiah 52, verse 3, and Psalm 107 are passages I refer to quite a bit when teaching the book of Isaiah at the Bible College. In Psalm 107, verse 10, the psalmist says, "To such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and in iron." The Old Testament uses the picture of slavery and the picture of prisoners to describe what it's like to be a sinner—unredeemed and unconverted by God. It is to be a slave or to be in darkness and in the prison house. The psalmist speaks to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and in iron.

Now, notice verse 11 of Psalm 107. It tells us why they are there: because they rebelled against the word of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High. They are there by their own doing. Isaiah 52, verse 3 states, "You sold yourselves into this slavery."

If you read through the book of Judges, you will see a cycle that takes place over and over again in those 21 or so chapters. When the children of Israel had a good leader like Joshua, Caleb, Othniel, Deborah, Gideon, or Samson, they would follow God and be faithful to Him. However, as soon as that leader died, they would turn towards sin and do what was right in their own eyes. They did evil in the sight of the Lord, and God would allow them to go into bondage, to become prisoners of human nations like the Moabites and the Philistines. The cycle continues.

Now they are under hard labor because of their sin, and they would cry out to God. Psalm 107, verse 12 states, "Therefore God brought down their heart with labor, and they fell down; there was none to help." In verse 13, it says, "Then they cried out to the Lord." This is the cycle of Judges and the cycle of humanity: they have a good leader, they follow God until that leader is gone, and then they turn towards sin. When they are under heavy taskmasters in bondage, they finally cry out to God, saying, "God, would you please..."

Intervene? They cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And what does He do? Does He say no? No, He doesn't. He saved them. He redeems them out of their distress. He brings them out of darkness, out of the shadow of death, and He breaks their bonds asunder. I love that. God is a good Father. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, He is good. He is merciful. By no means does He clear the guilty; He will bring justice. God is just, yes, but His default, or the very first thing that He describes His nature with, I believe, is merciful.

In Exodus chapter 34, verse 6, He passes by Moses and says, "The Lord, the Lord God," with the first word being merciful. I love that. Think of all the innumerable attributes of God that He could have chosen at that moment to say, "This is the very first thing I use to describe My character." He could have said, "The Lord, the Lord God, holy." That would be perfectly right. He could have said, "The Lord, the Lord God, just." Again, perfectly right. But I believe it was purposeful that He said, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful."

So here, when His people cry out to Him, He, because of His mercy, is drawn to that cry. He delivers them out of their trouble. He saves them. He redeems them. We see in Isaiah chapter 52 that we are in bondage, in slavery because of our own doing. The same thing is echoed in Psalm 107, verse 10, and Proverbs 5, verse 22. There, Solomon speaks of the wicked, saying that his own iniquities entrap the wicked man. His own iniquities entrap him; he is ensnared because of his own doing.

God didn't set it up. God didn't make it happen. No man is able to say when he is tempted, "I am tempted of God," as James states. It is by his own doing. The children of Israel said to God in Isaiah chapter 49, about verse 1, "You have sold us into slavery and you have divorced us." And God responds, "Show me the certificate of your divorce, your mother's divorce. This is your own doing. It has brought you into this. I didn't force you into this." His own iniquities have entrapped him; he is caught in the cords of sin.

How many of you remember being caught in the cords of sin? It's dreadful. You can't get yourself out.

Jeremiah chapter 2 provides an incredible definition of evil. In verse 13, God says, "For my people have committed two evils." The first evil is that they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters. This statement sums up evil right there: rejecting God. The second evil is that they have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns, cisterns that can hold no water. Not only have they said, "God, we don't want You," but they are also trying to find pleasure, satisfaction, and joy in something else.

These two evils—rejecting God and turning to other things for fulfillment—are significant. The question is asked in verse 14: "Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? Is he plundered?" Why are all these things happening to him? Why is he going into bondage and slavery? Why is he plundered by his enemies? The answer is that he has committed evil. It is his own doing that has brought him into this lost condition.

This is an important concept to grasp from a theological perspective. Man is born sinful, not because God made him sinful, but because man always defaults toward sin. He is in the position he is in because of his own actions. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all men because all have sinned. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are all in bondage because of our own doing.

It is a terrible condition, isn't it? The Old Testament paints a very bleak picture, and it is important to establish this when sharing with people who do not know the Lord. The darkness that exists because of our sin is significant. However, the Old Testament also prophesies the coming of the Redeemer. The Messiah is revealed by the prophets as the one who will come into that darkness, the great light that shines forth.

Isaiah chapter 9 tells us that the people who sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, will see this great light. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given," we are told in Isaiah 9:6. But it starts with that darkness.

All the face of the earth, and then this great light shines. We see the magnificent Redeemer prophesied throughout the whole of the Old Testament. Here, He is going to break forth and shine into that darkness.

Isaiah chapter 52, verse 3 states, "For thus says the Lord: You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money." You are going to be redeemed out of that slavery, but it is not going to be with money. As Peter says, it will not be with silver and gold, the corruptible things, but with the precious blood as of a lamb without spot or blemish. So, you will be redeemed without money.

Not only does Isaiah chapter 52, verse 3 speak of this, but again, Isaiah chapter 61 addresses the Messiah. This is the passage that Jesus quotes in Luke chapter 4 when He is at the synagogue in Nazareth. The scroll of Isaiah is given to Him, and He reads, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me." He is the Mashiach, the Messiah, anointed to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.

What does He say next? He proclaims liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those that are bound. The ministry of the Messiah, especially in His first coming, is to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those that are bound. He proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord, and we are still in that time. We are still in that acceptable year of the Lord, where man, who is in darkness and slavery because of sin and his own doing, finds that Christ, the magnificent Messiah, comes to bring light to those in darkness.

He proclaims liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those that are bound. We saw this previously in Psalm 107 as well. God is the only one who can redeem and release man from that bondage. Isaiah 42, verse 7, speaking of the ministry of the Messiah, says that He is going to come to open blind eyes and to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house. He is redeeming them, bringing them out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Isaiah 49:9 follows, right after the children of Israel accused God of divorcing them.

Isaiah 49:9 speaks of the Messiah, saying, "That you may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,' and to them that are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' They shall feed in the ways, and their pastors shall be in high places." Christ has set us free. He is the one spoken of in the Old Testament, addressing the dark situation of slavery to sin and death, the bondage of sin, and the prison house of wickedness. This is all laid out in the Old Testament, but there is a messianic, prophetic announcement that the Redeemer is going to come and take us out of that.

Then we have the manifestation of it, with Him coming on the scene in the New Testament. He who is in the wings—if you imagine a stage, like when we go to the Center for the Arts—there you have this stage, and you see the worship team up there, but you don't see myself or the other pastors off in the wings. We are still there; we still exist. It's not like we are just automatically created the second you walk out on the stage. It's always there.

So, there's the stage of humanity. It's dark; man is in the prison house, a slave to sin. Christ has always been waiting in the wings, and then He comes—the advent of the Messiah, the Incarnation. The Redeemer comes on the scene. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." He sets us free. We are to stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. We don't want to go back into being shackled and chained in bondage as slaves to sin. We are called to liberty, as stated in Galatians 5:13.

If we have liberty, how are we to use it? We live in a culture today, here in America, in the 21st century, that has redefined the concept of liberty. Our nation is all about liberty, right? The land of the free. This is where people want to come to have freedom, to have liberty. In our founding documents, we talk about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Happiness has become the focal point of liberty. You have the freedom in America to do whatever you want.

Can we make ourselves happy? That's what it has apparently come to in our nation today, right? You're really expressing your freedom when it makes you happy, and nobody should stand in the way of you expressing your freedom because it makes you happy. That's the whole point of it: you be happy.

This mindset has crept into the church. Now we have churches where the whole existence of the ministers of the gospel is to make sure you're happy. As long as you're happy, you're expressing your liberty, and everything's good. Is that what God intended when He says, "I've set you at liberty, and you're to stand fast in the liberty where God has made us free"?

We have tainted this glorious gospel with a redefinition of the concept of liberty. Liberty has come to mean that I can do whatever I please, whenever I want, however I desire, as long as the end is my happiness. I don't care about your happiness; you find your own way. You have the liberty to do that. You leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. You find your happiness, and I'll find my happiness. But if your happiness steps on my happiness, well, I need to default to my happiness. So you need to just get out of the way. It's all about me.

That's our culture today, isn't it? We build this mindset from the youngest ages, breathing on those little coals of the sinful, carnal nature. It's all about me, me, me, me, me. We tell children they need to make that their prime emphasis until we realize, when they've gotten older, that living for me, me, me means stepping on everybody else. Now we have to legislate that you can't do that.

You might ask, "Why not? It's my happiness. You told me I can have whatever I want, whenever I want it, however I want it. Why are you now telling me I can't do that?" We are going to see more and more in our day the changing of the laws to make it so people can be happy. That's not at all what is meant by this whole idea, this concept of liberty, as Christ has made us free.

Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 5, because I think there's a perfect illustration of this in the healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. The infirmities that we see...

In the New Testament, there are illustrations and pictures that depict real infirmities and the experiences of people. Oftentimes, these are allegorical representations of sin. In John chapter 5, we find the story of a man who had been lame for longer than Jesus had been alive—38 years. At this point in his life, he had been at the pool of Bethesda, just north of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, for a long time.

There was a fable that at the pool of Bethesda, from time to time, an angel would come down from God and stir up the water. Whenever the water was stirred, the first person to enter the pool would be healed. This led to a mad dash of sick people trying to get into the pool. It is a sorrowful situation, but there is also a sense of dark comedy to it. You look at it and think, man, you could make a little Saturday Night Live skit out of this, and it would be incredibly terrible.

In John chapter 5, after this, there was a feast of the Jews. Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, there was in Jerusalem, by the sheep market, a pool called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, which had five porches. In these porches lay a great multitude of sick folk—impotent folk, blind, lame, and withered—waiting for the moving of the water. They were intently watching the pool. An angel would go down at a certain season into the pool and trouble the water, and whoever was first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatever disease he had.

Was it true? Did it really happen? Apparently, there were some healings that took place there; otherwise, why would there be all these sick people? They were all waiting for the moving of the water. Now, a certain man was there who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been in that situation for a long time, He said to him, "Do you desire to be made whole?"

In reality, this is almost the most insensitive question you could ask this person. Why do you think I’m sitting here with all these sick people? I have this leper leaning upon me, his fingers...

Just fell off. You think I like being here? You think I enjoy the smell of this whole situation? You're asking me, do I want to be made whole? Of course I want to be made whole. That would be my reaction, my sinful reaction to the question of Jesus. But then again, I haven't experienced the suffering of thirty-eight years of lameness.

Here’s this guy just desiring to be made whole, of course. The sick man, the lame man, doesn’t answer, "Who do you think you are asking me a question like that?" I have a feeling, as I've read through this passage and studied it, that Jesus came up behind him and that this man didn't even engage Jesus face-to-face. This man is watching the water because later on in the passage, he doesn’t know who healed him. He can’t identify his healer. So, he never even took his eyes off the water to look at the Son of God who’s standing there with him.

This man who asks him, "Will you desire to be made whole?" The impotent man answered, "Sir, I have no one." It’s a sad situation. "I have no man that when the water is troubled, to put me in the pool. No one will help me. But while I'm coming, another man steps down before me." Notice that he doesn’t ask Jesus, "Why don’t you help me instead of asking me absurd questions? Why don’t you help me down into the water?" He just says, "This is my pitiful condition."

Jesus answered and said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." Immediately, the man was made whole. He’s whole. Complete. He took up his bed and he walked. The same day was the Sabbath. Now we have a problem because the Sabbath police are going to show up. The Jews therefore said to him that was cured, "It’s the Sabbath day. It’s not lawful for you to carry your bed."

He answered and said, "He that made me whole, the same said, 'Take up your bed and walk.'" The guy healed me. I’m going to obey him. He said, "Take up my bed and walk." Well, then they asked him, "What man is this that said unto you, 'Take up your bed and walk?'" He that was healed said, "I don’t know who it was."

So again, I don’t think he even looked at Jesus. For Jesus had conveyed himself away, the multitude being in that place. He just kind of healed him and stepped away. The guy had no idea.

But notice this, verse 14, this is the important part. Afterward, Jesus found him where? In the temple, in the right place. This lame man, because of his infirmity, had never been able to go to the temple all those thirty-eight years. He was close, the pool of Bethesda.

He was right next to the temple. He could hear the bleating of the sheep in the sheep market and what was going on there at the temple, but he could never go in. Now, he was in the temple—the perfect place to be after being set free. Jesus found him in the temple and said unto him, "Behold, you are made whole." Jesus confirmed to him, "You're made whole. This isn't temporary. This is it. You're healed. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."

The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole. I love that word. Now, why do I use this passage as an illustration of liberty? This man was lame for thirty-eight years, meaning he was in bondage to his infirmity. He could not actively go out and practice sin. This doesn't mean that he was sinless, because our sin can be in our minds and in our hearts. We do a lot of sinning that never actively works itself out into the practicality of life, don't we? A lot of anger, a lot of lust, a lot of envy, and covetousness all happen in the heart. It is still sin before God. Matthew chapter five, in the Sermon on the Mount, makes that very, very clear.

This man was hindered, though, from exercising himself towards sin or using his liberty as a license to go and sin. But Jesus just set him free. Now that this man is set free, he has a choice. He can use that freedom to go and find himself a prostitute, a harlot there in Jerusalem if he wants to. He can use that liberty to go and find a place where he can drink with the drunkards and be given over to that kind of carnality. He can do that; he was never able to do that before.

Where did Jesus find him? In the temple—the right place. He was using his liberty, at least initially, in the right way. Jesus encourages him and says, "Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." What worse thing? Thirty-eight years he had been infirmed; he had been lame. The worst thing would be eternity in hellfire. He had an opportunity to use his liberty for whatever he wanted. Jesus says, "Use your liberty in a right way."

And we have a choice, too. We've been set free by Christ. We were in bondage to sin and death, but now we are set free. He says, "I want you to use your liberty in the right way."

The right way to use our liberty? Well, come back to Galatians chapter 5. I know we've taken a long way around the block here. In Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, it says, "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Don't be entangled again into bondage, a worse bondage." I want you to stand fast.

In verse 13, it continues, "For brethren, we've been called unto liberty." God has called you forth out of darkness and into His marvelous light. He has set you free from the prison house. You are no longer a slave to sin and death. You have liberty—real, actual liberty. However, don't use your liberty as an occasion for sin. Go and sin no more. Don't use it as an occasion for the flesh.

Now that you have liberty, God says, "This is what I want you to do: By love, make yourself a slave of one another." Wait, what? This, to me, is a great paradox. I have set you free from slavery, doulos in the Greek. I have made you no longer a slave, doulos in the Greek. And now I'm calling for you to make yourself a doulos, a slave, and doulo, to become a servant and serve one another.

This is a complete paradox. The mindset of a slave set free would be, "I never want to enter into any sort of servitude again. I'm my own man. I'm the captain of my own ship. My liberty's all about me. I'm independent." No. God says, "I have redeemed you. I've given you a relationship with Me, fellowship with God, and now I've called you to be in community with one another."

Through communion with God, we enter into community with one another. There, I want you to make yourself a servant, a bond servant, a slave, out of love for one another. That's an awesome thing. This is a phenomenal thing that God has called us to: to serve one another. I want you now to make yourselves slaves willingly. The word doulos can be translated as servant or slave. It's often translated in the New Testament as bond servant. A bond servant is someone who willingly makes themselves a servant. Jesus, or Paul, says, "I'm a bond servant of Christ." And so, we are called by Christ, now being set free, to make ourselves...

Servants, number one: servants of righteousness. We were once servants of sin, but now we make ourselves servants of righteousness. Romans chapter six, verse 18 supports this: "Having been set free from sin, you became slaves, doulos, of righteousness." We are to be servants of God. It's interesting that this might be the most used term that the apostles referred to themselves as after their conversion.

In Romans chapter six, verse 22, it states, "But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life." You become slaves to God. In Romans chapter one, verse one, Paul introduces himself: "Paul, a servant, doulos, bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle."

In Philippians chapter one, Paul and Timothy are described as "servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi." Colossians chapter four, verse 12 mentions Epaphras, who is one of you and is a servant of Christ.

So, we are servants of righteousness and servants of God. In Titus chapter one, verse one, Paul identifies himself again: "Paul, a servant of God." Not just Paul, but also James. In James one, verse one, it states, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."

This theme continues with Peter. In Second Peter one, verse one, Simon Peter introduces himself as "a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ." Paul, Peter, Timothy, Epaphras, and Jude all share this identity. In Jude one, verse one, Jude is described as "the servant of Jesus Christ, doulos."

Peter gives us an exhortation in First Peter chapter two, verse 16: "As free, you and I are free, not using your liberty as a cloak for maliciousness, but as the servants of God." We are set free to willingly become slaves of God.

So, we are slaves of righteousness and slaves of God. We are also called to be servants of obedience. Romans six, verse 16 asks, "Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants are you to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or servants of obedience unto righteousness?" We are set free from slavery to willingly make ourselves servants of obedience.

A servant, a slave, a bondservant of righteousness of God, of obedience. In Galatians 5, verse 13, we are reminded to "by love, serve one another." Another supporting verse is 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5: "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants for Christ's sake." We are serving you for His sake.

This service is to be willing. I am making myself a bondservant of Christ. I am making a decision to do this, even though in my flesh I may not want to. I am making myself a servant of Christ by serving His people. It is righteous and obedient to Him. Even though my flesh may not want to, I am going to die to my flesh to do this. Early on in our lives as Christians, this can be challenging. However, as time goes on, it becomes a joy to do this.

We ought to do this. Why? In Galatians 5, verse 14, right after Paul tells us to "by love, serve one another," he says, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself." There we come back to it—loving God and loving others. This is the call that we have been given: "By love, serve one another."

Now, we can choose. Remember, we have been set at liberty, just like the lame man at Bethesda. We can choose to find ourselves in the temple with God, serving the Lord and serving one another, or we can heed Galatians 5, verse 15: "But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another."

So we have a choice: by love, serve one another, or be just natural, sinful, fleshly individuals, biting and devouring one another because it's all about me. It's a choice. This I say then, he sums it up in verse 16: "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

What does this tell us? The flesh desires to bite and devour one another because it's all about me—my flesh, my preservation. The Spirit, however, is sacrificial. I am going to love one another, even when I don't feel like it.

I'm going to serve another. There's an amazing transaction that takes place when I confess to God, "God, I don't want to do this right now. I don't want to serve this individual, but you've called me to do it. Out of love, agape, which is sacrificial, I'm going to endeavor to do this, Lord, to your glory. I'm making this sacrifice to your glory." If you go in that heart, I guarantee there's a transaction that takes place. There's a change. You find that in going to do that sacrificially as unto Christ, your joy is exalted in that.

Remember what Paul says, remembering what Jesus said: it is more blessed to give than to receive. There's a blessing in giving of yourself. There's more of a blessing in that than receiving something for yourself. Go and serve, remembering it's more blessed to give than to receive. God has called us to this—to serve one another. Sometimes we have to do it sacrificially; sometimes we go joyfully, saying, "Lord, I cannot wait to do this."

I'm sad to confess that's not the default, is it? It's not. But as God transforms us by His Spirit, this is what He is calling us to. We are to love one another, we are to forgive one another, we are to serve one another, being now the servants of Christ, the servants of righteousness, the servants of obedience. Amen?

I haven't left as much time to come before the Lord in response of worship and song, but James, would you come up and close the service with a couple of songs? During this time, we want to direct our attention to God, the God who has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light, who has called us out of slavery to now willingly serve Him and serve one another.

Let's pray. Father, would you work this out in my life? I know my flesh is so strong at times that I just don't want to do what is pleasing to You—by serving my family, by serving the body of Christ, by serving those that are outside the body of Christ. Lord, You know the depravity...

Wickedness of my heart. I ask, Lord, that you would give me your grace and your mercy to be able to be gracious and merciful to others.

Lord, I confess that I don't always, in my flesh, desire to serve others. Would you work that in me? Work it out in my brothers and sisters here.

Lord, we have been redeemed by your righteous hand. We've been brought into fellowship with God the Father, and through the communion we have with you, you've brought us into community with one another. Teach us to endeavor to keep that unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.