Overview
Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “Freedom Through Grace” through Galatians 5, Ephesians 2, Romans 6, Galatians 4, showing how christ, grace, freedom shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding Freedom Through Grace
Please turn to Galatians chapter 5. Freedom through grace. One aspect of grace we see in the lives of the early Christians is freedom in Christ, and they consider themselves as released from the bondage of this world. Freedom through grace is our liberty to be ourselves in Christ.
We’ve been released from an earthly identity and therefore not subject to worldly judgments and performance-driven values. Thank God. Yet this freedom through grace can be lost if we listen to the wrong people.
People can go right back to where they started, works, and this is what happened to the Galatian Church. Galatians chapter 5 verse 1. Stand fast or stand firm therefore in the liberty or the freedom where with Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. To be entangled again because they were prior to they got delivered and they went back into the yoke of bondage.
And the yoke of bondage here is the legal standards that require one’s own work to be right with God. We’re to stand firm. Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law you are fallen from grace.
Here in these four verses you see the two options. Stand fast, stand firm in the liberty through Christ or fall down, fall from the grace. There’s the two options.
And what gets us there is being a tangled again in the yoke of bondage through legalistic standards. What’s interesting about bondage is it’s very subtle and it can overtake us. Like a frog put in water and if you turn up the heat slowly the frog will not get out.
It’ll get comfortable comfortable and all of a sudden the hot water will do the damage to that frog. But if you try putting a frog in boiling water it immediately jumps out. Sometimes bondage creeps up on us.
The Biblical Foundation
That’s why it’s so important for us to be vigilant. Here Paul mentioned circumcision and circumcision represents entering into an agreement with God of which living the law was how Israel demonstrated their part of the agreement. God gave them the promise land, he gave them prosperity and protection and Israel was to keep the law.
Now today the Mosaic law does not apply but it certainly still is the Holy of Holies when it comes to legal standards. Today people come up with their own legal standards. They’ve cobbled together from what they’ve heard, read, seen, or made up in their own mind.
Whatever people come up with in order to be accepted of God when grace has already made us accepted that’s that yoke of bondage. And the impact here is very significant because Christ shall profit you nothing. That means there’s no gain for you practically.
There’s no benefit for you on a day-by-day basis to have the accomplished work of Christ. In addition Christ has become of no effect and this means to be separated from Christ. All of this is negative.
All of this means to fall from that grace when we can stand firm in the freedom. Look at verse 7. Paul writes, ye did run well. Who did hinder you? It was people.
They listened to the wrong people. They were influenced by the wrong people. And the word hinder means to drive back.
Who drove you back? That you should not obey the truth. The Galatians were Christian believers, but for some reason they got to see. This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
God did not plant that in the garden of your soul. Legal standards in order to be accepted of him. A little leaven, leaven at the whole lung.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
Of course that’s referring to the thin strip of dough that’s put into a loaf that permeates the entire loaf. A little bit of legalism starts to move and starts to permeate and saturate. That’s why it’s so important to stand firm in the freedom we have in Christ Jesus.
Now this can happen to just about anybody. In the same book, look at chapter 2 please. The Apostle Peter got caught up in this in chapter 2 of the book of Galatians.
Paul writes in verse 11, but when Peter was come to Antioch, I was stood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, that’s the Lord’s half-brother who was a pillar in the church in Jerusalem, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they were come he withdrew and separated himself fearing them which were of the circumcision. These are legalistic Christians, Judean legalistic Christians come from Jerusalem that influenced Peter and the other Jews dissembled likewise with him in so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
The word dissemble means to play the hypocrite and the word dissimulation means hypocrisy. See you lose your identity when you get entangled again with the yoke of bondage. You forget your heavenly identity and you revert back to an earthly identity and it causes fear, but when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if thou being a Jew livest after the manner of Gentiles and not as do Jews, why compel us the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Great question, great question.
See true freedom in Christ allows you to be who you are in Christ Jesus with a spiritual identity. When we fall from the grace, when we are entangled with the yoke of bondage, we start moving into categories of hypocrisy. That means you got to see what group you’re with to see how you’re going to act.
That’s not good. It’s not good for you first and foremost. Christians shouldn’t be chameleons and adapt to their surroundings.
They should be who they are in Christ. That’s right. Back to Galatians 5. See, Christ will profit you nothing.
You get no gain out of it in your day-by-day living because we’re separated from Christ because when we’re entangled with the yoke of bondage, we start to look for ways to be accepted before God and also that means to be accepted among people when God’s already made you accepted. Look at chapter 5 verse 13. For brethren, you’ve been called unto liberty, freedom, only use not liberty, freedom, for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Faith in Action
Wow. There’s another side to this freedom in Christ, by the way, because people misunderstand grace at times and think that they can do and say whatever they want. Our words are to be seasoned with salt and minister grace to the hearers.
When freedom in Christ is truly our guiding light, we don’t just say whatever we want or do whatever we want. We don’t return back to the flesh. Right.
Sometimes what happens is people become religious about not being religious. That’s not freedom in Christ either. Or they think that freedom means they can speak whatever comes into their mind without any wisdom, tact, or love.
Yet what ends up happening, they’re right back where they started. Another religious system where it’s all about them again. That’s a clue because it should be about the work of Christ.
When our works begin to define us and we call it freedom, we better take another look. What should define us is the work of Christ. Now, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t call us unto good works.
Ephesians 2.10 tells us, yes, but good works are what you do with God, what we do with the grace of God. Works are what you and I do on our own, and they will never justify us. They will never make us right before God.
So freedom in Christ isn’t just, I can do whatever I want. That’s not really freedom because there are times the mature Christian will not do something even though they are free to do it because it could be a stumbling block for another brother or sister. So they don’t do it.
Walking in Love and Confidence
At times, many Christians that have been indoctrinated in religious systems, they perceive God as being restrictive, kind of like Eve did, the first woman. The one thing God asked men not to do, experience evil, they did. Yet they were freely given all access to the entire garden, all the wonderful things that God gave to them.
The adversary had them focus in on this one thing, and Eve was deceived into thinking it was a pathway to being free like God Himself. That was not good thinking. Look at Romans chapter 6 please.
What grace means to us is not the absence of the law. Like there’s no law, that’s grace. No, it’s the presence of the work of Christ that fulfilled the law.
That’s a better understanding. Today, some see freedom in Christ as they don’t need to listen to anybody or they can just do their own thing. In a sense, they see freedom in Christ as independence from submitting to anything in anyone.
When freedom in Christ is better understood as an interdependence in the Christian family in the body of Christ. We need each other. We need each other to help, to draw us away from a self-centered life.
The world and its bondage will gravitate and herd people into a self-centered life. Everything’s about you. The whole world revolves around you.
That’s being entangled again with the yoga bondage, and then what ends up happening is Christians do works in their mind in order to fulfill this standard or these standards. When God has already done it through Christ Jesus. Look at Romans chapter six, please.
Verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under the law but under grace.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
Absolutely. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Just because we’re not under the law doesn’t mean we have a license to sin, to go back to the flesh.
No, know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. Those are the two options. It’s just like Galatians five.
We stand firm in the freedom we have in Christ Jesus or we fall from the grace. Those were the two options. But God be thanked that you were the servants of sin but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
That’s the good news of the grace of God through Christ Jesus. Being then made free from sin, he became the servants of righteousness. We obey grace or we’re tricked into obeying legal standards.
That’s why it’s so important to continue to fellowship one with another, to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together because we sharpen one another to love and good works. We can help each other in this walk together in newness of life. Can a Christian fall from grace? Galatians five says so.
It doesn’t mean that the grace of God leaves. The grace of God is still there. The person is not accessing that grace because they’re entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
We spoke about last time our living salvation on a day-by-day basis and we asked some questions and some of these questions still apply. Who do you listen to in your heart? Who do you listen to? And especially regarding your identity, the Galatians were listening to the wrong people. In fact, Paul notes in chapter 3 verse 1 that they were bewitched.
Someone had bewitched them that they would not obey the truth. How did Paul know? Because they were in bondage. They were not free in Christ, free to love God, free to love themselves and love people, free to do the will of God without any fear.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
Another question we asked, who do you spend time with? Well, what happened to Peter and Barnabas? They fell into hypocrisy because Peter withdrew. He rejected the Gentile Christians because he was intimidated by the Judean Christians that were legalists. That’s the Apostle Peter.
That’s quite a record. What do we think of our brethren, our brothers and sisters in Christ? Well, what happens when someone falls into that yoke of bondage? It says in Galatians 4 16 that they considered Paul who had taught them the truth their enemy. That’s where it went.
Standing firm in your freedom in Christ is what God is encouraging us to do. When Christians allow themselves to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage, some form of legal standards that they’re required to fulfill in their own works, to be right with God, they fall from that grace. They’re not accessing that grace that’s right there for them.
God’s heart is that we stand firm, not fall down, stand firm in the liberty we have in Christ Jesus. Paul said to the followers of Corinth, he followers of me as I am of Christ, 1 Corinthians 11 1. I’ll tell you good people to follow, people that are free in Christ. And again, that does not mean people who do whatever they want, say whatever they want.
They don’t obey anybody. They don’t submit to anybody. That is not freedom.
Freedom in Christ is just not to be entangled with the yoke of bondage. And then Christ has an impact and a gain in your life and mind. So freedom through grace is our liberty to be ourselves.
Peter and Barnabas momentarily, they lost their identity, who they actually were as sons of God. They were so intimidated that they forgot who they were. Well, we don’t want to walk that way.
We want to be released from an earthly identity that’s based on works because we don’t want to be subject to worldly judgments and performance driven values. God’s heart for the grace that he’s given to us to make a practical connection in our life is that we walk as free men and women, sons of God in Christ Jesus.
Key Takeaways
- There’s another side to this freedom in Christ, by the way, because people misunderstand grace at times and think that they can do and say whatever they want.
- We stand firm in the freedom we have in Christ Jesus or we fall from the grace.
- One aspect of grace we see in the lives of the early Christians is freedom in Christ, and they consider themselves as released from the bondage of this world.
- Stand fast or stand firm therefore in the liberty or the freedom where with Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
- All of this means to fall from that grace when we can stand firm in the freedom.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “Freedom Through Grace”?
Rev. Rico Magnelli examines “Freedom Through Grace” through Galatians 5, Ephesians 2, Romans 6, Galatians 4, showing how christ, grace, freedom shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from Galatians 5, Ephesians 2, Romans 6, Galatians 4, 1 Corinthians 11.
How can believers apply this teaching?
All of this means to fall from that grace when we can stand firm in the freedom.
Scripture References
Galatians 5; Ephesians 2; Romans 6; Galatians 4; 1 Corinthians 11
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
