This sermon is the first in a three part series entitled Free At Last. I preached this sermon at the June 22 service at First Baptist Church.
Text: Galatians 5:1
Introduction:
The lost condition is quite literally being in bondage, being in prison. Romans 6:20-23 states 20: For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21: What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22: But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If you have not been born again then you are a slave today. If you want freedom then that freedom will only come through Christ. Christian you have been set free. You are free from the dominion, the guilt, the condemnation and the power of sin. You are free from the captivity of Satan. but there is a warning here in Galatians 5:1, the warning is not to be entangled again in the yoke of bondage.
Freedom is a place, and we are instructed in this verse to stand firm in that place. We are not to be moved, we are not to allow ourselves to be yoked once again.
I. A Place Free From the Law
the law is a good thing, the scripture tells us that (Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.) But the problem is that the law can‘t save! The problem is that the law is a harsh taskmaster and we can never please it. We can never do it perfectly and are guaranteed to fall short. When we are enslaved to the law we are characterized by legalism. - legalism -those who rely on the law to gain them a right standing before God. The problem is that we can’t do it.
J Stowell said this In contrast to the two commands of Christ, the Pharisees had developed a system of 613 laws, 365 negative commands and 248 positive laws...By the time Christ came it had produced a heartless, cold, and arrogant brand of righteousness. As such, it contained at least ten tragic flaws. (1) New laws continually need to be invented for new situations. (2) Accountability to God is replaced by accountability to men. (3) It reduces a person's ability to personally discern. (4) It creates a judgmental spirit. (5) The Pharisees confused personal preferences with divine law. (6) It produces inconsistencies. (7) It created a false standard of righteousness. (8) It became a burden to the Jews. (9) It was strictly external. (10) It was rejected by Christ.
Romans 8:2 2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 7:6 6: But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
I see it so often in people who drop out of church because they couldn’t make their religion stick! That is the problem, they had a relationship with a religion, and a religion is a demanding task master of legalism. They didn’t have a relationship with a person, Jesus Christ.
Slavery to master law keeps you from experiencing joy, peace, love and hope from our lives.
- you will grow to resent master law and see the law as a burden, the problem is that you don’t recognize it as master law but your resentment is against Christ the one who wants to free you, not burden you
Matthew 11:28-30 28: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. -Christ has freed you and I from legalism, (Galatians 3:13 13: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law) from the master law. With such freedom, and with the impossibility of ever pleasing the law why be enslaved to it? Galatians 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
II. A Place Free From Sin
Romans 6
12: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13: Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15: What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17: But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18: Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19: I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20: For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
2 Peter 2:19-22 19: While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20: For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21: For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22: But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Slave master sin brings destruction, pain and despair, why be entangled with it once again?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
The Troubled Heart
This is the last sermon in a series entitled Guard Your Heart. I preached this sermon June 8, 2008.
Introduction: There are times that I am troubled, times that I am anxious. We all face uncertainties, we often fear or worry about the unknown. Times that we feel life is spiraling out of control. These are all symptoms of the troubled heart.
Jesus is talking to his disciples just hours before his crucifixion. Their hearts are troubled. The future looks murky, they feel like circumstances are spiraling out of control. They can no longer see clearly ahead. Jesus speaks to their troubled heart to give them some assurance and peace.
Today, you may have a troubled heart. The words that Jesus spoke to his disciples are just as important to you as they were to them. Lets look at three D words that are the source of the troubled heart and see what Jesus’ answer for the troubled heart is.
I. Direction
A troubled heart has lost sense of direction. The future is foggy, we can’t see our way ahead and we don’t know the next step to take. This is exactly where the diciples stood. They had no idea what tomorrow holds.
Jesus is going from his disciples
Jesus entered Jerusalem days before to the cheering crowds. The disciples believed Jesus to be the messiah, the promised king and deliverer of the Jews. They were expecting him to enter Jerusalem to establish his Kingdom and yet Jesus is now saying “I am leaving.” Their hearts are troubled. He had been telling them in the last chapter about betrayal, about denial. About walking a road he would have to walk alone. (13:36-38). They were troubled.
Thomas has a problem - we don’t know the way!
Jesus has the answer for the troubled heart that lacks direction, Jesus is the way.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Matthew 6:34 - Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof
II. Doubt
A troubled heart has doubts about Jesus, about salvation, etc.
Disciples Thomas and Philip are having doubts - He needed something to give him assurance. He needed proof.
Jesus is the revelation of the Father
Jesus has the answer for the troubled, doubting heart. Jesus is the truth!
III. Death
The heart is troubled about what happens when we die!
The place that Jesus prepares
1 Peter 1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4: To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, -to live is Christ to die is gain, to depart and be with the Lord is far better. The absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, to the thief he said this day you will be with me in paradise.
The Holy Spirit is the down payment
Ephesians 1:13-14 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14: Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
A taste of heaven on this earth
Introduction: There are times that I am troubled, times that I am anxious. We all face uncertainties, we often fear or worry about the unknown. Times that we feel life is spiraling out of control. These are all symptoms of the troubled heart.
Jesus is talking to his disciples just hours before his crucifixion. Their hearts are troubled. The future looks murky, they feel like circumstances are spiraling out of control. They can no longer see clearly ahead. Jesus speaks to their troubled heart to give them some assurance and peace.
Today, you may have a troubled heart. The words that Jesus spoke to his disciples are just as important to you as they were to them. Lets look at three D words that are the source of the troubled heart and see what Jesus’ answer for the troubled heart is.
I. Direction
A troubled heart has lost sense of direction. The future is foggy, we can’t see our way ahead and we don’t know the next step to take. This is exactly where the diciples stood. They had no idea what tomorrow holds.
Jesus is going from his disciples
Jesus entered Jerusalem days before to the cheering crowds. The disciples believed Jesus to be the messiah, the promised king and deliverer of the Jews. They were expecting him to enter Jerusalem to establish his Kingdom and yet Jesus is now saying “I am leaving.” Their hearts are troubled. He had been telling them in the last chapter about betrayal, about denial. About walking a road he would have to walk alone. (13:36-38). They were troubled.
Thomas has a problem - we don’t know the way!
Jesus has the answer for the troubled heart that lacks direction, Jesus is the way.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Matthew 6:34 - Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof
II. Doubt
A troubled heart has doubts about Jesus, about salvation, etc.
Disciples Thomas and Philip are having doubts - He needed something to give him assurance. He needed proof.
Jesus is the revelation of the Father
Jesus has the answer for the troubled, doubting heart. Jesus is the truth!
III. Death
The heart is troubled about what happens when we die!
The place that Jesus prepares
1 Peter 1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4: To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, -to live is Christ to die is gain, to depart and be with the Lord is far better. The absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, to the thief he said this day you will be with me in paradise.
The Holy Spirit is the down payment
Ephesians 1:13-14 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14: Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
A taste of heaven on this earth
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Broken Heart
This is the fourth sermon in a series entitled Guard Your Heart. I preached this sermon June 1, 2008.
Introduction:Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put poor Humpty together again.
We are all Humpty Dumptys sitting on the wall today. There are some today that have fallen from the wall and are broken, there are others, your day is coming. None of us are immune from broken hearts. The little poem reminds us that the king’s servants couldn’t put poor humpty back together. Only the King could do that.
The times in our lives when we suffer broken hearts. A broken heart results from fractured relationships. It will take more than the kings horses and the kings men to put the heart back together, it will take the King himself must heal the broken heart. Luke 4:18 Jesus read a prophecy from Isaiah concerning himself and said this “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” If you are suffering from a broken heart, this message is for you. For everyone else, listen carefully, you may be comfy cozy on the wall, but you may potentially suffer a broken heart in the near future. This message is for you as well. What does the King say about broken hearts?
David wrote this Psalm when he was suffering from a broken heart. David was the king of Israel, but he turned to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to heal his broken heart. In this psalm you can fell the hurt from his broken heart as he brought the pieces of the broken heart to the king. And we see two causes for the broken heart. And we will learn how the king put the pieces back together and mend the broken heart. We will see how the King put humpty together again.
I. The Wandering Heart
David began this psalm with obvious pain with his pleading to God for deliverance. He likened it to sinking in deep water, literally about to drown. He was drowning in the depths of despair. The deep mire (the mucky mire in the bottom of a lake).
Psalm 42:6-7 6: O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. 7: Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
He had prayed to God so much and so earnestly that he was exhausted. His eyes failed, he couldn’t see clearly what would happen next. The future was blurry.
There was no reason that these people he is referring to should be his enemies. As we will see later they walked together in harmony, but now his very dear friends have turned on him. Why? Why is his heart broken and the relationship severed? David himself is the problem! He had sinned, an unamed sin, and made enemies! -David confesses his sin, he admits his guilt.
David’s concern that his sin would cause others to follow his course and stumble
Is your heart broken over sin? the cure for the wandering heart is forgiveness
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
II. The Wounded Heart
Who has wounded his heart? Who breaks our hearts? It is those closest to our hearts! - it was as if he was a stranger. Psalm 55:12-14 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: 13: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. 14: We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
David’s prayer for deliverance, for the king to put the pieces of the broken heart back together. David recognizes he does not have the power to change others, but he does know the power that can change him.
There was none to bring comfort, all the kings horses and all the kings men could not put humpty dumpty together again, only the King, onlyGod can.
Forgiveness is the cure for the wounded heart as well, but we must exercise forgiveness just as we have been forgiven. Do we harbor a grudge, resentment, those things will never heal the wounded, broken heart, rather, those things will cause the wound to fester, for the break to remain.
Introduction:Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put poor Humpty together again.
We are all Humpty Dumptys sitting on the wall today. There are some today that have fallen from the wall and are broken, there are others, your day is coming. None of us are immune from broken hearts. The little poem reminds us that the king’s servants couldn’t put poor humpty back together. Only the King could do that.
The times in our lives when we suffer broken hearts. A broken heart results from fractured relationships. It will take more than the kings horses and the kings men to put the heart back together, it will take the King himself must heal the broken heart. Luke 4:18 Jesus read a prophecy from Isaiah concerning himself and said this “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” If you are suffering from a broken heart, this message is for you. For everyone else, listen carefully, you may be comfy cozy on the wall, but you may potentially suffer a broken heart in the near future. This message is for you as well. What does the King say about broken hearts?
David wrote this Psalm when he was suffering from a broken heart. David was the king of Israel, but he turned to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to heal his broken heart. In this psalm you can fell the hurt from his broken heart as he brought the pieces of the broken heart to the king. And we see two causes for the broken heart. And we will learn how the king put the pieces back together and mend the broken heart. We will see how the King put humpty together again.
I. The Wandering Heart
David began this psalm with obvious pain with his pleading to God for deliverance. He likened it to sinking in deep water, literally about to drown. He was drowning in the depths of despair. The deep mire (the mucky mire in the bottom of a lake).
Psalm 42:6-7 6: O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. 7: Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
He had prayed to God so much and so earnestly that he was exhausted. His eyes failed, he couldn’t see clearly what would happen next. The future was blurry.
There was no reason that these people he is referring to should be his enemies. As we will see later they walked together in harmony, but now his very dear friends have turned on him. Why? Why is his heart broken and the relationship severed? David himself is the problem! He had sinned, an unamed sin, and made enemies! -David confesses his sin, he admits his guilt.
David’s concern that his sin would cause others to follow his course and stumble
Is your heart broken over sin? the cure for the wandering heart is forgiveness
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
II. The Wounded Heart
Who has wounded his heart? Who breaks our hearts? It is those closest to our hearts! - it was as if he was a stranger. Psalm 55:12-14 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: 13: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. 14: We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
David’s prayer for deliverance, for the king to put the pieces of the broken heart back together. David recognizes he does not have the power to change others, but he does know the power that can change him.
There was none to bring comfort, all the kings horses and all the kings men could not put humpty dumpty together again, only the King, onlyGod can.
Forgiveness is the cure for the wounded heart as well, but we must exercise forgiveness just as we have been forgiven. Do we harbor a grudge, resentment, those things will never heal the wounded, broken heart, rather, those things will cause the wound to fester, for the break to remain.
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