In our Old Testament reading, it'll be from the prophet Isaiah. We'll be reading chapter 61, verses one to 11. Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and that he may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall rise up the former desolations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named priests of the Lord. They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles. And in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame, you shall have double honor. And instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore, in their land they shall possess double. Everlasting joy shall be theirs. For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery for burnt offering. I will direct their work and truth, and will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity of whom the Lord has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for my soul shall be joyful in my God. For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Thus far the reading of Our scripture reading this morning is from the book of Galatians. We will be reading all 26 verses of chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who have attempted to be justified by the law. You have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love. You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the laws fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like of, which I tell you beforehand, Just as I also told you in times past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Thus far, the reading of God's holy word. Let's pray together before we begin. Father, we do thank you for your words of life that give us direction and guidance in our daily lives. We read in Paul's letter to the church in Galatia these words of encouragement regarding our freedom in Christ, and we rejoice in that. But we also need your help, Lord, because although we are called to walk in that freedom, we are still sinful creatures. Help us in our study today to see your truths regarding how we are to act and behave, and help us to show to the world that we belong to the King because of our character and how we live our lives. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Now, normally I prefer the New King James translation of the Bible to some of the other versions, and that is the version we use here in our Pew Bibles. But here in Galatians chapter 5, I think I prefer the way the NIV translation puts it, mainly because it translates a couple words a little differently that do seem to help me better understand the gravity of the situation here. Paul is writing to the believers in Galatia who have been influenced by a group called the Judaizers. In the early church, those who taught a combination of God's grace and human effort were called Judaizers. The word Judaizer comes from a Greek verb meaning to live according to Jewish customs. A Judaizer taught in order for a Christian to truly be right with God, he must conform to the Mosaic law. And the practice of circumcision for religious reasons especially was promoted as necessary for salvation. They felt that the Gentiles had to become Jewish proselytes first and then they could come to Christ. And so the doctrine of the Judaizers was a mixture of grace through Christ and works through the keeping of the Old Testament laws. But Paul strongly condemns this teaching here in Galatians 5. And as I said, I like the way the NIV translation puts it when Paul says in verse one, 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. And so you see, the NIV calls liberty freedom, and they call bondage slavery. Both are acceptable translations, but they can invoke different images in your mind. Because when I think of that word freedom outside of the biblical concept, I think of the founding of our nation. The colonists were in bondage to a tyrant king in England, but they yearned to be free. And one of the names they gave themselves was Sons of Liberty. Freedom and liberty were an important part of the colonists' everyday vocabulary back then. But as much as they desired liberty and freedom, they were still subjects of a ruler who placed great demands upon them. They did, however, address the situation in the proper biblical way, by petitioning the king with all their grievances and asking for his rulings to be fair and just. However, all their petitions were either ignored or, in most cases, responded to in more harsh terms. In fact, if you ever read the entire Declaration of Independence, you would see that they listed, one after another, all the times that they applied to the king for an appeal and a ruling on their request, but to no avail. And so, after listing all their grievances once again, they wrote in the Declaration this statement. They said, in every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be a ruler of a free people." And so 56 men signed that document, and they declared their freedom. However, they still had to fight for that freedom, and it was a long, bitter fight. And it was only a year after it began that things started to get desperate for the Colonials. Washington's army had just spent the summer of 1777 fighting a string of losing battles. The Americans had harassed the British army in skirmishes and minor battles for much of the fighting season. But in the fall, the Americans showed some signs of strength and spirit at the Battle of Brandywine in September and at the Battle of Germantown in October. But even with these minor victories, they were unable to keep the British out of Philadelphia. In December, Washington marched his tired, hungry, beaten, and sick army to Valley Forge, a spot that was only about 20 miles northwest of British-occupied Philadelphia. From Valley Forge, Washington could keep an eye on General Howe's British Army, who, unlike Washington and his troops, were camped in comfort in Philadelphia. At Valley Forge, there were shortages of everything from food to clothing to medicine. Washington's men were sick from disease, hunger, and exposure. The Continental Army camped in crude log cabins and endured cold, harsh conditions while the Redcoats warmed themselves in colonial homes. The Patriots went hungry while the British soldiers ate well. Terms of enlistment were ending for many soldiers in Washington's army. And the general wondered if he would even have an army left when the spring thaw finally arrived. General Washington was upset that local farmers were hoarding much-needed food, waiting to earn higher profits in the spring. Some farmers even sneaked grain into Philadelphia to feed the British Army, who paid in gold or silver. With each passing night came more desertions. Washington grew privately disgusted at the lack of commitment of his so-called patriot fighters. Then there was the grumbling of some in Congress and among some of Washington's own officers. Washington's leadership skills were openly questioned. Many said General Horatio Gates was a much better suited leader to be leading the army. After all, he had just scored a major victory in October at the Battle of Saratoga. Within the environment of cold deprivation and rebellion, how long could Washington and his army endure? But he wouldn't give up. Freedom and liberty were too important to him. And so instead of despairing, he rather sought the Lord in prayer. We've all seen that famous painting of Washington kneeling beside his horse in the woods praying. That was his daily practice, to go out alone each morning and pray to the Lord. And we have the story in the painting because a local farmer named Isaac Potts came upon Washington alone out in the woods one morning. Potts quietly hid behind a tree and watched and listened. At the time, Potts was against the war and he sympathized with the British. But after seeing the leader of the colonial army and hearing his cries to God, he changed his mind. Potts went home and only told his wife about the encounter. He didn't tell anyone else until a few years later when he told his pastor the story and who then recorded it in his journal. His pastor journal quotes Potts as saying, such a prayer I never heard from the lips of man. I left him alone praying. I went home and told my wife that I saw a sight and heard something today of which I never saw or heard before, and just related to her what I had seen and heard and observed. We never thought a man could be a soldier and a Christian, but if there is one in this world, it is George Washington. She also was astonished. We thought the hand of God was upon this man, and we now knew that America could prevail. Washington's prayer was answered, and it was answered in the form of a Prussian volunteer named Baron von Stupin. He came to Valley Forge that winter, and he was shocked at the lack of American discipline. And so with Washington's urging, he trained the Continental Army, Prussian style. The troops slowly became more professional, and among the soldiers who remained, confidence grew. Over the course of the winter, the weather improved somewhat. Food trickled in from the surrounding countryside. Many wives of the soldiers came and spent time at Valley Forge over the winter. And Washington was able to quash those who questioned his leadership abilities. The Continental Army encamped at Valley Forge in the fall of 1777 with about 12,000 men in its ranks. Death claimed about a quarter of them before spring arrived. Another 1,000 didn't re-enlist or they deserted. But the army that remained was stronger. They were fewer, but more disciplined. They were weary, but firmly resolved to continue the fight for freedom. The majority of the men who remained faithful to Washington were of a special breed, though. Their heritage of a firm resolve and dedication to a cause was dictated and handed down to them by their ancestors. They were men with resolve and commitment and perseverance, and most importantly, a love for freedom. In fact, soon after Valley Forge, Washington made a statement about these men when he said, if all else fails, I will retreat up the Valley of Virginia and plant my flag on the Blue Ridge and rally around the Scotch-Irish people of that region. And I will make my last stand for liberty and freedom amongst a people who will never submit to tyranny while there is still a man left to pull the trigger. The man Washington was talking about were the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. This group of people were more responsible for the founding of this nation than any other group. An estimated three million people lived in the colonies at the time of the Revolutionary War. Of that number, 900,000 were of Scotch or Scotch-Irish origin. Another 600,000 were Puritan English. Another 400,000 were of Dutch Reformed, German Reformed, or Huguenot descent. That is to say, two-thirds of our revolutionary forefathers were trained in the school of John Calvin and in the Reformed faith. In fact, it was well-known at the time who was responsible for the uprising in America. One colonial who was loyal to King George wrote to his friend in England, saying, I fix all the blame of these extraordinary proceedings upon those West Batarians. Around the same time, Horace Walpole, a member of Parliament, spoke from the English House of Commons to report on these extraordinary proceedings in the colonies. And he said, there's no use crying about the matter. He said, Cousin America has run off with the Presbyterian parson, and that is the end of it. The parson of which he spoke, of course, was John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister, as well as a descendant of John Knox. At the time, Witherspoon was president of Princeton College. He was also the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. And he was not only a signer of the Declaration, but he also instructed several other signers in school, including his prized student, James Madison. And so from the English perspective, the American Revolution was often perceived as a Presbyterian rebellion. And its supporters were often disdained as those blasted Presbyterians. And one historian mentions that when Cornwallis was driven back to ultimate retreat and surrender at Yorktown, all of the colonials, all of the colonials of the colonial army but one were Presbyterian elders. It is estimated that more than one-half of all the soldiers and three-fourths of the officers of the American Revolution were Presbyterian. They had little loyalty and often outright hostility to the crown of England. They were armed with the theology of John Calvin, mediated through John Knox, and solidified during the English Civil War. It was a theology which devalued the divine right of human kings and elevated the worth and dignity of the individual under God. And it was this theology that shaped the early American understanding of civil liberty. The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians had a long history of independence and love of freedom. And it didn't start with John Knox or the Covenanters. Their heritage of liberty and freedom began in the late 1200s by a man that was popularized in a 1995 movie called Braveheart. That movie told the story of William Wallace, and although it was inaccurate in much of its portrayal, it did capture the essence of the man and his desire to see Scotland free from the oppression of the King of England. At one point in the movie, however, they did accurately describe an event that happened when Wallace was preparing his ragtag band of rebels for battle against a much larger English army. Wallace's men were all lined up on a hillside overlooking the valley and about to face a much larger and better armed English army. And he says to his men, I am William Wallace, and I see before me an army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. You are free, free from badges, free from flesh, and free to love. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight? One soldier near the front eyes the huge opposing army lined up across the valley. And he answers, fight against that? No, we will run and we will live. And Wallace responds and says, I fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least for a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom. The movie accurately captured that event, but they took a great deal of liberties with the ending of that movie. But the ending did capture the true spirit of Wallace. Wallace was eventually captured by the English forces and brought to London for a mock trial where he was sentenced to death. And the method of his execution was to be tortured and ripped apart on the rack. In the recorded accounts of the time, it says that Wallace asked for his book of Psalms to be propped up open next to him so that he could read it while being tortured. And that was granted. And they did tear his limbs from him, and the king had them sent to the four corners of the British Isles as a warning to other rebels not to defy the king. But the movie had a more dramatic and poetic ending. In the movie, Wallace is about to be torn apart on the rack, and the people are watching and crying out for mercy for him. And finally, the executioner tells Wallace that if he would just ask for mercy, they will kill him quickly, and he won't have to endure the torture. But Wallace is defiant, and he won't ask for mercy. And then after a time of more torture, the crowd is quieted while Wallace attempts to speak. And then instead of asking for mercy, he cries out with a loud voice, freedom, and then dies. And while it makes great drama for a movie that part of Wallace's death did actually happen in real life, he was tortured and ripped apart and killed for his attempt to make Scotland free. and his death was chronicled for history, but the emotional cry at the end was Hollywood's contribution. However, his life and death did inspire generations of Scottish people that held a very high view of freedom, which eventually led to the founding of our country. And whatever you think of when you contemplate that term freedom, the Bible speaks of a freedom in a far greater way than all these examples. You see, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, the Bible declares that all of us are slaves, but not to a person or a job or a government. We are enslaved to our passions and our sins, and even our self-contrived religious systems. This slavery brings an oppressive bondage on all humans that leads us to guilt, despair, hopelessness, frustration, and emptiness. As a matter of fact, I would submit that if people were given the total freedom they desire and were able to do whatever they desired, their bondage and misery would only increase. But this is why Jesus came. Jesus also said that we are slaves. But he said in John 8, if the Son makes you free, you'll be free indeed. But what kind of freedom was he talking about? This bondage to sin is our greatest problem as humans. We are so far away from God that we have separated ourselves from his love and acceptance. All of us have dug ourselves into a deep hole, unable to reach our holy God who stands on the surface. And so we make a ladder, and we attempt to climb up to him. Like the Jews of the Old Testament, we create all kinds of religious rules that we feel will successfully get us out of that hole. But in the end, all it leads to is more frustration, confusion, and self-condemnation. Ironically, in our attempt to escape the bondage, we only worsen our condition, as Galatians 4 and 9 tells us. And in our quest to see the light of freedom, we only sink deeper into the darkness of captivity. But then, God opens our eyes to the truth. And with the new eyes of faith, we finally realize that the way out of the hole is not the same way we entered. We finally understand what the Bible teaches, that salvation is not based upon our efforts, but rather on the grace that God provides. We finally realize that we can never achieve God's favor on our own, but receive it only through the work of Jesus Christ, who took all our sins upon himself and paid the penalty we deserved. And so we come to Christ in faith, drawn by the Spirit. All of our sins are forgiven. The guilt is removed. God eternally becomes our Father. We are granted peace and satisfaction. The shackles are broken. And then, and only then, are we truly able to cry out freedom. But remember what Galatians 5 says. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. And so, as a Christian, what are we supposed to do with this freedom? If my efforts to please God before salvation brought a curse, as Galatians 3.10 tells us, should I no longer make any efforts to obey the commandments of God after I become saved? In other words, since God forgives all my sins, is my freedom now the ticket to do whatever I please? We have all heard that little rhyme, oh salvation, that blessed condition, I can sin as much as I want and still have remission. We all know that can't be right, but what exactly are we called to do and to be? And what does it mean to be called to freedom as verse 13 in Galatians 5 teaches? And how does that apply to my life now that I am a Christian? Those are the questions we'll look at this morning and we'll see what the Lord would have us to understand. So let's begin with what freedom does not produce. Verse 13 says, for you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. So here we see before there's any time to allow our minds to draw a false conception of what Christian freedom is, Paul immediately clarifies what he intends. Now it is unfortunate that some Christians use this verse to justify sinful behavior, and never quote the remainder of this verse that explains the nature of our freedom God intends us to enjoy. Yes, we are called to freedom, but in that freedom we are to avoid using it as an opportunity for the flesh. The flesh, when used in this context, does not mean our physical bodies, but rather our fallen, corrupt condition that opposes God. When we are saved and we come to Christ, the old man in his nature is killed, but the remnants of that old man, called the flesh, are still active. And although that old sinful man is in a weakened state, it is still seeking to draw us into sin. It is still waging a war within our soul, trying to get us to sin. But as believers, every second of the day, we now have the opportunity to walk according to the Holy Spirit or walk according to the flesh. So when you hear or think about freedom in Christ, do you see it as an opportunity for the spirit or an opportunity for the flesh? Paul says we are to use it as an opportunity for the spirit. And that word opportunity means we have a choice. And here is where it gets confusing for some people. They see this word opportunity, and so they readily assume that means we have the choice of our own free will to do something that will please God. And that is true, but it is only true once we have been saved and born again. Before that act of God changing our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh, we have no desire and no ability to do anything that pleases God. You see, before the fall of Adam, man was sinless, and he was able to do two important things. First, he was able not to sin. And second, he was also able to do good works that pleased God. Genesis 1.31 tells us, for God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. But the thing with Adam was that he was also able to sin. For God had said, in the day that you eat of the tree, you shall surely die. And so Adam truly had free will. He was able to sin, and he was able not to sin. But as soon as Adam fell into sin, human nature was profoundly altered. Now every person who came from Adam was now not able not to sin. In the fall of Adam, human nature lost its freedom not to sin. And why is man not able not to sin any longer? Because on this side of the fall, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. As John 3, 6 tells us, and the mind of flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God, which is also from Romans 8. Or as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Notice the word cannot is used twice in Romans 8, and the words is not able in 1 Corinthians. This is now the nature of all human beings when we are born. we are totally depraved and born in sin, what Paul calls the natural person and what Jesus calls born of the flesh. But when we come to Christ by faith and trust him to forgive and cleanse us of all our sin, we are in that moment born again. That new birth of the spirit results in a new creation. God gives the repentant sinner a new heart that is now turned towards obeying and pleasing him rather than serve himself. We were formerly slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to righteousness. Sin's control in our life has been broken by the power of Jesus. However, we still live in the flesh, and the flesh, even in a born-again Christian, is prone to want what it wants. In Romans 7, Paul admits the battle between flesh and spirit in his own life when he says, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do. And so it is the same for all of us. In each battle we have with temptation is won or lost based on how fully we are surrendered to the control of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The book of 1 John was written to new Christians, but it is applicable to Christians of all ages. In it, the apostle says, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. It is clear from this passage that even those who have been born again and redeemed by the blood of Jesus will still sin. Through thought, attitude, or action, we will grieve and quench the Holy Spirit at times. But this passage also reassures us that God offers continual, ongoing grace whenever we confess our sins to him and ask for his cleansing. But here's where it goes wrong, even for some of us Christians. They will say, I'm free in Christ. That means God forgives me all of my sins, which also means I have no restraints because I now live under grace. So instead of battling the desires we have for immoral things, we'll instead feed the flesh, and we'll do those things we really don't want to do. And so instead of reading a book, we'll instead watch that R-rated movie. Or instead of loving my neighbor who wronged me, or that stupid driver who cut me off, I'll feed the flesh and give him a piece of my mind, or at least an obscene gesture out of the window of my car. or instead of being honest on my tax returns or being faithful with my church giving, I'll feed the flesh and keep some money for myself. We do all these things because, even as Christians, we all have that inner desire to sin. However, even during this present struggle with sin, we have an inner hope. Galatians 5, 5 tells us we are waiting for the hope of righteousness. But while we wait, for that long-perfected righteousness in heaven, we still have to acknowledge the present struggle with sin that we face. And we all know that sin, in its many forms, still seems attractive at times. And we still have to live in this world, even though we have been born again and we have a new heart and a new desire to please God. You see, God's plan was not to remove his elect from the world once they were born again. His plan is to sanctify them in the world, prepare them for eternity. And so as Christians, we have a decision to make. We can fight the temptations and sin that still wages war inside of us, or we can give in. And if we choose to give in, what better way to justify it than by using the Bible to do so? And so for some, when they hear about the freedom for the Christian, they take it to mean an unbridled passport to sin. Yet this verse tells us to do exactly the opposite when it says, do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. And then a little further down in verse 24, God also calls us to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. And so our true attitude should be never to use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, and instead we should, even before heeding the command to love and serve others, we need to do as the Puritans like to say and do. The Puritans were very serious about the call to mortify their flesh and to wage war against the sin that tempts them. Mortification of the flesh means to do battle with the sin in our lives and to kill it continually and daily. Thomas Watson, the great Puritan preacher from the 1600s, put it well when he said, "'Til sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.'" So if our freedom is not a freedom to sin, what is our freedom intended to produce? In verse 13, we see Paul gives us the answer in the form of a negative command and a positive command. He says, for we were called to freedom, brethren, and here is the negative. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. But, and here is the positive command, where it goes on to say, through love, serve one another. Our freedom is a freedom from sin. Therefore, it is not a freedom to sin, but rather a freedom to love. And you would think Paul would repeat his former comment and say righteousness here. But interestingly, he says to pursue love. I think he purposely says love here because love is the root of all righteousness, as we see in 1 Corinthians 13, where Paul also says, love suffers long in his kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. You see, before you came to Christ, the Bible says you were in bondage. You were a slave to your sins. Sinning was a byproduct of our fallen human nature. And what is the root cause of every single sin? The answer, of course, is pride. Before Christ, we are in bondage to ourselves. You were number one in your affections. Yet when you came to Christ, he freed you from this love affair to self. He gave you a new heart with new desires, and he became your Lord and master. And he gave you two new commandments, that you are to love the Lord first, and love others second. He gave us the gift of faith, and that faith works out and displays itself in love. God is love, and when he took up residence in our hearts, we were empowered to love as he loves. But that is not always as easy as it seems. In the early 17th century, the Archbishop of the Church of England, Bishop Usher, desired to visit the home of a Presbyterian minister to see whether what he had heard about the man's personal godliness was true. Usher arrived at the pastor's home disguised as a poor beggar, just to see how, in Christian love, he would be treated. The minister wasn't home yet, but he was welcomed inside where the wife was teaching the children the shorter catechism. The pastor's wife had the visitor sit with the family as they studied the catechism, and she asked him one of the questions, asking how many commandments there were. When he answered 11, she thought him to be a very ignorant man and asked him nothing more. And so afterwards, she rudely fed him and sent him to bed. When the minister got home late that evening, he saw the beggar and realized who he was. And after spending some time with him that night, conversing with him, he asked if the bishop would preach the next morning at his church. So Usher rose early before the wife and children got up and now cleaned up and dressed nicely so that the wife did not recognize him, he entered the pulpit. He preached on what he said might be considered the 11th commandment, namely John 13, 34. A new commandment I give unto you, Jesus said, that you are to love one another. The minister's wife was astonished that the beggar had turned into a preacher, and now she regretted that she had misjudged him so terribly, and that she had not shown him more Christian love when he came to their home. And so the freedom we enjoy is not a freedom to sin, but to love. And that love is shown in that act of dying to self and considering God and others more important than ourselves, and loving them more than we love ourselves for the first time in our lives. Being a Christian means more than a decision. It means God radically changing our hearts, whereby we take on the very nature of Jesus Christ. And what is the nature of Jesus Christ? It is one of self-giving and self-sacrifice. Was there any greater demonstration of this love than his sacrifice on the cross? As Philippians 2 tells us, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taken the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of man, being found in an appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus continually emptied himself for others. He walked on earth as a man and was as tempted as we all are, but was without sin. And his love for others knew no bounds. He didn't need to use people to fill up his empty life and emotional state. He only was true love and pure love, and he continually gave of himself all for the glory of the Father and for the good of all people. And likewise, when God changes our hearts, that past need to be accepted and rewarded and esteemed by others falls away, because now we have received all that we need from Christ. Or at least our changed hearts should have produced that need not to be esteemed and loved by others. That was the whole premise of that adult Sunday school book we studied a few years ago titled, When People are Big and God is Small. Because of our sinful nature that is still waging war inside of us, we are tempted and we often give in to that need to place other people as more important in our lives than God. We tend to fear man instead of God and we want man's approval more than we want God's approval. And so we use people to fill the needs we have instead of looking to the Lord. Pastor John Piper had a good way of illustrating how we are to be different than the unbeliever regarding this dilemma. He said the prideful non-Christian living for self will treat others like a vacuum cleaner. He or she uses people, sucking as much as they can from others in an effort to fill their own emptiness. Their perceived needs are their God, and the true God in others are their venues to get what they want. And they take and take and take, and when their sources can no longer feed their pride, the people are discarded like a dirty bag from the inner compartment. Yet the Christian is to be more compared to a mountain stream. He or she desires to put God first, and in doing so, adopts his priorities and his character. They tap into the Spirit by abiding in Christ. The spiritual fruit of love is produced in their lives, and like a mountain stream, they overflow, blessing all in the valley below with clean and refreshing water. Unfortunately, it seems we only see those mountain stream type of Christians occasionally. We all know some Christians whose personality just oozes love for others all the time. But why can't we all be like that all the time? Some people think being a Christian only means avoiding the big sins and attending church when it's convenient and offering some token prayers before dinner. But unbelievers are perfectly capable of pulling these things off too. You see, Christians who behave like this are the very people who hear about freedom and then they use it as an opportunity for the flesh. But true believers who are walking with the Lord have had a heart transplant. True believers hate sin as much as God hates sin. True believers want to serve others the way Christ served the Father. True believers want to love others and not use others for selfish gains. And true believers rejoice because they know in their hearts that they are free. Free to be what God has intended them to be. And then Paul elaborates in verse 14, saying, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Here we see that Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law for the Christian. Because of his work on the cross, he has met all the demands of the law on our behalf. And now Paul is saying, if we are to take the entire law of God and boil it down into one word, that word would simply be love. Therefore, as Christians who now love God and are seeking to do His will, how can we not prioritize in our lives the need to love others? You see, every sin we commit is simply a desire to love ourselves more than we love God or love others. Love is not a work to earn God's favor for the Christian. It is now the overflow of God's Holy Spirit working in us, giving evidence that we are saved by grace. Christians must love, but it's better to say Christians will love if they are truly walking with the Lord. If you looked at this concept about loving others by doing a search online, there are tons of sites that will tell you you must love yourself first. You have to love yourself before you can love others, they will say. And doesn't Paul say to love your neighbor as yourself? Yes, he does. So shouldn't we teach, as many secularists and liberal churches do, that we cannot love others until we learn to love ourselves first? The answer is, absolutely not. Because everything the Bible tells us about the Christian faith and life is a death to self, not that you need to love yourself. Jesus Christ did not deny himself and give up himself on the cross to make us to learn to love ourselves more. He died because we already love ourselves too much. And so, brothers and sisters, we have seen that we are called to freedom, and we have understood that this freedom is not an opportunity for the flesh, but rather we are to use our freedom through love to serve one another. But if we fail to do so, the end of verse 15 tells us what the outcome will be. There it says, we will bite and devour one another and be consumed by one another. The imagery here is that of a pack of wild starving animals and they are turning on one another. Without Christ, we are empty and we will devour one another, much like what we see in politics today. But with Christ, we are full and we will love one another. Christian freedom is the freedom to overcome sin and allow the Holy Spirit to produce fruit in us, specifically love, and then joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Imagine a church or a home or even a nation where we all acted with these traits. Yet if we are not in Christ, or if we are, and we fail to walk in the Spirit, we will indeed walk in the flesh. And the result will be the things of which we read in verses 19 to 21. Enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, and envy. And when that happens, looking out for self will be the priority, and that is the attitude which will define our culture. And we will be just like what we see today in Washington, D.C., where no one is there to serve, but only there to advance their own agenda and to get reelected. Failing to heed the call of Christ to freedom will result in our giving in to a life of bondage once again. And we may live as Christians, but with a terrible burden on our backs, always trying to live according to man's rules, worrying about what others think and say, and trying to please God through man-made regulations and expectations. But Jesus came to set us free, because that is how we were originally created to be, free to serve others and free to serve him. One of the most famous chimpanzees of all time is one known by the name of Washu. Some soldiers picked up Washu in West Africa in 1966, and she was adopted by two doctors who raised her almost like a child. They readily observed how extremely bright she was, and so in 1970, she was turned over to another pair of doctors who were married, who were experts in chimps for further study. With this couple, she went through a rigorous training program to become the first non-human to learn American Sign Language, and she was able to master over 140 signs. The pair of doctors treated her like a child, though, and they loved her and cared for her and made her just like a member of the family. Each night before putting her to bed in her cage, the wife doctor would say in sign language to Washu, I love you. After several years of further study, they thought that perhaps she was ready and able to conceptualize by herself. She is going to say what is on her heart, they declared one day. And so in her safe and secure cage, well taken care of and well fed, Washu said through sign language the first three words of her own initiative. She signed these three words over and over several times. Let me out. Even in animals, it seems there is a desire for freedom, given the chance most animals would leave the safety of the cage for freedom. God has created his people for freedom, yet the Christian is freed from the slavery of sin for one reason, to become a slave of God. Because true freedom is found, and is only found, in slavery to Jesus Christ. Let's close together in prayer. We thank you, Lord, for the freedom that you give and for the great price you had to pay to secure our freedom. May we never take it for granted, but may be ever mindful of the duty and responsibility we have when we call ourselves Christian. Help us to be the faithful servants of our Lord, which we desire to be, and to always show the joy which we have in our hearts on how we minister to others. May we do all these things to your glory and honor as we pray in your name. Amen.