[0:00] The reading is in the epistles of the Galatians and the fourth chapter, beginning at verse 19 and reading to the end of verse 1 in chapter 5.
[0:20] Galatians chapter 4 verse 19. My little children, of whom I travel in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you.
[0:45] Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do we not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman.
[1:00] But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory?
[1:12] For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Eger. For this Eger is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
[1:28] But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not.
[1:40] Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not. For the desolate hath many more children than she was a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
[1:52] But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture?
[2:05] Cast out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
[2:20] Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. My text this morning is in the epistle to the Galatians and the fifth chapter and the first verse.
[2:41] Epistle to the Galatians, fifth chapter and the first verse. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.
[2:59] And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. I'm sure that you are familiar with the Galatian epistle and with the great teachings that are found in that epistle and also the great concern that the apostle had for the churches of Galatia.
[3:23] It is one of those epistles or the only epistle where he doesn't use his usual kindly greetings to the churches and then later on come to the concern regarding their problems.
[3:36] Indeed, in this epistle, he is so concerned and the gospel is in such danger that he immediately plunges into the problem itself and the revoke.
[3:51] But he doesn't forget, however, later on in the epistle to bring endearing phrases and display his love for them. But it is, as you might say, a serious epistle in the sense that he wants to get quickly the message that is burning in his heart because of the terrible entanglements and the yoke of bondage that these churches have returned to.
[4:18] This epistle has recently appealed to me particularly because of the entanglement of the world and the confusion that is to be found in the evangelical scene.
[4:29] And in most places throughout the United Kingdom it is really quite frightening and very alarming until you can get great comfort from a verse like this that tells you in all this, stand fast.
[4:43] And stand fast not in any license or licentiousness. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
[4:57] And I found for myself a particular message for the age that we are living in. The apostle is concerned because there have false teachers have come along.
[5:12] He has no doubts in Paul's mind. I don't think there is any doubts by the way he addresses them. He has no doubts that the body of the churches there were true believers.
[5:23] They had an experience of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had a knowledge of salvation. And they have started well. And they have been full of zeal for the things of God. But something had gone wrong.
[5:37] Now you think of the age that we are living in today. You could be preaching or going to a congregation and there find a congregation of people who love God and pursue the things of God.
[5:47] And you may go there 15 or 20 years later and you wonder whatever has happened. And all you can say, that is true today. That can happen. Does happen in many places.
[6:00] And you wonder, an enemy hath done this. And you can imagine the concern and the love that the apostle has for the churches that were so very near and so very dear to his heart.
[6:13] He did not doubt their faith. He did not doubt their Christian experience. But there were people who had come along. I am sure that you are familiar with the name. The name itself gives the kind of heresy that they brought along.
[6:24] It was an attractive one. They always are attractive. I mean, a heresy wouldn't take hold at all, would it? If it was objectionable and unpleasant, it has a certain attraction, a certain overemphasis that can attract, may be the worship of self in us and the desire to exalt ourselves, whatever it may be, or to say that we are something special.
[6:47] They were called Judaizers. Now, probably many were Christians. They all had a knowledge of salvation. And these Judaizers were people who felt, well, we are converted Jews and we have a tremendous background.
[7:04] We have a great and a godly heritage. And we have many observances that are given by God. We have a holy law. And surely the gospel doesn't dismiss all these things.
[7:17] Is it not better to be a Christian? And as well as that, to embroider the faith with all the loveliness of the faith of Judah. Not realizing that by doing that, that they were robbing the gospel of its unique quality.
[7:34] But here they came along with their various forms of Judaism and enthusiasm. You usually find that in a cult or in a heretical teaching, a tremendous enthusiasm with faces shining and eyes sparkling and say, this is something extra.
[7:53] This is what you need. You feel you're a little down in your Christian faith. This is the extra thing that you need that will give you that necessary booster that will make you into a full Christian. It tempted many.
[8:06] Paul was astounded. And this is what he says in the beginning of the epistle in chapter 1, verse 6. He says, I marvel. I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ and to another gospel which is not another, but there be some that trouble you that would pervert the gospel of Christ.
[8:32] He said, I'm absolutely astounded. How can it be when you have received so tremendous a blessing from the things of grace and the things of God, how can it ever be that you should be so easily dissuaded and taken by these teachers?
[8:47] And in chapter 3, verse 1, he sums it up by a very severe statement where he says, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ have been evidently set forth, crucified among you.
[9:06] What is he saying to them there? You have an excuse. The gospel and the full counsel of God, these things, as if Christ have been crucified among you, have been evidently set forth.
[9:18] How is it possible that you should listen to these wayward preachers as they come along, claiming great things and imposing strange things upon you and taking you back into a yoke of bondage?
[9:34] What was the problem? What are they forgetting? They are forgetting one main thing. They are forgetting that we are complete in Christ.
[9:49] Let me put it like this to you. That our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is the end of the law, that is, as far as you and I are concerned, if we are in Christ, the law does not condemn us because the condemnation has been met in Jesus Christ.
[10:09] And so he has fulfilled all the requirements, all the requirements. He is the end of all the ceremonial as well, but he has fulfilled all the requirements of the law. He has, in our stead, loved God with all his heart, mind, soul, being, and for our, in our place as well, he has loved his neighbor as himself.
[10:30] And this, this he has done, something we could never do, something you and I could never achieve, he has done for us, that we know. And something else he has done, our failure to achieve that, is punishable by eternal damnation.
[10:47] And that he has met also, in our place, in our stead, on Calvary. So the two wonderful things take place there, where he has lived a holy life that pleases God in our place, and where he has paid a penalty that we deserved in our place.
[11:09] And through faith, his righteousness is imputed to us, and our sin has been imputed to him. And we stand as a forgiven people, and yet dressed in a beauty, not our own, robe in the righteousness of Christ.
[11:25] And what he's saying is that you cannot add to that. That is the work of God. That is perfect. You dare not take away from it. You dare not add to it.
[11:36] And the Galatian heresy is described like this. The term, the terminology is used very often for other heresies, where something is added to the truth.
[11:47] And you know that sometimes when you add, you can subtract. Let me explain what I mean by that. If you are buying a gift to your child, so you are buying him a bicycle, and it costs, I don't know what bicycle costs now, I'm way behind on prices, but I'm thinking of 50 pounds, 100 pounds, I don't know.
[12:06] And supposing it costs 100 pounds, and your child says, well, I'm very grateful, but here's 50 pence towards it. It is no longer a gift.
[12:18] By giving, he has subtracted. And by us adding something, we subtract. And by saying, oh well, I believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and also, we must bring back some of these observances, circumcision, and other things, and we will perform these things, and add them to the gospel.
[12:38] But by adding to them, we are taking away from the very thing that Jesus Christ had done for us. He is unique. The gospel is unique. You cannot add to it. You must not take away from it.
[12:49] And they made it a perversion of the gospel. They robbed Christ of the gospel. It was a terrible thing to do. It was so terrible that the apostle here is deeply grieved, and you hardly hear him say to a church in general, oh foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you that he should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ have been evidently set forth, crucified among you.
[13:21] And so you can see something, or capture something of the burden. And then to this verse now, which I believe would be one of the key verses in this epistle. Now what should I ask you to do?
[13:32] Is to stand fast. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, or it may be rendered like this, for freedom, Christ has set us free.
[13:44] There is no intention that we should again be under the law. There is no intention that we should be under the yoke of bondage anymore. All is fulfilled in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[13:59] Why do you go back there? So what I want to bring to you this morning is to talk about the nature of this freedom and what it means.
[14:11] I am not dismissing the law for one moment. I am saying, even as far as salvation is concerned, we cannot gain it by the keeping of the law. But we know that by the grace of God, we are given that grace as Christian people to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbor.
[14:30] that's a different situation altogether are the guidelines of the law. But no more in the bondage in regard to salvation. Now then, the first point I have is this, the declaration of freedom.
[14:44] He is telling them, you are free. You are free from that bondage that you are in.
[14:56] And don't let anyone else ever interfere with that freedom. And looking at the epistle in general, he will be saying something like this. See how you were.
[15:08] You were spiritually dead. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. And when you became aware of the things of God, what were you able to do? You were strangers to God. You were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
[15:20] What were you able to do? You could not. You were not free to love God. You were not free to love your neighbor. Why? Because you had a sinful heart. The result of the fall, there you were, entrenched in that, permeating every part of your mind and your heart, your will and your being was the effect of the fall.
[15:40] And the only person you could love would be yourself. And that would be with a self-love, the gratification of self. And what a struggle it would be if somebody said to you, you must love God.
[15:51] If you are going to go to heaven, if you are going to be a child of God, you must love God with all your heart and soul. You must love your neighbor as yourself. And you might say, well that's a wonderful thing.
[16:02] What a tremendous gospel. What a tremendous challenge. Is that the message of the Bible then? To love God and to love my neighbor. Let me try that and do it in my own strength.
[16:12] And immediately I try. I find myself not loving my neighbor but loving myself. And if my neighbor offends me, I find myself pouting and being grieved. Why? Because I love myself passionately.
[16:25] I cannot love God with all my heart and I cannot love my neighbor as myself. I am dragged down by my sinful nature and we are spiritually blind.
[16:36] He's telling them virtually, don't you remember that? Don't you remember that bondage? Don't you remember that anguish when your heart almost would desire to have God and yet could not love him.
[16:49] Your mind somehow would work out that he was there and you grope for him and then an enlightenment came and you went through the chasm of conviction and yet you're not there either.
[17:00] You desire these things and yet the bondage of the things that you are in and your sinful heart held you back. And then he came. He came into your life.
[17:13] A divine intervention. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear.
[17:25] He came. Who is he? He is the Son of God. He is the Lord of glory. He has absolute deity and perfect humanity.
[17:38] And in the economy of the Trinity of the Godhead there they planned a way to rescue fallen man. There in his fallen state in his helpless state and then in the fullness of time our Lord and Saviour we are told that in this particular epistle in the fullness of time he comes born of a woman.
[17:59] He comes there virgin born. He comes into this world and he comes and he lives a life so beautiful so perfect. His words every word is a treasure.
[18:12] Every word. Think of the beatitudes. Blessed are they. And let the beatitudes of the thought or the feel of them run through your mind. And the way he spoke to people that normally people would ignore and somebody would be plucking at the hem of his garment and he said who touched me?
[18:28] And they said how can you talk like that when you're oppressed by such a crowd? but he felt the anguish of this little soul's heart and he said I felt strength going out of me and had mercy upon that person.
[18:41] You might say there was divine sensitivity a heart of grace and truth and love the loveliness of our Saviour in his attitude in his words in his whole demeanour in everything that he was.
[18:55] He could not sin. He could not lie. He couldn't be double dealing in his ways.
[19:06] There is a purity and an integrity of his character there the immutability of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We say to the Galatian people Jesus Christ who was crucified amongst you who was declared so clearly amongst you and shown to be the only begotten Son of God and your sin was laid on him and the punishment was paid in full and righteousness was woven for you as a garment of righteousness and by the grace of God you were given grace to believe as a gift of God and holy sorrow and embraced and were embraced by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
[19:51] Where are your memories? Where is your loyalty? Where is your integrity? How could you ever forget coming from darkness to light and from the grip and the darkness of Satan to the freedom of the sons of God?
[20:05] How could it ever be you should forget such a thing? Oh foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you? that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified amongst you.
[20:23] and then if you remember looking at that looking at that what does it mean? shall I stay in that for a moment? what does this freedom from bondage?
[20:35] what does this freedom from the condemnation of the law mean? listen to these verses from other parts of scripture we are free from the guilt and power of sin that is broken Romans 6 14 for sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace being then made free from sin you become the servants of righteousness that's what you are I know I'm using verses from another epistle now but this is the thrust of what he's saying how can you throw away such a freedom and go to something that you you call freedom which is license how can you do that?
[21:20] or this an accusing conscience Hebrews 10 verse 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with water can you imagine it says going back to a conscience that is plagued and full of terrors and fears and doubts when you had a conscience here that has been sprinkled from an evil conscience you'd be made free of that and free from the wrath of God Romans 5 verse 1 by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ there we were aliens from the common with our Israel we were strangers we were enemies and then because of this great act of mercy in Jesus Christ and the relationship through faith in him through the grace of God you no longer have to face the wrath of God he has met the anger and the wrath of God in your place therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord
[22:22] Jesus Christ how could you leave such a thing Romans 8 verse 1 there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus that's the liberty that you have you were in bondage you were hell bound the law condemned you grace intervened the saviour was lifted amongst you you saw the beauty and the perfection of his life you saw also the efficacy of his blood and by the grace of God you were enabled to believe in him and you came from darkness to light how can it be that you should listen to any of them and say very good but you need something extra excellent but you need something extra is God dismissing all the Old Testament do we not need all these other things as well does not that make you a better Christian and he says you have been entangled again with a yoke of bondage that is what you're doing indeed if I or an angel of heaven should preach any other gospel let me be accursed in the sight of God he felt strongly we need to we need to feel strongly when the purity of the gospel is tempered with in any way that unique quality of the gospel the complete nature what Jesus Christ has done is complete it never changes it must never be added to or taken from in a sense it is a legalistic thing it is a legal arrangement it is a great transaction that is done
[24:17] I realize I know of the mystic union and I know of growing in grace and I know the fact that we grow in grace is great evidence that that has taken place but we are not saved by our growth in grace either it may show that grace has entered our hearts that is true but we are saved through the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that always remains the same he felt so strongly then the direction of freedom is in once you have that freedom once you are free from condemnation free from the curse once you are a forgiven people shall I tell you what your direction should be it should be Godward or some people have said and will say throughout all the generations if Jesus Christ has done everything for us if our sins are forgiven past present future then there we are we'll come to such a gospel and then we'll live as we may the apostle says in one of his in the Roman epistle
[25:23] God forbid he said you have not understood if you have believed such a gospel and that there has been such a radical a radical change in your position in the sight of God then things can never be the same again what is our new life to be like in Romans 1 in Romans 6 verse 1 we are given these words what shall we say then what shall we then say shall we continue in sin that grace may abound how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein God forbid if there's anybody with an argument said well he has done everything for me shall I then continue in sin and let him let him give more grace and I'll sin more and he'll give me more grace in that way shall I do that no God forbid he said that is not the way a radical change has taken place in us we are born into a glorious freedom it is this freedom that is misrepresented today shall I describe by giving you an illustration how I see it no illustration will really carry the message through so you'll have to help me use your imagination just a little imagine that you have had a new car and now you go for driving lessons and you have a little letter L on your car and you cannot go in that car you can sit in the car but you cannot drive that car without somebody who is an instructor or an experienced driver that's the only condition that you can go you have not got the freedom to go from one end of stone away to another you have not got the freedom to go from one end of the street to another because you are not yet a driver you are a learner and then the time comes when you're looking forward to that time when you'll be able to say to yourself
[27:39] I will be able to use my car I'll be able to go to every part of the island I'll be able to take it across to the mainland I'll be able to drive to Glasgow and to Edinburgh and especially to Cardiff I'll be able to drive to anywhere I like and all the places that I would like to go I'd like to do that but there's a test now we have to pass the test but will you allow a little alteration there let us say as in the gospel the test is passed for us by the grace of God that's the only difference but here now I am handed a little piece of paper I have a license I have the freedom of the road what shall I do with this can you imagine a person now getting into his car and he doesn't want to give anybody a lift the first time at all he just wants to enjoy the car and here I am I have the right to drive my car
[28:40] I have a license the law will not condemn me because the requirements of the law have been met because I have passed my test and all is well and here I have a piece of paper to prove it I don't think I like driving on the left side of the road I think I'll use my freedom and drive on the right side you wouldn't get far or I think I'll drive on one of the motorways and I'm rather tired and I'll hold a little picnic in the center of the road I'm free I'm free I have the license to take the car wherever I like how not you see the picture you're free to drive your car wherever you want to go according to the rules that's the picture here it is again you see Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law for us yes he has fulfilled it so as far as salvation is concerned the terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do my saviour's obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view but now I am free but am I free to sin am I free to just drive on any side of the road or just make my own laws no I am free now I have a new ability to do that which God will have me to do
[30:14] I am able to love God now by the grace of God I am able to love my neighbor so I am able to do the things I couldn't do before the law is still there but the law is my guide it isn't through the law that I am saved Jesus Christ met all those requirements but I am able to go in this direction let me put it in a spiritual way I can go now in a direction I could not go before because of self love and because Jesus Christ has done all this for me by the grace of God now I am able to love God from the very depth of my being I can worship him in spirit and in truth and the Father seeketh such to worship him I can love my neighbor whereas before I would be selective in those who are nice to me I could be nice to them those who are related to me I could be pleasant to them but now you could cross the barriers and the boundaries of that and like the Jew and the Samaritan and the Jew you can cross the boundaries of those things so now you are able to love your neighbor in that broad spectrum something you could never do before this is freedom this is freedom this is exactly the same as playing the piano a child thinks when he has a piano he can just do as he likes it's rubbish then he comes under the hands of the master there are rules but before long a melody of grace is singing in our hearts are you singing a melody of grace in your life are you able to say this one thing
[31:58] I know this one thing that I am sure of and I am certain of the declaration of freedom has been given to me that my sins are forgiven and that I have peace with God I am acceptable in the sight of God and the direction of freedom now is guided by the Holy Spirit and I would not live a licentious life but I would be free but my freedom would be this it is prescribed to love God and to love my neighbor or as it is put here if we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit and enable by God's grace and then we know something of the fruits of the Spirit this is the way of freedom let me read you these beautiful words are they in your life and in mine we are free to love if that is not there who are we we are told in the Corinthian epistle that without love we are nothing and that we could go through all the emotions of it all and if we have not understood that behind all this is the motivation of God's love if we have not loved we have not understood so there is bound to be this in this great and lovely freedom we are free to love God we are free to love our neighbor we are free to love the things of God there is another fruit joy this is a remarkable joy
[33:31] I used to think in my folly at one time and think of the enthusiasm people had for various things where they get very excited and full of joy and very happy about and I used to say why aren't we as Christian people why don't we show that kind of exuberance and excitement as they but now I don't see it at all or necessary because now I have seen people in great sorrows and in great bereavements and in great trials and yet they have never lost that deep sense of joy in God in their hearts even in their tears and even in their anguish and their sorrow there is still we joy in God this is a fruit of the Spirit and peace this is another fruit the peace we already have peace with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but this is a peace I would believe that we find in the Colossians and the Philippian epistle that says let the peace of God rule reign in your heart and mind when our minds sometimes are in a turmoil all sorts of anxieties and storms and I don't know what's filling our minds where there is no room or any hope of the loveliness of God and our heart in a tempest of a storm and of emotion and then we bring everything to God in prayer and we find he can cause us to have a heart of peace a mind of peace and a heart of peace in the midst of trials and tribulations and storms whatever they may be are you gentle gentleness is there are you gentle goodness
[35:20] I love the word goodness I prefer it's very good it's clean it's complete goodness just plain honest to goodness goodness faith yes there is saving faith but the faith here that I venture on the day not knowing what the day may bring forth but my faith is in him and God holds the key to the unknown and I am glad and I fear not because my faith is in him faith in the midst of all adversity and difficulty have you faith meekness temperance that's freedom freedom to live like that bondage exists says the writer no longer are we slaves to adultery in our minds or in action fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envies murders drunkenness revelations trapped in sin thinking it is freedom a person might say look at the freedom
[36:31] I've got I'm free to speak as I like I'm free to give a piece of my mind I'm free to lose my temper I'm free to perform anything I like in my mind in my heart in my body and we say to him my dear friend you're in bondage that's not living what is freedom then somebody else might say ah then let's believe in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ don't let us also enjoy all things we might say God forbid I will take the freedom that is prescribed here that's for freedom he has set me free to love him to adore him to serve him to worship him to delight in him and the fruits of the spirit might abound in my life that is freedom and that is a lovely thing free to love free to joy in God free to know the peace of God free to be able to suffer long free to be gentle free to be good free to have this living daily faith meekness and temperance this freedom what does it amount to?
[37:42] we are able to function as men and women of grace what happened to the Galatian people was this no doubt about their faith but they were being entangled with all sorts of things I must do this I must do that I must do the other but they were forgetting one thing the loveliness of the grace of God the complete nature of salvation and the loveliness of the grace of God and I am doubting you see whether they were able to function as men and women of grace that is why the apostle is so concerned before long you see that these extras that they were taking in before long would take away from the gospel itself until it would be no gospel at all and they would be at a great loss also in their daily lives it is an exciting thing to aim in this life to say Lord as a child of thine who is forgiven whose sins are forgiven make me that I am a man or a woman of grace is at us today it's a powerful thing in a street or a road or wherever we live a man or a woman of grace is a glorious and yet a frightening and a convicting thing in whatever sphere we are there we are unmistakably Christian committed to the truth and the purity of the gospel and allowing the grace of God to flow in our lives into our mind and into our heart into our motives into our total being that we might live unto him that we might function as men and women of grace but whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word this man shall be blessed in his deed that's a lovely phrase isn't it if we shall not be forgetful of these not be forgetful of that great thing that happened in our lives when God had mercy upon us not to be forgetful of the invasion of grace and the promise of glory not to be forgetful that in our daily life he giveth and giveth more grace for every occasion and so that if we find it difficult to love then he gives us grace to love to love God and to love our neighbor we shall be blessed in our deed he longs that they might be restored and then lastly the destination of this freedom where does it take me where does it take me may I look at it like this for a moment go back to the scene there is a judge
[40:43] God there is my advocate my savior and here myself a sinner and put it as as a scene like that outside of time but I have been to the savior and believed in him and the savior is pleading for me and saying this is a forgiven soul he is dressed in my righteousness and so the judge will say you can go free your sins are forgiven there is no penalty over your head my son has met all the requirements of the law now then I know we have looked at that for a moment but let me add this then as we are going out of this imaginary courtroom feeling a tremendous elation of spirit as when we were first converted there were floods of joy filling our hearts and our minds walking on air almost I am forgiven my debt is paid I belong to God I shall be in glory and then the judge says one moment come back and you wonder what is he going to say what kind of a judge on earth would say come back
[41:49] I have made you my son that is so you see not only are you free and forgiven I have made you my son and because chapter 4 verse 6 and because he are sons God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart crying Abba Father which brings an assurance so wonderful and so great that we know don't we in an ordinary family relationship when a son or a daughter comes to a father or mother in any kind of difficulty and calls us by our name or father or mother in whatever language it is it always blows my heart to hear my children call me whether we say it in Welsh you'll say it in English or Gaelic the word for father it always touches my heart never yet has it failed to move me to hear whatever it may be or whatever request it is we have the right to call him father isn't that a wonderful thing he has sent forth the spirit of his son just a moment just a moment
[43:05] I'm sending forth because you have believed because you have believed it is the work of the spirit that convicted you of sin it is the work of the spirit that applied the merits of Christ but listen because he are sons I'm sending forth the spirit of his son into your heart crying Abba father you can call me father now that's a wonderful thing in every situation in any sorrow whatever it may be we're able from any predicament as it may be oh father oh father oh foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should be robbed of such an intimate relationship that you should be lost from the loveliness of such grace by embellishing and adding to the gospel and in so doing robbing the gospel of its unique character and of its complete nature and of its efficacy wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son than an heir of God through Jesus Christ we joy in him and this new freedom but is that the end?
[44:21] what is the end of it all? here I am a child of God by the grace of God pass our understanding a time in our lives when he laid hold upon us and brought us so that Christ as it were it tells us here was crucified amongst us as he was amongst the Galatian Christians and that we believed and we embraced him and were embraced of him and grace entered our hearts and we became the children of God and from our hearts that cry of Abba Father and we love him now you do don't you?
[44:58] and you know our love for him is deeper than we ever think even sometimes when your heart is low do you know that your love for him is deeper than you have ever imagined or thought for you see we hold him but ah we are held by him and he will never never let us go and always are the underneath are the everlasting arms of our God but what is the end of my story where do these people who have come to our knowledge of grace where is their destination of the free it is heaven it is heaven and a thought came to me you know how very important people sometimes when they visit a city and rightly I'm not criticising it they are given by the leaders of that city what they call the freedom of the city
[46:00] I'm not very sure exactly what is involved in that but I know it is a great honour and it is something very wonderful for them and they are given the freedom of the city now how do we enter into heaven how do we enter there do we come up to the door of heaven and wonder and think well yes I am a forgiven person I see there the entrance of glory I wonder if there is a little back door somewhere that I can just quietly slip amongst the congregation and the crowd there and there I find who do I find I find God himself meets me that is the astounding thing I am told that in scripture and he doesn't say to an angel or an archangel get a handkerchief get a divine handkerchief and let us wipe the little tears from the wounds of life and the afflictions and sorrows of turbulent circumstances that happen in this poor man or this poor woman's life no it is not like that he says come here my child and God himself shall wipe away all tears from our eyes did you ever hear such a thing that alone thrills my being from my heart to my mind my heart to my mind my emotions my thinking my sensitivities every part of me that God himself that Jesus Christ himself said when he was describing heaven to his disciples he said it was homely it was palatial he said let not your heart be troubled don't be so anxious about it it will be more wonderful than you think let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house home are many mansions palatial yet it is my father's house it's home yet many mansions it is palatial if it were not so
[47:51] I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am there ye may be also you shall be free to enter and you shall be given the freedom of the city there shall be an inheritance there who coerce with Christ it is beyond our imagination the frailty of our mind is not able to take in the things that God has prepared I have not seen nor ear heard neither has it come to the mind or the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him what kind of an entrance will it be it is described here whether our death should be sudden or whether slowly surrounded by our friends that is not a great difference to the welcome on the other side an abundant entrance an abundant entrance surely you must have had invitations sometimes you must come sometime or people say now come on that date at a certain time
[49:05] God doesn't say to us well maybe come sometime because we are free because we are free from condemnation because Jesus Christ has done all that for us because we have been given grace to believe because we are on redemption ground we have freedom of entry into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ what is the message in this day of confusion do not let anybody spoil this and there are many many things so many that there will be too numerous to go in the situation where I am incarnate I am surrounded by them they claim the gospel they know our language and they are this and they add that and they take away here and they entice with some and the love of some grows cold what is the word of
[50:07] God to us stand fast stand fast therefore where Lord in the liberty where with Christ no one else hath made us free and be not entangled again with a yoke of bondage be not entangled again with a yoke of bondage I waited for the Lord my God and patiently did bear at length to me he did incline my voice and cry to hear he took me from the fearful pit who wants to go back or play around the perimeter he took me from the fearful pit and from the miry clay and on a rock he set my feet establishing my way what is he saying to the Galatian
[51:09] Christians he's saying don't play around the edge of that cliff the edge of that pit come away from it he took me from a fearful pit and from the miry clay and on a rock he set my feet establishing my way then he put a new song in my mouth our God to glorify magnify many shall see it and shall fear and on the Lord rely oh blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies respecting not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies let us pray almighty God and our heavenly father we thank thee for thy grace and we thank thee oh lord and thou art able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless and we would claim oh lord in this day of confusion that we are living in that we might be conscious oh lord of the purity and the loveliness and the strength of thy gospel oh father help us to stand fast in that liberty wherewith christ has made us free for thy name's sake amen to