A man stands on a shoreline in a sunset, arms outstretched, with all hues of red, white, blue, purple. Let us be on guard to keep the beauty and glory of our gracious freedom always in front of our people, lest anyone so foolishly leaves freedom for the sake of slavery.

True and Lasting Freedom in Christ

On this day full of fireworks and watermelon, we Americans celebrate our freedom. Two hundred and forty-seven years ago, our Founding Fathers made a bold declaration in Philadelphia that the colonies would no longer be under the reign of King George III. The cost of this declaration was great bloodshed. The reward—freedom that birthed the United States of America.

After everything that went into securing victory during the American Revolution, imagine if a few years later the founding fathers decided to give it all back. Freedom was nice. It was certainly costly, but perhaps King George and England were not all that bad. Why not be taxed without representation? Why not voluntarily give freedom back? It is, of course, an absurd thought. Freedom is always the highest value.

And yet, this is the basic problem of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Galatia had received the gospel of grace, the good news that mankind was not justified by works of the law but through faith in Christ (2:16). The grounds of this gospel are the merits of Christ who has redeemed us from the curse of the law (3:13). Because of His sacrifice, we are no longer children of the slave, but of the free (4:31).

We have true and lasting freedom in Christ.

We are free from the law. Free from sin and shame. Free to live our new Spirit-empowered lives that Jesus has purchased at the cross. And yet, the Galatians seemed unaware that they were actively surrendering their freedom and returning to the burden of the law. They had begun believing a different gospel that is not gracious (1:6) and confuses works and faith (3:2). This seems to have happened under the leadership of the apostle Peter (2:11).

Free people returning to slavery—this is the Galatian heresy in a nutshell. Under the influence of the Judiazers, a branch of the church taught that while yes, it is important to believe in Jesus on the cross, it was equally important to submit to the Jewish law. A mixing of grace and works. A return to slavery.

The Judiazers are no longer around today officially, but Galatians teaches a principle that is still true today. God’s people are quick to return to slavery. Absurd? Of course. But it is the reality. Therefore, as pastors, we must always be on guard to keep our people from any form of teaching that surrenders our blood-bought freedom.

Here are two points of application:

1. Avoid law-only preaching

The easiest way to get an emotional response from a Sunday sermon is to preach the law heavily.

You look at your phone more than your Bible!

            People are going to hell because our missions budget is so low!

            You’re a terrible Christian!

That kind of preaching will surely get an emotional response and will likely even lead to action, but it will lead to the wrong kind of action. Motivation by guilt is slavery, not freedom. The guilt-driven pastor has, like Peter, fallen out of step with the gospel (2:14). He has confused the gracious merits of Christ with our works.

Properly used, the law does reveal our guilt. Guilt ought to drive us toward grace. And then grace leads to action. The outline of the Heidelberg Catechism is guilt leads to grace, which leads to a life of gratitude. Guilt through the law is a necessary step to redemption.

But there is a different type of preaching that focuses on guilt and then jumps over grace to get to action. It presents a functional message of “do better.” My sense is that this type of preaching often comes from an insecurity in the pastor who feels the need to justify his sermon by getting an emotional response from congregants.

Preacher, be confident in the regular rhythm of Christ-centered preaching that is freedom-filled. Avoid the cheap preaching of guilt that has no end. Resist the temptation of burdening your people for the sake of your desire to feel justified in what you preach.

2. Commit to freedom-producing preaching

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones provides a sharp statement for pastors to make sure we are truly preaching grace. We see this in his comments concerning Romans 6:1, in which Paul states: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!”

“The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. This is a very good test of gospel preaching. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel.”

Point taken.

Freedom in Christ is so free that it depends entirely on Christ, not us. It’s free and sovereignly extended. The gospel is the good news of what has happened, not moral advice on how to improve our lives religiously.

Christ has won our freedom; his blood was shed. He secured the battle victory. The Spirit has birthed the church, the assembly of those who are free. And yet, the stubbornness of sin creates a desire to leave the home of the free and return to more wicked law-based masters. Because we are sinfully bent on ourselves, in the flesh we prefer a gospel that includes our works as part of the equation. This must be put to death, or else it will slowly steal the joy of free grace.

Today as we wave our sparklers and listen to “America the Beautiful,” we receive a reminder of how costly and glorious freedom is. For all our national issues, America is still the land of the free.

But even more so, we live as truly free in the home of the church, in the gospel. We are free, not just from an earthly king, but from greater dangers of sin, self, and Satan. Brother pastor, let us be on guard to keep the beauty and glory of our gracious freedom always in front of our people, lest anyone so foolishly leaves freedom for the sake of slavery.

©2023 Jon Saunders. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

About The Author

Jon Saunders
Jon Saunders

Jon is married to Vanessa and is father of Lillian, Eleanor, Henry, Marion and Katherine. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and Calvin Theological Seminary. He formerly served at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Mich., as the pastor of campus ministry, before moving to Detroit to help with the planting of Redeemer.

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