2 Corinthians 3 - Our Sufficiency is from God

your Bible there with you go ahead and open it up to second Corinthians chapter three second Corinthians chapter three and I'm going to read through the chapter and then we're going to get into it here see what the Lord has for us today Paul begins this chapter by saying are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you you yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by US written not with ink but with the spirit of the Living God not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts such as the confidence we have through Christ toward God not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life now if the Ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses's face because of its glory which was being brought to an end will not the Ministry of the Spirit even there excuse me have even more glory for if there was glory in the Ministry of condemnation the Ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory indeed in this case what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it for of what was being brought to an end came with glory much more will what is permanent have glory since we have such a hope we are very bold not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze that the outcome of what was being brought to an end but their minds were hardened for to this day when they read the Old Covenant that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away yet to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts but when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed now the Lord is the spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom and we all with unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit stop there let's pray Lord we give you this time that the ministry of your word might have an impact on our hearts and that it might really truly change our thinking and the course of our life we we give you Lord God this time to speak to our hearts and to direct us according to your will thank you Lord for this chapter use it we pray to minister and feed us for we ask it in Jesus name Amen you know you guys I'm sure know how many trials the Apostle Paul went through in his life I mean he'll actually enumerate them later on in this book letter and he'll talk about you know this and this and this and the other things that he went through and you and I I mean I would never sign up you know willingly for that kind of life and abuse I mean good grief but you know I think of all the things that Paul you know went through in his life the the thing that he's writing about dealing with here in 2nd Corinthians was probably one of the most most challenging things I mean here's a man who was had people throw stones at him to kill him they beat him with rods they beat him with their fists they ran him out of town you know put him threw him into prison huh I think he would have accepted all of that gladly if he didn't have to go through what he's going through in this situation and what this is is false brother who rose up in the Corinthian church to basically pick Paul apart so that they could pick apart the gospel that he preached because they don't like it you see there were people we call them Judaizers they were basically Jewish legalists they didn't get it and this and frankly Paul's gospel scared them and they believed that Jesus wasn't enough to save a person they believed that in addition to Jesus you had to also continue to keep elements of the law the law of Moses and so what they would do is they would wait until Paul had spent time in a particular location ministering raising up the church preaching and teaching and then when he left they would come after him and they would go into that area wherever it was and they would begin to tell the people Jesus isn't enough you still have to keep the law and their goal was to get people to do you know keep the Sabbath follow various food laws on and on and on you name it and that was that was their mo and in fact it happened in the churches in the region of Galatia to back Paul wrote about it let me show you this on the screen from Jenna excuse me Genesis Galatians chapter 2 this is I'm quoting this out of the NIV because I kind of just like it better it says this matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves that was their goal to make people slave slaves of what slaves of the law slaves of the law and so you know one of the strategies that these people had when they would come into a area where Paul had been was of course just to begin to talk him down so that they could eventually get to the gospel that he preached because you know if you can call into question the person who shared Christ with you right you begin to call into question everything the person ever said to you have you ever have you ever had somebody in your life who really was made a powerful impact in your life and then that person messed up majorly some of you may have may have had someone in your life might have been a TV personality who you a radio personality somebody that just you heard on on on their and and and shared they shared the gospel and you really genuinely were touched and changed and ministered to and then and then they went through a time in their life where there was a falling away of some kind or a difficulty or a moral failure and you began to question everything they ever said it happens and that's exactly why these Jewish legalists would make their way into the churches where Paul administered and they began to pick him apart start talking about Paul in a very negative sort of a way because if they can get them to question the integrity of Paul they can get them to question the integrity of the message and so they started you know discrediting him in all sorts of ways you know and you can only kind of imagine you know the kind of things they probably said you know so who's this Paul anyway and why is he an apostle it was he chosen by Jesus during his public ministry we know there there were men who he hand-picked I don't think Paul was one of them maybe he's kind of just a self-proclaimed upstart making his way out doing churches and you know this and that but who is Paul anyway I mean where does he come from and by the way do any of you guys have any proof that this Paul guy is even approved by the men whom Jesus did choose I mean did any of you get a letter did he bring a letter with him from Peter or John or one of those guys telling you that this guy was good to go and you should accept everything he says I don't think so so who is he anyway you can see how that kind of thing kind of goes that's probably why why Paul starts this chapter by saying are we beginning to commend ourselves again or his next question or do we as some new letters of recommendation to you or from you so we can go other places and minister let me just make a point here Paul was not totally against letters of recommendation he actually wrote them for other people when they would go out and minister he would he would write a letter ahead of time hate sending Timothy to you make sure he you know his needs are met and so on and so forth and so Paul wasn't totally against letters of recommendation per se but this was different you see because Paul lived among these people for a year and a half he didn't just blow into town give a quick message and blow out he stayed there for a year and a half he lived among them they got to see every day what kind of a man he was the kind of a life that he lived the kind of an apostle that he was how he responded to the Lord and and on and on and on but even though Paul had that time with them and so forth you'll notice that he goes on here to talk about letters of recommendation he doesn't go on to speak of his own qualifications right here now later on in the letter he's going to be kind of bullied into doing it but right now he doesn't do it in fact rather than giving his own qualifications for the right that he has to minister among them notice what he does in verse 2 look at verse 2 with me again he says you yourselves are our letter of recommendation that's an interesting sort of a concept isn't it in other words Paul is saying that the proof and the legitimacy of our ministry among you is ultimately you the people that we've touched right that is the fruit of ministry look at the fruit of a man's ministry or a woman's ministry that tells you a lot about that person now it doesn't tell you everything because you know what we're also to look at the fruit of that person's life but that's supposed to happen before they start ministering we look at a person's life we are fruit inspectors right you know this whole thing about you know don't judge you know don't who are you to just we've taken the whole judgment thing way too far we are to be judges were to be fruit inspectors when we look at people's lives Paul wrote to Timothy and do Titus talked to them about raising up men to minister in the church and he talked about qualifications he said hey basically look at that person's life make sure their their life is in order and that sort of thing right so you know that's the way we're to be and a man's the fruit of his life meaning his character should be in place before he begins to minister well once that is in place and he begins to minister how then do we judge his ministry well the fruit of his ministry and that's what that's the point that Paul is saying here look at look at he says listen you guys instead of a letter of recommendation how about looking at what God has done among you right your lives you heard the gospel what happened when you heard the gospel you received the Holy Spirit what happened when you received the Holy Spirit your life began to be transformed changed from the inside out you are our letters of recommendation you know this is really a very wonderful sort of a concept somewhere along the line though we forgot all about it in the Christian Church we started deciding leaders needed to be the product of accumulated credits and college degrees and stuff like that so tell me which seminary did you attend I'm not saying there's anything wrong with going to seminary I have to be really careful I don't say cemetery because that just comes out naturally or Bible College rings I mean I went to Bible College but and there's nothing wrong with you know those sorts of things but that's that's not where the sufficiency that is not where the fruit of ministry comes from and that is not where the fruit of ministry is seen but you know we we've gotten away from all of that and we started you know making it all about a man's resume or whatever and and and we need to get back to the idea of what the Bible says about you'll know them by their fruit the fruit of their lives to minister and once they begin to minister the fruit of their ministry right looking at the people that they touched and looking at their lives and so forth and by the way just in case you think I'm talking about the ministry and you're thinking well I've gotten the ministry if you are a man here today and you're married you are the leader of your home and you are in the ministry that is your first ministry my first ministry right and it's the same thing the fruit of your ministry is absolutely huge and I'll even challenge you here that to say that you know that your family men your wife your children and how they look at you and how they they view you know their home their life their relationships that is often a reflection of your ministry the fruit of your ministry right so you know it's not just when you become a minister that people can start to look at your life and it starts right there in the home and and and with our families and so on and so forth Paul goes on in verse three he explains why looking at the fruit of a man's ministry is important and this is going to transform our thinking here a little bit verse three and on it says he says you show that you are a letter from Christ did you notice that it's not from Paul it's not from Paul it's not from any of the other APOD he says you show that you're a letter from Christ but here's the part we played delivered by us Paul's the postman right and it's written this letter from Christ is written not with ink he says but with the spirit the Spirit of the Living God and it's written not on tablets of stone now he's going to do some contrasting Word pictures between the law the Old Testament law and the and the New Covenant gospel of Jesus Christ he says listen the Ministry of the Spirit is written on your heart not on tablets of stone it's on your heart and then he says in verse 4 such as the confidence that we have through Christ toward God and so stop there for a moment let me just tell you here this is the real essence of what it means to minister in Christ Paul makes it clear here he says I'm the delivery man and but the letter is written from Christ it's from Christ it's written with the spirit and he is the power he's the power behind this letter of recommendation that that that your lives represent you know what that tells us it reminds us of is that when we're looking at somebody's ministry we're not looking for what they've accomplished we're looking for what they have allowed God to accomplish through them we're looking for the the fingerprint of the Spirit in the ministry that they have performed and Men I'll even bring it back to you again in the home you know we men were challenged sometimes in our culture to kind of be men you know to man up and pull yourself up by the bootstraps you know but when it comes to the ministry of the home the Ministry of the Spirit is what's really containing the power that we need we need men whether you're in a ministry outside the home or not you need the power of the Spirit inside the home you need the power of the Holy Spirit and and and that's what you ought to see that's what that's the point that Paul is making in these verses that that you are you he's talking to the Corinthians you guys are letters from us but they're letters I'm the delivery man they're letters written by the spirit with the ink of the Spirit the Spirit of the Living God and on the living essence of your hearts and that's what makes ministry powerful the power of the Lord you know I got to take some I've been teaching now for a long time and and I started teaching and I was surprised as everybody that I had the ability to teach you know I really was when the first time I taught the Bible I was my knees were knocking and I was teaching just some teenagers you know I was I was I was a youth leader I wasn't a youth pastor yet but I been burn swaddled into you know helping out with the youth group and as soon as I got in the gal who led the youth group left I mean as soon as we got there and so I'm like and I was new in the Lord I was like really really fresh you know I didn't know what to so I was literally teaching these kids what I was learning like a couple of days before you know all right guys open your vial on a teacher this you know it was like it was fresh off the presses in my own heart you know but I started teaching and I started realizing I can do this and but you know I'll tell you something it's been 30 some years now that I've been doing this and over that time I've learned some really incredible things about the ability to teach and make a difference in somebody's life and what God has shown me and taught me is that it isn't me it's him it's his word it's the power of the Spirit and it's a lot of faith to faith really comes into it you guys know that do you understand that when you come here on a Sunday morning and you come with an attitude and a heart to receive do you know that God honors that and he does it through me and that I'm privileged to do that but to kind of you know be that that that tool but that's it I'm just like a garden tool that God just pulls out and then puts back in the shed you know and stuff and and but you know you don't when you have a beautiful flower in your lawn you don't pull out that your hoe and go look at this hole whether this hoe did this is a great hole I need to be stupid wouldn't it you just look at the flower and you go isn't that flower gorgeous well who made that flower God made that flower you don't sit and make a big deal about the the tool the instrument right like Paul says we're delivery men we've just delivered the letter of God and you are the letters of God he's the one who wrote he's the one that anointed you he's the one who empowers you to be and and to hear his word and to receive it and respond and that's what I've learned as I've been teaching the word now for over thirty years I've learned that it's God it's him and it's not me and it takes all the pressure off frankly I really like that it's him you know otherwise I would probably be really intimidated thinking that oh man you know but the fruit is from him in fact even never stop to think about even the giftings that you and I have in Christ those are four p.m. to I mean he gives you the gift and then he uses that gift and then he gives it the power to change lives and it's just really amazing anyway so that's what Paul reiterates look at verses five and six with me and these are I'm just telling you here ahead of time these are really important verses so pay attention here we go verse five not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life first of all there's a lot of things that he's saying in these verses but the thing that kind of hits me right off the get-go is just how the the fact that Paul's ministering to these people and you might say why is that weird it's because you have to understand Paul's under attack here and when you're under attack you tend to kind of go into defense mechanism mode and he's not doing that he's going to defend his ministry but in throughout the course of this letter he's also going to minister to the people the reason I I'm really impressed by that is because I know what it is to be under attack I know what it is to be criticized by people and I'll tell you how I act I'm like those little bug thingies insect thingies that when you go near them they roll up into a ball they're like what Rolly pollies and that would add to get the name from somebody in first service but what they do is they just they have kind of this outer shell that's kind of hard and so if they feel threatened they just drill there's rolling a ball you can sit and roll them around the table and stuff like that and but it's called defense mode and I get that way sometimes when people are attacking me or criticizing me I can easily go into defense mode and I love it blesses me to see the Apostle Paul even while he's being attacked loving people and ministering the Word of God into their lives that just really impresses me but one of the beautiful reminders that he passes along in these verses verses five and six is one of the privileges that you and I have in the ministry and I want to read verse six to you again please listen to this carefully he talks about God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant it's not the old Mosaic Covenant but it's the new covenant not of the letter and he's talking there about the letter of the law right not a vulnerable have you ever met somebody who's kind of a letter of the law person they're really fun to be around not they're just like always cracking the whip and you do it this way and rid this is the way we do it around they're sort of a thing you know but he says that's not the ministry that we have it's not the letter of the law because the letter of the law kills what we are ministering is the spirit because why what does he say at the very end of that verse the Spirit gives life oh don't don't hear those words and and and ignore them we get to be life givers well the spirits the life giver we get to cooperate with the Spirit as he dispenses life to people and it's one of the coolest things ever have ever noticed how much death and negativity and corruption we deal with in this world and if you sit and focus on it I mean if you really sit and focus on it like in what I'm talking about listening all day to like news talk radio you're after about a week you're going to be ready to just you're going to probably think I just need to kill everybody because that's the only answer it's just it's just rampant negativity and corruption and talking about just oh man do you know that the world's full of that and you and I you know God comes along and he says I have gifted you to be a purveyor of life along with me I'll provide the life but you get to go around doing it and the people that you talk to and the people that you minister to and the things that you are able to give to people is going to have an effect on their lives and it's not going to be negativity and it's not going to be deaf it's going to be life and not just life that is in your nostrils that you know and is regulated by the beating of your heart and talking about eternal life the life that is truly life that's what you and I get to share with people and it's awesome I mean incredibly awesome I want you to notice here as we kind of move on Paul contrasts that life-giving spirit that we're talking about in the you and I get to cooperate with with what he calls the letter that brings death and did you notice how many times he used fairly negative terminal is a ik law he calls it that which gives the Ministry of death I would like to have the Ministry of death I have the Ministry of death thank you or the Ministry of condemnation that's another term he uses and so he you know he's going to contrast the life you and I get to share with others with that which condemns and and and the reason he calls the Mosaic law that he calls it the Ministry of death and it sounds like a really negative thing it's like well Paul don't you respect the law of God you know we just went through the Ten Commandments last Wednesday night we're in Deuteronomy on Wednesday and and we I got through the 10k I didn't get through the whole chapter but we got through the ten commandments and we talked about what they are we talked about what they aren't and we really took some time to kind of unpack you know what's in those verses and you know we after we finished with the Ten Commandments my thought was these are beautiful I mean these are laws are you you can't find fault with the Ten Commandments you know what thou shalt not steal or commit adultery or or murder can you find fault with those I mean is it well I I think we ought to be able to steal you know or some like that no he's going to say that the law of God is beautiful and yet you know what it does to us it condemns us and ultimately puts us to death because we've been condemned that's what the law does you know so if you're given people the law just know that you're giving him an instrument of death and and you know you might be kind of a little confused about that from the standpoint of saying well why would God give us something that puts us to death well yeah he didn't he just gave us a beautiful set of laws it's the sin in our lives that ultimately leads to death let me show you a passage from Romans chapter 7 that kind of outlines this Paul says he says you know the law the law in and of itself he says it's holy it's the commandment is is holy it's righteous it's good so he then asked the question so did that which is good then bring death to me know it was sin sin in me sin in you that produced this death through what is good and so you see the law is good sin is bad the letter of the law kills and that's the point that Paul is is making and here's why he's making it it's because there's these Jewish legalists these Judaizers that are following him around trying to bring people under the law so he's making the point listen I'm going to contrast for you guys here for a while the outcome of the law and the outcome of the gospel of Jesus and he boy he comes out swinging he says listen the outcome of the law is death so it's going to happen but the outcome of the gospel of Jesus the Ministry of the Spirit is life and that's the part that he really wants to emphasize he goes on in this contrast look at verse 7 he says now if the Ministry of death carved on letters of stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses face because of its glory which was being brought to an end will not the Ministry of the Spirit have even more glory or he puts it in another way in verse 9 for if there was glory in the Ministry of condemnation the Ministry of righteousness must far exceed its glory and it does here's the point of all this Paul is saying that even though the law the Mosaic law results in condemnation and death for you and I it still came with glory right it still came with glory now it was a fading glory and that's the point that he's making here in as you know as he's talking to looking at verse 7 look with me again if the Ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses face because of its glory which was being brought to an end or which was fading will not the Ministry of the Spirit be even more have even more glory she's talking about when Moses used to come down from the mountain after spending protracted periods of time with God the Bible says that his face glowed yeah I was kind of like glow-in-the-dark sort of a thing you know he'd come down and Moses wasn't aware of it he's looking a mirror he comes down the hill and people are kind of like what in the world and they were a little bit freaked out by it and so Moses would wear a veil over his face Paul is making the connection that he didn't want them to see the glory fade but the the the connection he's making for you and I and second Corinthians here is that that is the characteristic of the Old Covenant it has a fading glory okay he's basically saying the picture of Moses face fading from the glory of the Lord is a picture of the law and God was showing us he's saying through that that the law had a temporary glory glory nonetheless but temporary right now Paul's going to use that picture even further look at verse 12 now as far as we're concerned since we have such a hope and our the hope he's talking about is the hope of an unfading glory in the gospel of Jesus right we're not worried I'm not worried about letting people see my life for your life or or whatever because it's an unfading glory that is reflected on us through Jesus Christ there's no fading element to it so he says since we have such a hope we're very bold we're not like Moses who had put a veil over his face so that the people you know wouldn't look at what was being brought to an end and then he says in verse 4 this is interesting here he says but their minds were hardened for to this day when they read the Old Covenant that's talking about the Old Testament that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away now do you'll notice he changes the figure of the veil and he uses it as a barrier or a cover or blinders upon those who read the Old Testament not meaning everyone but those who have rejected Christ he says there's this veil that covers their eyes and keeps them from seeing the glory of what Jesus did for them and keeps them consequently in bondage thinking they have to earn their way to heaven because that's kind of the mo of the Jews thinking they had to earn their way to heaven but it's the mo of people isn't it so what people think people think they have to earn their way to heaven so there's a veil that remains he says but then look at verse 16 this is the neat part he says but when somebody turns to the Lord the veil is removed in that cool they turn to the Lord the veil is removed you might be thinking wait a minute that seems weird wouldn't the veil be removed so they can turn to the Lord ah that's not the way things work in the kingdom of God I've talked to people who are like I just want God to show me you know this or this or this and then I'll turn to him let me take some he'll show you those things after you turned him that's the way things work in the kingdom you know faith operates as we step out in that faith and and God meets us at that place of faith but if you're waiting for God to like show you a sign so you can believe in him you're going to be waiting a long time it just doesn't work that way when you turn to the Lord the veil is removed you turn to the look it's like if God would just give me peace in my heart I would turn to him hey turn to him and he'll give you peace in your heart right you know it's it's when you take that step to come to him to respond to his word by faith faith activates that relationship boom suddenly it's just this world is open to you that didn't seem to be there and before so here's Paul's conclusion from these comments verse 17 remember he's been contrasting the old the New Covenant verse 17 now he says the Lord is the spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom I was so blessed this morning in our worship time how we sang about freedom we had two songs I don't know if you were paying attention but there were two songs that specifically talked about you know the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ your Bible by the way in this verse might use the word Liberty don't get wacked out it's the same word they mean the same thing anyway here's the deal the Judaizers the legalists were there in Corinth because they didn't get it and in fact the gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul preached scared them to death and they did not believe it was possible for people to be righteous apart from the confines of the law how in the world these people are going to do what's right when you take the law away from them they didn't get it they didn't get that when you come to Jesus the law giver comes to live inside of you and suddenly this law that was previously written on stone tablets is now written on the human heart and it's no longer though shalt not commit adultery it's I don't want to do that I want to be a faithful man right you see you see the difference the law has come inside they didn't get that and it scared them to think that you're gonna remove the law from people well you know when you come to Christ you don't remove the law from people it is now a life-giving spirit though because the Spirit comes inside to and dwell and to begin to communicate to the life of the believer the heart of God the righteousness of God right it's beautiful they didn't get it they thought well you just can't give people that kind of freedom they're just going to go they're going to go ballistic on you so they didn't understand freedom but what Paul is saying in this passage is that when we come to Christ we are set free Jesus said the same thing let me show you the passage from John chapter 8 verse 36 if the son sets you free you will be free and then even as that little you know word indeed and you know that means that means fully when the son sets you free you will be free fully or free indeed right this is the part they didn't get and frankly it's a part that a lot of Christians don't get either first of all what are we set free from or to lots of things I could go on for a long time I won't but first of all we're free from the judgement of the law the condemnation and the judgement right we're free from that when we come to Christ we're no longer under the condemnation of the law remember what Paul also wrote the for now he says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus the law has no power to condemn you any longer we are free from the Dominion of the flesh for it to dictate our lives do you understand that before you came to Christ you didn't have a choice in the matter of whether to sin or not you didn't have a choice you might have thought you had one but you didn't you are under the Dominion of the flesh when you came to Jesus he broke that Dominion we also have freedom now to live for Christ I can have a cake I have a new master you see before Christ the flesh was my master and it was ruled in the kingdom of Satan now I am free because that Old Dominion has been demolished I am free to have a new master to make it you know make Jesus my master I'm free also to enter his presence at any time that's pretty sweet here's the one that really makes people makes their head spin you are also free to walk away from God and if you're not free to walk away from God you are not free indeed listen freedom is either total or it's not total freedom and that means as a Christian you can come to the Lord with all of your heart be set free from all these things I talked to you about and then go back and live a life of sin and you know people do and I've had people come to me all hot and bothered and worried and stuff is like Pollak you know prayed to receive Jesus as my Lord and I really genuinely thought it was a real you know happening in my life but and now I'm starting to doubt it and I'll say well why why are you doubting that well because I still sin really see what they're dealing with is they're dealing with the reality that when you're set free you can choose to follow Jesus now or you can still choose to follow the flesh but I'm here to tell you don't question your salvation just because you've made a wrong choice question your heart by all means you're past your addictions or whatever the issues might be but don't question your salvation listen you've been set free some people who've gotten genuinely born-again go out the day after and do some of the dumbest things you can imagine because now they're free well pass the ball I thought when you get saved you know you're don't do that anymore really who told you that I'm not saying that we should I'm not saying that there's a license to go do those things I'm just saying that when you're set free you're set free and that means that you can still choose to sin so why is it a Christian sins we want to we choose to do you understand before you came to Christ you didn't have a choice now you do you can say no see that's the point you're not only free to go back and sin you're free to say no to it you are free now according to Romans chapter 6 to believe in your heart know in your heart that you've been crucified with Christ and sin no longer has that devilish terrain Nicolle hold over your life and you can say no no I'm not going to do that you can do that now you couldn't do it before now you can because why you're free you're free to live for Christ why did God set you free to be free that's deep isn't it you can quote me on that one you were set free to be free so go be free can I have you close here by following me over to the book of Galatians it's right after 2nd Corinthians go to Galatians chapter 5 and I'm going to have you read a verse with me and we're going to end with this Galatians chapter 5 Paul writes this for freedom Christ has set us free stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery here's the point yes I'm free to go back and sin if I want to but you know what I'm also what's going to happen I'm not free from the consequences of that choice and the consequences of that choice is I walk back into slavery the very thing Christ set me free from Paul says right here in Galatians it is for freedom that you've been set free so be free and don't go back don't go back to that yoke of slavery that once kept you away from God why would you go back and live in the slave quarters when you've been liberated to live a life unto God you're now free to choose your master choose well choose Christ he is the only master who will make you completely free and keep you completely free for when hemostats us free we are free indeed you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

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Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament, Freedom in Christ

Id: 5Zl0ppUinqQ

Length: 44min 23sec (2663 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 25 2017