GALATIANS 5
9 Outlines
Galatians 5:1-6
GETTING IT RIGHT!
THE CHALLENGE Vs. 1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of
bondage.
THE CAUTION Vss. 2-4
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye
be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. [3] For I testify again to
every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. [4]
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
THE COMFORT Vs. 5
For we
through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
THE CONDITION Vs. 6
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision;
but faith which worketh by love.
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Galatians
5:13-18
RIGHT LIVING
THE WAY
Vss. 13-14
The way is
to love one another.
THE WARNING
Vs. 15
The warning
is against fighting with the brethren.
THE WALK
Vs. 16
The walk is
to be in the power of the Holy Spirit
THE WAR
Vs.17
The war is
between the flesh and the spirit.
THE WINNER
Vs. 18
The winner
is the one who is led by the Spirit
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Galatians 5:1
STAND FAST!
Galatians 5:1 - Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
I know a lady who had a
very rough childhood. Her father abused and ridiculed her, showing no love to
speak of. Her father has passed away, so technically she is free from her
father. But because of her failure to forgive, the lady is still in bondage to
her father. She still lives with pain.
I know another lady who
was a schoolteacher. Her first principal mistreated her. She was fired. Since
that time, she held other teaching positions very responsibly. She was free from the first principal, and
yet she was not free because she failed to forgive him. She has a hard, sad countenance.
I know a man who
wrestled with the doctrine of salvation and finally came to know Christ as
Savior. The man was now free to serve
God as a Christian. However, because of a critical spirit, which made him
continuously dissatisfied. He really wasn't free.
The people I have just
mentioned are examples of a difficulty with which all born again Christians
wrestle at one time or another. It is
the problem of being set free, but being in bondage. The people I just
mentioned were free because they were forgiven. They were free because they
were going to Heaven, and free because they had potential victory over
sin. They were free, but they were still
in bondage to a critical or unforgiving spirit.
In the Book of Galatians
Paul deals with a similar problem. The Galatians, who were mostly Gentiles
before being saved, were set free from the bondage of sin and the rules and
regulations of Gentile religion. But now, they were listening to false teachers
called Judaizers, who were teaching the Galatians
that they needed to observe Jewish Old Testament Law in order to be good
Christians. They were trying to bring the Galatians back into bondage.
God has a wonderful plan
for the life of every Christian. It is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in
freedom all our days. We are free to do
what He wants us to do, when He wants us to do it, and in the way he wants us
to do it. We have freedom to do what is
right!
God's enemy, Satan,
wants us to be in bondage to law keeping, to guilt, to unforgiveness, to a
critical spirit, to anger, to worry, to habitual sin of any kind. He wants anything
possible to keep us from serving God freely.
The good news is that
there is freedom from bondage for the Christian. This freedom is found in Christ as Galatians
5:1 explains.
DECLARATION -
Christ hath made us free,
When Paul talks about being
free he talking to those who have accepted the free gift of salvation found in
Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9, John 1:12
We are free from the
penalty of sin. Romans 5:6-9, Romans 8:1-2
We are free from the
problem of law keeping. This is the context of Galatians 5:1. We are not
dependent upon law keeping to get to Heaven.
We are free from the
power of sin. Romans 6:14
When Christ comes we
will be free from the presence of sin. 1 John 3:1-2
(The above outline is
not original with me. I have seen it often with the exception of the word
"problem".)
DANGER -
be not entangled again with the yoke of
bondage.
Christ had set the
Galatians free. But now they were in danger of being entangled or entwined with
a yoke. A yoke was a big piece of wood placed around the neck of an animal to
keep that animal under control. When the Galatians tried to add law keeping to
their faith in Christ, they were putting on a new yoke of bondage. When a
person is trying to keep religious law he is in bondage to detail, trying to keep
everything perfectly. He is also in bondage to guilt if he breaks that law.
There is a better yoke
than the yoke of bondage. There is the
yoke of Christ. Matthew 11:28-30
Allow Christ to control
you through His Spirit. If He is in control, you will do what is right. His yoke is easy! His burden is light!
DELIVERANCE -
Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free,
When a person is saved,
he is saved by faith. Romans 5:1
The work of the Spirit
of God (John 3:1-7, John 16:8-11, 1 Corinthians
We are delivered from
bondage as we stand fast in the same original liberty that set us free in
Christ! As we stand fast in the control
of the Holy Spirit we will delivered from bondage in our daily lives. Ephesians 5:18
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Galatians 5:13 etc.
IMPROVING YOUR SERVE
According to Galatians
Other Scriptures
including Ephesians
Let us consider how we
can improve our serve, the way we work in behalf of others.
ACKNOWLEDGE CHRIST'S
EXAMPLE - John 13:1-17
Our Lord Jesus set the
example of service by taking on the lowly task of washing the Disciples' feet.
He also indicated that His disciples were to follow His example. Vss. 13-17
ACCEPT THE FACT THAT
JESUS WANTS YOU TO BE A SERVANT - Mark
The Gentiles exercise
great authority over those under them. Vs. 42
It is to be different
among believers. The great among Christians are to be servants. Vs.43
And the greatest
Christian of all is to be servant of all. Vs. 44
Again, Jesus sets the
example. Vs. 45
ATTAIN THE ATTITUDE OF A
SERVANT - Philippians 2:1-8
The attitude of a
servant is manifested in Vss. 1-4
The example of this
servant attitude is found in Christ. Vss. 5-8
ACT AS A SERVANT OF
CHRIST - Galatians 5:13-14
To act as a servant of
Christ is to serve others in Love.
Two Biblical examples of
serving others in love.
The Philippians served
Paul. - Philippians 4:14-16
Onesiphorus - 2 Timothy 1:16-18
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Galatians 5:13-18
GIVE ME
1. Serve each other in
love. - "...but by love serve one another."
2. "Love thy
neighbor as thyself." - Vs. 14
3. Don't "bite and
devour". - Vs. 15
4. "Walk in the
Spirit." - Vs. 16
1. The conflict is
between the Spirit and the flesh. - Vs. 17
2. We are to be led by
the Spirit. - Vs. 18
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Galatians 5:16-21
STAY OUT OF THE MUD!
Children like to play.
If we are wise parents, we let children play.
We let the boys play with trucks and cars, and the girls with dolls and
house stuff. We allow both to play outside
on swings and slides and we encourage them to play games such as "hide and
seek" and "tag". However,
there is at least one place I never wanted my children to play, and that was in
the mud! Mud is dirty. Mud is filthy.
Mud leaves tracks on carpets and floors. Mud produces extra baths and extra
loads of dirty clothes to wash. I would
advise any children, "Stay out of the mud!"
Our heavenly Father has
the same desire for His children. He wants us to stay out of the mud called
sin! See 1 John 1:5-2:2.
Our text shows us how to
stay out of the mud, and some specific sins to avoid if we are going to remain
pure.
THE SURE WAY - Galatians
THE SURE WARFARE -
Galatians 5:17-18 - The war is between the "flesh" and "the
Spirit". As I am led by the Spirit, I will win the war.
THE SURE WARNING - Vss.
19-21 - Here is a list of sins to avoid.
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Galatians 5:19-26
CONTRASTING LIFE
STYLES
There are two ways
to live the Christian life. One way, following the leadership of "the
flesh" is the wrong way. The other
way, following the leadership of the Holy Spirit is the right way.
WORKS OF THE FLESH
Vss. 19-21
WEALTH THROUGH THE
SPIRIT Vss. 22-23
WALK IN THE SPIRIT
Vss. 24-26
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Galatians 5:22-23
CHAMPIONS OF THE SPIRIT
(This will probably work
best as a Sunday School Lesson. I would hand out notes, so the class can
follow along and also have the Scripture references for future use. This lesson also lends itself well to
discussion. You can ask them to figure
out how each example exemplified that particular fruit of the Spirit. For instance, have them share how Mary
demonstrated love, or Joseph longsuffering.
Have the class think of other Biblical examples besides the ones you
have given.)
This passage gives us
the "fruit of the Spirit." In
the Bible, there are people who demonstrated each part of the fruit during some
portion of their lives.
LOVE - MARY - Luke
10:38-42, John 12:1-8
JOY - PAUL AND SILAS -
Acts
PEACE - DANIEL - Daniel
seemed to be always at peace when in difficult situations. Daniel 1,2,5,6
LONGSUFFERING - JOSEPH -
Genesis 39-41
GENTLENESS - RUTH - Ruth
1-4
GOODNESS - Onesiphorus - 2 Timothy 1:15-18
FAITH - STEPHEN - Acts
6-7
MEEKNESS - MOSES -
Numbers 12
TEMPERANCE
(SELF-CONTROL) - DAVID - He had two opportunities to kill his enemy Saul and
didn't. 2 Samuel 24
and 26.
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Galatians 5:22-26
THE SPIRIT CONTROLLED LIFE
Ephesians
Galatians 5:22-26 elaborates on this idea.
THE WORTH OF THE SPIRIT CONTROLLED LIFE Vss. 22-23
THE WALK OF THE SPIRIT CONTROLLED LIFE Vss. 24-25
THE WARNING OF HINDRANCES TO THE SPIRIT CONTROLLED
LIFE Vs. 26
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