Hope for Righteousness by Faith and the Spirit (Gal. 5:1-15)
Let us bless one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.” May the unprecedented blessings of God be upon you today. Last week, we received the Word of whether we will live as slaves or free people, and it made me think of a movie. It reminded me of the movie, “Braveheart,” which is about Scotland getting its independence. Imagine how hard it is for a nation to exist as a slave of another nation. Even between human relationships, if they make me uncomfortable, I want to avoid that other person, but the Bible gives us the Word, “freedom,” we have a mystery that allows us to overcome that.
There’s some people in your life I’m sure you want to avoid, you don’t want to keep meeting them. The more there are people like that, the more you’re limited. It’s possible when you come to church, you’re bothered by the things that people tell you to do. As you do that, you avoid coming into church and you become a recluse. This means, I’m in a state where I’m seized by something. Even all children want to escape from being bound by their parents. Do you think that’s true freedom, then? That’s not true freedom, but you lack the strength, so you’re trying to avoid the problem.
By God’s grace, there’s a mystery that allows you to overcome any person even if you don’t want to meet them. This power is not taught to you by Harvard University. 2000 years ago, God began to proclaim this true freedom through Apostle Paul. Paul is someone who went into prison on purpose. People who are not able to enjoy true freedom will want to avoid prison, however, Apostle Paul decided to go into prison himself. It’s because he’s someone who knows what the true snare is.
Because Paul knew what the true freedom is, he was not bound by any person, circumstance, or event. When you go to work, the hardest thing is not actually the work you’re doing; it’s the people. It’s the same thing, inside of communities and families. We do not suffer because of dogs; we suffer because of people. As we live in America, the land of America and the trees of America are not what give us a hard time; it’s the people.
What can we do to overcome these problems and enjoy? There’s something deep inside of us, the longer we interact with people, the more we’ll want to avoid people, and the more we live like that, the more we’re oppressed. If your heart and emotions are oppressed, you become abnormal, and these are the things the Apostle Paul gives us the answers to in the book of Galatians.
1. Do not be burdened by a yoke of slavery
1) Yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1)
He says, “Do not put on a yoke of slavery.” Where do you think this yoke of slavery comes from?
(1) Slave to the law (Gal. 4:9)
Gal. 4:9 says, “Do not be a slave to the law.” The law is the Word of God; however, if you become a slave to it, the law will become a heavy burden to you. The law is the Word of God, and simply put, it says, “Do this, don’t do that,” and, “There are a lot of feasts in the Old Testament, you have to observe all of them.” This law was given to us only until John the Baptist, and that was in Luke. Once Jesus Christ comes, the law has no power because the law was only necessary until Jesus Christ came. The gospel was forcing its way into us. Now, instead of being bound by the law, we are tied together with Christ, living a life of true freedom.
(2) Slave to sin (Rom. 3:20, Rom. 6:6)
Because we have the law, it reveals all of our sin. The law is the Word of God, however, if you think that your walk of faith is determined by how well you keep the law or not, it will twist your walk of faith and you will be oppressed by the law.
(3) Slave to death, Satan (Rom. 5:14, Heb. 2:14-15)
It reveals our sin so we have spiritual death and are slaves to Satan. Then we’re in a state of being slaves, invisibly. For example, the church is a type of community and there are people who are always forcing you to do things here. They feel, “I have to do this, I have to do that,” then they will react by wanting to avoid it or running away, because they don’t want to be yoked by that, they want to enjoy freedom, so they run.
2) Christ (Gal. 5:1)
How can you overcome things like that? I mentioned this in the introduction, but there are people who want to avoid meeting other people. How can you overcome this and enjoy the blessings of Christ? Gal. 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Christ has given us freedom.
(1) Truth – Set You Free (Jn. 8:32)
How do we gain this freedom? Avoiding the problem is not freedom; that’s simply weakness. John 8:32 says, “The Truth will set you free.” If someone has no education, they cannot read, so they cannot read a book. But if you become literate, you will become freed from your blindness. In the same way, if you know the words of freedom, you’ll be liberated from the things that were seizing you. What is the Truth? In John 14:6, Jesus Christ says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Jesus Christ Himself is the Truth.
(2) Freedom for the captives (Is. 61:1)
(3) Release from darkness (Is. 61:1)
(4) Bind up the brokenhearted (Is. 61:1)
Isaiah 61:1 says He is the One Who will free us from captivity. There are a lot of freedom and human rights movements taking place in China, and our nation of Korea used to have these things as well, as well as Myanmar, having a human rights liberation movement against Aung San. Why do people keep emphasizing this democratic movement? They are saying, “We no longer want to be controlled by the government, but we want to have freedom and liberty–freedom of speech, freedom of expression.” Even physically speaking, this is the case, but our internal spiritual state is also held captive.
Some people are captives to situations they experienced in the past and they cannot escape, that’s not something you can just set your mind to overcome. However, if you’re within Christ, you will have freedom. There are some people who are captives of money and cannot escape. How can we escape? Can you be set free if you make more money? You’ll be a slave to money again. If you look at the heads of conglomerates, they’re all captives to money. Even the president has a lot of power, but he himself becomes a slave to power. Look at the war Biden and Putin are creating right now. Even if Putin stayed still, Russia would be powerful, but he feels the need to wage wars, and that means he’s going deeper into captivity from his power.
It says we are set free from being prisoners. We are prisoners in the way we live our lives. Korea recently launched a rocket ship so now we’re in an arms race to establish bases on the moon in which we can live. They say the way to maintain humanity is on the moon. Instead of being trapped on earth, they want to escape that. God is moving everything from the throne of heaven but we’re trapped. We live in LA, but we’re actually trapped in LA. We may be meeting people, but we’re actually trapped by people. We cannot escape from the coronavirus pandemic; we’re trapped, and because of that, we keep facing disasters and our freedom disappears. However, if you remain within Christ, none of these things will matter, then the next question is, “What does it mean to be within Christ?” It means that through Christ, you have been liberated from sin, Satan, and hell, and now the Lord is with you.
3) Grace (Gal. 5:4)
(1) By faith (Gal. 5:5)
(2) By the work of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:5)
(3) Hope for righteousness – Complete salvation and freedom (Gal. 5:5, Rom. 1:17)
In Galatians 5:5, it says, “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.” Only through Jesus Christ can we be set free from our captivity and the things that entrap us and harden our hearts. Then it says, “Through the Spirit.” It means that the Holy Spirit has come into us. This is invisible, so it says, “by faith.” We have hope for righteousness, this is talking about the gospel of Christ; we have complete freedom within the gospel.
2. Spirit
Once we believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into us. Now, how can we enjoy freedom and liberty? Through Jesus Christ, we have been set free, and now we should enjoy that. We should enjoy that freedom; however, if your life becomes centered on yourself as your Lord again, you will be taken back into captivity and you can’t escape that.
1) My Law (Heb. 8:10)
The background of Heb. 8:10 is this, God gave them the 10 commandments written on the stone tablets, but no matter what He did, the people could not obey it, so God says, “I will write it directly on their hearts and their minds.” Simply put, a parent may try to teach and discipline a child as much as they can at home, but they cannot follow their children all the way to school, so the parent is saying, “I will be with you forever and always.”
(1) Law of Spirit and Life (Rom. 8:2)
He says, “My law,” the law of the Spirit of Life. Now, we are no longer under the system of the law of sin and death; we have gone into the system of the law of the Spirit of Life. This is a system where we are coming to life by the control of the Holy Spirit.
(2) Write in their minds, heart (Heb. 8:10, Jn. 14:26)
He will place this into our thoughts and our hearts. In Jn. 14:26 Jesus says the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, will be inside of you. Where do we get freedom from? We get freedom depending on how much we enjoy the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is inside of me, but the harder I try on my own, the harder I will be a captive. The law is indeed the Word of God, but when I become the main figure, trying to accomplish it on my own, I will be ensnared by that trap. However, if I allow the Holy Spirit within me to do it, everything becomes easy because the Holy Spirit is the perfect God. Therefore, how can we enjoy true freedom? We must believe and pray for the Holy Spirit to completely fill and work upon our thoughts and minds.
(3) Union with God and people (Heb. 8:10, Jn. 14:27)
I’ve become a child of God, meaning that through the Holy Spirit, I have become united with Him. In the past, we had to look upon the 10 Commandments and only remember occasionally, but now, the Holy Spirit is with me, united and constantly guiding me. That’s why God says He will not leave the Holy Spirit outside; He will leave the Holy Spirit within me.
2) Faith- Prayer
The fact that the Holy Spirit is within me means I hope you will pray in faith for the Holy Spirit to fill your thoughts, mind, spirit, brain, and physical body. If you do not leave that space for the Holy Spirit to work, you keep on trying to do things on your own, and if you do things on your own, you will be ensnared.
(1) Holy Spirit- Works inside me (Jn. 14:17)
Allow the Holy Spirit to work. When I wake up in the morning, I do this: I enjoy the fact that Christ has set me free from the curses and disasters of sin and is with me right now. If Christ is with me now, He must work upon me. May the Holy Spirit work upon my thoughts, my heart, my Spirit, everything inside of me, then what will take place? An amazing thing. For people who are depressed, when the Holy Spirit takes control of you, one day, the depression will disappear. If you have your own standards that are preventing you from enjoying your relationships with people, then the Holy Spirit will allow you to overcome that. The Holy Spirit is invisible, so I hope you will begin the prayer of faith, and I hope you’re able to enjoy this every day.
(2) Holy Spirit- My family, Business, Studies, Field
Not only does this take place within me, but the Holy Spirit works upon my work and studies as well, and I have my family. Of course, I cannot control my family however I want to; that’s why you allow the Holy Spirit to control so that I’m not doing anything, but the Holy Spirit takes the lead. It is a mystery of continuously enjoying this freedom. If there’s something that seems difficult for you to do, then there’s no need for you to do it; allow God to do it. The Lord is with me to do this.
(3) Holy Spirit- All people connect with me
There are people who are related to your life. By your standards, you cannot make those people into blessings because first, they have to get along with you. We have to get on the same level, we have to have similar personalities, so the only people you can get along with are one or two people. You’re living in society and there are so many people who are different from you. But our lives are so difficult because we have to meet with him every day, so I hope you will pray for all the people related to your life to be worked upon by the Holy Spirit. Then, you will receive freedom.
If somebody fails a few more times, they will have trauma and they cannot challenge. They live their entire lives, bent over because of their experiences. That’s my level and my ability. It will not work by myself; God must work upon that. Once the Holy Spirit works upon my failures and traumas, then I can overcome them with the Holy Spirit’s power. When you actually begin to pray in faith for this, you will begin to enjoy true freedom, but if that doesn’t take place, you can only do the things you can do and you won’t be able to do the things you cannot do, so people are bound to be smaller and smaller.
3) Continuous, Concentrate
Who are the people who enjoy true freedom the most? The ones who continuously enjoy this freedom. Avoiding a problem is not true freedom; the problem being irrelevant is true freedom. In order for that problem to be irrelevant, God must completely control me. Even at this time, as you listen to the Word of God, may the Holy Spirit within me completely control and fill me. If you just listen to the words of the sermon, you can only understand at the level of your IQ; instead, pray that the Holy Spirit will work. If you’re sitting here, you’ll worry about all the things you have to do, but pray for the Word of God to work upon that.
By the work of the Holy Spirit God has given to me, I must step back. But if I try to take the lead, I will have to keep avoiding my problems. Even as you’re sitting right now, pray for the Holy Spirit to work upon all the work, the studies, and the people you must meet throughout this week. People don’t do that because they don’t believe it, then because they have to face it with their own strength, they face their limitation, but if you really know what the Lord says, it’s a blessing, because you don’t have to study or work; you’re just sitting still, and you turn that into success.
“God, work upon me so I have no choice but to be blessed.” The dumber you are, the more you should pray for the Holy Spirit to control your brain because you don’t have any ability to do this. There are some times you’ll see someone you really don’t like, and then pray for the Holy Spirit of the Lord to work upon that. Then God will change the circumstances, and God will change my thoughts and emotions. But instead of doing this, you try to do it with your own strengths and legalism so you’re bound. You must have the mystery that enjoys true freedom through the prayer of faith.
(1) What we see and hear
Especially starting on Monday, as you start to go to work or school, there are many things you see or hear. As you see and hear those things, you will continue to be trapped in your environment. I hope you will enjoy true freedom there as well. Allow God to work in everything you are hearing and seeing. You are hearing it but you’re not seized by it, then, because there’s so many bad situations and so many bad words we hear. At your level, you’re bound to be seized by them. Even if you just watch violent movies, a person is bound to become violent, that’s human.
(2) Mental problem
If someone is surrounded by terrible circumstances, their life will become strange, and that is why we’re seized by these things, and that’s my level. Pray for God to work, then I won’t be seized by that. That’s the level that enjoys true freedom after being a slave. What if I or someone in my maternal family has a mental problem? If somebody is depressed, they will constantly be in that state. If they’re not just sad because it’s raining outside, even if they’re staying still, they feel depressed. There are other people who are just staying still, but the scars of their past just keep seizing them, and there’s nothing that they themselves or anyone else could do about it. They say, “I thought believing in Jesus Christ would make it better, but nothing is getting better.”
Pray for the Holy Spirit of God to work upon that. The reason you’re seized is because you keep on trying to do things with your own strength and effort. You must take a step back and pray for the Holy Spirit of God to work, because God, without a doubt, works invisibly. The air is invisible but it’s there. We’re able to have reception on our phones because of the signal waves. Even shamans work upon their evil spirits so they can tell your future. The Holy Spirit of God is invisible but he is actually working right now. The prayer that believes in and enjoys the working of the Holy Spirit will give you true freedom. The Holy Spirit, the Counselor, will protect you, guide you, and remind you.
In John 14:26, it says this Holy Spirit will teach you by teaching you and reminding you of the words of Jesus Christ. If you know anyone or you yourselves are mentally afflicted, you’ll be afflicted 24 hours a day, it may be the greatest opportunity to concentrate on the words of Jesus Christ and pray for 24 hours. People keep trying to escape from this problem, but how can we do that? We can only escape by the work of the Holy Spirit when we listen to the Word of God, and as we keep on enjoying this, we live in a state where we’re set free from our mental disorders and depression.
(3) Diseases
It’s possible you come from a family that has physical diseases, but we keep on trying to heal that. If it were meant to be healed, it would already be healed, but even after believing in Jesus, it still hasn’t been healed. Then the disease is not the issue itself; we must enjoy true freedom, the true spiritual blessing of being with Jesus Christ. As you enjoy the spiritual blessing, the result that follows is physical healing. We need to first receive this spiritual, fundamental blessing. The working of the Holy Spirit to not care if there are problems or not, that’s what we call true freedom.
Just because a problem is resolved, does not mean you’re free; they must be irrelevant to you. If a circumstance comes to your life, it must be irrelevant to you; that’s true freedom. If someone says something to you, that’s what we call “Irrelevant,” but if you’re influenced by that, you don’t have true freedom. God may heal the disease, or according to His plan, He may keep the disease. If God allows you to stay in this disease, He is leaving it there as an instrument for blessings. The Holy Spirit of Christ has already gone into you, so may you enjoy true freedom in faith. Instead of being carried away by your thoughts, instead, receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
There are things we feel but we must not follow our emotions because that is not the truth; we must pray for the working of the Holy Spirit. My expression looks very offensive but you must not be deceived by that, you shouldn’t make decisions based solely on how you feel. If someone just meets me, “I don’t like that person’s expression,” then they never meet me, that’s their loss. Yes, I do look very offensive, but you should pray for me, “Father God, I met someone who looks very offensive today, may you work upon them.” It means you will no longer rely on your emotions.
If you rely on your emotions, you will be bound by them. That’s why you pray for the working of the Holy Spirit to escape from your emotions and be free, then there’ a lot of opportunities to enjoy freedom. The manager at your company is so oppressive, but if you say something to them, you’ll get fired or you have to endure. As you endure, it becomes cancer. So even though you’re Christian, you cannot enjoy. God, please work upon this manager with the Holy Spirit. Then God’s works must take place. The Lord tells us that all people with proper authority have been awarded this by God. If they are causing you stress, pray for them.
3. Called to be free (Gal. 5:13)
The third point is, “We are called to be free,” and now that we have this freedom, we can live however we want, right? However, do not use this freedom to indulge in the flesh, to the path of corruption. Do you know the thing that offends non-believers the most? They say this in movies. “This person is a murderer, but they said the Lord forgave them, so they’re so shameless about it now.” Do not live like that. There are a lot of people who misunderstand and it doesn’t mean that person won’t go to heaven; they will go to heaven, but don’t use that as an opportunity to be corrupt. Yes, it is true that I can smoke or do drugs or other things, because that doesn’t take away my salvation. But the reason I smoke cigarettes, do drugs, and drink alcohol, is because of my weakness because I don’t have the strength or freedom to live without these things. I have the freedom to do those things, but do not use that as a way to indulge in the flesh or corruption.
1) Freedom
(1) Do not indulge the flesh (Gal. 5:13, Ecc. 11:9)
(2) Do not use to cover-up evil (1 Pt. 2:16)
1 Peter 2:16 says do not use our freedom as a cover-up for evil. We might do something wrong, but do not use the freedom, “Oh, I have the freedom to do this in Christ,” which is a cover for the evil. That’s what unbelievers and unbeliever families hate the most. If you do something wrong, you need to apologize for it, but people say, “It’s okay because I’m a child of God,” other people will look at you like you’re crazy. The relationship between the person is with God, but this person is not God. If you do something wrong towards that person, you need to apologize to them for them to understand, but you say, “The Lord will know, and yes the Lord does know, but that person doesn’t know anything. That person, they look at me as a human.
(3) To not be a stumbling block to the weak (1 Cor. 8:9)
1 Cor. 8:9, “Be careful that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” the background for this verse in 1 Cor is they were in the church of Corinth, which was very heavy in idolatry, and whenever they worshiped idols, they would sell these meats, and there was a salesperson who would sell these meats at a discounted price, and there were new believers who would hear, “Don’t eat meat sacrificed to idols,” but they would see older believers eating that meat, then the new believer would lose their faith so do not be a stumbling block because of your freedom to eat that meat. We are within Jesus Christ, so it doesn’t matter even if we eat the meat sacrificed to idols, it doesn’t influence us. However, if someone is weak in faith, they will say, “Oh, we’re not allowed to do that,” and they will become oppressed by it. So, do not use your freedom to break down the faith of those around.
2) Freedom
(1) “I have the right to do anything,” but not everything is beneficial (1 Cor. 10:23)
1 Cor 10:23 says, “Everything is permissible,” But just because we can do anything, does not mean it’s beneficial. Yes, we can do whatever we want when we come to church, but is that beneficial? We have the freedom, but is it beneficial? That’s what we must consider. Will this be beneficial to the church? Will this be beneficial to the family? Will this be a benefit to American society? Yes, you can do what you want, however, we must use that freedom in a way that benefits everyone.
(2) “I have the right to do anything,” but not everything is constructive
(3) Not my own good, but the good of others (1 Cor. 10:24)
Everything is permissible but not everything is constructive. You do anything you want, but later on, it’s not productive at all. Therefore, 1 Cor. 10:24 says no one should seek their own good, but the good of others. For someone who isn’t able to enjoy true freedom yet, this becomes another yoke of slavery for them; they think, “I have to do this at church as well?” That is why, once you enjoy the freedom of the Holy Spirit of Christ within you, you can then use that freedom to help others, because the fulfillment of the law in the 10 commandments is to love God and love people. We do not throw away the law; we complete the law. Never by my strength, but the work of the Holy Spirit.
In the introduction, we talked about all the hard things in our lives, “I don’t want to meet this person” or “this is a big problem”, but it is because we’re the main figures of our life, but if God becomes the main point of our lives and moves everything in the direction of saving people.
3) Freedom
(1) Serve one another to raise people (Gal. 5:13)
(2) Through the Gospel, love your neighbor as yourself (Gal. 5:14)
(3) Freedom to raise and save people
Gal. 5:13 says, “Rather, serve one another.” I can only serve another when I enjoy the true freedom with the Holy Spirit within me, and every person has their own time schedule for this. If someone is still struggling to fight with their own strength, when things don’t go their own way, they will have a hard time. You need to teach them the gospel so they will properly understand. Some people have accepted this gospel and were so happy about it, but they are still struggling. Teach these people to rely on the blessings of the Holy Spirit that is inside of them. Then, from those who do enjoy the spiritual blessings, use that freedom to serve one another. May this be the time when all your thoughts be filled with the gospel of Christ, to enjoy true freedom.
Conclusion
1. Through the Gospel, we have freedom
2. Through the Holy Spirit, we have freedom in all our life
3. Through the freedom, raise and save all people
Let’s conclude the Word. The only way to escape from the invisible forces of sin, curses, Satan, and death, is only through Jesus Christ. There’s nothing else that could set us free. Even if you pray 1000 times, you can only enjoy true freedom only by believing in the work Christ did on the cross. How can we enjoy this freedom continuously? The Holy Spirit inside of me must work on me as my master, that is how I enjoy true freedom. If a person continuously enjoys freedom, their expressions will change. If someone is constantly worrying, then their facial expressions will show that. They will have dark circles under their eyes. I have two very prominent wrinkles on my face and you can see the states of the non-believer on my face, but it’s not just me; my wife has those, too, and she says she went to church ever since she was little, but inside, I think she and I are the same, we are both bearing heavy burdens. I don’t say that but that’s what I think inside. Even if we go to church, if we cannot enjoy this true freedom, we have very deep wrinkles.
I went to Korea recently, and they said, “Hey, you don’t have any wrinkles.” I said, “Why would I have wrinkles?” You have to keep furrowing your brow to develop wrinkles, but now, there’s no more reason for me to furrow my brow, so the wrinkles I have are actually lessening as I get older. Someone came to me and said they get a Botox treatment every year to flatten out their wrinkles, and I asked, “Why do you do that?” They say, “If I don’t get botox, I look at the mirror and think, ‘Who is this old person?’” and I’m a few years younger than this person, still, so I don’t need botox yet. I believe the freedom of the Holy Spirit is our eternal botox. You have seen me for about 10 years so you know. May you enjoy this freedom continuously Once you do get the strength, may you use that to save and serve the weaker people. May you continuously enjoy these blessings.
Prayer
Let us pray holding onto the Word God has given us today, “May the Holy Spirit of God control me fully. At this time, may the Holy Spirit work upon all the fields related to my life. Without a doubt, He is working invisibly. Let us pray.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Prayer
Father God, we thank You. Thank You for giving us true freedom from we, who were trapped in our sin, Satan, death, and curses, and giving us true freedom in only Christ. Now, we thank You for the Holy Spirit who is directly guiding our lives directly, giving us true freedom. We pray we may use this true freedom to save others. We have returned Your material blessings as offering. We pray that everywhere it is used, true freedom may be spread. We pray that You will work and answer all the hands giving the offering with the economy of light. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the people of God, the multiethnic people, and the remnants, who desire to be within Christ, with the working of the Holy Spirit, to serve and save many people, be from now until forevermore always, amen.