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Well, hello, friends. Good morning. Please turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. We'll be looking at verses 11 through 15 today. Galatians chapter 5, beginning in verse 11. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.

I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. For you were called to freedom, brethren. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Well, notice, first word, or certainly who this is directed to in verse 11, brethren, beloved family, verse 11, brethren. These verses are addressed to the believers in Galatia and certainly by application to us here today.

This is talking to the church family, brethren, the ones beloved. To Paul. These are the ones of the like faith. It's important as we go through these verses to keep that in mind. This is written to the beloved believers of Paul. Now, there's certainly application beyond those boundaries, but certainly keep that in mind as we go through.

You know, one of the most important things about your life is running to the right goal, running toward the right goal in life. On October 25th, 1964, there was a football game, professional football game, between the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers. In a very dramatic play, the offense, the San Francisco 49ers, fumbled the ball.

James Marshall, the defensive end, recovered the ball, and he picked up and started running to the goal line. Except in all the confusion, he was running to the wrong goal line. Well, he crossed the line into the end zone, throws the ball out, turns around, expecting to be greeted and celebrated with his teammates, only to find that looking him in the face was a member from the The opposite team saying thank you for putting some points on our scoreboard.

Well, I tell you, what goal are you running toward? You know, many of us run toward the goal of our own dreams. You've heard that. That's the mantra of our society. Follow your own heart, realize your own dreams, and break free from anything and anyone that would hold you back from your dreams.

Have you heard that? That is the way we think largely in our society. Have you ever heard the term bucket list? What's on your bucket list? What is a bucket list? Well, it's a list of things that people want to experience in life before they die. A bucket list.

What's on your bucket list? And usually, what people put on their bucket list answers one or several of these questions. What do I want to do before I die? What do I want to have before I die? Or what do I want to accomplish before I die? How many things that are on your bucket list are basically answers to that question.

What you want to do, what you want to get, or what you want to accomplish. And oftentimes, those dreams and those values are put there. By somebody else. Maybe you're trying to live out somebody else's dreams for your life. Or maybe you're trying to live out your own.

But it's clear that many of these goals are a product of the human imagination. Do, get, accomplish. And they also tell us a little bit something about our performance-driven mentality. We are so driven by performance, we don't even realize it. Do, get, accomplish. Realize your dreams. Or maybe realize somebody else's dreams for you.

But you know, a better question is: what does God want me to be? What does God want me to be? It's probably a better question for us. What is God's goal for my life? And certainly for the Christian, this is true. This is the question we need to be answering.

What is the goal line that God has involved in mind for me? What is that? Well, the answer in Scripture is very clear: Christ-likeness. That's the goal line. God's goal for your life and my life is Christ's likeness. Regardless of what else you may. Be called to do and accomplish and all that, God's goal is Christ-likeness.

It's for you to grow in Christ-likeness, to be running to the goal, no matter what is coming into your life. What God wants you to do is run toward the goal of Christ-likeness, to be like Christ in whatever circumstances you find yourself in. And many times those circumstances are ordained by God to produce and to grow Christ-likeness in you.

To what goal line are you running? Christ-likeness, God's accomplishment, or human achievement, do get and accomplish. Well, as we've been working our way through this passage here in chapter 5, we realize that the gospel is about freedom, and life in the spirit is about freedom. Verses 1 through 6 of this section, verse 1, it was for freedom that Christ set us free.

You were freed for freedom. That is, you are freed to be and live in a wide open space. Verses 7, you were running well. Verses 7 through 10, you were free. To run. You were freed for freedom, and you were freed to run. That is, you were free to advance swiftly, to cover territory.

That's what you were freed for. And today, in our verses 11 through 15, we'll look at you were also freed to love. You were freed for freedom, you were freed to run, and you were freed to love. That is, you were free to have godly affections, not fleshly affections.

That's what you were freed for, is to have godly affections, to have the very same affections that Christ had and has. That is what you have been freed for. So, again, to what goal line are you running? Both Paul's example and his instruction in these verses demonstrate that the Christian life is a life of love.

Of course. And I want you to look at three objects that we have been freed to love this morning so that we will be good stewards of this gospel freedom that we have. Three objects, three ways, three objects in which we are to love. We are free to love, first of all, the cross of our Lord.

You have been freed to love and freed to love the cross of our Lord. Lord. Look back at verse 11. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. Well, we can learn by Paul's example here in these verses that this love for the cross of our Lord expresses itself in two ways.

Expresses itself in two ways. First of all, it expresses itself, the love for the cross, expresses itself by proclaiming the cross, preaching the cross. Look back at Paul, verse 11. If I still preach circumcision, if I am yet still preaching circumcision, this verse indicates that some of the Judaizers, some of his opponents, seem to have been saying that Paul himself believes in circumcision and is preaching circumcision.

And that is the whole performance-based relationship of the Mosaic law that's attached to that ordinance of circumcision. They seem to have been misrepresenting Paul, but it's clear that Paul denies such a notion. Look at what he's saying. If I am yet still preaching circumcision, why am I yet still being persecuted?

Paul is saying, look, if I am in accord with the Jews on this matter, why in the world are the Jews still persecuted? Persecuting me. You see, the reason that the Jews were persecuting Paul was because they saw him as a threat to the Mosaic law. And so, remember in our study of Galatia and the gospel there, it was the Jews that would instigate persecution and brutally, and they would follow him around.

And now, Paul is probably somewhere in Europe, and the same thing is happening in Thessalonica and Berea and Corinth, everywhere he went. And so, Paul is, and Paul was saying, Look, if I'm still preaching a performance-based relationship based upon the Mosaic law, the Jews should be praising me instead of persecuting me.

And his point is, I'm not preaching circumcision at all. Paul was preaching the gospel. That's what he loved. He loved the gospel: Christ crucified, Christ, exalted, Christ, glorified, Christ, Christ, Christ. That's what he was preaching: a grace-based relationship with God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ and what he did.

Paul loved the cross, and he was free to preach it. He loved the one who died upon it. But notice that then the stumbling block, verse 11, has been removed or abolished. A stumbling block. See, for many, the cross was a stumbling block. Word for stumbling block is scandal.

Something that would offend somebody, something that causes an offense. The cross was a scandal. That the very thought that the Jewish Messiah would be crucified in and itself is a scandal. And then to say that the Jews didn't recognize their Messiah, but crucified him is even more of a scandal.

And it's offensive. It was a blockade. The Jews couldn't get their mind around it. Why in the world would Messiah have to die? He comes to reign. He can say, look, I'll give you the book. Let me show you the verses. He reigns. He reigns. So why in the world would he be crucified?

It's like this scandal is tripping up a lot of the Jews. But a crucified Messiah is indeed an offense. And that will offend every performance-based mindset on planet Earth. Not just the Jews. Listen, if heaven could be achieved by man's efforts, why in the world would the Messiah have to die?

Why would the cross be offensive? Why wouldn't circumcision be offensive? Why would somebody embrace circumcision? Why? Why would somebody embrace a performance-based relationship with God? Why would some of you here today embrace, instead of a grace-based relationship in Christ, why would some of you embrace a works-based, performance-based relationship?

Well, John Stott has a good answer. Listen to this. Open quote: To preach circumcision is to tell sinners that they can save themselves by their own good works. To preach Christ crucified is to tell them that they cannot and that only Christ can save them through the cross.

The message of circumcision is quite inoffensive, popular because flattering. The message of Christ crucified is, however, offensive to human pride, unpopular because unflattering. So to preach circumcision is to avoid persecution. To preach Christ crucified is to invite it. Hate to be told that they can be saved only at the foot of the cross, and they oppose the preacher who tells them so.

End quote. Think about the situation in Galatia. There were those who wanted to appease the Jews. And how did they do that? They decide, well, we'll preach Christ, but we'll preach Christ and circumcision. Christ and the law. And that way they take this middle ground and they do away with the offense to the Jews so that they can preach and avoid persecution.

In fact, if you just look over at Galatians 6:12, Paul is identifying this dynamic. 6:12, those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. They were ashamed of the cross.

And so they came up with a middle ground. And Paul's, the book of Galatians, is there is no middle ground. Either you are embracing a faith-based, grace-based relationship with your heavenly Father, or you are embracing a performance-based relationship. And let me tell you, if you have, and subtly, and we do this.

All the time. We'll slip into a performance-based mentality. And I'll tell you, there is no life in that. And that's what Paul is saying. You cannot trust in your own good works to save you. Christ crucified is still a stumbling block, it still offends people's pride today. You see, the cross, and if you're here today, and maybe the cross is a little offensive, maybe why haven't you embraced the cross?

You know why? Because the cross tells you that you are judged as a sinner. If you really take it in, that's what it says. The cross tells you that you are a rebel. The cross tells you that you are under the just wrath of God. But boy, that is insulting, isn't it?

It tells you you're not good enough on your own to enter heaven. It tells you you cannot save yourself. It tells you that there isn't many ways into heaven. There's one way to heaven, and you're not there. There's only one way to be right with God. That's the message of Christ crucified.

You see what it is, is the cross of Christ scorns the merits and the sufficiency of man. The cross proclaims the glory and the sufficiency of Christ, and it scorns the merits and sufficiency of man. You see, it was the cross. That purchased Paul's freedom. That he sells.

It wasn't circumcision that purchased that freedom. So it is with us. That which the world hates, we love, like Paul. In the cross, we see something beautiful. We see a glory so deep. We see a love so deep, so proud. We see forgiveness. We see justice. We see God's goodness.

We see His mercy. It is something that attracts us. The cross is a beautiful thing. So we are free to love the cross. And this expression, this love expresses itself by preaching the cross. But second, this love for the cross of our Lord is expressed by despising teachings that empty the cross of its glory.

Not only do we preach the cross, proclaim the cross, we love the cross by despising teachings that empty the cross of its glory. Look back at verse 12. I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. Now, this is the benefit of preaching verse by verse.

We have to deal with it. I can tell you, if there was a text in Scripture that I'd probably just want to move over and This would be one of them. I wish, oh, how I wish, oh, that they would mutilate themselves. This is one of the harshest sentiments that Paul uttered in all of his writings.

And notice who it's directed at. It's directed at those who are troubling the churches in Galatia. They are unsettling. They are throwing into confusion the way of the cross, the grace that is revealed. They're throwing all of that into confusion by promoting a performance-based relationship with God. That whole false teaching that they are bringing in is they are advancing a performance-based relationship, not a grace-based.

And so Paul's like, I wish they would just mutilate themselves. What is he saying there? Well, there's two major directions. One, it could mean to cut off the whole body part. Yes, sermons can be PG. They could be rated PG. Castration. This is what some devotees actually did in pagan temples.

We looked at Sibylle when we were studying in Smyrna, but this is what their priests would do. They would make themselves into eunuch. And the idea there is if you think cutting off a little skin is showing devotion, then be like those. Who go even further and mutilate yourself, masculate yourself.

Or it could also mean to cut off the literal expression, it's oh, I wish even they would cut themselves, cut off the ones that they've cut off themselves. The idea would be removing themselves entirely. I wish they just cut themselves off from the church. Probably the first one is probably more to point.

But either way, what Paul is saying is he wants this false teaching out of the church. And keep in mind, this expression is not a sinful outburst of anger. Paul is not being spiteful or revengeful. This expression comes out of a heart that loves the church and is jealous for the well-being of the church.

That's how we are to understand this. It's an expression of love for the church. Why is that? Because love defends. That's what love does. Love protects. And what Paul was doing here is he was defending the church from a very critical doctrine. When you come down to... Whether your relationship with God is performance-based or grace-based, through faith, there is something that you must go to the mat for.

Salvation, critical doctrine of salvation. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Anything that rivals these doctrines are critical doctrines. Because you have to settle this in your heart. Is it by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to God's glory alone?

Or do I must earn it to my own merits? You see, we don't like the idea of God alone getting the glory. Think about a, you're in a desert setting, parched with thirst, and then all of a sudden someone comes up with some fresh water. You're at the point of death.

They give you fresh water, and you chug-alug that water down, and you rise up and say, Wow, did you see me drink that water? That's why I'm living here today. Did you see that? That's what we do in salvation. Did you see how well I drank that water?

Did you see how well I believed? Did you see that? Did you see that? No, it has to do with the one who granted. Grace-based, the one who gives the water, who gives the life. You see, anything that rivals this grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, is such a core and fundamental doctrine that we are free to do our part to defend such critical doctrines of the faith.

And that's what Paul is indicating here. It's the way he expressed a love for the church universal. It's the way we express love for the church universal is by defending those core doctrines. We're free, free to love the cross. And this freedom shows up by proclaiming the cross and despising the teachings that empty the cross of God's glory.

What is God's glory on the cross? God loves sinners, yet God is not a sinner. He condemns sin, and yet he saves sinners. That happens at the cross, to God's glory. So you have been freed to love. You've been free to love the cross of our Lord. Second, you have been freed to love your local church.

You've been freed to love your local church. Look back at verse 13. For you are called to freedom, brethren. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Notice that word called. You were called. You were summoned. You were destined.

You were named for this purpose. Freedom. You were called for freedom. Now, again, it's good as we come back to this, what is in Paul's mind when he uses this term? He's already said, remember, in verse 1 of this chapter, 5-1, it was for freedom that Christ set you free.

Now he says this again: you were called to freedom. Just as a way of reminder, what does he have in mind? Well, the basic idea to be free is to be unencumbered, to be without burden, without constraint. Think about free trade. Well, that's getting a lot of publicity these days.

Tariffs. What's a tariff? It's a burden on free trade. When you put a tariff on a trading partner, now it's an extra burden. We understand free trade. You understand national freedom, independence from foreign powers, freedom. There's the freedom of moral restraint. That's the freedom to do as one pleases.

Freedom, and its basic concept is a freedom, a wide open space to be unencumbered. And you are called to freedom. But there's a kind of freedom you're not called to. Look at verse 13: only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. You were destined, summoned, and named for freedom, but not to create opportunities for fleshly living.

A literal interpretation would go like this. You can probably see in some of your translations, there's words that are in italics. That means they're not there. A literal reading would be: only you, reader, for you were called to freedom, brethren, only not the freedom toward opportunities for the flesh.

Not that freedom. Opportunity for the flesh. That's a word that speaks about favorable circumstances. You weren't freed, or you were not destined for a kind of freedom that goes around creating opportunities for fleshly living. It's the idea of a base of operations, a beachhead, like a military beachhead.

You know, if you see some foreign powers buying up land around the borderline of our country, it's a cause for alarm. You've seen that through our history, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or you. You see it in other anything that gets close to our shorelines can be a threat.

Favorable circumstances. That's the idea. You're not destined to a freedom that goes around creating favorable circumstances for sin in the church or in your own life. You see, the freedom that we're summoned to is not to be understood as a grounds for fleshing living. And this is where I think many people misunderstand Paul and they misunderstand the book of Galatians.

They contend that Paul is advocating a freedom to defend their entertainment standards, their drinking habits, their substance abuse, their clothing choices. I am free and don't you dare touch my freedom. That's not what Paul's talking about here. He's not talking about freedom, how close you can get to the line without sinning.

That's not the freedom that's even in his mind. He's saying you have not been destined and summoned to a kind of freedom that allows you to get close enough to sin without sinning. And yet, so many. People see this as how Paul. No. The freedom that Paul has in mind is not to justify living on the edge of sin or creating favorable circumstances for people in the church to stumble.

But on the contrary, you have been destined and summoned to love the local church, and that is to create favorable circumstances, not for fleshly living, but for service opportunities. You have been freed to serve. So you have been freed to edify the church. Look back at verse 13.

For you are called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. That's the kind of freedom you've been summoned to. A freedom to be a slave. It's kind of an oxymoron, but that's what he's saying.

And he is not using that cleaned-up word for minister that we use, deacon. He's using the word for slave. You are freed to be a galley slave. Almost like a contradiction, isn't it? You're freed to willful slavery. You're freed to willful servitude. You see, your freedom isn't something to be grasped, but something that is to be used for the benefit of someone else, namely the church.

Philippians 2:5. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, a slave, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearances a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

You see, the thing that really shocks our modern sensibilities is this idea of slavery. And yet the Bible is saying this is what you're called to. You're called to a freedom that chooses slavery to the glory of God and the benefit of the local church. Remember, this is to brethren.

Brethren, you have been destined to a freedom to serve one another. We need to be freed so that we can serve one another because it's not in our fallen human nature to love or to serve someone else. The command, look at that, but through service, but through love, serve one another.

The command, y'all be serving. The wide open space that Paul has in mind is service to those in your local church community. To serve, to love, and to serve those Christ redeemed. Institutionally, you are to love the church. And I think that's what he has in mind here.

Institutionally, you are to love the church. Not just individually. We'll come to that in a moment. You see, the expressions of the flesh are limited, aren't they? They have to be limited. Why do we have to have a police force? Because the expressions of the flesh have to be limited.

What was much of the Old Testament law about? It was written to restrict fleshly indulgences that wreak havoc on society. But as we'll keep going in this book, we'll notice that the expressions of love are limitless. There's no laws against goodwill. Speaking truth, being kind to one another, overlooking offenses, praying for people, forgiving, speaking well, acts of benevolence.

There's not laws. You don't come up with laws. Stop being so good to people. No, we don't, do we? You know, one of the most interesting laws in the Old Testament, would love to spend a whole evening on this, but I won't. Right after the Ten Commandments, God gives a command to Hebrew slaves.

And it's a very interesting, of all the things, why would this come right after? Let me just read to you a little bit of it. Exodus 21:2. If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years, but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment.

But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, I will not go out as a free man. Then his master shall bring him to God. Then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And it's clear in Deuteronomy 15:17 that this is the doorpost of his house.

And his master shall pierce his ear with an owl, little instrument, and drive it to the door. And he shall serve him permanently. Isn't that a beautiful picture? If you find a good master and you love his household, You are free to give up your freedom forever. The very first commandment that comes after these Ten Commandments, you have been freed to give up your freedom.

Well, that doesn't set well with too many of us, but that's what Paul's saying. Free to voluntarily serve your Redeemer's household. If you have found a good master, you're freed to give up your freedom. And you have to have freedom in order for you to give it up, otherwise, it's compulsion.

Let me ask you: how do you see yourself when you come onto these church grounds? Do you see yourself as a master with many servants? Or do you see yourself as a servant with many masters? See, a lot of us come into this church and we see ourselves as a master, and you're my servant, you're my servant, and this didn't go right, and this going, and this would let.

Or do you come in, I have been redeemed. I am a servant here, and every one of y'all is my master, and I'm going to serve you for the glory of God. Very different paradigm. But you You have been free to love. This is the wide open space.

No boundaries on the love for the cross of our Lord, no boundaries for the love for your local church. But then you have been freed to love your neighbor as yourself. And this is staggering. You see, we are skilled in warfare far more than we realize. We're good at fighting.

Very good. We can even use our freedom to defend the church. And we can use our freedom to serve the church as opportunities for the flesh, can't we? Well, I'm going to stand up on the truth on this one. Well, really, what it is, you just don't like that person over there.

And you're using the truth, so to speak, as an occasion for the flesh. Or maybe it's a position of ministry. Maybe we can easily start envying others and challenge one another and rival one another as if this church becomes a place to advance ourselves. And so we are good at warring more than we even realize, warring and using, creating all kinds of opportunities for hostility against one another.

But we're not so skilled in loving like God loves. That's why we have to be called to it. That's why we have to be redeemed and bought back. And that's why we have to be joined to that loving disposition of Christ by his Spirit. Because we don't get there on our owns.

We don't love like He does. We're not free to love like that because we're too bound to ourselves. But notice what happens when we are joined to Christ and we begin to live in the freedom that He provides. Look back at verse 14. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Incredible. You, the whole law. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You see, we have been freed not to fulfill the flesh, but to fulfill the law. Contrary to what many people believe today, even in the church, the ethical standards of the Old Testament are the same as the New Testament.

Same God, same moral righteousness. Now, don't misunderstand this. Paul has gone to great lengths to show that the New Testament believers are not under the Mosaic law in the same way that Israel was. But the righteousness revealed in the law is definitely a reflection of God's character. A character which he expects to be reflected in his people.

Striking, Christians are called to do what Israel never could do outside of Christ. We are called to fulfill the whole law by loving our neighbors as ourselves. It's interesting that Christ affirms this. Remember in Matthew 22, 36, man comes up, teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?

Verse 37, and he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.

It's interesting that Paul doesn't cite the first part. He cites Leviticus 19:18. It is one of Jesus' favorite verses. If you look at just how many verses he liked to quote the most, Leviticus 19:18 is one that he quoted the most, among the top two, anyway. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 13, 8.

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Interesting, Paul doesn't say the first one: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Why? Well, because Paul knows that to do the second, you must already do the first.

You're not going to be able to love your neighbor as yourself unless you come into a relationship with God and know that you are loved to the same degree by your heavenly Father, by the prince that He has raised up to rule over. Do you love God with all your heart?

How do you love the people in this room? That's the indicator of where your heart is with God. So we've looked at three ways, three objects that we have been freed to love so that we will be good stewards of our freedom. You've been free to love the cross of our Lord.

You've been free to love your local church. You've been free to love your neighbor as yourself. But notice Paul's warning in verse 15. But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. It's a vivid image of savage animals, wild animals, attacking each other, biting, with the intent to consume, destroy, devour.

This is not to be the picture of the church. Listen, this gets very personal, I know. And I'm speaking to myself. And I'm speaking to y'all. If you cannot love and serve those in this room, you are still in the bondage of your fallen humanness. You have been freed to love those in this room, your neighbor as yourself, as a first priority.

The trueness of your Christianity is seen in how you relate to the people in this room, the ones sitting next to you. Are you running towards this right goal line? Those of you who cannot love and serve those in this room, you neither love the cross, you neither love the church, nor your neighbor, and you are a stranger to true Christianity.

But if you have been born from above, the Spirit is alive in you. You see, he had to purchase our freedom. He had to set this wide open space before us. He had to give us our freedom. Why? So that their choices could be really ours. You have to have freedom to lay it down.

You have to have freedom to steward it. You really have to be given it in order to use it in the way that most glorifies Him. You've been given freedom in order to join yourself to the perfect Master forever and to love like He loves. That's the destiny for humanity.

How are you using this freedom that God has given you? Are you growing in Christ's likeness? This wide open space that Christ has set before you. Are you running toward the right goal? Are you running in life toward the goal of Christ's likeness? Or will you get to the end of your life, crossing into the goal, turning around, expecting to be congratulated by your teammates, only to see the demonic forces rise up and thank you for putting the points in our call?

Tragically, Many are living that way. But let me close with this one final glimpse of just how profound this gospel is. Why in the world would God require you and me to love one another to the same degree that we love ourselves? Why? Because that's a reflection of him and his love towards us.

This is a profoundly deep truth. And if you explore it too much, you may fall into several sides of heresy. But let me tell you, it is God loves you like he loves himself. Demonstrated in the God-man. God loves you like he loves himself. He's not going to put on you a standard that he himself does not intend to be the most exemplary in.

The God-man, Christ, loves you to the same degree that he loves himself. If you can get this gospel truth into your mind, you will understand what a grace-based relationship with God is all about. This is the message of the cross. This is the message of the one who died upon the cross.

You've been freed to love the cross, love the church, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Father, profoundly that though you hate sin, Father, you in your perfect Lord love towards us became flesh. You had freedom. You didn't have to. You didn't stay in the realm of glory.

You didn't grasp it, but you laid it down for our sake. It's a wonderful truth, too mighty and deep for us to even take in, but we see it. The very fact that Jesus loves me and those in this room to the same degree that he loves himself is profound.

Help us to let this kind of grace and understanding of your grace shape the road ahead. You have truly brought us out into an open place. You've called us for freedom. You've destined us for freedom, summoned us, given us a wide open space to run in. Father, let us use.

This freedom, lay it down at proper times for your glory. Thank you for your goodness in Jesus' name. Amen.