in, hence love alone can fulfill the righteousness of the law. It should be remembered that he who is free to do his own will is that wicked and lawless one, the enemy of God and man. III. F reedom by t h e H o ly S p ir it ( G a l . 5:16-18) Walking in the Spirit means “ac cording to" the Spirit. Such a walk fulfills the desires of the Holy Spirit, not of the flesh. The flesh is ever antagonistic to the Spirit, and the Spirit to the flesh. They never change and can never be recon ciled the one to the other. But when walking by the Spirit, "ye cannot do the things that ye would,” that is, one need not fulfill the desires of the flesh. The Spirit gives freedom from the flesh; grace gives freedom from the law; love gives freedom from doing harm to one’s neighbor. Points and Problems 1. “No greater burden than these necessary things" (Acts 15:28). The “necessary things” referred to do not have to do with what is necessary to salvation. Those addressed in the text were Christians already. But some things are necessary for a holy walk. Christians ought to separate t h e m s e l v e s from everything that would influence others wrongly even though they might not be thereby harmed personally. Surely the be liever should seek to keep himself from any kind of defilement. The true Christian ought to know that there is nothing necessary to salva tion except faith in Christ and life in the Spirit which follows; but on the other hand, he surely ought to beware that there are some essentials to sanctified living. Let us learn to dis tinguish “the things that differ.” 2. “Only use not liberty for an oc casion to the flesh" (Gal. 5:13). Cer tainly there is such a thing as Chris tian liberty (John 8:36; Gal. 5:1). He is made free from the bondage of sin and of the law; he has freedom to enter into the presence of God un afraid (Heb. 4:16). There are numer
ous other ways in which Christian lib erty manifests itself. But the Chris tian has no right to make this liberty a springboard for license. He is bound by the law of the Spirit who is a holy Spirit and surely will have no part in a believer living after the flesh. 3. “But if ye bite and devour one another" (Gal. 5:13). The two verbs used here were, often employed in ref erence to wild animals, or of cats and dogs, who often get into “a tangle.” The inspired writer shows graphically how believers look when giving place to the energy of the flesh in their at titudes one toward another. 4. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit" (Gal. 5:17). Thus we have a presentation of the two natures in the Christian. The believer does not ex perience eradication of sin in this life. Rather, he experiences a tug of war between the new and old natures. Vic tory is possible for the new nature by application of the means of grace available for every believer. For the Children L e a r n in g t o W o r k T o ge th er A cts 15:2-4 MEMORY VERSE: “By love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). Sometimes in our churches today we have questions and problems about which we do not agree. We may either pray about them u n t i l they are settled, or we may argue about them and be hateful and unkind to one another. Some of the Christians to whom Paul and Barnabas had talked about the Lord Jesus Christ were arguing about what they must do to be saved. Paul and Barnabas were asked to go with some of these Christians to the main church in Jerusalem to ask the leaders there which side was right. As they traveled to Jerusalem, they stopped in several towns and told the Christians how the Gentiles were be ing saved. “And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them” (Acts
Lesson material is based upon outlines of International Sunday School Lessons, copyrighted by the International Council of Religious Education; used by permission. LE SSON FO R N O V E M B E R 3 The Basis of Christian Freedom LESSON M A T E R IA L : Acts 15:23b-29; Gal. 5:13-18. GOLDEN T E X T : ‘‘We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved" (Acts 15:11). Outline and Exposition I. F reedom F rom L a w ( A cts 15:23b-29) This chapter records the meeting of the early Church Council which was called to consider the important ques tion of whether keeping the law of Moses was necessary for salvation. Their decision established a funda mental principle for the Church for all time. The conclusion was that law and grace are mutually exclusive and es sentially different. Legalism and the Gospel cannot be combined; they make one another void. When one is given place, the other is necessarily forced out. Law denies the character of grace, and grace would debase the righteousness of law, if they were combined. Freedom from the law be longs to the Christian who is under grace, and governed by principles and not by precepts. II. F reedom bv L ove (G al . 5:13-15) The Christian serves by love not by law, and love will not tolerate any misuse of the freedom from law. The relation between man and man, the second table of the law here men tioned, is maintained and fulfilled by love. Love would not do what the law prohibits even if there were no law. Love serves, not slavishly, but like a son; it fears not an enemy, but a Friend. Love does not act because of the outward pressure of law, but because the principle of grace with
Outline and Exposition
Points and Problems H omer A . K ent
For the Children
B. B. S utcliffe
A l lis o n A rrowood
38
THE KING’ S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker