1. Marks of a Disciple – Staying Free
Galatians 5:1-5

2. Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning:

3. The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens.

4. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit.
(Galatians 5:1-5 MSG)

5. 1. God doesn’t APPRECIATE bribery for blessing (verses 2 and 3)
"but even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek, but because of false brethren (probably the Judaizers), secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage—to them we did not yield submission even for a moment, that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you." Galatians 2:3-5

6. 2. God doesn’t ACCEPT payment for His gift
3. God doesn’t GIVE freedom outside grace (verse 4)
4. God HELPS His followers to wait for the last day (verse 5)
"It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Galatians 2:20
"Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you." Galatians 5:1

7. RESPONSE
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