Led By The Spirit

In Sunday’s message, Pastor Jared read Galatians 5:18, where the Apostle Paul writes,

“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Under the Old Testament Covenant, the law had authority over the people. It determined whether one was righteous or not. Once Jesus came and gave His life for us, the Old Testament Covenant was fulfilled and we were no longer bound by the law, but by a new standard, the example set before us by Jesus Himself.

Theologian William Barclay writes, “When a man rules his life by union with Christ he rules it not by an obedience to a written code of law that may actually awaken the desires of sin, but by an allegiance to Jesus Christ within his spirit and his heart. Not law, but love, is the motive of his life; and the inspiration of love can make him able to do what the restraint of the law was powerless to help him do.”

As Pastor Jared asked, “Does this mean we will no longer sin?” Of course not, for the battle of our two natures still rages. However, we no longer HAVE to sin.

John Calvin wrote that the meaning of “being set free from sin” is that it is “absurd for anyone to continue in bondage after he has gained his freedom. It is not fitting, therefore, for believers to be brought again under the dominion of sin, from which they have been set at liberty by Christ.”

We are no longer slaves to sin, for we now have an allegiance to Jesus, having been set free from the bondage of sin. The power of Christ, through the Holy Spirit, is available to us, creating license for obedience, honoring God and loving people.

Pastor Ken

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