Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Do you fully comprehend the liberty that God has given unto you? When the Jews committed a trespass against the law of God, they were required to go to the priest and make a sacrifice as an atonement for their sin. Because Jesus Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice, we are able to go straight to God and seek forgiveness for our sins. It does not matter how small or how great our sin is, the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cover it all.

In this passage, Paul is warning against misusing this liberty. Most likely, there were those who were living as they wished who would simply claim the blood of Jesus after they actions resulted in sin. They may commit some sexual sin or take something that did not belong to them and rather than change their behavior, they would simply claim that the blood of Jesus washed away their sins. These so called Christians were acting similar to a spoiled brat who knew his father was rich and would do anything to get him out of trouble once he got into it.

Instead, the liberty and freedom that we have as a result of Christ death on the cross is to be used to serve others. No longer are we to be so self-focused that we lose sight of how God desires us to live. We are told that we are to love the Lord with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. When we choose to sin because we are relying upon the liberty that we have through Christ, we fail to love the Lord with all our heart and we fail to love our neighbor as our self.

When we fail to honor our parents, we not only are breaking the laws of God, but we are also failing to love others as we love ourselves. When we get angry with others, not only are we breaking the laws of God, but we are also failing to love others as we love ourselves. When we lust and commit adultery with our bodies or our hearts, not only do we violate the law of God but we also fail to love others as we love ourselves. When we steal, bear false witness, or covet, not only are we breaking the laws of God, but we are also failing to love others as we love ourselves.

Yes, Christ gave us liberty to simply confess our sins and be free from the bondage of sin. Nonetheless, we cannot use this liberty to live as we want but instead we are to use this liberty to put others first. When we sin, we not only are violating the laws of God, but our actions also have consequences on those around us. While it is often easy to just yield to sin, we need to learn to use the new found freedom that Christ has given us to enable us to say no to the temptation.

The temptation to do what you want, when you want is always strong. Rather than yielding to sin, you need to allow Christ to work through you and give you victory over sin. By adding temperance to your life, you allow the strength of Christ to enable you to say no to the things of this world.

Joseph was a man of great power who could have done a lot to his brothers once his father died. However, Joseph refused to use his power to do harm to those whom God had called him to save. Joseph exercised temperance and instead showed love to his brothers.

The same is true in our lives. God has given us a great gift through the blood of Jesus Christ. However, we are not to misuse this power. It takes great self-control to refuse to sin and follow the things of this world. If you fear the Lord and desire to grow closer to HIM, you will find the strength to not use your liberty for your own selfish desires.

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Christ commanded us to “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me”. Christ went on to tell us “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30). We have a choice to make, which yoke are we going to wear? We can wear the yoke of bondage that this world places upon us, or we can wear the yoke that Christ has for us. The choice is ours.

A yoke is an instrument that was used by farmers to harness the strength of a couple of animals to assist the farmer in plowing the field. The reason why the farmer owned the animals was not to throw his money away in feeding the animals and to have a petting zoo for his family. These animals were his livelihood and he used them to help prepare the fields so that he could feed his family.

A farmer would find two beasts that were of approximately the same size and strength and then he would take the time to train them to work in unison with each other. If one beast pulled harder than the other, they both would injured by the rubbing of the yoke. The purpose of the yoke was not to injure the animals but was meant to harness their energy so that their purpose in helping the farmer could be completed.

You have a choice to make, are you going to be harnessed by the world’s yoke of bondage or are you going to be harnessed to Christ’s yoke of freedom? If you are harnessed to the world’s yoke, than that means that your focus is upon the things of the world and you will not be free to do the perfect will of God for your life. If you chose to be harnessed to Christ’s yoke, then your focus will be upon the things of God and fulfilling HIS purpose for your life.

Paul warned us to “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness.” (2 Corinthians 6:14). God is our Creator and Maker. We are HIS. When we sin, we go astray from HIS perfect will for our life. Nonetheless, when we repent, we return to the love of God and it is our opportunity to get back into the yoke that God intended for us.

No matter how it appears, the yoke of the world is never easy. We are creations of God and as such, the more we pursue the things of this world, the more the yoke will damage our spirit and soul. The choice is yours; you do not need to be unequally yoked with this world. You can live in this world while not being of this world.

It is a hard concept for people to understand that living by the standards that God has for your life is easier than doing what you want when you want. Think of a large whale. A whale is meant to swim in the salt waters of the ocean. Nonetheless, there is nothing that stops the whale from swimming up a river that is full of fresh water. The whale has the freedom to swim where it wants, but its health will quickly deteriorate until it turns around and goes back to the ocean where God purposed for it to live its life.

The things of this world have a strong pull on your life but by adding temperance to your life you can change your focus from doing what you want to living your life in accordance with HIS will. There is great freedom in pursuing the things God desires you to do. When God visited Saul, HE asked him why he was kicking against the pricks. We need to ask ourselves the same question.

Galatians 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

In this passage, Paul is analogizing the covenant that God made with Abraham dealing with Ishmael and the covenant that God made with Abraham dealing with Isaac. Ishmael was the son born of the slave Hagar, while Isaac was the son of Promise born of Sarah.

Paul is using the picture of Hagar being in bondage when she had Ishmael to represent the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses was given by God at Mount Sinai. However this law was not a law of freedom but was a law that contained a lot of “thou shalt not”. For the Jews, they had to abide by this very strict code in order to please God. It was a law that could not be completely satisfied. Hagar was the slave of Sarah and there eventually came a time where she was let go because she could not please her mistress.

Isaac was the promise child; he was a gift from God. While Ishmael was part son and part slave, Isaac was completely free. Paul analogizes the birth of Isaac with the Christian walk. In the same way that Isaac did not have to worry about losing his place as a son of Abraham so also, as Christians, we do not have to worry about following a complex set of sacrificial rituals in order to maintain our position as sons of God.

Because Ishmael was the son of Abraham, God promised that Ishmael would be a great nation. In the same way, the nation of Israel has a special blessing just because they are God’s chosen people. As Christians, our relationship with God is not one based upon our heritage; our relationship with God is based upon our freedom to choose to abstain from the things of this world and to pursue the things of God.

Two sons, one is blessed because he was the son of Abraham and one was blessed because he was the promised son of Abraham. Two sons, one was a son of bondage and one was the son of freedom. The Jews serve the Living God through their bondage of sacrifices and the rituals required of the Law of Moses. The Christians serve the Living God through their freedom knowing that Jesus Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Freedom is not free. The freedom we experience in Christianity is a result of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made upon the cross. Just as Adam and Eve had the choice to sin or not to sin, so also, we have the choice whether to follow the perfect will of God or to sin and do that which is right in our own eyes. Abraham tried to make the promises of God occur in his timing rather than the perfect timing of God and all Abraham did was make a mess.

As Christians we do not have to worry about making sacrifices to atone for our sins as we know that Christ made the ultimate sacrifice. The freedom that God has given us is not to be used on ourselves and our own selfish desires. The freedom from sacrifice does not permit us to break the law whenever we want. Just because the Jews had a long list of sacrifices to atone for their sins, it did not give them liberty to break the law.

We do not want to follow the example of Abraham who was so caught up in the promise that he tried to make it happen in his own way and his own timing. We must add temperance to our life and understand that we are living in the freedom of God and that we must wait for HIS timing to fulfill the promises that HE has made unto us.

Acts 24:2 And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence,

Tertullus was an orator who was brought by Ananias to the judgment hall of Felix for the purpose of bringing charges against Paul. Tertullus starts by flattering the judge. What is interesting about this flattery is that he expresses contentment on behalf of the Jews to be lorded over by the Romans. The Romans were the enemies, yet Tertullus claims that the religious leaders were happy with this arrangement.

Why would the religious leaders be content being under Roman control? It could be that Tertullus was lying, and thus in reality, the religious leaders were willing to say anything in order to dispose of Paul. If this were the case, truth was relative as long as they got what they wanted – Paul out of their way and they were still in control of the people.

It could be that the religious leaders really were content living in bondage to the Romans. If this were the case, then they would have grown so comfortable in their bondage that they have grown to love that which was destroying them. Either way, this is not a good place the religious leaders have found themselves in.

We are called to be a light unto the world. This means that we must shine bright against the darkness of the world. If we are lying to protect ourselves or to get what we want, then we will not have a light that will cause the world to see the love of God through our lives. We live in this world but we are not to be of this world. This means that we must never grow comfortable with the bondage of sin. If we are not ashamed of our bondage, and if we start to accept it as it is, than, we will not be a proper light because the darkness will diminish our ability to reflect the light of God.

Joseph was a light unto the house of Potiphar. Joseph had the opportunity to sin, but instead of taking the easy road, Joseph fled. Joseph may have suffered because he did that which was right in the eyes of God, but his light shined bright and God used him to do much good. We must follow the example of Joseph and not allow sin to entangle us. Scripture tells us about a couple of the brothers of Joseph who did not flee from sin but instead allowed sin to take control over their lives. Judah had sexual relations with a woman that he thought was a harlot. Judah did not flee from sin. Reuben had sexual relations with his step mother. Reuben did not flee from sin.

The world would love nothing more than to get you to yield to sin. The world will promise you power, prestige, and prosperity if you do what they do. The things of this world do not last. They do not bring true contentment. If you allow yourself to be controlled by the things of this world, you will be like the religious leaders who may have become so comfortable with their sin that they stopped fighting it and just simply accepted the bondage.

Jesus told us that the truth will set you free. You must become a seeker of the truth. You must take the time to study the ways of God so that you can free yourself of the bondages of this world. Satan is very tricky and he will try to bind you in such a way that you do not realize that you are content with your sin. Nonetheless, if you diligently add knowledge of the ways of God to your life, you will have the strength to overcome the temptations of this world.

Judges 3:31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

In this short verse God gives us a glimps into the life of Shamgar. While God may not have given us very much on this mighty man who helped deliver Israel, there are a few lessons in faith that can be observed from this passage. An ox goad was a long stick approximately eight to ten feet long. A plowman would hold the ox goad in his hand and would prick the oxen if they were straying to far one way or the other.

It appears from this short verse that Shamgar was a simple plowman who when his country needed help delivering themselves from the Philistines, he took the weapon that was familiar to him and went and killed 600 enemy. We do not know if Shamgar killed 600 Philistines at the same time like Samson killed 1,000 Philistines or if he killed these Philistines one at a time over a period of time.

Shamgar took what was made available to him and he allowed God to assist him through insurmountable odds. Shamgar did not allow the fact that he was not a warrior or that he did not have warrior’s weapons prevent him from doing that which he knew was right. Shamgar saw a problem and he did not wait for an invitation from others to lead them into battle. Shamgar did not wait until he had enough assistants before he attacked. Shamgar saw a problem and he attacked the enemy.

We learn from scripture with both Othniel and Ehud that the people cried out for a deliverer and then God raised up Othniel and Ehud. However, there is no indication that the people asked God to free them from the Philistines. There is no indication that God raised up Shamgar (although as a all knowing God, HE knew what Shamgar was going to do before he even did it). Shamgar simply saw that his nation was in bondage and HE went out and fought for the cause that was right and he allowed God to bless him in what he was doing.

Many Christians spend a lot of time worrying about receiving a special calling from God to do the things that God has laid upon their heart to do. They feel they need to receive a calling like Isaiah, the disciples, or Saul to do a specific event at a specific time. However, they forget that the problem they see is contrary to God�s law and that God has brought it to their attention and as such, they must fight for that which is right.

One cannot sit back and wait for God to call you to fight. David saw the giant and step forth willing to fight and God was with HIM. Unless God has told you to wait, if you see a problem that God has revealed to you, stop waiting for a special invitation from God. HE has already shown you the problem; HE has probably already equipped you with your ox goad or sling and is waiting to receive the glory for your faith of stepping forth without HIS prompting. God has shown you a problem, are you willing to step out in faith and watch how God can bless you as you do that which is right. Are you going to be like Gideon who needed a lot of prompting from God in order to do what God desires or are you going to be like Shamgar who when the time came to fight, stepped out and fought. Be willing to step out in faith and watch how the Lord protects you. Be willing to take on the enemies of the Lord and see how the Lord is glorified through you.