** Now available in book form: http://lcmssermons.com/about5mins.php **

May 9

Gal 5:13   For, brethren, you have been called to liberty; only
do not use your liberty for an opportunity for the flesh, but by
love serve one another.

    *    *    *

Here follow exhortations and rules for life and good works.  You
have obtained liberty, Paul says, through Christ, that is to
say, you are above all Laws as far as conscience is concerned
and before God; you are blessed and saved, Christ is your life.
Therefore, although the Law, sin, and death, trouble and terrify
you, yet they cannot hurt you nor drive you to despair.  And
this is your excellent and inestimable liberty.  Now, however,
it behooves you to take heed, that you do not use that liberty
as an opportunity for the lusts of the flesh.  This evil is
common, and the most pernicious of all others that Satan stirs
up in the doctrine of faith; namely, that in very many people he
turns this liberty, wherewith Christ has made us free, into the
license for the flesh, "turning the grace of God into
licentiousness" (Jude 4.).  The flesh is utterly ignorant of the
doctrine of grace; it does not know that we are made righteous,
not by works, but by faith only.  Therefore, when it hears the
teaching concerning faith, it abuses and twists it into
wantonness, and by and by reasons thus:  If we are without Law,
let us then live as we please, let us do no good, let us not
give to the needy, and let us not endure any evil, for there is
no longer any Law to constrain us.  There is danger on either
side; but the one is more tolerable than the other.  If grace or
faith is not preached, no man can be saved; for it is faith alone
that justifies and saves.  On the other hand, the doctrine of
faith is understood by many carnally, and the liberty of the
Spirit converted into the liberty of the flesh.  Instead of
serving one another in love, they serve their own lusts.

Lord, in Thy kingdom there shall be
No aliens from each other,
But even as he loves himself
Each saint shall love his brother.

---
Cuda.
aka Pastor Robin Fish
It isn't whether we win or lose, it is "Do we stand faithfully?"

View online at http://lcmssermons.com/5mins.php?d=2012-05-09

These daily readings are now available in book form;
read about it at http://lcmssermons.com/about5mins.php.