Five Minutes a Day with Luther - 04-27-2017

[Five Minutes with Luther]

FIVE MINUTES A DAY WITH LUTHER

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


April 27

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ
has made us free, and do not be subject again to the yoke of
slavery.

* * *

Paul means to say: Be steadfast; do not be inattentive, but be
steady and faithful. Do not lie down and sleep, but stand up.
It is as if he intends to say, It is necessary that you be
vigilant and constant, deliberately holding fast to that liberty
wherein Christ has made you free. For Satan hates the light of
the Gospel, that is to say, the doctrine of grace, liberty,
consolation, and life, and when he sees it appear, he fights
against it with power and intensity, seeking to overthrow it.
This is why Paul warns the faithful not to sleep, but constantly
and valiantly to resist Satan, that he may not rob them of that
liberty which Christ has purchased for them. This is the
liberty whereby Christ has made us free, not from an earthly
bondage, but from God's everlasting wrath. And this
accomplished in the conscience. That is where our liberty is
found and no where else. We are now free, meaning that our
conscience is now free and at peace, not fearing the wrath of
God to come. This is our true and incomparable liberty, of such
excellence and majesty that no other can be compared. Following
this liberty there is also another, whereby through Christ we
are made free from the Law, sin, death, the power of the devil,
etc. For as the wrath of God cannot terrify us, so the Law,
sin, and death cannot accuse and condemn us, they cannot drive
us to desperation, for faith, which overcomes the world, has
made us free and delivered us from them all. The pernicious
opinion, that the Law justifies and makes men righteous before
God, is deeply rooted in man's reason; therefore Paul uses
strong language, to persuade the Galatians that they should not
suffer the intolerable burden of the Law again to be laid upon
their shoulders, or be entangled again with the yoke of that
slavery.

Stand then in His great might,
With all His strength endued;
But take, to arm you for the fight,
The panoply of God.

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

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