Warren W. Wiersbe - Be Free: Exchange Legalism for True Spirituality. A New Testament Study: Galatians

BE FREE

Published by David C. Cook

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James

Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.) Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken

from the New American Standard Bible , Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman

Foundation. Used by permission; NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International

Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used

by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved; and WMS are taken from The New

Testament in the Language of the People by Charles B. Williams, 1966 by Edith S.

Williams. Used by permission of Moody Press, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.

LCCN 2009923013

ISBN 978-1-4347-6747-9

eISBN 978-1-4347-0021-6

1975 Warren W. Wiersbe

First edition of Be Free by Warren W. Wiersbe published by Victor Books

in 1975 Warren W. Wiersbe, ISBN 978-0-89693-733-8

The Team: Karen Lee-Thorp, Amy Kiechlin, Jack Campbell, and Susan Vannaman

Series Cover Design: John Hamilton Design

Cover Photo: Veer Images

Second Edition 2009

To Fred Brown, Lee Roberson,

and Lehman Strauss

friends in the ministry

who have been

an encouragement

along the way

CONTENTS

The Big Idea: An Introduction to Be Free by Ken Baugh

A Word from the Author

1. Bad News about the Good News (Galatians 1:110)

2. Born Free! (Galatians 1:1124)

3. The Freedom FighterPart 1 (Galatians 2:110)

4. The Freedom FighterPart 2 (Galatians 2:1121)

5. Bewitched and Bothered (Galatians 3:114)

6. The Logic of Law (Galatians 3:1529)

7. Its Time to Grow Up! (Galatians 4:118)

8. Meet Your Mother (Galatians 4:1931)

9. Stop! Thief! (Galatians 5:112)

10. The Fifth Freedom (Galatians 5:1326)

11. The Liberty of Love (Galatians 6:110)

12. The Marks of Freedom (Galatians 6:1118)

The Big Idea

An Introduction to Be Free
by Ken Baugh

Saving Private Ryan is one of my favorite World War II movies. Three out of four brothers are killed in action, and then a search is launched to find the fourth, Private James Ryan, so that he is not killed, leaving his mother childless. Eight men are sent out to find Private Ryan, who is missing somewhere in Normandy. As these men wander through the French countryside, they have a running dialogue of angst: Why is the army risking the lives of eight men to save one? Their anger and frustration only increases as they experience one life-threatening situation after another. Then, one evening, before they sack out for the night, Captain John Miller says to his sergeant:

This Ryan better be worth it, he better do something important with his life, he better become a doctor and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something.

Captain Miller hopes Private Ryan will be worthy of the risks that he and his men are taking to find him. Eventually, Miller and his Rangers locate Ryan, but he is duty bound to stay and defend an important bridge from German forces. Miller agrees to join Ryan and his makeshift unit, but in the battle Miller and most of the men who came to find Ryan are killed. In the final moments before Captain Miller dies of his wounds, he says to Ryan in a low and shaky voice: Earn this. Earn it. In essence, Captain Miller is telling Ryan to live his life from that moment on in such a way that it is worthy of their sacrifices.

At the end of the movie, an elderly Ryan is seen visiting the graveside of Captain Miller and the other Rangers who sacrificed everything for him. Turning to his wife, he says, Tell me Ive led a good life. Tell me Im a good man. As the scene fades out you realize that Private James Ryan has lived his entire life with Captain Millers words echoing in his mind: Earn this. Earn it.

The end of the movie is powerful because it strikes a chord deep inside that many of us struggle with in our journey with Jesus. We often feel like we have to earn Gods love or do something that makes us deserve what Jesus went through on the cross. Yet these feelings contradict the clear teaching of the Bible that Gods love is unconditional and that our salvation is free. But we sure struggle with that, dont we?

The apostle Paul penned his letter to the churches in Galatia to correct their misunderstanding of grace. A group of Jewish Christians whom Paul refers to as the circumcision group (2:12 NIV ) has somehow convinced the Gentile Christians in Galatia that they have to both believe in Christ and practice Jewish laws and traditions in order for God to be happy with them. So Paul writes to them a stern letter of rebuke not to accept any other gospel than that which he has preached to them, because any other gospel is no gospel at all (1:67 NIV ). What makes salvation good news is that it is free.

Herein lies the Big Idea that runs throughout the book of Galatians: Gods love is unconditional, and salvation is a free gift from God that can only be received by faith and responded to with love. But that truth is a tough pill to swallow, even for us today, because we have been so conditioned to believe that nothing is free. We have to do something, we have to perform in some way and earn what we get. Phillip Yancey says:

As early as preschool and kindergarten we are tested and evaluated before being slotted into an advanced, normal, or slow academic track. From then on we receive grades denoting our performance in math, science, reading and even social skills and citizenship. Test papers come back with errors in red, not correct answers highlighted. All this helps prepare us for the real world with its relentless ranking. ( Whats So Amazing About Grace , 36)

The truth is that Gods grace and love being free and unconditional seems just too good to be true. Because of our conditioning, we feel compelled to do something to earn them. But the gospel that Paul personally received from the Lord Jesus stresses that grace cannot be earned, it can only be received. There are no spiritual hoops to jump through, no list of rules and regulations that need to be obeyed, no amount of biblical knowledge or helping the poor or going on some crusade for a righteous causethere is nothing you can do to earn salvation or to make God love you any more than He does right this minute. His salvation is free, and His love is unconditional. But still, with all that being said, there is something inside us as human beings that makes us reluctant to accept Gods love as it is freely given.

For centuries people have tried to make themselves deserving of Gods love. Even today we find Christian groups sending the message to new believers, Great! Now that you believe in Christ and are saved, heres a list of things you need to start doing to make God (and us) happy. And heres another list of things you need to stop doing in order to be acceptable in our fellowship. It seems like trying to earn Gods favor is a persistent struggle for Gods people.