St. Paul preached to the churches in Galatia saying, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another" (Galatians 5:13-15).  The Baptized are freed from the terror of the devil, the burden's of the world, the eternal consequence of death, and the sting of sin. The Baptized are freed from the condemning word of the law, meaning that, in Christ, they stand justified rather than condemned. Does the law still condemn us? Yes, because we are still sinful and will be until we breathe our last. However, in the forgiveness of our sins, we are acquitted before our Heavenly Father, freed of all charges the law brings against us. In Christ, in the forgiveness of our sins, we are freed from the curse of the Law because Jesus became the curse for us so that we may become His righteousness and life. Jesus has done all the work and continues to do all the work for our righteousness and life. There is nothing that we can add to Jesus work, nothing we can contribute, because Jesus finished all the work and now grants the benefits of His work freely in the means of grace.

So, what do we do with this freedom from sin, death, world, devil, and the curse of the law? Well, we could abuse it and live as we want, do whatever makes us feel good, and seek out the pleasures of the flesh until we can't stomach them anymore. We can eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. However, this is not freedom, but slavery. When we desire the things of this world, and desire to live like the world lives, and seek out days spent in luxury and temporal pleasure, then we find ourselves not as free children of God, but as bound slaves of the world and its master the devil. As St. Paul says, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another" (Galatians 5:25-26).  When you long for retribution, yearn for the flesh of another, and covet all that God hasn't given to you, you are no longer free, but bound to the fate of those temporal things. No amount of preaching the law will change these desires and habits we have. The law no peace can ever give, no comfort and no blessing; therefore, it cannot free our conscience or free our will from concupiscence, that wicked inclination for sinful things. No, the law reveals these desires, but doesn't offer any gift of change.  Only the Holy Spirit, in the preaching of the Gospel, frees us from a burdened conscience and a bound will. 

For the Gospel says that Jesus took all these desires and inclinations we have and nailed them to the tree of the cross. There at Calvary did Jesus assume all our thoughts, words, and deeds that hate the law and hate God and He became them, so that when the law found Him He was cursed under it. Jesus bound Himself to our fate on the cross in order that we may share in His fate of eternal life with the Father. In His death, Jesus freed us from death, from a bad conscience, and from our bound will that hates the law and desires to sin. But now, that we are in Christ, we are no longer plagued by a bad conscience or bound to the will and desires of the devil. We no longer see the law as a terrible thing from which to run, but rather our joy and delight as we love God and our neighbor. This is why the preaching of the law hits us Christians so hard. If we were unbelievers, we wouldn't care what the law says, because we wouldn't love God. However, because we are freed to love God and our neighbor, when the law reveals our sin, it smacks us in the face and kills us. The law hasn't been changed, we have, for we are baptized into Christ and no longer slaves of this world, but children of paradise.  In Christ, we love our neighbor and we live in faith toward God. This is the free life, a life free from the burdens of the world and the guilt of sin. We live this life now, in freedom, in love for and service to our neighbor.  When we fail, which we will do, Christ does not condemn us, but forgives us, and restores us again to a right relationship with His Father and with our neighbor.  Our freedom isn't something we attain, but rather it is freely bestowed on us by our merciful Lord, Jesus the Christ. 

Peace be with you. May the devil be silenced, the world be hushed, and the Old Adam be drowned anew so that you hear only the voice of your Savior Jesus who says, "I forgive you. I love you. I claim you as My own forever," Amen.

Jesus' Sheepdog,

Pastor Hull