Galatians 5:1-15.  Jesus came to set us free.  The Bible teaches that we are slaves, Our desires are masters over us that push us to do things that make God unhappy.  The laws that were given to the Israelites were a constant reminder of that.  When a person wanted to identify with the Jews there was a particular sign, a guy had to be circumcised.  If you don’t know what that is ask your parents.  It was a surgical procedure that would be very painful for an older person (Check out the story in Genesis 34).  Paul says that if you go that way, if you want to live under the rules, that you need to keep all of them.  And we all know that we fail at that.  The law just shows us we are slaves.  Jesus, however, set us free.  When he took our punishment he opened the door for the Holy Spirit to live in our lives.  Then with the help of the spirit we could begin to live for God.  And when we fail the forgiveness is still there.  We are free.  There were two parts tot he trouble in Galatia though.  There were the Judaizers who were trying to make new Christians live under the Jewish rules and there were some new Christians who realized that God had forgiven them and felt like they could do what ever when ever.  To them Paul says, “Stop!” They were not to use the freedom from punishment as an opportunity to live like little wild men they were to use their new freedom (and the help of the Holy Spirit as we will see tomorrow) to serve one another in love.  Paul reminds them of what Jesus had said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. This statement along with “You shall love God with ll that you are” really summed up and fulfilled all of the rules that had been given to Moses.  the Llaw cannot make us right but if you want to really want to make God happy love Him and others (Matthew 22:34-30).  Lord thank you for setting me free from the penalty of my disobedient life.  Help me not use the freedom to continue down that path.  I want to please you and look forward to eternity with you.  Help me be a pleasing child of yours today.  Let me serve others well.