In step with the Spirit
Notes
Transcript
Pray
We’ve seen through the last few chapters of Galatians, that Paul is reminding the Galatian’s and us, that our salvation, our only hope, is not in what we can do, but in what Christ has done for us.
We were slaves to the law of God, now we are son’s of God in Christ.
We were dead in sin, now we are alive.
We were son’s of Hagar who represented our fleshly decisions and effort - we are now figuratively sons’ of Sarah, because we are divinely saved and made sons.
And all along Paul has issues warnings alongside these reminders - don’t slip back to slavery. Don’t slip back to living by the flesh.
Don’t give up your sonship.
And in chapter 5 his pattern changes slightly.
Now we have salavation by God’s grace alone firmly fixed in our sights - Now we know we are free.
He now addressess what ‘freedom in Christ’ looks like compared to living in slavery to sin.
But the difference now is he is not talking about how to be saved - for that is by faith alone in Christ alone,
but he is talking about what our life should look like becasue we are saved.
It’s an important distinction.
Because upuntil now he has said you cannot save yourself by obeying the law - so don’t try!
That is to make Christ and his sacrifice for you of no value (5v2)
But - now you are slaved by grace - we do not throw out the law of God as pointless, or evil, or unhelpful - but rather
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
Don’t fulfil the law for salvation (Galatians chapter 1-4) but do, now you know you are freely saved by faith in Christ alone - do now live by, fulfill the law - not for salvation - but becasue you have salvation.
Or as he’ll put it here...
You once lived by the flesh, now you live by the Spirit. V16
So, it’s our motivation and thinking about our obedience to God that is key.
So, you might have 2 people striving to obey the law - one to try and save themselves - and sadly they are not saved.
The other because they are saved, so now want to behave according to what they are now in Christ.
On the outside they can look the Same, but on the inside their hearts are different,
1 is trusting in the flesh,
the other is trusting in JEsus and the HS lives in their heart.
And that person should not only be characterised by obedience, but also fruit that is see in their character.
So, We will see in the rest of the passage - that true freedom, a true spirit led life
is
to daily nail our fleshly sin to the cross,
and follow the Spirit of God who calls us to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves.
But Our first point:
1 - We are at War!
1 - We are at War!
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
This is a battle scene. Our fleshly desires - in other-words the desires of every human being is in direct ‘conflict’ with the Spirit of God and His desire for us.
If you live by the Spirit - you will not gratify the flesh.
The flesh is contrary to the Spirit.
and the Spirt Contrary to the Flesh.
These are strong words:
So, says Paul end of v17 - You are not to do whatever you want!
In short, If you and I, wake up each day and do the things we ‘naturally want to do’ we will be repelling the Spirit’s desire for us.
Or, if we awake and read God’s word as His will for us by His Spirit, and then choose through prayer, and will, to live according to the Spirit, we will be repelling our fleshly desires.
Like trying to bring opposing ends of 2 powerful magnets together - They repel each other.
magnet
What we want to do naturally, by the flesh - is not right says Paul.
What we ought to do is live by the Spirit.
We’re at war within oursleves.
Don’t get confused here though. Paul is not saying we must win this war to be saved from our sin. That is the opposite of his point.
That is to return to slavery - thinking we can earn salvation by obeying God well enough!
That is the false teaching he is confronting in Galatia!
That is why he drops in
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
But being saved freely from slavery into freedom in Christ does not lead to doing whatever we want!
no - becasue we are saved and have the Spirit - we now join a battle becasue we no longer want to be what we were.
The flesh that has been slain in God’s sight by Christ Jesus on the cross, still rages on within us - the difference is we now have the Holy Spirit in us so we actually now ‘see’ the realities of our sin and so wage war.
Before we were blind to our sin - now - boy do we see it by the workl of the Spirit
And it will continue this way for all Christian until Christ returns again to completely rid us of our fleshly natures.
At that point we will become what we already are in Christ.
But until then, yes
We are at War.
Romans 7:21–24 (NIV 2011)
So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
If you feel this conflict within you, between a desire to delight God but a reality of sinful actions and thoughts,
then as hard as that is you should actually be encouraged!
Experinceing and feeling the pain of this conflict is a sign the HS lives in your heart. An he is leading you.
Some will tell you that no - we are free and that means we have no cause to consider our sin!
No says Paul. We are at war - in conflict - and as we’re about to see - we are to take action accordingly.
Be encouraregd weary soldier as you repent again and again - for if there is no fight in you between sin and Spirit - then you don’t have the Spirit!
if this is you, if you see this conflict within you - it is evidence of the Spirit in you.
So, - prepare yourself - familiarise yourself with the battle field.
The Flesh’s desires vs The Spirit
The Flesh’s desires vs The Spirit
The flesh - the things we are to crucify he says in v24.. are well - obvious -
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
They are obvious aren’t they?
Sexual sins, lusts and desires outside of a 1 man to 1 woman marriage.
Idolatry, elevating created things above our creator
Character issues of hatred, jealousy,
Pursuing selfish gain - that’s a powerful one we like to ignore today isn’t it. Selfish gain rather than the good and gain of the Lord God and His church, and the lost who need to hear the gospel.
Infighting, envy at home and work or amongst neighbours.
Drunkenness and drugs, parties or clubs designed to sell us on the idea of lusts and escapism.
Paul gets us to look down upon this battle field and down in the valley is The battle camp of the ‘flesh’ and it is a horrid sight.
Adultery, lust, blood, violence, selfish gain, back stabbing, idols, swearing, abuse.
And sadly, the world looks in with rose tinted glasses - It has pretty bunting up around the tents all to hide it’s hidden horrors,
but the Spirit allows us to see it for what it is.
Continue to live in that camp of the flesh, without waging war against it and says Paul
you will have no inheritance with God.
Because if you have the Spirit you will see it and be disgusted by our own sin and rebelion.
And we will flee that camp with all our strength - looking to follow the Spirit - not the flesh.
If you just get on with all that without this inner conflict - you are probably not a Christian - you should talk to someone today if you DON’T struggle with sin Repent and believe in Jesus alone.
But, if the Spirit is in you - then yes - you will be tempted by and often fall into such sin -
but you will be waging war against such things.
You will be repenting - literally trying to turn your back on them and walking away.
Because up on the ridge above that camp of flesh - is another battle camp - the camp of the Holy Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Love Joy and peace are our fruits directed towards God.
We love Him, for he is our Father
We have Joy becasue we have a sure hope of eternity with him,
We have peace with Him for he paid our judgment upon the Lord Jesus, His own son, in our place.
enemies becoming peaceful family.
forbearance (or patience) which implies we will need to show this to annoying people - no-one needs forbearance with someone wonderful!
kindness - towards those who are kind to us yes, but also towards those who are not, or cannot repay us
goodness - simply a sense that we are good towards others.
Trusted, go out of our way, walk the extra mile, beyond reproach,
we are also wanting to be faithful - faithful towards God - and towards others according to God’s ways.
Gentle - We are not a people who need to shout loudest, defend our own rights, repay every wrong - for we have had all those things forgiven of us - and God will judge those who need it.
And self control - How different is self-control to the activities of the flesh.
We do not fill ourselves with desires, idols, dreams of grandure, money, success - rather we seek the good of others!
We shouldn’t be surprised that these are the fruits of the Spirit, becasue this was the character of Jesus - to whom we now belong.
Start fast
Do you remember the terror and chaos and filth of the battle camp of the flesh, down in the valley.
This may be a war, a conflict, a battle - but how calming
slow
to entre the camp of the Holy Spirit.
The war rages outside, but in our hearts, love, joy peace.
This is where we now belong- in this Camp - keep in step as you march with the Holy Spirit - not your flesh.
There is no enslaving law here he says end of v18 - nothing to hinder the fruit of the Spirit in your life - stay in this camp, fight for this leader.
How do we do that?
How do we live by the Spirit?
Well we’ve said it already, but let’s clarify it all to finish -the last 2 verse are really helpfully.
How to live by the Spirit.
How to live by the Spirit.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
a - Crucify the flesh
a - Crucify the flesh
As the battle rages, we are not to ignore the battle of our own sin and flesh
Oh my sin doens’t really matter - Jesus forgives -
no! we are to crucify the enemy.
This is not the same crucifiction Paul talked about earlier
Galatians 2:20 (NIV 2011)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
There Paul speaks of the all fulfilling work of Christ in us for salvation.
Here he addresses the Christian who, in accepting the reality of what Christ has done, responds by crucifying ‘our’ flesh ‘ourselves’ in every possible way - because it is the enemy, and beacasue in Christ it is not who we truely are anymore!
The strength of his point is not to be missed!
Don’t just kill it, crufiy it!
Nail every sin and temptation to a cross.
Crucifiction may be slow and painful, but that is where our sin belongs,
When Christ finally returns, the breath of our sin in practice will finally be extinguished - but what Christ has already achieved spirtually, we must continually strive to do in practice.
This is the daily repentance we need - as we turn from our sin - not just say sorry for it, but nail it again to the cross.
Turn away from it. crucify it with it’s passions and desires - rid it from your lives.
Not to be saved - that’s been crucified enough in Christ - we are free from it -
and as such - we now hate it, that filthy blood stained camp of flesh to which we have been delivered.
This is what Christ means to ‘take up your cross daily’. We’re at war and we must crucify the enemy.
But, we are not alone.
b - Keep in Step with Spirit
b - Keep in Step with Spirit
The Spirit of Jesus has already done it for us, and lives now in us to help us to do it in practice until Christ returns.
Crucifying our sin in repentance, turning away is to live by the Spirit.
But we don’t turn away from the flesh towards nothing.
We turn into the arms of the Spirit.
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
This is not a let go and let God verse as often interpreted.
Paul is very clear - we have a role to play here. Christ did not die to forgive us and turn us into pointless robots with nothing to do, but to turn us into His followers - who seek his will and glory each and every day.
And so to live by the Spirit is for ‘us’ Paul says, to keep in step with the Spirit.
In other words it is the Spirit of God who ‘leads’ us. He says this in v16 and 25 in our passage - but it us US who does the walking - the stepping.
What does that look like?
Well it looks like this whole passage.
We ‘crucify’ our flesh in repentance and turning away from the fleshly desires that are obvious.
But we don’t do it alone -
We now follow a new commander - the Spirit of God.
Keep in Step.
You belong to the camp of the HS who shows us what is good, and honourable, and worthy of God In His Word.
Just as we have rad today,
So we strive to fulfil the law by loving God and loving each other.
We pray for and work on the fruits of the Spirit - becoming in Character like Jesus our Saviour.
John Stott the late London preacher and theologian says and applies this passage like this to close.
The Message of Galatians b. We Must Walk by the Spirit
This will be seen in our whole way of life—in the leisure occupations we pursue, the books we read and the friendships we make. Above all in what older authors called ‘a diligent use of the means of grace’, that is, in a disciplined practice of prayer and Scripture meditation, in fellowship with believers who provoke us to love and good works, in keeping the Lord’s day as the Lord’s day, and in attending public worship and the Lord’s Supper. In all these ways we occupy ourselves in spiritual things. It is not enough to yield passively to the Spirit’s control; we must also walk actively in the Spirit’s way. Only so will the fruit of the Spirit appear.
Pray