Our Desires or the Spirit's

Good Morning,

Let us open with a word of prayer

Pray 3+

Today, we are continuing our study of Galatians and we are in chapter 5 and we will be looking at verses 16-20. If you are using a pew bible our passage will start on page 1077, while you all turn there I want to talk a little bit. Most of you are a lot more familiar with Lake Superior than I am, but over the course of this summer my family and I have been able to enjoy how amazing and beautiful it is. It is unique to anything I have ever experienced and it astounds me that God formed something so wonderful for us to not only to see his Glory by but to enjoy on a personal level. Jack and I on a couple of occasions go swim in it and enjoyed the waves and the chill that comes with swimming in it.

However there is a very different side of Lake Superior, one that is dangerous and deadly. Like, I said most of you are way more familiar with this than I am, but Friday the family and I went out to Bucky’s to see the lake, and I know the picture does not do it justice. We have been out there several times this summer and the difference between previous visits and the most recent one was astounding. This beach that is normally fairly peaceful and nice, was brutally windy and had violent waves washing up. Places we have walked and stood could no longer be seen because of the water. I know that all analogies and illustrations break down, but in many ways this is what the flesh does to what God has made. It takes something beautiful and warps it into something deadly. The flesh takes something that God had made and turns it into the focus of our life rather than God being the focus of our life.

If you are there follow along as I read our passage.

Galatians 5:16–24 “16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Galatians 5:25–26 “25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

What does the word desires here mean?

Paul writes in our first verse here to walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. We have to understand something about the flesh and it’s desires to completely understand why this is and why at the end of verse 17 he says to keep you from doing the things you want to do. The flesh that Paul speaks of here is the sinful part of man and that part of each of us is completely against the Spirit. In verse 17 when Paul says the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, this is very true, in the coveys this idea that the flesh is actively desiring things that are against the Spirit. The flesh is actively looking for ways to be in opposition to the Spirit. Verse 17 in the Greek reads, more like, the flesh sets desires against the Spirit.

Romans 6:6 Tells us that “6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” We are no longer enslaved to it, we have been given the Spirit which gives life. However, we see in Romans 7 and in our passage today that these two desires, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the Spirit, are at war in each one of us. Turn with me to Romans 7 starting in verse 15.

Here in Romans 7 Paul is talking about the desires in a different way. He is talking about it in terms of his mind which is renewed in Christ and his Flesh or the old self.

Romans 7:23–25 “23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

His mind knows what is good and wants to do it but if he tries to do it by his flesh he cannot. If he walks by the flesh, he keeps on doing the thing he hates. We see both here in Romans 7 and in our passage today that we cannot live out what we know is right by our flesh or by our own strength. Take the law of God like the Judiazers were doing here. If we are trying to use the flesh to fulfill it, the flesh warps it into a form of bondage. What was to point us to Christ has now been turned into self-righteousness. Our flesh is very good at this too.

I might be an anomaly here, but I highly doubt it. But if I am not walking by the Spirit, the flesh has this amazing talent for turning something that is on its own can be good into something that in me is wicked and evil.

Turn back to Galatians with me. We will come back to verse 18 but look at verses 19-21 with me.

Galatians 5:19–21 “19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

It is interesting to note a word here about the flesh. These are works this is what is demanded of a servant or slave to do. All of these like our lake have come from something that God created and have been warped into something that leads to death. The law which God created is used by the flesh here in Galatia to produce dissensions and divisions. The flesh takes the blessings of others and turns it into jealousy and envy in me. It takes our desire to have a relationship with God and turns it into idolatry and sorcery.

If you are anything like me, when I am not being careful to walk with the Spirit, I quickly find myself submitting to the flesh and producing things on this list. I take things that on their surface are good and begin to create an idol out of it, envying what others have and jealous for the blessings of others. Then if someone points it out, I have fits of anger and produce enmity towards them. But this raises a question, if all of us, who are saved, are capable of living this way.

Who is it that won't inherit the kingdom of God?

At the end of verse 21, Paul says, “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” We have to notice two things about this, one all of us are able to fall into sin. We will see in chapter 6, Paul will instruct those who are spiritual to help restore those caught in transgression and warn them to keep watch lest they be tempted.

So, we know that those who have come to salvation can sin, and one cannot lose their salvation based on passages like Ephesians 1:13–14“13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

The second thing we have to notice in this verse is that there is a distinction here and if you are using an ESV study Bible or an NASB study Bible there is likely a note somewhere near this that explains that distinction. These people make a practice of doing such things. This is not the same sort of do a Christian does, where the Christian sins then realizes and repents or turns away from the sin. This is the practice of an unbeliever who continually lives in this, whose life is marked by a lifestyle of these works. The verse is saying that the unbeliever will not inherit the kingdom of God and this is how the life of an unbeliever is marked. If you are here today, and these are the works you produce, I would ask you to seriously evaluate if you are saved and if you are walking by the Spirit.

Philippians 2:12–13 “12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

This verse is not a verse about working for our salvation like many claim it to be, but it is a reminder to evaluate yourself, make sure that you are not trying to save yourself by affiliation or by your flesh. Rather our salvation is through Christ and if we are in Christ, God is at work in us, for His Glory and pleasure. We see that in our passage today.

If we continue in Galatians 5, I will read verses 22- 24

Galatians 5:22–26 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Now we first have to be careful to realize, that these are being grown in us by the Spirit, these are not things that we can look at others and see in equal levels. If we look at any sort of fruit in real life, even on the same tree you have fruit in different levels of growth. There are branches still in flower others, that have begun to form fruit, later you have fruit that is nearing maturity while others are just beginning to grow. However, all of the fruit is of the same tree. If we are looking at an apple tree, that tree will always produce an apple. The apple tree will never produce anything else even if the fruit is growing at different speeds.

The Spirit is doing the same in each of us who have come to salvation. He is always going to make us more like Christ.

Romans 8:28–29 “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” This one fruit is conformity to the image of Jesus. He will always work in us to make us in Christ’s image and as this happens each of these is displayed in us, these characteristics continue to grow and ripen. Much like our apple when it first buds, it doesn’t look, let alone taste, much like an apple. However as time goes on, it begins to look more and more like what we imagine an apple looks like. The same thing happens with the taste of an apple when it is immature it is bitter and not very apple like, but eventually it is sweet and delicious. Christ lived out each of these perfectly in a way we likely will not until he brings us home or returns but as we walk with the Spirit each of these should be growing in our life. And should, characterize what the people of God look like to each other and the world around us.

The second thing we have to be careful to realize is the difference between verse 19 and verse 22. The first is works these are us actively doing it we are the producers, the second is fruit we are acted upon in this second one. The second list is not something we are capable of producing on our own rather it is directly caused by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. These characteristic that we see growing in our life, they are his. They grow in us because we each day should be looking less and less at ourselves and more and more at Christ. If your faith is in Christ and you belong to Him, your flesh with it’s passions and desires has been crucified. It is nailed to the cross and is as good as dead.

I can hear all of you saying, but Pastor Jad, if my flesh is as good as dead why do I still struggle with it, why does it still have a draw on me. Paul says we have crucified the flesh, so by placing our faith in Christ it has been accomplished. I want to look at a couple of different verses to answer this, first turn with me to Matthew 27 I am going to read verses 41-44.

Matthew 27:41–44 “41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.”

These two robbers who were crucified with Jesus reviled him, while they were crucified. This tells us something about our passage today. Our flesh has been crucified, but can still bother us. Are we able to say that these two men are dead men in this moment? Yes. They were being crucified they are as good as dead; we can consider them dead despite the fact that they are still speaking. Which should remind us of another passage in Romans 6.

Romans 6:11–14 “11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” You are to consider yourselves dead to sin, just like the two robbers crucified next to Jesus. Our flesh may call out to us, and we can give it our attention, but it no longer has to be that way. Just as the two robbers could not do anything beyond ridicule and call out so too our flesh only has that ability; it like they is nailed to a cross. We just need to remember that and consider it dead.

Our passage closes with a repetition of the opening, but rather than it being a statement Paul says it as a warning. Where he opened our passage with if we walk by the Spirit we won’t gratify the desires of the flesh, Galatians 5:25-26 reads:

Galatians 5:25–26 “25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” If we claim to live by the Spirit, we must be careful to continue to walk with the Spirit. It is so easy for us to have the appearance of walking when we are really stopped.

How is the Spirit trying to grow us more like Christ?

We must remember that the Spirit is always trying to make us more like Christ and like I said earlier that work will not be finished until we are brought into Glory, whether he takes us home or come again. We must keep up we must let Him work in us. When we read scripture, does it have an affect on us or are we just reading it to know more. Is our love for God growing when we study and when we are in fellowship with others? Is our love for others growing? Is the fruit of the Spirit Growing in our lives or are we producing the works of the flesh. Paul list three here as an example, the three that he sees the Galatians falling into as they were leaning into the flesh. We must be careful that we don’t come to church because it is what we are supposed to do, but because it is where we can worship God with our brothers and sisters. Are we becoming more faithful in our service to God, more patient and gentle as we interact with others, or our we becoming more conceited or envious?