Walking the Walk Part 1

Good morning Church!!!

Bibles out…Galatians chapter 5…

Going to be finishing out our series next week

We have spent many months now in this text…

And Paul the author has been driving home this central truth through this entire epistle…

That there is only ONE TRUE GOSPEL…

AND IT IS THE GOSPEL OF JESUS PERIOD…

Anything else you hear…Any other gospel being preached is false…

Its false teaching coming from false teachers…

And that is what Paul is trying to get the churches in Galatia to realize…

Remember…they have been sold a different gospel than the one true gospel of salvation through FAITH IN Christ alone…

And the FALSE GOSPEL THEY HAVE BEEN SOLD IS THIS…

That in order to be a true saved follower of the Lord…

The way to obtain righteousness so that we can dwell together with God…

You had to have faith in Jesus PLUS follow the Mosaic Law…

That you in your flesh had to obtain this righteousness by your actions…

By following the Mosaic Law…

So Paul is writing them in this letter…and as you who have walked through this letter with me week after week…you have seen this over and over again

Paul is writing this letter to them and…

He is telling the Galatians…the law is NOT able to make you righteous…

It just shows you that your not capable of righteousness on your own…by the works of your flesh…

It just enslaves you under sin…

The works of your flesh are not gaining you anything except chains of slavery!!!

And as we open up into Chapter 5…

Paul is again driving this point into the hearts of the Galatians…

You are free from the bondage of the Law….

Do not try and re-chain yourself to it…

Don’t go back to the life of a slave….YOU ARE FREE!!!

He says in Galatians 5:1 READ

And so now as Paul rounds out his letter…

He is going to do 2 things…

First he is going to make one final push to get his audience to HEAR THE TRUTH…

THAT THEY HAVE BEEN FREED FROM THE BONDAGE OF THE LAW…

That they didn’t earn righteousness…they were MADE righteous…

That they are no longer separated from God…

But have become one with God through the Holy Spirit…

And NOW because they have been made free…they are to walk in that freedom through the Holy Spirit every single day…

IN FACT…HERE IS THE BIG IDEA PAUL IS GOING TO SHOW US TODAY IN ONE SIMPLE SENTENCE…

BIG IDEA: BY THE ONE TRUE GOSPEL WE ARE JUSTIFIED BY CHRIST ALONE AND SANCTIFIED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, TO WALK IN IT’S POWER EVERYDAY.

NOW as we move into the text… verse 2 look how Paul opens…

He says in…V 2 Look….KJV “BEHOLD”…means SEE

Paul is calling for the Galatians to take a long hard deep look at themselves…

TO SEE TRUTH…

He is making his final appeal…

He is reminding them AGAIN…

By the one true Gospel we are…

Justified by Christ alone… (v. 1-12)

READ V 1-12

So what is Paul talking about here…

Throughout this whole letter he has been illustrating the same point in different ways…

In the Mosaic Law…In order to belong to God you had to be circumcised…

Circumcision was the uniform…the badge of the Law…

It showed your good standing in the Law…

This is …Obviously…an action of the flesh…

This is A false message from false teachers…

That these Judaizers have come in and are telling the Galatian Christians…

You must be circumcised to be righteous…to be holy

But Paul is telling them…If you place your faith in this false teaching…

Jesus is of no advantage to you…

If you believe that YOU CAN EARN SALVATION THROUGH THE ACT OF CIRCUMCISION THEN YOU ARE SAYING THAT JESUS WAS INSUFFICIANT…

If you place your trust in any other means to gain favor with God other than your faith in Jesus…then Jesus is of no benefit to you…

LETS SIT UNDER THIS FOR A SECOND CHURCH…( and hear me…this is going to get uncomfortable)

Paul is asking these Galatians to LOOK at where there faith lies…

Does it lie in circumcision???

In the works of their flesh???

In their “religousness”?

In their religous rituals or their works?

What is our faith in church…

As a christian…where does the confidence of your salvation lie???

IN THE FACT THAT YOU COME HERE EVERY SUNDAY???

IN THE FACT THAT YOU WERE DUNKED IN WATER WHEN YOU WERE 12???

OR THE FACT THAT YOU ARE CHARITABLE???

IN THE FACT THAT YOU SAID A SPECIAL PRAYER FROM A BOOK???

OR TOOK COMMUNION???

IN THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE READ THE BIBLE COVER TO COVER???

IN THE FACT THAT YOU TITHE ALOT???

OR THAT YOU ARE A PASTOR, OR AN ELDER, OR A DEACON???

All these things can be great things in your walk…they can be fruitful things…

But thats not the question…

The question is…What is your faith in????

HAVE YOU PLACED YOUR FAITH IN YOUR OWN ABILITIES…YOUR OWN WORK???

Because …if you think you can earn righteousness by your own works of your flesh…realize you are held to the standard of the WHOLE LAW

NOT JUST CIRCUMCISION

BUT ALL 613 commandments…you must live out those to perfection

YOU ARE as KJV a“Debtor” to the whole law…

And if thats the case you are severed from Christ…

FALLEN AWAY FROM THE GRACE THAT JESUS IS FREELY GIVING

So lets recap this…

Through the works of the flesh by the law we are slaves, debtors, severed, fallen…

But through Jesus WE HAVE BEEN FREED!!!!

FREED FROM THE LAW!!!

JUSTIFIED THROUGH HIM…

THROUGH FAITH ALONE IN CHRIST WE ARE FREE!!

Paul is telling the Galatians…LOOK…SEE…What you were freed from!!!

AND SEE THAT YOU WERE FREED ONLY THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST!!!

YOUR FAITH MUST BE IN YOUR JUSTIFICATION BY THE SHED BLOOD OF CHRIST

Paul goes on and says…”YOU WERE RUNNING WELl, WHAT HAPPENED? WHO HINDERED YOU?”

These were strong Gospel Centered Christ followers when Paul left them…

Now they have been led astray quickly to a FALSE GOSPEL…

We need to see how easily this can happen church…

He says “A little leaven…leavens the whole lump”

This false teaching was sprinkled in at first but like yeast in bread dough it multiplies quickly and the whole lump becomes leavened…

And because of this…Paul left this church glorifying the cross…

Now it offends them…

THIS IS FALSE TEACHING BY FALSE TEACHERS AND IT MUST BE REMOVED…

Because the one true gospel is through Faith alone in Christ alone…

And when you stand firm on that truth…

It is the Holy Spirit that works through you…

Not of your own effort to gain favor…but BY FAITH in Jesus you were justified…and now you are…

Sanctified by the Holy Spirit…(v. 13-15)

READ v 13-15

You are Justified by faith in the one true gospel…

you receive the Holy Spirit…

Now any holy conduct coming from you comes through the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of you Christ follower!!!

Baptism, tithing, prayer, bible study, generosity, service…

All this things arent done to gain you righteousness…

They are the product of righteousness through Faith in Jesus…

They are markers of sanctification…

Paul comments here…just because you are living free of righteous law…

Doesnt mean you can live out the desires of the flesh…

But living free of the slavery of the law produces a CHRIST LIKE LOVE!!!

A love that comes to fulfill the law…

Now you dont serve to gain favor and become one with God…

you serve because YOU ARE ALREADY ONE WITH GOD THROUGH FAITH!!!

AND ALL OF THIS IS THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT…

And all because of FAITH the ONE TRUE GOSPEL OF JESUS…

Which gave us the helper…the Holy Spirit…That grows us in sanctification daily…

And because of that…We must walk according to the Holy Spirit…

We must cling to it…and walk in it and not in the desires of the flesh…

Listen to what the word of God has to say about this…

READ 16-25

To walk in it’s power everyday! (v. 16-25)

There is a WAR GOING ON INSIDE OF YOU…

Between FLESH and SPIRIT…

Being in the flesh promotes : (works of the flesh)

BUT WE CHURFH ARE IN THE SPIRIT!!!

SO WE ARE TO WALK IN THE SPIRIT…

Our identifier is no longer in fleshly things…

BUT in the fruit of the Spirit… (LOVE JOY PEACE PATIENCE KINDNESS GOODNESS FAITHFULNESS Gentleness SELF CONTROL

THOSE WHO BELONG HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH…

THE OLD THEM IS DEAD…THEY ARE NOT IDENTIFIABLE BY THE ACTIONS OF THE FLESH…

THEY ARE IDENTIFIED by their true identity…Christ that dwells inside of them…

THEY ARE OF CHRIST…THE FRUIT COMING FROM THEM LOOKS LIKE JESUS!!!

WE ARE GOING TO DIG DEEP INTO THE PRACTICAL SENSE OF WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO WALK IN THE SPIRIT IN CHAPTER 6 NEXT WEEK…

BUT I WANT YOU CHURCH TO REFLECT ON THIS UNTIL THEN…

WHEN PEOPLE SEE YOU…WHEN THEY SEE ME… WHEN THEY SEE US…

DO THEY SEE THE WORKS OF THE FLESH…OR WORKS OF THE SPIRIT…

LETS PRAY!