Flesh Versus The Spirit-SS

Text: Galatians 5:16-25

Introduction- How many of you like to make new years resolutions? How many of you can’t stand them? I really do like to make new years resolutions although, many times I struggle to keep them. Let’s say you make a decision to get into shape and try to lose a little bit of weight. For the first few weeks or maybe even a couple months you do really well, you are getting up early, you are running or working out, you have been eating very healthy. Then, one night, you get to bed pretty late, when the alarm goes off in the morning you feel awful, all you want to do is sleep and so you hit snooze. Well the next night you go to bed earlier but maybe not as early as you wanted, the alarm goes off and hit snooze again. Then everything Strats to go downhill from there. Because you hit snooze that one time it makes it easier and easier to hit snooze later. Then, you look back at the year where you made so many goals and all the time is gone. What happened to all that momentum?!

I don’t know about you, but I have been there more times than I would like to admit and I’m sure you have as well. It really stinks when you don’t lose the weight you want to in a year. But, it is even worse when you want to do right spiritually and you want to please the Lord with your life, you do really well and then you miss a day of Bible reading, and it just gets harder and harder from there, you find It harder and harder to make the right decisions. Then one day you look back and you say, “man, where did all the time go? I did not mean to be in this poor of shape spiritually!”

Transition- I know I have been there more times than I would like to admit, and I’m sure you’ve been there as well. But this text explains why that can be a struggle for us and how we can help win some of those battles.

(V16) Paul gives the Galatians a guiding principle, a mindset that will help them to live their Christian lives like they ought to, that will help them win the spiritual battles in their life.

Transition- We will get into more specifics about what this principle looks like in the application but I just want you to get the basic idea of this mindset or principle, whatever you want to call it.

To walk means to tread all around, to live in, to follow, or to be occupied with. “Walk” basically means your practical life, how you live your daily life.

It is pretty clear that this is not a one time decision, something you do in one moment, this is a lifestyle, it is something that the Galatians would have to do, daily. This would have to be a way of life for the Galatians if they are to get the results of that lifestyle. The results of walking in the Spirit, of living a life full of the Spirit, is not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.

That is something that the Galatians were struggling with in our text, they were struggling the desire that they had to do right because they were Christians, but also to please fulfill the flesh because they were still human.

To fulfill the lusts of the flesh would be giving into or accomplishing the desires of the flesh or put another way, the desires of the heart. Fulfilling the lusts of the flesh is in complete opposition to walking in the Spirit.

In basic terms fulfilling the lust of the flesh is walking in sin. It is the opposite lifestyle of walking in the Spirit. Paul is trying to make it as simple and as clear as he can, CIT- The Galatians could deny the lusts of the flesh by walking in the Spirt.

Transition- I know it sounds simple right?! If it was that easy why do we struggle with keeping our New Year’s resolutions, why is hard to do what is right? Well verse 17 gives a little insight on that.

(V17) The flesh and the Spirit are in complete opposition which presents a problem for the Galatians and also for us!

Illustration- Have you ever, maybe as a kid, or maybe as an adult, gotten on one of those merry-go-rounds that you find on the playground and spun really really fast and then tried to get off and walk? Its awful right!? You just fall right down, it feels impossible to walk a straight line. You want to walk over and grab on to something steady, but your body is still spinning and wanting to go the other way, its almost impossible to do anything but fall! This is exactly what it can be like sometimes in your life as a Christian when the Holy Spirit is trying to guide you in the right way through the preaching and through His Word but you have not been walking in Him but in the lusts of your flesh, spinning around in circles, living how you want to live. It almost makes it nigh impossible to choose the right way because the way of the flesh is in the complete opposite direction than the way of the Spirit. When you are trying to live both ways, it just makes you really really dizzy, its like a spiritual merry-go-round. When the flesh is given too much control and it is constantly fed and then it is like you are taking the Holy Spirit and setting Him off to the side. It is not that the Spirit loses control or power but that you don’t give the Spirit enough control because you’re giving it to the flesh.

When you have so much of the flesh and not enough of the Spirit, verse 17 says that you will not even be able to do and obey the things that you know you should! You can know all the things that you are supposed to but if you are filled too much with the flesh and not the Spirit then you will always choose the flesh. That is why it is a problem for us to keep our resolutions, why it is hard for us to do what we are supposed to do. We have a problem with giving the flesh control. We have a problem with fulfilling the lust of the flesh. What does fulfilling the lusts of the flesh or giving your flesh too much control look like in your life?

Well I can tell you that it doesn’t have to be just the obvious sins. But, if you are constantly feeding your mind/flesh with questionable entertainment whether that is movies with bad language and inappropriate scenes, watching TikToks that are nowhere near what a Christian should be watching, following questionable accounts on instagram, Facebook, Twitter, (Find other social media), listening to worldly music with lyrics and artists that literally oppose everything the Bible stands for, it doesn’t have to be worldly music either, it can be Christian music too.

In fact, when you try to add music that sounds like it could be from an unsaved person’s radio and try to add something spiritual it will just make it that much harder to distinguish what is the flesh’s way and the Spirit’s way. You may not think that music is that big of a deal or that contemporary Christian is that bad but It will just make you more dizzy spiritually, trying to walk in the Spirit but by doing it with the World’s way with the world’s sound and entertainment.

Anything that opposes God’s Word or how a Christian ought to live will just make it that much harder to Walk in the Spirit or follow God’s will for your life because those things give the flesh power and control.

Every time you watch that wrong video, you think that wrong thought, you say or even think that nasty thing about your parents, every action that is opposed to God and His Word is like spinning in a circle one more time, making you more and more dizzy and confused, its like you’re hitting snooze and you will find yourself making more and more wrong decisions.

It is a battle. The Spirit wants to follow God’s desires, but the flesh wants to follow its own desires. Because you are a Christian and you still live in this world and in your sinful flesh, there will always be that struggle to do the right thing.

Transition- If and when you don’t fight the temptation to fulfill the flesh, Paul gives an example of what your life can look like and some things that will start to show up.

(V19-21) The works of the flesh are actually things that you and I could struggle with in our daily lives!

Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness all have to do with any kind of sexual impurity. I don’t think I need to convince you that that is a struggle for everyone in this room especially in this culture that we live.

Idolatry is not just the worship of an idol, but anything that you put your before or above God. Hatred, variance, emulations, and seditions, all have to do with anger, bickering, and jealously.

Strife means selfish ambition. Heresy is continued division and cliques. Envying, murder, drunkenness, reveling which would be considered gluttony.

Do not think that these sins can’t characterize your life, because I think each and everyone of us when we are feeding our flesh too much can struggle with some of those things. All of these and other sins, are what characterizes a life that is given to fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, a person that is always giving into their flesh. We have got to be mindful of how much we feed our flesh and how much control we are giving to the flesh because our lives will start to resemble what we just read.

Transition- So, we just saw what a life given to the flesh can look like, but what does a life given to walking in the Spirit look like?

(V22-25) The fruit of the Spirit is the product of walking in the Spirit. This fruit is what will characterize your life if you are being led by the Spirit.

Obviously you need to do each of these things because that is what a Christian ought to do. But, if you are walking in the Spirit and seeking to give the Spirit control, then these things will start to be evident in your life. Whichever side you are feeding, the flesh or the Spirit, then these either one of these fruits will follow.

What kind of fruit are you seeing in your life? Fleshy fruit or spiritual fruit? These two different fruits will be a great revealer of what you have been walking in. A christian ought to have the fruits of the Spirit because of the next couple verses.

Verse 24 just gives us hope. It tells us that because we are Christians, because Christ died to save us from our sins, that our flesh and those sinful desires have been crucified! Your life doesn’t have to be characterized by constant failure because Christ died to save you from those things. The unsaved will live a life in the flesh and will see the works of the flesh in their life, but a Christian has the potential to see the fruits of the Spirit in their life if they walk in the Spirit.

Verse 25 confirms that if we have accepted Christ as our personal Savior, then we ought to walk in the Spirit. Because of the high price that Christ paid for your sins then there should be no reason that you or I find ourselves walking in the flesh and not the Spirit.

Transition- So, we can talk all day about how bad it is to walk in the flesh and to feed the flesh, but how can we walk in the Spirit, what does that even mean?

How you can walk in the Spirit.

The obvious point is that you must be saved to be able to walk in the Spirit. If you’re saved today, then you have the Holy Spirit inside you, to guide you. I wish I could go into all the background to that because it is very encouraging. God hasn’t left us to just figure out life on our own, He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us! But, for the Holy Spirit to do anything in your life, for Him to guide you, for you to see any of the fruits of the Spirit, you have to walk in the Spirit. You have to feed the Spirit not the flesh. The Holy Spirit will influence your life in many different ways, but I just want to point out a few.

Bible Reading-The biggest part of walking in the Spirit and seeing change in your life, is your own, personal Bible reading. God used to speak to man directly in the OT, He would speak through dreams, but He does not do that anymore, the one way that God speaks to you and shows you what you are to do, is through His Word, the Bible.

If you are not in His Word then you are shutting off the Holy Spirit’s voice to guide you. If you're struggling with some of those works of the flesh, then it is likely that you are not spending time in God’s Word. If there is one thing that you get out of this message tonight, then it is that. Please please please be in God’s Word.

If you will read God’s Word everyday and seek to find God’s will for you that day then you will know how to please the Lord with your life, you will know the decisions to make, you will live a life that will influence others, and there is no end to what you could do for the Lord if you just be faithful to your Bible reading. That will strengthen the Spirit’s control in your life more than anything!

Prayer Life- Praying consistently is one of the easiest things to forget and sometimes the hardest to make yourself do. I know for me, I can get up in the morning and read my Bible and I just don’t feel like I have the time to pray. Of course I am the only one and no one else in this room would ever do this, but I’ll be honest, sometimes its hard to stay awake when I pray in the morning. It’s easy to let your prayer life slide, but that is the way we communicate to God. God communicates to us through His Word and our way to communicate back to Him is through prayer.

If you want to walk in the Spirit ask God for help, pray to be filled with the Spirit. If you are feeling tempted to feed the flesh, pray and ask the Lord for help. You don’t just have to pray for a meal or for your devotions, the Bible says “pray without ceasing”. Your prayer life is a vital aspect of walking in the Spirit.

Preaching- Another part of feeding the Spirit is the preaching of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit will guide in your decisions and reveal God’s will to you in through His Word. You will get so much from the preaching here at church and through teaching here in SS, all you have to do is listen and be willing to change after you hear it! If you do not do anything with the messages you hear then that is another way to push the Spirit to the side and strengthen the flesh’s control on your life.

Influence of Others- Another way the Holy Spirit will influence your life is through the influence of your God given authorities and those who are walking in the Spirit themselves. God will put people in your life who can be examples of walking in the Spirit, who will help you to know what a life of walking in the Spirit really looks like. Watch the men and ladies in this church and learn from their examples. They have been in your shoes and have learned things through it that you can learn from them. But, God has also given you this Pastor, to help guide you spiritually. God gives your Pastor spiritual insight into your life and God will use him to help you grow spiritually and make the right decisions. Don’t block out your Pastor, seek to have a good relationship with him and seek his counsel. God will guide you through your spiritual authorities and through others who walk in the Spirit.

Transition- It is really easy to say that you want to start walking in the Spirit or come pray at the alter tonight and say that you’ll stop feeding the flesh. But until you break that down into little practical steps, I’ve found in my own life that it just won’t happen. So I want to share. With you a few things that I hope can be a help and then we will be finished.

Bible and Prayer Life- If you want to walk in the Spirit, you cannot do it without reading your Bible and praying, and if you are like me, if I don’t wake up in the morning and make time for it then, then it will not happen. I know that doesn’t work for some people but that us just how I work. So, maybe a practical step you can take is helping yourself to get up early.

This may be a little radical for some, but maybe you need to get a real alarm clock or take your phone and set the alarm and before you go to bed, set it on the opposite side of the room. If you have to get out of bed to turn the alarm off, you can’t fall asleep standing up, at least I can’t. Set the things out that will help you in the morning to make the decision to not get back into bed. Get the coffee maker ready the night before, set your clothes out, get up and take a cold shower. Whatever it is, make it impossible for you to give into the flesh.

Maybe you get up early but it is a temptation to play Angry Birds on your phone, or scroll through Facebook. Well, I know this may be radical but if that is a struggle, have your parent block everything on your phone for the time you’ll have your devotions, that way you can’t be distracted. I know that may sound crazy, but if you want to walk in the Spirit those are the little, practical steps that you have to take! Because if you can start in the morning with telling your flesh no and then strengthening the Spirit at the same time, that will set your day up, then the week, then that month, then the whole year, for great success in walking in the Spirit.

Preaching- A practical step you can take to make sure you get the most out of preaching is to simply take notes and review them during your devotions that week. After the sermon, write down one single thing you can work on that week and put it on post-it notes around your house and at work. I know you may think some of those things are irrelevant or too practical but sometimes, at least for me, those are the type of things that will make a difference in wether I walk in the Spirit or feed the flesh.

Conclusion- So, what side have you been feeding this week, the flesh or the Spirit? What kind of fruit are you seeing in your life, is it fleshly sinful fruit or is the fruit of the Spirit? Have you been going through a dry spell spiritually, just feeling all turned around? Are you finding it harder and harder to resist the flesh? Maybe you made a New Year’s resolution to walk with the Lord more and you are already struggling. Well, maybe it’s time that you make decision to stop feeding the flesh, to get rid of some things in your life that are giving the flesh too much control. Maybe you just need to take some practical steps that will help you get back in God’s Word in your daily life. I am not sure what decision you need to make, but, the only way to honor the Lord, the only way to have a life that honors and pleases the Lord is to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh.