Impact 2024-4-You're a New Creation

1. Introduction

I am so excited to see what God is doing in your lives.

I know some of you asked Jesus to be a part of your life for the very first time, and that really excites me, because you have begun a life in Christ.

Then some of you made a commitment to sell out to Jesus. To love Him with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. You committed to loving Jesus with ALL of you! That also excites me.

Tonight I want to be extremely practical. This week we have talked about how our culture keeps trying to argue against living for and following after Jesus.

We have talked about how our culture tries to disprove God’s Word while trying to make us look stupid or foolish.

We talked about the fact that we have weapons that are not human or earthly weapons, but spiritual ones.

And we’ve talked about how God’s mighty weapons to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

Tonight I want to begin with a basic idea that a lot of Christians talk about, and then I want to show you, practically, what it means to live our life that way.

2. Crucified with Christ

Let’s begin with looking at Galatians 2:20.

Galatians 2:20 NLT

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is a great verse, and I absolutely love it. But when I was your age (a long time ago when we still used to chisel our homework out on stone tablets) I didn’t experience the truth of this verse.

I understood what it meant to be crucified with Christ.

I think I kind of understood what it meant to when it said, Christ lives in me.

But I struggled with how that looked when I got wrapped up and involved in sin.

That’s when I came across the truths of Galatians 5. So let’s look at Galatians 5, beginning with verse 16.

Galatians 5:16 NLT

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

3. Following the Holy Spirit’s Lead

When we first read Galatians 5:16 you might be like me. Immediately I think, wait a minute! I still crave the things my sinful nature craves!

If that is true then I must still be a horrible, terrible, hopeless, or foolish!

That’s when I kept reading.

Galatians 5:17 NLT

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

When I read this verse, I realized why there is a battle going on inside of me!

The Holy Spirit has come to live in me. In theology we say we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

So it is true that the God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) lives in me.

But so does my sinful nature. So what happens is that there are two forces that are now warring in me—God’s Holy Spirit is now battling with my sinful nature.

Notice that verse 17 says

Galatians 5:17 (NLT)

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

And Paul goes on to say, “so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

Paul just outlined my problem! There’s a battle raging in me, and that battle keeps me from accomplishing the good intentions that I want to accomplish!

Thankfully, Paul doesn’t stop there. He is going to tell us exactly how I will end up, if I follow after my sinful desires.

4. Desires of My Sinful Nature

Look at verse 19.

Galatians 5:19 NLT

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,

Sexual immorality

—that is any kind of sexual relationship outside of marriage.

Impurity

—Impure motives, or impure thoughts.

Lustful pleasures

—Extreme immorality.

Galatians 5:20 NLT

idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,

Idolatry

—putting ANYTHING or ANYONE above our relationship with the Lord.

Sorcery

—witchcraft, it is the Greek word pharmakeia from which we get our word pharmacy so it can include using drugs that alter the state of conscientiousness.

Hostility

—hatred toward a “enemy.”

Quarreling

—fighting, or selfish ambition.

Jealousy

—wanting things that belong to another, especially talents or abilities.

Outbursts of Anger

—fits of rage.

Selfish Ambition

—self-seeking, looking out for number ONE!

Dissensions

—discord, or forcing people to take sides (us against them).

Divisions

—once dissensions have taken place deep fractures begin to separate the parties come into fighting groups. This has a particularly strong religious implication—religious divisions that keep the spread of the gospel from happening.

Galatians 5:21 NLT

envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Envy

—ill-will against another. Wanting what they have or what they can do, and hating the person because you don’t or can’t have or do what they have or can do.

Drunkenness

—being controlled by spirits rather than by the Holy Spirit.

Wild parties

—often parties where sexual caution is thrown to the wind!

And other sins like these

—a catch all for any other ungodliness you can think of.

Paul ends this section with a warning!

Galatians 5:21 (NLT)

envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

“Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (5:21b).

That tells me that when you and I have an encounter with Jesus Christ, our lives should change—there ought to be something different about us!

KEY—We will still struggle with sin, but we should not live in sin—chasing after a sinful lifestyle

Instead, Paul is going to show us what the Holy Spirit can or should produce in you and me.

5. The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22 NLT

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Paul lists the characteristics (many of them opposites of what our sinful nature produces) that should be evident when the Holy Spirit lives in us.

Love

—Gk. agapao, or unconditional love. A love that expects NOTHING in return.

Joy

—delight in the Lord which brings about a contentment that is inexpressible. We can have this contentment even when we don’t understand why we’re going through something.

Peace

—the calm assurance that God has everything under control and NOTHING has escaped His view.

Patience

—the ability to keep on keeping on! Sometimes translated endurance, or long-suffering.

Kindness

—being kind.

Goodness

—has the idea of doing good, and being generous.

Faithfulness

—trustworthy, dependable.

Galatians 5:23 NLT

gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Gentleness

—being gentle with people, has the idea of care and compassion.

Self-control

—mastery over one’s self!

No Law Against These Things

KEY—The key to all of this is found in verse 24!

Galatians 5:24 NIV

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Did you catch that? Jesus says that those who belong to Christ have put to death—voluntarily—the flesh!

6. Evidence of Belonging to Jesus

Nailed Our Fleshly Passions to the Cross and Crucified Them

When we belong to Jesus we crucify (kill) our flesh with all it’s fleshly passions and sinful desires.

Nailed Our Sinful Desires to the Cross and Crucified Them

That falls under self-control or self-mastery.

Notice the past tense—have nailed. . . and crucified them there. . .

Follow the Spirit’s Leading

Galatians 5:25 NLT

Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

We are to be living by (under the control of) the Spirit.

We are to follow the Spirit’s leading.

The NIV “Keep in step with the Spirit.” Image: A precise military drill.

Unity of Believers

Galatians 5:26 NLT

Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

We are not to be conceited (Gk. boastful, falsely proud or I would say, full of yourself).

We are not to provoke one another (Gk. call out to fight, challenge to fight, or the idea of pushing someone’s buttons to get them to fight).

Be jealous of one another (Gk. envy, malice, holding a grudge, the idea here is that you are jealous of someone—either what they have (possessions) or what they can do (talents) and you hate them because of what they have or can do).

The memory verse for tomorrow adds to our understanding of this Galatians passage. It is found in the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:1–3 NLT

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

What’s in You Life?

Tonight, we compared two different sets of life qualities. First there are:

The Desires of Your SINFUL Nature

And all that it includes. Now when we act on these desires, Christian circles call these things as SINS.

Or are you controlled by God’s Spirit that lives in you, producing:

The FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Which group of characteristics are seen in you?