62-31 God’s Gift to Believers—Part 4

Galatians 5:16-25

(Study of 1 John 4:13)

In our studies of 1 John we have seen the great importance of living in obedience to the commandments of Christ—particularly to “law of Christ” which is the law of love.  Christian love is the essential character of every true believer and the existence of such love indicates the transformation that has taken place in God’s children.  Living obedience to this commandment provides us with a great means of assurance that we belong to God.

Another indicator of that relationship is the presence of HS who indwells every believer.  If you have trusted in Christ alone for salvation, the HS takes up residence in your life and His ministry toward you should assure you that you have come to know God savingly.  One of the great ministries of the Spirit is sanctification. 

Last time we left off in Rom 8:13-14 and we saw the importance of mortifying sin in our life.  When it comes to sanctification: Christ-likeness, there are 2 agencies that bring it about:  1)  HS—It is largely the work of the Spirit to bring us to greater sanctification.  God is at work in the lives of His children—conforming them into the image of His Son (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18).

We don’t passively sit back and relax while God works on us.  2)  Paul says we have responsibility for our sanctification as well.  “put to death…” mortify sin—put it to death.  Crucify the flesh (Gal 5:24) killing the passions that seek to entangle us in sin.  We have the Spirit’s enabling so we can do this and desire to live in obedience—“walking by the Spirit”

Vs 14 “all who are being led…” Paul speaks of an inner confirmation that the condition of sonship exists.

There are several indications of the Spirit’s leading:

1)  Greater awareness of and sensitivity toward sin in your life.  As Paul matured he maintained a significant awareness of his sinfulness:

· 1 Cor 15:9 “The least of all the apostles”

· Eph 3:8 “The very least of all saints”

· 1 Tim 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

· Rom 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me

· Rom 7:24 “Wretched man that I am!”

2)  Stronger interest in the things of God

A.W. Tozer Golden Calf Xianity “It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend the meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only conclude that God's professed children are bored with Him for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games and refreshments.”

Spirit led people don’t participate in the things of God b/c they have to be wooed.  That is what their desire is.  They come to study God’s Word, they come to fellowship with God’s people, they come worship the Creator.

3)  Your desire for obedience increases.  You do the things God wants you to do not only as an exercise in outward obedience but joyfully from the heart.  You get to the point where you say “Oh How I love Thy Law.”

4)  Desire for serving God and the church increases.

These realities are indicators that the Spirit of God is leading you toward greater sanctification (but not apart from your own effort).

There are several misconceptions about sanctification.  The word itself simply means “to set apart.”  3 particular views of sanctification are generally expressed:

1)  Wesleyan View:  a 2nd work of grace catapults a believer into a state of sinlessness—called “entire sanctification.”  Those who hold this view define sin as a willful transgression of a known law.  Anything we do not clearly intend to do or are ignorant about is merely a mistake.  Accordingly, spiritual growth takes place sometime after salvation at this 2nd work of grace by increasing in good works.

2)  Keswick view (Higher life).  Keswick is a small community in the Lake district of England.  In the latter 19thc there was a movement among English evangelicals who desired greater personal holiness.  They convened a convention which focused on sin, power over sin thru the cross, consecration and Spirit-filled life.

Basic teaching: unique post-salvation enlightenment allows the believer to enter into a victorious and consistent life of obedience.  They maintain the struggle with sin continues but is lessened by the new truth that is understood and accepted.  Spiritual growth takes place after that by a passive trust in the work of God and represented by the phrase “let go and let God.”

3)  Biblical View

Sanctification is spoken of in 2 ways in NT:

Positional—completely sanctified in Christ.  Common designation of believers is “sanctified”

1 Cor 1:2; 6:9-11; Heb 10:10

Progressive (practical) sanctification.  A lifelong cycle of sin, repentance, renewal and growth toward Christ-likeness that is only complete when we meet our Lord.  Sanctification is progressively accomplished thru active obedience and discipline of the believer who is following the leading of the HS.

Gal 5:16

I.  The Formula/Method for Sanctification

Paul issues a command for believers to walk by the Spirit.  In what are profound yet simple terms Paul is saying “if you are to live a Xian life, you must live it under the direction and power of the HS.”

Background

There was a significant problem in the Galatian church.  Believers were becoming legalistic as a result of Judaizers expounding false teaching in the church leading them away from grace (Vs 1-4).

A Judaizer basically taught that that Gentiles must become Jews by circumcision before they could become Christians and that all Christians, were acceptable before God only if they followed the Mosaic laws, regulations, and ceremonies.  The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) addressed this doctrinal error to encourage Gentile believers in the truth.

This was a dangerous form of legalism which actually interfered with sanctifying grace in the believer and the work of the HS to move us toward greater Christ-likeness.

The influence of these false teachers hindered obedience to the truth.  The focus was placed on the external compliance with the law (outward obedience) which is impossible (vs 3).  The law’s purpose was to show mankind his inability to keep the perfect law of the Lord.  It was powerless to save a person.  So Paul says trying to live by a set of rule/commands will not bring pleasure to God.  God hates legalism.  He hates when people try to gain acceptance with God and maintain approval by God thru performance of rule, laws, ceremonies.  That is actually a rejection of God’s grace—both saving grace and sanctifying grace.

Paul says we have been set free from the deadening power of the law to serve Christ in freedom. Be careful—vs 13

5:16  “walking” term speaks of an on-going, continuous, habitual lifestyle.

Walking is a common picture of a person’s life.  How a person lives is considered his day to day walk.  But the term also implies progress—going from where you are to where you need to be.  When the believer yields to the HS leading, he is taken step by step, progressing toward greater sanctification—greater holiness.

I mention again this paradox of God taking us where He wants us to go but not apart from our submission to HS, living in obedience to His Word.  Walking by the Spirit cannot be a “let go and let God” mentality where we passively stand by and wait. 

We are to walk by the Spirit.  We are to live according to the Spirit which also means living in obedience to Christ commandments.  What happens when we’re walking in obedience?

5:16b “you will not…”  Walking by the Spirit and carrying out the desire of the flesh are mutually exclusive.  As a believer we can either walk by the Spirit or by the flesh but we cannot do both at the same time.

The word “desire” often times refers to an evil lust but generally details a strong compelling desire of any sort—good or evil.

Jesus used this term to speak of His strong desire to eat the Passover meal with His disciples (Lk 22:15)

Paul used it to express his longing to depart and be with the Lord (Phil 1:23).

The term is used in Gal 5 in connection with the evil will of the flesh.  There is a vast distinction between God’s holy will and the flesh’s evil will.  The evil will desires to satisfy the flesh.  If we walk by the Spirit—those evil desires cannot be brought to fulfillment/can’t satisfy the demands of the flesh.

So the formula for progressing in Sanctification is to following the Spirit’s leading—walk by the Spirit which is not all that different from being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) where Paul indicates the controlling power of the HS on submissive believers.

II.  The Hindrance to Sanctification

As Paul understood the gravity of the need to walk by the Spirit, he also understood the weight of the flesh and the nature of its opposition to God’s Spirit.  There is a very real battle going on that hinders sanctification—vs 17

Rom 7:15,18-24

Paul speaks of the flesh as that part of the believer that remains unredeemed.  It awaits final glorification but for now has a strong influence on a believer’s attitudes, thoughts, words, desires, and actions.

Gal 2:20 Paul says the old self has been crucified giving way to the new self/new creation but that unredeemed humanness leads to a very real and present struggle within us.

Let me show you how significant this struggle is by examining what it is that wages its war against God.

“Flesh” sarks

(Theologically rich in meaning)

NT Usage:

Physical Body (the part that covers the bones, particularly muscles, skin or other tissue)  This meaning is quite rare in NT

Luke 24:39 “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

Whole man—general humanness

2 Corinthians 7:5 For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within.

State of the unredeemed

Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Unbelievers are under the control of the flesh to carry out its desire.

One of the most important designations of the term refers to man’s fallen nature. Peter Lange “Flesh is the whole nature of man, turned away from God, in the supreme interest of self, devoted to the creature…”  He is completely devoted to satisfying the desires/passions/lusts of the flesh

Weakness of man, fragile, transitory

1 Peter 1:24 For, "All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off,

Now in Gal 5—the flesh, in its weakness and unredeemed fallen-ness, still clings to the believer’s redeemed soul representing the major barrier to sanctification. 

That is the struggle that Paul speaks of in Rom 7.  IF you are a believer, you still battle the flesh.  That is your proclivity toward sin.

Unlike the other 2 views of sanctification, progressive sanctification (Biblical View) recognizes the real influence of the flesh which is progressively being overcome by the Spirit as we grow in Christ-likeness.

Paul indicates that the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit.  The inclinations of the flesh are polar opposite of the Spirit.  They conflict with one another and the flesh works against the Spirit and everything it stands for.

MacArthur “It stands against the work of the Spirit in the believer’s new heart. The unsaved person often regrets the sinful things he does because of guilt and/or painful consequences, but he has no spiritual warfare going on within him, because he has only a fleshly nature and is devoid of the Spirit. The sinful things he does, though often disappointing and disgusting to him, are nevertheless consistent with his basic nature as an enemy of God (Rom. 5:10) and a child of His wrath (Eph. 2:3). He therefore has no real internal conflict beyond whatever conscience may remain in his sinful state.”

But for the believer, it is by the Spirit that he is able to fight against the desires of the flesh.  The wishing is present but the doing is not—no wonder Paul cried out “Wretched man that I am…who can set me free…”

The spiritual struggle is real—but for the believers, victory is always possible for those who are being led by the Spirit.  The indwelling presence of God is able to help your weakness and deliver you from those fleshly desires.

Paul repeats the theme of Rom 8:14 in Gal 5:18

“Not under law” is a reminder that we are powerless in ourselves to do those things God demands.  But with the Spirit’s enabling, we can mortify sin in our flesh—putting it to death that we might bear more accurately the image of our Savior.

Next time I want to conclude our study of the HS by looking at the product of Sanctification at the end of Gal 5.  Join us next time for that.