Untitled Sermon (3)

IN THE BIBLE DICTIONARY LOVE IS DEFINED AS: A FEELING OF DEEP AFFECTION. A CENTRAL THEME IN SCRIPTURE AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND ETHICS. DEFINES OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND DICTATES HOW WE SHOULD TREAT OTHERS.

In Greek, there are four words for love. (1) Eros means the love between the sexes; it is the love which has passion in it. It is never used in the New Testament at all.

35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

In Greek, there are four words for love. (1) Eros means the love between the sexes; it is the love which has passion in it. It is never used in the New Testament at all.

Barclay, W. (2002).

35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.In Greek, there are four words for love. (1) Eros means the love between the sexes; it is the love which has passion in it. It is never used in the New Testament at all.

(2) Philia is the warm love which we feel for our nearest and dearest; it is love from the heart.

(3) Storgē rather means affection and is especially used of the love of parents and children.

(4) Agape, the Christian word, means unconquerable benevolence. It means that, no matter what people may do to us by way of insult or injury or humiliation, we will never seek anything else but their highest good. It is therefore a feeling of the mind as much as of the heart; it concerns the will as much as the emotions. It describes the deliberate effort—which we can make only with the help of God—never to seek anything but the best even for those who seek the worst for us.

AGAPE LOVE IS THE FORM OF LOVE THAT MOST REFLECTS PERSONAL CHOICE, REFERRING NOT SIMPLY TO PLEASANT EMOTIONS OR GOOD FEELINGS BUT TO WILLING, SELF-GIVING SERVICE.

ILLUSTRATES THIS FOR US.

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

AND IN THE SAME WAY, THE MOST EXTREME SACRIFICIAL CHOICE OF A LOVING PERSON CAN MAKE IS TO ‘LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.’

JESUS CHRIST IS THE SUPREME EXAMPLE OF THIS SUPREME VIRTUE. IT WAS NOT ONLY THE FATHER’S LOVE BUT ALSO HIS OWN LOVE THAT LED JESUS TO LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US, DEMONSTRATING WITH HIS OWN SELF-SACRIFICE THE LOVE THAT GIVES ITS LIFE FOR ITS FRIENDS.

FRIENDS, FOR BELIEVERS, LOVE IS NOT AN OPTION BUT A COMMAND. BUT THIS COMMAND CANNOT BE FULFILLED APART FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN, THE SOURCE OF ALL THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

NOW BECAUSE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, WHO IS CHARACTERIZED BY LOVE, IS LIVING WITHIN THE XIAN, THE BELIEVER IS TO SHOW LOVE BOTH TO OTHER BELIEVERS AND TO THE WORLD.

... 34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

BY DOING WHAT WE ARE COMMANDED TO DO THEN THE WORLD CAN KNOW THAT WE ARE DISCIPLES OF JESUS CHRIST.

AS I MENTIONED LAST WEEK; ANOTHER WAY TO PUNCTUATE THIS; IS ‘LOVE’ FOLLOWED BY A COLAN (LOVE: JOY, PEACE PATIENCE, KINDNESS….) BY DOING THIS IT IS POSSIBLE TO READ THE EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS FOLLOWING ‘LOVE’ AS DEFINING LOVE. IN OTHER WORDS, ALL THE OTHER FRUIT IS REALLY AN OUTGROWTH OF LOVE. LOVE MAKES US WANT TO DO WHAT WE ONCE FELT WE HAD TO DO.

JOY IS FROM THE WORD ‘CHARA’ WHICH IS USED MOST FREQUENTLY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT OF JOY THAT HAS A SPIRITUAL BASIS , FOR INSTANCE, ‘JOY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’

JOY IS FROM THE WORD ‘CHARA’ WHICH IS USED MOST FREQUENTLY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT OF JOY THAT HAS A SPIRITUAL BASIS , FOR INSTANCE, ‘JOY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’

FREQUENTLY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT OF JOY THAT HAS A SPIRITUAL BASIS , FOR INSTANCE, ‘JOY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’

IT IS NOT THE JOY THAT COMES FROM EARTHLY THINGS, OR EVEN LESS OF BEING VICTORIOUS OVER SOMEONE IN A COMPETITION. IT IS A JOY WHOSE FOUNDATION IS GOD.

TO THE XIAN, JOY IS SOMETHING QUITE INDEPENDENT OF OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES, AND ITS SOURCE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT.

JAMES THE PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM AND THE LORD’S BROTHER WROTE…(2) CONSIDER IT ALL JOY, MY BRETHREN, WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER VARIOUS TRIALS...

WHAT KIND OF JOY IS THIS, THAT WE WOULD HAVE JOY IN TRIALS?

A TRUE FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST KNOWS THIS KIND OF JOY. NOW THE WORLD THINKS OF JOY AS BEING HIGH SPIRITED, LAUGHTER, ENTERTAINMENT, CONSUMING ALCOHOL, BUT ONLY THE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST KNOWS TRUE JOY.

TRUE JOY IS SOMETHING THAT CAN’T BE TAKEN AWAY. MATERIAL THINGS CAN BE GONE IN A BLINK OF AN EYE BUT INNER JOY COMES FROM THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

IN OTHER WORDS, HAPPINESS IS BASED ON OUR CIRCUMSTANCES BUT JOY COMES FROM WITHIN OUR HEARTS AND SOULS.

AS JESUS TOLD THE WOMAN AT THE WELL ; READ

WHEN A PERSON LIVES IN THE SPHERE OF LOVE, THEN HE EXPERIENCES JOY; THAT INWARD PEACE AND SUFFICIENCY THAT IS NOT AFFECTED BY OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES.

JOHN MACARTHUR WRITES...GOD’S JOY IS FULL, COMPLETE IN EVERY WAY. NOTHING HUMAN OR CIRCUMSTANTIAL CAN ADD TO IT OR DETRACT FROM IT. BUT IT IS NOT FULFILLED IN A BELIEVER’S LIFE EXCEPT THROUGH RELIANCE ON AND OBEDIENCE TO THE LORD...

MACARTHUR GOES ON TO SAY...JOY IS COMMANDED OF US AND BECAUSE IT IS A GIFT FROM THE SPIRIT, THE COMMAND IS NOT FOR BELIEVERS TO MANUFACTURE OR TRY TO IMITATE IT. THE COMMAND IS TO GRATEFULLY ACCEPT AND REVEL IN THIS GREAT BLESSING THEY ALREADY POSSES...

PEACE:

IF JOY SPEAKS OF THE EXCITEMENT OF THE HEART THAT COMES FROM BEING IN A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, THEN PEACE REFERS TO THE TRANQUILITY OF MIND THAT COMES FROM THAT SAVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERE IS NOT THE PEACE WITH GOD WHICH WE HAVE IN JUSTIFICATION, BUT THE PEACE OF GOD IN OUR HEARTS. THIS WORD ‘EIRENE’ HAD TWO INTERESTING USAGES. IT WAS USED AS THE SCENE OF SERENITY WHICH A COUNTRY ENJOYED UNDER THE JUST AND GENEROUS GOVERNMENT OF A GOOD EMPEROR.

BUT IT IS ALSO USED OF THE GOOD ORDER OF A TOWN OR VILLAGE.

YOU SEE, VILLAGES HAD AN OFFICIAL WHO WAS CALLED THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE VILLAGE’S ‘EIRENE’, THE KEEPER OF THE PUBLIC PEACE.

USUALLY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, ‘EIRENE’ STANDS FOR THE HEBREW SHALOM AND MEANS NOT JUST FREEDOM FROM TROUBLE BUT EVERYTHING THAT MAKES FOR A PERSON’S HIGHEST GOOD.

HERE, IT MEANS THAT TRANQUILLITY OF HEART WHICH DERIVES FROM THE ALL-PERVADING CONSCIOUSNESS THAT OUR TIMES ARE IN THE HANDS OF GOD. AND CAN BE DEFINED AS TRANQUILITY OF MIND BASED ON THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF A RIGHT RELATION TO GOD.

IT IS ‘TO BIND TOGETHER’. WE SHOULD SEE THAT THE BLOOD JESUS CHRIST SHED WHILE ON THE CROSS BINDS TOGETHER THAT WHICH WAS SEPARATED BY HUMAN SIN, THE SINNER WHO PUTS HIS FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS, AND GOD.

JESUS WAS THE PRINCE OF PEACE, BOTH IN THE SENSE THAT HE WAS SUPREMELY PEACEFUL HIMSELF AND IN THE SENSE THAT HE DISPENSES HIS PEACE TO THOSE WHO ARE HIS.

JESUS SAID…PEACE I LEAVE WITH YOU; MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU; NOT AS THE WORLD GIVES, DO I GIVE TO YOU. LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED, NOR LET IT BE FEARFUL…

IN PAUL TELLS BELIEVERS, WHO HAVE THE GOD OF PEACE IN THEIR HEARTS, BELIEVERS NEED ‘BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING’ AND IN VS 7 OF …AND THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH SURPASSES ALL COMPREHENSION, SHALL GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND YOUR MINDS IN CHRIST JESUS...

A SURRENDERED HEART IS A PEACEFUL ,TRANQUIL HEART THAT SHOULD BE SEEN IN OUR HOMES; BETWEEN JEWS AND GENTILES; WITHIN THE CHURCH; AND IN THE RELATIONSHIPS OF THE BELIEVER WITH THE WORLD.

PATIENCE OR LONGSUFFERING IS FROM MAKROTHUMIA WHICH SPEAKS OF THE STEADFASTNESS OF THE SOUL UNDER PROVOCATION. IT INCLUDES THE IDEA OF SELF-CONTROL AND PATIENT ENDURANCE OF WRONG UNDER ILL-TREATMENT, WITHOUT ANGER OR THOUGHT OF REVENGE.

PATIENCE IS THE QUALITY OF PUTTING UP WITH OTHERS, EVEN WHEN ONE IS SEVERELY TRIED. THE CALM WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT SITUATIONS THAT ARE IRRITATING OR PAINFUL. THE IMPORTANCE OF PATIENCE IS EVIDENCE BY ITS BEING MOST OFTEN USED OF THE CHARACTER OF GOD.

A EXAMPLE OF GOD’S PATIENCE AND THE PATIENCE OF A MAN IS FOUND IN THE DAYS OF NOAH. THINK ABOUT IT, GOD PATIENTLY DELAYED THE FLOOD IN ORDER TO GIVE PEOPLE MORE TIME TO REPENT. BUT WE SEE NOAH AS A PATIENT MAN BECAUSE IT TOOK HIM, ACCORDING TO ANSWERS IN GENESIS, APPROXIMATELY 75 YEARS TO COMPLETE THE ARK. AND IN ALL OF THAT TIME HE WAS HAVING TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE RIDICULING HIM AND MOCKING HIM.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE IS FOUND IN THE O.T. BOOK OF …AND REND YOUR HEART AND NOT YOUR GARMENTS. NOW RETURN TO THE LORD YOUR GOD, FOR HE IS GRACIOUS AND COMPASSIONATE, SLOW TO ANGER, ABOUNDING IN LOVINGKINDNESS, AND RELENTING OF EVIL...

SO WE AS BELIEVERS, GOD’S CHILDREN, SEE GOD SHOW HIS PATIENCE, WE SHOULD ALSO SHOW PATIENCE TOWARD OTHERS.

KINDNESS OR GENTLENESS IS FROM CHRESTOTES. THIS IS THE DIVINE KINDESS OUT OF WHICH GOD ACTS TOWARD MAN. IT IS WHAT THE OLD TESTAMENT MEANS WHEN IT DECLARES THAT GOD IS GOOD. A FOLLOWER OF JESUS IS TO SHOW KINDNESS BY BEHAVING TOWARD OTHERS AS GOD HAS BEHAVED TOWARD THEM. IN OTHER WORDS, WE AS BELIEVERS ARE TO BE GOOD PEOPLE.

SOMETHING WE MUST UNDERSTAND HERE IS THAT THIS KINDNESS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WEAKNESS OR LACK OF CONVICTION BUT IS A GENUINE DESIRE TO TREAT OTHERS GENTLY, JUST AS THE LORD TREATS US.

JESUS OF COURSE IS OUR EXAMPLE AND WE SEE THIS IN HIS OWN WORDS IN

…COME TO ME, ALL WHO ARE WEARY AND HEAVY-LAYDEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU, AND LEARN FROM ME, FOR I AM GENTLE AND HUMBLE IN HEART; AND YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS...

KINDNESS IS A QUALITY THAT SHOULD PENETRATE OUR WHOLE NATURE, MELLOWING ALL THAT IS HARSH AND STRICT. THIS IS A MILDNESS OF TEMPER, CALMNESS OF SPIRIT, AN UNRUFFLED DISPOSITION AND TO TREAT PEOPLE WITH POLITENESS.

GOODNESS IS FROM AGATHOS. THE WORD REFERS TO THAT QUALITY IN A MAN WHO IS RULED BY AND AIMS AT WHAT IS GOOD, NAMELY, THE QUALITY OF MORAL WORTH. THIS HAS THE MEANING OF GENEROSITY THAT COMES OUT OF KINDNESS. HAVING TO DO WITH MORAL AND SPIRITUAL EXCELLENCE THAT IS KNOWN BY ITS ACTIVE KINDNESS.

A XIAN CAN BE MORALLY UPRIGHT BUT STILL NOT MANIFEST THE GRACE OF GOODNESS. AND AS WITH ALL THE OTHER VIRTUES WE ARE COMMANDED TO SHOW GOODNESS. LATER IN PAUL WRITES

...SO THEN, WHILE WE HAVE OPPORTUNITY, LET US DO GOOD TO ALL MEN, AND ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO ARE OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE FAITH...

FAITHFULLNESS IS FROM THE ROOT WORD FAITH WHICH IS FROM THE GREEK WORD ‘PISTIS’ WHICH DOES NOT REFER HERE TO FAITH EXERCISED BY THE SAINT, BUT TO FAITHFULNESS AND FIDELITY AS PRODUCED INTHE LIFE OF THE YIELDED XIAN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

FAITH IS FROM ‘PISTIS’ WHICH DOES NOT REFER HERE TO FAITH EXERCISED BY THE SAINT, BUT TO FAITHFULNESS AND FIDELITY AS PRODUCED INTHE LIFE OF THE YIELDED XIAN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THIS FAITHFULNESS MEANS THAT WHICH MAKES A PERSON ONE ON WHOM OTHERS CAN RELY ON; THERE IS RELIABILITY, LOYALTY AND TRUSTWORTHINESS.

THE INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT MAKES A PERSON FAITHFUL. A BELIEVER IS FAITHFUL AS A PERSON; FAITHFUL AS A NEIGHBOR, FRIEND, FATHER, MOTHER, DAUGHTER, AND SON.

A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST IS FAITHFUL TO THIER CONTRACTS, THIER JOB, EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEES; FAITHFUL TO HIS PROMISES.

GENTLENESS OR MEEKNESS IS FROM ‘PRAUTES’ WHICH WAS USED IN GREEK WRITINGS TO REFER TO THE QUALITIES OF MILDNESS, GENTLENESS, AND MEEKNESS IN DEALING WITH OTHERS.

IT IS THE HUMBLE AND GENTLE ATTITUDE THAT IS PATIENTLY SUBMISSIVE IN EVERY OFFENSE, WHILE BEING FREE OF ANY DESIRE FOR REVENGE OR RETRIBUTION.

OF THE NINE VIRTUES OF THE SPIRIT, THIS ONE AND THE ONE FOLLOWING DO NOT APPLY TO GOD AS GOD. THE OLD TESTAMENT NEVER REFERS TO GOD AS BEING MEEK, AND IN THE NEW TESTAMENT ONLY THE SON IS SPOKEN OF S MEEK, AND THAT ONLY IN HIS INCARNATION.

PRAUTES IS USED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT TO DESCRIBE THREE ATTITUDES: SUBMISSIVENESS TO THE WILL OF GOD (); TEACHABLENESS (); AND CONSIDERATION OF OTHERS ().

AND ALTHOUGH HE WAS GOD, WHILE HE LIVED ON EARTH AS THE SON OF MAN, JESUS WAS GENTLE AND HUMBLE IN HEART. FOLLOWERS OF JESUS, BELIEVERS ARE TO ACTIVELY PURSUE MEEKNESS AND GENTLENESS AND TO WEAR THEM LIKE A GARMENT.

SELF-CONTROL OR TEMPERANCE IS FROM ‘ENKRATEIA’ WHICH MEANS ‘POSSESSING POWER, STRONG, HAVING MASTERY OR POSSESSION OF, CONTINENT, SELF-CONTROLLED.’

IN SELF-CONTROL IS SPEAKING OF THE CONTROL OF SEXUAL DESIRE. IN , IT IS USED OF THE CONTROL OF THE ATHLETE OVER HIS BODY AND ITS DESIRES, DURING THE PERIOD IN WHICH HE IS IN TRAINING FOR THE GAMES. IN OTHER WORDS, AN ATHLETE IS THE MASTER OF HIS OWN DESIRE AND IMPULSES.

UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WE HAVE THE POWER OVER EVIL PASSION OF ALL KINDS. IT INDICATES THE SELF-RULE WHICH A BELIEVER HAS OVER THEIR NATURAL EVIL.

THE SENSE HERE IS, THAT THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ON THE HEART MAKES A PERSON MODERATE IN ALL NONESSENTIALS; TEACH THEM TO RESTRAIN THEIR PASSIONS, AND TO GOVERN THEMSELVES.

IN OTHER WORDS, THIS VIRTUE GIVES VICTORY OVER FLESHLY DESIRES IN THE MIND AND IN CONDUCT.

WILLIAM BARCLAY WRITES…ENKRATEIA IS THE GREAT QUALITY WHICH COMES TO A MAN WHEN CHRIT IS IN HIS HEART, THAT QUALITY WHICH MAKES HIM ABLE TO LIVE AND TO WALK IN THE WORLD, AND YET TO KEEP HIS GARMENTS UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD...

THESE ARE THE QUALITIES OF THE LIFE THAT HAS BEEN CLAMED BY JESUS CHRIST AND IS SPIRIT LED.

AND AS WITH GENTLENESS, THIS VIRTUE DOES NOT APPLY TO GOD, WHO DOES NOT NEED TO RESTRAIN HIMSELF. ‘FOR I, THE LORD DO NOT CHANGE’ (). ALSO, IN HIS ETERNAL BEING, THE LORD ‘JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY AND TODAY, YES AND FOREVER’ ().

BUT IN HIS INCARNATION CHRIST WAS THE EPITOME OF SELF-CONTROL. HE WAS NEVER TEMPTED OR TRICKED INTO DOING OR SAYING ANYTHING THAT WAS NOT CONSISTENT WITH HIS FATHER’S WILL AND HIS OWN DIVINE NATURE.

‘AGAINST SUCH THINGS THERE IS NO LAW…PAULS SAYS; EVEN UNBELIEVERS DO NOT MAKE LAWS AGAINST SUCH THINGS AS THOSE WHICH THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT PRODUCES. THE WORLD DOES NOT MAKE LAWS AGAINST SUCH BEHAVIOR, BUT GENERALLY WELCOME IT.

EVEN IF SOME CONSIDER SUCH THINGS TO BE SIGNS OF WEAKNESS, THEY CANNOT ESCAPE RECOGNIZING THAT THEY ARE NEVER HARMFUL.

THERE IS NO LAW OF GOD AGAINST SUCH THINGS BECAUSE THESE ARE THE VIRTUES THE LORD WANTS ALL MEN TO HAVE AND THAT HE GIVES WHEN SOMEONE PUTS THEIR TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR.

PAULS SAY

THE BELIEVER WHO WALKS IN THE SPIRIT AND ALLOWS THE SPIRIT TO MANIFEST THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT DOES NOT NEED A SYSTEM OF LAW TO PRODUCE THE RIGHT ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR; THEY COME FROM WITHIN.

PAUL IS NOT EXPRESSING THE DUTY OF ‘WALKING IN THE SPIRIT’ IN TERMS OF OBEDIENCE TO A MORAL CODE. THIS IS BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST IS THE CENTER OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND NOT THE IDEA OF A MORAL LAW.

ALTHOUGH THE IDEA OF A MORAL CODE MAY BE NECESSARY AT CERTAIN STAGES OF A BELIEVERS DEVELOPMENT. HOWEVER, THE TRUE XIAN IDEAL, IS NEVER ONE OF OBEDIENCE TO A CODE; IT IS A LIFE IN WHICH THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS ALLOWED TO WORK FREELY AND EXPRESS ITSELF IN THE SPIRIT OF MAN.

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT IS A LIFE OF TRUE FREEDOM TO LIVE ACCORDING TO GOD’S WAYS.

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT IS A LIFE OF CONFLICT BETWEEN THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH.

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT IS A LIFE OF GODLY FRUIT.

Life in the Spirit is a life of true freedom to live according to Gods ways.

Life in the spirit is a life of conflict between the Spirit and the Flesh.

Life in the spirit is a life of godly fruit or behavior.

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT IS A LIFE OF GODLY BEHAVIOR.

JUST AS WE ARE ABLE TO DISCERN WHEN THE FLESH IS IN CONTROL BY OUR BEHAVIOR, WE CAN DISCERN WHEN WE ARE LIVING BY THE DIRECTION AND ENABLING OF THE SPIRIT BY OUR BEHAVIOR.

THE BIBLICAL INSTRUCTION IN REGARDS TO LIVING ABOVE AND ERADICATING THE OLD PASSIONS STILL LURKING WITHIN US IS FOUND IN ...

…BUT I SAY, WALK BY THE SPIRIT, AND YOU WILL NOT CARRY OUT THE DESIRE OF THE FLESH...

NOTICE WHAT HE DID NOT SAY...HE DID NOT SAY STOP GRATIFYING THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH SO YOU CAN LIVE BY THE SPIRIT.

because we are different. There are five Biblical instructions in regard to living above and eradicating the old passions still lurking in our members. The core of it is in this passage.

HE SAID, WALK BY THE SPIRIT, AND YOU WILL NOT CARRY OUT THE DESIRE OF THE FLESH!

But I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

He didn't say stop gratifying the desires of the flesh so you can live by the Spirit.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN A WAY IN WHICH YOU KNOW THAT YOUR LIFESTYLE IS PLEASING TO THE LORD AND THE ONLY ONE YOU NEED TO BE CONCERNED WITH IMPRESSING IS THE LORD HIMSELF?

THEN TODAY AND FOR THE ENTIRETY OF YOUR LIFE DAILY, MOMENT BY MOMENT, SURRENDER YOUR LIFE TO THE LEADERSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST AND LET THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE YOU THROUGH THIS ADVENTURE CALLED LIFE!!

ALL THIS CAN HAPPEN IF WE WILL ONLY TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES.

LOOK AT VS 24 -25.

IF WE WILL DO WHAT THESE SAY THEN WE CAN LIVE A LIFE AGAINST SUCH THINGS THERE IS NO LAW.

PRAYER.