Walking By The Spirit

Please open your Bibles to

Read Galatians 5:16-18

Has someone ever asked for your help or advice and all you did was give negatives?

Paul

There were 2 guys playing catch.

One of them didn’t throw very good.

His movements were off, he didn’t look coordinated.

He knew his throw was off.

So he asked his friend, what am I doing wrong?

And his friend mockingly said, “Well you look like this?”

And he mimicked his friend’s bad form in throwing.

The other friend was insulted and said, “I know I do it wrong. Help me do it right.”

That’s kind of how Galatians has been up until now.

The Promise of the Spirit

Has someone ever asked for your help or advice and all you did was give negatives?

There were 2 guys playing catch.

One of them didn’t throw very good.

His movements were off, he didn’t look coordinated.

He knew his throw was off.

So he asked his friend, what am I doing wrong?

And his friend mockingly said, “Well you look like this?”

And he mimicked his friend’s bad form in throwing.

The other friend was insulted and said, “I know I do it wrong. Help me do it right.”

That’s kind of how Galatians has been up until now.

Paul has been pretty rough and negative with the Galatians.

He dismissed of his normal friendly greeting at the start of his letter and got right into it.

Chapter 1, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—”

In Chapter 3, he called them foolish Galatians, and he mockingly accused them of being bewitched, having some kind of magical curse being put on them.

Paul’s not saying anything wrong.

His language is appropriate, because the Galatians have messed up.

They have accepted another Gospel.

They have accepted a gospel of works.

They’ve cast aside, solus Christus, Christ alone, and added on the law.

They are toying with the idea of making circumcision a requirement for salvation.

Their error, what they are believing is bad, but it’s not uncommon.

It comes down to the basic question of how are you made right with God.

You have sinned, and if you have sinned, then you are a sinner.

So dear sinner, how do you get rid of that sin?

How do you become pleasing in God’s eyes?

The Galatians were being taught and were coming to the conclusion that you become good in God’s eyes by doing things.

By being circumcised and by obeying the law.

And we continue to do that same thing.

People think that they have to do something to become good.

That becoming good in God’s eyes is as simple as balancing the scales.

Do more good deeds than bad deeds.

This kind of thinking is like the person who is trying to climb a fence but is just a little too short.

He’s reaching and straining for the top of the fence.

His fingers are near it, but he just can’t grab hold.

And Jesus comes along and gives him a boost.

Just a little lift up so that he can finally climb over it.

That’s a blending of my efforts and Jesus giving me a little push.

But the Gospel is not a you and Jesus working together kind of thing.

It’s not the two of you teaming up.

You were dead.

Unable to get over the fence.

He had to pick you up and carry you over it.

It’s Christ alone.

Paul has let them have it.

A nonstop teaching on how Christ is better than the law, and anything else you want to throw on top of it.

Each week that we have been going through Galatians, we are reminded that it’s only through Christ.

He makes us good.

His death paid for our sins.

In our text this week, Paul turns a corner.

He gives a solution.

2 Guys are playing catch.

One says, “What am I doing wrong?”

The other says, “You look like this.”

The first one says, “How do I fix it?”

This week Paul fixes it.

He gives a solution.

The solution is quite simple, you see it in verse 16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

Paul’s solution is walk by the Spirit.

Paul Finally Teaches a solution - Walk by the Spirit

You walk.

Our Flesh Resists the Spirit - Loathes the spirit

It’s to walk around.

In life you aren’t stagnant

You are always moving.

Life is linear.

Think of a line.

You are born and you start here.

Then as you go through life, you move along on that line.

Every single person does this.

If you remained at the start, you’d be babies your whole life, which doesn’t happen.

So you move through life.

You walk through life.

And how do you move through life?

For the Christian Paul says that we are to move through life, to walk through life by the Spirit.”

That’s capital S, the Holy Spirit.

This doesn’t mean you walk through life as a spiritual person.

Lots of people do that … and they are wrong.

So you walk through life, in or by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Why or how is this the solution?

Because up until now the Galatians have been walking by the flesh, and they’ve been doing it wrong.

And we do the same thing.

You think that you can become pleasing in God’s eyes, purely by willpower.

That’s the American way.

If you work hard enough, you’ll get it.

I will make myself a better Christian.

I will make myself sin less.

I will make myself a better husband.

I will make myself a better father.

I will make myself someone worthy of heaven.

So often a person’s goal is to be a better person.

And you come to church desiring to learn how to be that better person.

The Galatians wrestled with this same desire.

They said they would become this person by circumcision and celebrating Hanukkah.

And maybe you come to the conclusion by saying you won’t cuss as much and watch better shows on TV.

Paul gives us a better solution.

And it’s a solution that might strike us as too easy.

He says walk by the Spirit.

You can have victory, and it’s by the Holy Spirit.

It’s not your flesh.

It’s not your willpower.

It’s the Spirit.

At first glance that seems too easy doesn’t?

You’ve got these sins that you are wrestling with.

You’ve got these weaknesses that you compare yourself to others with.

And you wonder how you will ever match up to others.

And Paul says, “walk by the Spirit.”

But this is the answer to every Bible story you’ve ever learned, going back to Sunday School.

Israel’s in Egypt.

How do they get out?

It’s not by their strength.

It’s by the power of God.

Israel is a bunch of families, with women and children, and they encounter Jericho.

How do they defeat it?

It’s not by their strength.

God makes the walls come a tumbling down.

Gideon is about to attack the Midianites.

He has an army of 32,000 people.

How do they defeat the Midianites?

It’s not by their strength.

God whittles that group down to 300.

Then he takes away their swords and gives them trumpets and lamps

God causes the Midianites to turn on each other.

The story has always been, that we live on the power of God.

If you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit within you.

This should mean something.

He is the third member of the Trinity.

says that you are the temple of the living God.

When we talk about God the Father and His sovereignty, there’s no question.

We agree that God the Father is sovereign.

“Our God is in the heavens, He does -” what? “All that He pleases.”

When we talk about Christ, we affirm His greatness.

He will return in victory and in power.

A day will come when He will have a robe dipped in the blood of His enemies.

And the Holy Spirit?

We don’t use that kind of language normally.

But He is God.

And that means something.

He too is powerful.

He hovered over creation.

He gives life.

He has a will and His will is affective in that it change a sinners heart of stone and make it alive.

Paul is dealing with a people who are trying to be righteous, who are trying to be pleasing in God’s sight.

And up until how, they’ve been living by the flesh, and failing.

And now we get to and the solution is to walk by the Spirit.

And there is a promise for you when you walk by the Spirit.

Do you see the promise?

If you walk by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

That is a promise.

What are the desires of the flesh?

It’s sin.

says it is disobedience.

The desires of the flesh are the actions deserving the wrath of God.

Paul makes this promise, if you walk by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

In fact it’s impossible.

You cannot walk by the Spirit and sin at the same time.

That’s like walking north and south at the same time.

It’s like drinking coffee that’s too hot and too cold at the same time.

You cannot walk by the Spirit and sin at the very same time.

It is impossible.

The answer to the Galatians problem is remarkably simple.

If you want to live a life that is pleasing to God, walk by the Spirit.

You will never sin as long as you are walking by the Spirit.

Now think about a sin, what sin is it that plagues you.

Is it pornography?

You cannot engage in it if you are walking by the Spirit.

Is it coveting?

You cannot engage in it if you are walking by the Spirit.

Is it worry?

You cannot engage in it if you are walking by the Spirit.

So you’ve been a Christian a while, and you still see yourself in the shallow end of the pool, Paul gives you the solution right here.

Live by the Spirit.

Walk by the Spirit.

The Victory in the Spirit

A Promise

He is greater than the flesh

This doesn’t mean it’s easy. There is a battle. And now we are to Persevere in the Battle Against the Spirit

I didn’t say that wrong, there is a battle against the Spirit.

We are still in these bodies and these bodies are conditioned to sin.

It’s been said that when teaching someone to swing a baseball bat, they need to swing anywhere from 50-500 swings a day, just to develop that muscle memory.

As a kid, I’d take a wiffle ball, tie it to a rope, and tie it to an opened garage door, so that the ball was hanging about waist high.

I would hit that ball over and over again.

I’d swing, hit the ball, and since it was connected to the rope, it would drop right back down to its spot.

I’d do this for hours.

Why did I do that?

Because I was building up muscle memory so that when I got up to bat in a game, I didn’t have to think:

“Where do I put my feet?”

“How do I hold my hands?”

It was there, it was built into my muscles.

You have spent a lifetime sinning.

The hours of hitting a wiffle ball ingrained the swing into my flesh.

And a lifetime of sinning ingrains sin into your flesh.

So that it becomes second nature.

James talks about how hard it is to control your mouth.

There are phrases that we say that we don’t think about.

Some people say:

“Uh” or “uhm”

“LIke”

Or, “You know”

And stopping saying those words is difficult, because over the years you’ve trained your mouth to say those words when you are thinking of the next thing to say.

They become second nature.

There is a battle within you.

You have the Spirit.

And you have the Flesh that’s been trained to sin, working against the Spirit.

This is why I look forward to heaven.

The day will come when we are in the presence of God.

God will finish the good work that He has started within you.

In verse 17, Paul says that the flesh is against the Spirit.

That it keeps you from doing what you want to do.

Paul further describes the problem in ,

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”

I know that that sounds like a tongue twister, but doesn’t that describe the Christian battle.

You know what you should do, but you don’t do it.

And you know what you shouldn’t do, and you do it.

What’s the solution?

There’s this internal battle going on.

So how do you cope with it?

Paul’s already told us, it’s walk by the Spirit.

You’re going to want to try and flex your muscles and manhandle your way out of the sin, but it won’t work.

The flesh doesn’t help us.

Do you remember those Chinese Finger Traps?

They were braided pieces of straw that formed a tube.

You put your index fingers in both ends, and pull.

When you pull, it tightens the trap, and won’t come off.

How do you get out of a Chinese Finger Trap?

You release your grip.

Don’t tense up.

And the trap eases its grip and your fingers come slide out.

It’s amazing how this is similar to what it’s like to come to Christ.

The flesh is proud, and it likes to show off and boast of its accomplishments.

I’m a good person.

I’m a smart person.

I’ve got a good credit score.

I work hard at the church.

And the more we boast, the tighter the trap gets.

Not only have we trained our flesh to sin, but we’ve grown proud in our flesh.

The flesh loathes the Spirit.

It hates to acknowledge it’s need for the Spirit.

says, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”

And so it does everything it can to resist the Spirit.

When really what needs to happen?

It needs to surrender.

In Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians, he said, ““The greatest knowledge then, and the greatest wisdom of Christians is . . . to be ignorant of works . . . especially when the conscience wrestles with the judgment of God.”

yan and the Grace of Fearing God (p. 37). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Did you hear that?

If you were to sit down with Martin Luther and ask, “What is the number one piece of wisdom I should know?”

Beeke, Joel R.. John Bunyan and the Grace of Fearing God (p. 37). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Luther says that you should be “ignorant of works.”

That means to come to God with nothing.

With empty hands, eager to receive Christ.

As if to say, “God I”m the lowliest of beggars. I have nothing to give you.”

I’ve been reading a biography on John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, and he said, “A man is forced to suffer the destruction of his own righteousness for the righteousness of another.”

Beeke, Joel R.. John Bunyan and the Grace of Fearing God (p. 37). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.

In your battle against the flesh, Bunyan says that you should suffer the destruction of your own righteousness.”

Blow up and destroy whatever it is that you think makes you pleasing in God’s eyes that is not Christ.

This is especially needed for the Christian.

Because you’ve been born again.

says that there are good works prepared for you to do.

And you do good works.

Some of you get here early on Sundays and set up.

Some of you come here throughout the week and work on various ministries.

Some of you teach and shepherd.

And it’s easy to turn these good things into platforms to boast.

That’s why Paul says that we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.- .

Jars of clay are the lowliest of containers.

They are the modern equivalent to a portapotty.

We boast of our flesh.

When in reality God is using portapotties, that’s us, for His glory.

In the battle against the Spirit, we must persevere, and continuously reduce our flesh to nothing, and walk by the Spirit.

In this battle with the flesh are you willing to do that?

Are you willing to say, “I have nothing to bring.”

Your flesh wants to say that you have a whole lot to bring.

But are you willing to, as Bunyan said, “suffer the destruction” of your righteousness, of your strengths, of your good deeds, in order to gain Christ?

We sing that in the song, Rock of Ages.

“Nothing in my hand I bring Simply to Thy cross I cling?”

Bunyan Quote

Flesh has been conditioned to sin

This battle is good

Don’t read this line.

So to recap where we’ve been.

We learn that we are to walk by the Spirit.

In walking by the Spirit there is a guaranteed victory.

Then we learn that the flesh is opposed to the Spirit.

To be aware of it and to persevere in the Spirit.

But we still haven’t answered the big question, how do we walk by the Spirit?

That brings us to the Path to Walking by the Spirit.

How do we do it?

Well it’s not a secret.

It’s actually been in front of our eyes throughout this entire book.

Walk with me through a handful of verses.

We start in - “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”

Walking by the Spirit is walking by faith.

Specifically it’s waiting, he says, “we ourselves eagerly wait ...”

It’s knowing that Jesus has done something for us.

And we are waiting, patiently enduring life, looking forward to the day when we stand in front of God and are declared righteous.

But not by our righteousness, but by Christ’s

It’s waiting.

What is waiting?

It’s faith that God will do what He has promised.

Then there’s the very next verse, - “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”

How do we walk in the Spirit?

It’s faith in Christ, but now it’s working through love.

Walking by the Spirit is not throwing your hands up and doing nothing, it’s still active.

And now it’s active in love.

Christ died for me.

And if Christ died for you, and you have experienced and received Christ’s love, now you keep that front and center and you love others.

Walking by the Spirit never says, “That person’s my enemy, or he’s a real snob, I’m going to leave him to his own.”

It’s considering others as better than yourself and working through love.

Go back to - “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.”

The law prepared us for Jesus.

It showed us our sin.

It showed us what we deserved.

It condemned us, or as this verse says, it held us captive.

But with faith in Christ we are freed.

Freed from the law.

Freed from the flesh.

Freed from trying to ever balance the scales.

We are free.

Faith frees us to live in Christ.

Notice we are going backwards through Galatians, now look at - “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—”

How do you walk by the Spirit?

It’s by faith, and in its hearing with faith.

It’s feeding yourself on the word of God, believing it to be true and trusting in it.

Then we go back to - “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The key to walking in the Spirit has been in Galatians this whole time.

The flesh that you are so proud of … it died with Christ on the Cross.

The sins that you are trying to forget - they died with Christ on the Cross.

The flesh that you are trying so hard to prove that is worthy … it died with Christ on the Christ.

They’re gone.

But you are still alive.

Paul says, “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God ...”

Your life is not about what can you get out of it, it’s what has Christ done to you.

So stop filling the emptiness of your life with the sad offerings of the world.

I guess I still haven’t really said how do we do it.

First, we need to stop filling the emptiness of our lives with the sad offerings of the world.

When we live our lives by faith then it’s a life that meditates and rests in the promises of God day and night.

In our text for today we have been promised that if we walk by the Spirit we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

The language of walking is that you are progressing, you are traveling, you are going somewhere.

H

This means that Holy Spirit is will work a miracle in your life, when you walk in the Spirit by faith.

And the life that lives by faith is defined by faith in Christ.

How do we walk by faith, it’s meditating and resting in the promises of God day and night.

says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

It begins with the Word of God dwelling in you.

It’s not just hearing God’s Word, or knowing the stories.

But it’s letting it dwell in you richly.

There’s a quality to how you learn the Word.

Because you know your soul depends on it.

You aren’t learning the Word so you can get the questions right on Jeopardy.

You’re learning them so that you can walk by the Spirit.

So that you can live in obedience to Him.

says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

You read it.

You memorize.

You meditate on it.

Then it changes your life.

That’s having the word dwell in you richly.

It’s so much different from reading a magazine.

Walking by the Spirit is living a life by faith.

It’s fixating on the Word of Christ.

Letting it dwell within you richly.

It’s meditating on the sweet Gospel.

Reminding yourself always of what you were, what you are, and who Christ is.

Then humbly and by the power of the Holy Spirit, living with that as your reality.

describes this life, it says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”

This is a life of faith.

This is walking by the Spirit.

It’s living your life with your mind set on Christ and His victory, so that your conversations with one another are always gospel flavored and through the lens of Christ being king.

Meditate

2 Guys were playing catch, and one wanted to know how to throw right.

One was frustrated with his throw.

Are you frustrated with your flesh?

The battle is hard.

And the solution is walk by the Spirit.

And the solution is walk by the Spirit.

Pray