Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

talked through the doctrine of adoption

We saw first how God comes and fulfills all requirements to pave the way for Him to adopt us as His children

His timing is perfect

His qualifications sufficient

His passions pure

We also spent time talking about now the privileges we have because all of that is true

We are given a new identity

We are clothed with Christ

We belong

And we are now heirs with Christ

We talked about who we’ve been, who we are, and who we are becoming

Paul used the OT story of Isaac and Ishmael to illustrate the difference of being born of the flesh and slaves to our flesh and being born of the Spirit and living by the Spirit.

And last week we talked about how the gospel + nothing = everything

If the gospel is not enough, than Jesus is not enough.

If the gospel is not enough, than you must obey the whole law.

If the gospel is not enough, than grace is not enough

If the gospel is not enough, than you lose hope of future glory

this week we will see what it looks like to walk by the Spirit

Pray

Bag of Florida Gator gear

What if I told you I was a big Florida state fan

I go to every game

I know every player

I am actually a booster and pay lots of my hard earned money into their program

Sometimes I get to hang out with the coaches

I am a devoted, passionate, fan!

Now, this looks rather silly right?

To say that I am one thing, but my actions tell a completely different story

To say that I am a huge Florida state fan while I put on my Florida gator gear is a tell tale sign to show you that actually what I am, is a big fat liar

And this is a silly analogy obviously but at some point if this continued, and I kept on doing this charade next Sunday and then the next and every Sunday for the next 10 years this happened, I promise you, you would get sick of it and you would know that I’m a liar and you would probably stop coming here and not even want to be around me.

But if I were to say, I am a gator fan

I’ve gone to games and watch videos on them

I follow who they’re recruiting

And listen to analysts talk about how their season might go

And I had this on, now I’m a little more believable

In the same way, Paul here is saying, when you give your life to Christ you’ve become fanatical about Jesus

But your passion for Jesus must match inwardly and outwardly

We can’t say we are followers of Jesus but still follow the world

We can’t walk around declaring we are fans of one thing while wearing another teams gear

And Paul is going to argue here that we can’t walk around declaring to walk by the Spirit when there is no evidence of it

It causes confusion, conceitedness, and chaos

so Paul says walk by the Spirit

A few things to take note of here

Paul is not talking to the super Christians

He doesn’t say “hey leaders of the church”

He doesn’t say “pastors and elders”

He is speaking to you!

Every believer needs to learn how to walk by the Spirit

Also, this is a continuous thing.

to “walk” by the Spirit indicates the need to yield to the Spirit every day.

The greek word here is perry puh tay o

I have a dog named Lucy.

And she loves everyone in our house but her bond with me is stronger than anyone else’s.

she listens to me the best and she’s always concerned about where I am and a lot of times, especially if I’m just getting home she will get right behind me and just follow me around wherever I go.

Like, it doesn’t matter where it is, she’s coming with me

This is Perry puh tay o.

It’s to follow someone around so much so that you are trampling the ground behind them

To walk by the Spirit, we do not wait for Sunday morning.

It’s not something we put on when it’s convenient and then take off when it’s not.

We always, every moment of every day, walk by the Spirit

Continuously, non stop

And we do this to conquer our flesh

The phrase Paul uses here in vs 16 “and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” is a promise.

Those who surrender to the lead of the Spirit will not carry out the desires of their flesh.

We should notice that there is no neutral ground here

You are doing one or the other

either you are submitting to the leadership of the Spirit or you are gratifying the cravings of your flesh

This also tells us that the way you deal with your sin is not simply saying no to it but by also saying yes to the Spirit.

So often we know our sin is wrong so we fight against it and we say no as long as we can but eventually we give in

We must not just learn the power of saying no to our flesh but also the power of saying yes to the Spirit of God

And we must do this because the battle is intense

Sometimes we fail to defeat our flesh because we fail to see the intensity of it

We walk around like our sin is some casual thing

We have to realize that this is war.

A war that rages on constantly!

And it is without escape because the battle is not “out there” it’s in here.

Getting more is not going to help you win the battle

Finding another girl because the one you are with doesn’t make you happy anymore will not help you win

Running to substances to help numb the pain will not help you win because the problem is not out there it’s in here

You can chalk up every problem the world has ever seen to giving into the desires of the flesh

This is why marriages fall apart, this is why families fall apart, this is why churches fall apart, this is why the world is falling apart

Because the problem isn’t out there, it’s in here

And we give into the desires of our flesh and it creates a breeding ground for the enemy to take hold of

And so, we must not be complacent!

We must be active in our walk!

Because this battle for your heart is intense!

And Paul ends this first section by saying, “if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.”

Paul is not saying there are no laws when you walk by the Spirit

He’s saying that when you are led by the Spirit you are walking under the new Covenant of grace that God has for you

You are no longer under the old covenant of redemptive history

Then Paul starts talking about some of the desires we have in our flesh

These are the battles that we will fight

And I would imagine that some of these or maybe even many of these will resonate with us

And he also says they are obvious

To pretend your sin is not a sin, is a sin

Let’s stop playing games with God

Instead of going through each and everyone of these, which I would encourage you to do, we just don’t have the time this morning

But, we can actually categorize them and see them at the larger scale

And there is some overlap here