Freedom to Live

I. INTRODUCTION

Now i’ve have read this book by Henry Neuman called “The Wounded Healer”. There is a story in there about a young minister named John visiting someone in the hospital called Mr. Harrison who is in the hospital and is going to have surgery to keep his legs but he is also having heart complications. Mr. Harrison doesnt want to die but he also doesnt want to live without his legs.

Harrison found himself in a position where he was afraid to die but also afraid to live again. It would be unknown territory. We can find ourselves in similiar situations.

It can be losing a loved one and adjusting to the new norm of having one less seat at the dinner table or losing a job and adusting to the new flow of income.

Whatever the situation and crisis may be, we come to a crossroads. Will we trust in Christ or will we trust in our circumstances. Will we walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh.

The Apostle Paul alludes to what it looks like to truly live AND walk by faith..

II. READING OF TEXT

Lets Ready Galatians 5:16-26

III. Tests of walking in the Spirit

A. Yielding to the Spirit’s Prompting (John 16:13)

The Holy Spirit reminds you of a scripture you read or learned before

The Holy Spirit may prompt you to go somewhere or do something

acts 8:39 “39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.”

acts 11:12 “12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.”

The Holy Spirit may prohibit you to go somewhere or do something

Acts 16:6-7 “6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”

B. Displaying the Fruit of the Spirit

Fruit of the Spirit

i. Now Paul goes on to list the fruit of the Spirit which opposes the works of the flesh

a. The fruit of the Spirit is love.

This can be fitting the love is first mentioned because it’s love that acts an an umbrella that encompasses all of the fruits of the Spirit.

b. The fruit of the Spirit is Joy

ii. There is a big difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is a state of mind that comes and goes but Joy is a state of being that is lasting.

iii. Spiritual joy rises from a source that is pure where the heart is right with God

c. It’s a joy of Sins forgiven

d. It’s a joy in the salvation of others

c. It’s a joy in the Lord and our relationship with him that outweighs what we experience in this life

c. The fruit of the Spirit is peace

i. Real peace isn’t the absence of problems but it’s the presence of God

a. The mind can be a battlefield for peace

ii. Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”

a. It is the picture of a mind at rest because it is filled with a knowledge of the Lord

iii. Two ways to that we can keep our minds in the peace of God

a. By taking everything to God in prayer

b. By loving the Word of God in a practical way.

“Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble” (Psalm 119:165)

iiii. Peace isn’t just obtained individually but collectively

a. Churches that enjoy spiritual rest and peace are always the healthiest .

b. Acts 9:31 says...“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers”

d. The fruit of the Spirit is long suffering/patience

i. Now patience is one that I struggle with!

ii. Are you patient with people who arent moving as fast as they want you to go?

iii.Are you patient with people who aren’t changing as quickly as you want them to change?

e. The fruit of the Spirit is kindness/goodness

i. These two go along with one another.

ii. Do you go out of your way to be kind and good to people without being prompted or are you one of those people who say..

“Well someone else will do it!”

f. The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness

i. Are you faithful to steward with what God has given you

ii. Are you faithful in your relationship with Christ by showing up daily in prayer and scripture reading?

iii. Are you faithful in relationships with your friends and family? Can people count on you to be there?

g. The fruit of the Spirit is Gentleness

i. Are you gentle in how you deal with people?

In your tone, demeanor, words and actions?

Or do people say your more harsh, abrasive and rude?

This word can also be used as “meekness”.

Only two people in the bible are called meek.

Moses and Jesus.

h. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control

i. How are you in denying yourself?

This could be food

What we watch on tv

It could be texting a paragraph and then deleting it and just responding with “Ok”.

Does your life show a pattern of self control?

C. Empowered by the Spirit

Freedom to live and walk empowered by the Spirit(V.16-18)

i. Do you feel a sense of constantly walking in the spirits power and doing things that you know that you can’t do on your own?

This could be using your gifts and talents for the kingdom of God

This could be sharing the gospel with someone

This could be resisting tempation

This could be forgiving someone who has hurt you

ii.For Paul, the Spirit is more than the manifestation of a supernatural power, more than the giver of dramatic gifts, more than an explosive force erupting in the believer now and then.

a. The Spirit is the daily sustaining, inspiring, and guiding power of the Christian’s life. The Spirit is the domain of power, the sphere of influence which replaces the flesh as the energy force of our lives.

b. to walk in the Spirit means that we yield to His control, we follow His lead, and we allow Him to exert His influence over us. To walk in the Spirit is the opposite of resisting Him or grieving Him.

D. Worshiping in the Spirit

Ephesians 5:18–20 (NLT)

18Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,

19singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.

20And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

i. This is a great picture of worshiping in the Spirit

Singing songs

giving thanks

One of the greatest ways to monitor if we are walking in the spirit is

seeing if we have an attitude of gratitude

praying in the spirit

We can do this by making a list of worship songs and listening to it during the day and having specific times of prayer

D. Deeds of the flesh

Works of the flesh

i. Lists of good and bad behavior would be a familiar form to many of Paul’s readers. “In many writings in antiquity there are lists of virtues or vices or both, and such lists are found in the Old Testament, and elsewhere in the New.” (Morris)

ii. Now this would seem to contradict everything paul was saying up to this point

Paul was talking about Gods grace and not to be legalistic

Paul was talking about not following a list of do’s and don’ts

But in our scripture today Pauls uses a illustration of the fruit of the Spirit which can be broken down to their roots.

ii. Some have sought to organize this list in four categories:

a. sensual sins

Adultery,

is violating the marriage covenant by sexual immorality. This word isn’t included in the list of many ancient manuscripts, so many translations (such as the NIV) don’t include it. But that doesn’t mean that God gives a free pass on adultery, because even if Paul didn’t write the word in this list, it is included under the next word, “fornication.” Adultery is sin, and those guilty of it should confess their sin and repent of it instead of excusing it. The Holy Spirit never led anyone into adultery.

ii. fornication

is the ancient Greek word porneia, and it speaks of sexual immorality in a broad sense. Pornia started out meaning “the use of a prostitute,”

iii. uncleanness

is another broad word, referring to sexual impropriety in general. It should be thought of as the opposite of purity. If it isn’t pure before God, then it is uncleanness. It covers many sexual sins that are not actual intercourse or even interaction with another person (such as pornography). Uncleanness also covers impure speech, or suggestive speaking filled with double meanings.

iiii. lewdness

has the idea of “ready to sin at any time.” It speaks of someone who flaunts their immorality, throwing off all restraint and having no sense of shame, propriety, or embarrassment. Morris defines it as “a disregard of accepted rules … conduct that knows no restraint.” Lewdness can be thought of as public and open uncleanness. “A man may be unclean and hide his sin; he does not become licentious until he shocks public decency.” (Lightfoot) We live in an incredibly lewd culture

These are all sensual sins

b. religious sins

i. idolatry- The Worship of any God besides the maker of heaven and Earth.

ii. Sorcery- Is the worship of the occult and spiritual dark powers. In the original language it is the word pharmakeia where we get our english word pharmacy from. It was taking drugs for evil purposes such as pleasure or something that goes against the will of God. This would include medicine for abortion to kill babies.

c. people sins- These sins deal with are relationships with people.

i. Hatred- is the inner motivation of ill treatment of others

ii. Contention- This is basically an argumentive spirit. Someone who loves to argue.

iii. Outbursts of wrath.- This deals with uncontrollable flashes of anger.

iiii. Selfish ambition- This one is pretty self explanatory. It means to have motives that only focus on me, myself, and I.

v. Dissensions- means literally “standing apart”. Also translated as divisions and when one group conspire against another group or individual.

vii. Heresies- Now today we tend to think this means wrong ideas or teachings but it use to mean someone who divided others with there expressed choices or opinions.

viii. Envy- Can be described as bitterness toward someone for something they have that we don’t

viiii. Murders- Is simply taking someone’s life

d. social sins.

i. Drunkenness- Now while people may differ on the opinion on whether a Christian can drink alcohol, the scriptures clearly teach against drunkeness and the intention of drinking to become intoxicated. There is no such thing as a sipping saint.

ii. Revelries- this simply means unrestrained partying.

We shouldn’t regard this as an exhaustive list, but it adequately gives the idea of what the person who walks in the flesh does. Paul warns us that those who practice such things and make these a habit will not inherit the kingdom of God!

IIII. The Solution to the Sinful Struggle (V.24-26)

Paul gives us a solution to this struggle against our flesh

He says in verse 16 that if we walk by the Spirit we will not please the desires of our flesh

So the more we display the fruit of the Spirit the less we will desire to please our flesh

Paul says that we belong to Jesus and that we are to crucify ourselves.

To be crucified with Christ means that we no longer live in the flesh, in the place and position of the flesh.

We cannot live apart from the flesh, for we are in this body upon this earth.

But we are free from living after the flesh. We no longer follow the passions and lusts of the flesh.

We desire and follow righteousness, seeking to please God in all that we do.

Galatians 2. The Believer Is to Walk Bearing a Crucified Flesh or Sinful Nature (v. 24)

The Christian believer belongs to Jesus. When your flesh rises up and wants to rebel against Him, remember this soldier’s example:

At a dinner given by a Grand Army Post, a veteran soldier was introduced as one of the speakers. In making the introduction, the presiding officer referred to the fact that the man who was to speak had lost a leg in the war, and the veteran was greeted with loud cheering as he arose to make the address.

He began by disavowing the introduction. “No,” he said, “that is a mistake. I lost nothing in the war, for, when we went into the war, we gave our country all that we had, and all we brought back was so much clear gain.

The closer that you walk with Jesus, the farther away you will be from fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. What have you crucified lately … or is it crucifying you?