Walking By the Spirit

Read

Galatians 5:13–18 (ESV)

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Opening Prayer

Recap

A truth that we looked at last time is that Legalism & Anti-nomianism, both feed the flesh.

They express a life lived according to the flesh.

They feed self-righteousness and lawlessness.

Neither are expressions of loving your neighbor because your neighbor is being used for your own self-enrichment...

Rather than behaving towards neighbor for your neighbors good.

Both legalism & anti-nomianism feed an attitude of one-upping each other...

Either by being more righteous, so we put down others...

Or by indulging in the flesh in greater ways, therefore being better than others at expressing lawlessness.

Both are sinful.

Both ways lead to death.

Both ways are in opposition to Christ.

Churches have all too often failed their gospel calling by becoming clubs in which we one-up one another.

And, we’ve witnessed in our very own lifetime a massive shift from legalism to anti-nomianism in American churches.

What is the cure?

Paul says, Getting back to the gospel.

Properly understanding justification by faith alone.

Properly understanding sanctification.

Understanding both of these, biblically, allows us:

to feel true, biblical acceptance from God.

to feel the freedom to pursue holiness without being exiled.

to know that all that we are, is by the grace of God.

to know that we are all still works in progress battling the old flesh for the glory of God and out of a love for God.

to know that we need each other, the church, in this process.

Paul wants us to know...

The Way to Live for the Glory of God & Our Greatest Joy

Our greatest joy is never lived out in the context of...

Galatians 5:15 (ESV)

15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

That is miserable living.

Paul states, that kind of living is the opposite of what God has called us to.

Galatians 5:16 (ESV)

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

Paul gives a command here...

walk is an imperative verb.

As Christians, we are to walk by the Spirit.

In v. 18, Paul states a similar thing.

Galatians 5:18 (ESV)

18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Walking by the Spirit & being led by the Spirit are the same thing.

And, what I want do first this morning is define what that is...

And, what it is not.

Being Led by the Spirit

In the most basic sense, this is sanctification.

Being led by the Spirit is being sanctified.

Further, being led by the Spirit is not some now & then injection of the HS on special occasions.

Like some sort of special occasion the HS takes over because it’s really important...

And, then, oh, back to the normal…you got this.

Also, it is certainly not some leading of the HS that is exclusive to some higher level of Christians...

As some teach…Some 2nd level Christianity.

Like once you hit this mark in Christianity you get the “Real Experience” of the HS...

And, the possibilities are endless of what you can do.

It’s also not some greater, more divine power within.

As some moral philosophers teach...that we have a higher self and a lesser self...

And, we need to learn how to tap into our own personal power so that the higher triumphs over the lower...

Which entails attaining the better life.

You just need to realize the power within each of us.

That is not Christianity at all.

The Holy Spirit is God…not some higher nature of ourself.

The Spirit of God is a person within the Triune Godhead.

When we are led by the Spirit, we are led by someone other than ourself...

Someone altogether divine...

God Himself.

As Paul has been and will continue to teach...

To be in Christ is to have the HS living within us.

Romans 8:9 (ESV)

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Romans 8:14 (ESV)

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Every Christian is led by the HS...

And sealed by the HS as a guarantee of our inheritance.

Every Christian has the HS working in us both to will and to do according to the good pleasure of God.

Even when we disobey the Spirit, as we often do, the Spirit does not leave us alone...

But, works repentance in our hearts.

To be led by the Spirit of God is more than being guided by Him.

He is our guide, for sure.

But, it is not as the HS just points us in the direction to go...

And, then we’re off on our way.

The HS gives leadership in our lives.

It’s more like this...

Luke 18:35–41 (ESV)

35 As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”

Jesus didn’t just command the blind man to come to Him.

The man had to be helped, guided to come near Jesus.

Someone would have taken the blind man by the hand and led him through the crowd...

Avoiding obstacles and getting from point A to B.

So, when the HS leads believers He becomes the controlling influence in our lives...

Bringing them all the way through sanctification to glory.

Also, in this example, we are protected from the other extreme...

And, that is to deny human responsibility.

Although the blind man was led, he still had to walk.

B.B. Warfield clearly and correctly states...

It is his [the Holy Spirit’s] part to keep us in the path and to bring us at length to the goal. But it is we who tread every step of the way; our limbs that grow weary with the labor; our hearts that faint, our courage that fails—our faith that revives our sinking strength, our hope that instills new courage into our souls—as we toil over the steep ascent.

Paul states this very thing in the most clear way...

Philippians 2:12–13 (ESV)

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

In what way does the HS lead us?

The HS leads us in the way of Christ.

In the revealed will of God for Christians.

In the manner in which God delights.

It’s not some mystical experience in which we live according to the whims of our emotions in the moment.

It’s the way in which the HS leads us to obey God’s truth throughout our Christian life.

Because the weapon of the HS is the Word of God.

And, He leads us in the things that God takes pleasure in.

So, when we are pursuing holiness we are being led by the HS.

When we are falling into temptation, as Christians, we are grieving the HS.

The good news in that scenario for us, as Christians...

Is we may grieve the HS, but we are never abandoned by the HS.

The HS will lead us to repentance and obedience and ultimately to glory...

Because nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Now, back to the command to walk by the Spirit.

There’s a Battle that Begins at Justification

And, we see it illustrated in the passage at hand.

Walking by the HS vs. Walking by the Flesh

We are not fully delivered from the corruption of the Fall.

Paul tells us that the inner man is new...

And, being renewed day by day.

But, the outer man is wasting away day by day.

In Romans 7 Paul teaches us...

Romans 7:21–25 (ESV)

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Paul is not saying that Christians cannot do anything but live by the flesh.

That is not what Romans 7 is teaching.

What Romans 7 teaches is that as Christians we have a desire to live a life of worship that is expressed in perfect obedience to God.

And, that once we become a Christian we notice something that we never noticed before...

Because it didn’t exist.

We cannot obey God perfectly.

But, we never realized it before because we never wanted to before.

It was never a desire of our hearts.

When Paul says...

walk by the Spirit…be led by the Spirit

When Paul says that we are no longer under the dominion of sin...

He’s not saying that the desires of the flesh are now absent from believers...

On the contrary, as Paul says in Romans 7, the desires of the flesh threaten us constantly.

But, being free from the dominion of sin is not being dominated by sin.

IOW, before we were in Christ...

When we were under the dominion of sin...

Sinning is all we could do.

We had no ability to do anything pleasing to the Lord.

Because anything outside of faith is sin.

Now, in Christ, we are no longer under the dominion of the flesh.

We can now do what we once were unable to do....

And, that is we are able by the power of the HS dwelling within us to put deeds of the flesh to death.

We can now love God, love His Law, pursue holiness, resist sin.

And, we will dig into this more next week...

Take-Away

We will not attain perfection in this life.

1 John 1:8 (ESV)

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

And, at the same time, since our new birth...

We can and should pursue a life that is, as the Apostle Paul states in...

Colossians 3:5 (ESV)

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you...

Colossians 3:12 (ESV)

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones...

There should be a pursuit of:

resisting the flesh

growing in godliness

patience in the process

humility as we go through this tug-of-war process of sanctification

And, a recognition of the HS’s work in our life when we get anything right.

Closing Prayer