An Introduction to Walking in the Spirit
Galatians 5
September 29, 2019 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (Galatians 5:16-18)
A. If you have ever been around a fight, a conflict between two people, or between two animals, you will usually try to stop the fighting and get them to live in peace. You will want them to just get along!
B. But conflict is never easy to resolve
1. That’s why the Middle East conflict continues decade after decade
2. That’s why there are so many divorces and separations
C. I want to show you a battle that is going on in every Christian’s life that will NEVER be worked out, and never be at peace, until the day we enter God’s presence in heaven!
D. It is the battle between Our Flesh, and the Spirit of God in Us
1. It’s like the eternal battle between cats and dogs
2. It’s like Oil trying to mix with Vinegar – never will mix
3. It is the war that goes on in Christians that makes living the Christian life complicated!
E. Don’t be discouraged – because there is a way to actually manage the battle NOT in your favour, but in God’s favour!
1. You have one choice – to let God win.
2. You see, if YOU want to win the fight in you, you will find that you can’t
3. But if you want GOD to win the fight in your life, then there is no problem at all
F.
This is an Introduction to Walking in the Spirit
There is at least one more lesson that I want to teach you next week about this
II. Message
A. Living in Liberty – The Only Way to Live (Gal 5:1)
1. The Apostle Paul begins this chapter with a command
a. Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,
b. Commanded to STAND FAST in our liberty
c. To not lose our footing, and slip back, or fall down
d. To not go back to living the old way again, but to STAY living the NEW way
e. And that way is by the Spirit of God, and not by the works of the flesh anymore
2. A Believer has been FREED from the dominion of sin over their lives
a. That is why a sinner gets saved – not just for heaven, but for freedom from sin’s grip on our lives!
1) All our lives before Christ, we just lived according to whatever our flesh wanted, what everyone else was wanting, and what we could get away with
2) The lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes
3) But now, Someone moved into our life and brought a whole new perspective – an entirely new nature into our life!
b. Christ purchased our pardon – paid for you and me in full
1) And made you a free man, a free woman
2) No longer owing for any sin
3) No longer under any obligation to give in to any sin
c. None of us have to be chained to the lusts of our flesh anymore
d. We are free! We are FREE to finally live
1) Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
2) Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
3) 2Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
4) Free to live for Christ now! And not for anyone else anymore!
5) In the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
6) Live forever
3. But we have to be Vigilant / Careful to not be brought back into bondage of ‘the flesh’
a. That’s why Paul commands us to STAND FAST, so that we don’t get ENTANGLED again with the yoke of bondage – slavery to my old nature!
b. Gal 5:1 …and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
c. What is the Apostle Paul talking about?
d. Not to lose our salvation, but to lose our NEW way of living – in the Spirit
B. So, What Happened at Salvation?
1. Unfortunately, God didn’t just dump the old you and replace you with a perfect you – NOT YET!
2. Instead, He ADDED a new nature to you – HIS nature!
a. John 14:16,17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
b. Rom 8:9-11 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
c. Is Christ IN Me
1) Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
2) Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
3) 1Jn 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
d. None of us were born with Christ’s nature in us – it had to be put in us, at our new birth!
3. We now live in a body that contains Two natures – TWO Forces - Two ways of living
a. The Flesh that I live in – the old me – the old man!
b. The Spirit of God that is IN ME – the NEW me – the new man
c. And by giving a believer this new nature, God actually gave us the victory over our old nature
C. So, What is “the Flesh” and What is the Spirit?
1. Your Flesh is two things:
a. All the physical things you were born with – the outer man
1) Your gender
2) Your height
3) The shape of your face
4) Your skin colour
5) Your hair colour
6) All your organs – brain, lungs, bones, muscles
7) All the chemicals and hormones that flow throughout your body
8) That is your Flesh
9) And it is marvellously designed and made by God (Psa 139:14) I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
b. All of those physical things have a nature – a natural way of living
1) Every animal has a specific nature
a) Cats are cats by their very nature
b) Dogs the same
c) Turtles
d) Eagles
e) And humans!
2) Our instincts, our ways of acting, which humans are said to have naturally
a) What we naturally just do without thinking
b) What we naturally just love and crave
c) Your flesh is all habits that you have – good and bad!
3) It is the way I have lived and loved and thought and felt, since my birth
4) It is us as we are
5) It is what it means to be human
6) BTW. Thank God that God loves us as we are, but He does not ever just leave us as we are… Because our nature is trouble! It is thoroughly messed up!
c. So, my Flesh is the ME you see here, right in front of you now - all you see!
d. But it is not all there is!
2. The Spirit of God that is IN ME is two things:
a. It is a Person that moved into the believer at conversion
1) John 1:10-12 He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he [Jesus] power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name
2) John 3:6,7 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
b. And HE brings a Totally New Nature in a Believer – HIS Nature!
c. A super natural way of living!
1) It is not carnal, selfish, worldly, sinful like my flesh is
2) It is an entirely new nature, that is spiritual, supernatural, perfect, sinless
3) Jesus is the new man in every believer – the new me (2Cor 5:17) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
4) He brings into my life
a) A new set of Interests
b) Many new Instincts (1Pet 2:2) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby
c) A new pull inside me, pulling me towards God’s will!
5) The Holy Spirit in me LOVES GOD, and loves righteousness
6) He does not sin – AMEN!
a) 1Jn 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
b) Which part of you was born of God?
c) Your flesh? No
d) Your spirit? YES!
e) That part of you is born again! Regenerated – made alive!
f) And the Holy Spirit IN you does not sin!
7) He does the will of God – without hesitation
8) He Pleases God (Heb 13:21) Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
d. That’s the NEW MAN in us now
D. What’s The Problem Then?
1. Why is it sometimes so hard to live the Christian life, AND hard to go back into sin, now that you are born again?
2. These Two Natures are AT WAR (Gal 5:17) – they do NOT get along with each other
a. At war with each other AND with God!
b. Intensely PULLING in two opposite directions – not just tugging
c. My Flesh reaches towards something that feeds it, makes it feel good, important
d. The Spirit yearns towards something that feeds it, and honours God
e. More about this in a few moments…
3. In Between these two natures, is ME – my soul
a. Constantly having to make a choice of which one I want to win
b. Burned out in the wrestling to always make the right choices
c. Discouraged a lot – regretting a lot
d. Constantly disappointed with myself
E. What’s Wrong with The Flesh?
1. My flesh loves sin – and so does YOURS
a. It doesn’t just sin – it LOVES sin - We hunger for it - Sin thrills our old nature
b. Whether it is anger
c. Or thieving
d. Or pornography
e. Or self-attention
f. Or rebellion
g. Deep down, our nature loves things that are sinful – LOVES them
2. It is only focused on itself
a. That’s why it seeks Self-Righteousness
1) Patching up the flesh to look good – it is all for nothing!
2) Not looking to God to fix things, but believing that I can do it on my own just fine!
3) So that I can continue to live in the flesh and feel good about it
4) If you are going to try and make your flesh good and sinless and perfect, you are bound to obey the entire Law of God without fail
5) Gal 5:3,4 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
b. All of the flesh is for itself – its own benefit (Ecc 6:7) All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
c. It must be kept under control.
1) It needs to be held to a higher law than just its own ways and wants – or else we would have bloodshed in every home and street. We would have thievery at every workplace
d. And it needs to be pushed to serve others – otherwise it won’t do it
1) Gal 5:13,14 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
3. Demands to be in control (dominated by sin) – starting arguments, demanding to have the final say, rejecting anyone’s authority over it – DEMANDS JUSTICE
4. It is repulsive to God (Philp 3:21) – vile - but it WILL be changed one day
a. There is actually NOTHING good at all in our bodies (Rom 7:18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
b. Most people do not know the depths of sin that is present in them, and ignore their carnal nature as if it is fine with God, and generally under control
1) David had adultery, and murder, and blatant lies in him that came out when he saw an opportunity to be with another man’s wife!
2) Moses had murderous anger in him
3) Jonah had serious rebellion in him against the will of God that came out when God told him to go and preach repentance to Nineveh
4) Noah had a desire for drunkenness in him that came out when no one was looking
c. What we are NATURALLY – in the flesh – is repulsive to God
d. And it is even worse than that!
5. It is at war with God (Rom 8:6-8)
a. Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
b. Enmity means AT WAR!
c. It has its own lust, desires, wants, demands
d. It will not give an inch on its own!
6. That’s why we have NO confidence in our flesh (Php 3:3) For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
7. That’s why we obey the Spirit (Rom 8:5) For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
F. So, let’s put these two forces together in a Believer and see what happens…
1. If I live by the flesh…
a. The Holy Spirit fights against me when I try and do wrong
1) The Holy Spirit has His OWN things he intensely desires and He is NOT going to back down!
2) So He makes it hard for any Christian to sin!
3) Prov 13:15 … the way of transgressors is hard.
4) The Spirit in me makes it hard for me to enjoy sin now
a) Psa 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
b) Psa 32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
c) Psa 32:3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
d) Psa 32:4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
e) Psa 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
5) Makes it impossible to get away with sin now – always get caught and then chastened by God
6) And, That’s a good thing!
b. It will ALWAYS hinder you from doing the will of God
c. I am trying to please the world around me – to see me live like everyone one else
d. I will never please God – ever (Rom 8:8)
e. God will chasten me when I sin
f. I’m miserable in my sin
g. It reaps only death (Gal 6:8)
h. PRIDE keeps me in my flesh, and from repenting. You would think people would hate this condition – but pride cares nothing about God!
2. If I attempt to live in the Spirit…
a. My flesh
gets right in my way
Flesh will ALWAYS hinder you from doing the will of God
1) It fights my every attempt to do right things – the will of God
2) It will NOT just roll over and die
b. I am
trying to please God – to live like Jesus did
I will never please the world
c. The world persecutes me when I live godly (2Ti 3:12) Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
d. Overall, I am joyful, even though I battle discouragement
e. It reaps life abundantly
f. Humility keeps me here!
G. Listen to how Paul puts the Conflict in Romans 7:14-25; 8:1
1. I am carnal, a slave to sin – my flesh is (14)
a. I need God’s laws to tell me where the limits are (16)
b. Sin is in me – in my flesh (17)
c. It ruined me (18)
d. There is nothing good in my flesh (18)
2. I have desires for good things, but no ability (18)
a. I want to do good, but don’t
b. I don’t want to do wrong, but do
c. There is a force fighting me, constantly trying to bring me back into bondage, slavery
d. Sin is running my life! (20)
e. It won’t leave me alone (21)
3. But there is another law, another force in my INNER man, pulling in the other direction now! THANK GOD!
4. Yes I am wretched, and ruined
5. But Jesus Christ has delivered me, freed me from this slavery!
6. And now I walk in the Spirit, instead of in the Flesh (8:1)
H. Walk in the Spirit and You Win (Galatians 5:16-18) – HERE IS THE MAIN POINT!
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
1. Do you see the progression?
a. Lusts of the flesh pulling you in one direction
b. Lusts of the Spirit pulling you in the other direction
c. No matter what YOU try and do, you can’t do it
1) Try and give into the pull, temptation to sin
2) Or try and do the will of God
3) YOU will never succeed
d. But if you walk, just yield to the pull and the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, you will always succeed
2. What does ‘Walk in the Spirit’ mean?
a. We KNOW what it means to live in the power of our flesh
1) In the power of anger
2) In the power of your intellect, of your wealth
3) Or of a fist
4) Or in the power of a load of money
b. We are now enabled to live in THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
c. To live by the power of prayer, of a yielded heart to the will of God
d. Make It a Way of Life – not something just religious and occasional
e. To LIVE in the Spirit, instead of in the flesh!
1) If you got a new home, then LIVE IN IT, not in the old shack you used to live in
2) If you bought a new car, then DRIVE it, not the old one you are used to
3. So, HOW CAN WE WALK in the Spirit?
a. Starve the Flesh for a while
1) You will find out just how strong a grip it has on you
2) Don’t feed it
3) Don’t entertain it
4) Don’t give in to its demands
5) Just keep your mouth shut, and do your work, and stay away from your phone for a week, from Netflix for a week, the internet for a week
6) Don’t eat for 3 or 4 days – or for a week
7) All with the desire to sense that other nature in you – Christ in you
8) To hear HIS voice
b. Confess the sins of the flesh – repent of them – hate the pull of the flesh
1) While you are not feeding your flesh, confess every stronghold Satan has in your flesh
a) Bitterness
b) Old reoccurring bad memories
c) Covetousness
d) Addictions to drink, drugs, games, pornography
2) Most of our conflicts rage because we never rob our flesh of the power that it has
a) We keep old records of hurts and abuses
b) We refuse to humble ourselves to those we have hurt
c) We worry about our image, what people think, and so few would EVER hunger for God more than for money or popularity or pleasure
3) How often do you just drop to your knees and cry out “I AM SO SORRY OH GOD!”
4) Let’s do that today!
c. Hunger to sense the leading of the Spirit of God
1) Still, quiet, small voice – you must make time to listen for it – like the SETI guys do looking for a single voice in the stars – need absolute quiet!
2) Like following an aroma of a freshly baked apple tart
3) Light seeing a light way off in the distance in a dark cave
4) Like following a sound of running water in a desert
5) Like smelling an amazing perfume on your wife
6) Then Follow the Spirit’s Leading!
d. Yield to the Will of God – no matter how difficult
1) Not becoming a monk, or nun, or priest, or a boring empty life
2) In simple words, the lusts of the Spirit are the desires to live like and be like Jesus Christ!
3) 2Co 5:14,15 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
4) Heb 13:20,21 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
e. Yearn / Lust to be FILLED with the Spirit of God (Eph 5:18)
f. Trust it will be better in the end than if you followed your fleshly desires
I. There are Consequences / Results of Which Walk You Take
1. One will end up producing such a list of ruin and destruction in your life
2. And the other will see such fruit produced that no one could complain
3. Those are clear evidences of which way a person is living in their life
J. The Results of Living in the Power of the Spirit
1. You will please God (1Th 4:1) Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
2. You will be easily able to Crucify [PUT TO DEATH] the lusts of the flesh (Gal 5:24) And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
a. More than just Ignoring the lusts of the flesh
b. I wish I could! Don’t you?
c. Just say NO would be GREAT if it worked!
d. You will probably NEVER stop loving some sins
1) Drink
2) Pornography
3) Your anger
4) Lying will always be easier than telling the truth
e. You can and SHOULD be free from their dominion, but your flesh will usually still love the sin that used to run your life
f. So, when your fleshly nature demands satisfaction, even attention, you have to crucify it – mortify it
3. Your life will have FRUIT, and not regrets! (Galatians 5:22-24)
a. Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
b. Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
c. Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
K. The results of living out the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21)
1. Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
2. Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
3. Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
4. Look at how sin is us just consumes us!
5. Is THAT what you want to win in your life? In your marriage? In your heart? In your MIND?
III. Conclusion
A. There is at least one more lesson that I want to teach you next week about this truth and this conflict
B. But for right now,
C. Ask yourself these questions:
1. Do I even have a battle, or do I just about always give into my flesh?
a. Be honest
b. You will have to be honest one day, and it is better to own up to what you do in secret and when alone – whether there is any fight at all to do right
c. Only a Christian has this battle…
1) The ungodly / the unsaved do NOT have this conflict
2) They delight in iniquity
3) Love sin and darkness (John 3:19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
4) And love those that do wicked things (they take pleasure in them that sin) – watch what you watch on your tv!
5) They are moral only when beneficial to their vanity
2. Do I ever walk in the Spirit, or in my self-righteous pride of my flesh?
a. Just record the amount of time you give to:
1) Your flesh. In front of TV, at sports, worrying about money, searching for happiness, etc. They are not all wrong. But they are all a dead end
2) And to your SPIRIT. Praying, being here together with other believers hearing preaching, serving one another, giving of our talents and time, and tithes, praising God when it hurts to do so. They all result in a better life!
b. If you actually took a good look at yourself, you will be ashamed!
3. When was the last time you and I actually asked God, what does HE want us to do? (Acts 9:6Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
D. The Nature you feed will be stronger – you choose
E. Is anyone ready to get saved this morning?