Introduction
For the past month, we have been looking at what I am calling grace passages. In the past couple of weeks we have more specifically considered the two great enemies of the grace of God in our lives: legalism and license. The legalist proclaims, "Follow Christ by obeying these particular rules. If you obey them God will then and only then love you." The libertine (the one who lives according to license) rebuts, "No! Let us sin so that grace may all the more abound. Just do what your flesh wants."
These two voices, these two callings, are very loud and naturally attractive to us. It is tempting to follow the idea that God's opinion of us is solely dependent on us, on what we do. We think we want to be the captain of our own ship. It is equally tempting to give in to the idea that God has no claims to our lives, that all that he wants is to save us and that he doesn't really care about what we do with our lives.
How does the Christian deal with these two loud voices in his/her life? Paul tells us that the only voice the Christian should listen to is the voice of the Holy Spirit of God as he speaks to us through his Word. What does he say?
I. Neither Legalism nor License; Rather, Walk in the Spirit, 16, 25.
A. Walk in v. 16 = live in v. 25.
B. Walk in, by, with the Spirit means several things.
1. You have received life from the Spirit, v. 25 (the idea of being born again).
a. Born according to the Spirit, 4:28-31.
b. Born from above.
Jn. 3:5-8 – Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
2. You are controlled by the Spirit.
Rom. 8:1-2 – There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom. 8:4-5 – …that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
Rom. 8:9 – But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Rom. 8:13 – For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
3. You confess that Jesus is who the Bible says he is.
1 Jn. 4:2 – By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God….
4. The fruit of the Spirit is present in your life, 5:22-23.
5. In this context, to walk in, by, with the Spirit is to have the correct view of the Law of God.
a. The Law of God should neither blindly obeyed nor disregarded – both these positions are often flaunted as the spiritual position and yet that is exactly what they lack: THE SPIRIT!
1) The Law cannot be disregarded because there is no Gospel without it.
2) The Law cannot be blindly followed because it is designed to open our eyes to Christ.
b. The Law of God points out to us our need for a Savior.
Rom. 7:7 – What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."
1) There is no knowledge of sin without the Law.
2) The best way for us to see that we are sinners and that we are not inherently good is to try to keep God's Law in its entirety on our own.
Jam. 2:10 – For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
c. The Law of God drives us to Jesus.
Rom. 7:24-25a, 8:1 – O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
d. Once the Law drives us to Christ, once the Spirit opens our eyes for us to see our need of him, once we trust in him and nothing else for our salvation, then Jesus points us back to the law as the pattern for us to use to demonstrate our love for him.
Jn. 13:34-35 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Jn. 14:15 – If you love Me, keep My commandments.
6. Verse 24 summarizes the relationship between the Spirit's work in us and the Law of God.
"What is God's law now? It is not above a Christian – it is under a Christian. Some men hold God's law like a rod, in terror, over Christians, and say, 'If you sin you will be punished with it.' It is not so. The law is under a Christian; it is for him to walk on, to be his guide, his rule, his pattern: 'we are not under law, but under grace.' Law is the road which guides us, not the rod which drives us, nor the spirit which actuates us. The law is good and excellent, if it keeps its place." C.H. Spurgeon
C. Notice that the command to walk in the Spirit is grounded on the statement that you live in the Spirit, 25 (imperative grounded on indicative).
1. All that Paul is doing by telling us to walk in the Spirit is for us to become in practice what we have already been declared to be in Christ.
Gal. 5:25 (NIV) – Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Col. 3:1-3 – If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
2. The flesh has been crucified and in the process of dying, 5:24
II. The Necessity of Walking in the Spirit: The Crucified Flesh Tries to Jump off the Cross, 17-21, 24.
A. The remnant of the old nature tries to take over and a battle or war ensues, 17.
1. This is the Christian life.
2. The moment the struggle is gone you are either dead or you lost the battle.
B. Legalism is defeated by walking in the Spirit, 18.
C. License is defeated by walking in the Spirit, 19-21.
1. Notice the seriousness of what Paul is saying here, 21b.
a. Those who unrepentantly, consistently, and without any struggle participate in these attitudes and actions are not going to heaven and are not part of God's people.
b. Independently of what they profess, their allegiance is to the flesh not to Christ – lawlessness.
Mt. 7:21-23 – Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
2. This list is not an exhaustive list.
a. There is no such list in the NT.
b. That is clear by how Paul ends it – "and the like."
c. So, don't use this list to excuse your sin or to judge others – "My pet sin is not here, so I'm ok to just continue in it. But those fornicators are really bad people."
3. Even though this list is not exhaustive, it is one of the most thorough lists in the NT – 18 sinful activities.
a. We are not going to talk about every activity listed here because some of them are obvious, but we will talk about a few.
b. Sexual related sins
1) Adultery
2) Fornication
a) Sexual immorality usually by unmarried people.
b) Includes the use of pornography.
3) Uncleanness – all other sexual immorality including homosexuality.
4) Lewdness – not just the practice of sexual immorality, but also the flaunting and approval of it.
c. Relationship destroying sins
1) Hatred
2) Contentions
3) Jealousies
4) Outbursts of anger
5) Dissensions
6) Envy
7) Murders
d. God displacing sins
1) Idolatry
2) Sorcery (witchcraft)
a) This one is a little more real than we tend to think (not just in Harry Potter's world).
b) Biblically, witchcraft is really the worship of what is evil.
c) The Greek word behind it is pharmakeia.
i. In the ancient world witches often prepared and administered lethal poisons.
ii. The postmodern parallel to ancient witchcraft is not necessarily Harry Potter, but abortion and euthanasia – forms of killing that in our culture are usually performed by doctors through the use of drugs.
e. Sins of the body
1) Drunkenness – any recreational altering of the mind.
2) Revelries – though this could have a sexual component to it (orgy), it is more related to overeating.
III. What Is the Solution for These Sins?
A. As with any sin, the first thing is repentance: turning to Jesus for forgiveness and grace to overcome.
B. Walking in the Spirit – Practically
1. Read the Bible and listen to it preached to you with open ears and hearts.
2. Worship God privately and corporately.
3. Pray to God for and with other people.
4. Fellowship with other believers.
5. Thoroughly participate in the sacraments – preparation and follow up.
C. Crucify the flesh, 5:24 and 2:20.
"The expulsive power of a new affection." Thomas Chalmers – things won't change till you are in love with Jesus.
IV. The Result: The Fruit (singular) of the Spirit, 5:22-24.
A. Notice that these are not several and independent fruits (plural), but one fruit with many facets.
1. All of them are present at different levels in the life of the Christian.
2. They all have the same source or root – walking in the Spirit.
3. And they are all ordinary – for all believers at all times.
B. Fruit of the Spirit is not the same as gifts of the Spirit.
1. The fruit of the Spirit is for all believers at all times.
2. The gifts of the Spirit vary between believers and throughout the history of the church.
C. Notice how the fruit of the Spirit is the antithesis to the works of the flesh.
1. Fornication à self-control
2. Outbursts of wrath à patience
D. Finally, notice that they are all the result of waling in the Spirit.
1. If we desire love, joy, etc., we don't pursue love, joy, etc.
2. We pursue the Spirit's work in our lives through the ordinary means he has giving us.
3. Love, joy, patience, self-control are all the byproduct of love for Christ and obedience to his Spirit.
Conclusion
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Gal. 5:25)" Jesus has invaded our lives with his grace. We have his Spirit working in us. We are fruitful vines producing a singular fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against this harvest of Spirit-cultivated fruit. And all of it as the result of the power of the grace of God in our lives.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2014/12/walk-in-spirit-gal-516-26.html
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