Walking in the Spirit — Jack Abeelen

The Call to Walk in the Spirit

This is study number 0 3 i d 9 65. Father thank you for gathering us together tonight we praise.

You lord for a good year as we look back and pray for a greater year to come that more folks will come to get saved and more will come to honor your son and there will be more fruit and much fruit that would remain.

And lord tonight as we just commit ourselves to learning your word i pray that your word would just come alive to us. We would see it maybe as we've never seen it and we would just know you lord like we should.

And there'd be great hope in our hearts. Lord be with us tonight. We ask you to just bless our study and give us ears to hear and a heart that would see these things and may you make them just easy to be understood for us tonight as we look to you.

Now lord teach us in jesus name. Amen. All right. Let's open our bible tonight. Galatians chapter 5. Verse 16. Galatians 5 16. As we wind down towards the end of the book of galatians we will not be doing chapter 6 until next year.

But it's a good paul wrote this book maybe the first one in print 51 or so ad to a whole group of churches that he had founded on his first trip out with the gospel amongst the gentiles for the most part and also amongst the jews.

Salvation by Grace Rather Than Works

But the challenge for paul's gospel was that there were men around who really believed that faith in christ wasn't enough and it really set the boundaries i guess for the battle for people's hearts. For you know the next 2 000 years you get saved by doing or by believing.

Can your relationship with god be improved by your by your behavior in the sense that you can get god to love you more care for you more you know honor you more. Or is that a measure and a matter of faith.

And paul had gone out preaching the message that god had given to him faith in christ salvation by grace. But those that followed paul always brought along the works and the and the and the effort and the self-effort if you will.

And so paul wrote this first book to a bunch of these little churches that had just sprung up because the gospel brought life to say to these folks look don't go back now to trying to work your way to heaven when you found out jesus will bring you there freely by grace.

And the way that you get saved and then the way that you walk with god is the same now in the first 15 verses of chapter 5 last time paul said in the beginning there in verse 1 stand fast and the liberty that you've gotten now as a christian don't go back to that legalism bondage.

Don't let people drag you back down. Because if you're going to try to work your way to heaven then you don't need jesus. They're incompatible. It's either all in christ or it's nothing. He doesn't want to just be a part of the solution.

He's either the entire solution or he isn't a solution at all. But if you replace christ with works then you don't need jesus either. He died for your sins. He didn't like pick up 50 of the tab. He didn't just cover the tip.

He covered the whole bill. And if you can't serve him then you really have to write him off completely. He went on to say that if you're going to live by the law man you better keep the whole thing because one sin brings judgment.

He talked about the false teachers about them slowing down the running of the race and bringing words that weren't really from the lord and contaminating the truth and attacking the the messengers are of the truth like paul and and paul finally ended up in verses 13 14 and 15 last time by saying look if you live by grace and you're saved by grace then you walk in love.

You've got no reason to try to compete with others or try to put yourself above others because grace kind of levels the playing field. Nobody can make it on their own. Everyone needs the lord. But the workers of the of the flesh the workers of the law the people who try to do it themselves are always contending with others trying to find folks less faithful than themselves trying to find someone that doesn't perform as well as they do because with every failure of another i gained the upper hand.

So his contention was you can always tell a person who's living by the law trying to work his way to heaven. They're always talking about. Well did you make church every week. How many did you miss. I didn't miss any.

How about praying. How often do you pray. I pray an hour a day. How about half an hour. You see i do an hour. There's constantly that war of performance. Paul said look man if you've been saved by grace use that freedom to love one another and be careful of the gospel that's being preached by these other men which is no gospel at all which will end up causing you to devour and consume each other tonight.

The Conflict Between the Flesh and the Spirit

Beginning in verse 16 down through verse 26 paul wants to contrast some of the obvious signs of whether you are living in that relationship of god by grace through the spirit. Or are you still driven and dominated by a life of the works the law the flesh.

He uses those words interchangeably. To live by the law means to try to perform on my own. To live in the flesh means i'll do it myself. To live in the spirit is just the opposite. I've died to myself.

I'm relying on the lord to do the work in my life. And he sets the two in contrast and he talks about them to say look these are the kind of things you see in the life of someone who's dominated by the law by the flesh by their own efforts.

Here's the kind of things you'll find in someone's life who's been saved and the spirit now works in their heart. Great little pictures and portraits if you will. General terms of the kind of things that you can expect to see when god begins to move in grace in someone's life versus the religious guy who's got it all up to himself and has to do it all himself.

First of all paul says in verse 16. I say then walk in the spirit. You will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh will lust against the spirit and the spirit will against the flesh. These are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish.

But if you are being led of the spirit then you are not under the law. Now notice the lust of the flesh in verse 16 is is equated to under the law in verse 18. And the battle between the two of them in our life you know when god made us.

If you start at the beginning man was created to have fellowship with god as a spirit. God is a spirit. The bible says if you fellowship with god you meet him on the spiritual level. And when god made adam and eve he made them spirit soul and body.

They were spirits. He breathed life into a container but they were spiritual. They were spiritual creations. When you die your body dies but you're a spirit. You continue on. But that's where we have fellowship with god.

There's a conscious awareness of god. There's a fellowship with god. And in that sense you're almost like the inferior trinity. You know father son and holy spirit. You're a spirit that has a conscious awareness and live in a body.

The problem is when man sinned the lord said the day that you eat of this fruit you're going to die. What died when adam and eve sinned. Their spiritual relationship with god died. They lived for hundreds of years beyond the sin in their flesh.

But that spiritual life was killed was cut off if you will. If you go back and read about adam and eve you read of eve that she saw that she desired that she took and that she ate all of those fleshly responses if you will in direct disobedience to god.

And from that day man lost fellowship with god. And something else happened. He became an upside down kind of a creation. He now became body soul and spirit. The body now became the great dominating force.

Didn't it. Now it was me eating and me getting and me collecting and me succeeding and my spiritual life cut off. I now was aware of my body needs constantly and in the world until you come to know the lord.

That is still the the criteria that drives man. They are body conscious dead to their relationship with god but driven by the lusts of the flesh. When jesus talked to nicodemus about heaven and seeing and entering the kingdom of heaven he said to nicodemus look you've been born and you have a body.

You need a spiritual birth. You've got to be born again of the spirit. You need that connection with god re-established. You need a new spiritual life so you could be again what god intended spirit soul and a body that just becomes a place of dwelling rather than the leading indicator in your life.

You need to be born again. When paul wrote to the ephesians in chapter 2 he said of them. You know god made you alive when you were dead in your trespasses and sins in the way that you used to walk according to the course of this world.

And the prince of the power of the air that spirit that is still at work in the children of disobedience even as it worked in you to fulfill the lust of your mind and the lusts of your flesh. But god found you in that condition and rich in his mercy with a great love.

We're with. He loved you while we're yet sinners. He dies for us. You see why we were dead. Jesus came and brought a solution. And once we get saved then god begins to work in us by the holy spirit who now re-establishes this connection with god.

And i meet with god on spiritual terms. I'm now a a spirit living in a body that will one day die. But i'm alive with god. I'm in touch with god. My eyes are open. My heart is is reachable. The sin is removed.

I'm saved. Paul says the person who gets saved by the grace of god finds life as the holy spirit moves in and begins to work in my life. And my greatest job now is just to submit to god. Whereas the man who walks after his flesh has a whole different set of circumstances he has to revolt against sin through pain and through strife.

Notice what paul says here in verse 16. If i walk in the spirit then i don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh. If i walk in the spirit i will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. How do you beat the flesh.

You don't fight it or stand up against it. It's not the best solution. The best solution is preoccupy yourself with god. Isn't that the best way to win. Walk in the spirit. Wait a minute. How about just say no to drugs.

Well that's all right. But walk in the spirit. If you walk in the spirit the flesh doesn't get a place to work. The word walk parapet is a present tense word here that means ongoing or day to day live your life in such a way that you are listening to and being led by and interested in the things of the spirit and submitting to him.

The flesh will get crowded out. Sometimes when people are about to get saved or they've just gotten saved they worry very much about reforming their flesh. Well what can't i do now. What can i do. Is there a list of things i shouldn't be doing.

What are the no. What are the digits. What are the don'ts. You know what are the what are the rules. And you say to them hey just start reading the bible man and walk with god. And you'll be just fine.

Well what if i do something wrong. Hey you walk in the spirit. I guarantee your flesh ain't gonna have a lot of room to work. It cuts you off from those demands of the flesh. Some people are very preoccupied with their flesh.

Oh i'm always getting mad. Oh i'm always wanting things. Oh i'm always. What do i do this flesh. You say to them hey get preoccupied with the spirit. Get preoccupied with the spirit. Get your eyes off of that.

Get your eyes on the lord. And the best way is to turn to the lord. And the flesh gets starved out. Two times. I think yeah. There's two in deuteronomy chapter 9. And in chapter 10 moses doesn't eat for 40 days.

Now i don't know about you but i've never done this. 40 hours would be ridiculous. 40 minutes is a new record. You know what i'm saying. And he goes for 40 days twice. Why. To impress the lord. No because he needs something really badly.

No because there's there's danger. There's there's there's pressing needs. None of the above. He begins to worship god and he forgets what day it is. He enters into worship. And pretty soon 40 days have gone by.

He's so preoccupied with the lord. His flesh doesn't even get to hear the dinner bell. Go read deuteronomy 9 and 10. So i get saved. And i begin to seek the lord and look to god. And and people say oh man i used to have a real drug problem.

You know how's the lord going to help me. I said i don't know. I used to do a lot of drugs. When i got saved i was just interested in jesus. There wasn't even any contest. The lord the drugs. The lord.

The lord. It wasn't too hard you know. And they don't always come that easy. But that's how we are are to go. Walk in the spirit pride. Preoccupy yourself and find victory. Because there is always going to be a battle.

According to verse 17. Begin between sorry that spirit-led life and your old man the old flesh so much so that there are going to be times when you have to struggle just to do the right thing. Or even that sometimes you lose the battle so that you do not the things that you wish.

There's always going to be a battle. It's an ongoing battle. Now you know new year's is just a couple of weeks away. Maybe you're working on your new year's resolutions. But i tell you what the vows you make and the slogans you take you know make sure that you add to the list.

Matthew 26. Verse 41. The spirit is willing the flesh is weak. I've got to live in the spirit. If i'm going to have a chance. Paul says you just walk in the spirit. You want to have a victory man walk in the spirit which is a great freedom for me.

I don't have to try. I don't have to sweat. I don't have to struggle. I just have to walk with god. What i can expect according to verse 17 is as i begin to seek to do the things of the lord that my flesh is going to argue.

It's going to be dissatisfied with the whole process. What are you going to do now. Go to church. Yeah it's wednesday. You know church people go to church on sundays. Well i'm going wednesday. Well i don't think i like it.

You don't ever get that. Or it's just me. See i have to come. But that don't mean i always want to be here. You don't have to be here. You have it even harder. I don't even know if you're not here some of you if you sit in the back my new nature my new life hungers for god constantly.

But my old life doesn't. And there's great conflict. I want to pray but oh there's always something in the way and i want to serve. But there's always something else i got to do. And i want to read. But boy i'm so tired my eyes just can't stay open.

And i want to study. But i've been so busy all day and i want to witness. But you know i'm a little worried about if i have the right words and there's always something opposing my every spiritual mood.

And yet the advice has walked daily in the spirit. And the flesh won't really have its way. It won't really get its place. The problem for us is that we have redeemed spirits born again spirits living in unredeemed bodies.

The Spirit's Work in the Believer

These are the old bodies. Aren't they. We've got new life and old containers. One day we'll get new containers with hair thin good looking able to see. But for now we're saved in these puppies right here.

And the conflict is you know our bodies. In fact what does paul say in romans 8. All of creation groans laboring with birth pangs as we the first fruits of the spirit grown within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption.

That is he says the redemption of our bodies. We're living in a container destined for death. And we're spirits destined for life. And there's conflict before we were saved. The only conflict with sin was your conscience a gift from god to every man to keep you from completely falling over the edge right away.

But according to the bible if you continued to sin against your conscience it could eventually become first timothy chapter four seared or dead. You could so violate the the the restraints that god places in your conscience that pretty soon you can sin without feeling bad about it.

You can do things that that no man in his right mind you would think could approve of. But your conscience has been seared. But that was the only resistance that you had. Maybe public pressure maybe parental pressure maybe some peer pressure.

But for the most part the only real struggle you was with your own conscience. Now you get saved. And i'm telling you immediately two very clear voices begin to speak the voice of god the leading of the spirit.

And then that old man that always wants its way you know. And there are always those two suggestions. Aren't there. There's god pulling me in his direction. There's the flesh just opposing every he's just a dead kind of weight always having to be dragged along.

I go to philippians and i read it's god who will now work in me not only to will to do but to do of his good pleasure. And then i read in romans chapter 8 you know if we live according to the flesh we die.

So i have to reckon the old body dead and be led of the spirit of god. I have that constant battle that that whole struggle. You know paul said it in first corinthians 9. You got to run to win man. You got to you got to hold yourself down.

You got to keep yourself under. You got to make the sacrifice because it's a race worth running. Paul says you got to walk in the spirit. To these men who wanted to be taught to walk by works he said you got to live by grace.

It's the same as walking by the spirit. You're always going to be opposed. But verse 8 if you'll be led by the holy spirit then you don't need a law. That's a great word isn't it. It's the same injunction as verse 16.

16 and 18 are literally the same things. You know there is victory over the flesh not in keeping the law or in seeking to do it in my own abilities. But by submitting to god and following the spirit as he leads he'll change me.

You don't need a law. For those that are in love with god filled with the spirit they will do that which is right. What follows then is paul setting some examples of both the life of the spirit the lust of the flesh.

And notice he changes the words lust of the flesh from verse 16 and the law in verse 18 to the words in verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident because that's his point. Whether you call it the law the lust of the flesh the work of the flesh it's all that self-work without grace.

The Works of the Flesh

The works of the flesh are evident. And here are some definable recognizable characteristics of a life lived by or in the flesh. And then what follows is one that is filled with the spirit where the holy spirit is reigning in the heart.

When it is flesh it is works. Notice verse 19. When it is flesh then it is works that it seeks to accomplish. The flesh by definition is that old nature. Jesus said matthew chapter 7. Whatever goes into a man doesn't defile him but what comes out what comes out comes from the heart.

And so that life after the the flesh out of the heart of men come evil thoughts fornication murder adultery theft covetous. He lists the whole thing there in matthew chapter 7. The flesh is that old life driven by self and works.

And the law that is like a bad tree bearing bad fruit. No way can it do the right thing. We can wash it excuse it bind it up clean it up sanitize it. But the real issue hasn't changed. The heart is still wicked.

I remember one time hearing a guy say who lived on a farm that he took his pig and he put on a little suit on him and set him on the couch gave him a little mint julep. The pig just made the whole place nasty.

In four hours he said he looked real good for a while but he still pegged. Well we're still sinners. You can clean us up any way you want but until the heart is changed no matter what we dress up in the heart is the wicked part.

This is the works of the flesh. And the the list that paul makes is designed to indicate to us here is a life not led by the spirit but led by that old life by the law you know followers if you will by the workers of the law.

Today we have a lot of um people telling us that sin really isn't a problem. We want to blame the environment that people live in for turning out the way they do. Or we want to blame their parents. It's their upbringing.

Or it's the education department. If you're a racial minority then it's the suffering that you suffer at the hands of others. And there are just so many reasons for sinful behavior and i'll grant you a lot of those can certainly contribute to difficulty.

But the issue is still the heart man needs to be saved. You want to look at a guy that came from a weird environment we just finished on sunday night. Look at joseph. There's a guy that had a a weird upbringing.

His brother sold him into slavery. He lived for half of his life you know under someone else's bondage and power. He had a dysfunctional home. He turned out to be along with daniel i think maybe the two greatest old testament saints to learn about and to learn from.

It isn't an issue of the environment or joseph would have been really mixed up but it was his relationship with god. In verse 21 after paul gets done with this list he writes the words and the like envy murder drunkenness revelry and the like.

So this list isn't intended to be um complete or exhaustive. It's one of those um representative kind of samplings. Here are some things that that are fairly evident in the life of a person who is working by the flesh.

And he gives us a three category list sexual religious and relational. In verse 19 sexual four words adultery fornication uncleanness and lewdness. Now adultery is usually used in the bible for sexual sin for married people when they are sexually unfaithful and married.

Fornication is oftentimes used to describe the sexual behavior of an unmarried person. But by definition the word pornea is a word that just means sexual sin in any category. And it's much broader than that.

The word uncleanness is a medical term meaning a sore that is oozing. And it is used in the bible to describe people who can find sexual indolendo and filthiness in almost everything you know kind of like the dirty mind that sees something dirty and everything.

What did paul say to titus. To the pure all things are pure. But to those that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. Even their mind and their conscience is defiled. That's what this word unclean is.

I mean it's the sexual entendre. It's the it's the fodder for the for the comedy on tv you know. And then the and the little jokes that are always sexually motivated. Finally this word lewdness is a word that that is in the bible means to speak of the the restraint of shameful indulgence.

Or literally there is no longer any shame in behavior. I can i can go to the beach and take off my clothes and feel perfectly at home. Well that's natural. It's normal. It's you know it's spring break that and six beers and i'm there.

It's that lewdness where there's no modesty anymore. Or there's no more effect on the life by public opinion or even conscience doesn't bear any anymore. You know of a kind of an influence. So paul says look you got to walk in the spirit.

And then the flesh doesn't win. But look this is the kind of works that the flesh comes from. This is what the flesh produces. Unfaithfulness dirty thoughts illegitimacy lack of restraint. When it comes to religion it produces idolatry and sorcery.

The word idolatry is a very general word but it means to place someone or something above or before the lord something or someone that takes the place of god where god is second to it. That's idolatry.

Maybe one of our greatest idols in our culture today is sports. We worship sports figures. We really do now. You may not like to hear that but there are folks that could tell you the statistics on batting averages and completed passes and and wins and losses for the last 20 years for their favorite team who don't know 20 scriptures by heart.

Oh yeah. He batted 368. He hit a homerun just yesterday two days ago. And three for four. Yeah. And what is the boy. I don't know. I only got so much room for stuff. And it's pretty well filled up with fantasy baseball.

We worship sports. We will actually take our kids out of church to take them to soccer for months on end to tell them that soccer is one god that can displace the real god. That's one god worth setting aside for another.

We have this tremendous love for those kind of things and it becomes idolatry to us. It's that which replaces god. So the flesh does that. What does it do. It seeks to put things before the lord. The word sorcery is not out of place here.

The greek word is pharmakia. We get our word pharmacy from it. But it was used at least in ancient times to speak of the kind of drugs that were used in much of the witchcraft and in the false religions that were being practiced so the occult and and the use of drugs would often be linked together in the old testament.

And you certainly find that to be so as well. So when it comes to the flesh there is sexual perversion unfaithfulness and self-service. And then there is that replacement of god with something else. That's how the flesh works.

That's a typical outgrowth if you will. When the flesh takes over when it comes to our relationship with others which is what all of these other words describe it starts with the word hatred and then modifies that word in different sections.

But all of them having to grow out of that issue of hatred. The word hatred is from the word in greek enmity. It's a plural word. It's a general word that means any hateful attitude or action towards one another or just for the sake of dislike a pushing away of that which is good.

Jesus said that if you hate someone you've murdered them. It's the same equivalency. It's the attitude that if carried out to the extreme brings an action so to him it was the same issue. It was a life of the flesh.

It's a fleshy characteristic. If you look at the words that follow hatred they are all descriptions of what hatred can involve. The word contention means to argue or to fight. Whether it's physical or verbal depends in the context that's used.

But the flesh will push folks to contend to fight to argue to push for themselves. That's not a godly characteristic. That's a fleshly one. Jealousy is that hatred that's brought out by the fact that somebody has something you want a and b you don't want them to have it.

It's bad enough. They have a pool. I want a pool and i wish theirs would crack and leak. I don't want them to enjoy it but i want what they have. Selfish driven flesh. That's not the lord. That's the flesh.

This is the works of the flesh. These are the things you can expect. He adds to the hatred definition outbursts of wrath. Great word. It means to have unrestrained kind of boiling over. That's not a control area of the spirit.

That's when the flesh is seen said i don't know how many of you play golf. But i used to play golf with a guy that would regularly buy clubs because he would throw the ones he was using that day into the tree.

And he'd swing in the bog like this. And all of a sudden you'd hear and you'd look and and sometimes i'd try to say next time you throw it just give it to me. I'll put together a bag. I'll bring it back to you.

It'll be good you know. Or he'd break them in half. And then i read in the paper just what last year that the fella i forget it was i think it was in washington got so mad with his three. Wouldn't he hit the ground and the thing broke and shot right in his neck killed him.

So i cut out this article for this buddy of mine that i play golf with and haven't played with him since i still got it to show. It's not the spirit man. It's the flesh. Outbursts of wrath. I've just lost myself.

Well that's the flesh. No self-control. The the word selfish ambition is the is the greek word for strife. But the implication is the the flesh is always interested in only one thing me myself and i.

So whatever is going on i want to work the situation out to gain for myself. I want to look good. I want to be i kind of come out on top. I want to come out on the on the good end of the deal. It's always about me.

That's what the flesh does. It focuses on you. The opposite side of that is the dissension part here this next word after selfish ambition because it's the word for division. But it really means that i would divide from you if it means i'll get more.

It's a pushing away of others for the sake of personal gain. Heresy might look like it's out of place but it literally means a belief system opposed to the truth of god. So it's that self issue again.

I believe certain things about the way things ought to be. And that's just the way they are. You know man-made self-driven the religion of cain. Everybody has an opinion. I have a new truth. This is what i believe.

That's just the way we've always done it. That's the way self is doesn't surrender itself to the lord. It has its own program paul said. Here's the works of the flesh. Man this is how people live that don't have grace.

These are the folks that are working by the law and trying it on their own and driven by the lust of the flesh. Add to that envy and murder. And by the way in most of the lists they are always together.

Seems to me that envy which is a another colder form of jealousy and murder seem to always be listed in such a way that that much of those things are expressed in violence. And finally the one we probably can best relate to drunkenness and partying or revelry if you will.

But it's the word for partying. You know that's the weekend at the bar and for most a very vital part of must have fun. I remember before i got saved this would be the couple of weeks we'd be planning on where we were drinking and how much.

Because new year's eve was coming. You certainly couldn't go into the new year. Sober the life of the flesh. Wasn't it great. Sick throwing up. We had a blast. We're going to do it again next week. And paul just i think just got tired of writing stuff down.

He goes well. And stuff like that. The life of which i'm telling you now beforehand just as i've told you in the past those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of god. Now paul wrote this in first corinthians chapter 6.

Paul wrote this in ephesians chapter 5. Paul wrote this in colossians chapter 3. It'll be written by someone else. John and revelation chapter 21. It comes up here in the letter to the galatians. And the issue is always the same.

If you find in the life of a person a constant life outlived after the flesh then you better wonder if you're going to heaven. Because that kind of lifestyle practiced will not bring a life that was going to heaven.

Now the first response of people usually we had a guy on the radio today call asked the very same question that sounds to me like legalism. You know it's a whole book about grace and you got all these rules.

No this isn't legalism. This is revelation. This is literally an unveiling because the works of the flesh will reveal an absence of a relationship with god. And the works of the flesh will show that the person isn't in fellowship with god.

The key word here is practice which is the greek word proso which means to be constantly involved with or carrying them out. Look this isn't written to the saint who struggles with his anger for a guy who blows up.