Galatians 5:13-26

So Father, we thank you so much for another opportunity to come now and open your word and hear your voice. We pray for our dear brother, John. Pastor John, as he leads us in the truth here, that you would help him to have words that are taught by your Holy Spirit, that he would abide in you and that you in him, and you would use this man to build us up in the faith here, Lord.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. We have our morning gathering, Tim and Jeff and I, before we come here and we have a devotion, some passage. Today we were in Proverbs 21, verse three, to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

And the reason I bring that out, we're gonna be talking today about spiritual freedom. We're gonna be talking about the impact of being under bondage to the flesh. There is a, I believe, an unfortunate push to, even for us as believers, to earn God's approval by doing things.

And it's, I think there's a motivation out of love and sincerity to God that very dangerously can become a almost validation of how good, important, worthy we are. And that is something to be very, very careful about.

This particular passage, as we're in here, is going to be talking about what it means to be under bondage to the Holy Spirit, under bondage to God, as opposed to being trapped and lured back into the bondage of the flesh.

It would probably be self-fulfilling to have all of this value that you can put in front of God by all the works that you do, and it can almost become addictive, if you would. We need to be always finding our, our value and truth.

That's kind of where we were this morning. We're going to try to get through 13 to 23 in Galatians 5, finishing up with it. So I'm gonna ask, brother, if you could read that whole passage for us. Okay.

13. Galatians 5, 13 to 25. 26? Yes. Okay. For you are called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

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 that you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

It starts out, first of all, by making a proclamation, a statement of reality. You are called to freedom, brothers. And I believe that this particular passage is now talking to those who have bowed the knee.

We are no longer, we are no longer captured without hope to the bondage of the flesh. We have been called to a freedom, to an existence of freedom. And that means that things that would have defined who we were, they don't control us anymore.

We're called to freedom. And it goes on, it says, but don't use that freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. And this is, I think, where our danger comes. Hi. Can we help you? No, I'll grab it. Okay.

This is where the danger comes that as a believer, you're not required to do certain things. We're not required to follow certain mandates. But then there's the thought that, well, I am in Christ, and so I'm saved.

To tell us die is the message. So I know I'm saved, and I can live my life now because I'm no longer constrained under the law. I can live my life. Freedom can become an opportunity to let the flesh rule.

And I think that it can go in one of two ways. It can go in the way that says, I can participate in things that seem inappropriate because I'm saved. I can go places. I can associate with people because I am saved.

And that really denies the working of the Holy Spirit within you where we're supposed to be a new creation. And on the other side, it can say that I fight against people who want to say you can't work things on Sunday.

You can't, this whole battle, this whole conflict of what does freedom mean? And I think what he's saying here is don't let freedom as an opportunity to the flesh, but through love, serve one another.

That seems to be the operative word in this passage here. Not freedom, but love seems to be the operative word. It says through love, serve one another, which kind of starts to shift this concept of being bondage.

We are going to be bond servants of God. We fight over the bondage of the flesh. And what we're to be doing is allowing the service of love to rule who we are. That's the force in life. Romans 13, Joe, I'm gonna ask if you would get that ready.

Ephesians 2 is one of my go-to passages, one of my go-to chapters. And the first three verses is really one of my go-to descriptions when I'm witnessing to somebody, helping somebody understand their testimony because it says, without exception, who we all were.

In fact, I think that's what it says. And this all who we all were. We were dead in our trespasses and sin following the course of this world. It describes who we all were, dead in trespasses and sins.

We now have a new life. We now have a new opportunity. We are called to freedom, but then it goes on. It says, through love, serve one another. The whole law is fulfilled in one word. Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself.

Give me Romans 13 if you would, Joe.

Oh, no one anything except to love each other for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandment are summed up in this word.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

If we feel that we're freed, if we feel that we can do anything we want to do now that we're free, that passage in Romans 13 really puts that thought to bed. It says we owe nothing except to love our neighbors and this actually is the fulfillment of the law.

And if you can go through the commandments and you can see how love is the motivating force, the reality behind everything. Thou shalt not lie, where's love? Thou shalt not commit adultery, where is love?

Obey thy father and thy mother, there is love. The love is behind it all. If we believe that we are spiritually free, the evidence of the fact that we are spiritually free can only come through the blood of Christ, can only come through the fact that we are a new creation.

Therefore, the result of that is God be manifested in love. It's not that we earn a better standing in God by being a better person. It's that by nature, we must be people of love. Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself.

He then gets a little bit more interesting on this. First Corinthians 12. Ken, I'm gonna ask you to pull that one out. Give me 15 again, please.

Galatians 5, 15. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

What's going on in that passage? We are talking as still, I think, in the context of brothers. Okay, so we're talking in context of those who should be pursuing and enjoying being built up by the fellowship of one another.

But what's happening?

That is their own opinion. Two different opinions that we had here a few years ago. And you have division. I heard this morning on a sermon where a church had division and they finally climbed the wrong way, even in their own homes, their own families.

Things didn't go right. What he's saying there is,.

In the context of actually what's going on in Galatia right now, it's the Judaizers. And it's those who say, no, I'm not gonna go down that path. In the indirect context, but in the greater context, Stan, you're right.

It could be almost anything that you want to argue about, make a problem about.

And just leaving it at that. Correct. We just respect each other.

Correct. The concept here isn't everybody must have the same opinion, but it's, we should live together, musical people. Who's musical in this room? Come on now. Anybody musical in this room? A little bit.

A little bit.

Poorly, but a little bit. What's harmony? I know that one. Yes. No, even though I'm not musical, it's when you have two people and they're actually able to blend their voices so it comes out beautifully.

No? Yes. See, I don't listen to you.

Dominic, and this is a good point in that it shows often how, in the church, we've looked over the years, well, from my experience, and then sometimes we find, but then in the context of this book that we're studying, you went to their faces.

He would have that they would mutilate themselves. I mean, these are harsh terms. Someone would say, well, that's not very loving. Well, we have to come to wrestle with that because it doesn't just mean I understand that, it's we wrestle.

And sometimes, you know, this all started out with Paul and Peter having an argument face to face. I mean, Paul, all fascinating in context. I had a friend up in Massachusetts who, a believer, a brother in the Lord, had different perceptions of how to interpret different passages of scripture.

And he and I, he and his wife would come over and he and I would go off in one room and we would debate the finer points of scripture. My wife thought that it was horrible because we were arguing. Exactly.

But those were times of rich fullness because he had an opinion and he could go into scripture and show what he believed. And I was coming up with a different point of view with a scripture that I thought we believed.

And in the end, I think God is honored and the fellowship is full and it's rich and it's meaningful. That's harmony. Was in a Sunday school class, my brother-in-law was teaching it and the concept of predestination came up in the class and it was not nice.

It was very, very assertive, aggressive accusations made and stuff like that. That's not harmony, that's dissonance. And what we've got here, it says, if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you're not consumed.

Ephesians 4, 1 and 2 is gonna exhort us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. Okay, we are called to be children of God. We are called to walk together with one another. And it says in humility and it says in love.

So if Pastor Jeff and I don't see eye to eye on every fine point, that's okay. In fact, I think we did that here a couple of weeks ago. That's okay, as long as we're seeking to honor God and respect one another and doing it humility.

The problem comes when you don't think the other person's point of view is valued and important. Here I give 1 Corinthians 12 too, okay? Verses 20 and 21. Yes, please. Purpose behind this verse is there is no member that is more valued than another and there is no member of the body that is not as important as every other member of the body.

So if I'm working with an individual who believes, I had an individual come up to me a week ago Sunday, expressing enjoyment and the teaching is phenomenal, but we can't sing this stuff. We have to only sing hymns.

And I get it, she has a, whoops, I already did that. Sorry. So now I've just divided, you cut my pool of people in half. This person. You're still safe, you're still okay. This person wanted us to go in this direction and there was a sense of urgency to it.

And I've got no problem with that because people have the different preferences. It's when it divides you and you bite one and the other devours the other that the only person that wins in that is Satan.

I think that the takeaway from this passage is that we are one body and we all need one another. And there is such a beauty when we can look at a scripture, if we're looking at scripture and see it differently and talk about it and grow with one another.

We are called to freedom, but let love be the rule. And so now when you're with each other and you don't see eye to eye, in this case it was the Judaizers versus the un-Judaizers or whatever they're called, don't bite and devour one another, grow with each other.

Give me verses 16 to 18, please.

But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.

So when individuals within a fellowship go after each other because of a difference of opinion, it could be a scriptural something, it could be, and praise God, our church, our body stayed so unified when we chose not to buy the house.

We did not lose, it did not become, at least I'm not aware of any, backroom gossiping, building a coalition against so on. So that's destructive, if you would. Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

To me it says that when the spirit is leading your life, the flesh takes a back seat. When the spirit is leading your life, the flesh does not have the steering wheel. It is, if the spirit is your leading your life, our desires are gonna be, they're motivated by the spirit.

And this passage is encouraging us because Ephesians 2, one to three again, it talks about the fact that we have no option but to follow after the flesh because we don't have the spirit. You were dead in your trespasses and sins and you knew no better, you had no other option but to follow the flesh.

The second Corinthians 5, 17 is gonna say we are a new creation, old things are past, all things have become new. So we now are enabled to walk by the spirit. Walking by the spirit, not gratifying the desires of the flesh because the passage here tells us what is the flesh is in opposition to spirit and what is in the spirit is in opposition to the flesh.

We need to just continue to be led by the spirit. And if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the dictates of the law, but I would say that you're fulfilling the law by nature because you're walking in love, which is the fulfillment of the law in the first place.

And so it's a matter of what's the emphasis. This word of walking is keep on walking, walk and keep on walking. Don't think that you've accomplished this goal because you've never accomplished it, you are just abiding in it.

Walk and keep on walking in the spirit that's in you. Yes. Oh, hi guys, welcome. The reality of walking in the spirit is going to give you the strength and the impetus to go in a certain direction. The problem is if you don't walk and keep on walking, the question is what happens if you stop keeping on walking?

What happens to your life at that time? Yeah, thumbs down. So I appreciate you bringing that up. I often will say, God is omniscient, Satan is not. God is all powerful, Satan is not. But Satan is unrelenting.

Just because you have said yes to the Lord doesn't mean Satan is done with you. He can't get you back, but he's going to do everything he can to push you down a path that you don't walk. And so this passage goes on and it says, walk in the spirit and you aren't going to fulfill the desires of the flesh, et cetera, et cetera.

The spirit and the flesh are opposed to each other. And now he's going to tell us a pretty comprehensive shopping list of things that could happen to somebody who stops walking and keeping on walking.

19 to 21, please.

Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things.

Will not inherit the kingdom of God. Wow, this is a pretty powerful list. And it's not all comprehensive because in the middle of verse 21, it says, and things like these. So if you go down this list and you say, sexual immorality, I'm good with that one.

Impurity, we're going to come back to that in a minute. Sensuality, I don't work, well, I don't think, but I sure do like my sports. Stop, stop. Sorcery, enmity, strife, well, those of you who know me know that I have a problem on Hartford Road in Route 38 if somebody tries to cut in front of me.

Jealousy, this list is pretty tough. It says here that the works of the flesh are evident and they are wicked. There is no, it's not a big sin. There is no indication that I can get away with this little one.

What makes this even harder to understand, how can we get away from this? Matthew 5, 27 to 28. Dominic, did you read yet? If you can pull that out. Now, I only pulled this one out as an example. This is not the only one, because in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is, first of all, he's going to start talking about the attitudes of those who are his children and how we walk.

And then he's going to talk about salt and light and how we should be obedient in giving things. He's going to go on and talk about how we live. Then it's going to shift and he's going to say, you have heard it was said, thou shall not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.

But I tell you that anyone who's angry with his brother is subject to judgment. And he's going to have a series of these. And I think it becomes so poignant in 27 and 28. Dominic? You have heard that it was said, do not commit adultery.

But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. There is a reality that temptation comes and we're actually told to grow through temptation and allow it to strengthen us spiritually.

But giving in to temptation is called sin. If you're walking down the street and you're not an adulterer, and maybe, all right, let's put you down at LBI and you're walking along the boardwalk and you're not an adulterer, but some young, attractive female comes walking up on the boardwalk with clothes that she didn't, she paid too much money because there's not enough for her to have paid money for.

Anyway, I see it, but I choose not to look at it. This is God's response. I see it and I start to imagine it. That's adultery. Even though you haven't done it, you've imagined it. That's adultery. And I think that that picture applies to these things here.

M &T Strife, I'm really irritated at that car that drove by me because he was more important than me. I'm starting to actually show hate. Even though I haven't turned my car into him, but I've played with that idea in my mind.

Have you ever been stuck behind somebody in a 50 mile an hour zone and they won't go above 35? The point here is that this list is really, really difficult to get away with. In fact, I would say that in Matthew 19, verses 16 to 22, the rich young ruler learned it in spades.

I've kept those laws from my youth. What must I do to enter the kingdom of heaven and keep the laws? Well, I've kept them since my youth. And God said, go sell what you have and give it away. And he realized that he had the sin of covetousness.

Sin, yeah. Would you say Jesus is setting the bar at any sexual activity, spiritual or physical?

I'm gonna ask you guys, what do you think? I think that Jesus here, some would interpret. Some would say the rich young ruler. They would say, well, the rich young ruler, see, he couldn't deal with it.

I don't think there's anybody. Some people would say that poor people are more covetous than rich people. So just because we say that, the rich man went away, what did Jesus' disciples say, don't be saved?

Who can? So what is the purpose of the law?

Well, there's three. Yeah. And the first is that mirror to show you that you can't live up to it. It shows us our sin that we return to the Savior. Then there's the civil restraint that the law upholds society.

And then it also then becomes a guide for the Christian life, is the third.

So Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, took it to the point that said, I believe I'm keeping the law because I haven't done the exterior visual manifestation of it. And he says, that mirror still applies to you because that mirror is looking into your heart.

And so you have done it. And to your point, we can't. This list here, because it says, and things like this, we are not exempt from judgment against this list. But now go up to verse 16. I say, walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

The desires of the flesh don't go away. What do you do with them? Walk in the spirit, be walking, keep on walking in the spirit. You'll not fulfill the desires of the flesh. And so this list is pretty, you think you're good and you think you've got it all.

You really don't because now you're proud. You can't win, but the Holy Spirit can win it for you. That's the point of this passage. There's one thing that's amazing is that they do, bring you down to high place.

I thought, try it. Here's the thing. Until God reveals it. Here's the thing. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. God is faithful. You won't lie to me, tempt to be on that which you're able, but the temptation provides the way of escape.

Dominic, you have a reality that you understand. And I think that understanding is a gift of the Holy Spirit, that you have an understanding. There's something within you, which by the way, by trial and error, Satan has figured it out.

I have a gift of, I have more of a difficulty, perhaps with anger than I do with jealousy. But somebody else might have a problem with jealousy. We are who we are. And Satan is relentless. He continues to work at it until he figures it out.

And that's where he attacks you. I have never been attacked with the desire to take illicit drugs. I have never had that desire, never had that temptation, but I know that there are people who are. Satan has figured it out.

I'm not gonna waste my time with John on drugs, but that anger problem, I'm gonna use it. He's gonna use it. Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. This is our prescription.

This is the antibiotic that we take, is to walk in the spirit. Now the beauty of it is in verses 22 through 23, please.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

This word fruit, karos, in the Hebrew is in the singular form. This is not a plural word. There are nine manifestations of it here, but this is nine manifestations of one fruit. The implication is that through the Holy Spirit, you get fruit, and that fruit is manifested nine different ways.

It's not like if I can do good on seven out of nine, I'll get a B. It's nine out of nine, folks, because we all get the one fruit, the fruit of the spirit manifested in nine different ways. I love how scripture just works with this theme.

Stan, you're gonna get John 15 for me, if you would. And 2 Corinthians 3, Candy, I'm gonna ask if you would get that ready. The good fruit in our life is, by definition from this passage, it is the result of the working of the Holy Spirit.

He is the source of good fruit in our life. Holy Spirit, God, that is the source. And I love this, too. It says, anything that is on this list, the law cannot condemn it. And that's an encouraging thing, the 10 Commandments being taken down from public buildings.

Maybe you can justify, you can't agree with, but maybe you can justify, in the public place, they don't wanna surrender to God, so the first couple of Commandments, they're no good. And I don't agree with it, but maybe I, but thou shalt not murder.

Why don't they like that? Well said. Thou shalt not steal, what about taxes? Very well said. I guess we could go down that list. He is saying here, the law, this is God's law, there is nothing that would prevent you from completely experiencing love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

These are the fruit of the Spirit. But John 15, you got that, Stan?

I am the vine, you are the branches. It, you.

The reality of what is he talking about in that passage with fruit versus this passage with fruit, you could interpret the John 15 passage to meaning the fruit of the Great Commission, that could be, but I would say that they're all wrapped up in one package.

You're, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, these are things that are, that describe the person that is walking in the Spirit and the Holy Spirit gives them the singular fruit and the obedience to that leads to obedience to the great, I think it's all wrapped up into one.

What he's saying here is abide and keep on abiding in Christ. Walk in the Spirit and keep on walking in the Spirit and it's not like, Sundays are such an amazing day. This weekend, down at the retreat, such an amazing day.

I could take a day off. That's not the implication here. Abide, keep on abiding. Walk and keep on walking. 2 Corinthians 3, Candy? In the Spirit. This, I love this verse and I never really spent time on this verse but I've come to love this verse.

If I put a, I can see clearly now because I'm no longer dead in my spirit. I can now see, I can see clearly and it says, I'm seeing the image of God and I'm being transferred into that image. We, at the point of salvation, are justified, we're washed, we're written in the Lamb's Book of Life but for the rest of our life, we're going through this process of sanctification, of removing things that don't belong in our life so that we more and more and more resemble that image of His glory.

We more and more resemble the image of His glory and so the things that are in 19 to 21 can start to be worked on because we're walking in the Spirit, we're abiding in Him and the fruit of the Spirit, more and more controls who we are, aros.

It's given to everybody who abides in Christ and it motivates and it changes your life to everyone who walks in the Spirit. That's our calling right now. If you would give me then the rest of this 24 and 26, 24 to 26.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

When a believer belongs to Christ, the flesh is crucified, that's what it says here. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. You belong to Christ, the flesh is crucified. It says here, when you belong to Christ, you walk according to the Spirit.

We live by the Spirit, let us keep in step by the Spirit. If you belong to Christ, there is now a path that you can walk according to the Spirit. Saturday, there was a group of guys that went on a hike.

And a few of them were ahead of the others. The others were perhaps lagging behind because some of the young 'uns wanted to go near the lake. And so there were a group of responsible adults watching out for the young 'uns, that they didn't fall.

So the first group had to go down this 15-foot incline, damp, slippery. And one of those 15 It was more like 50-foot.

It was probably five feet. Yeah. Whoever did it wasn't far enough. Yes.

I think there was a bobcat after him, too, if I remember right. Back to your story. And a bear.

And a snake. Real men don't follow, don't need instructions. They can just do it, right? Real men are going down a trail and there is a railing. I don't need no stinking rail, I can walk down this trail.

And the first group went down, and one of the first of the first group went right on his keister and slid down the railing. Because it was slippery. And so they get down to the bottom and they recognize that there's a railing.

We probably shouldn't have gone to the railing. And so now the second group is coming and they're hollering, hold on to the rail! But they're so far away and there's so much wind and noise that the group can't hear.

And somebody, no name, but his initials are Jeff Cleaver, was the first one down. And sure enough No! No! Everyone still had it. They did. We are believers in Christ, we get to follow the Holy Spirit.

And the Holy Spirit is giving directions. Listen to Him. Follow Him, walk with Him. When a believer belongs to Christ, the fleshly desire has got to be denied. This takes intentionality. This takes awareness.

Where does Satan have his hooks in me? I need to be in prayer. I need to be following. First Peter one's gonna say in Christ, we escape the corruption of the flesh. We are no longer bound to Him. And Ephesians two, I love at verses four and five.

After one, two, and three saying how bad I am, it starts out with, but God. But God in His love and mercy, where we were yet sinners, raised us up together and made us to sit together heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

And through the Holy Spirit, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. And contrast that with Ephesians four, three, one of Jeff's top 10 favorite verses.

Oh, come on, you don't have to look it up. Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

In Christ, believers are no longer slave to sin. We are now enabled to live in the unity of the Spirit. That's what we need to do. We're no longer under the law. When we abide by Christ, when we by nature fulfill the agape, command of God.

That's what we're called to do.

You wanna close us in prayer? Yes. Father, thank you so much for this word today. Lord, help us. We want to walk by the Spirit. And if we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. So we pray that as we go from this place, we would keep in step with your Holy Spirit and that your fruit of the Spirit would be born out in our lives.

Lord, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you.