Being Led of the Spirit — Peter Brandon

Soundworks Tape Ministry Queensland is now the 7th of April 1983 and we're at the Springwood Christian Fellowship for the continuation in the series on the subject of the Holy Spirit with Mr Peter Brandon from the United Kingdom as the guest speaker.

It's lovely to be with you tonight and this is our third week on the Holy Spirit and I can't go through all the previous subjects otherwise we would be here for a very long time. But tonight I want to take up just the last expression of the three stages in a Spirit filled life and we have discussed together it's living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit and tonight we're going to touch on being led by the Spirit and then we shall move into that area, the ugliness of a fleshly life, the beauty of the fruits of the Spirit in a Spirit filled life.

Liberty in Christ Versus the Yoke of the Law

Now shall we turn to Galatians chapter 5 again and we'll read from verse 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, meaning don't go back to Judaism, don't go back to the old sacrifices, whatever you do don't go back to circumcision, don't go back to the old ways of trying to merit your salvation and your sanctification.

And therefore he is encouraging the Galatians not to be influenced by these Judaizing teachers. A Judaizing teacher was a man who was trying to bring Christians back to the law and he was encouraging them to be under a new yoke and not the yoke of the law.

Behold I Paul say unto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing. That means immediately you are circumcised, you are bound to keep the whole law and therefore Christ will mean nothing to you at all.

For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to the whole law. Christ is become of none effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law ye are fallen from grace.

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love. Now if you are fond of underlining your Bible, my dear friends in Christ, would you put two red marks under that last clause.

That faith which worketh by love. Now we are going to see how he works out that principle in this chapter. Ye did run well, who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lamb. That means if you allow Judaism to come back it will go right the way through Christianity. I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment whoever he be.

That means the person that brings God's people back to Judaism in spite of his brilliant teaching will come under judgment. What a statement. How that should cause us all to shudder. I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

For brethren ye have been called unto liberty. Now notice what follows. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love, love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

But if ye bite and that word is taken from a lion biting its prey and quite frankly Paul was using a word there that was tinged with sarcasm. If you bite like a lion and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Beloved we should take that to heart very seriously. This I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to another so that she cannot do the things that she would.

Now for those who are interested in the subject there are two tapes on the conflict of the spirit and if you are a brother or sister in that conflict and you are struggling to get victory please try and get one of those tapes if you can't afford it I'm sure Mr. Bard will give you one to lend for nothing.

Being Led by the Spirit Rather Than Controlled by the Flesh

But if ye be led of the spirit ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh which are these are manifest adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, endings, murders, drunkenness, revelings and such like.

Now I'm sure some of you are saying well what a list but we are going through it tonight and we are just going to see what he means by those words of 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.

Now the operative word there is do and that word basically means those people who constantly do them, those people that practice these things. It doesn't mean a person that has an occasional bout where he drinks and gets drunk is a drunkard.

It doesn't mean a man that occasionally falls into sin is a fornicator or an adulterer but it means someone who is perpetually practicing those things and therefore if that is our practice it's a sure sign we have never inherited the kingdom of God.

But isn't that a lovely word? The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit, let us not be desirous of vainglory provoking one another and envying one another. And God will bless to us the reading of the Bible. Now we have noticed in this chapter that there are three operative expressions concerning the spirit philbelly.

First of all he is to live in the spirit, secondly he is to walk in the spirit and we can see that in verse twenty-five. And then when we come to verse eighteen we notice another expression that if ye be led of the spirit ye are not under the law.

Now what we are going to discuss tonight is what does it mean to be led by the spirit. Now first of all there is a bad sense in scripture for the word to be led and then there is a good sense. Now if we look at the bad sense we shall then see immediately the force of the word.

Now would you turn with me please to 2 Timothy chapter three verse six. He is speaking here on signs of the last days and he tells us that in the last days people will have a form of godliness denying the power thereof from such turn away and then he goes on for of this thought are they which creep into houses and leave captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts and that simply means that there were certain women in his day and there will be in the last days whose bodies will be incensed by sexuality so that they will be totally and absolutely controlled by it.

So we can see that's the bad sense of the word. Now if you turn to 1 Corinthians twelve again you will see another word in a different setting that shows us the force of this particular word led. That's two.

You know that you were Gentiles carried away with these dumb idols even as you were led. Now the word to carry away there means to be carried away by another influence. It's almost like the idea of being in a fierce wind and the wind is so strong that you cannot stand up against it and it's carrying you away.

You're being carried away by another power and the word led there is the same idea and it means that you are being controlled by another power. Now the power there was not the power of the flesh but of course it's the power of the devils.

Obviously some of them were demon possessed. So can we see that quite clearly that this refers first of all to someone led away by sexuality, led away by demon power. And can you visualise in your mind it's the idea of someone being under the control of another power.

Now if you come with me to another verse then you will see a different setting to the word so that you will get the root of the meaning of this word led. If you turn to Romans 6 verse 19 you will not read the word but you will get the idea of the word.

I speak after the manner of men, Romans 6 verse 19, because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members, servants, slaves to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members, servants, to righteousness and to holiness.

Now what did he mean by that? He simply meant, look I want you to consider what you did in your unconverted days. And in your unconverted days you were totally and absolutely given to sin. None of you were static and you were moving from one degree to another right into the depths of sin.

In fact dear friends if only we could have Christians devoted to Christ as the world is devoted to their pleasures we would have revival overnight. You say well prove that brother Randall. In my own country on Friday night I always do a pub crawl and I visit seven pubs.

Sometimes I only do five. Now I'm a complete non-drinker, I wouldn't even touch a drop of wine Christmas time so I don't want you to have any misunderstandings but I do go into public houses to preach the gospel.

And I notice this, that there are people in a public house, they will go in at half past seven and they are turned out at half past ten. And they do that three times a week and they never grunt. They never say to the barman you know this meeting is too long and you ought to shut the pub earlier.

They don't say look I shan't come anymore unless you close at half past ten. In fact they're all packed out at half past ten and I've seen scores of barmen do this push them out. And then sometimes Saturday afternoon I will get an invitation to go and preach in a football match.

Like Thurr Park I've just got an invitation I believe it's going to mature to speak at the Spurs half time where there will be 30 ,000 people and they only give me five minutes and I'm able to give them the gospel.

And they're all unsafe and a few backsliders at them. And dear friends all I want to say is this. They come there an hour before the match starts and when that match starts and the players come out they don't say the boys.

They do a bit of cheering. And no one is put off by the cheering. And when a goal is scored they don't say goal. Hats go in the air and they get really excited about it. And then if there's extra time like a club final no one will go home.

They're all keen to watch. And then when they would go home or do go home they're all doing what the centre forward should have done. Showing him how he should have put the goal in. You see they're just caught up with it and I've often said this.

Oh Lord. If only we had 60 Christians in one local church devoted to Christ as these people are devoted for football. Oh if only we had people devoted to drink as Christians devoted to Christianity as these people are to drink we would have revival overnight.

So now can you see the force of the word what Paul is saying. What you did in the world do for Christ. And therefore he is speaking about this word lead. Lead being controlled. So now we've seen the bad sense now let's look at the good sense of the word.

Christ’s Lordship, Liberty, and the Yoke of Christ

Would you please turn with me to Matthew chapter 4 verse 1. Matthew 4 verse 1. Then was Jesus led of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And therefore in the third chapter he is anointed and we've seen already that that was a special anointing.

He was filled with the spirit and now because he is filled with the spirit he is led by the spirit. And therefore the idea of being led by the spirit simply means the total sovereignty of the spirit of God in your life.

And when the spirit of God is sovereign in your life so that he is totally controlling you. Then you can say that you are led. Now my dear friends we have seen from the word of God that every child of God should be filled.

It is not optional for a child of God to be filled. We are commanded now can I say that again. We are commanded to be filled with the spirit and if you are not filled with the spirit you are actually disobeying your law.

And when a person is filled with the spirit he is under the total and absolute control of the spirit. And when he is under the total control of the spirit he has complete liberty. But what kind of liberty?

He is immediately taken from the fraud and of sin and he is put in Christ where he has liberty. But it's not the liberty of license. Now I want you to turn to a scripture that we all quote and I'm sure so often we misunderstand because we break it up.

It's Matthew 11. Matthew 11 verse 28. Come unto me all ye that labour. That means a person who is worn out trying to improve himself. And are heavy laden. That means a person who is heavy laden with some particular sin and he can't rise above it.

And the Lord Jesus says I will give you rest. And that simply means if there's someone here tonight and you're worn out trying to make yourself better and you never get better. If there's someone here tonight and you're struggling with besetting sins and you can't get victory over them.

The Lord calls you. It's a divine invitation to you to come and here give you rest. And that means you can rest from that problem and you can rest in the Lord and go on resting in the Lord. But don't stop there.

Now somehow I don't know where we pick up the theology. We evangelicals we say well you can come and we stop there. And two years time if you like you can take the yoke. And therefore we make a great gap theory.

Between 28 and 29 and we say come and then if you like you can take the yoke. Don't you believe that? When you come you take my yoke upon you. Now what does that mean? Obviously the Lord Jesus was looking at a field of oxen and they were totally useless.

Until they were yoked. And the moment they were yoked together they came under the jurisdiction of a master. And he drove them with a gourd. And therefore what he is basically saying is this. You come and then come under my yoke.

And he never drives us with a gourd. And when God's people come under the yoke then they can honestly lift up their heads and say. Sovereign Lord. Now could I ask you straight down the line a very blunt question.

Are you under the yoke? Are you? Have you come to a point where you said Lord I'm going to give up this freeman's habit. Of just pleasing myself. Coming to the meetings when I want to come. Just doing the things I want to do.

Lord that's going to stop. And now from this particular day I'm going to bring myself under the yoke. Ah you say well that's the problem. I don't think I could stand that brother Brandon. Now that's the lie of the devil.

Everyone's under a yoke. If you're not under the yoke of Christ you're under the yoke of the flesh. And that's an awful yoke. You can't be neutral. And therefore you're under one yoke. You can't serve two masters.

Now the moment you come under the yoke he says learn of me. You see the reason why some Christians never grow. They never grow. It's because they have never come under the yoke. And you will never learn experimentally of Christ until you really come off under the yoke.

And that means you yield up all your members. You lay them on the altar. And then you bind yourself with cords to the horns of the altar. So that you don't come off. And you come under the yoke. And then you learn of me.

Now what do you find? Those people in the public house were under the yoke of the barman and drink. And they didn't find that their master was meek and lowly in heart. Oh no. Those poor fellows that are under the yoke of drugs.

They do not find that their master is lowly and meek in heart. Those people who are sold out to Liverpool, United and many of them are, at least 20 ,000 of them. That cost them literally their whole wages.

They don't find that that's meek and lowly. But when you come under the yoke of the Lord Jesus, you find that your master is meek and lowly in heart. Isn't that beautiful? And you shall find rest unto yourselves.

And then the lie of the devil. He says to you, right, if you come under the yoke of Christ, you won't be able to bear it. The people that have told me that if they really give themselves to Christ and they lay themselves on the altar, they believe the cost will be too much.

Now, can I throw that back to you? When our boys were in their early teens, if I was away on a mission and my wife said, Look, Andrew's been cleaning the car and Philip's been doing the garden. What did I do?

Stop their pocket money? Of course not. I gave them more. Do you think when you come under the yoke, God's going to screw you down to nothing? And that's why he says, My yoke is easy. My burden is light.

Brother and sister, come under the yoke. You see, if this local church is going places for God, you cannot be just Sunday morning only Christians. You must have body life. And you've got to have real body life.

So that the local church moves together. And therefore, it's absolutely imperative that we come under the yoke. And when we're under the yoke, then we are led, controlled by the Spirit. And that's when we learn of Him.

Let's go on. It not only speaks of sovereignty, but it also speaks of liberty. Now, would you go back, please, to Galatians 5 .1 and see that beautiful expression that Paul makes right at the commencement of that chapter.

Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now, what does this mean? The moment a person is a Christian, he is set free from the Adamic family.

That's the human family. In God's sight, he's not in it. And God puts him into a completely new family. That's the family of Christ. And God calls that the church. And the moment you are taken out of the human family, the Adamic family, and you're put in God's family, you're still the same person with the same body, but you've got an entirely new life, and that is the life of the Spirit of God.

And in God's sight, you are a free person. And God wants you, then, to learn to live a new kind of life. And it's the life of absolute liberty. Now, when you become a Christian, no longer are you under the law.

For instance, the Ten Commandments was a way of making people holy, but it never really did it, because we weren't strong enough to keep them. But when you become a Christian, it's not the Ten Commandments that are before you, it's the law of Jesus.

And therefore, in the Old Testament, it was said of them, for me to live is the law. But they couldn't say to die is gay. But when you become a Christian, it's not for me to live is the law, it's for me to live is Christ.

Now, do grit that. And therefore, your object now is Jesus Christ. It's not Ten Commandments that you stick all over the wall. By the law I know there is the knowledge of sin, but that's not the Christian's objective.

The Christian's objective is Jesus Christ. Now, I wonder if I can put this to you like this. The Spirit of God has come from that risen Christ, and He is now in your body. And the whole work of the Holy Spirit is to centre your mind and all your attention on that risen Christ that's in heaven.

And therefore, the Spirit of God, if you are led by the Spirit, will so make that objective Lord Jesus exquisitely lovely, that you can really say, Hallelujah, what a Saviour! And the Lord Jesus will make Him absolutely real to you.

Or the Holy Spirit will make Him absolutely real to you. And secondly, He wants to so invade your body, your personality, and He wants to invade your personality year by year, that He forms Christ in you.

Therefore, living for Christ simply means this. Number one, I live for Christ objectively. And the Spirit of God makes Jesus Christ absolutely real to me. And secondly, He forms Himself in my personality, so that Christ-like features begin to shine out of me.

Faith, Love, and the New Principle of Holiness

Now, if I stop there, that would be wonderful. And so this liberty is a liberty of being taken out of the law and all its bondage, brought into Christ, so that Christ is your objective. But secondly, it's more than that.

It's not only a new objective, it is a new principle. Now, if we can see this tonight, I can close. Because this is absolutely vital. Now, I want you now to turn with me to Galatians 5, just look at that little verse, verse 6, and then we'll turn back to Romans chapter 7, and we'll see the beauty of the new principle.

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh love. Now, bear that last clause in mind, faith which worketh love, and now I want you to turn to Romans 7, verse 4.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that means through the death of Christ, you have died to the law principle of making you holy. We'll talk about that in a few moments.

That ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that means you are no longer linked with the law, but you're linked with a risen Saviour. That we should bring forth fruit unto God, for when we were in the flesh, that simply meant before we were saved, when we were in the old family, the motions, the passions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death, but now we are delivered from the law that being dead, wherein we were held, that means that being dead to the thing that once held us, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Now what does that mean to serve in newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter? Now it simply means this. If you were a Jew, you would be under the law. And the law said this, this do and your soul shall live.

That meant if you could keep all the commandments, you would really live and you would really have a happy life. But the problem was this, there was nothing wrong with the law, it was wholly just and good, but the human family wasn't strong enough to keep it.

And that was the way in which they tried to please God in Joseph. But in the New Testament, it is entirely different. When a person becomes a Christian, he becomes a Christian because first of all, he believes he's beaten.

That means he can't keep the law of God, he's a sinner. And he puts his faith and trust in the Lord Jesus and he receives forgiveness of sins. And he does that by a simple act of faith. And that makes him a Christian.

But this is our problem. Most of us stop there. Why? I don't know. And then we believe this. Well, we were saved by faith, but we're going to make ourselves holy by stoical practices. By that I mean, we're going to make ourselves holy by struggling and striving.

Now that's the law. I've brought the law all the way back. Now please note this. The law never saved the soul and it will never sanctify Satan. And if you're going to be made holy, you're not going to be made holy the law way, but you're going to be made holy God's way.

Now what is God's way? The new way. The law way was the old way. God's way is the new way. Now what is this new way? It's faith. Faith. And therefore it's as simple as this. Lord, I've trusted you to save my soul and I had no doubts about that.

And now Lord, I'm going to trust you to make me holy. And I'm just going to trust you to do it. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you. Oh, you say that's too simple. This is what the word of God says.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh yes, you say that's clear. Alright. The just shall live by faith. Now I'm going to ask you a question. Have you trusted the Lord to save you?

Do it now. Alright. Have you trusted the Lord to make you holy? If not, trust Him now for it. Say Lord, I'm going to bring myself now right under the yoke. I'm not going to be a do-as-I-like Christian.

Oh no. I'm going to bring myself under the yoke and now from this moment I'm going to trust you to make me holy. So it's faith-wise. But secondly, it's love-wise. You see the commandment says, now notice, this too.

The commandment says, Company! And you must not say it. You must not commit adultery. And you must not do it. Won't be tied to you if you do. The law says, Company! You must not covet. And you must not covet.

But that's not the way of the New Testament. It's this. If you love many, keep my command. Now look, you may have a master that you're working for who's like the law. John, come here. John, come. John, do that!

And John does it. Why? There's 20 people waiting for his job. That's the law. But brother, you don't do that with your wife. Mary! Where's my dinner? You must not. It's a different relationship, isn't it?

Isn't it different? Some of you wives you couldn't bear washing until you met the man you loved and you loved to wash his shirt. You did it out of love, didn't you? Of course you do. You see, it's a love relationship.

Now that's the newness of the Spirit. We keep the commandments because we love Him. Can I say that again? We keep the commandments because we love Him. It's not a matter of a sergeant major saying, Company, do this!

It's the Lord in love standing before us and we do things out of a pure love for Him. So the first way is faith's way, trusting Him. The second way is the loving obedience to someone that I deeply love.

Loving Obedience and Reliance on the Holy Spirit

Now that's the newness of the Spirit. Now how can I apply this? Here's Sunday morning and if you say, Oh, it's the breaking of bread, supposing I ought to go. I feel like lying in. I'd like to be at the coast.

Hmm, I suppose I'd better go. What would the elders say? And you sit there as miserable as them. Brother and sister, far better not to be there. I mean that. Or supposing you might say, I'd like to be in the fellowship.

I suppose I ought to be baptised. Yes, I'll get baptised. I'd better please them anyhow. That's all legal. But supposing I awaken in the morning and out of a pure love for the Lord I say, I'm going to worship the Lord.

You won't be able to get there quick enough. And then you see the truth of baptism. Why, you want to be baptised, sweetheart. So beautiful. Why? Because you love Him. You see, there's no iron yoke over you in the sense of someone is crushing you.

If you love me, keep my commandments. You will never find a sergeant major in the local church. If you do, he's not an elder. And if you've got a sergeant major, the Lord pity your simplicity. All God's servants are men of love.

And then lastly, it's the Spirit's word. What does that mean? It simply means this. That you rely totally on the Holy Spirit to so fill you and live His life through you that He will produce the fruits of the Spirit.

And that's what it means to be led by the Spirit. A new objective, an entirely new principle of living. And then lastly, a new power. A new power to release you from the power of sin. A new power that's in you to give you the power to worship.

To give you the power to pray. To give you the power to preach. So that God's people are led by the Spirit and they are led in that liberty where they can serve, where they can preach and they can worship.

Why? Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Now God never brings bondage. We bring bondage. But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is that lovely liberty. And beloved, we mustn't spoil that liberty.

God's people must have liberty. And then it refers to the right principle and then the correct power. But then now for the main subject. This refers also being led by the Spirit to the beauty of a Spirit-filled life.

Sonship and the Moral Beauty of a Spirit-Filled Life

Now in order to show you what this basically means, turn to Romans 8 and we'll look at Romans 8 verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Now what does that mean?

Does it mean only those people who are controlled, who are under the yoke, are actually the sons of God? If that were so, it would mean that some of our brethren who are not under the yoke were not saved.

But it basically means this. That those who are led by the Spirit, then they look like the sons of God. In other words, when you see a man filled with the Spirit, filled with the fruits of the Spirit, he looks like one of God's sons or daughters.

You know sometimes where I'm saying I take the people up a cup of tea early in the morning. I like to be up early. And it's quite comical really to go into a bedroom and see a person when they're just getting up.

When their teeth are out, the curlers are in, and everything artificial is gone. You know they really do look well themselves. Our boys once, we had a man staying with us that was a brilliant man of God.

And they got up two o 'clock in the morning. They didn't tell us of course. And they opened the door where this dear saint of God was staying. And they took a flash picture of him when he was fast asleep.

And then they sent the picture to this dear servant of God. And what a picture it was. His teeth were out. He was snoring. And his head was hanging in a very awkward fashion. And he got rather a shock when he saw himself dead asleep.

And he didn't look the man he was when he was on the platform. But he was still the same man. Beloved, when we are fast asleep in the bed of this world we look horrible. And that's why Paul says, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead ones and he will give thee light.

The word there means he will make you radiant. And that means you'll look beautiful. And that is exactly what Paul is saying here. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God.

In other words, the radiance there and the loveliness of sonship will be seen in them. Now can you see what he is now saying to us? Look, come under the lordship of the Spirit. Come under the sense of the liberty of the Spirit.

Have the new objective, the new principle, the new power. What he is basically saying is this, enjoy this beauty, this moral beauty, this inward beauty. And may I say this as carefully as I can, God is not a bit concerned with social beauty.

He is not one bit concerned with the kind of clothing that we wear. As long as we are clothed. In a scriptural way. You see, unfortunately, the people of the world spend hours on figure. On keeping their body in trim.

And unfortunately, that has come into the church of God and we put more emphasis on body and shape and size than on culture. And what God is concerned in the New Testament is to produce in our spiritual culture.

So that the beauty and the loveliness of Christ can be seen in us. Do you know, brothers and sisters, I have seen people that we might think were really physically ugly. But they were so beautiful. You could see the lovely facets of Christ in them.