Brethren, if you would please
open to Galatians chapter 5. I was so excited to get to the
fifth chapter of Galatians. I preached it Wednesday and I
didn't really know where to stop and where to start and where
to end. I'm starting over the years. We'll probably be back
here several more times. I hope we are. It's a beautiful
chapter to me, personally. But I was conflicted. Do you ever get conflicted? Do you ever go back and forth,
just in daily things? We do that all the time. I was
staring at the bulletin this morning. I think I'm going to
change the order of service a little bit so it's not up and down so much. That threw off my whole morning,
didn't it? I hope it didn't throw off yours. But I go back and
forth these worldly things. I'm on the fence about worldly
decisions. But I don't know about you, but
in my heart, I'm conflicted at times. There's times I just hear
about Christ and how satisfied I am, how joyful I am, how in
love I am. And then shortly thereafter,
I'm brought down. I look to myself. I worry. Is
there something more I should be doing? Do I need to be doing
something? Should I be working? That's what
I'm getting at. That's what myself's telling
myself. I do that. I go back and forth.
And every believer does that. Every believer does that. I hope
this one will be a comfort to you. It was for me as I studied
it. But the title of my message is The Believer's Conflict. It's
a conflict that we have inside of ourselves. Let's look at Galatians
5 and begin in verse 16. 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 the other, so that they cannot
do the things ye would. But if ye be led by the Spirit,
ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest. which are these, adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedations, heresies,
envying, murders, drunkenness, revilings, and such like, of
the which I tell you before, and I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the
kingdom of God. But 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 have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lust. If we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vainglory,
provoking one another, envying one another. There's some great
guidance here. We get some instruction during
this conflict. We see these things that are
conflicting, aren't they? Drastically different. What manifests
in the flesh and what that fruit of the Spirit is. That's what
we'll look at this morning. There's some instruction here
before this conflict. In verse 16, Paul writes, I say
then, here's what God's Word to His people is. Here's what
His truth is. His Gospel as given through Paul. It says, This I say then, walk
in the Spirit. Walk in knowledge. Walk in the
power of the Spirit. Under the leadership of the Spirit. And ye shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. We will not fulfill the lust
of this old rotten nature that we still carry with us. We carry
it with us to this day. And we'll carry it with us until
the Lord takes us home. but we will war with our flesh. Sin remains. It doesn't reign
anymore in us after the Lord gives us a new heart, but it
remains. It hasn't gone away. Paul speaks out there in verse
17 that every believer has this conflict in them. Every believer
has a war in their members. Every believer will experience
a spiritual battle inside of themselves. Notice I said every
believer. Not every man, not every woman,
not every person, every believer will have this. They'll experience
this. Those who are unbelievers don't
have this warfare in them. There's not two natures inside
of them. We that's been born again, we have an old man and
a new man in us. They're going to fight. They're
not going to get along. They can't. They're contrary.
But they also know We have this new Spirit put in us. It knows
the peace and the blessedness that's in Christ, that's in our
Savior. It says in Galatians 5.17, For
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh. And these are contrary one to another, so that you cannot
do the things that you would. The flesh that we're born with,
the nature of Adam, It's ruined and it's rotten and it will never
improve. That hit me when I was studying
this passage this week. That's in my thoughts. I can
get a little better. I can stop doing this. Our flesh
is not going to improve. Not in our hearts. It ain't going
to heal itself. It battles, it lusteth against
the new spirit that we have in us that's put there by Christ.
It's made like Christ. New spirits, the nature is born
of God, it's begotten of God, it's planted in us, and we're
given that spirit. We have a new man, a new heart,
a new nature that dwells in us, indwelling of the Spirit. Paul wrote to Corinthians, therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are
passed away, behold, all things are become new. We have something
new in us. And these two natures in the
believer are contrary. They're opposite. That old man
hates the gospel and anything concerning it. Those are strong
words, but it's true. We may not see it as an outward
screaming and pounding our chest and pounding the table, and I
don't want to hear that, but do we hear the preaching of the
gospel and say, when's this going to be over? I've got to get out
of here. I've got a football game to watch.
We need to get home to them grandbabies, or whatever it is. We do that,
don't we? But that new man in us, that
new man loves the Lord, loves the Lord's people, loves that
message of free grace through Christ. So therefore, we can't do the
things that we want. I would if I could, if it was
possible, it's a desire in me, in that new man, I want to worship
the Lord perfectly. I want to come here, I want to
declare a message to you. I want to preach to people in
a way that only honors Christ, gives Him all the glory, perfectly.
I don't want to sin in this world. I don't want to give any reason
for any man to have a cause not to hear what I have to say. But
that's not in me, is it? That desire is in me, that ability
is not. He hasn't given that yet. Christ
to lay people, we do worship Him. We do honor Him. But sin's mixing everything that
we do. That old man's still with us. It weighs us down. It hinders
what we want to do. Our attempts that we have to
serve Christ, to serve this gospel, weighs us down. But someday,
someday, I will worship Him perfectly. Someday, I will honor Him perfectly. Someday I'll be completely conformed
to the image of Christ. I'll be able to see Him face
to face. But it won't happen here. It won't take place on
this earth. Paul and Timotheus wrote to the
Philippians, for our conversation, our community, our citizenship
is what the word means. Our conversation is in heaven
from whence we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like
unto His glorious body. according to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." We will
someday have a sinless body and we'll see our Savior face to
face. We'll be able to look at Him.
We'll be able to hug Him. It also says there in Corinthians,
for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know even also as I am known. I'll be able to know the
Lord fully as He knows me now. I can't imagine those things.
But until then we'll have this conflict in us. Believers live
in a spiritual battlefield. this body and mind that we're
in until that day comes. This conflict will stay with
us. But turn over to Romans 7. We've looked at this several
times. I brought it up. Paul experienced this. But every
child of God will experience this no matter whether they're
the greatest or the smallest, whether they're the strongest
in faith or the weakest in faith. We all go through the same thing.
Here's what Paul the Apostle had to say. Paul was used greatly
of the Lord. He wrote the bulk of the New
Testament. If he were here today, religious
leaders around the world would sit and listen to him, wouldn't
they? I'd want to hear what he had to say. Paul was blessed
greatly. But here's what he said. Romans
7 verse 21, I find in a law that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. That new man in me loves the
law of God. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members, in my flesh. Oh,
wretched man that I am!" Paul the Apostle is saying this. And
he says, oh wretched man that I am, not that I used to be. I used to be wretched. Now I'm
good. I've gotten better. I'm progressing.
No, oh wretched man that I am right now. Oh wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? He was wore
out, wasn't he? But being tired and wore out
and brought down during this conflict in us, during this battle
that goes on in us is a good thing. It's a good thing. It brings us low internally. We don't have to have external
trials, do we? You could be sitting by yourself on a swing on a front
porch and be going through a massive trial, through a massive battle. But those things are good for
us because when we're brought that low, we look only one place.
Look at verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. We can go through a trial and
never have anything bad happen externally. Still have our family
with us and everything's in place. We can be cutting grass by ourselves,
can't we? Are we so good that we've overcome
this flesh? We don't have these troubles
anymore. Did Paul think that? Think about that. Did Paul overcome
his flesh on this earth? That's what he said when his
ministry started. He said, I'm the least of all
sinners. I'm sorry, I'm the least of all
the apostles. And then by the end of it, he said, I'm the chief
of sinners. He kept downgrading, didn't he? That's a good progression. We're not led by the flesh. It
doesn't reign over us. We're led by the Spirit of God.
Aren't you glad? I'm not the co-pilot even. I'm not the pilot of this vessel
and I'm not the co-pilot of this vessel. Look back at our text,
Galatians 5 verse 18. But if ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law. That can be read as, since believers
are led by the Spirit, we're not under the law. Believers
are led by the Spirit of God. The Father put us in Christ before
the world was. Christ came to this earth. He
swallowed up justice that was demanded for each of His people.
He satisfied that, redeeming us. We're regenerated by the
Holy Spirit. Brought to trust Christ for everything,
for all of our salvation, our righteousness, our sanctification,
and we have no confidence in the flesh. We are brought to
that. We are led to that. And Christ is where we are led
to. Turn over Philippians 3. Just a few pages. Philippians
3 and verse 3. We are not led by the law to
our own salvation, but we're led by the Spirit to Christ,
who is our salvation. Philippians 3, for we are the
circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Paul goes on there
to list some things that most people have confidence in the
flesh, his credentials, his religious pedigree. He says in verse 7,
Philippians 3, 7, But what things were gained to me, I count lost,
counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but dung, garbage, that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, that law that we were under. Our righteousness
came from ourselves, not comes from Christ. But that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. We are led by the Spirit. We're quickened by the Spirit.
Convicted by the Spirit. And we're made to believe the
gospel of God's grace is in Christ. It's of Christ. And it's about
Christ. We're made to look to Him for
all things, not just the law, but all things. Our life, here
and especially our life eternally. 1 Corinthians, to expand it a bit,
says we look to Christ for all of our wisdom. We look to Christ
for all of our righteousness, we look to Christ for all of
our sanctification, and we look to Christ for all of our redemption.
He's our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
isn't He? We look to Him for each of those. I looked up the
word redemption. The synonyms for redemption are
salvation, deliverance, conversion, recovery, and liberation. That's
what come up on the computer under synonyms. That's a good
order. We look to Him for all of those.
Our liberation. That's where our liberty comes
from. But some don't believe these things. They look to themselves
for wisdom. They say righteousness is something
they conjure up. Sanctification is a work of man.
Or redemption is in their hands. They pick that. Paul wrote to
the Romans for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness. have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness." To everybody? No, to everyone
that believeth. If we've been led by that spirit
to believe, my righteousness is in Christ. It's not in the
law. I can't do it. I didn't develop those thoughts
on my own. I didn't sit down and study a
whole bunch. I was taught that. That new man in me was instructed,
wasn't it? But looking to Christ for all
things, that is salvation. That means we're a child of God,
but we must be led by the Spirit to believe in Him and to believe
on Him. Romans 8.14 says, for as many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. If the Spirit leads you,
You're a child of God. Those led by the Spirit are sons
of God and they look to Christ for all things. Just like a small
child looks to their father for all things. Comes to the parents,
don't they? I'm hungry. A two-year-old don't
go start, well we hope they don't, start rifling through the cabinet.
They go to mommy. Mommy, I'm hungry. We come to Christ for
all things. There in Galatians 5.18 it says, but you are led
of the Spirit. You are not under the law. We
are not under the law as a curse. We're not under the law anymore
as a covenant. We're not under the law as a
rule of life. It may sound shocking. Remember
all those bracelets back in the 90s? What would Jesus do? That
was a big propaganda, wasn't it? Christ is our rule of life,
not the law. He's the object of the believer's
love and heart. Not just something as a good
role model, what would He do? That's where my heart lies. That's where my love lies. Colossians
3 says, If you be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. We
seek where He is. We seek guidance from His throne,
don't we? We're not under that curse of
the law because Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.
How? Being made a curse for us. What's the result of Christ being
made a curse for us? We're not under the law. If we're
dead to the law, if it's already been satisfied, what are we under
now? I'm dead to that law. What am
I supposed to do? I need to do something. Romans 6.14 says,
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under
the law, but under grace. Grace is what rules us. Grace
of Christ, that love put in us. Those led by the Spirit are provided
for completely in Christ through His matchless work of grace. Philippians 4 is often misquoted. Philippians 4.19 says, but my
God shall supply all of your need. Singular. There's no S there. My God shall
supply all of your need according to His riches and glory. By what? The law? No, by Christ
Jesus. We have one need. There's one
thing needful and it's supplied according to the riches of His
glory. Knowing that, knowing Christ is all, knowing someday
we'll be made like Him, knowing all of our need, our hope, our
surety, everything is wrapped up in Christ, we still have the
sword inside us, don't we? I know all those things. But
give me ten minutes and I'll be worried about something else. Here's the fruit of the flesh. This is gruesome. It's terrible,
and I won't comment too much on them. But this is our old
hearts. Galatians 5.19. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest. They're apparent. They're made
evident. Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulation,
jealousy, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Most people read this
and only see those things as outside sins. These are internal
things. Hating is not an outward thing.
Hatefulness is an inward thing. It's what comes out of our old
heart. Adultery is not Just looking at another person, that's going
to another God. Idolatry is not just something
we keep hanging from a rear view mirror, we hang up on the wall.
That's something we have between us and Christ. Anything. But
the danger of trying to categorize these sins is we make a list
in our heads of what we've done and what we've not done. I do
that. Well, I haven't committed that.
I've never killed anybody. I've never stole anything. I've never committed adultery.
I haven't done that. And we start pointing that other
people do. I didn't do it like he did. I didn't do it like she
did. But we try to look to these things
that we haven't committed externally to have some type of security. We say, well, I'm not that bad.
I'm better than so-and-so. Verse 21 says, In being murderers,
drunkenness, revilings, and such like, of the which I tell you
before, and have also told you in time past, that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Does that
mean if I commit any of these sins, I'm not God's? Not if you
commit sin, but if your hope is in yourself. If the hope that
you have of security is that I haven't done these things,
you won't see the kingdom of God. As Bob read to us this morning,
your knee will bow. You will worship him in that
final day, but you won't be with him. If you're looking to be
justified in your works, you will come up short. If we trust
our lives to the deeds that we perform, we're going to perish.
Romans 8.13 says, For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.
If your eternal life comes after what your flesh does, if that's
where the source of life is, it's the flesh, you're going
to die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify, you kill,
you put down, you shun the deeds of the body, through the Spirit,
we're led by that Spirit, through the Spirit we mortify the deeds
of the body, then ye shall live. We don't try to stand on the
merit of what our flesh does. We stand only on the merit of
Christ our Rock. That's mortified in His flesh.
Through the Spirit, led by the Spirit, we put down our attempts,
our holiness, our work, our desires of this body. We put down those
things to trust Christ alone. We take up sides against ourselves
with God, don't we? Christ has to save us from ourselves. That's who the enemy is. As Bob
said too, Satan's our number two enemy. I'm my number one
enemy. Look here in 1 Corinthians chapter
6. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9. Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you But ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by, we're led by that Spirit, by the Spirit of our
God. Did I wash myself? Oh, I am washed. Did I sanctify myself? No, the
Spirit did that. Am I justified by myself? No,
He did it. But after we're washed, we don't
wash ourselves, after we are washed, we are sanctified, we
are made justified, what's our fruit? That new man put in us,
what does it do? Back to our text here in Galatians
5. Verse 22, but the fruit, singular,
no S on it, but the fruit of the Spirit is love. joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. That fruit of the Spirit is contrary. The desires of my old man and
my new man are against each other. They war against each other.
But what they produce is contrary. They're opposite. The fruits
are opposite. The old man produces his own
fruit, and this new man has fruit produced in him by the Spirit. The source of the fruit's different,
isn't it? The old man devours, the new man loves. The old man's
miserable, that new man has joy. The old man's anxious, the new
man has peace. The old man's impatient, the
new man's long-suffering. It goes on, doesn't it? Harsh
and gentle. Unfaithful. Faithful. Bold and meek. Self-indulging. Temperate. These are proof of the New Spirit.
They're in verse 24. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and the lust. That's
what we just saw in Romans 8, verse 13. We mortify our bodies. We crucify the flesh and our
affections. Our desires, our lusts, we take
sides with God against ourselves. It's proof. This fruit is proof
for us. And it's proof they're brethren,
isn't it? It gives us confidence and grace. When you see one of
your brothers or sisters being long-suffering, you see one of
them having joy, having peace, one of them being temperate,
that encourages us, doesn't it? That thrills me. We have some advice on this conflict
that we go through, this battle that's in every one of us there
in Galatians 5.25. If we live in the Spirit, let
us also walk in the Spirit. As Paul wrote before, I write
unto you to stir up your pure minds. Reminds us, walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another
or envying one another. I pray I could walk in the Spirit.
I have to be led by that Spirit, but I want to walk in the Spirit.
That new man has a desire to walk in the Spirit. Let's turn
over Colossians 3 and we'll close. Colossians 3. Verse 16. We read to open services today
about speaking to one another, call on one another. That's what
Malachi said. And I encourage you to call on
your brethren. Speak to them. Talk to them. Communicate with
them. That's good for us. Look here in Colossians 3.16.
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, saying with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
That's a wonderful thing to teach and admonish one another. Why? To get on to them. Stop doing
that. Sing a song with them. Share His Scripture with them.
That's tenderness and love, long-suffering, isn't it? Wait on the Lord to
do a work in you, brethren. I try to... I don't do a good
job of it, but I try to remember that throughout the day. I get
frustrated. I'll start whistling a hymn. Do that. That's good things. It'll comfort
you. Verse 17, And whatsoever you
do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by Him. Whatever we do, these
fruits of the Spirit, they will, won't they? Verse 18, Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the
Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and
be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in
all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers,
provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the
flesh, not with eye service as man pleaders, but in singleness
of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it
heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of
the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For
ye serve the Lord Christ. We serve one another in love,
as Paul wrote in the beginning of Galatians 5, 5.13. We serve
the Lord. He is the God of love. That's
the source of love. And if we serve in love, we serve
in the Lord Jesus Christ one to another. I pray that our fruit
encourages our brethren, encourages us as proof. The Lord has done
a work in us. And when that battle is raging,
Know that you're in a war. And that's good to be brought
aware to it. If you were happy all the time,
had no conflict in you, you're in trouble. Tribulations will
come, and that's internal too, isn't it? That'll happen, but
I pray that that's a blessing to you, a comfort to you. If
you have conflict in you, serve the Lord. Be encouraged by one
another's fruit. So we just planted fruit trees
at our house and it'll be a couple years before we see any of them.
But right now I have, I just watered. I don't have to pick
them up. And you know, a tree that bears a lot of fruit, you
got to pick that up. That fruit's not for that tree.
It'll just go underneath it and rot and little seedlings will
spring up. That's used for something else.
Our fruits of the spirit, fruit of the spirit is used for our
brethren. for one another. It's not for me. That's for you.
And yours is for them. So call them and let them know.
Alright, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank You for
Your Word. Lord, thank You that You've preserved Your Word through
the years to comfort Your people. We get so distressed and fretful
and worried when we look to ourselves, Lord. That happens more often
than we want. Thanks be to Christ, we have
a new man in us. He desires to serve you and serve
our brethren. Do it in love. Do it in joy and
long-suffering and peace. Lord, keep our hearts. Keep us looking to Christ. Keep
us focused on Him until that day comes we can be made like
Him and see Him face to face. Be with our brethren everywhere,
Lord, as they gather, those that couldn't be with us. Comfort
them as well, Lord. Be with us always as you promised
you will be. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it.