All right spiritual warfare within
look let's look back at verse 16 as I said, I know I dealt
with These first three verses last week, but I want to go back
and just make some comments He's talking about walking in the
spirit. Look at verse 16. He says this I say then Walk
in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
what is it to walk in the spirit talking about the Holy Spirit
who indwells us and The Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit comes
forth from the Father and the Son to apply the benefits and
blessings of spiritual life to each and every one of God's chosen
people, redeemed by the blood of Christ in each successive
generation. And you remember the Lord himself
said, you must be born again or you cannot see or enter the
kingdom of heaven. And that's what every true child
of God experiences at some point in time in this life under the
preaching of the gospel. And from that point on, the Holy
Spirit indwells us, and we're commanded to walk in the Spirit.
So what is it to walk in the Spirit? It's to think, it's to
live, it's to conduct ourselves as we're filled by the Holy Spirit,
as we have life from Christ by the Holy Spirit, as we're guided
by the word of god as we're taught as we're guided by the word of
god based upon uh... the grace of god in our salvation
motivated always talk about motivated by grace motivated by gratitude
motivated by love in other words where uh... say this all the
time we're not mercenaries we're we're uh... willing loving bond
slaves of christ we're not mercy a mercenary is one who's serving
in the service of a of a country or a king in order to get paid. He's a hireling. And so we're
not serving because of mercenary promises of earned reward. There
is a reward for God's people. I mentioned this on the television
program this morning how there are blessings connected with
obedience in the scripture. Just like, for example, we come
here on this day to worship the Lord and there's a blessing connected
with it. But the blessing that we have
is not because we're sitting here earning it by our attendance.
I didn't earn the blessing from God because I attended the service.
I get the blessing from God, and the means of it is attending
the service, and we fellowship with one another, we encourage
one another, and mainly we pray together, we sing together, and
we hear the gospel preached, and there's a blessing there.
But we're not earning that. I didn't score points with God
because I showed up for church this morning. That's what I'm
saying. We're not mercenaries, and we're not legalists in the
sense that we're serving out of a fear of condemnation. So
to walk in the spirit is to walk as we're motivated, energized,
and guided by the spirit through the word to look to Christ for
all salvation, for the forgiveness of all our sins, for all our
righteousness before God. We're not trying to establish
a righteousness. We wanna be righteous in ourselves. We have that desire because the
Holy Spirit put it there. But we're not trying to establish
our own righteousness by our deeds. by our obedience, by our
dedication, by our sincerity, all of that. We're not trying
to do that. We have a righteousness that
answers the demands of God's law and justice. It's a complete
righteousness. It's a perfect righteousness.
It cannot be contaminated and it cannot be taken away. And
we know that. And of course, just like what
we were talking about this morning, somebody says, well, but we need
to do this, we need to do, well, we need to do a lot of things.
A whole bunch of things. I mean, we can make a list, all
right? And that's true, and I'm not
making fun of that, and the Bible talks about that. But we don't
need to do anything in order to attain or maintain salvation.
And that's the key. So to walk in the Spirit, as
the work of the Holy Spirit is necessary in our salvation, as
His work in the new birth is the fruit of what Christ has
accomplished, and His work in us is the earnest, the scripture
says, or you might say the down payment of our whole salvation. It's the guarantee, would probably
be a better word, the earnest. It's the guarantee of our final
glory. So the indwelling presence of
the Holy Spirit is necessary for our preservation in Christ
and our perseverance in the faith. And he always convicts us of
sin in a way of godly sorrow, not a way of condemnation now. And that's important for what
we're gonna study in the next lesson on recovery. Holy Spirit
doesn't condemn, he's not a condemning spirit. The condemning spirit
is a bondage. And we're not called unto bondage,
we're called unto liberty. The Holy Spirit convicts us of
sin continually, but in a way that is called godly sorrow over
sin, that always drives us to Christ and Him alone for relief,
for salvation, for forgiveness, for righteousness. And then verse
17, he says, well, verse 16, he said, now walking in the Spirit,
you shall not fulfill or go the complete way In the lust of the
flesh. Now we all have to fight the
lust of the flesh. We have the lust of the flesh
in different ways, different degrees within us. And that's
what we're going to be talking about, the warfare of the flesh
and the spirit. But if we walk in the spirit, we won't go the
full degree of that. We'll be in a warfare with it.
That's what he's saying. We won't fulfill it. And of course,
you know, James says that the complete fulfillment of lust
is sin and sin is death. And we can't go that way because
we're in Christ. God won't let us. He keeps us. And look at verse 17. He says,
for the flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against
the flesh. These are contrary the one to the other so that
you cannot do the things that you would. There's a warfare.
That's the warfare. And within every true believer,
the sinful flesh still remains within us to contaminate and
corrupt everything we think, say, and do. And that's why we
have to, even now, as at the beginning of our spiritual life
in the new birth, even now we know that we're totally dependent
upon Christ and his blood to wash away our sins, his righteousness
to make things right between us and God. That's why Christ
is our advocate, 1 John 2, 1 and 2. That's why he's our intercessor. It doesn't, and I know people
have different ways of thinking of that, but there's only one
real way to think about it, and that is the eternal value, continual
value, merit of Christ's blood continually pleading on our behalf
as he is our intercessor. He ever lives, the scripture
says, to make intercession for us. So as long as he's alive,
we can't be charged with sin. As long as he's alive, we can't
lose salvation. As long as he's alive, we have
a righteousness that justifies us before God. And somebody says,
well, we could lose that. We can't lose it because he's
alive, because he's our intercessor. Now if he's ever dead, which
he cannot die, or if he ever stops being our intercessor,
we not only could we lose it, we would lose it, but that's
not gonna happen. So we have this warfare within.
And this is why we need also the continual indwelling of the
Holy Spirit. Sin within us causes us to desire things opposed to
the glory of God in Christ. Now doesn't it? And whatever
you call that, I don't care. I mean, you call it old nature
or whatever, that's all right, as long as you don't take that
term too far, but that's fine. We still have sinful desires
within us. And some people say, well, they
don't have those anymore. But they do. They're just lying
to themselves. They're deceiving. The Holy Spirit within us causes
us to desire the things of God, the things that glorify and honor
God in Christ. And therein lies the struggle.
So look at verse, and he says, you cannot do the things that
you would. You can't go the full swing either way. You can't be
perfect in yourself and you can't go the full swing of depravity
in yourself. It's a, it's a warfare. We know
the victory is all by the grace of God in Christ. And so I look
at verse 18, but if you be led of the Spirit, you're not under
the law. If we're led of the Spirit, led to Christ for all
salvation, for all forgiveness, for all righteousness, we can
be assured that we're not under the law. What does that mean?
We're not condemned. We're not doomed, you might say. We're not damned. There's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. You see, understand
that now. To be under the law is to be
under the curse. be under the curse is to be condemned.
Well, we're not under the law. And that's what he's saying.
If you're led of the spirit, if you're led to believe in and rest in
and follow the Lord Jesus Christ in this struggle, the flesh and
the spirit, then you can know you're not under the law. You're
not cursed. You're not condemned. You're righteous in him. And
so we cannot be charged with sin. We have righteousness. Now,
look at verse 19. In verses 19 through 21, he lists
the works, plural, of the flesh. And then in verse 22 and 23,
he lists the fruit, singular, of the spirit. And what he's
doing, he's just taking these things back to their source.
Look at it. He says, verse 19, but now the works of the flesh
are manifest. They're brought up. They're made
known. And he lists which are these.
Now, people try to categorize these as they'll talk about sexual
sins, they'll talk about social sins, they'll talk about sin
against self. Either way, it's all sin, and you know what adultery
is. That's the sin of adultery. Christ dealt with that. A person
who lusts in their heart, they've already committed adultery. They've
broken the law. That's what he's saying. Fornication,
sexual sin, uncleanness, that's impurity. Lasciviousness is like
having no moral compass. It's like a person who has no
sense of right and wrong. You know, it's just a lot of
times they call them amoral, you know, no morality. And then
he goes to, these are religious sins, verse 20, idolatry. You
know what idolatry is, that's worshiping false gods. or putting
things above the worship of God. Witchcraft is sorcery. The word
that we get our word pharmacy from is that word witchcraft
there, sorcery. Did you know that? And what he's
talking about, he's like taking a drug. You remember he said
over in Galatians 3, oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched
you? Who has put a spell on you? Kind of like that. And a lot
of this has to do with anything that's associated with idolatrous
worship. You know, getting into a stupor
and things like that. And then hatred, that's malice.
And you know what that's about. Variance, this word variance
means conflict. Disagreements among brethren
is what he's talking about there. And then emulations is like jealousy
leading to selfish ambition. It's like when you say you want
to emulate someone, you want to be like them, but what this
is, is you want to be like them to the point you want to surpass
them, even to their own hurt. And then he mentions strife,
you know what strife is, that's disputes and arguments and factions,
and then that leads to seditions, which are divisions. You remember
the Corinthians, we're of Paul, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos,
I'm of Cephas, that kind of division. See, what he's saying here is
this, those things are not to be traced to anything related
to the Holy Spirit and spiritual life. He goes on, heresies, heresies
are those things that are against the truth. You know the word
heresy, you know what it literally means? It means to choose. And
what he's saying, it's kind of like this, all right? Here we
have in the word of God the truth, all right? But if anyone chooses
to believe something that is not in the word of God or against
the word of God, that's heresy. And that's what that means. So
heresies, you know, there must needs be heresies. Sometimes
that word is called divisions, like that, to choose against
God's word. And so then he talks about envies,
that's jealousy. Murders, obviously you know what
that is. Drunkenness, that's a sin of excess. He says revelings,
that's a lifestyle is what he's talking about. A lifestyle of
reveling or partying to the point that that's all the person does. It's kind of like a description
of what Solomon described in the book of Ecclesiastes of man
without Christ. Life on this earth without Christ. Paul said it, he described it
in 1 Corinthians 15 when he talked about, if Christ be not risen,
we're of all men most miserable. And then in another place he
talked about, well, if what we're preaching's not true, then eat,
drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die, that kind of attitude.
But we know that what we're preaching is true. and we're going to be
held accountable to God. And he says, and such alike.
So he doesn't list everything here, every sin, but he puts
it all in a category to show that this kind of behavior, especially
behavior that was common and behavior that was validated in
the Gentile culture of that day, it's not of the spirit. It's
not the behavior that should characterize a believer. And look what he says here in
verse 21. He said, and he said, he's talking
about envies, murders, drunks, verse 21, revelings, and such
like, of the which I tell you before as I have told you in
time past, so this is not the first time Paul dealt with these
things, that they which do such things, shall not inherit the
kingdom of God." Now, what's he talking about there? Well,
he's talking about those who live after the flesh, not after
the spirit, whose lives are characterized with these things without any
repentance, without any godly sorrow over sin, without any
warfare within. And he says, they will not inherit
the kingdom of God. You see, that kind of lifestyle
indicates unbelief. It indicates a sinner without
hope, without Christ. And notice here, listen to the
language too, it's important. He says, they which do such things
shall not what? Inherit the kingdom of God. He didn't say they won't earn
it. You know why he didn't say that? Because no one earns it. If you're a believer, you haven't
earned it. You don't deserve it, it's all grace. But that
kind of lifestyle, which indicates an unregenerate heart, an unbelieving
person, they won't inherit the kingdom of God, salvation and
all of its benefits and blessings. And so true believers, you know,
it's like this, and you can look at this in Romans chapter eight,
I'll just, you can turn there if you want to, in Romans eight,
somebody said, that the believer is not in the flesh, as the Bible
sets it forth, but the flesh is still in the believer. Warfare
of the flesh. Well, what do you mean by that?
Well, look at Romans chapter, well, look at Romans chapter
seven to start with. Romans seven and verse five. Paul writes, for when we were
in the flesh, now that's to be unregenerate. That's to be an
unbeliever. The motions or the passions of
sins, which were by the law did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. And remember I've told you that
can manifest itself in one of two ways. It can manifest itself
in a life of rebellious immorality or perversion. Rebellion, that's
certainly fruit, or it can manifest itself, as it often does, in
false religion, trying to work your way into God's favor. That
would include Paul. Paul said, when we were in the
flesh. He included himself there. Well,
what was he trying to do? Well, he was trying to establish
his own righteousness. Read Philippians three sometime.
But look over at Romans chapter eight. In Romans chapter eight,
He says in verse five, he says, they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, that's an unbeliever, unregenerate,
but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit, that's
a born again person, that's a sinner saved by grace. And he says in
verse six, for to be carnally, fleshly minded is death, that's
an unbeliever. However that flesh manifests
itself, It could be like Sodom and Gomorrah, or it could be
like Cain bringing an offering. But it's gonna manifest itself.
You see, one is, you know, he described those works of the
flesh, all right? And all those things, you know,
you could look at. And then he talks about idolatry. Well, Cain was engaged in idolatry
when he came to God expecting salvation or blessings based
on his works. And so he says, for to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. Now that enmity is part
of the works of the flesh, isn't it? And he says, for it's not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. A sinner who's
subject to the law of God is one who sees the impossibility
of salvation and righteousness based on his works. And he runs
to Christ. You see, we fulfill the law by
believing in Christ, by looking to him as the fulfiller of the
law. So he says in verse eight, so then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Now go back to Galatians 5. Look
at verse 22, now he comes to the fruit of the Spirit. In verse 22, he says, but the
fruit, and notice it's not fruits, plural, it's singular, because
this is all one work. The fruit of the spirit, and
he said love, that's divine love. That's the love of God shed abroad
in the hearts of a regenerate person by the Holy Spirit. That's
love that no man or woman has by nature. This is that godly
love that seeks the honor and glory of God above all things
and is guided by truth. And then he says joy, that's
joy and peace in believing. And then that peace, which is
the peace which passes understanding, there's peace with God that brings
peace in the heart as far as our relationship with God in
Christ. Long-suffering, you know what long-suffering means, that
means putting up with a lot. Gentleness, that's having a gentle
spirit, kindness. Goodness, that's being benevolent
towards people. Faith there means faithfulness,
that's the perseverance of the saints. because God preserves
us. Meekness, verse 23, that's submission. That's what meekness is. It's
not submission to the point of weakness. Somebody said meekness
is not weakness. Meekness is submitting to the
word of God. Meekness is submitting as a servant,
a bondservant of Christ. And then temperance, that's self-control,
not going beyond the boundaries of what God sets. And he says, against such there
is no law. There's no law against these things. These are things
that honor God in Christ when they're performed by a believer
seeking to serve his Lord out of motivated by grace and love
and gratitude. That's what he's talking about.
And you know, when people look at, you know, these things that
he mentions here, you know, people, you know, they talk about, well,
you know, I keep the Ten Commandments, or I'm trying to keep the Ten
Commandments. And you know how people are, just like the Pharisees
of old, they finagle away in their minds that they can say,
well, yeah, you know, either I'm keeping it, or I'm trying
to keep it, and that's good enough. But you know, you look at things
like this. And really take an assessment of your life and you
can see there's no way that I can say that I have any of these
things in myself, in my attitudes, in my thinking, in my way of
life in perfection. I mean, listen, you look at these
things and this is the fruit of the Spirit. I can say I have
joy and peace in believing. I can tell you that without blushing. But I have a struggle with it
because my joy is not always what it should be. I can tell
you that I've tried to be a gentle person, I've tried to be a benevolent,
certainly tried to be, all of these things. And I know it's
not of me. I can't trace the source of anything
of this fruit to Bill Parker and say this is me naturally.
No, it's all a gift from this kind of stuff. I know people
who are not believers who are very benevolent in their way,
very kind in their way. I know people who are unbelievers
who seem to be happy all the time. I can't explain that. I
mean, that's just their attitude. I see those who are grumpy all
the time too. But this, when you look at the
fruit of the spirit, connect each part of it to faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Connect each part of it to a
continual conviction of sin. I know I'm a sinner, I know it
my best, I don't earn or deserve God's blessings. Connect it to
a sinner saved by grace based on the righteousness of Christ.
And then that, to me, that changes every aspect of this. to something
that is godly and honoring to God. And though I'm not yet perfect
in any of these areas, you say, I'm still not condemned. And
I think that has a connotation there too when he says, against
such there is no law. The law doesn't condemn. In other
words, the law doesn't forbid these things, and the law doesn't
condemn those things, the ones in whom they're present. And
so the law is not against them. Because as long as we look to
Christ in each aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, and as long
as we rest in Him, the law is not against us. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Look at verse 24. Now he says, and they that are Christ, that's
a possessive, they who belong to Christ, have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lust. And what does he say? Well, all who belong to Christ
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. Not
that the flesh with its affections and lust is dead within us. That's
not so. If that were so, then why would
the apostle be talking about a warfare within? And think about
how he describes his present life as a believer in Romans
7. Romans 7, 14 through 25. If the affections and lust, now
you know what lust is, it's unlawful desire. Any desire that is not perfectly
in tune with the glory of God and the word of God in Christ
is sinful. Do we have any of those kinds
of desires? Well, certainly we do. And that's
why we have to fight. So when he talks about we've
crucified the flesh with the affections and lust, then what's
he talking about? Well, this is past tense, crucified. This is something that happened
in the past. In other words, what he's saying here, look at
it again, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh. It
doesn't mean they are in the process of crucifying the flesh. This is not a process here now.
This is something that's took place in the past. That's past
tense. And when did we crucify the flesh
and the affections and the love? With Christ on the cross. That's
what he's talking about. Do you know that everything that
these Jewish legalists were throwing at these Galatians who profess
to believe the gospel, was in opposition to what Christ had
fully and completely accomplished on the cross of Calvary. That's
the context now. Why else did Paul talk about
the offense of the cross? See? Why would he later on talk
about, well, go back to Galatians 2. What did he say? I threw the
law. Verse 19, am dead to the law
that I might live unto God. And then he said in verse 20,
I am crucified with Christ. That's what I am. That's my life
now. I live in Christ because I was
crucified with Christ. And then remember later on, he
says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. Galatians 6, 14. So everything they were opposed
to was opposed to what Christ had accomplished on the cross,
by way of putting away our sins, by way of bringing forth righteousness
to justify us. Now, why didn't Paul say over
in Galatians 6, 14, now why didn't he say, God forbid that I should
glory save in my love for Christ, or my joy in Christ, or the peace
that I have within? or my long-suffering." Because
he can't glory in those. He couldn't boast in those things
because even though we thank God we have them as the fruit
of the Spirit, we can't boast in any of them because we're
still contaminated by the flesh. We're still warring within, struggling
within. So in what sense can we say in
any way that if we belong to Christ, we've crucified the flesh,
and then with its affections and its lust, there's only one
way in the scriptures. And that's with Christ on the
cross when he died in our place and put away our sins legally
under the justice of God. It cannot condemn us. And the
point is this, that this amazing truth should never pave the way
for the flesh with the affections and lusts, but it should arm
us for the warfare we fight against the flesh. Here's our base of
operation, see. We cannot be condemned. Now let's
fight sin with every fiber of our being. Let's seek to obey
Christ with everything that we do. Not, not to be saved. Not to be made righteous, but
because we already are. And so in verse 25, he says,
if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. If
we're truly born again by the Holy Spirit, if we truly have
the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, if we truly live in the Spirit,
as all sinners saved by grace do, looking to Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, Then let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us continue looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. And then he says in verse 26,
let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another,
envying one another. Let's not desire the things which
exalt self. That's what he's saying, vain
glory, that's what that is. Let's not desire the things that
provoke and tear down and belittle and mock or scorn our brethren
in Christ. That's the sins that come from
envy. Why did he say that? Well, remember back up in verse
15, he says, if you bite and devour one another, take heed.
You see, legalism, self-righteous religion, promotes and provokes
friction between people. Because as long as you look down
on each other in these ways, that's gonna be exalting yourself. But if we understand this struggle
within and the fact that we're not condemned and that we have
a base of operation to fight the flesh and obey God, then
we can rest assured that we live in the spirit, that we're looking
to Christ for all salvation. All right.