Walk in the Spirit

Let's look again tonight to Galatians chapter 5. We looked at the first half of this chapter last time and tonight I want to begin with verse 13 and go through the end of the chapter. In these verses the Apostle Paul speaks of the common experience of all of God's children. of all who are saved by the grace of God." That is, we experience living in this world with a new heart. If we are his children, we've been born again of his Spirit, we've received a new heart, which he refers to in this passage as the Spirit. But we also continue with the old heart, the flesh that he refers to here in this passage of scripture.

I was reading an article this past week or two in which the writer compared the bush that Moses came upon in the desert, a bush that was on fire but yet not consumed. And he used that to picture a believer who the fire should have consumed that brush, but it didn't. And these two contraries, I might say, the fire and the brush all together. And in a child of God, we have a new creation created in righteousness and true holiness But yet at the same time, we still have the flesh, that old man that we came into this world with. So let's begin with verse 13 and go through the chapter. For brethren, you have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another. I counted that this is the seventh time in this letter that the apostle refers to these in the churches to whom he was writing as brethren.

And we know that they had listened to at least false teaching. But this shows us, and there's going to be two other times, two more times before the letter is ended where he is writing them and refers to them, speaks to them as brethren. And this shows me that Paul had hope for them. He had hope for them, even though maybe some of them had even embraced that false teaching. But for the majority of them, he had hope for them, and it shows me also his love for these believers.

I was listening to a message a few weeks ago by Martin Lloyd-Jones, an English preacher that was very faithful to the truth in London for many years. stopped pastoring in the 1960s, if I remember right. But anyway, he was here in the States and he was giving a message at one of the schools, I think, Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. But he was talking about preachers.

And it was very good, I really enjoyed it. But one thing that really caught my attention was he said a lot of men preach, they love to preach, but they don't love the people. They love to preach. And my, what an accusation, you know. Paul, he no doubt loved to preach, but he also loved those to whom he preached.

And that's what I pray, that God might give me that love that I should have. Heard Brother Scott Richardson one time say, a message should come from the heart of God, to the heart of the preacher, to the heart of the people. And that's certainly good advice.

But he refers to them here as brethren. For brethren, you have been called. That's the first thing I would point out, that all who are brothers, I'm talking about brothers in Christ, saved in the family of God, adopted children of God, have all been called.

We know that there is a general call and there is an effectual call. A general call goes out wherever the sun comes up, which is all around the world, testifying that there is a God, that God is great and God is a God of wisdom and a God of goodness and power. There's a general call that goes out every time the gospel is preached, but many times and always, and I don't need to emphasize this with you folks here tonight, you know it's true, but always when the gospel is preached, if it's just a general call, it's just like water off a duck's back. That water just runs off, so the gospel just goes out and it just keeps on going. It goes in one ear and comes out the other ear, so to speak.

But when God blesses and quickens the Word to His elect, it is an effectual call. You say, what does that mean? It means it gets the job done. It calls sinners to life. It calls men out of darkness into light. And the apostle here says, concerning these brethren who had been called, you've been called unto liberty. What do we mean here? Or how are we to understand this? Called unto liberty. You know that verse in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21 where the angel told Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.

And we often think about salvation in these three ways from the penalty of sin. And sometimes that's all people think about, the penalty of sin, that is hell. That is eternal punishment. He saves us from the penalty of sin. And when he comes for us, when we die or when he comes again, his second coming, he's going to save us from the very presence of sin because he's going to take us to be with him where there is no sin. But also he saves us from the power of sin.

The power of sin doesn't save us that we would continue in sin, but he saves us from the power of sin, and that's what I believe the apostle refers to first of all here. Brethren, you have been called unto liberty, liberty from the bondage of sin, and not only from the bondage of sin, but from Satan.

I don't think people understand this as well as we should, most people. But according to Ephesians chapter 2, look over here back a few pages, chapter 2. And he's referring to believers who've been saved, but look at their condition in chapter 2. Verse 1, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world.

Now notice, according to the prince of the power of the air. Who's that? That's Satan. That's Satan. He's talking about all men here, who before they're called, before they're quickened and given life. Walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Who are the children of disobedience? Those who do not believe the gospel. The spirit worketh in them, the evil spirit worketh in them.

But you've been called unto liberty, freedom. He's, that verse in Luke chapter four, he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. And one of those things is to release the captives, to set the captives free. And this is the liberty Paul is speaking about, liberty from sin, liberty from the power of Satan, And liberty from the law, that's the thing that he's dealing with in the context most of all. The law, the law that bound the Israelites, that old covenant law.

Colossians 2 and verse 10 would remind us where he wrote, and you are complete in him. Complete in him. Now he does caution these believers Granted, we have been given liberty, but this liberty may be misused. It may be misused. For brethren, you have been called unto liberty only. Use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love to serve one another. Because there remains in us the flesh, the tendency to sin remains in every child of God, then we must not misuse this liberty. We should be directed in all that we do by love for Christ and a love for each other. Verse 14.

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now, the part of the law which we refer to as the moral commandments, Christ, remember, he reduced to two heads. When that lawyer asked him, what is the great commandment? And the Lord answered him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, thy soul, thy strength, thy mind, and thy being. And the second is like, unto it thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. So if you take those moral commandments, the Lord reduced them down to two heads. As the Ten Commandments, remember there was two tables. But he reduced all these commands down to one word, and that is the word love.

Now, love to God is not here, is it? For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love to God is not mentioned here, but it is implied as cause and effect. Love to God is the cause. The effect is that we love our neighbor, we love others. There cannot be one without the other. If a person loves God, he's going to love his neighbor. Remember in First John, the scripture says, how can you say you love God when you hate your brother? That's not possible. That just can't be. If a person loves his brother, he loves God. If he loves God, he loves his brother.

Brother Mahan, I was looking at his Bible class comments on this and let me give you what he said here. My love, my love for the Lord, he's speaking as a believer, as a child of God, my love for the Lord will control my personal conduct and behavior. And my love for others will control my public conduct where others are concerned.

Verse 15, but if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. This is an example of two wild animals. We've seen, I'm sure, on the Nature Channel or on Discovery Channel, you've seen these animals out in the wild and they have a nature, a fierce nature, and they begin to fight, and they fight until both of them are dead. And that's the picture, that's the example that Paul is using here. If you bite and devour one another, in this church, these brothers and sisters here, if you bite and devour one another, You need to recognize, I put it in these words, you need to recognize that this controversy that was among them concerning justification by faith, is it necessary that a person be circumcised and keep the law? If you allow these differences to continue and to squabble over this, it's just like two animals. and they fight until they're both controlled.

Love, what is he saying here? Love is the cement. Love is the cement which binds members of churches together. We are bound together. Those of us who are members of the Lincolnwood Baptist Church, we are bound together. by love, we love one another, this is our family. We're concerned, we rejoice with those that rejoice, and we weep with those who weep. This love binds us together, not our names on some book somewhere. No, it's the love that we have for each other, we have for the Lord, we have for the gospel of God's grace, and our love for each other. Love binds us together.

But you know, as Paul says here, if you allow yourselves to continue to fight, I'd say, over this controversy, and most all of us here tonight, I'm sure, have known of churches, sad to say, but true, that eventually just broke up. Why? Because they lost that love for each other. And they began to fight one another.

And the Lord just removed that candlestick. You know, that's how he refers to a church, isn't it? In Revelation chapter one and chapter two, it's a candlestick. And I've thought about the fact he, in one of his words, he said, no man lights a candle to put under a bushel. But what does he do? He lights a candle to put on the candlestick. And then later, he refers to churches as candlesticks. When God saves a person, he needs to be on the candlestick. He needs to be part of a church.

He needs to be part of a family. And this is pictured to us by sheep. Now, I've told you this many, many times. I know you probably get tired of hearing it. A sheep rancher told me one time, and he was from Australia where they have these big ranches, thousands of sheep, but he said, if you see a sheep by itself, it's either sick or lost, one or the other, because sheep are animals that just flock together. And I'd say this too, sheep need a pastor.

They do. You know if a sheep has all of its wool and it falls over on its back, it can't even get up by itself. You know that, don't you? It can't even ride itself. A sheep, sheep need a pastor. And God has put pastors in the church. All right, let's go on for 16.

This I say then, walk in the spirit, and you 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 you cannot do the things that you would. But if you be led of the spirit, you are not under the law. John Gill, his comments here I thought was interesting by the use of the word advice. His comment is, the advice the apostle thinks fit to give and which he would have observed is to walk in the spirit.

But I want you to notice in these three verses that I've just read, 16, 17, and 18, we have the spirit four times. Four times, and each time Spirit is capitalized and each time that definite article is before it, the Spirit. But we must consider this, two times it means God, the Holy Spirit, the third person in the blessed Trinity. Two times it means God, the Holy Spirit, Two times it means that new nature, that spiritual part of a child of God. Let's look through here. First, walk in the Spirit, verse 17. Now here it is, the Holy Spirit. Walk after the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the Holy Spirit inspired the Word of God. And the word of God is to be not only our rule for what we believe, but our rule for our practice. Remember that verse in Psalm 119 that is so well known. The word of God, that word is a lamp unto my, unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Walk after the spirit, take the word of God as your guide. and study it and meditate upon it, walk after the spirit, after the spirit of God. Second, we see the ongoing warfare in the child of God, the flesh and the spirit. Again, I want to mention John Gill, how he defined the flesh here. the corruption of nature, which still is in regenerate persons, and is so-called, why is it called the flesh? Because it is propagated by carnal generation, has for its object carnal things, its lusts and works are fleshy. And then he defined the spirit, the internal principle of grace in a regenerate man, and is so-called from the author of it, the spirit of God.

These two principles are contrary to each other, just like light and darkness. They're contrary. They're contrary. It can't be for light and darkness. No, light is light, and darkness is darkness. And the flesh is the flesh, and the spirit is the spirit. Remember our Lord Jesus said this in John 3, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. It'll always be flesh. It'll always be flesh. That old nature, that old man that is part of a child of God, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

The result of having these two opposite contraries in a believer is obvious because a believer of the new nature would only do good. Would only do good. That's the desire of the new nature. But it cannot always do good. Why? Because the sinful nature is still in him. And the same is true about the flesh, the sinful nature. It would always do evil. But it can't either. Why? because of the new nature, that is, the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness.

Third in these verses, the believer is led by the spirit. And notice that in verse 18. But if you be led of the spirit, you're not under the law. This is a metaphor. if you be led of the Spirit. It's like leading a blind man, taking a blind man by the hand and leading that blind man. And all of us were blind, spiritually blind, before the Lord saved us and opened up our eyes. And this is like taking a blind man and leading that man. The Holy Spirit leads us. He leads us out of sin, doesn't He?

People say, you know, I've heard of religious people talking about the Holy Spirit led us to do this and led us to do that, and yet it's contrary to the Word of God. God will never, God the Holy Spirit will never leave a child of His to do anything contrary to the Word of God. He just won't do that. This is his word.

This is the way he leads us, by his word. And it's our desire to be led by the Holy Spirit. He leads us out of the ways of sin. We don't continue in the way we lived before. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.

I'm sure every child of God here tonight, you know that when the Lord saved you, there were some things, maybe not immediately, but it wasn't long before there were some things that you knew you needed to stop doing and some things you knew you needed to do. God, the Holy Spirit's leading you. He's not gonna lead you into sin, but he leads you out of sin. He leads you to the righteousness of Christ. He leads you to the blood of Christ.

And let me just say this, we sang that hymn, and all three of the hymns we're singing tonight, first time we've sung these hymns since we started using these papers. I wanted all new hymns tonight. But that second hymn, Nothing But the Blood. What can wash away my sins?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What does that mean? We don't actually dip ourselves down into a bath of blood. What does it mean, nothing but the blood? It means that nothing but the sacrifice, the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, giving his life in our stead, That's the only way that our sins are put away. It's through his work, through him shedding his blood, the life of the flesh is in the blood, and he shed his blood, he died that we might live. And that the Holy Spirit leads us here. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Remember when our Lord washed the feet of his disciples. He came to Peter and Peter said, no, not me. And the Lord said, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part in me. And then Peter said, well, no, not just my feet, all over. And the Lord said, no, he that is clean is clean every whit.

In other words, when we first are brought into union with Christ, we're washed in the blood of Christ, all of our sins are gone. But as we walk in this world, just like those disciples, as they walked in this world, in Jerusalem, on those dirty roads, they need their feet to be washed. And we need, and it's not, and it's for our fellowship with the Lord.

You see this with children, you know, you tell your child, don't do that, and they do it anyway. What happens? Well, you send them to the room, maybe. Now there's still your child, still your son, even though he's in that other room, but he's not in fellowship with you right now. Something's going to have to, something needs to be done, right?

And the same thing is true when we confess our sins unto the Lord. Our sins are gone, I understand that. Our past sins, our present sins, our future sins, they're all gone. But our fellowship with the Lord, We must ask for his forgiveness. I've met people, you may have too, over the years that say, well, I never pray, I never ask the Lord to forgive me my sins. He did that at the cross. Well, that's true, but we do ask the Lord. And in the prayer, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And we do, as we walk in this world. It's a world of sin and pollution. We need to be cleansed that our fellowship, our communion with the Lord be restored.

Notice you're not under the law. Believers are not pressed to serve God out of fear, but we are constrained by the love of Christ to serve him. I'm just going to read verses 19 through 21. need to make any comments that are explanatory. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revilings, and such like, 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. The works of the flesh, and you see, it's not just this body, the sins that we do with this body, but it's the mind also. There's hatred and variance. So by flesh, it's not talking about the body of flesh that we live in, it's talking about the whole nature. which is corrupt. Verses 22 and 23.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. Notice it says the fruit. It doesn't say the fruits, does it? The fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, he indwells every child of God and the fruit is what he produces in us. In Hosea chapter 14, we read from me, God speaking, from me is a fruit found.

And look with me in John chapter 15, just a moment. John chapter 15 and verses 4 and 5. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can you except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. Abide in me. How do you abide in Christ? Well, he tells us there, and my word abide in you.

Back in our text, last verses in this chapter, verse 24, 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 vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. What does it mean that believers have crucified the flesh with the lust thereof? with the affections and lusts.

What does that mean? Well, look back to chapter two. Remember this verse in verse 20. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. Now, in our text he said, they that are Christ have crucified the flesh. What does that mean? Well, all of God's elect, we know that mystically we are one with Christ. And when he was crucified, we also were crucified. And in regeneration, when we're born again of the spirit of God, we're crucified by the Holy Spirit so that the flesh loses its controlling reigning power.

Before a person is saved, that's all he is, is flesh. That's all he is, that corrupt nature, that's all he is. Once he's saved, he's got a new nature, and that old nature, it remains, but it no longer reigns. As people say today, there's a new sheriff in town. There's a new sheriff in town. Now there is a spirit of God and a new nature. And that old nature remains, but it no longer reigns.

If we live, since we live in the spirit, since it is by the Holy Spirit that we are made alive, let us walk after his rule, that is the word of God. And let us love one another and confess all of us. I am what I am by the grace of God. That's our confession, isn't it? I am what I am by the grace of God. May the Lord bless his word to us here this evening. We're going to sing a last hymn.

Walk in the Spirit

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