Men I'm continuing tonight the study of Galatians and tonight I want to talk
about walking in the spirit which is a big subject in the book of Galatians but
it's also a big subject in the book of Romans and in general a lot of the stuff
that we learn about in the book of Galatians ends up being covered in the
book of Romans as well so if you've read Galatians a lot and you have questions
about anything sometimes it's good to kind of go back and forth between
Galatians and Romans to get a different take on the same type of subject but if
you would flip over to Galatians 2 we're gonna come back to Romans but I want to
start out in Galatians chapter 2 now if you remember this morning we spent the
entire sermon talking about this encounter where Paul had to correct
Peter publicly and we went into great detail about eating with the Gentiles
well right after that in Galatians 2 if you remember at the very end of the
sermon I read that verse about how we were justified by faith we're not
justified by the law and I just want to quickly say that when the Bible says
justified what does that word mean justified well what it means is to be
declared righteous and it has kind of a legal connotation to it like if you went
to a courtroom and you're declared not guilty you are justified in that sense
that is the type of meaning that the word justified has in the Bible so it
doesn't necessarily mean to make someone righteous or to make something righteous
but it means to declare them righteous now that's why when you'll be reading
through the Bible every once in a while you'll get to a place where it talks
about people justifying God or God being justified well obviously God isn't made
righteous because he is righteous he's always been righteous he doesn't need to
become righteous so when it talks about the people justified God what it's just
saying is that they declared God to be righteous or when the Bible says that
thou God might be justified you know that you might be declared to be
righteous well we are sinners and so we are guilty we have committed the crime
but yet because of our salvation through Christ Jesus we are declared righteous
from a legal standpoint we're exonerated we're let off the hook we're
pardoned we are declared to be righteous even though in our flesh what we've
actually done the deeds that we've done are not righteous the righteousness of
Christ gets imputed unto us his righteousness is put on our account and
our sins were put upon him on the cross and he died for our sins that's how this
is able to legally happen is that Jesus Christ already paid the penalty for our
sin when he died for us on the cross so that's what it means when we say we're
justified by faith or when we talk about justification by faith we're talking
about being declared righteous even though literally we're not righteous
when it comes to what we've done in our lives okay so I always grew up with this
little mnemonic trick justified is just as if I'd never sinned who's heard that
before you know or you'll hear people say grace stands for God's riches at
Christ's expense you know and these type of things you know maybe they're you've
heard them and and maybe you laugh at them or whatever but I mean they do
contain truth that being justified is just as if I'd never sinned because I'm
declared not guilty in the sight of God so with that in mind we saw that verse
in Galatians chapter 2 verse 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ what are we talking about there
we're talking about salvation right justification is talking about being
saved it's talking about getting saved going to heaven our sins are forgiven
because justification not only implies the not guilty verdict but it also
implies the escape from the punishment that that guilty verdict would have
entailed you know that if we would have been condemned we'd be going to hell but
because we're justified we have life okay condemnation leads to death
justification leads to life especially what everlasting life eternal life okay
but now I want to focus on something different okay so we're kind of moving
forward in this chapter here look what the Bible says in verse 19 of chapter 2
so just shortly after what we looked at this morning it says verse 19 for I
through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God now what does that
mean when he says I'm dead to the law and then he keeps going and he says I am
crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me so what we need to understand is that
not only is justification by faith not only are we saved by faith but also the
life that we live as Christians after we're saved we live that life by the
faith of the Son of God in fact Paul says I'm crucified with Christ Christ
liveth in me yet not I I don't even live you know Christ is living through me
Christ is living in me now what does this mean well let's go back to Romans
chapter 7 with that in mind what we just read in Galatians chapter 2 and remember
what what's Paul's whole point here in Galatians chapter 2 he's speaking
against the Judaizers they're trying to get people to eat certain food and get
circumcised and follow the law of Moses now obviously these things have nothing
to do with salvation but Paul is even going further and saying that not only
do they have to do not have to do with salvation but that also when it comes to
moving forward in your Christian life these are not things that are going to
make you a better Christian they're not gonna make you live a more righteous or
godly Christian life but rather the godly Christian life is lived by walking
in the spirit we were dead to the law we're not under the law legalistic
adherence to the Old Testament law is not going to bring us closer to God or
even make us a better person rather walking in the spirit is what is going
to make us a better person after we're saved and the righteousness of the law
is fulfilled through those who walk in the spirit now what does that mean let's
go back to Romans chapter 7 and see if we can shed some light on this remember
Paul said in Galatians chapter 2 he said I am dead let me find the place here so
I don't quote it wrong he said I through the law am dead to the law so he
said I'm dead to the law look at Romans 7 we'll find the same thing know ye not
brethren for I speak to them that know the law how that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth verse 2 of Romans 7 for the woman which hath
unhusband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth but if the
husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband so we see that
marriage is till death do us part it is not eternal we're not Mormons we don't
believe that we're going to go to heaven and be married eternally and and have
spirit babies and populate our own planet somewhere we don't believe in an
eternal marriage the marriages that we have on this earth are just until death
and once death comes of one party or the other that marriage is over and you end
up marrying someone else if that's your situation and so it says that she's
bound to the law to her husband so long as he liveth but if the husband be dead
she's loosed from the law of her husband verse 3 so then if while her husband
liveth she'd be married to another man she shall be called an adulterous but if
her husband be dead she's free from that law so that she's no adulterous though
she'd be married to another man so the Bible is saying look if a woman marries
another dude while the first dude still alive she's called an adulterous that's
why Jesus said if you put away your wife and marry another you're committing
adultery if you put away your wife saving for the
cause of fornication it says you're causing her to commit adultery because
if she ends up marrying another dude that's considered adultery in God's
sight but if her husband's dead she's loosed from the law of her husband she
may be married to another man and she's not an adulterous in that situation
verse 4 wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law isn't that
exactly what he said in Galatians 2 he said I'm dead to the law well here he
says the same thing about us as believers he's speaking to those in Rome
obviously we're in the same boat he says you're dead to the law by the body of
Christ that you should be married to another even to him who is raised from
the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God so the Bible says that we
who are saved we who believe in Jesus Christ are dead to the law so that we
could be married to Christ now you can see why in Galatians the Apostle Paul so
horrified about people wanting to go back under the Mosaic law go back and
get circumcised go back and eat kosher food because you know what it's like
it's like as if a woman you know is going back to like a previous husband or
something right and it's it's something awful obviously and that's why God is
saying you know we're dead to the law we're married to another now it's Christ
okay and so you can't do both you can't do both the Old Testament Mosaic law and
Christ you don't do both you're either with the law or you're with Christ just
as a woman is not going to be married to two different dudes that's what the
Bible is saying here look at verse number five for when we were in the
flesh now we'd be talking about what when we're in the flesh we're talking
about before we were saved right because before you're saved you're just in the
flesh after you're saved you have the Spirit and you still have the flesh so
now it's a mix it's back and forth you know you have the choice are you going
to walk in the flesh you're going to walk in the Spirit but before you're
saved it's just you just walking in the flesh because the Spirit is dead when we
were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our
members to bring forth fruit unto death our members are talking about our limbs
our body parts our flesh but now we are delivered from the law that being dead
wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in
the oldness of the letter so we're delivered from the law what does that
mean to be delivered from the law well we're delivered from the curse of the
law because cursed is everyone who does not continue and all the things that are
written in this book of the law to do them we're delivered from that curse
were delivered from the condemnation that the law implies and even
explicitly states and so we are now married to Christ we're not with the law
anymore and now we're serving God in newness of spirit not in the oldness of
the letter right the Bible says elsewhere in 2nd Corinthians the letter
killeth but the Spirit giveth life okay so it's not about following the letter
of the Old Testament law it's now about walking in the spirit and thus
fulfilling the righteousness of the law automatically by walking in the spirit
you see if you walk in the spirit you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh and
you will end up automatically doing the things that the law teaches whereas the
person who is in the flesh and just striving to follow those Old Testament
laws that person is going to fail so ironically the person who is not under
the law which is the New Testament Christian ends up being objectively more
righteous than the guy who's under the law slavishly trying to follow those
rules and legalistically following the letter of the law the guy who serves in
newness of spirit ironically ends up fulfilling more of the righteousness
found in the law even though his goal is not all I gotta follow this law I gotta
go by the letter of the law he's just walking in the spirit and ends up doing
more of the law just by nature just just by walking in the spirit just by
walking in love and following Christ he ends up doing more of the righteousness
of the law than the guy who's just really into the Torah and the law it's
ironic but that's what the Bible is teaching it's true we should serve in
newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter what shall we say then is
the law sin God forbid nay I had not known sin but by the law for I had not
no lust except the law it said thou shall not covet but sin taking occasion
by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the
law sin was dead for I was alive without the law once but when the commandment
came sin revived and I died and the commandment which was ordained to life I
found to be unto death and what he's saying is that you know when he was a
baby or a toddler when he was a little child he was alive once meaning that
he's in a state of innocence and so this is by the way part of the reason why
babies go to heaven when they die because they're in a state of innocence
they're like Adam and Eve before they ate the fruit they don't know that
they're naked they don't care they're just in a state of innocence they don't
fully understand right from wrong and these things and so once they understand
the commandment once they understand right and wrong then they basically come
to a point where they're accountable their their spirit dies now that they
are unknowing sinner and then the only way to resurrect that spirit is later to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved so that's what he means when he
says I was alive without the law once but then the commandment came sin
revived and I died the commandment which was ordained to life there's nothing
it's not that the law is bad or since the law is good but because of the
weakness of our flesh the law ends up being a killer instead of being a life
giver because it ends up exposing our sin and just causing us even to sin okay
and so the Bible says sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me
and by it slew me wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just
and good there's nothing with the wrong with the law the law of the Lord's
perfect God's law is perfect in every way that's not the issue Paul's making
sure we don't misunderstand this the law is holy and the commandment holy and
just and good was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid but
sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that
sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful for we know that the
law is spiritual but I'm carnal sold under sin and I'm not going to read this
part in Romans 7 about the struggle between good and evil that we all face
and so forth it's a wonderful passage one of my favorite passages but that's
another sermon that shall be preached another time jump to chapter 8 that's
not the subject of tonight's sermon chapter 8 says in verse 1 there is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not
after the flesh but after the Spirit for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death for what the law could not
do and that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh now what is
it that the law could not do what was the law not able to do well one thing
that the law was not able to do that the law was not able to save us in fact Paul
said in Galatians that if there had been a law that could have saved us you know
then righteousness would have been by the law if there would have been a law
that could have conferred righteousness but it can't so the law can't save us
but not only that not only can the law not justify us in the sight of God and
get us into heaven but the law also cannot make us into the godly righteous
person that God wants us to be because actually a superior way to get to that
destination is through the Holy Spirit through the New Testament Christian
experience of being saved having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit walking in
the spirit and following Christ actually gets us further down that road of
righteousness because look what the Bible says in the next verse it says in
verse 4 that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirits if we walk in the spirit we end
up fulfilling the righteousness of the law and that's something the law
couldn't do the law couldn't produce people who followed it right it just
kept producing law breakers whereas the Holy Spirit Christ and the New Testament
Christianity has allowed the law to be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit for they that are after the flesh do mind the things
of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit for to
be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace
because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the
law of God neither indeed can be so you've got the unregenerate person the
unsaved person the carnal mind not saved not regenerate and what happens they
start following the Old Testament laws of God they're not able to they cannot
bring their carnal mind into this objection to the laws of God it's not
going to work and so that's why the Jews which have this perfect law that was
given to Moses on Mount Sinai directly from God and if I went to a Jewish
synagogue they're gonna be reading the same exact Old Testament that you and I
have right in front of us in our lap right now so isn't it interesting that
the Jews end up being some of the most ungodly unrighteous unethical and
immoral people that there are how does that compute because you'd expect to
have this righteous law from Mount Sinai that they would be so loving and so
godly and so helpful everyone would be the bait would be begging throughout the
Middle Ages begging to have them in their country in 1492 Spain would be
wanting to import more Jews you know and and basically like all throughout the
Middle Ages you have all these countries kicking out all the Jews why why is it
that if we looked at the pornography industry or Hollywood or human
trafficking we would find so many Jews behind it okay and why is it that the
Jews of Hollywood are always promoting ungodliness immorality and even just
Jews that we know in our everyday life they're not teaching things like be a
virgin when you get married you know don't drink live a clean life you know
they're out doing the things that God condemns and they're immoral and and
they're what do they have a reputation for they have a reputation for the love
of money this is not the righteousness found in the law why is that because the
carnal mind is enmity against God it is simply because the Jews don't believe in
Jesus and if the Jews don't believe in Jesus they're unregenerate they're not
justified they're not saved and they don't have the spirit they're carnally
minded and it's impossible for them to be subject to the law of God now some
some fundamentalist Baptists will come along and try to tell you that oh well
you know you're just thinking about liberal Jews but you know there's these
really conservative Jews over there you know the Hasidic Jews or the Orthodox
I don't care what kind of Jews they are they cannot be subject to the law of God
because the Bible says that they cannot be subject to the law of God well there's
some Jews that really do keep the law no they don't there's not a Jew on this
planet that keeps the law because the Bible says that the Jews don't keep the
law because the carnal mind can't be subject to the law of God you said well
I know they don't keep it perfectly they don't keep it at all the carnal mind
can't be subject to the law of God the carnal mind is enmity against God it
cannot be brought into subjection of the laws of God that's what the Bible says
it says it's not subject to the law of God verse 7 neither indeed can be it's
impossible to have a law-abiding Jew because they're not saved they don't
believe in Christ and when I say lie I'm not saying they don't follow the speed
limit or you know the the laws of the United States I'm saying law-abiding as
in God's laws okay so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God and
look I'm picking on the Jews but we could say the same thing about Muslims
we can say the same thing about the Buddhist the Hindu the atheist the Roman
Catholic anybody who's unregenerate anybody who's not saved is an enemy of
God and is not subject to the laws of God now of course we want to get those
people saved so that we can break down that enmity between them and God and
have them reconciled to God that's the goal they they're in the flesh cannot
please God but you're not in the flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he's
none of his so everybody who's saved has the Spirit and if Christ be in you the
body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness
but if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his
spirit that dwells in you therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh
to live after the flesh for if you live after the flesh you shall die but if you
live or if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body you shall
live okay now if you would jump back to chapter 6 in Romans and we'll find these
famous words in Romans 6 because of course in chapter 1 or excuse me chapter
6 verse 1 it says what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound God forbid obviously we shouldn't just sin because we're not under the law
but under grace we shouldn't just sin more so that grace may about but if we
go down to verse 15 he asked a similar question less famous but just important
what then verse 15 shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace
God forbid know ye not that to whom ye yield yourself servants to obey his
servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience
unto righteousness but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin but
you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you
being then made free from sin you became the servants of righteousness now if you
would flip back to Galatians with all that in mind so I know that that was
kind of maybe a little bit overwhelming because we're looking at all this heavy
stuff from Romans 6 and 7 and 8 and it's kind of a lot to digest because the
Bible is so deep especially in those particular passages but here is what I'm
trying to get across to you tonight is that we're dead to the law we're not to
serve in the oldness of the letter we're to serve in the newness of the Spirit
it's God's Holy Spirit that enables us to live a righteous life not just
striving to follow the rules found in the Old Testament even the ones that
don't even apply to the New Testament some kind of a carnal work of cutting
our flesh or eating a certain food or blowing a trumpet or following a certain
calendar is not going to do anything toward our salvation but it's also not
going to do anything toward our sanctification it's not going to do
anything toward living a godly life because the key to living the godly life
is walking in the spirit by which you just end up fulfilling the works of the
law without even necessarily specifically trying to follow the law
you see if you walk in the spirit you're not under the law why because you don't
need the law the law is not made for a righteous man the law is made for the
lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profane
for murderers of fathers murderers of mothers men stealers for whoremongers
they that you know defile themselves of mankind liars perjured persons that's
who the law is made for the law is not made for a righteous man the righteous
man doesn't need the law righteous people don't need a bunch of rules a
bunch of strict rules being broken down to them telling them do this don't do
that righteous people don't need that you see laws are typically added because
of transgressions if we were for example in our family to have kids that
are constantly doing the right things we'd probably need very few rules in our
house but then as they do more and dream up things that we never could have
thought of now listen they're all these new rules you know it goes the same
thing at school you know school has you know a 60 page rule book but next year
it's gonna be 61 because of all the things that the kids dream up this year
to do and you know I mean it's sometimes it's hilarious to read school rule books
because the rules are oh wait I got a better example we were out on the road
trip we went to a gym in Spokane Washington and everywhere all over the
gym there were these signs saying like you're not allowed to exercise naked and
it did not seem like a joke it was saying like you have to be clothed and
it showed like this is what we mean by clothed and it showed like an outline of
somebody naked it's like circle line through it and but I mean they were
definitely serious and these signs are all over the place telling you like you
have to wear clothes to this gym and you're kind of like what happened here
you know like what because you know that that didn't just come out of a vacuum
it's not just well I know an important rule we need to have but you see here's
the thing laws get added because of transgressions I mean you know why did
God put the death penalty on murder because originally when God created the
world there was no death penalty on murder but what happened the Lord became
filled with violence and then God's like okay death penalty on murder right and
and so you know this gym here's this gym just going along and they you know all
of a sudden some dude starts working out naked all of a sudden all right we got a
new rule folks you got to wear clothes to this gym why do we need that rule
because somebody did it the law is not made for right Smith now listen do you
think that my nephew and I needed that sign do you think that that sign edified
us in any way or or or made us a better gym user were we better gym users
because we looked at that sign no we did by nature the things contained in that
law we didn't need somebody to sit there and spell that law it does we
didn't need to be like all right let's read the rule book let's we got to do
all these rules you know we just knew to show up with clothes on because we were
walking in the the the proper workout spirit okay so look if you would and I
hope that that illustration helps you understand a little bit how the law is
made for the unrighteous man it's made for some weird nudist it's not made for
the guy who comes dressed anyway he doesn't need that law you know we have
laws in our society against drugs those laws don't affect me at all it's not
like oh I was gonna use drugs but then ah it's against the law you know I was
gonna bring my gun into that school and this ah it's a gun-free zone you know I
was gonna smoke crack but turns out you're not gonna believe this smoking
cracks illegal is that what keeps me from smoking crack no well listen the
godly Christian does what's right not because the law told him but because
he's walking in the spirit anyway and so he's fulfilling the righteousness of the
law because God's spirit is working in him and guiding him in the way that he
should go you see if we're led by the spirit we don't we're not under the law
if we're led by the spirit we're not gonna fulfill the lust of the flesh
we're gonna do what's right so if you really want to go to a higher level
spiritually it's not by getting more into the rules and following more rules
what it what it's actually about is walking with God being filled with the
Holy Spirit then you'll see yourself being more righteous and and here's the
thing your life will line up with the laws about you'll fulfill the righteousness
of the law but not by following the law by walking in the spirit I hope you
understand the distinction there so back to Galatians with that in mind let's go
over to Galatians chapter 5 Galatians chapter number 5 and we could talk about
chapter 3 as well but I'd rather just jump right into chapter 5 here but he
says in chapter 5 verse number 13 for brethren you've been called unto liberty
right you're not under the bondage of the law you're called unto liberty only
use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another now
again let's go back to our illustration that we've been using the last few
sermons about children living at home versus moving out okay when you move out
there's liberty right I mean theoretically when you're a kid this is
what you say man when I grow up I'm gonna move out and I'm just gonna just
party all the time and it's just gonna be ice cream whenever I want and it's
gonna be just staying up late and just video games and just people are
constantly becoming over you know that's what you have in mind because you're
immature child and that kind of proves that you need all those rules the fact
that you're thinking that way shows hey you belong at home with somebody telling
you to brush your teeth and you know eat your vegetables and don't skip the ice
cream or I mean you know skip the ice cream or whatever okay but the thing is
that when you do finally move out all of a sudden you have all the slippery and
here's what ends up happening if you're actually a mature adult like you should
be you end up not doing all that stuff you said you would do as a kid you end
up moving out and being just as responsible and you're still kind of
living a similar life that you were living at home and things don't end up
changing that much because at home yeah your parents are enforcing all these
rules but when you become an adult you become mature and you have character you
know what you start doing you start enforcing rules on yourself right and in
fact I would say that I enforce more rules on myself now than my parents ever
enforced on me when I was a kid you know I'm stricter with myself than they were
with me when I was a kid now obviously it's dip but but would I say that I have
more freedom now of course I have more freedom freedom is not living a life of
no rules freedom is living a life where you basically are choosing to follow the
rules that you're choosing to follow as an adult like like I decide when I get
up and go to bed it doesn't mean I just get up whenever it just means mom's not
telling me I'm making that decision it doesn't mean eating and drinking
whatever it just means I'm making that decision so freedom is not anarchy
freedom is not no rules freedom is following the rules that you decide to
follow right now when we talk about Liberty specifically in a biblical sense
what do we mean by Liberty well just as if a young person you know becomes an
adult and moves out of the house there's freedom there we would say to our child
we would say you know what you have Liberty now but don't use this Liberty
as an occasion for the flesh right we would say look I know you're moving out
on your own but I hope you're not going to use this freedom to just do
everything we told you not to do hopefully you're gonna use this freedom
to serve God and to be a godly adult and to love the Lord and to do good things
and use your Liberty not as an occasion to just gratify your flesh with ice
cream or even you know bad things like like alcohol and drugs and fornication
but that rather you would want to serve Christ with your Liberty and use your
Liberty to serve Christ because you want to not because you have to but when it
comes to this Christian Liberty where he says brethren you've been called to
Liberty we've graduated from the law into the New Testament so the law is no
longer a thing in the New Testament right we're dead to the law and we're
married to another we're married to Christ so we can bring forth freedom to
God so being dead to the law being delivered from the law no longer being
under the schoolmaster of the law there's a certain Liberty there that
says hey I don't have to follow all these rules that are in the law I don't
have to sit there and bathe my flesh in water and be unclean until the even I
don't have to eat all these specific foods I don't have to go to these feasts
three times a year I don't have to do animal sacrifices I don't have to go
through all these things like I don't have to worry about any of that stuff I
can just I can just follow Christ and just there's a Liberty of not having the
Old Testament law hanging over me as like this is what I have to follow okay
but should I use that Liberty as an occasion for the flesh and say well hey
I'm free in Christ so I can just do whatever I want now this teaching is out
there sometimes this teaching is known as like a hyper grace teaching I don't
know if you've heard that term before but there's a hyper grace teaching
that's out there and what it means is that people are saying we are free in
Christ so therefore everything's allowed now and if anybody tells you not to do
this or not to do that they're bringing you under law they're bringing you under
bondage we should really just kind of just do whatever and just follow the
spirits leading now here's the thing obviously there's a lot of truth to that
but every lie is a mix of truth and error it is true that the more we're
walking in the spirit the less we're worrying about rules this is true but
the reason why this is a fraud is because if you then look at the people
who are promoting this they will say hey it's not about the law it's not about
rules we're free in Christ let's just walk in the spirit and we don't have to
no issue but then you see these people they're out there drinking they're
getting tattoos they're partying they're you know doing things that the Bible
says not to do they might be even living in fornication or something and they'll
basically just do that all under the guise of well I'm free in Christ so no
one can judge me and you know I'm walking in the spirit and what they're
using is they're using Liberty as a cloak of maliciousness and let's look
what the Bible says here it says use not Liberty for an occasion to the flesh but
by love serve one another so so you can't just say well I'm free in Christ
I'm not under the law and then become a glutton I'm free in Christ I'm not under
the law and then become a drunkard oh I'm free in Christ I'm not under the law
commit fornication and say well my girlfriend and I we love each other and
I mean we're you know it's it's all so pure and right and we love each other
it's okay for us to sleep together even though we're not married because I mean
we're free of Christ you know don't try to bring us under law folks that is a
lie because the Bible says don't use Liberty as an occasion to the flesh but
by love serve one another for and we're gonna get to this in a moment the proof
that that is not legitimate it says for all the law is fulfilled in one word
even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself but if you bite and
devour one another take heed that you be not consume one another this I say then
walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh so let me
ask you this if a person says they're walking in the spirit but is fulfilling
the lust of the flesh are they telling the truth no so first like well I I'm
not under the law I'm free in Christ I'm walking in the spirit don't come at me
with all these rules it's like wait a minute you're proving that you're not
walking in the spirit by violating all of these clear commandments in the
Bible of what's right and what's wrong the point is to walk in the spirit so
that you naturally fulfill the law not oh I'm in the spirit now so let's go
break all the rules okay that's a misunderstanding of what Paul's teaching
he says the flesh lusted 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're not under the law now the
works of the flesh are manifest now what does manifest mean manifest means that
they're open exposed obvious apparent right they're manifest they're not
hidden they're out there for us to see the works of the flesh are and what's
the very first one that's listed adultery so how can anyone possibly make
the case oh I'm walking in the spirit and they're committing adultery it's
absurd because that's manifestly clearly a work of the flesh adultery fornication
so if you've got people saying well you know because we're free in Christ
premarital sex is okay because we're free in Christ and you know it's not
about rules not about do's and don'ts you know what they're doing they're
using Liberty as an occasion for the flesh and now what are they doing
they're proving that they are not walking in the spirit they're not
following Christ by doing that so this is the caution that we have to be
careful of when we talk about how hey we you know we walk in the spirit we're not
under the law we don't need to worry about rules as far as advancing to the
next level of Christianity we need to worry more about walking in the spirit
walking with God following Christ that's gonna lead us to a more righteous life
we want to caution with the fact that hey wait a minute I can do a little
self-check and if my life is characterized by adultery fornication
uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations
wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revelings and such
like even anything like that that shows that I'm not walking in spirit if that's
the kind of life that I'm leading and then he says of the which I tell you
before as I've also told you in time past that they which do such things
should not inherit the kingdom of God you see flesh will not inherit the
kingdom of God flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God okay we are
gonna go to heaven someday but it's not gonna be in our flesh it's gonna be the
new man that goes to heaven the old man's gonna be dead now eventually our
flesh will be resurrected and it'll be a brand new body but this sinful flesh
right here is never gonna go to heaven my soul and spirit are gonna go to
heaven but this body is gonna be left on this earth and then someday this body
will be transformed into a new body that will go to heaven and so the Bible says
that that basically these are the works of the flesh these are the things that
the unregenerate man has a tendency to do these are the things that we all have
a tendency to do because even though we're saved we still have the flesh so
these are the type of things we have to watch out for all of the things on this
list even things like murder that we think well I would never do that well
you know we all do have the tendency within our flesh where we could go down
these various roads theoretically under certain circumstances where we could be
tempted to to be drunk or or murderer or get envious or or be a person who's
characterized by strife or a hateful person and look obviously there's a time
for love and a time to hate but then there's just hateful people you know and
and hatred is not something that should just be characterizing who we are neither
should anger no there's a there's a place for a righteous anger but let's
face it in general angry people are not right with God wrath is a work of the
flesh right hatred and wrath in general are works of the flesh are there times
where there's a righteous wrath or a righteous hatred absolutely but guess
what ninety some percent of our hatred and wrath is not legitimate and it's a
sign that we're walking in the flesh when we're mad all the time which is why
the Bible says not to make friends with an angry person so that you don't learn
their ways so that they don't rub off on you and you become this angry person
who's mad all the time have you ever met these people that just Monday they're
mad and then it turns out they're mad on Tuesday as well and Wednesday and
Thursday and you know what it's everybody has a bad day everybody gets
mad I mean if you said well I've never been mad I would just be like what
weirdo like what what's wrong with you or you're just lying or so or I just
think you're weird like everybody gets mad but what about people are just mad
every day is that a righteous attribute the wrath of man work is not the
righteousness of God now I'm not saying that it's not right to get angry
sometimes because the Bible does say be angry and sin not God is angry but if we
are going through life day after day Matt it's like you lose the privilege of
being mad if you're doing it every day you can't be like oh I'm having a bad
day today and then it's like I'm having a bad day it's like if you're having a
bad day every day well then you you lost approach you're not allowed to have bad
days anymore I'm not kidding right now like hey you're allowed to have a bad
day sometimes but if it's every day and you're just having a bad life well guess
what that's not allowed you better perk up or you're gonna be in trouble okay it
is not right to go through life angry it is not light right to just be seething
with hatred it is not right to do any of these things and go through life what
it whether it's just uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft
hatred variants emulations you know you're constantly envying other people
that's what emulations has to do with envying people and and wanting to like
emulate it we think about the word emulating someone is like mimicking them
or copying them you know it's like it's like wanting to be them in a sense
variants and strife you're just constantly fighting with everyone you
can't get along with anyone all of these things drunkenness revelings and
anything like these things these are the works of the flesh these are the things
that we should not be doing and if we're walking in the spirit we're not going to
be doing these things so if you're if this is you if you're finding yourself
on this list what's the answer I mean if you look at this list and you say that's
me you know whatever on though it could be anything on this list or even just
something that's not on the list but you feel like it would fit in on this list
because he said and such like if you find anything on this list what's the
answer how do you fix it do you fix it by just saying I'm not gonna be angry
I'm not gonna be do you put post-it notes everywhere like smile don't get
mad is that is it just by deciding not to get angry no really what it's about
is walking in the spirit you know what you're gonna find is that the closer
that you draw to Christ the more that you're filled with the Holy Spirit the
more that you put on the new man you know what you're gonna find is that
you're not as angry anymore you know what you're gonna find you're not as
hateful anymore you know what you're gonna find is that you know you're not
lusting as much as you were you know and then eventually you can get the victory
over these sins in your life now look you're never gonna be perfect and so I
don't want you to misunderstand this why because you're never gonna be walking in
the spirit 24-7 now if you could walk in the spirit 24-7 you would be perfect but
saying that you're doing that is heresy because the Bible is clear that
everybody struggles with this every day okay so obviously as we go through our
Christian lives wouldn't you say it's that if we've been saved for one year
versus one week shouldn't we be more godly after that year than we were after
a week and shouldn't we five years later be more godly or ten years later be more
godly right the idea is that we're growing in grace and in the knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that we're becoming more Christlike and
that we're becoming more spiritual right but how is it that we're doing that is
it because we're just getting better at ticking the boxes of following the rules
is it because we're focused on the laws and focused on the rules or is it
because we love Christ and because we're just soaking up the Word of God and we're
walking in the spirit and we're praying in the Holy Ghost and we're singing
Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs look that is how we overcome the flesh
in our lives okay and we talked about it recently how some of our bad behavior is
literally even just biologically programmed into our flesh and we could
use that as excuse and just say well I'm a man of course I'm just gonna wanna be
with all these women or something that's just the way it is that's just how men
are but you know does that does that fly does that excuse fly with God well
this is just who I am I mean you're the one who made me biologically to just
lust after all these women I mean you programmed me this way God look God
expects us to do what to walk in the spirit and transcend the flesh mortify
the flesh crucify the flesh so of course the old man look if you're a man here
tonight and you just find yourself constantly lusting after beautiful women
all the time you're not weird you're a normal man because guess what that's how
men are now women might be horrified to hear that but that's kind of how men are
that's kind of how men's brains are wired to think now it's getting kind of
quiet in here so I hope I'm not the only one okay I'm just saying this is the way
men think but guess what that is no excuse for allowing yourself to be that
way somebody understand what I'm saying now
you could sit there and say well everybody's doing it and you could say
well you know that's like you know asking me not to think that way or
asking me not to feast my eyes upon those things you know that's just like
asking the Sun not to come out in the morning or something that's just like
asking water not to freeze when it hits 32 degrees Fahrenheit that's just like
asking you know an apple to not fall to the ground when I drop it it's just
nature it's just biology it's the way our brains are wired it's our physical
you know whatever but here's the thing about that is that this flesh news flash
this flesh is a sinner okay and you know what the works of the foot what do you
think it's a coincidence that the very first work of the flesh is what first
thing adultery second thing fornication third thing uncleanness fourth thing
lasciviousness those four things are all the same thing he's like work of the
flesh number one sex two sex three sex number four work of the flesh you're not
gonna believe this it's also sex right I mean that's basically what he's saying
now if this were not a temptation that is common to man then why would he write
an epistle to the Galatians and say here let me warn you about the works of the
flesh adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness and make no mistake
uncleanness and lasciviousness are also related to fornication adultery if that
were not a big deal if that were not a thing that lots of men are struggling
with if that were not a thing that men were according to their flesh having a
propensity to do then why would it be listed as the first four things in a row
stop and think about that my friend but is that an excuse to indulge in that and
you know we could we could you know we talk about that with men because that's
a sin that men tend to struggle with more than women but we can flip this
thing over and we can talk about the sins that women are biologically
inclined to do or even just the sins that women tend to indulge in and we
could say the exact same thing don't use that as an excuse well because you know
what let me tell you something that I've noticed about women is that women tend
to have this propensity to not forget anything and be bitter about stuff that
happened five years ago ten years ago 15 years ago 20 years ago and you know what
that is super wicked it's ungodly it's one of the most non-christian things you
could ever do because Christianity is all about forgiveness Jesus Christ is
all about forgiveness his mercies are new every morning how wicked is it to
sit around thinking about people's crimes from the past but yet women tend
to doubt time in fact they make some of the best archaeologists because they're
so good at digging up the past and so here's the thing you know we could you
can just say well you know that's just how I think is I'm a woman look at all
the other women doing the same thing I'm just being like a woman you know you're
telling water not to be wet it's like telling the sky to stop being blue this
is who I am then change walk in the spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of
the flesh because by the way the works of the flesh it's not just a bunch of
sordid fornication and adultery and uncleanness and lasciviousness oh no it
also involves a lot of things that are just going on in your brain because
guess what emulations are taking place in your brain wrath is taking place in
your brain okay variance is taking place in your brain these are evil thoughts
and when Jesus talked about the the sinful things that come out of the man's
heart and defile him it's similar to the idea of the works of the flesh and what
are these that you know one of the things is evil thoughts right blasphemy
pride foolishness evil thought so look it's not just about fornication
adultery that's obviously works of the flesh but you know what it's also a work
of the flesh when you're bitter and you're hateful and you have all this
wrath and you have all this anger in your mind and you have all these
emulations in your mind and you're all bitter and non forgiving and hateful and
wrathful and vengeful and vindictive and you're remembering all this stuff that
you should have forgiven and forgotten you know what that's just as wicked and
again you can blame biology and say well you know it's just the way women are
you know what you can transcend that by walking in the spirit you know just as
much as men need to transcend the lust for women women need to transcend their
negative proclivities as well we all have bad tendencies and you know that's
it we could name other sins we could we could you know we could be here all
night talking about the sins that men are guilty of the sins that women are
guilty of the sins that both parties are guilty of you know but but and look the
reason I know I made you uncomfortable earlier when I brought up you know the
way that men think but you know the reason that I bring that up is because
of the fact that a lot of a lot of dudes you know they think they're like unique
or something like well you don't understand the struggle oh yeah
everybody is having that same struggle because there's no temptation taking you
but such as is common to man that's what the Bible says so yeah it is common to
man and so everybody's dealing with the same thing so it's not like just oh well
you don't understand you know the way that I feel it's like well everybody
else is human and we're all in a similar boat okay and yet we are to walk in the
spirit and transcend these type of cravings you know I mean and and look
and you know what by the way I know what it's like I know what it's like to to
crave food and be a glutton you say all skinny pastor up here you know preaching
about this but you know what you don't think I crave junk food just you know do
other men crave junk food and I burn not let me tell you something you know we
all crave to eat the wrong things you just don't understand past yeah I do and
you know what even if I don't you know who does Jesus does cuz he was tempted
at all points like as we are yeah without sin Jesus Christ turned down the
wrong foods in his life I mean can you imagine if Jesus Christ would have been
like the the the laughing smiling Chinese Buddha I mean what was I mean
think about cuz the you know the real Buddha wasn't the fat guy Buddha is the
guy with the the snails all over his head in the long ears but there's this
other Chinese laughing Buddha who came later who's the smiling fat guy who
knows what I'm talking about the fat smiling Chinese Buddha right he's not
the original Buddha okay just clarifying that not that it matters because they're
all in hell but you know I understand that artwork about Jesus is not accurate
but I've never seen an obese Christ dying on the cross in any artwork I've
never seen a flannel graph where you know it had to be like two sheets of the
final graph in order to cut it out because it was so big do you think that
Jesus Christ just had he was abused blessed with that magical metabolism
that I have right cuz I have a magic metabolism right no I don't it's called
skipping meals exercising and eating healthy okay and here's the thing Jesus
Christ he had to pass up now he didn't have all the fast food temptations that
we have but I guarantee you that he passed up temptations of food temptations
of drink in fact last time I checked the people who plunged the whole human race
into sin was because they ate food that they weren't supposed to eat right is
that is not what happened in Genesis chapter 3 the fall of mankind so guess
what we're all craving junk food right all men are tempted with thoughts of
fornication and adultery and lascivious ness and uncleanness right all women
have a bad attitude you know if they're not walking in the spirit and are all
bitter and and vindictive and malicious and hateful vindictive wrathful filled
with strife look look one of the works of the flesh is strife what did the
Bible talk about in Proverbs the most the contentious woman so hmm is the
contentious woman walking in the spirit is the lascivious dude walking on his
bed no is the spirit leading you to drunkenness and gluttony no look I
understand that the cravings are strong in many of these areas but if we walk in
the spirit we can overcome these things getting circumcised is not going to help
skipping pork and shellfish is not going to help blowing a shofar is not
going to help okay I got to hurry up because I'm out of time I hope that the
sermon I hope you're getting something out of the sermon tonight because I feel
like this is such an important truth if we could grasp it it's it's hard for us
to grasp because it's kind of a high-level truth but you know I'm
preaching to you tonight some high-level truth here because I want you to be able
to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but it
says here but the fruit of the Spirit verse 22 so if we walk in the Spirit the
fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness
faith meekness temperance against such there is no law what the Bible saying is
that if we walk in the Spirit these attributes will keep us from breaking
any of God's laws I mean think about how can you is it possible let me put you
this way is it possible for me to be filled with love joy peace long
suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance and break one of
God's laws at the same time how could I because if I'm being gluttonous or a
drunkard that's not temperance what's temperance self-control right if I'm
indulging in the lust of fornication or adultery is that temperance no it isn't
is it if I'm doing anything that harms anyone else in any way that's not love
if I'm walking around filled with wrath and and hatred and strife is that joy
no if I'm filled with emulations and variance is that peace is sedition
variance and emulation peace strife is strife peace no you see if I have love
and joy and peace long-suffering am I gonna be filled with wrath and anger and
hatred if I'm long-suffering no because I'm willing to put up with a lot you
know someone with a really short fuse that person isn't walking in the spirit
the person who walks in the spirit is long-suffering now I'm not saying that
they never walk in the spirit but at that moment you know they're not walking
in the spirit at that moment if they ill legitimately there's a legitimate flying
off the handle but if it's an illegitimate flying off the handle
that's not the spirit gentleness goodness faith you know and and how does
faith come into the picture you know if I'm trusting God then there's so many
sins I'm just not gonna commit because I'm just trusting God you know oh I you
know what I need this I have to go steal it I should trust God that God's gonna
provide everything I need how could I steal if I'm trusting God to provide all
my needs because I'm trusting God to provide all my needs then how can I
steal it because if I don't have it I must not need it because I have faith
in God to provide my needs right and look if you're a teenager and and you
know a big reason why I didn't commit fornication as a teenager you want to
know why faith I'll tell you why because I believed that God was right when he
said that we should not commit that act outside of marriage and I believed that
and I was like you know I don't understand it I don't think it would be
a big deal if I got physical and did these things with with with my
girlfriend or whatever but I was like you know what the Bible says fornication
super wicked like I just got trust God that he's right about this and I'm just
gonna follow God's and I had the faith to know that God was serious when he
said that he would punish me if I went out and did that kind of stuff and I
didn't want God to kick my butt and so I didn't do it but you know a lot of that
was faith just trusting God's Word just try even if I didn't understand
everything because guess what teenagers don't understand everything they they
they think they do sometimes but they don't 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's also walk in the spirit
right so it's not automatic that we're gonna be walking in the spirit we're
living in the spirit we need to walk in the spirit okay and so I hope that the
message made sense to you tonight bottom line is this if you want to sin less
walk in the spirit more don't just focus on not gonna sin not gonna sin not gonna
sin not gonna do it rather why don't you focus on just getting closer to God
more church more Bible reading more prayer more just thinking about the Lord
and more meditating on the cross of Jesus Christ think about the cross think
about his resurrection think about the Word of God and you know what you're
gonna find as you're walking in the spirit you're gonna find yourself
automatically being a better person than the guy who's sitting around and just
trying to follow the rules so as far as in a word of prayer father we thank you
so much for this book of Galatians Lord I pray that we would understand these
things and put them into practice in our lives Lord help us to overcome our
sinful flesh Lord we have all of these things just ingrained in the warp and
the woof of our literal physical bodies Lord but help us to overcome them and
live a life that would please and honor and glorify you whether that's with our
bodies or with our minds help everything we do to bring honor and
glory to you and in Jesus name we pray amen