Live By The Spirit | Galatians 5:16-26

INTRODUCTION

God has called us to live a life energized and controlled by the Holy Spirit. What kind of life are you living? Are you living by your whims and fancies, a life led by the flesh or are you living by the Spirit? What are the signs of a life that is lived by the Holy Spirit?

BACKGROUND OF THE CHURCH

Paul is writing this letter to the church in the Southern Galatian region. This is the church that he established during his first missionary journey. After Paul’s visit, there were teachers from the Jerusalem church who visited this church. They compelled the new believers to follow the law of Moses and circumcision and their faith in Jesus to be a believer. So there was a conflict in these churches based on Jewish law and cultural practices versus faith in Jesus. This is why Paul is writing this letter mainly to address this issue.

Paul in Galatians chapters 1-4 says that legalism can’t even sanctify you. You are not made holy by external religious behaviours or set rules of religion. Now in Ephesians 5, Paul says that you have been given freedom in Christ to love and serve one another.

Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Only Holy Spirit can generate such a life of love and service. Freedom in Christ is not to do works of the flesh wherein you bring in divisions, strife, anger, quarrel etc. But freedom in Christ is to love and serve one another which is the life of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:16-26 ¹⁶So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Fruit of the Spirit

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

This year let us commit ourselves to be led by the Spirit which can make us holy.

What is someone like when they walk by the Spirit?

Galatians 5:16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Walking by the Spirit is walking in holiness or living a life of sanctification.

Sanctification is a life of perfect obedience to God, living in perfect love and service to one another. This is demonstrated only in Jesus Christ; only He was perfect in His love, service and obedience. That is why at the baptism the Father said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

How Do We Live Like Christ? Two Ways:

• You Have The Power In The Holy Spirit.
• You Have The Pattern In The Word Of God.

This is how we are to live. “Walk” by the Spirit, one step at a time.

Colossians 2:6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him.

Colossians 3:16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

There is a war going on there between your fallen sinful flesh that wants what it wants, and the restraining power of the Holy Spirit stopping you from going in that direction.

ILLUSTRATION

Do you remember that Lazarus was dead for 4 days? When Jesus rose from the dead, they saw a man bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said, ‘Loose him, and let him go.’ As long as the stinking grave clothes filled with decay and the stench of death clung to him, he did stink, and he was hindered in expressing his new life.

Now Lazarus offers a graphic illustration of our predicament/situation as regenerate Christians. We have been raised to walk in the newness of life. We’re still wrapped in the remnants of our fallenness. Even though we are alive from the dead, the grave clothes are still stuck to us: bound in our own grave clothes, raised, new life, but with a stench. This is the reality of your spiritual condition. However, there is a deeper and more profound issue for us than there was with Lazarus. Once it was removed and disposed of, the stench was gone. Our predicament cannot be so quickly altered. Paul says we have a body of death attached to us. Romans 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

What he is saying is that we have this body of death strapped to us, and we must exercise obedience to the Word of God, yielding our members as instruments of righteousness.

The good news, folks, is, look, the Lord knows you have a conflict. He knows that; He understands that. Thomas Watson, the English Puritan said this: “Saving faith lives in a broken heart.”

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Does it comfort you to know that God understands the struggle, doesn’t expect perfection, but has provided the Holy Spirit to move you in the right direction?

Now, Why Is Living by the Spirit Important?

1. Living by the Spirit Is Needed For Worship.

Psalm 15:1-2 ¹Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? ²The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart;

Sanctification is critical to worship God.

2. Living by the Spirit Is Needed For Witness

Matthew 6:16 Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

2 Timothy 2:21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

3. Living by the Spirit Is Needed For Prayer

Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

4. Living by the Spirit Is Needed For Spiritual Growth.

1 Peter 2:1-3 ^1`Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ²Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Why is sanctification important? Because you can’t worship, witness, work, pray, or be built up in the faith unless you are on the path of sanctification.

How are we sanctified? By walking in the Spirit.

Contrast Between The Deeds Of The Flesh And The Fruit Of The Spirit.

Ephesians 5:19-20 ¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

This is not an exhaustive list, this is a representative list.

Now Paul divides the sins that he lists there into four categories.

First Category: Sin That Defiles The Individual.

Second Category: Sins That Defile The Individual’s Relationship To God.

Third Category: Sins That Defile Human Relations.

Fourth Category: Sin Defiling Relations To Even Objects.

First Category: Sin That Defiles The Individual.

Sexual Sin. And for that, he begins with immorality, impurity, and debauchery/sensuality. These are characteristics of every human being’s evil desire. These are collective characteristics of society.

There are people today who call themselves Christians who are living together as men and women without marriage. That is the flesh, that is not the work of the Spirit. There are people who have relationships between men and men and women and women. Believers of the Lord Jesus Christ are not to live such lives. Any kind of sexual behavior outside the relationship between a husband and a wife falls into the category of sexual sins which defiles the individual.

Second Category: Sins That Defile The Individual’s Relationship To God.

Galatians 5:20 idolatry and witchcraft

Idolatry and witchcraft defile one’s relationship with the true God.

Third Category: Sins That Defile Human Relations.

Galatians 5:20b ….hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

Most of these identifications are attributed to this category of human relations.

This is human life. It just never goes away. World War II ended, and everybody was so happy that peace had come. True peace had not come when the war ceased. There was a massacre of millions of people post World War II, slaughtered just because of their ethnicity.

So that’s life in the world. That’s what happens with the flesh; that’s what it does, and that’s what it produces.

Fourth Category: Sin Defiling Relations To Even Objects.

Ephesians 5:21 drunkenness, orgies

And the illustration he gives is of the fruit of the vine that becomes fermented, verse 21, “drunkenness.” This is excessive indulgence connected to things or objects. This is what the flesh produces. And these are only samples, “things like these.” We can add on to this list based on our present things of the world.

Ephesians 5:21 I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. That’s absolute.

So How Do We Know When The Spirit Is Working?

Galatians 5:22-24 ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

The works of the flesh are singular and people can pick and choose what they want to do with their flesh. So sin is a list to choose from. However, on the other hand, the fruit of the Spirit is collective. When you’re operating in the Spirit, you don’t pick and choose fruit, it all comes, it’s a package.

The way to see these nine virtues here is like a bouquet of the most beautiful flowers.

We Can Find The Mention Of Fruit Even In The OT.

God says to Ephraim: Hosea 14:8 ..your fruitfulness comes to from me.

So God is the source of all virtue. The life of God in the believer produces spiritual fruit. So that’s the word picture here.

Psalm 1:1-3 1Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Righteous life produces spiritual fruit.

Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.

Matthew 13:9 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

How do you know when someone is a follower of Christ? They have a lot of fruit. That fruit may be a hundredfold, it may be sixtyfold, it may be thirtyfold.

So the idea is that God desires us to bear fruit.

John 15:1-2 ¹`“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

So when you’re fruit-bearing, the Lord will bring into your life those kinds of pruning experiences that make you more fruitful.

Now specifically there are some behaviors that are indicated in Scripture to be fruit.

Worship Is Fruit.

Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

When you worship, when you praise the Lord, when you give honour to His name, you are bearing fruit.

Giving Is A Fruit.

Romans 15:28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution (Greek: kapron means fruit), I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.

Repenting Of Sin Is Fruit

Matthew 3:8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

Leading Someone To Christ Is Fruit.

Romans 1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

Leading someone to Christ is fruit. Worship is fruit, giving is fruit, repentance is fruit, and bringing someone to Christ is fruit.

The Lord says, “I want you to bring forth much fruit; and if you’re connected to Me you will bear much fruit.”

A disciple of the Lord has to be characterized by much fruit.

That fruit will be there because that’s what the Holy Spirit is doing in us. The fruit is evidence that the Holy Spirit is in us. The fruit is the proof of our salvation.

Matthew 7:15-20 15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

So this is the evidence of salvation. What does your life look like? Is it manifestly radiating virtue as defined as fruit?

Flesh realm                                                                             Spirit Realm

They are destructive                                                               They are life-giving & Fruitful

CONCLUSION

The Galatian community will be able to tell what kind of community it is.

Is it a Spirit and fruit-producing community or is it a flesh, works of the flesh-producing community?

The key is to get yourself where you are empowered by the Spirit and the spirit will naturally produce the fruit in us. There is a problem here, Paul is not talking here about an individual

Put both the circles and see what the behavior patterns of you are putting you in this realm and what are the behaviour patterns that are putting you in the other realm

What are contemporary things like speech, behaviour patterns of the flesh realm that I feel drawn towards and that affect our church community?

Manipulative behaviour

Slander

Gossip

Power games

Intimidation etc

What are some things that we can adopt to transform our community?

How do we resolve conflict in this realm where we approach a situation giving up our leverage?

Look for cruciform attitudes and behaviors, and cruciform speech patterns.

What kind of speech can I adopt in the shape of the cross?

Summing it up, we are commanded to walk in the Spirit, to get in line with what the Spirit is doing. And as we saw the model for this is the Lord Jesus. He was the illustration. His life on earth was a perfect Spirit-controlled, Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered, fruitful person.

So what does your life look like if you’re walking by the Spirit? It is a life lived in the fullness of the Holy Spirit producing the fruit of love and service to one another.

Galatians 5:24-26 ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

If you belong to Christ Jesus you have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. It’s already happened, once for all action in the aorist tense. A death blow is delivered to passion and desire. Yes, it’s still present until our salvation is complete, but it’s not in charge, it’s not an excuse, because your passions and desires have been crucified when the flesh was crucified.

When did that happen? At your salvation. Christ died for you on the cross. The application of that death came to you at your salvation. “You are now a new creation; old things have passed away, and all things new have come.” That’s God’s part; He’s done His part.

You can walk by the Spirit now and overcome the flesh. You can live a truly righteous life.

Colossians 1:9-12 9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,  10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light

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