Preface: I wrote this one year ago over my Christmas break, and recently made some minor changes. I hope I'll have the opportunity to give it again over the coming year. It's a bit lengthy, but I hope it blesses you.
Walking in the Spirit
Introduction and a Message to the Youth
Good morning, it’s a great privilege for me to be able to bring forth the word of God to you
this morning. Before we jump in the text this morning, I would like to address specifically our
youth. Young men, young women, you stand at this moment at a extremely critical point in
you’re life. The decisions you make in these next couple years will decide what direction you’re
life will take. I stand here this morning because of a challenge. Many have heard me talk about
this book (Do Hard Things). This book gave me a challenge to Do Hard Things for the glory of
God. A challenge that has taken me to the other side of the world. A challenge that can change
you’re life as well. Ask yourself, what does you’re society expect from you? It expects you to be
know the things of the world and be dabbling in those things. It expects you know things about
more things about drugs, sex, and video games then things about math, literature and history- or
how about theology. The world expects you not to care about the things of God at this point in
you’re life- and even if they do then not the true God. Well, does God say about you? Let’s look
at 1st Timothy 4:12: Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct,
love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Paul expected you to be an
example of you’re faith! So ask yourself- am I an example of what I believe? I believe that the
most critical point for exhortation are those years of youth. JC Ryle in his book Thoughts for
Young Men gives several reason why this is important. 1. For one thing, there is the painful fact
that there are few young men anywhere who seem to be Christians. Look around. How many are
Christians. And how many that are act like Christians. Now these are directed to young men, but
they really apply to both young men and young women. 2. Death and judgment are waiting for
young people, even as they waits for others, and they nearly all seem to forget it. 3. What young
people will be, in all probability depends on what they are now, and they seem to forget this. As I
said in the beginning, there is no other more critical time that decides the path that will taken in
life. 4. The devil uses special diligence to destroy the souls of young people, and they don't seem
to know it. 5. Young people need exhorting because of the sorrow it will save them, to begin
serving God now. John Piper tells the story of an old man who finally came to Christ at his old
age, and he looked at his life and WEPT. He had wasted it when he could have started serving
God when he was young. So my challenge to our young people this morning is really a challenge
to look at you’re life. Decide which way you’re going to go, the time of waiting is over! You
either serve God, or serve yourself. You either walk in the spirit of or you gratify the desires of
the flesh. Which brings us to our text this morning. Galatians 5:16-26
Overview of the Galatians
Now, before we get into this passage, let’s get some a bit of background. First of all who’s our
author? Paul. Paul is our author. Now what do we now about Paul? Quick review, Paul was a
pharisee, he was deeply involved in the persecution of Christians. He was saved on the road to
Damascus, Jesus himself appeared to Paul, and Paul became a missionary. He ended up writing
thirteen of the books in the New Testament, and traveling on 3 major missionary journeys. He
eventually was beheaded in Rome by Nero for what he believed. Now the Galatians were the
group of people from Galatia in Asia Minor- now middle Turkey. The Galatians were from Gaul-
modern day France, and of Celtic descent. Now we can assume that the culture in Galatia was
very depraved; being in-between a Celtic influence of it’s roots, and influence of the nearby
Greeks. The church at Galatia was founded during most likely during Paul’s first missionary
journey. The reason Paul wrote to the Galatians was to combat judaizing false teachers who were
undermining the true gospel. So just as Romans can be taken as a comprehensive gospel tract,
Galatians is a bit of a gospel tract as well, while much shorter.
Galatians Outline
Paul starts Galatians like many of his other letters- showing his credibility, this is necessary
because of the attacks against him. In chapter two Paul talks about how even Peter ended up
faling back into the judaizing tenancies of favoring Jewish converts over Gentile converts, even
to the point of refusing to fellowship with the gentiles and only with the Jews.. Paul finishes the
chapter by reviewing the most important doctrine in the Christian faith- the doctrine of
Justification by grace through faith alone. In chapter three Paul continues talking about
justification. He even rebukes the Galatians in verse one calling them foolish for even
considering justification by works. He then goes on to talk about how the righteous live by faith,
and the reason for the law. In chapter four Paul states more principles of justification and uses
Sarah and Hagar as an allegorical example. Now we come to chapter five. Paul re-affirms
justification in response to the claim that circumcision is first required for salvation. He evens
uses some rather strong language in verse 12, where he says he wishes that those who are causing
the Galatians theological problems to emasculate themselves! We then come to our text for this
morning, you can follow along as I read Galatians chapter 5:16-26: But I say, walk by the Spirit,
and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,
and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep
you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the
law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry,
sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy,[d]
drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do
such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is
no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited,
provoking one another, envying one another.
The Indwelling of the Spirit
So let’s dig into this passage a little deeper, starting with verse 16. We see a few things very
clearly here. For one, we see that this is a present tense command, not something that has
happened in the past or will happen in the future. More obviously we see that the Holy Spirit is a
crucial part of Christian existence. We know from other passages of scripture that all believers
have the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the
Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to
him. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit
within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body. So what does the Holy Spirit do? John 16:8 And when he is come,
he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they
believe not on me; Of righteousness. He convicts the world of sin. He regenerates the repentant
believer Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according
to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit
gives assurance to those of us who are saved by convicting us of sin. He sanctifies us. He fills us
with His presence. We are going to find out today how He gives us power to live holy lives, and
to be witnesses for God. He helps us understand the Bible. He enables us to exhibit the “fruit of
the Spirit” which we will also get into today He gives gifts to each member of the church so that
each of us in the “body” can contribute as the Spirit desires. Possibly the most awesome thing He
does at least to me is He “seals” us for the day of redemption, guaranteeing our inheritance in
heaven. 2 Corinthians 1:21,22 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has
anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a
guarantee. So what we have here in Galatians 5:16 is basically a command to walk in the Spirit.
It’s very uncomplicated statement: Walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the
flesh.
The Flesh and Spirit: diametrically opposed
Now we come to verse 17, which I’ll read again: For the desires of the flesh are against
the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other,
to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Now the word flesh here in Greek is (and I
hope I’m pronouncing this correctly “sarx” it has several uses, but here it refers to the source of
human weakness- our flesh, in our sinful state. Here we also have another uncomplicated
statement. The flesh and Spirit are at war with each other. We also see here something about
human nature. We want to go the way of the flesh, the Spirit sets its desires against the flesh so
that we won’t go that way, but the way of the Spirit instead. One thing to not believe here as well
is that this battle between flesh is specifically a problem of the believer. If I’m not in Christ then
the flesh wins. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a God-given conscience, but there isn’t this war
going between Spirit until I actually come to Christ in repentance and faith.
Living in the Power of the Spirit- or the Law
In verse 18 we find out more about the Spirit and the law. “If you are led by the Spirit, you are
not under the law”. If you have a Johnny Mack Study Bible, then take a look the notes on this
verse, I love what he puts here: “Take you’re choice, these are mutually exclusive”. Either you
walk in the Spirit or you gratify the desires of the flesh. If you choose to walk in the Spirit in
godliness, then the law doesn’t apply to what you do. This HUGE burden of the law isn’t
weighting you down. But if you choose to gratify the desires of the flesh then guess what; the law
does apply to you and it CONDEMNS you. So this here is a choice that has to be made. Not a
one time choice, but a choice that is made through every temptation and every opportunity to
follow the leading of the Spirit.
The Evident Deeds of the Flesh
Coming to verse 19 Paul gives us a list of deeds of the flesh. I’m going to go through them,
but I don’t want to just go through and harp on each of them, because that isn’t my main purpose
this morning; there are many preachers who will go through this list and cause a lot of shame, but
no hope. I want to give you some hope this morning for walking in the Spirit, but first we must
look at these evident deeds. Listen to the chastening of the Spirit though. We all have our own
areas of struggle; I daresay that everyone here struggles or at least has struggled with something
in this passage; I know it’s convicting to me almost every time I read it. And this is applicable to
everyone, but I especially want to focus on our youth this morning. Paul starts this list by simply
saying that these deeds are evident; they are obvious if you will. The first deeds he mentions
would definitely be relevant to the culture in Galatia- really relevant to every culture there ever
has been, but Galatia as I have already said was a mix of two cultures- Celtic and Greek; both
very debased in their sexual practices. Immorality, sensuality, and impurity- all under the word
porneia- where we get our word pornography. Porneia would have been used to described many
sexual sins: fornication, homosexuality, bestiality, adultery, and so on. Now we know though of
course from Matthew that we don’t have to actually commit to be under the condemnation of the
law for it, all we have to do is lust in our heart from it, and we’ve sinned- a much higher standard
than simply avoiding committing the sin; which is one of the reason why we are totally lost with
out the Holy Spirit. Maybe of all the sins in this list, that’s the one that you struggle with most.
Fighting these deeds all comes down to submission to the Holy Spirit, which I’ll expound on a
little later. I find however what JC Ryle says in “Thoughts for Young Men” about this subject
especially helpful. “The violation of the seventh commandment (you shall not commit adultery)
is the sin above all others, that, as Hosea says, "takes away the understanding" (Hosea 4:11). It is
the sin that leaves deeper scars upon the soul than any other sin that a man can commit. It is a sin
that destroys thousands of young men in every age, and has even overthrown a few of the saints
of God in the past. Samson and David are fearful proofs. It is the sin that man dares to smile at,
and smoothes over using the terms: thrills, love, uncontrollable passions, and natural desires. But
it is the sin that the devil rejoices over, for he is the "unclean spirit;" and it is the sin that God
abhors, and declares He "will judge" (Hebrews 13:4). Young men, "Flee from sexual immorality"
(1 Corinthians 6:18) if you love life. "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of
such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient" (Ephesians 5:6). Flee from the
opportunity of it--from the company of those who might draw you into it--from the places where
you might be tempted to do it. Read what our Lord says about it in Matthew 5:28, "I tell you that
anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Be
like the holy servant Job: "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl" (Job
31:1). Flee from talking about it. It is one of the things that ought not even be hinted about in
conversation. You cannot even touch black grease without getting your hands dirty. Flee from the
thoughts of it; resist them, destroy them, pray against them--make any sacrifice rather than give
way to them. Imagination is the hotbed where this sin is too often hatched. Guard your thoughts,
and there will be little fear about your actions.” Wow. Don’t act, speak, joke, or even think about
these impurities. The next word Paul uses is pharmakiea- where we get our word pharmacy. This
word is used to describes what is translated in our Bibles as idolatry and sorcery. This would
refer to mind altering drugs, the occult, and witchcraft. These may not seem like they would be to
modern day evangelical America, but when was the last you read a Harry Potter book or played a
game like World of War Craft? Or how often do we speak so lightly of the effects of drugs? How
many arguments between Christians are there over these things? I tell you if you are a true
follower of Christ, nothing should be sacred to you outside of Him! The next group of things
Paul mention is possibly one the most relevant to us today. Strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
disputes, dissensions, factions. Look around at our youth groups, our churches, and our
relationships with people just in those circles; never mind the world. These are deeds of the
flesh! Now all these deeds have something do with anger; and while we know there is a time for
righteous anger, none would fit in here. What can we learn from other passages of scripture?
Well, Proverbs has a lot to say about this: Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man,
do not associate with one easily angered, For as churning the milk produces butter, and as
twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.” Don’t waste you’re lives
fighting each other! There’s a lost world out there! We have an adversary. Again, youth are often
the most susceptible to these deeds of the flesh. Moving on to the last deeds that Paul mentions
here. Drunkenness and carousing- drunkenness being from the Greek word “mathai” simply
meaning intoxication and carousing generally referring practices in that time when people would
in a drunken stupor go out on the town and cause a ruckus or the drunken orgies of the pagan
religions that would go on. So at the end of this train of fleshly deeds we find cost of them. It’s
really again quite simple: Those who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
They instead will experience the wrath of Almighty God for eternity. Very scary thought. So
where is there hope? Well, let’s look at 1Cornithians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the
unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you;
but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. Here we see several of these same deeds mentioned in
Galatians and the same verdict in the end for them. But look at what it says at the end! “Such
were some of YOU but you were sanctified and justified through Jesus Christ”. Wow. So the
hope here is really just going back to the gospel, that through repentance and faith we can inherit
the kingdom God.
The Fruit of the Spirit
But there’s still more in Galatians, let’s go back to verse 22. “The fruit of the spirit is love” lets
stop there a moment. What are the fruit of the Spirit? The fruit of the Spirit are godly attitudes
that will be in the character of one who has been redeemed by Christ. I say again the fruit of the
Spirit are godly attitudes that will be in the character of one who has been redeemed by Christ.
So the works of the flesh show a reflection of an unregenerate heart, while the fruit of the spirit
show a reflection of someone in Christ. So let’s look at these fruits. Love is first in this list-
coming from the Greek word agape; this is a sacrificial love, love that someone demonstrates by
laying down their life. Love is very important, in fact you might even say that all the fruit of the
spirit branch down from this sacrificial love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 But now faith, hope, love, abide
these three; but the greatest of these is love. This sacrificial love is best demonstrated by Jesus
dying for us, a love that none can compete with. Chara comes next, this is the Greek word that
we translate as joy. This joy is one that comes not from any current circumstances but from
knowing God’s promises and believing them. This joy really can’t be touched by difficulties in
the life of the individual- like Paul singing in jail. Eirene- peace; this fruit comes from a “inner
comfort and peace” brought by a confidence of salvation. Patience- from the Greek word
makruthumia; this is an ability to endure pain and suffering, especially for Christ in this context,
as Paul did. Chrestotes- kindness; this is having concern for others, thinking about them before
yourself. Once again reflected best of all with God’s love for us. There is no greater kindness
then to show love to those who hate you, and be willing to die for them as well. Agathosune-
goodness; this is best described by moral excellence, and Christians should be exemplifying this
in their lives. Pistis- faithfullness; trustworthiness and loyalty. Parotes- most of you’re Bibles
probably say gentleness, however this word is better translated as meekness. Humbleness and
gentleness would be part of this. The New Testament uses this word to describe three different
states of attitude: Submitting to the will of God, putting other’s before yourself, and being
teachable. Egkrateia- self control; the final fruit of the Spirit signifies the restraint of fleshly
passion and appetite and is absolutely essential to survival in a fleshly world. After this list we
have statement that tells us something very important about the fruit of the Spirit. We who are in
Christ can please God without the law. The law has no bearing on these. Against such things
there is no law. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passion
sand desires.” The word crucified here means to execute, to kill. So in being a follower of Christ
and having the Holy Spirit, the believer has killed; destroyed his/her fleshly passions. We who
are in Christ no longer suffer under the burden of the LAW! We’re free!! Now, unfortunately that
doesn’t mean that we will never again sin, we still have our fallen sin nature until we are finally
perfected, but we are free of a massive burden.
Conclusion
In conclusion Paul states what should be obvious: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by
the Spirit.” It’s the only logical response. So what then should we do? How do we walk in the
Spirit. Many tend to believe that there is one instant where an individual goes from gratifying the
flesh, to walking with the Spirit; but then they are disappointed when they find themselves in
fleshly deeds asking, “Why have I done this? I thought I was walking with the Spirit.” So what
then is the key to walking in the Spirit? Well, lets go back to the word walk. The Greek word for
walk in this case is per-ee-pat-eh'-o. This word means not only to walk, but to progress. Walking
in the Spirit is moment by moment. There is no one instance where there will be no fleshly
appetite until perfection. So the bad news? Stumbling in the flesh will probably happen in the
future, in fact it will probably happen today. But there is good news! News that is so so so much
better than the bad news. The good news is that if you are in Christ, (you have put you’re trust in
him and repented of you’re sins) you are no longer condemned by the law. You have magnificent
freedom to walk in the Spirit. Now if you don’t know Jesus Christ, please don’t leave today
without talking with the pastor, one of the church deacons, or even one of our youth. You can
have freedom from the flesh, and inherit eternal life. Let’s Pray.
