Feb. 04, 2024

“THE ROAD TO FREEDOM”

“WALK IN THE SPIRIT”

GALATIANS 5:13-26

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

There are at least 14 references to the Holy Spirit in Galatians:

So Lets Look At Three Of The Ministries Of The Holy Spirit:

1. The Spirit Allows Us To Love Like Christ Loves- Galatians 5:13-15.

Christ’s death and resurrection set us free, we are called to liberty.

Galatians 5:13 “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

We are called unto liberty because we are “called into the grace of Christ.” Grace and liberty go together.

Galatians 1:6 “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel.”

Christian liberty is not a license to sin but an opportunity to serve.

*This Leads To A Commandment: vs.13 “but through love serve one another.”

The key word is “love”: liberty + love= service to others; liberty - love= license (slavery to sin).

Romans 13:8-10

Galatians 5:14-15 “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!”

The law is fulfilled in one word “love.” 

Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

Mark 12:31 “And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

James 2:8 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.”

1 John 4:21 “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

Romans 13:9 “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The believer who spends time daily in the Word and in prayer, and who yields to the Spirits working, is going to enjoy liberty and the ability to love others as Christ loves us.

2.   The Spirit Enables Us To Overcome The Flesh- Galatians 5:16-21,24.

*The Conflict- vs.16-17

Galatians 5:16-17 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

This is the struggle Paul talks about in Romans:

Romans 7:15,19 “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 19For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.”

*The Conquest- vs.18

Galatians 5:18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

The solution is not to pit our will against the flesh, but to surrender our will to the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 

Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”

*The Crucifixion- vs.19-21,24

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

There are three major categories:

*The Sensual Sins- vs.19, 21

Galatians 5:19,21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 21envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like;…”

“Adultery”-is illicit sex between married people, while “fornication”- generally refers to the same sin among unmarried people. 

“Uncleanness”- means just that, a filthiness of heart and mind that makes the person defiled. The unclean person sees dirt in everything. (Titus 1:15)

“Lewdness” or lasciviousness-which is debauchery. It speaks of a wanton appetite that knows no shame.

“Envy, murders, drunkenness, need no explanation.

“Revelries”- orgies

*The Superstitious Sins- vs.20

Galatians 5:20 “idolatry, sorcery,…”

“Idolatry”- is simply putting things ahead of God.

Matthew 4:10 “Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” 

Colossians 3:5 “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

“Sorcery or witchcraft”- is from the Greek word “pharmakeia- which means the use of drugs.

*Social Sins- vs.20-21

Galatians 5:20-21 “hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

“Hatred”- means “enmity” the attitude of mind that defies and challenges others. This attitude leads to “contentions” which is strife, the outworking of hatred. “Jealousies”-or emulations mean rivalries. “Outburst of wrath”-means outburst of anger. “Selfish ambitions”-strife, self-seeking- all of these create divisions in the church.

“Dissensions and heresies”-are kindred terms

“Heresies”- in the Greek means to make a choice. 

“Envy”- suggests the carrying of grudges, the deep desire for what someone else has. “Murders, drunkenness and revelries need no explaining.

“that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” vs.21

How does the believer handle the old nature when it is capable of producing such horrible sins?

Galatians 5:24 “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Romans 6:11 “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

3.   The Spirit Enables Us To Produce Fruit- Galatians 5:22-23, 25-26.

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Philippians 4:10-20

Love and joy together produce “peace” “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding…” (Phil. 4:7). These three qualities express the God-ward aspect of the Christian life.

The next three characteristics express the man-ward aspect of the Christian life: “longsuffering”- courageous enduring without quitting. “Kindness” and “goodness”-love in action. The Christian who is longsuffering will not avenge themselves or wish difficulties on those who oppose them.

The final three qualities are self-ward; “faithfulness”-dependability;”gentleness”-the right use of power and authority, power under control, meekness; “self-control”-or temperance. 

The work of the Spirit is to make us more like Christ for His glory, not for the praise of men.

vs.23 “Against such there is no law.”

How do we walk in the Spirit?

*The Cultivation of the Fruit is Important- Galatians 5:25-26

Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Fruit grows in a climate blessed with an abundance of the Spirit and the Word of God.

Galatians 5:25-26 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

“Walk in the Spirit”- means keep in step with the Spirit, not to run ahead and not to lag behind.

We must remember that this fruit is produced to be eaten.

Will you yield to Him and let Him work? “Walk In The Spirit!”

So:

*We have to consciously, consistently, and courageously say no to sin.

*Repeatedly remind yourself of who you are in Christ.

*Pursue His will, His desires, and His calling, no matter the cost.

*Forsake your own weaknesses and depend on His strengths.

John 8:11 “She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”