Trinity Baptist Church

The Book of Galatians #25

Galatians 5:19

 

Last week we started a study of what it means to walk in the Spirit.  That is the phrase Paul uses in Galatians 5:16 to reveal now a Christian avoids “fulfilling the lust of the flesh”.  Just to briefly review, we talked about the flesh meaning that part of us that is unredeemed.  It is the old nature. 

 

And we noted that we have a command to walk in the Spirit in verse 16, but that creates a conflict, as we see in verses 17-18.  There is this war that goes on inside any Christian who desires to walk in the Spirit.  And I know I don’t have to describe that to you.  Most all of us have experienced that battle when we want to do the right thing, but there is such a drawing and enticement to do what the flesh wants to do. 

 

So let’s pick up there and think about the third thing which is

 

3.  The Contrast

 

verse 19

 

. "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are..."

 

Let me stop there for just a moment.  He's going to give us a list of things that come from the flesh, and they fall into different categories. 

 

First of all, he says, “adultery, fornication, uncleanness lewdness. 

Those three things have to do with sexual behavior. And primarily the first category has to do with living for pleasure, without regard for what anybody thinks. 

 

It deals with adultery, that one is obvious.  Then, “fornication”, or sexual sin.  Uncleaness is “filth of the mind”.  And then lewdness or sensuality.  Living without restraint. 

 

So here are the deeds of the flesh. First of all, it is the person who is immoral in conduct, a fornicator, with an impure mind who lives out that immorality by seeking unrestrained pleasure.  And what is it that produces that behavior?  It is the flesh. 

 

Then there is another category, and it is the polar-opposite of the first.  Where the first lives only for self and pleasure without restraint, the second is all about religion and worship.

 

Verse 20

 

We don’t often like to think about it like this, but worshiping anything other than the true God is idolatry, and it is just as evil as being involved in sexual sin.  It is the works of the flesh. 

 

Then he talks about sorcery.  That comes the Greek word “pharmakia” from which we get our word pharmacy and its root is drug abuse.  That’s not a new problem.  Much of the practice of magic and sorcery and the occult of the first century included drug abuse, and the word came to include all of that.  But its root idea is drugs.

 

Then you have another category and that is human relationships. And what does the flesh produce in human relationships?

 

Verse 20b

 

So you have sex, religion and relationships dealt with.

 

Then notice verse 21

 

Drink

 

And by the way, envy probably belongs in verse 20 in the human relationship category, then he follows that with drunkenness and revelries which is riotous living. 

 

And then he just lumps everything else into the “and the like” category. 

 

So here we are told what the flesh produces.  And what I notice about that list is everyone is included.  Every human problem you can imagine is found in one of those categories.  It's all the flesh one way or another.

 

Now we are seeing these products of the flesh lived out in our life and the life of those we encounter every day.  So if this is what the flesh produces, then how do we overcome it?

 

Most of humanity believes it can happen through human effort.  We try psychology and therapy or turning over a new leaf or self-help books or medication.  The world has all kinds of answers, but none of them will afford the ultimate solution.

You cannot solve human problems with human solutions.  The only solution is the Spirit of God.  In fact, notice what he says in verse 21

 

These are patterns of an unregenerate person, and  if they are the unbroken patterns of your life, then what you need is the Spirit. 

 

A person who continues to practice that kind of thing will not inherit the Kingdom of God. That's characteristic of unredeemed flesh. Paul says there's only one way to dominate the flesh

 

Remember, we are talking about the contrast, so here it is. 

 

verse 22

 

On the one hand we have what the flesh produces, and in sharp, vivid contrast to that we have what the Spirit produces. 

 

And every category of fleshly problem is addressed here in the fruit of the Spirit. 

 

Someone says, "My problem is there's not enough love in my life." Well God has an answer for that, because the fruit of the Spirit is love.

 

You say, "Well, I'm always sad, I'm always depressed, I'm in despair.” 

 

Well it will be OK because the fruit of the Spirit is joy.

 

"Well I just have all these fears." Good, the fruit of the Spirit is peace.

You say, "I'm just out of control, I can't get my life together." Oh good, the fruit of the Spirit is self-control.

 

Now you see how simple this is? How did we ever get so messed up trying to solve all these problems through human answers when they can only be solved on a spiritual level?

 

To look anywhere else is to simply deny or ignore the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

You see, if all the problems in our life are produced by the flesh and the only one who can overcome the flesh is the Spirit, then it sure makes sense to walk by the Spirit. And yet we have today a sick church surrounded by a sick society trying to cure itself with human effort rather than walking in the Spirit. 

 

Everything that's wrong in our life is produced by the flesh. Everything that's right is the fruit of the Spirit.

 

Now that takes us to the final point and that is

 

4. The Conquest

 

verse 24

 

Notice the tense he uses is past tense.  We've crucified the flesh.  It’s a done deal.  It’s in the past.  The flesh has been put to death. But some of us are still carrying a dead corpse around. And unfortunately its rotting decay affects our life. 

 

 

 

Now understand, he is talking about where we are positionally.  Now grab hold of what this means.  From a factual standpoint, before God, the flesh is dead. Its passions and desires and their power is broken.

 

But there is a practical side to that as well.  What is true of us must be lived out.  So notice what verse 25 says.

 

The only source of spiritual transformation is the Holy Spirit. The only way that we can live our life is on the same level that we entered this life. We began in the Spirit; we must live in the Spirit.

 

Human solutions are useless. Human systems, methods won’t work.  Therefore we must walk in the Spirit. 

 

Let me show you how it works. 

 

Think about it in terms of marriage.  You might say,
“we want to have a happy marriage, but we have all this conflict; all these problems.”

 

Well, that’s easy.  I can solve that in one sentence.  Since the fruit of the Spirit is love, then walk in the Spirit.  You know what He’ll do?   He'll produce love in your marriage. 

 

You say, “I’m just so unhappy.  Well I can fix that.  That’s simple.  The fruit of the Spirit is joy, therefore, walk in the Spirit.  He’ll fill your life with joy. 

 

The fruit of the Spirit is peace, walk in the Spirit, He'll produce peace.

Listen, I know it sounds too simplistic, but if you have terrible conflict in your marriage, it isn't because you haven't had good counseling, it's because you're not walking in the Spirit.

 

You say, "I've got a lot of problems personally. I'm dissatisfied, unhappy, miserable." I understand.  Go to most counselors today and they will tell you it’s because your mother didn’t nurse you when you were little or they spanked you when you were six and you’ve been warped ever since. 

 

But none of that has anything to do with your personal problems today if you are a child of God.   I’m not trying to ignore the fact that there are some circumstantial things that complicate your life, but the reason you’ve got the problem you do is because you're not enjoying that which is provided for those who walk in the Spirit.

 

The flesh wars against the Spirit. Understand that. As a Christian, that’s what’s going on in your life.  And the only way to overcome is the power of the Spirit.

 

You want to have a good marriage, walk in the Spirit. You want to have a good home life, walk in the Spirit. You want to have a good personal life?  Walk in the Spirit.  You want to be a good friend?  Walk in the Spirit.  You want to be a good employee or bass?  Walk in the Spirit. 

 

What's the key to raising your kids to love the Lord? What's the key to having a happy home? Walk in the Spirit and He'll produce His fruit.

 

So how do you walk in the Spirit?

Through a consistent commitment to prayer and the study of the Word so you think spiritual thoughts. And day by day, day by day you yield yourself to those things.

 

Now, that's hard to do in isolation. 

 

Chapter 6:1-3

 

We need help from each other. Isn't that why the church is the church? We're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together but we are to stimulate one another to love and good works when we do meet.

 

Beloved, the answer to all life's needs for the believer is in walking by the Spirit because all the problems come from the flesh. Let's help each other do that.

 

Let's bow together in prayer