JUST DO IT—BY THE SPIRIT (GAL 5:16-18)

SERIES: FREE AT LAST, PART 20

GCEFC: APRIL 11, 2010

INTRODUCTION

1. As we’ve been working our way through the book of Galatians, it’s obvious that it’s a book of contrasts.

2. There’s the contrast between law and grace. Between faith and works. Between what we do for God and what God has done for us.

3. Between salvation as a reward for a good life. And salvation as a free gift of God’s grace.

4. Paul spent half of the letter explaining that salvation is not a reward for keeping religious rules—even good religious rules.

5. Rather it’s an undeserved and non-earned gift that God grants—not because of who we are or because of what we’ve done. But because of who God is and what HE’S DONE!

6. In the roughly second half of the letter, Paul explains that not only is our salvation not a result of works and law keeping—our sanctification isn’t either.

7. Just as we’re saved by trusting in what God has done for us. We grow by trusting in what God does in us.

8. Now, we might see why God saves us by his grace alone. It’s because none of us is or ever will be good enough to be saved. It must be by grace or it will never happen.

9. But why would our spiritual growth be by grace? If God is central in our salvation—then why wouldn’t we be central in our sanctification?

a. In my younger years, I tried out for many sports teams. It worked the same way each time. I would try out—and the coach would decide whether I made the team or not.

b. This may not seem fair. It may not be fair. But it’s the way it is. The coach decides whether I’m in or out. It’s his criteria that matters, not mine.

c. But once I make the team, it’s up to me to perform. The coach gives me the opportunity to be on the team. But it’s not his job to play—that’s my job.

d. The coach doesn’t go out on the field, or on the court—I must do that. I don’t coach the team and the coach doesn’t play in the game.

10. So it seems that God would do the saving of his people. But then it would be up to his people to live out the life God has given them.

11. But though this may seem reasonable. And logical. What matters is what the Word of God says. Which it clearly does in GAL 3:3: Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

12. Or as the KJV says: Are you now made perfect by the flesh? Not only is our justification by grace alone start to finish. Our sanctification is by grace alone start to finish.

13. Yes, we have our part to do. God won’t do our part and we can’t do God’s part. But at the end of the day, we grow because God sovereignly determines we will grow.

a. For example, the farmer claims that he grows corn. But does he really grow the corn?

b. He takes a seed which he did not create, and puts it in the ground that he did not make. He covers the seed with dirt that was already there.

c. Then the seed is watered by the rain or by water the farmer gets from the ground.

d. The seed sprouts and grows through nutrients the farmer does not make and by sunshine the farmer does not control.

e. The seed grows according to the genetic code within, which the farmer did not write nor determine.

f. Now, you tell me, does the farmer grow the corn? No, the farmer simply cooperates with the process that’s intended to grow the corn.

g. There are things we must do that allow for spiritual growth. But our spiritual growth is God’s sovereign work. We cannot achieve it by sheer determination.

14. In V16-18 of chapter 5, are some of the most practical insight to spiritual growth you will ever see. It’s so simple it’s easy to miss. You may have missed it before.

A. LIVE BY THE SPIRIT

1. You don’t have to be a Christian very long before you discover that something is just not right. What’s not right is you...and me.

2. We know there are certain things the Word of God says should NOT be part of our choices and our lifestyle and our values. And yet they are.

3. And we know there are certain things the Word of God says SHOULD BE— but are not. So what’s that about?

4. Even the Apostle Paul had this struggle and writes about it in ROM 7. He says: For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

5. Does this ring any familiar personal bells? Of course it does—it rings all of our personal bells. Every true believers struggles with sin in his or her life. No exceptions.

6. But it’s actually good news that we struggle. You should be encouraged because you struggle. If you did not struggle, it would be a very bad sign.

7. This because every true believer should have a battle waging within. The battle is between the Holy Spirit of God and our sinful nature. The Bible calls it the flesh.

8. If you find there is no conflict between doing what God wants and doing what you want, it probably means one of the following:

a. It may mean the Holy Spirit does not indwell you. Which means you are not a true believer. Which means there’s no battle between the Spirit and you.

b. When the Spirit does not indwell you—guess who’s the boss? You are! You’re the master of your own fate and the captain of your own soul. So there’s no conflict.

c. You do what you want. You do what you please. With no regrets. No conflict.

d. Or you may have a conscience problem. Every human being has a conscience. Some are too sensitive, some aren’t sensitive enough—and some are not sensitive at all. The Bible says they’ve been seared—as with a hot iron.

e. Or it may mean you’re a believer and you’ve managed to silence the Spirit’s voice within. You’ve ignored it for so long that you no longer hear it.

f. Like living near a highway or a train track or an airport. After a while you learn to filter out the noise so it no longer bothers you.

g. All 3 of these states are bad. If we don’t have the Spirit within. Or we have no effectively functioning conscience. Or we’ve stifled the Spirit.

h. So if you struggle with sin in your life. If you find yourself doing the things you don’t want to do—and it bothers you that you do them.

i. And you find yourself not doing the very things you want to do—welcome to the club of the strugglers. It’s a club you want to be in.

9. In V16 we’re given the fundamental principle for not yielding to the desires of our sinful nature. I warn you it’s going to sound simplistic. It’s going to sound platitudinal.

10. But here it is: So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?

11. So we need to examine this more closely. First of all, when it says live by the Spirit, it literally says walk by the Spirit. So what do we know about walking?

a. We know that walking doesn't get us very far very quickly. It’s great for short journeys. To the car. To the mailbox. To the refrigerator.

b. But for longer journeys, it’s not very efficient. If you devoted 8 hours of every single day to brisk walking, to go from New York to Los Angeles would take 3 months.

c. Eventually you’d get there—but not right away. Which is a good analogy. In walking by the Spirit on a daily basis, we make spiritual progress. It’s just not quick.

d. And walking requires a certain amount of resolve. No one can walk for you. It’s a decision you must make.

e. You must put one foot in front of the other, maintain balance, avoid objects in your path, and press on.

f. But if you want to cover a long distance and make steady, measurable progress, and eventually reach your destination—while not pressed for time—walking is just fine.

12. But it says we’re to walk by the Spirit. Which means we’re to live with the Spirit in control. Just as we walk physically by our feet. We walk spiritually by the Spirit.

B. EACH IS CONTRARY TO THE OTHER

1. Earlier I mentioned that for the true believer, there’s a battle within. A battle between the Spirit and our flesh—our sinful nature, our sinful proclivity, our sinful bent.

2. V17 tells us why there’s a battle: For the sinful nature (the flesh) desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

3. This isn’t new information so much as it’s a reminder. And it’s not very flattering. We’re reminded that we are by nature not apt to do what is right and pleasing to God.

4. It’s not that we can’t do what’s right—it’s that we often choose not to. That’s because we’re at core sinful.

5. JER 17:9 informs us that: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. 1 JN 1:8 tells us: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves.

6. Our sinful nature and the Spirit of God want different things. Things that are contrary to each other. That’s why there’s a conflict.

7. If we always wanted what God wanted, there would never be any conflict. We’d always do what is right and godly. But there is—so we don’t.

8. The problem is we think the solution is found by engaging in battle. But the battle is between ourselves and the Spirit. Is this a battle we want to wage and win?

9. You see, if it’s the sinful nature we want to please—all we have to do is obey its prompting. Just go with the impulse. We don’t battle our sinful nature—we obey it.

10. But if we want to do what is pleasing to God—then we must respond to the Spirit’s prompting rather than to our sinful nature’s prompting.

11. But here’s the key. We don’t win by engaging in the battle. We win by surrendering to the Spirit of God within us. We win by surrendering—not by fighting.

12. You cannot win the battle against your flesh long term. You may have victories here and there. You may even get on a winning streak and be having a winning season.

13. But sooner or later you’ll get beat. You’ll lose a big game. The inner conflict is relentless. It never goes away as long as we live in these bodies.

14. The only way we can consistently win the spiritual battles and conflicts and make real spiritual progress is by surrendering our will to the Spirit’s will.

15. This is literally what being filled with the Spirit means. It means that the Spirit is in control because we’ve surrendered to the Spirit’s control.

16. Let me give you an analogy that helps me. Maybe it will help you.

a. Whenever you go somewhere in your car, you sit in the seat and turn the ignition key. When you do this a staggering amount of power is at your disposal—150 hp or more.

b. You have this enormous power that you control. That’s why they call it “in the driver’s seat.” You direct the car where you want to go. You steer the car, brake the car, accelerate the car.

c. When we’re in submission to our sinful nature, we have the power to do what we want. The problem is that it’s not what we should want.

d. Rather than a car, think of a diesel locomotive. The diesel locomotive not only has the power, but it pulls the cars to the destination.

e. The Holy Spirit not only has the power we need to live godly lives—the Holy Spirit knows the destination and the direction we should be going.

f. The tracks are the Word of God. The Spirit always directs and empowers according to the Word of God. To surrender to the Spirit is to invite spiritual power and direction.

g. We still must decide to board the train. We must remain on the train as it travels—we can’t jump off at some point. We must allow ourselves to be pulled.

C. HOW IT WORKS

1. So how does this work? V18: But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

2. If we’re allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit. If we’ve chosen to surrender our sinful nature’s will to the will of God. If we’re walking by the Spirit—what happens?

3. Well first of all, forget about conventional battles. This is not a battle we engage in directly. Our part is to surrender our will to the Spirit. That’s how the battle is won.

4. You see, in a sense, we’re our own enemy. Remember, it’s my sinful nature and your sinful nature that are in conflict with the Spirit of God.

5. We win the battles and grow spiritually not by fighting the flesh—but by surrendering our flesh to the Spirit. You will not consistently win battles with your sinful nature.

6. The key to the battle is not fighting. The key is surrendering your will. When you surrender your will, then God’s will takes over.

7. Now is this hard to do. Well of course it’s hard to do. It’s hard to do because we don’t want to do it. Why not? Because we want to please our sinful nature. We like to.

8. If there was no conflict—then there would be no conflict. But once you surrender your will to the will of the Spirit—the battle is ¾ won.

9. What V18 is saying is that when we’re walking by the Spirit…when we’re being led by the Spirit…when we’re surrendering our will to the Spirit’s will.

10. We no longer need the law to make us toe the line. We no longer need the tutor. We don’t need rules to follow because we’re following the Spirit’s direction.

11. The Spirit of God knows the law of God and the will of God. The Spirit can be trusted. But we need to know the law and will of God ourselves through study of God’s Word.

12. This confirms the direction we need to go. The Spirit of God never directs contrary to the revealed Word and will of God.

D. CONCLUSION

1. The good news is that as believers we’ve already won the war. Forgiveness is ours, our victory is assured, our future is secure. The terms of surrender are settled—we won!

2. But for now we must live our earthly lives in these bodies of inner conflict.

3. These conflicts are like modern day terrorism or insurgency. Terrorists know they can’t win the war—so they lodge painful attacks—but that don’t affect the outcome of the war.

4. The flesh wants to be satisfied. It wants what it wants when it wants it.

5. The problem is that our flesh is US! It’s me. It’s you. It’s what I want—not what the Spirit wants. It’s what you want—not what the Spirit wants.

6. Our challenge is to surrender our will to God’s will. To lay down our weapons of self-destruction. To allow the diesel locomotive of the Spirit to provide the power to get where God wants us to go.

7. To get out of the driver’s seat and move into the passenger’s seat. Being a passenger isn’t so tough. It’s choosing to be a passenger that’s tough.

8. When we consistently choose to yield our will and control to the Spirit’s will and control. When we decide that God can be trusted to provide us what we need even if we don’t have an inclination to choose it.

9. When we decide to do battle by surrendering to the Spirit—we’ll be on our way to significant spiritual growth.

10. We’ll discover that like our justification—our sanctification is not so much what we do for God as it is what God does for us.

11. And just as justification is about God’s work for us—our sanctification is about God’s work in us.