Galatians 5

Good evening. Before you set a bit, I want to welcome all of you to Calvary Chapel this evening and those watching online with us. You know, sometimes the middle of the week can be interesting for folks in different ways. It can be joyful, it can be sad, it can be different things. But Lord, I just pray as we come tonight that we can focus on you and worship and song and enjoy

and grow in a time in your word, Lord. We thank you for your grace. And think of that acronym for grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. Thank you for that unmerited favor, Lord.

We thank you for your loving kindness, Lord, your forgiveness, your mercy, your grace, your sovereignty, Lord. And I bless our time. Lewis comes up and teaches your word tonight, anointing by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord. Father, move in this place. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord, bless y'all.

Hi, guys. It's really good to see you guys, that we get to gather around the word of the God and see what he has to speak to us. Today, we're going to be in Galatians 5. We're doing this. Ryan is taking a week off in between studies. We just finished Leviticus, if you weren't here last week. And next week, we're going to be going into the book of Numbers. Super exciting.

It's going to be awesome. So, I would encourage all of us to read ahead in the book of Numbers so that we can make sure Ryan's not teaching heresy. Just kidding. He's not, but maybe. All right. We're going to be in Galatians 5. A little bit of background about the book of Galatians. It was written by... It was written by Paul, the apostle, to the churches in Galatia.

So, it was a group of churches that he was reaching to or speaking to or writing to. So, it wasn't just one main fellowship that he was talking to, but a bunch of different fellowships around. What had happened in the region of Galatia was that a group of men called the Judaizers, or given the name Judaizers, which is basically seeking to bring the believers... back under the law, right?

Christ has separated us from the law of having to become circumcised and entering into the Jewish faith. He has died and paid the price of every one of the sacrifices that had to be done in the Old Testament. And so, these men were trying to get people to fall back into the law of works-based religion or works-based salvation. And if you've ever read the book of Ephesians, one of my favorite...

It says this in chapter 2, verse 8. Sorry.

It says, So, the idea being that by faith, we receive God's grace, right? We receive salvation not on anything that we've done or any rule that we followed or anything that we've accomplished, but because God's so good, He gave us the gift of salvation through His Son on the cross. And so, Paul is riding with authority to the churches in Galatia. He's riding with the apostolic authority.

He's not holding, pulling any punches. He's really hitting them where it hurts. And the key verse to set the whole letter up for us is verse 6 of chapter 1. It says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him. Who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. So, they were pulling them away from the simple gospel of grace. God's riches at Christ's expense.

Salvation based on Christ, not on our works. And they were pulling them away from that. They were saying, yeah, that Jesus is good, but also, there's a little bit more we got to do to earn the rest of salvation. And that's not true. And so, Paul, he... He's addressing all of these situations. He even talks about how in chapter 2, when there was a time when Peter the apostle was playing the hypocrite, right?

When he was with the Gentiles, he was like, oh, we're good. But as soon as some Jews walked in, he's like, oh, I can't sit with you. You guys aren't of the law. You guys aren't like me. You guys aren't good enough. And he separated himself. And Paul's like, I stood before everyone and called Peter out. Paul, this little guy, what we think is a little guy, stood to Peter, who we believe to be a really big guy, tradition says.

And he withstood him in front of all. Because what he was doing was setting a precedence that... That one must become a Jew to be in the body of Christ. And so, Paul is addressing all of these things. And here, the first four chapters are him defending the gospel. And then him explaining the gospel of grace. And then we get to chapter 5 and 6 here, where it turns into the application of all of it.

What it looks like for the believer after they know the gospel of grace. The grace of Jesus Christ. With that being said, let's go ahead and open up in prayer. And then we'll get into it. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. And that it speaks to us today. And we ask that you would give us hearts to receive and ears to hear. What you have for us here in this portion of scripture, Lord.

In Jesus' name, amen. So, verse 1, it says, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. And do not be entangled with the yoke of bondage. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you, that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit nothing. And I testify again, to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor... to keep the whole law.

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law. You have fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. So, he gives them first a command to stand fast, to remain,

to hold on to. To cling to the freedom that Christ has given them. Freedom from sin, as well as freedom from adhering to the law. Of doing the right things, of checking off the boxes. He said, cling to this freedom that Christ has given you. And then it says, don't be entangled with the yoke of bondage. Don't get trapped up by trying to do the right thing. Don't get trapped up by following the law.

Or, if you're a Gentile, getting circumcised. And entering into the rest of all of the law, and the works of the law. The law was good. We read in chapter 3 of Galatians that the law is good. But it was simply a tutor to point us to Christ. It revealed to us God's perfect law. If you want to read the 10 commandments, it's probably the best ones. The 10 greatest commandments.

But you read the 10 commandments. And what it's supposed to do is not give us a checklist to be like, well, I haven't committed adultery. I haven't murdered anyone. I haven't done all of these things. But rather, to break our hearts to recognize that we need a savior. Because in and of ourselves, we can't do the law. We can't keep any one of those commandments.

I don't know about you guys, but I've made idols of a lot of things. Right? I have picked myself over God my whole life. But what the law does is it points me to my savior in Jesus Christ. It points us to the one who has paid the price so that we don't have to. Right? Because Romans 6 says that the wages of sin is death. Christ died on the cross and he beat death and was resurrected.

He paid the price that we couldn't pay. He lived a sinless life that we couldn't live. He fulfilled the law. He completed it in all of it. All of it. All the things that we couldn't do, right? Because we're born in sin. In Adam, through Adam, all the things that we couldn't do, he did from childhood. He didn't sin once. Lived the perfect life. And so Paul is encouraging them and warning them

not to be entangled back with the law. We've been set free. Then verse two, it says, indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. So this idea being that, if a Gentile man or whatever ends up getting circumcised, it's not an act of faith anymore. Before you read in Genesis 17, 15, 15, 17, rather, Genesis 17, in the institution of the circumcision,

it was originally an act of faith on the life of the ones who were called out by God, Abraham and his descendants. It was a, it was an act of faith. It was an act of faith saying, we are setting ourselves apart from the world and setting ourselves apart to you, God. They were separating completely from the world. And it was an act of faith on their part. But after Christ, there was no need for that act of faith.

It was no longer an act of faith. It turned from an act of faith to being an act of works. And so Paul's saying, if you do these things, right? If you become circumcised, Christ does. Death and resurrection on the cross means nothing anymore to you. You're, you're in your heart. You're saying Christ's death wasn't enough. I still need to do more. You weren't trusting completely in the work of God

and what he did on the cross. The son of the living God came down and gave his life. You weren't trusting in that. And so Paul's just warning him about this, these things. Verse three says, and I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. So it's like, you're not just getting circumcised. Now you're required to keep the rest of the law.

Now you're not free at all. Now you're not living by faith anymore. You're living by obligation to a law that God has set you free from. Now you have to go back to the sacrifices. Now you have to go back to all of these things. Christ fulfilled every one of the sacrifices that we, that they, they practiced in the old tradition. He fulfilled every one of them

from the free will offering to the burnt offering to the sin offering to the trespass offering. He fulfilled it all. And then when you go back to the law, go back to circumcision, you're saying you didn't fulfill it all. Now I got to go back to that. And Paul's just trying to get them to understand how out of touch with reality they are. Out of touch with the recognition

of who Christ is in their lives. And he's trying to, I believe, as quickly as possible, just cut to the heart of the issue. Get down to what really matters. It's the fact that they've lost sight of Christ in their hearts, of who he is. Verse four says, you have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to just be justified by the law. You have fallen from grace.

That is a scary, scary phrase, scary wording. He's basically saying, they've been separated from relationship with Christ. Like when you think of an estranged husband and wife, right? They no longer have relationship. They're separated by distance. Not just distance, but time, right? You're no longer communicating. You're estranged. You don't know each other anymore.

You're two different people. What was once one person is now two separate. And so Paul is saying, once you have, you know, gone back to the law, you've been separated from your savior. Christ means Messiah, the anointed one. You've been separated from the one who paid the price for your sins. And how scary of a thought is that, right? How scary of a thought is it

that because I'm going back to the law, I'm separated from my savior. So he's warning them, but he's trying to get to their heart. And then it says, you have fallen from grace, which is another scary thing, right? He's fallen away, but from the free gift of God, you're separated completely from it. Verse five says, for we through the spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

So now he's talking to the, talking about the true believers, the believers who believe in grace alone through faith alone in Christ completely. There's nothing else necessary. It's Christ paid it all. Like, I love that old song, the old song, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. These are the believers that Paul's talking about. The ones who trust completely that Jesus did in fact,

pay it all for them. So he's saying we through the spirit. So by the power of the Holy spirit, by the help of the Holy spirit, eagerly wait for the, the hope of, of, of seeing God's righteous righteousness really be placed on us. By faith. Right? Because I don't know if you, you guys feel the same way, but I am not perfect yet. I'm really close, but I'm not completely.

I'm like this close, but I don't see the righteousness that God has given me and accounted to me on my account. I don't see that in me yet, but by faith, I'm waiting for the day that God gives it to me. And I really am righteous in front of him. And so Paul is like, we, the ones that aren't working for salvation, that's what we're doing. Don't you want to be with us?

Don't you want to be on our team where you're not constantly trying to get back in God's good, good side. Then it says verse six for in Christ, Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith, working, and through love. So whether or not you're, you're considered a Jew or a Gentile, it really doesn't matter. God holds no personal favoritism, right?

If you believe in Christ, you're good. If you've accepted Christ as not just your, your savior, but your Lord, your commander in chief, your president, everything, your King. If you've accepted him as that, you're good to go. And it doesn't matter if you're circumcised or not. It doesn't matter if you're following the law or not. Right? He referenced in, in chapter two,

chapter one or two, one of the two about Titus. Titus was a young man that followed him. Just like Timothy. He was a young pastor, but he was only Greek, a full Greek. And Paul's like, we didn't make him get circumcised. He was a Greek. There was no reason for it. And so he's just reiterating the fact that it, it doesn't matter whether you are or not. But what does matter right on the flip side,

what does matter matter is faith working through love. That means the evidence of your faith in Jesus Christ is shown and worked out through God's agape love in your life. My question to you is, is, is there evidence of that faith in your life? One of the, the, the, the things that happened to me when I, I, so I I'll just be honest. I hated everyone when I got sick,

before I got saved. It didn't matter who you were. I could not stand people. I didn't want to be around people. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. I could not stand people. But when I got saved, God placed a love in my heart for people that I could not explain. I didn't try to, I tried to figure it out. I didn't try to earn it. I just walked into church and I was like,

man, I love that person. I was like, I don't know that person, but I want to let them know that they're loved. And, real faith produces real agape love. Is there agape love in your life? Verse seven says, you ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you,

in the Lord, that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment. Whoever he is. So he starts off with saying, you guys, you started off. Well, you started off by faith. You started off trusting in the work of Jesus on the cross, but then someone hindered you. Who did it? I believe this question was raised to put up a little rock in their boot of

their heart, right? That they would start mulling over in their hearts. Okay. Who is the person? Who's the man? Who's the man that keeps teaching this kind of false doctrine? Who's the one that has gotten me to take my eyes off of Christ and turn it onto myself and following the law? Who is that man? Paul actually has some strong words to say about false teachers and false

doctrine in Romans 16, verse 17. He says, mark those men who do the do such who caused dissension, caused division and separate yourself from them. I didn't say fight them, which would be fun, right? Doesn't say go after them or call them out. He just says, separate them, separate from them. Don't be around them. And he tells us why in verse nine, a little 11,

11 is the whole lump, right? A little bit of poison ruins the whole, whatever you want to fill in the blank, right? I could take a little bit of poison and it could kill me. I could give a little bit of a whatever. And, and it would hurt me. But the idea being that a little bit of that false teaching and false doctrine will ruin the whole lump will ruin the rest of the believers.

It might not be that day, but over time it will progress and grow. So he says, verse eight, this persuasion does not come from him who calls you this way of thinking that you guys are thinking. He's talking to the Galatians. He's saying, that's not from God. How awesome is it? That Paul has the willingness to be truthful, right? Not pulling any punches. Like what,

what is a proverb say? Faithful are the wounds of a friend. When someone is willing to go out of their way to be truthful about sin in our lives, not out of holding it over you, but that we would be reconciled with Christ. That's what Paul is trying to get at them. Get with them. So he said, dude, the way your mind's going right now, it's not from the Lord.

I know the Lord and that's not the Lord. And Paul is obviously speaking from authority, right? He doesn't speak and speak from this authority and all of his epistles, but Galatians, he's very pointed at, at, at correcting this problem of false doctrine. Verse 10 says, I have confidence in you and the Lord that you will have no other mind. He, he who troubles you shall bear his judgment.

Whoever he is basically saying, I have confidence that the Lord will bring you to the right mind. He will bring you back to the fold of God. He will bring you back to the right mindset. He will bring you back to Christ and a way back from the law. And then he also adds in the little, whoever troubles you is going to bear his own judgment. Whoever he is. I believe Paul kind of probably knew who,

who these jokers were. I don't know. You could take it. For what it's worth, but I kind of think he's just jabbing at who that might be. Whoever he is. I know they're probably like in, in the church as he's reading it. And they're like, dang it, that's me. You know, trying to sneak out the back.

Verse 11 says, in I brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. I wish that those who would trouble you, who trouble you would even cut themselves off.

So he starts off with the question in the verse 11. He's like, yo, if I'm preaching that circumcision is necessary, right? That every believer must be circumcised. If that's what I'm preaching, then why am I still suffering persecution? Why am I still going through these hard times? Why am I still being chased by the church? Because then it says, then the offense,

the offense of the cross has ceased the cross and what Christ did on the cross paid the price so that none of these things had to be done anymore. And so there would be no reason for him to be persecuted. If that was what was true, but it was the fact that he's saying, yo, you're not stuck to the law anymore. You're stuck to Christ. You're set apart for Christ.

And this was the reason why he was being persecuted. So he's just adding that little detail in. I could wish that those who would trouble you would even cut themselves off. That's a, I love that little cry plea of help plea that man, if only they would just leave, we wouldn't have to address. And I wouldn't have had to write this letter if they would have just took off

on their own. But sometimes, right. As, as the leaders in the church have seen people come in, situations, have to be addressed. It's not always comfortable and not always, it doesn't always feel right or feel good, but these kinds of situations must be addressed. When there's a wolf in sheep's clothing, a false teacher spreading and trying to gain a following,

right. Rather than trying to build the kingdom of God, then they must be removed. And so he's just hoping, man, I wish they would just did it themselves. Verse 13 says for you, brethren, have been called to Liberty. Only do not use Liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but all, but through love, through love, serve one another for all the law is fulfilled in one word.

Even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, beware, lest you be consumed by one another. So there's a flip side to the following of the law. They were teaching that. Oh, Paul just teaches grace only. And that you can do whatever you want, that you can, you, if you accept Christ, you can live like the devil.

You're good. You're saved. So you can do what you want. And Paul's like, uh, not on my watch. He says, you've been called to Liberty, right? So you have been called to freedom. He's not arguing that saying you've been called to freedom, freedom from sin, freedom from the law, separated unto Christ. He says, only don't use that Liberty as an opportunity for the flesh.

Right? With the, with the, this is kind of, this was kind of my mindset, mindset growing up. Like I grew up in a pastor's home. My dad was a pastor. My mom's pastor wife, two godliest people I've ever met. Right? They love Jesus. And I'm in, in the home. I know Jesus is real. I know that the Bible is real. I know that God really does exist. But my mindset was like,

yo, God's going to forgive me. So I might as well, uh, party on while I'm young. And when I turned 40, if I make it, then I'll, I'll accept, I'll accept Christ as my Lord, and Savior. I never really argued with the thought of God being real and, and Christ existing and Christ doing what he did. But what I was doing was taking the grace of God and putting my own spin on it and,

and doing what I, I thought I could do, uh, rather than, uh, using it as Liberty from sin to separate from sin from, from the things of the world. And so he says, don't, don't use it as an opportunity for the flesh, but rather through love, through agape love, serve one another. That's the difference, right? When we're, he's going to get a little bit more into it, uh, in, in 16 through the 25, 26 rather, but he's introducing the idea of when you're walking in agape love, the goal is to serve other people rather than to take from other people.

And so verse 14 says, for all the laws fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So all of these, these, uh, standards and checklists and all of these things that, that we may hold ourselves to are fulfilled. If we actually love our neighbors as ourself, but I will tell you, it's impossible to love your neighbor as yourself. If you don't really love God, there's a prerequisite to that.

Right? We must love the creator before we can love the creation, right? Before we can love his, his people that he's made in his image, we must love him. And he gives us that ability to love one another. There's 15 says, but if you bite and devour one another, beware, lest you be consumed by one another. Just the idea of like, if you're walking in the flesh,

you guys are going to constantly bicker and, and fight and consume, consume one another, which is a scary thought, right? Rather than building each other up in Christ and, uh, coming alongside one another in Christ, we're going to be arguing back and forth, just like the world does. Like there, there'd be no difference from us and the rest of the world. Watch any reality TV show ever.

What do they do? Talk smack about everyone, like all nice in front in their face. And then as soon as they get alone with, with the camera, they're like, did you see what he did? He looked at me funny.

And so Paul's like, let, let that not be the case, right? Let us be different than those around us. Verse 16 says, I say, then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for 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. But if you are led by the spirit,

you are not under the law. So this is the, the, the, what the life of a believer should look like is what Paul is, is getting into. Now he says, instead, I say now to you, excuse me, walk in the spirit. And if you're walking in the spirit, right, you're conducting your life in the spirit. Well, let me back up a little bit. What it means, uh, Jesus said, uh,

in, uh, John chapter three, that we must be born again of the spirit. And if you haven't been born again of the spirit, then you have no ability to walk in the spirit. With that being said, um, Paul is, is here addressing the situation. He's saying in order, uh, to not do the things that you want to do, right. To put to death the desires of the flesh. You must walk in the spirit.

There's, there's, uh, uh, uh, a change of, of pattern of living that must take place. Right. Uh, he writes a lot about this in, in Ephesians talking about how you once fulfilled the, uh, walked in the same pattern as the world, like doing what you wanted for the lust of your flesh, the desires of your heart living like that. But now you're called apart separate to live according to the spirit.

And so what it means to walk in the spirit is to be obedient to, to an outside force, which is the spirit of the living God, the same God who was in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, which we just want to, right. We are filled with that spirit, the spirit of the living God. And so we are being obedient to him rather than being obedient to our flesh. Uh, then it says verse 17 for the flesh lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.

And these are contrary to, to one another. So he, he brings up, I don't know if you guys struggle with this. I do a little bit, a little bit. Um, but my flesh always wanting to do what I want to do, right? Like when I wake up, I don't want to get into the word. I don't want to pray. What I want to do is turn over and get another 15 minutes of sleep before I got to go to work.

Right. But when I choose to say, okay, Lord, help me to, to, to, to seek after you, to follow after you, fill me afresh with your spirit. He gives me the ability to be obedient to him, uh, by the spirit because the flesh is always going to be warring with, uh, the spirit. Verse 18 says, but if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. If you are following the leading of the spirit,

you no longer have to be held down by the bondage of the law, right? You'd no longer have to be continually worrying. Did I sin here? Did I sin there? Oh no, I messed up again. You know, if you're, if you're following the spirit, you're letting the spirit lead you and guide you. You're not going to do those things. Verse 19 says, now the works of the flesh are evident,

which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So these are the opposite of the fruits of the spirit, right? These are the works of the flesh or the fruits of the, of the flesh, right? This is what goes on in our hearts.

The flesh represents, um, us without the spirit of God, right? It's, it's our natural state before we're born again. This is how we lived according to the flesh. And so the works of the flesh are evident. That means you can discern when you're walking in the spirit or not, or when, you know, your buddy's walking in the spirit or not. Um, but you can, you can see because it's evident.

It's clear. That he gives us a list and this is a pretty extensive list. I'm going to try to go take it piece by piece, but, um, adultery being, um, forsaking of the marriage and, and sexual relations outside of marriage fornication being, uh, sexual immorality, any illicit sex outside of marriage, uh, uncleanness, um, and lewdness is just living like the devil. And, um, um, as well, both kind of, uh, sexual in nature.

Verse 20 says idolatry, right? Having idols over God. The second commandment is like, don't have any, don't make for yourself a graven image. Third, third commandment is not have any idols. Even in that time, they were still picking idols, taking idols. I don't know about you guys, but for me, idols were a big issue. It didn't matter what it was, whether it was my PS4 or,

uh, I liked jujitsu. Jujitsu was so fun and it was an idol to me because I put this and attaining what I wanted here above God. And it was my idol. So idolatry, sorcery, or, or witchcraft. Um, the, the Greek word is pharmakia, which can be, uh, a lot of people have used for, uh, the, uh, the scripture against drugs, right? Against, uh, the use of any drugs that,

that, uh, take you out of the right state of mind. Um, you fill in the blank on what drug you want to talk about there. Uh, hatred, absolute disgust with another person, right? Jesus said, um, you've heard it said that, uh, you, you shall not murder, but I tell you, whoever looks on, on his brother with hate has committed murder in his heart, right? Hatred.

It's a, it's a fleshly thing. Contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath. All of these things are, are out of, of a, a self, uh, motivated heart out of a self-focused heart because it's all about me and, and what someone is doing to me. And it says, um, um, selfish ambitions. The idea of this one, which was really kind of interesting. It's, um, uh, I believe the word was electioneering,

but basically self-promotion promoting yourself above everyone else saying that me, Lewis is more important than all of you guys. Selfish ambition and, and being focused about me and promoting myself. We see that every day in this day and age, right? Just look at social media. Look at anything ever. Nowadays, everyone's always focused about promoting themselves.

If I don't promote myself, no one else will. It's a little bit opposite to what Christ said. What, what the Bible says, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will exalt you. A little bit different. And so, uh, then it says dissensions, heresies, um, dissensions being like anything that caused divisions, uh, heresies being any sort of false teaching,

which Paul's addressing here. Um, and then it says envy murders. So wanting stuff that's not yours, murders, obviously murder, uh, drunkenness. Um, this is the, the idea at drunkenness and revelry revelries kind of go together, but, um, it's something that I know, I've partaken of and, and been a part of, of, of drinking all night and, and having those all night parties that, that lasted all night.

Um, sorry. And then it says, and the like, so he leaves it open, right? It's an open-ended explanation that there's, this isn't the end all be all to the list of the works of the flesh. There's more to it, more to it. And you can, you can know if it's the Lord or you, if it's about, if it's about me and not about everyone else. Then it says verse 22. Oh, sorry.

And then it says 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, the warning, right? The warning that I've already told you. And I'm telling you again, that if this is the life you're living, you're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. And that phrase there, that was written 2000 years ago is just the same.

If this matches your life, I would repent as soon as possible and ask the Lord to give you a change of heart. Ask the Lord to come into your life and to give you a new life in him. Like even if you're a believer, like it's, it's a scary thought to be a believer and be caught up in all of these things. Now I'm not saying like, struggling here and there, but living in it, living in adultery, living in fornication, living in sorcery, living in idolatry or hatred.

Are you know, are you known as a person who has an outburst of wrath of anger, breaking stuff? Cause you get mad, punching walls and stuff, whatever it is. If, if you're more known for this, I would seriously consider taking it before the Lord and asking him, to come into your life again. I love you and I want salvation for you. I want to see you guys in the kingdom.

I'm going to see every one of you guys in the kingdom of heaven with me. I don't want to go alone.

Verse 22 says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such. There's no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit, but it's not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

So this is the flip side of, of, of not walking in the flesh, right? The opposite of not walking in the flesh is walking in the spirit. And so he says the fruit or the evidence of you walking in the spirit is this starts off with a gap. I love, this is the love that, is that John describes in first John four, eight. He uses this word to describe God. It says,

God is love. God is a gap. Self-sacrificial, unselfish, not even worried about self, but completely motivated by love for other people. And so the fruit of the spirit, when the, the evidence that you are filled, filled with the spirit of the living God is love pouring out of your life. He's re hitting back on the, on the, uh, the end of verse six of chapter five,

where he says, but faith working through love. It's true. When you are filled with the spirit, when you are walking in the spirit, when you are being led by the spirit, the love of God will pour out of your life. So he says, love. Then he says, joy, the joy of God. That isn't just happiness, right? It's the joy of knowing I'm good with the Lord. The joy of knowing that I don't deserve it,

but I got it. I got that salvation. I didn't earn it. It's like, so I graduated with a 1.7 GPA. I'm not proud of it. I'm just smiling. I graduated with a 1.7 GPA. I can't imagine the joy of me walking up to get my, my, uh, certificate, and then be like, yeah, you, we, we know you got a 1.7, but here's a 4.0. Get into Harvard. That's like God's grace upon us.

And that's the kind of joy that we experience when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. And we're filled with the spirit of the living God. It's way above what we would think what we earned. Well, obviously none of us, I, I didn't earn it. Then it says peace. Isn't that awesome? That part of the fruit of the spirit or the evidence of the spirit is having a peace in your heart,

knowing that you're good with God, right? There's nothing else that you have to worry about. I'm good with the creator of all of these things. Why do I have to worry about who's president? Why do I have to worry about, you know, I don't know anything. The bills that are coming up. Why do I have to worry about where my kids are? I don't have kids, but why do I have to worry?

I don't have to worry about anything when I'm good with the creator of the heavens and earth. I have peace. Then it says long suffering, patience, right? It's not easy. I don't know about you guys, but patience is hard for me waiting. But that is a fruit of the spirit. Evidence of the spirit, kindness, goodness, just being an all around welcoming person,

faithfulness, being accountable, right? Being, being where you need to be, you know, being reliable. People can trust you. People don't have to worry about where you're going to be or if you're going to show up. They trust that you're going to be there. Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Gentleness is such a beautiful word, right? Because isn't that described God with us?

How gentle he has been with us, right? How, how much we all deserve hell. And yet by grace, he accepts us and is gentle with us. His kindness is what leads us to repentance. It's not the heavy hand of God that, you know, I don't know. But anyways, and then self-control, right? How awesome is that? I don't know about you guys, but I kind of struggle with self-control,

whether that's how much I'm going to eat or what time to go to bed or, you know, how much coffee I'm going to drink, a little bit of everything, the fruits of the spirit, all of these things. And so that's one thing I want to hit on.

It is good. It's a good thing to be, to desire to be filled with the spirit. The spirit of God is so gentle, so kind. He's not going to lead you to do anything weird. He's not going to lead you to, to embarrass yourself. He's not going to lead you to make yourself look like a fool. He's kind. And all of these characteristics of the fruit of the spirit are what the

spirit of the living God is. He is love. He is joy. He is peace, long suffering, kindness. And if you haven't been filled with the spirit, I beg you take, take tonight, use tonight, go before the Lord and ask him, ask him to help you live and walk in the spirit. So that, that these characteristics would start to be pouring out of your life. You can't fake it.

I mean, some people can fake it. I guess I get, some people are really good at faking at being a really good person or I'm not. I suck at being a really good person. So I am like, some people are good at faking it, but the fruit that comes from the Lord doesn't have to be faked. You don't have to pretend. And my hope and desire for you guys, and for me as well,

is that all of these would start to pour out of our lives without having to pretend.

And then it says against such, there is no law. Now that is a burden lifted off of our shoulders. Now we don't have to worry about doing the right thing all the time because we have the spirit of the living God leading us and guiding us. And he is so patient. He's so kind. He is so faithful, gentle, all of these things. There's no law which prohibits these things.

And then verse 24 and those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. So those who are identified as followers of Jesus Christ have put to death, put to death by humiliation, the flesh with its passions and desires. What I mean by putting to death, like crucifix crucifixion was a humbling or humiliating death. Right? One taking his own cross naked or half naked.

I don't know. Walking and taking it up to the hill or wherever they wanted to put the crosses at that moment in time. Cause the Romans, Jesus wasn't the only one who died on the cross. Lots of people, lots of slaves, lots of people that the Romans just wanted to watch die. But it was humiliating. You weren't just dying. You were waiting up there in front of a crowd.

Slowly passing away as your dying breaths pour out of you. Right? People laughing and mocking you. It's, it's known that the Romans would, would often make fun of and giggle at someone dying on the cross. It's humiliating. And Paul is saying those who are in Christ, who are followers of Christ have humbly and humiliatingly killed the flesh, put to death the desires of the flesh so that they can be obedient to the Lord

by the spirit of God. The life of a believer is not an easy one. It's a great one. Don't get me wrong. You get the joy of the Lord, right? You get all of these, these perks of the fruit of the spirit, all of these perks, but it doesn't mean life is going to be easy. Life is going to be grand or great. Then it says, if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in this,

this spirit. So if we have truly been born again, let's continue in the spirit that we've been born again into. And this spirit is the spirit of the living God, Jehovah, Yeshua, El Shaddai, right? Almighty God, his spirit living inside of us. And then verse 26 to close, it says, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. So just the last little warning,

to end off this portion of scripture saying, don't get caught up doing the same things as the world, right? Don't be jealous of one another. Don't get prideful in yourself, but rather be filled with the spirit. So, um, what does all of this mean to us? Right? Cause I don't know if you, I don't know anyone going around telling everyone they need to be circumcised

anymore. Um, I don't know, uh, if that's the case, but we do as, as a people have a tendency to start to do a list of checks, uh, boxes to be checked about doing the right thing, right? Well, I haven't cussed today, so I'm good. Oh, look, I read my Bible check. Oh, look, I prayed check. Look, I'm a good person. Check. And we, we have a tendency to, to fall into a pattern of legalism,

which legalism and doing these things only produces pride and arrogance. Because it's, look what I'm doing. God didn't help me with this. I'm good. I didn't need a savior for this portion of my life. So encouragement, humble yourself before the Lord, recognize that it's Christ alone who has saved you and Christ alone who keeps you by the spirit of God. He's the only one that can help us live this life of faith.

So I encourage you to, to go before God, go before the Lord tonight, hopefully tonight, go before the Lord and, and ask him to lead you by his spirit, wherever he wants you to go, whatever he wants you to do, be willing to do anything, whatever it is. Don't be scared. The spirit of the living God is, has, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. He's gentle.

Whatever he leads you to is going to be way better for you. Than what we would lead for ourselves. So I love you guys. And let's go ahead and close in prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for your word. And I thank you so much for the love that you have for each one of us, father, for the spirit of God that you've given each one of us. And father, I just want to lift up my brothers and sisters here to you.

Ask that you would lead them by your spirit, Lord, that you would reveal yourself in a new and mighty way, by your spirit, Lord, show them how kind, how gentle, how patient you are. Lord, pour out your love upon each one of my brothers and sisters. Lord, we love you in Jesus name. Amen.