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[0:00] Take your Bibles and go to Galatians chapter 5, please. Galatians chapter 5, page 149, that black Bible.

[0:13] Galatians chapter 5. No, I just can tell you I won't spit on this. Yeah, it's fine.

[0:26] Galatians 5, this morning we're gonna do verses 13 through 26. 13 through 26. And you can do this section probably in three or four different sermons.

[0:46] I'm aware of that, but we'll tackle it in one. How's that? Galatians 5, 13 through 26. Our Lord says this.

[1:02] What's that? Oh yeah, right on. For you were called to freedom, brethren. Only not your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh.

[1:14] But through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. In this, you shall love your neighbors yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another.

[1:26] But I say walk by the Spirit. Excuse me. And you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit.

[1:40] And the Spirit against the flesh. And these are in opposition to one another, so you may not do the things that you please. If you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law.

[1:51] Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.

[2:05] Of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

[2:22] Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Verse 25, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

[2:35] Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. A gray-haired old lady, long-time member of her community and church, she shook hands with the minister after the service one Sunday morning.

[3:01] That was a wonderful sermon, she told him. Just wonderful. Everything you said applies to someone I know. I think she missed the point.

[3:14] And yet, it may be our temptation today to look at someone else, especially because of recent events have happened.

[3:30] We have to understand something. Theology, and knowledge of theology and ethics or living, they're not inseparable.

[3:41] They go together. We never mature beyond the gospel. We learn more about how to apply this news of grace to our lives.

[3:55] You can't take away theology and rip it away from ethics. You can't take away theology and rip it away from living.

[4:07] They are inseparable. You cannot separate them. It's not simply about knowing doctrine or knowing things from a book.

[4:18] It's practical. It's not simple. It's not simple. It's practical. It's livable. It's applicable. It's relevant. And so far, we've seen two parts of Galatians.

[4:29] This news of gospel freedom, live in gospel freedom, we've seen it. It's divine. We've seen that this news is vital. And today, over the next, what, three Sundays, we're going to see how this news is relevant.

[4:47] It's relevant. The news of the gospel is relevant for everyday living. The news of the gospel is relevant for everyday living.

[4:58] It's not just something you give to someone who doesn't know Jesus. We grow by the gospel. We grow through the gospel. We're going to talk about the formula that Paul will give us today in our passage.

[5:15] But obviously, the news, of course, the news were justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, so stand fast in this gospel freedom. And then Paul now deals with this accusation that salvation in Christ leads to lawlessness, or it doesn't matter how you live.

[5:35] All the matters if you're circumcised, or you follow this aspect of the law, or that aspect of the law. Well, rather than liberty being used to lust, the goal is love, as we'll see.

[5:47] So notice how it begins, verse 13. For you were called to live in freedom. You were called to freedom, brethren.

[5:59] Back to chapter 5, verse 8. This persuasion does not come from him who calls you. Chapter 5, verse 1. For freedom Christ set us free, therefore stand firm, stand fast in this freedom.

[6:17] Our freedom is based on God's call to us in the gospel. We're given free grace by God. God has called you to freedom, friend. We're called to live in gospel freedom, yet don't abuse it.

[6:34] Again, verse 13. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. It's liberty, but not license.

[6:45] It's freedom which can be easily abused. An opportunity for the flesh. One who lives apart from the redeeming grace of God. God, it's not having the right to sin.

[6:58] But a spirit imparted ability and desire to do what we should do. It's not a freedom to sin. And when he says here, flesh, sarks, the sphere of corruption is what that means.

[7:13] That which is contrary to the spirit. Remnants of sin in us. Somebody put that to me years ago. It might even come from more of the Puritans.

[7:26] Flesh means remnants of sin in us. That's connected to this flesh. It's not flesh. He doesn't mean flesh here. This flesh. It's remnants of sin that is connected to this flesh. And when this flesh dies, you're freed from that remnants of sin.

[7:42] NIV, I think, translates it sinful nature, which that's a poor way to translate that. It shouldn't be sinful nature. It should be flesh. It's the self-love part of us that still remains until our death.

[7:56] The sphere of existence determined and conditioned by sin. It refers to the present evil age. Christians do not have two natures.

[8:08] An old nature and a new nature. True believers have one new nature. It's imperfect. So the temptation then is to, excuse me, is to use our freedom for our own selfish ends.

[8:30] We can't look to a law to overcome our flesh. And we can't allow this freedom that we have in Christ, this free grace, he's saying, as an opportunity to let it go.

[8:43] Do a little frozen there. No, don't let it go. It's like Paul saying, look, enjoy the blessings of freedom, but don't turn this great gospel of free grace into a license to sin.

[8:59] And somebody came up with this illustration. I'll give this to you. This is very helpful. The 16-year-old gets their driver's license. They're happy, right?

[9:11] I mean, they're like, eh, all right, got my driver's license. So now you tell them now, you can drive wherever you want. You can drive wherever, but not however.

[9:25] Oh, cool, I'm gonna go down to Phoenix. Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, just take, no, you, it's not however you want, it's wherever you want. You gotta take the roads. You gotta do the speed limits.

[9:39] And that's a good way to understand it. People don't say, oh, you know what, I'm just, I'm not free. I'm not free to drive. Yes, you are. You wouldn't, you wouldn't ever think that.

[9:51] And if you said that to a teenager, 16 years old, they get their driver's license, you say, you can drive wherever, not however. They'd be like, yeah. What do you think I am, Dad? Stupid? No. I mean, they figure that out.

[10:02] They understand that. They don't think that they're restrained in their freedom. That's a good example of what Paul's talking about here. You have a driver's license to live in freedom, to drive wherever, not however, which leads to the next part.

[10:21] So, you're called to live in freedom, yet don't abuse it, but serve through love. But, but through love, serve one another. So, don't abuse it, it's the negative.

[10:38] Serve through love is the positive. Through love, you serve one another. Love is the summary.

[10:57] The realization of God's law, which is true freedom. Be servants of one another through love. The goal is mutual service through love.

[11:10] You're now free to act in love. He's going to talk more about this with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. This is opposite of the world's view of freedom.

[11:23] I have the inalienable right to the pursuit of my own happiness, and the way I want to pursue it to my own, for my own selfish end. No, freedom is expressed in service through love.

[11:37] How do you demonstrate freedom? Serve others rather than seek to be served. You're free to act in love.

[11:51] Be servants with one another through love. Or, another way to put it, shorter way, do I have it up here? Oh man, I forgot. Oh, it's okay. I'll give it to you.

[12:02] Love others like Jesus loves us. That's a short way to put it. Love others the way Jesus loves you. Deep affection, self-sacrificing, tenderness, genuine sympathy, ready to give assistance, longing to promote a brother's welfare, a sister's welfare, joyful and spontaneous giving, forgiving.

[12:24] And notice he continues on the reason, verse 14, for, the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

[12:40] See, now we're under the law of Christ, he'll say that in Galatians chapter 6. There's a way to fulfill the whole thing, and it's by the love from God.

[12:53] Leviticus 19, 18, you shall love your neighbors yourself. Serving, excuse me, serving one another through love truly satisfies the requirements of the law.

[13:06] That's what the law was all about. It's expressing your love for God and your love for others. That's what this is.

[13:17] That's what the law is. And law meaning not just the Ten Commandments. It's the aspects that have to do with ceremonial issues. It's the aspects that have to do with civil issues. Like, take civil issues.

[13:30] Refresh your neighbor. They were told, don't go to the corner when you're harvesting your food. Come down to the corner. Round off the corners.

[13:42] Why? Why would you do that? Because you would leave that part for someone who's poor. They can come and just glean off of that. Why would you do that? Because, no, why would you do that?

[13:54] Because you love your Israelite brother or sister. That's why. It's rooted in love. The way one fulfills the law is not by observing rules and regulations.

[14:10] But by the new way of love. This new way is empowered, generated, and sustained by the Spirit. He'll bring this up. We'll look at it in a moment. As part of the new covenant, the law will be written upon the hearts of God's people.

[14:27] He does this by means of the Spirit. So believers who have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them have God's law written upon their hearts. And it's by the agency of the Spirit that believers fulfill the law of Christ which is love.

[14:41] God's will is not some external code but an inward principle. Our very works of love are expressions of God's grace at work in our lives.

[14:54] And notice the negative part he brings up here in verse 15. But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you be consumed by one another, you bite and eat each other up, rushing at each other like wild animals.

[15:09] If you do this, you'll gulp each other down is what that means. The opposite of serving each other through love is disaster.

[15:20] It destroys churches. Like two snakes that grabbed each other by the tail and each swallowed the other.

[15:33] Or to fight like two Kilkenny cats. You ever heard this story? There once were two cats of Kilkenny. Each thought there was one cat too many. So they fought and they fit and they scratched and they bit till accepting their nails and the tips of their tails.

[15:47] Instead of two cats, there weren't any. So was there a segment of the membership of these South Galatian churches who were yielding to a life of license or even legalism?

[16:00] Well, it's more like this. They were adhering to the circumcision, these external codes, but when it came down to serving through love, oh, we don't need to do that. We don't need to do that.

[16:14] That's not what the law is all about. And Paul's trying to say, no, that is what the law is all about. So, we're called to live in freedom.

[16:25] Don't abuse it. Excuse me. Serve through love instead. Now, how, how are we able to serve through love? And that's in verses 16 through 26.

[16:36] So in 16 through 26, well, back up, 13 through 15, he's saying, okay, you know, serve one another through love.

[16:47] Now, verses 16 through 26, it's gonna tell you how this is gonna happen. How does God make this happen in our lives? And first, I want to give you the formula.

[17:01] There's a formula here that Paul gives. It goes, gospel, faith, justification, spirit, and then love. I've already touched on this and Paul's touched on this as well. The gospel comes in.

[17:15] Faith, your justification, your justified, made right with God, the spirit comes in, you're able to love. That formula is so key in knowing how we're able to serve each other through love.

[17:31] So again, gospel, faith, justification, spirit, love. And then you can say spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, the fruit of the spirit.

[17:49] So how are we able to walk through love? Notice, excuse me, serve through love. Notice, it's about the spirit. So number one, walk by the spirit, verse 16.

[18:02] How are you serving each other through love? How do you do this? You gotta walk by the spirit. Verse 16. I walk by the spirit, you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. I say this to you. So be guided or live by the spirit.

[18:17] It's a command. Not a suggestion. It's not an indicative either. The spirit is the means by which we walk.

[18:27] This command is rooted in the indicative. Because of the truth of Jesus, the gospel, faith, justification, and what he's done, we're encouraged in a spiritual life. We have the spirit.

[18:38] You can bring about love for others. So to walk is to live. To live is to walk.

[18:49] That's what that's used for. So it's a constant moment by moment direction, guidance, dominance, control.

[19:00] It's not some mystical thing. It's not like that. To follow the spirit means you live a life of love for the body amid all their warts, amid all their fallacies, the stupid things that they say, the stupid things that they do.

[19:20] the blemishes. I know there's nothing that happens here. But let's just say. And then what, I'm going to give you a lot of information here so this will be fun.

[19:36] And then what Paul does is in the midst of this, giving you how you're going to be able to serve through love, first walk by the spirit. Then he's going to give you promises, four promises in this walk by the spirit.

[19:47] If you're walking by the spirit, I'm going to give you four promises, says Paul. And here's promise number one. Holy Christian living. Walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

[20:02] The desire of the flesh will not be fulfilled in you. Submit to the spirit's leadership functioning under him and your flesh won't be satisfied. Again, the flesh.

[20:15] It's that remnants of sin. We cannot depend on our own efforts. Our efforts to please God and our own strength and our own way will result in sinful behavior. The flesh is all that sinners trust in to save themselves and better themselves.

[20:31] It's the root of selfishness. If you walk by the spirit, promise number one, you have holy Christian living. You will not carry out, you will not have the desires of the flesh be fulfilled in you.

[20:43] And notice the struggle. Now he's going to give the struggle between spirit and flesh, verse 17. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition, conflict with one another, so you may not do the things that you please.

[21:01] The flesh, your remnants of sin is against the spirit and the spirit is against the flesh. They oppose each other. And what's the result? That we do not do the things that we want.

[21:14] That we want to do. In other words, there's no neutral position. You understand this, right? Either we serve the flesh or we follow the spirit.

[21:25] Either you're growing or regressing. You ever felt like you're plateauing? You're not plateauing. You might feel like that, but it's not happening.

[21:37] You're either growing or regressing. You're either serving the flesh or you're following the spirit, walking by the spirit. To follow the flesh is inconsistent for Christians because they've been delivered from and no longer belong to this realm.

[21:53] The realm of the flesh. So if one obeys the spirit's direction, then that one is liberated.

[22:05] Able to make the godly response of love holy Christian living. So there's two opposing kingdoms. There's darkness and light. Two opposite ways to live.

[22:18] Two spheres of existence. Living by the spirits is living under the dominance of the coming age that has now begun and the promise holy Christian living.

[22:35] Since our wills, since our wills have been changed, we can say yes to the spirit. Yes to love. Our wills have been changed.

[22:46] The spirit dwells in us. So now you can say yes to the spirit. You can say yes to love. They tell us in biblical counseling, people say I can't do that.

[22:58] 99% of the time when you say you can't, you mean you won't. 99% of the time when you say you can't, you actually mean you won't. Because there's freedom that we have in Christ and the gospel.

[23:13] Gospel, faith, justification, spirit, love. Remember that's the formula. So promise number one, holy Christian living. Again, we're still under walk by the spirit. Promise number two, powerful Christian living.

[23:25] Verse 18. If you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law. A believer is not a helpless spectator watching everything happen like a pawn. A Christian overcomes the flesh by siding with the spirit.

[23:42] We must actively choose to stand on the spirit's side against the flesh with the gospel as our foundation. And again, don't think of some mystical thing.

[23:58] It's not some mystical thing, you know, where you're chanting or whatever. No, the spirit becomes, excuse me, we face a decision at almost every moment and to follow the spirit in his way, that's what we want to do or we give into our flesh our remnants of sin.

[24:17] Face a decision, almost every single moment of the day to either follow the spirit or give into our flesh. But now, the spirit, he becomes, excuse me, the controlling influence.

[24:34] So we must respond to, depend on, and cooperate with him. We respond to him, depend on him, cooperate with him.

[24:48] The natural expression of the new life is life in the spirit. It's powerful Christian living. If you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law, which denotes defeat, curse, bondage, impotence.

[25:06] The law cannot save you, nor give you the power to live the life God has called you to live. So to be under the law means you're under a curse, which means you're under sway of law, which means you have impotent living, which means you're in bondage, which means you're defeated.

[25:26] What do you want to go back to that for? That's no fun. Law and flesh are linked together, thus these desires of the flesh cannot be overcome by remaining under law because law is impotent.

[25:40] It is powerless. It only points out your sin. It doesn't empower you at all. But if Christians are not under the sway of the spirit, then they're empowered for Christian living.

[25:58] You're equipped to love. That's powerful Christian living. So two promises, holy Christian living, powerful Christian living. Now he stops. Paul does this.

[26:10] He starts talking about something. He goes over here and he goes over here. So he does it again. He comes over here. Now he's going to explain to you, okay, what does it mean to walk by the flesh?

[26:22] What is flesh walking anyways? Verse 19 through 21. Paul gave four groups.

[26:37] Sexual sins, religious deviations, personal relationship issues, and intemperance sins. And these sins deal with both our relationship with God and others.

[26:47] The primary focus on others, obviously, because it goes back first to the gospel, our relationship with God, which will influence our relationship with others.

[26:58] Remember the formula? Gospel, faith, justification, spirit, love. He says this. The deeds of the flesh are evident, verse 19, which are immorality, any unbiblical sexual intercourse, impurity, impure conduct in sexual relations, sensuality, sexual excess, no self-respect or concern for the rights and feelings of others.

[27:24] Sexual sin in the Greco-Roman world was in complete chaos. Even pagan writers were themselves disgusted with their own culture's unspeakable evil. Idolatry, worshiping or giving honor to anything that usurps the rightful place of God in our lives to give Him soul glory.

[27:45] Sorcery, this word is connected with the abuse of drugs using substances to put one in a euphoric state and then conjure up demons. This is counterfeit to the work of the Spirit.

[27:58] Emnities, quarrels, hostilities, strife, rivalry, discord, you disrupt Christian fellowship within a local body. Jealousy, self-centered zeal that hates the good another enjoys.

[28:14] It seeks to harm the other person. Outbursts of anger, temporary passion, anger, fits of rage, disputes, mercenary spirits, selfish ambition, dissensions, a person or persons who cause divisions, hindrances, disunity in a church.

[28:34] Factions, a party in opposition to a local church community. This word goes with dissension and that disunity, that disunity through this small group that create this faction to try and destroy a church.

[28:48] Envying, regards one another, regards another person, another person with ill will because of what he has or who she is. I want what that person wants for myself.

[29:02] Drunkenness is not disease. It's voluntary slavery which leads to debauchery, dissipation, wild living. It's sin. It's not alcoholism.

[29:12] It's drunkenness. Carousing, a pagan way of life when there's reveling and orgies. All these are putting pleasure in the place of God. And then notice how he ends this part right here, the end of verse 21, or middle of, I should say, of verse 21.

[29:28] And things like these. Just in case I missed something. This list is not exhaustive. So it includes anything of like similarity.

[29:43] And then look at what he says. Of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

[29:56] That's a strong statement. Look, a person can say whatever they want, but if that person lives continually under such an evil level of this type of moral corruption in terms of their lifestyle, then it is evident that that person is not a true child of God, is not a true son of Abraham.

[30:19] Because remember the formula. Gospel, faith, justification, spirit, love. If that's devoid, then Paul says, if you practice these things, there is no justification.

[30:37] There's no faith. There's no gospel. There's no gospel. In other words, living life in the flesh and living life by the Spirit, it's fundamentally incompatible.

[30:51] The sad part is so many Christians act this way. And many do this in churches and to churches. I heard this said just a couple days ago. No one hates like Christian love.

[31:05] See what I said? No one hates like Christian love. And we wonder why the world thinks we're a bunch of morons when they see these things happening in churches.

[31:24] Do the person and work of Jesus believers have become sons and heirs of God's kingdom yet those who behave in ways contrary to God's nature show that they've not embraced God's rule through Jesus in their lives.

[31:37] the good news of free grace which justifies a believer not based on any of their works or their merits but offers complete freedom from the law never gives a Christian a do what you want card.

[31:54] It's never flipped over to you. Do what you want. It doesn't make sense. Gospel faith justification, spirit love, it flows. You can't break that chain.

[32:08] You can't break that formula. So he's going through this. Okay, he says, okay, stop, let me tell you, what exactly is flesh walking? Let me tell you this is what flesh walking is.

[32:18] Now, what is spirit walking? What does that look like? So he says, this is how you do it through love, serve one another.

[32:30] How do you do it? Walk by the spirit. What is spirit walking? Verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

[32:44] The life of Jesus lived out on a Christian. The natural harvest of a life controlled by the spirit, dominated by the spirit. And they're not different qualities like different jewels but different facets of the same jewel.

[33:04] It's one jewel. It's one fruit. It's not fruits. It's one fruit. It's one diamond. There's all these different aspects to that diamond. Love stands at the head.

[33:17] Christians already experience this through the spirit because they guarantee their future hope is certain. The spirit himself is a gift of love to us from God.

[33:27] He's gonna redeem us. And then Paul already defined love in chapter 2, verse 20. Who loved me and gave himself up for me.

[33:42] He delivered himself for Paul. Thus, that same self-sacrificing love that Jesus showed to us is what we should display towards each other within the body.

[33:53] the work of spirit is one so all these virtues are working, all these virtues that are working out of one virtue is love.

[34:06] They stem from love. Joy. Not earthly happiness or being giddy but satisfaction, a happy satisfaction, contentment with God stands fast in the midst of trials and sorrow.

[34:23] Peace versus disorder or confusion based on objective peace in the gospel. A peacemaker versus someone who stirs up conflict, stirs up things, patience, long-suffering.

[34:38] As God shows long-suffering towards mankind and that he's not already thrown us into hell, Christians should display the same.

[34:51] We should refuse to retaliate for wrong done to us. Kindness, we treat others the way God treated us, a gracious attitude and action toward others. Goodness, practical generosity versus envy to do far more for someone than what is required.

[35:12] Faithfulness, trustworthiness, this person's loyal and personal relationships, she is faithful to her word. He is faithful to his word, not lying, not deceitful, not hypocritical.

[35:25] Gentleness, meekness, opposite of vehemence and violence, anger, merges strength and gentleness. Gentleness is strength under control. And then he mentions here the last, in verse 23, self-control, which means strict discipline like an athlete and you master yourself and you fashion your life according to God and here, the word self-control has more to do with sensual pleasure than anger.

[35:56] Like when you read this, you think, oh, self-control, like don't get angry. It actually has more to do with sensual pleasure. You keep your passions under control, contrasting that to sexual sin.

[36:06] So these graces display brotherly communion amongst the local church body as to how they consistently, lovingly, and I made up a word, gospel-ly respond to each other.

[36:30] Foundation is the gospel. What drives us is like the wind is the spirit. And then he gives two more promises.

[36:43] So he already told us holy Christian living, powerful Christian living. He gives two more promises. What is walking in the spirit, he tells us what that is. Promise number three, a law-fulfilling Christian. Against such things, he says, there is no law.

[37:00] A law is not against those who walk by the spirit because they're fulfilling the law the right way. The law of Christ by the spirit. As Christians walk by the spirit, he produces his fruit.

[37:15] You become a law-fulfilling Christian. But we don't focus on these traits, mind you. Remember from last week, we're supposed to focus on Christ.

[37:26] We focus on Jesus. If we focus on ourselves, it would hinder, actually hinder Christian growth. So focus on Christ and the gospel and these graces will follow.

[37:44] Holy Christian living, powerful Christian living, a law-fulfilling Christian, and promise number four, you'll become a flesh-killing Christian. Look at verse 24. Now those who belong to Christ, who are of Christ, they're of Christ, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

[38:08] We belong to Christ, he says this in chapter 3, verse 29. If you belong to Christ, you are of Christ, then you're Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. We belong to Christ, and so we also identify with Him.

[38:23] In what way? Because of our participation in the historical death of Christ, in the historical resurrection of Jesus, and by the Spirit's power, we have the certainty that our flesh has been put to death with its passions and desires.

[38:40] That remnants of sin, and we keep killing this and keep killing this, a flesh-killing Christian, you're gonna kill it. Believers have crucified their flesh with its sinful longings, they have participated in the death of Jesus.

[38:57] The cross ends our relationship to our flesh, rendering it powerless in our lives, Romans 6. And there's a way that we communicate this to others.

[39:09] There's a way that we say, this old Jim has died, and the flesh has been killed. There's a whole new Jim. There's a way that we communicate that to others.

[39:22] Do you wanna know how we do that? Through this bad boy right here. Baptism. Oh. Baptism is a display of that.

[39:35] Galatians 3, verse 27, for all of you who have been baptized into Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ. Baptism depicts what really happened.

[39:48] The old Jim has died, and that flesh, the remnants of sin, the old nature's dead, the flesh has been killed, I'm gonna keep killing it. If I'm walking by the Spirit, I'm gonna be a flesh-killing Christian.

[40:07] So back to what we've been looking at. Call to freedom. Don't abuse it. But serve through love. How are you able to serve through love? We talked about the formula. Gospel, faith, justification, Spirit, love.

[40:19] You gotta walk by the Spirit, number one. Now here's number two. Keep in step with the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit. Verse 25, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

[40:39] Since the source of our life is the Spirit, then He must be allowed to direct our steps so as to make progress in this Christian life.

[40:51] We live in His sphere and follow His lead. In this word, walk actually denotes the idea of a row or series of following the leader or marching in line.

[41:07] Let the Spirit shape the conduct of your life. He's the rule, He's the code to which we must follow, to which we must conform. Again, this imperative based on the indicative because the Spirit is the source of our lives.

[41:19] We must continuously keep in step with Him. In our conduct, you don't pull yourself up by your bootstraps. That's Benjamin Franklin. That's not Jesus. Jesus. We entrust ourselves to God's Spirit and follow His guidance in and through and by the gospel, the word of God.

[41:41] That's how you keep in step with Him. Again, it's not some mystical thing. We're called the act of submission to the Spirit who uses means, the ordinary means of grace, the word, ordinances, worship, prayer, fellowship, to live as He says.

[41:59] We're called to live in freedom. Don't abuse it. Serve through love. How do you do that?

[42:09] Walk by the Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit. He gave us four promises. He told us this is what flesh walking is, what spirit walking is. And He ends here, actually, ends the same way He began as He says, don't turn your freedom from an opposite from the flesh, don't abuse it.

[42:27] And He says here in verse 26, let's not become boastful challenging one another, envying one another. And don't become boastful. Don't become boastful.

[42:40] Which means vaunting our wills over each other. The two ways, don't become boastful. The two ways that boasting displays itself is challenging or provoking each other and envying each other.

[42:56] which remember, that's flesh walking. These are completely opposite to Spirit following. To keeping in step with the Spirit. To walking by the Spirit.

[43:09] So anything contrary to true Christian love is not of God, not of the Spirit. Okay, well, how do you know you're following the Spirit's leading? Is it through some ecstatic speech or speaking in tongues?

[43:25] No. How do you know you're keeping in step with the Spirit? You're walking by the Spirit. Is it because you feel good after a song? No.

[43:36] That's not. Remember, it's not some mystical experience in that way. It's not. How do you know you're keeping in step with the Spirit? You're walking by the Spirit. You had a good study?

[43:46] You had an increase in knowledge? No. It's not. It's not what Paul says. When our lives display Christ's love who loved me and gave himself up for me, chapter 2, verse 20, it's of the Spirit.

[44:09] Gospel, faith, justification, spirit, love. You gotta remember that formula. When our lives display Christ's love, chapter 2, verse 20, who loved me and gave himself up for me, it's of the Spirit.

[44:26] That's how you know. This news is very relevant.

[44:37] The gospel is very relevant in the way we live our lives, isn't it? Let's thank Him for it. And we're so thankful and grateful, Father, that all the ways that we fail, those are the reasons why Jesus had to die once again.

[44:56] We're reminded of that and we're thankful for that. Let's be a people who walk by the Spirit, people who keep in step with the Spirit, be a people who through love serve one another, the church body to respond this way to each other.

[45:19] We need your grace, your help of Spirit work in us to do that in us, we pray. So take a moment and give praise to the Lord for the gospel that He saved you.

[45:41] you can be made right with God. You have been made right with God by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone. Turning from sin and trusting Christ.

[45:55] That's the heart of the gospel. And fill your mind with that gospel truth. ponder what we've seen from His Word.

[46:16] Asking the Spirit, Spirit, work in me. Let me keep in step with you. Let me walk by you, not by my flesh.

[46:30] Let me keep in step with you from the Word. Lord. However, fill your mind with truth and we'll sing a song together.

[46:47] But do that now, please, between you and the Lord. I'm going to be in love.

[47:19]  I'm going back with you, who is like a six year old man.