WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.599 Galatians chapter 5, we're going to read from verse 16 to 25 as we consider again this letter 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:13.759 that reminds us time and time again that there's no other gospel, there's no other good news 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:20.859 other than that God sent his son Jesus into the world in order to pay the price for our sins, 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:28.560 to deliver us from the power of sin, to give us freedom so that we might know God as children of 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:38.759 God. Here in chapter 5 verse 16 to 25, Paul begins to turn to think about gospel character, 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:45.060 Christian character, what does it look like to live a life that's transformed by God's grace. 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:53.899 So we'll read together chapter 5 from verse 16 to 25 and let's again hear God's word. 00:00:53.899 --> 00:01:01.719 So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:09.079 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:15.400 sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want. 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:23.640 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:32.480 Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:40.240 rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you as I 00:01:40.240 --> 00:01:46.939 did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the 00:01:46.939 --> 00:01:57.959 Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:05.920 Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:16.139 nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 00:02:16.139 --> 00:02:26.439 Amen. Now I don't know if you have come across at all imposter syndrome. If not, you'll probably get 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:33.459 what it's about. The idea that there are people who have expectations of us and we have that sense, 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:40.359 hold on a minute, I can't do what everyone else expects of me. That worry that you are a fraud, 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:47.740 you've been over-promoted. You are kind of aiming beyond your abilities and at some point somebody 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:53.800 is going to find you out. That's imposter syndrome. We might experience that in the workplace or 00:02:53.800 --> 00:03:01.340 at school or university. But what about in church? Do you ever come to church and look around and think, 00:03:02.160 --> 00:03:08.300 well, everybody else belongs here. Everybody else seems to have their faith figured out. It seems easy 00:03:08.300 --> 00:03:15.160 for them. Why is it so hard for me? Why is it so hard for me to grow, to be more like the person 00:03:15.160 --> 00:03:22.520 that God wants me to be? Today, Paul is going to turn our attention to thinking about growing in 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:28.860 Christian character. What does it look like to become more holy, to become more like Jesus? And our first 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:39.220 reaction might be, well, I can't do that. That's simply not me. I think the reason why Paul saves 00:03:39.220 --> 00:03:44.860 the talk about Christian character till the end of the letter is because it gave him a chance to tell 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:53.660 us so many times about God's grace and what God's grace does in our lives. That God's grace in Jesus 00:03:53.659 --> 00:04:03.979 gives us a new identity as a child of God. It makes us a new creation. God's spirit is then at work in our 00:04:03.979 --> 00:04:10.780 hearts and our lives. So that Paul would say, and the Bible would say, if you are trusting in Jesus, if you 00:04:10.780 --> 00:04:21.879 are in Jesus, you are holy. And so now, in our lives, we're called to be who we truly are. So that's what we're 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:30.100 going to be thinking about this morning. How does this change happen? Now, hopefully, as we read through 00:04:30.100 --> 00:04:37.300 our passage, you'll have seen the spirit appear again and again and again, seven times God's spirit 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:42.500 is mentioned because the work of God's spirit in our lives, the presence of God's spirit in our lives 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:49.659 is crucial to all of this. Donald read for us in John chapter 15, where Jesus said, I am the vine, 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:56.140 you are the branches. We need to remain in Jesus if we are to bear fruit. And it's the spirit that 00:04:56.140 --> 00:05:03.780 connects us to the Lord Jesus. And the spirit that connects us to Jesus, it is the spirit that lives 00:05:03.780 --> 00:05:10.080 to bring glory to God, God the Father and God the Son. And as the life of the spirit is in us, so we too 00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:18.300 will increasingly desire to live for the glory of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. It's God's spirit that gives 00:05:18.300 --> 00:05:25.579 us the power in our lives to make us more like Jesus. So it's important for us to recognize before 00:05:25.579 --> 00:05:31.160 we get going, there is a danger for us to avoid. It'd be really easy to look at a passage like this 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:36.500 and say, well, here's a list of bad behavior. These things are wrong. And a list of good behavior and 00:05:36.500 --> 00:05:42.439 qualities. These are right. And I'm going to try. We can think, okay, I'm going to turn over a new leaf 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:48.240 morally. I'm going to try and say no to doing the bad stuff. And I'm going to try and do the good 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:56.100 stuff. We could try and shortcut the inner heart change that Paul's been talking about all along. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:02.240 And so the reason why he brings it to this point in the letter is so that we should be really clear 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:10.879 on recognizing, I can't be like Jesus just by trying really hard. I need a new heart. I need a new 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:17.000 desire. I need the Spirit within me. Perhaps we can think of Jesus's words when he said, 00:06:17.339 --> 00:06:22.120 a bad tree can't bear good fruit and a good tree can't bear bad fruit. 00:06:24.699 --> 00:06:33.899 So you could find, so we had an old plum tree in our garden, which was rotten. And we could, I suppose, 00:06:33.899 --> 00:06:41.899 try and fake some health in the tree by going to our local supermarket and buying a punnet of plums, 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:50.699 get some string, tie it to the branches. That's not real life. That's not real growth. And so Paul 00:06:50.699 --> 00:06:57.719 wants us to be really clear. If we want to grow to be like Jesus, first of all, we must be saved by grace. 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:05.820 First of all, we must be in Christ. We must be in the vine. Then comes the Spirit-enabled, 00:07:06.460 --> 00:07:15.220 Spirit-powered obedience. We work as God by His Spirit works in us and on us. So let's see this 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:20.760 this morning, looking at the three pictures that I think were given here by Paul. First of all, 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:31.659 let's think together about the battle for gospel character. Verses 16 to 21, we get a picture of 00:07:31.659 --> 00:07:38.279 conflict and battle, a picture of an internal battle. Now, it's important for us to see this 00:07:38.279 --> 00:07:44.680 is more than simply a moral dilemma. This is not Paul talking about these moral conflicts that 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:51.879 everybody has. This is a peculiarly Christian struggle. Only a Christian struggles this way 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:58.480 because it's talking about the struggle between two natures. And so he gives us this picture of 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:06.800 battle. So imagine the heart, the heart which had been the territory of the sinful nature. The sin 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:13.360 nature was king. But then a person hears the gospel, a person hears the good news of Jesus, 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:21.000 and trusts in Jesus. There is faith. And now what happens is that God's Spirit invades by His grace. 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:28.759 And God's Spirit pushes out, begins to drive out the sinful nature. The sin nature is now a defeated 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:34.980 enemy. Christ on the cross has won a decisive victory, but that victory is not complete yet. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:41.460 So in our lives, there's this internal battle that's going on. The sin nature, which is defeated, 00:08:41.460 --> 00:08:50.500 but keeps fighting, the sin nature that wars against the Spirit. So let's have a look at that as we find 00:08:50.500 --> 00:08:56.080 it here in our section. What's the battle according to Paul? Let's look at verse 16. 00:08:57.019 --> 00:09:03.259 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 00:09:03.259 --> 00:09:09.659 For the sinful nature desires what's contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit was contrary to the 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:17.059 sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other. So we've got this battle, Paul is saying 00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:23.879 between two natures, the old sinful nature versus this new nature in Christ, where we're living by 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:32.080 the Spirit. And that's really a conflict between two opposing desires. So we've got the Spirit 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:39.320 with its desires and drives for us, but we've also got the sinful nature with its desires and drives. 00:09:39.379 --> 00:09:45.720 And at the heart of this battle, this battle for Christian character, it is a fundamental question. 00:09:45.920 --> 00:09:53.960 In this moment, not just in my life, but in this moment, which desire will I choose to follow? 00:09:53.960 --> 00:10:01.040 Will I choose to live by the Spirit, or will I choose to gratify the sinful nature? 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:08.860 The desires of the sinful nature are this strong pull that we have in our hearts towards self-glory, 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:16.120 to make much of ourselves, or to live for created things rather than to live for and to worship our 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:25.220 Creator. It's that drive towards self-indulgence and to simple disobedience to God and His Word. 00:10:25.220 --> 00:10:32.300 And to help illustrate what this looks like in our lives, Paul then provides a list of, 00:10:32.300 --> 00:10:40.180 verse 19 to 21, the acts of the sinful nature. Notice it's not a comprehensive list, because at the 00:10:40.180 --> 00:10:47.480 end he says, and the like. So here is just a representative sample of how the sinful nature 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:56.960 wants us to act. And so you see that there is self-indulgence. Look at the examples of sexual 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:05.519 sin in verse 19, or alcohol-fueled sin in verse 21. Here is a life where we're just doing whatever 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:13.980 we want, just giving in to whatever our desire is. Whereas Paul had said earlier that freedom in 00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:20.940 Christ looks like self-control, the sinful nature is the absolute opposite. It's all about sinful 00:11:20.940 --> 00:11:28.740 indulgence. Where Paul has said freedom in Christ means you are free to love and serve others, 00:11:29.259 --> 00:11:35.039 the sinful nature would have us to use others to get what we want. Look at that big long list of 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:41.720 actions and attitudes that serve to destroy personal relationships. Hatred, discord, jealousy, 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:48.440 fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy. I am the center of the universe and you must 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:55.160 not get in my way. The sinful nature would pull us in that direction. And again, Paul had said to us, 00:11:55.240 --> 00:12:00.759 freedom in Christ is freedom to love God, to obey God, to follow God. But instead of that, 00:12:01.379 --> 00:12:09.160 the sinful nature would have us commit, verse 20, idolatry. Where we're valuing, where we're living for 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:16.879 other things, other people rather than the one true God. And Paul is saying to us, this battle 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:23.659 rages within us. These desires are within us. There is realism here. It's not saying become a Christian 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:29.000 and all those desires, all those inclinations go away. No, he's talking to us about battle. 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:40.100 A battle with sin that is lifelong. A pool of our old nature that remains present in us. And so he gives, 00:12:40.279 --> 00:12:48.220 at verse 21, a stark warning against complacency. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like 00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:57.159 this will not inherit the kingdom of God. If we live following those deep drives and desires, if our habitual 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:03.740 practice is to live by our sinful nature, to listen to that, to practice those things, 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:11.120 then Paul is saying that's going to keep us from God's kingdom. So here is an incentive to battle 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:19.159 for Christian character with the help of the Spirit. This is serious. This is war. Now, how do we resist? 00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:25.720 That's really important. Again, it's not by self-effort, because our willpower and our moral reform 00:13:25.720 --> 00:13:33.560 is not strong enough, but nor is it by sitting back and letting God do the work. No, we are invited to 00:13:33.560 --> 00:13:46.259 participate with the Spirit's power to strive for living like Jesus. So how do we make progress in this battle? 00:13:47.300 --> 00:13:55.399 Some helpful pointers from Paul at this point. First thing to say, remember your true identity in 00:13:55.399 --> 00:14:03.079 Christ. There's a significant phrase at the end of verse 17. Verse 17, they are in conflict with each other, and then this, 00:14:03.459 --> 00:14:11.779 so that you do not do what you want. Now, Paul uses that same language in Romans chapter 7. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:20.399 Romans chapter 7, Paul is talking about this internal spiritual battle that he has as an apostle of the Lord Jesus 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:27.480 Christ. He is still having to fight against sin. He still finds himself falling into sin, but he can say 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:34.860 that when I do that, that's not what I want to do. As someone who's been transformed by grace, my main desire, 00:14:35.740 --> 00:14:43.860 the real me, is to live for Christ and to walk in obedience. And so he's saying that to the Christians 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:50.860 in Galatia, and he's saying that to us, even when we fall into sin, if our hearts are being changed by grace 00:14:50.860 --> 00:14:57.600 of the Spirit's within us, first of all, we're not condemned because we're not under the law, but also 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:07.399 that's not our true identity. It's not our greatest desire, which is to follow the Spirit, which is to love 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:16.679 and honor Jesus. Because the root of Jesus' change in our lives runs deep. That Paul has spent time 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:23.399 saying to us, sin has no more authority over us. We're no longer slaves to sin. So we can say that 00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:30.000 while we do sin, it's not inevitable anymore. We don't need to sin. We have the power now to say no 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:38.879 to sin. So it's really important for us to remember who we are in Christ. That in this battle for being 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:48.899 like Jesus, we're not frauds, we're not fakes, we're not imposters. In Christ, you are holy. In this battle 00:15:48.899 --> 00:15:57.879 for gospel character, we're called to fight to be who we really are. So remember your true identity in 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:06.879 this battle and also live by and be led by the Spirit. Notice this little section, verse 16 and 18 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:15.980 begins, live by the Spirit. Verse 18, be led by the Spirit. Now Paul has already told us in chapter 3 00:16:15.980 --> 00:16:22.860 and at verse 2 how the Christian life begins, how we receive the Spirit. We receive the Spirit by faith. 00:16:22.860 --> 00:16:30.019 When our faith is in Jesus, we receive God's powerful Spirit within us and then the Christian life 00:16:30.019 --> 00:16:38.379 therefore continues by faith in Jesus and in the power of the Spirit. We are led by the Spirit 00:16:38.379 --> 00:16:47.860 to follow His desires and His desire is always to bring glory to God and to Jesus, His Son. 00:16:47.860 --> 00:16:53.279 The image of being led by is imagine the Holy Spirit is our shepherd. He's leading us in a good 00:16:53.279 --> 00:17:00.399 course. We are the sheep. We are to follow, follow after, glorifying, obeying, honoring our Savior. 00:17:00.779 --> 00:17:06.920 And when we're being led by the Spirit, we live by the Spirit. Those are the desires that we listen to. 00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:13.319 We want to love God and others. We want to serve others, not ourselves. We want to reflect the glory of 00:17:13.319 --> 00:17:21.480 Jesus in our lives, not fight for glory for ourselves. Now given that this is all the language 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:31.119 of battle, what weapon do we have for this battle? If this battle is all about desire, 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:39.779 how does the Spirit work in us to keep on renewing, to keep on changing our desires so that we want to be 00:17:39.779 --> 00:17:48.519 more and more like Jesus? How does that work practically? Martin Luther, the reformer, says, 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:57.039 in the battle, the only remedy is the sword of the Spirit, the word of salvation. In other words, 00:17:57.480 --> 00:18:04.680 God's Spirit uses God's Word, the Bible, and God's Gospel, the good news of what He's done for us in 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:12.519 Jesus. We want to do that. We want to do that. We want to do that. We want to do that. We want to 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:22.160 find ourselves being satisfied in God above everything else. But that desire doesn't just happen, 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:31.180 it needs to be cultivated, and the Spirit uses God's Word to do that. I've been reading a really 00:18:31.180 --> 00:18:38.240 helpful book recently by John Piper called Reading the Bible Supernaturally. I probably talked to a 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:43.620 few of you about it, but what he's saying there is that the Spirit uses the Bible. The Spirit, 00:18:43.980 --> 00:18:50.120 first of all, when we're reading the Bible, He causes us to see the glory of God. So we read the 00:18:50.120 --> 00:18:56.740 Bible not just as a duty, not just as an end in itself. We read the Bible to see the glory of God. 00:18:56.740 --> 00:19:01.539 And more than that, the Spirit then wants us to delight in the glory of God, that it would lead us 00:19:01.539 --> 00:19:11.380 into worship, and then to being transformed by the glory of God, so that we become more like Jesus. 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:17.720 That's what the Spirit wants to do in our lives through the Bible. Help us to see the glory of God, 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:26.819 to delight in it, and to be transformed by it. So this battle for gospel character requires us, 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:35.960 therefore, to be in God's Word. To be in church where we hear God's Word read and taught. To be in places 00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:44.779 where God's Word is being shared with other believers. To be led by the Spirit into the Word, 00:19:44.779 --> 00:19:52.279 to see more of God's glory, to become more like Jesus. So that's the picture of the battle 00:19:52.279 --> 00:20:00.720 for Christian character. But then the image changes in verse 22 and 23. So let's think for a few minutes 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:10.819 about the growth of gospel character. So the image changes to growing fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is 00:20:10.819 --> 00:20:21.819 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:30.379 Now it's not fighting, now it's farming that we're thinking about. Now in this, again, just to say, 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:37.119 Paul is not saying turn over a new leaf morally. Paul is really careful to keep us focused on grace. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:44.939 I am not trying really hard by our religion to please God or earn his acceptance. And so notice 00:20:44.939 --> 00:20:49.919 the contrast. So there's two ways the contrast comes out. First of all, you've got those two lists. 00:20:50.019 --> 00:20:54.959 One is the list of those things to avoid, and one is those things to cultivate in our lives. 00:20:55.179 --> 00:21:00.079 So the acts of the sinful nature, and then you've got the fruit of the Spirit. But the language itself, 00:21:00.979 --> 00:21:06.879 you've got the acts of the sinful nature, but then you've got the fruit. Not the acts, the fruit. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:16.519 of the Spirit. Which again is saying to us, you and I, we can't grow to be more like Jesus unless we are, 00:21:16.639 --> 00:21:24.500 first of all, connected to Jesus. There is no shortcut in that process. Jesus is the vine. 00:21:24.919 --> 00:21:32.979 We must be branches that remain in him if we are to bear fruit. The fruit image is also helpful because 00:21:32.980 --> 00:21:40.200 it reminds us that fruit requires nutrition, it requires life to grow, and God's Spirit is that 00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:48.259 life-giving energy because he is the one who connects us to Jesus. He enables us to grow in these graces. 00:21:49.860 --> 00:21:55.559 The fruit image is also a helpful one for us because it reminds us that this kind of change, 00:21:55.559 --> 00:22:03.599 this kind of growth is also gradual. As much as we'd love to go from zero to everything in a moment, 00:22:03.700 --> 00:22:10.579 that's not the way it works. Our war against our sin is long, and sometimes our progress is really, 00:22:10.639 --> 00:22:20.419 really slow. For those of us who've ever planted a small fruit bush or waited for a fruit tree 00:22:20.420 --> 00:22:28.140 to produce a harvest, you know that the progress can really only be seen over a season. 00:22:28.500 --> 00:22:34.160 You go check two, three times a day, there's not much change that happens. It's gradual. It's sometimes hard 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:41.539 to notice that growth is seen over a season. That's the way it is often with our own lives. As we look back, 00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:45.400 perhaps we can say, do you know what? I'm a little bit more gentle than I was last year. 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:54.120 I'm a gossip less than I did two or three years ago. I tend to be a bit more kind towards others 00:22:54.120 --> 00:22:59.560 than I was when I was younger, but it's a slow and it's a gradual process. 00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:08.600 But what fruit is it that the Spirit wants to grow in our lives? Of course, He wants us to grow in our 00:23:08.600 --> 00:23:15.140 love and obedience to God to cultivate the kind of lives that bring glory and honor to Jesus. 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:21.259 And we may be asking, what does that kind of life look like? And so Paul gives us here this 00:23:21.259 --> 00:23:30.420 combination of graces to show us the kind of life that the Spirit is looking for us to pursue 00:23:30.420 --> 00:23:38.460 because this is a picture portrait of Jesus, isn't it? When we look at the life of Jesus in the Gospels, 00:23:38.460 --> 00:23:47.240 we find these graces supremely in His life. He is one who lived full of love, love for God, 00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:55.980 love for others. He is one who had perfect joy and hope in His relationship with God, His Father. 00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:03.100 He is the one who had perfect patience towards His disciples when they didn't get it or when they 00:24:03.099 --> 00:24:10.799 let Him let Him down. He is the one who dealt with people with perfect gentleness. So we have a picture 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:21.000 of Jesus as we reflect on those verses, but it's also a picture that God wants us to reflect. 00:24:21.779 --> 00:24:28.859 Jesus is our representative, but Jesus is also our model. And with the help of the Spirit, 00:24:28.859 --> 00:24:38.519 we are to seek to grow in these graces alongside the Spirit. So how can we participate with the Spirit 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:49.039 to be more like Jesus? Let's choose one of these fruits. Let's choose one of these character qualities. 00:24:49.179 --> 00:24:55.359 Let's think about patience as an example. I'm guessing most of us probably struggle at some point or another 00:24:55.359 --> 00:25:02.259 with patience. How can we work with the Spirit to cultivate patience in our lives? 00:25:04.439 --> 00:25:09.740 Again, John Piper was really helpful in this in his book on reading the Bible supernaturally. 00:25:10.159 --> 00:25:16.319 But the first thing I think is for us to acknowledge, all of us to be honest, that we need help 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:22.919 to be patient, just as we do with any of these graces. Some may become more naturally to us than others, 00:25:22.920 --> 00:25:32.560 but with all of them, we need help. Which then leads us to pray. Pray that we would become 00:25:32.560 --> 00:25:39.320 more patient. Pray in a particular situation. Okay, I'm walking into a situation. I know this is the 00:25:39.320 --> 00:25:46.680 kind of place where I can lose my temper. I fly off the handle. So I need help to deal well with my 00:25:46.680 --> 00:25:55.560 children, in the workplace, wherever it might be. And from that also to trust. Prayer isn't just good 00:25:55.560 --> 00:26:02.860 feelings. Prayer is trusting that God's powerful Spirit in me and with me can help me to say no to 00:26:02.860 --> 00:26:14.279 anger and frustration, to say yes to exercising patience. Trust is saying, I can change because God's 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:24.559 Spirit who wants me to glorify Jesus is working in me. So we trust as we pray. I find it helpful also to 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:34.579 meditate. Meditate on God's patience towards us in our sin, in our slowness to learn lessons, 00:26:35.460 --> 00:26:41.980 in our slowness to change. And from that standpoint, where we're depending on the Spirit, where we're 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:52.120 aware of God's grace in our lives, then we act. Trusting that God in that moment will help us to be 00:26:52.120 --> 00:27:01.519 more patient or more kind or more gentle as He seeks for us to be. So it's a slow process, a gradual process, 00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:09.299 but it's a process where we are to work with the Spirit to seek to cultivate these graces. 00:27:09.299 --> 00:27:18.659 And then there's another picture in the last couple of verses. Now let's think together about the long 00:27:18.659 --> 00:27:26.919 walk of gospel character. Verse 24, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature 00:27:26.919 --> 00:27:35.680 with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Now 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:40.920 that keep in step with the Spirit, that's drawn from the parade ground. That's military language. That's 00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:50.779 soldiers marching in file, one behind the other. All of our Christian life is a long walk of obedience 00:27:50.779 --> 00:27:58.360 and a long walk towards freedom. Where we're living by the Spirit, we're looking to keep in step with the 00:27:58.360 --> 00:28:05.500 Spirit. He is the one who sets the course we seek to follow. So we're waging war on sin in our lives. 00:28:05.500 --> 00:28:13.759 We're fighting to delight in Jesus above all until the day of final freedom, the day when we go to be 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:22.619 with Jesus, the day when we are set free from the power, the penalty, and the presence of sin in our lives. 00:28:23.059 --> 00:28:31.579 But until that day, there is this long walk of gospel character, seeking to pursue more of the character 00:28:31.579 --> 00:28:39.759 of Jesus in our lives. So how should we do that from now until eternity? How should we live? 00:28:41.259 --> 00:28:51.480 Verse 24, Paul says to us once again, live out your true identity because he talks to those who belong 00:28:51.480 --> 00:29:01.900 to Christ Jesus. Christian, you belong to Christ. He has paid the price for your freedom, not with 00:29:01.900 --> 00:29:10.400 silver or gold, but with his own precious blood so that we're not a slave to sin, but we are a child 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:18.460 and heir of God. And in the family, we are to seek to live in a way that honors our Father in heaven. 00:29:18.460 --> 00:29:26.559 And we are to remember that he is our Father, that Jesus is our Savior and the one who intercedes for us, 00:29:26.620 --> 00:29:32.840 the one who has won the decisive victory for us, and that Father and Son have given us the Spirit. 00:29:33.840 --> 00:29:40.140 So as we fight, we remember, I belong to Christ, I am his. He will hold me fast. I'm a child of God. 00:29:40.140 --> 00:29:53.720 God lives in me by his Spirit. This isn't on us. This is God has made this fundamental change in us 00:29:53.720 --> 00:30:01.780 and is working his grace and his Spirit in our lives. The second thing in this long walk of obedience 00:30:01.779 --> 00:30:12.119 is that we are to crucify this sinful nature with its passions and desires. So this is an active thing 00:30:12.119 --> 00:30:20.619 for us. We are to crucify. That's different from a verse that we looked at earlier in Galatians chapter 2 00:30:20.619 --> 00:30:32.399 and verse 20 where he said, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. 00:30:33.259 --> 00:30:39.759 But here we are to crucify the sinful nature. What does that mean? Well, what does it mean for 00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:50.039 somebody to execute a prisoner on a Roman cross? We are to show sin and its desires no mercy. 00:30:50.619 --> 00:30:57.939 We are to recognize that that sinful nature and its desires deserves to and must die. 00:30:59.419 --> 00:31:04.559 That just as somebody who was hanging on a Roman cross was deemed to be in the most shameful 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:12.699 position imaginable, we are to see our sin as shameful and horrific and to want nothing to do with it. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:20.079 We are to tear down our idols. We are to put an end, to put an end to the attractiveness 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:30.519 of sin in our lives. And we do that by allowing the Spirit to renew our hearts and our minds so that 00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:38.699 Jesus, and not these sinful desires, is truly glorious to us. To quote Thomas Chalmers' famous sermon, 00:31:38.700 --> 00:31:47.080 we need the expulsive power of a new affection. We need a new love to come into our hearts to drive out the old. 00:31:47.080 --> 00:31:55.840 We need the light of Christ to drive out the darkness of sin in us. So we must crucify our sinful nature 00:31:55.840 --> 00:32:04.819 day by day by day. See it as more ugly and see Jesus as more beautiful day by day by day. 00:32:04.819 --> 00:32:11.419 And again, we are to live by and to keep in step with the Spirit. 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:18.240 Because if we're looking to pursue gospel character, if we're looking to become more like Jesus, 00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:25.279 that's exactly what the Spirit wants for us. The Spirit wants us to be who we long to be. 00:32:25.899 --> 00:32:32.220 The Spirit wants us to be who God wants us to be. So we become more like Jesus. 00:32:32.220 --> 00:32:39.819 And we'll notice in our lives that God has lots of different ways of achieving that process, 00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:46.200 of shaping us, of renewing us, of reforming us. David Powlison, who's a biblical counselor, 00:32:46.700 --> 00:32:52.059 who's written a book on sanctification, he talks about the fact that sometimes it's God that works, 00:32:52.279 --> 00:32:56.720 God sovereignly intervenes and takes away certain desires and gives us new desires. 00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:04.640 Other times, oftentimes, God works through his word. That as we read, we discover more of the 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:10.779 treasure of the gospel. It causes us to worship and to obey and to love and we want nothing more 00:33:10.779 --> 00:33:17.360 to do with our sin. Sometimes it's as God sends wise people into our lives that change comes. 00:33:18.019 --> 00:33:23.500 People who speak truth into our lives. It's people who are able to challenge us or to convict us. 00:33:23.500 --> 00:33:29.599 People who, sometimes it's just their godly example makes us want to be different. 00:33:30.740 --> 00:33:37.640 Sometimes it's suffering and struggle that will change us. We realize that we have need and we must 00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:48.619 depend on God and his grace. Sometimes it's about us changing. Sometimes it's about us repenting. 00:33:48.619 --> 00:33:56.479 Often, daily, often, daily. It's about us repenting, turning away from sin and turning towards Jesus. 00:33:58.619 --> 00:34:05.739 A classic question that's asked of a child, what do you want to be when you grow up? 00:34:05.740 --> 00:34:13.639 If we ask that of a child of God, what's the answer? 00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:21.820 Well, the Spirit gives us the desire and the Spirit gives us the power to say, 00:34:22.300 --> 00:34:29.940 I want to be like Jesus, my Lord and my Savior. I'm looking forward to that day when I see him face to face, 00:34:29.940 --> 00:34:34.119 when I'm made new, when sin no longer has any part in my life, 00:34:34.500 --> 00:34:37.880 where I can love and worship and serve him forever.