WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.500 I was in Morningside yesterday in Edinburgh on the street, 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:10.200 and I've never seen so many people buying flowers. 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:16.699 Pots of yellow flowers and red flowers and bouquets of flowers and small shrubbery 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:23.800 and little trees and all sorts of things to bring a little bit of beauty into their homes 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:26.879 in what is a very dark and uncertain time. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:31.280 I read in the news yesterday that actually communities across the UK, 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:36.479 whole communities are putting out Christmas decorations to just bring a bit of a spark of light 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:44.079 back into their homes and into their lives because beauty gives us hope and joy, 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:48.480 especially set against darkness. 00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:50.780 That's when light shines most. 00:00:50.780 --> 00:00:56.480 And this passage in Galatians, it offers us something really beautiful. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:58.579 For really hard times. 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:02.179 This is something of a crescendo in Paul's letter. 00:01:02.179 --> 00:01:06.579 This is a kind of a hammering letter from Paul to the Galatian church 00:01:06.579 --> 00:01:12.479 who's gone astray from the true gospel and has fallen for a false gospel. 00:01:12.479 --> 00:01:19.579 And Paul ends this, the meat of this letter by talking about the fruit of the Spirit. 00:01:19.579 --> 00:01:23.780 But the passage begins with a word of comfort. 00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:27.579 If you have a Bible within reach in your living room or wherever you're at, 00:01:27.579 --> 00:01:30.079 feel free to turn and read along as we go. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:34.480 We're going to look at 1st Galatians 5, 16 to 18. 00:01:36.379 --> 00:01:42.379 But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:01:42.379 --> 00:01:48.379 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. 00:01:48.379 --> 00:01:55.579 For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 00:01:55.579 --> 00:02:01.179 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 00:02:01.179 --> 00:02:05.879 All Christians experience inner war. 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:07.879 It's the opposition talked about here. 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:09.479 These are opposed to each other. 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:12.879 There's a battle inside. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:18.680 Why do we Christians find it so difficult to not sin? 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.579 Why is that so hard? 00:02:21.579 --> 00:02:26.780 Because somewhere deep down, we want to sin. 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:35.180 Some part of us desires that sin and that part of us is the old you, the pre-Christ you. 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:39.579 Paul calls it the flesh. 00:02:39.580 --> 00:02:44.080 But if you want to sin, then why don't we just do it? Why don't we give in? 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:46.080 Why don't you cave to that desire? 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:47.780 Why is there a fight at all? 00:02:47.780 --> 00:02:52.780 Because somewhere deeper down is the new you. 00:02:52.780 --> 00:03:01.180 This is the you led by the Spirit, the you that desires God more than you desire sin. 00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:03.780 There's an inner war. 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:07.080 And sometimes it feels like we don't want God. 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:12.880 I feel that a lot often and it's hard, isn't it? 00:03:12.880 --> 00:03:16.480 But we want, in those moments, we want to want God. 00:03:16.480 --> 00:03:18.780 And that's a confusing emotion to have, isn't it? 00:03:18.780 --> 00:03:23.080 To desire something that you don't desire, to desire to desire it. 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:27.180 There's still some fight left in us. 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:31.880 If you are in Christ, there's the old you and the new you. 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:41.680 And so I experience the old me kind of pulling the leash, trying to drag me down a path that the new me doesn't want to go. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:46.780 The flesh wants to be in charge, but the new you is led by the Spirit of God. 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:48.979 Second Corinthians 5.17 says, 00:03:48.979 --> 00:03:51.680 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:53.879 And that's the kind of you that we're talking about here. 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:56.879 It's new creation, you. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:05.079 It's the work of new creation that God works in you when you put all of your trust and hope on Jesus. 00:04:05.079 --> 00:04:08.979 So the old you and the flesh, it's fighting and straining against the Spirit of God. 00:04:08.979 --> 00:04:14.680 And the fight is the thing that keeps you from doing the things you want to do. 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:17.279 Now I said that the passage starts with a word of comfort. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.879 So why is that a comfort? 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:22.980 Because it means you're not crazy. 00:04:22.980 --> 00:04:27.080 Or if you are, then so am I, and we're not in this alone. 00:04:27.080 --> 00:04:29.280 We're in this together. 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:32.180 All Christians feel this. 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:34.879 All Christians have an inner war. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:40.180 There is no such thing as the victorious Christian life as it were. 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:47.180 If you feel the full weight of temptation, if you actually want to sin and want God at the same time, 00:04:47.180 --> 00:04:49.680 or you don't want God, but you want to want God, 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:58.379 then you're in the company, you're in the company of the Apostle Paul and Saint Augustine and Martin Luther and John Calvin 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:02.180 and John Wycliffe and John Wesley and Charles Spurgeon. 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:05.280 You're in good company. 00:05:05.280 --> 00:05:12.079 You're in good company and the good news is that Christianity isn't for winners. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:16.480 Christianity is for weary sinners who can't seem to get their act together 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.780 and who just collapse into the arms of Christ. 00:05:20.780 --> 00:05:25.180 Now, if you don't know what this inner war feels like, 00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:30.980 maybe you haven't really put all your chips on Jesus's square, so to speak. 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:36.379 And maybe today you need to go all in with Jesus right there in your living room. 00:05:36.379 --> 00:05:38.580 Maybe it's time now. 00:05:38.580 --> 00:05:44.280 There's no such thing as fightless Christianity. 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:49.079 Verse 18 says, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:51.479 So in Christ, you're freed from the law. 00:05:51.479 --> 00:05:57.979 You're not under the law anymore, which means you're no longer measured against God's perfect standard 00:05:57.979 --> 00:06:01.779 of righteousness and moral purity. 00:06:01.779 --> 00:06:09.079 It means you're no longer required to work and perform and do all to earn God's smile. 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:14.579 If you are in Christ, you already have the smile of God. 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:17.180 Servants work and earn for the pleasure of their master. 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:20.180 They have to earn it, but sons have it. 00:06:20.180 --> 00:06:25.379 And in Christ, you're a son of God. 00:06:25.379 --> 00:06:28.379 You already have God's smile. 00:06:28.379 --> 00:06:34.279 And it means the law has no right to torment your conscience anymore. 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:35.279 Why? 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:43.079 Because at the cross, Christ took our sin and put it on like clothes, and He gave us His righteousness. 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:46.479 We call it the glorious exchange, and it is glorious. 00:06:46.479 --> 00:06:54.279 At the cross, the law crushed Christ instead of you and instead of me. 00:06:54.279 --> 00:07:01.179 So when we feel shame or condemning guilt because of our sin and our temptation, 00:07:01.180 --> 00:07:05.879 Jesus says by the Spirit, brother or sister, I paid for that sin. 00:07:05.879 --> 00:07:07.480 That doesn't belong to you anymore. 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:10.680 You don't have to pay for that. 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:15.980 So the law shouldn't have any domain in our conscience to make us feel condemning guilt or shame. 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:19.480 But what do we do when it does? 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:23.579 What do we do when we do feel that way? 00:07:23.579 --> 00:07:29.579 What do we do when we feel what Martin Luther called the terror of the law? 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:31.579 I'm going to read, it's only going to take a couple minutes. 00:07:31.579 --> 00:07:37.579 I'm going to read a chunk from Luther, the introduction to Martin Luther's commentary on the book of Galatians. 00:07:37.579 --> 00:07:40.579 I think it's what converted John Wesley to become a Christian. 00:07:40.579 --> 00:07:45.879 It's a remarkable text, and he puts it really well. 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:52.279 If the law presumes to creep into your conscience and tries to reign there, you must make the right distinction. 00:07:52.279 --> 00:07:57.079 Give no more to the law than is right, but say, you want to climb up into the kingdom of my conscience? 00:07:57.079 --> 00:07:58.180 Do you, law? 00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:05.379 You want to reign over it and reprove sin and take away the joy I have by faith in Christ and drive me to desperation? 00:08:05.379 --> 00:08:12.079 Keep within your bounds and exercise power over the flesh, but do not touch my conscience. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:16.480 By the gospel, I am called to share righteousness and everlasting life. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:27.680 I'm called to Christ's kingdom, where my conscience is at rest and there is no law, but rather forgiveness of sins, peace, quietness, joy, health and everlasting life. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:38.080 Do not trouble me in these matters, for I will not let an intolerable tyrant like you reign in my conscience, which is the temple of Christ, the Son of God. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:42.480 He is the King of righteousness and peace, my sweet Savior and mediator. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:52.279 He will keep my conscience joyful and quiet in the sound, pure doctrine of the gospel and in the knowledge of Christian and heavenly righteousness. 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:58.279 When I have this righteousness raining in my heart, I descend from heaven like the rain that makes the earth fertile. 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:04.079 That is to say, I come out into another kingdom and I do good works whenever I have a chance. 00:09:04.079 --> 00:09:09.980 We need to learn to talk like that to our conscience and to the law. 00:09:09.980 --> 00:09:13.279 Now, one more thing about verse 18 before we move on to the rest of the passage. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:17.679 We have to get this if we're going to understand what's coming. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:30.479 If we don't get this one point, then when we get to the fruit of the Spirit, it's going to feel like another law and it will drive us to despair because we're not measuring up. 00:09:30.479 --> 00:09:32.479 So here's the point. 00:09:32.479 --> 00:09:36.379 Look at the phrase, led by the Spirit. 00:09:36.379 --> 00:09:40.979 We have to ask, where does the Spirit lead us? 00:09:40.979 --> 00:09:46.279 And the answer is, He leads us to Christ at the cross every time. 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:53.480 The Spirit always leads us back to Christ and His work for you and me on the cross. 00:09:53.480 --> 00:09:59.579 So let's move on to Galatians 5, 19 to 21, the next chunk. 00:09:59.579 --> 00:10:05.679 What does it look like when we give in to the desires of the flesh? 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:22.779 Now, the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. 00:10:22.779 --> 00:10:30.979 I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:36.980 So the flesh is that old Jew that's addicted to sin and allergic to God, as it were. 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:44.980 The flesh says, I'll take that cheap mockery of joy if I can have it right now. 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:48.480 The flesh is self-destructive. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:50.480 Look at that list. 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:59.980 Carry those things out to their logical conclusion and its death and isolation, drunkenness, sexual sin, fits of anger. 00:10:59.980 --> 00:11:06.980 The flesh looks at the sin, considers the consequences in the outcome, and goes for it anyway. 00:11:06.980 --> 00:11:10.779 The flesh is self-destructive. 00:11:10.779 --> 00:11:13.879 And the flesh is mercenary. 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:14.980 It's ruthless. 00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:16.680 It's cutthroat. 00:11:16.680 --> 00:11:25.980 It will step on anything and anyone to get what it wants, because no one and nothing is safe from its warpath. 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:29.080 No one and nothing has value. 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:35.780 No one is precious to the flesh but me. 00:11:35.780 --> 00:11:38.980 Don't believe that's really inside of you. 00:11:38.980 --> 00:11:41.580 It can be hard to swallow. 00:11:41.580 --> 00:11:46.080 But if we don't believe it, then we're not being honest with ourselves when we read that list. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:54.580 We're meant to read that list and go, oh, I'm in that list, maybe more than once. 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:58.080 Verse 19 says that the works of the flesh are evident. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.580 In other words, we don't need to overthink this. 00:12:00.580 --> 00:12:03.980 It's rather obvious when you look at something and wonder, is that a work of the flesh? 00:12:03.980 --> 00:12:06.980 Well, does it smell like smoke? 00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:13.580 And verse 21 says things like these, which means this list isn't exhaustive. 00:12:13.580 --> 00:12:15.280 It's an illustration. 00:12:15.280 --> 00:12:16.680 It's an example. 00:12:16.680 --> 00:12:21.580 You and I could each write our own list. 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:29.980 So see now how the language shifts from slavery and labor to freedom and gardening. 00:12:29.980 --> 00:12:31.080 Isn't that great? 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:33.580 It says these are the works of the flesh. 00:12:33.580 --> 00:12:35.080 The works of the flesh are evident. 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:39.680 But then it says the fruit of the spirit. 00:12:39.680 --> 00:12:46.580 If you live according to the flesh, it will work you into the ground and it'll kill you. 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:53.080 Make no mistake about it, if you live according to the flesh, you will pay for your own sins. 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:58.379 But if you're led by the Spirit of God, then Christ has already paid for your sins. 00:12:58.379 --> 00:13:03.980 And Christ has planted his spirit in you like a seed from the tree of life. 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:09.580 And he will bear beautiful, life-giving fruit in you. 00:13:09.580 --> 00:13:10.780 So let's look at the fruit of the spirit. 00:13:10.780 --> 00:13:16.180 Galatians 5, 22 to 23. 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:28.179 But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 00:13:28.179 --> 00:13:32.679 Against such things, there is no law. 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:35.179 This list is not a new law. 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:40.379 This is not a wall surrounding the kingdom of God that's too high for you to climb over. 00:13:40.379 --> 00:13:46.580 It's not another list for you to measure yourself against to see how you failed to check off boxes one or two. 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:50.779 It's not another standard for you to fail to obtain. 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:59.980 It's a mighty promise from God of what he is doing in you by the power of his spirit, if you belong to Christ. 00:13:59.980 --> 00:14:05.379 Christ, your captain in this war, is leading you down this beautiful path by his spirit. 00:14:05.379 --> 00:14:08.879 And this is your glorious destiny in Christ. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:13.879 This is what resurrection life feels like. 00:14:13.879 --> 00:14:24.679 You know, the vibe on the street is a lot of panicky, fearful people trying to distract themselves from pain and uncertainty. 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:27.480 That's what it's like right now in Edinburgh. 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:42.980 The vibe on the street in the resurrection life when Christ returns will be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:14:42.980 --> 00:14:46.580 That's what resurrection life feels like. 00:14:46.580 --> 00:15:01.780 This is as if you were to reach through time into eternity, into the new creation, and take a little handful of resurrection fruit and draw your hand back into the now and enjoy it together. 00:15:01.780 --> 00:15:05.480 That's what the fruit of the spirit really is. 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:07.280 So it's not a cause for despair. 00:15:07.280 --> 00:15:09.980 It's an invitation. 00:15:09.980 --> 00:15:18.379 Now the flesh wants to lead you to a life that's ugly and mercenary and ends in a meaningless death. 00:15:18.379 --> 00:15:27.980 But the spirit, if you are in Christ, is leading you to a life of grace and beauty. 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:30.379 So how do we get that kind of life? 00:15:30.379 --> 00:15:36.180 Because even if you're a Christian, you might look at that list and say, I don't see it. 00:15:36.180 --> 00:15:38.980 I don't seem to have any joy. 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:43.779 I'm impatient. 00:15:43.779 --> 00:15:49.180 Well, just as a sidebar, we need each other for this, don't we? 00:15:49.180 --> 00:15:53.779 You know, all of the, when you see you in your English translation here, it's all plural. 00:15:53.779 --> 00:15:56.580 Paul's talking to a group of people. 00:15:56.580 --> 00:15:58.480 Y'all need this. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:03.379 Y'all need each other to say to each other, I see you. 00:16:03.379 --> 00:16:05.680 I see what the Lord's doing in you, brother. 00:16:05.680 --> 00:16:08.480 I see what the Lord's doing in you, sister. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:10.379 You're doing well. 00:16:10.379 --> 00:16:14.279 The Lord is using you to build His kingdom and to glorify Himself. 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:19.080 We need to hear that because Christian growth is like, it's like the growth of a garden. 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:22.080 It's imperceptible in short slivers of time. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:28.680 It's hard for us to kind of look back at our yesterday and say, I've grown. 00:16:28.680 --> 00:16:33.480 We need other people to tell us what the Lord is doing in our lives. 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:40.879 Anyway, verse 19 says, if you are led by the Spirit, the flesh leads us to death, 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:47.379 but the Spirit leads us to the cross so that through Christ's death, we can have life. 00:16:47.379 --> 00:16:54.680 At the cross, we find both the reason or the why and the power or the how for joy, peace, patience, 00:16:54.680 --> 00:16:58.879 kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:01.279 For example, let's look at a couple of them. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:01.879 Joy. 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:03.180 How do we get joy? 00:17:03.179 --> 00:17:04.480 Why should I have joy? 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.579 And how do I get joy? 00:17:06.579 --> 00:17:08.480 Just as an example. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:09.579 So why should I be joyful? 00:17:09.579 --> 00:17:10.980 What's the reason? 00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:15.980 Because at the cross, Jesus overcame the world. 00:17:15.980 --> 00:17:21.079 He overcame all of this darkness. 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:25.279 He dealt with everything that steals our joy. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:26.480 So that's the why. 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:27.779 How can I be joyful? 00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:30.879 With what power can I do this? 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:38.280 By taking your fears and your anxieties and laying them at the foot of the cross. 00:17:38.280 --> 00:17:41.680 And see, one, the certainty of God's love for you. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:49.580 And two, receive by faith the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. 00:17:49.580 --> 00:17:54.180 We stare at Christ on the cross and we find the why and the how. 00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:56.680 Second example, self-control. 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:58.780 Why should I have self-control? 00:17:58.780 --> 00:17:59.380 What's the reason? 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:04.380 Because Jesus purchased your freedom. 00:18:04.380 --> 00:18:05.780 He freed you. 00:18:05.780 --> 00:18:07.980 So you're not a slave to your own whims anymore. 00:18:07.980 --> 00:18:11.480 You're not a slave to the flesh anymore. 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:14.380 So how can I have self-control? 00:18:14.380 --> 00:18:24.980 By looking at Jesus, who withstood the absolute worst temptation of history for you. 00:18:24.980 --> 00:18:30.579 At the cross, we find the why and the how. 00:18:30.579 --> 00:18:33.380 Or how to have that kind of life. 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:36.380 The Spirit leads us there. 00:18:36.380 --> 00:18:39.880 Galatians 2.20, which we heard several weeks back, says, 00:18:39.880 --> 00:18:41.779 I have been crucified with Christ. 00:18:41.779 --> 00:18:43.180 That's passive language. 00:18:43.180 --> 00:18:45.980 That's something that Christ did to me and for me. 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:48.180 I have been crucified with Christ. 00:18:48.180 --> 00:18:51.880 But now Galatians 5.24 says, I must crucify the flesh. 00:18:51.880 --> 00:18:54.680 That's active voice, right? 00:18:54.680 --> 00:19:01.380 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 00:19:01.380 --> 00:19:03.980 John Stott in his commentary on Galatians says, 00:19:03.980 --> 00:19:06.980 We must not only take up our cross and walk with it, 00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:10.880 but actually see that the execution takes place. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:14.480 We are actually to take the flesh, our willful and wayward self, 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:19.779 and metaphorically speaking, nail it to the cross. 00:19:19.779 --> 00:19:23.180 We need both of those things. 00:19:23.180 --> 00:19:28.380 Now this passage does not say that sinners won't inherit the kingdom of God. 00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:33.580 We shouldn't come away from this thinking that sinners have no place in the kingdom. 00:19:33.580 --> 00:19:40.980 This passage does say that unrepentant sinners won't inherit the kingdom of God. 00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:45.279 The Spirit leads us into repentance. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:48.980 It's how He bears that fruit. 00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:53.579 So how do we practically repent and see this fruit grow? 00:19:53.579 --> 00:19:58.180 I can think of no better kind of summary of the Bible's teaching on repentance 00:19:58.180 --> 00:20:01.680 than the Westminster Shorter Catechism, number 87. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:05.279 Question, what is repentance unto life? 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:06.480 Answer. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:09.680 Repentance unto life is a saving grace, 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:12.579 whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, 00:20:12.579 --> 00:20:15.279 an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:17.980 does with grief and hatred of his sin, 00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:25.980 turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. 00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:28.480 So we have to have a true sense of our sin, 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.180 and then we have to apprehend the mercy of God in Christ. 00:20:31.180 --> 00:20:32.079 How do we do that? 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:34.680 By going to the cross. 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:41.279 We see our sin with grief and hatred only when we see Christ, our precious Savior, 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:44.779 dying for you and paying for your sin. 00:20:44.779 --> 00:20:49.680 And then we turn from the sin to God. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.480 You can't turn from one thing to nothing. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.079 So we turn from our sin and we look at God instead 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:00.180 with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:04.680 Example, your conscience that bears down on you that you're being selfish 00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:07.279 in whatever way that looks like. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.480 You look to the cross and you see the Son of God 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:20.680 considering little weak you, more important, more precious than infinite Him. 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:25.480 And you begin to find that the selfishness seems more ugly 00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:28.079 and Christ more beautiful. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:30.880 And then you turn from your sin to God and start doing the right thing 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:33.779 by his power, by his grace. 00:21:33.779 --> 00:21:39.279 This new way won't be easy, but who said war was easy? 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:49.980 Now, in this passage we have remarkable doctrine about the spirit and about the gospel. 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:55.279 But gospel doctrine shapes gospel culture. 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.579 And I have to tell you, St. Columbus, you're doing really well. 00:21:58.579 --> 00:22:03.779 It's been a deep encouragement to my heart this week 00:22:03.779 --> 00:22:07.480 to see how you've come together to serve and worship Christ 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:09.880 and serve and love one another. 00:22:09.880 --> 00:22:11.079 It's amazing. 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:14.680 When a church really believes the gospel, they really do. 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:15.980 They put their feet down on Christ. 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:19.680 It changes the way they live radically. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:24.079 And you really see the fruit of the spirit. 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:28.579 Sidebar over. 00:22:28.579 --> 00:22:32.180 The flesh, if you follow it, will eat you alive. 00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:36.279 It'll kill you without any mercy. 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:42.779 But the spirit leads us to the cross, where we see how our sin killed Jesus. 00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:47.379 And then we accept that gift all over again or maybe for the first time. 00:22:47.379 --> 00:22:54.180 And we follow him into this new gift, this new life of grace and beauty, 00:22:54.180 --> 00:22:55.879 just moment by moment. 00:22:55.879 --> 00:22:57.579 What a gift. 00:22:57.579 --> 00:23:01.379 Let's pray. 00:23:01.380 --> 00:23:10.480 Heavenly Father, in these dark and uncertain times, comfort us with the beauty and certainty of your gospel, 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:16.480 with the certainty of your love for us in Christ. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:23.180 Lord, just transform us all by the power of your Holy Spirit to become more like you 00:23:23.180 --> 00:23:25.980 for our joy and for your glory. 00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:31.980 Amen.