Walk by the Spirit, Part 1 (Galatians 5:17)

I. Introduction. A. Orientation. Last week, We saw that as a man Jesus was empowered By the Spirit To do the work He did. That work Not only had to do With removing your sins And clothing you With His righteousness That you might be saved, It also had to do With His giving you His Spirit So that you could do All that He calls you to do To move His kingdom forward. He came to give you Salvation and power.

This means

You can be powerful, More than you are now. Remember the difference The Spirit makes When He comes on His people in His fullness Fear turns to courage, Doubt to confidence, Struggle to progress. The disciples were running for cover Before the Spirit came, But afterwards, They were bold as lions.

Not only can you have power The Lord commands you to have it: Be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). He wants you to be like His Son, Not like Peter, Who before the coming of the Spirit Wasnt able to find the courage To confess Him before a servant girl For fear of his life.

But dont forget as well

That the fact that He commands it Means theres something you must do: You must want to be filled with His power, You must seek/try to be filled it Using the means/ways The Lord has given you, And you must hold onto that power Once you receive it By turning from your sins.

B. Preview. Before we leave this topic I want us to look at two more things: 1. Why you arent perhaps As powerful as you can be in the Spirit; 2. And what you can do To overcome this obstacle So that you can become more powerful.

This morning, Were going to consider the first point: Why you arent as powerful As you might otherwise be in the Spirit. Well look at three things:

1. The two desires. 2. The struggle between them. 3. And the resulting weakness. II. Sermon. A. First, lets look at the two desires. You know from your own experiences As well as I That you have two desires And what they are: A love for what God loves, And a love for what He hates. We might question the second part, But if you didnt love what He hates You would never choose to sin.

You also know Where both of these desires came from:

Your love for what God hates Came from your father, Adam. When he chose What God hated When he disobeyed God At the tree of testing

5 God charged his sin to you And that sin corrupted your heart. Thats why you love evil. And thats how you would have remained Unless the Lord, in His mercy, Had broken that power By His Spirit, through the Gospel.

But God did break it Not by forcing you to conform outwardly, But by changing you inwardly.

He didnt do it By threatening you With judgment If you didnt turn around Though He very well may have done so To show you your need And to bring you to His Son.

And He didnt do it By forcing you to love Him Or to obey Him against your will.

He did it in a very gracious way

6 By giving you His Spirit To open your eyes To see things as they really are How beautiful and glorious He is, How gracious He was in sending His Son for you, How good His commandments are, How evil sin really is So that you would want To turn away from your sins And trust in His Son.

Thats what Jesus meant When He said to the Pharisees, You clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also (Matt. 23:25-26).

The Gospel isnt about Reforming your outward life, But leaving you a rebel in your heart. It all about the Lords work In cleaning your heart So that your life is transformed From the inside out.

If youre a believer this morning

This is why you have two desires: You received one from Adam, And one from Jesus Christ.

If you havent trusted Jesus Christ, If youre not a believer this morning, You have only one desire: sin. You might be able to clean up The outside of your life, But youll need His Spirit To clean the inside, So that you can love the Father, So that you can love His Son, And trust His Son to save you.

If you dont have the Spirit, Ask the Father, In the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, To give Him to you. He is merciful To all who call on Him in truth. If you really mean it, He will do it.

8 But for those of you Who have the Spirit, You know, as well as I, That the work He does in your heart Is only partial It wont be finished Until He brings you to heaven.

B. These two desires create a struggle inside you: One pushes you towards sin And away from God, The another pushes you towards God And away from sin.

Consider what Paul says The desire you inherited from Adam Produces in your life. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).

Isnt it a perfect description Of what drives the world? Of what theyre really all about. What do you see,

When you look at the world? Sexual desire? Paul says the deeds of the flesh are immorality, impurity, sensuality;

The desire for possessions, power, and prestige? Paul says the deeds of the flesh include idolatry.

Some seeking an advantage from the devil himself/the occult? The deeds of the flesh include sorcery.

If anyone gets in their way? The deeds of the flesh include enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, disputes, dissentions, factions, envying.

The desire to break the boundaries Of good conduct and to cut lose? Paul says the deeds of the flesh include drunkenness and carousing.

Is it any wonder John warns, Do not love the world nor the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).

If you know your own heart You know all too well That these desires are in you as well.

But thankfully, by Gods grace, You have another desire

10 That pushes against these: The desires of the Spirit. Paul writes, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (vv. 22-23). This describes the heart of your Savior, Its why He loved the Father and His kingdom And hated the world.

You have this in your heart as well Which is why you struggle.

Whenever you have any question About whether your desires Are from the flesh or the Spirit, Just read this list And prayerfully consider before God Which category it fits in.

But be careful, Because your sin Will always try to justify What it wants, As over against What God wants.

11 C. Finally, what is the result Of these two desires Struggling against each other? You may not do what you want. I dont think Paul means That you cant do what you want at all That you cant obey at all. Jesus came to free you From the bondage of sin So that you could obey.

What he means is With these two desires Constantly fighting against each other You will not be able to do what you want As you want Perfectly To live like Jesus lived. You have something standing in your way.

Jesus became a man Like you and I, But He was a man Without sin,

12 Not like you and I.

He had the Spirit without measure His heart was fully devoted to God And He had no sin Nothing fighting against that devotion.

You wont have this perfection Until you arrive in heaven, And so until then, You will have to fight.

Why does God do it this way? Why doesnt He Just make you like Jesus right away?

There are at least three reasons: 1. To humble you. 2. To teach you to depend on Him, To depend on His Son And not on yourself. 3. And to get you To long for heaven. If you were perfect now, You wouldnt desire heaven as much

13 The flies in the ointment of your heart Are to remind you That this isnt your final destination.

And so here is our dilemma, Here is why we cant Be as spiritually powerful As we might otherwise be Because we have two desires: One towards God, And one towards the world.

This doesnt mean You cant become more like Jesus. It just means You have to be careful To walk by the Spirit. That is what were going to look at this evening. Amen. http://www.graceopcmodesto.org