Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Pastor Ed says walking in the Spirit defeats the flesh. You might even think today I’m far, I’m too deep in, I’m too deep. No, you’re never too deep. And there will be a price because the wages of sin is always death. There will be a price. There will be some, but there’s a greater price. There’s always a greater price fighting against God than there ever is in repentance.

Repentance sets you free. It brings you back to clarity and power and joy. And the key with dealing, the key with dealing with the temptations of the flesh is to walk in the Spirit.

Okay, see if this sounds familiar. You’re a believer in Christ, but so often you’re doing things you don’t want to do. You’re battling the flesh in your life, but the flesh is winning more often than not. It’s an all too common struggle. But here’s the good news. There is a way to defeat the flesh in your life, and it has everything to do with a walk in the Spirit. We’ll explain today on Abounding Grace as Pastor Ed Taylor digs deeper into Galatians chapter five.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Open your Bibles to Galatians chapter five. We’re going to pick up where we left off last time in verse 16. Galatians chapter five, verse 16, and I’ve entitled our Bible study, "Walking in the Spirit Defeats the Flesh." We learn that today. Walking in the Spirit defeats the flesh. Chapter five of Galatians started with this command: stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Paul moves now from standing in grace to walking in the Spirit. That’s the movement of the Christian.

And so often the Bible refers to the Christian life as a walk. God uses the illustration of walking to describe our relationship with Him. The Bible has many scriptures that speak of our walk in Christ. If you want to jot them down, I have a few of them. Romans chapter eight, verse one: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Second Corinthians chapter five, verse seven: "For we walk by faith and not by sight."

Ephesians chapter four, verse one: "I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling by which you were called." First John chapter two, verse six: "He who says he abides in Him ought also himself to walk just as He walked." Using the illustration of walking to describe your Christian life is a real accurate one. The mental pictures of walking bring out so many positive illustrations of what it means to live our lives for Jesus.

Again, if you’re taking notes, let me jot a few down for you. Walking implies forward progress. When you’re walking, you’re making progress and you’re moving forward. Secondly, walking implies a determined destination and goal. When you’re walking somewhere, you are literally walking somewhere. You have a destination in mind. I mean, even if you got out of the house to go take a walk to blow off some steam or to think things through, the destination is to blow off the steam. It doesn’t matter really where you walk, but you have a goal in mind walking.

Thirdly, walking implies a paced, steady movement. Everybody has different walks, and when you’re walking, you have a steady movement. Number four, walking includes all kinds of styles, shapes, forms, and types. Everybody has a different walk, a different gait, and that’s an important thing to remember because you walk one way, your sister walks another way, your brother walks another way, but we’re all walking and we’re all walking together. So there is that sense where there’s uniqueness among us, but we’re all making progress.

Finally, number five, walking reminds us that we’re all on a journey, that we’re making this journey in life. When you say you’re walking with Christ or you have a walk with Christ, it implies you have a journey, that this world is not our home. Something we need to be reminded of many, many times. This world is not our home. We’re just passing through. And the means as we walk through life, the way our progress is measured is not in transportation but rather in transformation.

As we’re walking with the Lord, we really want to pay attention to how much we’re changing into the holiness and the character of Christ. It’s not necessarily how far we’ve gone in distance but how far have we gone in maturity and spiritual growth. How much have we changed? How much do we reflect the character and the nature of Jesus Christ? Like Abraham in Hebrews chapter nine, it says that he waited for the city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God.

I mean, if you only get caught up in what’s going on in the world today, you’re going to be very bummed out. Can I get an amen on that? You’re just going to be bummed out. This whole world is just a big bummer. It just isn’t going the way that we thought it would, or things are happening in our generation we didn’t think were going to happen in our generation. And we have to remember we’re just passing through, that the things of the world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and His grace.

In the important grace-centered life that we’re learning to live, it’s important to abide and follow Jesus closely. Paul tells us it’s time to stand, but it’s also time to walk. Pick up with me in verse 16 now of Galatians chapter five. Paul says, "I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these things are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

Now I want you to circle the word lust for a moment because it is a familiar word and it’s almost always used in relationship to lusting sexually over or after someone. And that would be an appropriate way to use that word, that when you—the Bible says, "Do not lust after a woman. Do not lust after a man." It’s very important to think of that. But the word is much broader than just being used in a sexual way. You can circle the word lust and you can write next to it "very strong emotion," a deep desire for, almost to the point where it’s out of control.

So with that definition, you can understand that we lust about a lot of things. You can lust after power. You can lust after fame. You can lust after money. There’s a lot of different things that your emotions could deeply want that are not necessarily good for you. And the Bible says that there is a lust, a strong passionate emotion, attached to your flesh that is leading you and me away from an obedient life in Christ. The flesh, it says in verse 17, lusts against the Spirit.

The picture here is that the Spirit of God wants you to go in one way but your humanity, or even you, you can just even say you want to go in another way and there’s a battle going on. Walking in the Spirit naturally follows standing in grace. In chapter five and verse 13, we were warned not to use our liberty as an excuse to sin. It says, "Don’t use your liberty, verse 13, as an opportunity for the flesh." When you think of your freedom in Christ, your freedom in Christ is not for license. You don’t have permission to sin. And we studied that in depth last time.

The way that you use your liberty as a way to honor God is to walk in and live by and be led by the Holy Spirit. When we do that, we shall not—you notice in verse 16, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh could be defined as temptations. The temptation to sin is attached to our flesh. When you and I are walking in the Spirit, we are not tempted. Let me give you a great example of that. Right now, the level of temptation in your life, right now, in this very moment as you’re listening to my voice, the level of temptation in your life is at an all-time low.

I’m not saying it’s not there. I’m not saying you’re not tempted right now. I’m not saying you don’t have things flashing through your mind or issues in your life. But when you are seeking God, your temptation level is very low, very low. And that’s a good thing. That’s why God has created fellowship and He’s created the church gathering and He wants us to be in His word and in prayer because when we’re walking in the Spirit, we’re not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. I want you to see the promise here in verse 16. When you walk in the Spirit, you shall not.

It doesn’t say should not. It doesn’t say better not. It says shall not. And this verse is a promise of great importance. When you and I are walking step by step in the Spirit of God, we will not fulfill the lusts of our fleshly desires. No more striving. No more religious rituals. We just simply go where the Spirit leads and find spiritual strength. And to me, that’s like a spiritual goal of mine. I want to rearrange my life around following the Lord.

I was thinking about rearranging our lives, and I have to admit, I see a lot of people rearrange their lives around sports. Let me just share a little time of confession. Almost every day I pull out my MLB app. I want to find out when the Dodgers are playing so that I can rearrange my life to watch the game. I want to watch it while I’m going to be here, but I’ll have my phone. I can see it here, or maybe I can take care of this appointment and go do this, and I just want to watch the game. Do you know what happened last night? Last night the room wasn’t very full.

You want to know why? People rearranged their lives because the Broncos were playing. And I’m like, some of you are here and I said I would get you when you get here. So here you are. And here’s what I’d like to get. I’m glad you’re here. You have the freedom to do that. There’s nothing wrong with rearranging your life around sports. A lot of us do that. I think of how many times families are rearranging their lives around their kids' sports. I drive in, when I first moved here, over on Arapahoe and Parker, the Target and everything wasn’t there.

It was just a big open grassy field at Arapahoe and Parker. And every morning we’d be driving early on—I’d have one of my kids or both of my kids, all three of my kids in the car heading into church. And as we were coming in, there were literally on that corner Sunday morning 7:00 a.m. thousands of children playing soccer, which is great. I’m glad kids are playing soccer. But then I would always think, why do they schedule these games during church? Why? Why do they need to do it on a Sunday morning, only in the morning?

And I know that many of those families are rearranging their lives. Even as we were raising our kids, we had to rearrange our lives around the kids' sports because they were on traveling teams and they would have to be up north on a Sunday and we’d have to figure it out and we would have to work it out with the kids. Yes, you can go to that, but no, you can’t go to practice. And then as you rearrange your life, then the coaches, if they’re not going to practice or not showing up because of church, then the coach says, "Well, you can’t play." And they had to deal with all of that.

And you know, rearranging our lives is a part of life. But I wonder how many of you have really sought to rearrange your life around the things of God. When I think of sports and I think of picking a service because there’s a game on, that’s not the issue. That’s great. You don’t come to this service to go to that service because you have to—that’s not what I’m speaking to here. Here’s what I’m speaking to: there is in us this desire to rearrange our lives around what we want to do.

And so that question remains: how much do you want to press into the things of God? Because that will be how much you will rearrange your life, how you disciple your kids, how you rearrange and reprioritize your life. I think of in Luke’s gospel chapter 10, you have that time where Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha. And I just think of Mary. She, in the moment, Jesus commended her because she chose the better thing. And what was the better thing in the moment? Being at the feet of Jesus.

It’s really always the better thing. No matter what we do in word or deed, that we do it as unto the Lord. That’s the key to walking in the Spirit. The secret, if you will—it’s really an open secret. The key to walking in the Spirit is hanging out with Jesus and walking in the power of His Spirit, being caught up in the things of God. This isn’t an option. Do you notice back in verse 16? It simply says, "Walk in the Spirit." That’s a command. That’s a directive. Walk in the Spirit.

It’s not an option. It’s not a menu to choose, but rather it is a way of life. Walk in obedience to the Lord no matter what it might be. We talked about rearranging life. Sometimes people rearrange, sometimes believers rearrange their lives for sin. They rearrange their lives. I know, I’m not naive enough to think that there aren’t some listening, one, two, who knows, that are actually planning sin right now. You’re planning a way to get away with it. You’re thinking about how you’re going to say this and how you’re going to get away with this and how you might do this.

And I would just say, if you are planning sin right now, don’t do it. That’s the word of the Lord to you. Don’t do it. You go, "Come on, Ed. Come on, Pastor. You mean people plan sin?" Yeah, you do it all the time. You know what is wrong and you think it through. You’re coming up with a plan to dismiss the clear understanding of the Lord for your life because you have to dismiss it. If you don’t dismiss it, then you’ll be convicted by the Holy Spirit.

You’ll feel it. You’re heading in that direction and you’re just about to lie and you feel it. And you’ve got to deal with something with that feeling. And as you’re just about to lie, you have a choice to make. And you’re planning not only for the lie but everything that comes after it. Like, if you walk in the Spirit, you won’t fall for that temptation. You’ll know that whatever the cost, it doesn’t really matter if you feel justified in doing it or if you figured out a way around it, don’t sin.

Walk in the Spirit. When you walk in the Spirit, you won’t fall to that temptation, to the lust. Because you know, let’s think about lying for a second. Dishonesty, deceit. It doesn’t even have to be outright lie, just a life of deceit. The reality of what keeps you in a life of deceit is, first of all, you like the sin that the deceit covers. We obviously see that. You would never sin if you didn’t like it. You know that, right?

That’s why you can see someone else struggling with sin that has nothing to do with you. You go, "I can’t believe it. Why would they do that?" And you’re like, "Well, it’s not a temptation to you, bro. You’ve got other sin." They have an issue, you have an issue, and together you actually have the same issue: you are yielding to temptation. And so as you’re looking at life and you’re considering that area of deceit, number one, you love the sin that your deceit keeps you in.

But number two, you don’t want to pay the price of coming clean. You might even think today, "I’m far, I’m too deep in, I’m too deep." No, you’re never too deep. And there will be a price because the wages of sin is always death. There will be a price. There will be some, but there’s a greater price. There’s always a greater price fighting against God than there ever is in repentance. Repentance sets you free. It brings you back to clarity and power and joy. And the key with dealing with the temptations of the flesh is to walk in the Spirit.

When you walk in the Spirit—we’re going to get to this in a later study—but you can see right here, when you walk in the Spirit, this stuff won’t be a part of your life. Notice back in or down in verse 19. You won’t have to deal with adultery. You won’t have to deal with fornication, uncleanness. Verse 20, you won’t have to deal with idolatry. You won’t have to deal with sorcery. You say, "Well, I’d never be a witch." All right, all right, I get it. You won’t be a witch.

But how about the next one? Hatred. Ah, hatred. Hatred’s a real common one. It’s one of those unspoken sins in the church today, one of those ones that we seem to not even pay much attention to. Hatred in the heart. Hatred in the mind. Looking at people and looking down at them. I think of how many listening to me right now where it’s so easy for you to call someone an idiot. So easy. Well, where do you think the Holy Spirit gave that to you? Call him an idiot. Go ahead.

Can you hear God saying, "Yeah, he’s an idiot. I agree with you. You’re perfect. Everyone else that you disagree with, you don’t like their behavior, they’re idiots." You know what that comes from? Hatred in your heart. It’s a depth of hatred. You know where the hatred in your heart comes from? Your flesh. It’s the flesh. You find yourself calling people idiots, you’re not walking in the Spirit. You are in the flesh.

We’ll get to this more in depth in another Bible study, but the reality is you can look at your life. You’re always fighting with people, you’re jealous, you’re a man or a woman out of control, anger, you don’t have self-control. You are not walking in the Spirit. Those are like warning lights on the dashboard. Something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong. And what’s wrong for the believer is we’re not walking in the Spirit. And it is not okay to call people idiots. It’s not.

It’s something that God is revealing to you: you have a heart issue that you need to deal with Me right now. Because if you think it’s just going to stop with a little bit of name-calling, it’s not, because the flesh grows and it grows and it grows. And before you know it, you are a shell. You are a shell of the spiritual life you once enjoyed. Walk in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit, you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh, verse 16, because in verse 17 there’s a battle going on between the flesh and the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh.

They’re contrary to one another, and because of this battle, it says in verse 17, you do not do the things that you wish. Hold your places here. Turn—let’s turn backwards to Romans chapter seven. Romans chapter seven. Because here Paul gives his own personal testimony of what he writes to the Galatians in verse 17. His own personal testimony. He says in verse 14 of Romans chapter seven: "We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

If then I do what I will not to do, I agree that the law, that it’s good. But now it’s no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me." And the conclusion he comes to here in verse 18 is: "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find." Then you fast forward down in verse 24, he finally comes to the conclusion: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

Then he turns a corner: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" that with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Come back to Galatians. This battle going on between the Spirit and the flesh, they’re contrary. And this is why you don’t do the things that you wish. This is why you go, "Man, the things I’m doing I really don’t want to do." And when you would say that, I believe you. I mean, the things I’m doing, I really don’t want to call somebody an idiot. I really don’t.

But you have fed your flesh so much that it’s very easy for you to do that now. You don’t even think about it. Somebody says, "Hey, you shouldn’t be doing that," you get mad at them too. Now you’re mad at everybody when it’s you. It’s you. It’s in your heart. This is where what God can do for you which you can’t do for yourself.

Guest (Male): Today on Abounding Grace, we brought you a portion of our study in Galatians. Pastor Ed Taylor is our Bible teacher. Would you like to hear this again? If so, just visit us online at aboundinggraceradio.com or oneplace.com. Pastor Ed is back with us. Ed, there may be someone listening right now that feels defeated. There is some temptation to sin in their life that they continually battle with and cave into. And we learned today that walking in the Spirit is the way to victory. Now, I know you’ll touch on this tomorrow, but how do we walk in the Spirit, practically speaking?

Pastor Ed Taylor: That’s a great question: how do we walk in the Spirit? Well, it is not as complicated as you might think. So let’s just review a few things. Number one: read your Bible every day. Number two: pray every day. Number three: be a part of a local, healthy, Bible-teaching, Bible-using church community. Maybe even get involved in some small groups. Number four: enjoy communion, remembering what Jesus Christ has done for you.

As you have these daily disciplines, you’re going to live as a result of those disciplines. You’re going to walk. You know, the word walk is just a description of your everyday life. And your everyday life will reflect what you bring in, what you take in. If you’re a woman of the word, the word of God will come out of you. If you’re a man of prayer, you will live out a spiritually intimate life with Jesus. And as you yield yourself to God, the Holy Spirit will live through you.

And you present yourself to God, He lives in you, He’ll live through you. And I’m telling you, as you look for it, you’ll see it, Larry. And everyone listening, this is so good. I love this question because you’ll see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. You can look for these. That’s the fruit—by the way, I just read to you the fruit of the Spirit. And this will help you. It’s like, "Man, I can’t believe I have joy right now." Well, that came from the Spirit.

"I’m reaching out in love. I love someone like genuinely as a brother, as a sister in Christ." That’s the Spirit. "I have self-control in an area I never had it before." That’s the Spirit. So be a man and woman of the word. Read your Bible, pray every day, enjoy community with other believers, take communion. And by the way, what I just described to you, it’s just Acts 2:42. That’s what made the early church strong. That’s what will make us strong.

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And we’ll gladly send you a copy for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call toll-free at 877-30-GRACE. Glad you’ve taken time out for our study in Galatians. This has been Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church in Aurora, Colorado.