Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: So, we have the Holy Spirit to empower us, to free us, and the Holy Spirit produces new spiritual fruit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Greg: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Galatians. Let's listen as JP gives us part four of Freedom by the Spirit.

JP Jones: Recently in the athletic world, whether it's baseball or football or track and field, everybody's all kind of looking to drug testing and steroid use. That's because over the last, you know, whatever years, there's just been an unbelievable increase in athletic performance. There's been an enhanced performance that's so observable, people have gone, man, they're running faster, they're lifting more weights, they're performing at such a unbelievable level. So, they test athletes and what do they find? Steroids. If you were to look at somebody you know and you saw love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and do some kind of spiritual drug testing on them, you find the reality of the Holy Spirit in their life.

Because that's what he produces. Paul's argument is, you've been set free. Don't use your freedom for selfish indulgence. Use your freedom to serve and love one another. If you stay in the flesh, you won't do that. You'll bite, devour, and criticize one another. But if you'll surrender to the Holy Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to control your life and your relationships, then you'll be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against these things, there's no law. You like that, Tommy? He said, boom, boom, boom, just that quick. It's a lot easier saying it than it is living it.

Let me tell you that. It is the Holy Spirit who who produces these things and there's a conflict within us. That's his point. There is a a conflict and like Jesus said in Matthew's chapter seven, you will know them by their fruits. You know them by their fruits. I think we need to do a little inventory, you know, allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and our words and our attitudes and our relationships and say, am I fleshly or am I Spirit filled? Because there's a warning that Paul gives in here and it's a warning we need to look at because Paul says, if there is no fruit, if there is no transformation, if there is no evidence of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and there's only evidence of the acts of the flesh, you're fooling yourself if you think you really know Jesus Christ.

Because people who live this way, and it's a present tense verb, people who continually manifest this stuff are not inheriting the kingdom of heaven. Now, before you think Paul's saying something different than what he's saying, you've been with us in the study of the book of Galatians, has Paul said in the book of Galatians anywhere that we are saved by our works? No. I mean, he is hammered so strongly the fact that we are saved by grace, but what Paul is saying is let's be realistic. Grace changes a person's life. When you cross the line because you couldn't do it on your own and you ask Jesus to do it for you and you trusted in him, he comes into your life and he begins to change you.

And if there's never any change, you've never crossed the line. There is this spiritual battle. Everybody feels the effects of the spiritual battle. But if there's never any victory and there's never any transformation and there's never any fruit, it's the reason is obvious. You're not someone who has come to a real relationship with Christ. And so Paul says, look at yourself. Be real. This is serious stuff. Because you haven't been called to bite and devour one another. You've been called to freedom and through that freedom, you're to serve one another. But there is this conflict that's going to make that a struggle.

It's like what we've been talking about the last couple of weeks when we said, you know, the emancipation proclamation has been signed, but that's not the same thing as the 13th Amendment because in between there was the Civil War. There's a struggle going on until such a time as we're all perfect in heaven. Right now, we live in conflict. And the freedom that we have in Christ is hard fought to experience. But it's fought in the power of the Holy Spirit because he's the one who produces spiritual fruit in our lives. So, now Paul says this, there are some real prerequisites that have to be operating in a person's life for this freedom to be real.

He says, Galatians 5:24 and 25, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. And since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. First of all, he says, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature. Well, earlier in this letter in Galatians 2:20, Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

So, Paul says, there's a reality for every believer with that we've been crucified with Christ. He writes the same thing over to the Romans in Romans chapter six, Romans 6:6 and 7, he says, uh, knowing this that our old self was crucified with him that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. So, part of our birth right as Christians is that we've been crucified with Christ. But here in Galatians five, he says it a little differently.

He says those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature. You see the difference is a grammatical difference, but it's a pretty important one. Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified in in the Greek language, the way you describe action can be in one of three ways, in the passive, middle, or active voice. It describes your participation in the action. Passive means you're being acted upon. Something happens to you. Middle means you participate in it. Active means you're the one doing the action. In Galatians 2:20 when he says, I have been crucified with Christ, that's a passive verb.

Something acted upon me. When I crossed the line, God acted upon me in such a way that he gave me a new nature and he crucified my old nature. Deep spiritual truth, but that's what it says. Galatians 5:24 is saying that those who belong to Christ Jesus aren't just being acted upon. They're the ones doing the acting. They have crucified the sinful nature. In other words, I got to take responsibility and act upon what God has done for me. God has crucified me. Now, I got to crucify me. I mean, I got a real problems.

It's not enough just to acknowledge a theological truth. You got to make it your own. If I came to you and I said, you know what, I've deposited a million dollars in your bank account and if you just said, thanks a lot and kept on living the same way you were living, that million dollars didn't do anything for you. But if you had said, thanks a lot and you went to the bank and withdrew it and now had it and started spending it, it'd make a difference, right? Well, that's the point. God has given us a new spiritual nature.

We need to act upon that ourselves. God has crucified us in the salvation act in Christ. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. That's a decision of the will. The bottom line is if we're going to live out this life of serving one another in love because we're free in Christ, we need to make a decision of the will to say it's not about me anymore. It's about loving God and loving others and I got to get me out of the way. The second thing Paul says as a prerequisite is we've got to keep in step with the spirit.

He he says, since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Well, the NIV translates this word pretty literally in the New American Standard it says, if we live in the spirit, let's walk in the spirit. King James says if we have life in the spirit, let's walk in the spirit. Because it is a word for walking, but it's a particular word that was a Roman military term that meant walking in a straight line and walking in the steps of the soldier in front of you, keeping in step. The difference of nuance of meaning is this.

In Galatians 5:16 it says, if we walk or live by the spirit, we won't gratify the desires of the sinful nature. That's talking about just kind of in a general sense if we live a spirit-filled life. But in Galatians 5:25 it's a very specific sense in terms of every individual step. See, God has a spiritual life for us to walk in and there are specific steps in that walk. What are the steps today you need to make to serve one another in love? What are the steps today you need to make where love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control flows through your life to other people?

That's the point. It is one thing to make a general commitment to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and it's another thing to moment by moment, day by day, step in the steps of the Holy Spirit. Those are prerequisites to live out the freedom that is ours in Christ. And then when we do because we are experiencing the Holy Spirit setting us free from our own selfishness so that we can serve one another in love, here's how we apply it. Galatians 5:26 says, let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 6:1 and 2, brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently, but watch yourself.

Are you also maybe tempted? Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. So, here's the bottom line. Following the the logic of the apostle Paul, we've been called to freedom. We've been set free, but here's the warning. Don't use your freedom just to indulge your own selfish nature. Instead, the command, serve one another in love. The reality, there's this spiritual conflict within us. And if we bite and devour one another, we're just going to consume each other. So, we have the Holy Spirit to empower us, to free us.

And the Holy Spirit produces new spiritual fruit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. What do we need to do? We need to crucify the sinful nature and we need to make sure that we keep in step moment by moment with the Holy Spirit. To what end or for what purpose? So, we can serve one another in love. And what are the specific ways that we do that? Well, first, negatively. Don't become conceited, provoking, and envying each other. Mentions three things not to do, three characteristics that shouldn't be part of our relational package, conceited, provoking, and envying.

These three words, they are they're not found anywhere else in the New Testament. They're they're unique terms. There there's no other Bible verses or other places in Greek literature that we can go to and say, well, this is the way this word was used at that time. Now, I mean, Paul is a master of words. He's got all kinds of terms he could use. He picks three ideas and says these are the three things that should not be part of the way you express your freedom. They should not be part of the way you work out life in the spirit with one another.

We shouldn't be conceited. We shouldn't provoke and we shouldn't envy. The the call that we have in Jesus Christ to be free is a call to serve one another in love. We should be different. Our marriages should be different. Our family should be different. Our churches should be different. And when they're not, it's an indictment that we didn't get it right. Did you know that? It's an indictment that we didn't get it right because Jesus said, by this all men will know that you are my disciples by the love that you have for one another.

It's it's like the coach talking to the players there at Gettysburg said, listen, if we don't get this right, men, there's no way we're going to be able to continue on as a team. If in a marriage couple didn't get that right, there's no way they're going to be able to continue on as a in a marriage. In a church, if we don't get that right, there's just no way we can be the church of Jesus Christ. That's why it's so necessary that it's the Holy Spirit who empowers us and changes us. So, that's the stuff to avoid.

There's just no room for criticizing and backbiting and slandering and gossiping. There's just no room for that. On the other hand, what should we be proactive in? Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. When someone is caught in a sin, which by the way anybody can be caught in a sin, anybody, where to restore him? We're not to criticize him. We're not to, you know, downstream him. We're not to point the finger at him. We are to restore him. This word restore was a a word that was used in mending nets or in setting a broken bone.

When somebody is in sin, we we shouldn't judge him, point the finger, talk about it, say I'll pray for you. No, we should try to help him. Try to help him get back up on their feet, try to help him get back right with God, try to help him get back right with other people. We should try to restore them. And it says you who are spiritual do that. See, this is spiritual business. If we're fleshly, we can 't do it because we're going to be caught up in the negative stuff. We need to be spiritual.

We need to be led by the spirit, filled with the spirit, be people whose mind and heart and lifestyle is increasingly characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. But watch yourself. Says, watch yourself. Are you also maybe tempted? Just so that you know, be careful that you don't get caught up in the same stuff. Be careful, you know, because sometimes when you go to try to help people, they don't like to be helped. They do that counter transference kind of thing where you know, if you ever had that happen to you, counter transference terms used in in in psychology where you know, I got a problem with my father.

You represent an authority figure. I dump on you. And then you get mad because I 'm dumping on you and you respond back and now we have a conflict that was never about you in the first place. So, be careful. It's kind of I I saw that and I thought about you you know, when stuntmen when they are going to film a stunt that involves, you know, like they're in a burning car or burning building and they come out, you know, I 'm on fire, you know, whatever, they put all this jelly stuff all over their body.

It's a fire retardant. And then they wear a special clothing underneath that has a fire retardant in it. And then they put the stuff on the outside that burns. In other words, they know they're going to go into fire. They protect themselves so that they don't get burned. Restoring people, we need to protect ourselves so that we didn't get pulled into things as well. But it's the serving one another in love. Brothers, someone caught in a sin or trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. Watch yourself or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

When we carry each other's burdens, that's when we fulfill the law of Christ. You know, in a in a church this size, there's a lot of people with burdens. Chances are, if you don't have a burden this morning, someone sitting next to you does. That's what's great about the body of Christ. We're here to love each other, pray for each other, support each other, encourage each other, bear one another's burdens. And when we do that, we fulfill the law of Christ. Can you imagine an army in wartime, military patrol, a fire team? It's out in the jungle.

Guy point man, he's on guard because the enemy's out there ready to get him and everybody has their their weapons loaded and ready because they're at any moment could engage the enemy. And they're along the trail and all of a sudden they find a fallen comrade, someone who's been wounded and is laying on the ground and they come up to him and they look at him and go, how could you let yourself get shot, you idiot? And then they move on to try to find You know, that's what we do as Christians sometimes. We point the finger at one of our brothers or sisters who's been shot by the enemy.

We are to bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians chapter five, boy, it's landing on the line. It's saying that we've been called to freedom, but that freedom is to be expressed in serving one another in love. And the only way we can do that is through the power of the Holy Spirit. We may not like each other, but we got to love each other. We got to love each other. We are a team. And when we love each other, the world knows that we're Christ's disciples. Jesus said that we have been called to freedom, but don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

And then he says, and this is how it can work by surrendering your life to the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit because when the Holy Spirit is in control of our lives, what he produces in us, in our relationships, and in our church is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And so the call for every one of us is today and tomorrow and the next day and in every day surrender our lives to the Holy Spirit so that he can lead us to experience freedom in Christ.

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 233 31 Molten Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653 or give us a call at 949 916 0250. That's 949 916 0250. For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book Facing Goliath.

Please join us every Sunday at 9 or 11 a.m. at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 233 31 Molten Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. Do you know the spirit-filled life is the Christ-filled life? It's the only way to live the Christian life. The Bible is so clear that the Christian life is a supernatural life. The only person who could live it is Jesus Christ. And Jesus lives the Christian life in us and through us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John chapter seven, if any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. For he who believes in me out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And then it goes on to say, this Jesus spoke of the Spirit whom he had not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The overflowing life Jesus is promising in John seven is produced by the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 14 Jesus says that I'm not going to leave you as orphans, but that he, the Spirit of Truth, when he comes, he will glorify me. He will take of mine and he will glorify me. Jesus goes on to promise in John chapter 14 and John chapter 16 that it is the Holy Spirit who's the Spirit of Christ that he's our helper who would guide us and empower us into the truth. Jesus says that that he's going to live in us.

He's going to live through us through the helper, through the comforter, through the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8 Jesus says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter eight, the apostle Paul says, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from this body of death? I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin.

There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. It's the Holy Spirit who sets us free from sin and from death. And Paul says here in Galatians chapter five, but I say walk by the Spirit and you'll not carry out the desire of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

You see it is the spirit-filled life that pleases God. It's the spirit-filled life that gives us freedom. It's the spirit-filled life that changes us. In Second Corinthians three, Paul said it this way, but I say where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. And we all with unveiled faces behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. We are being transformed into that same glory from glory to glory even by the Lord, the Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms us to make us more and more like Jesus Christ. We've been called to freedom. Freedom isn't the right to do anything we feel like doing.

Freedom's the power to do what we ought to do. And the only way we can have the power to do what we ought to do is when we live by means of the Spirit, when we walk in the Spirit. And the promise of Galatians chapter five is that the Holy Spirit lives in us, that the Holy Spirit will transform us and produce his spiritual fruit in us when we surrender to him, when we obey him, when we by faith allow him to live in us and through us. Jesus said this in Luke chapter 11, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

That's it. Ask him. Have you asked God to empower you with the Holy Spirit? Have you asked God to change your life through the Holy Spirit? Have you asked the Holy Spirit to fill your life and take control of your life? If you've never done that, I invite you to do that right now with me. Lord Jesus, I surrender my life to you and I ask you to fill me with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, change me from the inside out. Fill me with your spiritual fruit and make me like Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 233 31 Molten Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653 or call us at 949 916 0250. On the internet you'll find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.