Walk by the Holy Spirit

Father, we know because of Jesus and his death upon the cross for us to save us that you love us.

And so, Father, we know that even when you warn us, you warn us because you love us.

And so, Father, we ask that you make us a people who believe your promises,

the promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives,

but that you would also make us a people, Father, who hear your warnings,

who take them to heed.

Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us deep within as we think about your word.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Please be seated.

Some people are just really miserable and like to humiliate you.

I had one summer job a long time ago, obviously, when I still had summer jobs,

where it was sort of a working class job.

And one of the guys who'd been there a long time,

he just delighted in finding different ways to embarrass and humiliate the summer students.

He would tell them to do absurd things or impossible things.

And then when they tried to do it, he would laugh at them, laugh at us,

and make fun of us for being so stupid to try to do something which was impossible.

And if you tried to call his bluff, he would harangue you that you weren't listening to him

and he was your boss and your supervisor and you're supposed to do what he said.

He was just a really miserable person.

For a lot of people in Canada, when they hear about the Bible,

they think the Bible is like that boss.

That the Bible just likes to tell us to do impossible things.

And when we just say to him, we can't do those impossible things,

then the Bible will just tell us off and castigate us and put us down.

And a text like the text that we have today would be a perfect example

how for many people in our culture, when they hear it, they begin to roll their eyes.

And it's not just people in our culture.

We live in our culture.

Like we don't, I mean, every, I mean, I don't know,

maybe there's a guest here from Kenya today, I don't know.

But it's not as if we live in Kenya and fly in in our private jets

to have Sunday morning service and then we, and here in Ottawa,

and then we fly back.

We live in our culture.

We breathe the cultural air.

And for many of us, if we're honest, sometimes we read the Bible,

we feel profoundly uncomfortable with it.

In fact, just to give you a heads up and just to say this,

this is not a party church, not in terms of we don't have parties,

but in terms of it's, we're, this isn't, we're not some political movement.

We're not a group that's just trying to, you know,

bring back Canada to where it used to be when it was great.

I mean, if you want to do some of those things, that's fine.

It's, you know, but that's not what this Sunday morning is all about.

We just want to, we want to hear what,

we want to hear what God says to us through his word

in light of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

And we want to hear all of what God has to say.

And we want to be present as God speaks at the very command center of our lives,

sometimes challenging us.

So I just want to warn you, I'm going to talk about same-sex marriage

and I'm going to talk about abortion.

And I know that's going to be very painful for people.

That's why I said this isn't a party church,

but the Bible today talks about that in other things.

And so we're going to look at it.

So if you could get out your Bibles and turn in them to Galatians chapter 5,

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Galatians chapter 5, we're going to be looking at verses 16 to 25.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

And here's what it says in Galatians chapter 5, verse 16,

Galatians 5:16

which is in some ways a bit of a,

it's one of those powerful statements that the Bible makes,

which in a sense is to govern a lot of how we understand life

and also is to help us understand actually the next,

I don't know, about 20, 25 verses in the Bible in Galatians,

although we're not going to look at all of that,

just some of that today.

And in Galatians 5, verse 16, it says this,

Galatians 5:16

but I say, walk by the Spirit.

And just as a pause here, the Spirit should be capitalized.

If you're reading a version of the Bible where the word Spirit isn't capitalized,

it's going to be very misleading.

It's very clearly referring to God.

So one of the things I'm going to do is when I read,

just to make it extra clear, I'm going to say the Holy Spirit.

The word holy isn't there,

but it helps to emphasize to us as we listen

that it's referring to God, the Holy Spirit.

We'll talk about this a little bit more.

It's been a great source of confusion to many people

to hear Spirit and not hear it that it's referring to God.

So I'll read it again.

Verse 16,

And we'll just sort of pause there.

We're going to camp on that.

Actually, we'll read verse 17 as well.

Sorry, verse 17.

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,

and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.

For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

And we're just going to camp on that verse for a little bit.

So here's the first thing.

In some ways, actually, for those of you who have dabbled in Buddhism a little bit,

this actually sounds almost like it's a Buddhist text.

Those of you who know anything about Buddhism is the great problem in Buddhism, of course, is desire.

And often in that world, not necessarily in Buddhism in a strict sense,

it's often a bit of a contrast between the Spirit or God and things like human desire.

And so some people might listen to this text and also just sort of wonder,

okay, what's going on here in the Bible?

Is the Bible saying that our bodies are bad, that it's bad to have desires?

And, George, that's just...

And sorry, if you're here and you're seriously seeking Buddhism,

and you've come to be with us, we're really glad you're here.

But I can tell you that most Canadians would say,

George, if this text is telling us that the body is bad and desires are wrong,

that's just nuts.

But here's the...

If you could put up the first point.

The flesh does not refer to the body.

If you read through the book of Galatians and you read through the New Testament,

the word flesh often has different things which it refers to.

You have to be able to tell from the context what it's referring to.

Sometimes it's just referring to the fact that human beings are frail.

It will contrast...

It's trying...

The Bible will be trying to contrast the fact that human beings are frail

with how unchangeable and powerful and real God is.

And occasionally, but a bit more rarely,

the word flesh will be used to refer to something being earthly.

It's mainly used like that in the book of Revelation,

where it's contrasting something which is earthly and just right now

with what God is promising to do in the future

when he brings in the new heaven and the new earth.

And occasionally, the word flesh does just mean body,

but probably the major meaning,

and the meaning which is right here,

is if you could put up the next point.

Well, the main thing that it teaches

is it teaches something about human nature now.

And so the first thing is that the Bible teaches

that some things come in twos,

but it never teaches dualism.

I've gotten mixed up in my notes here.

Here's the thing to take up a little bit of a backward step.

A very, very common way that people refer to the flesh and to the spirit,

especially in many, many churches,

is that spiritual things are higher things.

And what are higher things?

Well, higher things are things like good poetry.

Higher things are things like classical music or opera.

Higher things are good works of art.

And that what we need to do

is that we need to not be concerned

with these lower, grubby, natural things,

but we have to be concerned with the higher things.

It's a very, very common view.

If you look at a lot of church signs,

especially mainline churches,

often they have this implicit type of idea

that God calls us to higher things,

and by higher things they mean,

well, classical music and stuff like that.

And, you know, this is a real put-off for somebody like me

because, frankly, I like football more than poetry.

And if you were to invite me to a poetry reading this afternoon

and another person was to invite me to go watch an NFL game with you

and have some beer and potato chips,

I would not think very long about that decision.

I would very quickly choose the grubby lower things

rather than the higher elevated things.

Whatever on earth that means.

Like, just be frank.

That's just class consciousness.

That's just upper class people looking down their nose at lower class people

and trying to make it look as if it's somehow divine and godly.

It's religion.

And that's not what the Bible means.

It's not, Bible isn't contrasting grubby things

like people who go to Tim Hortons

and their idea of great poetry is saying,

I'll have a double Mac, please.

Which, for many people, that's the height of poetry.

I'll have a double Mac, please.

A side of fries and a Coke to go with it.

Not Shakespeare.

That's poetry.

You know, the Bible isn't saying anything at all about higher things.

And because you see, when you hear talk about higher things,

it's a type of dualism.

And here's the thing.

This is the point behind this point.

The Bible teaches that some things come in twos.

Male and female, for instance.

Good and evil, for instance.

But it never teaches dualism.

Nowhere in the Bible is dualism taught.

And even now, as you're going through this text about the flesh and the spirit,

it's not dualism.

The fact of the matter is, is that the Holy Spirit is referring to the Holy Spirit.

And the flesh is referring to something in rebellion against the Holy Spirit.

And the fact of the matter is, is that every human being in the world

can shake their fist in God, at God.

But there's no dualism.

God is God.

He just decides to stop upholding everything by his will,

and everything would cease to exist.

And so the Bible, whether it's a dualism between male and female,

or higher and lower things, or spiritual and bodily things,

or anything like that, the Bible always rejects it.

It constantly slips itself back into Christianity as something spiritual,

but the Bible will have none of it.

It always rejects dualism.

And whatever Paul is saying here, when he says,

but I say walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh,

it's not dualism.

It's something that comes in two, but it's not dualism.

And some of you might say,

okay, George,

well, no, sorry.

Lost place in my notes here several times.

One of the great prejudices that we have in our age,

and it affects Christians all the time,

because it's a very, very constant temptation.

I've felt it many, many times.

I've succumbed to it many times,

that the Bible needs improving,

and that the Bible doesn't contain serious thinking.

But when we read the Bible,

this is very, very serious thinking.

In fact,

part of the problem that the average Canadian has with the text

is that most of us don't do any serious thinking whatsoever.

And when we come to the Bible,

we don't actually know how to handle it,

because we're actually coming face to face

with very, very serious thinking.

Like, just for instance,

the average Canadian,

without thinking about the consequences at all,

would just assume that what's taught

about naturalistic evolution is true.

And they'll just think that that's true.

And then with the very, you know,

in a very next breath,

they'll say something like,

well, our loved one who died,

they've gone to a better place.

Well, that doesn't fit together at all.

Well, it's completely and utterly,

like,

how you understand how things came to be

has really serious consequences for everything.

So in Hinduism,

one of the things which is part of the Hindu stories

about how things came to be

is that in those very foundational texts,

the way things came to be are divided into castes.

It's one of the reasons why it's very hard

to eradicate the caste system in India

because their creation stories tell them that.

That it's just part of this tragedy,

which is human existence,

which we have to break out of

so that we can become part with the one.

But part of this tragedy is,

in a sense,

part of the way that we know

that we're getting out of the tragedy

is that a lower caste person,

when they die,

maybe because they've been very good

dealing with the issues in their lower caste,

they'll come back as a higher caste.

That in some ways,

then,

it's justified or right

that some people are superior to other people

and that superior people

can treat lower people in a certain way.

And, you know,

one of the reasons it's within the caste,

you know,

another thing which has very,

very serious consequences

is like in Buddhism,

that in Buddhism,

part of how things came to be

is a result of a sort of an unexplained cosmic tragedy

where the one gets broken up into bits and pieces.

And this bits and pieces

is why we have so much difference.

And the fact that there's all these different things,

different people,

different objects,

the world,

that's not really the way it's supposed to be.

And we experience sorrow

because we desire things,

but we're treating those things

as if they're real.

And really what's to happen

is that we're to die to all desire.

We're to practice these practices

so that we die to all desires

and so that we can eventually

just lose all desire

and merge to the one.

But that,

like that's just a bit crazy.

It's really anti-human, isn't it?

Like it's anti-human

to think that if I desire

the good for my children,

that there's somehow something wrong with that,

that it just doesn't really make sense.

But it's what you end up doing

when your foundational stories tell you that.

And I've told you many times,

it's worth going on the Dig and Delve website,

it's worth seeing the YouTube video

of Aus Guinness discussing,

having a conversation

with an atheist philosophy professor

from the University of Toronto

who's a serious atheist.

He's a serious thinker.

And it's on the discussion

of the meaning of life.

And he's very frank.

Because he accepts

the basic creation story

that all Canadians accept,

he's not sure if free will exists.

And he definitely doesn't really believe

that meaning exists.

And so,

because the average Canadian doesn't,

it's sort of this odd situation

where the average Canadian

doesn't think that what you find

in the Bible is serious thinking,

yet at the same time,

the average Canadian

actually rarely does

any serious thinking themselves.

And so,

when they actually read the Bible,

not understanding

that it's very serious thinking.

I mean,

yeah,

they didn't have cell phones,

they didn't have an Instagram account,

they didn't have a Twitter account,

they didn't know how to use the internet,

they didn't have a webpage,

yeah,

they didn't have flush toilets,

but that doesn't mean

they don't do serious thinking.

And so,

here,

if you could put up the next point,

please,

that would be very,

very good.

What the Bible teaches

is that God created

everything that exists.

And,

it doesn't describe

the mechanisms

or how long it takes

and all of that type of stuff,

but that at the end of the day,

he created everything,

he created everything good.

And that,

he created human beings

to be at home in this universe,

and have a special role

in this universe,

only human beings

were made in the image of God.

Only human beings.

And as God's image bearers

in his created order

that he creates,

he sustains,

he made it for us,

in a sense,

he made us to be priests.

He made us

to lead the praises

of all creation

to praise God.

He made us

to walk in the garden

with him

in the cool of the day

that we would have fellowship

with him

and friendship with him.

He made us

to have a role

of caring for the garden

and caring for this created order.

And he made us

to explore

the entire created order.

And he made us

as the ones

most like him,

but still created.

And we human beings

who have this role

in a good creation,

rather than choosing God,

what do human beings do?

Human beings doubt God.

Human beings say,

as it's told so brilliantly

in the book of Genesis

in chapter 3,

when the serpent says,

did God really say?

Did God really say?

And human beings

begin to doubt

what God says,

doubt God's goodness,

and not only

do we begin

to doubt those things,

when doubt in and of itself

isn't a sin,

but that human beings

and the person

of Adam and Eve

decide that they will be

God themselves,

that they will be

like God.

And in that act of rebellion,

culminating in their doubt

of God,

you know,

that now all of a sudden

their doubt of God,

of who he is,

of his goodness,

of his provision,

of his power,

of his wisdom,

of his grace,

their doubting of God

in all of these ways,

and their desire

to be God.

And if you see that

in a sense,

that when you doubt

that God is good,

when you doubt

that he provides,

when you doubt

that he is full of grace,

when you doubt

that he is full of mercy,

when you doubt

that he knows

what he's doing,

when you doubt

that he desires

to have fellowship

with you,

and when you desire

to be God yourself,

what you're really saying

is,

God,

you are a lower God,

you've stood up,

I'm going to do better.

I'm going to be

greater than you

because you're not,

you don't provide enough,

you aren't good enough,

you aren't wise enough,

and I'm going to do better.

And in that primal

decision of human beings

to rebel against God

and to be like God

themselves,

what happened

is that everything

in human being

became bent.

This act of rebellion

touches

every single aspect

of whatever

makes a human being

a human being.

So I put it up here,

the desire to be God

has touched

every aspect

of what makes

a human being

a human being.

And the flesh

refers to human nature

in rebellion

against God.

If scientists

or philosophers

or poets

come up with

some other aspects

of what it means

to be a human,

then whatever

those other

new aspects are,

our rebellion

against God,

our desire

to be God

has tainted it.

there will be

nothing discovered

by philosophers

or theologians

or scientists

or poets

or mystics

about what it means

to be a human being

that has not

been touched

and bent

by our desire

to be God.

And so when the Bible

says,

but I say,

walk by the Spirit

and you will not

gratify the desires

of the flesh,

the Bible

is very,

very frank.

It's very serious

thinking.

It understands

the importance

of the creation story

and what has happened

to human beings

and how it explains evil.

And let me tell you,

when you look

at these creation stories,

the creation story,

first and second,

Genesis 1,

2, and 3

and how the Bible

unfolds it

throughout the entire Bible

as it develops

the nuances

of that story,

there is no wiser

account of existence.

than what is provided

in the Bible.

There is no wiser account

of human existence

than what is found

in the Bible.

No other account

has such explanatory power

of what it means

to be human,

of the complexities,

the tragedies,

the glories,

the brokenness,

the goodness,

nothing compares

to the richness

of this biblical story,

explanatory power.

And so when you see

the word flesh

in the New Testament

and when I,

and it's not talking

about the body,

it's not talking

about being frail

and when it's not

talking about

being earthly

as opposed to

something that's coming

in the new heaven

and the new earth,

it's talking about

the fact that

there is part

of every aspect

of what makes me

a human being

that is in rebellion

against God

and all of those

different bits of me

have desires.

And those,

it's not that

every human desire

is wrong,

it's not that

everything about

human beings

are evil,

but that this desire

to be God

has tainted,

bent,

twisted,

hurt

every aspect

of what it means

to be a human being.

And so what has happened?

Jesus comes to redeem

human beings

because human beings

that every single part

of me that makes me me

has been somehow

bent slightly,

in some cases

not slightly wildly

and spectacularly,

but even the parts

that aren't wildly

and spectacularly bent

are still slightly bent

and I can never

leave myself

to save myself

and so the constant

message of the Bible

is to tell us

about who we are,

to reveal to ourselves

who we are

so that we would

come to the point

where we would say

only God can save me.

Unless God

has grace and mercy,

I am screwed.

Sorry,

but that's true.

And so the Bible

describes God's

rescue mission

in the sending

of his Son

and part of that

sending of his Son,

we're going to unfold

this more in a moment,

is the presence

of the Holy Spirit

in lives of believers

and the Holy Spirit

is always going to be

moving in a different

direction

than those parts

of us as human beings

that are in rebellion

against God.

Why?

Because the Holy Spirit

is God himself.

And so it's a description

of God

in the person,

the third person

of the Trinity,

God the Holy Spirit

being present

and active

in the life

of a Christian

coming against

those parts of us

that want to be God.

Think of it that way.

The real God

shows up

in those parts

of my life

that desire

to be God.

The real God

shows up.

The real God

shows up

with power.

power.

That's what

this is describing.

But some people

might say,

George,

here,

religious people

are full of pride

and greed.

Like,

George,

the way you've

described the flesh,

like you even

sort of said,

George,

that in churches

they've made

all these mistakes

as if it's somehow

talking about

higher things

versus lower things.

And so George

doesn't,

isn't this just

one of those things

where the Bible

describes it

but it's not

any help?

Like,

religion

seems to be

helpless against

all of that.

Doesn't this sort

of disprove the Bible?

Not at all.

Why does it not

disprove the Bible?

Well,

because that's

what the Bible

tells us.

Look again

at verse 16.

But I say,

walk by the Spirit,

the Holy Spirit,

and you will not

gratify the desires

of the flesh.

Now just skip down

to verse 18

and you'll notice

it even has

the same structure.

But if you are

led by the Spirit,

you are not

under the law.

And the law

is a bit of a symbol

here for religion.

All the way through

the book of Galatians,

the law is a bit

of a symbol

of religion,

of spirituality.

And so if you could

put up the next point,

what the Bible

itself is saying

is that the flesh,

that is human nature

in rebellion

against God,

exists very comfortably

under religion.

And it exists

very comfortably

under no religion.

Last Sunday,

some of you,

you know,

with the bad weather,

not as,

you know,

some of you

who are here

who survived

the rude winds

wild lament

last Sunday,

I said how

for many people

in our culture,

when they leave

religion behind,

they leave

higher things behind,

for instance,

and they just

become ordinary people

who just

like to wear,

you know,

just like to do

ordinary things

and completely

and utterly

leave God

and the gods behind

and spiritual things

behind,

for many people

they find it

as a relief,

as a release.

No more pretending.

But,

and I think,

I still think

that's true.

It's a very,

very common thing

for people to describe.

But when I talk

to people in coffee shops,

it's a very common thing

to say how freeing

and releasing it was

to no longer bother

with having to go

to that church

and do those things

and it's like a release.

But here's the thing.

The flesh exists

very comfortably

under religion

and under no religion.

To leave religion

behind

might feel

a little bit liberating,

but it actually

doesn't liberate you

at all.

Both in

under religion

and under no religion,

you are still trapped

in self-justification.

And under religion

and under no religion,

you're still trapped

under self-salvation.

Under religion

and under no religion,

you're still looking

for created things

that are going to give you

meaning in your life

and they will always

not satisfy you.

Both under religion

and under no religion,

you will still be caught up

in your own particular

God project

for all of the different

pains and sufferings

that it happens.

And it feels like

it's a release,

but it actually doesn't

deal with the problem.

You see,

here's the thing

about the Bible text

is the Bible text

is not like,

when it's talking

about the flesh

and the spirit,

it's not like

that boss

that I began

my sermon with

who loved

to find ways

to humiliate

the summer students.

And if he couldn't

humiliate them,

then he would

give them

a bit of a tongue-lashing

about the fact

that they wouldn't

obey him.

And the Bible

isn't like this at all.

The Bible here

is like when you

go to the doctor

because your wife

or your sister

or your friend

finally cajoles you

into going

and you have

some pains

in your body

and maybe you

have some rashes

and the doctor

says,

I have some

very bad news

for you.

You have cancer.

But the good news

is because you

came in,

we think we

can cure it.

And that's

what's going on

here in the Bible.

It's not God

trying to belittle us.

It's God

trying to catch

our attention

so he can save us.

so he can save us.

So,

George,

I'm still a little bit

confused,

you might say.

Like,

okay,

so what is it

that the Holy Spirit

puts new desires

in us

and takes away

old desires?

Like,

like I don't quite

understand what's

going on.

Well,

here's where

it's a little bit

helpful to know

the original language.

Look at verses 16

again.

But I say,

walk by the Spirit

and you will not

gratify the desires

of the flesh.

And in verse 17,

for the desires

of the flesh

are against the Spirit

and the desires

of the Spirit

are against the flesh

for these are

opposed to each other

to keep you

from doing the things

you want to do.

But if you are led

by the Spirit,

you are not under the law.

So here's the thing.

The word desires,

if you could put it up

the next point,

what actually

the text is saying

here is that the flesh,

it's by the nature

of the flesh

to over-desire.

It's of the nature

of the flesh

to over-desire.

And the translators,

when they're translating

the text,

the word desires

connected to the Holy Spirit

isn't there.

But there's a translation

issue.

In the original language,

it says that the desires

of the flesh,

the over-desires

of the flesh

are against the Spirit.

And the Spirit

comes against them.

But it comes against them

with power

and it's a translation problem.

So desires catches it

for all of us.

But it's of the very nature

of a God project

to over-desire.

And this is all

where Genesis 1, 2,

and 3 is so wise.

So is it right

for me to desire my wife?

Yes, it is right

for me to desire my wife.

If I lost desire

for my wife,

that would be a problem.

She would experience

it as a problem.

And if I was to share it

with you,

you'd say that's a problem.

So the text is in here

saying that I should

lose my desire

for my wife

or my desire

to see my kids thrive

or my desire,

I mean,

other types of things

or my desire

to have some money

so I can pay my bills

or to have some control

in my life

so my life is in chaos.

Those aren't bad desires.

But what happens

is that our God project

leads us to over-desire.

That all of a sudden

in my life,

no matter how much money

I'm making,

I always think within myself,

if I only was making

an extra 10 grand,

my life would be

so much better.

And then you make

the extra 10 grand

and what's still going

on in your heart?

If I only made

an extra 10 grand,

my life would be

so much better.

Or you over-desire

over-desire your wife

and all of a sudden

you're putting too much

on your wife

in terms of your happiness,

your satisfaction,

in terms of getting meaning,

of you become suffocating.

You know,

we all understand

how you can over-desire.

And that's just what

the Bible is saying

is that what happens

is when the Holy Spirit

comes in and opposes,

it doesn't oppose

proper desires,

it opposes over-desires.

It seeks to heal

the Holy Spirit.

He heals

and restores

our desires.

And if you could

wrap up the next point,

this is really important

for you to understand,

is that when I put

my faith in Jesus Christ,

I put the word I there

so that if you write it down,

you're writing it down

for yourself.

When I put my faith

in Jesus Christ

to save me,

he does save me.

This is very important language.

Jesus always is the one

who saves.

I contribute nothing

to him saving.

My spirit,

my flesh,

will always want

to make it think

that I've contributed

some little thing about it.

my winsomeness,

my ability

to seek after God,

my ability

to know the Bible,

my, you know,

whatever it is,

my ability

to sort of be open

to the Holy,

like, I'll always want

to keep slipping

in something,

but I never add anything.

Jesus does it all.

And you know what?

The more you grow

in Christ,

praise God

that he does it all.

Why?

Because I am weak

and frail.

I am weak

and frail.

And sometimes

I do absolutely

horrible things.

And even when I don't

do horrible things,

I think horrible things.

And sometimes

everything within me

wants to turn my back

away from God.

And if I had to contribute

something to my salvation,

woe is me!

Woe is me!

Woe is me!

Praise God

that I don't add anything

to what he does.

He does it all.

He saves me.

I put my hand out

to receive

what only he can give

and only he can do

and he has done

in the person

of God

has done in the person

of his son

dying upon the cross

for me.

When I put my faith

in Jesus Christ

to save me,

he does save me.

And what else happens?

The whole book of Galatians

is always telling us

other things.

Well, we become adopted

as his child.

We've been made free.

We've been guaranteed heaven.

There tells us

a whole pile of things.

And in Galatians chapter 3,

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

if you go back

and look at it earlier,

chapter 3 verse 2,

I think it is,

or 1 and 2,

one of the things

that happens is

I put my hand out.

In fact, really,

God helps me

put my hand out

and I receive

what only he can give

in the person

and the work of his son

and God saves me

and at the same time

the Holy Spirit

is bestowed upon me

to indwell me.

The Holy Spirit

indwells the Christian.

And that's why

if you look at this text,

the Bible here,

I'm starting to run out of time,

the Bible here

really wants to emphasize

the focus

on the Holy Spirit

in this text

in light of Jesus.

Jesus.

And

it does it

by using

four similar verbs,

but they're not

identical verbs.

If you could put up

the next point,

look at chapter 6,

verse 16.

It says,

but I say,

walk by the Spirit

and you will not

gratify the desires

of the flesh.

This verse

is really important.

Like,

I recommend you

memorize it.

Notice it doesn't say

walk by the Spirit

and don't gratify

the desires of the flesh

as if they're equal.

It says the focus

is on thinking

about Jesus

and what he did

first upon the cross

and the gift

of the Holy Spirit

and the focus

is on the Holy Spirit.

And the more we focus

on walking

by the Spirit,

a consequence

is not walking,

is not gratifying

the desires

of the flesh.

And so here

in verse 16,

what does it say?

Walk by the Spirit.

Jump down

to verse 18.

But if you are

led by the Spirit,

jump down

to verse 24.

And those

who belong

to Jesus Christ

have crucified

the flesh

with its passions

and desires.

Verse 25,

if we live

by the Spirit,

let us also

keep in step

with the Spirit.

Four times

in a small number

verses,

it keeps saying

the Holy Spirit,

he is in you.

He's not tame.

He's not just

like somebody

that you can just

snap your fingers

at your beck and call.

He's God,

you're not.

But he dwells

within you.

And he is a person.

And he has a heart.

And he has a will.

And his will

within you

is to constantly

bring you back

to Jesus

to constantly

restore you

to the way

that God desired

to make you

in all of your

uniqueness,

in all of the ways

that you are

special and irreplaceable.

And he's going

to heal your desires.

He's going to

reorder your desires.

For your desires

that are weak,

he's going to

inflame them.

For your desires

that are over desires,

he's going to

tame them.

He's going to

bring them

to their proper place.

And so,

because the Holy Spirit's

presence in your life

is so important,

because his work

is so important,

think about Jesus.

Think about the gift

of the Holy Spirit.

And every day say,

Father,

help me to walk

by the Holy Spirit today.

As I go into this meeting,

Father,

help me to walk

by the Holy Spirit.

Help me to be led

by the Holy Spirit.

Help me to live

by the Holy Spirit

so that I understand

my life comes

from the Holy Spirit,

not my success

in this meeting.

Help me to keep

in step with the Holy Spirit

because he is going

to go before me.

And it's just like,

I don't know,

if there was really

deep snow

and I had a two-year-old

with me

and I'd say,

listen,

I'm going to go

through the snow first

and I'm going to walk

like this in a shuffling way

so that I'm going

to make a big ridge

and you come behind me.

And that's what

the Holy Spirit

desires to do

in our lives.

You know what?

Let's look at sin

because now

that the Bible

has set this,

it wants to say,

okay,

what does the flesh

look like?

Verse 19.

Remember I said

the Bible's very serious

and

if the Bible

wounds us

by talking about

things in our life

that aren't right,

it only does it

in the context

of this

constant reminder

to remember Jesus

and remember the Holy Spirit

that instead of

giving ourselves

to these things

that we walk

by the Holy Spirit,

live by the Holy Spirit

or led by the Holy Spirit

and are keeping

in step

with the Holy Spirit.

And so look

at verse 19.

Now the works

of the flesh

are evident.

Sexual immorality.

Now I just have a,

okay,

sexual immorality

in the original language,

here's the other thing.

If you want to look

at the end of the list,

look at the list,

verse 19.

Now the works

of the flesh

are evident.

It's going to give

a list of 15.

Look,

skip down

to verse 21.

I warn you

as I warned you

before

that those

who do such things

will not inherit

the kingdom of God.

Could you put

the next point up?

The Bible wants us

to have an assurance

that God saves

and it wants

to warn us

about the danger

of complacency.

And it also

wants to warn us

about the danger

of presumption

and self-serving faith.

And the Bible here

isn't saying

that if we do

any of these sins,

it means,

or if we're still

doing any of these sins,

that it means

that we're not

a Christian.

This latter part

of the verse,

here's a simple way

to understand it.

Just because you have

to dash for the bus

doesn't mean

you're training

for a marathon.

Just because

sometimes you dash

to catch the bus

doesn't mean

you're training

for a marathon.

And the Bible text

here isn't talking

about the fact

that Christians

do these things,

it's talking about

those who begin

to train in them,

that begin to make

it a way of life.

And the Bible

is warning us

that if, in fact,

it's becoming

a way of life,

maybe it's a sign

that we've never

given our lives

to Jesus,

or maybe it's just

a sign that we are

going very, very

far from God,

far from fruitfulness,

and we need to call

out to Him

in repentance.

So this word

about porneia,

what this word

sexual immorality

means,

is it means

that God

designed sex

to be between

a man

and a woman

in the context

of holy matrimony.

And that any

sexual gratification,

sexual gratification,

sexual gratifying

yourself,

or sexually

inflaming yourself

outside of marriage

is a sin.

outside of

heterosexual marriage.

And that's

what the Bible

teaches.

This church

originally

owned the building

just up the street.

And we used

to be called

St. Albans.

And one of the

reasons

that we left

the Anglican Church

of Canada

is that the

Anglican Church

of Canada

believes

that there is

a way for a man

to sexually

know a man

or a woman

to sexually

know a woman

that is not,

that is actually

holy

and blessed

by God

and should be

upheld

and blessed

and called

holy

by the church.

But the Bible

here says

that those

who train

in sexual

immorality

will not

inherit

will not inherit

the kingdom

of God.

This becomes

a salvation

issue.

And because

it's a salvation

issue

as well as

an issue

as to whether

or not the Bible

is actually

true,

we as a

congregation

had to leave

at great cost

the Anglican

Church of Canada

and become

Church of the

Messiah.

Now if you're

here and you

struggle with

those things,

you struggle

with,

like,

the Bible

is,

it's a hard

teaching,

but it's a wise

teaching because

God designed

us that if

we are called

to holy

matrimony,

that we are

called for

that season

to,

for a man

to be with a

woman,

just one woman,

and for a

woman to be

with a man,

just one man,

and that that's

God's intention.

The others,

very,

very briefly,

sexual immorality

is sort of the

general term.

Impurity

is actually,

it would

actually

characterize

the transgender

movement.

It would

refer to

outside of the

perspective of

one man to

one woman

in holy

matrimony,

odd

types of

sexuality,

and that's

what it's

referring to,

and sensuality

refers to

sexualizing

everything.

It would

condemn a lot

of the

advertising that

happens on

our televisions

where everything

is sexualized,

and then the

Bible here

talks about

religion in

particular,

idolatry,

which is the

actual

worshiping of

idols,

if you

take a

yoga class,

and in the

yoga class

you are

encouraged to

use a

mantra,

you are in

the mantra

calling out

to a

Hindu god,

and you

would be

violating

idolatry.

Sorcery

is engaging

in

witchcraft

or dabbling

in spiritual

things.

sorcery.

If you

use

words,

you are

violating

this

command.

If you are

going to

a

naturopath,

not just

because you

have to

have some

herbs or

something,

but if they are

giving you

these herbs

because there are

spiritual forces

in your body

that have to

be balanced,

then you are

claiming to be

able to

manipulate these

spiritual forces,

and that would

be sorcery.

in the ancient

world as well,

one of the

primary uses

of potions

was to

create abortions.

So this

text is in

fact also

warning you

against anything

that you would

do, any

drug that you

would take

to artificially

cause an

abortion.

If you are

here today

and you have

had an

abortion,

I know this

is a very

painful thing

to find in

the Bible,

but the

Bible confronts

us with our

sin so

that we

would,

with broken

hearts,

come to

God for

healing and

restoration,

not for

condemnation

forever.

Enmity

is to

inflame

anger

between

groups.

Strife

is actually

also connected

to it,

actually being

involved,

not just in

trying to

stir up

people being

angry with

each other,

but to

actually cause

there to be

conflict.

Jealousy is

sort of just

what it

says.

It's

desiring too

much what

somebody else

has,

feeling angry

at what they

have,

desiring to

take it

away from

them.

Fits of

anger

isn't a type

of holy

anger,

but it's

especially

true of

those who

nurture

anger and

allow it to

have a

great

simmering

or even

boiling role

in our

lives.

Rivalries

is going

into

organizations,

especially

churches,

and trying

to create

parties.

And rivalry

dissensions is a

similar type of

idea as is

divisions.

It's just an

escalating of

going from

having we're

all one

group and

there's other

groups to

creating arguments

between them to

actually splitting

and causing

breakdowns in

human relations

and families

and churches

and unions

and government

over matters

which don't

really at the

end of the

day matter.

Envy is

feeling sorrow

of a blessing

that somebody

else has.

Drunkenness is

obvious.

It would also

include most

drug use.

And orgies,

there's no good

word in English

for the word

orgies,

but it's not

referring to

sex.

It's referring

to gathering

together with

other people

to take drugs

and get

completely

hammered.

And things

like these I

warn you as I

warned you

before that

those who do

such things

will not

inherit the

kingdom of

God.

But the

fruit of

the Spirit,

remember this

all begins by

the fact that

the Holy Spirit

is moving in

our lives.

And notice

that the word

works is

plural,

fruit is

singular.

Works implies

things that we

do,

fruit implies

that it's

something God

does.

But the

fruit of the

Spirit is

love,

joy,

peace,

patience.

Love, by the

way, here,

all of these

words, some of

them sound like

they're emotions.

These aren't

emotions, but

all of these

things have

emotional

consequences for

our lives.

Love means

self-giving

love.

Joy means that

you are drawing

close to God

who is the