Good morning. Our mission as a church is to lead people into a growing relationship with
Jesus Christ. That's why we're here and that's what we're all about. Our prayer is that all
of us will connect, that we'll connect with our community and that we'll connect with
each other in a life group that will serve, that will serve our community or that will
serve each other in our church as a volunteer that will give generously to our mission and that
will invest in the lives of others and invite them to get involved here at Argo. Today is part 10
in our series that we're calling Free, a Study in the Book of Galatians. Our text today is Galatians
chapter 5 verses 13 through 26. I've asked Sherry if she would come and read our scripture for today.
You my brothers and sisters were called to be free but do not use your freedom to indulge the
flesh rather serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one
command, love your neighbor as yourself. If you bite and devour each other watch out or you will
be destroyed by each other. So I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of
the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to
the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want but if
you are led by the spirit you are not under the law. The act of the flesh is obvious sexual immorality
impurity and debauchery idolatry and witchcraft hatred discord jealousy fits of rage selfish
ambition dissensions factions an envy drunkenness orgies and the like. I warn you as I did before
that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God but the fruit of the spirit is love
joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control against such things
there is no law those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires since we live by the spirit let us keep in step with the spirit let us not become conceited
provoking and envying each other thank you sherry you know on the surface it might seem strange
that we would devote 11 weeks to emphasize our right to be free when we live in a culture
when everyone is demanding more and more freedom freedom to do whatever they want to do but that's
nothing new thousands of years ago this was recorded in scripture in judges chapter 17 verse 6
in those days israel had no king everyone did as they saw fit but when freedom is used to sin it
always leads to addiction addiction to selfishness addiction to sin and addiction is not freedom
addiction is bondage and john chapter 8 and verse 34 jesus replied very truly i tell you
everyone who sins is a slave to sin we become a slave to our own sin nature and there is
absolutely nothing that we can do in ourselves to do anything about it and the more that we
insist on our own freedom and the more that we insist on doing things our own way the more
entangled we become in our addiction to selfishness and to sin but jesus shows us a way out in john
chapter 8 verse 36 so if the sun sets you free you will be free indeed see that's true freedom
that's real freedom not the freedom to sin but the freedom from sin so god has called all christians
to freedom jesus said in john 832 you will know the truth and the truth will set you free freedom
to love freedom to live freedom to serve freedom to give Galatians chapter 5 in verse 13 you my
brothers and sisters were called to be free our calling as a christian is to live in freedom and
part of that calling is to live free from the guilt of sin the enemy will try to keep you in
bondage by reminding you of your past sins and the wrong that you've done but the forgiveness
found in jesus can set you free from the bondage of guilt first john chapter 1 verse 9 it's a
beautiful promise if we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness psalm 103 verse 12 as far as the east is from the west
so far as he removed our transgressions from us our calling as a christian is to live in freedom
and part of that calling is to be free from guilt you do not have to be defeated by guilt
any longer verse 13 you my brothers and sisters were called to be free but do not use your freedom
to indulge the flesh just in case you missed the point that your freedom doesn't mean that you can
live your life however you choose to live it this makes it very clear that that is not true the word
flesh here refers to our sin nature our natural desire is to do the wrong thing it doesn't make
sense that jesus would set us free so that we could sin he sets us free to be free from
sin this is reminding us that we were not set free to do whatever we choose to do jesus lived
his life as an example for us to follow as an example for how we should live in romans chapter 15
and verse 3 for even christ did not please himself for the first time we can be free to do what god
wants us to do because we love him and this is how god wants us to express that freedom in verse
13 you my brothers and sisters were called to be free but do not use your freedom to indulge the
flesh rather instead serve one another humbly in love and jesus taught us how to serve one another
humbly in love when the disciples were arguing among themselves about who was the greatest
remember that story in luke chapter 22 but you are not like that instead the greatest among you
should be like the youngest and the one who rules like the one who serves for who is greater the
one who is at the table or the one who serves is it not the one who is at the table but i am
among you as one who serves jesus took on himself the attitude of a servant and as a christian we
are to have the attitude of jesus in philippians chapter 2 and verse 5 in your relationships
with one another have the same mindset as christ jesus who being in very nature god did not consider
equality with god something to be used to his own advantage rather he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness as a christian as a follower of
christ in a growing relationship with him we should be developing the heart of christ and the heart
of christ is the heart of a servant our freedom in christ is not a license to sin but an opportunity
to serve verse 14 for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command love your neighbor
as yourself the freedom to love is so amazing and so powerful that every law that has ever been
given is fulfilled by loving your neighbor as yourself when we truly love people because we
love jesus we will not lie we will not steal we will not kill we will not commit adultery we will
not covet when love is in our heart every law is fulfilled but as we see in verse 15 love is not
always in our heart if you bite and devour each other watch out or you will be destroyed by each
other the illustration here is like a bunch of wild animals who are attacking each other no matter
how many religious laws and religious rules we have spiritual unity is not something that can be
legislated or enforced unless the holy spirit fills our heart with love we will not have unity
selfishness competition and turf wars are tearing our churches apart but we're the spirit of the
lord is there will be unity verse 16 so i say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the
desires of the flesh the grace and truth of jesus christ sets us free and then we begin to understand
who jesus is and all that he has done for us and when we do that we can't help but ask
how can i serve him better how can i better live for him and then that replaces our desire to live
for ourselves that motivates us to be led by the holy spirit that motivates us to obey the law of
love verse 17 for the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is
contrary to the flesh they are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever
you want our sin nature the desires of the flesh are at war with the spirit and that is why as a
christian we cannot trust our feelings when we are led by the spirit we will live by the spirit
when we are led by our sin nature then we will live by our sin nature there is a constant conflict
between the two it's this very real conflict that paul talked about in romans chapter 7 verse 15
i do not understand what i do for what i want to do i do not do but what i hate i do
for i do not do the good i want to do but the evil i do not want to do this i keep on doing
this is the apostle paul talking perhaps one of the most godly devoted dedicated christians
who's ever lived and that's his experience so why would ours be any different so what's the answer
verse 18 but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law the answer is not the law
all of the laws rules and regulations in the world cannot defeat our sinful nature
the answer is not our willpower or our determination no matter how hard we try not to do the wrong thing
the answer is to be led by the spirit when we surrender control of our life to the holy spirit
and choose to walk in the spirit day by day then step by step he will move us forward in the
christian life from where we are today to where god wants us to be while it is the spirit who
leads us it is our responsibility to walk in the spirit but in his strength and through his power
then near the end of this chapter paul shows us the difference between the works of our sin nature
the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit first he gives us a list of some of the works
of the sin nature and it's a nasty list relations five and verse 19 the acts of the flesh are obvious
sexual immorality impurity and debauchery the first three have to do with sexual sin
sexual immorality is sex between unmarried people god's design and plan for sex is sex between
a married couple a man and a woman for life impurity is unnatural sexual relations
debauchery is uncontrolled sexuality and verse 20 idolatry and witchcraft these two words refer
to religion idolatry is anything that we try to substitute for god witchcraft is a counterfeit
of the spirit and then in verses 20 and 21 we see eight things from the sin nature that have the
ability to destroy relationships verse 20 hatred discord jealousy fits of rage selfish ambition
dissensions factions and envy hatred is intense dislike and a hostile attitude discord is picking
fights and being argumentative jealousy is resentment against someone's success fits of rage is
uncontrolled burst of anger selfish ambition is a me first attitude dissensions is the visions
between people factions are groups that war with each other envy is wanting what others have and
then two words in verse 21 that describe a sin nature completely out of control drunkenness
orgies and the like verse 21 i warn you as i did before that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of god paul is not talking here about the act of sin
and he is talking about the habit of sin there's a big difference between a lapse of judgment
and then repenting of your sin and not doing it again thank god for grace or we would all
be hopeless but people who continually live like this will not inherit the kingdom of god
there are a couple of interesting things to notice about this list of the works of the flesh
god does not make the distinction between the sins like we do for the benefit of the church
people hypocrites today god puts jealousy and ambition and envy right there with the worst
of the sexual sins and notice that as you look at this list that we are usually much better
at seeing someone else's sinful nature instead of dealing with our own you see it's not enough
for a christian who is in a growing relationship with jesus to be free of evil in our life that's
not enough a growing relationship with jesus should also produce good fruit paul just listed some of
the works of the flesh and now he's going to list for us some of the fruits of the spirit
and notice the difference between the words works and fruit you see a factory can manufacture and
produce works but only life something that is alive can produce fruit and for the christian
it's the life of the spirit in us the growth of fruit is gradual you can never see it happening
but you see its results you've heard me talk about our wonderful orange tree in the backyard
and i can sit and try to watch those oranges grow and i will never see them actually grow
but to go out every couple of weeks i can see the results the same is true of our spiritual growth
spiritual growth may have been taking place but we can't see it until maybe some trouble comes up
in our life and you realize that you would never have been so patient a couple of years ago
that's spiritual growth and like the growth of fruit it happens gradually over time also the
growth of fruit is natural if the tree is healthy the fruit will grow and the same is true of our
spiritual growth if we are a christian and our spiritual life is healthy then our spiritual fruit
will grow also the growth of fruit is balanced it's on purpose that paul refers to the nine
spiritual fruits listed here as fruit singular the nine fruits of the spirit are actually
one fruit you don't get one part of the fruit growing without the other parts of the fruit
growing some of us might be naturally stronger in one area than others but that's due maybe to our
natural gifting or to our temperament we might be naturally gentle but maybe lack faithfulness
this spirit will help us grow in all areas this spirit will help us to be balanced verse 22
but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace don't you like this list better
patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self control against such things there is
no law love to serve a person for their good and not for what we can get out of it joy to delight
in god for who he is peace to rest in the wisdom and the control of god
patience to endure trouble without resentment kindness to serve others with a deep inner
security goodness having integrity even when no one else knows faithfulness to do what you say
and say what you do gentleness to live in a spirit of humility self control the ability
to choose the important over the urgent and one thing is for sure as we all study this list
we are all in much more need of spiritual growth than we think we are so how can we grow
in the spirit the last three verses tell us how verse 24 those who belong to christ jesus
we need to remember who we belong to as christians the scriptures say that we have been bought
with a price verse 24 those who belong to christ jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions
and desires this means that we put to death our sinful desires but not with our own strength
we claim the power of the cross of christ verse 25 since we live by the spirit
let us keep in step with the spirit this means that we don't get ahead of the spirit in our life
this also means that we don't get behind the leading of the spirit in our life but we stay
right in step with the spirit's leading verse 26 let us not become conceited
provoking and envying each other this is a warning for us not to compare our fruit
with each other our spiritual fruit is not for us to put on display
our spiritual fruit is for us to feed each other and to help each other grow
so people around us are starving for the things of god our spiritual fruit is used
to serve others and to glorify god so this morning how's your fruit
how's your spiritual life is it healthy is your fruit growing and are you using it to bless others
and to glorify god jesus said then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free
