Letting God’s Holy Spirit Do the Leading in Victory Over Your Flesh
Galatians 5:16-18
October 20, 2019 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (Galatians 5:16-18)
Gal 5:16-18 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
A. There is a battle is going on in every Christian’s life that will NEVER be worked out, and never be at peace, until the day we as Christians enter God’s presence in heaven!
B. It is the battle between Our Flesh, and the Spirit of God in Us
1. It’s like the eternal battle between cats and dogs
2. It’s like Oil trying to mix with Vinegar – never will mix
3. It is the war that goes on in Christians that makes living the Christian life complicated!
C. Don’t be discouraged – because there is a way to actually manage the battle NOT in your favour, but in God’s favour!
1. You have only one choice – to let God win.
2. You see, if YOU want to win the fight in you, you will find that you can’t
3. But if you want GOD to win the fight in your life, then there is no problem at all
D. Last time I started to teach you HOW to walk in the Spirit of God!
E. Today, I hope to build on that and make it something you hunger to do!
II. Background and Review
A. You Have Two Natures Now
1. A fleshly, natural Human nature – the nature you were born with
2. And a spiritual, supernatural, Christ-like nature – you got when you were born again
3. There is a Conflict of Voices between those two natures!
a. The loud scream of the flesh for attention - Constantly bringing up your old way of thinking, old memories, old bitternesses, old habits, old hangups, old grudges, old lusts, old heartaches, juts constantly wants its own way
b. The quiet scream of the Holy Spirit for attention – that constantly wants to do right, and stay humble, and serve others
4. Can’t seem to ever do right – always grouchy, selfish, complaining, angry, bitter…
5. And don’t enjoy doing wrong anymore – just never finding rest
6. So, God did something that has confused most Christians, but is actually is the answer
B. What God Did for us at Conversion
1. Brought life to my spirit (Eph 2:1-9) – where it had been only dead!
a. Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins…
b. Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
c. Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)…
2. He GAVE me eternal life by putting HIS Spirit into my spirit – an entirely new nature – different loves and different desires and even different lusts!
3. Made me brand new on the inside 2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
4. Commands us now to ‘Walk in the Holy Spirit’
C. Walking in the Spirit is not so easily done – I wish it was!
1. It’s hard obeying another authority over my life instead of only myself
2. Not easy when I am so used to doing my usual habits, just being the old me!
3. We need to Learn to sense things differently that we are used to – and it takes time
4. EXAMPLE: It is like becoming blind, and learning all over again how to sense things going on around you by hearing, and by feeling instead of usually seeing
D. But by me walking in the Spirit, I defeat the old habits, the old nature, the sinful me… every time (Gal 5:16) This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
III. Last time I showed you that you have to Believe Key Truths (one entire message)
A. Close your eyes, decide to believe what God says about you now that you are saved
1. Believe the Old You is Dead Now (Romans 6:6-11) – in the past
2. Believe you are now and forever, Completely Forgiven – and can therefore stumble and will be okay!
3. Believe You are truly Free – the best kind of free
4. Believe Sin does not rule you anymore
5. Believe that You Belong to God now
6. Believe that The Holy Spirit is always leading you – tugging you
7. Believe Christ Saved you to Serve (1Cor 9:19) – not to live as YOU please!!!
8. Believe that You cannot fall all the way down anymore – God will always catch you
9. But you can forfeit your freedom, and be entangled again in bondage
B. These are all super important things to believe with all your heart! Just as much as you believe in Jesus rising from the dead!
C. They are the fuel to the fire of liberty from your flesh!
D. And, once those are settled in your heart, you can start living by those truths
1. Making different choices than you normally do – become weird
2. Listening to a different voice than you normally listen to – like people with earbuds
3. Focusing your desires on better things than you normally do
4. Throwing away anything that ties you to the old you
5. Pressing forward towards the will of God instead of your will
IV.Message – Seven More Tactics to Win Against the Flesh
A. Expect a Fight by the Flesh (Gal 5:17) – They say, Old Habits Die Hard!
1. Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
2. Your flesh will NOT just roll over and die, and just LET you do the will of God
3. It will fight you and argue with you, and come up with needs you didn’t know you had
a. Like a child being told to go to bed – will suddenly remember…
b. I have to brush my teeth – you already did – but no back in the back!
c. I need a drink of water
d. I forgot to do my homework
e. I want you to read me a story – already read two
f. I feel like I need to pray again – we already just prayed
g. And the needs just keep coming
h. …keeping that child from obeying the leading of their parents!
4. Thankfully, neither will the Holy Spirit give up on you (He is SEALED in you, and committed to changing you)
5. Remember, walk in the SPIRIT, and the flesh loses the fight – every time!
B. Listen to, and Yield to the Pull of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6:16-18)
1. You say, He speaks? Yes He does!
2. This is the key
a. Biblical Truth #1 – the Holy Spirit now lives in you (John 14:16,17) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
b. Biblical
Truth #2 – the Holy Spirit affects you – does not leave you
alone!
It’s like being married – Someone’s in your life now & will affect you from
now on
1) He Convicts you of sin when you are giving in to temptation
a) John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
b) John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
c) Will not let you get away with sin now – will make you feel guilty, when you never felt guilty about things before!
2) He Teaches you what is right from what you already know from the Bible
a) John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
b) John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
3) He Worships Jesus through you (John 16:14) He [THE HOLY SPIRIT] shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
4) He Enables you to do something marvellous by gifting you with spiritual gifts
5) He Understands you, and works WITH your limitations
6) Best of all, He will LEAD you – call you to follow Him – pull you forward! (Rom 8:14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
3.
Yield to the Holy Spirit!
If all of that is true (and it is), then our job is to YIELD, Go with Him,
give in to Him
a. Winning over your old habits and nature all comes down to one simple word – YIELDING (like at a roundabout)
b. Yield to whatever the HOLY SPIRIT in you wants you to do and be!
1) To an unsaved person, this is crazy
2) But for the Christian, this is liberty, and freedom!
a) 2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
b) Rom 6:16-18 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
c) Rom 6:12,13 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
c. Just as you used to yield to whatever your flesh wanted…
1) Whatever you wanted to eat or drink, you went with it
2) Whatever was in the cinema, you watched
3) Whatever you wanted to watch on your phone or internet, you just did it
4) Wouldn’t that be wonderful if we did the same things with the Spirit?
d. So, yield to whatever the SPIRIT wants you to do and be – lusts after!
e. LET the Holy Spirit win over your flesh, even though you may FEEL like giving into your flesh
1) Sometimes you are going to have to IGNORE your normal desire, and just YIELD to God’s Holy Spirit in you – give in to Him, and let Him win!
2) It is like in a waltz, SOMEONE has to LEAD! Let the Spirit LEAD
3) Because, ONLY the Holy Spirit knows “how to dance” (bad example, but you get the idea). Only HE can overrule the Old You
4. How do we find out what the Holy Spirit wants done? I’m glad you asked!
a. The Holy Spirit has a very still, small, and quiet voice
1) Very hard to hear when so much noise is going on around us
2) 1Ki 19:11,12 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
3) Even though quiet, it is a very powerful force in the life of the believer
b. You can only hear Him while quietly reading and obeying the words of the Bible – sentence by sentence
1) The Holy Spirit has written everything HE wants done in the Bible
2) Everything important to life and liberty and joy and love and success is laid out in the words of Scripture!
3) 1Co 2:12-14 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
4) That’s why you need to be a member of a Bible preaching, believing church
5) So that you hear what the Spirit says to His people…
a) Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches...
b) Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches...
c) … (8 times this phrase is said by Jesus to churches!!!)
c. His power
works on you and through you ONLY AS YOU YIELD
(2Cor 12:9) And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
d. They change you as you just spend time listening to them! (2Co 3:18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
e. The words
become part of your thinking
(John 14:26) But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to
your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
f. His leading will never go against what His words say in this Book
5.
So… Walking in the Spirit means…
Doing whatever God shows you to do from this Bible!
C. Lastly, Forgive Every Hurt
1. This is also key to freedom from the old man (all of these are, but especially this one)
2. Because UNFORGIVENESS is Satan’s fastest way to reach in and UNPLUG any Christian from the power of the Holy Spirit over their sin!
3. You see, Now that a person is saved from sin’s killer grip on their lives, they are also saved from the need for justice against those that have hurt THEM
4. Jesus paid for OUR sin against God
5. He also paid for all sins and hurts that people have done against YOU!
6. That means, all of the past hurts AGAINST YOU must be forgiven, or you will never be truly free
7. “Forgiving someone may cost you your pride, but NOT forgiving them will cost you your freedom in Christ!”
8. So, Shake off every hurt and personal attack that has ever come against you – Jesus did
a. Turned the other cheek
b. Wiped the dust off His feet when rejected, and went into the next towns
c. Paul did this as well – quite literally! (Acts 28:2-5)
d. 2 And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
e. 3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
f. 4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
g. 5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
9. That means,
a. Forget every incident of hurt – keeping the memories will enslave you to their power that they had way back then. Only now, you are enslaved by all the power of all the past hurts!
b. Love each other as brethren – as family!
1) Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
2) 1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
3) 1Pe 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
4) 1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
5) 1Jn 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
c. Love even your enemies
10. That is IF you want to be FREE from your flesh’s lusts, and walk as free and not in the chains of all those that hurt you anymore!
11. Otherwise, your memories, your flesh, your emotions, your bitterness will keep you in a prison you wouldn’t want your worst enemy it!
V. Conclusion
A. Today, we learned a little bit more HOW to walk in the Spirit of God!
B. We have learned that God Ignored the wickedness of our flesh – and saved us anyway! AMEN!
C. How did he do that?
D. By bringing life to our spirit – didn’t save our flesh, but He did give life to our spirit
1. He put HIS Spirit into my spirit – an entirely new nature – different loves and desires and even lusts!
2. Asks me now to obey His Spirit in me – to walk in His ways, to walk with Him (not against Him), following His leading, obeying His will
E. Most people have this backwards
1. Trying so hard to NOT do wrong things
2. When what God wants is for us to just obey the leading of the Holy Spirit as He directs you in the words of this Book, the Bible
F. Walking in the Spirit MUST become a way of life!
G. It is not automatic!
H. It MUST be learned like any child learns to walk – not automatic
1. That’s why we make time to read and learn this Bible
2. Why we come to church ready to learn, to walk and run as believers
I. It all starts with…
1. Believing
some very big Key Truths about your new nature!
You need to make that list prominent in your home
2. Expecting a Fight from the Old You – Get ready for it
3. Listening to, and Yielding to the Holy Spirit on a moment by moment basis
4. Forgiving Every Hurt that has ever come against you
J. If you just do those four things, you will have fewer and fewer problems with your old way of thinking, old memories, old bitterness, old habits, old hangups, and old grudges, your old YOU
K. But only a born again Christian can walk in the Spirit
L. If you are only ‘religious’ or believe in creeds and churches and religion and good works, you will waste all your best efforts, and miss heaven!
M. Jesus said, You MUST be born again – in your spirit!