Galatians 5:25 :

If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.

We don’t start out our spiritual life walking perfectly. It is a learning process. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He expects us to confess our sins when we do them and to get up and walk again. Just like a child must learn by doing, walking in the Spirit is learned through practice. Taking a class or reading a book does not make us able to walk in the Spirit. We must actually place our confidence in the Holy Spirit and then He is able to produce character in us that would have been impossible for us to do ourselves.

We have an example of this in Peter’s life:

Matthew 14:27-32 :

But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”

Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”

He said, “Come!”

Peter stepped down from the boat, and walked on the waters to come to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got up into the boat, the wind ceased. Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God!”

Did you realize that Peter was the only other man who ever walked on water other than Jesus? This event shows the difference between God’s power and Man’s power. Peter was still walking, but he wasn’t the power behind it! We know we are walking in the Spirit when what is happening couldn’t possibly be us! When we go out to do something impossible that God asks us to do, We to learn to trust in God’s work and completely put our own aside. When we take our focus off of Jesus and start doubting, we will fall down, but Jesus is there to take our hand when we cry “Lord, save me!” Notice that it was clear to the other disciples that it wasn’t Peter’s power. They worshiped Jesus. That’s how it should be with us also. It should be pretty obvious that it isn’t by our own power that we are living.

Galatians 5:24 :

Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

This is a very important topic for Christians today. Somehow, this message has not been very prominent in our churches and it is important that we reverse this trend for the sake of the purity of the church.

When Jesus died on the cross, He died for the sins of all mankind. Most of us who become Christians today understand this basic fact. Some don’t know this basic fact so it is still very important to communicate it. Jesus was a substitute for us when He took mankind’s punishment for sin. In this act, Jesus demonstrated the love of God. By this act, true change occured in the world. This was not all that happened on the cross that day. This verse tells us that we also died.

It’s important to hear the tense of the word “crucified.” It is in past tense. It doesn’t say “are crucifying.” I am concerned that most people read it with the wrong tense in mind. Paul was talking about a past event. That past event was the crucifixion of Jesus. How do we as Christians crucify the flesh? We don’t do it by killing ourselves, we do it by recognizing the truth. When Jesus died, so did we. That means that all that was from our original birth in Adam was destroyed. Now the final fulfillment of this fact has yet to take place, but now, by faith, the Holy Spirit can work supernatural miracles within us even today based on the accomplishment of Jesus on the cross that day.

So, let’s remember that when Jesus died on the cross, we did too and that means that only the Spirit’s life lives in us now. The lusts of our old life are dead. Does that mean we won’t ever sin again? Unfortunately, no. We will, but this faith is the thing that reminds us of the right path again.

Galatians 5:22-23 :

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

One of the amazing things about the Law of Moses is that it doesn’t disallow anything in this list. I have found many human systems that interfere with this list but God was able to make a perfect law that defines behavior that promotes these things. In a society that is aware of spiritual things, letter-of-the-law can give way to spirit-of-the-law when it is obvious that the heart was acting out of love, kindness or goodness. What the law should be wanting are the things in this list and if that isn’t what is wanted, then there is corruption among those who are promoting the law.

As believers, we really want to do these things. Isn’t it interesting that Paul doesn’t give detailed instructions about how to do each one of them? I believe that this is because it isn’t our job to produce these things. These things are the produce of the Holy Spirit even though they grow in us.

These things, unlike the works of the flesh, are very uncommon among people in the world, even though they are often talked, written, and sung about. Everyone knows that “all you need is love” but no one is able to do it. The ability to do these things stands out and that is what God makes possible in those who believe in Him. What a great thing to be a part of a community of those who produce the fruit of the Spirit. That is one of the greatest things about belonging to the Church.

If we trust in God’s word and allow God’s Holy Spirit to work in us we can expect to produce these qualities.

Notice that “self-control” is in the list. The Holy Spirit really doesn’t “take the wheel.” He gives you the ability to steer in the right direction. Believing this fact will help you stay away from many misunderstandings about the walking in the Spirit. Even though we drive by His power, we can forget and when we do, we start to steer in the wrong directions. God must be the one who produces this fruit because we don’t have the ability to do it ourselves.

Galatians 5:19-21 :

Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

That list describes what is commonly found in movies today. The fact is, it is what is in our world and even though this world may attempt to glorify these actions, they are practiced only by those who have no future.

It was brought to my attention that the first four in this list are sensual, the next two are religious, and the rest are social. Paul also admits that he didn’t list all of them. I’d like to discuss what these words are a little bit because it is easy to read over them quickly and miss some important points.

Adultery is sex outside of Christian marriage. Remember that God only ordains marriage between one man and one woman and for life. All the rest is immoral. Now some will argue that Paul didn’t list the things we find in the Old Testament. I would like to remind you that the Old Testament was all Paul had written down of God’s word and when he refers to immorality, he’s talking about the Old Testament. This is in the 10 Commandments as well.

I see two very strong forms of idolatry in our present time. One is the worship of the environment and the other is the worship of the material world through evolutionary beliefs. In a way, both of these idols can be used together. We also have millions of people who still worship many gods in our world. Environmentalists will protect plants and animals more than they protect the knowledge of God. God said the plants and the animals after the flood were for food. To disregard this is to trouble the poor at the expense of an idol. Evolution teaches that man was created by the universe itself. This replaces the creator. Theistic evolutionists have a different problem that even an atheist can see but we won’t talk about that at this time.

The word sorcery in Greek is the word we use for pharmacy. It was common to use drugs for religious purposes. Today drugs themselves have become a religion and a cruel master.

It is clear that this poor world is going the wrong direction. We should be aware that we can’t be a Christian and continue to happily and willfully practice these things. Paul says it doesn’t work that way. If you are really a Christian, you will be saved from these things either by trusting God to help you avoid them, or by God sending His discipline in your direction. He will not let His children loose their inheritance as He has clearly indicated in other parts of the Bible. If you really believe in your Savior, you will not find comfort in sin.

Galatians 5:18 :

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The law is not required when you are being led by the Spirit. If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Why do you need a law to tell you what you already want to do? What would the law be keeping you from? There are many other reasons why a Christian who is being led by the Spirit is not under the law.

As I mentioned before, if you died with Christ already, the price has been paid for the penalty for breaking the law. In that sense you are already dead to the law. Because the penalty has been paid, the law doesn’t have any force.

I don’t believe that this is saying that we should not be aware of what is right and wrong. The Bible says that the law can teach us things about what God says are good and bad. It isn’t that we don’t have rules in our lives. The 10 Commandments are good rules, but we are not gaining ground with God by doing them. Basically, we don’t do them for the same reason as those who don’t have God’s blessing. The 10 Commandments were written as a way to teach its’ followers how to be blessed. In that sense they are directed to a different audience. We should be aware of this when we study that part of the Bible and not directly apply it as if God intended us to be there taking it to heart like those who were living at that time. We follow the rules of our Father’s house because we are already blessed to be His Children! We are not under the law! But, if we don’t follow the rules of our Father’s house, what does that say about our faith in the fact that we are His children? (See 1 John)

Are you planning to make a new year’s resolution this year? It’s not bad to have goals, but if you attempt to reach your goals by the power of your own flesh, you will probably fail and that includes new year’s resolutions. I don’t have to tell you about how common it is that people fail to keep their resolutions because you probably already are well aware.

If you attempt to keep your new year’s resolutions by trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit, if they are not ignorant of God’s word or against His will, you will be able to keep them. In that case you are not under the law but are being led by the Spirit.

I suggest that you make a “new life resolution” to walk by the Spirit from this time on as you follow God’s word every day of your life.

Galatians 5:17 :

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.

So, here’s the problem we don’t talk enough about. Everyone knows that we as Christians still have evil desires, yet, we often act as if we don’t. Here, Paul makes it very clear. The flesh, the stuff we were born with from Adam the first sinner, is constantly pulling us one direction while the new creature that we are in Christ is continually pulling us the other.

When you become a Christian, your life doesn’t really get easier does it? As Christians we gain the most Powerful Friend and three powerful enemies. One of those enemies is your own flesh and as soon as you become a Christian, it starts to make itself known. Where before you would have just gone with the flesh, now it has become an obvious enemy of your soul.

I have struggled with the interpretation of the part here that says, “that you may not do the things that you desire.” I have heard very respectable preachers say opposite things about the interpretation of this verse. Some say that it is saying that the Spirit keeps you from doing the things you really want to do in your flesh. Others say that the emphasis is the opposite and that the Bible is saying that the flesh keeps us from doing the things we really would rather do in the Spirit.

Although I believe that the second idea is true because of our new creation and who we are in Christ, I don’t think that’s what was written here in the Bible. I think that what is written here is simply this: “When you are living Spiritually, your flesh is not able to do what it wants and when you are living fleshly, your spirit is not able to do what it wants.” In other words, when one is active, the opposite desire are subjected by force. We can either lean on the Holy Spirit and follow through with our good desire, or trust our own power and allow our flesh rule, making our spirit incapable of following through with its’ desire.

Notice that we don’t have the option to say that we don’t have bad desires! We do because we are still in the bodies we were born with. We still have bad desires even though they are not a sin in themselves. It becomes sin is when those desires are not subjected to the Holy Spirit that they may be put to death. In Christ we died and by faith we can recognize this and the Holy Spirit will make our flesh powerless.

Notice that this is not a 12 step process. It is a one step process: rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. Don’t be fooled by religions that masquerade as “programs” that are supposed to get you free from your flesh. Faith in God has nothing to do with a process that we follow. We must trust in the Power Holy Spirit not in our ability to follow steps.

Galatians 5:16 :

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.

This is a critical verse for Christians that I believe is often not given an appropriate amount of focus. The way to actually overcome sin and win the war against your body’s lust is defined right here in this verse.

It is important to understand these words so I want to make sure that you understand what is meant by “walk by the Spirit.” This was something that I tried to understand for many years and only recently came to a better understanding of. First of all, “walk by the Spirit” does not mean that you are supposed to “try to keep walking next to the Spirit.” This actually means that we should be “by the Spirit’s power, walking.” The difference is who is supposed to be walking. When you think that you are the one walking, you have missed the point.

It is not you providing the power in your life in order to do what is right. If you have been struggling with repetitive sins in your Christian life, it could be because you are trying to do the walking! See how critically important a proper understanding of this verse is?

Yes, we need to know what things a Christian should do, but it is also very important for us to know how to actually have the ability to do those things.

It is important to understand that the word “Spirit” here doesn’t mean our human spirit. The capitalization of the word “Spirit” is important. When the word “spirit” was translated into English here, capitalization was used to express the fact that it was talking about God’s Spirit and not ours. So, “walking in the spirit” is simply trusting in the Holy Spirit’s power instead of our own.