He Can, You Can't!

Good morning. You'd be glad to know we're going to forego the swamp cooler this morning. Here in this passage in Galatians 5, we just have a couple of verses, but there's some richness to it. I want to make sure that we dig out together. And so just to kind of look at it, we've been going at Galatians for a while and just to sort of look at, you know, where are we here? Where have we been is a good place to start with here. And where we've been is this.

When we last looked at the book of Galatians just two weeks ago, we looked at just one verse, Galatians 5.16, and that verse read, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. One of the things that we did was to explain, and in brief here we'll summarize it, that this verse was calling for believers to live out the life of Christ by means of the ministries of the Holy Spirit. And that was similar to the call to rest in and to behold Christ. And that's a quick summary of what we said about that verse.

So the question now is, where are we going? Where are we headed here? Well, the next two verses, verses that Courtney read for us here, we're going to see that Paul brings together in brief form a message that is, in great part, expanded upon in two chapters in Romans, chapter 7 and chapter 8. We won't try to cover all of Romans 7 and 8 this morning. Isn't that good? But we will cover those two verses. And as we go through, Paul's going to say basically this.

He can. You can't. That's the simple version. Reverse that if you want. You can't. He can't. That's fine too. But that's the summary. He's able. And the fact that we can't, and he can, is really good news. Really good news. So here we have this passage. By the way, if you're wondering what this strange pattern is over there, that's oil and water. Anyway, let's take a look at verse 17.

One of the things we see repeatedly here is the flesh and the spirit. Spirit against the flesh. Those two Set in contrast, we previously said this, that the flesh, and by the way, Paul has made reference to the flesh and will continue to do so into chapter 6. The flesh is the sin nature expressed through these physical bodies. That's what the flesh is. When he says that, that's what he's talking about.

And the spirit here is the Holy Spirit of God. sometimes called the third person of the Trinity and that third is no ranking but just third in reference. That Holy Spirit indwells every single believer all the time and I think those are two key things for us to get. I have a friend in Reno who works with bringing believers along who need to be taught some basics. And he talked to one believer who was a believer for 15 years before anybody ever told him that he had the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit was a person. And it's key that we know this.

Every single believer has the Holy Spirit all the time. Every single believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling all the time. We don't need to worry about inviting him back, or he doesn't leak out between services. Every single believer has the Holy Spirit all the time.

Key, important truth. One of the other things we see is not only this repetition of the theme, the flesh, the spirit, the spirit, the flesh, but also a key theme in this verse, in verse 17, sets this desire against, against, these may be in opposition. Do you see that? intense opposition is the character.

As a believer in Christ, oh boy, this is really good news, you have a passionate internal opposition in the middle of you. These two spiritual entities within yourself, the unbeliever doesn't have that opposition and battle going on. Isn't that something? As an unbeliever you did not have that taking place, but as a believer you do.

You will continue to have that opposition in place until, well, until we walk through heaven's gates, until we see the Lord face-to-face. But, to get the perspective here, unbelievers do have a ministry of the Holy Spirit. We have multiple ministries of the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers do have a ministry. That ministry is conviction.

John 16.8 and he, Christ is telling the disciples, when he comes will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. This one who comes is the Holy Spirit. A convicting and convincing ministry to the heart of the unbeliever.

But unbelievers just simply don't have the continuing indwelling of each of them as believers do. Remember we said believers all have, every single one, have the Holy Spirit all the time. Unbelievers have a continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit to convict.

That is not the same. They also don't have those multiple ministries. So we have ministries that the Holy Spirit is caring about in us that the unbelievers do not. They have an issue they got to believe. That's what the Lord's working on for them. For us who have believed, a different set of ministries altogether.

This is a supplement that we've had previously. It's available. I keep running out of copies, so I assume there's still an interest. A one-page supplement that lists how put this together some decade or so ago. And it's a great listing and summary of the 22 ministries of the Holy Spirit to the believer.

This is not to the unbeliever, but to the believer. And it's real neat to see and be comforted by those. So feel free to take advantage of those. Now, Romans 8, we mentioned Romans 7 and 8 being an expansion of these two verses in Galatians. Here is, and you have this on page one of your handout, Romans 8, 9, and 11. So we kind of picked those out.

But notice here, however, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, and he goes on like that, One of the things we point out, this if here is not a casting doubt. This if in the Greek construction means it assumes it's true. Why in the Bible do we run across it, because by the way we're going to run across it again. Why does the Bible have if statements? if it's assumed to be true. The reason is to involve the reader in the thinking process. That's why. It's not to cast doubt. It's not to make you wonder, oh heavens, is this really true of me? No. It is to assume it's true so that you'll think it through with him. That's why.

He assumes that if you look at it and understand it that way, these two verses three times say that the Spirit and dwells every believer. Three times. That's great assurance, isn't it? Rather than casting doubt, it's a repeated assurance that we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

Alright, now, let's get past these bears here. The spirit and the flesh are certainly opposites. By the way, I asked my wife to take a look at this. I said, is this picture alright to show in front of church? She says, yeah, as long as you crop off the part that doesn't show the guy's tail side. Anyway. Alright. The spirit and the flesh are certainly opposites, but they're no means thought of as being equal. Okay? Key thing. Opposition? Yes. Equal?

Not even sorta. And that's one thing that's really important Have you ever felt as a believer, ah boy, I just don't feel up to the task. I don't feel adequate. I don't have what it takes. I'm not pulling it off. One of the things that Scripture makes abundantly clear is the adequacy is in the Lord. Is He adequate? Absolutely. It is because we have opposites, he's underscored that point, but not equals. Way, way out of balance in terms of resources. Way, way out of balance in terms of character. Let's take a look at that further.

The Holy Spirit is eternal and infinite. The Holy Spirit that indwells you here this morning, if you're a believer, is forever. It's forever. Isn't that something? and infinite for the things that we are put up against this week. We have the resources of the Holy Spirit. God indwelling us. Do you think God feels kind of hamstrung, sort of inadequate, pacing the floor wondering what he's going to do? No. We have the infinite resources of the Holy Spirit available in us.

Eternal and infinite. The flesh, on the other hand, is terminal and finite. When this body is done, the flesh is done. That's it. It's no more. It's out of the picture. It's finite. It's terminal. And not only that, as we'll see here, the flesh is a deposed monarch.

All it can do is scream and holler and yell for what it used to be. The Holy Spirit is about who you are eternally, get the time frame, in Christ. The flesh is about who you once were in Adam and now no longer are. The Spirit is about the new creation, which is all about Christ. The flesh is about this old creation. This is the place where there's sin. This is the place where there's death. This is the place where there's pain. This is the place where there's struggle. The spirit is about the new creation.

That's all done and over with. The spirit is about pointing to Christ who said it is finished. It's done. We can easily think, oh man, all the stuff I got to do and the Lord says it's done. It's all done. It's not up for us to do it. It's up to him. There's going to come a day, folks, when the things that we wrestle with, these bodies, it's all gone. It'll be a thing of the past. The things that bother us about what our bodies don't do, that they used to, the things that bother us about what we would like to do and wish we didn't, all those things will be gone.

There will come a day when it will be no question, our occupation will be totally with Him. We will be gasping in awe at the immense and infinite and eternal grace of the Lord. Forever and ever. And not looking down at our watch to see if there's a coffee break coming soon. No more. A day will come. The flesh will be passed. But for now, he's telling us what we need to know about it. Let's take a look here again.

So that you may not do the things that you please. This word here, please, is translated from the same Greek word that shows up repeatedly in Romans 7. In that context, it refers to our own willing, our choosing, our willing to do certain things or not do certain things. There is, and we've made this available previously, but for those of you who might like to still take advantage of it, there's a three-page supplement that the elders put together. It even has a contribution on the front page by Hal. That's available, and feel free to take one in the cabinet on the right as you exit the room.

The bottom line in these two passages, Romans 7 and this one we're looking at right here. What's the bottom line here? The bottom line is this. We cannot independently will this or that moral outcome or behavior in our lives, God doesn't expect or desire that we do so. That's important. Let me get that. Get a finger pointing at this here, right? Okay. We cannot independently will this or that moral outcome or behavior in our lives.

God does not expect that we simply say, I'm not going to do this sin. That's not what he expects. God does not expect that we just simply make a choice, now I'm going to do the right thing. That's not what God expects. And matter of fact, he's telling you right there, you may not do the things that you please. That word please isn't just having to do with, you know, I like it. It's you may not do the things simply because you will it.

And God doesn't expect, that's why Paul's telling us. God does not expect us to simply decide, I'm going to do this, I am not going to do that. And if I don't do that, then I must be a bad Christian. That's not God's picture at all. What does he lay out here? He doesn't expect that.

Paul said in Galatians 5.16, as we as believers must walk, that is pattern our lives step by step, by means of the Spirit. That's his message. In this verse he tells us what we can't do. So, you must and you can't.

Whether aware of it or not, we cannot remain in spiritual neutral at any time. Never. You cannot take your life and put it in spiritual neutral and let it just park there. We will always be engaged either by the sin nature or by the spirit. Period. There is no neutral. There is no home base where you just stand there and you're safe. You're in one or the other. Period.

Sorry about the monkey there. Whether we're aware of it or not, we cannot remain in that spiritual neutral. Either we will walk by the Spirit, as He has urged us to do in verse 16, by means of the Spirit who will point us to Christ, to beholding Him, or the sin nature will lead us around by the nose. Okay? It's one or the other. Got that? Either we walk by the Spirit, or the sin nature will lead us around by the nose.

There is no neutral ground. There is no home base, place to stand. There is no cloaking device. This isn't Star Trek. You got one or the other, you're going to be in one place or the other. That's it. Now, something else. Ever heard this? The devil made me do it. We have, as a fairly common picture, everything from cartoons to Hollywood productions that point to these little devils and angels whispering into ears, right? You've probably seen it a number of times. We have a whole bunch of devil mythology. And matter of fact, we're coming into a time of year when that just is the funnest thing, of course. But we don't want to be ignorant of the devil, certainly not.

Paul, however, is going to, in the next verses, we're going to look at them next week. In the next verses, he's going to list things and talk about things that the flesh is capable of. And some of those are going to be pretty troubling. And what's interesting is here we're going to spend a whole Sunday looking at troubling things.

But a key thing, and it's real interesting, as I look through Galatians, it's real lean on talking about Satan. It talks about the flesh, mostly, the biggest thing, and we're even going to get a 17-point list of some of the things that the flesh is capable of. A little bit about the world, and we'll see that in the last Sunday in November when we look at that passage. A little bit about the world, and almost none about Satan. As a matter of fact, it's hard to find it. Now why would that be?

We have the world, the flesh and the devil are the three enemies of the believer. I would suggest to you that one of the reasons why we have these lean references on Satan here is that a lot of times people can get out of balance by getting too occupied with Satan did this and Satan made me do that and I got to do this to Satan or do that to Satan. And we can err by attributing too much to him or by ignoring him, either one.

But what we'll find out, especially as we look at next week's passage, the flesh, the sin nature, has all kinds of horrible capabilities apart from anything that Satan ever does. The flesh is capable of the worst without Satan having to, figuratively speaking, move a finger. And we'll see that as we look at the passage next week.

Now, here's what God doesn't expect from us. Isn't that nice to know? Here's what God doesn't expect from us. That's a good thing to know. God does not ask, nor does He expect, and I'll put this, ever, that once we're told what behaviors to carry out, or not to, that we just will them to come about in our lives. He doesn't say, do this, and don't do that, and I'm happy. God doesn't expect that He'll just give us here.

Here's your moral assignment. Do this and not do that and I'll be happy and I'll just kind of look at it. And when you're all done and you cross the finish line, we'll see how you did. No. That's not God's intent. He doesn't expect that from us. He doesn't expect that we just get our assignment and report in at the finish line.

What God does expect from us, what He does lay out, Here is the believer's means, motive, and opportunity. God does expect that we will believe Him, believing Him, trusting Him to carry out the life of Christ in and through us. It's His motive, grace, and His means, the Holy Spirit. That's the opportunity that we have before us, the motive, the means, and the opportunity that we have before us. It's His doing. That's what God expects, that we believe Him. Is believing a work that you get credit for? Nope. Is believing something that involves your effort and therefore you get some sort of mark and score for? Nope. We simply believe Him because of His work. We believe His work, not ours.

The other thing, if we are right now walking by means of the Spirit, God is simply calling us to do so. To continue in that doing so. If we're walking by means of the Spirit, stay there. We're not called to step outside of that and then refigure every time. Am I walking by means of the Spirit? Yeah. Am I walking by means of the Spirit? Yeah. Am I walking by means of the Spirit? Yeah. That's not how God works. If you're there, stay there. That's what He's asking. And you don't have to sit back every microsecond and think, did I make the right decision? Yeah, I guess it was. Did I make the right decision? Yeah, I guess it was. We don't have to do that. He's not calling for that at all.

But if we're walking by the flesh, He says, walk by the Spirit and then stay there. Stay there. Now, so that you may not do the things that you please, we don't stand outside of walking by means of the spirit or walking by means of the flesh and sit there and kind of evaluate it from the outside. You know, in about 15 minutes I'm going to have to decide whether I walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh. And meanwhile, I'm in this neutral zone, and that's cool, because I've got 15 minutes here to make up my mind.

And that's not what he's calling for, right? There is no neutral zone. All of our spiritual choices are made while we're walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit, whether we recognize them as choices or not. By the way, the Lord isn't calling us to simply make choices.

One of the things we've brought up in the past and we've brought up here briefly, alluded to, is 2 Corinthians 3.18, beholding the Lord. We're beholding the Lord and called to do that, not behold the choice. We're not to be occupied with the choice, we're to be occupied with the Lord. That's the Lord's calling. Not to sit there and re-evaluate the decision every two microseconds.

But to continue walking by means of the Spirit, to continue beholding the Lord, to continue to rest in Him. Are you resting in Him? Stay there. You like the hammock? Yeah, good place to be. But I say walk by means of the Spirit. Continue doing so. And you won't carry out the desire of the flesh. It's one or the other.

Now, the letters of the New Testament certainly have all kinds of things. Do this and don't do that. As a matter of fact, we're going to see some more of that in Galatians. And you could look at a number of Paul's other letters and see lots of things. He says, do this, don't do that. We've already seen even the simple one here, love one another.

Quoted, the first Thessalonians elective will get there pretty soon. That's a thing he says to do. Those are important, but you know those aren't the most important spiritual issues in front of us? As important as those are? The first priority is not our doing and not doing the things that are listed there in scripture. The first priority, with grace as our motive, with grace as our motive to be enabled and empowered and energized by means of the Spirit. That's first priority.

Because it's not just a question of what do I do and not do. It's a question, what's the power behind it? And more importantly, who is the power behind it? That's the Lord's concern. It's not just, what do I do? That's not just, am I acting like a Christian? But is Christ the one who is producing the behavior. That's the issue. It's a him, not a thing. Okay? It's his life, not just the behavior. That's what's at issue. Verse 18. In verse 18, he brings up something.

From Galatians chapter 3 to chapter 6, the person ministry of the Holy Spirit has been a key point that Paul keeps returning to. He started in the very early verses of chapter 3. He's going to continue that in the chapter 6 as we look at this over the next five weeks. And one of the things we're going to look at from chapter 1 to chapter 6, beginning to end, the law has been a big issue as well. Paul isn't going to drop that, not even until the very last verses. The law will continue to be an issue. So what does he do here? He puts those big issues together. Paul presents a pivotal principle about the Spirit and about the law.

What is that? This is another one of those cases where the if is assumed to be true. So it's not a casting doubt. It's not a wondering, but it's assumed to be true. Why does he do that? He includes us. He wants us to think through. Ah, if this is the case, then that is the consequence. He wants you to think it through, not cast doubt on it. He wasn't doubting that they were led by the Spirit, he wasn't asking them to doubt it. He wants them to think through, assuming it's true. That's his point. In Romans 8, boy, here we keep coming back to Romans again. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Being led by the Spirit isn't something that depends on us.

How about that? It's something that the Holy Spirit does all the time. Every believer in Christ, we talked about the Holy Spirit indwells every single believer all the time, no exceptions. Okay? Being led by the Spirit is something that is a part of who you are in Christ. If you're a believer here this morning, then you are led by the Spirit. Count on it. The Spirit is in the process of leading you right now. Paul's exhortation is that we walk by means of the Spirit who always leads us. The Holy Spirit is always caring about His ministry. Always. It's only a question of whether we are responsive to those ministries. The exhortation, remember it's walk by means of the Spirit, So the exhortation is to not try to do it on our own. He doesn't want it. He doesn't want our best efforts. He doesn't want to see how well we do. He wants to do it, not us. That's what he's looking for.

This verse is not an exhortation. It's not inviting you to do something particularly. It's about our position in Christ. It's a logical if statement, and it applies to every single believer here this morning, and even ones who didn't make it because of the snow. If you as a believer are led by the Spirit, and you are, and that's true, it's assumed to be true, then you're not under law. Pure and simple. It's that simple. No law in part or otherwise. None zip. The exact amount of laws that you are under as a believer is zero. That's the precise amount. Add as many decimal points onto that as you want. The exact amount is zip. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No laws.

Spiritually speaking, you need some law in your life like a fish needs a bicycle. Okay? It just doesn't fit, does it? That's how much law you need. Okay? You need law in your life like a fish needs a bicycle. Let me know when you see one like that. Here's another Romans passage. Okay? Here's what's amazing. You read through Romans 6, 14 and 15. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then, shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

May it never be. Now be careful when you read this. Careful, careful, careful. Be careful. Because if you're not careful, you might get the impression that believers are not under the law. You have to watch it. Now, so here's somebody, and it's a little hard to translate what he's saying because he's got this stuff on his head and his face in the towels or something. So let's translate. There. I like being under the law. Okay. No, here's the deal.

God's intent is that our motive, grace. By the way, how much grace? Just a pinch? Oh, just a tad. That's good enough, right? No. Mountains and fountains and rivers and oceans of grace are the motive. If we're not motivated, it's because we don't understand grace yet. Okay? Let me say that again. If we're not motivated, it's because we don't understand grace yet.

And what does that look like? It looks like thankfulness. Not, Lord, I want to pay you back. Forget that. Grace. Grace. Grace. It's free. It's eternal. It's infinite because it's Him. God's intent that our motive, infinite, eternal grace, and means, infinite and eternal in supply, be from Him.

He didn't intend that we generate the power from our own energies. He will not reward us after seeing how well we do. He rewards based on how well he does through us. You'll get rewarded on the basis of how much you don't do. How about that? The less you do, the more reward there is.

That's what God has in mind. Notice something else here. The Spirit of God always leads every single believer. That's a part of your position in Christ, and He is always leading, but we're not forced to follow His leading. Isn't that something very interesting? He is always there. He is always leading. The supply, and even the motivation, is plenty adequate and then some. He is not the holy slave driver.

Isn't that wonderful? Motivation, grace, not the whip, not the law. Have you ever heard of the carrot and the stick? This has to do with tons and tons of carrots and no stick. Neither does the Holy Spirit work through law, not even one, or place us under law. The Holy Spirit doesn't need any law to help in the process of leading us.

Here is the creator of the universe. The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit each had a part in that creation. Here is the creator of the universe. Immense amounts of energy, complexity beyond our comprehension. Our Sun that we look at is minuscule compared to a great many of them.

Do you think he's wondering how he's going to get enough energy through you? Do you think he feels challenged and limited? Do you think he said, oh, well, I hope it's enough? No, not even sort of, not a chance. He doesn't need law to help. He doesn't need us to help or want it. He doesn't reward it when we try. He isn't happy when we work off our own efforts and our own resources to please Him.

He says, let me do it through you. That's exactly what I had in mind. Paul said, and this is verse 16, that if we walk by means of the Spirit, we will absolutely, because he noticed he put it in black and white terms, 100% not walk by means of the flesh. They're mutually exclusive. You can do one or the other. But if you walk by the Spirit, there's no flesh involved. So we have this jet here. It's not a hybrid plane that runs partly on pedal power. I hate to think how fast those pedals are going. But anyway, that's just not even sort of in the thought pattern.

The Lord doesn't need us to add in something. It is entirely dependent upon Him. Paul also said that we who believe are in fact led by the Spirit and we're not under the law or any principle law or anything of the sort. The leading of the Holy Spirit is entirely exclusive and independent from the law. No law, none zip zilch. Here's the expanded and explained which in recent weeks because of a longer passage we've foregone, but let's go ahead and read it this morning.

For the flesh, which is the sin nature is expressed through the body, sets its desire passionately against the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit likewise sets its desire passionately against the flesh. For the Holy Spirit and the flesh are by fundamental character in locked opposition to one another.

So that you may not simply will to do the things that you might desire to do. You want to do this? Want to not do that? You can't will it. But if you are led by the Spirit, and it is assumed that for the sake of drawing into a logical conclusion that that's true, then you are categorically not under the law or any principle of law. Period. He can, you can't. Or reverse that if you like, that's fine. You can't, he can't. He's well able to do everything that's required.

You know, there's nothing in the New Testament that you're required to do except to believe, and that's all depending on what he does. He has done everything and he's done it all out of grace. You don't get a present with an invoice. You don't get a present with a debt note. It's free. Grace.

His resources for our living are infinite. It's Christ's light. We saw in Ephesians 1, 19 and 20, the surpassing greatness of His power toward, and by the way, that means into us who believe, is in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. The power into your life and mine as believers, and not by any merit of our own, The power into our lives is the same as the resurrection power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

That's the adequacy that's available when you have a tough boss. That's the adequacy that's available when the freeways are awful. That's the adequacy that's available when your key just broke off in the door. That's the adequacy that's available when the person next to you needs to know about the Lord. He is always sufficient. It's resurrection power. That's the limit of the power that the Lord is using and intending to have through you. All He wants is for us to believe Him.

Nothing more and nothing less. It's not a work. You don't get credit for it. Because it depends on His work. He gets the credit and the glory forever and ever. This is good news for us. because it's the Lord doing it, not us. The other point that's key here is it's personal. You could easily use analogies like plugging the plug into the wall socket or putting the car into gear, and those would help somewhat, but those are mechanical. It's personal. He can do what he says he can do. that he can is personal.

God isn't just in the process of giving us the, here's the energy unit, plug it in, right? Here's the switch, turn it on. Now those analogies might help, but the reality is, it's resting in him. It's our position in him. It is what he has done personally. And in the end, how do we, to use the physical analogy, plug into that energy source?

It's too personal for that. He loved us and gave himself up for us. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross for us so that we might have fellowship with him. It's personal. That's how it's lived out. Not by five steps and six how-tos. Him. Fellowship with him. It's as simple as that.

It's as amazing as that. Amazing grace. Amazing life. He rewards us eternally for what we never did. But He did through us. That is astounding. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for Your precious Word. We thank You for what You've revealed because You love us. For what You've done because You love us. Lord, it is jaw-droppingly astounding. It is amazing, and all we can do is thank you. And that is certainly what you hope that we do respond with, thank yous, not an IOU. We give you praise, in Jesus' name, amen.