Sanctification is by the Spirit: Pt 1

Okay, well this morning we're going to start in a really neat section where we start talking about the flesh and the spirit. So let's turn to Galatians chapter 5. And I kind of like to go back and just look a little bit at some of the previous verses. And if you look at chapter 5 of Galatians, You know, we started back actually, and I got the privilege of covering it back, it's been a month or so ago now.

In Galatians 5, it says it was for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. So then we kind of went through a whole bunch of different things that might cause the Galatian believer to have issues, not be standing firm. It actually got down to verse 13 recently. And verse 13 says, For you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. So that was actually in this chapter the first time the flesh was mentioned. It has been mentioned earlier in Galatians. So it's kind of a warning to the Galatian beliefs. Don't let the flesh impact you basically, and rob your freedom, if you will.

So now we're going to kind of get into the, these two verses are going to talk a lot about the flesh and the spirit, and their interaction, and how ultimately God has provided the victory for us. But we still have the flesh, it's still around, it's still a thing to be dealt with. And that's sort of what we'll be seeing here. And then it's going to kind of continue on. We're going to continue on with the flesh and the spirit and the fruits of the spirit and so on in the coming weeks.

So the verses say, but I say walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

So we're just going to go through this piece by piece. The first verse, Paul is speaking here. And basically, you is kind of implied, you walk by the Spirit, and actually it's a command in the present tense, so he's basically telling the Galatian believers, and us as well, that we're to walk by the Spirit.

And actually, because it's present tense, it's literally a continuous action. That's not to be just, well, I'll occasionally walk by the Spirit when I go to church, when I feel like it, when I read my Bible, I'll walk by the Spirit. This is to be a mindset. This is the way the Christian life is lived, not just when I feel particularly inclined, so to speak.

And the word walk is this word peripateo. And it's basically the word that's used to walk about. And in this context, and many contexts in scripture, it's actually to live, to interact, to live your life. Walk is kind of a figurative word for conduct and other words.

So actually, that's what the couple of verses I have here. Can I get someone to read Colossians chapter 4? Colossians chapter 4 and verse 5. And this is another translation of the same word, Peripateo. That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are outside, redeeming the time. Okay, actually, I think I lost my place. I'll be fine. Okay, let me see, Colossians 4, 5. And that may be a bit of a translation. Basically, okay, so you have, read your version again. Walk in wisdom toward them that are outside, redeeming the time. Okay, does someone else have a different translation than that?

You said Colossians 4.5, right?

Colossians 4.5, yes.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. Okay. And? Vanya? Conduct yourself with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Okay. Well, three translations. We got the one on one. Okay. Yes. Okay. I was looking for another translation of this word. Actually, Roy had walk. I mean, exactly.

So it could be translated walk, but it's conduct. Mine has conduct yourself. So the idea is that this is how you interact, this is how you, you know, and I think as Gail was saying, she's in her little adventure during the week, she was conducting herself, looking to the Lord, even though maybe a little cloud might have been sneaking around the corner there, but she was, you know, talking to the Lord about, hey, this is, you know, So that's what walk in this context is about. So Roger, do we walk on Monday by the NIB and on Tuesday by the NAS? Well, I guess I would propose that you call it walk, conduct, whatever you want to call it. It's your interaction with the Lord.

That's right. I'll take a different translation each week. That's good. And OK, I have another one in the second Thessalonians. Someone could read that one. We'll see what we have, how many different varieties we have in this one. Second class 311. May I have Lonnie read it, because I know what her translation will be. I'm going to stack the deck here.

For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Okay. So, what word do you think is the lock here, peripeteo, just from what she read? Whatever it was among you. Yeah. What does yours say, Roy?

We hear that there are some who walk among you disorderly. Well, your translation nails it every time. Well, that's really good. Actually, New American Standard has leading. You are leading an undisciplined life. So, leading, walking, this is how you conduct your life. This is what you do. In this case, it's undisciplined, but I'm trying to capture the idea of walking. Walking in the spirit. Basically, you could translate this by the spirit, literally by means of the spirit, and actually we have a couple of verses on that.

If you go back to Galatians, there's actually kind of a parallel verse in Galatians here to this verse, verse 16. which kind of talks about this walking, and it's Galatians 5.5. And Roy, why don't you read, I'd be curious to see what yours says here.

Galatians 5.5. For we through the Spirit wait for the fruit of righteousness by faith. Okay.

So basically here, it says we through the Spirit, I think it's kind of, and actually Luis has this, he renders this, as for us, through the agency of the Spirit, on the grounds of faith, on the grounds of faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.

So, you know, it's through the Spirit, by means of the Spirit. The Christian life is not us giving our best efforts, as Verne would say many times. It's not our best effort, it's through the Holy Spirit, focused on Christ, is the Christian life, by means of the Spirit. And lastly here, he says, through the instrumentality of the Spirit, habitually order your manner of life. So this is to be the habit of the Christian life, walking by the Spirit. And what's wonderful is, by doing that, it's going to guarantee some things. And that's the last part of the verse here. It's going to guarantee some things will be true of your life, which are wonderful.

Because, you know, we've spent a lot of time looking at how the Galatians got caught up in the law. And it seems like they said, well, if I'm really good at obeying the law, I'm going to really be able to control my flesh. And Paul has a He says, no, that's not the way to approach it. The way to approach it is by walking in the Spirit.

Okay, so now, next part of the verse, and you will not carry out, I kind of have it chunked up here, and not carry out, and this is a double negative, and actually I was a little bit, I was really excited, you know, I don't know, I get excited about small things here, but you know, little words and definitions and stuff, and oh, a double negative, wow. So I spent some time and actually it can be rendered certainly not or will never, never fulfill.

And then actually I found, it took me a little bit to search, I had to search in Greek which I'm a little bit, it's harder. I mean it's nice to search in English or numbers. English and numbers I can do pretty well with Greek. So Umi, I had to search for, and you can do that in these Bible helps, but it's a little bit harder.

So I was able to come across at least these three verses which have the double negative. And then I go, and I'm all excited, and I go and look in the English, and the English is just, you know, it's just not, the real impact isn't there. I wanted to see like, I wanted to see the double negative.

You know, you will never, never, you will certainly not. And this didn't have as much, so let's look at those. a couple of cases here. And where I'm leading here, and why this is significant, you know, Rodgers just likes all these little nuances here, it's going to say it's impossible, if you're walking in the Spirit, to carry out the desires of the flesh. It's going to be, that's a wonderful thing. So that's why the double negative is, I think, it's really cool.

So let's just look at the Thessalonians passage for right now. First Thess, Chapter 4. Let's look at that first. And I'd like someone to read verse 415. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord. that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

Okay, good, okay. Now I'm actually confusing myself here a little bit, you see. Okay. Okay, actually it's kind of not, and that's why I was a little bit disappointed, it's actually toward the end there, it says, and shall not precede those who have fallen asleep, shall not proceed is actually much stronger than that.

It's the double negative. It's a guarantee. God has an order in the resurrection. And actually it could be rendered, shall by no means. In fact, we used to, I looked at what we used to do. He has, shall by no means, or you could put, shall definitely not. It's a much stronger, shall not seems kind of mild, but it's actually this double negative here. And then actually over in verse, in chapter five, in verse 3 it says while they are saying peace and safety and destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child and they shall not there's a double negative shall not escape and basically they shall never never escape so it's I guess I was a little disappointed that in the English it didn't come across as strongly I was looking for a much stronger because this is this is really wonderful news that the the desires of the flesh as we walk by the spirit are held at bay. You will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

And carry out is this idea to bring to an end or to accomplishment. And we have a couple verses for that. But let me just kind of, and I'll just go ahead here and get the full impact. And you will never, never accomplish or carry out Actually, this idea of carrying out... It's interesting here. He's not saying you're not going to have desire. Desire won't come to you.

Think about your Christian life. You're going along and something happens. To me, I'm driving in the street and somebody just does something really crazy. Just on the road. And what happens? That's a temptation, right? So I have a desire of the flesh.

My desire of the flesh may be to go real fast and tell this guy he's crazy you know why is he doing that that's you know so he's not saying there won't be desires but he says as i walk by the spirit i won't carry out the desire of the flesh i'll say roger wait a minute you know it's okay lord i'm safe i didn't get hurt thank you lord i'll just drive on and I won't do crazy things. There are hundreds of situations like that where we're carrying out or walking our Christian life and things happen. This is saying as you walk in the Spirit, that desire may come to you, but it says as you walk by the Spirit, you won't carry it out. You won't carry it to completion. If you look later on, we're going to see here that he'll list the deeds of the flesh. I'm saying it's desires to deeds. Desire is maybe there, but When the deed happens, that's when sin occurs.

Bud? Yeah, the Oral says, let your conscience be your guide. That's a good one. Okay. It's absolutely incorrect to mean think of what they're really trying to say and don't say it. But the spirit be your guide. Right. I like that Bud. Let your spirit be your guide. We don't have to juggle this around. That's what it says clearly there. The spirit should be your guide. Right. So this is wonderful news.

And these couple verses here, we don't have to look at them. Basically, they just kind of implicate the fact that it's a performance of the desire that he's pointing out. But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out or perform the desire of the flesh. The desire of the flesh may be all kinds of, some are mild and some are terrible, but they're all sin.

Go ahead. Well, so what you're talking about then as far as sanctification by the Spirit means the cleaning of the heart. because Jesus said it's not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out of him, because that comes from his heart.

So since you're talking about the guy who cuts in front of you, which I've never been able to clean that part of my heart, it's not a matter of can't, but it's a matter of won't. Because you still can do this. You can still sin, and you still do all these things. And it's because of your heart. But through the process of the sanctification of the spirit, as he cleans your heart, you're less capable, conscience-wise, like Bud said, to not only want not to do these things, but not actually do them.

So it's the slow process of changing want, you really can. because of the conscience, right? So it's a heart matter. It's a heart issue, but think of this. This is where the wonderful view of scripture looking at who we are, our position, and how we conduct our lives. Position, condition, as we say a lot here.

Positionally, the Lord says you already are separated from that sinful nature. So he wants us to look at our position when this comes along that car cuts you off you say Why in the world what I want to go and do something really crazy and cut that guy off because he cut me off Why do I want to do that Lord? I don't have to respond to that desire from my sinful nature. I don't have to I could I But I don't have to. Especially if you have a fish on the back of your car. Right, exactly.

And that's another thing to think about too. You think about, well Lord, is this going to glorify you? So this process is going on in your mind, right? And this happens really fast. I mean, this is not, it happens just really quick. Because, you know, I find I'm very quick at putting somebody down, verbally, if I think I'm right. Because, well obviously I'm right, I've got to tell everybody I'm right, so I can tell them real quickly. But I think looking back to who you are, your position, is what it's all about.

Walking in the Spirit. What is walking in the Spirit? It's saying, I'm a new creation in Christ. I'm dead to that. I've been separated from my sin nature. It's still there. I can still have that desire to do things. But I look to my position. I look to who I am in Christ. And then I won't carry out that desire to cut that guy off. Or worse. Or worse of other things. You might be talking with a friend or whatever. You might offend somebody verbally. Or whatever it might be. Roger? Sure.

Another thing about that, we as Christians, once again, we know the Lord. I really honestly believe, and I keep bringing this old tired scripture up, that we all don't pass over. We are all, even as, I don't care how dedicated as Christians, we all sin and come short of the glory of God. Absolutely.

And that's why we're told that we have an advocate with the Father in heaven. A lot of times we'll use that as the escape hatch before we make our move and let that be the escape. That's the idea. Holy Spirit can guide us not to do that, but we let Him do it, but we do sin, but Christ doesn't quit forgiving us because of that.

Right, absolutely. We're gratified if we confess our sin. I don't think that's stretching the Scripture too far. No, no, no, that's absolutely right. But I think what's wonderful about this is the Lord wants to be proactive here. So I'm saying, If I do cut the guy off, my example I keep using here, then I've sinned, right? I've not represented who Christ is. I've gone contrary to who I am. But if I realize the dynamics of what's going on and I say, Lord, I don't have to do that. I don't have to follow that desire of the flesh. I see it as a desire of the flesh. I had an occasion where I was overseas for five years in England.

It was a wonderful time and we came back to Buckley Air Force Base and I had a driver's license that said expired on the front side but in Colorado you can go and and I was overseas I could send it I could get it extended so on the front it said it was expired so I drive up there and the guy takes my he says your driver's license is expired you can't come on this base So, you know, the wheels are turning. I know I'm okay because the foot on the back side, it says extended to whatever. So, Lord, and I said, sir, would you please look at the back side? He turns it over and says, oh, okay, you're welcome to come in.

Now I could have responded, well, wait a minute, you know, I just go, you know, on a rampage. And that went through my mind. That went through my mind. And I said, Lord, I don't have to do that. I know that's, that's me talking. Maybe you guys can identify with a hundred situations where that happens. And hundreds of times I don't do that, unfortunately.

I respond from the flesh. And we're going to see, that's the next verse we're going to see here. So now we're going to desire the flesh. And this word desire is epithumia. And actually we're going to see it twice. This is a noun form. So we're going to see this in the noun form and then we're going to see it in action, so to speak, in the verb form. So it's a desire, a craving, a longing, mostly of evil things, frequently translated lust. And let's look at James here. James chapter 1. I've got someone to read James chapter 1 verses... let's read 13 through 15. James 1 and how much?

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bring us forth dead.

Great Bud, thank you. So this is a wonderful verse. This is just verses I should say. But it really kind of shows us this temptation process that I was talking about. It shows us that we're being tempted. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Just like the example I've been using here. And put your own example in there. But basically, at that point, he hasn't sinned. But you go on to verse 15.

So the by-product of lust is a birth. It gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. What's the definition for death? Separation. So we have sinned. We've broken fellowship with the Lord. and we need to confess our sins, to recognize that as sin, and call sin, sin.

So this kind of shows the dynamics of the desire of the flesh. And flesh is this word, sarx. In scripture, the word flesh is used sometimes just for our physical body. It's used for that. It's used for a variety of different things, but many times, especially in Paul's epistles, it's used for the sinful nature. And there are several verses that talk about that. Well, actually, let's look at one of those.

Let's look at Romans 7.18. That'll just give us one on that one.

Romans 7.18. And can I get someone to read that?

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. Great, thank you. So basically, I think that refers to the sinful nature within us that we've been talking about. Okay, so that's verse 16. So basically, he stated the premise, but I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh, or stronger, You will never, never carry out the desire of the flesh if you walk by the Spirit. So now we're going to get into what's been called the battle scene here.

Roger, when it says, never, never, it sounds like it's a permanent thing. But it isn't really. It's just when you're walking in the Spirit, right? Right. It sounds like you'll never, never, ever again. Oh, I see your point. Yeah, it just sounds like that, but it means...

Yeah, and actually, may I ask why they translate as certainly not? If I say, certainly, you say, if I walk in the Spirit, you will certainly not... But it's moment by moment. I mean, if you're walking in the Spirit, you won't. You certainly won't. Right. in the flesh you will. I'm just saying it sounded like you'll never again, just the way it said, certainly not ever. I'm just saying the way it sounded. That's a good point. I had not thought of it that way.

If what Bonnie's saying makes provision for John 1 night, Because what you're saying, if it's never-never, and it's never-ever going to happen, then you don't need John 1-9, because you're always going to be doing John 1-5. Which means that you're going to be walking in the Spirit and pleasing God all the time. So if you're in 1-5, you don't need 1-9, right?

But we have this struggle with the flesh. And I shouldn't bring this up, but I've always been taught that two negatives are a positive, so that doesn't make a lot of sense. And that's true, but that's English. Well actually what's really cool, there's a passage in Hebrew which has I think four negatives. I really get excited about that. That's another day. That's another day. Anyway, that's a good thought. And actually I had not thought of that kind of thinking. But let's see. Let me see if I can shorten this. Let me just go back for a second.

But I say, walk by the spirit. Well, first of all, Paul's not just saying, this is just not a casually, oh, by the way, When you guys go out there and just walk by the Spirit, actually it's a command. He's saying, I want you to walk by the Spirit. I mean, it's not just a casual reminder. That's to be your conduct of your life.

And so it's kind of implied that there's an issue with walking by the Spirit and all these desires coming at you. That's kind of the background, if you will. There are desires coming at you. In James there, their desires are coming at you. And walking by the Spirit is the solution to these desires controlling your life. Anyway, that's some good thoughts there guys.

Okay, so now we get to the battle scene here. Okay, so the first part of this verse is, for the flesh, and that's the subject, the flesh sets its desires against the spirit. And sets its desires is the verb form, the same word we had before, and it's lust. And basically it's, you know, in the verb form, you know, the verse is the same definition, to fix a desire upon whether good or bad.

And actually it's kind of interesting to see there are good desires and good lust, if you will. And that's kind of important to see. So let's look at a couple of those. The first one is going to be the good. So 1 Timothy 3.1. So this is lust used in a good sense. You can have lust, you can have a good desire, which is probably not pretty obvious, right? I mean, you desire to please the Lord, that's a good desire.

1st Timothy 3.1 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop.

What did you say? That's exactly right. Keep reading more. Okay, I'll try again and get it right. This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. Right, okay, so this is my word here. This is the word lust, but in a good sense. It's actually twice in there. If any man aspires to the office of overseer, in my translation, it is a fine work he desires to do. So there's a desire. You desire to serve the Lord. This is an elder, something like that. A deacon maybe. who desires to serve the Lord and scripture says, Paul says, Timothy says, that's a great, that's a wonderful desire. Okay, so that's this word used in a good sense. Now in James, let's look at James 4. James 4 and verse 2.

Roger, don't you think that when you have a double negative like that, it's similar to when Paul said to the Pharisees, heaven forbid, Isn't that kind of the same thought? When they said that, why don't we send more because we'd just get more grace? And Paul's answer was, heaven forbid.

I mean, it's not a double negative, I don't think. But it's kind of the same thought. Why would you think that? That should never happen. It's emphasis. It's emphasis on excluding the other part of the action, right? He says, you're walking by the Spirit. It's not going to happen. You're not going to fulfill the desire of the flesh. It's not going to happen. As you walk with the Lord, you won't fulfill the desire of the flesh. So that's a good thought.

Is there anybody at James 4.2? James.

You lust and you have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war yet you have not because Okay, good. So this is a negative. You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. This is pretty bad. You are envious and cannot obtain. So this is a negative form of that.

So in this context here, in this context, the flesh, it says I lust against the spirit. So that's That's part A. And against is the root. And this is kind of cool. The root meaning of this word is kata. Root meaning is down. It's the idea of suppression. So the flesh, and this is hard to believe. It's hard to believe that in a sense we do this. We desire Let's take our point of cutting somebody off.

I keep hammering that again. I'm actually saying, when I do that, as a believer, I'm saying, Lord, I know what you said about me, who I am in Christ, but I don't care. That person has so offended me, I have to make my point. I don't care what you said, Lord. So you basically, you lust against the Holy Spirit of God.

You say, no, I don't care what you say, I'm going to do it anyway. And unfortunately, we all go there. We all do that. And so that's the battleground. So you have the flesh lusting or setting its desires against the spirit regardless of what the truth he knows, the truth the believer knows. He says, I don't care. So that's one part of the battleground. Go ahead. Is that a permanent state? Is that what the flesh always does? It sets its desire against the spirit? I can't see the flesh getting any better.

I think you're right. And it may be more subtle and more... kinder, or, you know, well, Lord, hey, I just a little bit better than you do, but, you know, I can really handle this okay. It's not trusting, you know, I don't want me to pick on you, Gail, but I mean, it's not trusting the Lord, maybe in situations where you're afraid. I mean, we all do that. We all say, well, you know, I'm afraid, you know, or whatever it might be. So, I think you're right. The flesh is the flesh. It's not going to improve. Well, like Stan was saying, it's almost like an oxymoron, you know, if you're in the spirit, the flesh is inoperative. If you're in the flesh, the spirit can't operate. And that's wonderful. And we're going to see, my brother Hal many years ago, I just love his picture. If one is in force, the other one is at bay, is held inoperative.

And I don't know if I can say this appropriately or not, but to me, it has to do with the fact that each and every human being is autonomous and that has something to do with having self-will. But our identity is to take care of ourselves and primarily we do that because we feed ourselves and we care for ourselves and those are desires of the flesh that actually keep us alive. Exactly. I would say those are good desires. And it's allowing us to function so that we can stay alive and healthy and all the other things. But, on the same hand, that same desire can rear its ugly head and say that I'm totally independent.

I don't have to depend on anybody else. I don't need anybody else, particularly God. I don't need the person living next to me. I don't need my neighbor. I don't need any of these things because I can take care of all these things myself with a great big capital I. And that's the nature. So it can be good, which is Ghana, which you were saying, and it can be bad. But it's always I-directed. And it's always contrary to what contrary to God. It's not spirit directed at all. It's against the spirit of God.

But aren't those two different kind of flesh though? One is your physical body and the other is the sin nature. So, right? You're talking about to preserve your flesh? No, I'm just saying, you said sometimes it can be good, but aren't we, that's just your physical body. When this flesh is like the sin nature, isn't it? Well, I thought you were talking about the lust, right? The flesh is the flesh. Man, I'm getting myself confused here. I'm getting confused here. But that's interesting. I think it's still one desire.

I mean, we still desire to take care of ourselves with a capital I. And that old saying about, is the I in him or is it standing alone and it's me? And our I should be in him. But I think this desire that we have, even this sin nature, it seems like it comes from the heart. drives us.

And the Spirit is sanctifying us, setting aside, cleaning our heart. In Psalms it says, Lord, I desire a clean heart. Well, the thing about this, this is Christianity 101, we've been born again, right? We have a birth from Adam, and we have a birth from Christ.

And both those two are operating in us at the same time. So the question is, in the Lord, By faith we can be in either of those places. We can by faith put our faith in our flesh or by faith in the Lord. And that's operative all the time. Actually we're either one or the other. That's one of the other kind of... We're either operating from our flesh or from the Spirit through the Lord.

So here's the flip side. The Spirit. Lust, and that's an implied verb from the first part of the sentence. Lust against the flesh. So the idea here is that the spirit desires to suppress the flesh in our lives. And that's wonderful news. And the flip side of that, as we saw, sadly, our flesh desires to suppress the spirit. So we've got this conflict. We've got these two operations going. The flesh wants to suppress the spirit of God, and the spirit wants to suppress the flesh. And this is wonderful news because this is where we want to be. We want to have the flesh being suppressed in our lives.

And what's interesting is the rest of the verse is going to tell us this is not a trivial battle. This is not just, well, okay, I'll resolve to be a little bit more firm in this next one. I'll be a little bit firmer with that old sinful nature. I'll just be a little bit harder on it and it'll just get into line here. I've got a few more things to write.

This is a battle only the Lord can win through us. It's the Spirit of God in our lives. Because the last part of the verse is going to tell us that it's beyond our control in a sense. Roger, the good thing is that that's happening, but the bad thing is that we can see and touch the flesh, but we can't see and touch the spirit. So it comes down to, do you really believe what you believe, and are you actually going to follow what you believe? Because we can touch this flesh. I don't have any problem with that.

I know it's real, but it's dealing with that in my mind and in my heart, dealing with something, like it says in Hebrews 11.1, when it defines truth, or what is it, reality, or whatever, faith. And so it comes down to faith again. Actually, it's faith in either way.

The flesh you feel here That's one kind of flesh, but this flesh is referring to the sinful nature, which you can't really touch. So you think there's two different kinds? Fleshly body and then if you want I can give you some verses of this There's verses about our fleshly body and then there are verses about the image what's called the immaterial part of us Which is our sinful nature and that's called flesh too. And this is that's what that's about us to immaterial parts We can't touch either.

I can't touch my sinful nature. I can certainly see the results of it. I can't touch it I certainly see the results of my of the Spirit of God working my life. I can see both of those Well, that's that's an immaterial battle within our mind, what's going on.

Roger? Yeah. We touched on this when we said it is by faith that we walk. Right. It's also by faith that we walk by the flesh. We're actually trusting that. Isn't that sad? That kind of jars you. And I realize I do that. I realize, like I was kind of saying, that I say to myself, you know, Lord, it's more important to me to prove myself to this driver that he was crazy when he was driving than it is to trust you. I'm putting my faith in myself to do that crazy thing.

Well, and like he's saying too, it goes back to the object, right? The object of your faith. Right. And that's why Galatians, that's why we are in Galatians here, getting this command based on what he's brought us to. Exactly, through all this, yeah. That's great, that's great. Roger? Sure, sure.

I was just thinking that it seems to me like the sinful nature wants its rights. So that if somebody cuts me off, and do the same thing back. And I think that, like you said earlier, it happens so fast that we either give in or we, you know, let the Spirit suppress that expression of our sinful nature. And it's just like that. It's one or the other. It's amazing.

And it also depends on the degree of your fatigue for that day. No, I'm serious. The situation that you're in. How high your emotions are during that day. Your mental condition. I mean, that's all. No, no, I totally agree with you. I mean, at the end of the day, when you're, you've just been, imagine you had, you know, OK, we were talking about something about, oh, we're talking about cruising. I'm getting off the subject here.

I wouldn't mind being a cruise director on a cruise line, and I said, Bonnie, then you have to deal with all those passengers, and they'd be awful, and it wouldn't be any fun anymore. Cruising wouldn't be any fun anymore. You'd be dealing with all these people. Yeah, I decided I'd rather be a passenger.

So, I agree with you. You could throw them overboard. Yeah, that might be your sinful nature. Sex is back to murder, right? Okay, all right. So quickly, here's the two things that make it really saying, Lord, I have to trust you. This is an operation of faith.

It says, these are in opposition to one another, the flesh and the spirit. And it's the opposition to the idea that, excuse me, It's like an enemy. And there's some verses here that talk about your opponent. In the Philippians passage it talks about your opponent. In the Corinthians passage it talks about you have many adversaries. So this is an adversarial relationship. The flesh and the spirit are adversaries.

They're banging heads with one another. In a sense. And basically that results in so that you may not do the things that you please. Your overall desire is to please the Lord. But moment by moment, this battle is there. It's played out in real time. You know, it's like the computer. Real time is happening. Moment by moment, you're interacting with the world, with your family, with everybody.

And you can walk by the spirit, or you can walk by the flesh. Moment by moment. One glorifies God, one does not glorify God. So basically, I kind of wrote at the end here, the desire may be to live the Christian life, but only as we walk by means of the spirit can we have victory over the flesh. So Paul is telling us that this is a battle. It's not a trivial matter. Only the Spirit of God, as we walk by faith in Him, is able to give us victory over our sinful nature, because it's still there.

And actually, I looked at Macaulay, Chester Macaulay had like five observations. I'd like to just read them to you, and I'd like to show you Hal's picture here at the end here. Basically, and it's something that maybe we've kind of talked about already.

And speaking about this war between the flesh and the spirit, he says, There are two separate entities inside every Christian. He elaborates more, the flesh and the spirit. The flesh and the spirit are total opposites. That's obviously very true. The flesh and the spirit carry out active warfare continually. The flesh and the spirit do not share control in the believer's life.

So we're either being controlled by one or the other. Our actions are the result of which is controlling us at any given moment. So I think that's, who's controlling me? Adam's in there at some time saying, how you can put it any other way. Right, he's there, but it's important that the Lord wants us to see that this battle's going on. I think as we realize that, that's helped me, because it allows me sometimes in that instant, I'll step back and say, wait a minute, what am I doing here? I'm going to prove myself, what does that mean in terms of eternity? I'm going to prove that I'm better than this driver. I'm a better driver. I'm right. Being right, as an engineer, you have to be right. You never can be wrong.

So that presents problems. And then lastly here, this is Hal's diagram. This is actually on the website. And he has slightly different versions, but this is one that kind of speaks to Galatians. So basically, he shows you what I like about this. And some people, we have this switch here. And some people have kind of, maybe they say, I've got a problem with that switch.

But I look at the switches as a faith response. Am I exercising faith? and the Spirit of God to direct my life by faith and I'll have the fruits of the Spirit or am I by faith exercising in my sinful nature. So some people kind of argue that the walker... sometimes I put faith in place of walk up there. But anyway, in this context it's kind of good because we've been talking about walking. And this is a conditional thing. A conditional thing that's going on in the believer's life.

What I like is the fact that the desires are there. The sinful desires are coming at us and desire from our Savior. The desires are there. The good desires and the desires that are not good. They're with us all the time. But how will we carry out those? Will we allow those desires to wind up being sin and go the sinful nature or will they be directed by the Spirit of God? And it will be the fruits of the spirit, the works of the flesh. So we're actually going to see that as we go on here.

Go ahead, I'm sorry. I was just going to say, in that picture, the world and Satan is just that little thing, but in my mind, the world and Satan comes in every direction, constantly. I know. And it's always bombarding us. It's always coming at us. In this day and age, we get You can't be away from the world for an instant. News is with you all the time. In a way, our wonderful, and I love all the modern things, but in a way, that just brings the sinfulness of this world system right to our door 24-7. It's just right in our face all the time. To me, that seems a negative. A negative for the believer. It would be nice if you could not have that.

But we have all these things that people have invented, and maybe you could argue that they're used for good and used for bad, as anything can be. Roger, you could also have truth and deception. Because on the one side you have God's Word, and what we know is right, and even instinctively we know certain things are right and wrong, and verified by the Word of God. Then on the other side you have all the worldly deceptions that have been created that are attacking us from the other side.

So here we are, looking at discernment, one of the gifts of the Spirit. And so you're saying, oh, is this truth or is this deception? And if it's deception, then you shouldn't be following it, you shouldn't be listening to it, so you close your ears, I guess, and you don't go that way. But if it's truth, then you say, oh, okay, this is good, so I can go that way.

And like Donna's saying, this changes as the world and culture grows and becomes more complex and there's more and more people. The deception becomes more perversive and sometimes even subversive, and it's really hard to discern it from the truth. But we got the truth and the deception, the truth and the deception. And that switches, it's going back and forth all the time. And that's why it's good to go to church and have Sunday school classes, study the word of God. So it helps you discern the truth from deception. Christ said to Pilate, what is truth?

And he was. He was standing right there. Obviously the guy either knew it or he didn't know it. We don't know. So it's truth and deception. And we're deceived every day. Hundreds of times. I think it's important for us to see that there is this battle, and as we recognize there is a battle, I think that arms us, if you will. That arms us saying, hey, there is a struggle. There is a battle. And also is to realize, I'm not going to, by any personal resolve, I'm going to read more scripture, I'm going to, you know, whatever, I'm going to have my list, or whatever.

It's only by faith. Faith saved us, and faith is to be the method by which we live the Christian life. Faith in what Christ has done for us, and our focus is on that. So faith will carry us through this Christian life, as we focus on the Lord, and will prevent us from going down the path of the flesh.

That's going to happen, but the desire is that we minimize that. I've seen some charts, which I kind of like. You would hope over time, you would choose the path by faith of walking with the Spirit of God. You hope over time, and that would be a more frequent occurrence. You would hope that's the case. But I also realize, and I think I mentioned this, as you become more in tune with what God wants for you, you realize the subtleties, and you realize how subtle the flesh is and how you subtly have given into the flesh.

Maybe just subtly. And so you realize that well is even deeper than you thought. Oh, it's only a few over here in the flesh. No, no, there's a bunch more. And as you walk more forward and you see more of that So I find that I can get discouraged sometimes about that thing. Look at all those other things that I do. I don't want to go there. I want to walk by the Spirit.

But that battle is there and it's going to be there until we go to be with the Lord. So we should know that, we're armed with that fact, and we trust that as we walk with Him in simple faith that we will please Him and there will be the fruits of the Spirit. Anyway, great participation. It's a wonderful subject. It's a wonderful subject. OK, let's close.

We thank you, Father. We thank you for this day, Lord. We thank you for the blessings we have in the Savior, Lord. Thank you that we can walk by faith in what you've accomplished for us, and we can look to you in every situation, moment by moment. And that you desire that we do that, and we desire that we bring forth fruit that that is pleasing to you. In Christ's name, amen.