Law and Grace - He can, you can't

Good morning. We're going to be proceeding through the three verses that Randy read for us here. I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. This is an emphatic statement we'll be looking at in a bit more detail here. Now one thing to make clear, this is not having anything to do with Oriental cooking, so it's not walk, W-O-K, right? So it's walk, W-A-L-K, by the Spirit, and we'll talk about what that word walk means here shortly.

So what does it mean to walk by the Spirit? Is this some unimaginably complex mathematical calculation? Is this something that results in a look in your eye like nobody else has ever seen? Is it a glowing-in-the-dark phenomenon? What does it mean to walk by the Spirit?

Well, we're going to talk about what that means. And so we'll take a look at this first verse here, just initially. But I say walk by the Spirit. What is this talking about? What he's going to say in this verse addresses something that has come up previously.

We won't be looking at the passage, but he previously had said, rather than biting and devouring one another, he says, through love serve one another. Therefore, the distinction is going to come about through love serving one another by walking by the Spirit. And by the way, part of what this points to, have you ever heard of a church split? Church splits happen because a whole lot of people are not walking by the Spirit. That's part of his point here. This is a distinction that will make an individual difference and will make a difference in a church body. That's the reason he points it out. This walk by the Spirit is pointing to this.

This part of the verse is actually brief in the Greek. It's just two words, walk and spirit. It's packed, however, with some really important significance for the present and even beyond the present and beyond the present life, and we'll see here shortly. The form of the two Greek words translated walk and spirit also has a depth of meaning in each word that we're going to talk about here. So walk by the spirit is actually even by itself somewhat of an expansion.

The word walk here comes from actually out of the Old Testament, but Paul used it in more than one of his letters, 1 Corinthians 7.17 and 2 Corinthians 5.7, used in various places.

It's actually a Jewish manner of speaking, starts off in the book of Genesis. We have, for example, Noah walked with God. It was one of the statements, and it doesn't mean just putting his feet in front of one in front of the other, but it talks about the spiritual ordering of one's life. So it's a Jewish manner of speaking that the Gentiles didn't use particularly, but they understood.

They understood what it meant. A step-by-step patterning of one's daily life, moment by moment. The Greek word translated walk has the idea you must right now continuously and actively walk. You must actively continue to walk. There's a continuity that's intended here. Paul's saying the believers are to be living this out right now continuously. It's to be impacting their lives from one moment to the next. They have an active part in walking. Walking is not just something you do just by laying there and being passive. You actively do it. We'll soon see what that active part means, though. It's important to make some distinctions here. But Paul does a pretty good job of doing that, so we'll take a look at that.

The words by the Spirit can be expanded to convey by means of the Spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit is the one by whom we do the walking. and putting all the ideas together. Paul is getting it across to his readers here in the church in Galatia. You must right now continuously pattern the steps of your lives, that's what the idea of walking means, by means of the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit carries on ministry in our lives in multiple waves, and your walking day by day, step by step, needs to be patterned according to the ministries of the Holy Spirit.

And guess what? I think we have an elective downstairs where we're talking about exactly that, right? So let's walk our way through these words. This walking is an imperative. It has the idea of must. You must be walking. Not here's a suggestion or it would be a good idea if you did. It's actually the idea of must in that. We said before here that doesn't mean it's according to a principle of law. You must do this or there's some threat.

But out of our eternal position in Christ, which is all by grace. You were made to be in Christ and Christ was made to be in you all by grace. All you did was believe. You are in the Spirit and the Spirit is in you all by grace. All you did was believe. Those things were God's accomplishment because you believed. It was all by grace.

We didn't earn or merit any of it. The motive for our response to Paul's must is not under threat of law. It's not, you better walk by the Spirit or we're going to stone you to death. There is no threat of this sort. You better walk by the Spirit or we're going to get the whip out. There's none of that.

It's a grateful response to God's grace. A grateful response to God's grace. We could also add mercy as a valid motive here. Romans 12.1 is one of those passages that points to mercy as also a valid motive and motivation for why and how we do things. So we've got motive. Let's cover the means here.

For the means, God sent the Holy Spirit to be the resident agent in our lives to point to Christ. always indwelling each believer to carry out His ministry in us. See, the Holy Spirit doesn't come and go. The Holy Spirit isn't, well, He's with that one and that one, but not the others. The Holy Spirit indwells each one of us who believes all the time, okay?

Continuously, to carry out this ministry. That's why He can say, walk by means of the Spirit, Because every single believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling them, and each believer is in the Holy Spirit all the time. So we can walk all the time. That's the only reason he could possibly say that. The Holy Spirit is God's resident agent, and we mentioned last time, and we'll bring it up this time, the three things to enable, empower, and energize our walk.

Enable, empower, and energize our walk. There is never a time when God says, you know, I'm sorry, the Holy Spirit just not got it, you know, these days, and so you just got to pull it off on your own, right? You just have to have to do it yourself. No, we never get that message. All the time, the Holy Spirit is resident in us and we in the Spirit to enable, empower, and energize our walk.

And those three words are all three used in the New Testament. Additionally, we know that the Holy Spirit directs our attention to Christ. Some church bodies have gotten real focused on the Holy Spirit and really zooming in on the Holy Spirit and what the Holy Spirit does and giving all the focus there. It is the Holy Spirit's ministry, John 15, 26, to point us to Christ and to have us beholding Christ. And so that's one of the emphases that we see here. If we walk by the Spirit, our focus will be on Christ, not on the Holy Spirit himself.

The walk is also not another thing to do. It's not like we've got this to do, and that to do, and that to do, and on top of that, all the things I'm supposed to do, I'm supposed to walk in the Spirit too? I mean, isn't that a little bit over the top? No. The walk is not something else to do. It's not on our to-do list as one more thing to do.

Walking by means of the Spirit has a commonality with what's taught in the other passages regarding ongoing fellowship with and dependence upon the Lord. It is the way in which we live, not another thing to do in life. See that? It's the way in which we live, not another thing to do in life. Scripture says the same or similar truths in different ways, and we'll be taking a look at that. in order to help us understand. Christ says, abide in me.

That is not different from this walk by means of the Spirit. So we'll see it in different ways. This puts an emphasis, of course, on the ministries of the Holy Spirit. All in all, it's still living by means of our fellowship with and dependence upon the Lord. Walking by means of the Spirit points to the top priority question of our lives. You see, we could go around with it. Well, I've got to make sure I do this and don't do that and we end up with this to-do list and not to-do list, right? But that's not the character of the life that God intends for us. Walking by means of the Spirit is the top priority question of our life. All the other questions come after that. All the other questions come after that. Sometimes people will say, well, I want to do God's will for my life.

And they're real focused on whether they take this fork in the road or that one. Is it God's will that I buy the blue Chevy or the yellow one? Right? And they get real focused on the forks in the road. And you know what God's will is primarily centered on? Walking in the Spirit. That's primarily what God wants you to do. And if, after that, God really wants you to do this thing versus that thing, He'll make it clear. But the priority, and always God's will, is that you walk by means of the Spirit.

So where does the motivating and the enabling and the empowering and the energizing of what we do, where does that come from? A number of verses, including this one, call for us to look for God's provision for everything we do. Looking at God's provision for everything we do. Everything that God calls us to do is based on what He has done and already made us to be.

You see, we have an eternal position in Christ. We've been made to be in Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating. God, through His Holy Spirit, is the one who takes that position that we have and enacts it through enabling, empowering, and energizing the walk that we have in our position. Our eternal position is in Christ. We are motivated by grace to walk in that position that we have by grace. As we walk in our position in Christ and are enabled, empowered, and energized by God through the work of the Holy Spirit, the quality of our walk is impacted because it's His life. It's Christ's life.

There's one more reason it's not something for us to do or another thing to do. We might be tempted to think we really need to try harder. Or add this to our daily to-do list. Oh, I've got to do this and this and this and make sure I don't do this and this and this and this. And on top of that, I need to walk in the Spirit. And just add that to our daily Christian to-do list.

When we take a closer look, we find it isn't ours to do at all. It's not our job at all. Instead we find our place is to depend entirely upon these ministries of the Holy Spirit for living out of this life. And what is the Holy Spirit going to do but focus us upon Christ? That's faith in God's work, not faith in our work. Faith in God's work, not faith in our work. It's not what we're going to pull off.

It's what God has already done, is doing, and will do. And depending upon that and believing Him for those things. God does not ask us to do anything that He hasn't already provided for entirely and 100%. in who we are, our identity, in our motive, in our enabling, empowering, and energizing to carry it out. Anything that God asks you to do, He's already made every provision for in who you are and in the empowering, energizing, and enabling to do it.

God does not ask us to be anything to be motivated or do it ourselves from our own resources ever. One of the ways we put it previously is God does not delegate something to you to do and then say, check back with me later, I'll let you know how you did. God doesn't operate that way. God doesn't delegate something to you to do on your own and then say, we'll see how you did.

That's not the way he does things. It's his very life lived through us by the ministries of the Holy Spirit. All He asks us to do is to believe Him. That's not our work. Believing Him, having faith in Him is not our work. We get no credit for it, no merit. All it is is faith in His work and His accomplishment. It's not mechanical procedure and it's not an administrative function.

In our world of how-to books and videos and administrative procedures, it's easy to fall into steps and checklists. And you will find Christians even wanting that. Well, give me the checklist. Give me the how-to. And that mindset's a problem because that tells me how I can do it instead of how he can do it. Here are the things that you must do is the typical mindset that goes along with that.

Walking by means of the Spirit is depending on what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do, and about our personal relationship with Him and our fellowship with Him. Our fellowship with Him. Ongoing fellowship. You cannot walk by means of the Spirit without fellowshipping with the Lord.

And you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Now the last part of this verse tells us that for each moment that we continue to walk by means of the Spirit, we will not be carrying out the driving passions of the flesh. The flesh is the sin nature operating through the physical body. So 100% walking by the Spirit is 0% flesh. There's no mixture here, no gray scale. No percentages. It's 100% walking by the Spirit means 0% flesh.

The flesh, as you recall, is an expression of that sin nature we talked about back in Romans 6 and 7, working in and through our bodies. Walk by the Spirit, and that sin nature will not be using this body as a military instrument, to use the term there. So how do you like extreme? Do you like extreme? Walk by the Spirit and you will not, absolutely will not, carry out the desire of the flesh.

His message here is emphatic. It uses a word pair in the Greek text there. The not is the most extreme way you can say it in the Greek language. And it has this idea. He's saying, walk in the Spirit and there is not the slightest chance. Walk in the Spirit and it's not even a remote possibility. There is no way you will carry out the desire of the flesh. That's the way he puts it. He puts it in extreme terms. Walk by the Spirit and the flesh will have nothing to do with this. At any moment, it's a walk by means of the Spirit, or we carry out the desire of the flesh.

There is no just kind of nice mixture in between. None of that. There is no hybrid here. It isn't a little bit of Spirit, a little bit of flesh. No strange mixtures. This is completely by the Spirit, and then no flesh. So, walk by means of the Spirit. Is it I or we?

As Paul wrote in Galatians 5.16, the words are plural. So to put it in sort of a Texan way here, so all y'all must be walking by means of the Spirit. All y'all must be walking by means of the Spirit. Paul intended this for the entire church body, so all of you must be walking by means of the Spirit. So he intended for each one of us to walk by the Spirit. It is not something, well, you know, there's certain select ones here that we have walking by the Spirit and the rest of them, well, who knows, right?

It's every single believer in the church body. And by the way, this church body he was writing to, no believer was greater than two years old in the Lord. At the time he wrote this letter. Since the imperative was by nature an appeal to the will of each believer, it was individual as well. So it applied to all of them, but each individual believer had an act of will to walk by the Spirit.

Each believer has the indwelling Holy Spirit with those ministries. One of Paul's key points in this verse, in the context of the passage here, is the believer walks in the Spirit when the believer is not living under law nor living out any lawlessness.

A lot of Christians, when they hear, oh, it's pure grace, grace all the time, they freak out. Why? Because they think, oh, if I'm not under law, then I'm going to be lawless. I'm just going to go hog wild. And Paul's point here, no, that's not the case. You would not go hog wild.

Why? Because the Spirit will have control. The spirit will carry out love, joy, peace, patience, and so on as he goes down the passage here, including self-control. That's the way the spirit looks lived out in the believer's life. So no, it's not the flesh, and it's not lawlessness, and it's not law either. I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh and you don't need the law to help do that. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. If you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law.

Why on earth, why in heaven's name do believers think they need a little bit of law to help the Spirit out? Is the Spirit somehow deficient? Is the life of Christ not going to pull off righteousness? Live through us. Why do we need law? Strange thing. He makes it very clear. If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law, not under some law, not under one, not even one.

Here's Galatians 5.16 expanded and explained here. But in view of the critical issues before you, I, Paul, an apostle, say to you all, In view of your position in Christ and the motivation of God's grace and His intent to empower your every step, you must all right now continually walk by means of the multiple ministries of the Holy Spirit who indwells you all. And this as a consequence of your walking by means of the Spirit, each one of you who is doing so will not be carrying out in the course of life the corrupt desire of the sin nature as expressed in and through your fleshly body. Let's go on to verses 17 and 18 here.

For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. One of the key points here is that the spirit and the flesh are opposite. Not equal, but opposite. The flesh is the sin nature expressed through our physical bodies. The spirit is the Holy Spirit of God who indwells every single member of the body of Christ Each one of us who has believed for salvation in Christ for all time. It is the Holy Spirit who indwells every single believer. And think about this.

The Holy Spirit is for how long? Forever, right? Forever. The flesh is for how long? Not much longer. As long as we've got this body, the flesh will be around, but the flesh is terminal. The flesh is always terminal. So do you want to live by a principle that is terminal, or one that lasts forever? Good question.

As a believer in Christ, you have ongoing, passionate, internal Opposition of two entities within yourself that the unbeliever doesn't have. This is something a lot of Christians don't get. As a believer, there is a war going on. There is a war going on that the unbeliever doesn't have. The unbeliever doesn't have. But that does not mean that the two forces, though they're opposite, are equal at all.

Unbelievers have a ministry of the Holy Spirit that is conviction of the Holy Spirit, John 16.8. And so it says there, He, when He comes, and that's He, not it. He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

That's for unbelievers. for unbelievers because they don't have the Holy Spirit in them. They don't have all the ministries of the Holy Spirit, but they do have the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit. They don't have the multiple ministries that we as believers have. that we have because we're in Christ and we're in the Spirit.

The Spirit and the flesh are certainly opposites. They are by no means equal. We mentioned one thing and that is that the flesh is terminal. The Holy Spirit is eternal. So opposite? Yes. Equal? No. The Holy Spirit is about who you are eternally, forever, in Christ.

The flesh is only about who you once were in Adam, and when this body is gone, so is the flesh, so is the sin nature. The Spirit is about the new creation. The flesh is about the old creation. There will come a day, there will come a day, When we will have new bodies, as 1 John puts it, we will be like him, like Christ, because we'll see him as he is. We will have a body without this flesh.

Until that day, until that day, the exhortation, the call for us to walk by means of the Spirit is what we are called to each and every day, each and every moment. is important here at the end of verse 17. This is a summary statement of what is recorded in Romans chapter 7 starting with verse 7 to the end of the chapter. This says in only half a verse what Romans 7, 7 to the end of the chapter, spells out. You may not do the things that you please. The word please here is translated from a word that means our own willing.

You may not will to do things and not do things. Some Christians have the idea, oh, well, I'm going to decide to do the right thing, and I'm going to decide not to do the wrong thing. Wrong answer. This, in half a verse, and Romans 7, for most of the chapter, say you cannot simply decide to do the right thing and not to do the wrong thing. Not going to happen.

The bottom line in these two passages, we cannot independently will this or that moral outcome or behavior in our lives. There will always be a dependence upon a principle and it will either be the flesh or the spirit. It's from inside that dependence that we decide to do or not do something. But it's a dependence upon either the flesh or the spirit.

God does not want for us to simply make good decisions, good moral decisions about doing this and not doing that. There is no place of standing apart from the flesh and the spirit and making good choices. There is no place like that, spiritually speaking.

Paul said in Galatians 5.16 that we as believers must walk, pattern our lives by means of the spirit. In this verse, Paul tells us what we can't do. You must do this, but remember, you can't do this. Whether or not we're aware of it, we cannot remain in some spiritually neutral zone where we can make good decisions. There is no such place. It doesn't happen.

We can't just shift and decide we're going to do something. There is always either a dependence upon the flesh, the sin nature operating through this body or the spirit, always. We'll either walk by means of the spirit or the sin nature will lead us around by the nose. It's one or the other. Our choice is not simply to make good moral choices.

That's not our place. The first and priority issue is where is our dependence? So, here's what God doesn't expect from us. He does not ask or expect us that once we are told what behaviors to carry out and not carry out, that we'll simply will to do the right thing and will not to do the wrong thing. If you do that, guess what? You're headed for trouble. Why?

Because you've been told twice, Romans 7 and Galatians 5.17, that you cannot simply will to do the right thing and not do the wrong thing. Many Christians set themselves up for tremendous disappointment and failure and guilt and all sorts of things because they think they can. God does not expect that he will just give us moral assignments. You do this, that's the right thing to do. This is the wrong thing to do, don't do that. That doesn't work. We don't stand aloof apart from our dependents. We can't just simply will a behavioral outcome and say, see, I did the right thing.

What God does expect is that we believe Him and trust Him and that the life of Christ carried out through us as a ministry of the Holy Spirit, that will pull off what God wants. This is the amazing opportunity that we have before us. to depend upon His life and in fellowship with Him. So if we're right now walking by means of the Spirit, God calls us then to continue to do so. If you're walking right now by means of the Spirit, keep on doing that. If you're walking by the flesh, then God calls us to walk by means of the Spirit. Change your dependency, Change your dependency because that's the priority for the believer.

Where is my dependency? Not just making good moral decisions. Not just making good moral decisions. You may not do the things that you please. We never stand outside of walking by means of the spirit of the flesh to simply choose an action. God will never be pleased, nor will he expect us to simply do or not do. particular action. All our choices are made by either walking by means of the spirit or walking by means of the flesh, even if we're not aware of it.

So Galatians 5.17, here's 1 Thessalonians 4.9, now as To the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.

How does that happen? Christ does it. Christ does it. Not just because we decide to do it. The letters of the New Testament will say a great many things. All those instructions are important. The first priority is not in the willing or the doing of those things, but in our dependence upon the Lord. Okay? With grace as our motive to be enabled and empowered and energized by means of the Holy Spirit, that's the opportunity that we have before us here.

Galatians 5.18, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Walk by means of the Spirit. That's what we are to do. And it's even put as a must But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Not under 613, as the Jews were. Not under 10. Not under 9 or 11 or any other variation. Not under 1. Not under law at all.

From Galatians chapter 3 to chapter 6, the person in ministry of the Holy Spirit has been and will be a key theme as we look through it. From chapter 1 to chapter 6, the law has been and will be a key theme. Paul presents a pivotal principle regarding the spirit and the law here in this verse. Why do we not need the law? We are led by the spirit. We are walking in the spirit. We don't need the law to help.

First, the if here. is assumed to be true. That's the structure of the Greek, if, and it's assumed to be true. Why is the if there? The if is presented there in order for you to think through the process with him. That's why the if is there, not to cast doubt.

If you, and that includes us, are led by the Spirit, you're not under law. He uses it here to include the readers in his thinking, and of course us along with that. He wasn't asking that they doubt anything about it or question it. Led by the Spirit, that's not something that depends upon us. The Holy Spirit does the leading, right? It doesn't depend upon us. We depend upon the Holy Spirit. Every believer is being led by the Spirit of God all the time. That's part of our eternal position in Christ. Now whether we follow that leading, that's another question.

Paul's exhortation in Galatians 5.16 is that we walk by means of the Spirit who always leads us, that's one of the things we saw in Romans chapter 8, and not try to do it on our own. This verse is not an exhortation, but rather a statement of fact regarding our position in Christ. We are always being led by the Spirit.

If you are being led by the Spirit, and you in fact are, it's assumed to be true, then you are not under law. You are not under law some of the time. You're not under law at all. It's a logical if statement. True of every believer, all time. If you as a believer are led by the Spirit, and you are, then you are not under the law. That's Paul's logic here. No law, in part, or otherwise, none, zip, ever.

So now, spiritually speaking, you need some law in your life like a fish needs a bicycle. Okay? Spiritually speaking, you need some law in your life like a fish needs a bicycle. That's the pattern. Okay? Notice something else here. The Spirit of God always leads every single believer, but we are not forced to follow His leading. See that?

We're not like robots that are just programmed and we're going to follow the Spirit. That's why the exhortation to walk by means of the Spirit, who is always leading us, we're not forced to it. He is the Holy Spirit, not the holy slave driver. Neither does the Holy Spirit work through law or place us under law. If you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. The Holy Spirit needs no law to help in the process of leading us. How many laws? None. Needs no law to help in the process of leading us.

It's not some sort of a hybrid. Paul has said in verse 16, if we walk by means of the Spirit, we absolutely and 100% will not walk by means of the flesh. It's just like you've got this high-tech jet here. It does not have hybrid power with some backup pedals for the pilot, right? There's no mixture here. It's not some of his energy and then some of the energy from the fuel. They are mutually exclusive. It's one or the other. Mutually exclusive entirely.

Paul has also said that we who believe are in fact led by the Spirit and we're not under law or a principle of law. One of the points that we make here, it's not just the law of Moses, but any other principle. You'll have Christians that say, oh well, we need the Ten Commandments and by the way, we've got these other rules too. You've got to not do this, and you've got to make sure you do that, and we've got all this set of rules that our particular group came up with, and things that you most certainly must or should not do. No principle of law. We're not operating that way. The leading of the Holy Spirit totally excludes the law. Totally.

So here's Galatians 5, 17, and 18, expanded and explained. For the flesh, which is the sin nature as expressed through the body, sets its desire passionately against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit likewise sets its desire passionately against the flesh. For the Holy Spirit and the flesh are by fundamental character locked in opposition to one another. You're not going to work something out. A counselor between them will not fix it. You can't just get them to get along. They never will. Lock in opposition to one another so that you may not simply will to do the things that you might desire to do.

Oh, I'm going to do this because it's the right thing. No, you will not. But if you are led by the Spirit and it is assumed that you are for the sake of drawing a logical conclusion, then you are categorically not under the law or any principle of law. You don't need it. The Holy Spirit is not inadequate.

He can, you can't, is the message of this set of verses here. He can pull it off, but we're told very directly and distinctly, we can't and we're not supposed to. God does not want us trying to be a good Christian. That's not his intent. He is well able to do everything that's required. Everything. and has done everything to make it that way, and it's all out of grace. If you want to feel guilty, I just can't help you. I just can't help you. His resources for our living are infinite. It's Christ's life. There is no disappointment in Christ's life. I can disappoint myself If I try to live it out on my own, there is no disappointment in his life. He's completely adequate. All he wants for us to do is to believe him. And contrary to what you hear coming out of that TV set, not to believe in ourselves, right? Not to believe in ourselves, but to believe in him. This is all good news for us. Every bit of it good news.

What he seeks to do in our lives is something we're just not capable of doing on our own. He tells us that. Our God never intended for us to do it on our own. One other thing. The he can is personal. In recognizing that he can do what he says he can do, the he can, we say he can, we can't, It's personal. What do I mean by that?

God's not just in the business of giving us the mechanical energy and the mechanics needed for life. That's one reason why at Holly Hills we're disinclined to say, OK, here's your checklist of five things and you do it this way and here's the cookbook. No, we don't do that because it's personal. We don't want to get into the here's the list and here's the checklist. We want to keep focusing.

It's personal. The essential aspects of our believing Him and resting and depending upon Him are personal. It's personal fellowship with Him that God's looking for. He's loved us personally and gave Himself for us. And as a matter of fact, as we saw in Galatians 2.20, Paul puts it personally, He loved me and gave Himself for me so that we might fellowship with Him, each one of us.

Each one of us. It's indeed personal. A walk by the Spirit is not mechanical. It's personal. Christ's life living through us is personal, not mechanical. He loved us and gave himself for us. Our life is to be lived by faith in Him personally. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you. We give you praise. What you have done is awesome. It is amazing. And Lord, we look to you to take this truth and that it might be lived out personally as a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that it might be Christ's very life that is lived out. And we thank you for this amazing motive and the means and indeed the opportunity that you've put before us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.