Knowing and Growing – Galatians 5:16-26

We're going through this mini-series. The big picture is Knowing and Growing. That's in order to keep the title short because it's actually three different titles that take up one whole line and we've shrunk them down to Knowing and Growing. This particular part through the end of the month is Knowing the Lord. And so for that, we've included selected passages from the New Testament. We've mentioned that there are passages from the Old Testament that would also apply.

And so we're not being exhaustive here. At the beginning of next month, we'll be moving on to what God is doing in the life of the believer for six months. We did that previously in 2011, and we're going to be making some Rather than just turning the crank and doing it again, we're going to be making some modifications to it here and there. And toward the end of it, quite a bit of modification. So, today we're looking at Galatians 5, and the first verse in chapter 6. So, explicitly that's 5.13-6.1. We're going to put most of the focus, for our purposes, on Galatians 5, 16-18 and 22-26.

It's not that the rest of it isn't useful, it certainly is, it's just we have a particular focus and intent that we're going to be putting our time in. And one of the other things I'll mention is one of the best kept secrets in all of Christendom is tucked away in this passage. It is one that most churches, and I'll even say most pastors, don't get quite right. And it stains their messages, their teaching, what they communicate to people, even in counseling.

But we're going to be taking a look at it. It's right there in the Bible. but it's often overlooked. Okay, so with that, let's take a look starting at verses 13-15 of Galatians 5. So Galatians 5, 13-15, and I've got some notes and various kinds of adjustments here that I think are helpful.

So it goes like this, For you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not, and that's an imperative, turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh. For through love serve one another, that's an imperative. So you must serve one another. For the requirements of the whole law regarding relationships with others is fulfilled in one word, that is one message, in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But, and this is Allah, which is a sharp contrast, if you bite and devour one another, which is assumed to be true, that's the if, Take care, that's an imperative, that you are not consumed by one another. All right, so let's kind of walk our way.

How does the Apostle Paul start off the book of Galatians? After kind of saying, Hi, I'm Paul, and all that, what does he come up with as the opening statements? He's talking about they're so quick to follow some other doctrine. They're quick to follow another doctrine in teaching, and as a matter of fact, what does he say about the doctrine in teaching?

If anyone presents to you a gospel Other than the one that we presented to you, may he play patty cake. Right? No. What did they say? May he be accursed or condemned. Yeah, I mean he gets intense with it. Right? So this is not a minor matter. This isn't a... Boy, that's irritating. Isn't he talking about maybe Gnostic teachings?

In this particular case, it's the introduction of the law as a means, as an essential ingredient to the gospel. The Judaizers were coming in and saying you've got to keep the law, the law of Moses, and you've got to sign up for that in order for your salvation to be effective. And if you bypass the law, that somehow that makes your salvation ineffective. And so that's what a significant message is throughout the whole book. So what's the result of that message, you've got to keep the law, what's it doing to the church body? What are they coming up with as a result of a number of them trying to keep the law?

I'm sorry, what's that? Dissension, and you mentioned? Accusations. In other words, so what's happening, and he's describing it, is they're biting and devouring one another, right? So he's saying by some of you, not all of them, but by some of you, a significant number of you, trying to keep the law, how that works itself out is not only are there those that don't agree, and therefore there's that disagreement, but is the law kind of grayscale?

You kind of sort of keep it? And that's the problem with the law is it's absolute, so it puts people who say, well, wait a minute, we're not under law, and those who are saying, yes, you are, and you better get it straight, they're really at each other, right? And so you've got that going on. And then on other things, do the Jews all agree about the law and how it's supposed to be applied? Not even close, right? There's all these different groups. You know, there's like a dozen different kinds of Pharisees So even among certain groups, you'd say, well, these people have it together. No, they don't.

They're all arguing, and in some cases, the disagreement was so sharp that they actually had strategies. We're going to invite you to some meeting to discuss it, and in the end, we're going to kill you. They actually had that happen. So it got to the point where, yeah, we're going to have a discussion, but in the end, you're dead. So it was actually, I'm going to do you in because we disagree. So it was that intense.

And so disagreements about the law within what might be otherwise viewed as like the Pharisees, we think of them, hey, they got it together and all that. No. So disagreements between different groups and then within groups, even within the Pharisees, it was something like 300 some odd, 348 comes to mind, but don't quote me on that, I have to double check that. Different areas of disagreement among the Pharisees. Yes? So it was like basically early church splits?

Yes, right, and so now by glomming on to the law, and I've got those who say we're under it and those who say we're not, now even if I've got the law, then okay, what part of it have I signed up for? And then you've got these Gentiles, this law stuff, I don't know, they're being told that they're under this thing. 613, have you got that all memorized? Eh, not so much, right? Yeah.

So that is why Paul came down so hard on the Galatians. Yeah, I mean, who has bewitched you? And you have fallen from grace, things like that, where he speaks very strongly. And he uses a number of illustrations and a number of different ways to make his point. And by the way, having been so very clear to Christians today, do they get it?

No, you don't. And so you have here a great disagreement, and so just kind of walking through it, you're called to freedom, brethren, only do not, imperative, turn your freedom into the opportunity for the flesh, the flesh being the sin nature as it operates through the body, right? But through love serve one another. That's what you should be doing, not the bickering and arguing and, you know, I'm under this law and I'm not, I follow this rabbi, no, he's not the right one, it's this guy over here, you know, and so they're going at each other. He says, for the requirements of, that is, the law as it aims to fulfill righteousness of the whole law, and this is only the whole law with regard to relationships with others, is fulfilled in one word, that is one message.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So but, and in Greek there are two kinds of but. One is but which is a slight turning point in the discussion, and the other is but in sharp contrast. This is the sharp contrast. Allah is the word. In short contrast, if you bite and devour one another, and it's assumed to be true, that's exactly what you're doing, take care that you are not consumed by one another. So he's had these warnings, so the righteousness of the whole law regarding our relationship with others is summed up in you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's out of Leviticus 19, verses 17 and 18.

The verses quoted in several places in Matthew, I give the references starting with chapter 5, chapter 19, chapter 22, Mark 12, 31, Luke 10, 25, 37, several places in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, James 2.8 and 4.12, the whole quote is in Mark 12, 31, which is actually from two different passages, so Deuteronomy 6, 4, and 5, bottom of page 1, regarding one's relationship with God. Here, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And if you're to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your might, is that you are Him.

He provides the ability. For the Christian, the resource needs to be him. For the Jews living in Old Testament times on into the Gospel, was it God's doing through them or was it theirs to do? It was theirs to do, right? And hence that's the problem. So Leviticus 19, 17, 18 is the one that's being quoted here and is actually most often quoted in the New Testament of the two passages.

You shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart. You may surely reprove your neighbor, but you shall not incur sin because of him, that is, hate him. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

And by the way, was that applicable from the Sanhedrin to Jesus? Should that have applied to them? Should they have loved Jesus? Yeah. Did they? No, not so much. So, they figured out ways around it. Alright, so this is what he's talking about. He says, even if I appeal to the law, the law is going to tell me to love my neighbors.

So that brings us to the focal point of the passage, and actually the last three times I've gone over to Uganda I've taught on this passage, 516-18. Every time. And the last time I taught through it twice. Once all in English and the other where half of it was translated. until we run out of time into the local language. OK, so here we have Galatians 5, 16 through 18. And let's take a look at these various notes and explanatory things.

Then I say, by spirit walk. Walk by the spirit is what the English translations typically have it. But by spirit walk, you must by spirit walk. That's imperative. And you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. That's the serks. that the sin nature is that it operates through the body. For the flesh sets its desire, epithumale, against the spirit, and the spirit, implied epithumale, against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another. Why does Paul tell us that the spirit and the flesh are in opposition to one another, and that their opposition is set? Why does he tell us that? Is that useful information, or just superfluous?

Okay, it's useful because of? Because you have to understand why you have all this trouble. Ah! This is a very important insight, isn't it? Right? As in, is it possible that the believer deals with more conflict than the unbeliever? It could very well be. And what's at the root of the conflict? This, right? It is possible that the believer finds himself or herself in more internal conflict because of this, because of this truth, than the unbeliever. It's possible that someone becomes a believer and then finds themselves in this conflict that they didn't have before. Okay, so that's one important insight. There's another... Yes, Stan? There, both of them are unchangeable. This is very important.

Am I going to work out a compromise between the flesh and the spirit? Can't we just get along? Yeah, so this is another key thing and an important truth, that working out a compromise, trying to find these two such that they're somehow getting along, not not squabbling with one another, not putting me at tension. Good luck with that.

Right? Yeah, Jim? I've always thought, as you know, I've always thought that this lock by the spirit is a command, isn't it? It is. It is a command. Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the devil. All I'm saying is that the Da, which is in the English translations, is not present in the original language. So that's why I say by Spirit walk imperative. You could say by Spirit you must walk.

Da is not in the original language. Not in Greek. Right. So the emphasis then, when the definite article is not there, the emphasis is on character. By the character of the Spirit walk, and it would actually, you could put a message in there with the definite article and some sense could be made out of that. By the Holy Spirit, not some other one. But, in this case, his emphasis is on the character of the Holy Spirit. By the character of the Holy Spirit walk. So that would be one thing. And then, you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

So, let's put it this way. Can I work out some sort of 50-50 deal where the flesh and the spirit get along and I don't have this conflict? And you're happy? Yeah, you know, everything's calm and there's no tension and all that, you know. Can I work out a deal? Now, how about this other thing? How about this other approach that I kind of do a 50-50 mix? Or some other thing?

What about, you know, this might sound good, especially in our kind of democratic mindset, how about if I walk 80% in the spirit and only 20% in the flesh? I mean, that's kind of majority spirit, isn't that good? Well, the idea is you want to walk completely in the Spirit. Okay. Is it possible for me to walk at any moment, like right now, here I am, I'm at Holly Hills, I'm standing right in front of my brothers and sisters, we're going over the Word of God, can I work out an 80-20 deal? Well, notice this.

If I walk in the Spirit, is there some percentage of flesh that's going to get by? I don't know if you're truly walking in the Spirit. No. So truly walking in the Spirit says that there's no 70-30, 80-20, 90-10 deals happening. At any moment, there's no mix. It's an either-or situation. Yeah. How are you doing in your relationship with the Lord? Well, the question is right now, it's either 100% or zero. There isn't anything in between.

Ever see the switches that are rheostats? That is where you can kind of change the lighting level at different levels and you've got a dimmer and you can make it not quite so bright and mostly bright and then push it up all the way? And a dimmer switch, and so you've got variations that this thing works with. Do all lighting fixtures accommodate that?

No. As a matter of fact, these here particularly don't. They don't accommodate, you know, shades of, okay, we've got a half lighting level, or 60%. It doesn't work. It's either on or it's off. And that's it. And that's the way it is with the spirit and the flesh. You don't have any grayscale mixture in there. Okay. So then, here's where we get There are some really key things, and that's in the next paragraph.

The last part of Galatians 5.17 is among the best-kept secrets in all of Christendom. It's among the best-kept secrets in all of Christendom. You, as a believer, are never, not ever, in a place of simply willing to do the right thing and willing not to do the wrong thing. I heard a message from a pastor in Carson City.

If you're a good Christian, you'll do this. If you're not, you'll do that. Is that biblical? No. Can a believer simply will, simply make the choice to do the right thing and not to do the wrong thing and bypass this issue of walking in the Spirit or not? If I walk in the Spirit, I will not satisfy the desires of the flesh. Do I have another option? And that is, you know, I'm just going to decide apart from the Holy Spirit to do the right thing.

And the answer is no. The last part of Galatians 5.17 says you can't do it. But most of Christendom, and a great many pastors, even evangelical pastors at nice churches, will appeal to people as if you could.

And it's completely against what the last half of Galatians 5.17 teaches. But that's not the only place.

We also have in Romans 7.15-21 multiple verses that say the exact same thing and even uses the same vocabulary, same Greek word, same English word.

What's translated there is that so that you may not do, live out the things that you please, You may not simply will to do the right thing and to do the wrong thing to turn it away. Because what's the priority decision? What is the essential decision that the believer makes? Do I decide to do the right thing or decide not to do the wrong thing? Is that my real decision?

Okay, you sit down with the pastor and he tells you to do this and don't do that. It's not the thing, I think it's the state you're in. So, let's suppose. Can I be in the spirit and in the flesh at the same time? No. Can I stand apart from being in the spirit and being in the flesh? Is there some other middle, in-between choice? So, the pastor sits down and counsels, do this, don't do that. Guess what? He may be telling the person morally, this is the right choice, this is the wrong choice, but to directly tell them, choose to do this and don't do that, is unbiblical.

Because the difference is, and it comes back to what we began talking about earlier, am I abiding in Christ? Am I walking in the Spirit? What we're doing is using different terms for what essentially is the same thing, isn't it? Am I fellowshipping with the Lord? Am I depending upon the Lord? And apart from me, Christ said in John 15, you can do A few things? Some things?

No. And so what about a branch that does the right thing while it's not abiding in the vine? came not working. But what do a great many pastors teach from the pulpit? What do a great many teachers teach on the television and on the radio and all those different media outlets? And what do they sit down and do in counseling? You make an act of will to do this and you don't decide to do that. That's the instruction they'll give. Can you do that?

The end of Galatians 5.17 says, uh-uh, here's the Apostle Paul. Can't do it.

Here is Romans 7.15-21, it says the exact same thing in more verses, using the exact same vocabulary. You cannot will to do the right thing and will not to do the wrong thing. Paul was told, thou shalt not covet. How did you? All the way down. Yeah, I was coveting him, coveting him, coveting him. Why? Because this, this truth, right there.

So counseling that just gives you make this moral choice not this one, make this ethical choice not that one, is unbiblical. It doesn't mean that the moral choice out there is unbiblical, but that approach to dealing with life is unbiblical. Because the primary choice is not do the right thing and don't do the wrong thing. That's biblically impossible.

What is biblical is abide in Christ. What is biblical is walk in the Spirit. What is Romans 611? Reckon yourself dead to the sin nature and alive to God. There's the spiritual mechanics, if you will. But it's how you consider yourself in relationship to the sin nature and to God that's at the outset. Otherwise, even if you try to do the right thing, The sin nature is going to use you as a military asset in the spiritual game of warfare, as a believer.

And as a believer, Romans 6.23, the sin nature will pay a wage for the believer who's trying to do the right thing. So is this where conscience comes in as well? Yeah, and here's an interesting thing.

Back in September 2012, I went to a high school reunion. I'll probably never do that again. Anyway, I went to a high school reunion and I remember corresponding in June before that with two of my former schoolmates. And it was interesting to have them, within days of one another, email me the same words, try to be a good person. Both of them used those exact same words, talking about trying to be a good person. Two separate people hadn't even talked to each other, and hadn't even seen each other for decades, but those words came out.

Is it the place of a believer to try to be a good person? Now these were unbelievers by the way, but is it the place of the believer to try to be a good person? Is that your job? Is it your job to try to be a good Christian? Is it your job to do what Jesus would do? Your job to do what Jesus would do. Is that your job as a Christian?

No. So this is what I would say is one of the best-kept secrets in all of Christendom. And to just tell Christians, look, forget about that trying to make the right decision, the right moral and ethical decision, and trying to avoid making the wrong one. The Apostle Paul, there's a guy, he's a Pharisee. I mean, he's really good at it. He's the best of the best. So what does he tell you? How did he do?

In Philippians, he tells him, you know, I had seven qualifications. Four of them I was born into and three of them were my own accomplishment. And I consider it all scuba line, rubbish or worse. It's all rubbish, because I just take one of the ten and try to keep it, and I'm in a mess. Back to the conscience again.

Paul talks about flesh, and he says passion and desires and all those negative things relative to the flesh. So those are tools of the flesh, so to speak. So what's the tool of the Holy Spirit? Is that conscience? So, okay, you ask a very good question. I didn't catch your question, but I think I understand a little better. Where does the conscience fit into all this? Where does the conscience fit into all this issue? Remember last night we talked about, or last Sunday rather, we talked about feeling guilty? Is that a part of the conscience?

I think so. Yeah, in other words, this is the back side, or the negative side, the conscience can make us feel guilty. Is guilt a motivation that the Lord intends to be operating as a regular feature in the life of the believer? No. No. It's not intended, in spite of what many Christians think, that guilt is not in the normal operating range of what God intends for the believer.

Okay? So, and that would be the back side of conscience. The other side of conscience would be to say, okay, this is the good thing, right? But what's the problem with the conscience? The conscience tells us from our own human standpoint what's right and what's wrong, right? It's not from the Holy Spirit. It's not from the Holy Spirit, so one question is, Is it possible for the conscience to get messed up?

I was telling Nancy last night, I said, I probably have more contact in my past with more mass murderers than anybody at Holly Hills. That's true. Jim Jones was my sister's 7th grade teacher. I used to sit right across from the PTA meetings. He killed a number of my high school friends. right along with all the other some 800 people that he killed. I had a friend from high school who dropped acid with Charles Manson, who lived not too far away. I went back to the high school 12 years after I graduated to teach.

Boy, was that a terrible experience. But they assigned me an assistant teacher. who was married to Leonard Lake. I don't know if that name rings a bell, but during the period of time, just after I met him, in the next couple of years, he had done horrible things, along with a friend of his, to about two dozen people. And this gal who was my assistant teacher helped him.

So crazy, horrible, awful things. Now guess what? Where did that horrible behavior come from for all these nutjobs? It's the flesh. Let's ask this question. Is the flesh always as bad as it could be? So I give these examples of these crazy nutjobs who were in one way or another mass murderers. And I can tell you their names and I've met them or had some other kind of secondary contact with them. So here are these crazy loony people and you look at them and say, well these are horrible, terrible people. Everybody knows they're just nut jobs.

But the flesh of the sin nature might actually even like to sign up for things that we would say are good. And that's part of the problem. is that the sin nature wants to do things apart from the Lord that look good. Yes? Many Christians would say though that their behavior came from Satan or from the devil. Yes, and that's a very good point. Often times we'll have an incorrect attribution. Oh, the devil made me do this, or the devil caused this and the devil caused that. But let's ask this question. We have three enemies. The world, the flesh, and the devil.

As a Christian, I have died in relationship to, that is a spiritual separation from the sin nature. This is a message of Romans chapter 6 and chapter 7. I've died in relationship to the law. This is Romans 7, 1-6 and Galatians 2.19. I have victory over Satan. This is out of Hebrews and his fear of death. And by the way, is there anything for me to be ultimately afraid of about Satan?

No, can Satan take away my eternal salvation or touch my position in any way? He can't do anything about any of that. He has absolutely zero influence on who I am in Christ and who Christ is in me and all the blessings that I have. He can't even touch it.

Satan roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, and what's our place to resist him? Both Paul and James tell us that. So we have a consistent message, resist Satan, Also, he roams about as a roaring lion, does that mean he's there all the time? So that's something for us to take a look at.

Satan and God are opposed, they are definitely not equal. God is omniscient, is Satan. God is all-powerful, is Satan. God is omnipresent, that is, there is no place to get away from him. Is that the same for Satan? Satan is not everywhere. Satan doesn't know everything. He's not all-powerful.

So you're right, there is among some Christians a tendency to way over-attribute things to Satan. It's probably the opposite error is to completely ignore him, but at the same point, every believer is dealing with the sin nature, as well as every unbeliever, dealing with the sin nature, and that's present for everyone, right? The world is constantly about us. Satan is the god of this world, lowercase g. Over-attributing things to Satan is a significant error, because that keeps us from dealing with the real enemy as it is.

Suppose I were to tell the guys who go into Afghanistan, Matt Kirby, right now, over in Afghanistan. Suppose I were to tell them, you know, there's an enemy out there, but those people are just like cotton candy, they just melt away. What's that going to do for those guys? Get them killed. Yeah, that's going to get people killed and injured and maimed and all sorts of awful things, and they're going to have a terrible surprise. And your credibility, if you told them that, is going down the tubes.

Because it's just simply not true. So in the same way, it's important for us as Christians to have a true assessment of the enemy. Telling people the wrong thing about the enemy is really bad news. We don't want to do that. So we want to tell people the biblical truth, and that's the only way to get it to truth.

There was a gal who was of charismatic background that came to me at the engineering office that I worked at. And she said, do you have a map of Carson City? I said, well sure I do, I've got several different ones, which one are you interested in? She told me she was interested in mapping out where the demons were. Oh yes, we have a map for that.

Yes, right, and so the demons are clustered around this area, around the cemetery, you know, and that's a particular place, and so you've got to walk around these different places and speak against the demons and bind Satan and all that stuff. The truth is what we need to do is to look at where does scripture say the enemy really is and what's the real character of the enemy and look at that truthfully and not develop our various mythologies and stories and imagined scenarios about the enemy. But to truly know what the enemy is and what we're dealing with and how to deal with them properly. Okay, so, looking down here, we have on the bottom of page 2, Galatians 5, 19-21, this talks about the deeds of the flesh. We're not going to put a lot of time in it, not that that isn't valuable, it is, but our purpose today is particularly to look at walking in the Spirit and the things that go along with that. So the top of page 3, the fruit of the Spirit, singular, Is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law.

So, such things, what does that tell you? This is not an exhaustive list. That's right. So this is not the complete list, it's a significant list, but it's not the whole story. Is the listing of the works of the flesh the whole story? Now, and so this is giving you examples. Significant, but examples, not the whole list.

So that's part one. What we look at here is the fruit of the Spirit is these things. Could we say that the fruit that comes out of walking by means of the Spirit is these? Does this connect up to 516? walk by the Spirit, or walk in the Spirit, and these things are the outcome. And so we see that. Now let's look at the bottom of page 3.

Galatians 5.25 is often understood as simply a restatement of what Paul had already written in Galatians 5.16, but I will tell you categorically it is not. We'll show them side-by-side, expanded, so you can better understand what Paul wrote. So Galatians 5.16a and b, and this is, then I say, by spirit walk, typically translated walk by the spirit.

This is peripateo. This isn't a pair of potatoes, this is peripeteo. Peripeteo means for an individual to walk about according to a spiritual principle in the biblical context. For example, this word would be used in the Greek Old Testament for Noah walked with God. Enoch, before the flood, walked with God. Those would be the uses of this word. So it's an individual walking according to a spiritual principle, because in fact, Ephesians 2 verses 1-3 has the unbeliever walking as well, according to a different spiritual principle, not walk with the Lord.

So step-by-step order of one's life according to a spiritual principle, that's the meaning of walk. as each individual walks. Yeah, the soil is to illustrate responsiveness. This, in this particular case, is not responsiveness, but actual walking, living out. But it's individual. Also, I should say that this is a Jewish term. It shows up in Genesis early because it's a Jewish term.

Enoch walked with God. They understood what that meant. Noah walked with God. They understood what that meant. Now let's look at this Galatians 5.25. Yes? That meant he spent his life with God. Yes. He step-by-step walked in fellowship with the Lord and according to the spiritual principle. Here's 5.25 which is often looked at as just a restatement, but it's not.

If we live by the Spirit, Let us also walk, different word, stoicheo, by the Spirit. And the difference is, whereas peripateo is my individual walk with the Lord, stoicheo is a word for Roman soldiers marching in unison. And Galatia was a place with five major cities, two of which were Roman colonies, with lots of Roman soldiers. So, he used this word with them, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk us.

And notice, we live and us, those words in there, it's now no longer individual, but it's now us as believers together. And this makes a huge difference. So walking by the Spirit, if we're walking individually in fellowship with the Lord, and then walking together in unison, all of us together, then there is harmony, and the biting and devouring one another is not happening. See that? So he's saying, instead of this biting and devouring one another, you individually walk by the Spirit step by step, each individual among you, fellowshipping with the Lord and walking by the Spirit's ministries. And then as you do that all together, and each one of you is walking by the Spirit, then together you will walk in unison.

See the distinction there? We're going to be heading in one direction, we're going to be walking in harmony and not in disunity. And so this is not just a restatement at all. What he's saying is, let's progress from arguing and fighting and devouring one another and squabbling over what part of the law applies to us and how we live it out. So we're going to end that by not by working out our differences according to the law, but Instead, we're going to individually walk in the Spirit, each believer, person having a relationship with the Lord, and also together then, walking in unison with one another and in harmony with one another, heading in the same direction at the same pace.

So in Galatians 5.25 where he says, if we live by the Spirit, is that the same thing as what he's talking about in 5.16? Individually walking by the Spirit? Yeah, notice he uses a different word there for live, it's not the same word as walk, but if we're living by the Spirit, and notice is if we live, so this is looking at if we together are living walking in the Spirit, then let us also walk in unison by the Spirit. So that what he's saying in 5.16 is me individually, what he's saying in 5.25 is all of us together, corporately.

And so they're not saying the same thing, it's actually progress. Now, then we get to the, what is the meaning of the last verse in that sequence, which is actually the people who divided up had Galatians 6-1, a different chapter, right? He says, Brethren, if anyone is caught in a trespass, that is, and the word means to fall alongside the path of fellowship, off the path of fellowship and alongside it, you who are spiritual, you who are walking in the Spirit, You who are walking in fellowship with the Lord and walking by the multiple ministries of the Holy Spirit, restore.

That word means, it's the word used for the disciples mending the nets. Same word. Mend the nets such that one does it in a spirit of gentleness. What if I try to mend the nets vigorously or violently? Does that work on mending nets? You probably would make a real bad connection. Dr. Luke, you would use the exact same word for setting a bone where it's going to heal. Do you do that violently?

You have to do it carefully. Carefully, and taking a real close look, carefully, gently putting things into place. So that things will heal properly. So that's the word. You who restore set so as to heal up, mend the torn net, right? In a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted. What's the temptation in dealing with another who has fallen off the path?

One is you could follow in the same path, or the other is that somehow in arrogance I end up causing another problem. Hey look, I'm a whole lot better than you. So you better listen because I know my stuff. I know my stuff and I know what the right thing to do is here. Let me tell you what that is. So listen up and get some instruction because I'm the master at this. Yes? I think it also falls into birds of a feather, because if you, in the process of making the correction, become too closer in fellowship, you too can It's very easy to get sucked into the same thing or the other thing is an arrogant or superior attitude that essentially puts you in a position of not being able to minister. and falling into another error.

So here's the expanded and explained version of that verse that fits in with the passage we just talked about in Galatians 5.16-25. Brethren in Christ, even if anyone in the church body is caught in any single trespass, by the way, how many trespasses do you deal with at once? One. Multiple places that you deal with one at a time.

So, as to have fallen off the path of fellowship with God and with other believers, you who are spiritual, that is, walking individually by the Spirit, restore and mend back to fellowship such a one in the spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself first and along the way, so that you too will not be tempted and therefore also fall off the path of fellowship. either by being sucked into the same problem or by arrogance getting yourself off track. Is there such a thing as an arrogant restoring ministry? Here it is, the last supper. The disciples are spending time with the Lord for the last hours before he's crucified. So what do they argue over? They argue over which one of them is the greatest.

Was that good for them? Not very good. That was a problem. Other thoughts, comments? We've kind of hit some parts more heavily and other parts not so much. Yeah? I'm just amazed that Jesus didn't really slam it on them when they were arguing about who's the greatest. Weren't you guys talking about that? Just very gentle. Not condemning them outright, but just saying, you know, Let's ask this question.

Here is Jesus, who is absolutely, totally, completely holy. How could he deal with them gently and patiently? And this wasn't the first time he dealt with them on this issue. How could he deal with them so gently and patiently? How is that possible? for a perfect God. Grace and mercy. Fundamental characteristics of God himself. Indwelling Christ. Here's the Apostle Paul who had sent Timothy to deal with the false teachers in Ephesus. 1 Timothy chapter 1. First several verses. I sent you to Ephesus to deal with the false teachers.

And what else does he tell them? Teach with great patience. Teach with great patience. I think both of them, or all three of them, realize that you're dealing with immature people who are just beginning to know what you know. And you just have to be very patient. And very gently urge them along the right path. That's hard. Ran out of time. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for making so many critical things clear in this passage. Things about what really matters is doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing, the first order of priority.

And you say, no, not really. It's walking in fellowship with you, walking by the multiple ministries of the Spirit. As we look at this, is it possible to restore when we have either our own vulnerability or arrogance? Nah, not really. Those are some critical things. We thank you for revealing that. Thank you that you do it with great patience with us, because you love us and care for us. We thank you that that comes shining forth from your word. We pray in Jesus' name.