Download Diabolical Defection

Live
Free…Free to Winning the
War
Within
Live a Cross
Pt 1
Centered Life Galatians 5:13-15
• There is a great misconception about
what living the Christian life is about.
–Many think that once they give their
life to Christ life will be perfect,
everything will align just right and
they will no longer have to face
struggles of any sort.
–God has ordained that even though
every believer is being shaped into
the image of Jesus Christ, it only
happens a little bit at a time.
• The secret is in learning to "walk by
the Spirit" (v. 16).
–If the Christian life looks too hard,
we must remember that we are not
called to live it by ourselves. We
must live it by the Spirit of God.
• People who try to love without relying
on God's Spirit always wind up trying
to fill their own emptiness rather than
sharing their fullness
1. Walking in the Spirit gives us
victory over sin (16a)
• What Is Walking by the Spirit?
–Literal translation = “keep on walking”
• It is a continuous, regular action
• A habitual way of life
• So it implies steady progress in one
direction by means of deliberate
choices over a long period of time
• As a believer submits to the Spirit's
control, he moves forward in his
spiritual life.
–It has the idea of allowing the Holy
Spirit to guide every part of your life
on a daily basis
• The Holy Spirit does not operate on
auto-pilot…he waits to be
depended upon…for us to listen
and obey
• It is an active choice of the will not a
passive submission.
• Why is it necessary?
–To give us victory over the desires of
our flesh
–Verse 16 promises victory over the
desires of the flesh—not that there
won't be a war, but that the winner of
that war will be the Spirit.
–When you allow your flesh to fulfill
its desires you are no longer walking
in the Spirit.
• At all times in our Christian lives
we are either walking by the Spirit
or are functioning in fleshly desire,
but never both at the same time.
2. The continual struggle with sin is
inevitable (17-18).
• There is a constant battle between our
flesh and the Spirit
–Paul often uses the term flesh to
describe what remains of the "old
man" after a person is saved.
–It refers to unredeemed humanness
–The “flesh” of Christians is their
propensity to sin,
• The unsaved person knows nothing of
the conflict that believers share.
• Only believers experience the conflict
between the Spirit that wants to do
what is right and the flesh that wants
to sin.
• The conflict is that believers do not
always do what they wish to do.
–There are those moments in every
Christian's experience when the
wishing is present but the doing
is not.
• Every believer, young and old has this
same conflict of desires raging within
them.
–Oh what a difference this would make
in our marriages and in our parenting
if we would simply take the time to
understand our spouses and children
from this perspective…there is a war
raging within their hearts as well as
your own…what are we going to do
to come alongside that
individual instead of combating them.
• It is okay to struggle just make sure
your choices are pleasing to God.
–Our ongoing struggles and
temptations are not in themselves
sinful.
• Nowhere in this text or throughout the
whole Scripture will you find
condemnation because you struggle
with sin.
• It’s not the struggle that matters; it’s
how we respond.
–God has given us everything we need
to win the battles.
–Direct access to Him through His
Son…the strength and power of His
Spirit and of prayer…equipped by His
word…protected by His
armor…encouraged by His people.
–The choice is ours…use all of God’s
resources and win…attempt to use
our own resources and fail.
• Allow the Spirit to Guide You.
–We do not walk along with Him as an
equal, but follow His leading as our
sovereign, divine Guide.
–The believer who is walking in the
Spirit is also led by the Holy Spirit
and must be willing to go wherever
the Spirit guides him and do
whatever the Spirit leads him to do.
• The surrendered believer who is being
led by the Spirit is no longer seeking his
own but rather seeks the things which
belong to Christ Jesus and are fitting
with his character.
• Believers do not need to pray for the
Spirit's leading, because He is already
doing that.
–What we need to seek for is a
willingness and obedience to follow
His leading.
Life Step – Take steps in the right
direction every day.
• Walking in the Spirit is not some
mystical experience reserved for a few
special Christians. It’s God’s design
for normal Christian living.
–It’s nothing more than choosing (by
God’s grace) to take steps toward
righteousness day after day after
day.
Final Thought
Through the struggle with sin your
soul is made strong and you are
being made fit for heaven. Stand and
fight, child of God. The Lord is on
your side.