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Freedom the Conflict Within Lesson 20 Galatians 5.16-18 100429 1 Two

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Freedom the Conflict Within Lesson 20 Galatians 5.16-18 100429 1 Two Freedom The Conflict Within Lesson 20 Galatians 5.16-18 100429 1 Two weeks ago, we looked at the first half of Galatians 5 in which the main theme is spiritual freedom. a It begins with the thunderous phrase … It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1). b The context of that sentence is picked up again in verse 13 where Paul says … You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love Galatians 5:13. 2 We discovered that this freedom is the freedom from legalism … trying to be justified before God, made righteous before God, to be accepted by God through obedience to God’s law rather than through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Now we are called to obey God’s law but not to be justified … but rather because we have been freely justified by faith in Christ. a The gospel frees you by declaring that Christ completely paid the penalty of your law breaking for you (therefore, you are completely forgiven) and Christ perfectly obeyed the law for you (therefore, you are declared righteous by God and completely accepted by God). b Paul summarizes this over in 2 Corinthians 5. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV84) 3 Since we have Christ’s righteousness as a gift through faith it means that no matter how much you obey God’s commands you will never be more loved, more accepted or more righteous before God. Conversely, no matter how much you sin you will never be less loved, less accepted or less righteous before God. 4 Why is that again? Because Christ’s righteousness has become your righteousness before God and therefore you are free from trying to earn it through your obedience but rather have it as a gift that Christ earned through his obedience. 5 When you understand this it completely changes the motivation for obeying God. Freedom / The Conflict Within / Lesson 20 / Galatians 5.16-18 1 a When you were self-justifying through legalism (If I keep the commands God will love/accept/have favor on me) your motivation for obedience was fear. God will “unfriend me” if I disobey. b Now that you are justified by faith and secure in Christ’s righteousness, your motive for obeying God is love for God (5:6b). The pressure of performance-based righteousness is gone. Now you are free to love God without the ulterior motive of getting favor from him. 6 So gospel freedom is not only freedom from trying to earn acceptance and righteousness through law-keeping, it is also freedom to obey God’s law in a new way, out of love for the one who so freely justified you at an infinite cost to himself. 7 So Paul says you are called to be free... but don’t use this gospel freedom as a way to indulge the sinful nature. a Don’t be deceived into thinking that since God will never unfriend you that it really doesn’t matter how you live. b Don’t be deceived into assuming that since no amount of obedience could ever make you more righteous before God that it is no longer important to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Mt 6:33). c Don’t be fooled into believing that since no amount of sin will ever make you less accepted or less righteous before God that sin is no longer a big deal with God. d Paul says don’t use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Galatians 5:13a. 8 So the freedom message of chapter 5 could be summarized like this: a Don’t lose gospel freedom through legalism. On the other hand, don’t abuse gospel freedom through license/permissiveness. b So how do you steer clear of legalism while also avoiding license. Paul says you do it with the help of the Holy Spirit or living by the Holy Spirit. 16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of Freedom / The Conflict Within / Lesson 20 / Galatians 5.16-18 2 rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. These verses tell us four things. 1) There are two natures in every believer, 2) the two natures are in conflict with each other, 3) the conflict centers around desires and 4) the desires produce behaviors. (1) There are two natures present within and at work in every Christian (v16-17), the nature of the Holy Spirit and the sinful nature. 1 At every moment in our life we are living by one and not gratifying the other. We are either living by the Spirit and not gratifying the desire of the sinful nature or we are living by the sinful nature and not producing the fruit of the Spirit. 2 So what Paul is doing here is urging the Galatians to live by the Spirit. To get a better grasp on this we need to be reminded of what the sinful nature is and how it works and who the Holy Spirit is and how He works. a The term “sinful nature” is translated from the Greek word sarx, which in most Bible versions is rendered “flesh”. • When used in the New Testament in the sense of opposing the Spirit, sarx does not refer to our physical body but to the sin- desiring aspect of our heart as opposed to the God-desiring aspect of our heart. Thus the NIV translates it sinful nature. b The term “Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit who, from the moment of faith in Christ, indwells our heart and imparts new life and a new nature. The Bible calls that being born again or regeneration. • Prior to faith in Christ our sinful nature occupied our heart, ruling unopposed. • But when we believed the Spirit supernaturally indwelled our heart bringing with Him a new nature. 3 So in one heart you have two natures, the sin nature and the regenerate nature; the nature of the flesh and the nature of the Spirit. This of course means (2) The two natures are in conflict with each other (v17). Freedom / The Conflict Within / Lesson 20 / Galatians 5.16-18 3 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want (Galatians 5:17). 1 The picture here is basically two sumo wrestlers trying to push each other out of the ring … flesh pushing against spirit, sinful nature grappling with regenerate nature. In Ephesians 4 this war is called the old man battling the new man and in 2 Corinthians 5, the old creation verses the new creation. 2 So there is a conflict and the result of this conflict is that we do not always do what we want to do. a And perhaps there is nothing more bewildering in all the Christian life than this … failing to do what your heart wants to do. b This is why Martin Luther in great consternation called himself a “righteous sinner”. In Romans 7 Paul puts into words what every believer from time to time thinks in their heart. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 24 What a wretched man I am! (Rom. 7:15, 18–19, 24) 3 So in both Galatians and Romans Paul says this conflict between the flesh and the Spirit not only bewilders us but it also hinders our pursuit to obey God and follow his will. As long as we are on this side of heaven our spiritual life will always involve a struggle. a We have been delivered from the penalty of our sin but not yet the presence of sin. We have been made righteous before God but we are not yet perfectly righteous in all our ways. We are redeemed but we are not yet perfected. b Ephesians 5 says one day Christ will present us to himself without spot or wrinkle, a pure, perfect, sinless Bride.
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