Summary: Walk by the Spirit is the secret of the Christian life. In this message we look at the well-known verses connected with the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. God’s appointed way to walk is by the Spirit, and NO OTHER way is acceptable; the walk of faith through the Spirit.

THE BOOK OF GALATIANS – CHAPTER 5:16-25 - MESSAGE 20 – WALKING BY THE SPIRIT EMBRACING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – NOT THE DEEDS OF THE FLESH

[A]. WALKING BY THE SPIRIT OPPOSES THE FLESH

{{Galatians 5:16 “I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh,”}}

The first thing to note is that Paul says to walk by the Spirit and not “live by the Spirit” (Yes, I know verse 25). Walking is action and action results in deeds. In biblical terms walking is always understood as the code to which you subscribe. It is as if you have joined a certain following and then you walk with them.

Genesis 5:22 – “Enoch walked with God.” Genesis 6:9 – “Noah walked with God.” Genesis 48:15 “He [Jacob] blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked”. I won’t add more. The picture is plain and we have that all through the Old Testament.

In speaking of Israel’s future restoration we have this verse – {{Isaiah 30:21 and your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.}} The principle was well understood as this verse shows – {{Mark 7:5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples NOT WALK ACCORDING TO THE TRADITION OF THE ELDERS, but eat their bread with impure hands?”}}

Walking is your way of life because we are on one of two pathways described by the Lord – {{Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the NARROW gate for the gate is wide and the way is BROAD that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it.”}}

Someone may ask you, “How are you living for the Lord?” but more than likely the question will be, “How are you walking with the Lord?” Walking indicates a journey, and we are all on a journey from birth until death. That journey is along one path that is narrow or the other path that is broad. Narrow means not many are on it and broad means many are on it. It is another way of saying only a small minority walk the way of God.

The small church group I meet with holds our meeting in a community hall, and because it is a community hall, two groups that also meet there - both martial arts organisations – have a photo each of their “master” on the wall, whatever these heads are called, whose way these adherents follow. The Council allows that but we would not be allowed to place up a “Christian” photo. That is the way of the world. We walk according to the way of Christ; some walk according to the martial arts leaders; some walk according to humanism or socialism, or the way of Buddhism etc.

We walk by the Spirit; the Holy Spirit guides and directs those that are His to walk correctly in this world according to His word, the bible. The question then is, “How do we walk by the Spirit?” Maybe that can be answered by scripture itself. Here are two verses to ponder – {{John 14:16-17 “and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever - that is, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because HE ABIDES WITH YOU AND WILL BE IN YOU.”}}

The second one is, {{John 16:8 “and He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgement,”}} and even though that is in the context of the unbeliever, it also has an application to the Christian. The Holy Spirit convicts a Christian if sin is in the life, and leads him/her in the paths of righteousness and makes him aware that we will all stand before the judgement seat of Christ.

The end of verse 16 here in Galatians mentions not carrying out the desires of the flesh. The flesh is the old nature with all its evil desires from a fallen life of sin. It will never be eradicated while we are in our bodies on earth. Those who preach sinless perfection on earth are wrong. It is an impossibility. Those who practise a monastic way of life to get away from sin are wrong. You just take the sin along with you into the monastery.

The desires of the flesh are very powerful because that is what we once were before conversion and the flesh does not want to let go. WALKING BY THE SPIRIT MEANS UNDER HIS CONTROL and to be fully under His control is not to be dominated by fleshly lusts. To be a worldly or fleshly Christian means you are walking according to sinful desires, or you are torn between one or the other. That leads us into the next verse –

[B]. THE WARFARE OF ENEMIES – THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH

{{Galatians 5:17 “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,”}}

Here there is a fight of desires for godliness and ungodliness. The two desires match the two natures, or which of two ways you choose to walk on, as a Christian – the godly way that is blessed according to Psalm 1 or the way of defeat and unproductivity as a fleshly Christian.

Remember one day we meet the Lord. It may be today or tomorrow when the Lord comes for His Church in the Rapture, or it may be down the road a few more years for some of us, but WE WILL meet the Lord. How will you feel if you have been walking the unproductive road for most of your Christian life? Would ashamed be too strong a term? We are not playing games here.

Throughout life we will have this constant battle for loyalty to the Spirit’s leading, or to the pull of the flesh away from our Lord. There can be no reconciliation. The flesh and the Spirit are diametrically opposed, always enemies.

It may please you to want to walk with the Lord and you aim for that, but you find yourself walking a crooked path, pulled by the desires of the flesh – lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Satan has all sorts of enticements waiting to ensnare you.

What do you need? Firstly wisdom (obtained from your bible meditation); secondly guidance (the Spirit will lead you into all truth); thirdly direction (Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Psalm 119:105). That Psalms verse is not just using repetition. There is a difference between a lamp and a light. The lamp is held at arm’s distance and lights the way just at your feet, and a touch beyond. The light lights the path further out. We need both - just the immediate way and a bit more beyond. All that is provided by the bible. DO NOT NEGLECT THE WORD OF GOD.

[C]. AGAIN, THE CONFLICT OF THE SPIRIT AND THE LAW

{{Galatians 5:18 “but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”}}

This verse is understood to be a natural deduction from all that has preceded it. The Galatians were placing themselves under the Law and therefore were not being led by the Spirit of Christ. Paul showed several times that there was no compromise between Law and the free gift; Law and faith; Law and freedom.

I will not cover that ground again for it is there to see. We will move to the concluding section of chapter 5 and that is another distinct contrast of attitude, behaviour and position. Again it is one or the other, BUT in some cases these can jump the fence. I will explain -

[D]. THE GREAT CONTRAST – THE DEEDS OF THE FLESH

{{Galatians 5:19 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,

Galatians 5:20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,

Galatians 5:21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, about which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that THOSE WHO PRACTISE SUCH THINGS shall not inherit the kingdom of God,”}}

Christians are capable of any of these sins because they are according to the old nature. They belong to the old nature and are not eliminated once we become Christians. However they are not to have the mastery over us. When we walk after the Spirit (by the Spirit) then we are not living in these evil things, and we should not be desiring (lusting after) them.

Do we slip up? Yes we do. There are 15 items given, and I dare say that us as Christians have been guilty of most of those, even as Christians. Those who defend themselves and say that are innocent are liars. If we were not guilty of them then we are as a perfect man and James would shoot that down.

I have considered how to deal with these 15 items given for the deeds of the flesh in this message and I don’t think it is of much value this time to take each one and speak on each. We should all know what each one means. The list above comes from the NASB. What is written in the AV is rather difficult to understand in our times with language changes such as “emulations”. I will also give this list as it is in the NIV -

[[“sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies.”]]

I do want to speak about one of the words in verse 20, the second one in – “sorcery” (witchcraft – NIV). The Greek for it is fa?µa?e?a (pharmakeia). It is the word that is not properly translated. It is related to magic and pagan rituals where mind-altering drugs were used in ceremonies. You can see from the word, that it is where we get “pharmacy” from, a chemist store, pharmaceuticals, a drug place (I think Americans use “druggists”).

The word should be translated as “drugs”. In our culture today that is SO APPLICABLE. Apparently surveys show that a majority now use “recreational drugs” such as marijuana. The AV translated the word as sorcery not understanding the widespread usage of drugs in society, legal and illegal. There is one other use of this word occurring in Revelation where it is speaking of the people in the Tribulation (with the Church having left this earth earlier in the Rapture), people so wicked that they refuse to repent in spite of all the judgements – {{Revelation 9:21 “and they did not repent of their murders, nor of their SORCERIES, nor of their immorality, nor of their thefts.”}} There will be Satan worship in the Tribulation headed up by the False Prophet, along with a drug culture. The strains of that are with us today.

I do want to mention verse 21. {{Galatians 5:21 “envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, about which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that THOSE WHO PRACTISE SUCH THINGS shall not inherit the kingdom of God,”}}. We are told the ones who practise those 15 items shall not see heaven. It is as clear as that.

Well what about a Christian who has these outbursts of the flesh from time to time, for none of us is perfect in this regard? The point that must be stressed is that the Greek for “practising” is a present participle, “is practising”, is engaged in it without repenting; their way of life; what their walk is. The Christian may slip back into some of those things but he/she repents in the Christian walk (or must do so!).

Paul also wrote a parallel passage with lists that partly match this one with the same result as the Galatians verse, i.e., the forfeiture of the kingdom of God. Here is one of them – {{1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God, and such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.”}}

[E]. THE GREAT CONTRAST – THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

{{Galatians 5:22 “but THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”

Galatians 5:23 “gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”}}

Paul does not say these are the deeds through the Spirit but he uses fruit – the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit can only occur on a living tree or vine. That is why fruit is the proper word for it is reproducing what is growing in the new nature, fed and watered by the Lord through His word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

There are nine fruit mentioned as opposed to the 15 deeds of the flesh. There are always more avenues of evil than the avenues of godliness. These nine are so important because everyone of them represents the character of God (especially as displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels).

Some people make a lot of the fact that love is mentioned first as if carrying the banner for the eight following. There may be something in that, but God caused Paul to list these nine and no others. Is there other fruit of the Holy Spirit? I am sure there is, maybe like humility.

MacLaren, along with others, points out that these nine comprise of three triads. You can make them fit those categories if you think about it but I will pass on from that. If you wish there is much teaching in tracing each of these fruit in scriptures and seeing in what way God has made us aware of them. Note too that some are directly from God such as “love, joy, peace”, and those three develop the remainder on display to the world in a Christian character walking by the Spirit which is where we began this message.

Verse 24 mentions crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires, and is that easy? Absolutely not, yet the Apostle uses the past tense – we “have crucified,” so that being the case why do we see the flesh and desires not of God among us? Does it speak of an imperfect walk, or of an imperfect crucifixion? I don’t know if this is absolutely correct, but I think it means we also have to keep making sure the old person/flesh/old nature remains crucified. It requires diligence and purpose and reliance upon the Holy Spirit who is the One who directs our walk.

Paul says in verse 23 there is no law against these noble qualities. Before God that is true, but before sinful men they will condemn these when they belong to Christians. They praise the wickedness of fellow, reprobate sinners. We see that all the time now in our world. The words of Isaiah are so true in these last days of the Church age – {{Isaiah 5:20-21 “Woe to those WHO CALL EVIL GOOD, AND GOOD EVIL, who substitute darkness for light and light for DARKNESS, who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!”}}

[F]. LIVE AND WALK, BUT IN GOD’S APPOINTED WAY

{{Galatians 5:25 “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”}}

God’s appointed way to walk is by the Spirit, and NO OTHER way is acceptable. Not according to human reasoning or intelligence or logic – nothing but the walk of faith through the Spirit. God wants us living by the Spirit in dependence and humility and only through that, can we walk in the Spirit.

Everything is in place for that to happen. You just need to faithful to what Paul says in Romans – {{Romans 12:1-2 “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”}}

{{1 Thessalonians 2:12 “so that YOU MAY WALK IN A MANNER WORTHY OF THE GOD who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”}}

May the Lord help us in a given desire to serve our Lord and be led by the Spirit to do it.