Knowing the Voice of the Holy Spirit
Rev. Sean Lester
November 30, 2003
morning service
Text: Galatians 5: 13-26
Introduction:
A. Jesus Christ sets people free from having to perform religious acts in order to become righteous before God.
1. Many times in Scripture such acts are referred to as "works" or "dead works," depending on what translation of the Bible you are using.
2. A dead religious act is something you do to appease God. For some, going to church is their dead religious act. Sometimes, people will do many things in the church in order to appease God. It doesn’t earn salvation because it isn’t an act of faith. There is nothing you can do to make God happy with you, and there is nothing you can to do make God unhappy with you.
3. The issue is faith. Do you believe that God exists, that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and that God will reward you for trying to find him?
B. However, some have mistaken this freedom from dead religious acts as a license to commit dead sinful acts.
1. The good news is that you don’t have to be born into the Levitical priesthood to serve in the church. The bad news is that many people see the church as a way to gain position, acceptance, and even indulgence to sin.
2. Some even go so far as to claim that God’s grace will cover their sinful acts because "we are saved by faith, not by works." Which is almost true. We are saved by faith, but we are lost through disobedience to the faith.
D. Conflict is the mark of the Christian who refuses to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
1. There is an inner conflict between the spirit and the self-will, and the self-will is given the victory.
2. The inner conflict manifests in conflict with family, friends, and at the workplace.
3. Their remains in the "carnal" believer a conviction that believers should love one another, which would be possible as soon as the other people in my life get out of my way.
4. Carnal believes are bad news for a church, or any other organization in which they belong. They don’t get along with people, probably because they don’t like working with certain people. They don’t like authority that gets in their way, which they believe to be God’s will. They are often the reason why churches decline and collapse.
Proposition: But, people who are yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit will overcome their sinful natures so that they can love God and man.
Interrogative: How is it possible for anyone to overcome the desires of the flesh?
Transition: It is possible because Scripture tells us how to crucify the flesh, that is, to bring your own desires and self ambitions into obedience to the Holy Spirit.
I. First, learn to recognize when your own inner voice is talking to you. (vs. 19-21)
A. This seems like a long list, and yet the passage indicates that it is not exhaustive. You should study the passage yourself, but I would suggest these principles as underlying the acts of the flesh listed here.
1. Acts that drown out the voice of God. Sexual immorality is sexual behavior that is not in step with Scriptural principle. Impurity are acts that are "dirty", unclean. Things done that defile the body to get a "rush" of pleasure. Sensuality (debauchery) are acts done to arouse the body. Pornography is just such an act, or even leering at women (or men). All of these serve to arouse fleshly passions so that the voice of the spirit is drowned out.
2. Acts that manipulate the spirit realm for your own good. Idolatry is the worship of another God or the extreme devotion to a person or organization that you hope will grant you desires. Sorcery (witchcraft) is the act of using supernatural means to gain power over people.
3. Acts that are meant to manipulate people. Enmity (hatred) is taking a position of antagonism or hostility toward someone. Strife (discord) is to compete against someone to win some "prize" that they may be able to get, but you want. Jealousy is when you guard what is rightfully yours, including the loyalty from people that you feel you are owed. Fits of rage is how you back people off who threaten you, your way of intimidating them into treating you with respect. Rivalries (selfish ambition) are when you compete against someone to get something that someone else has. Dissensions are when you quarrel with someone else to get your way. Divisions (factions) are when you actually organize opposition against those who won’t follow you. Envy is the ill-will you feel toward others advantages.
4. Acts that cause others to become or remain separated from God. Drunkenness (intoxication) cause people to become dependent on the source of the high. Orgies and the like are wild celebration, partying, often, but not always, including sexual activity.
B. Just because you are saved, even baptized into the Holy Spirit, does not mean that you are automatically immune from falling into sin. You have to recognize the voice, not by how it sounds, but by what it wants to compel you to do. Illustration: It is an extreme example, but since it is the 30th anniversary since the Jamestown massacre, let me point out that it was carnality, and the inability to distinguish the voice of the flesh that got hundreds of people killed in Guyana. One minister, at one time considered to be a legitimate Spirit-baptized preacher, convinced hundreds of others to follow him. He seduced them spiritually, he manipulated them emotionally, and then he put them into bondage intellectually. He convinced hundreds of people to kill themselves, and those who didn’t were murdered. The point is this, unchecked carnality, even in born-again believers, leads to destruction.
C. So what do you do? Here are a few steps that I recommend:
1. Develop a habit of prayer and Bible study on your own. Your own relationship with God helps you to examine yourself and your relationship with God and man.
2. Remain in godly relationships with people who will tell you the truth about yourself, or at least will ask the kinds of questions that make you think.
3. When you fail, confess your sin and repent of it. Be accountable for your sins and make sure there are people who will help you be accountable.
Transition: You should also know the voice of the Holy Spirit.
II. Secondly, you need to know what the Holy Spirit will tell you to do.
A. This is the part where the concept of crucifying the flesh takes on real meaning to you and I. You see, crucifixion is painful. It is slow and it is painful. It is slow and it is painful and it is humiliating. But it is necessary because it deliberately disarms your self-will, your flesh, so that you can overcome carnality.
1. The Holy Spirit tells you to be unconditionally devoted to the church and to the community in which you live. By community, I mean your school, your workplace, your neighborhood. When you don’t like people, your flesh tells you to get away from them, or to drive them away from you. The Holy Spirit will never say that. The Holy Spirit says, "Love them." You don’t want to because it hurts emotionally to be near people who don’t see you the way you see yourself. But know right now that the Holy Spirit does not lead you to remove yourself. In fact, the Holy Spirit will put in you a genuine feeling of joy to be around people. Don’t you remember what you were like before God saved you? Aren’t you glad that the Holy Spirit reject you?
2. In fact, the following acts are what the Holy Spirit is going to tell you whenever your flesh begins to rise up.
The Holy Spirit will say "stay out of winner-takes-all conflict" You want to win, the Holy Spirit wants peace. Learn to compromise and negotiate.
The Holy Spirit will say, "be patient, that is, wait for your opportunity without complaining or manipulating". If your desire is of God, you won’t have to take short cuts or force the issue.
The Holy Spirit will say "be sympathetic with people, consider them to be friends." In other words, when your will is challenged by others, assume that their actions are with the best of intentions.
The Holy Spirit will say, "your goal is to produce favorable results for everyone, not just yourself." Ultimately, you see, you are working for the salvation of souls. That far transcends anything else you may feel is good and right.
The Holy Spirit will say, "be dutiful to what I have called you." I met a man recently who, I believe had been a church member for 18 years, 6 churches for three years a piece. Whenever he ran into opposition to his ambition, opinion, or desire, he would take off for greener pastures. Such people are unreliable, unteachable, and unproductive.
The Holy Spirit will say, "be gentle with them, I am not done with them, or you, yet." People mature with experience, and without experience, mistakes are made. Young believers make mistakes that more experienced ones don’t. So what, the only way to avoid mistakes is to avoid experience.
Finally, the Holy Spirit will say, "Reign in your horses, bubba." Well, not in those works exactly, but he will tell you to get control of yourself. Emotions are your body’s way of expressing its opinion. They are not reliable for decision making. Just recognize what your body is saying, and then use your head and listen to the Spirit.
B. You need to understand that the Holy Spirit will tell you what you don’t want to hear. When it comes from someone else, you will either disagree or argue for some exception. However, it is a crucifixion of the flesh, it is going to hurt. It is going to be disagreeable. But, it is the right medicine. As the old medicine add once said, "Anything that tastes this bad has to be good for you."
C. How do you overcome the flesh to listen to the Holy Spirit? May I suggest...
1. Pray until you are willing. Even Jesus had to pray until he was able to make his body go through an actual crucifixion. "Not my will, but yours be done" Jesus repeated.
2. Grieve. You may not get your way, maybe never. You live at the pleasure of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has better things for you. But you are allowed to cry, get mad, pout, and even resign to your fate.
3. Find joy in serving the Lord. Fake it until you make it, as the saying goes. But you will make it, and you will find new joy in serving the Lord.
Conclusion:
A. Jesus Christ sent you His Holy Spirit to guide you through life. Especially in your relationships with God and man. The Holy Spirit allows you to serve God from the heart, not according to religious regulations.
B. But, if you misuse that freedom, you will end up in bondage once again. Your own ambitions will cause conflict within you, and then with others as well. But, even if you have misused your freedom, there is forgiveness and there is restoration.
C. Finally, I want you to know the Jesus that I know. He saved me from sin and dead religion. He will save you, too. He will give you His Holy Spirit to save you, renew your life, and to be your guide throughout your life.
