One reason many of us have trouble accepting that the gospel is true and those who believe in Christ really are free from guilt and condemnation before God is that it seems dangerous. To accept the thought that we contribute nothing to our righteousness before God seems to us to be a risky teaching. Perhaps some of us have even sat in our chair and cringed at this message of freedom that we have been hearing from our study through the book of Galatians. So, week by week, you’ve been hearing that you can rest and live in your freedom before God, a freedom from condemnation that is ours solely because of what Christ has done for us, and you’ve constantly and consistently been wanting to resist that message by holding up a shield to it that has written on it numerous sayings like: “We are called to holiness,” “It is by obeying God’s commands that we show our love to him,” and “We are to live a new life as those called by Christ Jesus.”
You know for certain that all of those sayings reflect truth. If there’s anything you know, it’s that you’re called to holiness, you’re called to obedience, you’re called to live a new life as someone who has been born again. So, as you’ve heard the gospel of freedom proclaimed from Galatians, and you question it because it sounds too good to be true, you immediately find yourself seeking to land on truth. You want it to be true. It sounds good. It does seem like there’s a joy there that you want if you only believed this message of gospel. Yet, instead of accepting it, you quote to yourself something you know to be true, something you know the Bible teaches, something like, “We are called to holiness, to obedience, to walk in newness of life.” And therefore, you leave, wanting to hold to the beauty of gospel freedom and yet afraid that if you do, it will lead you to walk in unholiness, disobedience, and in the manner of those who have no life.
Well, I have news for you this morning if that has been your thought. It’s this: It is possible to believe in and accept and delight in the freedom of the gospel and then to live in such a way that it is clear that you see that message of freedom as a license to sin. You’re right. Your fears are possible. If it weren’t possible to pervert the message of gospel freedom into a license to sin, then Paul would not have written, “Do not use your freedom as an opportunity to the flesh.”
Furthermore, you are absolutely right that God calls us to holiness. You are absolutely right that he calls us to obedience and that we demonstrate our love for God as we obey his commands. You are right that we are called to walk in newness of life. So you can take your shield down that you’ve used to fight off this message of freedom before God. However, don’t take it down because what we have been looking at over the last three months is false. It is most certainly not false. Rather, you have understood rightly over the last number of weeks if you heard the message proclaimed that there is nothing we do that contributes to our righteous standing before God, that Christ alone and not one ounce of our works is our hope of righteousness, that you need to quit asking whether you’ve done enough to be accepted by him because the reality is that you have not and never could do enough but simply need to trust in what Christ has done, that you can quit living life as if you’re under condemnation but instead delight in the freedom you have from condemnation because of what Christ has done for you. So, I’ve asked you to take your shield down not because I want to emphasize the freedom from guilt and condemnation that you have in the gospel any less than I have, but I want you to take it down so that you can hear that this message of freedom also cries out, “Be holy. Obey Christ. Walk in newness of life.” I want to show you that your fears do not have to become a reality. Gospel freedom does not necessarily lead to disobedience. Rather, true gospel freedom results in holiness and obedience unto the Lord.
But how do those two realities work together? After all, for some of us, our drive to holiness our entire life has been to walk in constant guilt. Unless we have the weapons of guilt and condemnation at our disposal, we do not feel that we can really aid ourselves in living a holy life. So if we begin to think of living in freedom from guilt and condemnation before God, we fear that there will be nothing to keep us on the right path.
So, with that thought no doubt floating around in many of our minds this morning, I want to look at what freedom really should look like in a community. How should people live who wholeheartedly accept and believe in the gospel message of freedom from condemnation? I want to answer that. Then, I want to try to help us see how it is that we practically life that out.
Therefore, let’s first see what freedom should look like when lived out. Paul tells us in verses 13-15 that our freedom should not be used as a license to sin but as an opportunity to serve others through love.
First, listen to what Paul writes in verses 13-14. He says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
So, first of all, let’s get in our heads that a congregation that truly understands the freedom that comes from the gospel – the freedom to which we’ve been called – does not live in such a way that they simply fulfill their fleshly desires in sin. So, the message of Galatians is not, “Simply do whatever your flesh desires. Sin in every way imaginable. It doesn’t matter. In fact, your sin will only highlight that we are free from condemnation.” That’s not what freedom looks like. In fact, Paul commands us not to use our freedom as an opportunity to the flesh. So, the message we’ve been preaching is not, “Forget obedience. Forget holiness. Forget what actions honor God and just wave a banner that says freedom as you indulge in whatever your flesh desires.” That’s not what gospel freedom looks like. Gospel freedom is not at odds or in collision with obedience, holiness, and walking in newness of life.
So, then, what does a community look like that understands gospel freedom? Well, Paul tells us that we should use our freedom to serve one another through love. In fact, he says that the whole law is fulfilled when we love our neighbors as ourselves.
Now, some of you hear that and say, “Whoa, wait a second.” Maybe you’re thinking, “Hold on a second, Lee. I’m not one that has held up a shield to block the message of gospel freedom that we have been hearing from Galatians. I’ve delighted in the fact that we cannot obey the law perfectly and that any attempt to do so in order to be righteous simply condemns us and places us under a curse. I’ve delighted in the fact that I’ve died to the law and am alive because of Christ’s righteousness, because of his life. And now you’re talking about doing something that fulfills the law? Aren’t you simply going back on what you said?”
The answer to that is, “No.” But I want you to see why. Paul is not saying in 5:14, “Do the law and live.” He is not saying that we should look to the law again to see if we’re in good standing with God. What he’s saying is this: as we place our faith in Jesus Christ and are justified (being declared righteous by God) solely because of what Christ has done and because of nothing that we have done, God puts love in our hearts for him and for our neighbors. And when we live in line with what love longs to do, we fulfill the very reality the law was pointing to with its commands.
You see, the commands of the law were not evil. It’s not as if the command not to commit adultery is an evil command. Of course not. It is a good command. It is a right command. But the command alone is powerless to make a man want to live a life of fidelity and not commit adultery. So the law was useless in that we were powerless to keep it and it served only to show our sin, increase our sin, and constantly and consistently condemn us – until Christ came. Yet now that Christ has changed our hearts, as we have believed, we actually long not to commit adultery. But why? It’s because we have love for our brothers and sisters, and when you love a brother, you don’t want to seek our committing adultery with his wife. When you love your brother, you don’t covet what he has but delight in the Lord’s gifts to him. When you love your brothers, you don’t murder him or steal from him. Do you see? The commands of God are fulfilled when you live in love toward God and your neighbor. That’s what Paul is saying, and that’s how he wants us to live.
As believers, we are to act on the love that God has put in our hearts through the Holy Spirit in serving one another. That’s how freedom is lived out in a community. You believe the gospel, have love in your hearts, and then serve one another – not because you’re trying to flee condemnation but because you know that God has declared your righteous already and so you are overflowing in love for God and your brother.
I want you to see something. I am not saying that you need to heap condemnation and guilt upon yourself before God to try to drive yourself to love others and serve them. That doesn’t work. And it ignores verse 13. Paul’s first sentence in this section of verses is: “For you were called to freedom, brother.” Paul is not changing messages. What he’s saying is that the solution to walking in disobedience is not enslaving yourself to the law again – it’s the gospel, walking in freedom that produces love in your heart. We walk in obedience when we are secure in the gospel before God and our brothers.
Now, let me try to show us how this works. And I want to start by pointing to a reality outside of our text to position our minds for what I want us to hear. Do you remember a few years ago when Jon Putt got up on stage to lead music wearing a pink shirt, and I made fun of him publicly? Well, I’m sorry Jon. I just wanted to confess. No, seriously, I’m not bringing this up simply to confess. I’m bringing it up because every man knows what response you’re supposed to give when someone makes fun of you for wearing a pink shirt, or holding an effeminate-looking diaper bag, or holding your wife’s purse. Probably every man in hear knows the response, so I’ll just say it for you. You’re supposed to say, “Hey, I’m just secure enough in my manhood to wear a pink shirt. I know I’m a man and don’t need a masculine-colored shirt to remind myself of it.” That’s what you say. You acknowledge that you are so secure in your manhood that you are free to do things that someone who was less secure in their manhood would never do – like wear pink, or hold that effeminate-looking diaper bag, or hold your wife’s purse.
Well, there’s also a security found in the gospel that allows you freedom to serve your brothers and sisters in Christ in love. I think you all know what happens when you live under the law, constantly walking in guilt and condemnation. Do you serve others? Not typically, instead, you gossip about them, hope for their failures, and rejoice in their short-comings. That’s why Paul writes in verse 15, “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” A community that is made up of people who are not secure in the gospel tears one another down. After all, if you live constantly under guilt and condemnation, without a way of escape, then the next best thing seems to be trying to show why others should feel guilt and condemnation as well. And I think every one of you knows what I’m talking about.
However, when you’re secure in the gospel, and you know the freedom of the gospel that says you are free from guilt and condemnation, then you are free to rejoice in the successes of others and even serve them. You’re not oblivious to your own failures, but when you walk in the freedom of the gospel, you say that you want to learn and grow, knowing security before God the entire time.
So, remind yourself continually of the freedom from condemnation that is yours in the gospel – the freedom to which God has called you – and let that freedom free you to love and serve others. That’s what a community will look like when people truly understand and live in the freedom that is theirs in the gospel.
But I don’t want to make it sound simplistic because there is difficulty in obedience. In fact, there’s a war going on, so it is in verses 16-18 that we see that obedience requires walking according to the Spirit because there’s a war within us.
Paul writes in verses 16-17, “But I say, walk by the Sprit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Now, these verses can seem a little confusing at first. So, let’s start with an obvious observation. If Paul says that by walking by the Spirit we will not gratify the desires of the flesh and that the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, then we should acknowledge that being a Christian does not mean that the desires of the flesh immediately go away. That is, the desires of the flesh, desires to sin, are present in the lives of those who believe in Christ. O how we wish that desires for sin would leave us once we believed, but I think we know better.
However, something else is also true. All believers have the Spirit of God dwelling within them. So, although all your fleshly desires do not completely go away when you believe, you do have the Spirit of God come to dwell within in with his own desires. So, according to verse 17, there is a war going on within the believer. The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, each making war so that the desires of the other are not carried out. That’s what verse 17 tells us.
Now, let me pause here though and say something briefly. There is a war present within you because you are a believer. That is, an unbeliever doesn’t have this war in the same way. He has the desires of the flesh, but he does not have the Spirit of God. So, there are a number of things that come in conflict with him sinning. He might wrestle with the decision to commit adultery because he doesn’t want to hurt his wife and kids or he might not steal because he knows in his heart that it’s wrong. But he does not have a war in which the Holy Spirit desires to please God and is making war against the desires of the flesh. That’s what believers have. That’s what you and I have. That’s why even when you’re tempted with sin, you battle against a longing not to sin and to please God. That’s why even when you do sin, you don’t get to enjoy it but are convicted by it and feel the need to repent. It’s because though, like the lost man, you have the desires of the flesh you also have the Spirit and his desires. And the reason I wanted to note this is because I know from having numerous conversations with you all that there is a temptation to think that you must not really know the Lord if there is such a war going on within you as you strive for holiness.
The war exists because you know Christ. The enemy can convince us that the Bible teaches the exact opposite of what it teaches. He is a liar from the beginning. He questioned to Eve, “Did God really say ….?” So, with us in this area. What he often convinces many of you is that if there is a strong desire for sin so that you never obey without feeling like there is a war going on, then you must not be a Christian. The text says exactly the opposite. The war goes on because the Spirit wars against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit – so there is a war because the Spirit indwells you.
But this doesn’t mean, then, that we are prone to sin half the time and obey half the time. Paul is not pessimistic here about the believer’s hope for walking in obedience. Rather, he tells us to walk by the Spirit and we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. That is, we must yield to the Spirit’s desires, for they are present within us, and then we will not walk according to the flesh. But, again, we can’t confuse this with putting ourselves under the law. Actually, Paul says in verse 18, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
So, what does it look like to walk by the Spirit? Is it like what Paul’s talking about when he says in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit?” After all, he says after that that one who is filled with the Spirit sings to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, gives thanks to God the Father, submits to others in reverence to Christ – wives to husbands, children to parents, and slaves to masters. Well, yes, I do think that’s what it looks like to walk by the Spirit, to let the Spirit and his desires lead and control you.
But weeks now, we’ve been talking about the need to renew our minds to the gospel, to preach it to ourselves, believe it, and realize the freedom we have in it. So, is this related to walking by the Spirit or being filled with the Spirit, or has Paul introduced something totally new?
I think they are related, for this reason. In Colossians 3:16 and following, you’ll notice the text is almost exactly the same as Ephesians 5:18 and following. Notice the reference to singing to one another, giving thanks to God, and wives submitting to husbands, etc. But instead of saying to the Colossians that they need to be filled with the Spirit, Paul says, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” So, if these things produce the same results, we’d have to say that being filled with the Spirit and letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly are pretty closely related. So, what does it mean to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly mean? Well, the “word of Christ” is Paul’s way of referring to the gospel. Therefore, Paul is saying to let the gospel dwell in you richly if you want these things produced and that idea seems to parallel “being filled with the Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18.
Therefore, I think that holy living in the Christian life takes on this pattern: We hold up the gospel to ourselves, preach it to ourselves, and believe it, letting it richly dwell in our hearts, believing it more and more. This is why I’ve come to start almost every time of prayer before God by first declaring to the Lord (and myself) the gospel and what it means for me before him. Then, as you believe it, the desires of the Spirit are more clear to your eyes. You see more clearly because you see that you are not under the law with its condemnation and dominion over you. Therefore, you choose to yield to those desires, and you end up longing to build up your neighbor, submit to others, and serve others. So, I think the key to yielding to the Spirit’s desires starts with the gospel – letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly. I’m not saying it’s easy to fight for holiness. I’m simply saying that our key weapon in walking according to the desires of the Spirit is the gospel. Let the gospel richly dwell in you and then follow the desires of the Spirit. That’s how we live holy lives as Christians.
But how do you know you’re really walking by the Spirit and not according to the desires of the flesh? Well, Paul shows us in the remainder of our text that the works of the Spirit and the works of the flesh are obvious and are clearly seen in their effect on the church.
Paul shows us what the works of the flesh look like in verses 19-21. He writes, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
So, Paul tells us that the works of the flesh are obvious. They are evident. And if that’s the continual fruit of our lives, then we are bearing the fruit of the flesh, displaying an absence of love for our neighbors. Now, the reason I say that we show an absence of love for our neighbors is because notice how many of these sins affect others. Each of these sins shows a lack of love for God and our brothers. Many of these sins directly tear down the body while all of them tear at the church at least indirectly. So, it’s not a mystery what the flesh desires and what the effects of it are. The desires of the flesh encourage you to sexual immorality, to fits of anger against others, to rivalries, to envying, etc. The flesh always encourages you to do that which dishonors God, harms you, and shows contempt for your brother.
However, the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (v. 22). There’s no law against these; no one can find fault with these things. The things that the Spirit desires and bears forth in the believer’s life are good. They are things that lead us to serve our brother and build him up. The desires of the flesh lead us to burst forth upon another in a fit of anger while the Spirit leads us to kindness and gentleness. The flesh would have us envy and tear down another while the Spirit longs to love and is at peace with the Lord’s gifts.
Now, Paul is not saying that we will never see sin in our lives. The battle is real and we are not yet perfected. However, we are not under the dominion of the flesh anymore so that we must sin. That’s what Paul is reminding us of in verse 24 as he writes, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” It’s not as if we will never sin. We will. And when you do, the Spirit will reveal that to you as well (even as he reveals right desires). So, when he does reveal your sins, repent. But do you repent and walk around every day reminding yourself of what despicable things you’ve done, consistently beating yourself up so that you’ll want holiness? No, see the seriousness of your sin, repent of it, and then every day – and a thousand times throughout the day – remind yourself of the gospel, of true forgiveness, that you are free from guilt and condemnation before God, see the desires of the Spirit for holiness in you, and follow those desires.
Realize that you’ve died to condemnation and live by the Spirit, and (as Paul says in verses 25-26) “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” The Lord has given us the Spirit with godly desires, so yield to his desires, serve your brother, and in this you will fulfill the law.
So, this morning, I want us to delight in the freedom of the gospel, pray for strength to yield to the desires the Lord puts in our hearts along with our freedom from condemnation when we believe, walk according to the Spirit’s desires, and live as a community that serves one another in love. After all, that’s what a community of believers does when they truly understand the freedom of the gospel. So, let’s rejoice in that freedom now as we come to the table. Amen.