Letter to the Galatians -- Chapter 5
“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).
Stand firm; do not be complacent! These are the urges of Paul to the Galatians and to us, so that we might combat the world of false gospels that tries to pull us away from our freedom in Christ Jesus. Paul was fully aware that apathy would be the great enemy of the Church; he realized that men would become complacent in the faith not realizing the daily battle and perseverance needed. Relying on the grace of God is not a one time deal or occurrence, but is a moment to moment daily bread that comes from the Cross of Christ. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). We need the love, forgiveness, and grace of God that was given to us thru the Cross of Christ every sleeping and waking moment of our lives. It is only on the blood of Jesus Christ that we can live.
We are free from the wrath of God. This is the freedom that Christ has won for us. Because of Jesus Christ our Lord we are freed from the only thing in this life worth fearing: the wrath of Almighty God. On the Cross Jesus Christ bore all our sin, infirmities, failings, weaknesses, anxieties, and stresses, and in so doing He then bore the wrath and punishment of Almighty God towards them. All of God’s hatred towards sin was taken out on His only Son so that we might live and be free. God’s anger and wrath towards our sin has been forever appeased and propitiated thru the Cross of Jesus Christ. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:7-8).
Our freedom is based on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His perfect obedience, work, sacrifice, love, and blood. It is only when we realize that our freedom rests on Christ Himself and not on anything from ourselves (not even faith!) will we truly be comforted. “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Paul knowingly warns us against the dangers of returning to the yoke of slavery that Christ freed us from. In his day he witnessed the Apostles themselves falling into err as they looked to demand obedience of the Law from the Gentiles in order to be saved. “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (Acts 15:10-11). The reason of man cannot grasp and fathom unconditional love and therefore men in their great “learnedness” and “wisdom” create conditions to God’s grace and thereby pull men to their eternal destruction. “They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4). We need to be extremely wary of any condition that any man tries to place on the grace of God; we need to realize that the work of Jesus Christ crucified was completely sufficient for our forgiveness and there is nothing to be done or that can be done to get it. We were forgiven in the Cross before we were born as Jesus Christ took upon Himself the full wrath and anger of God towards us and towards our sin. The prophet Isaiah foretold of this day of the Lord’s burning anger where He would punish the sins of the world on the Cross of the Lamb of God who hung bloodied and beaten for our sakes. “See, the day of the LORD is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless...Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger” (Isaiah 13:9-11, 13).
“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:2-6).
Paul urges the Galatians to look to no act or obedience of the Law for their justification before God. Paul does not despise circumcision in and of itself, but simply despises how the Galatians had come to abuse it and esteem it in place of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. Instead of realizing that they were saved in the Cross apart from any obedience or adherence to the Law the Galatians insisted on looking to the Law for their righteousness. Realizing this error Paul is frightened for the Galatians because he at once realized that to know Christ at all means to no longer look to the Law for salvation. If we try to esteem the Law and Christ on equal pedestals (as so many do) then we don’t know Christ at all but only a false Christ on our own devising. “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21).
Paul flatly tells the Galatians that they had fallen from grace; they had rejected the merits and righteousness of Jesus Christ in order to cling to a false gospel of self-righteousness thru their adherence to the Law. This is no laughing matter and is of dire seriousness. To fall from the grace of God is to reject the forgiveness and love that we have thru Jesus Christ, forfeiting His propitiation of the wrath of God. Faith does not achieve for us forgiveness, it simply receives the forgiveness that Christ bought for all men on the Cross, and therefore falling from grace means that we are condemned before God on account of our rejection of Jesus Christ and the free righteousness He has given all men.
Because of the gift of faith that we have given in Christ Jesus our Lord we have an enduring hope which works hand in hand with our faith. “In this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:24-25). Our faith clings to the objective work of Jesus Christ crucified for our forgiveness while our hope looks patiently to the fulfillment of God’s promises. In addition to faith and hope God adds love to those in Christ Jesus. This love, like hope, is a fruit of the faith that clings to the justification that we have in the Cross. Love is the culmination of true faith and is the end goal of our daily faith. Love itself does not justify us, but neither does faith; faith is simply the instrument which receives Christ’s justification and subsequently bears the love that He has called us to in this life. A faith that knows the Jesus Christ of Scripture will bear love; there are simply no two ways about it. “If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). A generic faith is meaningless no matter how strong and unshakeable it may be; but a faith that clings to Love Himself (Jesus Christ!) will bear the true fruit of God no matter how weak and fragile it may be. As God’s Word tells us, a love born from Christ is intimately linked with faith and hope, for it “always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Through it all faith, hope, and love endure as the heart of God’s fruit in our life thru Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. “These three remain: faith, hope and love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). The greatest part of it all is that these three that remain are not contingent on anything from us but they are staked and rooted in the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Faith, hope, and love are not what we bring to the table, but they are what God brings to the table for us by way of His one and only Son.
“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ‘A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough’” (Galatians 5:7-9).
The mentality of the Galatians still runs strong in the world today. Under the banner of “unity” so many in Christendom see no harm in deviating “small amounts” from the doctrine of justification by grace thru faith. This mentality however will lead to death and destruction no matter how good our intentions may be. Paul’s entire letter and fight for the Galatians was over what the world sees as a “small detail” of doctrine; he however knew that even the smallest amount of untruth or leaven will corrupt the whole batch. We too need to recognize this danger.
Major disasters and accidents always start as small errors in the finest of details. Cancer starts in one microscopic cell and yet it can take down the entire body; one termite or one particle of mold can begin the destruction of an entire building; one drop of pollutant can devastate an entire lake and ecosystem; and so it is with doctrine. It takes only the smallest of errors in doctrine to lose the heart of justification, to lose the Truth of Jesus Christ. God warns us to watch our doctrine closely, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). People often think that taking doctrine so seriously is legalistic and unloving; however, we often fail to see what doctrine really is at its heart. Doctrine is ultimately nothing less than the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and therefore the very means and Message that opens our eyes to our Savior. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). If we lose the Gospel we lose Jesus Christ, and if we lose Jesus Christ then we ourselves are lost.
The cry that it is unloving to adhere without wavering to the doctrine of the Gospel is absurd. It is in fact love that forces us to be steadfast in our faithfulness to the Word of Jesus Christ and accordingly we willingly put up with anything and everything in order to keep the Message of Jesus Christ pure. “We put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:13). This willingness to suffer and tolerate persecution is true charity as it looks to the ultimate good of all men. What is our love if we are willing to let men perish in their false doctrines because we don’t want to “stir the pot” but would rather keep some outward unity? Paul’s concern, in contrast to the world today, was first and foremost with the Gospel and its right proclamation because he fully realized that when we lose the Truth of Jesus Christ there can be no true charity or love. What is love, to silently let a friend continue in their ways of destructive behavior, or to intervene on their behalf even if they hate you for it? “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). We must not be willing to listen to other gospels, doctrines, and spirits even if we come across as divisive in our steadfastness. It is important to remember that the majority of Satan’s most devastating work is done in the name of love and unity. We must realize then that there can be no true love without the Jesus Christ of Scripture and therefore we must cling with all ferocity to His pure Gospel even if the clamor of unity and charity try to tempt us otherwise. “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:2-4).
“I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” (Galatians 5:10-12).
The true Jesus Christ causes division in the world because He separates men into two camps: those for Him and those against Him. “He who is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12:30). By its very nature, Christ’s Gospel causes those who are not on His side to be enemies of His Message; our sinful nature hates this Message and will fight against it with every fiber of its being. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw—a man's enemies will be the members of his own household’” (Matthew 10:34-36). The true Gospel allows for no time of peace and quiet in this life, and therefore we must be suspicious anytime that a doctrine does not cause division and antagonism amongst the world. If our sinful nature doesn’t scream against a doctrine then we need to suspiciously investigate to ensure that it is not the lie of Satan.
Persecution follows the true Gospel and the true Christian everywhere. When the Gospel is hated and rejected by men we can be assured that all is well with the it; but when our teaching is widely accepted and praised we must look to see if the Message of Jesus Christ crucified that we proclaim has been diluted or polluted. The Words of God assure us that there will be persecution and suffering in this life because of Christ and His Gospel. “You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matthew 24:9). “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). Let us soberly accept this persecution on behalf of the Gospel knowing that Christ ultimately is carrying all of our burdens in this life. “He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4).
Satan’s attacks will always be the strongest against the Truth, and he will always look to bring down those who are proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must not naively think that our flesh and the world are our only enemies, but we must realize that the devil is very real and is our dire enemy because of Jesus Christ. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil wants to take us out because we are thwarting his plans when we proclaim the forgiveness of sins that all men have in the blood of Christ. Do we really think that we can expose Satan for who he is and he will not attempt to strike at us? This is no reason to fear however because we know that God is greater than Satan and has already fulfilled His promise of Genesis 3:15, having crushed the head of the Serpent in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Though the whole world, sin, and Satan himself rise up against us we know that thru the love of Christ we are forever protected and comforted. “If God is for us, who can be against us?...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31, 35-39).
“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).
Many observe the way that the true Gospel and grace of God is taken advantage of and mocked as a sign that it must be false, but just because we see something abused in this life does not mean that it is wrong. To follow such logic would mean that just because Jesus Christ was abused and taken for granted that He must not have been the Messiah. How false! Like all good things Christian faith and freedom can be easily abused and trampled under foot. It is often the greatest and purest things which are abused the easiest, and so it is with the grace of God. People hear the teaching of God’s grace and warp it into a cheap grace of their own devising, creating a self-bestowed liberty that allows them to live for the desires of their sinful flesh. “As I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19).
If we live for our sinful flesh then we are not free at all but are slaves of the devil. “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10). If the Spirit is in us then our minds will be captive to His will and what He desires for our life. “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires” (Roman 8:5). Wicked sinners will not inherit the kingdom of God and each of us must realize that this is our very selves, for who among us is free from greed, slandering, lust, gossip, and idolatry? However, we have been washed and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ crucified. He has taken us out of the slavery to these evil ways of the flesh to live for His will, to live a life of loving service for God. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Let us shed this life of sin and live in freedom for Jesus Christ who loved and bought us.
Just because men abuse the true Gospel of Jesus Christ does not mean that we must cease proclaiming it. If we cease to proclaim the truth then people will only hear the false teachers in the world who will lead them to destruction. “There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute…they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2 Peter 2:1-2, 18-19). We must continue to preach God’s Law which shows men their utter need for Christ but we must also continue to pronounce the love and forgiveness found only in the Cross. Those around us who continue to abuse the grace of God we must “gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:25-26). Even though we see so many abusing the love of God in the Cross we must stand firm clinging to the truth and appreciating those few lives that it transforms. No matter what we must continue to live as servants in the world, loving all men on account of Jesus Christ. “It is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God” (1 Peter 2:15-16).
“The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14).
It is important that after we recognize the pure unconditional love, forgiveness, and salvation of the Cross that we look to our growth and sanctification in the Holy Spirit. The end goal of the Spirit’s work in our life is to turn us into the stewards of good works that God has planned for us in this life. “We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Love is the culmination of the Spirit’s work in our life and it is the greatest of all things that remain. “Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). However, we must never forget that there can be no love apart from the simple faith that clings to the true Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. “Everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
We have become deaf to the simple yet powerful words of the summary of the Law. We as Americans and Christians have heard the “golden rule” so many times that we have become completely desensitized to it and fail to realize how much it really demands of us. In the few simple words of “love your neighbor as yourself” there is an infinite call to love that never ceases. We ourselves need to look to refocus on these few words daily so that we come to appreciate what the Spirit is calling us to in our sanctification.
God commands us to love all people as we love ourselves in order to show us how to go about fulfilling the Law. Being that we are completely selfish creatures God knows that there is no better way to instruct us in service and love than to urge us to love all men as we love and care for ourselves. Everything that we naturally do in this life is self-centered and self-focused as we look to serve ourselves endlessly; God turns this utter selfishness around in the Law by demanding that the overwhelming selfishness that we possess be turned from within to without, so that all of our concern, attention, service, and love are focused on those around us. How are we to love everyone around us? All we must do is look to our selfish and sinful hearts within and how every waking thought and deed looks to serve our own good to see how we are to love our fellow man. It is the fulfillment of the Law then to turn that self-consumed love and focus from ourselves to those around us. Let us pray that by the grace of the Holy Spirit working within us we are daily refocusing the selfish love of our flesh to our fellow man around us, as we become the selfless servants of all men for the sake of Jesus Christ crucified. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
“If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 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 5:15-17).
True conflict in the church always arises when faith in Christ has been overthrown. When doctrines contrary to the pure doctrine of justification thru the blood of Jesus Christ become the centerpiece of the church then many sects and divisions will arise. When simple faith in Christ’s justification is lost all other doctrines are corrupted as well, leading to biting and devouring among men. “Command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith” (1 Timothy 1:3-4). We must focus on God’s work, and God’s work alone. When we promote God’s work (this is the forgiveness of sins which has been given to all men through Jesus Christ crucified) and focus on it alone we will no longer fall into meaningless controversies which arise when men focus on themselves and no longer on the Cross alone.
The desires and lusts of the sinful nature are much more than just the physical and sexual lust that most people first think of. We must not fall into the trap of thinking that if we have little sexual lust then we are adequately living by the Spirit. The most wretched of all of our vices are far more subtle and inconspicuous, being rooted first and foremost in our pride and utter selfishness. True danger lurks to devour us when pride has burrowed its way behind the shield of a “clean life.” It is the illusion that we live a good sinless life that most often hides the deadliest of sins. This does not mean that we submit to our flesh, but it simply means that when all things seem great and fine then we need to be on guard against our sinful nature all the more. To put it simply, living by the sinful desires of our flesh is to live for “me” while living by the Spirit is to live for Jesus Christ.
Being aware of our sin is not cause for despair since we have been bought by the blood of the Lamb of God. “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3). Being aware of our sinfulness and our vices gives us the opportunity to resist and fight (by the grace of God!) head on against the devil’s work in our life. If we are unaware of our sinful desires then we should be very cautious realizing that hidden sins may very well be unknowingly consuming us from the inside out. Humbly we need to realize that we are completely and totally helpless apart from Jesus Christ’s work for us on the Cross and that only by His Spirit can we daily take on the challenges that sin presents in our life. It is by God’s grace alone in Jesus Christ that the prayer of the psalmist ( and our prayer also) is answered, “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you” (Psalm 143:2).
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 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” (Galatians 5:18-21).
As Christians we still fall into real sin even though we desire to follow the Spirit in our life. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 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” (Romans 7:15-18). The life of following the Spirit’s desires is one of daily struggle against the lusts of the flesh that hinder our walk with God. The key is that we continue to resist sin and cling to Christ’s Cross thru all things. We must not submit to living in the desires of our sinful nature no matter what happens. Though we stumble and fall we are picked back up by the grace of God as He brings us to humble repentance before the Cross.
Each of us will have different vices and weaknesses which stand out more pronounced in our life. These are the areas that we must target first and foremost as we resist the flesh, looking to tackle these “pet sins” by way of the Spirit of God.
How are we to battle the great and small temptations of our sinful nature? It is well worth it to read about Christ’s confrontation with Satan in the desert.
Stand firm; do not be complacent! These are the urges of Paul to the Galatians and to us, so that we might combat the world of false gospels that tries to pull us away from our freedom in Christ Jesus. Paul was fully aware that apathy would be the great enemy of the Church; he realized that men would become complacent in the faith not realizing the daily battle and perseverance needed. Relying on the grace of God is not a one time deal or occurrence, but is a moment to moment daily bread that comes from the Cross of Christ. “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12). We need the love, forgiveness, and grace of God that was given to us thru the Cross of Christ every sleeping and waking moment of our lives. It is only on the blood of Jesus Christ that we can live.
We are free from the wrath of God. This is the freedom that Christ has won for us. Because of Jesus Christ our Lord we are freed from the only thing in this life worth fearing: the wrath of Almighty God. On the Cross Jesus Christ bore all our sin, infirmities, failings, weaknesses, anxieties, and stresses, and in so doing He then bore the wrath and punishment of Almighty God towards them. All of God’s hatred towards sin was taken out on His only Son so that we might live and be free. God’s anger and wrath towards our sin has been forever appeased and propitiated thru the Cross of Jesus Christ. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:7-8).
Our freedom is based on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His perfect obedience, work, sacrifice, love, and blood. It is only when we realize that our freedom rests on Christ Himself and not on anything from ourselves (not even faith!) will we truly be comforted. “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Paul knowingly warns us against the dangers of returning to the yoke of slavery that Christ freed us from. In his day he witnessed the Apostles themselves falling into err as they looked to demand obedience of the Law from the Gentiles in order to be saved. “Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (Acts 15:10-11). The reason of man cannot grasp and fathom unconditional love and therefore men in their great “learnedness” and “wisdom” create conditions to God’s grace and thereby pull men to their eternal destruction. “They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4). We need to be extremely wary of any condition that any man tries to place on the grace of God; we need to realize that the work of Jesus Christ crucified was completely sufficient for our forgiveness and there is nothing to be done or that can be done to get it. We were forgiven in the Cross before we were born as Jesus Christ took upon Himself the full wrath and anger of God towards us and towards our sin. The prophet Isaiah foretold of this day of the Lord’s burning anger where He would punish the sins of the world on the Cross of the Lamb of God who hung bloodied and beaten for our sakes. “See, the day of the LORD is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless...Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger” (Isaiah 13:9-11, 13).
“Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:2-6).
Paul urges the Galatians to look to no act or obedience of the Law for their justification before God. Paul does not despise circumcision in and of itself, but simply despises how the Galatians had come to abuse it and esteem it in place of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. Instead of realizing that they were saved in the Cross apart from any obedience or adherence to the Law the Galatians insisted on looking to the Law for their righteousness. Realizing this error Paul is frightened for the Galatians because he at once realized that to know Christ at all means to no longer look to the Law for salvation. If we try to esteem the Law and Christ on equal pedestals (as so many do) then we don’t know Christ at all but only a false Christ on our own devising. “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21).
Paul flatly tells the Galatians that they had fallen from grace; they had rejected the merits and righteousness of Jesus Christ in order to cling to a false gospel of self-righteousness thru their adherence to the Law. This is no laughing matter and is of dire seriousness. To fall from the grace of God is to reject the forgiveness and love that we have thru Jesus Christ, forfeiting His propitiation of the wrath of God. Faith does not achieve for us forgiveness, it simply receives the forgiveness that Christ bought for all men on the Cross, and therefore falling from grace means that we are condemned before God on account of our rejection of Jesus Christ and the free righteousness He has given all men.
Because of the gift of faith that we have given in Christ Jesus our Lord we have an enduring hope which works hand in hand with our faith. “In this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:24-25). Our faith clings to the objective work of Jesus Christ crucified for our forgiveness while our hope looks patiently to the fulfillment of God’s promises. In addition to faith and hope God adds love to those in Christ Jesus. This love, like hope, is a fruit of the faith that clings to the justification that we have in the Cross. Love is the culmination of true faith and is the end goal of our daily faith. Love itself does not justify us, but neither does faith; faith is simply the instrument which receives Christ’s justification and subsequently bears the love that He has called us to in this life. A faith that knows the Jesus Christ of Scripture will bear love; there are simply no two ways about it. “If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). A generic faith is meaningless no matter how strong and unshakeable it may be; but a faith that clings to Love Himself (Jesus Christ!) will bear the true fruit of God no matter how weak and fragile it may be. As God’s Word tells us, a love born from Christ is intimately linked with faith and hope, for it “always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Through it all faith, hope, and love endure as the heart of God’s fruit in our life thru Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. “These three remain: faith, hope and love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). The greatest part of it all is that these three that remain are not contingent on anything from us but they are staked and rooted in the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Faith, hope, and love are not what we bring to the table, but they are what God brings to the table for us by way of His one and only Son.
“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ‘A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough’” (Galatians 5:7-9).
The mentality of the Galatians still runs strong in the world today. Under the banner of “unity” so many in Christendom see no harm in deviating “small amounts” from the doctrine of justification by grace thru faith. This mentality however will lead to death and destruction no matter how good our intentions may be. Paul’s entire letter and fight for the Galatians was over what the world sees as a “small detail” of doctrine; he however knew that even the smallest amount of untruth or leaven will corrupt the whole batch. We too need to recognize this danger.
Major disasters and accidents always start as small errors in the finest of details. Cancer starts in one microscopic cell and yet it can take down the entire body; one termite or one particle of mold can begin the destruction of an entire building; one drop of pollutant can devastate an entire lake and ecosystem; and so it is with doctrine. It takes only the smallest of errors in doctrine to lose the heart of justification, to lose the Truth of Jesus Christ. God warns us to watch our doctrine closely, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). People often think that taking doctrine so seriously is legalistic and unloving; however, we often fail to see what doctrine really is at its heart. Doctrine is ultimately nothing less than the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and therefore the very means and Message that opens our eyes to our Savior. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). If we lose the Gospel we lose Jesus Christ, and if we lose Jesus Christ then we ourselves are lost.
The cry that it is unloving to adhere without wavering to the doctrine of the Gospel is absurd. It is in fact love that forces us to be steadfast in our faithfulness to the Word of Jesus Christ and accordingly we willingly put up with anything and everything in order to keep the Message of Jesus Christ pure. “We put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:13). This willingness to suffer and tolerate persecution is true charity as it looks to the ultimate good of all men. What is our love if we are willing to let men perish in their false doctrines because we don’t want to “stir the pot” but would rather keep some outward unity? Paul’s concern, in contrast to the world today, was first and foremost with the Gospel and its right proclamation because he fully realized that when we lose the Truth of Jesus Christ there can be no true charity or love. What is love, to silently let a friend continue in their ways of destructive behavior, or to intervene on their behalf even if they hate you for it? “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). We must not be willing to listen to other gospels, doctrines, and spirits even if we come across as divisive in our steadfastness. It is important to remember that the majority of Satan’s most devastating work is done in the name of love and unity. We must realize then that there can be no true love without the Jesus Christ of Scripture and therefore we must cling with all ferocity to His pure Gospel even if the clamor of unity and charity try to tempt us otherwise. “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:2-4).
“I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” (Galatians 5:10-12).
The true Jesus Christ causes division in the world because He separates men into two camps: those for Him and those against Him. “He who is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12:30). By its very nature, Christ’s Gospel causes those who are not on His side to be enemies of His Message; our sinful nature hates this Message and will fight against it with every fiber of its being. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw—a man's enemies will be the members of his own household’” (Matthew 10:34-36). The true Gospel allows for no time of peace and quiet in this life, and therefore we must be suspicious anytime that a doctrine does not cause division and antagonism amongst the world. If our sinful nature doesn’t scream against a doctrine then we need to suspiciously investigate to ensure that it is not the lie of Satan.
Persecution follows the true Gospel and the true Christian everywhere. When the Gospel is hated and rejected by men we can be assured that all is well with the it; but when our teaching is widely accepted and praised we must look to see if the Message of Jesus Christ crucified that we proclaim has been diluted or polluted. The Words of God assure us that there will be persecution and suffering in this life because of Christ and His Gospel. “You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matthew 24:9). “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). Let us soberly accept this persecution on behalf of the Gospel knowing that Christ ultimately is carrying all of our burdens in this life. “He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4).
Satan’s attacks will always be the strongest against the Truth, and he will always look to bring down those who are proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must not naively think that our flesh and the world are our only enemies, but we must realize that the devil is very real and is our dire enemy because of Jesus Christ. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil wants to take us out because we are thwarting his plans when we proclaim the forgiveness of sins that all men have in the blood of Christ. Do we really think that we can expose Satan for who he is and he will not attempt to strike at us? This is no reason to fear however because we know that God is greater than Satan and has already fulfilled His promise of Genesis 3:15, having crushed the head of the Serpent in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Though the whole world, sin, and Satan himself rise up against us we know that thru the love of Christ we are forever protected and comforted. “If God is for us, who can be against us?...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31, 35-39).
“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).
Many observe the way that the true Gospel and grace of God is taken advantage of and mocked as a sign that it must be false, but just because we see something abused in this life does not mean that it is wrong. To follow such logic would mean that just because Jesus Christ was abused and taken for granted that He must not have been the Messiah. How false! Like all good things Christian faith and freedom can be easily abused and trampled under foot. It is often the greatest and purest things which are abused the easiest, and so it is with the grace of God. People hear the teaching of God’s grace and warp it into a cheap grace of their own devising, creating a self-bestowed liberty that allows them to live for the desires of their sinful flesh. “As I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19).
If we live for our sinful flesh then we are not free at all but are slaves of the devil. “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10). If the Spirit is in us then our minds will be captive to His will and what He desires for our life. “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires” (Roman 8:5). Wicked sinners will not inherit the kingdom of God and each of us must realize that this is our very selves, for who among us is free from greed, slandering, lust, gossip, and idolatry? However, we have been washed and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ crucified. He has taken us out of the slavery to these evil ways of the flesh to live for His will, to live a life of loving service for God. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Let us shed this life of sin and live in freedom for Jesus Christ who loved and bought us.
Just because men abuse the true Gospel of Jesus Christ does not mean that we must cease proclaiming it. If we cease to proclaim the truth then people will only hear the false teachers in the world who will lead them to destruction. “There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute…they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2 Peter 2:1-2, 18-19). We must continue to preach God’s Law which shows men their utter need for Christ but we must also continue to pronounce the love and forgiveness found only in the Cross. Those around us who continue to abuse the grace of God we must “gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:25-26). Even though we see so many abusing the love of God in the Cross we must stand firm clinging to the truth and appreciating those few lives that it transforms. No matter what we must continue to live as servants in the world, loving all men on account of Jesus Christ. “It is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God” (1 Peter 2:15-16).
“The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14).
It is important that after we recognize the pure unconditional love, forgiveness, and salvation of the Cross that we look to our growth and sanctification in the Holy Spirit. The end goal of the Spirit’s work in our life is to turn us into the stewards of good works that God has planned for us in this life. “We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Love is the culmination of the Spirit’s work in our life and it is the greatest of all things that remain. “Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). However, we must never forget that there can be no love apart from the simple faith that clings to the true Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. “Everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
We have become deaf to the simple yet powerful words of the summary of the Law. We as Americans and Christians have heard the “golden rule” so many times that we have become completely desensitized to it and fail to realize how much it really demands of us. In the few simple words of “love your neighbor as yourself” there is an infinite call to love that never ceases. We ourselves need to look to refocus on these few words daily so that we come to appreciate what the Spirit is calling us to in our sanctification.
God commands us to love all people as we love ourselves in order to show us how to go about fulfilling the Law. Being that we are completely selfish creatures God knows that there is no better way to instruct us in service and love than to urge us to love all men as we love and care for ourselves. Everything that we naturally do in this life is self-centered and self-focused as we look to serve ourselves endlessly; God turns this utter selfishness around in the Law by demanding that the overwhelming selfishness that we possess be turned from within to without, so that all of our concern, attention, service, and love are focused on those around us. How are we to love everyone around us? All we must do is look to our selfish and sinful hearts within and how every waking thought and deed looks to serve our own good to see how we are to love our fellow man. It is the fulfillment of the Law then to turn that self-consumed love and focus from ourselves to those around us. Let us pray that by the grace of the Holy Spirit working within us we are daily refocusing the selfish love of our flesh to our fellow man around us, as we become the selfless servants of all men for the sake of Jesus Christ crucified. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
“If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 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 5:15-17).
True conflict in the church always arises when faith in Christ has been overthrown. When doctrines contrary to the pure doctrine of justification thru the blood of Jesus Christ become the centerpiece of the church then many sects and divisions will arise. When simple faith in Christ’s justification is lost all other doctrines are corrupted as well, leading to biting and devouring among men. “Command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith” (1 Timothy 1:3-4). We must focus on God’s work, and God’s work alone. When we promote God’s work (this is the forgiveness of sins which has been given to all men through Jesus Christ crucified) and focus on it alone we will no longer fall into meaningless controversies which arise when men focus on themselves and no longer on the Cross alone.
The desires and lusts of the sinful nature are much more than just the physical and sexual lust that most people first think of. We must not fall into the trap of thinking that if we have little sexual lust then we are adequately living by the Spirit. The most wretched of all of our vices are far more subtle and inconspicuous, being rooted first and foremost in our pride and utter selfishness. True danger lurks to devour us when pride has burrowed its way behind the shield of a “clean life.” It is the illusion that we live a good sinless life that most often hides the deadliest of sins. This does not mean that we submit to our flesh, but it simply means that when all things seem great and fine then we need to be on guard against our sinful nature all the more. To put it simply, living by the sinful desires of our flesh is to live for “me” while living by the Spirit is to live for Jesus Christ.
Being aware of our sin is not cause for despair since we have been bought by the blood of the Lamb of God. “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3). Being aware of our sinfulness and our vices gives us the opportunity to resist and fight (by the grace of God!) head on against the devil’s work in our life. If we are unaware of our sinful desires then we should be very cautious realizing that hidden sins may very well be unknowingly consuming us from the inside out. Humbly we need to realize that we are completely and totally helpless apart from Jesus Christ’s work for us on the Cross and that only by His Spirit can we daily take on the challenges that sin presents in our life. It is by God’s grace alone in Jesus Christ that the prayer of the psalmist ( and our prayer also) is answered, “Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you” (Psalm 143:2).
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 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” (Galatians 5:18-21).
As Christians we still fall into real sin even though we desire to follow the Spirit in our life. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 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” (Romans 7:15-18). The life of following the Spirit’s desires is one of daily struggle against the lusts of the flesh that hinder our walk with God. The key is that we continue to resist sin and cling to Christ’s Cross thru all things. We must not submit to living in the desires of our sinful nature no matter what happens. Though we stumble and fall we are picked back up by the grace of God as He brings us to humble repentance before the Cross.
Each of us will have different vices and weaknesses which stand out more pronounced in our life. These are the areas that we must target first and foremost as we resist the flesh, looking to tackle these “pet sins” by way of the Spirit of God.
How are we to battle the great and small temptations of our sinful nature? It is well worth it to read about Christ’s confrontation with Satan in the desert.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him (Matthew 4:1-11).
How does Christ respond to the temptations of Satan in every circumstance? He responds with the Word of God. The Word is our weapon against our flesh, Satan, and the world as they try to lead us into sin. Without the Word we are helpless against these great adversaries of ours. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11). It is only when God’s Word is hidden in our hearts and minds that we will be able to fight off the temptations of the flesh in our life. “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 11:18-20). We need to realize that we are helpless to fight off sin and temptation by ourselves and that only thru the grace of Christ’s Word dwelling in our hearts will we be able to follow the lead of the Spirit. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16). We have God’s great promise that if we resist the devil by way of God’s Word that the devil will flee from us. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). No temptation of Satan can withstand the Word of Almighty God so we need to be confident in our fight against sin, always relying on our high priest, Jesus Christ, who has walked the path before us. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16). Let us pray that we daily identify the vices of the flesh that haunt our lives and confront them by keeping pertinent Words of Scripture on our hearts that we are ready to use to in our time of need.
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 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” (Galatians 5:18-21).
In the world today we fail to recognize idolatry in all its sweeping broadness. The tendency is to think of the Israelites in the desert worshipping the golden calf and miss that idolatry manifests itself as we worship and trust ourselves, our loved ones, sports, celebrities, money, television, food, etc. Idolatry even takes form in worship in many Christian congregations as people fail to recognize God thru Jesus Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus Himself was very clear, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well…who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” (John 14:6-7, 9-10). We can only know the one true God thru Jesus Christ; when we see Jesus Christ crucified for our forgiveness we see the one true God who alone is to be worshipped. Any talk of God apart from Jesus Christ is mere human speculation and is ultimately idolatry. To fail to see Jesus Christ for who He is is to miss God completely and fall into hopeless idolatry.
Due to the influences of American culture Christianity in America tends to overlook the vices and sins of the flesh that have become accepted and celebrated by the masses. Gluttony, drunkenness, and sexual indulgence have become the norm and even Christians fail to see these as damnable sins that have us on the fast track to hell. As followers of Christ we must keep our flesh in check, doing all things in temperance and moderation. Overeating and overdrinking will bring us eternal damnation just as quickly as murder, adultery, and sexual immorality; this we must come to realize, praying that the Spirit seizes hold of us and tears us away from the slavery of our flesh.
Paul’s words to the Galatians are very powerful and should strike us all to the core. “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Who among us can stand before these words? Who among us can be perfect like our Father in heaven is perfect? These strong words are meant to crush and break us hypocritical Christians who have fallen in love with a self-bestowed “cheap grace”; a false grace that allows us to continue to wallow in the sins of the flesh and ego. The true grace of God transforms sinners by the work of the Holy Spirit into men who fight tooth and nail against the sin and flesh in their life, all while trusting completely that thru the blood of Jesus Christ they have already been bought, redeemed, and saved. “He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins” (2 Peter 1:4-9). Have we ourselves become nearsighted and blind? Have we forgotten that we have been cleansed from our sins? If we haven’t then why do we continue to intentionally rebel against God by holding onto our pet sins? He has given us everything we need in His blood and Spirit in order to combat the world, flesh, and Satan, so let us press onward in His grace realizing that it is only by the love and work of Jesus Christ crucified that we can stand righteous before our Father in heaven.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25).
Paul calls the good virtues in life the fruit of the Spirit and he does so in order that we might appreciate that they are not something that we ourselves produce, but that they are the work of God’s Spirit living in us. “Everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do” (John 3:21). We must also understand that the fruit of the Spirit that we bear is not what saves us and makes us righteous before the Father; we are already clean thru Jesus Christ and He now abides in us to produce fruit in our life. “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:3-5).
The Law is for the sinner, it is for the sin and death that lives in our corrupted nature. Our regenerated man who clings solely to the blood of Jesus Christ for righteousness has no need or use for the Law as he lives by the Spirit in all things. Our sinful nature that hangs around our necks however daily needs the Law so that our flesh is mortified and kept in check. We are dead to the Law in Jesus Christ and by His grace we bear the fruit of His Spirit who is at work within us. “You also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:4-6).
We must continually nail the flesh and evil desires of our sinful nature to the Cross of Christ. Every time these evil thoughts, words, and deeds creep up within us we must throw them away from ourselves and nail them to the Cross, clinging to the forgiveness that Christ bought for us on the Cross. “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14). There is no difference between the believer and unbeliever in the sinful nature that persists as both will continue to struggle with the desires of the sinful nature; however, the difference between the believer and the unbeliever is that thru the power of the Spirit the believer does not give in to the desires of the flesh and remain enslaved to its will, but overcomes one small battle at a time thru the grace of Jesus Christ crucified. “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?...Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness…For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:1-2, 11-13, 23). Let us pray that we daily die to our sinful nature and flesh which is trying to pull us away from the grace of the Cross and that thru the power of the Holy Spirit we live lives of faith, producing the fruit of the Spirit to the glory of God the Father and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified.
“Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” (Galatians 5:26).
The purpose of the Gospel is to bring glory to Christ and to point to His completely sufficient work on the Cross. We proclaim Christ for His own sake, worth, and merit and never out of our own greed, competitive nature, and pride. Therefore God subjects His messengers to many afflictions, troubles, weaknesses, and hardships so that thru our weakness the greatness of His Word, work and promise may be revealed. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). It is the humbled man who best displays and reflects the pure grace of God as seen in the Cross of Jesus Christ; let us pray that we are daily brought low so that thru our lowliness our Lord Jesus is exalted.
In our humility we must recognize that all good things that are accomplished in our life are directly the work of God. When our fellow man throws praises our way we knowingly need to point all glory, honor, and praise to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is the only One deserving of any laud and worship. “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake…we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:5, 7). We are nothing more than jars of clay, humble vessels that have been undeservingly chosen to carry this awesome Message of Jesus Christ to the world. When we divorce our selves, egos, and pride from the proclamation of Christ’s sufficient work then no praise or insult, no matter how great or damaging, will ever be able to slow our ministry.
We rejoice in the millstone that has been placed around our necks in this life because we recognize our utter need for daily humility. Pride is the relentless enemy of God’s Truth and Gospel and subsequently we welcome all measures which keep this evil vice in check. We must remove our ego and self from the equation when we proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified, relying on the objective power of the Spirit who alone can change lives. “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). What we never desire is for men to put faith in ours or their own knowledge, wisdom, and person. We must point men away from themselves, all teachers, messengers, and preachers, and to the only One that matters: Jesus Christ Our Lord, the Son of the Living God. “One says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos’...What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:4-7). Let us pray that we daily appreciate the trials that come our way in this life which God has sent in order to keep our spirits humble, broken, and contrite before the awesome love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ’s all-sufficient work on the Cross.
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