Galatians 5:19-26 Spiritual Fruit

We found last time in our studies in Galatians 5:17 that the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. These words describe the warfare between two enemies battling each other – a war of life and death.

In our text this week the company of this war are described. First depicted in verses 19-21, we find the idle, useless, and barren flesh, which yields no fruit, contrasted to the fruit of the spirit described in verses 22-23. In essence these are images of what the enemies of God look like in verses 19-21 – adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; and what the friends of God resemble in verses 22 and 23 – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Paul then argues that such spiritual fruit is only borne in those who are Christ’s [who] have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Philip Ryken has written,

“The Holy Spirit does not produce fruit in the Christian life without our cooperation. There are two things every Christian must do to remain fruitful. The first is to mortify the flesh (Gal. 5:24). Mortification is one of the most neglected doctrines of the Christian faith, but also one of the most important. Mortification is what Paul was talking about when he told the Romans, “consider yourselves dead to sin” (Rom. 6:11).  The spirit is engaged in mortal combat with the flesh. The desires of the regenerate wage war against the flesh. In this war there will be no truce.”

The new man makes no peace pacts with the flesh. Sin must be put to death. To the cross, with the works of the flesh!  Escort the POWs out of their cells; it’s time for their crucifixion! This is how John Stott explains mortification,

“To take up the cross was our Lord’s vivid figure of speech for self-denial. Every follower of Christ is to behave like a condemned criminal and carry His cross to the place of execution. Now Paul takes the metaphor to its logical conclusion. We must not only take up our cross and walk with it, but actually see that the execution takes place.  We are to take the flesh, our willful and wayward self, and nail it to the cross.”

This week study Romans 6 in order that you may learn and understand the forgotten doctrine of mortification.

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Galatians 4:1-7 The Time Has Come

A new MP3 sermon from Bread of Life Fellowship is now available on SermonAudio.com with the following details:

Title: The Time Has Come
Subtitle: Galatians
Speaker: Pastor William Poss
Broadcaster: Bread of Life Fellowship
Event: Sunday Service
Date: 6/22/2008
Bible: Galatians 4:1-7
Length: 51 min. (16kbps)

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Galatians 5:13-18 The Law of Love

As I have addressed the matter of freedom many times in our teachings in Galatians, one might come away with the idea that the Christian life was one glorious victory after another. We do have freedom not to sin, as vs. 16 of the text says, “You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” We have freedom to serve, as vs. 13, says “By love serve one another, and as vs. 14 says, “We have the freedom to keep the law of love, the whole law is fulfilled, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” With all of this freedom though, why is it that we continually see ourselves coming up short in these areas and continually falling?

Such failings caused Martin Luther to question his salvation. Do you question your salvation due to constant falling into sin?  Luther was helped with this problem by meditating on Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Luther used this verse to preach to himself. “Martin, you will never be completely without sin, because you still have the flesh. Therefore, you will always be aware of its conflict. According to Paul, the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. Do not despair, therefore, but fight back, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

As long as we live we will be continually pulled by the body of death (the flesh) and the Spirit; there is a battle taking place which will continue throughout your Christian life. Be encouraged, for when you are most aware of sin is when the Holy Spirit is most active in you. Your struggle with sin is a mark of your genuine Christian faith. The question to ask yourself is found in vs. 17, “And these are contrary one to another, so that you cannot do the things that ye would. Is the desire there to do the things that you would? This then I say then,” walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

This week think of ways to love your neighbor as yourself. May you have the mind of Christ in this matter: neighbor how may I love thee and bless thee?

Galatians 5:1-6 Fallen From Grace

Up to this point in Paul’s epistle to the churches of Galatia, his emphasis and essence of His message has been freedom from the curse of the law. When one turns to Christ, he turns away from the Law of Moses as a means of salvation and begins living under the dominion of Christ and the Holy Spirit whom the Father has sent into his heart. Paul argues that those who are in Christ are then free from the law. But what we need to understand is that often our view of freedom and Paul’s are very different. While many think of freedom as being left alone, Paul’s understanding of freedom involves slavery to God and His will. Many believe freedom to be the liberty of will to determine one’s goals and direction in life; but for Paul freedom meant interdependence, not independence. The unredeemed understanding of freedom is in fact bondage to the powers of the world, the flesh and the devil, while true freedom involves gladly accepting the bond of slavery to the Father. True freedom then is liberation from the bondage of self-will and self-living, and involves the capacity to live for God and neighbor. So the irony is that you are truly free when you become a bond-slave to God; you become free to be whom God wants you to be. God’s bond-slaves have been set free to serve God, to follow Jesus, and to walk by faith in the spirit. This is the freedom for which Christ has set you free. The person who is truly free is a person who trusts, loves, and obeys God through Christ and in the Spirit loves and serves others. The child of God who has this freedom lives before God with a clear and free conscience, as he or she grows before God in holiness and love. This is the freedom that the father has for His children. God has made us free indeed, so that all can see the His glory, and also, so we are capable to relate to God and others authentically and clearly. You are to know this freedom; you are to enjoy this freedom, and you are to experience this freedom.

This week memorize Galatians 2:19,20 and stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.

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Galatians 4:21-31 The Great Contrast

Remember that the way that one becomes acceptable to God and enters heaven, is not by the law, nor by the works of goodness, but by the promise of God. Paul illustrates this point by considering the two sons of Abraham to prove this point.

Abraham had two sons. But only one son had been promised by God to Abraham through his wife Sarah. However after many years passed without Sarah having a child, it seemed as though she was incapable of conceiving. Discouraged, Sarah asked for her slave girl, Hagar, to bear them a child.  Abraham listened to his wife and went in to Hagar and she bore him a son, Ishmael. God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would bear a son, but they were both well beyond the years of child bearing. Sometime later however, God kept His promise and the impossible happened – Sarah, well beyond childbearing years, bore a son and named him Isaac. Isaac was a miracle child, wonderfully born by the working of God, all because God had promised Abraham a son.  Isaac was therefore, a promised child. 

Ishmael was born after the order and process of nature, and as such, he was born into slavery, being born of a slave girl; born because of the work, effort, human reason and will of Sarah. He was born because of fleshly impulses, urges, and attraction of Abraham. Isaac however, was born as a freeman, born of a free woman, Sarah, born by the promise of God alone. 

The point for you to meditate upon this week is: Abraham had two sons – Ishmael was the child born by human ingenuity, energy, and effort and he was born into slavery; but Isaac, the child promised by God, was born miraculously by the promise of God, by His electing love and power alone, because He alone had made the promise and He alone was faithful to fulfill it. 

This week study Genesis chapters 16, 17, and 21 and discover whether you are you a child of the flesh or a child of promise!

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Galatians 3:26-29 Children of the Most High God

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Verse 29 of Galatians chapter 3 calls the children of God “heirs according to the promise.” This divine promise has always been the chief inheritance of the people of God. Their earthly state can be nothing but inferior, limited, and unsatisfying; their hearts constantly desiring something beyond the earth. Accordingly, they have always held the divine promise as their comfort and most prized possession. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all of the Old Testament saints looking forward, not having received the promises in their fulfillment, are heirs together of the same promise with us. The great promise to them was that of a Savior and it is ours as well – a Savior to us who is salvation – a personal Savior – who in proper time was born to be the man Jesus Christ. The possessions of man consist of his attainments and his expectations. A Christian’s earthly attainments are very little; however, it is his expectations which constitute his main and most important wealth. These are divine promises of which you have become an heir! We are all partakers of the same great and precious promises. For the accomplishment of these, we wait, and look, and labor.

Are you an heir according to the promise? This week meditate upon your inheritance very carefully. Consider first, that it is all of grace; as such secondly, your condition is a sure one, which should fill you with an overflowing joy. Thirdly, consider that your state is a most exalted one; you are seated in heavenly places, so you ought to be holy. Lastly set your affections upon your sure inheritance looking forward to the day of its consummation in faith. Take to heart the four traits just mentioned – grace, joy, holiness, and faith; are these traits distinctive in your life?

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Galatians 3:19-25 Law to Grace

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

John MacArthur has written:

After showing the superiority of the covenant of promise, Paul shows the inferiority of the covenant of law, first in regard to its purpose, then in regard to its mediator, and finally in regard to his accomplishment. Why the law then? What is the purpose? It was added because of transgressions,(vs.19). In light of Paul’s convincing argument up to this point, the obvious question would be, why the law then? If salvation has always been by faith and never by works. And if the covenant of promise to Abraham was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, what purpose did the law have? Paul’s answer is direct and sobering: ‘It was added because of transgressions.’ The purpose of the law was to demonstrate to man his total sinfulness, his inability to please God by his own works, and his need for mercy and grace. The law was added to show the depth of man’s transgressions against God. It was given to drive him to desperate guilt and the awareness of His need for the deliver. As the Apostle explains a few verses later, the law was a “Tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by Christ. That we may be justified by faith.” (vs 24). The impossible demands of the law were meant to compel men to recognize their violation of God’s standards and to seek His Grace through faith in His Son.

This week seek the Lord in prayer and ask Him has the law really done its work in your life? Questions to ask: Have I seen my sinfulness? Have I seen my inability to please God by my own works? Have I been driven to desperate guilt and the awareness of my need for the Savior? Has the law truly led you to Christ? Study Romans, chapter 7 this week for a greater understanding of the law.

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Galatians 3:15-18 The Unchanging Promise

Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Paul has argued that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross has purchased salvation for both Jews and Gentiles. Christ has fulfilled the promise that God had made to Abraham, is that now in Christ, Jews and Gentiles become members of God’s family by simple faith in Christ, and not by obedience to the law.

Derek Thomas has written:

A potential problem now arises in settling the way of justification against the law. Paul was in danger of putting Moses against Christ. In alluding to Abraham (5 times in the previous section, 3:6-14 and twice more in this section, 3:16,18), Paul is in further danger of putting Moses against Abraham. This needs some explanation lest Paul be misunderstood, and the relationship between the old and new testaments be set in irreparable jeopardy. In providing such an explanation, Paul resorts to using several important words. They are covenant, promise, and inheritance. In order to understand what Paul regards as foundational – the Gospel itself – we will need to appreciate the meaning of these words.

This week do an in-depth study of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, given in Genesis and Exodus respectively. Also, study the promises given to Abraham in Genesis. Lastly consider and meditate upon what might be the inheritance Paul speaks of in Galatians 3:18?

(This week we have not provided specific cross references, so you will need to roll up your sleeves, and dig into the riches of God’s Word and find them for yourself.)

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Galatians 3:10-14 The Curse

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”

 

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

 

John Stott has written,

 

These verses may seem difficult in both concept and vocabulary, yet they are fundamental to an understanding of Biblical Christianity. For they concern the central issue of religion, which is how to come into a right relationship with God. This is described in two ways:

 

First, it is called being justified before God, vs.11. To be justified before God is the exact opposite of being condemned by Him. It is to be declared righteous, to be accepted, to stand in His favor and under His smile. Clearly, this is a matter of the first importance.

 

Human beings have an instinctive desire to be in favor with their fellows, friend with friend, children with their parents, and employee with his boss. Similarly, although we are by nature in revolt against God, we still long to be put right with Him.

 

The second description of a person who has come to God is this: “He shall live, (verses 11-12). The life referred to here is, of course, not physical and biological, but spiritual and eternal, not the life of this age, but the life of the age to come. The simplest definition of eternal life in the Bible comes from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, “This is eternal life, that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” (John 17:3).

So, justification means to be in favor with God; “eternal Life” means to be in fellowship with God. And the two are closely, indeed indissolubly, related. We cannot be in fellowship with God until we are in favor with Him.

 

This week study and meditate on Roman 4, and enjoy favor and fellowship!

 

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Galatians 3:6-9 Sons of Faith

just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Some false teachers had arisen in the churches of Galatia. They were teaching that a man must focus his life upon the rituals and teachings of religion, and the works of the law, instead of focusing upon Christ. They were in essence saying that a man had to be ritualized or circumcised, or in modern terms, become a church member or get baptized. Men were charged to give their lives keeping the law in order to be acceptable to God. They placed ritual and law, and that which they had to do, above Christ. Their center of attention was themselves, and what they could do to save themselves and to make themselves acceptable to God, and not upon Christ and His saving power. They stressed the flesh, the physical and the natural, the strength of man, instead of the power of the Holy Spirit. Lastly, faith was noticeably missing from their lives. Paul gave a persuasive and powerful answer from Scripture. He used Abraham to illustrate the truth that Scripture, in particular the Torah itself, proved that a man is justified by faith and not by works or law (v. 6-7). He wrote that the Torah preached the gospel of faith to Abraham (v. 8-9). He argued from Torah that the law puts a man under the curse (v. 10-12). And even drew from Torah his case that Christ has redeemed us from the curse (v. 13-14).

This week, ask yourself the following questions: Are you focused upon what you have to do, or upon Christ? Are you trying to make yourself acceptable to God? Do you stress the flesh or the spirit? Sons and daughters of faith, do an in-depth study of Hebrews chapter 11 this week!

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