The danger of life under carnal control

GALATIANS 5: 16-18
But I say, walk in the Spirit, and you will not realize the desire of the flesh. For the flesh opposes its desires against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, because they oppose each other, so that you can not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law (Galatians 5: 16-18, NASB).

INTRODUCTION
Many great empires have risen and fallen. Many great kings, emperors and

the presidents came and went. The Roman Empire is one of the most important and seemingly impregnable empires in history. What caused the decline and the final fall of the Roman Empire? What follows is a selected list of what resulted in the disappearance of the Roman Empire.

1. The rapid increase in divorce The degradation of dignity and

the sanctity of the house, which is the basis of human society.

2. Increase in taxes and the use of public funds free of charge

bread and circuses for the populace.

3. The craze for fun: the sport becomes more exciting every year and

more brutal.

4. The construction of gigantic weapons when the real enemy was inside, the

the decadence of the people.

5. The decline of religion– Religious faith that is just losing shape

and become helpless to warn and guide the people.

Now, I want to talk to my brothers and sisters of African descent. Many of us, when we were in Africa, believed that the United States was a Christian country. I thought everyone in America was a Christian. However, the truth is that the United States is not a Christian country. Dr. Billy Graham, of Holy Memory, said that the United States was not a Christian nation. Yes, the United States has strong Christians and dynamic churches. Yes, the United States is one of the best Christians and churches, but the United States is not a Christian country. The truth is that no nation in the world is a Christian nation. Why? The answer is simple You can not legislate on Christianity. The Christian life is a living kingdom not created by a man or a woman but by the Holy Spirit. God gave us his textbook to live the Christian life – the Bible. It is only through the help and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit that we can live the Christian life as God wishes. Therefore, let's examine, explain and apply the Word of God

1. AN ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE MARKET OF THE SPIRIT (VV 16-18)

The apostle Paul wrote Galatians' letter to speak of theology and

practical issues, which seemed to destroy the church. The general thesis of the letter is "Christian freedom" or "Christian freedom." The church was predominantly gentile, but some Judaists had infiltrated its ranks in order to enslave them with Jewish law, especially the law of circumcision. Two fronts seemed to undermine the gospel and the spiritual growth of this church. These were the partisans of libertinage or license, that is to say a life without moral compulsion. Some of the Greek philosophers married hedonism. Hedonism is the doctrine that teaches that pleasure is the main purpose of life. The next was the Judaizers who taught that Gentile Christians must abide by Jewish law to be saved. In other words, what they proposed to the believers of Galatia was that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross was not enough. Indeed, they taught salvation through works, or faith plus works of the law. They taught that faith in Jesus Christ alone was not complete. Today, there are others who teach similar things.

There are some who believe that if you do not speak in tongues, your salvation is not enough. There are others who say that if you do not pray in a certain way, your faith in Christ is not complete. The problem is that all that human-centered teaching adds to justification by faith alone nullifies salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, so that we can understand what God teaches us through his servant Paul, let us set the context for the biblical text. The context of the pbadage is in verses 13-15. What Paul teaches us here is that only the Holy Spirit gives true freedom. Paul's concern is to present the Holy Spirit as God's response to both the flesh and the law, for the law can not thwart the desire of the flesh, but the Spirit can and does.

According to verses 13-15, the Judaizers presented the law as an antidote to the quarrels and discord that characterize this Christian fraternity. But the observance of the law has rather served as a fuel for fire. Therefore, in verses 16-18, Paul intervenes to teach them the antidote or the solution to the life of the flesh. In verse 16, Paul exhorts us to "walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh." Verse 16 carries an imperative (command) – "and you will not realize the desires of the flesh " is the promise. Walk in the spirit, the verb "to walk" is a continuous present. It means "keep walking in the Spirit". In other words, you must continue to live your life as a Christian under the control of the Holy Spirit – to live a life empowered by the Spirit. The sad thing is that those who claim to be Christians have no idea who the Holy Spirit is. You get nervous when someone talks about the Holy Spirit. However, without the empowering power of the Holy Spirit, you can not live the Christian life. Some people become Christians and then live in pbadivity. Life in the Holy Spirit is not a pbadive submission to the Spirit to do the supernatural work in your life. On the contrary, the Christian life requires a conscious effort so that the Spirit who lives in us, the third person of the Trinity (the Trinity God), may fulfill his purpose in your life. Amen! The Christian life is a supernatural life. What the Word of God teaches here is that you must actively submit to the Holy Spirit so that he can continue his supernatural work in your life. You do this by deliberately conforming your life to the Holy Spirit who lives in you. When the believer does this, the promise is that you will not realize the desires of the flesh. What is "flesh"? In the Bible, the word "flesh" is used in many ways. It is used in both a positive and a negative sense. For example, when the Bible says "flesh and blood," it means human. This is also, used in the sense of the body. These uses are positive. The only way to distinguish the positive from the negative is the context in which the word is used.

Therefore, in the context of our present biblical text, the word "flesh" refers to our humanity in its essential state of bankruptcy. It includes all the tendencies and impulses that lead to misbehavior, the lower nature, the old nature. It also means propensity or inner inclination to do evil. It means a life lived outside the realm of the Holy Spirit. The life you lived before Christ saved you. Thus, the Word of God says that the Holy Spirit is sufficient and adequate to fulfill the purposes of God in you and among Christians. You live a life of defeat because you refuse to walk in the Spirit. You refuse to give control of your life to the Holy Spirit. If you live according to the flesh, you are enslaved to the flesh. It simply means that you are a servant of the flesh (you serve the flesh). The flesh becomes your master and you become the slave. Paul insists that Christians are people who have no obligation of any kind to the flesh. The flesh is a cruel master in the task and the salary it will give you is death (Romans 6:23).

In verse 17, the Word of God states that the flesh is in opposition to the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence in your heart. There is a war between the flesh and the Spirit of God. The flesh opposes to the Spirit with the desire not to do what God wants you to do. Let me now clarify some points. This does not mean that the flesh and the Spirit have equal power. The flesh is not a match for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than the flesh. Therefore, when you give your life to the Holy Spirit, the flesh becomes useless and helpless. Paul teaches us that despite the ongoing war, every time you are controlled by the Holy Spirit, you will triumph over the flesh. That's why we have to be careful about what we say and what we do. Sometimes you have to pray about something before you do it or say it. There are other things that a Christian does not need to pray about them. For example, if a person wants you to steal, you do not say: let me pray about it. You tell him in the face that you can not fly because you are a Christian and that flying is not fair.

Verse 18 says that if your life is led by the Holy Spirit, you are not under the law. When the Bible says "led by the Spirit", it does not mean pbadivity. You do not say, Holy Spirit, do what you want to do when I take the back seat and do nothing. When the Holy Spirit tells you to go to testify to your neighbor about Christ and you refuse, you are not subject to the Spirit. When you are led by the Holy Spirit, you consciously cooperate with the Holy Spirit to do what He asks you to do. Walking by the Spirit, it is to be led by the Spirit. It means that you walk every day in obedience to the desire of the Spirit. Spirit-controlled people walk to a different drummer, and the Holy Spirit empowers us to live in such a way that our lives prove it. Our behavior is markedly different from our old way of life if we are led by the Spirit. Amen!

The Holy Spirit and the flesh are diametrically opposed. In these verses, Paul carries a hard blow to both the permit and the law. In this verse, Paul says that the solution for granting a license in the Christian life is not laws, as the Judaizers claimed, but in an opening to the Spirit and being guided by the Spirit . Paul does not say that the law is useless. What he says is that the law has no intrinsic power to help you win the war against the flesh. It's even true in our own social life. It is good to have laws to govern any society or nation. The problem is that the law can prevent you from acting in the opposite way, but it can not help you do what is right. The law discourages sinning, but it can not give you the power to overcome sin in your life. The law makes you aware of sin but the law can not deliver you from sin. The Holy Spirit is the One who has the power to help you overcome the precepts of the flesh. That is why Paul says elsewhere that "the law kills but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3: 6). The Holy Spirit is infinitely stronger but you and I are weak. Left to our sin, you and I would make bad choices. Your liberation from your natural evil desires requires the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives you an intrinsic standard of values. The Holy Spirit allows you to do what is right, the expression of that goodness benefiting others. Only the Spirit is able to overcome the flesh by communicating the new life opened by the work of Christ. And when the new life in Christ is present, no law is needed to command it. It's the Spirit himself that fills your life with rich content. Walking in the Spirit is to let Jesus Christ live his life through you. Jesus calls it "life in abundance" (Jon 10:10). When you are in Christ, your relationship with God and your life as a Christian is started, sustained, directed and completed entirely by the Spirit.

The Christian life is not hard, it is impossible to live without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes you hear Christians say, "I try to live the Christian life. Stop trying and yield to the control of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not save you to try to live the Christian life. He saved you to live his life through you. And that's what the Holy Spirit does in your life if you cooperate with him.