Think about the last weekend you had. Did you walk by the Spirit or by the flesh? You may ask “How do I know?” Well, this is the question we will look at the next two weeks. Let’s read Galatians 5:16-21
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul begins by explaining there is a battle going on! The battle is between the Spirit of Christ that dwells in you and your flesh. It is a constant battle as “the flesh sets it desire against the Spirit.” Are we going let the Spirt of Christ inside of us control us or will our own desires and lusts control us? This is a moment by moment decision that takes place in a believer’s life.
We won’t discuss this in length, but notice it says “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” Once again, Paul explains that as believers in Jesus Christ we are no longer under the Law! How many times did he express this truth in Galatians? We should have counted!
Now Paul says “the deeds of the flesh are evident.” Read that again “the deeds of the flesh are evident.” What does “evident” mean? Some translations translate that word as “clear” or “obvious”. I think you get the point. The deeds of the flesh are easily identified. Paul lists some of the clear characteristics of the flesh: : “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” Notice, this is not an exhaustive list because Paul says “and things like these.” But let’s go back to the original question of this devotion: “Think about the last weekend you had. Did you walk by the Spirit of by the flesh?” Was there any jealously in your life? Any outbursts of anger? Any sexual immorality? Any drunkenness? Any envy? You see how easy it is to tell if you are walking in the flesh! When someone is controlled by the Spirit, he or she will not go after the deeds of the flesh.
Let’s say you look at last weekend, and you blew it! You can see that you were “clearly” walking in the flesh. What do you do? From previous devotions, we learned believers should approach the throne room of grace with confidence… (cf. Hebrews 4). The late Mike Wells explained it like this. It is if you have an invisible door in your heart. When you are walking after your own lusts and desires (flesh), that door is shut. However, as a believer, all you have to do is turn back to God and that door will swing back open again. Obviously, you don’t have a real door on your heart that opens and closes, but we can grieve the Holy Spirit and our fellowship with our Lord can be affected. However, that fellowship is again restored when we turn from our flesh and back to Him. Now, our salvation is never in question once we become a believer in Jesus Christ.
On the contrary, unbelievers continue to “practice such things.” You see someone who continually practices or does these things with no remorse and has never become a believer in Jesus Christ “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Only faith in Christ can change their future! Praise be to God that He has changed ours! See you next week as we look at what should pour out a believer when he or she walks by the Spirit.