(Read Galatians 5:22,23)
This morning we continue our series “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing to look at The Law given under Moses vs. the Grace provided by Jesus. In our last message Paul drove home the point that Grace and sin do not go together. Paul listed a litany of sins and warned us from living that way. Once again, Grace gives us freedom FROM sin and not a freedom TO sin.
By giving us a laundry list of sins, Paul basically gave us a list of the “fruit” the flesh produces. Paul then contrasts the fruit of the flesh, with the fruit the Holy Spirit should produce in our lives. Paul says, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”
So what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. Sin is never okay. Accepting and embracing the Grace God gave us through Jesus should never translate into a life of sin.
2. Along with salvation by Grace, God put His Spirit down inside of us, so that we can hear directly from Him (Spirit-to-spirit), and so we can be led of God in everything we do.
3. Before we were Born-Again we were resigned to live our lives in the flesh, without the Holy Spirit. The flesh produces “fruit” and Paul gave us a list of the some of the fruit it produces: “sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.” This list might describe some of the ways you used to live, prior to being Born-Again, but it should certainly NOT describe the way you live now.
4. While the flesh produced it’s own type of fruit (sin), the Holy Spirit also produces fruit. The Holy Spirit produces “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” These are some of characteristics the Holy Spirit should be producing in your life. Is He? If you are not seeing this type of fruit it is because you are not cooperating with the Holy Spirit. But if you submit to Him, and You allow Him to lead you, your life will produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit everyday.
5. Paul said that when you are being led of the Holy Spirit and His fruit is being produced and developed in your life, “There is no law against these things!” The Apostles’ point is that when you are being led of the Holy Spirit, from the inside-out, being transformed into the very image and likeness of Christ, your focus is no longer on the Law of Moses.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me about the Law You provided through Moses, the Grace You provided through Jesus, the Holy Spirit Jesus died to restore to mankind, and my responsibility to embrace Grace and be led of Your Spirit daily. When I look at the fruit the flesh produces I see an image of the life I used to live. However, that person is dead. When I was Born-Again I was made new. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, Born-Again to walk in the newness of the life Jesus died to give me. I no longer produce the fruit of the flesh. I produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because I submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit in all things. Your Spirit speaks to me while I am sleeping, He leads me while I am awake, He puts thoughts in my mind when I need answers, and He puts peace in my heart when I have unrest. Your Spirit is the difference maker in my life. Your Holy Spirit is changing me, from the inside-out, day-by-day. When people see the list of the fruit the Holy Spirit produces, they can equate that list with my life. Because I am IN You, You are IN me, and I am dying to my old ways daily. Every day I pick up my personal cross, dying to self, following You under the leadership of Your Spirit, and I am seeing Your fruit produced and developed in my life daily. Not because I am so good, but only because You are. You develop your fruit in my life by Grace! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
