SLIDES

The Letter to the Galatians 5:16

(Part 21)

Introduction

Has God ever come by your house and asked if you wanted to take a physical walk with Him for the purpose of discussing some important matters going on in your life? Or has He ever stopped by for a meal? You may be thinking that God did appear to people from time to time and did talk to people many times but walking with them or meeting with them. That is pretty farfetched. Well, it may sound farfetched, and it might sound strange, but God not only talked with people, appeared to people, but met with people and talked to them. Let me give you a few examples. Let’s start with Adam and Eve. In Genesis 2: 16-17 God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge, but if they did they would die spiritually and physically.

I bring this up in the lesson to show that after Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, Moses recorded that God was walking in the cool of the day in the Garden and had a conversation with Adam and Eve about why they were hiding. From this story recorded by Moses, it appears that Adam and Eve walked and talked with God maybe on a daily basis. In verses 14-19 He spoke directly to Satan, Eve, and Adam when He told them how they would be cursed because of disobedience.

In chapter 4:4-16 Cain and God had a conversation about why he killed his bother Able and about the curses God put on him. Did God appear to Cain when they had their conversation? It does not say, but it’s possible.

The next person that was said to have walked with God is Enoch as seen in Genesis 5:22-24.

22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Did Enoch physically walk with God? It does not say, but its possible.

The next person said to have walked with God is Noah in Genesis 6 is Noah. Moses said that Noah was a righteousness man who walked with God. Did God physically walk with Noah when God spoke to him telling him His plans to flood the earth and for Noah to build an ark. Could God have met with Noah on a daily basis or from time to time giving him verbal directions on how exactly to build the ark.

Abraham is next in line in Genesis 15. God told Abraham He was going to make a blood covenant with him. Abraham, when he cut the animals in half, actually thought the He and God would hold hands and walk between the pieces of animal to ratify the covenant. God had other plans and put Abraham to sleep. While he was asleep, God went through the pieces of animal and ratified the covenant Himself. With way that God made the covenant with Abraham that includes his physical and spiritual descendants, Abraham and his descendants had not responsibilities concerning the covenant except to receive the blessings of it.

We know that Jacob wrestled with God who appeared in the form of a man in Genesis 32. That’s when God changed Jacob’s name to Israel as a nation.

If you are not ready for God to take a stroll with you some day to have a discussion how about your problems, maybe having lunch or supper with Him. You are thinking that Bob’s really gone over the edge now by suggesting that I have a meal with God. Well, Moses, Aaron, Aaron's two sons, and seventy of the Elders of Israel did. Let’s look at Exodus 24:9-11.

9 ... Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.

After the men saw God, they ate a meal before Him. It was common to symbolize the ratifying of a covenant with a meal. Also, remember that several times a year you have a spiritual meal with Jesus called the Lord’s Supper. It is then that you fellowship with Him. The Lord’s Supper is also called Communion. The word communion means “to have intimate fellowship or rapport with someone.”

In Leviticus 26 11-12 we find that God not only walked with individuals in the Old Testament but also walked with the people of Israel.

11 Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. 12 I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.

He promised to walk with them as He did with the patriarchs. God made His presence known among Israel. God dwelt in the Tabernacle, but also dwelt among them as a pillar of cloud in the day time and a pillar of fire at night. This was not a side by side walk with God, but it was absolutely physical. Moses when He went into the Tent of Meeting, which is another name for the Tabernacle, met with God in some physical manner, because when he came out the Tent of Meeting his face was glowing from being in the presence of the Shekinah Glory.

In the book of Luke, Jesus walked with two people from Jerusalem to Emmaus.

So again, I ask you if you would like for God to drop by your house to not only have a physical meal today but also a walk after the meal.

Just like God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and just like God walked with Israel and some of the patriarchs, today we are going to see that God can also walk with each and every believer each and every day. There is one major difference in God walking with Adam and Eve and other in the Old Testament. Our walk with God is spiritual in nature because we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Even though the word walk is used, it is used as a metaphor. We will discuss in this lesson what walking with God metaphorically. The verse I am referring to is Galatians 5:16. We will read it in just a minute.

Verse 16 is as well-known verse today among Christians and is one of the most profound verses in the New Testament. It is one that each of us should not only memorize, if one has not already, but become familiar with and certainly obey. To me, this verse stands at the fourth verse of importance in the Bible. The first two, which are equal, are loving the Lord with all of one’s heart, soul and mind and the second is loving one’s neighbor as oneself. The third is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved found in Acts 16:31. Let’s now read Galatians 5:16.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Acts 16:31 deals with the doctrine of salvation and Galatians 5:16 deals with the doctrine sanctification or growing to Christian maturity. One certainly cannot enter the realm of Sanctification until they complete the justification realm.

By Paul beginning this verse “But I say” shows what he is about to show a great contrast between what he said in the previous verses about the believers at the churches in Galatia they were fussing and fighting with one another about whether justification was by faith or obedience to the Mosaic Law. They were also probably arguing about whether the Judaizers should be able to remain in the church to continue to propagate their heretical views.

The first part of this verse, “walk by the Spirit” is a metaphor and not to be taken literally. Walk by the Spirit means to live by means of the Spirit, to behave or conduct oneself in accordance with the Spirit, be guided or led by the Spirit, to give oneself completely to the Spirit, to be closely associated with the Spirit, to live according to the Spirit, to be under the control of the Spirit. and also. The Spirit is of course the Holy Spirit. Walk by Spirit is a command and is also in the present tense. So, it can be translated “continually live by the Spirit or be under constant control of the Spirit.” Even though the word power is not used, the verse intimates that we are to continually live by means of the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. Being guided, directed, and empowered by the Holy Spirit is the key to living the Christian life and pleasing God.

In the second half of this verse the word “and” gives the result of continually living under the control of the Holy Spirit. If a believer in Jesus continually lives under the control of the Holy Spirit, the result will be that they will not carry out to gratify the desire of the flesh. Note that the word desire is singular not plural. The flesh or sin nature only has one desire - to gratify the flesh. Trying to gratify the flesh comes in many forms. The verb carry out means to accomplish or to fulfill. To carry out the desire of the flesh means to gratify the flesh. The flesh has several synonyms: the sin nature, the old nature, human nature. The King James calls it the Old Man. All these are referring to the sin nature we are born with that urges us to sin, exhorts us to sin, coaxes us to sin, prompts us to sin, compels us to sin, drives us to sin, pushes us to sin, etc. In verse 17 Paul expounds on what he said in verse 16. If a believer does not live his or her Christian life under the control of the Holy Spirit, he or she will sin by gratifying the flesh. If I said to you tonight, “Do not think of a purple elephant,”—suddenly, you would be able to think of nothing else. But, if I then set before you a huge hot fudge sundae—creamy vanilla ice cream, laced with deep dark fudge, topped with mounds of whipped cream, lightly toasted almonds, and a juicy red cherry—the purple elephant wouldn’t enter your mind because you’d be captivated by something much better right before your eyes.