WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.580 as you possibly can be. If you can't be a part 00:00:02.580 --> 00:00:05.219 of an event somewhere, remember to pray for our 00:00:05.219 --> 00:00:10.580 nation on Thursday. Well, today we open our Bible 00:00:10.580 --> 00:00:13.679 again to Galatians chapter 5, where we pick up 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:17.539 our reading in verse 13 in just a moment. Galatians 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:21.199 chapter 5. Well, the news this morning is that 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:25.839 they are free. Specialist Stephen Gonzales, Staff 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:29.440 Sergeant Andrew Ramirez, and Staff Sergeant Christopher 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:34.200 Stone, our POWs held by Serbia for these days, 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:37.420 will soon be reunited with their families. That 00:00:37.420 --> 00:00:40.979 is good news. We're happy for that. One can only 00:00:40.979 --> 00:00:43.600 imagine how thrilled they are to be leaving the 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:46.119 place of their imprisonment. Can you imagine, 00:00:46.219 --> 00:00:48.539 however, that should they get to the airport 00:00:48.539 --> 00:00:51.579 ready to leave, And suddenly they say, wait a 00:00:51.579 --> 00:00:53.200 minute, wait a minute, we changed our mind. We 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.380 don't want to go home. We want to stay here imprisoned 00:00:56.380 --> 00:01:01.219 in Serbia. You say, well, that would be stupid. 00:01:02.619 --> 00:01:06.819 You're right. It would be. But you see, that's 00:01:06.819 --> 00:01:10.980 exactly what the Galatians were doing with their 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:14.799 spiritual freedom. For Jesus Christ had died 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:19.209 to set them free. They were free in Christ. And 00:01:19.209 --> 00:01:21.569 yet they were saying to themselves, now, well, 00:01:21.569 --> 00:01:24.769 we want to go back to the bondage and the yoke 00:01:24.769 --> 00:01:29.870 of the law and of rule keeping. And the Apostle 00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:35.290 Paul even calls them, in essence, moronish, stupid. 00:01:35.909 --> 00:01:41.010 They were not thinking, he says. In our text 00:01:41.010 --> 00:01:43.769 today, he points out that we Christians have 00:01:43.769 --> 00:01:49.340 a calling. You know what a calling is? A calling 00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:53.840 is something for which you are destined. A calling 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.680 is that for which you were made and fashioned 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:02.459 and formed. And in your heart you know that and 00:02:02.459 --> 00:02:07.140 you don't want to miss your calling. Paul says 00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:11.199 that we have been called to freedom in Jesus 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:17.379 Christ. In that sense we are like boats. Boats 00:02:17.379 --> 00:02:20.560 called to the freedom of the wind and the waves 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.919 were like airplanes that are destined for the 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:29.759 unconstraint of the skies. You see, boats are 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:35.139 not made. They're not called to be at dock. Airplanes 00:02:35.139 --> 00:02:38.759 are not made to be in a hangar. They're made 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:44.159 to be free. And you and I and Jesus Christ likewise 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:49.719 are called to be free. We have been liberated 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:54.919 by our Savior, and we dare not lose our spiritual 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:59.599 freedom by accepting again a yoke of legalism. 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:04.159 For we are not slaves. God has called us His 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:11.180 sons and His heirs. We can lose our spiritual 00:03:11.180 --> 00:03:14.439 freedom by subjecting ourselves again to the 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:19.090 concept and the notion of rule -keeping. either 00:03:19.090 --> 00:03:23.090 in order to please God or to please other people 00:03:23.090 --> 00:03:26.770 and make them think that we're spiritual. And 00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:30.909 what a tendency there is in evangelical churches, 00:03:32.310 --> 00:03:36.509 especially more conservative churches, to create 00:03:36.509 --> 00:03:41.610 standards by which we measure spirituality. And 00:03:41.610 --> 00:03:45.889 if a person does this or doesn't do that, he 00:03:45.889 --> 00:03:51.560 or she is spiritual. Paul says don't allow yourself 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:57.080 to be drawn into that false thinking Don't lose 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:01.439 your spiritual freedom to legalism But at the 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:06.219 same time there's a balancing truth Just as we 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:09.020 don't want to lose our spiritual freedom neither 00:04:09.020 --> 00:04:14.909 do we want to abuse our spiritual freedom And 00:04:14.909 --> 00:04:17.370 that is what Paul talks about in our paragraph 00:04:17.370 --> 00:04:22.089 for today beginning in verse 13. For you were 00:04:22.089 --> 00:04:25.550 called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn 00:04:25.550 --> 00:04:29.529 your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, 00:04:30.410 --> 00:04:34.329 but through love serve one another. For the whole 00:04:34.329 --> 00:04:36.949 law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, 00:04:38.009 --> 00:04:41.670 you shall rather love your neighbor as yourself. 00:04:42.189 --> 00:04:45.709 But if you bite and devour one another take heed 00:04:45.709 --> 00:04:49.430 take care lest you be consumed by one another 00:04:49.430 --> 00:04:54.069 Here we have an example of a Christian cannibalism 00:04:54.069 --> 00:04:59.810 He says but I say walk by the spirit and you 00:04:59.810 --> 00:05:02.689 will not carry out the desire of the flesh For 00:05:02.689 --> 00:05:05.290 the flesh sets its desire against the spirit 00:05:05.290 --> 00:05:08.279 in the spirit against the flesh For these are 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:10.720 in opposition to one another, so that you may 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:13.639 not do the things that you please. But if you 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:16.980 are led by the Spirit, you are not under the 00:05:16.980 --> 00:05:20.920 law." What Paul is telling us in this paragraph 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:26.819 is that spiritual freedom demands spiritual living. 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:32.819 I'll tell you why. It is because our freedom 00:05:32.819 --> 00:05:37.509 in Jesus Christ can be easily abused if we allow 00:05:37.509 --> 00:05:44.970 our flesh, our self, to control us. It can be 00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:49.189 easily abused. Therefore, it demands spiritual 00:05:49.189 --> 00:05:54.209 living, living in the spirit. We are freed by 00:05:54.209 --> 00:05:59.870 grace to live not for selfish pursuits, but for 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:04.589 Jesus Christ. To live for oneself is absolutely 00:06:04.589 --> 00:06:10.000 contrary to the life of Jesus. There is nothing 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.899 that contradicts the values of Jesus' life more 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:20.600 than living for self. For Jesus was the great 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:26.980 model of self -sacrifice. We are freed from obligation 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:33.810 to the law, to sin. to the standards that others 00:06:33.810 --> 00:06:37.389 try to impose upon us, we are freed from that 00:06:37.389 --> 00:06:40.930 obligation so that we can voluntarily, gladly, 00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:45.189 and freely surrender ourselves to the Lordship 00:06:45.189 --> 00:06:49.889 of Jesus. So Paul writes about this idea. He 00:06:49.889 --> 00:06:53.009 writes about spiritual freedom being exercised 00:06:53.009 --> 00:06:57.089 in the discipline and the dynamic of spiritual 00:06:57.089 --> 00:07:01.199 living. That is what we need to define this morning 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.899 and talk about. The first thing that Paul seems 00:07:03.899 --> 00:07:06.180 to say in this paragraph is that the parameters 00:07:06.180 --> 00:07:12.819 of spiritual freedom are defined by love. The 00:07:12.819 --> 00:07:16.000 parameters, the borders, the boundaries of spiritual 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:20.699 freedom are defined by love. There are some boundaries, 00:07:23.060 --> 00:07:27.939 even in spiritual freedom. Those parameters are 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:33.379 defined by love. A spiritual freedom can be like 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:38.720 the freedoms of adulthood given to a child. If 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:41.699 a child suddenly gets all the freedom of an adult, 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:45.959 that child will misuse or abuse or waste the 00:07:45.959 --> 00:07:50.019 privileges that he has. So Paul explains to us 00:07:50.019 --> 00:07:53.399 here how to use spiritual freedom in a mature 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:57.639 way. For the greatest benefit of all, it requires, 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:01.879 he will tell us, discipline. When we think about 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:04.819 freedom, realize that there is no freedom that 00:08:04.819 --> 00:08:09.060 is absolute. Not even God's freedom is absolute. 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:13.319 God, being an infinite, supreme being, has infinite 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:17.939 freedom. But his freedom is constrained by his 00:08:17.939 --> 00:08:23.180 own perfections, his own moral attributes. For 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:27.360 example, God is free, but he is not free to fail. 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:34.720 He is not free to lie. Framers of our Constitution 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.039 were wise enough to realize that we wanted to 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.279 be a free nation, but there had to be checks 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.100 and balances. There had to be constitutional 00:08:42.100 --> 00:08:46.340 restraints built in so that we could enjoy our 00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:51.559 freedom. Financial freedom is not absolute either. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.620 I hope all of us know there have to be certain 00:08:56.620 --> 00:09:00.419 boundaries in your use of money. There has to 00:09:00.419 --> 00:09:03.360 be self -discipline because of the pressures. 00:09:05.340 --> 00:09:07.740 And likewise personal freedom is not absolute. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:11.600 Your freedom to do what you want to do and my 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:16.419 freedom to do what I want to do can clash. Therefore 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:19.799 our freedoms are limited by what might be called 00:09:19.799 --> 00:09:25.120 the common good. And what Paul is saying here 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.340 is that spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ has 00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:33.480 a perimeter. And that perimeter is marked by 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:39.259 love. Now that may sound suspiciously like the 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:43.000 language used by contemporary ethicists who say 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:46.679 that only love should determine what is right 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:50.419 and what is wrong. Not the rules of society and 00:09:50.419 --> 00:09:53.759 not even the rules of God for sure. But only 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:57.620 love should tell us what is right and wrong and 00:09:57.620 --> 00:09:59.919 we hear that we say well that that sounds pretty 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:04.159 good The problem with it is that there's no definition 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:09.879 of love When they say that each person defines 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:13.639 love for himself So you have your definition 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:15.899 of love and this person has his definition of 00:10:15.899 --> 00:10:18.799 love and I have my definition of love and we 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:23.059 try to live that way and The result is relativism, 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:25.899 where we all do what is right in our own eyes, 00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:30.460 and there are no standards at all. When Paul 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:34.799 says that love marks the perimeter of our freedom, 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:38.860 he means something far different than what I've 00:10:38.860 --> 00:10:40.980 just described from our contemporary understanding 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:45.899 of love. Because to Paul, love was defined by 00:10:45.899 --> 00:10:52.659 God himself. Love was modeled by Jesus Christ 00:10:52.659 --> 00:10:58.320 in the life of self -sacrifice. So Paul is saying 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:01.340 that your spiritual freedom in mind has a perimeter 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:04.480 and that perimeter is marked by love. And then 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:07.000 he goes on to define that perimeter in a couple 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:12.500 of ways. A negative way and a positive way. In 00:11:12.500 --> 00:11:15.340 the negative way he says, don't use your freedom 00:11:15.340 --> 00:11:21.799 as an opportunity for the flesh. That selfish 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:24.799 programming within you that's left over from 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:30.440 what you were before your conversion That old 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:36.639 imprint of the sinful you the flesh He says you 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:40.100 are free in Jesus Christ, but but don't use that 00:11:40.100 --> 00:11:46.460 freedom as a beachhead For the sin in you to 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:52.460 be expressed in your own selfishness That's one 00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:58.659 way he defines the perimeter of love. The freedom 00:11:58.659 --> 00:12:01.980 that we have in Jesus Christ is never to be used 00:12:01.980 --> 00:12:05.740 as an opportunity to advance our own agendas 00:12:05.740 --> 00:12:12.519 to get what we want to be driven by our selfish 00:12:12.519 --> 00:12:19.120 goals. On the positive side, he says, by love, 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:27.899 serve one another. He says, the love of Jesus 00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:35.960 within your heart combines it, places a border 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:40.559 around your spiritual freedom. And that love 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:43.720 causes you to live like Jesus did, a life of 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:47.980 self -denial, so that you will serve others. 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:53.120 Spiritual freedom is never an excuse for me to 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:57.240 get my way. Spiritual freedom means that I give 00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:02.379 myself to serve others. I don't do what is best 00:13:02.379 --> 00:13:06.580 for me. I do what is best for my brother or my 00:13:06.580 --> 00:13:12.860 sister. But Paul goes on to say the whole law, 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:17.620 the whole law can be summarized in just this 00:13:17.620 --> 00:13:19.980 one statement, and he quotes from the Old Testament, 00:13:20.059 --> 00:13:24.549 Leviticus chapter 19. You shall love your neighbor 00:13:24.549 --> 00:13:28.269 as yourself Jesus called that the greatest of 00:13:28.269 --> 00:13:32.830 the commandments James called it the royal law 00:13:32.830 --> 00:13:36.309 The law of love he says if we keep that law we 00:13:36.309 --> 00:13:41.629 will do well The gospel that we have believed 00:13:41.629 --> 00:13:45.169 is a gospel that is apart from works we receive 00:13:45.169 --> 00:13:49.690 it simply by faith, but listen to me the faith 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:53.100 that apprehends the gospel of Jesus Christ is 00:13:53.100 --> 00:13:57.179 a faith that works by love. Paul said that in 00:13:57.179 --> 00:14:03.139 verse 6. We do not become Christians by our works. 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:07.460 We are freed from that slavery to do our best 00:14:07.460 --> 00:14:12.919 and to perform. But that faith that is genuine, 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:15.720 that causes us to become the children of God 00:14:15.720 --> 00:14:18.779 is a faith that has to work itself out, and it 00:14:18.779 --> 00:14:23.070 will. And he says it will perform within us by 00:14:23.070 --> 00:14:31.730 our love. There are those who fear that the freedom 00:14:31.730 --> 00:14:38.129 of grace will lead to lawless living. And you 00:14:38.129 --> 00:14:42.769 know, that is a danger. When it happens, it's 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:45.820 an abuse of freedom, but it is a danger. But 00:14:45.820 --> 00:14:47.500 there are people who will take their freedom 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:50.679 in Jesus Christ and use that as an excuse to 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:55.659 live without any restraint With they have a license 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:58.559 they think to do whatever they want to do they 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:02.559 misunderstand They abuse spiritual freedom. That 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:04.860 is a danger when you talk about the spiritual 00:15:04.860 --> 00:15:10.659 freedom that comes with grace Paul says here 00:15:10.659 --> 00:15:14.899 that the law of love will regulate and discipline 00:15:15.179 --> 00:15:19.159 our freedoms through an internal code that God 00:15:19.159 --> 00:15:22.700 has written on our hearts. He says we don't any 00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:26.000 longer need this external list of commands of 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:30.879 do's and don'ts. Because God has written on the 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:34.179 inside of us, in our hearts, in the new person 00:15:34.179 --> 00:15:38.519 that we are in Jesus Christ, an internal code 00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:43.419 of conduct that lives itself out in love and 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:48.129 self -sacrifice. and service for others. So we 00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:50.610 don't have to be afraid of the idea of spiritual 00:15:50.610 --> 00:15:54.470 freedom because God balances that with love that 00:15:54.470 --> 00:15:57.590 He's placed in our hearts that will work itself 00:15:57.590 --> 00:16:01.149 out and sacrifice them for the good of the other 00:16:01.149 --> 00:16:06.289 person, not for ourselves. Now the Galatians 00:16:06.289 --> 00:16:08.789 should have known this, but they were having 00:16:08.789 --> 00:16:13.149 a hard time with it. Paul says in verse 15, that 00:16:13.149 --> 00:16:16.789 they were in fact biting and devouring one another. 00:16:18.509 --> 00:16:21.429 And he says, take heed lest you don't eat one 00:16:21.429 --> 00:16:26.309 another up and consume one another. He's saying 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:28.730 that they were using their spiritual freedoms 00:16:28.730 --> 00:16:35.570 as an excuse for criticizing and attacking other 00:16:35.570 --> 00:16:41.070 people. Paul says you're abusing your freedom. 00:16:41.259 --> 00:16:46.879 You see, that can happen to any of us. And so 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:49.259 we have our spiritual freedom, and we're saying 00:16:49.259 --> 00:16:52.720 that it is disciplined with love. The parameter 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:55.559 around it is love, doing what is good for others. 00:16:56.820 --> 00:17:01.139 How do you get up every morning and live through 00:17:01.139 --> 00:17:09.339 the day, hour by hour, living that way? How can 00:17:09.339 --> 00:17:12.559 we consistently carry this out? Without allowing 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.200 our freedom in Jesus Christ to be abused. He 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:18.640 says, walk by the Spirit, you will not carry 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:21.059 out the desire of the flesh. What does the flesh 00:17:21.059 --> 00:17:27.839 want to do? To express itself? To gratify itself? 00:17:29.980 --> 00:17:33.920 To conquer the other person, not serve him or 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:38.619 her? That's what the flesh wants to do. But Paul 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:43.819 says, walk in the spirit, and the flesh will 00:17:43.819 --> 00:17:46.579 not be able to use your freedom as an opportunity 00:17:46.579 --> 00:17:52.640 to express itself. He goes on to explain that 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.440 there is within every believer a power struggle. 00:17:57.339 --> 00:17:59.460 On the one hand, he says, you've got this Jesse 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:03.960 Ventura figure. And on the other side, you've 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.839 got Hulk Hogan. And the two of them are locked 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:12.559 in combat, arm in arm, looking for the opportunity 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:15.619 to throw the other one down to the mat and land 00:18:15.619 --> 00:18:20.259 on him and pin him and defeat him. Except in 00:18:20.259 --> 00:18:24.119 our case, inside we've got the flesh and we've 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:28.480 got the Holy Spirit. And the flesh is always 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.259 looking for an opportunity to express itself. 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:34.720 And we'll talk about that some more next week. 00:18:36.059 --> 00:18:38.880 The flesh is always looking for an opportunity 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:43.420 to put down the spirit and to motivate us to 00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:46.160 selfish living. On the other hand, the spirit 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:50.920 is jealous for us, and he's looking for the opportunity 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:54.200 to put down the spirit, or put down the flesh 00:18:54.200 --> 00:19:01.000 rather, and to energize us to say no to the flesh. 00:19:03.779 --> 00:19:07.650 These two are in opposition. They battle. You 00:19:07.650 --> 00:19:11.750 face it, and I face it. He says, walk in the 00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:13.750 Spirit, and you will be able to say no to the 00:19:13.750 --> 00:19:16.809 flesh. The flesh will still be there with its 00:19:16.809 --> 00:19:20.049 desires. It will still have its temptations. 00:19:20.089 --> 00:19:22.769 It will still make its demands on you. But you 00:19:22.769 --> 00:19:26.849 can say no, he says, through the power of the 00:19:26.849 --> 00:19:29.109 Spirit. Walk in the Spirit. Now, how do we do 00:19:29.109 --> 00:19:31.369 that? Well, I've used this illustration before 00:19:31.369 --> 00:19:35.140 numerous times. In walking, you and I simply 00:19:35.140 --> 00:19:38.920 throw ourselves off balance on purpose and we 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:42.500 reach out to catch ourselves with our leg. And 00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:45.640 we learn as little toddlers to do that and we 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:48.299 find that we can walk when we throw ourselves 00:19:48.299 --> 00:19:50.960 in dependence out into the air and then stick 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:53.660 out our leg and catch ourselves and we move. 00:19:54.940 --> 00:19:57.099 And what he is saying here is that you and I 00:19:57.099 --> 00:20:02.609 need to throw ourselves on the spirit. We need 00:20:02.609 --> 00:20:04.970 to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit. It's an 00:20:04.970 --> 00:20:08.730 act of faith just as much as receiving Jesus 00:20:08.730 --> 00:20:12.289 Christ as our Lord and Savior. We choose to say, 00:20:12.289 --> 00:20:16.309 Holy Spirit, I can't do this in myself. I don't 00:20:16.309 --> 00:20:19.509 have the energy to live this way. I can't say 00:20:19.509 --> 00:20:24.789 no to the flesh consistently. He says, throw 00:20:24.789 --> 00:20:30.880 yourself on me. Depend on me. Yield yourself 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:35.019 to me, and I will give you energy to do that. 00:20:36.059 --> 00:20:39.000 The Holy Spirit is like the wind that fills the 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:43.759 sails of a boat. That wind pushes it along. When 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:46.119 you and I depend upon the Holy Spirit, He's like 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:49.279 that. He pushes us along in the right direction. 00:20:51.259 --> 00:20:54.599 The Holy Spirit brings to us the law of the Spirit 00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:58.420 of life. It is the law that lifts us above what 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:01.380 the flesh wants us to do and allows us, like 00:21:01.380 --> 00:21:04.180 an airplane, to overcome the law of gravity, 00:21:04.859 --> 00:21:11.960 the flesh that pulls us down. The power of spiritual 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:17.339 freedom is discovered in the Holy Spirit. Spiritual 00:21:17.339 --> 00:21:23.359 freedom demands spiritual living. If we don't 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.339 live in the Spirit, we will abuse our spiritual 00:21:26.339 --> 00:21:30.220 freedom. It demands spiritual living. What does 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:36.759 that mean? It means to choose the path of love 00:21:36.759 --> 00:21:45.759 and the power of the Holy Spirit. A young man 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:48.740 named Bill lives across the street from a very 00:21:48.740 --> 00:21:51.460 conservative church. Bill is a college student. 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:57.359 He's been there four years. He's bright, rather 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:00.680 esoteric. In his senior year, he comes to faith 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:04.680 in Jesus Christ. Bill has been a nonconformist 00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:08.640 as a college student. He wears jeans with holes 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.819 in them, t -shirts, no shoes. Must be in California. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:17.200 And he has wild hair, kind of like your husband 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:23.269 in the morning when he gets up. And Bill... finally 00:22:23.269 --> 00:22:25.990 sees that church across the street. He's gone 00:22:25.990 --> 00:22:29.470 to campus four years, he's now come to faith 00:22:29.470 --> 00:22:31.710 in Christ, and he sees this church across the 00:22:31.710 --> 00:22:34.210 street. Now in that church are wonderful people, 00:22:35.730 --> 00:22:39.250 very conservative, they love the Lord, and they 00:22:39.250 --> 00:22:42.369 are praying for an opportunity to reach people 00:22:42.369 --> 00:22:47.150 on that campus across the street. And so one 00:22:47.150 --> 00:22:49.890 day, God leads Bill to walk across the street 00:22:49.890 --> 00:22:54.549 and go to that church. And he enters in. And 00:22:54.549 --> 00:22:56.529 immediately, he notices he's quite different. 00:22:57.809 --> 00:23:02.529 Everybody else is dressed differently. But he 00:23:02.529 --> 00:23:04.269 goes down the center aisle, trying to find a 00:23:04.269 --> 00:23:06.630 place to sit. And every seat is filled. And he 00:23:06.630 --> 00:23:08.609 goes further and further down into the church. 00:23:09.089 --> 00:23:11.029 And of course, as he does that, more and more 00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:14.309 eyes begin to look toward the center aisle. And 00:23:14.309 --> 00:23:16.609 they see this rather wild -looking character. 00:23:19.869 --> 00:23:21.750 Well, Bill has just come to faith in Christ. 00:23:21.789 --> 00:23:26.109 He's not been in the church before, really. And 00:23:26.109 --> 00:23:27.730 so he just imagines that he's on the college 00:23:27.730 --> 00:23:30.130 campus still, and he goes right down to the front 00:23:30.130 --> 00:23:32.630 of the church. He can't find a seat in the pew 00:23:32.630 --> 00:23:35.450 anywhere. And so he sits down on the floor right 00:23:35.450 --> 00:23:39.289 in front of the pulpit. The preacher has stopped 00:23:39.289 --> 00:23:43.130 preaching. He might as well, because Bill was 00:23:43.130 --> 00:23:45.809 the center of attention. Everyone's focused on 00:23:45.809 --> 00:23:53.250 Bill. And then from the back row, this elderly 00:23:53.250 --> 00:23:57.470 man gets up, distinguished looking, has a cane. 00:23:58.529 --> 00:24:03.109 He's in his 80s, the oldest deacon of the church. 00:24:04.490 --> 00:24:08.170 And he starts down the aisle. And as he does, 00:24:08.289 --> 00:24:12.609 all the people in the church sigh a bit of relief. 00:24:13.869 --> 00:24:16.670 They say, this is so uncomfortable, somebody's 00:24:16.670 --> 00:24:18.869 got to deal with him. Might as well be a deacon. 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:25.720 He'll tell him to get a seat or move out, but 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:29.940 that deacon will deal with it. And so the old 00:24:29.940 --> 00:24:34.259 man is down the center aisle, slowly, and he 00:24:34.259 --> 00:24:36.259 comes to where Bill is, sitting in the front. 00:24:37.539 --> 00:24:41.240 He lays down his cane, and slowly he gets down 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:47.380 and he sits beside Bill. Because he didn't want 00:24:47.380 --> 00:25:01.000 Bill to be alone. Grace is breathtaking. The 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:05.119 liberty that we have in Jesus Christ is marvelous. 00:25:08.299 --> 00:25:15.900 And that deacon on that day lived it. In the 00:25:15.900 --> 00:25:19.380 power of the Holy Spirit, in the parameter of 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:25.359 love, He embraced that young man who didn't conform 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:29.880 to the unwritten rules of the church. And the 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:34.740 pastor said, you will never remember what I have 00:25:34.740 --> 00:25:38.640 said in my sermon today, but what you have seen 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:46.039 today, you will never forget. Let's bow together 00:25:46.039 --> 00:25:56.980 in prayer. Father, how easily we slip into them. 00:25:57.859 --> 00:26:03.119 We want them to conform. And how easy it is for 00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:06.559 some of us to slip into that and to think that 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:09.680 because we're doing certain things that please 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:13.920 men, we are spiritual people. I pray that you 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:16.460 will show us today what real spiritual living 00:26:16.460 --> 00:26:23.329 is. Because the spiritual freedom that you've 00:26:23.329 --> 00:26:30.109 given us in Jesus demands spiritual living Help 00:26:30.109 --> 00:26:35.329 us to live like Jesus did To sacrifice himself 00:26:35.329 --> 00:26:38.410 as we partake of this bread in just a moment 00:26:38.410 --> 00:26:43.869 as we hold it in our hands Help us to examine 00:26:43.869 --> 00:26:47.630 our hearts Lord to see if we're really as broken 00:26:47.630 --> 00:26:52.930 as Jesus was As finished with self -centeredness 00:26:52.930 --> 00:26:59.470 as Jesus was, living love in the power of the 00:26:59.470 --> 00:27:00.089 Holy Spirit.