Inheritance

Text:  Galatians 5:19-21

“Walk in the Spirit” HOW?

-        FULLY SURRENDER TO GOD and HIS WILL AND HIS WORD

-        DAILY Bible STUDY (2 Timothy 3:16)

-        Have a Fervent PRAYER LIFE (Acts 4:31)

-        Listen to Godly MUSIC (Ephesians 5:18-19)

-        Be FAITHFUL in your CHURCH ATTENDANCE (Hebrews 10:25; Titus 1:3)

“Now the works of the flesh are manifest“

-        “Adultery“ – marital relations with anyone but your spouse

·         Psychological, internet, lust, etc. (not just “cheating”)

-        “Fornication“ – intimate physical relations before marriage

-        “uncleanness “ – lewdness, moral impurity, lacking temperance

·         Dirty jokes, vulgar tongues, (hating God’s boundaries for sin)

-        “lasciviousness“ - Looseness; irregular indulgence of animal desires; lustfulness. Tendency to excite lust, and promote irregular indulgences.

·         Homosexuality, bestiality, pedophilia

-        “Idolatry“ – worshipping anything in place of God

-        “witchcraft“ – satanic practices… manipulating or emulating Satan

-        “hatred“ – to experience joy at the thought of another’s demise

-        “variance“ – living contrary to Truth; hypocrisy

-        “emulations“ -  a striving to equal or do more than others to obtain carnal favors or honors.

·         Living a certain way to gain the praise of others for yourself

-        “wrath“ – the untempered  premeditated acts of anger

-        “strife“ - Exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation

-        “seditions“ – divisions

·         Allowing relationships to remain torn without an attempt to repair

-        “heresies“ – intentional belief or promotion of false doctrines

·         Knowing something is false, but believing it or telling others to believe it out of convenience

-        “Envyings“ - Uneasy distressing tortures of the mind, grieving at the good of others

-        “Murders“ – taking innocent life

-        “Drunkenness“ – placing yourself under the control of a foreign substance

-        “Revellings“ – non-stop partying; living for the opportunity to over-indulge in anything that makes the sensations of the flesh gratified.

-        “and such like:” – even if it wasn’t mentioned… YOU KNOW!

“of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past,”

I Corinthians 6:9-10 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

I Corinthians 15:50, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

[inherit]: The heir inherits the lands or real estate of his father; the eldest son of the nobleman inherits his father's title, and the eldest son of a king inherits the crown.

5:21 “that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

-        Christ alone is worthy of this inheritance

·         You and I deserve hell and always will

·         Because of our salvation by faith through Christ, we will share in HIS inheritance

Romans 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

-        WE CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED BY WORKS OF ANY KIND!!

5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

“This I say then” – based on the previous point

5:13-15 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

15  But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

-        After salvation both the flesh and the Spirit are alive and active in the life of every believer.

·         You can’t just do what feels right

·         We must submit to Christ and follow Him

·         We must act on Scripture – not comparison or comfort

5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

“led of the Spirit”

-        If I am being led of the Spirit in the life that I live, that is a clear indicator that I have accepted Christ as my Saviour and experienced and benefitted from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

·         That would make me born again!

-        Is not following the Spirit as sin?

·         Yes it is

·         However, because I am not under the law but under grace, I will be given the inheritance that Christ has earned and shared with me in spite of my sinful behavior

5:1   Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

-        This is the key teaching of this entire passage

-        God has given us the liberty to CHOOSE!

·         Without this choice we would be lost or robots

·         Neither capable of meeting the purpose for which man was created

§  To glorify, love, and fellowship with God!