Living by the Spirit’s Power
Galatians 5:16-18 NLT
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
Examine the scriptures:
Galatians 5:16-18 NLT
Living by the Spirit’s Power
The Holy Spirit is God.
The Holy Spirit is a person.
He thinks (Acts 15:28), He speaks (Acts 1:16), He grieves (Ephesians 4:30), and He decides (1 Corinthians 12:11).
The Holy Spirit dwells in Christians.
1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
The Holy Spirit illuminates the Word of God.
John 14:26 NLT
26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
The Holy Spirit tells us what Christ has done.
John 15:26 NLT
26 “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.
The Holy Spirit speaks on our behalf. He intercedes for us.
Romans 8:27 NLT
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
The Holy Spirit guides us.
John 16:13 NLT
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
The Holy Spirit brings conviction.
John 16:8 NLT
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.
The Holy Spirit sanctifies us.
1 Peter 1:2 NLT
2 God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy.
The Holy Spirit inspires writers.
2 Peter 1:20-21 NLT
20 Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, 21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
In light of all that is happening in their lives.
“Let” used here and “but when” used in verse 18 remind us that we are not always being guided by the Holy Spirit.
Yield to the Holy Spirit.
Walk by the Spirit.
Make decisions and choices according to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Romans 12:2 NLT
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
- Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
- Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
Every Christian has two natures.
A sinful nature received at birth, inherited from fallen Adam.
A divine nature received when we came to God, when we were adopted into His family, when we were born again.
- Every Christian has a sinful nature and a divine nature.
Romans 8:2-4 NLT
2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
17 The sinful nature wants to do evil,
which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants.
A desire for evil.
1 Peter 2:11 NLT
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
- The sinful nature wants to do evil.
And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.
A desire for holiness.
- A divine nature desires holiness.
These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
- The Christian’s divine nature and the sinful nature are at war with each other.
- The war between the Christian’s divine nature and sinful nature will continue until the Christian is resurrected with Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:18-25 NLT
The Future Glory
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
“but when”
The Spirit’s active presence in believer’s lives shows that they are no longer under the pre-Christian system.
- A Godly life is not lived under the rules of the Law but is a life led by the Spirit.
A law-free faith will not lead to moral ruin because having the Holy Spirit to guide people’s lives changes their hearts to follow the will of God and not sin.
Just as justification is not possible by works so sanctification cannot be achieved by human effort.
This of course does not mean that a Christian is totally passive in either case for the response of faith is necessary-faith in Christ to save and faith in the Holy Spirit to sanctify.
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- Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.
- Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
- Every Christian has a sinful nature and a divine nature.
- The sinful nature wants to do evil.
- A divine nature desires holiness.
- The Christian’s divine nature and the sinful nature are at war with each other.
- The war between the Christian’s divine nature and sinful nature will continue until the Christian is resurrected with Jesus Christ.
- A Godly life is not lived under the rules of the Law but is a life led by the Spirit.
