SPEAKER_00: Good evening.
SPEAKER_00: It's great to see everyone out here tonight, both members and visitors alike.
SPEAKER_00: And this evening I want to talk about a passage that I've been thinking about recently.
SPEAKER_00: Brother Nate has already read this for us.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Nate.
SPEAKER_00: And that will be Galatians 5.
SPEAKER_00: Let's turn to Galatians 5.
SPEAKER_00: Starting in verse 16, it says, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: For the desires of the flesh are against the weak, or are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
SPEAKER_00: But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop there for a second.
SPEAKER_00: So this text shows that there are two paths that we can follow in this life, the spiritual path and the worldly path.
SPEAKER_00: It describes how these two paths conflict with each other.
SPEAKER_00: The desires of the flesh, these worldly temptations, are against what God has commanded us to do, and the desires of the spirit are against what the world wants us to do.
SPEAKER_00: The more that we follow one of these paths, the further we stray from the other path.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot walk both paths at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew seven goes into more detail about this.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew seven, starting in verse thirteen.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many, for the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
SPEAKER_00: This passage also describes two gates.
SPEAKER_00: One has a wide and easy path.
SPEAKER_00: It's a path of carefree living.
SPEAKER_00: Many people walk this gate, but it ultimately leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_00: This is the worldly path.
SPEAKER_00: It may be fun for our earthly bodies, but it leads to death.
SPEAKER_00: This is the path that Satan wants us to watch, to follow.
SPEAKER_00: The other gate is narrow and difficult, but it leads to life and to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Few people walk this gate.
SPEAKER_00: This is the spiritual path.
SPEAKER_00: The spiritual path is hard and requires sacrifice and self-control, but it results in life.
SPEAKER_00: This brings us to our first point, walking the spiritual path.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately for us, following the spiritual path is not easy.
SPEAKER_00: This life is full of pitfalls and temptations.
SPEAKER_00: There is not one person on this earth who does not face temptations.
SPEAKER_00: In some form or way we have all had to deal with this.
SPEAKER_00: Even Jesus himself, who lived a perfect life, was tempted.
SPEAKER_00: He was tempted with all of the earthly desires that we have now.
SPEAKER_00: Let's now read how Jesus dealt with this.
SPEAKER_00: Let's turn to Matthew 4.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 4, starting in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
SPEAKER_00: And the tempter came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
SPEAKER_00: But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop there.
SPEAKER_00: So in this passage we see Jesus being led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan himself.
SPEAKER_00: After not eating for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry, as I'm sure we all would be.
SPEAKER_00: The devil comes to Jesus and says that if he really is the Son of God, that he should command the stone to become bread for him to eat.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus responds by saying that man should not live by bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God.
SPEAKER_00: Reading on verse five, then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you trust strike your foot against a stone.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said to him, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
SPEAKER_00: Next, Satan leads Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple, super high place, and he says to throw himself off, for you know the angels concerning you will it will help you lest you strike your foot against a stone.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus again resists the temptation and says, Again it is written, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.
SPEAKER_00: Finishing off in verse eight, it says, Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
SPEAKER_00: And the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
SPEAKER_00: In this final part of this text, Satan leads Jesus to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the earth, and he says that he will give these to Jesus if Jesus will only fall down and worship him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, of course, resists this and says, Be gone, Satan, you shall not you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.
SPEAKER_00: In these verses we see Jesus choosing the spiritual path by resisting the temptations from the devil himself.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has faith and courage in the Lord, and trusts in him, not the world.
SPEAKER_00: We need to strive to live like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Brings us to our second point.
SPEAKER_00: We must not walk the worldly path.
SPEAKER_00: Let's turn back to Galatians for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Back to Galatians five.
SPEAKER_00: Continuing on in verse nineteen, Paul writes, Now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, bits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
SPEAKER_00: I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pause there.
SPEAKER_00: So in these verses, Paul clearly lays out what will happen if we walk by the world.
SPEAKER_00: He lists all sorts of fleshly works that will happen to us if we choose to follow this worldly path.
SPEAKER_00: He ends that section with the warning of what will happen to us, saying that the people who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God, as the worldly path ultimately ends in destruction, as we have already read.
SPEAKER_00: He quite clearly states that walking by the world is a terrible lifestyle choice and will not involve for those who choose it.
SPEAKER_00: Paul implores us to not follow how the world is living.
SPEAKER_00: We must live differently from the world.
SPEAKER_00: This brings us to our third point.
SPEAKER_00: We must choose which path we will walk.
SPEAKER_00: As we begin to close this evening, let us look at the last part of this text.
SPEAKER_00: Paul ends this section with an uplifting message.
SPEAKER_00: Back to Galatian 5, verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: He says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
SPEAKER_00: Against such things there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
SPEAKER_00: If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Let us not become conceited, provoking one another or envying one another.
SPEAKER_00: In the last few verses of this text, Paul ends it by describing this spiritual path.
SPEAKER_00: He lists the attributes of the Spirit that we should strive to live by.
SPEAKER_00: He shows a perfect example of how we should be living our lives.
SPEAKER_00: He describes those who have chosen the spiritual path, those who have put off the world and its temptations and have fully accepted Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Deciding which of these paths to walk is a conscious decision.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot simply walk through life with no purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And we also can't go back and forth between these two paths.
SPEAKER_00: Our choice cannot be passive.
SPEAKER_00: We must choose to walk in the spiritual path.
SPEAKER_00: We must choose to walk with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We must trust in the Lord and believe in His way.
SPEAKER_00: Our last passage for tonight will be Matthew 11.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 11, verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_00: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
SPEAKER_00: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
SPEAKER_00: If you need help tonight, choosing the spiritual path and living the life that God has commanded you to, we can help you with that.
SPEAKER_00: If you will come forward now as we stand, as we sing.