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Pastor Lud Golz
Pastor Lud Golz

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  Home | Transcript Archive | December | December 07, 2021

Tuesday, December 07, 2021

We have been considering what it means as a Christian to express our faith through love (Galatians 5:6). 

When God calls us to Himself and sets us free to experience all He had in mind for us as Christ followers, He was not giving us a “carte blank” freedom to do anything we might feel like doing.  Paul clearly warned us, “do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.  The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:13-14). 

That is easier said than done.  In fact, it is impossible to do consistently by our own effort.  We have already seen that it is the Holy Spirit who dwells within every believer who makes it possible to do this.  That’s why Paul goes on to say, “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:16). 

Dr. Wuest writes in his book on Galatians: “The Holy Spirit has been given…as the Agent to counteract the evil nature, but He does that for the saint when that saint puts himself under His control, and by an act of his free will, says a point-blank positive NO to sin.  In other words, there must be a cooperation of the saint with the Holy Spirit in His work of sanctifying the life...Thus the choice lies with the believer as to whether he is going to yield to the Holy Spirit or obey the evil nature.  The Spirit is always there to give him victory over the nature as the saint says…NO to sin and at the same time trusts the Spirit to give him victory over it.”   

This choice is essential if we want to express our faith through love.

 

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