HOW TO USE YOUR FREEDOM | Walking in the Spirit | Part 3

Devotional

Day 1: Freedom’s Purpose: Serving Others, Not Indulging Self

Christians are set free not to chase personal cravings but to love sacrificially. True liberty in Christ redirects focus from self-gratification to meeting others’ needs. When believers mistake freedom for license, they risk devouring one another through conflict and pride. Paul warns that unchecked fleshly desires destroy community, while Spirit-led service builds it. This divine exchange—swapping indulgence for love—marks genuine gospel transformation. Freedom finds its highest expression in laying down rights to lift others up. [32:24]

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:13-14, NIV)

Reflection: Where have you used Christian freedom to justify self-focused choices rather than sacrificial love? What practical step can you take this week to serve someone without expecting anything in return?

Day 2: The War Within: Flesh Versus Spirit’s Pull

Every believer faces a daily civil war: sinful desires battle the Spirit’s holy promptings. This tension leaves Christians feeling divided, wanting righteousness yet stumbling into old patterns. Paul clarifies that victory comes not through willpower but surrender to the Spirit’s leadership. The flesh craves temporary thrills; the Spirit cultivates eternal fruit. Recognizing this conflict is the first step toward relying on divine strength rather than human resolve. [53:43]

“For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” (Galatians 5:17, NIV)

Reflection: What specific desire has your flesh been shouting loudest this week? How can you intentionally yield that area to the Spirit’s control today?

Day 3: Man-Made Rules Can’t Tame the Flesh

Human regulations about music, diets, or rituals may look spiritual but fail to transform hearts. Paul condemns self-imposed religion as powerless to restrain sin’s root. External restrictions breed pride when kept and guilt when broken, but they never produce holiness. True change flows from the Spirit’s inner renewal, not outward compliance. Legalism replaces relationship with empty performance, mocking the cross’s sufficiency. [45:38]

“Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’? Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom… but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Colossians 2:20-23, NIV)

Reflection: What man-made rule have you treated as a spiritual measuring stick? How might focusing on the Spirit’s voice liberate you from performance-based faith?

Day 4: One Fruit, Nine Flavors: The Spirit’s Unified Harvest

The Spirit’s fruit isn’t a buffet to pick from but a singular crop revealing Christ’s character. Love, joy, and peace aren’t separate achievements but interconnected evidences of divine life. Like a vine’s branches, believers don’t strain to produce these traits—they simply abide in the Source. This fruit grows in community, not isolation, as the Spirit reshapes relationships with God and others. Maturity means all nine qualities develop together, not selectively. [01:15:00]

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV)

Reflection: Which aspect of the Spirit’s fruit feels most underdeveloped in your life? How could cooperating with the Spirit in one area nourish the entire harvest?

Day 5: Crucified Flesh, Risen Walk: Daily Surrender’s Rhythm

Crucifying the flesh isn’t a one-time event but a moment-by-moment choice to starve old cravings. Resurrection power flows as believers actively present their bodies to God’s purposes. This isn’t passive “letting go” but intentional partnership—saying no to sin’s whispers and yes to the Spirit’s nudge. Every surrendered step reinforces Christ’s victory, transforming duty into delight. The cross becomes both a past event and a present posture. [59:14]

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:24-25, NIV)

Reflection: What “old passion” have you been feeding instead of crucifying? How can you practically “keep in step” with the Spirit’s pace today?

Sermon Summary

Paul takes Christian freedom and refuses to let it become an excuse for the flesh. Christ has set his people free from the curse of the law, from the old way of trying to be righteous by works, human effort, rules, and regulations. The law could not save, and Paul makes clear that the law also cannot sanctify. Man-made boundaries may have “an appearance of wisdom,” but they are “of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”

Galatians 5 points to a different way. The Spirit is the Father’s gift, the guide, the power, the help, and the one who makes holy living possible. The Christian life does not suddenly go back to law after salvation by faith. The Spirit leads, and if the Spirit leads, then the believer is not under the law. Holy living does not come from performance for God, but from God’s performance through his people by his own Spirit.

Paul also shows why this is so serious. The flesh and the Spirit are at war. The flesh pulls one way, and the Spirit pulls the other way, so that the child of God feels the conflict of dueling desires. Walking in the Spirit means a moment by moment yielding of thoughts, attitudes, actions, words, appetites, and decisions to the Spirit’s control. This yielding is not passivity. Romans 6 says not to present the members of the body to sin, but to present them to God as instruments of righteousness.

The works of the flesh are evident. Paul names adultery, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, hatred, jealousies, wrath, divisions, drunkenness, and “the like.” The warning is heavy: those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The idea of a permanent “carnal Christian” cannot stand when Romans 8 says that if a person lives according to the flesh, that person will die. By the Spirit, the deeds of the body must be put to death.

The fruit of the Spirit is different. It is not “fruits,” like separate things to chase one at a time, but one fruit, one godly life, one Spirit-produced character. The Spirit produces love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such there is no law, because no law can condemn or produce that kind of life. Christ purchased freedom by his blood, and the Spirit makes that freedom useful, holy, loving, and full of life and peace.

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Key Takeaways

1. Freedom must not feed the flesh. Paul makes Christian liberty a holy responsibility, not a spiritual vacation. Freedom in Christ does not mean life becomes “Waikiki Beach,” where the flesh gets whatever it wants. The cross frees a person from law-keeping as a basis of righteousness so that love, service, and holiness can become the actual use of freedom. [37:53]
2. Rules cannot kill sinful desire. The law could not save, and man-made regulations cannot sanctify. “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle” may look wise, but Paul says those things have no value against the indulgence of the flesh. The Spirit alone has the power to do what rules can only pretend to do. [47:44]
3. Yielding is not doing nothing. Walking in the Spirit is not a passive “let go and let God” that removes responsibility. Romans 6 calls the believer to stop presenting hands, feet, mind, and body to sin, and to present them to God. The Spirit empowers the obedience, but the believer must actively yield, resist, confess, and follow. [58:09]
4. Carnality cannot become identity. Paul’s warning about the works of the flesh is not meant to comfort sin, but to wake up the soul. A Christian may stumble, struggle, and need mercy every day, but the works of the flesh cannot become the settled pattern of life. Romans 8 presses the point hard: if by the Spirit the deeds of the body are put to death, life follows. [69:42]
5. The Spirit produces one godly life. The fruit of the Spirit is singular because the Spirit is producing one whole character, not random religious traits. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control belong together as the overflow of his control. The pressure is not to manufacture them, but to yield to the One who produces them.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[31:58] - Galatians 5 and Christian Freedom
[35:10] - Saved by Faith, Not Law
[37:04] - Do Not Use Liberty for the Flesh
[41:12] - The Importance of Walking in the Spirit
[43:38] - The Danger of Man-Made Rules
[48:22] - The Spirit’s Power for Holy Living
[53:15] - The War Inside the Believer
[57:27] - Yielding Without Passivity
[61:38] - The Works of the Flesh
[66:04] - The Problem with Carnal Christianity
[74:43] - The Fruit of the Spirit
[78:15] - Love as the First Fruit
[82:41] - Joy, Peace, and Long Suffering
[89:36] - Crucifying the Flesh and Walking Worthy

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Galatians 5:16-26
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” [31:56]

Romans 8:13
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” [01:09:28]

Colossians 2:20-23
“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” [45:34]

Romans 6:12-13
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” [58:15]

Observation questions

In Galatians 5, what contrast does Paul keep making between the flesh and the Spirit, and what kinds of behaviors show up on each side of that contrast? [01:01:38]
In Colossians 2, what kinds of regulations does Paul mention, and what does he say those rules are unable to do?
According to Romans 6:12-13, what are believers told not to present to sin, and what are they told to present to God instead? [58:15]
In Galatians 5:22-23, why might it matter that Paul says “fruit” of the Spirit rather than “fruits” of the Spirit? [01:16:11]

Interpretation questions

If being led by the Spirit means a believer is not under the law, what does that say about trying to grow in holiness mainly by rules, pressure, or self-effort? [52:31]
Paul warns that those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God. How should that warning shape the way a person thinks about ongoing, settled patterns of sin? [01:05:42]
Romans 8:13 says that the deeds of the body must be put to death “by the Spirit.” What does that phrase seem to teach about the believer’s responsibility and the Spirit’s help working together? [01:10:21]
The fruit of the Spirit is one Spirit-produced life, not a list of traits to manufacture one by one. How does that change the way a person pursues growth in love, joy, peace, and self-control? [01:15:59]

Application questions

Christian freedom must not become an excuse for the flesh. Where is the greatest temptation right now to use freedom selfishly instead of using it to love and serve others? [37:53]
Man-made rules can look wise but still have no power against sinful desire. Are there any personal rules, habits, or standards that have started to feel like a substitute for actually depending on the Spirit? [47:44]
Walking in the Spirit involves active yielding, not passivity. In a normal day, what area tends to need the most moment-by-moment surrender—thoughts, words, temper, appetites, relationships, or something else? [54:59]
Romans 6 says not to present the members of the body to sin. What does that look like in a practical situation that comes up often—on a phone, in an argument, in private thought life, or in the way time is used? [58:37]
The works of the flesh cannot become a settled identity for someone who belongs to Christ. Is there any sin pattern that has been treated too lightly, excused too quickly, or allowed to linger without serious repentance? [01:08:01]
The fruit of the Spirit begins with love. Who right now would be hardest to love with patience, kindness, and gentleness, and what might Spirit-led love look like toward that person this week? [01:18:15]
Since the Spirit produces one whole godly life, which part of that fruit is especially needed in this season—joy, peace, long suffering, faithfulness, self-control, or another—and what would it look like to yield that area to the Spirit this week? [01:22:41]

Sermon Clips

62s

“``they they can't help you. They can't help you defeat the battle against the flesh and this is our greatest problem is our flesh is me. It's it's my my old nature, my sinful tendency is trying to get out. Peter, are you saying that it's okay to get drunk? Are you saying that it's okay to sin like the world? You know I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that law works, human effort, rules and regulations that men come up with, they couldn't save us and much less will they now sanctify us. They are useless to help you live the Christian life. We must live by the spirit. We literally must live every single day by the direction, by the control, by the empowerment, by the assistance of the holy spirit. He is the father's gift to us. He is our guide. He is our empowerment.”

56s

“I don't have to try. You know, I've had conversations with people. Well, I'm trying. Well, why did you do this sin? I'm trying. No. It's not It doesn't work by trying. You don't have the capacity in you to live right. You have to yield your lives to the power of the holy spirit, the direction of the holy spirit, and then he will bear the fruit in you and through you. That's why it says, but the fruit of the spirit, and that's freeing. Okay? And then another thing I wanna show you, it's the fruit singular. It's not the fruits. Right? You're gonna see nine characteristics and some people say, well these are nine fruits. No. The spirit only produces one fruit, meaning one character. life. One godly life. And the nine characteristics are nine characteristics of how that life looks.”

72s

“That's the war. And the way you have victory, the way you do not satisfy the the the desires of the flesh is by walking in the spirit, which means what? You're making a conscious choice. Moment by moment, to listen to this, to yield. This is the best way I can say it. To yield control of your thoughts, attitudes, actions to the spirit of God who is leading and empowering you to live according to his will. Okay? It's a step by step yielding. Right? We we talked about this last week. The temptation comes, you know, click on this and you run. The temptation comes, say something to exalt yourself and you don't. It's it's I'm not going to, you know, get into it because I already have, but as you allow the holy spirit to take control, you make the right choices, you choose holiness, you choose humility, it becomes habitual. It becomes a lifestyle, and this is how you come into maturity by establishing a pattern of life where every day you're you're you're you're yielding to the spirit of God.”

76s

“From from from the perspective what what Paul has been trying to teach us. For four chapters, Paul's been saying neither law nor works nor human efforts nor human rules could save us. Right? He's he's been teaching it. It's only faith in Christ. Salvation comes by faith. Even the spirit of God, Galatians three two, it comes to your to he comes to your life through faith. Okay. So now that you are saved, now that you're born again, you receive the holy spirit. Listen to this. You don't suddenly revert to the law, to works, to human rules or efforts to live the Christian life. Okay? And and sadly, that's what many Christians do. You know, we we probably most of us here, we believe we're saved by faith alone, in Christ alone, through his grace alone, that it's not of works, that it's not of law, that it's not of human rules, that it's not of, you know, human commands. But then what happens so often? We revert back to human rules and human commands and law and efforts to live the Christian life. that's completely contrary to what Paul is teaching here.”

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HOW TO USE YOUR FREEDOM | Walking in the Spirit | Part 3 | Galatians 5:16-26