Sermon Central
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The Door Of Will Series
Contributed by Shawn Drake on Feb 6, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: This is the 3rd sermon in the series "Unlocking The Doors To Freedom". We all have free will.
Series: Unlocking The Doors To Freedom [#3]
THE DOOR OF WILL
Introduction:
Last Sunday, I preached about being a good witness. After lunch, a guy almost ran over Karen, Kaitlyn, and I. He proceeded to honk the horn at us and give us a 1 finger wave. I definitely wanted to give him my attention. If I would have had the opportunity, I would have loaned him my hammer right through his window.
Just because we are saved does not mean that we are not tempted and sometimes fall to that temptation. God allows His children to be tempted so we can grow stronger in Him. Each time we are tempted, we must either walk in the flesh or walk in the Spirit. Many believers do not have joy in their salvation because the “flesh” is winning too many of the battles in their life. There are 2 keys found in this study that can help us get past our will and into God’s will.
Galatians 2:11-18 (NIV)
“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? "We who are Jews by birth and not `Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.”
Key #1: Your choices.
In our text we are given an example of walking in the flesh and one of walking in the Spirit.
Peter had been preaching the Word of God relentlessly. Amazing things were happening in Peter’s ministry, but all of a sudden Peter had to make a choice- Should he continue to spend time with Gentile believers and risk making the Jewish believers mad, or should he ignore the Gentile believers and “stick with his own kind”? Obviously Peter made the wrong decision and started being seen only in his “clique” of Jewish friends. Peter was walking in the flesh.
Now Paul knew that many people held Peter in high esteem so Paul had to make a choice- Should he just “sweep this under the rug” and go on or should he confront Peter. Paul confronted Peter with the Truth of the Word. Paul was walking in the Spirit.
The choice you make will determine the joy in your walk with Christ. Who are you trying to please, man or God?
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Key #2: Be crucified.
In order to walk in the Spirit, we must remember that it’s not about how much “will-power” we need to make the right choices. Jesus didn’t die for us to have more “will-power”. Jesus died in order to defeat sin, death, and Satan. When a person is saved, they are given new life; they are “born-again”. Before a person is saved they are spiritually dead in their sins and it is not until they receive Jesus as their Savior that they are resurrected from spiritual death. The “old self” is crucified, it is killed. The “old self” no longer lives; it is Jesus Christ who lives within you. As a Christian, your “will-power” means nothing; but the power of Christ within your life means everything. It is through Jesus Christ that you can have victory over sinning. When Jesus was tempted He did not fall and when a Christian is walking in the Spirit they will not fall to sin either.
