Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days

Both these Psalms reveal the spiritual warfare that is taking place in the time between Christ's Resurrection and Ascension and His Second Coming, and the part that we can play in enforcing His victory, as we represent Him in the earth. We need to learn to operate from His position of victory as we deal with the forces of darkness.

This inspirational Psalm reveals the goodness of the Lord. As we submit to the lord and our Leader and Owner and listen to Him and stay close to Him, He will protect us and lead us into all His covenant provisions. Derek shows how all 8 of the Covenant Names of God are represented in the Psalm. When Jesus said: "I am the Good Shepherd" in John 10, He was claiming to be the fulfilment of Psalm 23. Having died on the Cross (Psalm 22) the risen Lord now leads us into every blessing that He has purchased with His blood (Psalm 23), as we stay close to Him and keep our eyes on Him. this is a great Psalm to declare out loud.

Having compared the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit (v16-23), and described our proper attitude to the flesh (v24), Paul concludes by describing the attitude we should adopt towards the Holy Spirit, saying: "If we (1) LIVE in (receive our life from) the Spirit, let us also (2) WALK in (line with, keep in step with) the Spirit" (Galatians 5:25). These describe the 2 keys to bearing the fruit of the Spirit: First (1) we need to realise that in Christ we are born again and the Spirit lives within us, so that He is our continual source (fountain) of life and love. Knowing this we can receive His love into our hearts by faith. Then (2) we are to walk in step with Him in love and obedience, as He leads us (see v18). In so doing, we will release His Spirit, and bear much fruit for His glory. We will know His Presence abiding within and upon us, filling our hearts and lives. Walking in step with Him describes a disciplined life of obedience to the leadership of the Spirit, as we seek to honour Him.

A great example of walking in step with the Spirit is Israel marching into their Promised Land. We look at God's instructions to Israel in Joshua 1, where He says He had already given them the Land (by covenant), but that He would also give it to them in their experience as they walked step by step with Him into the Land. He promised that His Presence was with them to lead them into the Land to possess it, so that as they followed Him every place they placed their feet would become theirs. As long as they obeyed His leadership, His Presence was with them, and they enjoyed good success in possessing their Land. Again and again, He told them to be (1) strong (in faith, through meditating in the Word) that He was with them and leading them to victory, and (2) courageous (to obey His leading), and then they would see His power at work and His provision. This is a picture for us, for God has given each of us a Promised Land of blessing, and He is leading us step by step into our Land, so that as we follow Him, He will give it to us in our experience. We share some exciting archaeological discoveries from Israel that confirm the Biblical account, especially Gilgal and the Footprints of Yahweh, leading up to Joshua's altar on Mount Ebal (near Shechem), where also a highly significant discovery has recently been made of a curse tablet from the time of Joshua, written in ancient Hebrew, mentioning the name of Jehovah twice, confirming Deuteronomy 11:26-29, 27:11-26, and Joshua 8:30-35.

The picture of us walking in step with the Spirit, evokes the image of a disciplined army under its commanding officer. This implies we do not just walk in step with the Lord under His command, but also in step with each other, maintaining our unity in the bond of love. Likewise, Israel possessed her Land through following the Lord all together in unity. Paul then develops this corporate aspect of walking in step with the Spirit in Galatians 5:26 - 6:5, starting with "Let us not become conceited (vainglorious), provoking one another, envying one another" (v26). When our flesh rules us, we become proud and self-centred, comparing and competing with one another, either asserting our superiority or feeling inferior. Either way this poisons our relationships and we become out of step with each other. In an army, when a soldier falls, the others help him up, likewise we should gently restore those who fall, rather than gloat over them (6:1). Likewise, when one soldier has to carry a weight too heavy for him, the others will help him lift it. Likewise, when people are overwhelmed, we should be ready to help and so fulfil the law of Christ - love (v2). We should not think of ourselves as too important to help others (v3). We should not compete with one another, but rather focus on carrying our own responsibilities (load), for in the end, God will judge each of us according to how well we have fulfilled His will for our own life (v4-5).

We continue our study of the 9-fold fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, the character of Christ that the Holy Spirit is forming within us, as we are led by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. The first 3 (love, joy, peace) are primarily to do with our relationship with God, the next 3 (long-suffering, kindness, goodness) describe out attitude toward others, and the final 3 (faithfulness, meekness, self-control) describe who we are in relationship to ourselves. Having studied the first 3 last time, we complete our study of the fruit of the Spirit by discussing "long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (meekness), and self-control." We describe these wonderful qualities, which together fulfil all the requirements of the Law of God, which is why Paul concludes by saying: "against such (fruit) there is no Law" (v23).

We also explore the meaning of what Paul means by saying that believers have crucified the flesh (v24). God's verdict and judgment on our flesh is crucifixion, which has been accomplished in Christ. Believers accept and agree with God that our flesh cannot be improved or rehabilitated, and so is only deserving of death. Therefore, knowing that our flesh is sinful by nature and cannot contribute anything good, we have put all our trust instead in Christ for our righteousness and salvation, and in His Spirit of grace for our sanctification. Thus we have no confidence in our flesh for our salvation and life. Although we have submitted to God's revelation and nailed our flesh to the Cross with Christ (metaphorically), so that its death is inevitable; like a crucified criminal, it is still alive and wants to express itself. So, although we decisively repented from trusting in ourselves, when we trusted in Christ for our salvation, we must daily maintain this decisive attitude toward our flesh (Luke 9:23), seeing it as sinful, rightly crucified under God's judgment, and therefore refusing to pander to it, yield to it, and give it the right of expression in our lives. In conclusion, Galatians 5:16-25 says that in order to walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit, we must consistently choose to say: 'Yes' to the Holy Spirit, and 'No' to the flesh.

The Fruit of the Spirit is formed in us through the working of the life of Christ within us, through the Holy Spirit flowing out from our reborn spirit. This fruit of holiness is formed by the initiative and grace of God, but our co-operation is necessary. God works in us both (1) to will and (2) to work His good pleasure. He (1) forms the attitude of Christ in our soul, and then (2) empowers us to act accordingly, so that we bear fruit in our life. We must (1) receive His love into our heart, which changes our inner motivations, and then (2) release that love in our life, by yielding to it through loving words and acts (of obedience). In this way, by our obedience, we work out His salvation (saving life) into our soul and life, which God has already worked within our spirit (Philippians 2:12-13). God continually pours out His love into our hearts by His Holy Spirit, enabling us to love God and others (Romans 5:5), and when we yield to that love by obeying His command to walk in love, the fruit of love grows and is developed in our soul (John 15:9-10). In this way, although we are not constrained by an outward law, we are constrained by the love of Christ working within us, causing us to no longer live for ourselves, but for Christ, who loved us (2Corinthians 5:14). We make a special study of "love, joy and peace", describing the wonderful nature of these realities that only the Holy Spirit can produce in our us - see also Romans 14:17: "The Kingdom of God is righteousness (love) and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Love is rightly mentioned first, as love (agape) summarises the perfect moral nature of God, and is therefore the ultimate requirement and fulfilment of the Law. All the other 8 flavours can be seen as different aspects of love (see 1Corinthians 13:4-8,13).

After describing the ugly works of the flesh, Paul describes the beauty of the fruit of the Spirit - the beauty of holiness that the Holy Spirit in union with our reborn spirit will produce in our life. In contrast to the many works of our flesh, the Spirit in us produces one fruit with many segments or flavours (Paul lists 9 manifestations of this one fruit). Fruit only grows as a result of life. Thus the fruit of the Spirit is the result of the life of Christ working within us through His Holy Spirit. Our spirits were born again by the incorruptible seed of God's Word, so that they have been recreated with the love-nature of Christ (1Peter 1:22-25), and are in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, who now pours the love of God into our hearts (Romans 5:5) We look at other Biblical passages that describe the fruit of the Spirit and how we can co-operate with God and bear much fruit, especially Jesus' foundational teaching in John 15:1-16.

We can only bear fruit if we are in Christ (the Vine) and abide in Him (fellowship), (1) looking to Him as our Source of life and love and drawing upon the sap of His Spirit by faith, and (2) yielding to His Spirit of love within us, by obeying His commandment to love others. From the depths of our heart in prayer we can call upon the depths of God's grace to fill us with His fullness and He will (Psalm 42:6-8, Ephesians 3:14-21).

Paul lists the works of the flesh in v19-21 to reveal the true nature of the flesh, motivating us to refuse to yield to the flesh and express it in our lives, but rather be led by the Spirit. We note the 4 categories of these works: (1) sexual sins, (2) religious sins, (3) social sins, in the area of personal relationships, and (4) intemperance. We study the meanings of the Greek words used by Paul to describe the following works of the flesh: heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries. Paul indicates that this is by no means a complete list, and other manifestations of the flesh are described elsewhere in the Bible. It is helpful for us to understand the nature of the flesh, so that we recognise the voice the flesh when it speaks to us, or tries to express itself through us. When the flesh rises us we should turn to Christ and declare His Word, trusting in Him to give us the victory over the flesh. Paul adds a warning that: "those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God" (v21). We show that those who do not inherit the Kingdom are the same as those who are not in Christ, and who are not sons of God. This does not mean that believers who sin will necessarily lose their salvation. Rather it speaks of those who embrace and practise these sins as a lifestyle, expressing their true inner nature (of fallen flesh) in their life. Although born-again believers will on occasion yield to the flesh and sin, when they do so they are acting against their true inner nature of love in their reborn spirit, and are convicted by the Holy Spirit. As a result they do not embrace these sins of the flesh as their lifestyle, but rather they struggle against them. Thus a true believer cannot be happy or at peace while living in sin.

Paul encourages us to submit to the Spirit rather than the flesh, by contrasting the ugliness of the works of the flesh, with the beauty of the fruit of the Spirit. It helps us to see the true nature of the flesh, by what is evidently manifested when people yield to their flesh. When it says: "the works of the flesh are evident" (v19), it speaks of the flesh having its own nature, mind and desires. The nature of the flesh cannot be changed, and the flesh of a Christian is just like the flesh of the unsaved. The difference is that our spirit has been born again and we have the Holy Spirit within, who enables us to overcome our flesh. Even if we do not yield to the flesh in these various areas, the sins which Paul describes (v19-21) are still latent in our flesh. This motivates us to make no provision for the flesh, but rather put on Christ through the Holy Spirit (Romans 13:14). We study the meanings of the Greek words used by Paul to describe the following works of the flesh: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, and dissensions.

In raising Lazarus from the dead after 4 days in John 11, Jesus validated His claim to be (1) the Resurrection and (2) the Life, the One who will raise us from both (1) physical and (2) spiritual death, if we believe (trust) in Him.

Derek shares 3 true stories that paint vivid pictures of the wonderful salvation that God has provided for us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and His death on the Cross.