The second mark of a person who is walking by the Spirit is that the fruit of the Spirit is growing in your life. The flesh produces works. The Spirit produces fruit. Fruit grows. It comes from a life within. It is not manufactured.

It is th...

In your ongoing war against sin, Christian, you are to crucify the flesh. What does that mean? Is crucifixion a fast death or a slow death? Crucifixion is a slow death. So, when Paul says we have crucified the flesh, that means it is dying, not th...

The bad news is that the root of sin still lies within us. There is a continuing presence of sin in the life of a Christian believer: “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit.”

The good news is the Spirit also lives within us. There ...

What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? How would you know if you are walking by the Spirit?

One mark of the person who walks with the Spirit is that you are waging war against sin. When you become a Christian, you become a new person in Ch...

If it is true that we are forgiven freely by the grace of God through the death of Christ, and our entrance into heaven is already assured, and it does not depend on our works, what motivation is there to live an authentic Christian life?

Su...

In the book of Galatians, Paul has been telling us that we are no longer under the law. But here he tells us that we have to live a life of love that fulfills the law. That sounds confusing!

Our freedom in Christ is the freedom of the Spirit...

There will always be something in your flesh that says, “Just give me the rules. Tell me what I have to do.” It feels safer than the unlimited liability of love. Do you see that in yourself?

Can you see how you could lose your freedom in Chr...

Why would anyone want to be under the law? Because there is a deep instinct within all of us that wants to limit our liability. That’s why we are sometimes more comfortable with law than we are with love.

Think about the relationship you hav...

Can you see how it would be possible for you to lose your freedom by indulging the flesh? There is a sin in your life that you used to battle, but you suffered many defeats, and so now you have declared a truce. You have learned to live with it.</...

This remarkable change has already happened in your life if you are a Christian believer. You were a slave. Now you are a son.

The gospel sets you free. God has embraced you, in Christ, who died to redeem you. He has made you a new creation ...

A slave has no freedom. He does what he is commanded to do. The tragedy of the slave’s position is that his work never moves him to a better situation. His work cannot bring him freedom.

This used to be your position before God. You owed a d...

Notice how the apostle Paul describes the Christian life. First, it is lived in the body. That means that you will always feel the pull of the flesh. You will always find yourself in conflict. You will find yourself lacking courage, losing heart, ...

This is a crucial question: How do you receive the Holy Spirit? How do you receive the new life that comes from above? Not by the law—the law cannot impart life—but by hearing with faith. This is the gospel. Those who believe the gospel receive th...

When you see the impossibility of the life that God is calling you to live, then you will see your need of a Saviour. The law was put in charge to lead you to Christ. This is true not only on the day you came to faith, but all throughout the Chris...

The law cannot give you life. Nothing you do for God can impart life. Your ministry cannot impart life. Your giving cannot impart life. Your spiritual disciplines cannot impart life. God’s law tells you what you have to do, but it cannot give you ...

There are two sides of the gospel—the death of Christ for you, and the life of Christ in you.

In the first part of the verse, Paul says, “I have been crucified in Christ.” The Son of God loved you and gave Himself for you. This was a histori...

The gospel brings you into the power of a new life. Some people have a “spit and polish” view of the gospel: We all have our sins and our failures. None of us is perfect. So, we need a good wash, and that’s what Christ does for us. And when that h...

The natural man has a problem with the gospel. Grace sounds great, but we prefer works. We want to build our own righteousness so that we can establish our independence from God: What does God want from me? Just tell me what I have to do. Tell me ...

One word dominates this passage and it is the word justified. This is a legal word that belongs to the courtroom, where people are pronounced not guilty and cleared of all charges before the law.

The opposite of justified is condemned. Thes...

This is Paul’s principle of world mission. If we aren’t willing to do this, we will limit our ministry to the narrow band of those who share our treasured distinctives.

It is easy to see how this can happen in the church today. Every group h...

If you read the New Testament carefully, you will discover that there was a great struggle going on about the mission of the church. The apostles in Jerusalem were focused on evangelism among the Jews, and Paul had been commissioned by Christ to g...

This was a critical moment in the life of the early church. Galatians 2 tells us the story of a clash between two giants of the early church—Peter and Paul.

Modern commentators sometimes suggest that Paul and Peter preached a different messa...

Assuming that it is possible, how do you think a person comes into a living relationship with God? Some people think it all comes down to them—a decision. Others believe it all comes down to the church—following its teachings and rituals. But the ...

The main problem addressed by the gospel is bigger than finding peace, building confidence, overcoming fear, or finding fulfilment.

If our biggest problem was internal to us, then it might be possible for us to find an answer that came from ...

Today we are going to look at three possibilities—that the gospel came from Paul, from the church, or directly from Jesus Christ.

1. The gospel is not an invention
If Paul had invented the gospel, then his teaching is simply an expression...

Paul makes a remarkable statement here: “We have the mind of Christ” (2:16). If you are in Christ, you really can understand the Word of God, and that means you have access to the mind of Christ.

In Christ, you are wise, but you will still m...

Here is a second thing to know about a life put together with God at the centre: “‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’— these things God has revealed to us through the S...