Galatians chapter 5. This is just a wonderful chapter. There’s not a lot of mystery about it. It’s straightforward; it’s clear; it’s preeminently practical. It, at the same time, is very convicting; it’s clear enough to be convicting. It’s also eminently encouraging. So I want to read it for you, starting in Galatians 5:16, and reading down to verse 25.

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice 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. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

Now we’re dealing with the very essence of sanctification, the very, very heart of Christian living, the Christian life.

And our responsibility in the Christian life is summed up in verse 16: "Walk by the Spirit. Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."

Now there’s some very foundational reasons why this is critical, and I just want to remind you of them. We face a great challenge,

because even though we have been justified,

even though we have been regenerated,

and even though we’re a new creation and we have a new life and new affections and new longings and new desires, the flesh is still there.

We haven’t yet reached our glorification; not until then will we be free from the sinful impulses that remain in our fallen humanity.

So as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to very clearly understand the dynamics of what’s going on in our lives.

to give you an honest diagnosis of yourself, trying to do a little spiritual pathology to give you a look at what’s really going on in your life as a believer.

And what we came to understand is that there is a standard that has been set for us by God as to how we are to live as believers; and at the same time, we fight against our remaining humanness to even come close to that standard.

Now I want to remind you of the standard that God has set.

Matthew 5 our Lord put it this way: "Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect."

Of course, God cannot set a standard lower than perfection. God who is absolutely holy, holy, holy will always affirm the absolute holy standard as His only acceptable standard. That is why we have to receive full righteousness from someone else, because we can’t be justified by our own righteousness, the standard is too high.

And even in the matter of sanctification, living our Christian lives, the standard doesn’t drop.

Now that you’re a Christian God is not making suggestions, He’s still making commands. The standard hasn’t dropped.

There is grace for us, there is mercy for us. We go to the throne of mercy to find that mercy, to find that grace in time of need. But the standard does not change; God’s standard is still absolute holiness.

1 Peter 1:13. And here is Peter calling the believers to whom he writes to the standard that is the same for us and all believers.

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit," – be sober-minded, means understand the divine priorities, have your divine priorities right – "fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Live according to divine priorities, and look for the day when we leave this world and enter into the presence of Christ.

Verse 14, in the meantime, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’" And that is taken from a number of places in the book of Leviticus. "Be holy, for I am holy." God cannot set a standard lower than His own holiness.

Verse 17 to say, "If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth." We are to live in the fear of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We are to pursue holiness at the very divine level.

verse 22 we read, "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart."

Now these two things sum up the command for the Christian

perfect love and

perfect holiness.

We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and we are to be obedient to the law of God perfectly. That standard cannot be lowered.

1 Peter 2:9, we find very similar exhortation: "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you have not received mercy, now you have received mercy.

"Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles," – or the nations – "so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation."

Again the standard is the same. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people that belong to God, and you are to proclaim by what you say and what you live, the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. This is a high standard.

Now on our own, we cannot attain to that standard. We know that, because in our flesh we have only the hope of disobedience and death. And yet this standard is established as the standard by which we are to live.

It is defined in another way that I think is very helpful and leaves no doubt what the Lord means.

Listen to 1 John 2:6, "The one who says he abides in Him" – you say you belong to Christ, you abide in Christ, you’re one with Christ – "ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."

There it is. You’re to live like Christ; that is the divine standard. You are called to holiness, to pure love, and to Christlike obedience; that is the standard.

And because of that standard being so high and because of the weakness of our flesh, our only hope for coming anywhere near that standard is to walk by the Spirit – and that’s what we’re finding in Galatians.

Romans 8:3: "What the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh."

The reason the law can’t save anybody is because the law depends on human obedience, human potential, human ability. The law offers no help. The law does not empower anyone, it is weak.

In order to overcome that God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin, and condemns sin in the flesh. "God came, and in the form of Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin, so that" – verse 4 – "the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

he’s not talking about the fact that the righteousness of God, the law perfectly kept, was imputed to us, accredited to our account – although that is true.

He’s not talking about our standing or our position, but rather he’s saying the requirement of the law can now be fulfilled as we walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

There’s the bottom line. The only way you can live the Christian life is in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And I know that is sanctification 101, but it needs to be clearly understood.