Walking In Grace | Jud Wilhite

- All right, good morning, everybody. Good to see you guys today. Hey, I'm wondering how many of you, if you think about it, kind of have like a weird habit. I have a weird, I have probably more than one, but there's one I'm gonna tell you about today. I have a weird habit where ever since I was like a high schooler, back as far as I can remember, I would, I have this like nervous thing where I just rub the back of my pants behind my knee where my pants bends, like if I'm sitting down, kind of looks like this, we'll show you on the screen. Here, you see that right there? I just kind of start rubbing that like there. And then L'Oreal say like, "Hey, you know, "you're rubbing your pants, that's weird." And so I'll stop, and then I'll immediately put my left hand down on this side, and then I start rubbing my pants on that side. Anyway, I've worn out like countless pairs of jeans, literally wear holes in them and have to get new jeans because I have this weird habit. I looked online like, and I asked online, what is the most annoying habit people have? One of the most annoying habits was putting empty containers back in the fridge after a person has used them. Anybody feel this right here? Like, there's no milk left, bro, just throw it away. But no, they stick it back in the fridge just to like, psych you out.

Like, yeah, you can't have cereal. Oh, wait, no, you can't. Or popping knuckles, that was another habit. Very annoying, right? Some of you know what that's all about. So there's weird habits, there's annoying habits, and then there's bad habits. There's habits that we engage in that can be destructive for us in our lives. When I was a teenager, I got caught up in a pretty serious drug addiction. It became this habit in my life that became very destructive. And I'm grateful that God, I've been clean and free now for like over 30 something years. God is good, but man, it got its teeth in me, God, it's claws in me, one thing led to another, and I was in a mess, right? Lying is a habit, a bad habit. It can start small, can start innocent enough, you just kind of how, you know, I'll just shade the truth here, tell this person what they want to hear, whatever. But before you know it, like one thing can lead to another and you're not just telling some lies, you start living a lie. That's a very dangerous place to be. Gambling can start off, you know, gambling's become so popular and you know, you can bet on all the sporting events

and you know, it's all right there, right? But, and it could be all fun, Disneyland for adults, I get it, you know? But if you're not aware and conscious, like one thing can lead to another. And man, I talk to people that they've sort of, they're chasing the next thrill. They've lost all sense of like the consequences and what this could actually mean for them longer term in their lives. It's become a destructive thing. And so the Bible has a phrase for these kinds of bad habits that we get pulled into that could be destructive in our lives. And the phrase would be the sinful nature. The sinful nature refers to the bent that we all have in our lives, that we're kind of, from the time that we're born, to do things that self-sabotage our lives, that cause havoc in our lives, that move us away from the good things God wants to do in our lives. And the good news today is this, that God gives you a new heart to deal with your old habits. When you become a follower of Jesus, the spirit comes within you. He starts to move in your life. And over time, God gives you tools and resources to develop new habits.

That's what we're gonna be looking at today in Galatians chapter five. We've been in this series called Thank God, I'm free. We've been looking at Galatians. And we're in chapter five today. Next week, we're gonna wrap it up in chapter six. But here's what Paul says in chapter five. Let's read this together. He says, so I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil. Hello, which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants. So we have this tug of war going on inside of us. We have the simple nature. When you become follower of Jesus, God's spirit comes to dwell within you. And he's gonna pull you the other way. And so you have this tug of war going on. It says, the simple nature only wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants. And the spirit gives us, say it with me. Desires, desires that are the opposite of what the simple nature desires. So here's the good news today. God's spirit can begin to birth in you and me new desires that are opposite than what the sinful nature desires. In other words, what we get in Galatians chapter five is not a long to do list of 500 more things we need to do to be better people.

What we get is a simple challenge to let God's spirit lead us to stay close to God in our lives. And what happens is your desires over time will start to change, your heart will start to change. And you will begin to bear the fruit of God's spirit. Paul's gonna list this out. And I want you to remember the fruit of God's spirit as you just faithfully follow Him in your life. So the fruit of God's spirit is kind of broken down into nine different kind of characteristics that Paul mentions. Let's commentators will often put these into three groups of three and I want to do that with you today. The first group is this, God's gifts to you. God's gifts to you. And let's break it, in fact, let's just look at the passage. Galatians chapter five, beginning in verse 22, look what he says, the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives, say it with me. Love, joy, peace. You see that? Love, joy and peace. These are the things that God gives to you as you follow Him in your life. And here's why this is so cool. Most people, they think, man, if you ask them like, how do you get these things in your life? By the way, these are the things everybody wants. Who doesn't want love, joy and peace, right?

These are the things we spend money on. These are the things we work hard on. These are that you buy things hoping that'll give you peace, hoping it'll give you a sense of joy, right? You know, like you spend all kinds of money, you go after success, you pursue all kinds of things, why? Really, you peel it all back, it's love, it's joy, it's peace, like these are the things we want the most. Here's the good news. These are the things that money can't buy. But God can birth them in your life as you follow Him and are led by the Spirit. In fact, social science backs this up. You look at social science. What social science says, it's interesting, is that happiness for a person at a certain level, it does depend on like money in your life. Meaning if you have nothing, then a little bit of money can go a long way to get your basic needs met. Shelter, food, right, a roof over your head, very important. If you're starving, you're not gonna be very happy. Hello. But after that, after your most basic needs are met, the social science research says, there is very little correlation between how much money a person has and how happy they actually are. In other words, what the Holy Spirit can birth in your life are things that money can't really buy.

Love, joy, and peace. And this is good news today. (audience applauding) You have access to it already. Let's talk a little bit about spiritual growth, 'cause I think it's just helpful to set this whole conversation up. When you think about how people grow spiritually, I think sometimes we think if I get saved, if I believe in Jesus, if I start the spiritual journey here, then it's just gonna be like a straight line to me being changed. In other words, I'm gonna be more loving next month. I'm gonna be kinder. I'm not gonna like go off on people in traffic. I'm never gonna lose my cool. I'm gonna kick that addiction, whatever it is. From save to change, we think it's just a straight line. And it doesn't really work that way, does it? In fact, I think spiritual growth, instead of a straight line, it often looks more like this. Hello, it's just, it's kind of all over the place, right? We go forward, we go back, we make progress, we fall back. It's messy, it's up, it's down, we're in, we're out. We don't know where we are. Like, this is just real for all of us. This is the spiritual life. But I want you to notice, even in all this stuff,

you're still moving towards being changed more into Christ. It just, it takes time. It's a process, right? (congregation applauding) And I think it starts off, let's go to the next slide. It starts off first believing that when we come to faith, we realize it's all God. It's what God has done in my life. His goodness, His grace, His forgiveness. And then over time, somewhere between like six months and three years, if we're not careful, somewhere in that window, we can slide into this kind of mindset where now it's all dependent on me. God saved me by His grace, but now I need to do better, be better, I should pray more, I need to go to church more, I need to give more, I need to serve more, I need to know my Bible more, I need to, like I gotta pull, in other words, it's up to me to be worthy of what God gave me for free. And so we can start thinking it's all of me. And that leads to burnout and frustration and a feeling like you're never gonna be enough. And then eventually, I think spiritual maturity is you start moving into another phase again, where you're kind of back, where you were at the beginning and you realize it's all God and it's all His grace. In other words, only He can help me grow into the person that He desires for me to become. And so, you bring the effort, but God brings the change. God brings the change.

You serve, but God's the one who saves. You help, but God is the one who heals. You seek, but God pines. You lead, but God moves. It's a place where you get more patient with your imperfect progress. You're able to forgive yourself quicker because you know Christ has forgiven you and you know you still need grace every day to keep going and to keep growing. And so that's what the spiritual journey looks like. And the first thing Paul says, the first fruit is love, right? I mean, who doesn't want real meaningful love in their life? And the realest love comes from God Himself. I remember in my life, when I became a follower of Jesus, I was trying so hard to be good, to make up for all my years and all the mess that I had made of so many different things. And I got to a place where I just felt like I could never be good enough. I was so tired, I was exhausted. I was burned out. I mean, I'll spare you all the details, but I heard a guy give this message. And the message was on this biblical passage, 1 John, chapter 4, verse 10. And it says this, we'll bring it up here on the screen. 1 John, chapter 4, 10, it says, this is real love, not that we loved God, but that He what loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

In other words, real love starts with God and His love for us. That verse changed my life. And can I tell somebody today it could change your life today? It could change your life because you realize it's not about you and how good you are and how many hoops you jump through and whether you're going to lose your cool today, watching the chiefs and the raiders or whatever. The Dodgers, right? Instead, it's about God and the fact that He loved you, that's the greatest miracle. And then that miracle inspires other love in your life. It grows that love within you, right? God's love is the foundation. And when you just follow God, what you will start to have birthed in your life is the love of God, right? Which can change your life, love. And then joy, He says. I mean, I don't know about you. I get discouraged. I can get discouraged. I can get down. I can get frustrated. I can beat myself up. I can feel like I'm never enough. I can feel like I'm playing a handball, you know, on the curb by myself, you know what I mean? But here's what I've seen in my own life.

If I can get down, but if I will give thanks to God every day for all of the good things He's already done in my life, if I will remember His love, because listen, God doesn't need to do one more thing for me, for me to remember that He loves me. I don't need a new thing. I don't need a raise. I don't need a different job. I don't need a career move. I don't need to date the love of my life. Some people, these are the lists, right? People, I got to, if I could just fall in love, if I could just get a raise, if I could get a list of the lists. Jesus Christ died for you, and therefore God doesn't need to do one more thing to prove His love for you or for me, right? And so I get down, but then I remember all the good things God has done for me. And when I start giving thanks to God, and when I open my voice and I give praise to God, it's hard to stay down when every day you're giving thanks to God for how good He's been to you in your life. Listen, listen, it's hard to stay. I get down, but it's hard to stay down when every day you're remembering God's faithfulness to you in your life, even when you weren't so faithful. Come on, somebody, let me get a witness in the room.

You know what I'm saying? It's hard to stay down when you remember all Jesus did for you. And the fact that He isn't done for you in your life today. And that's why when we come into church, when we come in, we sing, and we praise, and we lift our hands, and we raise our voices. And I know some of you, you may not be used to that, and you may be walking into church, maybe for the first time. Are you kind of walking in a day and people are like, "Sing in." And they're lifting their hands. You're like, "Man, it's kind of weird." (congregation laughing) But listen, it's not weird at Allegiant Stadium. (congregation clapping) It's not weird for us to cheer our favorite team who is here today and gone tomorrow. How much more should we raise our hands and cheer our God who is here forever and is good to us in our lives? (congregation clapping) And here's what you'll find. Listen, God is not insecure. He does not need our praise, right? We need to praise Him. If the Bible says that we don't praise Him, the very rocks themselves will cry out in praise. He does not need our praise.

It's our privilege to come and to praise Him and to give Him thanks. But you know what it bursts in our lives? Joy, joy. God can bring love, He can bring joy, and then peace. Everybody wants peace. The Bible says, "Worry about nothing. "Pray about everything, and then the peace of God "will surround your life, the peace of Christ, "will guard your hearts and your minds." Somebody today, right now, you're going through something and it's scary and you're not sure, from a health perspective, what's about to happen? But for whatever reason, you have peace. It's because God is guarding your heart and your mind right now with peace, right? (congregation clapping) Somebody's got family issues going on with your kids, your marriage, you're not sure where it's all headed. It's stressful, but surprisingly, when you peel it all back, some of you would say, I have peace. It's because God's guarding your heart and mind with peace. So as you walk with God, as I walk with God, like he can birth in us love, joy, peace, and it doesn't cost you anything financially. These are the things everybody wants. God holds them out to you. The Spirit will birth these in your life as you just keep growing and trusting Him.

Here's a second thought. God's gifts through you. God's gifts through you. Anybody, a re-gifter, anybody re-gifted, you know what I'm saying? Like somebody gives you something and you're like, "Yeah, I'll just be re-gifted in that." You know what I mean? The number one re-gift item I saw online was candles. People love to take candles and re-gift candles. The least re-gifted item was socks, because who wants socks is what I'm thinking, right? But then the other least re-gifted items were like personalized items, like with monograms and stuff on them. So I'm thinking like if you wanna give somebody monogram socks, then you know for sure they're never gonna re-gift those items. But here's the deal. God's Spirit gives us certain gifts that He wants us to re-gift to other people. And Paul's gonna break it down this way. Galatians chapter five, beginning in verse 22, check it out. He says, "With the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit "in our lives, love, joy, peace." What, patience, kindness, goodness, right? Patience, kindness, goodness. God's Spirit will work through us to produce this. Now I will tell you when it comes to patience, I am a very impatient person.

Like some of you, you're incredibly patient. Like some people, you know, if you drive past a restaurant and there's like a line out front, some of you are like, "Ooh, ooh, we gotta go to that. "We gotta go to that. "We gotta follow those people, it must be good." Right, right. When I drive by a restaurant and there's a line outside, I'm like, "Nope, ain't that good." (congregation laughing) I don't like to, I'm not standing in line for anything. I don't care if it's from a food perspective, it can be the most amazing food in the world. And I'm like, "Upass." I'm just impatient, I always have been. And, you know, I have gone through seasons where I've prayed to God to become more patient. I don't do that anymore. (congregation laughing) Because here's the deal, man. You start praying to God to make you more patient. He's gonna make you wait. (congregation laughing) So I'm, wait, this is what I pray for. I'm just praying like, "Lord, just," I don't wanna go through the things that I have to go through to become more patient. Anybody feel me here? I want you to zap me with patience. Boom.

I just wake up and I'm like, "I'm cool, I'm calm. "Everything's good." So please, yes, I'm growing in my patience. Here's what I would say. Don't pray for me to have patience. Don't pray for your pastor to get more patience. (congregation laughing) But no, to buy the grace of God in my life, I could be a lot more patient, but I am a lot more patient than I used to be. (congregation cheering) It's a process, right? (congregation applauding) Kindness, patience, kindness. Like it's the Holy Spirit at birth's kindness in our lives. And as followers of Jesus, we should stand for truth. And we should be honest about what the Bible says, about how we live our lives, how we conduct ourselves. And we should be known for kindness, not hate, not rage, not anger, kindness, right? Because Romans 2 says God's kindness leads to repentance in your life, right? So patience, kindness, and then goodness, that we want the same goodness God has poured out into our lives for the lives of other people. God wants to give these gifts through us. And then thirdly, God's gifts in you. God's gifts in you. Look at, let's go back to the list.

Galatians chapter five, verse 22. It says the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. Look at this. Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Oh man, some good stuff there. Faithfulness, that consistency. God has been faithful to us, right? And we're called to be faithful to him and to others in our lives. Gentleness, which isn't weakness. It's strength under control. It's strength with humility, right? Gentleness, we could crush somebody, but we don't crush somebody. God could crush us, hello, but he doesn't crush us. It's gentle. Jesus said that his heart was gentle and lowly, right? Like it was kind, it was humble. It's strength brought under control and then self-control in our lives. The Holy Spirit can do a work over a time of self-control. I know in my own life, like I have an addictive personality. you know, I've had an addictive personality. What I mean is when I'm into something, I'm all in. Anybody feel that? Like, I just, I go all in. Thank God I'm not into very many things. But if I'm in, I'm all in.

And so, you know, I'm aware of this tendency in my life. I have to be aware of it. I have to watch it, you know? And like, like, you know, I used to do all kinds of things. You know, and then I became a follower of Jesus. And I began to, you know, I got clean, I got sober. God began to like straighten me out on my life. I started to walk the straight and narrow. But I still have this addictive personality. I mean, I drink a lot of espresso. And I mean a lot of espresso. But here's the thing, I'm not gonna tell you about how much I'm just gonna tell you it's nothing compared to what I used to do. Ha! (congregation laughing) Anybody feel, I'm like, man, you know, the stuff I used to do is a whole other level. This is like espresso all day long, bro. No problem, still here. Look, man, I've made progress, but if you take me to a Mexican food restaurant and you set that bowl of hot chips down in front of me, I will eat every last chip in the whole bowl. I will take the crumbs and lift the bowl up. And then I will set it down. And if they bring me another bowl, who fills me right here? I'm going right back into bowl number two. I just know like I gotta limit how many restaurants I walk in.

You know what I'm saying? 'Cause if I go in and sit down, it's on. I have an addictive personality. And so I'm still making progress and I'm a work in progress. But where I am today is so much further along than where I was 30 years ago. God's still working. And he's still not only working in my life, he's still working in your life. And one of the things he can birth in our lives is self-control through his Holy Spirit. Galatians chapter five, beginning in verse 18 says, but when you are, help me out, what? Directed, you see this when you're directed by the spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. This has been a lot of the conversation over the last several weeks. You go back and watch it, but the law of Moses and like how we follow that, he's like, look, you follow the spirit, the spirit will lead you. But look at this. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, here it is, the results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these. Come on, Paul.

He says, let me tell you again, as I have before that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. And I don't think what he's saying here is that now you're saved by works. I think what he's saying is it's impossible if God's spirit is within you, to stay in that lane indefinitely in your life. Eventually God will beat it out of you, discipline it out of you, right? Move in your life to draw you back to himself. In other words, if you call Jesus Lord, you will eventually start to look more like your Lord. Right? (congregation applauding) People say, well, you know, I've had people ask the question over the years, like, can you be saved if you continue kind of in a pattern of sin in your life? You know what's wrong, but you just, you don't stop or you can't stop. You just keep going. And I would say, first of all, almost everybody that asks that question, I would say is saved. Because the fact that you care enough to even ask that question probably tells me all I need to know, which is that this is legitimate, it's real in your heart and in your life. Look, God loves you and Jesus died for you.

He went a long way because he cares about you. He's not gonna snuff you out and throw you away because you can't quite match up and get it together in one area of your life. He's gonna keep working with you. His spirit will keep transforming you. And eventually I believe you can get victory over that area in your life. But if you call him Lord, I don't think you can lose your salvation. My personal opinion is that when you become a follower of Jesus and you truly surrender your life to him, that you're saved, right? I don't necessarily think you can lose your salvation, but you can fake it for a while. What I mean is you can jump through the hoops. Judas faked it for a while. The one who betrayed Jesus. In fact, at the Last Supper Matthew chapter 26, Jesus is gathering with his disciples. And he says to all of his guys sitting there, he says, "One of you will betray me." And the text says that the disciples all said, "Is it me, Lord?" Like they're going around, "Is it me, Lord?" Is it me, Lord? And then it comes to Judas. And Judas says this, "Is it me, Rabbi?" Judas called him Rabbi or teacher, because he had not made him Lord, he was a teacher to him in his mind,

and Jesus says it is as you say. If you've called Jesus Lord in your, in other words you can fake it for a while, but eventually it will come out. If you call Jesus Lord of your life, the Holy Spirit will work with you and work in you, and you do not need to fear for your salvation, just embrace the fact that God loves you, and he's not going to give up on you and he's not done moving and working in your life. And friends, all of these things grow out of God's character. He is reproducing them in you, but this is also how he relates to you. So think about this, God loved you before you were lovable, right? Before you surrendered, he is for you and with you, regardless of your performance or how you feel. God is joyful towards you. He celebrates your salvation. Your faith pleases him in your life. He calls you friend and it's his joy to give you the kingdom. God has made peace with your sin and your rebellion through the work of Jesus Christ. God was patient with you even when you broke your promise or shaded the truth or didn't fulfill your word. Even when you chased after money and adventure and romance and all these other things before you chased after God, he was patient with you and he is kind to you. He's moved by compassion towards you. He lovingly works to give you all of his best. He's faithful. He does not change. He cannot lie. He will not fail. He will not abandon you. He will not turn his back on you. He's gentle with you. He's humble at heart. He doesn't use his strength to hurt you, but to serve you and guide you. And he is fully in control of his will, his plans, his kingdom, and of this world and the world to come. In other words, the same things that God's spirit births in us are indicative of how God treats us in our lives. Right? So we all have bad habits, but we also have a new spirit who is giving us the new life. That we want. God's gifts to us. Love, joy, and peace. God's gifts through us. Patience, kindness, and gentleness. God's gifts in us. Faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, the best things in life that money can't buy. The Holy Spirit can bring it in your life. Somebody's saying, "Well, what do I do? What do I have to do? Give me a to-do list. All you have to do is just abide in faith. Just keep walking in faith." Because these aren't things you do. Remember? These are things God does in you. These are the fruit of his spirit. So aren't you glad? You came to church today. It's one of the few times I'm not going to tell you to do anything. Just keep showing up. Keep showing up to God. Keep following Him. Keep trusting Him. Keep worshiping Him. And He will over time birth these things in your life. Maybe you're here today. Maybe you've never crossed the line of faith. I'd love to give you an opportunity to become a follower of Jesus and to reach out to Him. And I'd love to lead you in a simple prayer. This prayer isn't the end all be all. It's not magic. It's not in the Bible. It's just a prayer that helps you take a step to open your heart towards God. And so if you would like to follow Jesus in your life and take that step, I'd ask all of you. Bow your heads. Close your eyes. You can repeat this prayer after me. They're out loud or in your own heart. You say, "Dear God, I thank you for loving me." Thank you for sending Jesus into the world. I believe He died on the cross for my sins. I believe He rose again. Forgive me for my sins. Give me the gift of eternal life. Help me face the challenges that I'm up against. God, I surrender my life to you in Christ's name. And friends, with every head bowed and every eye closed, if that's your prayer today, it's your commitment. I want to ask you to just slip your hand in the air. Just make eye contact with me. It's to say before God, to say to me, "You're going to trust Him in your life." God bless you guys. Thank you guys. Just reach out to Him today. Thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. God, we thank you for your love, and we do thank you. for the forgiveness that you show us every day. I thank you for each individual just reaching out to you.

I pray you'll move in their life powerfully as they follow you in faith, and we commit them to you now in Jesus' name. Amen.