WHAT IS NEXT?

Well, we celebrated the 235^th Birthday of our great nation. If you’re like me, you shed a few tears at the colorful explosion of the fireworks. Your lips quiver at the singing of the National Anthem in the presence of the US Military Color Guard. You probably heard of a soldier who came back wounded, and is imploring you to remember the fallen.

Or maybe you watched an old movie like “Saving Private Ryan,” or “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” These movies make me think about the reality and lessons of Freedom. What are we doing now? What kind of an impact, a legacy, are we leaving?

I was thinking about this last night after watching the “Capitol 4^th of July” show on the PBS Station. After the fireworks are completed, and the traffic dies down and you are driving home, what’s next? What do we do? How do we live? If someone were to find my “stuff” some fifty, sixty years after I have died, what will they “interpret” of my life?

Galatians 5:16-5:21

“So I say, “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

In this passage of scripture that we read, Paul is talking about living by the Spirit. Of course, he is talking about the Spirit of God’s nature, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was sent to be with us when Jesus left is the same Spirit that remains with us yet today, if we will but let Him in. Paul says to live by the Spirit means that we will not live to satisfy our sinful nature. We are born into a world that is under the sway of the enemy, and the enemy is the world’s best liar. His only job is to kill, steal, and destroy what God has made – and we are in the center of his target.

Since we are born into this world, we have carnal natures, always looking for immediate gratification and fun. And there is no sin that is not fun to somebody in the beginning, and to some degree. If sin were not fun, there would be no enticement to commit it in the first place. And that is our problem: Our carnal and worldly nature craves the fix we get from sin.

Paul again tells us to live by the Spirit and we will not gratify those desires of the flesh that we have. If you will notice, before Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, his first instinct was to walk with God. After he ate of the forbidden fruit, his first instinct was to hide from God. He had lost his way because he had disobeyed God and become a part of this world.

When we give our lives to God, there must be a change. As it is, we are a busy people. So many people complain that they do not have any time left in their day to devote to God. They have it backwards! God wants our first fruits. That means He wants the first portion of everything we have.

When we awake in the mornings, we should give God the first portion of our day. Wake up and go into prayer, and then read His holy word for a while. Then get on with your normal routine. In church, give God your first fruits. In other words, worship Him first. Then get busy doing the things you do to serve others. Like I said, God wants your first fruits, not what is leftover after you do everything else.

So how do we do that on a consistent basis? The first thing we must do is to re-learn an old concept of what it means to stop being so busy. Everyone has the same amount of time allocated each day. We must train ourselves to take a small portion of that time and give it back to God. And the best way we can do that is to train ourselves to read what God has written so we will know more of what He wants for us. We must “be still” before the Lord, or in today’s vernacular, we must cool it and stop being so busy.

PSALM 37:7 tells us to ‘be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.’

PSALM 46:10 says to ‘be still and know that I am God.’

God does not mean for us to be idle and quit working. He does, however, want us to take periods of time to be restful so that we can focus on the things of God. If we do not take the time to read His word; to communicate and listen to Him in prayer; how can we get to know God better? The answer, of course, is we can’t. And if we do not take the time to pursue our God, we will not take the time to live by the Spirit of God.

And that is when we begin to live following after the Spirit. When we begin to live by the Spirit, we start seeing the fruits of the Spirit being manifested in our lives.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature, with its passions and desires.”

All those things we desire in the flesh are contrary to what God wants us to desire. In the flesh, we desire fun. In the Spirit, we desire joy. You cannot have joy in the flesh, as pure joy only comes from having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

There was a lady in a small church several years ago that carried her Bible with her everywhere she went. She was the first to offer prayers for others and in every conversation, she mentioned the Lord. But whenever she talked about people who were divorced or homeless, she could only offer biting criticisms. Was this lady living by the fruits of the Spirit, or was she living by the hatred of the world?

A person who leans on Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit only offers up loving rebuke, and then only in the proper setting. A person who is led by the Spirit of God does not use the Holy Ground of God’s church to criticize, denounce, or correct others, especially in a church service. A person who relies on God’s Spirit does not find fault with others, but will find love for others.

But you know what? We are born with a hole in our hearts. That hole is in the shape of our Lord and Savior. So what do we spend our lives doing? We do everything we can to fill that hole so we won’t be missing anything. And we use all the things this world offers us to do it.

Some people use alcohol to fill that hole. Do you remember the testimony Brother Rome gave a few months ago? He recounted his days as a drunkard and said he would awake in the mornings to find himself drooped against the toilet, sicker than a dog. But he said he would smile and try to remember all the fun he had the night before. What was he doing? He was trying his best to fill that void in his heart, but he was also failing miserably.

Some people use sex to fill that hole. In verse 19, Paul talks about sexual immorality, and in verse 21, he talks about the sin of orgies. God gave us sex as a wonderful thing, but it is only to be experienced between a man and his wife. In any other setting, we are sinning against the Most High God, and we are trying to use it to fill the void in our hearts. The problem is it that it cannot fill that void; only a personal and close relationship with Christ Jesus will fill that void. All of us pursue things to fill the void in our heart when Jesus isn’t in it. Think for a moment. What sin are you chasing?

In the passage I read a few minutes ago, Paul is telling us that if we continue to live these kinds of lives, we shall not enter into the gates of Heaven. Is that what we want: To be told to get away from God because we are evildoers?

“Dale” wants a promotion on his job, so he must make sure his work is worthy enough to be promoted. “Trina” is pursuing a college degree, so she must work at studying so she can pass the tests.

Dale probably doesn’t like spending all that time on the job anymore than Trina likes spending that much time studying, but they know that to earn what they really want, they have to do it. It may not be easy, but it is necessary.

Likewise, it is not always easy to live a life in the Spirit, but to get what we really desire; it is necessary to always strive to live in the Spirit. Have you ever noticed the difference between a person who is walking with Christ and one who is not? The one walking with Christ is living in the Spirit. And it is no coincidence that the person who is living in the Spirit is happier and more peaceful, no matter what their lot in life.

In 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17, Paul explains this difference. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

You see, if we really are in Christ, and Christ really is in us, then there will be a difference between the way others live their lives and the way we live ours. That difference is what we lean on to fulfill our desires. They lean on the world and all the sin the world offers them. We lean on God’s Holy Spirit, and receive the joy of God’s love as we do.

The famous actor, Errol Flynn, died in 1959, at the relatively young age of 50. He was said to have had lustful desires for any human who walked, whether it be male or female. He also was addicted to gambling and drinking. In his house, he had a gambling hall and a large barroom. He also had one-way mirrors in most rooms so he could sneak peaks at whomever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

Errol Flynn, by all accounts, was the type of person Paul was describing in the passage I read. He was sexually immoral, full of impure motives, his idol was his own selfish pleasures, and he indulged in orgies and drunkenness.

How many of us have done similar things? Oh, maybe not on as grand a scale as old Errol, and maybe in different ways, but we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, let me ask you a question: Do you think Mr. Flynn went to heaven? And if not, why do you think you will go if you are guilty of those same sins?

After Flynn died, Stuart Hamblin bought his house. Mr. Hamblin is the songwriter who wrote such songs as, ‘It Is No Secret What God Can Do” and “This Old House.” He removed the barroom and placed racks full of gospel music in its place. He also took out the gambling hall and made it a recreation hall for Christian youths. In short, he renovated the house, taking out all the sin and converting it to a house that worships Jesus.

That house, the house that Stuart Hamblin bought is much like what happens after becoming a Christian. Even though our carnal bodies (the structure of the house) remain the same, something new happens to the insides of it (Our spiritual house). The Holy Spirit comes in and takes up residence in our heart. There is a restructuring of what is important, of what our House is to be used for.

Now, we must be very careful, because sometimes things get distorted, even in the church. There are many people who believe in God, and even believe in Jesus; who go to church regularly and are nice people who think they are really Christians. But they aren’t. These people have been deceived by the devil into thinking that they are doing all the things necessary to go to Heaven.

In reality, these people focus on their own desires first. Everything they think about revolves around what they want, what they need, what they think. It doesn’t matter whether their thoughts are good or bad, they are selfish because they are not focused on the Lord first and foremost. For us to be real Christians, we must focus on what the Lord wants, and stop … living for ourselves.

Let me remind you, our sinful nature is in conflict with the Spirit of God. Let me reiterate that: When we live in self, we are focused on self. When we live by the Spirit, we are focused on God.

The Apostle Paul knew of this conflict of what we want versus what God wants for us.

In ROMANS 7:15 he said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.” There is a war going on inside us, and it is over what our sinful flesh wants and our Christian heart wants. It is not an easy battle, but it can be won. But to win, you must be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to have control of your life in the fight against the flesh. It is your responsibility in giving your life over to God, and to the control of the Holy Spirit in order to use what God gave you to stand firm by living in the power of the Spirit.

There will be winners and losers in this spiritual battle that rages within us, too. And that winner will be the one who prepares for it beforehand; and not the one who waits until they are in the middle of it to wonder what to do. The only way we can prepare for this battle is by reading the Bible to find out what God wants from us. It will not be by reading sleazy books, watching filthy shows, or doing things that are fun to do. We will get ready by focusing ourselves on getting closer to our God. But to do that, we must first turn our back on the sinful offerings of this world and turn back towards God.

If you are living with your focus on what you want, you are living in the flesh and you will go to hell, even if what you want is not necessarily bad. Why? It is because your focus is not on Jesus, but on yourself. If your focus is on you, then you have become your own idol, and Paul tells us to stay away from idolatry.

But, also understand that we are talking about having an “attitude” of sin. Every one of us is going to continue to sin the rest of our lives, but when we live by the Spirit, the Spirit will convict us of our sin and that is when we go to the Father and ask forgiveness with a humble and heart of repentance. And the wonder of it all is that He does forgive us – because He is a God of second chances.

Don’t you see that is what God gives us? He has given us a period of grace; a time to understand the law and to comply with it. Many people ask how a loving God could send someone to hell. The answer is that He doesn’t – we send ourselves to hell because we refuse to obey the law.

When your grace period is over, what will be your plight? On your personal Day of Judgment, what will God see when He looks at you? Will He see a person who has received Christ and has tried to live by the Spirit, or will He see a person who has kept a rebellious heart and refused to obey?

And what will you do on your personal Day of Judgment? When you look at God, will you see a Father who loves you and has forgiven you, or will you see a God who you have rejected? You will be before His throne. Will you hold your head up high and find joy in the radiance of His love, or will you hang your head in shame and terror, as you finally understand that your pride has sent you to hell?

What’s next in your life as a Christian? Letting the Holy Spirit lead you into the fullness of Jesus Christ.