Against such, there is NO law. Galatians 5:22-23.

A Christian brother recently brought up the fruits of the Spirit; that day, the item that stuck in my mind, and has been there for weeks, was self-control.

Self-control speaks to me about the multitude of times that I have been restrained by the Holy Spirit, thereby preventing me from doing something stupid, illegal, or deadly. Almost a month after that conversation, my pastor, Jack Hibbs, integrated the fruits of the Spirit into his teaching this last Wednesday evening, 2/3/2021. I felt impressed to share some insights with you.

Galatians 5:22-23 NLT But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

I used the NLT because it directly infers that the Holy Spirit produces this fruit in us, in contrast to the fruit as seen in the NASB, which could be thought of as something I could merely pick off a tree when needed.

Just seeing these words “as something I could merely pick when needed,” as though these fruits are not mine, accosts me.

Pastor Jack spoke about the Holy Spirit in two ways.

First, the Holy Spirit is the one who brought you to Jesus Christ, and therefore, comes into you when you receive Christ. Jack Hibbs says that this is the baptism into Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit. 

I suppose the logic to this comes from the fact that God is: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that the soul, having asked Jesus to come in, now belongs to God, and therefore, the Holy Spirit. A roundabout way of saying this is that by inviting Jesus into my life, I am and have invited the Holy Spirit into my life.

(Think about this. Jesus, just before He went to the Father, said, 

John 16:7-15 NASB "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. (8) "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; (9) concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; (10) and concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; (11) and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. (12) "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. (13) "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (14) "He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. (15) "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Look at John 16:7-15 NASB above, for it says, that when He, Jesus, leaves the earth, the Holy Spirit - the comforter will come. The implications of this are that the interactions with man are fully enveloped in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit acts and responds just as Jesus did, for He did nothing without hearing from the Father.)

An example of what I just said about the Holy Spirit coming into our lives could come from Paul’s address to the church in Rome, which you can see in Romans 2:14-15.

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, (Romans 2:14-15 NASB)

To say, “their conscience” can just as easily be stated, their spirit. The person indwelt by the Holy Spirit is then directed accordingly. The problem is that the majority of us think that whatever good thing we did was our great idea.

To be honest, I don’t thoroughly understand this teaching of how the Holy Spirit is instantly a part of every believer, although it makes sense that God would be looking for a way to regain those He has already paid for through the cross. Not being able to grasp this concept most likely comes from seeing so many, over the years, stumble back into the darkness; this is especially disturbing when you know that the verses before and after the reference in Galatians above tell you why you do what you do. The answer to the problem, every time is to admit that you just did what you wanted to do, change your ways, and get yourself into the Word. Scriptural references speak of receiving of and from the Holy Spirit.

Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38 NASB)

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8 NASB)

In both of these instances, Receive is the Greek word lambano and means to take hold of.

When Peter, in Acts 2:38, instructed the large crowd that upon repenting and being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit was he telling them that they would receive the power and speak in other tongues?

I do not try to put God into a box anymore, nor do I try to control how God uses the box I assigned to Him or what is inside; so, to be honest, I do not know what parameters God was operating in that day.

In Acts 1:8, we see Jesus speaking to the disciples, of which there were many. He said, they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them; this is entirely different for the disciples, as they were already followers of Jesus, however, without the apparent infilling of the Holy Spirit; that came later as they waited, in that room, as told.

Galatians 5:22-23 speaks directly about the Holy Spirit being in us, so for the sake of argument let's say you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life and you are very much aware of that through evidence. That evidence, for me, exhibited itself by Him talking to me in conversational tones with frequency.

Paul tells us “ the Holy Spirit, produces this kind of fruit in our lives.” Those fruits look like this.

• Love,
• Joy,
• Peace,
• Patience,
• Kindness,
• Goodness,
• Faithfulness,
• Gentleness,

and

• Self-control.

Nothing deserves to go un-discussed but the Holy Spirit spoke to me rather pointedly along the line of self-control.

Pastor Jack, in that Wednesday night message I spoke about, talked about meeting a young man at the grocery store, in which Pastor was recently shopping. The young man recognized him through the mask and asked if he could speak openly with the Pastor. He then told the pastor that he was living a life that was displeasing to God and what could he do about it? The bottom line answer was to get yourself into God's word. Do not pursue Christianity or religion, but pursue a relationship with the Father; in other words, get to know Him intimately.

Self-control seems to speak of one who rejects God and tries to fix things themselves; that is not the case here. We are dealing with the Greek word egkráteia which means Continence, temperance, self-control.

TEMPERATE means moderate; not excessive. 

CONTINENCE, is to withhold; but also means the restraint which a person imposes upon his desires and passions; this includes sexual passions and lewd pleasures.

Now, this one thing alone would save many of us from a world of grief, and should, if we are listening cause us to wonder why are we doing things we don't want or need to do.

Paul said this very thing, and if there was someone who would understand what this passage in Galatians 5 is saying, it would be him.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:18-25 NASB)

Simply put,

I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. (Romans 7:19 NLT)

There is an answer.

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind, I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. (Romans 7:25 NLT)

It almost seems hopeless but there is Jesus. I work hard at living a life like Christ, but occasionally I choose to react inappropriately, and I am not talking about lewd acts, I am talking about anger and rage. The thing that caught my attention that Wednesday night as I watched Pastor Jack, was the tail end of Galatians 5:23. There it says,

There is no law against these things!

Those things are the fruits of the Spirit, not your spirit, but God's Spirit – the Holy Spirit, and it is He - the Holy Spirit, that is growing those fruits inside of you.

On your own, you are a hopeless cause. I know, you think you have got it all together, but you don't, and sadly, you know that. I suppose that knowledge and the fact that you keep running from God makes you rather pathetic. Let me know how it works out for you.

Instead of struggling, turn your life over to Jesus Christ and receive His free gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

Romans chapter eight opens with this,

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
(Romans 8:1 NASB)

I am not good at English grammar, and so I pay to have my work edited to an acceptable and readable degree. I said all that to say, that I may make odd and rather apparent statements, such as, for Paul to open with the word, therefore, is indicative of a thought that needs to be continued; and, it demands that we understand what that previous thought was.

On that note, we ended our look at Romans chapter seven with this upbeat tone.

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then, on the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
(Romans 7:24-25 NASB)

A small Bible study group I am involved in is studying the same section of scripture but leans heavily on Warren Wiersbe's commentary on Romans. Wiersbe says that this “gives the “therefore of no condemnation...” If that were all I had to go on, I would be scratching my head in bewilderment, but Wiersbe continues with - “a tremendous truth and the conclusion of a marvelous argument.” Well, yes it is, but suppose you had just joined the group that night, would you know what that argument was? Probably not.

In concise words, none of this would be possible if not for “Jesus Christ, our Lord.”

Assuming that you have been following my studies, the majority of you should realize by now, that until the day when this body gets changed, we are stuck with this body of death. In itself, that is a dismal proposition. Thank God Jesus went to the cross.

Here is where that change I spoke of, comes into play.

“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52 NASB)

As Paul stated in the NASB, “thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we are set free.”

If you operate on the principle that you died to this world and that dead people don't have a problem with lust, then you should make it through this journey with relative success (spiritually.)
Eugene Peterson's Message adds this commentary to Romans 7:25,

“He (Jesus Christ) acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.” The parenthesis is added by me.

And the NLT puts a slightly different spin on 7:25 by saying,
“Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind, I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin.”

If it were not for Christ Jesus, we would be lost forever. Ah, but we are not lost, because the answer to this brokenness in us that pushes us to fulfill our desires, is wrapped up in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Some, like Warren Wiersbe's commentary, will try to tell you that you were healed the day you accepted Christ. If you sat in meetings with me, where people try to own that idea, you would hear me say, “I wish that were true.”

As Paul said in chapter seven,
"But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it." (Romans 7:16-20 NLT)

I have learned that, for me, in this life, I need to lean heavily upon the Holy Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus

And with that, we move into Romans chapter eight.
The Complete Jewish Bible starts us off with the word, therefore, as do many other translations.

Therefore, there is no longer any condemnation awaiting those who are in union with the Messiah Yeshua. (Romans 8:1 CJB)

I often hear my spirit say, ARE YOU KIDDING ME as the majority of the condemnation that I have experienced in this Christian life has come from religious people. Need examples?

• The pastor who verbally accosted me and said that I am too edgy to teach Bible study; and yet, he allows others, who stand in defiance as they speak in opposition to accepted church Biblical values and doctrines.

• An individual whom I used to deem a friend, called me a firebrand (this is a person who provokes people,) and scolded me in public because I try to get people excited about the Word of God.

• And then, there is the brother in Christ who wanted to make himself look important by trying to argue me down in a home-group. The question was asked of the small group that night, how big was David when he fought Goliath. (Three hard pieces of Biblical evidence demonstrate his potential size, and it wasn't small.)

So what is Paul saying? Even if abuse or hardship comes, there is NO condemnation awaiting us on the part of Jesus or the Father, because we are in union with Jesus by our acceptance of Him and what He did for us.

The statement, "there is NO condemnation" is straight forward. You would think we should all have this established in our thinking. However, even in a small group that I am part of, a dear lady, who we assume to be knowledgeable in scripture, said, then what do we do with what Paul said about confessing our sin?
I responded, don't you see, the assumption is that:
a. God has just moved you over to the “burn this one in hell” list because of your “sin.”

b. That sin, (You would not expect the eighty-year-old church lady, to be committing grievous sins of the flesh.) has everything to do with raunchy fleshly desires. IT DOES NOT. Sin is merely missing the mark. Every day, we have marks we have to hit, such as loving the unlovable. How does that work out for you? Yeah, me too.
If this “sinning” stuff were the end-all, then NONE of us would go to heaven.

c. This idea of confessing, as though it was a continual act of slaughtering a lamb for your sins, does not change God's heart toward you.

The passage she was referring to is this.
1 John 1:9 NASB says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Obviously, John is talking about the God relationship, but the word confess is not what you think.

Confess is the Greek word homologeō and means to assent.
Assent, from Webster's dictionary, means “the act of the mind in admitting, or agreeing to, the truth of a proposal.”
A proposal? So your mind has been presented with a proposal, and in many cases, the enemy is the one doing the proposing. Another way to look at this is, Satan offers you a jump (off a cliff for all I know,) and even though you are NOT being pushed, you choose not to resist that nonsense and take the jump. IF you have done that and survived, and you are now confessing to a safe and sane believer - hopefully, how you bought into the lie of the enemy. Rejoice for you have done several positive things:

• You have just become open and honest about your sin - in which you missed the mark.

• You are at least, owning your actions, and the damage you may have created.

• Now you have the chance to make a change and potentially NOT do that again.

• And, our intercessor, Christ Jesus, is praying alongside you, for your healing and restoration to sanity.

Before I move on, I want to point something out.

We have many translations available for our usage. If you chose to use the KJV, for example, you would get this: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Pay attention to these words:
“who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

One version, the exeGeses ready research Bible, indicates that this line is NOT in the original manuscripts. Words added for clarity, such as “There is,” are most often italicized, but that did not happen here, and, to make our understanding more muddled, the KJV gives me Strong's numbers for the added line.

Confusing, absolutely, and it requires that we pay attention and dig a little more.

Now, what do I do with this dilemma that the added line creates?
For me, I run several tests on it, and I lean on the Holy Spirit.

If you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, then you need to ask the Father to fill you with that free gift. Scripture tells us that:

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose to you what is to come. (John 16:13 NASB)

So, clearly, the Holy Spirit is a huge benefit, and He – being a persona of God, no less than Jesus is, will show you the truth and guide into the truth. Sorry, but you are just going to have to learn to trust Him, just as you trusted Christ Jesus to be your Lord.

If I choose not to use the KJV translation with the added words, am I losing some deep part of God's heart?

I did not pay much attention to this line before, as much of Romans was like muddy water. Today though, I find that the phrase most certainly implies the meeting of some conditional human standard. If that is the case, who set the standard because knowing that will influence how much effort I put into sorting this out?

Lacking an answer as to who set the standard, I move on to some other test. Now, I find myself asking, does what seem like God's word truly reflect God's nature and character; if so, how would I evaluate that?

Considering that God sent His only Son, to die a brutal death, for a world that did not know or love Him, why would He now put stipulations, on what, Paul pointed out, are impossible in our flesh to fulfill, back on us again? 

I can learn quite a bit about God's character just by looking at Jesus' life. He told us, “whatever I see the Father do, I do.” And, as Peter said, "Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil."

"You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38 NASB)

What I understand about what happened here in Acts 10:38, is that there was no exclusion, as all were oppressed by the devil. Again, I am aware that religious folk will accost you for advocating how Jesus operated by saying, the devil is not hiding under every bush, and they would be right. But consider this, Satan took one-third of the angels with him in his fall. One-third of a countless quantity is an astronomical amount, and they are all most certainly helping Satan in his final attempts at destroying anything and anyone that looks like Jesus.

The bottom line for me, God would not, and has not made a conditional relationship with us.

Sadly, this very conversation became a point of contention in “Bible Study” one recent Thursday. Fortunately, I did my own personal study and then looked at the Wiersbe commentary and that is precisely what he found. I pointed this out to my critic and that person, for the moment, shut-up.

I must admit that having people walk according to the Spirit would be a better way of living for all of us, but we must learn to show people who are struggling, just as we do with the enemy's taunts, a little more grace.

I am going to throw in a verse that I was reminded of today before I started working on this study on Romans 8.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:31-32 NASB)


 I came upon this verse in Ephesians in my morning devotional. It is something a group of men I know, do every day. The writer of the devotional, Andy Stanley, asked the question, should we respond affirmatively to this merely because it is God's Word, or should we follow the advice, because Christ has forgiven us? In other words, act like Jesus.