You have all seen commercials of vehicles that are equipped with artificial intelligence software that allows the vehicle to perform certain limited self-driving functions. Some vehicles can perform parallel parking all by themselves. Some can guide themselves down the highway as long as the road is relatively straight. But, so far, there are no truly “fully self-driving” vehicles. In other words, you can’t turn it loose on the highway and just let it do all the driving without any human supervision. But, according to Elon Musk, that’s about to change. Over the last few years, Musk’s Tesla vehicles have been ramping up their “Full Self-Driving” software. Musk hopes to soon have a reliable system that gives you an extra driving option. Once perfected, you will be able to choose from driving “profiles” that affect how the vehicle will respond to certain driving situations it encounters on the highway. That’s right—his Tesla automobiles are touted to provide you with the ability to decide the driving “manners” that the vehicle will observe on the roadway. The selections available range from the “Chill Mode” (which exhibits polite driving habits on the road) to “Hurry Mode” which drives very “aggressively”—and, in some instances, dangerously. One reviewer of a Tesla vehicle that was programmed to run in “Hurry Mode” put it quite succinctly when saying that vehicle mimicked the driving habits of a “jerk.” So, in the future, if you are driving along and a Tesla cuts you off by changing lanes unexpectedly or approaches a yellow caution light and then accelerates rapidly instead of slowing down—you can assume that the driver is not driving in “Chill Mode.” Rather, in all likelihood, he or she will be stuck in “Hurry Mode.”[1]
I was thinking about this when reading Paul’s letter to the churches in the Roman province of Galatia, which is now in modern-day Turkey. Paul, of course, didn’t know anything about AI, self-guided cars. But, if he were around today, he might well compare humans in general to those vehicles that are pre-programed for “Hurry Mode.” You see, from the time we are born, it is as if we have been pre-programmed to live in “Hurry-Up-and-Sin-Mode.” But, Paul didn’t refer to this human “mode” as something with which we are “pre-programmed.” Instead, he referred to our natural human tendency to sin as being the depraved ways of the “flesh.” The problem is that if we stay “programmed” in the ways of the “flesh,” we’ll end up in big trouble. Eventually, we’ll be like a reckless car stuck in “Hurry Mode” that is headed for disaster.
So, a question to ask yourself this morning is whether you are still driving around in life stuck in the “Hurry-Up-and-Sin-Mode.” In other words, are you still living under the influence of the “flesh” with Satan as your driving instructor? That is where Paul’s letter in the Book of Galatians comes into play. Listen to Paul’s warning and instructions to the members of all those churches in Galatia:
16 “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” [Or, as some translations put it: “You will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” Paul continues:] 17 “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:16-21
Paul mentions 15 specific sins in which our “flesh” or our “sinful natures” love to engage. He makes it clear that these are not the only sins—for he concludes with a catch-all category that adds any other similar evil activities. Isn’t it amazing that human nature really hasn’t changed that much over the past 2,000 years? The same sins that plagued the Galatian churches continue to infest people today. And yet, when surveying this list of sins, it may at first appear that two of them no longer apply. In this regard, a scoffer might object to this list by saying, “Today, ‘idolatry’ and ‘sorcery’ need to be crossed off the list. By listing them, it shows that the Bible is just an archaic book that’s no longer relevant today.” But, they couldn’t be more wrong.
Actually, idolatry and sorcery remain as significant problems today just as they were back then. You see, idolatry isn’t limited to bowing down to stone or wooden idols of pagan gods. An “idol” includes any thing, activity, person, worldview or whatever else in your life you may put ahead of God. In his book entitled, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller noted this about idolatry when he wrote that an idol “is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” [2] Today, many people worship the “gods” of money, power, social status, etc. But, keep in mind that there are some otherwise “good things” that can become “idols” if they are elevated in priority above God. They can be things like family, friends, careers, politics, hobbies, sports, physical appearance, physical fitness, leisure, entertainment and comfort—to name a few.
Did you know that even technology can become an idol in your life if you let it? The next time you go into a restaurant, see how many people you can count who bow their heads and whisper a prayer thanking God for their meals. Then, count how many people are sitting at their tables—even entire families including young and old—and all of them are as silent as church mice, bowing religiously to their smartphones! They won’t say grace at the table, but they’ll readily pay homage to technology. Oh yes, idolatry is alive and well in America today.
And, what about “sorcery”? Did that die with the last of the Harry Potter films? No, today, interest in the occult is on the rise, not only in this country, but throughout the world. But, note that the Greek word Paul used for “sorcery” is “pharmakĕia” (far-mak-i´-ah; φαρμακεία). It is the root word from which we get the word “pharmacy.” The original Greek meaning referred to medicines in general. But, as time went on, this Greek word encompassed any mind-altering drugs associated with the occult, witchcraft or magic. Ancient heathen religions would sometimes use such drugs to supposedly assist them in contacting their pagan gods.[3] Today, this “sorcery” would point to illicit drug use and alcoholism. So many have bowed before the altars of these addictions. In fact, they have allowed substance abuse to enslave them.[4]
But, you may be saying to yourself: “Wait a minute! Paul is writing to Christians who have already accepted Christ. They have been baptized and have publicly declared their faith. Why in the world is he warning them about such terrible worldly sins?” Well, the reason is clear: Not all of those who claimed to be saved and walking with Jesus were actually doing so.[5] There were many “pretend” or “phony” Christians in the various Galatians churches during Paul’s day, just as there are many “pretend” Christians in churches across America today. So, what do today’s “pretend Christians” have in common with the early church Christians to whom Paul was writing? These kind of Christians—both then and now—failed to understand their own human nature. They were living their lives according to how they were “pre-programmed” on the day they were born. From the time they were conceived in their mother’s womb, they were “pre-programmed” to sin. Some people will recoil when they hear that. They will object by saying: “How could you possibly claim an innocent little baby who has just come into the world is sinful? The Bible doesn’t teach that.” OH, YES IT DOES! Psalm 51:5 says that you were “born a sinner.” In fact, you were a sinner from “the moment [your] mother conceived [you].” [6]
To return to our self-driving vehicle analogy, you could say that you were born in “Hurry-Up-and- Sin Mode.” How did that come to be? Did God create you that way? Absolutely not. When God created Adam and Eve, they were initially without sin. But, God gave them something very special when He gave them “free will.” In other words, they were free to obey God’s will or free to reject Him by disobeying. God gave them one simple command. He told them not to eat of the worldly tree of knowledge of good and evil. Rather, God wanted them to look to His Word for discerning the difference between good and evil. Sadly, Adam and Eve opted to listen to Satan who came to them in the form of a serpent. Satan urged them to ignore God’s Truth and to accept Satan’s lie. The instant Adam and Eve disobeyed God their entire nature changed. They had been living in “Chill Mode.” Or, to put it in biblical terms, they had been living in “Righteousness Mode”—for their relationship with God was marked by peace and harmony. But, when they committed that first sin, that relationship drastically changed. From that point on in history, every human born thereafter was re-programmed with a fallen and depraved nature because of Adam’s sin.
Now, getting back to Paul’s letter to the Galatians. He told them at the very beginning of the passage we read what the source of their problem was. He said: “Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” From this, we can infer that there were many “pretend Christians” with the Galatian churches who were not authentic followers of Christ. And, they were not true followers because they had never allowed the Holy Spirit to guide their lives. You can swear on a stack of Bible a hundred times that you are a Christian, or you can be baptized until your skin wrinkles from the water—but until you allow the Holy Spirit into your heart, you’ll remain unsaved. The way the Holy Spirit enters in is through that door to your heart that Jesus knocks upon. Jesus said: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20 (NASB) But, you can’t just open the door and stand there. You have to invite Him inside. If you open the door to your heart with faith in Christ, then (but only then) will the Holy Spirit enter into your heart. When you allow that to happen, things will be re-programmed in an eternally beneficial way. We’ll cover that re-programming in a few minutes.
What Paul is saying here in the Book of Galatians is right in line with what Jesus told Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a noted Jewish religious leader and a member of the Sanhedrin—the highest religious body in the land. He was known far and wide by the Jewish people as a great teacher of the Scriptures. And so, he had a great deal of “religious head knowledge,” but a huge vacuum remained in his heart. His problem was that he’d left Jesus standing outside the door of his heart, patiently knocking. Because of this, Nicodemus was no better off than those “pretend Christians” of today. So, he went to Jesus to find out what was missing in his life. He desperately wanted to know what he could do to change his hopeless situation. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that he needed to be “spiritually re-programmed.” Of course, Jesus used a different analogy to get this crucial point across to Nicodemus. They had a very interesting conversation that went like this. Jesus said: 3 “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’” John 3:3-7 (NLT2) When Jesus said this, He was not only knocking at the door of Nicodemus’ heart, but was also peering into the window of his soul. And what Jesus saw inside was the need for a radical spiritual transformation. Theologically, we refer to it as a “regeneration” of the human spirit.
Jesus gave a perfect image of what this entails when He told Nicodemus he must be “born again.” When you, me, Nicodemus or anyone else was physically born, we bore that natural human mark of sin that tainted our souls. Jesus is the only One who can change that, and His remedy is this: You must be “born of water and the Spirit.” What does that mean? The “water” isn’t physical water. Rather, it is the spiritual water of the Holy Spirit that, in conjunction with the blood Jesus shed on the Cross, cleanses us of sin. It is by this new birth, through faith in Jesus Christ, which changes us from children of Adam (who remain spiritually dead) into “children of God” (who receive the gift of eternal life). In 1st Corinthians, Paul put it this way: “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.” 1st Corinthians 15:22 (NLT2)
Some of those members of the Galatian church had the misguided notion that they could stop practicing all those awful sins Paul mentioned through their own personal efforts. They mistakenly believed that all they needed to do was buckle down and just stop sinning. Paul was telling them that would never work because you can’t defeat Satan and sin through your own power. That is what Paul was addressing when he said in Galatians 5:18, “When you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.” In other words, when we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our lives, we are no longer caught in the hopeless situation of trying to comply with God’s commandments through our own puny power. Rather, once Jesus is in your heart, your new “born-again” nature lets the Holy Spirit take charge. It is the Holy Spirit who steps forward with His infinite power and helps you resist evil. You are no longer alone in your spiritual battles.
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Tatjana Smith, the Olympic swimmer and gold medalist, whose motto is “Let Go and let God.”[7] That’s a good way of summarizing Paul’s message to the Galatian churches. We need to “let go” of our efforts to prevail against Satan, and “let God” do it. I love the way the Christian writer, William MacDonald put it: “When one is occupied [by the Holy Spirit], he is not thinking of the law or the flesh. The Spirit of God does not lead people to look to the law as a means of justification. Rather, He points them to the Risen Christ as the only ground of acceptance before God.”[8] When you surrender to Jesus in that way, wonderful changes start to emerge in your life. So, what do those changes look like?
Well, Paul continued on in Galatians 5 by giving us a peek at the transformation we can expect. Paul states: 22 “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! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His Cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” Galatians 5:22-25 (NLT2)
When the Holy Spirit initiates that new life within you, He starts by scrolling down the menu of your heart and switches you from “Hurry-Up-and Sin Mode” to a brand-new program in the “Chill Mode of Righteousness.” From then on, the bitter fruit of sin withers away and is replaced by the sweet fruit of the Spirit.[9] The software of your soul will be running on a spiritual code designed and powered by the Holy Spirit. Your thoughts, desires and goals in life will be focused on pleasing God, having faith in Him, trusting in His goodness, and relying upon His grace for your salvation—and NOT upon your own works. Little by little, the Fruit of the Spirit will grow as the desires of the flesh fade away.
And, notice something here. The Scriptures do not refer to the “FRUITS” of the Spirit in the plural form. In other words, there is no “S” on the end of the word “FRUIT.” It is in the singular form. Why is that? It is because all of these gifts of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.) collectively form the oneness of a Christ-like character in those who accept Him as their Savior. As His FRUIT matures, that image of Jesus becomes clearer in your soul. Your inner most being starts looking less and less like the old flesh-driven you, and is more and more in conformity with the image of Christ. No longer will you be a self-driving car aimlessly swerving over life’s road guided by sinful programming. Rather, you will have turned the controls over to the Holy Spirit with the hands of Jesus guiding the steering wheel of your soul. From then on, the Good Shepherd—the One who is a flawless driver—will restore your soul and lead you down the highway of righteousness for His Name’s sake.[10]
This morning, if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, now is the time for you to surrender control to Him. He is knocking at the door of your heart. Don’t leave Him standing there until your heart becomes so hardened that you won’t be able to hear the knocks any longer. Let the Holy Spirit come inside so that the Fruit of the Spirit will flourish in your life.
Or, maybe you’ve been a “pretend Christian” for too long. You’ve fooled a lot of friends and neighbors, but you can’t fool God. You walked the church aisle many years ago and were baptized, and yet you never really allowed Jesus into your heart. You left Him standing outside the door and He is still there knocking today. Now is the time for you to come forward and truly allow Jesus access to your heart. The Fruit of Spirit can’t grow within you until you take that crucial step.
And, finally—maybe you are a true follower of Christ. You have let Him into your heart and have surrendered control to Him. But, lately, the storms of life have been crashing down on you pretty hard. You just need a little restoration through the Holy Spirit. Now is the time to come forward and we’ll pray at the altar.
Think about all these things as I give the benediction and then we’ll sing our closing hymn. It’s time to switch from the “Sin-Mode-of-the-Flesh” to the “Jesus-Mode-of-the-Spirit.” Or, maybe you just needed to be re-charged in the “Chill-Mode-of-God’s-Righteousness.” Whatever the case may be, won’t you come forward this morning? Let’s go to God in prayer.
Darvin Satterwhite, Pastor
Forest Hill Baptist Church
August 18, 2024
©2024 All Rights Reserved as follows:
Anyone is at liberty to use this sermon or any portions thereof for educational or religious purposes, with or without credit. The pastor believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this material is a grace ministry of Forest Hill Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia.
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[1] Emma Roth, “Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ beta has an ‘assertive’ driving mode that ‘may perform rolling stops’,” The Verge (January 9, 2022), cited in PreachingToday.com. See also: Fred Lambert, “Tesla starts pushing new Supervised Full Self-Driving update,” Electrek, https://electrek.co/2024/07/10/tesla-v12-4-pushing-new-supervised-full-self-driving-update/ ( July 10, 2024).
[2] Timothy Keller. Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matter, Penguin: New York (2009), page xix.
[3] MacArthur, John F., Jr. The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible: Galatians 5:20. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006.
[4] William MacDonald, Believer's Bible Commentary: A Thorough, Yet Easy-to-Read Bible Commentary That Turns Complicated Theology Into Practical Understanding, ed. Arthur Farstad, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 1893.
[5] William MacDonald, Believer's Bible Commentary: A Thorough, Yet Easy-to-Read Bible Commentary That Turns Complicated Theology Into Practical Understanding, ed. Arthur Farstad, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 1894.
[6] Psalm 51:5 “For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.” (NLT2)
[7] Kevin Mercer, “South African swimmer Tatjana Smith wins Olympic gold as she aims to ‘glorify God’s name,’” Sports Spectrum, https://sportsspectrum.com/sport/olympics/2024/07/30/south-africa-tatjana-smith-olympic-gold-glorify-gods-name/ (July 30, 2024).
[8] William MacDonald, Believer's Bible Commentary: A Thorough, Yet Easy-to-Read Bible Commentary That Turns Complicated Theology Into Practical Understanding, ed. Arthur Farstad, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 1893.
[9] Emma Roth, “Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ beta has an ‘assertive’ driving mode that ‘may perform rolling stops’,” The Verge (January 9, 2022), cited in PreachingToday.com.
[10] Psalm 23:3 “He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (KJV)
Topics: Fruit of the Spirit
