[2026. 1. 4.] Walk by the Spirit | Galatians 5:13–26

[2026. 1. 4.] Walk by the Spirit | Galatians 5:13–26

Sermon by Rev. Jinkook (Danny) Sohn (Hope of Heaven Baptist Chuch) 

 

2026. 1. 4. 신년주일 예배 설교 
본문: 갈라디아서 5:13–26
제목: 성령을 따라 행하라

설교자: 손진국 목사 (하늘소망교회)

 

Today, as we welcome the new year 2026, we are offering the first Sunday worship of the year. We give thanks, believing that God has established our Haneul Somang Church in this land, continues to lead us to proclaim the gospel of God, and guides us to be a church that saves people, which is God’s desire. What is absolutely necessary for the church to be established and to fulfill its mission in this land? It is that the Holy Spirit must come upon the church and work within it. Why is that? Because the church is a Spirit-filled community made up of people who have received the Holy Spirit. I hope you believe that the Holy Spirit also leads and guides the life of each and every member of such a Spirit-filled community.
Therefore, the vision word that our church will hold onto throughout the year 2026 is found in today’s passage. Let us read together this year’s vision slogan of our church: “Walk by the Spirit.”

What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? It means that in order for believing Christians to live rightly, the Holy Spirit must be with us and must show us how we ought to live. Do you believe this? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is with us and tells us what kind of life we should live? If we do not believe or know that the Holy Spirit is with us, or if we do not believe or know that the Holy Spirit teaches us, how can we walk by the Spirit?

When we listen to God’s Word today, what do you and I need? We need to be prepared to hear God’s Word. What kind of preparation is that? Saying, “I shouldn’t fall asleep today,” or “I should not think about other things and listen carefully to what the pastor is saying.” These are not bad, but they do not seem to be the right preparation for hearing God’s Word. The proper preparation for hearing God’s Word is this—repeat after me: “I believe that the Holy Spirit is with me.” “I believe that the Holy Spirit is speaking to me at this time.”

Through the Word God gives us today, I pray in the name of the Lord that all the saints of our Haneul Somang Church will walk by the Spirit.

In today’s passage, we are taught how to walk by the Spirit.

 

1. Serve one another in love

[Galatians 5:13] You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

One of the important themes of the book of Galatians is freedom. Are you free? People desire freedom, but many do not know what true freedom is or how to use it. One of the titles used to describe believers in Jesus is “the free.” Those who believe in Jesus are people who have obtained freedom. God called us in order to set us free. This means that before we believed in Jesus, we were not free but were bound. What were we bound by? We were bound under the power of sin and death. In other words, we were bound by the demands of the law. But Jesus died on the cross, fulfilled even the requirements of the law, completed the law, and set us free from sin and death.

Among Christians, there are those who have freedom but do not know how to live with that freedom. Why is that? Because freedom itself becomes the goal. But freedom is not the goal; it is the direction. If we do not understand this, what happens? We use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. What does it mean to use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh? The explanation appears in verse 15. [Galatians 5:15] If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

It refers to destructive fighting, biting and devouring one another in order to bring each other to ruin. Why do people bite and devour one another like this? It is because of self-love. What is the opposite? Love for one’s neighbor. How is love for one’s neighbor expressed in verse 13? It is expressed as “serving one another in love.” What is the opposite of that? Serving as masters over one another.

To live as a Christian with faith means to live a life that changes from self-love to love for others, from being a master to being a servant, and from the law to love. It is a life that moves from exalting oneself to lifting up and building up others, a life in which I die so that others may live. Whose image is this? It is the image of Jesus. This is shown in Isaiah 53:5, yesterday’s memory verse.

[Isaiah 53:5] But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

This must not remain only the life of Jesus; it must become the life of us Christians. Let us read it again by replacing “he” with “I” and “we” with “you.”

[Isaiah 53:5] But I was pierced for your transgressions, I was crushed for your iniquities; the punishment that brought you peace was on me, and by my wounds you are healed.

If this were so, would not the phrase “hypocritical Christianity” greatly diminish? Of course, one reason Christianity is criticized is because of the attacks of evil spirits that oppose Jesus Christ. But on the other hand, I also think that Christians living by worldly values—biting and devouring one another to ruin others in order to exalt themselves, instead of fully following Jesus—play a part as well. The freedom of Christ is not the freedom to do whatever I want; it is the freedom to love my neighbor. Ultimately, serving one another in love means, as I often say, living not for one’s own success but for the success of others. Repeat after me: “A Christian (I) is a person who helps others succeed.”

[Application] Am I engaging in destructive conflict, biting and devouring those beside me in order for myself to do well? What am I doing to help others succeed?

 

2. Be on guard against the acts of the flesh

From verse 16 onward, the passage speaks about the acts of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. First, let us look at [Galatians 5:16–17] So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

It says that the Spirit and the flesh are opposed to each other and in conflict. As a result, even though I am a Christian, I cannot do what I want. What do we call this? We call it conflict. In other words, it is the stress of a believer.
Does conflict disappear when we are filled with the Holy Spirit? I used to think so. I thought, “If the Holy Spirit completely rules over me, how could there be any conflict? The reason I am struggling right now must be because I am not filled with the Spirit.” But there is a pastor in Korea named Pastor Kim Yang-jae, the senior pastor of Wooridle Church, which produces the QT devotional QTin and practices QT-based ministry. She once said something that deeply resonated with me: “Being filled with the Holy Spirit means being filled with conflict.”

I used to think that if I were filled with the Spirit, conflict would disappear. But when I look back on my real life, I remember that when the Holy Spirit worked through the Word, the conflict inside me actually grew stronger. As I came to know God’s will through the Word, my inner conflict increased. Why is that? When the Holy Spirit works, my sin becomes visible, and the worldly values—what I want to live for, become, and pursue—collide with the values of God’s kingdom, causing inner conflict. Such conflict is spiritual conflict, and we could call it spiritual stress.

As I have shared before, before I believed in Jesus, I hardly felt any sense of guilt. Even if I went to a bar and took home a cool boot-shaped glass mug, or secretly brought home nice beakers and lab equipment from my university laboratory to decorate my cabinet, I felt no conflict. What conflict? I barely thought of those things as sin. Even when I drank alcohol and kicked shop signs in the early morning and broke them, I felt no guilt. When I drank with coworkers and complained about and gossiped about my boss, I felt no guilt at all—in fact, gossip was the best drinking snack. While running a business, I underreported income to pay less tax, yet I did not think of it as tax evasion or sin. I hated friends I disliked, treated them harshly, and thought, “He deserves to be treated this way.” I lied as easily as eating a meal. When people I did not want to meet called me, I told my parents, “Tell them I’m not home,” or “Tell them no such person lives here,” making my parents lie for me. Throwing cigarette butts on the street was nothing. In a life where the Holy Spirit was not at work, I was full of lies, hatred, anger, and self-righteousness, but there was no spiritual conflict caused by a sense of sin.

But after I believed in Jesus and the Holy Spirit began to work within me, I began to experience guilt not only for stealing or tax evasion, but even for lying, speaking badly about others, and even for sinful thoughts alone. I began to see the conflict between the desires of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh.

In our daily thoughts, words, and actions, how can we tell what is the work of the flesh and what is the work of the Spirit? We must know this in order to guard against the acts of the flesh and obey the voice of the Spirit. This is explained from verse 19 onward.

[Galatians 5:19–21] The acts of the flesh 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.

What are these? They are the acts of the flesh that we must guard against and keep away from.
On the other hand, verses 22–23 speak of the ninefold fruit of the Spirit that is produced when the Holy Spirit is at work.

[Galatians 5:22–23] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

What is this fruit of the Spirit? It is the character of Jesus. When you want to discern whether the thoughts, words, and actions occurring in your life align with what the Spirit desires, think about these nine characteristics of the Lord. If it feels confusing, it can also help to compare them with their opposites.

If we insert the opposite words, it would look like this: what is not the fruit of the Spirit is hatred, sorrow, conflict, impatience, cruelty, evil, betrayal, harshness, and lack of self-control (overconsumption). These are things that must be forbidden.

[Application] Is there spiritual conflict within me? What is one act of the flesh that I especially need to guard against right now?

 

3. Walk by the Spirit

Although we are believers in Jesus Christ, we must acknowledge that we are not yet perfect. That perfection is not achieved while we live on this earth, but when we finish this life and stand before the Lord. In other words, while we live on this earth, the desires of the flesh and the presence of the Spirit can exist together within us. Therefore, there is something we must do every day as we follow the Spirit’s guidance. What is it?

[Galatians 5:24–25] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

This passage tells us two things we must do daily while living on this earth. What are they?

(1) Proclaim by faith.
What kind of faith? Even though the desires and passions of the flesh still arise within us, we who believe in Jesus must proclaim by faith that they have already been crucified with Jesus Christ. [Galatians 5:24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

The phrase “have crucified” (Greek: estaurōsan) is in the present perfect tense. What is the difference between the present perfect and the past tense? As we often explain in Bible study:
“He went to Korea” (He went in the past; we do not know where he is now) versus “He has gone to Korea” (He went in the past and is still there now). The present perfect tense is used when a past action continues to have an effect in the present.

When were the flesh, passions, and desires crucified? When I believed in Jesus Christ, I was united with Jesus who was crucified, and my flesh, passions, and desires were crucified with Him. Then can these crucified passions and desires still influence my life? In reality, they have no true power, yet they can still seem influential. What does that mean?

For example, imagine a dog tied with a leash so it cannot go beyond a certain radius. When we approach, the tied dog barks loudly and runs toward us. Even though we know it is tied, we still feel afraid, and children may even cry. This is like us. Satan cannot truly harm us. Why? Because the Lord has already won the victory. What we need to do is proclaim it. What do we proclaim? “My flesh, passions, and desires have been crucified with Christ, so you can no longer tempt me. Be silent!” If it keeps barking, what should we do? Ignore it. I believe the training we truly need is to ignore the passions, desires, and temptations of the devil that keep arising within us.

(2) Obey and act on the voice of the Holy Spirit who works and speaks within us.
What do we do to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? QT—quiet time. Listening to the voice of the Spirit through the Word and responding to it is obedience. What does it say on the cover of this month’s QT devotional? “God Speaks, We Respond!” When God speaks, we respond. I pray in the name of the Lord that this year will be a year in which we walk by the Spirit by obeying the Word.

[Application] What passions and desires must I proclaim against or ignore by faith? What is the voice of the Holy Spirit that I need to obey and act on today?

 

 

하늘소망교회(담임 손진국 목사)는 뉴질랜드 오클랜드 북부 실버데일에 세워진 한인교회로 '하나님의 마음으로 사람을 살리는 교회'입니다.

Hope of Heaven Baptist Church (Senior Pastor: Rev. Jinkook Sohn) is a Korean church established in Silverdale, Auckland, New Zealand. It is a church that saves people with the heart of God.