When it comes to living the right way, it can be very difficult to make the right decisions. We have many decisions to make and so many voices to listen to. All of these voices together make two paths. One path follows the desires of what we want and it leads to death. The other follows a spiritual path and leads to life. One is the popular direction, the other is not. In Paul’s letters to the Galatians, he discusses sins of the flesh and fruit of the Spirit. Each fruit of the Spirit corresponds or counters a desire of the flesh as we will discover. For now, here’s a chart. 

Acts of the Flesh	Fruit of the Spirit
Sexual ImmoralityImpurityLust	Goodness Faithfulness
IdolatryWitchcraft	Faithfulness
HatredQuarreling	LovePeace
JealousyEnvy	JoyPeace
AngerSelfishness	JoyKindness
DissensionDivision	PeaceGentlenessPatience
DrunkennessWIld Party	Self Control

Galatians 5:16-18, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 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.”

Paul points out that nature and Spirit are always at war with one another. This means that in our lives we are constantly battling between human nature and the Spirit and that makes us confused and want to take the easy way out. Paul urges us to follow the Spirit so that we can have good results in our lives. When we follow human nature which has evil intentions, the results are not good at all. Paul lists the evil results of sin but I want to focus on the first three today, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures”. Here Paul focuses on three sexual sins, sexual desires of our human nature that are natural but can get out of hand. 

Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians that they should get married to avoid sexual immorality and in the letter to Hebrews, that author claims marriage as the way to escape this desire. So what’s the point? Sexual immorality happens outside the covenant of marriage. To counter this, God instituted marriage so that our desires will not lead to sin. Lust, however, can happen even in marriage towards another and this, according to Jesus, is a very serious sin in Matthew 5. 

The fruits or results of following the Spirit’s guidance for these sins is goodness and faithfulness. Faithfulness towards your spouse and goodness to all so that we are not defiled. Following the flesh leads to sexual sin and broken relationships. But following the Spirit leads to healthy marriages towards our spouses and to God.