The Spirit of God
Walking in the Spirit
Galatians 5:16-25
We are continuing our study of the Spirit of God this morning by looking at the second of two commands that are given to every believer.
At your conversion, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within every child of God. We generally refer to that as “indwelling”. It takes place by way of “baptism with the Spirit of God. At the moment a transaction takes place that is eternal in nature. It is one-time, once and for all experience by which I am placed into the eternal body of Christ.
However, even though I am placed into the body of Christ and even though I am indwelt by the Spirit, that doesn’t mean I am always living under the control of the Holy Spirit. So to address that, as we saw last week, we are instructed, actually commanded, to be “filled” with the Spirit.
Every day, and if necessary, many times throughout the day, we are to yield control of ourselves to the Holy Spirit. And as we saw last week, through that experience, we are empowered to serve the Lord. So command number one is be filled with the Spirit.
The second command makes its appearance in the book of Galatians, chapter 5. And there we discover, not only are we to be filled with the Spirit, we are to walk in the Spirit.
Now if being filled with the Spirit is more about power for serve, walking in the Spirit is more about purity in life.
Galatians 5:16 says, "I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."
It is in this little phrase, “walk in the Spirit”, that we find God's pattern and plan for living a victorious,
Christ-like life on a daily basis as a born-again
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me give you three words this morning that will help you get a handle on what it means to walk in the Spirit. The first one is
1. Conflict
Soon after you become a Christian and begin to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in your life, you make a rather startling discovery. You discover that you have all kinds of opposition. You discover that you have all kinds of enemies that will try to keep you from walking in the spirit and living that victorious Christian life.
In fact, as you study the Bible you will find that the believer has three enemies. We have an ETERNAL enemy - that's the devil himself. We also have an enemy which I call the EXTERNAL enemy - the world around us, the culture, that is antagonistic to the things of God. We also have a third enemy and this enemy is the most formidable, the most threatening of all because it is the enemy on the inside - the INTERNAL.
The Bible's way of referring to that internal enemy is the flesh. In these verses you will notice that statement - the flesh.
In verse 16 he talks about the lust of the flesh. Verse 17 - the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. In verse 19 - now the works of the flesh. So “the flesh” represents something very specific in Scripture. He is not talking so much about your physical body or the literal flesh and bones and blood and all that.
You got all that when you were born, but you got more than that. We received, by virtue of a physical birth, something the Bible calls “the flesh”. And what that phrase represents is our old physical nature. It’s sometimes referred to as “the old man”. When you were born physically you received by virtue of your physical birth what the Bible calls the flesh. Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.”
And our old nature is everything that our physical birth makes us. It is everything that is opposed to God. It is everything that is natural and earthly. IT is everything that needs to be redeemed and made new by Christ. We are born with the flesh and we will bear the flesh all the days of our life.
Then when you are born spiritually, born again, you receive at that time your spiritual nature. Jesus also said, “That which is born of the spirit is spirit.” So your spiritual nature is that new nature. It is the new you. It is what the Bible refers to as the new man. Your spiritual nature is everything that you can be by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.
So, by virtue of your physical birth you have an old nature called the flesh and by virtue of your new birth, salvation, you have a new nature or a spiritual nature.
Now here's the kicker: When you are saved and receive your new nature you do not lose your old nature. When you are born of the Spirit you still have that old flesh. If you doubt that, then just go home and ask those that live with you if it’s true and they will confirm it for me.
You did not lose that old nature, that flesh nature, when you were saved. It is still right there with you. That’s why it is so imperative that we turn control of our life over to the Spirit of God. That’s why we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit.
Notice what our text tells us regarding the results of that. If you walk in the Spirit, what will happen? You will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. In other words, when the Holy Spirit is in control, that new nature will be allowed to live in a way that honors Christ.
In fact, the word “walk” there in verse 16 means “to walk around”. It is a reference to your daily life and lifestyle. We are instructed to live every day by “walking in the Spirit”.
If I were giving you a definition, I would say it like this: Walking in the Spirit is living for Jesus day by day, moment by moment, decision by decision, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
That's the only way you ever get the victory over the old flesh. The only way you can ever not fulfill the lust of that old flesh is to day by day, moment by moment, live for the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
That’s the command. Then the verses that follow explain in more detail what it means to walk in the Spirit.
verses 17-18
See the conflict? The old you and the new you don't get along at all. The flesh and the Spirit are mortal enemies. They are constantly fighting one another. If you could fuse together a spider and a butterfly in the same body, you would have an illustration of what it means to house both natures.
That old spider nature would constantly be pulling downward to the darkness and dirt. The butterfly nature would constantly be pulling upward to the brightness and to the light. That is an illustration of what's going on in you as a born-again believer.
You have an old nature that's pulling back to the things of the world and the old things. Then you have that new nature that's pulling toward the things of the Lord and the things that are holy and good and pure.
Now that expresses itself in some very practical ways. For instance, I think it is a given that the Spirit of God wants to be in church on Sunday. He desires to be with the people of God, singing songs of the faith, learning the Bible and worshipping the Father.
So it is safe to say the new nature of a born again child of God will want the same things. Sunday morning comes around and your new nature wants to get up and go to church and hear about God and hear about Jesus and hear about how much God loves you and the wonderful things God has for you. Your new nature wants to do that.
But your old nature fights that. Your old nature says you are tired, you've had a tough week, no need in getting up that early. Rest yourself. Beside that you deserve a break today. Just stay home and enjoy the family. After all, it might rain or come up a storm and the car might get hailed on!
Just mark it down big and plain, the new nature always moves toward the things of the Lord. The old nature always moves toward other things.
The same thing is true the other way around. The old nature says I want to go to the refrigerator and get a beer just like I've always done. I enjoy going out with the guys. It’s fun to go to the casino and give the Indians all my money.
But the new nature says, “No, don't do that because you are to be salt and light in a sin-darkened world.
You are going to hurt your testimony and hinder your witness as a believer. You won’t be able to pay your bills and take care of your family. Don't do that.”
The old nature wants to do it. The new nature says don't do it. And anytime you are not walking in the Spirit you will invariably fulfill the lusts of the flesh. This is a very practical command.
In a thousand different scenarios there is this constant conflict between the old nature and the new nature. It goes on every day of your life. And the question we must deal with is “Who will win the conflict?”
The story has been around forever and most of you have probably heard it, but it still stands as a great illustration of that battle and who wins. The story is told of an Indian chief who came to know the Lord and was saved and was doing pretty good.
But before long, he became was keenly aware of this inner conflict that was going on inside. He came to the missionary who led him to the Lord and in his Indian way, He said, “It’s as if there are two dogs inside of me. There's a black dog and there's a
white dog. They are constantly fighting one another and I am troubled by it."
The missionary said, "Well chief, tell me who wins the battle - the black dog or the white dog?" The Indian chief said, "Which ever one I say sic 'em to."
Can you identify with that? You can say sic 'em
to that old nature and do what you want to do in the
old nature or you can yield to the new nature.
Now according to this text, there are two ways a person can try to overcome the old nature and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis.
Verse 18
Some people try to win the battle inside them by imposing rules from the outside. They draw up a set of rules and regulations and guidelines and things that you do and things that you don't do.
They produce a checklist and then try to live the Christian life by keeping those rules. And by the way, they not only impose those rules on themselves, they try to impose them on everybody else they know.
They word for that is called legalism. The Christian who tries to live his Christian life on the basis of observing a set of rules from the outside, places himself back under the law which the Bible says the salvation experience has delivered us from.
Listen: As a born-again believer you are no longer under the law. We do not have to live our life on the basis of a checklist, checking off all kinds of rules.
Paul is very specific here in verse 18. He says if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
He is saying you do not get victory in this spiritual conflict between the flesh and the spirit on the basis of going by a set of rules on the outside, but rather
on the basis of being led by the Holy Spirit who lives
on the inside.
The Holy Spirit is there to guide you.
The Holy Spirit is there to give you spiritual purity and desires to cause you to want to do what you ought to do and not do the things that you ought not to do.
The Holy Spirit is the one who leads you. The word “lead” means that He guides us or leads.
A few years ago I was supposed to speak at a graveside service at Criner Hills Cemetery. The family asked if I knew where that was. I said I did. I had actually been there one time.
But the morning of the funeral, instead of going to Criner Hills Cemetery, I went to McAlister Cemetery. And guess what? No one was there! In fact, it was locked up tighter than a jug!
But I decided to go to the home of the pastor at Marsden and get directions. But he wasn’t home. As I was debating with myself on what to do, an old gentlemen and his wife flagged me down and asked if I knew how to get to Criner Hills Cemetery. I told them I didn’t, but I was the preacher and I was pretty sure they weren’t going to have a funeral without me and invited them to follow me and we’d find it together.
I found a man brush hogging in the tight of way and asked directions. He gave me directions that I followed and soon arrived back at McAlister Cemetery. All the while this little couple was following closely behind me. I finally found a man getting in his truck and asked if he could help. He then said the sweetest words I’d hear in a long time when he said, “Follow me and I’ll lead you there.” And in just a few minutes we arrived.
As I was apologizing to the crowd for being late, I pointed out that little old couple coming up the driveway and told them how they had gone all the way to McAlister Cemetery and how they needed someone to lead them to Criner Hills and that’s where I’d been!
Listen: The Holy Spirit doesn't just give directions, the Holy Spirit says, “You follow me and I'll take you exactly where you ought to be.” That's what it means to be led by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not a director who is standing there giving directions and saying do this and don't do that. The Holy Spirit says, "You walk after me. You let me lead you and guide you and I'll take you exactly where you ought to go."
To walk in the Spirit simply means that you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you rather than allowing the old nature, the old flesh, to pull you in its direction.
So first, there's a conflict.
There's also a
2. Contrast
verses 19
"Now the works of the flesh are evident. . .” Then he lists 17 of them.
Then in verse 22 he says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is...." Then he lists nine graces of the Spirit.
He is giving a contrast here between what is produced by a life lived in the flesh and a life lived in the Spirit. He is just presenting the difference in the two choices. If you choose to let the flesh dominate and guide you and drive you then this is what you can expect to be produced in your life.
And on the other hand, if you choose to walk in the Spirit, then this is what your life will look like. I'm not going to deal with all these words. They are pretty self-evident. But listen to this paraphrase given by Eugene Peterson in “The Message”:
"It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time. Repetitive, loveless, cheap sex, a stinking accumulation of emotional and mental garbage, frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness, trinket gods, magic show religion, paranoid loneliness, cut-throat competition, all consuming yet never satisfied wants, a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on."
Here are the 17 streams belching up from the filthy sewer of our old flesh. It is interesting that these verses are written to born-again believers. He is warning us that if we allow the flesh to take control of our lives we, as born-again believers, can demonstrate and manifest these very vices that come straight from the pit of Hell.
That’s why I’ve tried to remind you today that just because you’re a Christian, it doesn’t mean your old nature is gone. It is still there. That means that there is the potential in your life to commit any one of these sins given the proper circumstances.
By the way, there is a little warning included here in verse 21
Take special note of the word “practice”. It’s translated “do” in the KJV. The experts in the language tell me that verse is speaking of a continual habit, rather than an occasional occurrence.
What that means is if some of these things are the pattern of your life, it is your habit to be like this, then you need to know you’ve never been born again. He is very definitive. Paul says, folks who practice such things WILL NOT inherit the Kingdom of God.
And a good way to check up on that is to just honestly evaluate your life by these two lists. On the one hand, there is the works of the flesh. And in stark contrast are these graces of the Spirit.
Verses 22-23
As we live day by day for Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, these are the kinds of characteristics that will be manifested in our daily conduct. As you
walk in the Spirit, as you are led by the Spirit and
as you yield your life to the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Spirit on the inside begins to produce this fruit.
It starts being manifested out in your daily life. The fruit on the tree is the result of what's going on on the inside of the tree.
I was walking through an apple orchard. I passed
an apple tree and I glanced at it and that was the saddest apple tree I ever saw in my life. Its branches were all drooped over and wilted. I said,
"What's the matter with you, Apple Tree?" That apple tree said, "O, I'm so sad and miserable."
I said, "What's wrong with you, Apple Tree? Here you are in this beautiful apple orchard and you have the privilege of producing beautiful apples." He said, "I know I'm supposed to produce apples, but that's my problem. I'm trying real hard and I'm squeezing and pushing and shoving. See that little apple up there, that's about all I've been able to produce - just one little green apple."
I looked up at that apple tree and said, "You silly little Apple Tree. Relax! You don’t have to work that hard. All you have to do, Apple Tree, is allow what's on the inside of you to do the job. What's on inside of you will produce the fruit and all you have to do is just bear it." The Apple Tree said, "You don't mean it." I said, "That's it."
The next time I came back through that orchard that was the happiest apple tree you ever saw. There were little apples coming out all over the branches of
that little tree. I said, "How you doing, Apple Tree?"
"O, preacher, I'm so glad you came by and explained this fruit-bearing to me. Ever since you told me that I've just been allowing what's inside of me to produce the fruit on the outside of me.
I don't produce it, I just bear it."
That's what it means to walk in the Spirit. It means that you allow the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of you to produce all of these graces. The next thing you know there will be love in your life. You'll love Jesus and God's people and lost people.
There will be joy in your life - an exuberance about your life. There will be peace and serenity. A peace that passes your ability to understand.
The next thing you will notice there will be a longsuffering. You'll find yourself more patient with people. There will be a gentleness. You'll find you are being kinder to people. There will be a goodness. You will find your actions are more loving. There will be a faith.
You will be more dependable and trustworthy than you've been before. You'll find there is a meekness and a submissiveness about you. You'll find there's a self-control about you. It's all produced by the Holy
Spirit as you walk day by day living for Jesus in the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Here's the third thing if you want to understand walking in the spirit. First, you have to understand the conflict. Second, we need to get the contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit
of the Spirit. Then you have to see the -
3. Conquest
Verse 24
Did you notice that is a past tense statement? He says, “Those who are Christ’s HAVE crucified. . .” It’s a done deal. So when did that happen?
Turn back to Galatians 2:20 and you’ll find out.
Galatians 2:20
Listen to this: You and I and every born-again believer is “crucified with Christ." So when was Jesus crucified? 2000 years ago.
So what does that mean? Here’s what: Two thousand years ago when Jesus was crucified, not only were our sins nailed on that old tree but the Bible says our flesh was nailed on that tree, too. And God says it's been crucified. That means it's dead.
Positionally, our flesh was put on that cross and crucified 2000 years ago. Practically, you and I, on
a daily basis have to bring that old flesh to the cross and say, “Here it is again, Jesus. Nail it to the tree again today.”
That's what Paul meant when he said, "I die daily." In Romans 6:11, he said, “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
You have to have a daily crucifixion and reckon, that is, consider it to be so. You have to put that old flesh on the cross every day and think of it as though it is dead.
Does that mean that as a believer that you will never yield to the desires of the flesh?
Does that mean that you will never fulfill the works of the flesh? No. It doesn't mean that you won't ever.
But it does mean that you don't have to. There's a difference. You now have a choice. That's one of the differences between you and a lost person. When it comes to sin and the old flesh, the lost person doesn't have a choice. They are like a puppet on a string. If you are lost you are doing everything the devil wants you to do. He's just pulling your strings all the time.
But as a Spirit-filled child of God, you don't have to do what the flesh tells you to do. The Bible says Christ has crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts. You don't have to cave into the flesh anymore. You don't have to do what that old nature tells you to do. You have a choice. You can say, "Yes," to the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Look at verse 25
Let’s translate that first word as “Since” rather than “If” because it’s talking about salvation. It is our privilege as a child of God to live in the Spirit.
If you are lost, you live in sin. You live in the flesh. But as a saved person you now live in the Spirit.
So since we live in the Spirit, since we are saved, he says, "let us also walk in the Spirit."
That's daily victory in the Lord. Now the word “wlak” in verse 25 is a different word from the word “walk” in verse 16.
In verse 16 it means “to walk around or to make one’s way or make progress”. It’s often translated as “behave” or “conduct one’s self”.
But this word in verse 25 means to “proceed in a row as the march of a soldier; to go in order”. It literally means to walk in a line. It's a picture of taking step by step by step. Some translators translate it - keep in step with the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is just keeping in step with the Spirit. Step by step by step. Day by day by day.
You know how babies learn to walk? They don’t read books. They don’t go to school and take courses on walking. Somebody takes them by the hand and helps them balance and learn to pull up and get their feet under them and one day, they just take off walking.
Did you know that’s what you and I are to do as God’s children? The Holy Spirit of God takes us by the hand and helps us balance and learn how to walk and get our feet under us and day by day by day we just start walking.
Every morning of your life you ought to have a quiet time and read your Bible and talk to the Lord. As you talk to the Lord in your daily prayer time you need to yield your life totally to the Holy Spirit. Yield your hands, your feet, your mind, your eyes, your eyes and your speech. Turn it all over to the control of the Holy Spirit.
Say it out loud if you need to, “Lord, take control of my life.” Then say, “Holy Spirit, I don't know where you are going or what you are doing today but I'm going to walk in your steps.”
Start your that day off by yielding yourself to the Spirit and making a conscious commitment to walking in the Spirit.
It's like the difference between an automobile and trolley. An automobile operates under its own power. You fill up the tank of an automobile and you can only go as far as the fuel will take you.
A trolley is different. A trolley has a connecting link from the trolley up to a power line overhead. Trolleys don’t operate under their own power. They operate on the basis of a connection that provides the power they need to operate. And as long as a
trolley stays in touch with the power, it can move and get where it needs to go.
That's what it means to walk in the spirit. You don't operate in your own power. You live for Jesus day by day in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Would you make a commitment to walk in the Spirit? If you‘ve never been saved, would you bring your life to Jesus and ask Him to save you?
Let’s pray.
