Galatians chapter 5, verse 25. If we live in the spirit. Let us also walk in the spirit. Lord, how we thank you for who you are. How we thank you for who your son is. How we thank you for who your spirit is. Lord, we, by your grace, bow before you in the Trinity of your persons. And Lord, we ask that by your spirit, you would be our teacher and that your gospel would be preached in the power of your spirit, that you'd enable us to worship. Lord, we're needy people. We don't even know what all we need, but we know you do. And we ask that you would meet our need. Lord, stir up our hearts to seek you with all our heart. Be with all your people wherever they meet together and forgive us of our sins, for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.

I have. entitled this Living in the Spirit. Sounds like a charismatic title, doesn't it? Living in the Spirit. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, In many ways, he is more mysterious to us than God, the father and God, the son. I think we have some concept of a father and the son, but God, the Holy Spirit. And yet it's true that all of our experience personally of God is through the spirit of God.

Now, Paul has a lot to say about God, the Holy Spirit in the book of Galatians. And when I was looking at this verse of scripture, I thought I'm going to look at every scripture in the book of Galatians that deal with God, the Holy Spirit and the believers experience of him. Like I said, we. No less of him, yet he's the one who teaches us everything we know. God, the Holy Spirit, if I have spiritual life, it's because he gave it to me.

Living in the spirit, look in Galatians chapter three, verse two. This only would I learn of you received ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Now, in hearing and believing the gospel, we actually receive the Holy Spirit. We cannot hear, we cannot believe without Him. He comes to us and we receive Him and we're not conscious of it. We're not conscious of it. We don't consciously say, well, I'm receiving the spirit, therefore I'm going to believe. It doesn't work like that. You believe it's because he's come to you and giving you life and you receive him. You're not conscious of it. But the reason you believe is because of God, the Holy Spirit.

Now we're said to receive Christ. Why? Because God gave him to us. And if God gives him to you, you receive him. And if you don't receive him, he was never given. It's the same with regard to the Holy Spirit. We receive him because God gave him to us, the gift of the Spirit. And if we don't receive him, he was never given. This is something that every believer does. And let me remind you, this is not a conscious reception. You hear the gospel. You believe it's because God, the Holy Spirit has given you life to believe and you have received him.

Look in Galatians chapter three, verse three. Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit. Are you now made perfect by the flesh, our spiritual existence commences with the Holy Spirit. There's no life until He first gives us life. This word, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh? That's only the second time this word begun is used in the New Testament. The other time, it is like this, He that hath begun a good work in you. will perform it in the day of Jesus Christ. You've begun in God, the Holy Spirit. That's where life begins in our experience with God, the Holy Spirit. Now, if you've begun in the spirit, are you so foolish that you think you could be made perfect in the flesh by your works? Life in the spirit is beginning in the spirit. Look in verse five of chapter three. He, therefore, that ministereth to you the Spirit. And that word minister, we usually think of serving, but that's not the word there. It's he that supplies the Spirit to you. He that gives God the Holy Spirit to you, your supply of the Spirit.

He, therefore, that ministereth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you. Now, the miracles he's speaking of are not miracles of healing and giving sight to the blind. This is talking about the miracles of salvation. Do you know that if God has given you the spirit of God and revealed himself to you, the same power that was used in the resurrection of Christ from the dead is what's used in begetting you life. What a miracle. If you believe the gospel, you're a walking miracle. You're a miracle of God. God's done something for you.

Now, he that ministers supplies the Spirit to you. How does he do it? Through the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Did he give it to you in response to some work you performed? You did this, so he gives you the Holy Spirit? No, he supplies the Spirit through the hearing. Faith cometh by hearing. What we're doing right now. Faith cometh by hearing. God the Holy Spirit comes through hearing. Now you don't hear then you get this God the Holy Spirit. He gives you the Holy Spirit and you're given hearing ears. And you hear the gospel as gospel.

Now he that supplies to you, that gives you the spirit, he doesn't do it Because of your works, he does it according to the hearing of faith. Look in verse 14 of Galatians chapter three, that the blessing of Abraham, that's the gospel might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the spirit, the promise of the spirit. Now, if you and I have the Holy Spirit, it's because before the foundation of the world, God promised to give him to us. Every aspect of the gospel is according to God's eternal promise. And if God gives me the Holy Spirit, it's because before time began, he promised to give me the Holy Spirit.

Now, every aspect of salvation, There's the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the work of the Father in election, the work of the Son in redemption and putting away our sin, the work of God the Holy Spirit in giving us a new heart, regeneration. That is as essential to me being saved as being elected or redeemed. All three are absolutely necessary for the salvation of the sinner, and it is the promise Of the spirit, Galatians chapter four, verse six.

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts. Crying. Abba. Father. All of our experience as sons of God is through God, the Holy Spirit. Do you know when you say from your heart, our father, who art in heaven, and that's when the Lord teaches us to pray, he teaches us beginning here, he's our father, our father. which art in heaven hallowed be thy name, that comes from the Spirit of God in you. That's why you pray, our Father. He really is your Father. And everything you experience as a son, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Everything you and I experience as his children is caused by the spirit in you. What a blessed person he is. He is the one who gives me eyes to see the sufficiency of Christ and the beauty of Christ and the glory of Christ. God, the Holy Spirit is the author of sonship in that sense. What a blessing to have him.

Look in Galatians 4, 29. Verse 29, but as then he which was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. Now, born after the flesh, born after the spirit. You'll remember the story. Sarah says, I know God promised us a son, but it hadn't come. And obviously we're not doing our part. We need to do our part to make sure God's promise takes place. Go into Hagar. Hagar was a young woman. There was nothing. It was wrong altogether. Abraham agreed to do it. That didn't mean it was OK for him to do that. And I love the way Sarah ended up saying, my wrong be upon you. This is your fault. You shouldn't have done it. I know I told you to do it, but you knew it was wrong. He did know it was wrong. But there was nothing supernatural about it. Sarah's child, she had already gone through menopause. It was impossible for her to bear children.

I see everybody looking out the window. Um, I was wondering what's going on out there when I looked down and said, Oh, I see why everybody's, but at any rate, um, well, Sarah, that's right. Sarah, uh, Sarah lost her. Sarah had a child supernaturally. If I'm born in the spirit, that's a miraculous birth. God, the Holy spirit birthing me into the kingdom of God, that which is born. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. It'll never rise above that. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. This is the new birth. You still have the nature you were born with. He's just as bad as he ever was. He's just as sinful as he ever was. But you've got a new man born of the spirit, that new heart born of the spirit.

Galatians chapter five, verse two. I'm sorry. Verse six. Verse five, Galatians chapter five, verse five, for we through the spirit. Wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Now, we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness. Now, remember what Paul says about hope in Romans 8, 24. He says, hope that is seen is not hope. If you can see it, it's not hope. For what a man seeth, why does he hope for? Hope to see now. I have a hope that I can't see I Have a hope that right now as I'm talking to you. I Have a hope that I stand before God as one who has never sinned One who has perfect righteousness before God I Have a hope that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is my personal righteousness before God. It's my righteousness. I It's not, it's more than his counter to me. It's mine. He gave it to me and it's mine. Just as my sin became his sin and he became guilty of it. His righteousness is mine. What a hope. Can I see it? No. Can I begin to see it? No. But I have a hope that he's given this to me. And by the Spirit, I patiently wait until it becomes my experience. I'm waiting, waiting. I don't see it. I'm waiting on it. I'm waiting for that day when I'm going to be in a body without sin, perfect in God's sight. And it's only by the Spirit we wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Now, if you wait, if you believe that because of the work of Christ, you really are righteous before God and you can't see it, you can't look within yourself and say, yeah, I'm righteous. No, you see yourself as sinful. But you're waiting on this righteousness. The only way you can do that is by the spirit of the living God. That's why you do that. Galatians, chapter five, verse 16. This, I say, then walk in the spirit. And you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now, how is it that you do not fulfill the lust of the flesh? By walking in the spirit. Now, what does it mean to walk in the spirit?

You know, the best commentary on scripture is scripture. You know, commentaries, they might give you some good things, and they might give you some bad things. And I like what Greg Yelmquist said, commentaries just perpetuate errors. You know, a lot of times they'll give what they think. Henry Mahan said this about commentaries. They tell you what you already know, and the things you don't know, they don't know either. I thought that was a pretty good assessment of commentaries.

But at any rate, turn to Romans chapter 8. There's therefore now, verse one, there's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. What is the evidence of being in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit for the law? of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Now, I love the way he calls this the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. You know, kind of like physical laws, law of gravity. You've got a law of life in you if you're in Christ Jesus. It's there. It's the product of God the Holy Spirit and it's made you free from the law of sin and death which is God's condemning law, the Ten Commandments that all they do is condemn you. We love God's law. We delight in God's law. But the purpose of the law is to show us that we're sinners. That is God's law. And he says the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is made me free from the law of sin and death.

I love that hymn we sing free from the law. Oh, happy condition. Jesus has bled and there is remission. Now, what does it mean? To walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, I realized that. Most people think, well, you you're when you're walking in the spirit, you're kind of walking. above your normal problems. You're, you're enabled to, to believe better. You're enabled to not be quite as sinful and a little bit more holy walking on this spiritual plane. And then you might fall back into walking in the flesh. Then you're battling with the sins of the flesh and you're struggling and it's kind of up and down. That has nothing to do with what it means. Nothing to do.

Verse three. For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh, the problem being our flesh, not the law. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, the likeness. It's not his flesh. Wasn't sinful. He sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now walking, not after the flesh, but after the spirit is looking to Christ. That's what it is. It's looking to Christ. It's seeing all my salvation is in him all the time and looking nowhere else.

Now, turn back to our text. This, I say, walk in the spirit, you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. To walk in the spirit is to look to Christ only. It's not trying to believe. It's not trying to keep the law. It's not trying to resist sin. It's looking to Christ. And it's only in looking to Christ that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Not your personal battles. It's looking to Christ only. That's the beginning. That's the end. That's everything in between. looking to Christ only.

Look in verse 18, Galatians chapter 5, verse 18. But if you be led of the Spirit, what? You're not under the law. If you're led of the Spirit of God, you are not under the law.

Now, what does it mean to be under the law? It means some part of your salvation is dependent upon you. And notice I said some part. Let's talk about the beginning of salvation. Probably 99% of the population of Christianity thinks salvation begins with your will. You allow God to save you. He wants to save you. Christ died for you. God loves you. And it's up to an act of your will to receive what he's done, to accept him or not reject him. That's works. and make salvation dependent upon your will.

Then in the middle of salvation, well, I can become more holy and less sinful by the decisions I make. If I decide not to feed the flesh and I decide to read the Bible more and I pray more and I resist sin more, I'll become more holy and I'll become less sinful by these actions. All that is is free will. I'm making a decision to become better by what I do, and I'm going to resist this, and I'm going to start doing it. That works. That works. That's looking to yourself. Progressive sanctification is what it is. I'm becoming progressively better and progressively not as bad through my discipline and my fill in the blank, whatever it is.

Or there at the end of salvation when rewards are handed out for the ones who are the most obedient and the most committed. I'm going to have a place up here You might be down there. I actually heard a preacher here in Lexington, Kentucky. I was listening to it on TV one time, and he said to this congregation, some of you are going to be shining my shoes in heaven. And I thought, why would anybody listen to somebody like that? I'd throw a tomato at him, you know, I mean, saying something like that. He certainly doesn't have any business preaching.

But they that are led of the spirit are not under law. Isn't that a great place to be? It doesn't mean we despise the law of God. We love God's law and we've kept it in Christ. And we have confidence and boldness.

Look in verse 22, Galatians chapter five, but the fruit of the spirit. Now you've been talking about the works of the flesh, verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. We considered that a few weeks ago. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. You don't have to have a law against this, do you? But aren't you thankful, he says, the fruit of the spirit. Not the fruit of your works. This audit encourage every one of us to be bearers of fruit because it's the fruit of the spirit. It's not something you come up with. It's the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit.

Verse 25. If we live in the spirit, let us walk. in the Spirit. If we indeed have spiritual life by God the Holy Spirit, let's do what people who have spiritual life do. Let us walk in the Spirit.

Now what's that mean? I can give you a scripture that will clearly tell you what it means to walk in God the Holy Spirit. Turn with me to the book of Colossians. Just a few pages over. Colossians Chapter 2, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord. How did you receive him? How did you receive him? When you received him, you knew the only hope you had is for him to do everything in your salvation. When you received him, you knew you couldn't be saved by your works. You were dead sure of that. You knew that he was all in salvation. That's how you received him. As an empty-handed sinner, receiving the fullness of his salvation. That's how you received him. As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. You never graduate past that. Looking to Christ only.

Now, if you've graduated past that and you've kind of progressed past that, you never look to him in the first place. You look to him only.

Galatians chapter six, here's the last mention of God, the Holy Spirit. Verse eight. For he that soweth through flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.

Now, when I thought of, when I thought of this in the context, look what he's saying. Him that's taught in the word, let him that's taught in the word communicate in him, teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. We're going to spend more time with that in a couple of weeks. But he says, he that soweth through his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. He that soweth through the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.

Now, what came to my mind when I was trying to think about this was Martha and Mary. Both were believers. Both loved the Lord Jesus Christ because they were loved of Christ. John 11 says, now Jesus loved Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus.

Now you'll remember Martha. She was cumbered about. with much serving. And she looked at her sister, Mary, and Mary was sitting there doing nothing, just listening to the Lord. And she actually took it upon herself to correct the Lord. Lord, don't you care that I'm doing everything and she's doing nothing? And the Lord said, Martha, Martha, you're careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. Only one. Not two to get confused with. There's not a choice to be made. One thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her.

What was that good part? She sat at his feet. May that describe me and you, sitting at his feet, hearing his word. Let me remind you, what he's got to say to us is a whole lot more important than what we got to say to him. sitting at his feet, hearing his word.