Would you turn to Galatians chapter 5. Verse 16. This I say then, walk in the spirit. And you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit. and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary. The one to the other adversaries of one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would, but If you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your word, how we thank you for your son, how we thank you for your gospel, how we thank you for the revelation of yourself, how we thank you for the justifying righteousness that's in your son, how we thank you for his precious blood, how we thank you for your good providence, how we thank you for who you are. Lord, bless this time together for Christ's sake. Be with all your people wherever they meet together. Lord, may we hear from you in Christ and we pray. Amen.

Walk in the spirit. Walk. In. The spirit. Although it doesn't say this, this is how many people read this verse of scripture. If you walk in the spirit, then you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. That's the way most people read that. It's not what it says. It says, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Now, when a natural man reads that, he reads it like this. If I can just walk in the spirit, I won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. But if I walk in the flesh, I will fulfill the lust of the flesh. Kind of like you can go in and out of walking in the spirit and walking in the flesh. That is the way we naturally Think, if we walk in the Spirit, the flesh will be suppressed and subdued and will not get the upper hand. But if we fail to walk in the Spirit, the flesh will dominate.

That's not what the text says. It says walk in the Spirit. and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Now, before we go on, it is incumbent that we understand what the Bible means by flesh and spirit. Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The spirit and the flesh are mentioned in verse 17, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit lusteth against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other. They're adversaries. They're at odds. They are enemies one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would.

Verse 18, but if you be led of the spirit, You're not under the law. If you're not led of the spirit, you are under law. That's what the flesh is under law. Now we touched on this last week, but the flesh, there are three meanings of the flesh. Uh, the first meaning is humanity. this stuff, our skin, not the bones, but everything else. That is the flesh. And the scripture actually says God was manifest in the flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That's what that's talking about. The word being made flesh, Christ, the eternal son of God, taking on flesh.

And the second meaning of the word is the sensual appetites, not necessarily with reference to the depraved natural appetites. We're sensual creatures. It is natural. This was enjoyed before the fall. Food was enjoyed before the fall. It's not bad to enjoy food. Sex was before the fall. It's natural to enjoy sex. That's part of the sensual nature of man, fleshly nature of man. There's nothing wrong with that. It was before the fall. Now, when sin gets involved, that's when something becomes wrong with it, when our evil natures are involved with it. But I'm just talking about God made us flesh and there are things that flesh enjoys. But what Paul means is sinful flesh. The nature we were born with. Now Adam was born with an innocent nature, not a holy nature. And that distinction is important. Holiness cannot sin. Adam had an innocent nature, which had the potential to sin, and he did in fact sin. As a matter of fact, anything that's mutable will go bad. He had a mutable nature. It could seemingly Stand righteous or fall. Well, he had this innocent nature that when he ate of the fruit, he became spiritually dead. In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He ate of that fruit. He died spiritually. He became sinful. He became dead in sins and His nature is transmitted to us. It's imparted to us. We're born into this world sinful. We're born into this world as David said, behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and sin did my mother conceive me.

So when he's talking about the flesh, he's talking about the sinful nature we're born with. It's what the Bible, well, the Bible doesn't use this term. We use this term, but the Bible certainly teaches this, total depravity. Now, what is meant by total depravity? It doesn't mean that everybody in this room or axe murderers, or bank robbers, although we know that could be, apart from the restraining grace of God, it's in us. Don't ever say a believer won't do that. You haven't read the Bible if you say that. Well, a believer wouldn't commit that sin. We won't commit the sin against the Holy Spirit. You can't. But every other sin, a believer can commit. And you will commit, apart from the grace of God.

Total depravity means My conscience is no good. My conscience. Somebody says, follow your conscience. No, follow the word of God. Your conscience is no good. Your affections. You love what you ought to hate, and you hate what you ought to love. That's the natural man. The will. Free will's ridiculous. There's no such thing. The will is controlled by an evil nature of the understanding is darkened. By sin, that's what total depravity means. It means every faculty of man is under the dominion of sin because of Adam's fall, and that's the nature we have. That is what is meant by the flesh.

Romans chapter eight verses, well, I'd like you to turn there and look at this with me. Romans chapter eight. Now for us to understand what he means, walking the spirit, you should not fulfill the lust of the flesh. We're going to have to know what is meant by the spirit and the flesh. Romans chapter eight, verse six, for it to be carnally minded. And that word carnal is flesh. It's the same word, same word to be fleshly minded is what death. To be spiritually minded. And that's talking about walking in the spirit. To be spiritually minded. Only the believer is spiritual. It's almost aggravating the way somebody will say, well, I'm a spiritual person. An unbeliever, I'm a spiritual person. No, you're not. You don't have a spirit. Only the believer has this spiritual nature given in the new birth.

And look what it says in verse seven. Because the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It lacks the ability to. So then they that are in the flesh cannot. They lack the ability to please God. Now, question. Do you still sin? Pretty easy to answer, isn't it? Do you still sin? If you do, you still have this thing called the flesh. You still have this thing called the old man. You still have the nature you were born with, and it's no better than it ever was. I've heard religious people trying to say, well, I'm better. You're just being dishonest. Your old man is just as sinful as it ever was. And if you can't see that, it's because you don't have a new man. If you had a new man, you could see it. If you had a holy nature, you'd know what I'm talking about. But if you're yet dead in trespasses and sins, you can't understand this.

But if you have a new man, that's who recognizes this old man that you still have. Now, back to our text, keep your finger there because we're going to be going back there to Romans 7 and 8. But back to our text, we see what he means by the flesh, the old nature, the old man. This, I say, walk in the spirit. And you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If you have a spiritual nature, you walk in the spirit now. Verse 17 speaks of them both. Warring against each other, this walking in the spirit.

Well, hold your finger there and turn back to Romans chapter eight. First one. There's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk. Not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now, it doesn't say they go in and out. Some days they walk in the flesh, and some days they walk in the spirit. Well, when I walk in the spirit, I've had a good day. I haven't lost my temper. I haven't cursed. I haven't lusted. I'm walking in the spirit. And oh, when I regress and walk in the flesh, I have a bad day, and I act like a natural man does. I understand his thinking that way, but that's not what Paul says. You do one of two things. You either walk in the spirit, which is what every believer does, or you walk in the flesh. You don't do both. If you think you can do both, that means, uh, when you're quote walking in the flesh, you can't take the promise of Romans chapter eight one. There's now therefore now no condemnation. If you're walking in the flesh, you can't take the promise of Romans 8-1 to yourself. It's not real. This is not talking about going in and out. One day I'm in the flesh, the other day I'm in the spirit. If I'm a believer, I walk in the spirit. I look to Christ only. What is it to walk in the spirit? It's to look to Christ. I hope this is going to come clear by the end of this message, what all that means.

But, there's therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh. In verse 18 of our text, it says, if you be led of the spirit, you're not under law. You know where it is to walk after the flesh? It's to be under the law. That is the fleshly walk. It's to be under law. Verse two for the law. I like that word for the law of the spirit of life in Christ. Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Look up in Romans seven, verse 21. This is what Paul was referring to. I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, the new man. But I see another law in my members. warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. He's talking about the same thing that Paul's talking about in Galatians chapter 5 verse 17 when he says the flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the flesh. These two are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. Now, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh.

The problem wasn't with the law. The problem was with our flesh. The law can't do anything for you except condemn you. It certainly can't make you righteous. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh."

He's no sinner. He's perfect, holy, impeccable, immaculate. He came in flesh, but not sinful flesh. You know, the reason he had to be born of a virgin, because if he was not born of a virgin, he would have been born a sinner, and that can't be. He had to be born of the virgin to have this perfect person.

For God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin to die for it, to bear it in his own body on the tree. I was thinking about that this morning, that scripture, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. All the sins that I've committed, he bore in his own body on the tree. He came for sin. And what did he do? He condemned sin in the flesh.

In his flesh, sin was condemned. He was executed under the wrath of God. being guilty of the sins that I've committed. He was not the innocent being punished. He was the guilty being punished. God making the way for him to be just and justify the ungodly.

Verse four, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Now is that talking about us being enabled to keep the law in our flesh? Well, have you? No. That's not what that's talking about. But the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. We look to Christ only. And the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us.

Now, turn to 1 John chapter 3. The flesh is that which does nothing but sin. The spirit, born of the spirit, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. The spirit is that which cannot sin. Now, flesh can't do anything but sin. Spirit, incapable of sin. Impeccable.

Christ had two natures, didn't he? Perfect human nature. and the divine nature as God. Fully God, just as if he were not man at all. Fully man, just as if he were not God at all. Not a blend. He wasn't half God and half man, or the two natures blended, but two distinct natures in one person. And every believer has two distinct natures in one person. The flesh and the spirit.

Now here in 1 John 3, Verse nine. Whosoever is born of God. What are the next four words? Doth not commit sin. I think it is amazing the word of God is so clear here and people say, well, that means he doesn't. Practice sin. Or sin is not the bent of his life. That's not what this verse of scripture says. It says, he that is born of God doth not commit sin.

A holy nature, that which is born of the spirit. Can God give birth to that which could sin? No. The scripture says we are partakers of the divine nature. Now that is what is meant by flesh and spirit. This is throughout the scripture. It's expressed by that man in Mark chapter nine. I believe. I do. Help thou mine unbelief. In that same man, you had faith and you had unbelief. The new man believes, the old man never believes. What about when the Lord said to the disciples, when he came back, he'd asked them to pray with him for an hour and he comes back, better sleep. And he looks at him and he says, the spirit indeed is willing. Paul said, the will is present with me. I would never sin again. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. That word is also translated without strength, without power, nothing but sin. He looks at his poor, sleeping disciples And he says, the spirit indeed is willing and the flesh is weak.

Now, if I would deny that there are two separate natures, there's three problems with that. One, I'm going against what the Bible clearly teaches. There's no question about this. Number two, I'm denying total depravity because I'm saying part of the flesh does, by grace, is involved. And that is blasphemy. That's a denial of total depravity. And the only end of that kind of thinking is progressive sanctification. I can become better and better and better. And the logical implication of that is at one point I can reach perfection. That's why I'm ready for heaven. Now, nobody will say I've reached perfection, but that's what that teaches if you be consistent with it. And that's how important this is. The flesh and the spirit.

Now, look what it says in our text back to Galatians chapter five. Here's the promise. Verse 16, this I say, then walk in the spirit, look to Christ and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. This is a promise. Walking in the spirit. Now what's meant by fulfilling the lust of the flesh. We need to look at this James one. Verse 13, let no man say when he's tempted, and this is talking about tempted to sin. You ever tempted to sin? Of course you are. It's in your very fallen nature. You know, just the ability to be tempted speaks of a sinful nature. You know, when Christ walked on this earth, he was never tempted to commit a sin. What's it mean when it says he was tempted at all points as we yet without sin? Does that mean he was tempted to sin but he didn't give in to the temptation? No, it doesn't mean that. It means he has experienced in his body all the horror of temptation much more acutely than you and I have. He experienced the pain of separation, the pain of guilt, the pain of shame. He experienced all that sin is with the exception of the commission of it. Therefore, he can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities because he's felt them more acutely than you and I have. But it's not like he was, am I gonna sin or not? No, Christ's impeccable. He was incapable of sin. It's blasphemous to think that he could sin, he's God. God manifest in the flesh.

Now, let no man say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God. God's trying to get me to sin. God's bringing this temptation my way. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.

You can't back to our texts. This I say, walk in the flesh and you shall not fulfill, complete the lust of the flesh. It's impossible. Now he talks about the struggle that's involved in that in verse 17 for the flesh lusts against the spirit. That's not talking about the Holy spirit. That's all about the spiritual nature. Every believer has. The flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the flesh. These are contrary one to the other so that you can't do the things that you would. I would never sin again. I would never be proud. I would never be arrogant. I would never be judgmental. I would never have any, I would be Like my Lord, that's what I want. I want to be like him. In him, I am like him because his righteousness is mine. But my desire is to not be proud, to not be arrogant, to not be covetous, to not lie. I would never sin again, but I can't.

On the other hand. There's no sin that I would not commit. You believe that about yourself? I hope you do. It's so. There's no sin I would not commit. But I can't. I would, but I can't. That is the experience of every believer. And let me say this. This is a healthy place to be. This is not a bad place to be. If I'm not experiencing this is because I don't have a holy nature. I know nothing of the grace of God in my heart. This is a good place to be.

And I'm going to deal with this Lord willing more next week, but look what he says in verse 18. But if you be led of the spirit, then you are what? Not under law. Now here's what I want to leave you with. Quit trying to believe. Quit trying to keep the law. Quit trying to resist sin. Look to Christ and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. not your efforts, look to Christ. That's the only way you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. May God give us the grace to enter into the joy and the peace of believing.