What does it mean to walk in
the Spirit? It's a good question, isn't it?
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Now, it's my prayer
that by the end of this message, if we don't know, we will know. Paul says in verse 16, this I
say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. The common interpretation of
this verse is if you walk in spirit, you will not give in
to the lusts of the flesh. you will walk in a more holy
and less sinful way through the power of God the Holy Spirit
in your life. Through you yielding to the Spirit
of God, you will live a better life. And if you fail to yield
to the Spirit of God, then you will give in to the lust of the
flesh and fleshly appetites. Now, my question is, how you
doing? How you doing? How's that work for you? Do you find it so with you? Through
walking in the spirit, are you becoming less sinful and more
holy? Now let's stick with the exact
language of this text. It says, walk in the Spirit and
you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It doesn't say
the lusts of the flesh are more weakened and we have more power
over them. It says you shall not fulfill
them. If you walk in the Spirit, you
shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. It's not going to
happen if you walk in the Spirit. Now, what's going on here? Do we sometimes
walk in the spirit and sometimes go back to walking in the flesh?
We walk in the spirit and we have victory over sin and then
we fall and then we succumb to the lust of the flesh. We walk
in the spirit one minute and Don't walk in the spirit of the
other, is that so? No, I'll show you that in a minute,
but look what he says in verse 17, and this goes along with
this thought four. Now that means the thought of verse 16 is not
over. This I say, walk in the flesh 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, so that you cannot do the things that you would."
Verse 17 does not allow the interpretation that you can become so good through
the Spirit's influence in you that you live above sin because
it says this struggle is going on constantly within. The flesh lusts against the Spirit. and the spirit lusts against
the flesh. These are contrary one to the
other. They're adversaries. They're a war. They can't be
brought to a truce. These are contrary one to the
other so that you cannot do the things that you would. Now, you
would, I'm speaking to a believer, you would never sin again. You would never have any unbelief. You would have nothing but love
to Jesus Christ. That's your desire. You would
be perfectly pleasing to him. But you cannot. And that's the
grief of your heart. You cannot. Why? Because you have something called
the flesh warring against your spirit. This is the daily reality of
every child of God. You would be just like Christ,
but you cannot. And let's turn it around the
other way, and let's be honest. You would sin in such a way that
if anybody in this room found out what you were really like,
you'd never be able to look them in the face again. You would. You would. You would be as bad
as Satan himself. You would commit sins that would... You would. You would. Nobody in this room immune from
that. But you cannot. You cannot do the things that
you would. God the Holy Spirit, this new
nature, will not permit it. You've got something called the
Spirit. There's the flesh and there is
the Spirit. The flesh will not allow you
to do the things that you would, and the spirit will not allow
your flesh to do the things that you would, and this is a constant
struggle and a constant warfare. You know, I deal with it every
day, every day, every hour if I'm thinking about spiritual
things. The flesh lusting against the spirit, the spirit lusting
against the flesh. Now, an unbeliever knows nothing
of this because he's never experienced it. You see, if you only have
one nature, you can't possibly understand this struggle. It's
impossible. You have to have two natures
to have this struggle in the first place, don't you? two natures
fighting within the flesh and the spirit. As I repeat, an unbeliever
knows nothing of this, and that's why an unbeliever can't understand
sin. He doesn't really understand holiness. He doesn't understand
who God is. He doesn't understand how bad
sin really is, and he can't possibly enter into this. But every believer
who has In that one person, the flesh and the spirit, they know
something about this struggle. Now, I want to spend a couple
of minutes talking about what is meant by flesh and what is
meant by spirit. The flesh, is he speaking of
our physical body? This skin, the heart, the lungs,
the hair, the teeth, the bones, the body? Well, sometimes it's
a reference to the body. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ,
has a real body of flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Yes, sometimes the flesh is a
reference to the physical body we have, what a man is, but more
often than not, What the flesh refers to is the fallen nature
of sinful man. Now, I think when our Lord looked
at his disciples and he said, couldn't you stay awake for one
hour and pray? They all fell asleep. That's
one of the things that always encourages me when people fall
asleep while I'm preaching. It's going to happen. It's going
to happen. I don't get too mad. I get sleepy when I'm here. I
hate to get sleepy when I'm here preaching, but at any rate, the
Lord said, couldn't you stay awake one hour? He said, the
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Weak. And that word weak is also translated
in Romans 5, 6, without strength. Impotent. He wasn't simply saying
the Spirit's willing, but the flesh is not quite up to standard. It's a little bit weaker. No,
the flesh is utterly powerless. And if you're a believer, you
know that that's so concerning you. Now, would you turn with
me to Romans chapter 8? For, verse six, for to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh, what's it say? cannot please God. Now we considered a couple of
weeks ago when inability meets omnipotence, but what we considered
was when you talk about the flesh, you're talking about two things,
total depravity and total inability. That's the flesh. Totally depraved,
all my flesh does is sin. That's it. Total inability, my
flesh cannot not sin. Now that's total depravity and
total inability. And when God saves a man, you
still have that fleshly nature, and you know it. You're painfully
aware of it. You know, the very thought of
progressive sanctification is utterly false. When God saves
a man, he still has this flesh that does not get any better. and how it battles against us. The flesh lusts against the spirit. Now the spirit in the scripture
is called the new man. Our Lord said in John chapter
3 verse 8, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Now that which is born of the
flesh, all it is is flesh and it can never rise above that.
but that which is born of the Spirit. Now you think about this.
If you're a believer, you've been birthed by God. You've been given life by God. You have a new nature, a new
heart that you did not have before. The Lord said, or John said in
John 1, 12 and 13, but as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe
on his name, which were born. not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. Now this spiritual nature is
called in the scriptures the inner man, the new man, the new
heart, the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible,
Peter said, the mind of Christ, partakers of the divine nature. And that's what's said of this
spiritual man. Let's see what the Bible says
about this new man. Would you turn with me to 1 John
chapter 3? Now I want to read this verse
so we can see in the context what John's talking about when
he talks about not committing sin. He says, whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression
of the law. Now that's one of eight or nine
definitions of sin in the scriptures, but this is a good one. Sin is,
they're all good. Sin is the transgression, breaking
of God's holy law. If I lie, I'm sinning. If I fail
to love God with all my heart, I'm sinning. If I murder, you
know the Ten Commandments. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Verse 5, and you know that he
was manifested to take away our sins. Did he do it? Oh bless God, that's
exactly what He did. My sins were lifted off of me
and taken away from me and I bear them no more. My sin, oh the
bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole,
has been nailed to the cross and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
oh my soul. He was manifested to take away
our sins, and oh, what a blessed statement this next statement
is. In Him is no sin. If I'm in Him, I have no sin. Right now. None at all. When God looks at this person,
He sees it's someone without sin. That's true of every child
of God. In Him, is no sin. Now, watch this. Whosoever, verse
6, whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not
seen him, neither known him. Now, what does it mean to abide
in him? Well, it means the same thing
it is for you to stay in this room. If you stay in this room,
you know what it means? It means you don't leave it.
You stay right here. You don't want to be anywhere
else. If you're in Christ, you abide in Him. You don't ever
want to be seen outside of Him. You don't want to go outside
of Him. I imagine those Israelites, when they were in the house with
the blood over the door, when the avenging angel was coming
through, they didn't want to be outside. They didn't want
to stick a finger out the window. No, they wanted to be in the
house. Now, abiding in Christ. Whoso abideth in him, what's
it say? It says, whosoever abideth in
him sinneth not. Somebody says, well, What that
means is he doesn't practice sin. Sin's not the habitual bent
of his life. Where do you come in there? How's
that fit for you? Anybody that's honest knows that
that's, that's not, one thing, that's not what he says. He doesn't
say he doesn't practice sin and sometimes fall in, it says he
does not sin. He does not sin. Anybody who
sins hath not seen him, neither known
him. It means what it says, if you're
in him, you do not sin. Does he sin? No, the Lord Jesus
does not sin. If you're in him, Neither do
you. This is the reality regarding
you. All those sins that you've committed,
they've been put away, blotted out, canceled, taken away, and
are no more. And just as Jesus Christ does
not sin, in him you do not sin. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. Now this doing of righteousness,
what's this all about? Well, look in verse 29 of chapter
two. If you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. Now, the new nature. Not only being in Christ do I
not sin, the new nature, that which is born of God, doth not
commit sin. If you're born again, that means
you're a partaker of the divine nature. Can the divine nature
sin? Absolutely not. The believer's new nature does
not sin. Now, can I act one way and think,
well, That act didn't have any sin in it. That was the act of
the new nature. Of course not. As a matter of fact, as far as
when I look at myself, all I see is sin. But I know the Bible
teaches that the new nature does not commit sin. And therefore,
I believe what the Bible says. It's just as simple as that.
I can't get a hold of it all. And as far as my experience goes,
I don't feel like there's something I did that was not sinning. I feel like all I do is sin.
But still, the Bible says He that abides in him sinneth not.
Let's go on reading. Verse 8, he that committed sin
is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that
he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin. And once again, let me say that
will not allow, doesn't practice sin. Says he doesn't commit it,
period. He does not commit sin, and look
what it says next. For his seed, the seed of God,
remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, he lacks the ability to
sin, because he is born of God. Now, Galatians chapter 5, verse
17, tells us of the flesh, the old nature, lusting against the
spirit, the new nature, the new nature lusting against the old
nature. These two are adversaries with
one another so that you cannot do the things that you would.
Now obviously the commentary on this is Romans 7. Turn with
me there for a moment and then we'll get back to what it is
to walking in the Spirit. But look in Romans 7. This is
so clear from the scripture. I think it's almost amusing that
people talk about this passage of Scripture. They say, well,
this is Paul talking about his experience when he was lost.
No, when he was lost, he didn't know any of this stuff because
he didn't have the Spirit. But when he has the Spirit, that's
when he understands what sin is and what he is. Now look in
John chapter 7, I mean, Romans chapter 7 and verse 14, for we
know And he's speaking as a spokesman for every believer. We know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. This
is a commentary on Galatians 5.17. If then I do that which
I would not, I consent unto the law that it's good. Now then,
it's no more I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. For to will is present with me.
I would be without sin, but how to perform that which is good,
I find not." I love his honesty here. No one else would say this,
but somebody totally inspired by the Holy Spirit. We'd always
have some kind of cover up, but not Paul. He's speaking in total
honesty. He says, for the good that I
would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now, if I do that which I would not, it's no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me. 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. 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? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then, With the mind, I myself
serve the law of God. That's the new man. But with
the flesh, the law of sin. Okay, what is meant by walking
in the spirit now? We see what is meant by the flesh
lusting against the spirit and the spirit lusting against the
flesh. Just what is meant by walking in the spirit? I want
to know. Well, stay right there in Romans
chapter 8. I think this is so interesting that this comes right
after what he said in Romans chapter 7. These chapteral divisions
are man-made. This is still part of the thought.
When Paul says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so then with my mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are 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 here we have such a simple defining of the
gospel. It's about what the law could
not do and it's about what God does. That's a summary of the
entire gospel message. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh. It couldn't do anything
for the flesh. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh that the righteousness of the law might be filled in
us who walk not after the flesh. but after the Spirit. Now, this
is a description of every believer. They walk not after the flesh,
but they walk after the Spirit. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean that sometimes
you walk in the flesh and sometimes you walk in the Spirit? Well,
let's go on reading in this passage of Scripture, verse 5. For they
that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But
they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For
to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. And if Christ be in you,
the body's dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we're
debtors. Not to the flesh, but live after
the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But
if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body,
you shall live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Now, what's this mean,
by the Spirit mortifying the deeds of the body? Does that
mean through the energy and power of the Holy Spirit, you can put
to death some sin? the deeds of your body? Well,
I ask again, have you done? Have you done? Is there any one
sin that you have? No, I've got victory over that
sin. I have no problem with that. I mean, that one's dead. I'll
put that one to death. If you through the Spirit see
every deed of your body as nothing but dead, and look to Christ
alone." That's what that means. Through the Spirit, you look
at everything that has anything to do with you as dead. Repentance from dead works, and
you look to Christ alone. Now, the content of the gospel
is stated so clearly in verses 3 and 4. It talks about what
the law could not do, because our flesh is impotent, can't
keep it. But what God can do and did do
in sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin and
condemned sin in the flesh, verse four, 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. Listen real carefully. Walking
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit is simply this. We
are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in
Christ Jesus. That means we have confidence
in. We really believe He's all we need. We really believe He's
all. We glory in His cross. We are
the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, by the Spirit
of God, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh. Now that's what it looks like
to walk in the Spirit. That's what it is to walk in
the Spirit. And it says if we walk in the
Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now the
word fulfill, what's this mean? If we walk in the Spirit, we
will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The word fulfill is
the same word that was used when our Lord said from the cross,
it is finished. It is completed. The word actually means to bring
something to its end to finish, to perform the last act which
completes the process. That's what it means to, the
word means fulfill. It's the last act of the completion
of a process. Now where am I going with this?
Turn with me to James 1. Verse 13. Let no man say when he is tempted. How many times during the day
are you tempted to sin? Let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth he any man." Don't ever blame your sin
on God. Don't ever say, God's allowing
this to happen to me. God's bringing this in my life. Don't say that. Don't blame your
sin ever on God. Always know that your sin is
all your fault completely. You can't say God and His sovereignty
allowed me to sin. No, your sin is all your fault. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that about your sin? Okay, let's go on reading. And notice this process. But
every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust
and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
when it is fulfilled, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved
brethren. Now, if you walk in the Spirit,
If you look to Christ only and have no confidence in the flesh,
this, what's described in James 1, is never going to happen to
you. You're never going to have the
end of sin, the finishing of sin, which ends in spiritual
death. It is not going to happen If you walk in the Spirit, you
shall not fulfill or perfect or carry out to the end the lust
of the flesh. We're dead indeed to sin. Didn't
Paul say that in Romans 6.11? He says, Reckon yourselves. Reckon
yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Back to our text in Galatians
chapter 5. This I say then, walk in the
Spirit. Looking to Christ only is what
that is. Faith in Christ and walking in
the Spirit are the precise same thing. And you shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh. You won't find sin in its end
and finish. For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
to one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that
you would. If you be led of the Spirit, you are not under law. Now, what's Paul mean by that?
Well, in the whole context of the book of Galatians, what he
means by the law is salvation being dependent in any way to
any degree on something you do. That's circumcision. For instance,
if you believe that somehow you need to yield to the Spirit to
enable you to live perfectly and if you fail in that, you're
going to be succumbing to the lust of the flesh and somehow
you just need to yield to the Spirit more and be more open
to the Holy Spirit to do this for you or that for you, that
works. That's something dependent upon
you. That's circumcision. That's works. If you're led of the Spirit,
you're not under the law. You're not under salvation dependent
upon you in any way, to any degree, for anything. Salvation is of
the Lord. Now, law takes so many forms
and has so many faces, doesn't it? It'll come at us from every
direction. But here is the promise. If you're
led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. Sin shall not
have dominion over you because you're not under the law. You're
under grace. Now, what I want to say to close
up, I want you to think about this, and I wish this came from
me. I wish I could take credit for it because I thought it was
great, but Greg Elmquist preached it this Sunday, and he told me
about it. Here's what it is to walk in
the Spirit. Don't try to believe. Don't try to keep the law. Don't try to resist sin. Look
to Christ. That's the gospel. That's what it is to walk in
the spirit. Don't try. Trust Christ. Don't try to beat anything down.
Look to Christ. That's the answer to everything. That's what it is to walk in
the Spirit. May the Lord enable us all to
do just that. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for the gospel of your free,
amazing, saving grace. Lord, I ask in Christ's name,
I ask that you would unite our hearts together to ask in Christ's
name that you will enable us to quit trying and start trusting. God blessed son. Lord, only you can enable us
to do that. And we're asking you. By your
grace. To enable us. To simply trust
your son. How we thank you for him. How
we thank you for his beauty. Lord, truly, he's altogether
lovely to us. And how? Willing by your grace,
we are to be saved by his righteousness only. And Lord, our cry is, oh,
that we may win Christ. and be found in Him, not having
our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. O Lord, enable us to walk in
the Spirit, enable us to be led of the Spirit, and enable us
to truly understand that we're not under law, but under grace. And Lord, we ask that we might
be enabled to adorn this glorious gospel of freedom and liberty
in our lives. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
We got going. Hymn number 17, we'll stand and
sing.