How To Walk In The Spirit (Pt. 2) Series

Intro

We are talking about HOW to Walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5 explicitly tells us to walk in the Spirit.i It is essential for our spiritual success. But how do we do that? What practical steps can we take that keeps us in the mode of living? In our last message, we discussed two principles that need to be applied for us to walk in the Spirit.

1. Set your ATTENTION on the activity of the Holy Spirit in your regenerated spirit. We must pay attention to God and what he is saying to us. We must seek things above and not get overly occupied with the cares of this life. Colossians 3:1-2 puts it like this: “If then you were raised with Christ [That is a fact for every believer], seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”ii We need to live with the right objectives in mind. We need to listen to God’s promptings in our human spirit. Set your attention on the activity of the Holy Spirit in your regenerated spirit.

2. IDENTIFY with Christ’s death and resurrection.

Paul gave the secret of his success in Galatians 2:20-21 when he declared: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Our union with Christ is two-sided. one side of this union is our co-crucifixion with Christ. Our old man was crucified with Christ at the cross 2,000 years ago. “Knowing this,” Paul wrote in Romans 6:6, “that our old man was crucified with Him.” The NIV says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him.” The depth at which we know that is important. We may need to know it intellectually as a step toward knowing it more deeply. But knowing it by revelation from God empowers us to experience its benefits.

A person may intellectually accent to the power of Jesus’s blood for forgiveness. Hearing that truth may be an essential preparation for receiving it (Rom. 10:14). But that truth must be revealed in the heart by the Holy Spirit, for it to be experienced.

In the same way, an intellectual ascent to our co-crucifixion with Christ may prepare the way for divine revelation of this biblical truth. But it can only be experienced by revelation from the Holy Spirit. Faith to lay hold on this factual reality must come from God. When Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ,” his knowledge of that went deeper than intellectual assent. He knew it at the core of his being and lived accordingly. So, one side of our union with Christ is co-crucifixion. One side of walking in the Spirit is knowing that our old man was crucified with Christ at Calvary.

The other side is our identification with him in his resurrection. Colossians 2:12-13 tells us we

were “buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the

working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and

the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him.”iii The old self is dead

and buried, the new self is alive unto God in Christ. So, in the same way you trusted in the blood

of the cross for forgiveness of sin, trust also in the death and resurrection of Christ for the power

of his resurrected life to be expressed in and through you. Identifying with Christ in his death and

resurrection is foundational to walking int eh Spirit.

Today we want to address a third key to walking in the Spirit: TEST & TRUST the knowledge

and guidance you receive in your spirit from God. We will deal with this subject through five

instructions:

I. KNOW THE TWO SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE. How is knowledge received?

Rational knowledge is received in our mind. Our natural minds have the capacity to see, hear,

and know information through the five senses. Learning and thinking are a source of knowledge

and understanding. We can take in data, process it, and draw conclusions. We all have experience

with that. Even unbelievers gain knowledge in that way. But that is not the only source of

knowledge.

Revelation knowledge is received in our spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, Paul talks about knowledge

that must be “spiritually discerned.” “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit

of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually