We also pointed out that the flesh is not sinful. The body in which we live is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
HOW DO WE KNOW THESE BODIES ARE NOT SINFUL WITHIN THEMSELVES?
Because this body in which we live is the same type of body in which Christ lived, and He was without sin.
All sin resides in man’s sinful heart. The flesh only manifests what is in the heart. The body is no more than flesh, bones and tissue, and only functions as God intended it to function.
But there are heathen who think the body is sinful, and they feel it pleases God to cut and burn themselves. IT DOES NOT! Our flesh only reveals what is in our heart.
I can assure you on the basis of God’s Word:
• If you have sin in your heart, this flesh will reveal it.
• If you have the Holy Spirit within your heart, this flesh will reveal it.
In this passage of scripture that we are going to be dealing with in this sermon, we are going to look at what it means to WALK IN THE SPIRIT.
If you ask some Christians if they are SPIRIT FILLED, they will immediately say, “Yes, I am a Spirit filled Christian.”
But if you are around them for very long, you will see them doing things or saying things that a Spirit filled person would not be saying or doing.
WHY DO THEY THINK THEY ARE SPIRIT FILLED?
Because their religious group teaches that if you do certain THINGS, this is what constitutes being Spirit filled. So based on what they have been taught constitutes being Spirit filled, they feel they have met the requirements.
Listen, we can only wish that our church was Spirit filled. If it was, it would solve every problem this church has.
To be Spirit filled means we are completely controlled by the Spirit. That is, we are walking twenty-four hours a day in the Spirit of God. And I do not know of any church that can truthfully make that claim.
But this is something that every Christian should be striving for every day. When we WALK IN THE SPIRIT twenty-four hours a day, we will not FULFILL THE LUSTS OF THE FLESH.
Look what this passage of Scripture teaches us:
I. THE MANIFESTATION OF A SPIRIT FILLED LIFE
Look at Galatians 5:22-23, we read, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
As the children of God, we will begin to take on the very nature of God.
Illus: Have you ever met a Christian that walked in the Spirit of God and their very nature reflected the Holy God of heaven that lived in their heart? That is, their life began to bear fruit that revealed Christ is in control of their life.
Notice, the Word “fruit” is singular, not plural.
• The Holy Spirit has only one fruit, and it is broken down into various kinds of fruits
• The nature of Christ is singular, and when He lives within our life He will be revealed in many ways.
As was walk in the Spirit of God, every fruit of the Spirit will be seen in our life. As we walk in the Spirit, look at the kinds of fruit that we will bear.
A. LOVE
Paul starts off by listing LOVE as number one. Why? Because it is one of the greatest gifts of all.
Remember, to be Spirit filled means that Christ is in control of our lives. This agape love that the Bible is talking about here, is God’s love. This is a SELFLESS LOVE that very few know anything about.
This is the most important fruit of the Spirit because all the others are nothing without the fruit of LOVE.
Look at 1 Cor. 13:13, we read, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
B. JOY
This is an inner gladness. This leads to a cheerful heart.
A lot of Christians know joy from without, but they do not know a thing about joy from within.
That is, when everything happens to fall in place they are one happy dude.
But if things do not fall in place they lose their joy.
When we are controlled by the Spirit of God, even when things do not go well, we still have that INNER JOY.
C. PEACE
This is the word “eirene” which means to bind together or weave together.
The Hebrew word is “shalom.”
The meaning is this: A man must be “woven” together with God before he is at peace with himself and with others.
The reason so many are not at peace with others is because they are not at peace with themselves. But when we are ‘woven” with Christ, we can have PEACE with ourselves and with others.
D. LONGSUFFERING
This is the ability of being patient and enduring.
Nothing works on our faith like patience. That is, weeks, months and years sometime go by and we find ourselves trusting the Lord about something we thought should have happened years ago.
When we are filled with the Spirit we are longsuffering.
E. GENTLENESS
This is being kind and gentle with the way we deal with others. Gentleness cares for the feelings of others.
Illus: Some folks are like a “Bull” in a China shop in the way they deal with people. They have no regard for the feelings of others.
F. GOODNESS
This is a person who is willing to help others. They treat everyone the way they wanted to be treated.
G. FAITH
It means to be faithful and trustworthy.
H. MEEKNESS
It means to be humble. The Lord can not be seen in the life of a proud person, because all you can see is the person. It does not mean they are weak, but that they are in full control of their bodies.
I. TEMPERANCE
This means we master and control the appetites of the flesh.
For example, some folks will go to a restaurant that has a big buffet and literally make a pig of themselves. They have no control of their appetite whatsoever.
A life like this does not manifest Christ. We have to remember the fruit of the Spirit is a life that manifests Christ.
We have looked at THE MANIFESTATION OF A SPIRIT FILLED LIFE. We need to also consider -
II. THE MANIFESTATION OF A CRUCIFIED LIFE
Look at Galatians 5:24, we read, “And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
Notice, in this verse Paul speaks of two things:
(1) He is speaking to Christians. He said, “And they that are Christ’s…” When we accept the Lord as our Savior, we become the property of the Lord.
• The Child of God no longer belongs to the flesh; he now belongs to Jesus Christ.
• The child of God no longer serves the flesh: he serves the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) Those who are his, “…Have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust.”
HOW DO WE DIE TO THE FLESH?
What many believers do not understand is this; when a person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord’s death is counted as their death.
That is, our belief in His death is two fold:
• Because He died, so we died
• Because He lives, so we shall live
You can not have one without the other.
2 Timothy 2:11 says, “It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him.”
To be crucified with Christ means we no longer live in the passion of the flesh.
This is why Paul said, in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith fo the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Look at verse 25, we read, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
Paul is saying that if we have died to the flesh through Christ, we should let our life show it daily. Paul says, “…Let us also walk in the Spirit.”
III. THE MANIFESTATION OF A DEDICATED CHRISTIAN LIFE
Look at verse 26, we read, “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Notice, Paul talks about “vain glory”. What is he talking about?
Christians are challenged to live a different life than those of the world who are lost.
Illus: For example, there are a lot of folks that play golf. But there are only a handful that we consider to be PROFESSIONALS. Now once a person becomes a part of a special group, it is easy for them to THINK TOO HIGHLY OF THEMSELVES!
WHY DO THEY DO THAT? Because they are walking in the flesh and they are trying to provoke someone to jealousy.
It would please them well if, when they walk into the room, every one were to fall down on their knees and cry out, “Hello, thou Great One!”
There are folks, who for one reason or the other, think they are SUPER CHRISTIANS. They feel sorry for anyone that does not have what they have. THEY HAVE BECOME RELIGIOUS SNOBS!
This is what Paul is talking about in this scripture. There are a lot of Christians that have become religious “snobs”! That is, they consider themselves “SUPER SPIRITUAL”.
This seems to be a problem that goes back a long way.
Look at Revelation 3:17, we read, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
It is easy for us to think of ourselves one way and for others to see us differently.
Conclusion:
If we walk in the Spirit, every problem in the church will be solved.
Illus: The human body is a most remarkable machine. It can maintain a constant temperature of 98.6 degrees no matter what the weather is outside. Whether a man is at the Arctic Circle or the equator, his body temperature is about the same. There is an inner mechanism that makes the difference. The Holy Spirit dwells within the Christian to achieve this kind of stabilization in terms of spiritual health. Whether we face good times or bad, whether we are tempted or receiving spiritual nourishment, the Holy Spirit keeps us stable within. (Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
I. THE MANIFESTATION OF A SPIRIT FILLED LIFE
II. THE MANIFESTATION OF A CRUCIFIED LIFE
III. THE MANIFESTATION OF A DEDICATED CHRISTIAN LIFE
