We can put walking in the Spirit of God in a Shakespearian way.
To Be (spiritually alive)
Or
Not to be (spiritually alive)
That is the question. And what better way to propose an answer to that question with the chapter from Romans that tells us about the Spirit filled life. Romans Chapter 8 is the outstanding chapter about our walk by the Spirit of God. This chapter has twenty references to the Holy Spirit in the chapter and half of them are concentrated in these verses Romans 8:1-11.
God seeks for carnal Christians who live by the flesh to be transformed into victorious believers who walk according to the Spirit. Salvation is just the starting point of beginning our walk with Christ. We have begun a journey for the Lord when we come to faith in Christ.
After we make a profession of faith in Christ and begin our walk with the Lord, we can’t even take the first step in our own strength. We know that it is not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord, but we set out on our walk with the Lord by sight. We need Romans 8 to keep us walking by faith. The right way to walk with God is by the Spirit of God.
There is for you if you walk in the fulness of the Holy Spirit an abounding triumph. Wouldn’t that be wonderful for you, if you were to describe your own Christian life as abounding triumph.
We are set free in Christ
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)
We have been set free! Our chains fell off. Becoming a Christian means a deliverance from bondage. It means that there is now no condemnation for us in Christ. That is part of the good news of the gospel. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty.
When we come to faith in Christ our names are written in the book of life they can never be erased. Our eternal life has begun. Jesus set the captives free by becoming a sin offering. It is because of what Jesus has done that when you become a Christian. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jesus set the captives free. He set us free from sin. From the time we have been set free onward we are to walk by the Spirit. Another way to say this is to live by the Spirit. Once we have new life in Christ, we have one of two paths to walk.
We are not talking about the broad road that leads to destruction and the narrow road of faith in Christ and being born again. The two roads we are looking at in Romans 8 are the road of living our lives according to the sinful nature or living according to the Spirit of God.
We must have divine empowering to be relevant as a Christian. That is the walk that tells others you are a Christian. That is the walk that gives the believer in Christ victory and power. For the believer who realizes they are walking according to the flesh that realization comes upon them with great heaviness. Finding yourself walking according to the flesh is a call to repentance and submitting to the will of Jesus Christ.
We walk according to the flesh when our thoughts are dominated by thoughts that are contrary to the nature of God. Living according to our sinful desires is like living in a dry and dusty desert and dying of thirst when the springs of water are readily available and fully satisfying.
Tragically we sometimes live like this desert experience in a state of spiritual death. We may be earnest and hardworking, but still if it is in the flesh, it will accomplish nothing for God. It does not mean we are not going to heaven because we live like this, not if we have genuinely put our faith in Jesus Christ and asked God that his death on the cross be the payment for our sin.
Law was powerless to do what walking in the Spirit will do for you. The law could never deliver us from the bondage of sin. It was like putting a bandage on a wound that needs a deep healing. We are to embrace what the Spirit does.
In our walk in the Spirit, we can forget about the DIY, do it yourself method. We stop our efforts and turn to God by faith to give us the life of walking in the Spirit. This spiritual freedom comes from God.
We need a spiritual revival when we begin to live by the flesh. We are saved by God’s Spirit. Following our salvation, we are called to walk by God’s Spirit. Does the desert describe your spiritual life? Does walking by the Holy Spirit and drinking daily from the spiritual fountain of life describe your walk? This is not about, are you having troubles, that is something different.
Think back to when you were in fellowship with the Lord, drinking from the refreshing springs of living water. What point was it you departed? Find that point and return to living by the Spirit. For most of us we left the spirit filled walk to be on the carnal walk gradually. We don’t even realize it for some time.
Suddenly we find ourselves living by the flesh. We realize we are in the spiritual desert. We need to quench our spiritual thirst in seeking God. When we discover that our focus is on ourselves then we have just discovered our focus has not been on God. A shift is needed. It needs to return to that Spirit Filled life when we lived for God or better to say God’s Spirit worked powerfully through us.
Is glorifying God your primary purpose right now? Stop and ask yourself what your primary purpose is. Now is the time to know the sweet fellowship and spiritual victory that comes from walking by the Spirit.
We are to live controlled by the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8)
There is a choice between two ways to live. One is the flesh and the other is to walk by the Spirit. We have been set free in Christ, but for us to remain free we must walk according to the Spirit. To live according to the Spirit.
That means to set your mind on what the Spirit desires. Where does your mind dwell? Does it dwell on the things that please God or things of your flesh? Think as an example of two cities with two sources of water. One city has a water supply that comes from a river and can dry up or flood depending on the weather condition. The other city is supplied by a well that in season or out of season water flows abundantly.
When we have our mind set on the things of the Spirit that is going to make the difference between to be spiritually alive and to not be spiritually alive. Those who set their minds on the things of the flesh are dominated by the old nature. It is the garbage in garbage out situation.
The carnal mind is incompatible with God and cannot please God. Those who have their mind set on the flesh cannot please God. That is why you can be actively involved in church activities and be backslidden. It is the attitude of your heart and the focus of your mind that determine if you are walking by the Spirit of God.
Being Spiritually Alive.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:9-11)
When we become a believer in Christ the Holy Spirit lives in us. We find this same truth in Colossians 1:27 Christ in you, the hope of glory. All believers have the Holy Spirit, but we are not always walking according to the Spirit.
The victorious Christian life means to be controlled by the Spirit. You must put to death the old way of life. Confess before God the futility of life in the flesh. Put Jesus first in your life and become spiritually alive. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit. When you become Spirit controlled you are walking in the Spirit. This is when you live with an eternal perspective.
Walking by the Spirit will be like a new power. Like a new wind in your sail. This is not something emotional that comes and goes with the circumstances but experiencing the power of God through difficult circumstances. We become absorbed in our self-concerns, and we need to be focusing on God.
The difficulties we have are of no comparison to what is coming next when we are in the presence of God. Walking by the Spirit is a taste of what is to come in Christ.
We must put to death the old way of life we lived before Christ. We need to confess before God the futility of life in the flesh. You must put Jesus in the first, central place in your life and become Spiritually alive. Walking in the Spirit gives spiritual clarity. It removes the Spiritual cataracts that block your vision.
It will not help to seek a self-righteousness. It means coming to God and confessing when you have been living by the flesh. You need to confess specifically to God where you have been living with your mind on the flesh that displeases him. It means submitting to Christ with your whole heart to walk in the ways of God.
The first step is faith in Christ. We must be set free if we are going to walk continually in the Spirit. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Let your life be flooded by the springs of living water and walk by the Spirit.
