Walk In The Spirit

Galatians 5:16-18 (NKJV)

Walk in the Spirit

August 4, 2022

Intro: Verse14 & 15 - For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! The subject of our lesson today beginning at verse 16 is based on the predicate of verses 14 & 15 that love is the fulfillment of the law and furthermore we must love our neighbor as ourselves. So, Paul asserts, “I say then” because it’s love, “Walk in the Spirit!” We have to talk about some Holy Ghost Victories today! Because We have Victory Over Lust – Victory In The Lessons of Life & Victory Over The Law!

A. v.16 THE LUST “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” To walk in, means to surrender to - because we will either be led by our flesh, or led by the Holy Spirit. Which one wins depends upon which one we yield to - Romans 6:17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Therefore, if you Walk in the Spirit you shall have Victory over the Flesh v.16! The Spirit will defeat the flesh if we will allow Him to, because 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” - We still have a say in what we allow in our lives! Therefore, we need to avoid places, people, projects, persuasions, or anything that brings temptation to us! If we mess around with it, we will give in to it! King Solomon asks in Proverbs 6:27 Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared?

Illus: The was a Christian Brother who brought his computer to my computer repair shop that I owned years ago. I charged him for 2 hours of service to clean his computer of viruses, malware and spyware. I told him that these types of viruses usually come from a specific type of browsing history. I warned him that the sites he was visiting were most likely infecting his computer. This was before browsers had an “incognito” mode. And if you don’t know what that is you don’t need to know! After returning to my shop month after month for the same issues, I explained to this Christian, Brother, how pornography gives a false reality of pleasure and it makes the viewer want experiences that do not exist in a healthy romantic relationship. He gladly paid his reoccurring bill and said, “Awe, Reverend… you know how it is?” Family if we Walk in the Spirit we will not fulfil the lust of the flesh! But if we play with fire, we are going to get burned! If we walk on hot coals, we are going to be seared!

B. v.17 THE LESSON “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Paul says here is a life lesson for you, “Let me explain further. Live your life as your spiritual nature directs you. Then you will never follow through on what your corrupt nature wants.” (GWT) There is a war going on inside of you, but the Bible teaches that you can have Holy Ghost Victory!

ILLS: A man came to counseling many years ago and it was evident that he had a chip on his shoulder! He was a successful man, loving wife, and beautiful heathy children. And when the conversation began, he started from the beginning of how he had to prove his teachers wrong (they said because of his learning disability he would never hold a professional job he should work manual labor). He had to prove his friends wrong (they said he would never date the cheerleader if he was not an athlete). He had to prove his father wrong (he said that he would never be able to provide for his family without a college education). He had to prove his wife wrong (she said that you are a good worker, but you will never be a good supervisor). One by one we began to strip away the negative ideas that were embedded down deep in his psyche where he was always at war with someone’s opinion of him. We needed to find the root cause. So we brought his wife in and resolved that she had never said such a thing. We, soon after, called his father and he too had never told his son such things. We began to talk about his childhood education, and he could not name the teacher who said he was not going to succeed and when we pulled out his High School yearbook he could not point out one student who was the voice of this discouragement. Who told you these awful things? Who was this voice of discouragement? And we found after years of counseling that the voice of discouragement was inside his mind the whole time! It was not the voice of his teacher! It was not the voice of his father! It was not the voice of his wife! He had spent his whole life at war with himself because he had never learned this lesson. He had spent his whole life trying to convince himself that he was not a failure, because he had being telling himself lies. I’ve learned a long time ago an African Proverb, “If there is no enemy within, the enemy on the outside can’t harm you!” You see the lesson is this, 1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” If you Walk in the Spirit, you won’t be led astray by the flesh!