Walking in the Spirit

Scripture Reading: Galatians 5:16-26

We're going to go to Galatians 5. We're actually going to start in verse 16 of Galatians 5. And we do read about the fruit of the spirit there. We also read about the works of the flesh. And we also read about a battle that we've got between the flesh and the spirit.

The title for our message today is walking in the spirit.

I do want to invite anybody who would like and is able to stand with me in honor of the reading of God's word. We're going to Galatians chapter 5 and we're reading there beginning in verse 16.

Galatians chapter 5, beginning in verse 16, the word of God says, I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Father God, thank you for your word. I pray your word will speak to our hearts. And I pray you'll use it to mold us and to shape us more and more into your image, God, so that we'll live more and more for you. And God, I pray if there's anybody that needs to give their life to you, that today would be the day they turned their life over to you, Jesus. We love you. It's in Jesus name we pray. All God's people said, amen.

The Challenge to Walk in the Spirit

In this passage, Paul wrote the book of Galatians under the inspiration of God. And in the passage, he makes a challenge to those believers in that region of Galatia in those churches, he makes a challenge to walk in the spirit. And you know, as Paul makes this challenge to walk in the spirit, that's how this passage begins. Walk in the spirit. He says, "But I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

And you know, as we read that, I believe a takeaway we should have too is for us to walk in the spirit. And you know, it talks there about walk in the spirit so you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You know, as we flip to the new year, as we think about living more and more for the Lord, do you want to turn from sin? Do you want to turn from fleshly living and live more for God? Do you have some area in your life right now that maybe is holding you back from living more for Jesus? Do you have some area where you're giving in more to the flesh and letting the enemy tempt you to sin?

We're challenged here and I believe we're given a great challenge and a great reminder of how we can be helped to live more for Jesus to choose to walk in the spirit. When we walk in the spirit and not in the flesh, we're going to be helped to live more for Jesus.

The Battle Within: Flesh vs. Spirit

You know, something we have to realize is we are in a battle on the inside. We're in a battle between the flesh and the spirit. We truly have a war within us. Did you know that we have a war? And you better believe the enemy wants us to give into the flesh. There's a battle on the inside of any of us that live for any decent time on this earth.

Paul puts it this way. He says, "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 uses this word. He says they're contrary to one another, the flesh and the spirit. In other words, they are opposite of one another. They go different directions. The flesh is going to take you away from God. The spirit is going to take you towards God.

We got this battle. We have to realize if we're going to walk in the spirit that there's a real battle that tries to brew inside of each one of us because we are flesh. We are human and we were born into sin. But if we've had a true conversion and we have fully given our life to Jesus Christ and we have truly been born again, we also have the spirit of God inside of us. But the two war against one another. There is a war within.

And I think the question is, what are you going to let rule? What am I going to let rule in this new year? What are you going to let rule inside? Because you know what the proverb says? Out of the heart flow the issues of life. It all starts on the inside before it comes out on the outside.

What are you going to let rule on the inside? Are you going to let the flesh rule or are you going to let the spirit of God rule? Because the two are in a battle. We have to decide what we will do. Are we going to choose to walk in the spirit? Because if we don't choose, we're going to give it to the flesh.

We've got to make a decision to say, "I'm gonna choose to walk in the spirit in the new year and to not walk in the flesh." And something I think we're reminded of in this passage, and if you've walked this walk long enough, you know it. When we don't choose to walk by the spirit, we will give in to sin.

When we don't say, "I'm going to crucify the flesh and I'm not going to let the flesh guide me," then the flesh is going to guide us pretty easily. And we're going to sin.

If we don't choose to say, "I want to ask God to help me walk by the spirit, not by the flesh," then we're going to be led to sin.

When the Flesh Takes Over

Paul says this in verse 16, "But these are contrary to one another," the flesh and the spirit so that you do not do the things that you wish. You know when I read that about he's talking about the flesh and the spirit and he said so that you do not do the things that you wish. When I read it what I feel God is saying there to us through Paul under the inspiration of God when it says so that you do the things you do not wish is it's talking about sin. The things that a believer does not wish they would do, I believe is living in sin. And what it's saying there is when we give into the flesh, we're going to do things we don't want to do.

Have you ever done that? Every single hand should go up. Have you ever given into the flesh and you just fell into sin? Every one of us have. We've all fallen short.

You know, there's all kinds of ways that when the flesh rules us, when the flesh is winning on the inside and we're not walking in the spirit, that sin comes out on the outside. What about have you ever had times where you just erupt with wrath and anger and yell? Maybe you even cuss. And if you're a believer, what happens right after you do that? You probably feel bad, don't you? Like May said, amen. I've certainly done that far too many times and without exception, every time I feel bad.

I love that verse. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. You know, what a great lesson. When we do give into the flesh and we get angry like we shouldn't and we maybe get loud like we shouldn't, repent. But that's a great example of how when the flesh is ruling us and we're not letting the spirit of God rule us and we're not walking in the spirit, it's a great example of how easy it is. One minute you're calm and bam, it comes out. The flesh comes out.

There's all kinds of ways that the flesh can start to lead to sin. What about what we're watching? What about what you're filling your eyes with and your mind with? Do you think that could lead to living in the flesh and not living in the spirit? Absolutely. What we put through these eyes and in our mind, it goes on the inside. And again, out of the heart flow the issues of life if we're filling our mind and our heart and our thoughts with fleshly things, we're going to have a hard time walking in the spirit. And you better believe when we don't make that conscious decision to say to choose, I'm going to choose to ask God to help me walk more by the spirit and crucify the flesh. If we don't, it's going to lead to fleshly living. It's going to lead to sin.

The Works of the Flesh

Verse 19, beginning there, Paul talks about the works of the flesh. Boy, this is a list, and I can't say there's not more. It's not meant to be an exhaustive list, but I think what we're reading here is when we do give into the flesh and we aren't walking by the spirit, here are some of the things that can start to come out of us. Now the works of the flesh are evident which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.

You know, these are some examples of what starts to come out of us when we don't choose to walk in the spirit and rather we let the flesh rule us on the inside. These are the kind of things that can start to come out of us. I don't know about you, but I look at that list and that's not how I want to live. Is there anybody here that wants to have that coming out of me? We don't want to live in a sinful way.

And hey, stop and look at that list. Take a moment right now if you've got your Bibles open and look at that list for a minute. Are there any of these right now in your life that you're struggling with? There probably are. There's probably several.

And by the way, one thing to think about is sometimes we don't think about certain things that sin. But when I read contentions and I read dissensions, I read jealousies, I start to think about how even in the church where we come to worship Jesus, how easy it is for us to get in the flesh. We start to get bitter towards one another. We start to talk about people behind their backs. We start to have a bitterness inside towards somebody. Paul makes it clear. That's being in the flesh. That's living in sin. When we keep that, when we keep dissension towards somebody or bitterness towards somebody, that's sin.

Of course, we read about drunkenness. Drunkenness is sin over and over and over and over in the Bible. If you believe the Bible's word of God, I do. You believe the Bible's word of God over and over. Drunkenness is a sin. You read revelries. Revelries, I believe, is referring to like wild partying, drunkenness, sexual immorality. It's sin.

And by the way, as you read through these things, we read about adultery. We read about fornication, sexual activity outside of marriage. You know, the Bible talks about that a lot. But as you read through these things over and over, if you've ever had any of these in your life, which I'm sure we all have had some of them, or if you've got any right now, there should be a conviction because these are works of the flesh. These are sinful.

And we got to be on guard because you better believe the enemy wants us to get in the flesh. The enemy wants us to get away from God. And boy, he loves it when we get in the flesh. And it starts on the inside. It starts with what we're letting rule on the inside. Are we letting the flesh rule or are we walking in the spirit?

Do every one of us agree we've struggled with fleshly and sinful things? What about do you agree that you don't want to live that way? That you don't want to have that as a habit in your life? Hey, I'm going to tell you living for the flesh which leads to living in ungodliness as sin. It's miserable. It's not who we're meant to be. It's not who you're meant to be.

If you're a child of God, if you've made the decision, trust in Jesus, and even if you haven't, that's not who you're meant to be. Give your life to Jesus and be changed. And if you made that decision, that's the old man. Therefore, if anyone was Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. That's the old man. Don't let the enemy get you to get stuck in that old way of living and the sinful man. That's not who you're meant to be. That's not who I'm meant to be.

And as a church, we have to help each other. When we see someone struggling with flesh and sin, we need to help each other because that's not who we're meant to be. We're meant to be a family, right? We're meant to be a church family. A family can have some knockouts, dragouts, but family needs to love each other. So that means we need to love each other. Even if we don't love what we're seeing, we need to help one another. We need to discourage that. We need to build one another up in the faith.

You know, I remember being in college and I was going out partying every weekend I could. It got to a point where I was miserable. I mean, I was miserable. And I went on and I kept doing it or this or that. But I kept more and more being like this is not fulfilling. This is not fulfilling to me. And then I got out of college and it didn't leave me. It kept not being fulfilling. Praise God. He gave me Crystal. She witnessed to me over and over and over and over and over again. And I finally gave my life to Jesus. It took me a while, but I finally did.

But that way of living, living in the flesh, living in sin, is a miserable way to live. And I tell you who's more miserable if they're living in it. A child of God. If you're a believer and you've got this going on in your life and it's overtaking you, you know that's not who you meant to be.

And watch what it says. Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. That's a pretty scary thing to think about not getting to go to heaven. We read in the Bible in Matthew 7 where it says, "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven." In other words, when somebody's truly a child of God and born again, you should see it in their life. There should be evidence of it.

And none of us do this walk perfect. But we don't need to use that as a license to sin. We don't need to say, "Well, I'm not perfect, so I just go on and sin." No, that's not who we're meant to be. And it says those who practice, in other words, if you stay in the habit of sinning and sinning and sinning. If you got something, if I got something, if any of us have something where we're in the habit of staying in sin, we better, you know, the Bible says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It says, "Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

And I think what it comes down to is making sure we're really saved. Making sure we've really trusted in Jesus. And if we really have, we know we can't live in that. That's not who we're meant to be.

So I pray if you're struggling today with some sin, with some way of being in the flesh, I pray God convicts you. If you're a believer today, God convicts you and you turn from it today because that's not who you're meant to be. That's not who we're meant to be as believers. We're meant to live for God. We're meant to live for the Lord.

Hey, is there something right now as you read that list that maybe God's working on you right now that you want to get out of your life so you can better walk with God? Again, it's nothing we do that saves us. It's not our works that save us. It's only the blood of Jesus. It's only trusting in Jesus. But when we have trusted in Jesus, we should be changed.

Now listen, if we keep giving into the flesh, the enemy get us into sin. The enemy will get us to drift. But is there something today that you know in this new year you want to live more for God that maybe you need to get out of your life? Is there something in the flesh that you're allowing to take over on the inside that needs to get removed? Remove it today because that's not who you're meant to be.

The Fruit of the Spirit

When we don't make that decision to walk by the spirit, we're going to give into the flesh and we're going to give into sin. But when we walk in the spirit, you know what happens? We see fruit in our lives. It says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."

Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the spirit. When you look at that list, you say, "That's who I want to be." I look at the fruit of the spirit and I want to say I want to have more of that coming out of me. I want to have less of flesh coming out of me and more of the fruit of the spirit coming out of me.

Have you ever met a person where you just look at them and you meet them, you just say, "You just got the fruit of the spirit coming out." How does that happen? Well, it happens when we choose to walk by the spirit and not by the flesh. It happens when we daily have made that decision to ask God to help us to let the spirit guide us and not the flesh.

You know, Paul again he says, "I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Then he goes on to list all these qualities of the fruit of the spirit. See, when we choose to walk in the spirit, not only are we helped to not give into the flesh and sin, but when we choose to walk by the spirit, there's fruit that comes out in our lives. When we choose to walk by the spirit, we look more like Christ in the way we live. When we choose to walk by the spirit, there's more love coming out of our life. There's more kindness coming out of our life. There's more goodness coming out of our life. There's more self-control coming out of our life.

You know, when I think about walking in the spirit, I think about a time when I was walking and praying. And I remember a lot of years back, I was walking and praying in my neighborhood. And I was, you know, when we spend time and we really honor God with our time, there's times we just connect with God. And I was connected with God. You know, I was just feeling the presence of God, walking through my neighborhood, feeling like I was feeling the spirit of God.

And then all of a sudden from out of nowhere, I waved at a guy. Now, this guy is kind of known to be a little angry. Got to have something against just about everybody. Kind of guy that'll go up and cuss out just about anybody and you don't even know why. It's really sad though. I mean, it's really sad.

But I remember I've been walking and praying for like half an hour. So, I thankfully felt the presence of God and I think I was somewhat walking in the spirit literally. All of a sudden, I wave to him. I say, "Hey." And man, from his doorstep, he just starts cussing me out, yelling as loud as he can. And there's not a good reason. He just had a thing with me that wasn't really any reason to be mad from earlier. He's got that something with nearly everybody. And he just started yelling and cussing. And basically what he was saying when he was cussing was don't ever talk to me again. Don't. And he said it about 10 times.

And I just stood there. Now understand, I could have easily gotten in the flesh because I have Irish in me and I have Italian, but I can't explain it. It's like God just restrained me because I was more in tune with God at that moment. You know what I mean? Let's face it, we're all flawed. We got flesh. But I was praying. I was more in tune with God.

He just kept yelling and cussing. I just kept looking at him and he went on and on. Didn't say a word. He finally stopped. "Let's have a blessed day." And I kept walking and praying. And truly, I can say God was even helping me to pray for him. Not saying I'm praying for him because immediately what I thought is that man needs Jesus. That wasn't anything about me. That was about God. God like canceled out what I could have easily yelled back. Now I don't cuss, but I could have easily gotten angry back, right?

When we and I was literally I guess walking in the spirit of that moment. Literally walking. But when we choose to walk by the spirit, God helps us to not give into the flesh.

Choose to Walk in the Spirit

Hey, I got a question to close today. Do you want to choose to walk in the spirit? Because understand, if we don't choose it, we're going to much more easily give into the flesh. And although I know none of us are perfect. I know none of us are going to ever walk perfectly. But that's not a reason to say, "Well, I'm just going to let myself walk all." No, we want to walk with God the best we can.

And to do it, what we're told here is if we want to get rid of the flesh and not give into the flesh, we got to choose to walk in the spirit. Do you want to choose that today? I believe a takeaway I took as I read this is I've got to make that choice. I've got to intentionally decide to say, I'm going to crucify the flesh. I'm going to choose to walk in the spirit.

It says there, "Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another." And then it goes on to say, "But if you are led by the spirit, if we choose to walk in the spirit, we will be helped to walk more with God."

Do you want to, I mean, really, do you want to choose that today? I believe most of us would because most of us knows it means we'll live for the Lord.

How to Be Helped: Crucify the Flesh and Sow to the Spirit

How can we be helped to better walk in the spirit? Well, watch what it says in verse 24. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Do you remember what Paul wrote in Galatians also chapter 2 verse 20? This was one of the first memory verses Chris and I memorized. Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. In 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.

Remember that Christ died for you. Remember that Christ saved you. And when you're tempted to live in the flesh and walk in the flesh, remember that God saved you and that you're to crucify the flesh. Let the fact that God cares enough about you to send his son Jesus to die for you so you can be forgiven remind you we're not to walk in the flesh. We're to walk in the spirit.

Remember that moment that God saved you. Remember how God changed you. Because when we have truly had a moment that we've turned our life over to Jesus, we are changed. There's going to be change if you're saved. When you're saved, you're changed. And remember that. And remember, you're not meant to live in sin anymore. You're not meant to live in that old man. You're meant to live for the Lord. And by the way, that's how you're going to have more joy. That's how you're going to have more peace.

Another thing I want to speak to as we wrap up is if you flip to Galatians 6, watch what it says in verse 7. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life.

How can we be helped to better walk in the spirit? We have to sow to the spirit, not to the flesh. When I think about a farmer, I think about how they had to sow their fields if they were going to get a crop. They had to put in work, right? They had to put in hours. They had to put in days. They had to put in months or they would not yield a crop.

Whatever a man sows that he will also reap. The work that they put in sowing that field was a direct result of the crop that they would get, of the blessing they will get. And listen, as a Christian, we got to put in work. We talked about spiritual disciplines last time. We got to put in work because if we don't, we're going to easily give into the flesh. We've got to sow to the spirit. We've got to sow to things of God.

And maybe if you want to choose to walk more in the spirit so you can live more for God. Maybe it's a matter of saying, "What is there that I need to get out of my life that's keeping me from sowing to the spirit? What is there in my life that's maybe filling my mind with things it doesn't need to be filled with? What is there in my life that maybe I'm seeing that I don't need to see? What is there in my life that's distracting me from things of God so that I'm never getting the things of God? I'm not reading the Bible. I'm not praying. I'm not getting to church. I'm not serving. I'm not tithing. I'm not living for God."

What is there something that you're sowing to in the flesh that you're spending your days on? Am I just so consumed in business with work that I'm never taking time for God? Is there something I need to kind of remove from my life so that I can sow to the spirit? So that I can daily sow to the spirit? So that I can daily be seeking things of God? Because if we're not seeking things of God and we're only more seeking things of the flesh, we're sowing to the flesh.

But if we seek things of God and if you want to sow to walk by the spirit more in this new year, we got to ask ourselves, how can I sow more to the spirit? How can I spend my time every day more to things of God? What is there that's keeping me from spending my time on things of God? What is there that's possibly getting me to where I'm thinking on fleshly things? And what is there that I need out of my life so that I'll better walk with God? So that I can better sow to the spirit so that I can better walk in the spirit?

You know, if we're filling our mind with ungodly things, we're not sowing to the spirit. That's sowing to the flesh. If we're going out partying, getting drunk, that's not sown in the spirit. That's sowing to the flesh. What a man sows that he'll also reap.

We got to put in the work. Put in the work towards God, towards your relationship with God, and it'll bless you and we'll be helped. And when I say put in the work, I'm like, spend time with the Lord. It's a blessing, by the way, to spend time with Jesus. Spend time with the word. Spend time in prayer. Get in church. Stay in church. Be in church. Serve God.

Final Thoughts and Invitation

I just want to close by just saying I hope that as we consider this passage where we're reminded of this war that we have inside of us, the flesh and the spirit. I hope it causes us to realize we got to make a choice because if we don't make a choice, we're going to get in the flesh. We're going to start to struggle with sin. I hope we're deciding to be committed in the new year to walk in the spirit.

And again to do that, we might need to say today, God, I want to walk more in the spirit. Help me know what I need to do to do that. We might need to say, I think for me to better walk in the spirit and to less walk in the flesh, I need this thing out of my life. Or I need to have disciplines in my life so that I'll take time to read the Bible. So I'll take time to pray.

I hope that we're all committed to walk in the spirit. When we make that commitment, we ask God to help us and we ask God to give us a plan to do that and we follow through, we're going to have more peace and joy in our life. The fruit of the spirit is what we're going to get out of our life. Again, you know, part of the fruit of the spirit is peace and joy. We're going to have more peace. We're going to have more joy. Those things of the flesh that we put in our minds, we do, we say, they don't bring peace and joy. They bring corruption.

And when we choose to be more committed to walk in the spirit, we're going to be helped to not give into the flesh. We're going to be helped to not give into that sin that you might be struggling with today. When we choose to walk in the spirit, the fruit of the spirit will be more and more evident in our lives. When we choose to walk in the spirit, people will see Jesus in you more. They'll see Jesus in you. And when we choose to walk in the spirit, God is going to work through us more. When we choose to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh, God is going to work through you in mightier ways. When you're sowing to the spirit and walking in the spirit, God's going to use you.

God could use you in more ways than you've ever been used in your life just this year. When you go all in and you sow to the spirit, God can use you to share Jesus with people and for people to come to repentance and to turn from sin and say, "I'm turning to Jesus." God can use you more and more than that. God can use me. God can use us for salvations. When you choose to walk in the spirit more, God can use you more and more to help people return that are straying to get people back in church and maybe been out because people will see Christ in you and you'll be a more effective witness for Jesus.

God, I thank you for your word. Anywhere I fell short in preaching, I know that you can still use it. God, I just pray that your word today convicts hearts where it's needed. Whether that's to turn from sin, turn from flesh. There's someone struggling with some sin in their life right now. I pray it cause them to turn from it. And God, I also pray that it causes us as believers to say, "We don't want to live in the flesh. That's not who we're meant to be." And that it causes us the believers to say, "I'm choosing to have my inside focus on things of God, to walk in the spirit so I can live more for God." That causes us as believers to say, "I want to have the fruit of the spirit come out of my life." And I know to do that, I need to be walking more in the spirit. God, I pray you work in hearts today in this place and even after today for salvation and for whatever way you're working on hearts. I pray it all in Jesus name.

Right now, I just want to have a moment where we'll have this altar just open. If you need to come and lay something down, if you need to come and pray, you come and pray. Maybe God has convicted you today and you just want to lay at the altar and pray about it. I want to give you a chance right now to respond to God. Maybe there's someone you've had dissension with and you want to go and just say, "I'm sorry. I want us to get along." And what a big thing that would be. When there's unity in the church.

Maybe there's some anger you've had towards somebody or some unforgiveness. God's just leading you to go and pray with them right now. Maybe there's some ungodliness in your life that's just awful. You just want to confess it to Jesus right now. Just, it doesn't have to be anybody listening, but you and God, just be honest with God right now. Just talk to God right now.

If you got sin, take some time to just say, "God, I'm sorry. I want to turn from it." If you want to live more for the Lord, say, "God, help me. I want to crucify the flesh."