Study 3 - Walking In Spirit
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SUMMARY: A Bible teaching on Galatians 5 explores what it means to walk in the Spirit. It highlights the Holy Spirit’s role in new birth, guidance, and producing spiritual fruit, empowering believers to live victoriously and reflect Christ daily.
UNEDITED TRANSCRIPTION: We went through walking in the light this morning and then walking in love. And then our third session is walking in spirit and our reading is from Galatians five. Um, and it starts in Galatians five, verse sixteen. Scripture says, I say, then walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I say, then walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then from verse twenty two till the end of the chapter. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, 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. The Apostle Paul, when he was writing to those in the region of Galatia, he was writing specifically to address the situation that was coming in, where there were those that were being, uh, that were propagating and false teaching, and you had to be put back under the law specifically in the manner of circumcision. And so what we find the Apostle Paul doing through the Spirit of God is he is contrasting the work of the flesh, the work under the law with the work of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. In the first two chapters, Paul's addressing his apostleship, but then in chapter three and chapter four, and really the rest of the chapter, we find he's addressing this matter of liberty in the Christian life. In the work, in the power and work of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is mentioned about fourteen times in the book of Galatians, and seven of those times are in verse sixteen down to the end of the chapter. And so we find that this is a very important part of Paul's teaching concerning the Spirit of God. But we might just mention by way of introduction the work of the Spirit of God in in the book of Galatians, how he is mentioned here in chapter four, starting at verse twenty nine, we find the Holy Spirit performs this manner of new birth in the life of the believer. Verse twenty nine of chapter four he says, but as he who is born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit. Even so, it is now. This would parallel with what we learned about being born by the spirit through the spirit in the Gospel of John in chapter three and in John chapter one, as we saw last evening and again, we read it today. John chapter one, verse twelve and thirteen. Uh, so the first thing we need to understand is the manner of new birth is the work of the Spirit of God. And Paul even brings this out here briefly in this section. The second thing that we see is that the Holy Spirit communicates this divine life in the life of the believer. In fact, that's in verse twenty five of our section. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Thank you, dear brother. And so we find that the Holy Spirit communicates this divine life for us to. We live by the Spirit of God. The third thing about the Holy Spirit in the book of Galatians is that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. Now this is important and we could go to other places to underline this. In Ephesians it says, having believed, having believed, you're sealed with the Spirit of God, who is the guarantee until the day of redemption. Every believer has the Spirit of God indwelling him. Every believer is sealed by the Spirit of God. It's a seal of ownership. It is a seal of security. And here in the book of Galatians, he mentions this in chapter three verse two. He mentions this idea that every believer has the Spirit of God. It says in chapter three verse two, this only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing of the faith? So here he mentions that every believer, every true believer, has the Spirit of God. The book of Romans tells us in chapter eight, if you do not have the spirit, you are none of his. And so every believer has the Spirit of God. And this comes out here in the book of in the book of Galatians as well. The fourth thing we see, the Holy Spirit gives the believer the assurance of sonship. The Holy Spirit gives the believer the assurance of sonship, fineness. In chapter four, verse six would remind us there that um, because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of His son into your hearts, crying out, ABBA, father. So every believer has the Spirit of God indwelling us and crying out within us. Have a father. In the book of Romans, chapter eight, it tells us that we cry out, ABBA, father. And we do that in the power of the Spirit of God. And so this is something that we're reminded now, the fifth thing that we find about the Holy Spirit, again, it's in our verses before us. And the Holy Spirit leads the believer into a a life of victory over sin and over self. And we find this in verse sixteen going into verse seventeen, and I might add, just to connect verse fifteen with it, because what the apostle Paul lays out before us in verse fifteen, but if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. In other words, this word consumed means there's nothing left. There's nothing left for the glory of God. There's no testimony left for the glory of God because the saints are biting and devouring one another. There's a lot we could say about that, but we'll leave it for now. And then we find that those who the Holy Spirit is leading us into a life of victory over sin and self is this manner of fellowship with him. Walking in the spirit. Having fellowship in the spirit, not only with one another, but allowing. As Paul says at the end of First Corinthians, the communion, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And how important that is in our daily life. I'm sure the brethren will build on that. And and this manner of submitting to the spirit, and that's brought out in verse eighteen of verse we didn't read. But if you are led by the spirit, if you are led, if you are submitted to, Yielded to surrender to the leading of the Spirit of God in your life, then you will go into a deeper appreciation of the victory that the Spirit of God brings in the Christian life. It's a matter of being led by the spirit. Then we find the sixth thing that is mentioned here, uh, is that the Holy Spirit makes the believer like the Lord Jesus. And that's when the fruit of the spirit in verse twenty two come in, and the brethren will develop this and tell us what each of these aspects of the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And so as we submit to his leading, we're able then to to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. We find this again in Galatians chapter three verse three, where we read, uh, are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Are you being made mature by the flesh? Of course not. It's the Spirit of God who makes you like the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the seventh thing that the Spirit of God does, uh, that we have in the book of Galatians is that the Spirit of God, uh, supplies the inspiration and the power for our service, our service as we walk in the spirit is done in the power of the Spirit of God. And I, again, I back us up to chapter three, verse five. Therefore he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you. Does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? And so we see it's evident there that it is through the supply of the Spirit of God that we're able then to walk in the spirit. We're able to minister to the people of God on the behalf of God and for the glory of God. So I think it's helpful just to see how Paul is underlining the work of the Spirit of God all through the book of Galatians. Uh, it's it's quite interesting. In the book of Ephesians, the spirit is mentioned in every chapter in the book of Philippians. Only three times is the spirit mentioned because in the book of Ephesians he wants to set Christ before us in the book of Colossians. The Spirit of God is only mentioned once, and that's in chapter one, verse eight. And that's because Christ is set before us as the head. But here to live this life where we're told the just shall live by faith. To live. To live out this life. To walk in the spirit. We need the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. So, uh, maybe that for an introduction for us as we jump into this section of Scripture. Brother Tim not only gives an outline, but he gave a lot of homework. As far as what brother to cover, I would just like to look at a, at a type in Genesis chapter eight that I think is helpful. And I'll begin reading in verse six of Genesis chapter eight. So this is after the judgment of the flood upon the world, God's judgment picturing God's judgment of us at the cross where the Lord Jesus took our sin and, uh, had victory there. But now the ark, which pictures Christ has brought Noah and his family to this new world. And so I want to look at this in in the way of profession, because when you profess to be a Christian, you profess to be in Christ. You profess to have come through the waters of judgment in him and have, uh, a new life in him. And so that new life can be expressed needs to be expressed. And we see it here in two ways in two different birds. Uh, verse six of chapter eight. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. So the raven, obviously, as we have in Galatians, picturing a carnal nature, a desire for the flesh, feeding upon the flesh, feeding upon that death that was floating carcasses, uh, after the flood. So, but remember this, uh, Raven came on the ark. So we're just making a some symbolism here that you can make a profession of Christ and still be a raven, uh, an unbeliever who is very happy and very content to feed upon the flesh. And then he goes on in verse eight also, he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark. For the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand and took her, and pulled her in to the ark. So here we know this picture is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God descended upon the Lord Jesus like a dove. We're all familiar with the fact that finally there was one man and only one that the Spirit of God could rest in. Found a place of rest for the sole of her foot. And so we could look at this in the way of our own profession of Christianity. We all profess to believe in Christ. We all profess to have come through those waters of judgement in him. But the sorrowful thing is, is if I profess to be a dove, what if I go back and feed like a raven? What if I'm involved in pornography? What have I been involved in? Gossip. Uh, what if I'm involved in materialistic way of life? Any of these things that may be acceptable in society, but, uh, cause God's face to turn away from. So I would be professing to be a dove, but feeding like a raven. And just one verse back in Galatians, in Galatians chapter three and verse thirteen. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Hallelujah! Liberty. Free in Christ. I hope that all of us are enjoying the freedom that we have in Christ. However, he says, only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh. Now he's using this specifically regarding the relations with one another. But this is true in a general way. We're not to use the liberty that we have as Christians to feed upon that which is only fit for a raven. So the Holy Spirit of God, we. If if God has found his delight in Christ and he has. If the Spirit of God has found a resting place for the sole of her foot, then that's the only place, the only one in whom we can find rest ourselves. And in fact, we're all familiar with his invitation. Come unto me, all ye who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Praise the Lord. Amen. Just want to mention that when we speak about the Holy Spirit, we are speaking about a divine person. We're not speaking about power or influence. We are speaking about divine person who is equal to the father and to the son. And, uh, it is a privilege only for the New Testament believers that they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament believers, although they were born again, and that's how they have the privilege to walk with Christ, to walk with God. As we heard about Enoch and Noah, but they were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would come upon them to accomplish a certain mission that the Lord wanted them to accomplish, and then he will depart. And we can, uh, read many verses. One just, I will mention an incident and then I will read the verse. Uh, incident is you can see Samson in the book of judges, many, uh, different incidents that he said in judges chapter sixteen. And he did not know that the Lord departed him. And then in Psalm fifty one, that's a very clear verse here in in David. David saying in Psalm fifty one and verse eleven, do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Who's the writer here is David, and he was a believer. He was born again, but he did not experience what we experienced today. What we have this privilege today as believers in the element of the Holy Spirit. Now, we heard yesterday, um, about in Christ and Christ in us when we say we are in Christ, this is our those who were yesterday, this is our wealth, position or condition. We are in Christ. This is our position and Christ in us. This is our condition as we, our state, our condition, as we reflect Christ in our daily life. But when it comes to the Holy Spirit, it is the other way around. The Holy Spirit in us. This is our position that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In the day that we accepted the Lord as our Savior. But we in the spirit. This is our condition. When we read that in the book of revelation, for example, chapter one, the John said that I was in the spirit in the day. John revelation one verse ten. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as a trumpet. So whenever we are studying, whenever we are reading about the Holy Spirit, let us always remember that we are dealing with a divine person, not with a power or influence. Example of the Raven and the dove is a good example. The example of the dove and. And Raven is a good example of the two natures inside us. Now, after believing in the Lord. The Lord lift the raven inside us. One of the brothers or sisters say, why the Lord lift the raven inside me? Why you makes me only dove? Because we are eager to be proud. To look to the other people who not yet delivered themselves to the Lord with proud. We are believers. We are good. You are bad. You are sinner. That's why the Lord lifts the the the the raven inside us. But there is also another thing we must think of. What we eat will lead to what we be. The driven. Eat anything. Many things are. They called in America. What kind of food? Junk food. Junk food. Not from McDonald's. What? You see what you see in your telephone. What? Your mind occupied by. Many things are bad. Even its mention is very bad. What you eat, what you see, what you think. This is a driven, driven inside us. But when we Look at the Lord. Look at the. Help of the Holy Spirit. When we look at the. And meditate on the Word of God, we like. Be like a dove. That's why we must be careful. The dove and driven. Not outside, not in the ark, but inside our flesh. That's why we must, every one of us, take care for himself and take care for his people who are rounding him. Not I am taking care of myself only, but my my, my children, my brother, my sister, my neighbors also. We said from Brother Sam, we had a responsibility towards the unsaved people surrounding us. We must have a good witness to him to be a source of blessing. They can see the Lord Jesus and it's holiness and it's it's love. While we are walking inside them, not above them. I will give another illustration. We go back. Is it on? Yeah. If we go back to verse three of Galatians chapter three, are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? So we started out with this idea that we're to walk as children in the light, walk in love, and now walking in the spirit. The answer to this question is obviously no. So that which began in the spirit must continue on in the spirit. We're not too long ago at Michael and Robin's home and we talked about this idea. There's a nice little story from the Lord is near. It was a young boy that his shoes got completely tied in knots. He brought them the shoes to his mother to untie. She got halfway through and he said, I can take it from here. And so of course, he was unable to get the shoes right. And how often in our lives do we do this? We weave as like John, and we see that picture of John in the spirit. Before he was in the spirit, where was he? He's the island of Patmos. Much suffering, difficulty with things come in our lives. We're drawn to a closeness to the Lord and we begin acting in the spirit. We're drawn to him. We. We sense what we think is freedom, and indeed it's not. And then we continue on in the flesh. God forbid. May we. May we abide closer unto him. May we see him in the midst. That we would ever begin in the spirit and not continue in the spirit. Recognizing the things for what they are. Amen. The Spirit of God in our life is the only power that any of us have to be able to glorify God. To be able to live the Christian life. Some people say it's. It's hard to live the Christian life. And we answer that by saying no, it's impossible to live the Christian life. You can't live it. I can't live it. But it's Christ in me, and it's the Spirit of God in me that allows me to live the Christian life. And this was the teaching. Uh, we don't want to stray too much from Galatians, but this is the teaching of the apostle Paul. Also in the book of Romans, in the book of Romans, he reminds us of the. If we want to be on the right ground for sanctification, it's only as we identify with the death of Christ in Romans chapter six. But when you come to Romans chapter seven, that's the wrong way of sanctification in Romans chapter seven. It's. It's someone trying to. He says, the things that I don't want to do, I do. And the things that I do want to do, I don't do. He said, oh, wretched man that I am! And how many of us have experienced that? Probably all of us, that we've all experienced that where we try to live the Christian life in our own strength and it's impossible. And so what he tells us then in the book of Romans is when he comes to chapter six and seven, the. The right way is to identify with the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. To recognize that we died with Christ. And then he speaks about this newness of life. Where to walk in the newness of life, presenting our instruments to God for righteousness sake. But then in chapter seven, we have that struggle. But chapter eight begins with, in fact, I would say this, that in chapter one through seven of Romans you find the Spirit of God only mentioned three times, approximately three times. The Spirit of God is mentioned. But when you get into Romans chapter eight, the Spirit of God is mentioned almost twenty times. And there's a lesson there that it's the Spirit of God. In fact, we could boil those twenty times down to this in verses one to thirteen of Romans eight. He's called the spirit of life, the spirit of life, because it is through the Spirit of God that you and I can live this abundant life that God desires for us to live. Then in verses fourteen down to about verse seventeen, he talks about the spirit of adoption, that we not only have this this new life to live and. But now we have a new relationship, which we've already said this earlier, but now we, we cry out, ABBA, father. And we've been made not just children of God, but here it is. Paul speaks about children of God. That's John's ministry. But Paul's ministry is not so much children of God as much as it is sons of God. We've been brought into a place of dignity. How precious is that? That we're not just children. I would have been satisfied. Probably you too, with just being in the family of God. But no. God says, I want you to walk in the dignity of sonship. I want you to have your sonship shoes on. And I want you to walk through life as a son of God. And the Lord Jesus is bringing many sons to glory, and I'm one of them. Isn't that wonderful? You're one of them. And. And when we say, son. Sisters, don't worry about it. It's it's plural. Uh, we mean male and female. We're all sons of God. And if that really bothers you, think about this. When it when it comes to the bride of Christ, that's male and female. Make up the bride of Christ and bride is female. So don't let it bother you, right? But when you think about this, this is this new relationship and we've been adopted. Not only have we been born into the family, but we've been adopted as sons. We have the right before God to enjoy all the blessings he has for us here and now. And, and then we find, uh, in verse eighteen to twenty five. What does the Spirit of God do? He's called the spirit of glory in that section, verse eight to, to twenty five, eighteen to twenty five, he's called the spirit of glory. And what is he doing? He's pointing us to our hope. He's pointing us to our hope. Uh, reminding us that our hope is not in this world. Our hope is outside of this world. And he reminds us of those things, these things that we face in this life. They're just for a moment. Even creation is crying out. And we find that creation is waiting for the Lord Jesus to come and restore things for his glory. And then lastly, uh, from verse twenty six and twenty seven, we find that the spirit is called the spirit of intercession. The spirit of intercession. Not only do we have a man in the glory. Whoever lives to make intercession for us, but we have the spirit within us who even when we don't know what to pray. The Spirit of God is able to bring to our mind and bring to our attention. And he's able to to intercede for us. How beautiful that is. So this is the work of the spirit. And it begins with this manner of the spirit of life. He he is addressed as the spirit of life. And that's for our walk right here. So when we come back to our verse, verse sixteen, walk in the spirit. And this is the position and privilege of every believer. We don't have to be men and women of the flesh, walking in the flesh, fulfilling the lust of the flesh. That's that's that old man, and he's dead. But because God now has given us the power within us, the Holy Spirit, we can live this life, a vibrant Christian life for the glory of God. Amen. Talk about walking in the spirit is important for us because there are two powers working in every believer the flesh and the spirit. And each one against the other, which make the. The life is more sensitive, and it depends on which one you are giving a chance or giving space in your life giving space for the Holy Spirit. You follow the Holy Spirit, giving space for more work of the flesh. It following the flesh. But the Word of God tells us about two issues in walking in the spirit. The first one in first Thessalonians chapter five and verse nineteen, we can read something about. Issue for how we walking wrong in the spirit. We can read it in first Thessalonians chapter five verse nineteen. It says that. Quench not the spirit. And this is the first thing. We face it while we are walking. Quench not the Jasperit. What means? It means that I do something that the Holy Spirit does not need me to do. The Holy Spirit need me to do something and I work something else. This is the first thing doing, not doing the things that the Holy Spirit need me to do. This is quenching like the spirit. Tell me something to do and I reject or didn't do it. Like I switched it off. This is quench. The second thing mentioned in Ephesians chapter four and verse thirty, it tells us about another issue. For walking in the spirit, we can read it also in Ephesians four verse thirty And they grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby are sealed unto the day of the redemption. He says something else. What this is grieve not. What means grieve not. Grieve not means I do something from my own, from my what I see. Oh, this. I have to do this one. Because of. Because of, because of. This is grieving. The Holy Spirit does not tell me to do this. Why I did it. He agreed. So now we have these two issues. It's very important. That's why living in the spirit need more training in our spiritual life. It depends. So if I don't quench the spirit or I didn't. I don't grieve the spirit. So what I have to do. I have to be filled with the spirit. And the filling was a spirit. The spirit is does not mean that I take a big amount of spirit in me. But as I mentioned in the beginning, the more I give a chance to the spirit dealing with me, it will reflect on my action. And this is what we have to do. This is called walking in the spirit. So the conclusion is how will be walking correctly in the spirit? By not quenching but not grieving, but filled with the spirit. Just need more time. Need more to be sensitive to the dealing with the law. And he gave us the spirit in us to lead us in each work or each thing we have to do. I have another idea about the kitchen and the grieving of the Holy Spirit. Simply, I can say that the Holy Spirit inside the the whole of meeting. Because the verse after that one who don't carry the spirit, don't despise the prophecies. We. Prophecies. We do our exercise in prophecy while we are in the meeting. Uh. I can finish the Holy Spirit when I rush to speak before one of my brothers who led by the spirit to to give a word of encouragement or I can finish the Holy Spirit when I hesitated. I stayed not. I am afraid that may be not from the spirit. This may lead to the Holy Spirit. But the other thing which is related to the. Grieve the Holy Spirit. This can happen about twenty two hours the whole day. When I look a bad look for anyone. When I despise anyone, when I speak bad words from my mouth. And we can relate it to this sense which is written in the last verses of Ephesians. For this sense are related to the believer, not to the unbeliever. That's why we can grieve the Holy Spirit by by bad works by our bed drawings, but we can finish the Holy Spirit when we hesitated, or when one rush himself to speak before the one led by the Holy Spirit. This is just a simple thoughts. May the Lord use it to help us to get benefits from his work. I have also one word about led by the spirit and walk in the spirit. Walk in the spirit. The spirit is the power for walking, but led by the Holy Spirit that the the. The Holy Spirit direct me to know the right way. During it, I can walk the one related to my mind. The other related to my actions. Walking in the spirit means I need the power of the spirit to work correctly, but led by the spirit, I need his help to lead my thoughts to be in. A good. Condition in a good condition with the mind of the Lord. Thank you. Yeah, I'm glad you made that distinction, because when we think about this word to be led by the spirit, uh, the, the actual, the, the Greek word ago is to be led and it means to be carried. It, it, it's the spirit that is leading us and carrying us into whatever it is that we're doing. What's interesting about it, it's only mentioned twice in the New Testament. This particular word is only used twice. It's used here in the book of Galatians, and it's used in Romans again, as many as are led by the spirit. It says in Romans chapter eight. And so this. And both of them, whether it be in Galatians or whether it be in Romans, it both has the idea of the individual being led by the Spirit of God. The individual Christian being led by the Spirit of God when in his life it has. This word led really has. In the two places it's mentioned in Scripture has really nothing to do with the Assembly as much as it is the individual life. And so as the individual is led in his own private life, he continues to be led and he comes together with other brothers and sisters. And we often talk about being led in the Assembly, but there is no such word. If we're not led privately, you cannot expect to walk through the doors. Flip a switch and all of a sudden you're going to be led in the meeting. It doesn't happen that way. If I'm not led privately at in my own life, then I'm not going to be led in the meeting. And if I am being if I participate in the meeting without being led by the spirit, that's very. And that's what our brother was saying. It's very dangerous position to be in. And so this underlines the importance of this being led by the spirit in our own life. And before we can really be led by the spirit, there's something else that's not here in Galatians that we need to draw our attention to. And that's in the book of Ephesians in chapter five, verse eighteen, where he tells us to be filled with the spirit. And we need to bring this in just for a moment. And the the idea of being filled with the spirit, that particular Greek word. It means that we're. It has the connotation of a. It means to be controlled. Let me say it that way. First, it needs to be controlled by. And here's an illustration. If you see a sailboat and the sailboat is going down the. The sea, he's out at sea and there's no wind and there's. That sailboat has no power to move down the sea. But when the wind comes along and catches the sail and moves that empowers that sail to move that boat right down, that's the word. That's the word that's used. Another illustration if you're not a sailor, here's another illustration. And that is, uh, when you sisters will make a nice roast beef, Invite me over when you do. But when you make a nice roast beef and you season that meat and you put all sorts of season in the meat and the the season then permeates into the meat. It controls the flavor of the meat. That's the word filled with the spirit. And so putting it back now into the context is my life is to be under the control, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit of God. And when I'm under the control of the Spirit of God and, and let me just ask the question, how do we get there? Glad you asked. Because the answer is found in the book of Colossians in chapter three. In the book of Colossians, it says, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. And that's about the same place. If you can parallel it, it's the same place as Ephesians five eighteen. The sister book to Colossians where it says, be ye filled with the spirit. And then it goes and shows you all the areas of life. You're to be filled with the spirit. And in Colossians it says, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, and it shows you the same areas in which you're to be. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. So how is it that we're filled with the spirit? Get into the word and let the word get into you, and you'll find that now the spirit has something to work with. It's the Word of God that the Spirit of God works with in the heart of the child of God. And so how important this is in our everyday Christian walk. So we walk in the spirit and we live and we led by the spirit. But we shouldn't forget this one. In verse twenty five, he says, if we live by the spirit. That word means moment by moment. It means to stay in step with the spirit, moment by moment. And the only way we can stay in the in step with the spirit moment by moment, is if we're filled with the Spirit of God. So these things go hand in glove together. And then the last one mentioned here in verse twenty five is, let us also walk in the spirit. Now it might seem like, okay, we had that up in verse sixteen, but actually it's a different Greek word. It's not the same word. And this word means to march in military rank. Uh, to follow the leader in military rank to as a if you think of a marching band, have you ever seen a video of of a marching band and they're all marching out on the field, and there's one guy that misses the cue and he marches the other way. He's not staying in step with the spirit. He's not walking in the spirit. And that's the word here, this second word that's used down in verse twenty five to walk in the spirit that means to it's a military word. And it means as as a military group are marching to stay in step and stay informed. And, and that's a challenge for each of us. So these different words are very important as our brother Nabeel was bringing before us. I have a verse from Isaiah thirteen thirty, Isaiah thirty, verse twenty one, your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left. This is the verse expressed to us how the Spirit of God leads us. When we deviated from the right way, he correct us by his leading the aim of the Holy Spirit to glorify Christ. The Lord Jesus said this. Glorify me because he takes from me and declare to you. And we have to make sure that this word which we hear in our ears is right. When we compare what we hear by the Word of God, there is no contradiction by the leading of the Holy Spirit in all daily activities and the Word of God, because the same authority to the Holy Spirit who wrote the word, who lead me in the right direction. That's why I found this is a very rich verse, that through it we can learn how we led by the spirit. We must train ourselves to to listen to the voice of the Lord through the Holy Spirit. I think one of the main results of being filled of the Holy Spirit is what we find here in verse twenty two is the fruit of the spirit. Now, we mentioned earlier that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a privilege for all the believers, and this happened once and doesn't change. You always will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but now being filled of the Holy Spirit. It will not continue with us if we are not controlled by the Holy Spirit. So today it can be filled by the spirit if I'm walking in the spirit, but if I am not walking in the spirit, then I'm not will. I will not be filled by the spirit. The only person, the perfect one, who was always filled by the spirit and led by the spirit was the Lord Jesus. But then we find this beautiful list here in verse twenty two, but the fruit of the spirit. And if you go a few verses up in verse nineteen, we see another list. Now the works of the flesh. And I think where we contrasted these two, and he mentioned that when it speaks about the flesh, it says works in plural, because there is a lot of noise. And he and he typified it with, with, with a workshop where you can hear a lot of noise. But then when it comes to the spirit, although they are nine different fruit of the spirit. But he doesn't say fruits in ruler, but he say fruit of the spirit, and the picture always is used in that. It's like a grape cluster. It's one cluster but has many different grapes. But then when we see the fruit, we don't, we, we don't necessarily, I actually we don't hear the, the tree when it is, uh, when there is a fruit coming out. But we see it, we enjoy it, but we hear the works of the flesh. But then those nine, we can divide them into three groups, uh, love, joy, peace. And that's in our relationship to the Lord, longsuffering, kindness, goodness that's in our relationship to each other. And then the last one, gentleness, um, self, sorry, um, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. It's, uh, in our relationship to our selves now. Um, to have this fruit in our lives, we have to give the room for the Holy Spirit. But now again, as we did or mentioned about first Corinthians thirteen, that if we remove the word love and put the word, we put the Lord Jesus, it fits perfectly. And here also we can see that this fruit of the spirit was revealed in full in the life of the Lord Jesus. When we go to Leviticus chapter two, we can read two expression about the meal offering there that we take a lesson from there in the book of Leviticus, chapter one or chapter two. Yeah, just read them quickly in chapter two verse one, and it says, and he shall pour oil on it. And then later in verse four, he said, the flour mixed with oil. And this was the life of the Lord Jesus. Pour oil on it. He was anointed by the Holy Spirit mixed with oil. He was from the um, the womb of Mary. The Holy Spirit came upon her according to the, uh, Luke chapter one and verse thirty five. And that's why during all his life, you can clearly see this full, this perfect example that the fruit of, of the spirit was manifested in his life. Can we look at a few verses that speak of our Lord, uh, as, uh, led of the spirit and full of the spirit? First off, in Isaiah eleven And verse two, speaking prophetically of the Lord Jesus and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. Once again, the Spirit of God resting, finding a resting place for the sole of her foot. The spirit of wisdom and understanding. The spirit of counsel and might. The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. This was demonstrated in the life of our Lord Jesus. As Brother Haney mentioned in Luke chapter one. The Lord Jesus the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and that which was born of thee shall be called the Son of God. But the Spirit of God was involved. The Spirit of God is involved in our births as well. In John chapter three. We're born of the spirit. And then, uh, we find and we mentioned it already, it is baptism where God sealed him, anointed him, and declared that he was a perfect man and even the Son of God's love. But in the next chapter, in Luke chapter four, it says, In Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness. So our Lord Jesus is God. We all understand this. He is the Son of God. He's eternally God, but he is a perfect, absolutely perfect man. And so we see him in all that he did. He is full of the Holy Ghost, the only one that is always and ever been full of the Holy Ghost. Uh, yielded totally to the Holy Spirit. He led by the spirit into the wilderness. And when he returns after the victory over the powers of darkness, it says in verse chapter four of Luke and verse thirteen, uh fourteen And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit. And when he was challenged in Matthew regarding the miracles that he did. He said verse twenty eight of chapter twelve of Matthew, but if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. The point that we want to make is that all that the Lord Jesus did, all that we talk about in our own lives as being born of the spirit, led of the spirit, filled with the spirit walking in the spirit. All of this was perfectly fulfilled in he who is the author and finisher of faith, the Lord Jesus. And finally, in Hebrews chapter ten, Hebrews ten and fourteen, even at the cross the Holy Spirit is involved with him, the Lord Jesus. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God. So I find it so encouraging to see that everything that we have been speaking about has been fulfilled perfectly in the person of our Lord Jesus. Amen. That's why you have it there. Did you read the comment on verse eighteen of chapter four? The spirit of the Lord is upon me. That's very challenging for him. You're on a roll, brother. Don't you get bored? In Luke chapter four. Verse seventeen, Luke four seventeen and there was delivered unto him. This is in Nazareth, as his custom was in verse sixteen. He went into the synagogue, uh, for there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted. Hallelujah! To preach deliverance to the captives. Freedom! We should rejoice in this. We should rejoice in this. Hallelujah. Preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised. How wonderful to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he preaches that today. If whatever situation that you might be going through in your own heart. He knows, and he has come as God's man to draw near to you and to me, He's anointed to preach the gospel to all, to the poor. No respect of persons. We're respecter of persons. We talked about sin earlier. It is a sin to respect persons. It's a sin when we think more of that person that's driving the Mercedes than driving the, I don't know, Honda, you know, I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend anybody if you have a Mercedes or a Honda, but I'm just saying we're respecter of persons and it's not. Right. And so he comes to the poor. Hallelujah. Uh, he's the bread of heaven, not the New York state. He has sent me to heal the broken in heart. And how many can hide a broken heart. And cover it up with a smile and and a Christian terminology. And really be broken in heart. Uh, God help you in this moment to know that there is one that cares. Oh how he cares. To preach deliverance to the captives. He set me free. Hallelujah. In nineteen seventy eight. And I hope that every one of you. I don't care how long you've been a Christian, but that you can rejoice in this moment that Jesus Christ has set you free from the filthiness of your sin and the slavery and bondage of it, because I think that there should be much, much more exuberance in our Christianity, that that's so attractive to see someone that is glowing with the love of the Lord, to see someone that's rejoicing in their salvation. And I want to tell you, you can't preach the gospel if you aren't experiencing it in that very moment. And so I'm sorry. You you go ahead. Amen. Just one. Just one strike comment. It was just such beautiful words, you know? Uh, out of the Bible that we have. And the question is, always ask. Who can ever separate us from the love of God? And the question is, shall tribulation or distress or persecution? What about famine or nakedness or peril or sword? And the answer is none of these things. None of these things and all of these things. It says we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And it tells us that for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, not height, not depth. Any other creature can ever separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Amen.
