Sermon Tone Analysis

Our Walk In the Spirit

Key Verse: Romans 8: 13

Scripture Lesson

INTRODUCTION

“We have just studied in Romans 7 the spiritual defeat of the unregenerated.

In chapter 8 we will learn the basis for the victorious life of a born-again Christian.

We learn in verses 1-4 that those who have been filled with the Spirit of Christ and walk after His Spirit are no longer under condemnation.

This is the Lord’s answer to the question of Romans 7:24, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

This deliverance can only come through the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 7:25).

The law of the Spirit of Christ Jesus does for us what the law of Moses, or any other law, could never do.

If there had been a law given that could have given life, righteousness should have been by the Law (Galatians 3:21).

A law can force people to do what they do not want to do or put them behind bars, but it cannot make them righteous.

One may even reform his life to a certain degree, but he can only be made righteous by God’s gift of life in the Holy Ghost (Romans 5:17).

“For this reason it was essential for Jesus to redeem men from sin and death by His death and give them a portion of His resurrection life (Hebrews 2:14-15).

When one has been filled with the Holy Ghost, he must no longer walk after the flesh to satisfy its desires and appetites.

He now has power to walk after the Spirit, by which he fulfills the righteous law of God.

Verses 5-10 contrast the walk in the Spirit with the walk in the flesh that is concerned only with the temporal and material things of life.

This is to be carnally (naturally) minded, which will eventually lead to eternal death.

To walk after the Spirit means to be wholly concerned with pleasing God and obeying His will.

The carnal mind is contrary to the will of God and cannot please Him.

But he whose mind has been transformed by the Spirit of God is in harmony with His will and will be led by His Spirit (verse 14).

Paul admonished all, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...

Even a cursory search of the sacred pages of the Scripture reveals the holiness of God and the depravity of man.

Further searching reveals a tender love and compassion emanating from God toward man.

Man was created to live according to God's commandment to be holy.

Yet, the mind of man was so impaired by the Fall, and so beclouded by sin, that the love God has for man is not always readily perceived.

(For this and other reasons four thousand years were required to prepare the world for the promised Savior).

Often the life and fellowship the Christian has with the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as a "walk."

The Apostle Paul admonished the Christians to, "Walk in the Spirit."

To many, however, this seems harsh and hard.

Why?

Because a spiritual "walk" with the Lord requires holiness.

"He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (I Peter 1:15-16)

We must not forget that God is love, an it is only through His laws and commandments that there is everlasting goodness

"And now...what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the comments of the Lord, and His Statutes… for thy good?

Deuteronomy 10: 12-13

I. LIVE IN THE SPIRIT

"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:24-25).

Deep inside of every man lives a spirit which is the very essence of his being.

God created man a free moral agent.

He gave him the freedom to choose right or wrong on his own accord.

Only like this could a man become a moral being of worth, walking in a just and upright manner before his Creator.

"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?

even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" (I Corinthians 2:11).

Man's knowledge of himself lies within his own spirit, and his knowledge of God comes only through the Spirit of God as He reveals Himself to the spirit of man.

A. The Heredity of Sin (let’s talk about)

Man was created holy, but by a willful transgression of a specific commandment man lost his uprightness and holiness before God.

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned"

(Romans 5:12).

Sin, which brought the penalty of death to man, was admitted into the humans heart by the consent of man, himself and in direct opposition to the will of God.

However this did not change God nor His attitude toward the necessary essentiality of man's spiritual uprightness before Him.

The willful disobedience of man changed him from being holy to unholy, unclean, and corrupt.

Man cannot save himself from this sad condition.

"Because the carnal mind is At enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).

"God is a Spirit" (John 4:24), and can only be known spiritually.

But fallen man is alienated from all that is truly spiritual.

Unless he is born again of the water and Spirit, supernaturally brought from death into light, he cannot see or apprehend the things of God.

(See Ephesians 5:14 and John 3:3.)

B. A Greater Law "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:2-4).

The Law given unto man was holy, just, and good; but man whose spirit cannot be subject unto the law of God, remained condemned under the curse of sin.

Further complicating the matter, man had no desire to obey the law of God.

(See Genesis 6:5 and Judges 21:25.)

Had justice taken its course, it is no doubt that man would have been banished from God's presence forever.

Is anyone thankful for His mercy??

Man had to be saved from sin and restored to his rightful place in God.

It must be done by God, but not without the consent of human will.

Had God compelled man to be righteous, then man would not have been able to walk in perfection of character.

He would become nothing more than a puppet.

(See Colossians 3:14.)

A sacrifice for sin had to be made, sufficient enough to satisfy the justice and moral attributes of a holy God.

To accomplish this, the incarnation of God was necessary.

"God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans8:3).

The God-man, our Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous through the atonement at Calvary made it possible for the spirit of man to be cleansed from sin.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9).

Man then becomes the temple in which God dwells through the power of His Spirit.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16).

The Scriptures plainly teach us that the Spirit of God must govern the spirit of man, that man must be holy and that the lust of the spirit of man must die if he is to abide continually in the presence of God.

It is also essential that man live an exemplary life conducive to a spiritual walk with God.

II.

WALK IN THE SPIRIT

"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (II Corinthians 6:16).

In the simplest of terms, walking in the Spirit is being guided by the Holy Ghost.

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13).

Perhaps, in a deeper sense, walking in the Spirit is being identified with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion and in the power of His resurrection.

The Apostle Paul knew the Lord, but his knowledge went further than the intellect.

Paul actually belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ-spirit, soul, and body.

He readily acknowledged Christ's ownership of his being.

Lets listen the cry of his soul:

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death" (Phillippians 3:10).

Our walk with the Lord is to be greaterthan our talk, but many find it easier and less costly to talk about a walk with the Lord Jesus than actually walking with Him!

Only after we have made our initial consecration of all we are and all we haveto the Lord are we ready to walk with Himin a deep spiritual walk.

Walking in the Spirit does not merely Prevent us from breaking the law.

The law operated under the principle of external restraint, but in our walk in the Spirit we are motivated internally rather than restrained externally.

Walking in the Spirit will lead the regenerated spirit of man to exercise the moral character attainable only through the

God-like virtues of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness (kindness), goodness, faith (faithfulness), meekness, temperance (self-control).

A. Walk in Love

Christianity has been defined as "love in action."