Are You Walking in The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and Not in The Flesh?
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Hello and good evening. I’d like you to know that I’m a Jewish believer in Yeshua. That’s why sometimes I’ll call our Messiah Yeshua and sometimes I’ll call Him Jesus. Either is OK. And I’ll answer, personally, to anyone who calls me a Jewish believer in Jesus, a Messianic Jew, a born again Jew, or a Christian. Any of those are OK.
Hello and good evening. I’d like you to know that I’m a Jewish believer in Yeshua. That’s why sometimes I’ll call our Messiah Yeshua and sometimes I’ll call Him Jesus. Either is OK. And I’ll answer, personally, to anyone who calls me a Jewish believer in Jesus, a Messianic Jew, a born again Jew, or a Christian. Any of those are OK.
Let’s talk on what I was asked to speak with you about tonight: walking in the Spirit and of course the Spirit I’m talking about is the Holy Spirit, Who is God Himself. I’m not talking about walking in any other kind of spirit or spirits.
Let’s talk on what I was asked to speak with you about tonight: walking in the Spirit and of course the Spirit I’m talking about is the Holy Spirit, Who is God Himself. I’m not talking about walking in any other kind of spirit or spirits.
So you’re saved, born again but you still have trouble doing things the right way. You have trouble being fully obedient to Jesus, to Yeshua. You have trouble walking according to the Spirit. Rivers of living water don’t seem to flow out from you. What does that mean?
So you’re saved, born again but you still have trouble doing things the right way. You have trouble being fully obedient to Jesus, to Yeshua. You have trouble walking according to the Spirit. Rivers of living water don’t seem to flow out from you. What does that mean?
Jesus talked about this in the gospel of John:
Jesus talked about this in the gospel of John:
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
And the very next verse tells us that by rivers of living water Yeshua meant the Holy Spirit:
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
And of course Yeshua is glorified now so that if you believe on Him you have received the Holy Spirit. So let me ask you. Do you have the Holy Spirit flowing out of you? Do people sense that? Do they sense the love of Yeshua coming from you? Do you sense the Spirit flowing out of you? Let me add something at this point. If you don’t sense the Spirit flowing from that does not mean that He, the Spirit is not flowing from, although perhaps He could be flowing from you in greater abundance. Or how about a slightly different question. Do you sense or do you recognize the Holy Spirit flowing out of others, perhaps out of some of your brothers and sisters here tonight, members of this church?
I’d like to give you my answers to those two questions: First, I definitely feel rivers of living water flowing out of some of my brothers and sisters and it’s a most wonderful thing to recognize. Second, I don’t sense that I have this, meaning rivers of living water flowing out of me. At least, I certainly don’t recognize this all the time, not even close. I guess that’s another way of saying that I don’t feel that I’m consistently walking in the Spirit.
Now what do I mean by walking in the Spirit? Before I attempt to answer that question, let me briefly review with you six signs of a born again believer. That’s important because if a person is not born again, meaning saved, it is impossible for that person to walk in the Spirit. Let me share with you something from the writings of J. C. Ryle, a pastor and a great man of God who lived in England in the 19th century. J. C. Ryle made a list of six signs of a born again believer using the Apostle John’s first letter.
What are the signs of a born again person?
No Habitual Sinning.
1 John 3:9 (KJV 1900)
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.
2. Believing in Christ.
1 John 5:1 (KJV 1900)
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.
3. Practicing Righteousness 1 John 2:29
1 John 2:29 (KJV 1900)
If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
4. Overcoming the World
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.
5. Keeping Oneself Pure
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.
6. Loving Other Believers (Loving Other Christians)
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.
Here we have six tests of a born again believer and please let me remind you that there is no such thing as a believer who is not born again. There are no unborn again believers. Now none of us fulfills all of these six marks of a Christian perfectly. Some of us are stronger, even much stronger, in one or more of these six things than we are in others. And some of us are much stronger in one or more of these six things than our brothers and sisters in the faith are. None of us is perfect. But to be a believer we must have these six marks to at least some degree. Now I want to tell you that I don’t recognize consistent love for my fellow believers coming from me, or to put another way I
don’t always recognize rivers of living water pouring out of me. So I’m not walking in the Spirit to the extent that I should be or that I want to be. At least I don’t recognize that I do.
Now in trying to get a better handle on what it means to walk in the Spirit, let me pose another question to you and to me: Is there another way to sum up what I’m asking you and what I’m asking myself here? I think there is. You may recall that a Jewish scribe asked Yeshua what is the greatest commandment in the Law. Here is Yeshua’s answer:
Mark 12:30–31 (KJV 1900)
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like it, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
So I could ask you and I could ask myself: Do we love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength? And do we love our neighbor as ourself? Every neighbor? Or at least every neighbor that we meet or come across? And do we do it all the time? I can’t answer for you brothers and sisters but the answer for me to these questions is no.
So I have another question, both for me and for you. Why is that? Why is it that when a person is born again, he or she does not automatically have rivers of living water flowing out of them? Or why is it that a born again person doesn’t automatically always walk in the Spirit? Why is it that a born again person doesn’t automatically keep the two greatest commandments? And I don’t mean perfectly. We know we are not perfect. But do we keep these two commandments well and do we get better and better at keeping them over time? I suggest that we don’t keep them well enough, that we don’t consistently walk in the Spirit. So why is that?
And another question, one that naturally follows the why question is this: For those of us who don’t consistently walk in the Spirit, can we do anything about that? Another way of looking at these two questions is this. If we get the diagnosis right, the why, is there an effective treatment available, meaning can we do anything about it?
So let’s start by trying to make a diagnosis. Let’s start by trying to get the answer to the question, Why do we not consistently walk in the Spirit?
So let’s start by trying to make a diagnosis. Let’s start by trying to get the answer to the question, Why do we not consistently walk in the Spirit?
Let’s look at a key verse that may help us to understand this:
Romans 6:6 (KJV 1900)
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him (meaning Christ), that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
I believe that our diagnosis is to be found in this verse. Let me read it to you once again: Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Please note that this verse tells us that our old man is crucified. What does that mean? That means that our old man is dead. He has been put to death, once and forever in Him. Him in this verse is Yeshua, Jesus. When we believe, we are spiritually joined to Jesus on the cross when He died. We are in Him. And therefore when He died we died. Our old man died. So when we believe God includes us in what happened on the cross, in Yeshua, Our Old Man is crucified or put to death. The Greek word for crucified is systauroō. It will help us to know that as we look at the rest of this verse. But first who is our old man? He is the man, or woman, we were in Adam before we were saved. You might remember that all of us were in Adam, in his loins, when he sinned in the garden and something called The Fall happened. Sin then entered into Adam and was passed down into each human being ever born and that includes each and every one of us. Because of this we are spiritually dead at birth, each one of us. Remember that the cause of death is sin; there is no other cause of death. Adam died because sin entered into him. We are all spiritually dead as soon as we are leave our mother’s womb because there is sin in us, the sin that was passed down to us from Adam because we were all in Adam when he sinned. Think of it, sin, as if it were an autosomal dominant gene. Everyone who inherits it manifests it. We are all born as sinners. There are no exceptions. So that’s who the old man is. The man, or woman, we were at birth, the man or woman who came from Adam, who was in Adam. Do you know the expression in Christ or in Him or in Messiah? That refers to who we are now. We are believers and we are in Christ. We are joined to Him. Before we were born again we were not in Christ. No, we were in Adam. The old man is who we were in Adam. But Romans 6:6 tells us the the old man is dead. Dead forever. So the old man cannot rise up again. Many people teach that he can and does rise up again but he cannot. That is wrong teaching. By the way, the great Welsh preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones who went home to be with the Lord in 1981 taught me that in his commentary on Romans. The Old Man cannot rise up again because he is dead. What rises up when we are born again is not the old man but the new man which is who we are in Christ. And this death of the old man was accomplished by God. We cannot accomplish this ourselves and we never could. By the way, Galatians 2:20 talks about the same thing:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
This is the same crucifixion mentioned in Romans 6:6 supernaturally accomplished by God. And it’s permanent. Once again, it’s something that only God can do. It’s totally supernatural.
Now what about the body of sin? What is that? We are told that our old man is crucified with him - crucified with Jesus - in order that the body of sin might be destroyed. What is the body of sin and what does destroyed mean here?
Romans 6:6 (KJV 1900)
Why destroyed rather than crucified? What is the Greek word for destroyed? It is katargeō, which means to render powerless or perhaps better (Olive Tree Enhanced Strong's Dictionary) to deprive of force and influence, that henceforth we should not serve sin. So destroyed is not a good translation. Destroyed is not a good translation because destroyed makes us think of death. Normally when something or someone is destroyed they no longer exist. They are gone. They are dead. But that’s not what is happening here. The body of sin is deprived of force and influence. It is still alive and although it is deprived of force it is not totally deprived of force, rather its force is weakened. The body of sin causes us trouble my friends. It makes it harder for us to walk in the Spirit. And it is what gives Satan a foothold on us. But again, what is this body of sin. I want to go back to Galatians 2:20 for a moment:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Notice the phrase and the life which I now live in the flesh. The flesh. I believe that the flesh in this verse is equivalent to the body of sin in Romans 6:6. Now I believe that the body of sin and the flesh mean more than one thing. On the one hand they mean our unredeemed physical or material bodies, including our literal flesh. And that does not just mean flesh in the sense of skin and muscles only. It means the whole unredeemed material body. The brain is therefore included, for example. But flesh in this context also has another meaning. It refers to something else that is unredeemed: unredeemed human weakness and frailty that includes a propensity to sin, a sin nature if you will. But it is not the old man. The Old Man is dead.
Let me give one other passage, a very short one, that I believe helps us understand the body of sin and the flesh.
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
I believe that the Apostle Paul, speaking here as a believer, is equating the body of this death with the flesh. The flesh is giving him all kinds of trouble.
So what about you and me? What do we do? We must crucify the flesh daily. This is Sanctification. The crucifixion of the Old Man was done entirely by God and led to immediate Justification. That came first. We could never do that and it is done, finished, totally completed and permanent. God declared it when we believed and He has given us the status of righteousness. But crucifying the flesh is something different. That is something that we do with the Holy Spirit’s very necessary help and we must do it daily.
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Let’s summarize at this point:
When we are saved God puts to death our Old Man completely, permanently, and without help from us in Christ in order that our body of sin or the flesh might be weakened so that we are no longer slaves to sin. It it the flesh which must daily be crucified and we do that with God’s help.
So we have a diagnosis: a sin nature or sin principle remains in us even after we are saved. It is the body of sin or the flesh. But we have control over the flesh and to walk in the Spirit we must crucify that flesh. The flesh must be progressively crucified, put to death day by day, in order for us to have rivers of living water flow from us.
You have to work with Him for this to be done. It is a cooperative effort. That’s where free will comes in. So what must you do? Well, there are several things. This is not a complete list.
Read the Word of God everyday: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
2. Pray without ceasing. Talk to God like you would to your Father or to a best friend. Ask for help.
Pray without ceasing.
3. Fellowship. Go to church, to Bible studies, to home groups if you have them.
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
4. Share the Good News: 2 Timothy 4:5
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
5. Love people, especially your brothers and sisters in Christ. I’m talking about agape love. This is something that you choose to do. It does not come naturally.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
6. Do not forget the Jewish people and Israel. Remember that from them comes our Messiah and Lord, from them came the Word of God, both Old and New Testaments. God promises blessing to those who do this.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Now, can you decide to do less then all six of these? For example could you read and study Scripture but choose not to love your brothers and sisters in Christ? No. You can’t because the Lord won’t bless that and because it simply won’t work. If you consistently read Scripture you will understand the need for the other things and you will do them. If you fellowship with the saints, you will understand the need to love and you will want to love. And the same with the other things. You will not do all the things equally well and you will not necessarily do them all consistently. But you will try, and the Lord will help you.
In closing let me tell you that you will be sanctified but you have a role in determining to what degree you will be sanctified, to what degree you will walk in the Spirit. There is nobody whose sins are forgiven, who is born again, who is justified, who will not be sanctified:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Notice that justified and glorified are mentioned here. But sanctification comes between the two, yet it is not mentioned. Why? Because it is assumed, it is guaranteed. No one who is justified will stop at that stage. God won’t allow it. All people who are justified, will be glorified at death. That means that all people who are justified will be sanctified although not to the same extent. All people will not be rewarded at the Bema seat of Christ, following the Rapture, to the same degree.
If you want to hear the Lord say to you one day, Well done thou good and faithful servant then please take to heart what I’ve said tonight and put it into practice.
I believe that’s what the Lord gave me to share with you tonight. May the Lord help you take to heart what I’ve said tonight. Thank you for listening. May you have a safe trip home and a blessed week ahead. God bless you all.