Yielding to the Spirit, Denying the flesh, and Producing Fruit - Part 1.
Galatians 5:16-18
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Walk in the Spirit.
As followers of Jesus Christ we are to be walking in the Spirit. This means to be in sync with Him.
There are two ways we can get out of sync with the Holy Spirit.
We grieve the Holy Spirit - sin against
Ephesians 4:30 - And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
When we sin against what the Holy Spirit tells us not to do we grieve Him. He goes to the places we go, He sees what we see, He hears what we hear. We need to be concerned about the fact that we have the Holy Spirit of God with us at all times. Oh how we’d reconsider some places we’ve gone or things we’ve seen if we had our mother with us everywhere we went. But how much greater and holy is the Spirit of God who is with us everywhere we go, knows every thought we think, here’s every lyric and tune of music we put in our ears, hears every word that comes out of our mouth, sees everything that passes through our eyes. Should we not have a greater regard and a desire to not grieve the Holy Spirit than our own mother?
We quench the Holy Spirit - not listen
1 Thessalonians 5:19 - Quench not the Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit is prodding us to do something and we say “no” that is grieving the Holy Spirit. When He says “give a tract to cashier”, or “witness to that waitress”, or “invite your neighbor to church”, or “talk with your co-worker about the Gospel”. When we say “no” to the leading of the Holy Spirit we throw a bucket of water on the fire He wants to set in us to do His will.
When we do either of these things we need to restore the relationship and get back in sync with the Spirit.
I think back to a time when I was riding a bicycle down the road where I lived. There was a slight decline and I was peddling pretty quickly when all of a sudden my foot slipped off and the pedal smashed into the back of my leg. It was very painful, to say the least. I rapidly got off my bike and walked it home in much pain. What happened? My feet became out of sync with the pedal.
As Christians we must be in sync with the Holy Spirit. When we get out of sync with Him, by quenching or grieving Him, we very rapidly can find ourselves in a situation we do not desire to be in. We need to be in sync with the Holy Spirit.
Amos 3:3 - Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
When we do not agree with the Holy Spirit we aren’t walking with Him. We need to be agreeing with Him by following His leading in our life.
When we walk in the Spirit we don’t fulfill the flesh.
The best way to keep tares out of a bushel is to fill it with wheat. The best way to keep the flesh out of your life is to have it full of the Spirit.
You cannot do both. You are either fulfilling the lust of the flesh or fulfilling the desire of the Spirit.
The flesh is referring to the sinful desires that are innately a part of us. It is the sinful element of man’s nature passed on to him from Adam.
The Spirit is that which comes by the regenerating operation of the Holy Spirit. The desires of the Holy Spirit for our life.
The desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit war against each other. They do not agree on any account. The only way we can not fulfill the flesh is by submitting and following the Holy Spirit. The flesh has no desire to do good and living in the flesh is our default mode as human beings. We must submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit and His desires for our life to avoid doing the works of the flesh.
