Walk by the Spirit and..

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:16-17 ESV)

There are many people today, at least here in America, who are professing faith in Jesus Christ, and who are claiming heaven as their eternal destiny, but who are still living in deliberate and habitual and premeditated sin against the Lord, and against other humans. And many of them, from what I have heard, are either claiming that God no longer judges them for their habitual sins, or else they make all kinds of excuses for why they are still trapped in sin and for why they have not yet come out of that sin.

And largely from what I have observed and experienced and heard from others and have read and have heard from some preacher’s sermons, there is a large number of these professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are continuing to live in sin who are not willing to listen to the truth of what the Scriptures teach on how to be free from their addiction to sin. Or they will acknowledge the truth, but they will say that it doesn’t work for them or that they are the exception to the rule, etc.

But the Scriptures, which do not lie, make it quite clear what we must do to be free from our slavery to sin. We must deny self, die with Christ to sin, not just once, but in daily practice, and we must walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And daily we must say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God, and we must not play with fire and then expect not to get burned. But first we must deny self and surrender our lives to the Lord to do his will and then die with him to sin and then walk in obedience daily to his commands.

For we cannot walk by the Spirit if we are not even in the Spirit, but we are still in the flesh. So death to our old lives must come first so that we can walk now in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God. And then, in order to not gratify the desires of the flesh, we must be walking (in conduct, in practice) daily by the Spirit, under the leading and guidance of the Spirit, and in his power and strength and wisdom. And we must obey his commands, in practice.

But if we are living worldly lives, and so most of our free time is taken up with consuming what is of this sinful world and not with the word of the Lord, and not in walks of obedience to his commands in holy living, then we are not going to have the power and the strength and the wisdom to not gratify the sinful cravings of the flesh. For we need to be filled up with God and with his word and with following him in obedience if we are going to be able to resist Satan and flee temptation and not yield to sin.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:24]

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21 ESV)

Now those who are still walking in deliberate sin against the Lord, in open rebellion against him and against his moral laws, but while they are claiming Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and heaven as their eternal destiny, will sometimes also be those who will rebuke the idea that they will not inherit the kingdom of God and eternal life with God, because, even though they are walking in sin, and not in obedience to the Lord, they are convinced that their profession of faith in Jesus secures heaven for them.

But all throughout the New Testament we are given such warnings as this that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord in holy living are not what we practice, that we don’t know God, we are not born of God, we are not in fellowship with God/Christ, but we are of the devil, and we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips profess. Jesus taught it, Paul taught it, and the other apostles taught it. And so we need to believe it and put obedience to God into practice.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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