“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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 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 5:16-21 NASB1995)

What does it mean to “walk by the Spirit”? It means to live our lives, day in and day out, according to God’s holy word, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, as empowered by the Spirit of God in holy living. For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. This means that we live for God to do his will, and we no longer live to please our sinful flesh, for we love God.

For, although the people of God were no longer bound by the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, circumcision, dietary, and Sabbath laws, they were not free to live however they wanted to live. They were not free from having to obey God, and they were not free to sin as much as they wanted. For God’s grace was not free license to sin, but God’s grace was what sent Jesus Christ to the cross to put our sins to death with him so we will now live in freedom from slavery to sin, by God’s grace.

For the desires of the flesh are in opposition to the desires of the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are in opposition to the desires of the flesh. And this is so that we do not do the things that our sin nature would have us do, but so that we will do the will of God, instead. For the sin nature leads us away from God to doing what our fleshly appetites crave, whereby our new nature in Christ Jesus, of the Spirit, leads us to do what is of God, i.e. what is morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to God’s commands.

And then this gives us a partial list of the works of the flesh which are contrary to the Spirit and to faith in Jesus Christ. And they include sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, and orgies. And other lists include adultery, homosexuality, murder, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slander, inventors of evil, faithlessness, haters of God, disobedience, thievery, greed, swindlers, corrupt talk, bitterness, and unforgiveness, etc.

[Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 3:5-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8]

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are no longer to live as slaves to sin, making sin our practice. For what does it say here? “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” And we need to take that seriously, for that is what Jesus taught and what his New Testament apostles taught. But it is not what is commonly being taught today. For so many today are coddling people in their sins, and they are making excuses for them to continue living in their sins.

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

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

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Walk By The Spirit
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