Daniel Pasaribu
Monday Sermon for LJUSC as of April 9, 2012
“LIVE AND WALK IN THE SPIRIT”- PART I - Galatians 5:
16 & 25
Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Galatians 5:16:” Walk in the Spirit, and you should not fulfilled the lust of the flesh”. Galatians 5:25 : “ If you live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”. Do you walk with God? As a Christian, do you walk daily “in the Spirit?” How would you characterize your Christian walk? Is it a spiritual one? Or is it a walk that is carnal? Do your appetites control you? Does your “wants” and “desires” control you?
Christians waver between spirituality and carnality for most of their life, with a small handful achieving a walk that is consistently spiritual. But those who don’t achieve a consistent spiritual walk do fulfill, on a consistent basis, the unspoken, inherent truth of the verse in Galatians 5:16. That verse says that if one walks in the Spirit, one will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The inherent, unspoken truth in that is that if one does not walk in the Spirit, one will fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Christians walk carnally, pleasing their flesh, some moderately, some laviously, some unbridled, and some with a measure of restraint, while many struggle openly and obviously with their flesh, dominated at times, weak, helpless and overpowered by its demands and needs. They go about seeking to please God in their life with supreme efforts at doing good and fail.
As Christians we often hear messages about living for God, about being obedient to God, about doing the “right thing,” about following rules and standards of conduct. Such messages are good reminders for us. We need to hear about our duty. The Bible admonishes us about things we are to DO. The book of James clearly tells us that we are to DO, not just profess. Thus, we strive to conduct ourselves upright in a Christ-like manner. We associate with other like-minded Christians which help us maintain a lifestyle that is consistent with our beliefs, with our profession of faith. We avoid social scenes that will place temptations before us or which will harm the image we now have of a “good person,” or a “godly person.” We do not want to be considered, any more, a “wicked person,” or an “immoral person.” In short, we do, as the Scriptures say: “Put away the old man and put on the new man.”
But inside, there is a raging, snarling lion.
Sin dominates some Christians such that they awaken with a lust to satisfy the flesh that does not diminish throughout the day. Some want liquor on awakening. Some want a cigarette. Some want a sleeping pill. Some want drugs. Some want sex. And others are so depressed they simply want to go back to sleep. Christians stumble through their days struggling against the flesh, losing, winning, losing, falling, getting up, falling again, despairing and weeping, wanting deliverance, not understanding the battle, and never realizing the battle is already won.
Most Christians view the struggle against sin as a contest of will power. They feel they must exert their will power against the flesh. And so they must. Most Christians feel that if they fail, it is because they “gave in” or “gave up,” or were too weak to resist temptation. And that is true. But, the underlying rationale behind their thinking is truly not true . Their reasoning is shallow, not complete. You see, it is a paradox of sorts. It is the will of the Christian that decides to sin or not. But, hear this statement: The will power of the Christian is no match for his or her flesh. You will lose most of the time.
The Bible says: “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” - 1 John 2:6. But the Christian says: “I can’t walk as Christ walked. After all, He was God. And yes, I know I should not do this sin. However, the urge is so powerful, my appetite for it is so enormous, that after awhile, I cannot ignore the flesh. It’s cry is too fierce, too loud, too demanding. It occupies my every waking thought. It drives me. I am too weak to resist and so I give in.”
That is the cry of far, far too many Christians, today. It doesn’t have to be that way. There is a simple, yet tremendously effective weapon that can be used against the flesh.
God says His grace is sufficient. God says He has chosen the weak things of the world (you do qualify, don’t you?). God says He is able to do the impossible. God says we can do ALL things through Christ. God says He does best when we are weak.(Phillipians4:13)
Again, we will give intellectual assent to all of that. But we somehow can’t walk through our front door with full and complete expectation of those things. We say we believe God is “all sufficient,” but we don’t expect God to give us the will power, the character, the power, the desire or whatever it is we need to be strong and to win the victory over the flesh. We say we believe that God gives us grace to help, but we don’t expect God to give us the power to overcome our sin. We make our sin greater than God’s grace. We make our weakness greater than God. We make our wickedness too great for God to handle.
Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
No Christian on the face of this earth is capable of living holy before the Lord God unless he or she walks by faith. You must believe that God is able to enable you to live for Him. You must believe that if He gave an order for you to obey, He will absolutely have committed Himself to provide you with the power, the purpose, the desire and whatever else you need to obey that command. Thus, if God said to be holy, to live holy and to be fruitful, then all that remains for the Christian is to believe it.
If the book of James teaches anything, it teaches us that unless and until we reach out and grab the task God has set before us, or unless we reach out and perform the task commanded, our faith is dead. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. 19. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” - James 2:17-20. If all we have is knowledge, we are not wise. We are not faithful. And we are not obedient. And if those things be true, then we are not walking in the Spirit.
And if that be true, the we are walking in the flesh. And if we are walking in the flesh, we are fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.(Galatians 5:16)
And everywhere, Christians strive with the flesh, winning, losing, rising, falling, weeping, hoping, waiting, all seeking to live the “victorious” Christian life, only to see it dangle just beyond their grasp. Just when it seems close, they reach for it and suddenly it is once more far away, jerked away by the ropes of sin. And too quickly, we yelp that “the devil made me do it” in order to have an excuse. And while it is true that Satan and his demons horde lurk amongst us and stalk us, it is not true that all our fleshly failings belong to them. The Bible says: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
And everywhere, such Christians have acknowledged the truth of all the Scriptures quoted herein, and have acknowledged the veracity of what has been said here, but have failed to reach out and by faith, live the life that Christ has already given: His Life. His Strength. His Power. Not ours.
As it is written: “Not by power or might, but by my Spirit saith the Lord.” And again, it is not with our vision, our determination, our ability to see and know the road ahead that we walk. It is a walk of faith. “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” - (2 Cor 5:7).
And even the faith we have is of God. “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.” - Gal 2:20. Paul said “yet not I, but Christ.” He understood from whence his life now came. And he understood that it was God’s faith given to Paul that enabled Paul to live the spiritual life.
Charles Stanley once said that our God would not give us His Spirit and then abandon us, hoping we’d somehow learn to walk, learn to live and learn to obey, without giving us everything we could possibly need to live, to walk, to obey and to glorify Him. It is not logical that God would fail to equip His soldiers. It is not logical that God would leave us to our own puny, frail will power in order to achieve victory in our Christian walk. But that’s what we do, many of us. Too long and too often, Christians have walked, depending on themselves, expecting that they should somehow have this great power of will and character, never expectantly and unconditionally realizing that it was a “done deal,” that Christ conquered the flesh on the cross and that they are dead with Christ, yet risen also with Him in newness of life.
Actually, there is not an honest Christian alive who will deny that he or she is inadequate for the expectations of Christ. None of us can do it. The facts are that although we have striven mightily against sin, again and again we have failed. That’s a fact and you know it. You have failed and failed and failed and failed. Your flesh has overpowered you in many areas of your life, again and again. Your temper, your appetite, your tongue...your flesh, has betrayed you. That’s a fact that’s undeniable.
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” - (Phil 1:6)
Recognize your weakness and then rejoice. Paul did. “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” - 2 Cor 12:9. The big difference between the carnal Christian and the spiritual Christian is that the one has a life of striving and failing, the other, a life of striving and achieving. The difference is that one, in simple faith, depends on God to empower him or her for the task, while the other depends on a surge of will power, or chance, or some kind of vague, undefined “Hope I’m up to it” kind of “faith” that is no faith.
If you will, in simple faith, give yourself to God and then expect Him to help you and believe that He has given you all you need to walk victoriously, then it will be even as your faith has decreed. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” - Rom 12:1. Notice that your body is considered by God to be “holy” and, best of all, “ACCEPTABLE UNTO GOD.” Thus, isn’t it reasonable that you present yourself to God? After all, you belong to Him. You were bought with a price. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” - 1 Cor 6:20.
So what about it? Are you tired of losing? Weary of the flesh always winning? There is a way to win. Regularly. Consistently.
It takes faith in what God has already promised. It takes understanding and wisdom. It takes an expectant faith that waits patiently for God to perform, never wavering, not doubting, and never making one’s sins and weakness greater than God’s grace.
Remember this: “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” - Rom 5:20
God’s grace abounds towards you, that is, God has sent His grace, in abundance, IN YOUR DIRECTION, and is able to subdue your worst sin.
How Do We Live and Walk In the Spirit?
The phrase "live and walk by the Spirit" occurs not only in verse 25 but also in verse 16, "But I say, walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh." So here we see what the opposite of walking by the Spirit is, namely, giving in to the desires of the flesh. Remember, "flesh" is the old, ordinary human nature that does not relish the things of God and prefers to get satisfaction from independence, power, prestige, and worldly pleasures. When we "walk by the Spirit," we are not controlled by those drives. This is what verse 17 means: the flesh produces one kind of desires, and the Spirit produces another kind, and they are opposed to each other. Walking by the Spirit is what we do when the desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the flesh. This means that "walking by the Spirit" is not something we do in order to get the Spirit's help, but rather, just as the phrase implies, it is something we do by the enablement of the Spirit.
Ultimately, all the good inclinations or preferences or desires that we have are given by the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Spirit we are mere flesh. And Paul said in Romans 7:18, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." Apart from the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, none of our inclinations or desires is holy or good, "for the mind of the flesh is hostile to God's law and does not submit to it because it cannot" (Romans 8:7). The new birth is the coming into our life of the Holy Spirit to create a whole new array of desires and loves and yearnings and longings. And when these desires are stronger than the opposing desires of the flesh, then we are "walking by the Spirit." For we always act according to our strongest desires.
Therefore, "living and walking by the Spirit" is something the Holy Spirit enables us to do by producing in us strong desires that accord with God's will. This is what God said he would do in Ezekiel 36:26, 27:
“A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you . . . I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes”.
Thus when we "live and walk in the Spirit," we experience the fulfillment of this prophecy. The Holy Spirit produces in us desires for God's way that are stronger than our fleshly desires, and thus He causes us to walk in God's statutes.
Led by the Spirit and Not Under Law
This, then, explains the two parts of the next verse in Galatians 5, verse 18, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." It is easy to understand, in view of what we have seen, how Paul could shift from the phrase "walking by the Spirit" in verse 16, to "being led by the Spirit" in verse 18. The phrase, "being led by the Spirit," simply makes more explicit the initiative of the Spirit in the life of a Christian. We don't lead him; He leads us. We are being led by Him through the stronger desires He awakens within us. "Walking by the Spirit" and "being led by the Spirit" refer to the same thing. "Being led by the Spirit" stresses the Spirit's initiative and enablement. "Walking by the Spirit" stresses our resulting behavior. The Spirit leads us by creating desires to obey God, and we walk by fulfilling those desires in action.
This explains, then, why we are not "under the law," as verse 18 says. "If you are led by the Spirit (i.e., led by him to obey the law), then you are not under law." You are not "under law" in two senses. First, you are not under the law's condemnation because you are fulfilling the just requirement of the law. That's what Paul meant in Romans 8:4 where he said that Christ died "in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit." When you walk by the Spirit, you fulfill the basic requirement of the law and so you are not under its condemnation. The second sense in which we are not under law when we "walk by the Spirit" or are "led by the Spirit" is that then we don't feel the pinch or burden of the law demanding of us what we have no desire to do. When the Spirit is leading us by producing godly desires, then the commands of God are not a burden but a joy. So in that sense too, walking by the Spirit frees us from being under the law. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom". (2 Corinthians 3:17)
“LIVE AND WALK IN THE SPIRIT”- PART II - Galatians 5: 16 & 25 Works of the Flesh and Fruit of the Spirit
Now, if we look in Galatians 5: 19–24 which follow, we will find one more expression about the Spirit which confirms and expands what we have seen so far about "walking by the Spirit." In these verses Paul contrasts the "works of the flesh" (19–21) with the "fruit of the Spirit" (22–23). The opposite of doing the "works of the flesh" is "bearing the fruit of the Spirit." This is exactly the same contrast we saw in verse 16: "Walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh." The "works of the flesh" are what you do when you "gratify the desires of the flesh." The "fruit of the Spirit" is what appears in your life when you "walk by the Spirit." Therefore what we have in these verses are three images of the Spirit's work in our life: "walking by the Spirit" in verse 16, "being led by the Spirit" in verse 18, and bearing "the fruit of the Spirit" in verse 22.
Why does Paul refer to the "fruit of the Spirit" instead of the "works of the Spirit" to match "works of the flesh"? In view of what we have seen so far, I think the reason is that Paul wants to avoid giving any impression that what the Spirit produces is our work. It is not our work; it is His fruit. What we do when we walk by the Spirit is simply fulfill the desires produced by the Spirit. And what better way is there to describe the ease of following our strongest desires than to say it is like having the Spirit's fruit pop out in our attitudes and actions? Therefore, just like the phrase "led by the Spirit," so also the phrase "fruit of the Spirit" stresses the Spirit's initiative and enablement to fulfill God's law.
Love Your Neighbor
The last thing we want to notice in these verses about "walking by the Spirit" is that it refers basically to one kind of behavior: loving behavior. The first thing mentioned in the fruit of the Spirit is love in verse 22. This is emphasized even more in verses 13 and 14:
You were called to freedom, brethren, only do not use your freedom as an occasion for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Just as the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are contrasted in verses 19–23, so here giving in to the flesh and serving each other through love are contrasted in verses 13 and 14. This shows that love is the all-encompassing lifestyle of one who bears the fruit of the Spirit, is led by the Spirit, and walks by the Spirit. This is confirmed by the reference to the law in verse 14 and verse 18. In verse 18, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." In verse 14, "If you love your neighbor, you fulfill the whole law." Therefore, loving your neighbor and being led by the Spirit (or walking by the Spirit) are almost synonymous.
Almost. But there is a crucial difference which should make us very grateful that Paul taught what he did about the Holy Spirit. If all we were ever told was, "Love your neighbor," we probably would have set about trying to do it by ourselves and would have turned love into a work of the flesh. We know this happens because of 1 Corinthians 13:3 where Paul says:
“If I give away all that I have and if I deliver my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing”.
This is utterly important for your life. Yet it is understood by so few. It is possible to undertake the most sacrificial acts imaginable for other people and still not please God. Give away all your goods and your own life, too, and come to nothing in God's eyes. It is possible to be eulogized by the world as the greatest philanthropist or the most devoted martyr and still not please God. Why? Because what pleases God is walking by the Spirit and being led by the Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit!
The great problem in contemporary Christian living is not learning the right things to do but how to do the right things. The problem is not to discover what love looks like but how to love by the Spirit. For Paul it is absolutely crucial that, if we came to life by the free and sovereign work of the Spirit, we learn to walk by the free and sovereign work of the Spirit. In view of the sovereignty of the Spirit who leads us where He wills by the stronger desires He creates within us, what should we do? What, very practically, is involved in obeying the command, "Walk by the Spirit"?
Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
There Are Seven Steps Toward Living and Walking by the Spirit According to Galatians 5: 16 & 25.
Let me conclude by mentioning seven things that I think we must do so that it can be truly said that we are living and walking in the Spirit.
1. Acknowledgement and confirmation
First, we must acknowledge from our hearts that we are helpless to do good apart from the enablement of the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." What did Jesus mean when he said in John 15:5, "Without me you can do nothing"? Of course we can do something without Jesus: we can sin! But that's all we can do. So, the first step of walking by the Spirit is: admit this fact and let it have its devastating effect on our pride. We cannot do anything pleasing to God without the constant enablement of the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit which are working in your daily life will be the Character of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you and the confirmation or sign to proof that you are truly living and walking in the Spirit. They are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness ,gentleness and self-control.(Galatians 5:22-23)
2. Prayer
Second, since it is promised in Ezekiel 36:27 that God will put His Spirit within us and cause us to walk in his statutes, pray that He does it to you by His almighty power. Many of you know the glorious, liberating experience of having an irresistible desire for sin overcome by a new and stronger desire for God and His way. And as you look back, to whom do you attribute that new desire? Where did it come from? It came from the merciful Holy Spirit. Therefore, let us pray like Paul did in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 for that chief fruit of the Spirit: "Now may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men." And let's pray like the writer to the Hebrews did in Hebrews 13:21,
“And now may the God of peace . . . equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ”.
If it is God alone who works in us what is pleasing in His sight, then above all, we must pray. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).
3. Trust in the Lord
The third step involved in walking by the Spirit is faith. We must believe that since we have come under the gracious sway of God's Spirit, "sin will no longer have dominion over us" (Romans 6:14). This confidence is what Paul meant by "reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God" (Romans 6:11). We simply count on it that the Spirit who made us alive when we were dead in sin wills our holiness and has the power to achieve what he wills. One of the things we believers can pray for with undoubting faith that God will do it is our sanctification, which is the same as being led by the Spirit.
The reason we can is that we know that God will cause His children to be led by the Spirit. And the way we know this is because of Romans 8:14, where Paul says you can't even be a child of God unless you are led by the Spirit. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." If you are a child of God, you have a solid and unshakable promise that God will give you victory over those powerful desires of the flesh. One word of caution: do not prejudge the timing of the Holy Spirit's work. Why He liberates one person overnight but brings another to freedom through months of struggle is a mystery concealed for now from our eyes.
4. Action By Faith of God
The fourth step in living and walking by the Spirit after you have acknowledged your helplessness without him, prayed for His enablement, and trusted in His deliverance is to act the way you know is right. Notice: this is not step number one. If this were step number one, all our actions would be works of the flesh, not fruit of the Spirit. Only after we have appealed for the Spirit's enablement and thrown ourselves confidently on His promise and power to work in us, do we now work with all our might. Only when we act with that spiritual preparation, will we be able to say with Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:10,
"By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me".
Or in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (see also Romans 15:18, 19). A person who has acknowledged his helplessness, prayed for God's enablement to do right, and yielded himself confidently to the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit has this astonishing incentive to do righteousness, namely, the confidence that, whatever righteous act He does, it is God almighty who is at work in him giving him the will and the power to do it. It is a sign of hasty prejudice when a person says, "Well, if the Spirit is sovereign and I can't do any good without His enablement, then I may as well just sit here and do nothing."
There are two things wrong with that statement: it is self-contradictory, and it is unbiblical. It is a contradiction to say, "I'll just sit here and do nothing." If you choose to sit in your chair while the house burns down, you have chosen to do something, just as much as the person who chooses to get up and save himself and others. Why should you think the one choice any more inconsistent with the sovereignty of God than the other? And such a statement is also unbiblical because Philippians 2:12 and 13 says,
“Beloved, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (get out of the chair, the house is on fire!) because (not "in spite of" but "because") God is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure”.
It is a great incentive, not discouragement, that all our effort to do what is right is the work of almighty God within us. At least for myself, I am greatly encouraged when the going gets rough that any effort I make to do right is a sign of God's grace at work in me. "Let him who serves serve in the strength which God supplies, that in everything God may get the glory" (1 Peter 4:11).
5. Praise and worship in spirit and truth
After you have the understanding about to live by faith then the next step is to worship the Father in spirit and truth. Remember just as we are a work in progress, other people are too.
Jesus explains this in Matthew 7:1-5 which says “judge not, that you be not judged.
For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged and with what measure you
mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why behold you the mote that is in
your brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will
you say to your brother, let me pull out the mote out of your eye, and behold, a
beam is in your own eye. You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own
eye, and then shall you see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother’s eye”.
Instead if you think they are doing something wrong, pray for them, to come to the
knowledge of the truth. If you are keeping your focus on Jesus, you wouldn’t see
what others are doing. Many people worship differently, some are quiet and still,
some shout, some run, all these are ways to praise and worship.
True worship should be from your heart, keeping your focus on God. Worship is
reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God. True worship is occurred
under the inspiration of God’s Spirit. As the fruit of the Spirit flows through you,
love, joy and peace will draw you into God. It requires a relationship with Him, as
you worship talk to your heavenly Father straight from your heart. Moses talked
with God face to face, and we too can meditate and see God in our spirit.
Hebrews 12:28-29 says “wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be
moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire”. God is the only one that can
judge, because He knows the heart.
6. Intimacy With God
The crucial point is to hear the Voice of God when we have an Intimacy with God after you are able to worship Him in spirit and truth. God, who is Himself defined by an internal relationship among the members of the Trinity, loves and creates. That’s what He does. What does He create? What can He create, but more of what He Himself is? He creates beings, personalities, who will be in relationship with Him. They will also be in relationship with each other. He will love them, and they will love.
All the rest is the superstructure, the framework, into which this real stuff fits, and lives, and grows, and prospers. Intimate relationship is the true reality through living and walking in the Spirit.
So, the simple answer to the Why? of Intimacy with God is, that as beings made in the image of God, intimacy is what we were made for. God, as a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is always intimate. We were made for intimacy with them, as well as others made in their image.
Many teachers, prophets, preachers and pastors will tell you that there is a meaning to life. Some teachers will even explain that the key is found in Intimacy with God. But who tells you in practical ways how that can be achieved? Few indeed.
If we learn how to be closer and closer with the lord Jesus than there are keys of knowledge and practical exercises to help anyone tune into the voice of God.
Similarly, so too can anyone begin to move into closer Intimacy with Jesus, experience the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and know the infinite love of father God. One of the best method to have an intimacy with God is to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus is to ask Him all the truth or everything we need to know and He will then reveal to us what we should do according to His instruction in Jeremiah 33:3 :” Call upon Me. And I will answer you and I will reveal to you the great things you have never known”.
The more we get closer to God the more we will receive the Wisdom and Revelation about His Kingdom and to make us be ready and get prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus to rule and reign in the Millenium Kingdom of Christ for 1000 years and to reign in the New City of Jerusalem forever and ever with the Father and the Lord Jesus together with all the faithful Saints of God as promised in Revelation 1:5-6; Revelation 5:9-10 and Revelation 22:5.
7. Thanksgiving
The final step in living and walking in the Spirit is to thank God for any virtue attained or any good deed performed. If without the Spirit we can do no right, then we must not only ask His enablement for it but also thank Him whenever we do it. Just one example from 2 Corinthians 8:16. Paul says, "Thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus." Titus loved the Corinthians. Where did that come from? God put it in his heart. It was a fruit of the Spirit. So what does Paul do? He thanks God. And Titus should, too. Thanks be to God who puts love in our hearts!
Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The conclusion of the sermon today that "If we live by the Spirit, then let us also walk by the Spirit." Let us acknowledge from our heart that we are unable to please God without the Spirit's constant enablement. Let us pray for that enablement. Let us trust confidently in the Spirit's power and promise to give that enablement. Then let us do what we know is right by faith . Let us also seek the will, desires and perfect plan of God by worshipping Him in spirit and truth. Let us also hear the Voice of God as the results of our deep intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And at last having done it, we may give thanksgiving to our Father in Heaven and also let us turn and say with all the saints, "Not I, but the Spirit of Christ within me." To God be all the glory and honor for ever and ever!
Amen.
Daniel Pasaribu
End of Sermon
Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Galatians 5:16:” Walk in the Spirit, and you should not fulfilled the lust of the flesh”. Galatians 5:25 : “ If you live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”. Do you walk with God? As a Christian, do you walk daily “in the Spirit?” How would you characterize your Christian walk? Is it a spiritual one? Or is it a walk that is carnal? Do your appetites control you? Does your “wants” and “desires” control you?
Christians waver between spirituality and carnality for most of their life, with a small handful achieving a walk that is consistently spiritual. But those who don’t achieve a consistent spiritual walk do fulfill, on a consistent basis, the unspoken, inherent truth of the verse in Galatians 5:16. That verse says that if one walks in the Spirit, one will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The inherent, unspoken truth in that is that if one does not walk in the Spirit, one will fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Christians walk carnally, pleasing their flesh, some moderately, some laviously, some unbridled, and some with a measure of restraint, while many struggle openly and obviously with their flesh, dominated at times, weak, helpless and overpowered by its demands and needs. They go about seeking to please God in their life with supreme efforts at doing good and fail.
As Christians we often hear messages about living for God, about being obedient to God, about doing the “right thing,” about following rules and standards of conduct. Such messages are good reminders for us. We need to hear about our duty. The Bible admonishes us about things we are to DO. The book of James clearly tells us that we are to DO, not just profess. Thus, we strive to conduct ourselves upright in a Christ-like manner. We associate with other like-minded Christians which help us maintain a lifestyle that is consistent with our beliefs, with our profession of faith. We avoid social scenes that will place temptations before us or which will harm the image we now have of a “good person,” or a “godly person.” We do not want to be considered, any more, a “wicked person,” or an “immoral person.” In short, we do, as the Scriptures say: “Put away the old man and put on the new man.”
But inside, there is a raging, snarling lion.
Sin dominates some Christians such that they awaken with a lust to satisfy the flesh that does not diminish throughout the day. Some want liquor on awakening. Some want a cigarette. Some want a sleeping pill. Some want drugs. Some want sex. And others are so depressed they simply want to go back to sleep. Christians stumble through their days struggling against the flesh, losing, winning, losing, falling, getting up, falling again, despairing and weeping, wanting deliverance, not understanding the battle, and never realizing the battle is already won.
Most Christians view the struggle against sin as a contest of will power. They feel they must exert their will power against the flesh. And so they must. Most Christians feel that if they fail, it is because they “gave in” or “gave up,” or were too weak to resist temptation. And that is true. But, the underlying rationale behind their thinking is truly not true . Their reasoning is shallow, not complete. You see, it is a paradox of sorts. It is the will of the Christian that decides to sin or not. But, hear this statement: The will power of the Christian is no match for his or her flesh. You will lose most of the time.
The Bible says: “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” - 1 John 2:6. But the Christian says: “I can’t walk as Christ walked. After all, He was God. And yes, I know I should not do this sin. However, the urge is so powerful, my appetite for it is so enormous, that after awhile, I cannot ignore the flesh. It’s cry is too fierce, too loud, too demanding. It occupies my every waking thought. It drives me. I am too weak to resist and so I give in.”
That is the cry of far, far too many Christians, today. It doesn’t have to be that way. There is a simple, yet tremendously effective weapon that can be used against the flesh.
God says His grace is sufficient. God says He has chosen the weak things of the world (you do qualify, don’t you?). God says He is able to do the impossible. God says we can do ALL things through Christ. God says He does best when we are weak.(Phillipians4:13)
Again, we will give intellectual assent to all of that. But we somehow can’t walk through our front door with full and complete expectation of those things. We say we believe God is “all sufficient,” but we don’t expect God to give us the will power, the character, the power, the desire or whatever it is we need to be strong and to win the victory over the flesh. We say we believe that God gives us grace to help, but we don’t expect God to give us the power to overcome our sin. We make our sin greater than God’s grace. We make our weakness greater than God. We make our wickedness too great for God to handle.
Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
No Christian on the face of this earth is capable of living holy before the Lord God unless he or she walks by faith. You must believe that God is able to enable you to live for Him. You must believe that if He gave an order for you to obey, He will absolutely have committed Himself to provide you with the power, the purpose, the desire and whatever else you need to obey that command. Thus, if God said to be holy, to live holy and to be fruitful, then all that remains for the Christian is to believe it.
If the book of James teaches anything, it teaches us that unless and until we reach out and grab the task God has set before us, or unless we reach out and perform the task commanded, our faith is dead. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. 19. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” - James 2:17-20. If all we have is knowledge, we are not wise. We are not faithful. And we are not obedient. And if those things be true, then we are not walking in the Spirit.
And if that be true, the we are walking in the flesh. And if we are walking in the flesh, we are fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.(Galatians 5:16)
And everywhere, Christians strive with the flesh, winning, losing, rising, falling, weeping, hoping, waiting, all seeking to live the “victorious” Christian life, only to see it dangle just beyond their grasp. Just when it seems close, they reach for it and suddenly it is once more far away, jerked away by the ropes of sin. And too quickly, we yelp that “the devil made me do it” in order to have an excuse. And while it is true that Satan and his demons horde lurk amongst us and stalk us, it is not true that all our fleshly failings belong to them. The Bible says: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
And everywhere, such Christians have acknowledged the truth of all the Scriptures quoted herein, and have acknowledged the veracity of what has been said here, but have failed to reach out and by faith, live the life that Christ has already given: His Life. His Strength. His Power. Not ours.
As it is written: “Not by power or might, but by my Spirit saith the Lord.” And again, it is not with our vision, our determination, our ability to see and know the road ahead that we walk. It is a walk of faith. “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” - (2 Cor 5:7).
And even the faith we have is of God. “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.” - Gal 2:20. Paul said “yet not I, but Christ.” He understood from whence his life now came. And he understood that it was God’s faith given to Paul that enabled Paul to live the spiritual life.
Charles Stanley once said that our God would not give us His Spirit and then abandon us, hoping we’d somehow learn to walk, learn to live and learn to obey, without giving us everything we could possibly need to live, to walk, to obey and to glorify Him. It is not logical that God would fail to equip His soldiers. It is not logical that God would leave us to our own puny, frail will power in order to achieve victory in our Christian walk. But that’s what we do, many of us. Too long and too often, Christians have walked, depending on themselves, expecting that they should somehow have this great power of will and character, never expectantly and unconditionally realizing that it was a “done deal,” that Christ conquered the flesh on the cross and that they are dead with Christ, yet risen also with Him in newness of life.
Actually, there is not an honest Christian alive who will deny that he or she is inadequate for the expectations of Christ. None of us can do it. The facts are that although we have striven mightily against sin, again and again we have failed. That’s a fact and you know it. You have failed and failed and failed and failed. Your flesh has overpowered you in many areas of your life, again and again. Your temper, your appetite, your tongue...your flesh, has betrayed you. That’s a fact that’s undeniable.
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” - (Phil 1:6)
Recognize your weakness and then rejoice. Paul did. “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” - 2 Cor 12:9. The big difference between the carnal Christian and the spiritual Christian is that the one has a life of striving and failing, the other, a life of striving and achieving. The difference is that one, in simple faith, depends on God to empower him or her for the task, while the other depends on a surge of will power, or chance, or some kind of vague, undefined “Hope I’m up to it” kind of “faith” that is no faith.
If you will, in simple faith, give yourself to God and then expect Him to help you and believe that He has given you all you need to walk victoriously, then it will be even as your faith has decreed. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” - Rom 12:1. Notice that your body is considered by God to be “holy” and, best of all, “ACCEPTABLE UNTO GOD.” Thus, isn’t it reasonable that you present yourself to God? After all, you belong to Him. You were bought with a price. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” - 1 Cor 6:20.
So what about it? Are you tired of losing? Weary of the flesh always winning? There is a way to win. Regularly. Consistently.
It takes faith in what God has already promised. It takes understanding and wisdom. It takes an expectant faith that waits patiently for God to perform, never wavering, not doubting, and never making one’s sins and weakness greater than God’s grace.
Remember this: “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” - Rom 5:20
God’s grace abounds towards you, that is, God has sent His grace, in abundance, IN YOUR DIRECTION, and is able to subdue your worst sin.
How Do We Live and Walk In the Spirit?
The phrase "live and walk by the Spirit" occurs not only in verse 25 but also in verse 16, "But I say, walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh." So here we see what the opposite of walking by the Spirit is, namely, giving in to the desires of the flesh. Remember, "flesh" is the old, ordinary human nature that does not relish the things of God and prefers to get satisfaction from independence, power, prestige, and worldly pleasures. When we "walk by the Spirit," we are not controlled by those drives. This is what verse 17 means: the flesh produces one kind of desires, and the Spirit produces another kind, and they are opposed to each other. Walking by the Spirit is what we do when the desires produced by the Spirit are stronger than the desires produced by the flesh. This means that "walking by the Spirit" is not something we do in order to get the Spirit's help, but rather, just as the phrase implies, it is something we do by the enablement of the Spirit.
Ultimately, all the good inclinations or preferences or desires that we have are given by the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Spirit we are mere flesh. And Paul said in Romans 7:18, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." Apart from the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, none of our inclinations or desires is holy or good, "for the mind of the flesh is hostile to God's law and does not submit to it because it cannot" (Romans 8:7). The new birth is the coming into our life of the Holy Spirit to create a whole new array of desires and loves and yearnings and longings. And when these desires are stronger than the opposing desires of the flesh, then we are "walking by the Spirit." For we always act according to our strongest desires.
Therefore, "living and walking by the Spirit" is something the Holy Spirit enables us to do by producing in us strong desires that accord with God's will. This is what God said he would do in Ezekiel 36:26, 27:
“A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you . . . I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes”.
Thus when we "live and walk in the Spirit," we experience the fulfillment of this prophecy. The Holy Spirit produces in us desires for God's way that are stronger than our fleshly desires, and thus He causes us to walk in God's statutes.
Led by the Spirit and Not Under Law
This, then, explains the two parts of the next verse in Galatians 5, verse 18, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." It is easy to understand, in view of what we have seen, how Paul could shift from the phrase "walking by the Spirit" in verse 16, to "being led by the Spirit" in verse 18. The phrase, "being led by the Spirit," simply makes more explicit the initiative of the Spirit in the life of a Christian. We don't lead him; He leads us. We are being led by Him through the stronger desires He awakens within us. "Walking by the Spirit" and "being led by the Spirit" refer to the same thing. "Being led by the Spirit" stresses the Spirit's initiative and enablement. "Walking by the Spirit" stresses our resulting behavior. The Spirit leads us by creating desires to obey God, and we walk by fulfilling those desires in action.
This explains, then, why we are not "under the law," as verse 18 says. "If you are led by the Spirit (i.e., led by him to obey the law), then you are not under law." You are not "under law" in two senses. First, you are not under the law's condemnation because you are fulfilling the just requirement of the law. That's what Paul meant in Romans 8:4 where he said that Christ died "in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit." When you walk by the Spirit, you fulfill the basic requirement of the law and so you are not under its condemnation. The second sense in which we are not under law when we "walk by the Spirit" or are "led by the Spirit" is that then we don't feel the pinch or burden of the law demanding of us what we have no desire to do. When the Spirit is leading us by producing godly desires, then the commands of God are not a burden but a joy. So in that sense too, walking by the Spirit frees us from being under the law. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom". (2 Corinthians 3:17)
“LIVE AND WALK IN THE SPIRIT”- PART II - Galatians 5: 16 & 25 Works of the Flesh and Fruit of the Spirit
Now, if we look in Galatians 5: 19–24 which follow, we will find one more expression about the Spirit which confirms and expands what we have seen so far about "walking by the Spirit." In these verses Paul contrasts the "works of the flesh" (19–21) with the "fruit of the Spirit" (22–23). The opposite of doing the "works of the flesh" is "bearing the fruit of the Spirit." This is exactly the same contrast we saw in verse 16: "Walk by the Spirit and do not gratify the desires of the flesh." The "works of the flesh" are what you do when you "gratify the desires of the flesh." The "fruit of the Spirit" is what appears in your life when you "walk by the Spirit." Therefore what we have in these verses are three images of the Spirit's work in our life: "walking by the Spirit" in verse 16, "being led by the Spirit" in verse 18, and bearing "the fruit of the Spirit" in verse 22.
Why does Paul refer to the "fruit of the Spirit" instead of the "works of the Spirit" to match "works of the flesh"? In view of what we have seen so far, I think the reason is that Paul wants to avoid giving any impression that what the Spirit produces is our work. It is not our work; it is His fruit. What we do when we walk by the Spirit is simply fulfill the desires produced by the Spirit. And what better way is there to describe the ease of following our strongest desires than to say it is like having the Spirit's fruit pop out in our attitudes and actions? Therefore, just like the phrase "led by the Spirit," so also the phrase "fruit of the Spirit" stresses the Spirit's initiative and enablement to fulfill God's law.
Love Your Neighbor
The last thing we want to notice in these verses about "walking by the Spirit" is that it refers basically to one kind of behavior: loving behavior. The first thing mentioned in the fruit of the Spirit is love in verse 22. This is emphasized even more in verses 13 and 14:
You were called to freedom, brethren, only do not use your freedom as an occasion for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Just as the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are contrasted in verses 19–23, so here giving in to the flesh and serving each other through love are contrasted in verses 13 and 14. This shows that love is the all-encompassing lifestyle of one who bears the fruit of the Spirit, is led by the Spirit, and walks by the Spirit. This is confirmed by the reference to the law in verse 14 and verse 18. In verse 18, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." In verse 14, "If you love your neighbor, you fulfill the whole law." Therefore, loving your neighbor and being led by the Spirit (or walking by the Spirit) are almost synonymous.
Almost. But there is a crucial difference which should make us very grateful that Paul taught what he did about the Holy Spirit. If all we were ever told was, "Love your neighbor," we probably would have set about trying to do it by ourselves and would have turned love into a work of the flesh. We know this happens because of 1 Corinthians 13:3 where Paul says:
“If I give away all that I have and if I deliver my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing”.
This is utterly important for your life. Yet it is understood by so few. It is possible to undertake the most sacrificial acts imaginable for other people and still not please God. Give away all your goods and your own life, too, and come to nothing in God's eyes. It is possible to be eulogized by the world as the greatest philanthropist or the most devoted martyr and still not please God. Why? Because what pleases God is walking by the Spirit and being led by the Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit!
The great problem in contemporary Christian living is not learning the right things to do but how to do the right things. The problem is not to discover what love looks like but how to love by the Spirit. For Paul it is absolutely crucial that, if we came to life by the free and sovereign work of the Spirit, we learn to walk by the free and sovereign work of the Spirit. In view of the sovereignty of the Spirit who leads us where He wills by the stronger desires He creates within us, what should we do? What, very practically, is involved in obeying the command, "Walk by the Spirit"?
Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
There Are Seven Steps Toward Living and Walking by the Spirit According to Galatians 5: 16 & 25.
Let me conclude by mentioning seven things that I think we must do so that it can be truly said that we are living and walking in the Spirit.
1. Acknowledgement and confirmation
First, we must acknowledge from our hearts that we are helpless to do good apart from the enablement of the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." What did Jesus mean when he said in John 15:5, "Without me you can do nothing"? Of course we can do something without Jesus: we can sin! But that's all we can do. So, the first step of walking by the Spirit is: admit this fact and let it have its devastating effect on our pride. We cannot do anything pleasing to God without the constant enablement of the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit which are working in your daily life will be the Character of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you and the confirmation or sign to proof that you are truly living and walking in the Spirit. They are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness ,gentleness and self-control.(Galatians 5:22-23)
2. Prayer
Second, since it is promised in Ezekiel 36:27 that God will put His Spirit within us and cause us to walk in his statutes, pray that He does it to you by His almighty power. Many of you know the glorious, liberating experience of having an irresistible desire for sin overcome by a new and stronger desire for God and His way. And as you look back, to whom do you attribute that new desire? Where did it come from? It came from the merciful Holy Spirit. Therefore, let us pray like Paul did in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 for that chief fruit of the Spirit: "Now may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men." And let's pray like the writer to the Hebrews did in Hebrews 13:21,
“And now may the God of peace . . . equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ”.
If it is God alone who works in us what is pleasing in His sight, then above all, we must pray. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).
3. Trust in the Lord
The third step involved in walking by the Spirit is faith. We must believe that since we have come under the gracious sway of God's Spirit, "sin will no longer have dominion over us" (Romans 6:14). This confidence is what Paul meant by "reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God" (Romans 6:11). We simply count on it that the Spirit who made us alive when we were dead in sin wills our holiness and has the power to achieve what he wills. One of the things we believers can pray for with undoubting faith that God will do it is our sanctification, which is the same as being led by the Spirit.
The reason we can is that we know that God will cause His children to be led by the Spirit. And the way we know this is because of Romans 8:14, where Paul says you can't even be a child of God unless you are led by the Spirit. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." If you are a child of God, you have a solid and unshakable promise that God will give you victory over those powerful desires of the flesh. One word of caution: do not prejudge the timing of the Holy Spirit's work. Why He liberates one person overnight but brings another to freedom through months of struggle is a mystery concealed for now from our eyes.
4. Action By Faith of God
The fourth step in living and walking by the Spirit after you have acknowledged your helplessness without him, prayed for His enablement, and trusted in His deliverance is to act the way you know is right. Notice: this is not step number one. If this were step number one, all our actions would be works of the flesh, not fruit of the Spirit. Only after we have appealed for the Spirit's enablement and thrown ourselves confidently on His promise and power to work in us, do we now work with all our might. Only when we act with that spiritual preparation, will we be able to say with Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:10,
"By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me".
Or in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (see also Romans 15:18, 19). A person who has acknowledged his helplessness, prayed for God's enablement to do right, and yielded himself confidently to the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit has this astonishing incentive to do righteousness, namely, the confidence that, whatever righteous act He does, it is God almighty who is at work in him giving him the will and the power to do it. It is a sign of hasty prejudice when a person says, "Well, if the Spirit is sovereign and I can't do any good without His enablement, then I may as well just sit here and do nothing."
There are two things wrong with that statement: it is self-contradictory, and it is unbiblical. It is a contradiction to say, "I'll just sit here and do nothing." If you choose to sit in your chair while the house burns down, you have chosen to do something, just as much as the person who chooses to get up and save himself and others. Why should you think the one choice any more inconsistent with the sovereignty of God than the other? And such a statement is also unbiblical because Philippians 2:12 and 13 says,
“Beloved, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (get out of the chair, the house is on fire!) because (not "in spite of" but "because") God is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure”.
It is a great incentive, not discouragement, that all our effort to do what is right is the work of almighty God within us. At least for myself, I am greatly encouraged when the going gets rough that any effort I make to do right is a sign of God's grace at work in me. "Let him who serves serve in the strength which God supplies, that in everything God may get the glory" (1 Peter 4:11).
5. Praise and worship in spirit and truth
After you have the understanding about to live by faith then the next step is to worship the Father in spirit and truth. Remember just as we are a work in progress, other people are too.
Jesus explains this in Matthew 7:1-5 which says “judge not, that you be not judged.
For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged and with what measure you
mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why behold you the mote that is in
your brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will
you say to your brother, let me pull out the mote out of your eye, and behold, a
beam is in your own eye. You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own
eye, and then shall you see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother’s eye”.
Instead if you think they are doing something wrong, pray for them, to come to the
knowledge of the truth. If you are keeping your focus on Jesus, you wouldn’t see
what others are doing. Many people worship differently, some are quiet and still,
some shout, some run, all these are ways to praise and worship.
True worship should be from your heart, keeping your focus on God. Worship is
reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God. True worship is occurred
under the inspiration of God’s Spirit. As the fruit of the Spirit flows through you,
love, joy and peace will draw you into God. It requires a relationship with Him, as
you worship talk to your heavenly Father straight from your heart. Moses talked
with God face to face, and we too can meditate and see God in our spirit.
Hebrews 12:28-29 says “wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be
moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire”. God is the only one that can
judge, because He knows the heart.
6. Intimacy With God
The crucial point is to hear the Voice of God when we have an Intimacy with God after you are able to worship Him in spirit and truth. God, who is Himself defined by an internal relationship among the members of the Trinity, loves and creates. That’s what He does. What does He create? What can He create, but more of what He Himself is? He creates beings, personalities, who will be in relationship with Him. They will also be in relationship with each other. He will love them, and they will love.
All the rest is the superstructure, the framework, into which this real stuff fits, and lives, and grows, and prospers. Intimate relationship is the true reality through living and walking in the Spirit.
So, the simple answer to the Why? of Intimacy with God is, that as beings made in the image of God, intimacy is what we were made for. God, as a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is always intimate. We were made for intimacy with them, as well as others made in their image.
Many teachers, prophets, preachers and pastors will tell you that there is a meaning to life. Some teachers will even explain that the key is found in Intimacy with God. But who tells you in practical ways how that can be achieved? Few indeed.
If we learn how to be closer and closer with the lord Jesus than there are keys of knowledge and practical exercises to help anyone tune into the voice of God.
Similarly, so too can anyone begin to move into closer Intimacy with Jesus, experience the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and know the infinite love of father God. One of the best method to have an intimacy with God is to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus is to ask Him all the truth or everything we need to know and He will then reveal to us what we should do according to His instruction in Jeremiah 33:3 :” Call upon Me. And I will answer you and I will reveal to you the great things you have never known”.
The more we get closer to God the more we will receive the Wisdom and Revelation about His Kingdom and to make us be ready and get prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus to rule and reign in the Millenium Kingdom of Christ for 1000 years and to reign in the New City of Jerusalem forever and ever with the Father and the Lord Jesus together with all the faithful Saints of God as promised in Revelation 1:5-6; Revelation 5:9-10 and Revelation 22:5.
7. Thanksgiving
The final step in living and walking in the Spirit is to thank God for any virtue attained or any good deed performed. If without the Spirit we can do no right, then we must not only ask His enablement for it but also thank Him whenever we do it. Just one example from 2 Corinthians 8:16. Paul says, "Thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus." Titus loved the Corinthians. Where did that come from? God put it in his heart. It was a fruit of the Spirit. So what does Paul do? He thanks God. And Titus should, too. Thanks be to God who puts love in our hearts!
Dear Precious Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The conclusion of the sermon today that "If we live by the Spirit, then let us also walk by the Spirit." Let us acknowledge from our heart that we are unable to please God without the Spirit's constant enablement. Let us pray for that enablement. Let us trust confidently in the Spirit's power and promise to give that enablement. Then let us do what we know is right by faith . Let us also seek the will, desires and perfect plan of God by worshipping Him in spirit and truth. Let us also hear the Voice of God as the results of our deep intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And at last having done it, we may give thanksgiving to our Father in Heaven and also let us turn and say with all the saints, "Not I, but the Spirit of Christ within me." To God be all the glory and honor for ever and ever!
Amen.
Daniel Pasaribu
End of Sermon
