Galatians 5: 16 – 26; 6: 1 – 10

INDRODOCTION: walk in this Spirit

When one is converted, he is born of the Spirit. But birth is only a beginning. Walking in the Spirit is necessary in order to maintain spiritual life. Jesus taught a way of self-denial. Paul testified that he kept his body under. Although salvation rids us of sin, and sanctification removes the Adamic nature, still we are human and subject to temptation. Daily consecration is the answer to successfully walking in the Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8: 14). If we are led by the Spirit, we are overcomers. The works of the flesh are kept out.

CARNALITY:

(Romans 8: 7). In the unsaved person there is a constant warfare between the conscience and the canal mind. If one listens to the voice of conscience it leads him to repentance. Repentance is a divine change of mind and if conscientiously pursued leads to salvation, which removes the canal mind. The terms: Adamic canal, or sinful are synonymous when referring to the unsanctified heart. This canal nature is given a deathblow and is held in subjection when one is saved. Before one is sanctified, this nature will at times try to assert itself. Through faith, prayer and consecration an instantaneous experience of sanctification can be obtained. This experience is the complete destruction of the canal nature. The canal mind is destroyed at salvation, the Adamic or canal nature at sanctification, but this does not entirely end the conflict. Sanctified people can still be tempted; there is still human and there remains a self-life, which must be yielded to God. Every earthly desire and ambition must be subjected to the leading of the Spirit and consecrated to God. This is where self-denial, keeping our bodied under and dying daily, come in, which are necessary to spiritual life.

THE MANIFESTION OF SIN:

“He that covert his sin shall not prosper” are the words of the Almighty. Adam, Achan, Ananias and Sapphira attempted it, in fact, from the beginning of time until the present day; men have tried to hide their sins. “The works of the flesh are manifest”. They crop up like weeds in a garden — ugly, undesirable, and hideous, but they are there. The works of the flesh are result of an unregenerate heart (Jeremiah 17: 9).

Without the blotting out of sin through the Blood of Jesus, the work of the flesh will be there and they will be manifest. (Luke 6: 43 – 45).

WORKS OF THE FLESH:

Although divorce and remarriage while the first companion still lives is legal in civil courts, and is commonly practiced, Jesus said, (Mark 10: 11). This sin is the first of a long list of the works of the flesh of which it is said, “They which do such things shall no inherit the kingdom of God.”

FRUITS:

There is a diversity of the gifts of the Spirit. God may give to one the gift of the prophecy and to another the gift of discerning of spirit, but the fruits of the Spirit is different. It is here portrayed as one fruit made up of the various elements such as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. For instance: an orange contains water, sugar, fiber, acid, iron, and other elements, which are a part of the whole orange. A person who is born of the Spirit of God possesses a portion of all the elements of the fruits of the Spirit. As he goes deeper in Christ the purging process takes place in order that he may bring forth more fruits, but it is the same kind of fruits: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. If one is lacking in any of these attributes, he is lacking in the Spirit of God. Achain is no stranger than its weakest link. We possess no more of the Spirit of God than is displayed in times of provocation. As Christians we must be constantly submitting ourselves to the chastening of God that we may be “pruned” as vine or trees in order to produce “fruits”

CORRECTION:

If a man be overtaken in a fault. It is the place of a spiritual person to correct him in a spirit of meekness. A man destitute of the spirit recognizes the fault and tries to correct it, but only aggravate the condition.

SEEDTIME AND HARVEST:

God promised Noah right after the flood: “while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” Genesis 8: 22). Just that sure is the law of sowing and raping. If we sow to the flesh we shall of the flesh reap corruption. This is true not only of the baser sins of life as mentioned in the Galatians 5: 19 – 21; but also in case of the farmer who decided to tear down his barns and build greater ones. He lived for himself and was not rich toward God. (See Luke 12: 16 – 21). Many sinners who shun the grosser sins of life and work hard to better their position in the world are still sowing to the flesh and neglecting their spiritual life. (1 John 2: 16). The material things of this life that men work so hard to obtain will pass away. Even this physical body, which men labour to preserve, will go back to corruption. Only that which is spiritual shall remain. Won’t you start today to spend more time sowing to the Spirit in order that you might of the Spirit reap life everlasting?

“Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” even though the benefits of sowing to the Spirit are not fully reaped today, the harvest is certain. Amid all the blight and corruption of this present world, who wants to store away many goods for many years? Is it not better to have our gold upon the streets of Heaven to enjoy than in a vault to corrupt? Is it not fine linen, clean and white, more thrilling than moth-eaten purple? Wouldn’t you rather have a mansion designed by Architect of Creator than a house upon the earth? Sow to the Spirit and say with Apostle Paul, “we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens (2 Corinthians 5: 1).

We will be judged according to the fruit not gifting – a gift is given, fruit is essential. Shalom!