The Holy Spirit: The Believer’s Walk

SPEAKER 02 : 0:01

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, September 10th. How much do you rely on the Spirit of God in your everyday tasks? Join us as we continue our series on the Holy Spirit and discover how He empowers believers to do everything for the glory of God.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:19

Have you ever felt like just quitting the Christian life? I mean, you’ve tried and tried and tried to be the kind of person you think God wants you to be, and you’ve read the Bible, and you’ve prayed, and you’ve done just about everything you know to do. In fact, every time you turn around, it’s one struggle right after the other, and you think, hey, I don’t think I’ve lived this life. Either I’m missing something, somebody didn’t tell me something, or this is really not all it’s cracked up to be. You ever felt like that? Well, probably if you have felt like you have been defeated in your Christian life and it’s just not working, join the crowd because all of us at some time in our life or the other have probably felt something similar to that. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Galatians chapter 5. And in this passage of Scripture, here is the real simple key to living a life of joy and peace and victory. I don’t mean a life without conflict. I don’t mean a life without temptations and trials and heartaches. But I’m talking about the key to that victory. And beginning in verse 16 of Galatians chapter 5, and I want us to read through the 26th verse. Now, we won’t take time on all of these verses, but I want you to get the context of what Paul is saying. He says, but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you’re led by the spirit, you’re not under the law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident. which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousies, outbursts of angers, disputes, dissensions, factions, indians, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ, Jesus, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.” Now, we’re talking about the Holy Spirit, the believer’s walk. So let’s look at this for a moment. There are two things I want to share in this particular passage that is so very important and yet so very, very simple for us to understand. And the first one here is simply this, what he says in this passage, and that is, the believer, that is a Christian, is commanded to walk by the Spirit. It’s not an option. It’s an imperative command. When he says, verse 16, I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. So one is a command, the other is a promise, something we can look forward to. So let’s define a couple of terms here. And first of all, what does it mean by walk? Let us walk by the Spirit. Well, exactly what he says, only it means a little bit more than we usually think in terms of walk. When the New Testament speaks in terms of walk, it uses a word that means to walk about, which refers to our lifestyle. That is, let your lifestyle be such. When you became a Christian, what did you do? In a moment in time… Based on your faith and that witness of the Word of God, you placed your faith in the witness of Scripture, that is, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, and in one moment of time, you took a step. That step was a step out of darkness into light, out of bondage into freedom. It was a step in which you were no longer lost, but now that you’re saved. No longer unredeemed, but now redeemed. No longer separated from God, but now one with Him. Sealed under the day of redemption, the Bible says. So you took a step by faith. That was the beginning of the Christian life and only the beginning. Then he says that you and I are to walk. And we probably began the walk just like a little baby begins his or her walk. And that is they take a step and they stumble and they fall. And after a while, they’re able to walk and walk well. As a believer, you and I, all of us have a lifestyle. And that is, we walk a certain way. I don’t mean physically, but I mean spiritually. And so the believer’s life is a life of walk. That is, this is what he’s referring to here when he says that we are to walk by the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. When we say that we are walking by the Spirit, that means we rely upon the Holy Spirit who indwells us to empower us and to enable us to do what? To walk obediently before God. So what is this walk? This walk is a continuous series of decisions. That’s what the Christian life is all about. We make one decision after the other. We make decisions about our home life, our finances, our job, our relationships, whatever it might be. The daily walk, everything that encompasses a 24-hour period of your life, that’s your walk. And he says, if we walk by the Spirit, that means if we rely upon the power of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit… moment by moment, day by day, step by step, in our walk, He says we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. That is, we will be able to live a life that is pleasing and honorable and victorious, a life of peace and joy, a life of contentment. I didn’t say there would be no conflict, no temptation, no heartaches and no trials. Yes, there will be. But here’s what He’s trying to say to us. Remember what Jesus said? He says, I’ll not leave you comfortless. I’m coming to you in the presence of the Holy Spirit. And why did He come? Enable us to live the life that He’s called us to live and carry out the work He’s called us to carry out. How does He do that? Living on the inside of us. And therefore to live by the Spirit means… that moment by moment, day by day, acknowledging my need, I rely upon His indwelling power to enable me to face anything, everything, all things, whatever it might be, in any circumstance, to enable me to face it and to face it victoriously. So that He did not leave us, as He said, down here to get along the best we could, doing the things that we have to do. Now, what is God’s goal in all this? That is, why did God give us the Holy Spirit? Essentially, the life He’s called us to live. Essentially, the work He’s called us to do. That is, He wants us to walk obediently before Him. The will of God is that you and I, that our hearts would be bent toward Him, and that you and I would live a life of obedience to God. Why? Because it’s for our good. God knows that living obediently is for our good, our best interest, and it will also in the long run glorify Him. And I wonder how many of you, when you were saved, did anybody set you down and say, now that you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior, let me tell you how every day you can make the right decision. Every day you can make the right choice. And when you’re tempted, you can overcome temptation when you choose to, when you want to. Or did they say to you, well, do the best you can. I mean, give it all you’ve got. Give it the old college try. Try hard and harder. You’ll make it. You know, when you look at the Bible, there’s not anything in this book about trying hard. Not anything in here about giving it your old best. Not anything in here about giving it all you’ve got. These are all human terms that we’ve come up with to try to project onto the Christian life, and the result is pure failure. Because you see, one of the most liberating truths that you and I can ever discover is this. And that is, we are incapable and inadequate to live the Christian life. And you know, one of the reasons that some of you who are listening will not give your life to Christ is that you’re already persuaded that you’re not about to try this Christian religion bit because you know you can’t live up to it. Well, we want to say to you who feel that way, join this wonderful throng because we feel the same way. We can’t live it either. You say, what in the world are you doing in church? You can’t live the Christian life. That’s what I’m going to explain. The reason we’re here and the reason we’re loving the Lord Jesus Christ and walking in obedience to Him is not because we can live the Christian life, but because we’ve discovered a wonderful, liberating truth that He doesn’t even expect us to. Now hold it, wait a minute. What do you mean don’t expect you to? Because I’ve had people talk to me that tell me that if I’m going to live a Christian life, I’ve got to quit my drinking and smoking and running around and card playing and gambling and all these things that I enjoy doing. You’re telling me that I don’t have to do that? No, that’s not what I said. I said, we can’t live the Christian life. We’re not capable of doing it. You see, most people have the idea that if you’re going to be a Christian, you’ve got to live by the Ten Commandments. And so they read a few of those and just close the book and say, no way. Well, I want to tell you, my friend, relax. You don’t have to live by the Ten Commandments to get accepted by God. What? That’s right. You didn’t misunderstand. You see, if you wait, think about this, if you wait till you can live up to the Ten Commandments for God to save you, you’ll never be saved. You see, that’s not the reason the Ten Commandments were given. The Ten Commandments weren’t given in order to live up to this standard of ten, and when we reach number ten, God accepts us. That’s not why they were given. They were given for our protection. They were given for relationships. And if you read them, you can understand very easily how we relate to each other and how there are rules and how there are laws relating to our relationship to God, relationship to each other. But they weren’t given to us in order to make us acceptable before God. Now, You see, the lost person, the person who’s not saved, doesn’t have the Holy Spirit on the inside of them. How in the world are they going to live up to the Ten Commandments? You see, God never gave that in order that you, who have never received Jesus Christ, would one day be able to finally reach the tenth one somehow. And it may be the first one that you had the biggest problem with, or the third one, the seventh one, whichever one. And finally, when you think you’re up to number ten, surely God will accept you. No, that’s not it. Listen. When you and I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, that’s a work of grace. That isn’t living up to anything. You see, salvation is a gift that God gave us. And if I have to do anything to get it, then what’s happening is I am being repaid for work, and that’s not a gift. Grace is God’s unmerited love given to us, not on the basis of anything He sees within us, but on the basis of His nature. Now, when you and I were saved… The Holy Spirit came into our life, and He came into our life to enable us to do what we cannot do. You remember what He says in the Word? He says, apart from me, you can do nothing. And so most of us, when we were saved early in life or later on in life, we started living the Christian life the best we knew how. Reading the Bible, going to church, praying prayers, giving money, doing all these things. And after a while, what happened? We thought, something’s not right. Something’s not working. We found ourselves maybe thinking the way we used to think, doing what we used to do. And so we finally had to conclude there was something wrong. That’s why the Holy Spirit came into your life and my life and we were saved because God knew that you and I were absolutely inadequate to live the Christian life. And the Christian life in essence is this. The Christian life is the Holy Spirit who indwells the believer. responding to the believer’s yieldedness and empowering and guiding and leading and expressing the very life of Jesus Christ through that believer’s conduct conversation and character moment by moment day by day step by step in the believer’s walk you say well that sounds real passive and what you’re saying is that all we have to do is just let God have his way and and just let go and let God and we don’t have anything to do I didn’t say that at all Because you see, every single time a decision comes up and every single time you’re not tempted, we have to make a decision. Our responsibility in the Christian life is decision making. That’s what it’s all about. And my decision is, shall I rely upon the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit within me to enable me to face this, whether it’s a temptation or some trial or some heartache or some burden or some sorrow, will I allow Him to enable me to face this victoriously, or am I going to try in my own strength and in my own energy? You see, the more self-confident you and I become in the flesh, that is in our old humanness, When we look around, we say, well, you know, I can do that, and I can do this, and I can handle that. Then what we do is we get in trouble. Every time we begin to live the Christian life in our own strength, we make a mess of things. Because you see, God never made us to live this life apart from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. And so that’s why he sent him. Essential to the life that you and I have to live. Essential to the work that God has called us to do. And when you and I rely upon him and the work that he’s called us to do, he makes it a success. Whether you’re a mother changing diapers or making the sandwiches for your kid to go to school or picking them up in the car and asking them how the day was, it doesn’t make any difference what it is. When you and I are relying upon the Holy Spirit to enable us, if you’re a man in business, you want to be wise in your finances, you want to be wise in your relationships, wise with your personnel, you want to treat people properly, you want to give them what you say you’re going to give them, do for them what you say. You’re trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom and discernment and divine guidance and direction so that you’ll be the man God wants you to be and achieve the things that God wants you to achieve. And you see, that’s true in your home life, your relationships, your business. God hasn’t isolated the Holy Spirit over here to Sunday. The work of the Holy Spirit isn’t Sunday work. It’s Monday work, Tuesday work, Wednesday work, Thursday work, Friday work, Saturday work, and Sunday work. And so when he says we’re to walk by the Spirit, where do we walk? That doesn’t mean walk around at home on Sunday. It means when you get in your car and drive to work, we’re to rely upon the Holy Spirit. As we think about our responsibilities on our job and our vocation, we’re to rely upon Him. You say, well, now, wait a minute. I thought the Christian life is reading the Bible and praying and doing all these things. You mean on my job where I work, in my home, cleaning up the house, I’m to rely upon the Holy Spirit? What does He say? The believer who took one step into the new birth is to now proceed, making progress, growing in a sense of direction. We are to walk by the Spirit, moment by moment, day by day, doing what? Relying upon the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. You said, well, that sounds like a passive kind of weakness. No, it is the wisdom of God who knew that you and I would blow it every single time without His help. He said, I’m going to send you a comforter. You remember the other word he uses? A helper. He knows we can’t do it. We can’t live it and we can’t achieve it apart from the Holy Spirit. That is, he sent him in order to achieve and to accomplish what he knows we cannot do. Now listen, the terms he uses, walk, step by step by step. I’m going to do what? Rely upon the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Now I don’t know how much simpler he could have made the Christian life than that. It is a walk. Every decision, every single work you and I carry out, we are to rely upon the presence and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. That’s the reason He’s there. Why doesn’t God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit all just sit up in heaven together? Because the Lord Jesus knew we’d never make it unless he was down here on the inside of us, living this life through us and enabling us through his powers, rely upon him. So when he says walk by the spirit, that means to rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit. To face any and every circumstance in every situation of life. Now, what does that require? It requires several things. First of all, it requires to be regenerated. That is, to be born again. That is, to give your life to Christ, to be saved. Secondly, it requires yielding my life to Him. You see, I’m not going to rely upon Him if I’m not yielded to Him. And listen very carefully. You cannot rely upon the Holy Spirit whom you will not yield your life to, whom you’re living in disobedience to, whom you’re grieving and whom you’re quenching. So it requires yielding my life to Him. That is, if I’m going to walk by the Spirit, I must yield myself to Him. I must rely upon Him and then I must trust Him. Now, when you and I face any given situation in life, we have the privilege of making a choice. Now, you and I know that sometimes our walk is very slow and sometimes our walk is very, very fast. And so the faster you go, the more careful you have to be. The faster our walk… The faster our pace, the more involved our schedule, and the more demands that are upon us, we have to be more careful about our walk. Because the faster you go, the further ahead you better look. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit that no matter what we face, We don’t have to, as a second thought, hope He’s there. The Holy Spirit is there every single time, every moment, every step. Whether we are running, jumping, or walking slowly, we can rely upon the Holy Spirit to enable us to make the right decision and make the right choice. Are we going to make the right choice every time? No. Are we going to obey Him every single time? No. Can we? Yes. If God said you’re to live a holy life, but you’re going to have to do it in your own strength, in your own energy, God would be unfair, unjust, and we’d be lost. So what does he do? Knowing that in these physical bodies of ours, because we’ve not been fully redeemed yet until the day of redemption, that is when this old physical body is gone, and I have a renewed body, and you have a renewed body, and everything is absolutely perfect then, we won’t have that problem. But as long as we live in this life, The devil out there and the world system out there, I can’t change those. I can’t do anything about that. But this tendency within me that at times wants to have its own way and to do its own thing, I have to choose every single time, shall I rely upon the Holy Spirit to enable me through this or am I going to do my own thing? That is the believer’s walk.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:38

Thank you for listening to The Holy Spirit, The Believer’s Walk. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.