By Bruce O’Neill

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. —Galatians 5:16-18

I suppose we have all heard of the teenager who was tired of his mother telling him what to do; he was tired of his father telling him what to do, and he was tired of his teachers telling him what to do. Tired of being ‘bossed around’ and wanting to do his ‘own thing’; he joined the Marine Corps. We can well imagine he did not find the freedom he hoped for!

Many Christians spend their whole Christian life wondering where their spiritual freedom is, and they never locate it. A believer’s freedom does not come from doing what he wants to do; it comes from doing what Christ wants him to do. Freedom, or liberty comes from obedience, not from rebellion.

We are told to "Walk in the Spirit" but we are never really told what is means to walk in the Spirit, or how to walk in the Spirit. About as close to an explanation we have is in Amos 3:3: "Can two walk together except they be agreed?" If you and I want to walk in the Spirit, or walk with God we must get into step with Him and not Him with us. He already knows the way through the wilderness and all we have to do is to follow in His steps.

"And Enoch walked with God..." we are told in Genesis 5:22 and 24. We learn "Noah walked with God" in Genesis 6:9. We are never told how they walked with God. Surely Abraham, Joseph, Joshua, Hannah, Ruth, Samuel, David, some of Judah’s kings, the prophets, Mary, Peter, Paul, Timothy and a host of others walked with God; but we are specifically told only that Enoch and Noah walked with God. Enoch and Noah are loved and revered by all those who love the Bible. But we must wonder, were Enoch and Noah loved and revered when they lived upon Earth? I think not. Enoch was probably a very lonely man. We see no reference of any one else walking with Enoch—or walking with God. We know Enoch walked with God after the birth of his son Methuselah, but we have no evidence that Methuselah had any such inclination. I have seen Bible time lines that indicate that Methuselah may very well have died at the time of the Great (or Noah’s) Flood. Now, we do not know if this is accurate or not, but imagine; the father walks with God in such a manner that is recorded forever in the written Word of God, and the son is destroyed with the rest of the unrepentant rebels in God’s great judgement on an unbelievably wicked world. To walk with God is seldom popular. We can only hope that Mrs. Enoch walked with her husband and his God.

Noah had his wife and his sons and their wives. We are not told that they walked with God in a manner similar to their father, but at least he had some fellowship with others who believed in the one true God. For at least 120 years this "preacher of righteousness" proclaimed the truth of God on ears that would not hear. I cannot doubt that Noah dreaded the coming rain and flood as much as the worldlings did after the rain started. Noah knew full well his friends, his neighbors and his relatives of centuries would be both destroyed and damned in short order.

Our text tells us of such a thing as "the lust of the flesh." Now there is such a thing and most of us are doing just that; fulfilling the lust of the flesh, though we would not admit it. We can see it in those around us, but we cannot see it in ourselves. The lust of the flesh goes deeper than drug addiction, drunkenness, idolatry, loose morals and the party life. Almost always those things are taken care of in short order soon after a legitimate salvation decision. The "little sins" such as pride, gossip, lustful thoughts, etc. are the ones that seem to afflict us most. Sin is manifested outwardly or physically, but it is also manifested inwardly or mentally. Read the "sin list" in verses 19 through 21 and see what I mean. Then contrast it with "the fruit of the Spirit" in verses 22 and 23. Now, are you "walking in the Spirit" or are you yielding to "the lust of the flesh"?

It is clear that the Spirit and the flesh are at war. They cannot and will not make peace. The story of Samson is one of the saddest stories in the Bible. Judges chapters 13-16 tell us the story of Samson; four chapters out of twenty-one. With the exception of Samuel more space is given to Samson than to any other judge in Israel’s history. Sure Samson had his moments of great physical acts when "the Spirit of the LORD came upon him" but his life story is of living more for the devil than for God. When spiritual Samuel came into town the people trembled. (See 1 Samuel 16:4). When Samson came into town did the people say: "I wonder whose wife he’s going to run off with this time"?

The flesh reigned in Samson’s life. He is a picture of many Christians and many churches. He could do his part when the Spirit of the Lord was present, but in everyday life folks could hardly tell he was a believer at all. Is that the testimony you offer to the world?

Harry Ironside used to tell of counseling with an old Indian chief who was a good Christian man. The chief humbly admitted he was struggling with his old nature. He said, "It is like there are two dogs fighting inside of me; a good dog and a bad dog." Ironside asked, "Which dog wins?" "The one that I feed," answered the honest chief. The same is true with you; the one you feed—the old nature or the new nature—is the one that will win. The Holy Spirit will work with the new nature, but will never work with the old nature.

Psalm 78 is one of my favorite Psalms; it gives an interesting history of the nation of Israel. Sadly the history is not a story of spiritual victory for God’s people, but defeat. Read with me verses 40 and 41: "How oft did they provoke [God] in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel." How often have we provoked and grieved and limited the Holy One of Israel? If God were to record our history in a Psalm would it read any better than what is written of the children of Israel?

Any decent Christian has goals for his life with which he hopes to please and honor God. Our text tells us that if the flesh and the Spirit lust one against the other "ye cannot do the things that ye would." That is pretty plain; no walking with the Spirit, no success, no victory, no peace—no anything spiritual.

Verse 18 of our text tells us, "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." Does that mean we can throw out the Ten Commandments and most of the Old Testament law and do whatever we please? No, not for one second does it mean that. (Not that New Testament believers are to follow all the Old Testament teachings). Many in our day seem to think that "since I love Jesus and Jesus loves me I can do as I please." Wrong! I was recently reminded that the New Testament book of Ephesians contains 88 commandments for us to obey.

Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. —Deuteronomy 22:10. I have managed to keep that law with no problem for my entire life. I have done very well in keeping my beasts out of my neighbor’s fields. (Exodus 22:5). As far as I know I have never vexed or oppressed a stranger. I don’t believe I have ever afflicted a widow or an orphan. (Exodus 22:21-22).

But how have I done with, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it"? And, "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh... Not with eye-service, as men pleasers..." (Ephesians 5:25; 6:5-6). And how have you done? I find a lot of the "out-of-date, no longer applies" Old Testament laws a lot easier to keep than the New Testament commandments. We tend to be so enamored with "Grace" we overlook the rules and regulations designed for us today. Read Ephesians. Read Colossians. Tell me now, are we who call ourselves Christians free do to as we please because "God is love"? Not hardly.

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. —Matthew 22:36-40

Our Lord is hardly saying "Throw out the Old Testament and all those rules" is He? The Lord Jesus raised the standard higher than it had ever been before—and that same standard is just as high today, yet few seek to follow. Over a decade ago I had serious discussion with an inmate over several issues. He seemed to think that he had Christianity on a string and could do as he pleased and please God at the same time. I quoted Matthew 22:36-40 to him the best I could and asked him if he was living up to those verses. Without a moment of hesitation he told me he was. I have had the privilege of meeting a handful of true men of God in my life. None of them would have ever said they were fulfilling those verses. That it was their heart’s desire, yes; but that they were, never.

Mark 10:46-52 gives us the account of Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus. Verse 52 reads, "And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way." In other words: "Bartimaeus, you are healed now, you are free to do your own thing." And Bartimaeus did his own thing by making Jesus’ thing his thing, and so he willingly followed and obeyed his new Master." Bartimaeus did not say, "I just got my eyesight restored—I need some time to see the sights around here." No, he set his sights on Jesus and followed Him. Oh, friend that you would see the wisdom of this man and strive to do the same; make God’s thing your thing. Get your priorities straight; God first and anything and everything else a distant second.

Some folks are praying for revival in our nation, and I am one of them. If we really want revival we really do need to pray. But is prayer in itself enough to offer our God who demands holiness, purity, godliness, separation and obedience? Are you fulfilling the lust of the flesh, or walking in the Spirit? Are you in step with Enoch and Noah, or living like the worldlings that were destroyed in the flood? Are you more like worldly Samson, or spiritual Samuel?

Folks want to do their own thing, and many do just that and live a life that is neither fulfilling nor satisfying. It is very easy for a Christian to do his own thing: He simply makes God’s thing his own and sets out to do it, God helping him.

Where God Rules, Man Prospers —an old motto of Zion, Illinois

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Revised: August 03, 2000