He says in Galatians 5:16, “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”  There’s a continual warring of spirit and flesh.  The obvious thing, and we’ve stated it so many times.  These two that are contrary one to another, it says, so that you cannot do the things that you would.  Well, you can’t do it in the flesh, but you can do the things that you would in the Spirit; amen?  As we recognize the Holy Spirit in us and His capacity to make us victorious the Scripture says, “In all these things.”  But the moment we give voice, credibility, to the flesh, we’re under that power.

Romans says to whom you yield your members as instruments to obey, his servant you are.  You become the slave, again, to sin.  You become a slave, again, to the law.  You become a slave, again, to those satanic wiles.  So, the obvious point in Romans and stated here in Galatians is this.  We need to establish a life of new habits.  Amen?  Walk in the Spirit.  Form new habits.  Form new thoughts.  Think on these things.  Saturate your mind with the Word of God, (Amen?) so that anything contrary to the Spirit that comes up, instantaneously the Spirit will bring those things to your remembrance.  That’s how you pull down these strongholds.  How do you pull them down?  By obeying the voice of the Spirit.  Eventually that other voice loses all credibility.  It becomes so quiet because it’s not what you’re feeding.  You’re not feeding it the nightly news.  You’re not feeding it.

It’s not just about time.  Habits aren’t just something that get power because of how much time we spend; it’s how much worth we place upon them.  If work has too much worth, it’s so important to us.  Any of us that might receive some of our worth from it, that longing to get the corner office, the nameplate on the door.  Assistant Manager at McDonalds.  Just moving up, making progress in the corporation.  This is the old man.  This desire to vaunt self, to present ourselves as credible, as capable.  Without Him, we can do…  Beloved, we have to give Him recognition in everything that we do!  If we can’t attach His name to it, we shouldn’t be doing it.  I’m not saying, specifically, a certain type of vocation at this time.  What I’m saying is how we attach His name is this.  What I do, I do as unto the Lord and I do it with all my might.  Now if men want to recognize that and they want to advance me, so be it, but I’m doing it unto the Lord.  My motivation is completely different than the man of flesh.

So, as we walk in the Spirit, here, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  He closes this chapter and says, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  For if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”  Then he gives us a little bit of insight into the practical aspect of this.  “Let us not be desirous of vain glory.”  So, he’s telling us that life in the Spirit is not a life that’s attached to the vain glory of the world’s system, of the cries and the appetites of this flesh man.  But in fact, to live in the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit is to provoke one another to what?  Love and good works.

The flesh is desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.  We see the expression of life in the Spirit and life in the flesh.  Paul explains it, by the Holy Ghost, in two other great references in Scripture that we’re going to look at in the next couple of sessions.  One is 1 Corinthians 13, and the other is the expression, here, of the need for you and me, as Spirit‑filled individuals, to produce Christlike fruit.  The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ.  Amen?  That’s all it is.  We see them broken down to be able to understand some of the specific applications, but basically this is the character of Christ.  Now the fruit of the Spirit is love; amen?  We’ll be talking about love.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love.  If we’re full of the Holy Ghost and we say that we love God, His commandments will not be grievous to us; amen?