Charles Stanley - Walking in the Holy Spirit
One of the most neglected subjects in the Bible is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. You would think that as important as that subject is that more people would be talking about it, more people would be referring to the Holy Spirit. But there's millions of people who sit in church week after week after week, year after year, never hear a single sermon dedicated to the Holy Spirit and his work in our life. When it's so crystal clear from the scripture that you can't live a godly life, you cannot serve the Lord adequately unless you understand how he works in your life. And you certainly cannot understand the truth of God's word apart from the Holy Spirit.
One of his primary responsibilities is to interpret the Word of God for us properly. And yet, sometimes you think, well whose fault is that? Is it the people that sit in the pew or the men who stand in the pulpit? I think primarily it is the men who stand in the pulpit. And the truth is, not anyone who preaches the gospel apart from the Holy Spirit and the anointing of the Spirit and endowment upon his or her life doesn't make any difference who it is, apart from the Holy Spirit, it won't be nearly as effective. It won't have the fruit that that work would have where the Spirit of God, the one upon whom the speaker was depending to get the job done. It's his responsibility. It's the work of the Holy Spirit.
For a lot of people, it's sort of one of those subjects I'll talk about Jesus , God, I don't know who this Holy Spirit is. I used to read the Bible and it talked about the Holy Spirit. I can remember growing up naturally we only had the king James version and it was translated holy ghost instead of Holy Spirit. I remember thinking as a kid, that ghost business, I'm not sure how I can handle that. Because I didn't understand that. Then of course, some people think the Holy Spirit is all about tongues. You have to speak in tongues. So they totally disregard it. The truth is, and I want to say it again. You cannot interpret the Word of God properly, you can't live a godly life and serve God adequately apart from the Spirit of God working in your life.
So what I want to talk about in this message is walking by the Holy Spirit. I want you to turn, if you will, to Galatians chapter 5. I want us to just look at a couple of verses here. Because there's so much we could talk about, but I want to put it all in one message because I want you to get the full impact on how important the Holy Spirit is in your life as a believer. If you notice in the fifth chapter of Galatians, here's what he says. In verse 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. What are the desires of the flesh? We're talking about those desires that find their source within that part of us that has a desire to live outside the will of God. Paul speaks of the flesh, he's not talking about flesh and blood. He's talking about part of something within us. That is, when a person is saved, the Spirit of God comes into your life to dwell.
And so, we're transformed. We're brand-new creatures in Christ. But that does not remove that propensity, that tendency at times, that desires to do something outside the will of God to sin against God. So when a person is living in the flesh, they are expressing that inner desire to do something, go somewhere, have some attitude that is not godly. We all have to deal with it every single day of our life. When he says here, I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. Then if you look in the 25th verse of the same chapter, Paul says again if we live by the Spirit that is controlled by him, dominated by him, the Holy Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. That is, if he is really in control of our life, let us walk by the Holy Spirit.
Now, where we have to start is, we have to start, first of all, answering the question, who is he? Somebody says I don't know who he is. I know who Jesus is. I know who God is. I don't know who the Holy Spirit is. I heard he's a person of the Trinity. Let's start where the Bible starts. That's the first book of the Bible in the first chapter of the Bible, the second verse of the Bible. You find the Holy Spirit hovering over this earth that is not totally complete. And then, you find in the 26th verse, God says, let us make man in our image. Who in the world is us? Well, there's the Holy Spirit in that second verse. Us is also the Lord Jesus Christ because if you notice in, if you notice in Colossians, for example, when Paul is talking about Jesus and who he is and our response toward him. He says, for by him were all things created. Both in the heavens and earth. Visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things are created through him and for him which simply says this. This whole creation is involved with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity.
So, also you'll find throughout the scripture that the Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit. And in Zechariah, for example, the fourth chapter, the scripture says, not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord. That is the way we're to live and that is the way we're to serve independence upon him. Now, when you think of the Holy Spirit somebody says, is that some force, some biblical force? No. He's a person. I want to show you in a few moments, look, if you will to John chapter 14, and you'll find the qualities of a person, for example, that can think, that can reason, that has emotion, that can will and make choices and so forth, look if you will, in 14th chapter and 16th verse.
When someone says, well I don't believe in the Trinity, how do you answer this question? John 14:16 I Jesus speaking will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper that he may be with you forever. That is the Spirit of truth. That's all the Trinity right there in those two verses. 26th verse look at that. But the helper, the Holy Spirit who will Father will send in my name, he'll teach you all things and bring to remembrance all I've said to you. So both of these verses give you the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity. Somebody says, do you believe in three Gods? No. There's three persons of the Trinity. There's one Godhead. One God. Three persons. The Father does his work, the Son does his work, the Spirit does he work. And the work of the Holy Spirit is a vital part in every single believer's life and it's tragic a person can go to church and listen to sermons year after year after year and never understand the work of the Spirit and wonder why they nail their Christian life, why things don't work out, why God doesn't answer their prayer, why they're so weak and tempted and on and on and on it goes. There's a very specific reason for that.
When you look at the Holy Spirit and who he is and he's a person of the Trinity, that God has called him and sent him into your life and my life for some very specific purposes. So we're talking about Someone who the Father has sent into your life and my life because we could not be nor could we become nor could we ever accomplish what he has in mind apart from the Holy Spirit. Now, if I was to ask you who is the Holy Spirit? What does he mean to you? For many people they would have to say, well, I know it's in the Bible. I read the Holy Spirit. Is he a person? Yes, he is. The Holy Spirit is as much a person as Jesus. The scripture you notice called him he and the Holy Spirit whom. When you look at the work he does and what he does in your life and my life, he has to be a person. So the Holy Spirit is a vital part of every single believer's life.
So I want us to look just a moment. I want to take you through some of these verses to get you oriented here and start with 14th chapter of John. We mentioned a couple of them here. We want you to see what the Holy Spirit does in our life. And the helper here in the greek is... Which means one who walks beside us. He calls it here a helper. Same word translated comforter. Both of which means, we have someone with us who helps us, who comforts us, along with other things here. You'll notice in verse 26, he says, the helper, the Holy Spirit whom, not which, but whom the Father will send in my name, he'll teach you all things. The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is he teaches us the truth. Unless the Spirit of God interprets the truth for us, it won't be correct. All kind of theologies and ideas and religions out there, believe all kind of stuff. Because it's manmade religion. Manmade theology. Apart from the work of the Spirit of God when there's no contradictions in this book.
Listen. He said not only will he teach us all these things but secondly he'll bring to remembrance all I teach you and all I meant for you to understand. That is, he is also our reminder. For example, let's say somebody says, I would like to witness to somebody. I'm afraid I'll forget the verses. Remember this. You have the Holy Spirit to remind you. One of his responsibilities is to remind us of the things we need to remember. And primarily, of course, that is the Word of God. Then, if you will look in the 15th chapter and look in 26th verse of the 15th chapter of John. When the helper, the Holy Spirit comes, who I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, he's often called the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father he'll testify about me.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to testify about who Jesus is, what he does in his place in our life. Watch this. The Holy Spirit never talks about himself. It's always about Jesus. That is part of his responsibility. Then, when you look at the 16th chapter and eighth verse here's another work of the Holy Spirit. You think you got saved because you chose to get saved. That's true to some degree. First of all, what got you realizing you need to be saved? Under conviction. Verse eight of 16th chapter when the Holy Spirit comes, he'll convict the world, listen, concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. And concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me. And concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you but you can't bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes he'll guide you into all truth. He convicts us of our sin and he is our teacher and guides us into all truth and verse 14 says, he'll glorify me. The Spirit of God is continually pointing us to Jesus and helping us to see who he is, how he fits into our life and why we so desperately need him.
So when you look at all these verses and then you come to Romans 8. Look at chapter eight for a moment. I want you to notice a few verses here that are also so very important. Because in Romans 8, Paul describes in a few verses here a great deal. He says, for example, beginning in verse 11. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells where? In you. Every single believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling him. So watch this. Every single believer has a person of the Trinity indwelling us in our spirit. Listen. We talk about being filled with the Spirit. A person is filled with the Holy Spirit when he's living in obedience to him, walking in his ways. So he says, the Spirit indwells us. Look at the 14th verse. All who are being led of the Spirit of God these are the sons of God. He not only guides us, the scripture says he leads us and guides us. You've not received the spirit of slavery lead together fear again but you've received the Spirit of adoption as sons which we cry out Abba Father.
That is, he is the one who gives us assurance of our relationship to the Father. That is the Holy Spirit testifies to every believer, you are one of God's children. You have been adopted into the kingdom. So we come by that through the Holy Spirit. And then he says in verse 16, the Spirit himself testifies within our spirit that we're the children of God. That is, bears witness. For example, somebody says to you, are you saved? You say, I'm sure I'm saved. Why are you so sure? You could give them a lot of reasons, but the truth is the Holy Spirit bears witness, gives you assurance, reminds you you trusted Jesus as your Savior and reminds you of the promises of God and with assurance you can say, yes, I know I'm saved. It's the work of the Holy Spirit that does that.
Then of course, for example, if you turn to the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians, all the chapter here is about the gift. The gift of prophecy. The gift of exhortation and giving and service and mercy and administration, and all the rest. Where does that come from? In verse four, 1 Corinthians 12, now these are the variety of gifts but the same Spirit. It is the same Spirit of God that gives these gifts. And you notice in verse seven, but to each one, that is each believer, is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. And for verse eight. For one given the word of wisdom through the Spirit. To another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit. So it's very evident what's happening here. Then if you turn back to acts 1 for a moment and you recall we're talk about all the works of the Holy Spirit. You'll recall Jesus has taken his disciples for three years and taught them all the things he needed to know. He performed miracles and raised the dead and healed bodies of diseases and taught them all kinds of truth. Then he said after three years after they were so shocked by the crucifixion and in a state of total disarray by understanding what is going on.
Now the resurrection has come. Remember what he said to them. He said, now look, you sit down in the city of Jerusalem. Sit down in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. That is, you're not ready, for example. In the 24th chapter of Luke he gives us that part of the great commission. Then he says of course in Matthew gives us the great commission, also in Mark. In acts look what he says in verse 7. He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. What was he saying? He was saying simply this. Even though you've seen all this, even though you've witnessed all the things I've done, you're still not ready to do the work I've called you to do until the Spirit of God indwells you.
Now the Old Testament, the Spirit would come upon God's servants and depart and come. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended to this earth to indwell all believers so from that point on, every single person who is a child of God is indwelt by a person of the Trinity called the Holy Spirit. So when somebody says to me, I'm just a nobody, I get all excited when they tell me that, because I can't wait to tell them who they are. So look, you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? Yes. Then you're a child of God. You're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, a person of the Trinity. I just go right down the line. By the time I finish they change their whole attitude. Listen, you can't be a nobody and be saved by Jesus. You can't be a nobody and be dwelt by the Holy Spirit. You can't be a nobody with having one in you to teach you, remind you, strengthen you, go right down the list of all the things we talked about. The reason I read that list, I want you to see, there it is, black and white in the Word of God. This is who he is. This is what he's doing in the life of his followers. So he intends for us to walk by his Spirit.
Now, there's a lot of people, for example, who say, well now, I think I try to do the best I can. I think about Sunday school teachers who take their Sunday school lesson book or maybe the Bible and read the lesson and go to Sunday school class and they teach the lesson. Who is the teacher? The Holy Spirit. Who is the equiper? The Holy Spirit. Who gives interpretation of the Word of God? The Holy Spirit. Listen. It is the power of the Holy Spirit within you. That's why he told them, you're not ready until the Spirit of God has come upon you. And then it is the authority of the Spirit, the power of the Spirit, the unction of the Spirit that teaches through a Sunday school teacher, pastor, evangelist, sings through a musician, you name it. God intends for all of us to do our work in his power, in his energy, in his strength and by his authority.
What is done apart from the Holy Spirit is flesh. It's man's own human effort. We can never carry out spiritual work, God's work in the flesh in our own energy apart from the Holy Spirit. That is one of the primary reasons he sent the Holy Spirit. You may be a pastor and say I study, I pray, God gives me a message and I get up and tell it. You are not relying on the Holy Spirit for wisdom or courage or inspiration. You're not relying upon him for motivation. You're not relying upon him for interpretation. You're not relying upon him for power. You're not relying upon him for authority. You not do what God's called you the do the way he intends for you to do it apart from the Holy Spirit. That's who he is. That's why he came.
There's no substitute for the Holy Spirit. You can't put enough Ph.D.S, R. F. D.S any other kind of D.S behind a name and them adequate to do the work God's called them to do. You cannot do it. And so I remember one of the most significant times in my life. I had only been in seminary a year and I was in my second year and had a place over in the corner I prayed in the living room in our very small apartment so I was praying one night and the Lord just spoke to my heart crystal clear I'll never forget it. Whatever you accomplish in life you'll have to accomplish on your knees in prayer, not by talents or gifts. By calling out to me. Crying out to me. It has to be on your knees. And God knew that that meant for me total dependence on the Holy Spirit.
You see when you and I are praying right, he's involved. Listen. One of his responsibilities is in Romans 8:26 says the Holy Spirit prays for us and through us, intercedes for us because we don't know how to pray sometimes. Haven't you been on your knees crying out for somebody, you didn't know what to ask. You didn't know what to say. Lord, help them. I trust them to work in their life. The Holy Spirit takes your prayer, interprets it listen perfectly before the Father. Because he knows our heart. Person of the Trinity knows all things about all times, situations and circumstances. And so, when I look at what he does and the awesome power available to us, I think how foolish for us to try to do anything apart from the Spirit of God. That's, that's who he is. That's what he does. The issue now is, what does it mean to walk by the Spirit? How do we walk by the Spirit?
Well, I want to put a definition up on the screen here, and I want you to write it down. Because every single one of us needs to understand this. Listen. To walk in the Spirit is to live moment by moment, not today and maybe tomorrow. Moment by moment, what? In dependency upon him. Sensitive to his voice in our life and obedience to him. Those three words. Dependency, sensitive to him, and in obedience. So if I'm walking in the Spirit, you'll notice I'm not doing that on Monday and then Thursday and then next on Sunday, but how often? Come on, tell me how often? Moment by moment. That is, every day of our life, as a believer, I am to walk aware of the Spirit of God in our life.
We say, how can we do that? How is that possible? I want to talk about that. What it's really saying is, I'm to live a godly life. You can go to church every Sunday. You can pray every once in a while. Give a little money. Read the Bible every once in a while. That's not a Christian life. The Christian life is living submissive to the Holy Spirit who indwells you for the purpose, the primary purpose of Jesus Christ living his life in and through us. That's why he came. He came to do in us and through us and for us which we could never do ourselves. To walk, listen, to walk by the Spirit is to walk moment by moment. Look. Dependent on him. Sensitive to his voice in our life. As a result of that, what will happen? We'll live a godly life. We'll live a life of obedience.
So I hope you wrote that down. That's what walking by the Spirit. That's the Christian life. Because would you not agree if a person goes to church and listens to sermons, even takes notes, goes to work the next day and just curses somebody out. You laugh because you've probably known a few folks like that. That's not Christian living. I didn't say they weren't saved but it's not Christian living. Because the Christian life is a life in whom the Holy Spirit is dwelling and through whom the Holy Spirit is expressing the life of Jesus. So that comes to the whole question here of being filled with the Spirit. What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? To be filled with the Spirit means I'm totally submitted to him. He has his way in my life. Moment by moment, it's his way, not my way.
Now, here is a big point I want you the get this. How do we walk by the Spirit? That is, we know he's indwelling us. We know that he is doing all these things and teaching and guiding and leading and filling and empowering and convicting and enabling and all these things. So what is my responsibility? It comes down to this. And that is, if I'm going o live moment by moment in the power of the Holy Spirit, I must, listen, I must be sensitive, listen, to the initial promptings of the Spirit. Now, what do I mean by that? Simply this. Let's take for example, let's say you're a Christian, all of a sudden you see something that will get your eye or gets your attention and you know that as soon as you see that, or you look that way or whatever it might be, something inside us says, don't go that way. Don't head in that direction. Who is that? That's the Holy Spirit. Or, have you ever been driving and you are going some particular direction and all of a sudden you get this strong feeling, take a right right here. Where did that come from? There's nobody in the car but you. That's Spirit of God warning you about what's about to happen which is a wreck. God wanted you to turn right.
Listen. The Spirit of God within you speaks to your spirit. That is, with strong implications and strong inclination. The Spirit of God arouse us to think and think his way. The Spirit of God is an active person in our Spirit giving guidance and direction how we're to live. He said why did he come? To guide us, to lead us and to empower us and to reveal to us and to impart truth of God's word to us. So, when I think about this whole idea of him prompting us and the way he prompts us, he does so by strong inclinations. Now, somebody says, well suppose I don't, suppose he prompts me and I just keep going. Well, what would you call that? Let me ask you this f. Your 12 year old boy, you say to your 12 year old son, take the trash out now. He says, I'll take it out, but I got something else to do right now. I'll take it out later. What would you call that? That's just pure disobedience. In other words, that's disobedience.
Here's the way many people live and you don't realize this. If the Spirit of God prompts you to do something, obedience is that you do it when he says do it. Rebellion is when you do it when you want to do it or you don't do it at all. Anyway you cut it, it's disobedience. In other words, if the Spirit of God prompts you to do something and you don't do it, give me any other word that best describes what you did than disobedience and rebellion. It's not doing what God says do. That's what it is. It's rebellion against God. So when he prompts us to do something, how does he do that? He speaks to our conscience and to the Spirit within us.
Now, watch this. The Spirit of God will never tell you not to do the right thing. It's always the right thing at the right time in the right way. Listen, the Holy Spirit is under no obligation to explain to me why, why should I turn right here? Some things you and I can't see, can't foresee, he's protecting us, listen, it's foolish not live moment by moment by the Holy Spirit. He's there for our benefit. By the way, God doesn't need any of us. He doesn't. He can get his work done without any of us. But he loves us enough to have sealed us as a child of God. And one of his works is to seal us until the day of redemption. He says the Spirit of God seals us. Watch this. That means when you trusted him as your Savior, the Holy Spirit came in your life to dwell. Not only does he come to dwell, but he seals you as a child of God. That is, you are forever a child of God. As I say to my friends who do not believe that and I'm sorry they don't believe it. Here's what he says. In him you also having listened to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him. That is in Christ, with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Now what is the promise. Here's the promise. That's given us a pledge. Listen. If I promise you something and I pledge that to you, you expect me to fulfill it. But when God gives you a pledge and he seals you, he gives you a promise, he has awesome power to do anything and everything he'll keep his promise. Here's what he says. He seals us in Christ until he's given as a pledge of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit comes into your life and my life and his presence in your life, watch this, is God's seal in your life saying to you, I promise you forever and ever and over you're one of my children. You may sin and I'm have to chastise you for it. Forever you're one of my children. If the Holy Spirit is the one ho seals us and seals us within, who will break the seal?
For people who don't believe they're saved forever and saved today and miss tomorrow, let me just say something. If you understood the work of the Holy Spirit, you would not believe that. I'll tell you why. You claim to be a Christian. I don't question that. And you read your Bible and pray and you may sing in a choir, play in orchestra, teach Sunday school lessons, all those things. You just lose your temper, I mean you just let it out with somebody, you just let them have it. They did you wrong. According to what you believe, you suddenly broke the seal. You've lost your promise. And you are lost and on your way to separation with God. What I said wasn't that bad. Payment now. Sin is sin and disobedience is disobedience. The promise pledge of God God is once he sees you as one of your children, you're forever a child of God. Nobody is perfect. Nobody is talking about perfection. We're talking about being obedient to God. What I want you to see is this. God's seal is God's seal not my seal. You can't break somebody else's seal. The seal is forever. The Holy Spirit of God has equipped you to live a godly life. We do that moment by moment doing what? Getting our focus right on him.
I want to say all that because it's so very important for people who generally want to do what is right and think they're saved today and lost tomorrow. You know when I was growing up in that kind of church I was afraid every day I would do something wrong and forget about it and die and go to hell. That's what they said. The day I learned the truth of what God said in his word I wanted to shout in the middle of the greek class because I understood for the first time I was forever a child of God. God judges sin. He chastises the sinner. He punishes the unbeliever. But for the child of God, the seal is there forever. And it's the work of the Spirit because it's his promise.
Now, with that in mind we think about there is going to be conflict. We have three enemies. Every morning you wake up with three enemies. The world, the flesh and the devil. The world system in which we live. Look at it. What a mess it's in. The devil, for example, and the flesh. That tendency within you that wants to do wrong at times in your life, it's there. It will be there until you die. So we have three enemies. So how do we handle these three enemies. Well? Paul talks about resisting the devil for example. He talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit. Here's what happens. When that tendency comes to think in the wrong direction. Watch this now. Somebody said I can't help myself. Let me tell you something. The devil can't make a single child of God do anything. He cannot make you. He'll lead you. He'll guide you. Entice you, tempt you, he can't make you.
So to walk in the Spirit means moment by moment what? Moment by moment, we are doing what? We're listening to the Holy Spirit. He's our guide. But somebody says, you mean to tell me I can live without sinning? How long can I live without sinning? Can you live five minutes without sinning? Amen. Four people can. Now, let's just think about what the truth? About four of you. Do you know what if I asked you if you could live ten minutes without sinning there wouldn't be ten people stand up. Do you mean to tell me you sin every five minutes? That's what you said. You said, five minutes. What about one minute. You can live a lot longer than that without sinning. Do you know why? Because you have God living within you, guiding you, leading you. And if you will, listen, if you will listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit of God he'll always lead you the do the right thing. I'm just saying we have the Spirit of God.
That's with a walking by the Spirit is about. It's setting our mind in a direction because we're at war. We'll always be being attacked by your friends, what you read, what you hear. Everything going on. The devil is there. To mislead us and to misdirect us and to cause us to rebel against God. But because we have the Holy Spirit living within us and I do understand that we have a conflict, now the issue is this. What do I do about the Holy Spirit? So turn back, if you will to Romans eight. I want us to look in some earlier verses in Romans eight and I want you to notice who he says in this passage. Let's begin in verse five. Now watch this, very important. For those who are living according to the flesh, that is they're living by those desires that they have within them that are not of God. And those desires can be one of many things. So, for those who are living according to the flesh, watch this. Set their minds on things of the flesh. But those who are living according to the Spirit, they set their mind on things of the Spirit.
Now watch this. Every single one of us sets our mind. Now listen carefully to what I'm saying. We all have a mindset. People get up every morning where a mindset I'll do my best today. Somebody else has a mindset I'll do as little as I can today. Somebody says I'll reach the top if I have to step on them and mash them. In other words, everybody has a mindset of some sort. He said now those living according to the flesh, the internal feeling I want to act outside the will of God they'll live by the flesh. Those by the Spirit will live by the Spirit. Watch this. Verse six. For the mindset on the flesh is death. Death of the things of God. The mindset on the Spirit is life and peace. Because the mind watch this carefully. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God. Get that? Hostile towards God.
When you and I set our minds on doing things we know are not right here's what he says. He said your attitude at that moment is hostility towards God. Wait a minute. I love God. No. He says if you choose deliberately to sin against God you're acting hostile towards God. Because the will of God for your life is a life of righteousness and obedience. So he says, he says for the Spirit set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace because the mindset on the flesh is hostile towards God. It doesn't subject itself to the law of God. It isn't able to do so. Those living in the flesh cannot please God. That being the case it made me want to know, if that's the case, how do I live according to the Spirit? And so, we have a battle.
Now watch this carefully. Every single one of us has two battles every time we come to some temptation. First of all there's a battle in the mind. Secondly there's a battle in our behavior. If you don't wind the battle in your mind you'll lose the battle in your behavior. Governs everything what you see, walk, handle, you name it. The first battle and temptation is the battle in the mind. I have to have a mind set. I choose to obey God. I choose not to walk that way. I choose not to look at that. I choose not to give to that. I choose not to withhold that. That is, we have a mindset.
So there's a battle going on. And we win that battle as a result of doing what? Yielding to and responding to the initial prompting of the Spirit. If the Spirit says, don't go that direction and you keep traveling. Don't go that direction, don't go that direction, you still travel, what you're doing is, listen to this word, you're acting hostile towards God who loves you and has the best plan available for you and you're heading in the wrong direction because you've chosen to do so. It's disobedience, it's rebellion, it's hostility towards a loving God who came to this earth and laid down his life that you may be saved. Hostility towards God. Name it. Camouflage it. Paint it. Use whatever vocabulary you want to. It's hostility. That's what God says. I didn't say it. Will you walk by the Spirit or the flesh. If I walk by the Spirit I'll have a mindset.
1 Peter listen to what he says in first chapter 13th verse. Therefore prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in Spirit. Listen. Prepare your minds for action and in Colossians third chapter listen to what he says. It's the same sort of thing, here's what he says. Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ keep seeking the things above. Have a mind set on things good righteous and holy. He says, where Christ is seated at the Father's right hand. Set your mind on things above not on the things on earth. We have a mindset. For example, you say how do I do that? Let's just take tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning before you get out of bed and you wake up. You set your mind on the things of God. Today, Father, he's the first one you ought to talk to anyway. Father, I want you to guide me today and lead me. I want to listen to you. Speak to my heart. Make me sensitive to what's going on around me and the people I meet and so forth. You'll develop your own little message on setting your mind.
So what happens? You start your day out with a mindset and it's the Holy Spirit that will awaken you to remind you of that. You'll think about that tomorrow morning. You say, how do you know I am? Because I'm going to pray you're going to get so upset if you don't, you will. To have a mindset. Listen, there's people who wake up with a mindset of adultery. There's people who make up with mindset of stealing. They wake up with a mindset of lying what they intend to do that day. There's people that wake up with all kind of mindsets. Set your mind he said on things above where Jesus is sitting at the Father's right hand because we can set our mind and the Holy Spirit will enable us to do it. It's his will we do it. That's why the Word of God is so very, very precious to us. Why? Because this is the way we think.
Listen. You don't read and meditate on the Word of God, do you know what you'll do? Listen. You sit at home and watch TV program after program propaganda everything that nothing to do with things that are spiritual. You go to bed and you say I'll wake up and talk about Jesus. I document it. Do you know why? You programmed your mind. You fed the part of you that's ungodly and all the stuff that goes on. Why would anybody want to watch stuff that instigates stirs them up and arouses things within them that is totally ungodly? There's something in them they want to feed. What he's saying is, starve it to death. Set your mind on the things of God. On the things that are on high. The things that match who you are. You're a follower of Jesus. Our life is a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Listen. We owe him our life. He died for us. He gave us the gift of salvation and eternal life. He owes us everything. How can we involve ourselves and allow ourselves to head in directions we know is not right. The Spirit of God prompts us do not go there, do not do that. Do not look at that. We do it anyway. Remember this. Anyway you cut it, it is rebellion, it's disobedience, it's hostility towards God. You want to live a godly life. Have a mindset that's godly. So when somebody crosses you, your mindset isn't I'll get you back. Your mindset is thank you very much. I'll forgive them for that. I'll overlook that. I won't pay attention to that. godly people don't live like the ungodly.
Listen. When we're walking in the Spirit, there's an absolute definite difference in your life. Your friends may not understand it. They just think you're think you're something. We don't think we're anything, we know we're children of God. That's who we are. We're inadequate within ourselves to do anything that has real value. We trust in the Holy Spirit and depend on him. We rely upon him. We're sensitive to him. We acknowledge him. We obey him. Why? We learned that's the best way to live. It's the only way to live with real peace, happiness, joy and contentment in our life. And it's the way God intended us to live because he came to live through us that kind of life.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit. That's who he. I would simply say this to you. Why did David say he loved to meditate upon God's word? Because you see, he had a mindset. We see in the life when he turned away from the mindset what kind of trouble he got into. You and I have the Holy Spirit. We have to the Holy Spirit in a way he couldn't have understood at that time. You are indwelt by a person of the Trinity Almighty God the Holy Spirit who is here to enable us, equip us, manage us, guide us, lead us to do anything and everything that's his will for us to do and accomplish in life.
You say, I'm just a homemaker. There's no such thing as just a homemaker. You happen to have one of the biggest jobs I know of. If anybody needs the Holy Spirit in their life, it is a mother. Look what you have to do. You have to take care of the children. Plus you have to take care of your husband, sometimes put up with him. In other words, you have an awesome job. Educating your children, keeping home. All the hundreds and hundreds of task you have, the Holy Spirit is just, listen, he's just as available ready and desirous to help you be a godly mother as he is to help any pastor preach a godly sermon. That's who he is.
So here's the choice you have. You can set your mind on the things of God and trust as indwelling person of the Holy Spirit who has promised to guide you, lead you, enable you, equip you, give you authority and all the other things we mentioned. Here you have the Holy Spirit living within you ready to live through you the life of Jesus Christ that means your attitude and your actions are going to be godly. It's a choice we make. You say, what do I have to do to get all that done? Just surrender. Just yield. Just tell him okay God I give up my way, I want your way. What does he do? He takes over. Now is it not true that's what you want your children to do? You want them to trust you and obey you. Why? You know what's best for them. You give your life for them. He's already given his life for us. To walk in the Spirit is to do what? Is to depend upon him totally. To rely upon him. To be sensitive to what he's saying to us. And to obey him. That is life at its very, very, very best. And it's available to every single person who wants God's best.
Father, how grateful we are for your awesome love for us. And to think that you've done so much in preparation for our daily life that we can wake up with you, live with you, and go to bed with you every night with perfect assurance that we have your favor. Knowing that you forgive us when we're weak and knowing our hearts desire is moment by moment to walk with your Spirit. That is my prayer Father for every person who hears this message. Let there be some radical changing going on in people's attitudes. Radical changing about sin they've put up with they thought God you paid no attention to it. And radical right doing because they want your best. I pray the Holy Spirit seal this message, execute it in every life, arose the conviction so that all that you desire for us will have the wonderful privilege of enjoying in Jesus' name amen.