Let's turn to Galatians chapter 6, or Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, we'll begin reading at the verse 13 of the chapter. Galatians chapter 5, the verse number 13. The word of God says, for brethren, ye have been called on to liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, I shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, deciviousness, adultery, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revilings, and such like of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in the time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, Let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Amen. We'll end our reading just at the conclusion of the chapter. Let's briefly bow in prayer. Loving Father, we now come to the preaching of Thy Word. We pray for the help of God in this, the help for the preacher. Fill him with Thy Spirit. O God, fill me, I pray. In answer to the promise of God, that if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Lord, we ask thee for the infilling now of thy Spirit. Come and fill me, Lord, fill thy people. May they hear with understanding. Lord, open our hearts to thy word. So often closed, so often dull of hearing we are. Lord, come. minister to us we pray lord dig out these ears of ours may we hear what the spirit saith on to the church lord come now we pray and settle our hearts as we wait on before thee now for we offer prayer in jesus precious name amen and amen well last week we came to consider the words off the apostle paul over there In Ephesians chapter 4 in the verse number 1, where the apostle exhorts the readership to walk worthy of the vocation, the calling, wherewith they had been called. We thought about what that walk looked like. We thought about how that walk was marked with the Christian graces of loneliness and meekness and long-suffering and forbearance. We considered where we are to walk in such a way. We are to walk in this way within the church of Jesus Christ, then in the home, whether as a husband-wife relationship, parent-child relationship. And then we thought about walking in such a way within even our places of employment, in the workplace, We are to walk worthy. In other words, we're not to walk simply worthily whenever we find ourselves with the people of God and in the church of Jesus Christ. Our walk with God must permeate every aspect of our Christian lives, must go to every sphere and into every place. where God providentially takes us. And then we thought about how we are to walk with God, or how such a walk is to be achieved. It is achieved namely by the help of the Spirit of God. No man, no woman, no Christian, in and of themselves, by their own power, can walk in such a way, walk in a worthy way, walk as Christ walked. walked to walk humbly, harmoniously with God, to walk honestly. These various aspects of our walk that we've been thinking about. No person in and of themselves can do this. No fleshly individual can do that. Only those who know what it is to be indwelled by the Spirit of God. And really that's the point that I want to develop today, because what I've already shown you from God's Word about our walk as a Christian, and what I am yet to show you from Scripture about our walk, is beyond any person's personal ability. Now that's maybe where you've been going wrong as an individual. You're maybe trying to walk as a Christian and really it's not working out very well for you at present. You pick up the Word of God and you get nothing out of it. Prayer is boring. Church, coming to church is tedious. Saying God's praises is a pointless exercise for you. The problem is that you have been putting As I said before, the cart before the horse, you've been trying to walk with God before ever coming to know God. You're trying to be a Christian, whereas you're not a Christian. You're trying to do all the things that Christians do, and what is expected of a Christian, but you've never experienced the new birth. You've never been born again. You've never been regenerated by the Spirit of God. The new nature is not part of your nature. No, you're still in your sin. You must come first to know God in salvation before you can walk with him. And so you must put that matter to bed today. You're here in this house today without knowing Christ. You need to put this matter to bed. You need to become a Christian. You need to be born again. You need to be converted, changed by the power of God in the gospel. And thank God if you come to Christ, he'll change you. He'll help you to walk as a Christian. And then you'll begin walking with the Lord. If we as Christians are to be in any way successful in our attempts in our walk with God, then we need one who is greater than ourselves to help us, to assist us, in that very accomplishment. And that really brings us to consider about walking in the Spirit. Now, this directive to walk in the Spirit, a directive that is mandatory for every Christian is one that is repeated a number of times in the Word of God. Let me repeat or just show you those very references just at this point of the service. Romans 8 verse number 1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Again in Romans 8, this time in the verse 4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Here in Galatians chapter 5, we read this statement twice, to walk in the Spirit. Look there if you're still in Galatians 5, the verse number 16. This I say then, walk in the Spirit. And ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And then down to the verse 25. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Now you'll notice from all of those texts, those four texts of Scripture, that the Spirit of God, who is the author of Scripture, makes a contrast between walking in the flesh and walking in the Spirit. And really, those are the only two walks that are available for us to walk in this world. We're either walking after or in the flesh, or we're walking after or in the Spirit. Walking in the flesh, what is that? Well, the flesh, it speaks of our sinful fallen. our depraved nature. A fleshly walk is a walk that then leads us to sin. It leads us to commit that which is forbidden, prohibited by God. Really to walk in the flesh is to move in implicit obedience to the commands of the flesh, to the lusts of the flesh, to the inclinations of the flesh, to the desires of the flesh in whatever form they take. Now, we've already considered that type of walk whenever we thought about how we're not to walk as a Christian. If you can remember back to the very first message, we're not to walk after the flesh. We're not to walk after sin, after that which is unrighteous. And I told you on that occasion that there was another walk. And we come now to that other walk. It is walking in the Spirit. And so the Christian is commanded by God to walk in the Spirit. What does that mean? I'm sure you're maybe asking yourself, what does that mean, to walk in the Spirit? Well, I want to show you what it means, and then I want to show you what that kind of walk is not like, and then what it is like. And so we'll try to answer those very questions. Let me think with you, first of all, with what it means to walk in the Spirit. What it means to walk in the Spirit. When any person comes to lay hold of Christ and the gospel, when any person is saved from their sin, that person becomes indwelt by the Spirit of God. There are numerous texts that point to that reality. Romans 8 verse 9 we read but we are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so that the Spirit of God dwell in you Now if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ He is none of his you see the Christian is one who has become indwelled by the Spirit of God the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ these two interchangeable terms and The Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, has now come to dwell within the child of God. You cannot be a Christian without the Spirit of God taking up residency in your life. It is an utter impossibility. The Scripture tells us there in Romans 8, verse 9, that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. It is one of the distinguishing marks of a Christian. They have now become indwelled by God, the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16 speaks of us being the temples of the Holy Ghost. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? You need to remember that Corinth was known as the city in which there was the temple of Diana. And so Paul is taking that, I'm sure, as he surveyed the city landscape, looked out there at the vista that was before him, he saw the temples that had been erected with regard to the worshiping of false gods, and now he tells the people in Corinth that they have become temples, and in that temple now dwells the Spirit of God. Your bodies are the temple of the Spirit of God. Galatians 4 verse 6, And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Notice that the Spirit of God, he doesn't dwell in our heads, he dwells in our hearts. He dwells in these hearts of ours. No doubt, the Spirit of God enlightens the understanding. He does that in the work of regeneration, but he doesn't reside there. He doesn't rest there. He doesn't take up his abode there. No, he makes his way to, and he takes up residency within the heart of every Christian. God comes to dwell in us. What a marvelous thought. God coming to dwell within us. Emmanuel, God with us, ha, but more than that, God in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory, the Spirit of God within the child of God. And so these simple verses, these verses clearly show us the Spirit of God takes up residency, comes to dwell in the life of the person who trusts in Jesus Christ. But what we need to understand is this, the Christian life, that commenced under the supervision of the Spirit of God continues under his supervision. Having begun in the Spirit, Paul says, are you now going to be made perfect in the flesh? No. Of course, the answer is no. God the Holy Spirit starts the work. He regenerates the soul. We've been thinking about that as we've considered the doctrines of grace, the Spirit of God working within the soul. He, God himself, initiating the work within, that mysterious supernatural work, the enlightening of the mind. the inclination of the well-being changed from unrighteousness to that which is righteous, the giving of the gifts of faith and repentance, all the Spirit's work, and God having begun the work within us by the Spirit of God, that work must continue under His governmentship, under His supervision. The Spirit of God, He continues then to govern and to regulate how we walk, how we conduct ourselves in this world, and He accomplishes that by indwelling us. Indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, the Christian then is to walk after the Spirit of God. To walk after the Spirit is really to say that we're to walk as the Spirit of God leads us. As the Spirit of God guides us, as the Spirit of God directs us, as the Spirit of God teaches us. And as you would know, as you would know, by now that leading and that guiding and that directing and that teaching of the Spirit of God will always find itself correlating with the Word of God. He'll always guide us by His Word, by His counsel. by the Word of God. He'll never lead a child of God contrary to His Word. Now, you'll get a lot of people and they'll say, the Lord led me this way. And you'll look at their lives and you'll wonder, God, and you'll say to yourself, God could not have led that person that way because that is a leading that is contrary to Scripture. God, the Holy Spirit, will never lead you contrary to the Scripture. And so is the Spirit of God as He speaks to you through His Word. And you'll know when he's speaking to you. You'll know it. God the Spirit deals with your heart. As you open the Word of God, you'll sense it. You'll know it. He'll bring it to your attention time and time again. The matter that He's wanting you to deal with, He'll draw to your attention. You'll know when He's speaking to you. Then you are to yield to Him. You're to yield to His counsel. You're to yield to His promptings. And that's what it is to walk in the Spirit. It is to walk in harmony with the Spirit of God. We need to remember that the Spirit of God is not some it. Spirit of God is a person. He, He, when He has come, He will reprove the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. He is a person, and we are to walk with Him He has been sent into the world to be the comforter of His people and to be the guide and to be the one who directs His people. And so we're to walk in harmony with Him and step with Him. To walk in the Spirit means that we live our lives, every day of our lives, dependent on the Spirit of God's assistance. We must rise every day and seek for His infilling and His help to live the Christian life. It means that we look to the Spirit of God for grace and for strength to resist the lusts of the flesh, and that those temptations that come our way, that we're to be led by the promptings, by the inward impressions of the Spirit of God that compels us to reject sin and to comply with righteousness. You see, brethren and sisters, to walk in the Spirit is to walk with the Spirit. To walk in the Spirit is to walk with the Spirit. James Buchanan wrote, walking in the Spirit consists in maintaining a spiritual frame of mind by having our thoughts much enlarged or engaged with spiritual truth and our affections set on spiritual objects. And all of our faculties employed in spiritual services. Are you walking in the Spirit? Are you walking by the Spirit, in the Spirit, with the Spirit? These are the commands of Holy Scripture. Oh, let us follow His leading and His guiding in our lives. The Apostle Paul, having instructed his readership then to walk in the Spirit, he then proceeds to develop that thought of walking in the Spirit in the remaining verses of Galatians 5, and he does it in two ways. Firstly, he reveals to his readership what walking in the Spirit doesn't look like. What it doesn't look like. He said, you're to walk in the Spirit, but now I'm going to show you what walking in the Spirit doesn't look like. In the verses 17 through to 21, he really presents here to his readership what walking after the flesh entails, what it's like. Now, the list is not exhaustive here, but it does present to us the prominent marks of a fleshly walk. When you look down that list, that sinful activities that Paul calls here the works of the flesh. You see, you'll be able to discern whether or not you're walking after the Spirit or after the flesh, whether you're walking in the flesh or after the Spirit of God, as you read down this particular portion of God's Word. Because those that are walking in the flesh, after the flesh, they'll engage in these activities on a habitual or perpetual basis. Notice first of all there, the sin of adultery, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, that sin of being unfaithful, to another, to one's marriage partner. That's walking after the flesh, fornication. It is an umbrella term dealing with any activity, sexual activity outside that of biblical marriage. Uncleanness, the word really refers to sensual or impure thinking, that which is unclean. The savviousness, unbridled lust. Idolatry, the loving or trusting of anyone or anything more than God. Witchcraft. The word speaks of demonic practices such as sorcery, magical arts, witchcraft, hatred. The word needs no explanation. Variance, fighting and quarreling, emulations and envious contentious rivalry that develops into a burning jealousy. Wrath, an easily lost or out of control temper, someone that's given to bursts of anger. Strife, that conflict with others that arises from a self-seeking, promoting spirit. Seditions, a divisive spirit that is unable to get along with others. Heresies, dissensions that arise from diversities of opinions and aims. Envy, holding grudges, having a bitter spirit. refusing to forgive another, murders. This can be taken literally with the taking of a physical life, that abiding hatred of others, drunkenness, being intoxicated with alcohol, reveling speaks of a party lifestyle that so evident is remarking these days. It's a word that really would have referred to drinking parties that would have gone late into the night and would have involved their guests indulging in all type of sinful practices. People whose lives are marred by these activities and activities that are akin to them are certainly not people that are being led by the Spirit of God. You couldn't say that. Someone being led by the Spirit of God Would commit fornication, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, wrath, strife, seditions, murders, drunkenness? Of course not. These are people that are being led by the flesh, the old nature, the sinful, fallen, depraved nature. They want to live like this? Maybe this is how you're walking. I don't know. You look well today. The hat on the head, the tie around the neck, the King James Bible in the hand. Very well and good, but only God knows how you conduct your life. Beyond the four walls of this building, only God sees you. God knows all about you, and maybe this is your lifestyle. Maybe it's a life that's dedicated, directed by your sinful flesh. The flesh must be crucified. The flesh must be put to death before you can ever walk in the Spirit. that happens whenever you renounce your sin and exercise faith in Jesus Christ. May you do that just today. May you do it now, where you sit. You cry to God, may this moment He save you from your sin. You cannot walk in the Spirit if you're walking in this way. There's only two walks, the walk of the flesh, the walk of the Spirit. And so, Having presented what a walk, this walk in the Spirit doesn't look like, he looks at it negatively. Now, the apostle, he begins to look at it positively, and he now presents to his readership what walking in the Spirit looks like, what the marks, what the characteristics of an individual who's walking in the Spirit looks like. And I believe that that walk is marked by these very fruit that we have before us. Galatians chapter 5 and the verses 22 and verse 23. I want you to note first of all that a person who walks in the Spirit is a person who walks in love. They walk in love, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, anointed by the Spirit without measure. The Lord Jesus Christ had a walk It was marked by love. Every part of his earthly work and walk was conducted in love. His was a pardoning love. His was a consoling love. His was a forbearing love. His was an active love. His was a tender love. His was a compassionate love. See how he loved him. was what his enemy said concerning Christ's friendship with Lazarus. See how he loved him. He loved him. His love was on display when he walked this world, when he went about doing good, ministering to those in need. that which motivated him, that which bore him along was that of love. And beloved, since we are to walk as Christ walked, then we too are to walk in love, walking in love toward God first and foremost, and then walking in love toward our fellow man. We'll return to this thought, walking in love, but I want to bring your attention to those words in Ephesians. If you want to turn there, Ephesians in the chapter, Number five, Ephesians five, verse one and two. Be ye therefore followers of God, his dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. Walking in love, that's how we're to walk. Walking in love with God and with our fellow man is what God expects of us as we fulfill the two great commandments of the law. And what are they? They are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, with all of our mind, and we're to love our neighbor as ourselves. And so we're to walk in love in this world, a world that is loveless. Christian is to be a different walk. I've said that before. We're to walk not as others walk, not as the Gentiles walk. That's what Paul said. They walk without love. Their walk is marked by hatred and variance and strife. But the Christian is to walk in love. I wonder, are you walking in love with your brother, with your sister in Christ? Are you walking in love before God? The person who walks in love and who walks in the Spirit is going to have a walk that is marked by joy. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, Christian joy. It comes not from outward circumstances, but from a deep assurance, a deep-seated assurance that all is well with the soul. Does that not bring joy, to know that all is well with the soul? O the bless of this glorious thought, my sin not in part, but the whole, is nailed to his cross, I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. It's well with the soul, what joy that brings. Is it well with your soul? Is it well with your soul? Sinner, it couldn't be well. How could it be well? Your indemnity with God, you set yourself against him. You've broken his law and his commandments. You're a traitor. You're a rebel. You're a sinner. You're a transgressor. And you need to be converted. You need to be reconciled to God. You're in trouble with God. I trust you know it, sinner. I trust that you know that your sin puts you, as it were, on a collision course with the Almighty. Do you understand that? You need to be saved. You need your sin put away. You need the blood applied to your soul. You need to become a Christian. I trust you understand it. Is it well with your soul? I say the Christian's joy is therefore not based on their situation. It's based on their state, the state of the Christian. What is my state? My state today as a Christian is that I am in union with Jesus Christ. and that he has borne my sin to his body on the tree, that he has reconciled me to God, that he has washed me and cleansed me, that he has robed me in the robe of righteousness, he has covered me with the garments of salvation, that I am justified, and therefore there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Oh, the thrill of it, the joy of it, to know that I am forgiven and pardoned, and I am now His child and heir of God, a joint heir with Christ Jesus, of sure of heaven as if I was walking the streets of gold presently. That is my state. I am at peace with God. At peace with God? Sinner, you know nothing of it, and that's why you have no enduring joy. You have no enduring joy. Oh, you have temporary moments of happiness. Of course you do. The birth of a child, what happiness it brings. Maybe receiving of a gift, job promotion, maybe a bit more money in the pay packet. You're happy for about a couple of seconds, a few moments, but it's fleeting. But all the Christian, the joy, the joy within the soul, Miserable Christians are poor advertisements for Christianity. Why are God's people so joyless? They cannot fathom it. Their sins are forgiven. They've been adopted into God's family. They're on their way to heaven and yet whenever you meet them, they're like a wet blanket and they've got faces as long on them as a lurking spade. And if you're watching in, you'll not have a clue what we're talking about with regard to a face like a lurking spade. But I'll tell you, there's plenty of Christians like that. There's people and they've got just enough Christianity to make them miserable. Maybe that's you today. Brother, sister, there's no doubt that life is trying. We're living in a fallen world. Our troubles are many. Our trials are great. But have you ever thought about trying to live in this fallen world as a non-Christian? You're dead at one stage. You did. Do you not remember the misery of it? Do you not remember the heartache of it? Do you not remember the nights that you went to bed and you wept into the pillow? Do you not remember the sleepless nights and the turmoil within the soul? Of course you can remember it, but now it's gone, and Christ is with you, and he's going before you. Child of God, it's time to get out of the doldrums. It's time to cast aside the melancholy spirit, for there's enough in your God. There's enough in God himself to make you the happiest person on this side of eternity. Child of God, rejoice that your sins have been blotted out by the blood of Christ. Rejoice that you're no longer under the curse or the condemnation of God. Rejoice that you're a permanent member of God's family, a permanent member. Rejoice that you'll never be in hell. Rejoice that your name is written in heaven. that your place is secured there for you by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christian, don't you be thinking of all the joys up ahead? Do you be thinking that all the joy is up ahead and you have to wait until you get to heaven before you start to enjoy your God? Beloved, we can know joy now in the midst of our trials and our troubles because the joy of the Lord is our strength. There's old Habakkuk. The land is gone. It's in a mess. There's very little to encourage God's servant. And yet, what does he say? We've often quoted it, yet, he said, Yet, though the vine hath nothing on it, though there's no animals in the stalls, though there's nothing on the vine, though there's no figs on the fig tree, yet, yet, he said, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. David encouraged himself in the Lord. Christian joy flows from the deep, unshakable, solid confidence. that God is eternally in control of every aspect of my life and of your life. And so the Christian is to walk in joy. Quickly, the person who walks in the Spirit is a person who walks in peace, justified by faith. The Christian is brought into a state where now they are at peace with God and they are possessed with the peace of God. The enmity that once existed between them and God has been eradicated. And consequently, the believer can walk before God as one who is at peace with God. However, our walking in peace is not only to take place before God, it is also to take place before our fellow man. Now, that's difficult at times. Family homes can be more like war zones, like a war zone. Maybe your home's like that. More like a war zone than it is to be a place of tranquility. Housing estates can become places of conflict more than the calm retreats than we hoped they would be. But the Christian is called upon by God to live peaceably with all men. Closing out his second letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13, 11, If you want the God of love and peace to be with you, you need to live in peace. You need to be of good comfort. You need to be of one mind. I wonder, are we walking at peace with those within our family, our physical family? or spiritual family, what about the neighbors? What about the neighbors, Christian? Do you live at peace with them? When it comes to the boundary marker, when it comes to the cutting of the hedge, when it comes to where they park their car, whenever it comes to the lane maintenance, do you conduct your discussions with your neighbors on those particular issues? Do you conduct your discussions peacefully? Within the church, are you walking at peace with your brother or your sister, or are you at loggerheads? Romans 12, 18, if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. all men. A person who walks in the spirit will have a mark that's walked by long-suffering. We thought about this in our last week's message. It's one of the marks of a worthy walk. Paul's returning to it here. He's emphasizing it now to the Galatians. He's spoken to the Ephesians believers about it. Now he's saying the same to them, the Galatian believers. Remember, we read those words with all loneliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another. The word long-suffering speaks of patient endurance. Patient endurance. I don't need to tell you that the Christian walk is one that must be embarked upon with great patience, endurance, stamina, fortitude, staying power, sticking power. We're all required for us to walk the narrow way. Let's stay the course, brethren and sisters. Let's run the race with patience, with long-suffering. The walk of the Spirit is also to be marked by gentleness. John Calvin, he translated the word gentleness to mean civility, courtesy. And he said that by it we render ourselves amicable or friendly. Politeness, not rudeness, is to mark how we conduct ourselves as Christian. There must be a consideration for others, a readiness to help them in any way that we can. I wonder, are we known for that? Are we known to be ready to help those who are in need? Or are we so engrossed in ourselves that we can't look past the end of our own noses? Are we civil to others? Are you civil? Are you courteous in your actions, in your words with the saints as well as those who are outside the family of God? What about goodness? One, a life marked by walking in the Spirit will be marked by goodness. Dr. J. Hamilton, he wrote, goodness is love in action, love with its hand at the ploy, love with the burden on its back. It is love carrying medicine to the sick and food to the famished. It is love reading the Bible to the blind and explaining the gospel to the felon in his cell. But whatever task it undertakes, it's still the same, love following in the footsteps of him who went about doing good. Christ's walk was marked by goodness. Are we known as people of goodness in this community? Do we seek the good of others? Do we provoke one another to goodness? Are we on the lookout for opportunities to do good unto others? There's a walk also to be marked by faith. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, for we walk by faith and not by sight. And we'll return to this kind of walk at a later date. But just to say that while the ungodly, they walk by sight, we are to walk by faith, faith in God, faith in His Word, faith in His promises. Everything that argues against this happens within our society. It argues against the exercising of faith. The word faith, it carries the thought of faithfulness. were to walk in faithfulness. Too often, I know in my own life, unfaithfulness has marked my walk with God. And the reason why it has is because I have walked by the flesh and not in the Spirit in those times. You see, the key to faithful walking in the Christian life is walking in the Spirit. It's to be marked by meekness. Again, one of the marks that Paul deals with there in Ephesians chapter four and the verse number two. So we've already made comment on it. So let's think about the final mark, the mark of temperance. The word is self-control. In the ancient world, temperance or self-control characterized a certain grouping of people, those people were the athletes who were going to perform, in the ancient Grecian games. As a result of them undertaking the task of running in the races, involving themselves in those particular games, those men, they said no to certain things. They restrained themselves. They were self-restrained. They were disciplined. In order that they would win the prize, there were foods that they rejected in eating. They ate a healthy, well-balanced diet. And so they came to bring their bodies into subjection. And we read about a man who did that over there in 1 Corinthians 9, in the verse 27, the apostle Paul, he says, but I keep my body and bring it into subjection, lest I, by any means, when I have preached on to others, I myself would become a castaway. Paul would say that there were even legitimate activities. He could have very easily involved himself in, but he refused to involve himself in. Why? Because he knew that if he had given himself to those activities, he would have become a stumbling block for another believer. Nothing sinful about those activities, but he understood that there was the power of influence. And he understood that he needed to reject certain activities because he knew that a weaker brother would fall as a result of them. You know, we live in a world where people know nothing of self-control. They know nothing of it. They know nothing of temperance. They are intemperate. They know nothing of what it is to say no, say no to sin, say no to temptation. They give themselves to it. But temperance for the Christian is really the regulating of our desires and appetites so that they do not run off to access. To gain self-control, to gain this temperance, you need to give God control of your life. You need to walk in and by the Spirit of God. And so Paul, tells these believers to walk in the Spirit. And he tells them, first of all, this is what a walk in the Spirit doesn't look like. This is a fleshly walk. And then he presents to the believers, this is the walk of the Spirit. It is a walk that is marked, characterized by these qualities, this fruit, It is marked by love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. And if we live in the Spirit, he said, then let us also walk in the Spirit so that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Let's live. Let's walk in the Spirit. Let our entire lives come under His control. And if that happens, then we will find that our yielding to the flesh becomes lesser and lesser, and our yielding to the Spirit becomes greater and greater. May all of us who know Christ, all of us who are saved, May all of us know what it is to walk in the Spirit. And may God help us to walk in such a way. For surely that's what this world needs to see, Christians walking in the Spirit and by the Spirit of God. May God help us to do that for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's bow in prayer, please. Thank you for your listening. If I can help you, if you're not a Christian, God has been dealing with your heart. I'd love to speak to you about spiritual matters. We're here to help you. I trust that you'll begin this walk, this Christian walk, this walking in the Spirit, even today. May God help us all. Then, those who know Christ, may we walk in this way. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we pray that daily we will know the infilling of thy Spirit. For this walk that we've been speaking about is impossible. If we try to walk in the flesh, we'll fall and we'll stumble. The very first hurdle, the very first step we take, Lord, we need the help of God, the Holy Ghost. Oh, that I would walk in the Spirit under His control, taking His leading and His guiding as I find it in the Word, as He brings me to the Word. that I will then conform my life to what the Bible says, and forget about what the world says. Lord, help us, therefore, to walk in line and in step with our God, and may thy hand be upon my people. Oh, to walk in the Spirit today, Lord. May we reject all the appeals of the flesh, or oh, flesh would want us to do that which will dishonor even my day. Oh, to walk in the Spirit today. Lord, we cry to Thee. Oh, may the things of this world, may they become strangely dim in the light of His glory and of His grace. Help us all in our walk, our individual walks. Our parents cannot walk for us. We must walk ourselves. Oh, help us all to walk as God would have us. And may we walk after Christ. We pray these, our prayers in and through Jesus' precious name, amen.