Ron Dunn Podcast - How To Walk In The Spirit

Episode Date: December 5, 2014

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. I want you to open your Bibles to the book of Galatians, chapter 5. Trust everybody's had a good day. Some of you are not sure, probably.

I asked one person once, I said, well, have you had a good day? They said, well, I don't know yet. It's not over. There's still plenty of time for you to run it. And so maybe I won't run it tonight. Galatians chapter 5. Before I read my text, though, I would like to tell you how to rob a post office. And that way, if you don't get anything out of the message, at least you'll have learned a trade. But I read a few years ago of a post office in the Chicago area that was robbed, burglarized.

It was done by three men. One of the men had been a former employee of the hospital, of the post office. Oh, yes. The pastor and I have had a little, you know, I mean, we've been going after it today, and he started it, picking on me about my book, you know, and everything, and so it got me a little bit shattered. I'm a little bit shook up, you know, I mean, we've been going after it today. And he started it, picking on me about my book, you know, and everything. And so it got me a little bit shattered. I'm a little bit shook up, you know, because Michael has always been such a good friend. And I'm just not used, you know,

anyway. But anyway, these three men burglarized this post office. and one of the men had been a former employee, and so he had gone into the post office during the day and had hid himself in one of the maintenance closets and stayed there until long after midnight when everybody was gone, and came out of his hiding place and disarmed all of the alarm systems, and unlocked the doors from the inside, and allowed the other two men on the outside to come in. And the three of them together burglarized the post office. Of course, it was an inside job. There was one man on the inside

who had opened the door from the inside and allowed the other two on the outside to enter in. I started to say it was a successful burglary, but it couldn't have been or else we wouldn't know how they did it. But it was successful for a while. But anyway, when I read that story in the paper some years ago, it occurred to me that in a very similar way, you and I as believers have also three enemies who are trying to constantly rob us of the things we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that there are those three who are always trying somehow to burglarize our lives, to take from us whatever it may be that God is doing in our lives.

Even as we meet together this week at noon and at evening, and God may be saying something to you, and God may be doing something special in your life, there is the chance, of course, the very good chance, that even before we leave this building tonight, there will be some power, someone, who will try to rob from you that which God has given you even this very evening.

And so what I would like to do this evening is to look at these three thieves, this unholy trinity that is committed to the burglarizing of your Christian life, to the making of ineffective our Christian walk. Their purpose is to impoverish our relationship with God. Their purpose is to make bears the cupboards of our spirit so that we will not have all the blessings that God himself has given to us.

So we're going to look at these three unholy enemies. The first one, of course, as you probably will already anticipate, is the devil. And he is the ringleader of this little group. And he is, of course, committed himself to the destruction of the Christian life. Now the devil, if he cannot damn your soul to hell, then he will take second best and will try to make ineffective your Christian life and will try to bring all sorts of doubt and confusion and frustration in your life. And as Jesus said in that parable in the 13th chapter of Matthew, like the birds

who will come and try to pluck up the seed that is planted, so even before you leave this building, whatever seed of the Word of God is placed in your heart, you can rest assured the devil is going to try to rob it before it has time to take root and bring forth a harvest. Now we're going to call the devil tonight the tempter. He is the tempter. The Bible calls him by many words, of course, Lucifer, the Satan, the adversary, the accuser of the brethren, that old snake, that old dragon. But for our purposes tonight, we will call him the tempter.

Now I'm not going to try to take time tonight to prove that there is an existence of the devil. We all know the Bible well enough, don't we, to know that there is a creature, a real, very real person that the Bible describes as the devil. Billy Sunday used to say, I know there's a devil for two reasons. Number one, the Bible says so. Number two, I've done business with him. And all of us could really make that same statement tonight. But the Bible declares that there is a great personality, a great power described as the devil, and we, as I said, are going to call him the tempter. Now, the important thing for us to understand is that the devil is the outside reference for sin.

The devil is an outside reference to sin. The devil stands on the outside of our life and tempts us. The devil stands on the outside of our life, and his purpose is to tempt us, to draw us away from the Lord Jesus Christ, to lure us into doing something saying something being something that God does not want us to be or to do so he is the outside reverence for sin

reference for sin he stands on the outside his task stands on the outside and catches our attention and tries to hold that attention and by that to lure us into his pathways, you see. Now it is important that we understand that the devil cannot make anybody sin. A lot of us have that old Flip Wilson theology, don't we? The devil made me do it. Well, I tell you the next best thing to not having a conscience is having somebody to blame a bad conscience on. And a lot of times we like to say, well,

the reason I do this, of course, is because so-and-so made me do it, or the devil made me do it. I didn't want to do this, but I don't have any explanation for it. And I've had people say this to me in counseling sessions over and over again. Pastor, I just can't explain it. Well, the devil just made me do it. Well, the truth of the matter is the devil never made anybody sin. The devil cannot force you to sin. The devil cannot make you sin. You see, if the devil could coerce you into sinning, then you could not be held accountable for your sin, could you? If the sin was not your fault, it was not your choice, then there would be no guilt. The devil cannot force you to sin. He cannot do that. All the devil can do is stand on the outside of your life and tempt you, harass you, hassle you, get your

attention, and say, when he's got it, look here what I've got for you, and try to lure you away from the Lord Jesus Christ. I think this is dramatically illustrated in the Garden of Eden when Eve is there, and who comes to her? A serpent. The devil in the form of a serpent. The devil in the form of a creature. Now watch it. A creature over which God has already given man dominion. Isn't that interesting? That's significant. You see, the Lord did not allow the devil to come to Adam and Eve in the full power of his glory. And I use the word glory correctly because the Bible describes he was a glorious creature. You might now call him an inglorious creature, but I have a sneaking suspicion if you were to meet the devil in person with his full power, you would be overwhelmed by his ingloriousness. And everybody would be helpless before him. But the Lord did not

allow him to come to Eve and tempt her in his full potential. He came in reduced potential. He came in the form of what? Of a snake, of a serpent. He came in the form of a creature over which God had already given man dominion, you see. So man could have very easily have said, had resisted that devil and said, no, I am not going to yield. So the first ring

leader, the first member of this unholy trinity is the devil. He is the tempter. He is the outside reference to sin, and his task is to capture our attention and hold it and lure us away from the Lord Jesus Christ. The second ringleader, or the second member of this unholy trinity, is what we'll call the world. The world. Now we're going to designate the world tonight as the temptation. The world is the temptation. When the devil, standing on the outside of your life, wants to lure you away,

the bait that he uses is the world, you see. That is the temptation. Now when the Bible tells us that we're not to love the world, 1 John says, love not the world. Sometimes Christians find that a little bit confusing because in John 3, 16, it says that God so loved the world, and we're constantly told that we ought to love the world. Well, that's true, but the world that we are to love is not the same world that we are to loathe, as John tells us. When the Bible tells us to love the world and when God loved the world, He's talking about the world of people, the world of men and women. We are

to love them. And we are to love the world of nature, the world as God has created it, you see. But when John says, love not the world, he's not talking about the world of people nor is he speaking of the world of nature, but he is referring to the world. He's not talking about the world of people, nor is he speaking of the world of nature, but he is referring to the world system. He is referring to civilization organized without God, you see. Osborne Murray, who is one of the writers of the Oxford history of the classical world, makes this statement concerning the Greeks and how we Westerners are the inheritors of the Oxford history of the classical world makes this statement concerning the Greeks and how we Westerners are the inheritors of the Greeks. He said the Greeks taught the West

how to write history without God. Now, you know, that didn't mean a great deal to me when I first read that several years ago. But about three weeks ago, I was in Carthage, Missouri. And one night we were having supper with several of the staff members, and the pastor's wife is a first grade teacher, and she is very active in some of the Christian organizations and some of the state organizations that have to do with the Teachers Association.

I don't remember the exact name of that particular organization. But she said one of the things that was alarming her was that in some of the textbooks they were using, when they talk about the Mayflower Compact, they remove every reference to Christ or God. Now, in the original Mayflower Compact, it said that they were doing all of those things for the glory of God in the name of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And here they are removing all the names, you see, of references to God or Christ.

And they're teaching that as history. Now folks, if I hear again like Sunday night you have to help me. That sounds like lying to me. That sounds to me like the Russians, we used to accuse the Russians of rewriting history and saying that Boris, what's his name, invented the telephone instead of Alexander Graham Bell. And what's happening is, you see, we are learning to rewrite history without God.

And so the Girl Scouts now are taking the name God out of their pledge. What's happening? There is a world system, folks. There is a spirit. There is a spirit. There is a system of civilization that's organized that is opposed to the will of God, is opposed to the things of God. It's this world system.

It's the philosophy by which this world operates. And when the Bible says that we are to not love the world and we are not to allow the world to influence us, that is exactly what it's referring to. Paul says in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, that we are not to be conformed to this present evil age. Be not conformed to this world. What is he speaking of there? He's speaking about civilization organized without God. It's the world system, the values, the philosophies, the system by which this

world operates. Now that is what the devil tempts us with. And for instance, over in 2 Timothy chapter 4, when Paul is lamenting the fact that Demas, his faithful servant, has abandoned him, he says, Demas has abandoned me, having loved this present world. He's not talking about, oh, Demas is a nature lover. Nobody talking about it. He's not saying Demas just loves people and has gone over there to Thessalonica to be with everybody he can.

No, he's saying Demas has fallen in love with this world system, the philosophy of this world, the value of this world, this world that wants to live without the acknowledgement of God. That's what he's talking about. Now John gives us a little bit better definition or description of what this world is. Listen to what he says or look with me in 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2 verse 15, John says,

Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now verse 16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The New American which I'm reading from, says from the boastful pride of life. That's a good word because the word really, literally is braggadocious, from the braggadocious of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Now John lists three ingredients of the world. This world system, this world that we're to loathe, this world that we're to shun. There are three things in it, the lust of the world, this world system, this world that we're to loathe, this world that we're to shun. There are three things in it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the braggadocious of life, the pride, arrogant cockiness of life. Now, here's the devil.

Get your attention, he says. Look here what I've got. You know what he's holding up? Holding up the world. The lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. And a pride of life. Every time you are tempted to turn away from the Lord,

or you are tempted to turn away from the Lord, or you are tempted to sin, or you are tempted to let your fellowship with God or your commitment to Christ grow dim. You are tempted with one or more or a combination of these three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's all there is.

The devil only has three arrows in his quiver. He only has three bullets in his gun. He only has three knocks at the door. He will either tempt you with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life, because that's what this world system is made up of. That's the way he's always operated. Go back to the Garden of Eden.

How did the devil tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden? Well, he tempted her with the only three things he has, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He said, my goodness, look at that juicy fruit. I'm not talking about gum. He's talking about the fruit that looks juicy there. Lust of the flesh. Lust of the eyes. Oh my goodness, that's so beautiful to look upon. It is so pleasant. And it's desired to make one wise, the pride of life. See, so simple. Lust of the flesh, it's good to eat. Lust of the eyes, it's beautiful to look upon. And the pride of life, oh, it's desired to make one wise. Come over here to the desert, the wilderness. Jesus has been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights,

and afterwards the devil comes to him and tempts him. How does the devil tempt him? He's only got three bullets in his gun, only got three knocks on the door. Lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. First of all, he comes to the lust of the flesh, and he says, I know you got to be hungry. You've been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Why don't you just turn these stones into bread? And these stones that he's referring to were little stones that sort of looked like bread anyway.

Lust of the flesh. And then, you know, the Bible says that He took him up and showed him and He said, why don't you just cast yourself down off the pinnacle of the temple and everybody will worship you, the lust of the eyes, you see. And then He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said, if you'll bow down and worship me, I'll give you this, the pride of life. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Whether it's in the Garden of Eden or in a wilderness,

the devil has only three knocks on his door, friend. Whether you're living in a mansion or in the gutter, the only way the devil tempts you is either with this, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. So we have two of our enemies. The devil who is the tempter. He's the ringleader of the bunch.

Then the world which is the temptation. That's what the devil holds up every time he wants to lure us away. He dangles a world in front of us. And my soul, it looks so attractive and looks so good. And it's desired to lure us away. He dangles a world in front of us, and my soul, it looks so attractive and looks so good, and it's desired to make you wise. Now, there's one third. There's another member of this,

and we'll call him the flesh. You've guessed that, haven't you? The world, the flesh, and the devil. The devil is the tempter. The world is the temptation, and the flesh is the tempted. In other words, the flesh is that part of us to which the devil appeals. There's got to be something inside us, you see,

that will respond to the world. There's got to be something in here that thinks the world looks good. There's got to be something in here that has an appetite for that stuff. What's it called? The flesh. There is something in us that the devil appeals to.

So when the devil comes to tempt you to sin, what's he appealing to? He's appealing to the flesh. Now when the Bible talks about the flesh, here in this context, it's not talking about flesh like this. It's not talking about the chemical components that make up our blood and skin. It's not talking about the bone and muscle and sinew and tendons. It's talking about what? The old Adamic nature, the old nature, the old man. The Bible describes it in many different ways. It's talking about what? The old Adamic nature, the old nature, the old man. The Bible describes it in many different ways. It's the fallen nature, you see. And as we've

already discussed this week, that when Christ saves us, that old nature is not eradicated. As John said last night, if we think that we still don't have the possibility of sin within us, we're deceiving ourselves and ourselves only because there is still within us that old unregenerated nature that takes to sin like a duck takes to water. And this is what the devil appeals to. Now, if you will turn to James chapter 1, you'll find how this works out.

James chapter 1, verses 13, 14, and 15. And here you have the history or the anatomy of a sin. In verse 13, James chapter 1, James you'll find right after the book of Hebrews. James chapter 1, verse 13, James says, Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself does not tempt anyone. Now, some of you will think, well, what about in the Old Testament where it says,

God tested Abraham? King James says, tempted Abraham. Well, there the word ought to be tested. What the Bible is saying is this, that God will test a person's faith as to see whether or not they know how to trust Him, but God will never entice you to sin. God will never hold up the world out here and appeal to your lower nature. God always appeals to the higher nature. That's a test. When it appeals to the lower nature, that's a temptation, you see. And you and I are saved people, and we have a higher nature. What is that? That's the nature of Christ dwelling in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. And there

are times when God is going to appeal to that higher nature. Trust me in this, He say. I know you're being lied about. I know you're being gossiped. I know right now, but listen, and I know that right now you're going through a time of financial problems or illness, but I'm appealing to your higher nature. I'm appealing to the Christ that is within you. Trust me in this. Allow me to run your life. Let me wreak vengeance on these people. Don't you try to get even. Commit this to me.

He is appealing to your higher nature, you see. The world always appeals to your higher nature, you see. The world always appeals to your lower nature. The world always appeals to the baser nature. The world never appeals to the higher nature. Oh, I know what some of you are saying. Well, now, wait just a minute, preacher. Oh, you're wrong there. I think the devil sometimes does appeal

to your higher nature. What about these people who are lost and just as godless as they can be, but they're doing all of these fine charitable acts? Oh, you know why they're doing it? The pride of life. Look at me, how wonderful I am. I'm doing all these wonderful things. That's why I always watch the Oscars if I can.

I kind of always like to see what the competition's up to and see what's going on, you know. And so there are all of these people, you know, Richard Gere, who's he after now? The Tibetians, the people in Tibet I believe is his deal somebody else it's the Haitians

and somebody else it's this somebody else it's that now these people these people are the same ones you see

that are corrupting the morals of America by what they say and by what they do and yet at the same time they're saying, look how wonderful we are. We're doing all this for the poor, suffering people.

You know what they're doing? That's not appealing to their higher nature. That's appealing to their lower nature. That's why Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner, gave all that money to the Boy Scout organization. You think he's doing that because, I'll Do you think he's doing that because, I'll tell you why he's doing that, that makes him look good before the world.

The braggadocious of life, the pride of life, look how wonderful I am, you see. Need to understand the world always appeals to the lower nature of a person. I always kind of have to explain this next illustration here so you won't get the wrong idea, but I stay in a motel every week, and a lot of the times, the restaurant is right next door to the lounge.

And it always strikes me, of course, I never go in there unless Kay's with me, understand, I mean, you know, to the rest of them. But it all, have you noticed that the waitresses in those lounges dress differently than the waitresses in McDonald's? Why do you suppose that is? Driving down the highway the other day,

and I saw this huge billboard advertising tires, and this woman in this bikini. Now, what does she have to do with tires? The world always attempts, you see, to appeal to the baser nature, the lower nature. Now listen to what he says in James 1.13. Don't say that God does it. He said, verse 14,

But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust, lured by his own lust. James is going to mix his metaphors here, by the way. And in verse 14, he's using the metaphor of fishing. And here is a lure. The devil is trying to catch you, and he has a lure. And that lure is your own lust, your own evil desire. Then, verse 15, he changes the metaphor again.

Then lust, when own evil desire. Then, verse 15, he changes the metaphor again. Then lust, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is accomplished, or rather full-grown, brings forth death. Do you see the anatomy here of sin? Do you see the history of sin? The devil is out here, and he has the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He has the world, and he gets your attention, and you look up, and you say, look what I got.

Looks mighty good to me. And you're hooked. See? Boy, you're hooked right there. Got hooked. It's your lust that opened the mouth and grabbed the bait, you see. If that old nature wasn't there, got hooked. It's your lust that opened the mouth and grabbed the bait, you see. If that old nature wasn't there,

if that old flesh wasn't there, he wouldn't have anything to appeal to, would he? Of course not. But as long as temptation can be appealing to us, it means that there's something in us, you see, that has that propensity to us. It means that there's something in us, you see, that has that propensity to evil. And so then he changes the metaphor to that of conception and birth.

Then lust, when it has conceived, when lust comes together with the temptation, it conceives, and the baby born is sin. And sin, when it is full grown, has another baby, and it's called death. Death is the grandchild of lust, you see. It starts out with the lust, the desire.

And when the desire meets the temptation, there is a conception. Just like the temptation, there is a conception. Just like in sex, there is a conception. And the result is there is a birth, and that birth is sin. That's where sin comes from. Sin is the result of your desire conceiving with the temptation of this world. And the result is sin. And sin, when it has done its work and is full grown, it brings forth death. You still with me?

The devil and the world are on the outside. The flesh is on the inside. The only way the devil and the world can get into my life is if I, the flesh, open the door and let him in. Every sin is an inside job. Thus are three burglars. Two on the outside, one on the inside. The world and the devil on the outside. How in the world are we going to get on inside of that guy? Oh, I know somebody, the devil on the outside how in the world we going to get on inside of that guy oh I

know somebody the devil says the world says well how are we going to get into that guy's life and tear his life up oh there's somebody in there that's an old friend of mine I knew him a long time ago and I'll go around the back door, and I'll get his attention. Calls that old nature. That old nature peeks out the window, and the devil says, look at what I got. You're hooked just like that, you see. So every sin is an inside job.

Now, you know what occurs to me? It occurs to me that if I could somehow overcome the flesh, I'd have the world and the devil beat, wouldn't I? Right? Say right, folks. Boy, the mess is going to die right here if you don't agree with me. I mean, we're right down here at the real crux of the matter. I mean, this is it.

The only way the world and the devil can get into my life is through the flesh. I have to open the door from the inside and let them in. Therefore, if I can somehow, if I could somehow overcome this flesh, if I could somehow reinforce that harbor. You see, if the devil's going to invade my life, he's got to make a beachhead somewhere. He's got to find a vulnerable point.

He's got to find the soft underbelly of my life. That soft underbelly is the flesh. That vulnerable spot is the flesh. That vulnerable spot is the flesh. That beachhead is the flesh. But if I can somehow put armor around that soft underbelly, if I can somehow bomb that harbor and mine that harbor so the devil can't ever reach shore, I've got the world and the devil beat.

So my number one problem is not the devil. My number one problem is not the world. My number one problem is the flesh. Now I'm ready for my text. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. Right there it is. But I say walk in the Spirit

or walk by the Spirit and you shall not. It's a double negative there by the way. You shall not by no means. Bad theology again, bad theology again, bad grammar again, but great theology. You shall not by no means fulfill, carry out the desires of the flesh.

The word means the flesh will not be able to dominate. It means that the flesh will not reach its goal. The flesh will not be able to reach its conclusion. He says, if you walk by the Holy Spirit, if you and I walk in the Spirit, if our life, daily life, is controlled and limited by the power of the Holy Spirit, it doesn't say the flesh won't try to open the door.

It doesn't say the flesh won't harass us. the door. It doesn't say the flesh won't harass us. It doesn't say that the devil won't tempt us. It doesn't say we won't be lured by the world. It simply says that the flesh will not be able to carry out its desires. It will not be able to reach its conclusion. It will not be able to achieve its goal. What is the goal of the flesh? What is the desire of the flesh? What is the desire of the flesh?

Oh, the desire of the flesh is to open the door and let his two friends in. The goal of the flesh is to open the door and let the devil in the world come in so the flesh can satisfy itself. It doesn't mean that there's not going to be that banging at the door, but what it means is that if I walk in the Spirit,

no matter how that flesh resists, no matter how that flesh wants to open the door, it will not be able to dominate. And so you've got down to this, that you and I are either dominated by the Holy Spirit or we are dominated by ourselves, by the flesh. So here's the way to victory, walking in the Spirit. And as I am walking in the Spirit, the flesh will not be able to carry out its desires. Therefore, the devil in the world

will not be able to invade my life. All right, now let's look on and see just what this means. Let's go ahead and read verse 17. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. Now Paul here is giving us the picture of two opponents in a ring,

two combatants in a ring. And they're opposed to each other. One is the spirit, one is the flesh. And they're constantly fighting one another. They're constantly opposing one another they're constantly opposing one another constantly contrary to the one another so that he ends that verse that you may not do the things that you please

you see when the flesh wants me to open the door and let the world in the spirit opposes him so that I may not do the things that I please. At the same time, when the Spirit is wanting me to follow Jesus or wanting me to share my faith or wanting me to do this or that, then the flesh, my old nature, my old pride, is there opposing the Spirit so that I may not do the things that I please.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever felt that frustration in your life? Have you ever felt that tension? Do you realize that a Christian is a walking civil war? Paul puts it so beautifully in Romans chapter 7. He said, he said, I don't understand this. He said, the things that I don't want to do, those are the things that I do. And the things that I do, those are the things I don't want to do. He said, I don't understand this. He said, the things that I don't want to do, those are the things that I do. And the things that I do, those are the things I don't want to do. He said, I find a law then that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Evil is right there close at hand.

Paul says, I'm experiencing a war going on in my soul. There is that part of me that wants to do this, and there is that part of me that wants to do that. Haven't you felt that? Of course you have. You see, a Christian is a person who is filled with that kind of tension, and you will be filled with that tension all the days of your life, my dear friend. It is a struggle day by day.

Why? Because there is part of us, the flesh, that wants us to go one way. And then there is part of us, the Holy Spirit, that wants us to go the other way. So that when I decide I'm going to witness to that person, or I'm going to pray, or I'm going to read my Bible, a thousand and one things crop up to try to keep me from doing it. Well, my main thing is I just don't feel like doing it right now. That's the main thing. Or I said I was going to tithe, but boy, it's tithe this week,

and I just better watch out for myself. Or I'm going to witness to my neighbor, but I'm just sort of scared to death, and so I'll put it off. And then the devil begins to tempt me, and boy, I want to do this, but no, no. There's that conviction, the Holy Spirit restraining me. He said, no, that's not right. And so you don't do that. But you have the struggle. You have the fight. And you say,

I want to do this. And all of a sudden there's the temptation to do that. But at the same time, there's the Holy Spirit pulling you back. You say, no, that's not the right thing to do. So there's this conflict going on all the time. So Paul pictures the life of the believer sort of like a boxing ring. And in it is the Holy Spirit, and in it is the flesh, and they're fighting one another. Now, do you want me to tell you why most of us are constantly living defeated lives so often?

It's because there are three people in the ring. You know who the third one is? Well, it's you, for heaven's sake. Oh, sure, yeah. You climb up there in that ring. And you say, boy, I'm going to fight the flesh today. I'm going out there and overcome the flesh if it kills me. And it probably will before the day is over.

Now, let me ask you a question. Who fights the flesh? According to the Scripture, who fights the flesh? I can't hear you. The Spirit. Does it say anything here about the Christian fighting the flesh?

No. It's the Holy Spirit who fights the flesh. He's the only one that can overcome. Oh, and I'll tell you something else. This fight, this fight is fixed because you determine who wins the fight. I like to watch those old Roman Empire movies on television, don't you, when they're throwing the lions, throwing the Christians to the lions.

Or when those two gladiators are fighting in the ring, and finally one gets down there flat on his back, and one gladiator puts his big boot on the chest of And finally one gets down there flat on his back and one gladiator puts his big boot on the chest of the other one and has that sword and he looks up. Who's he looking at? Looking at the emperor. And what's he waiting for? He's waiting for a signal. And the emperor does this, he spares his life. But if the emperor does this, cuts his head off. And so I'm being tempted. There's a warfare going on in my life. Only the Holy Spirit can fight and overcome the flesh.

The Holy Spirit looks to me and says, what will it be? If I say this, He'll let the flesh go. If I say this, He'll kill it at that moment. You see, I decide who wins that fight. It's a matter of the choice of my will. I either choose to allow the Holy Spirit to have His way or I choose to allow the flesh to have its way. Walking in the Spirit is choosing the way of the Holy Spirit over the way of the flesh, you see. And so as I choose the way of the Holy Spirit,

He overcomes the flesh. Now, if you're trying to take points on this sermon, I'm going at it backwards, I understand, but I've just finished point number one. Walking in the Spirit overcomes or conquers the flesh. Now we're coming to point number two. Walking in the Spirit will produce the fruit. Now I want you to notice what he says in verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, and he names them immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,

envyings, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. In other words, when you yield to the flesh, you're going to head for one of these deals right here, verse 19. But when you yield to the Spirit, verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Now look at that fruit of the Spirit. You'll notice it's a singular. You've heard this before. He's not talking about nine different fruits. He's talking about one fruit that has nine different fruits. He's talking about one fruit that has nine different characteristics.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. I'm going to give you until tomorrow night, 24 hours, you come up after the end of 24 hours and tell me, is there any virtue you can add to this that would make it better than it is? Save you the trouble, there is none.

As a matter of fact, you know what this is? This is the Christ-like life, isn't it? That's a picture of Christ. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Now notice what happens. When I'm walking in the Spirit of God, when I'm allowing the Holy Spirit of God

to control my life, and I'm by choice of my will, I know the struggle is great. I'm not saying it's easy. I know the struggle is great because the flesh is so persuasive and the world is so attractive. But when I choose to let the Spirit of God

win this conflict, then not only does it overcome the flesh, but it also begins to produce in me love and joy and peace and gentleness and kindness and self-control. We used to have a farm in Arkansas. We sold it. We used to go down there every summer. And I remember going down there one summer,

and there was a road that runs all the way down by the lake. And there were three trees. Somebody years ago, I guess, had planted or cut down all the others but left these three trees there, and so they looked like they were planted there. Three trees spaced out down that road to the lake. Well, one summer as I was there and walking down the lake, I noticed that that last tree in the group,

that third tree, was strange. It looked as though somebody had taken a ruler and drawn a line down the middle of that tree, straight down the middle of that tree. Because all the tree, all the leaves on this side of the tree were green, and all of the leaves on this side of the tree were dead. Some disease had got hold of that tree, this side of the tree were dead.

Some disease had got hold of that tree or half of that tree and half of the tree was dead and half of the tree was alive. Half of the tree was full of green leaves and half of the tree was full of dead leaves. That was in August. I was back that year in Thanksgiving, the last of November, and I was walking down that same road. And I came to that same tree, and I noticed it was just like somebody had taken a ruler

and drawn a straight line down the middle of that tree. And on this side of the tree, all the leaves were gone. Every branch was bare. On this side of the tree, though, all those dead leaves were still on that tree. And that caught my attention. And I thought,, well that's strange. The dead leaves on the living side of the tree have all fallen off, but the dead leaves on the dead side of the tree are still there. And then I began to notice that summer I had cut down a number of trees and trimmed a number of branches. Now it was late fall and all of the trees were bare. The leaves had fallen. But I noticed on these trees that we had cut down, the trees and branches that were dead,

that the leaves, the dead leaves were still on those trees, still on those branches. You've noticed that, haven't you? And actually they hang on there quite tenaciously. You have to kind of pull them off. Well, that kind of bum-fuzzled me. And so when I got back home, I went to a friend who knows a little bit about everything, and I was telling him this. And he explained it. He said, oh, he said dead leaves don't fall off trees. I said, they don't.

He said, oh, no. He said, dead leaves are pushed off by the new life surging through the branches. He said, as the sap falls in the tree, push off all those dead leaves. Make room for the new leaves coming in the spring. The reason the dead leaves

don't fall off the dead trees is because there's no life. Oh, I tell you, God's smart. I'm glad He made it that way. Because first year we had that farm came around November time or fall and all those leaves turned dead. Well I knew this much. I had

enough sense to know that if I'm going to have any green leaves next year I've got to get rid of all these dead leaves. So I climbed up the trees and I started pulling off all those old dead leaves. It took me a whole day to just get one tree pretty well bare. I never could reach the top.

It was pretty dull up there. And then I looked out, and my goodness, I've got 450 more trees right there in the front yard almost. And then the Lord said to me, Son, what are you doing? Well, I'm helping you out, God. I mean, you you know I've got all these dead leaves and all these dead trees and what I want come spring

is some fresh green leaves and so I've got to get rid of these old dead leaves or we're not going to have any green leaves and God said oh my son he said listen all you have to do is just to keep that tree healthy. That's all you have to do. Just make certain the life flows through that tree. And as that life flows unhindered through

that tree, it will push off the old dead leaves itself to make room for the new leaves. Isn't God smart? I mean, what would you do if every year you had to climb every tree and pull off every dead leaf? And yet, I did that for a great deal of my Christian life. I thought, well, before I can ever have love, joy, and peace and be what God wants me to be, I've got to pull off all these old dead leaves and overcome all of this sin, overcome all these habits. He said, no, sir, son, I'll tell you what you'll do.

You see, the Holy Spirit is like a tree planted in the believer. Now the fruit of the Spirit, that's a tree, folks, and the Holy Spirit is like a tree planted in the believer. And God says, if you'll just keep that tree healthy, son, if you'll just keep the life flowing through that tree, it'll take care of all that stuff. It will just automatically push off the old dead leaf of hate to make room for the new fruit of love. And it'll push off the old dead leaf of misery to put on the new fruit of love and joy and peace. And all the way through, you see, that's the way it works. It's not my

task to produce the fruit. It's not my task to reduce the dead leaves. It is my task to make certain that the Holy Spirit of God is flowing unhindered through my life, walking in the Spirit. And as that happens, folks, the other stuff will take care of itself, you see. And that's what it means to walk in the Spirit. Well, let me give you in closing just two suggestions. He comes to the end of this chapter, verse 24 and verse 25. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

It's a different word translated walk in verse 16. The word translated walk in verse 16 is just the word for walk or walking around. But the word translated walk in verse 25 is a military word. The NIV does a good job here. The NIV reads, keep in step with the Spirit, and that's it exactly. So let me give you two suggestions how to walk in the Spirit. We walk in the Spirit, first of all, by saying no to self, crucifying the flesh, saying no to self. Luke 9, 23, Jesus said, If any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

I love the Williams translation, and the Williams translation reads like this. If any man will come after me, let him say no to self. I like that. You know why? Because myself's always talking to self. I like that. You know why? Because my self's always talking to me. Does your self ever talk to you? Does your self ever make suggestions to you?

You know, like, take care of yourself now. Don't let her pull out in front of you. You're not going to let that guy in that beat up pickup truck beat you away from this light are you now what have I got to do no self just that simple and not that simple

I must choose against myself in these situations say no to self but that's not enough then I turn around and say yes to Christ yes Christ whatever you want in this situation remember Galatians 2 20 for I've been crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me yet not I but, but Christ. Not I, but Christ. That pretty well sums it up. What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Not I, but Christ. I know this much. If I would take the time and the

sensitivity to say about the issues and the snap judgments and the reactions that I want to make, if I had stopped to say, not I, but Christ, don't you think that would make a difference in how you responded? Don't you think that would make a difference? Not I, but Christ. a difference not i but christ so this then i say to you walk in the spirit and you will not by any means fulfill the desires of the flesh last night we said how to maintain your fellowship with God. Tonight we've talked about how to walk in the Spirit. And tomorrow night we're going to talk about how to live in victory.

Father, thank you again for the time that we've had this evening. And I pray that you'd bless the word of God to our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. For Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.