Speaking of the Christian; “He is to ‘walk worthy’ of the
calling wherewith he is called, ‘with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.’ So, also on the other hand, his
priceless fellowship ‘with the Father and with his Son’ must depend on the
presence of these divine characteristics. There must be some quality of life
and character in the Christian with which God can have fellowship. But if God
finds anything like Himself in a human life, He must place it there; for He
knows full well that such divine graces can never appear in a life apart from
His own power. Thus if He, by His very nature, demands the heavenly graces as
the only possible basis for communion with His Spirit-born flesh, but has made
full provision that they may be produced by the Spirit…it is no longer something
for the human strength to attempt, not is it to be done by help. It is the ‘fruit
of the Spirit.’” L. S. Chafer, He That is
Spiritual.
Now the works of the
flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and
such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in 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. 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. Galatians 5:19-25
We already know what our old self can do when left to
itself. Our flesh here is more than our physical body. It represents all;
spirit, soul, and body. This is the person we were before we were saved, and in
that condition there is no way the real “spiritual fruit,” can come forward
from that! In fact we note from this verse that the flesh hates the Spirit; “For
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and
these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would.” (Gal. 5:17)
There is nothing within each of us that could ever produce
or manufacture the results that God can only do. Let’s face it; there is not
even a spark within each of us which could be fanned to achieve the result. The
only way this can occur is to give ourselves to the Spirit’s reign within each
of our lives. When we do, the Spirit of God can accomplish what He came into
our hearts to do at the day of each of our salvation. And God desires to
complete that work within each of us from day one. This is much like what our new
president; he went to work on day one. Let’s face it, he told everyone what he
planned to do on day one as our president. Now so many people are surprised he
is taking it on! Let’s just pray for him to accomplish all that is best for our
country and pray for our new leader. It is our duty to pray for our leaders,
whether they are good, bad, or indifferent.
So then we are left with two paths as a Christian; the
carnal walk which is by the energy of the flesh, or a spiritual walk which is
fueled by the Spirit of God. When we decide to walk in the Spirit of God, we
will find that we will not fulfill the desire of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).
Remember, each of these principles are directly opposed to each other and
cannot be mingled together. And “walking
in the Spirit is not the flesh being helped in some degree by the Spirit. It is
said to be a direct accomplishment of the Spirit in spite of the apposition of
the flesh” (L. S. Chafer).
No comments:
Post a Comment