What Does It Mean to Walk by the Spirit? | Theocast

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What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? This is a phrase that's used at a number of places in the

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New Testament. And if you were to ask 10 different Christians what that means, to walk in the

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Spirit or to walk by the Spirit, you may very well get 10 different answers. Well, today on the pod,

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John and I are gonna take our attempt at answering that question. We're gonna take the bat off our shoulder and take a swing. What does it mean to walk by the

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Spirit? The answers that we give might not be what you expect. Stay tuned.

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If you're new to Theocast, you may not have heard of this word. It's called pietism. You ever felt like the

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Christian life is a heavy burden versus rest and joy, that you wake up worrying about how well you're gonna perform instead of thinking about what

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Christ has done for you? It's dread versus joy, really. That's pietism. Pietism causes

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Christians to look in on themselves and find their hope, not in what Christ has done, but what they're doing.

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And we have a little book for you. It's free. We want you to download it. And we're gonna explain the difference between pietism and what we call confessionalism,

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Reformed theology, really, how it is that we walk by faith, seeing the joy of Christ, and when

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Jesus says, come to me and I will give you rest, what does that look like? You can download it on our website.

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Just go to theocast .org. Welcome to Theocast, encouraging weary pilgrims to rest in Christ, conversations about the

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Christian life from a confessional, Reformed, and pastoral perspective. What we're trying to do here at Theocast is take the clutter off of the gospel to clarify it and to reclaim thereby the purpose of the kingdom of Christ.

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Your hosts today are John Moffitt, who is pastor of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and I am

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Justin Perdue, pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina. John, my friend, it's good to be behind the microphone with you again.

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We've been recording pretty regularly lately, and we're gonna be away from recording a little bit more in the weeks to come.

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Trust the Lord in that, but I'm glad to be with you again today, man. I'm looking forward to our conversation, and you're gonna tell people what that's about in a minute.

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But you got some announcements first. Everybody's favorite thing. Well, yeah, you and I are gonna take a break. That they sometimes skip over, to their shame.

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This summer, that's right. We're gonna take a break this summer, but there's not gonna be a break in the pod, so you have to stay tuned.

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We have something unique we've never done before, so I'm pretty excited about that. I think you're gonna enjoy it, so stay tuned for that.

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But it is good for Justin and I to give us opportunities to kind of work on some other things, take a break for a while.

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Typically, we do about 50 episodes a year, so it's a lot, a lot of episodes, including a lot of sermons, so yeah.

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Sure, yeah, I mean, it's a thing, yeah. Yeah, I will. The only announcement I have for you.

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Yeah. Yeah. Man, the community has just become such a great place. I see you in there, Justin. I've been in there.

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There's 1 ,200 people in there now, and it is safe. We've not had anything reported.

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There's no backbiting or slander or mean things, and it's a place for theology, encouragement, and resources, lots of resource sharing.

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So if you're not in there, and you wanna be in a place that's safe, and you wanna help support what we do, there's a free account, but also you can support what

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Theocast is doing. That's a good and easy way to do so. And that's it, Justin. That's all we got for today. The only thing

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I have to say is that this episode will air in late

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April, so it's quite possible that I have just seen some of you in recent days at the conference with our friend

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Chad Bird. So anyway. That's right. It's one of those back to the future moments. Anyway, do with that what you will.

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John. Yeah, just so you know. We're gonna talk about, it's very, yeah. I was gonna say, it's very rare that we record something and put it out the next week, so there's a four -week gap.

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So sometimes people think we're recording something in response to someone, and we're not. We're typically four weeks in advance, so.

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We trust the Holy Spirit works in preparation as well as He does in the moment. And speaking of the Holy Spirit, there is a phrase,

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John, and I'm gonna let you tee this up. There is a phrase that is found in the Scriptures in the

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New Testament, trickly in the New Testament epistles, walking in the Spirit or walking by the Spirit.

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And I think if you were to ask 10 believers, 10

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Christians, who are serious -minded, what does that mean? I think you'd get a number of different responses.

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And so you and I are gonna take the bat off our shoulder and take a swing at this today. Let everybody know.

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Yeah, well, and I did that very thing. I teach a class a couple times a year called

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Grace Academy for Men and Women. This time it was for the ladies, and we were covering this subject. What does it mean to walk by the

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Spirit? And it is something that I'm passionate about because it comes up a lot in our preaching and teaching.

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I know that you had to go through this and preach it in Romans. I'm dealing with a very similar version of it in Peter.

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So - And I preached Galatians a few years ago and dealt with it there too. Justin, when we hear this phrase, most of the time, and if you're listening, please hear us out for the whole episode.

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But most of the time we think, oh, to walk by the Spirit means to obey and read your Bible. That's typically what we mean.

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Or abstain from sin. Yeah, obey. Yeah, stop sinning. Obey the commands to not sin.

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And then I've even seen, I read commentaries and seen sermons and read and heard sermons about they equate the

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Spirit with Bible consumption. So basically to walk by the Spirit means to walk by the consumption and the trust of the

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Word. And some of that is true, but I think that's about a 30 % answer to what really is going on.

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And so this morning, Justin and I really want to walk through the passage, one for your own edification and encouragement, but to bring some clarity here, because I think if you get this section of Scripture, you understand it.

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I think it opens up your heart and your mind to a lot because the whole

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Christian life is meant to be lived in the Holy Spirit. That's the design of it, right?

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So if you don't understand what that means, you know, then we're missing out on so much, which

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I really do believe, Justin, we emphasize individualism and we emphasize flesh, trying to be overcoming the flesh by the flesh, because we don't know what action means to walk by the

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Spirit. So that's kind of the tee up. I'm gonna introduce kind of what I think is the three areas in which

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Paul describes us in Romans to Galatians. But before I do, I'll throw it over to you, let you make a couple comments of observations about maybe some misconceptions about walking in the

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Spirit. Yeah, I think you touched on them mainly. I think that it becomes a very ethereal thing often for people.

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It's this, you can't quite wrap your mind or your heart or your hands around it, what it means to walk by the

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Spirit. It's confusing for people. It does tend, like you already observed, to be very individualistic in a sense that's not good.

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We're not talking about the personal component of the way we relate to God or the way that the

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Spirit of Christ indwells us. We're not talking about that, but it becomes this hyper -individualistic pursuit of abstinence from sin, like you said, maybe certain disciplines that I instill and inculcate in my life that's gonna bear fruit.

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And I think there are better ways to talk about it biblically. And I think that rather than being a hyper -individualistic thing, when it actually comes to our living, so what's gonna be interesting, you're gonna set up the three prongs and I'm in complete agreement.

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It was very interesting when we had the conversation pre -recording. It's like, yep, yep, yep, agree. And so we're gonna be looking at Romans 8,

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Galatians 5 primarily. John inevitably is gonna be bringing in Peter because his mind and heart are there preaching first Peter.

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But the thing is, the first two prongs of this have to do with objective reality. They have to do with Jesus.

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And then the third prong has to do with God's Word as well, God's truth.

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But when it comes to how we live this out, I think we often are misguided in the emphasis. And I trust that's gonna become clear because there is an inherently corporate component to this.

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And I think the things that the scripture makes primary in terms of what we need to think about in our living is not what would be at the top of most people's lists when they say what living by the

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Spirit looks like. Yep. Yeah, that's right. So the outline

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I'm about to provide is not something we're gonna put down on the text. Justin and I are gonna walk through both Galatians and Romans and show you how

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Paul uses this logic in explaining what he means by walking by the Spirit. I will say,

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Justin, the way I've heard it in the past, the way I've understood in the past is really the last part, which we really are emphasizing obeying

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Christ. If you obey the commands and the imperatives of Christ, that's what it means to walk by the

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Spirit. So yeah, obey Jesus and you won't obey the flesh. There's a problem with that, and this is this.

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Paul says within his flesh, he has the desire to do what is right. Same thing in Galatians 5 .17,

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yeah. Yeah, Romans 5 says this. Yeah, Romans 7, Galatians 5. Sorry, Romans 7. In his inner man, yeah. In his inner man, he has the desire to do what is right, but not the capacities to carry it out.

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That's why one must walk in another power. So there is within Paul's mind.

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Because the flesh is waging war. That's right. There is in Paul's mind when he says walk by the Spirit, there are three aspects to that.

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He's talking about faith in the work of Christ. To walk is another way of saying trust or faith.

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That's what it means. Yeah, yeah. You're placing yourself in the hands of something other than yourself.

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Is that fair? Or to walk is to live. I mean, so it's also that language of living or abiding as well.

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I mean, I think those are fair, everything you're saying. Yep, agree, continue. So faith, these are the three areas that we're gonna pull out this morning for you.

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Faith in the work of Christ is what he means by walking by the Spirit. Faith in the power of Christ or trust in the power of Christ.

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Living by the power of Christ. And then thirdly, in his truth. Faith in his truth.

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Meaning the truth of what the law is for us. The do's and the don'ts. That is definitely a part of walking in the

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Spirit. But if you disconnect the first two, which I would call is the actual source and power.

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The first part is our identity, where we will not wanna go anywhere else. This is the work he's done for us.

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And the second aspect of it is the actual capacities to do something, like bear fruit, which is

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Galatians tells us to do, is not a power that comes from us. Therefore, to walk in line with Christ's truth, you have to have the first two.

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No, amen. And I'm gonna make a general statement, and then we can parse out the particulars a little bit.

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So you're entirely right that, and I'm even thinking Romans right now, but we can do

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Galatians as well. But in Romans 8, 4, to walk by the Spirit, we're gonna talk about this.

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It is to trust the righteousness of Christ, to receive the righteousness of Christ, and not to seek to establish your own righteousness.

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That is walking by the Spirit. That's that first prong, like you said. You're trusting in the works of Jesus. Secondarily, you're trusting in the power of Christ, here we go, unto sanctification, and unto godly living, dare we say.

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And so that's a Romans 6, 7, 8, et cetera, reality, where it is the union that we have, a vital union with the

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Lord Jesus Christ, whereby we have been united to Him, and His Spirit lives in us and works in and through us, that we are then empowered to live unto

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Him. That's massive. So that's that second prong. And then, well, how do we know what a righteous, upright, godly life looks like?

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What's that third prong? It's the law. It's obedience to Christ's commands, or we could say more broadly, obedience to God's law.

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And so these things flow one into the other. We're trusting Christ for our righteousness. We're trusting what

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He's done. We are, via our union with Him, empowered unto life in the

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Spirit. And then lastly, we're guided by the law. And on that third prong, again, we're gonna be emphasizing some things that maybe you have not heard emphasized before.

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And we're gonna be doing that particularly from Galatians. It's gonna be, I think, striking to you if you read

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Galatians 5, 25 and following. Anyway, hopefully we haven't given away all of our thunder. Do you wanna take them one at a time?

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Does that seem fair? With the work of Christ. So, yeah. How is it, for me and my faith, and I just have this love and appreciation for the men that have gone before us teaching

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Reformed theology and confessional theology. It really helps us, especially when it comes down to something like the covenant of works.

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The work of Christ cannot be disconnected from the person of the

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Spirit. Spirit is part of the triune God, and He is given to us and connected with the work that is on the behalf of who we are, right?

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So, because of Christ finishing work on the cross and the obedience to all of life, the

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Spirit is the one who brings that to us, right? That becomes what we are clothed in.

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It says we have been baptized by Christ into Christ. This is Galatians 5, 16. So, there's a beauty that, not 5, 16, it's 5, 27, sorry.

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There's a beauty and understanding that we are now clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Justin, when we think about walking by the

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Spirit, we can connect it to discipleship, but discipleship means that we are going to obey and learn and bring on all that the

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Teacher is giving us. But what the Teacher is bringing to us by means of Christ through the power of the

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Holy Spirit is Himself, right? Like, that's the part of the work. When He says, walk by the

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Spirit, our identity and rest, that's where it's at. Because every, we use this illustration a lot.

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I think it's gonna be healthy for those of you that might be new to Theocast. There's what's called the declarations of truth, the imperatives of scriptures, how it's known.

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This is what is defining what's, sorry, indicative. I say imperative. I'm sorry, to implore and, right.

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So, the indicative of, I'm so excited, I just can't.

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Man, I can't get it all out, Justin. I'll get there, brother. You're good, man. The indicatives, this,

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Justin, we have to have a reason to trust our King, to trust our God. And this, when

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He says, walk by the Spirit, I'll give you, this is the example in Galatians 5, 25, where you can see the

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Cecil also in Romans. But He says, if we live by the Spirit, which means our life comes to us by what

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He has done. That's what He means to live by it. If we are alive, if we have life in Christ, it's because, what does

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Galatians 3 say? You have begun by the work of the Spirit. You're gonna continue by the work of the

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Spirit. So, He says, if you're alive because of Him, that's His work, then we should also keep in step with Him.

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He starts first with His work. I'll let you speak to that. No, beautiful.

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So, I'm gonna go to Romans really quickly. So, the early verses of Romans 8. Verse 4 of Romans 8 in particular, where Paul has started to say that God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do.

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And so, He sent His Son in the likeness of our flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. And in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the

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Spirit. And huge thing, when he says the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us, he is talking about Christ's fulfillment of the law in our place.

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That's huge. It's not us keeping the law by the power of the Spirit. It's actually

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Christ's fulfillment of the entire law in the place of all the people that He represents.

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That's huge. I mean, that is Paul's emphasis in Romans 1 through 8. I mean, unequivocally, that's what he's writing about.

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And so, that's important for our understanding. And then we have to ask the question, then in light of all of that, in the context of the letter to the

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Romans, what does it mean to walk by the Spirit? And what does it mean to walk by the flesh? Well, if you think

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Romans chapter 4, what did Abraham gain according to the flesh, right? And then he starts to talk about wages and earning things.

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But then he talks about how God justifies the ungodly. Then you come to Romans 8, as I've already alluded to, but then you get to Romans 9 .30

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through like 10 .4, and it's very plain that the great error of Israel, by and large, in the old covenant era, and even as Christ came and they rejected

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Him, the great error of Israel was to seek to establish their own righteousness under the law.

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It was not, and they did not, submit to God's righteousness, Romans 10 .3.

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And Christ, Romans 10 .4, is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

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And so, it's very clear that to walk by the Spirit is to receive the righteousness of Christ, it is to submit to God's righteousness, and it is not to seek to establish your own.

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That's absolutely massive for this conversation. You have to start here. And that's my

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Romans way of articulating what it means, first prong of walking by the

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Spirit, is to trust in the work of Jesus Christ in your place. You'll derail the train before it leaves the station if you don't start there.

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It is, because Justin, what we will then do is we will attempt to walk by the Spirit to fulfill that.

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And with the truth of Paul, it's been fulfilled. That's right. We don't obey so that we can gain righteousness.

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We don't walk by the Spirit so that we can gain righteousness. Now, I'll admit, there is a confusion here, because Paul says, walk by the

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Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So, in their mind, they're thinking, all right, I do this part, what Paul's telling me, and I produce righteousness.

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That's what it sounds like. That's it, right. But even our refraining from the flesh and obeying

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Christ is imperfect. This is why we have to do it in another power that is accepted by the righteous.

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Which is exactly where we're headed. That's right. So, this is Romans 2. Go ahead. Yeah, point two, the power of Christ.

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This one has really rocked my world. You and I have been having ongoing conversations for quite a while now about the influence of Christ and His work and how the

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Spirit works in our life, kind of like a supernatural view. I remember our conversation about the armor of God and how we both just geeked up over, it's

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Christ for you, union in Christ. That's the power Paul is speaking of. The armor is

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Christ's power, not our discipline. The armor is, dare we say, the armor is Christ.

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I mean, He is the armor. That's why it's powerful. Yeah, exactly. So, Paul says in Romans 8, 10, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of Christ, the

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Spirit is life because of righteousness, right? So, the life that lives now within us is the power that is producing the capacity to then obey.

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Let me explain, Romans 8, 11. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

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He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the

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Spirit who dwells in you. That's the power we're talking about in that when we realize we see fruit coming out of us,

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I'll just point this out now in Galatians, he says it's the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruits of the Spirit, right?

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He's producing all of this out of us. We will sit back and go, that is because the same power that resurrected

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Christ from the dead is now inside of me. That is to produce confidence so that we rely on that.

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We walk by faith, trusting in the work of Christ because of His work. That work now lives inside of us.

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Where Justin and I, I can admit, there are times we don't feel it. We don't feel the resurrection power within our life.

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But to know the truth of that, it reminds us that God does dwell within us and His power is capable of producing things that we don't have the capacity to do.

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That's why we walk in faith in the truth and disciplining the flesh has its benefits because often the frailty of our flesh causes problems, but disciplined flesh cannot produce

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Spirit power. They are different. Hey guys, real quick, some of you are listening to this and it's encouraging to you, but you have questions.

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So where do you go? How do you interact with other people who have the same questions and share resources? We have started something called the

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Theocast Community. We're excited because not only is it a place for you to connect with other like -minded believers, all of our resources there, past podcasts, education materials, articles, all of it's there and you can share it and ask questions.

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You can go check it out. The link is in the description below. So before Romans 8 comes Romans 6, which is entirely about union with Christ.

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And we've been baptized into Him. We've been justified from sin's guilt. We have been set free from sin's dominion.

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We hold fast to this confession. We consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ because that's who we are now.

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We are no longer under the law, we're under grace. We've become obedient from the heart, right? Verse 17 of Romans 6, that kind of stuff.

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And that's huge as you consider this reality. And I think I agree with everything you said.

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I wanna maybe make a slightly different emphasis here on point two. This is an issue of identity.

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It's union with Christ. It's being in Christ by faith is how we have this power to live unto the

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Lord and to walk in the Spirit. That's what this means, right? And so the identity language is big because even if you think about Galatians chapter five, as I'm turning, there's a verse, verse 24,

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I believe, is where he makes a statement. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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I think a lot of times that text is preached as an imperative. It's preached as, you know, if you're going to be

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Christ, you need to put the flesh to death. That's how that's often used. That's not what it's saying.

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What is he saying? He's making a statement of reality, of fact, that those who belong to Christ, i .e.

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believers, have done this, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. This is a statement of identity.

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And so this walking by the Spirit thing is an identity reality. It's a union with Christ reality.

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And it is very much akin to things that Paul writes elsewhere. Put off the old man, put on the new man.

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That's in Colossians. That principle is in 1 Corinthians even. You know, like, you used to be this, you're not now.

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Think 1 Corinthians 6. You know, you used to live like that. Such were some of you, but not anymore.

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You know, and so that's how the apostles, not just Paul, but Peter and others, John does this as well.

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Live like who you are now because you are a new creation in Christ. You're united to Jesus.

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His Spirit is in you. And you've been set free. Yes, you drag the corpse of the old man around with you,

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Romans 7. Your flesh wages war, Romans 7, Galatians 5. That's all true. But you are not who you used to be.

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And so that is something. So just kind of putting one and two together before we can have any conversations about moral conduct.

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Because here's the thing. I think most of the time when you hear the words, walk by the Spirit, we immediately go to conduct.

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How, what are we doing? We don't start. You notice that John and I are starting point one, point two with objective, indicative, declarative realities of what

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Christ has done and of our union with Him. And so that sets your mind there before we get to point three which is obedience to God's law or obedience to the commands of Christ.

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Which is, I'm ready to go there. If you want to make a couple of comments on one and two and then we can, great.

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I do and I'll transition us over there. I think what's interesting about what Paul is contrasting the flesh and the

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Spirit, there is an interesting dialogue with Paul where he goes to the Lord about a thorn in his flesh.

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And I think it's interesting he says a thorn in the flesh because what is he complaining about? My flesh is becoming weaker,

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Lord. And what is Jesus' response? I know, I'm weakening your flesh. Because what did you say to him?

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When you are weak, I am strong. This is 2 Corinthians 12, folks, just by the way. That's right.

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So there's an interesting dynamic where throughout the Christian life, our flesh actually continues to decay and get weaker, not stronger.

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And that's where the power of Christ becomes stronger because we are growing in knowledge and faith in what?

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The work and power of Christ to produce obedience. We always emphasize obedience and it seems like we're abandoning the very power source that it comes from.

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So I find it comforting when Paul says, then I boast all the more with calamities and frailties and all this stuff that's happening in my life because the more that I am faced with the destruction of my life and flesh and world,

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I am embracing stronger. I'm setting my life fully in. I am resting in the basket of the work and power of Christ.

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And then he says, okay, if I wanna put the deeds, I wanna put to death the deeds of the flesh and I wanna produce the fruits of the spirit,

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I have to walk in the work and the power of Christ. Because what is Jesus' response?

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He says, look to me and trust my power and from that, you will produce the fruit.

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Because Paul was in his mind saying, that's right. Paul in his mind saying, hey, I'm having a hard time obeying what you're wanting me to do.

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And Jesus says, no, you're gonna do it better because you're gonna do it in your weakness, in my strength instead of your own strength.

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Which then if you have these two parts correct, Justin, that leads us to the third, which is absolutely true.

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We need to be emphasizing the truth of Christ, the truth for our life in this world.

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So this would, we would categorize this in theological terms, the third use of the law, where Christ says, love

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God, love neighbor, produce these fruits in you, but they are the product of Christ's work and power, not the products of the flesh.

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Which is so weird to say, but we have to say it. What do I mean by it's the product of the work and power of the

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Christ and not our flesh? Well, you mean - I'll let you answer that. Yeah, you mean that it is the power of Christ's spirit working in and through us only that can produce this fruit, period.

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It is not our effort that produces this. Now, do we participate?

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Yes, yes and amen. But we are enlivened. I mean, this is the language of our confession in chapter 16 on good works.

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Like the power to do them comes from Christ's spirit alone. And we are enlivened by the spirit to actually do these things and produce this fruit.

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And so the Lord is the one who is driving the car. And I really want, I don't wanna, we don't have a lot of time left anyway, so I'm just gonna go ahead and say the things that I think that I wanna emphasize here.

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Because I think what I wanna draw attention to is the fact that if you talk to people about obeying the truth of Christ or obeying the commands of Christ or obeying

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God's law, living in accord with God's word, however you wanna frame that, I think most people in terms of, all right, well, what are the main things

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I need to be doing? I think typically they're individual, they pertain to your disciplines and your interior life, you know, your affections, et cetera.

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Not saying those things are irrelevant, I'm not saying they're insignificant, but the emphasis of the New Testament is quite different.

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Even considering Romans and Galatians. So Galatians 5, 25. If we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit.

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In the same paragraph, he continues to write these words. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

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Then he says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

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Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

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Do you notice the emphasis? Let's walk by the spirit. And then he says, don't become conceited.

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Don't provoke one another. Don't envy one another. In other words, love each other and promote unity in the church.

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Then, if there are people who are caught in sin, restore them. Seek to restore those who have fallen.

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Do it with a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself. Be humble. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too fall.

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And seek to bear one another's burdens, and you're gonna fulfill the law of Christ. Romans, really quickly,

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John. Romans 12 and following. When Paul pivots to consider how we live in light of the gospel, in light of God's law and God's gospel, what does he, how does he do that?

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Well, he starts by saying, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, right?

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Then live this way. But what does he emphasize in Romans 12 through 15? He emphasizes, again, life in the body of Christ.

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Think reasonably about the gifts that you have and use your gifts for the building up of the church. Love one another.

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Pursue unity. Consider others as more significant than yourselves. Practice hospitality. Love what's good.

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Hate what's evil. Bear with the weak. And the weak ought not judge the strong. You know, all of those things.

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The one who loves fulfills the law, right? Is how he writes.

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And so I don't think love for the saints, life in the body of Christ, using my gifts for the edification of the church, humility, and maybe above all things, the pursuit of unity in the church.

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Those four things would be at the top of the list when it comes to what it looks like to live by the

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Spirit. In terms of how can I, John, in a James 2 kind of justification and a

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James 2 vindication kind of sense, how should I live? What should my life look like?

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Those things that I just listed. Life in the church, using your gifts for the edification of the body, love for the saints, humility, the pursuit of unity.

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It's what it should be. That being said, the last thing I want to say is that you could be hearing this and going, but I don't see these evidences in my life.

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Well, this is an ongoing life -altering experience for us. By the way, if we're accurately embracing point one, that means we have a great high priest who's ever interceded for us.

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As we fail to walk by the Spirit and we give into the flesh, we confess our sins to our sympathetic priest who then says with boldness, run into the throne room of the

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Father and tell me, how did you fail, child? You didn't trust the Spirit today, we know. Now, look to my love, look to my power, and go and love your brothers because I have loved you.

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We confess our sins because He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. And do you know what comes after Romans 8 .18?

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The rest of it, when He says, nothing will separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. So the motivation to keep walking and obeying the

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Spirit is always driven by His work and His power. So my encouragement to you is, if you're looking at your life going,

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I don't see the fruit of the Spirit in my life, John, don't question your salvation. Go back and look at what Christ has done for you and look what

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He's doing in you by the means of the Spirit and then pursue the obedience to love, neighbor, and unity in church.

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Let that be your encouragement and your guide. And I promise you, this cycle is gonna be the rest of your life.

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Paul said he struggled with it. He wanted to do what is right, but he kept not doing what is right. It's part of the normal experience,

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Saint and sinner for the entire rest of your life. And last word of encouragement is, the

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Lord will keep you and the Lord will do His work in your life. And you may not always see it, you might not always be aware of it.

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That's one of the reasons you need other Christians around you is so that they can point it out to you. And point out the fact that, brother, sister, you're not like you used to be.

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I've seen so much evidence of God's grace in your life. That's a good thing. It's a sweet gift in the church. But I would encourage you to, don't assess your walking in the

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Spirit based upon how you've been doing this week or even the last month of your life. You gotta pan back.

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You gotta pan back and look at a broader sample set. Because sanctification is kind of like this.

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It's an analogy I use. You don't see the grass grow, but you gotta cut it on the weekend. You know? And so you're not always gonna see it.

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And you might be prone to be discouraged because you're not as mature as you wanna be. You know, you still find yourself wanting to sin more than you would like.

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I could love so much more. I could obey so much better. All those things are true of all of us. But be encouraged that the

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Lord will keep you and sustain you and He will accomplish His good work in and through you. And I think in 10 or 20 or 30 years, should

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He tarry, you're gonna look up and you're gonna see all of those things are true because He's always faithful to you. So be encouraged and trust

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Him. So John, this has been a sweet conversation on walking in the Spirit and what it means. I hope it's been clarifying for folks.

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I really do hope that it is a conversation that gives some peace and some joy and some encouragement, some hope that man, the

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Lord is good. And to walk by the Spirit is to first and foremost trust in Christ and look to Him alone and then rest in His power so that I might then go love and do.

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Amen, may it be. Well, we hope that the Lord returns and we're with one another in glory very soon.

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But if not, then we'll talk with you, we trust again next week. You can anticipate a little bit of a, we got a guest coming on again with us.

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Familiar to all of you. And we're gonna be talking a little bit about the law and the gospel. Lord willing. Come on, man.

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Good stuff. See ya. All right, see ya. Hey everyone, before you go, Justin and I first wanted to say thank you.

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And if this has been encouraging to you in any way, please feel free to share it. But we also need your support.

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And it's when you give that it really helps us financially reach more people. So the next time you consider giving to a ministry, we hope that you would pray about Theocast and partner with us as we share the gospel around the world.