Walking in the Spirit vs the flesh
Every believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling them from the moment of salvation. But not every believer is filled with the Spirit. When we allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives, we are spiritual. When we allow the old sin nature to control us, we are carnal. The spiritual believer walks in fellowship with God and produces fruit that honors Christ. The carnal believer walks in the flesh and produces works that are unacceptable to God. Only the Holy Spirit can produce good works acceptable to God — anything in our own strength is worthless.
Romans 8:9 — "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
All Christians have the Holy Spirit indwelling them. If you do not have the Spirit, you are not saved. The indwelling of the Spirit occurs at the moment of salvation and is permanent. But the fillingof the Spirit is not permanent — it can be lost and regained.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives, we are said to be "filled with the Spirit"or "walking in the Spirit." This is spirituality.
Ephesians 4:30 — "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
The filling of the Holy Spirit can be lost by grieving the Spirit — which means sinning. When a believer sins, the Spirit is grieved and the filling is lost. Fellowship with God is disrupted.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 — "Quench not the Spirit."
The filling can also be lost by quenching the Spirit — which means not submitting to His leading. When we resist God's will, refuse to obey, or ignore the Spirit's promptings, we quench Him.
When the filling is lost — either by grieving or quenching the Spirit — the believer is said to be carnal, or controlled by the flesh (the old sin nature).
1 John 1:9 — "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
The filling of the Holy Spirit can be regained by confessing sin. When we agree with God about our sin and name it specifically, He forgives and cleanses us. This restores fellowship and the filling of the Spirit.
Romans 12:1-2 — "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
The believer must also surrender his life to God — presenting his body as a living sacrifice. This is not a one-time act but a daily choice to yield to God's control rather than living for self.
When confession and surrender occur, the believer is said to be spiritual, or controlled by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:8-9 — "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
Only the Holy Spirit in us can produce good works acceptable to God. Anything done in our own strength, in the flesh, cannot please God. It may look good to men, but God sees the source and rejects it.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 — "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."
At the judgment seat of Christ, every believer's works will be tested by fire. Works done in the Spirit (gold, silver, precious stones) will survive and be rewarded. Works done in the flesh (wood, hay, stubble) will be burned up. The believer is saved, but suffers loss of reward.
Ephesians 5:1 — "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children."
1 John 3:9 — "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
The spiritual believer imitates God as a dear child imitates his father. He does not practice sin — habitual sin is not his lifestyle. When he does sin, he confesses it immediately and returns to fellowship.
John 7:39 — "(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"
John 16:14 — "He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."
The Holy Spirit's purpose is to glorify Christ. The spiritual believer, filled with the Spirit, naturally glorifies Christ in his life and testimony.
Romans 8:2-4 — "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Romans 13:8 — "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."
The spiritual believer, walking in the Spirit, fulfills the righteousness of the law — not through legalism, but through love. Love is the fulfillment of the law.
1 Corinthians 2:14 — "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
The natural man is a person born physically alive but not regenerated. He may be highly sophisticated, civilized, gentle, and kind, but he is completely ignorant of spiritual things. Spiritual truth is foolishness to him because he lacks the Spirit to discern it.
This is equivalent to the cold person in the church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:15-16) — spiritually dead, outside of Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:1-4 — "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?"
The carnal man is a person regenerated (born again) but living his life under the power of his old sin nature. Prolonged carnality produces a Christian who remains a spiritual baby — unable to digest solid food (deep doctrine), prone to envy, strife, and divisions.
This is equivalent to the lukewarm person in the church of Laodicea — saved but spiritually immature and ineffective.
1 Corinthians 2:11-13 — "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
The spiritual man is a person regenerated and living generally in the power of the Holy Spirit. He discerns the difference between the things of God and the things of man. He has fellowship with God in his daily life.
Ephesians 5:18-20 — "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The spiritual believer is characterized by joy, praise, thanksgiving, and submission. He is filled with the Spirit and walks in fellowship with God.
This is equivalent to the hot person in the church of Laodicea — fervent, faithful, and useful to God.
1 John 1:8 — "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
Romans 7:14-15 — "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I."
The believer possesses an old sin nature after salvation. If we claim to have no sin nature, we deceive ourselves. Paul himself struggled with the old nature in Romans 7.
Jeremiah 17:9 — "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
The old sin nature is desperately wicked. It cannot be improved, educated, or reformed. It must be reckoned dead (Romans 6:11) and its control resisted through the filling of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 — "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ."
Romans 7:14 — "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin."
When the old sin nature controls the believer, he is called carnal. He is saved but walking in the flesh.
Romans 7:15 — "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I."
The old sin nature frustrates genuine spiritual production. It wars against the Spirit and prevents the believer from doing what he knows is right.
Psalm 51:5 — "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."
Romans 5:12 — "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
The old sin nature is acquired at the point of physical birth. We inherit it from Adam. We are therefore considered spiritually dead from birth until we are born again.
The old sin nature is complex:
Important: In many cases, asceticism (self-righteous legalism) is mistaken for spirituality. But it is just the flesh operating in the area of strength. True spirituality is not self-effort but Spirit-control.
The old sin nature is not found in the resurrection body. When believers receive their glorified bodies, the sin nature will be gone forever. Until then, we live in the tension between the Spirit and the flesh.
Key truths about spirituality and carnality:
Galatians 5:16 — "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."
The command is simple: Walk in the Spirit. When you do, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Confess sin quickly. Yield to God daily. Let the Spirit control your life.